Takumi Saito plays a version of himself raising “capsule kaiju” as means of combatting Covid helplessness in Iwai’s whimsical pandemic drama
Aug 13, 2021 • Subscribe
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April Story (四月物語, Shunji Iwai, 1998)
A diffident young woman begins to step into herself while chasing love under the blossoming cherry trees of Tokyo in Shunji Iwai’s impossibly charming drama.
The Man Who Died Seven Times / 七回死んだ男
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Interview: Shunji Iwai
By Andrew Osmond. The delightful comedy-drama The Case of Hana & Alice is a kind of anime, except that it was filmed first in live-action, then converted into…
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Gossip and petty prejudice give rise to a series of “misunderstandings” in Koreeda’s probing drama.
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A former burglar finds himself conflicted on realising only he can prevent a miscarriage of justice in Satsuo Yamamoto’s ironic tale of post-war moral confusion
夏物語
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Two lost women are forced to deal with the recent and not so recent past through the serendipitous connection of a misdirected letter in Shunji Iwai’s tremendously moving…
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A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness (悲愁物語, Seijun Suzuki, 1977)
An aspiring golfer begins to lose her sense of identity after being picked up as a brand ambassador in Seijun Suzuki’s surreal consumerist satire.
のだ
A subtle but important tip for written Japanese - How to Japanese - August 2023
What to Do With the Dead Kaiju? (大怪獣のあとしまつ, Satoshi Miki, 2022) [Fantasia 2022]
A fallen kaiju presents a new problem for the governing authorities in Satoshi Miki’s satirical comedy.
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.
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A young man walks into an empty subway station already ominously strewn with blood and finds there the corpse of a woman shorn of her limbs. The corpse…
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Japan Society Presents Love Letters: Four Films by Shunji Iwai
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An emotionally arrested journalist begins to reconnect with the past through wartime stories of Nagaoka in Obayashi’s compassionate plea for a kinder future
野獣死すべし OST - Akihiko Takashima
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An aimless young man embarks on a spiritual journey after being sent to Mongolia to look for the daughter his grandfather left behind 70 years previously in the…
12 Days 2020, Day 8: Penguin Musume, the MAD
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The Fish Tale (さかなのこ, Shuichi Okita, 2022) [Fantasia 2022]
The infinite enthusiasm of a fish obsessive gradually brightens the world around them in Shuichi Okita’s charming portrait of an eccentric.
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An Osaka Story (大阪物語, Kozaburo Yoshimura, 1957)
A man who tries to escape his poverty ends up imprisoning himself in Kozaburo Yoshimura’s tragicomedy
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A sociopathic serial killing literature student runs rings around an ideologically divided police force in a grimy post-Sun Tribe Toho noir from Eizo Sugawa
Dodes’ka-den (どですかでん, Akira Kurosawa, 1970)
The denizens of a small slum on the outskirts of the modern city live largely on wilful self-delusion in Kurosawa’s first experimentation with colour.
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Uraroji Romanya Monogatari (裏路地浪漫屋物語)
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Two young people experience a crisis of youth after discovering their apartment block is to be torn down in Yutaka Tsunemachi’s indie drama.
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The narrative might not offer anything new at a thematical level, but stands out due to his refusal to spell things out and, instead, imply certain subjective truths…
Hello! Tapir (嗨!神獸, Kethsvin Chee, 2020) [Fantasia 2021]
A small boy begins to process grief and loss while searching for nightmare-eating tapirs in Kethsvin Chee’s charmingly retro fantasy adventure