[The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] The Criterion Channel’s synopsis of Hideo Gosha’s Death Shadow’s...

[The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] A Cynthia Rothrock vehicle is currently featured on the front page of the...

AKUTAGAWA opens with the construction of a puppet. As the eponymous author writes feverishly, pausing only to puff on his cigarette and...

[The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] In An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe...

Nearly a decade after being fired by Nikkatsu for his “incomprehensible” style, Seijun Suzuki returned to the studio system to direct A...

[The following essay exaggerates my opinions for comedic effect; please don’t take it too seriously.] Back in high school, I wrote a...

[The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Like we discussed yesterday, I really want you all to focus on...

[The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera has been adapted to other media...

Under certain circumstances, even the most familiar of spaces can seem utterly terrifying. When you’re trapped in your own home for weeks...

Like The Shape of Water and First Reformed, Broker is a cinematic Rosetta Stone, clarifying the central themes that pervade Hirokazu...

[The following essay contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] How does a totalitarian regime solidify its reign? Through fear and...

[The following list contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Way back in 2020, I wrote: I firmly believe that a villain is only...

[The following list contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] De Guiche (Cyrano): A pompous, foppish aristocrat that wields his...

[The following essay contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Traditionally, adaptations of Pinocchio revolve around naughty...

Whether you like it or not, you’re intimately familiar with the various episodes of A Christmas Story’s plot. The shattered leg lamp. The...

Violent Night shouldn’t be nearly as good as it is. How can a film best summarized as “Die Hard, but starring the real Santa Claus” be...

[The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Based solely on the list of Hideo Gosha titles available on the Criterion...

[The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] In the opening scene of Shunji Iwai’s April Story, a college-bound...

The protagonist of Shunji Iwai’s All About Lily Chou-Chou frequently claims that the eponymous (fictional) musician draws inspiration...

As I watched Japan Society’s recent screening of Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?, I gradually realized that I...