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.
Mar 26, 2024 • Subscribe
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Short Movie Time: On a Boat (2024) review [OAFF 2024]
The exploration of the frail stability of an obsessional neurotic does not miss its impact on the spectator.
Short Movie Time: Ririka of the Star (2024) review [OAFF 2024]
A narrative that does not merely emphasize the beauty of moving female body, but reveals that such beauty can change subjects.
Short Movie Time: Outsourcing (2022) review [OAFF 2022]
“A very satisfying satirical short thta shows that, within the job-seeking process, only the image matters.”
Short Movie Time: Kanro (2023) [OAFF 2023]
A simple but effective short that explores inter-subjective distance and the desire to bridge it in a surprising and satisfying way.
Short Movie Time: Bagmati River (2022) review [OAFF 2022]
“A beautiful poetic short that elegantly plays with the contrast between life and death.”
Short Movie Time: TOMA #2 (2023) [OAFF 2023]
A touching narrative that explores the difficulty for the subject to give the Othering effect of dementia on a family member a place
Short Movie Time: Detouring Blue (2023) (OAFF 2023)
A highly recommended short that touchingly shows that what dooms the subject to the de-subjectifying effect of the societal Other or to the birth of a subjective deadlock…
Short movie time: North Shinjuku 2055 (2021) review [OAFF 2022]
“A pleasant experimental short.”
Short Movie Time: Neu Mirrors (2024) review
Keishi Kondo offers the spectator an unsettling illustration of the Lacanian gaze.
Short Movie Review: Natsuko (2020) [OAFF 2022]
“A splendid debut by Shuna Iijima.”
Short Movie Time: Shall We Love You? (2022) [OAFF 2023]
A nice little heart-warming short that questions the connection between love and happiness.
Short Movie Time: After Winter, the Tamaki Family… (2023) [OAFF 2023]
A genuine and heartfelt tribute the grandmother of the Tamaki family
Short Movie Time: Bottle George (2024) [Japan Cuts 2024]
An instant stop-motion classic
Short Movie time: Canary (2023) review
Taka Jeremy Tsubota confirms his talent as director.
Short Movie Time: Hail Mary (2023) review [Japan Cuts 2024]
Nakamura succeeds in making the spectator care for Maria and impact him/her emotionally with her tragedy.
Short Movie Time: Nezumikozō Jirokichi (2023) review [Japan Cuts 2024]
The mix of elements supports the film’s aim well, that is to entice spectators to seek out the three films that remain from this somewhat forgotten master
Short Movie Time: Social Circles (2023) review [Japan Cuts 2024]
A highly experimental and conceptual experience that might not be for everyone
Perfect Nervous (2024) Dir: Masaru Sano [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]
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…
Short Movie Time: Kaiju Girl (2022) review
A pleasant short about the need to find a desire to be able to give direction to one’s subject.
Short movie time: Norioka Workshop (2022) review
A great short film that illustrates the necessity as well as the inherent danger of the imaginary dimension in social interactions.
Suton (2024) review [OAFF 2024]
Rikako Watanabe’s narrative succeeds to echo the unvocalized ‘pandemic’ truth of many.
Snowdrop (2024) review [OAFF 2024]
A complex character portrait that touchingly illustrates how easy it is to misrecognize the logic of the subject-supposed-to-be-in-need.
Amalock (2024) review [OAFF 2024]
A narrative that fluidly combines comedy and tragedy to deliver an experience of smiles and tears.
Short Movie Time: Yamome (2018)
A pleasant short film that highlights that deception in romance finds its ultimate support in the subject’s desire to be loved.
Short Movie Time: Transmission (2019)
A short experiment that succeeds in engaging the spectator and keep him on the edge of his seat until the very end.
Blue Imagine (2024) review [OAFF 2024]
A powerful reminder of the sexual transgressions that structurally plague the Japanese film industry
Sumiko 22 (2024) review [OAFF 2024]
A subtle but playful narrative about a subject who slowly tries to crawl out the hole of emptiness and diminished self-worth.
Wash Away (2024) review [OAFF 2024]
A pleasant narrative that offers a fresh but familiar exploration of the subject’s fundamental desire for recognition/love and the problematic yet medicative function of consumption.
Short Movie time: Psychology counsellor (2021)
“A thrilling masterpiece.”
Short Movie Time: Honeymoon (2021) review [Japan Cuts 2021]
“A pleasing narrative about the arbitrariness of language and culture.”
Short Movie Time: Necessary & unnecessary (2022) review [JFFH 2023]
A quirky little narrative that explores the necessity of forming inter-subjective social bonds.
Short Movie Time: Glitch (2022) [JFFH 2023]
A pleasant horror-action that beautifully shows that what can poison the subject is the Other he is subjected to.
Short Movie Time: Kyonetsu (2017) [JFFH 2020]
An impressive narrative that, due to its short runtime, leaves the spectator wanting more.
Short Movie Time: How Beautiful Japanese Morning Is (2011) review
By relying on silence to emphasize his elegantly created visual association, Suita succeeds in delivering a quite ironic exploration of the beauty of a Japanese morning.
Short movie Time: The Stolen Ocean (2022) review [JFFH 2022]
Noaya Asanuma proves that he has a creative voice worth listening too.
Short Movie Time: The Fish With One Sleeve (2021) review
“Tokaibayashi Tsuyoshi delivers an important narrative that reveals how a societal system, which struggles with the newly-posed riddle of gender, problematizes the integration of the transgen…
Short Movie Time: Born Pisces (2020) review [Japan Cuts 2021]
“Yamanaka does not only reaffirm that she has talent but also that she improved her compositional style and her storytelling.”
Short movie time: Reason To Oblivion (2021) review [JFFH 2022]
A pleasant horror short-narrative that showcases Miyahara’s talent.
Faraway Family (2023) review [OAFF 2024]
A very touching narrative that explores the frail position of the father and how his structural failure can cause subjective struggles and inhibitions.
Memories of this Scent (2024) review [OAFF 2024]
An endearing and fragrance rich tale of subjective change.
Short movie time: Laundromat on the Corner (2020)
“A very pleasant horror-romance short narrative.”
Short Movie Time: Sad Girl (2021) [JFFH 2023]
A pleasant comical romance narrative.
Short Movie Time: Go Seppukku Yourselves (2021) review [Japan Cuts 2021]
“An enthralling audiovisual experience and a powerful critique of the Japanese political system.”
Performing Kaoru’s Funeral (2023) review [OAFF 2024]
Yuasa’s narrative shows that the unavoidable presence of death during a funeral can allow a subject to re-route his own trajectory.
Short Movie Time: Bath House of Whales (2019) review [Japan Cuts 2020]
Introduction Mizuki Kiyama’s graduation short film Bath House of Whales is a creative reworking of her memories of accompanying her mother, a person of Korean descent living in…
Short Movie Time: My Wings Became My Legs (2022) review [JFHH 2023]
A pleasant comical short that highlights that the idea of adulthood is a suffocating but unattainable ideal.
Short Movie Time: Kitten (2022) review [Skip City International D-Cinema Festival]
Yamaguchi elegantly underlines the importance of showing one’s Otherness to the other and the problematic nature of succumbing to the seduction of deceiving oneself by reflecting sameness to…
Short Movie Time: Similarity (2022) review [Skip City International D-Cinema Festival]
A highly enjoyable short by Kiichiro Kimura.
Short Movie Reviews
Havent done one of these in a while. *** American History X - 5.5/10. Ah yes, this movie about a guys transformation into a Neo-Nazi and later reformation.…
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…