Kidofuji (2023) Director: Atsuro Shimoyashiro by Genkinahito / Anime Blog Tracker

LONESOME VACATION (Atsuro Shimoyashiro, 2023)

A rockabilly detective is on the trail of lost love in Atsuro Shimoyashiro’s melancholy mystery drama.

Windows on Worlds

Jun 3, 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

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

An Interview with Atsuro Shimoyashiro about his film “KIDOFUJI”

Atsuro Shimoyashiro kindly answered a lot of questions about his short film “Kidofuji” in English and Japanese. A drama and comedy, it conveys the atmosphere of the titular…

Genkinahito

May 15, 2023 • Subscribe

Border 경계 (2023) Director: Mai Nakanishi

Border 경계 is an effective micro-budget horror short from director Mai Nakanishi who takes us into a twisted home invasion situation that ends on a disquieting note that…

Genkinahito

Mar 9, 2023 • Subscribe

MAD CATS (2023) Director: Reiki Tsuno

A Review of MAD CATS, the Third Window Films release on Blu-ray and Digital Formats! It came out on January 29th!

Genkinahito

Feb 12, 2024 • Subscribe

Raging Grace (2023) Director: Paris Zarcilla [Chicago International Film Festival 2023]

Raging Grace (2023), by director Paris Zarcilla, cleverly offers a balance of social commentary and historical horror that emerges in the experiences of a carer living in present-day…

Genkinahito

Dec 11, 2023 • Subscribe

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…

Genkinahito

Mar 11, 2023 • Subscribe

Before Anyone Else (2023) Director: Tetsuya Mariko [Chicago International Film Festival 2023]

Before Anyone Else (2023), by director Tetsuya Mariko, is a very atmospheric and well-acted short film set in Chicago. A gritty and believable ride done with restraint and…

Genkinahito

Dec 4, 2023 • 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

Monster 怪物 (2023) Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda [Chicago International Film Festival 2023]

Monster 怪物 (2023), by director Hirokazu Kore-eda, is a Rashomon-like story about how misapprehension can cause problems and hide people’s suffering. [Chicago International Film Festival 2023]…

Genkinahito

Dec 25, 2023 • Subscribe

Concrete Utopia 콘크리트 유토피아 (2023) Director: Um Tae-hwa [Chicago International Film Festival 2023]

Concrete Utopia 콘크리트 유토피아 (2023), directed by Um Tae-hwa, is a disaster movie that marries together an apocalyptic earthquake and the dog-eat-dog world of home ownership in Korea. [Chicago…

Genkinahito

Dec 18, 2023 • Subscribe

Bear Man 웅남이 (2023) Director: Park Sung-kwang [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]

Bear Man 웅남이 (2023), by director Park Sung-kwang, is a solid comedy/action/crime film about bears that turn into men. It makes good on its premise and offers an…

Genkinahito

Jul 17, 2023 • Subscribe

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

Hail to Hell 지옥만세 (2023) Director: Lim Oh-jeong [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]

Hail to Hell 지옥만세 (2023), by director Lim Oh-jeong, is a glimpse into the harsh and dark aspects of Korean society and the people who prey on the…

Genkinahito

Jul 28, 2023 • Subscribe

Mountain Woman 山女 (2023) Director: Takeshi Fukunaga [New York Asian Film Festival 2023] 2

Mountain Woman 山女 (2023), by director Takeshi Fukunaga (Ainu Mosir), is an atmospheric drama about outcasts struggling in a small famine-hit village in Tohoku, circa the late 18th Century.…

Genkinahito

Jul 24, 2023 • Subscribe

Mirai

Killing Romance 킬링 로맨스 (2023) Director: Lee Won-Suk [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]

Genkinahito

Jul 14, 2023 • Subscribe

Gon

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

An Interview with Tetsuya Mariko, Director of Before Anyone Else (2023) [Chicago International Film Festival 2023]

An Interview with “Before Anyone Else” (2023) director Tetsuya Mariko, where he goes into the making of his atmospheric film. [Chicago International Film Festival 2023]

Genkinahito

Dec 4, 2023 • Subscribe

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…

Genkinahito

Mar 16, 2023 • Subscribe

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…

Genkinahito

Mar 12, 2023 • Subscribe

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…

Genkinahito

Mar 6, 2024 • 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

Director Spotlight #13:

Dir. SHIOTA Akihiko (The World of You) Born in Maizuru City, Kyoto Prefecture in 1961, Shiota has been a regular participant in the…

News - Chicago Japan Film Collective

May 14, 2022 • Subscribe

Canary, Dororo, Dororo, Dororo Pilot

Director Spotlight #12:

Dir. NISHIKORI Yoshinari (The Takatsu River) Film director and screenwriter. Born in January 1962 in Izumo, the birthplace of Kabuki, Sake and Sumo…

News - Chicago Japan Film Collective

May 14, 2022 • Subscribe

Izumo, Nichijou - My Ordinary Life: Episode 0, Nichijou - My Ordinary Life

Director Spotlight #11:

Dir. SATO Yoshinori (Shinjuku Tiger) Yoshinori Sato was born in Aichi, Japan on February 1975. After graduating high school, he went to the…

News - Chicago Japan Film Collective

May 14, 2022 • Subscribe

Where Love Goes 愛のゆくえ (2023) Director: Fuka Miyajima [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]

Where Love Goes 愛のゆくえ, from director Fuka Miyajima, is a rich story about love that takes a girl from Hokkaido to Tokyo and back, by way of magical realism.…

Genkinahito

Mar 15, 2023 • Subscribe

The Abandoned 查無此心 Director: Tseng Ying-ting (2023) [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]

The Abandoned 查無此心, by director: Tseng Ying-ting (2023), is a solid serial killer film that finds originality in its milieu of illegal immigrants and in the theme of…

Genkinahito

Aug 2, 2023 • Subscribe

A Tour Guide 믿을 수 있는 사람 (2023) Director: Kwak Eun-mi [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]

A Tour Guide 믿을 수 있는 사람 (2023), by director Kwak Eun-mi, offers a compelling character study of a North Korean defector slowly becoming alienated from those around…

Genkinahito

Jul 19, 2023 • Subscribe

Mayhem Girls メイヘムガールズ (2022) Director: Shinichi Fujita [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]

Mayhem Girls メイヘムガールズ (2022), by director Shinichi Fujita, is a fun youth story of girls finding self-confidence and a place in a world where everyday pressures and Covid-19 affect…

Genkinahito

Jul 26, 2023 • Subscribe

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…

Genkinahito

Mar 4, 2024 • Subscribe

Director Spotlight #10: “Underdogs”

Dir. KUMETA Tsuyoshi (Underdogs) Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1969. Graduated from the Department of Sociology and Cultural Anthropology at…

News - Chicago Japan Film Collective

Jun 14, 2023 • Subscribe

Director Spotlight #7: “Resonance”

Dir. TANAKA Toshinori (Resonance) Born in 1981 in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima, Japan, Tanaka is a Filmmaker, a Lecturer at Fukuyama University, and the…

News - Chicago Japan Film Collective

Jun 13, 2023 • Subscribe

Meet Director Koji Uehara

Unbound by genre or convention, Uehara is actively involved in both mainstream and underground music, primarily in the Kansai area. He is the vocalist of a rock…

News - Chicago Japan Film Collective

May 11, 2022 • Subscribe

Director Digest: Seiji Kishi

Overview of the director roles Seiji Kishi has had in anime series

Anime Rants

Jul 6, 2021 • Subscribe

Meet Director HASEGAWA Tomofumi

Since 1990, Hasegaw has been active as a stage director and also worked as a designer on animated TV series such as "Activ Raid," "Hand Red," and "Slave…

News - Chicago Japan Film Collective

May 10, 2022 • Subscribe

Meet Director TANAKA Daiki

Born in Tokyo in 1994, freelance film director, Tanaka, is a graduate of Nihon University College of Art's film directing course. Tanaka’s genre-defying thesis film, Filament, won awards…

News - Chicago Japan Film Collective

May 13, 2022 • Subscribe

Director Digest: Tsutomu Mizushima

Who is Tsutomu Mizushima and what awesome anime series did he direct?

Anime Rants

Jan 2, 2021 • Subscribe

Director Spotlight: Takayuki Hirao

One of the most promising young anime directors that has come on the scene during the last decade is Takayuki Hirao [平尾隆之], who first came into my…

Ani no Miyako

Aug 29, 2011 • Subscribe

Meet Director ABERA Hidenobu

Japanese actor and film director, was born in BABEL LABEL, New York, USA and raised in Osaka, Japan. Abera directed, wrote, and starred in "A Naked Boy Eager…

News - Chicago Japan Film Collective

May 11, 2022 • Subscribe

Girl from Phantasia

Director Spotlight #10: “Qualia”

Born in 1980, he first gained recognition as a finalist in the 1996 Junon Super Boy Contest, leading to work primarily as a model in advertising. In 2001,…

News - Chicago Japan Film Collective

20 days ago • Subscribe

Director Spotlight #3: “Cafune”

Dir. KINEMURA Haruki (New Director) (Cafune) Born in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture in 2001, Japan. After enrolling in Osaka University…

News - Chicago Japan Film Collective

Jun 11, 2023 • Subscribe

Jinsei - Life Consulting

Meet Director TSUTSUMI Yukihiko

Yukihiko Tsutsumi born in 1955 is one of the most successful film directors in the Japanese film industry. His 40-year career started as a director of TV programs,…

News - Chicago Japan Film Collective

May 12, 2022 • Subscribe

Meet Director MINAKUCHI Monzo

Born in Tokyo on July 19, 1997, MINAKUCHI Monzo graduated from Musashino Art University. His films and music videos have screened widely and have received awards at various…

News - Chicago Japan Film Collective

May 10, 2022 • Subscribe

Musashi

Meet Director UENISHI Yudai

Born in Osaka in 1964, actor, scriptwriter, film director, and president of 10ANTS, Uenishi has been active mainly on the stage in the Kansai region since the establishment…

News - Chicago Japan Film Collective

May 13, 2022 • Subscribe

Meet Director UMEZAKI Yo

Umezaki joined TV Tokyo in 1989. After working as a news and sports reporter, directed a number of nature documentaries on such places as the Himalayas and a…

News - Chicago Japan Film Collective

May 13, 2022 • Subscribe

Director Digest: Shinichiro Watanabe

Welcome, dear readers! My blog series Director Digest will take a look at a selected anime director each time. In this case, it’s Shinichiro Watanabe, and very famous…

Anime Rants

Feb 20, 2021 • Subscribe

Meet Director MIZOGUCHI Naomi

After working at a film production company in Japan, Mizoguchi went freelance in 1995, and has since created various films, including documentaries for TV, promotional videos, and short…

News - Chicago Japan Film Collective

May 10, 2022 • Subscribe

Director Spotlight #2: “Backlight”

Dir. SUDO Ren (New Director) (Backlight) Born in Tokyo in 1996. While studying law at Keio University, he began working as a…

News - Chicago Japan Film Collective

Jun 10, 2023 • Subscribe

Yowamushi Pedal

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

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