Anime Blog Tracker

All the Long Nights (夜明けのすべて, Sho Miyake, 2024)

Mismatched colleagues struggling amid contemporary corporate culture find unexpected solidarity in Sho Miyake’s gentle human drama.

Windows on Worlds

Jun 15, 2024 • Subscribe

All The Long Nights (2024) review [Japan Cuts 2024]

A splendid drama that shows how symptoms can disturb a subject’s life and how the social field attains its cruel complexity due to the riddle of desire.

psycho-cinematography

Jul 20, 2024 • Subscribe

Remembering Every Night (すべての夜を思いだす, Yui Kiyohara, 2022)

A series of women wander around Tama New Town each searching for something in Yui Kiyohara’s wistful drama.

Windows on Worlds

Jul 2, 2023 • Subscribe

Rainbow Over the Pacific (夜明けの二人, Yoshitaro Nomura, 1968)

An unserious man begins to grow up while chasing love in Hawaii in a cheerful if ultimately downbeat musical celebration of the centenary of Japanese migration to Hawaii.

Windows on Worlds

Mar 1, 2023 • Subscribe

All About Lily Chou-Chou (リリイ・シュシュのすべて, Shunji Iwai, 2001)

Alienated turn of the century youth finds refuge in the music of an etherial pop star and online connection in Shunji Iwai’s elegiac youth drama.

Windows on Worlds

Dec 8, 2022 • Subscribe

Oni to Yoake Yuzikiyo (鬼と夜明け 夕月夜)

While shopping in random bookstores in Japan at the end of last year I kept seeing book,s with girls in school uniforms wielding swords. I did that thing…

Okazu

Feb 8, 2024 • Subscribe

Ju-On: Origins 呪怨: 呪いの家 Director: Sho Miyake (2020)

Ju-On: Origins 呪怨: 呪いの家 Director: Sho Miyake (2020) is a largely forgettable entry in the horror franchise.

Genkinahito

Dec 28, 2022 • Subscribe

Remembering Every Night/全ての夜を思い出す

In 2017, director Kiyohara Yui released her first feature film, Our House (私たちの家), and established herself as a talent to watch. Though that film at times felt a…

eiga files

Oct 26, 2023 • Subscribe

Anata no Yoru ga Aketera (あなたの夜が明けたら)

Anata no Yoru ga  Aketera (あなたの夜が明けたら), translated on the cover as After Sunrise, Haru Harukawa Collection is a collection of shorts by, obviously Harukawa Haru. Some of these…

Okazu

Oct 15, 2021 • Subscribe

Whale Bones 鯨の骨 (2023) Director: Takamasa Oe [Japan Cuts 2024]

Takamasa Oe’s social media mystery turns into a satire of living life online as a hapless website worker tries to find a missing AR girl in his beautifully…

Genkinahito

Jul 13, 2024 • Subscribe

SHUNGA: The Lost Japanese Erotica  春の画 SHUNGA (2023) Director: Junko Hirata [Nippon Connection 2024]

Junko Hirata’s gorgeous and informative documentary SHUNGA: The Lost Japanese Erotica  春の画 SHUNGA (2023) reclaims the erotic artform by showing the skill involved in making the prints and the…

Genkinahito

Jul 9, 2024 • Subscribe

Mirai

Ripples 波紋 (2023) Director: Naoko Ogigami [Nippon Connection 2024]

Ripples 波紋 (2023), written and directed by Naoko Ogigami, [Nippon Connection 2024] [Nippon Connection 2024]

Genkinahito

Jul 1, 2024 • Subscribe

A Look at Nippon Connection 2024 with Florian Höhr, the Festival’s Programmer [Nippon Connection 2024]

A Look at Nippon Connection 2024 with Florian Höhr, the Festival’s Programmer [Nippon Connection 2024] The festival takes place in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, from May 28 to…

Genkinahito

May 27, 2024 • Subscribe

LONESOME VACATION ロンサム　バケーション (2023) Director: Atsuro Shimoyashiro [Nippon Connection 2024]

LONESOME VACATION ロンサム　バケーション (2023), by director Atsuro Shimoyashiro, gains strength by playing against noir genre expectations and presents a heart-warming tale of people finding connection in ea…

Genkinahito

May 30, 2024 • Subscribe

Penalty Loop (2024) review [Nippon Connection 2024]

The way Araki resolves the narrative’s thematical questions concerning vengeance and the working-through of trauma will divide spectators

psycho-cinematography

Jun 17, 2024 • Subscribe

Kubi 首 (2023) Director: Takeshi Kitano [Japan Cuts 2024]

Kubi 首 (2023), directed by Takeshi Kitano, is a historical epic that amps up the violence and sex for satire’s sake as Kitano takes aim at the absurd samurai social…

Genkinahito

Jul 17, 2024 • Subscribe

A Preview of Nippon Connection 2024

Nippon Connection takes place in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, from May 28 to June 2, and there are expected to be around 100 shorts and features programmed. Here…

Genkinahito

May 14, 2024 • Subscribe

Early Announcements for Nippon Connection 2024

Nippon Connection takes place in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, from May 28 to June 2, and there are expected to be around 100 shorts and features programmed. Here…

Genkinahito

Apr 10, 2024 • Subscribe

Blue Giant, Phoenix, The Concierge

Alien’s Daydream 地球星人（エイリアン）は空想する (2023) Director: Yoshiki Matsumoto [Nippon Connection 2024]

Yoshiki Matsumoto’s Alien’s Daydream 地球星人（エイリアン）は空想する (2023) is a low-budget movie but goes from a mockumentary and multimedia flood aesthetic to utterly beautiful imagery that hints at…

Genkinahito

Jul 2, 2024 • Subscribe

Nippon Connection Confirms Full Lineup for 2024

In Frankfurt 28th May 2nd June

Windows on Worlds

May 15, 2024 • Subscribe

LONESOME VACATION ロンサム　バケーション (2023) Director: Atsuro Shimoyashiro [Nippon Connection 2024] Second Draft

LONESOME VACATION ロンサム　バケーション (2023), by director Atsuro Shimoyashiro, gains strength by playing against noir genre expectations and presents a heart-warming tale of people finding connection in ea…

Genkinahito

May 30, 2024 • Subscribe

The New Morning of Billy the Kid (ビリィ★ザ★キッドの新しい夜明け, Naoto Yamakawa, 1986)

A collection of pop culture icons attempt to safeguard a cafe bar/live house from an assault by savage gangsters in Yamakawa’s anarchic post-modern satire

Windows on Worlds

Nov 30, 2021 • Subscribe

Shigeru

Small, Slow But Steady (ケイコ 目を澄ませて, Sho Miyake, 2022)

An aspiring boxer begins to lose the will to fight in Sho Miyake’s empathetic character study.

Windows on Worlds

Oct 5, 2022 • Subscribe

Secret: A Hidden Score (2024) review [Nippon connection 2024]

Spectators who like piano and pianists might find something to enjoy in this emotionally impotent narrative.

psycho-cinematography

Jun 19, 2024 • Subscribe

Yin Yang Master Zero (2024) review [Nippon Connection 2024]

A fantastical visual experience like no other.

psycho-cinematography

Jun 8, 2024 • Subscribe

Visitors – Complete Edition 悪魔がはらわたでいけにえで私 (2024) Director: Kenichi Ugana [Nippon Connection 2024]

Visitors – Complete Edition 悪魔がはらわたでいけにえで私 (2024), by director Kenichi Ugana, serves as an affectionate love letter to splatter horror of the 80s with lots of references to classics like Evil…

Genkinahito

Jun 24, 2024 • Subscribe

Kubi 首 (2023) Director: Takeshi Kitano, Shuta Takahata [Japan Cuts 2024]

Kubi 首 (2023), directed by Takeshi Kitano, is a historical epic that amps up the violence and sex for satire’s sake as Kitano takes aim at the absurd samurai social…

Genkinahito

Jul 17, 2024 • Subscribe

JAPAN CUTS Announces 2024 Lineup

At Japan Society New York from July 10 to 21

Windows on Worlds

Jul 3, 2024 • Subscribe

22nd Nippon Connection: Recommendations

This list does not only reveal the variety of unique perspectives that mark Japanese Cinema, but also echoes that what directors, from a cinematic perspective, put into question…

psycho-cinematography

May 22, 2022 • Subscribe

18×2 Beyond Youthful Days (2024) review [Nippon Connection 2024]

Fujii proves that the tropes of the romance genre can still be exploited in a refreshing and emotionally satisfying manner.

psycho-cinematography

Jun 13, 2024 • Subscribe

Blue Imagine ブルーイマジン Director: Urara Matsubayashi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024 / Japan Cuts 2024]

Director Urara Matsubayashi makes a definitive #MeToo film for the Japanese film industry with her sincere and complex drama Blue Imagine ブルーイマジン [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024 / Japan…

Genkinahito

Jul 18, 2024 • Subscribe

Special - Japan Cuts Film Festival 2024

  Table of Contents Hello everyone, Once again this year, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the Japan Cuts 2024 film…

Heroic Purgatory

Jul 21, 2024 • Subscribe

Kubi (2023) review [Japan Cuts 2024]

One of best period dramas in recent years.

psycho-cinematography

Jul 3, 2024 • Subscribe

A Preview of Nippon Connection 2021: Nippon Visions

A preview of Nippon Connection 2021: the films of the Nippon Visions section – Company Retreat, Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes , Daughters, It’s a Summer Film, Sasaki…

Genkinahito

May 26, 2021 • Subscribe

School Days

A Preview of Nippon Connection 2021: Nippon Cinema

A Preview of Nippon Connection 2021: Nippon Cinema: Can’t Stop the Dancing, The Day of Destruction, To the Ends of the Earth, Under the Open Sky, A Girl Missing,…

Genkinahito

May 25, 2021 • Subscribe

A Preview of Nippon Connection 2021: Nippon Cinema

A Preview of Nippon Connection 2021: Nippon Cinema: Can’t Stop the Dancing, The Day of Destruction, To the Ends of the Earth, Under the Open Sky, A Girl Missing,…

Genkinahito

May 25, 2021 • Subscribe

Special A

Nippon Connection 2021: our recommendations

“While we of course encourage the audience to explore the many films this rich festival has to offer, we do want to introduce our recommendations, films that we…

psycho-cinematography

May 30, 2021 • Subscribe

December (2023) review [Nippon Connection]

A highly moving and emotionally powerful narrative that explores the struggle of a subject to shake of the winter of his subjectivity.

psycho-cinematography

Jun 24, 2023 • Subscribe

Kanon

Intolerance (2021) [22nd Nippon Connection]

Yoshida’s narrative hits all the right emotional notes for the audience and that its message will long linger in the spectator’s mind.

psycho-cinematography

Jun 4, 2022 • Subscribe

Backlight (2021) [22nd Nippon Connection]

An elegantly constructed and highly impactful exploration of the inhibiting fear of being rejected by one’s beloved.

psycho-cinematography

Jun 1, 2022 • Subscribe

Festival Report: Nippon Connection 2012

by Marc Saint-Cyr Those initially scanning the program for the 12th Nippon Connection film festival , hosted in Frankfurt, Germany from...

Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow

May 15, 2012 • Subscribe

Jumping, Mirai

Thousand and One Nights (千夜、一夜, Nao Kubota, 2022)

Two women are united by the search for answers in the disappearances of their husbands but take very different paths in Nao Kubota’s melancholy tale of unanswerable longing.

Windows on Worlds

Feb 11, 2023 • Subscribe

The End of the Pale Hour (明け方の若者たち, Hana Matsumoto, 2021)

Dejected youngsters flounder amid the ruins of the salaryman dream in Hana Matsumoto’s youthful drama.

Windows on Worlds

Jun 6, 2022 • Subscribe

Motion Picture: Choke 映画（窒息) (2023) Director: Gen Nagao [Japan Cuts 2024]

Gen Nagao’s Motion Picture: Choke 映画（窒息) (2023), is a complete surprise with its post-apocalyptic dialogue-free story centred on a cavewoman and sterling action set pieces [Japan Cuts 2024]…

Genkinahito

Jul 11, 2024 • Subscribe

Short Movie Time: Bottle George (2024) [Japan Cuts 2024]

An instant stop-motion classic

psycho-cinematography

Jun 26, 2024 • Subscribe

Bolt (2020) review [Nippon Connection 2021]

“A great narrative by Kaizo Hayashi that explores, via the structure fiction, the truth of three different affects – responsibility, guilt, and sadness through loss – during and…

psycho-cinematography

Jun 11, 2021 • Subscribe

Popran (2022) review [22nd Nippon Connection]

“A great narrative that questions in a light-hearted way the relation between the male subject and his member as well as the role the real member plays within…

psycho-cinematography

Jun 13, 2022 • Subscribe

His (2020) review [Nippon Connection 2021]

A touching and heartwarming romance drama that captivates the spectator not only because it’s driven by romantic feelings feel genuine, but also because the truth of love is…

psycho-cinematography

Jul 8, 2021 • Subscribe

Egoist (2022) review [Nippon Connection 2023]

Matsunaga’s heartfelt and heart-breaking narrative goes beyond the gay-dynamic to show that the lack that injures the subject complicates and radically determines the way he approaches the object…

psycho-cinematography

Jun 14, 2023 • Subscribe

Bakumatsu Joshikousei – Oni to Yoake, Volume 1 (幕末女子高生 鬼と夜明け　一)

Back a the beginning of the year, I reviewed the second volume of a sequel to this series, Oni to Yoake Yuzikiyo (鬼と夜明け 夕月夜). Given that I knew…

Okazu

Oct 31, 2024 • Subscribe

High School Girls, High School Girls Specials, Maku