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 Past 過去負う者 (2022) Dir: …
Mar 13, 2023 • Subscribe
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The Burden of the Past (過去負う者, Atsushi Funahashi, 2023)
A series of former prisoners struggle to find a place for themselves after leaving prison in Atsushi Funahashi’s pressing docudrama.
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…
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.…
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
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]
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…
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…
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.
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…
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]
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]
Young Birds 雛鳥 Dir: Eriko Izumi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
Young Birds 雛鳥 Dir: Eriko Izumi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
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…
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…
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]
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…
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
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!
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]
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…
Sekai 世界 (2023) Director: Marina Tsukada [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]
Sekai 世界, directed by Marina Tsukada, is a rich portrait of two people living in Nagano prefecture. It gently guides us into their inner worlds and exploring them…
An Interview with Fumito Fujikawa, Director of The Light of Spring [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022/Five Flavours Film Festival 2022]
An Interview with Fumito Fujikawa, Director of The Light of Spring, a dramamentary that played at Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022 and is currently screening online at Five…
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]
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]
The Burden Of The Past (2023) review [OAFF 2023]
With his latest drama film, Funahashi’s delivers a contender for this year’s best Japanese film.
An Interview with Sae Suzuki, Director of Strangers [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
STRANGERS tackles gender discrimination and sexual harassment in a heartfelt and interesting way. Director Sae Suzuki talks about how she made it in an interview done in Japanese…
Out of TOKYO202x Director: Akinori Ikuse [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022] V-Cinema
A rewrite of my review of Out of TOKYO202x, a refreshing sci-fi short from Japan that takes the time-slip formula and uses it on the summer Olympics! Director: Akinori…
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…
The Narrow Road 窄路微塵 (2022) Director: LAM Sum [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]
The Narrow Road 窄路微塵 is director LAM Sum’s moving ode to working-class life in Hong Kong during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Narrow Road 窄路微塵 (2022) Director: LAM Sum…
New York Asian Film Festival 2023
Table of Contents For the third year in a row, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF)…
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]
Side by Side サイド バイ サイド 隣にいる人 (2023) Dir: Chihiro Ito [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]
Side by Side サイド バイ サイド 隣にいる人, by director Chihiro Ito, is a visually sumptuous film with a light supernatural story. Side by Side サイド バイ サイド 隣にいる人 (2023)…
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…
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)
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…
SANKA: Nomads of the Mountains 山歌 Director: Ryohei Sasatani [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
SANKA: Nomads of the Mountains 山歌 Director: Ryohei Sasatani [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
An Interview with Sheikh M Haris, Director of HOWLING [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
Get the background to the Japanese neo-noir black comedy HOWLING in this Interview with Sheikh M Haris, the Director [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
An Interview with Kahori Higashi, Director of Melting Sounds [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
An Interview with Kahori Higashi, Director of MOOSIC Lab affiliated film “Melting Sounds”. It is available in Japanese and English. [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
An Interview with Yusaku Matsumoto, Director of BAGMATI RIVER [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
An Interview with Yusaku Matsumoto, Director of BAGMATI RIVER [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
An Interview with Azusa Hieda, Director of Summer Wedding [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
SUMMER WEDDING is a short by Azusa Hieda that sees a relationship undergo a massive change due to isolation forced by the Covid-19 pandemic. You can read some…
An Interview with Kasho Iizuka, Director of ANGRY SON [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
An interview with Kasho Iizuka about the making of his film ANGRY SON, shown as part of Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022.
An Interview with Yuko Watanabe, Director of BOY SPROUTED [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
An interview with Yuko Watanabe, director of the short film BOY SPROUTED. You can read it in Japanese and English! [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022].
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.
Swallow Flying to the South 燕南飛 (2022) Director: Mochi Lin [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]
Swallow Flying to the South 燕南飛, from director Mochi Lin, is an emotionally moving stop-motion animation about her mother’s experiences at a school during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Won…
Strangers 人知れず Director: Sae Suzuki [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
Strangers 人知れず Director: Sae Suzuki [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022] is an effective look at how people can explore thorny issues such as sexual harassment and discrimination in…