O'GRADY FILM

My busy work schedule prevented me from catching At Eternity’s Gate during its initial theatrical run back in 2018. Fortunately, the film...

[The following essay contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] On Saint Patrick’s Day, I watched Fatal Deviation—which proudly...

[The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] It’s remarkable how changing a single ingredient can significantly...

[The following essay contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Things change, Harold. Don't get nostalgic. Look to the future....

The Long Good Friday is the perfect anti-mystery story. The plot revolves around Harold Shand (played by Bob Hoskins at his brutish...

Imagine Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale. Now, replace most of the physical bloodshed with psychological warfare—a tense game of mental...

Mika Ninagawa began her career as a photographer, and that background is clearly evident in Sakuran, her directorial debut. Every frame...

On paper, the premise of Air Doll (an inflatable sex doll somehow develops sentience and proceeds to wander the streets of Tokyo) sounds...

For his latest mind-bending cinematic acid trip, Sion Sono couldn’t have chosen a more appropriate title than Red Post on Escher Street....

Despite his recent efforts to distance himself from the label, Kiyoshi Kurosawa is still best known as a “J-horror” director. Unlike his...

Japan Society is currently hosting an online retrospective celebrating the past twenty years of Japanese cinema, spotlighting a wide...

Apparently, American International Pictures’ The Masque of the Red Death has been available on the Criterion Channel for quite some time,...

In some movies, the setting can be as much of a protagonist as any human character. The Ladykillers, produced by Ealing Studios in 1955,...

One of the first images in Tsai Ming-Liang’s Goodbye, Dragon Inn is an establishing shot of the Fu-Ho, an old-school cinema in Taiwan....

I tend to focus on Japan Society’s film program, but it’s far more than just a cinema; it’s a full-on cultural enrichment center,...

I wouldn’t call Raining in the Mountain King Hu’s most spiritual work, but it is the film in which his Buddhist philosophy is most...

Watched Zappa via Angelika Film Center’s online streaming platform. I’d characterize most of Alex Winter’s previous directorial efforts...

How can I possibly describe Paranoia Agent? Like much of creator Satoshi Kon’s critically-acclaimed work (Perfect Blue, Paprika,...

Watched Edo Avant Garde, a fascinating documentary about the innovative byobu (folding screen) art produced during Japan's period of...

What is In & of Itself? Well, in the literal sense, it’s the latest film from director and occasional Muppeteer Frank Oz. Before that, it...