Perfect Nervous (Dir: Masaru Sano, 2024) is a gorgeous short film with fantastical elements as it tells a life-affirming story wherein two young women with incurable body-altering diseases give eac…
Mar 25, 2024 • Subscribe
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Masaru Sano on Capturing Good Images for His Phantasmagorical Film Perfect Nervous (2024) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024 Interview]
“We meticulously took photographs during the location scouting and created storyboards based on the photos, with the intention of making all the shots as beautiful as possible.”: Masaru…
Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023
For the second year in a row, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) which took place between March 10 and March 19.…
Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023
For the second year in a row, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) which took place between March 10 and March 19.…
Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023
For the second year in a row, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) which took place between March 10 and March 19.…
Random Call ランダム・コール Dir: Riki Ohkanda [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
Random Call ランダム・コール Dir: Riki Ohkanda [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
Young Birds 雛鳥 Dir: Eriko Izumi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
Young Birds 雛鳥 Dir: Eriko Izumi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
Snowdrop スノードロップ Director: Kota Yoshida [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]
Snowdrop スノードロップ, by director Kota Yoshida, is a socially conscious domestic drama/character study that looks at the welfare system via a woman chased by the trauma of abandonment…
Bagmati River バグマティ リバー Dir: Yusaku Matsumoto (2021) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
Bagmati River バグマティ リバー 「Bagumati Riba-」 Release Date: 2022 Duration: 29 mins. Director: Yusaku Matsumoto Writer: Yusaku Matsumoto, Kentaro Kishi (Screenplay), Starring: Junko Abe, Kenji Kohas…
The Sound of Light (2013) Dir: Junichiro Yamasaki [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
The Sound of Light (2013) Dir: Junichiro Yamasaki is part of Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022’s Online Theater
A Glimpse at the Films at Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024
A glimpse at the feast of films programmed for Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024 (March 01st to March 10th)
Sumiko 22 スミコ22 (2024) Director: Sawako Fukuoka [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]
Sumiko 22 スミコ22 (2024), sees editor/writer/director Sawako Fukuoka draw upon her own experiences to make a quirky comedy/drama about the everyday pressures and small-scale strangeness experienced b…
Gotō-san ゴトーさん Dir: Hiroshi Gokan (2020) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
A film for the economic uncertainty of our Covid-19 age. Gotō-san ゴトーさん Dir: Hiroshi Gokan (2020) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
Howling 遠吠え Dir: Sheikh M Haris (2022) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
Howling is a bleak comedy of the absurd and cruel kind with good acting and direction to sell the story. 遠吠え Dir: Sheikh M Haris (2022) [Osaka Asian Film…
Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022 Announces Complete Lineup
At venues across Osaka March 10 to 20 plus 10-film retrospective selection streaming worldwide March 3 to 21
Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022’s Japanese Films
Details on many of the Japanese films that will be screened at Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022
Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023 Announces Complete Lineup
In Osaka 10th to 19th March.
A Preview of the Japanese Films at Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024
A Preview of the Japanese Films at Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024 (March 01 – March 10) – trailers and synopses.
Suton すとん Director: Rikako Watanabe [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]
Suton すとん, by director Rikako Watanabe. is a quietly affecting character study where a young woman’s life is marked by the poignancy of aging and separation and also…
Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (2023) Director: Elene Naveriani [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]
Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (2023), by director Elene Naveriani, is a touching late coming-of-age film about a 48-year-old woman in a Georgian village growing into herself after a near-death…
On a Boat オン・ア・ボート (2024) Director: Heso [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]
Black comedy and painful humiliation abound as a mismatched couple vie for control in the black comedy On a Boat オン・ア・ボート (2024) Director: Heso [Osaka Asian Film Festival…
Bagmati River バグマティ リバー Dir: Yusaku Matsumoto (2021) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022] vcinema review
My rewrite of my review for Bagmati River バグマティ リバー Dir: Yusaku Matsumoto (2021) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
Green Jail 緑の牢獄 Dir: Huang Yin-yu [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
Green Jail 緑の牢獄 Dir: Huang Yin-yu [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
Over the Town 街の上で Dir: Rikiya Imaizumi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
A charming cringe comedy that takes place in Tokyo’s Shimokitazawa. Over the Town 街の上で Dir: Rikiya Imaizumi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
Sumiko 22 スミコ22 (2024) Director: Sawako Fukuoka [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024] Second Draft
Sumiko 22 スミコ22 (2024), sees editor/writer/director Sawako Fukuoka draw upon her own experiences to make a quirky comedy/drama about the everyday pressures and small-scale strangeness experienced b…
City of Wind (2023) Director: Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]
City of Wind (2023), by director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, is a perfectly-crafted portrait of Mongolian youth that looks at the way modernity and tradition, social order and individuality affect…
The Slug 태어나길 잘했어 (2020) Dir: Choi Jin-young (South Korea) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
Hands down, one of the best films at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021, I cried multiple times during this heartfelt film about overcoming existential loneliness. The Slug…
North Shinjuku 2055 北新宿2055 (2022) Dir: Daisuke Miyazaki [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
North Shinjuku 2055 北新宿2055 (2022) Dir: Daisuke Miyazaki [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
Boundary: Flaming Feminist Action 바운더리 Dir: Yun Ga-hyun (South Korea) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
Boundary: Flaming Feminist Action is a timely reminder 바운더리 Dir: Yun Ga-hyun (South Korea) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
Short Movie Time: Perfect・Nervous (2024) review [OAFF 2024]
An exquisitely crafted narrative that touchingly shows that a simple encounter, a simple exchange of signifiers, can turn a wish to die into a desire to life.
The Winter of 1905 (1981) Director: Yu Wei-Cheng [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]
The Winter of 1905 (1981), directed by Yu Wei-Cheng, is a solid dramatisation of Li Shutong’s time in Japan and the influences that would lead him to become…
Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022 – In Cinemas, Online, and International
Details on Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022 – It Plays In Cinemas and Online and the online part with be available to International Viewers!
Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022’s Opening and Closing Films
Details on Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022’s Opening and Closing Films – Yanagawa, Miss Osaka
POP! Director: Masashi Komura (2021) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
POP! provides a slightly surreal, slightly sweet existential crisis. POP! Director: Masashi Komura (2021) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
A New Wind Blows 新しい風 Dir: Yutaro Nakamura (2021) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
Fantasy and reality collide in the youth movie A New Wind Blows 新しい風 Dir: Yutaro Nakamura (2021) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
Keep Rolling 好好拍電影 Dir: Man Lim Chung (2020) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
The opening film of Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021 is KEEP ROLLING 好好拍電影 Dir: Man Lim Chung (2020), a documentary dedicated to Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui.
Performing KAORU’s Funeral カオルの葬式 Director: Noriko Yuasa [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]
Performing KAORU’s Funeral カオルの葬式 (Dir Noriko Yuasa) is a heady story of remembering an individual through pulling together memories. Amidst the farce and tears of the funeral lies a…
Wash Away うぉっしゅ Director: Ikunosuke Okazaki [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]
Wash Away うぉっしゅ, the sophomore feature by director Ikunosuke Okazaki, may have an unlikely premise but it works well as an existential examination of loneliness. It plays at…
A Rainbow-colored Trip にじいろトリップ Dir: Shinji Imaoka (2021) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
A Rainbow-colored Trip にじいろトリップ Dir: Shinji Imaoka (2021) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
Howling 遠吠え Dir: Sheikh M Haris (2022) V Cinema Show Review [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
Howling is a bleak comedy of the absurd and cruel kind with good acting and direction to sell the story. 遠吠え Dir: Sheikh M Haris (2022) [Osaka Asian Film…
Hong Kong Family 過時・過節 (2022) Dir: TSANG Hing Weng Eric [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]
Hong Kong Family by director Eric Tsang is a strong ensemble drama that shows he is a promising talent to watch. 過時・過節 (2022) Dir: TSANG Hing Weng Eric…
Joint ジョイント Director: Oudai Kojima (2020) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
Joint ジョイント Director: Oudai Kojima (2020) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021] is a refreshing take on the yakuza genre thanks to the depth of its world building and…
Out of TOKYO202x Director: Akinori Ikuse [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
A refreshing sci-fi short from Japan, Out of TOKYO202x takes the time-slip formula and uses it on the summer Olympics of 2021! Director: Akinori Ikuse [Osaka Asian Film Festival…
Egoist エゴイスト (2022) Dir: Daishi Matsunaga [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]
Egoist エゴイスト (2022) Dir: Daishi Matsunaga [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]
It Must Be Love 愛の茶番 Director: Junko Emoto [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]
It Must Be Love 愛の茶番, by director Junko Emoto, has actors give fun improvisational performances as egotistic characters driven crazy by love in a film-meets-theatre experiment. [Osaka Asian…
Sojourn to Shangri-la 是日访古 Director: Lin Yihan [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]
In “Sojourn to Shangri-la” 是日访古, director Lin Yihan uses the tragicomic event of a failed fashion shoot to slip into an exploration of the transcendent and mythological and…
The Burden of the Past 過去負う者 (2022) Dir: Atsushi Funahashi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]
The Burden of the Past by director Atsushi Funahashi is a fierce film about the failure of Japanese society to provide rehabilitation for former criminals. The Burden of the…
Along the Sea 海辺の彼女たち Dir: Akio Fujimoto (2020) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
A riveting look at the migrant experience through the travails of three Vietnamese women in Japan who travel along the sea to where they hope will be a…
Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022: 10 Japanese Films Online and Available Internationally
Details on the films programmed for the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022 Online Theater (Available Internationally)
December 赦し (2022) Director: Anshul Chauhan [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]
December 赦し is director Anshul Chauhan’s third feature film. An impressive courtroom drama, it takes us through a harrowing criminal trial that constantly keeps us empathising with and questi…
New Religion ニューレリジョン (2022) Director: Keishi Kondo [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]
New Religion ニューレリジョン is a highly-atmospheric horror film from Keishi Kondo who crafts an original story with distinct visuals. It’s one of the best J-horror films I have seen…