Like many of Japan’s finest animated features (particularly those produced by Studio Ghibli), Okko’s Inn is so elegantly simple and...

[The following observations were originally posted to my Twitter account on August 22, 2020. However, as the character limit is no longer...

Yes, even Hong Kong’s venerable Shaw Brothers Studio tried to capitalize on the ninja craze of the 1980s. The very novelty of Five...

Thanks to COVID-19, this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival is exclusively online! I was looking forward to exploring the...

A film’s setting shouldn’t simply lie flat on the screen; it is, after all, a character in and of itself, and must therefore be imbued...

[ The following observations were originally posted to Twitter on May 13, 2020. The text has been reproduced here with minor revisions...

Tonight, I revisited Rugrats in Paris: The Movie for the first time in… oh, probably decades. Here are a few random, disconnected...

Synopsis: A sadistic serial killer stalks the sleepy suburbs of South Florida, targeting young children. The homicide detective assigned...

Premise: Nearly ten years have passed since the Teen Titans disbanded. The tragic circumstances surrounding the team’s dissolution have...

Recently, browsing Netflix has become a torturous exercise; I don’t know whether I should blame the limited selection of films or my own...

Plot Synopsis: Finn (David Harbour) is a salmon that refuses to swim upstream. Clawdia (Zendaya) is a young grizzly bear that refuses to...

How does one approach describing a cinematic experience as singularly unique as Leningrad Cowboys Go America? Watching it is like...

[ The following observations were originally posted to my Twitter account. The text is reproduced here with minor edits for clarity. ] I...

Synopsis: After Mongol invaders wipe out his entire clan, samurai Jin Sakai is forced to confront the fact that his rigid “code of honor”...

[The following analysis contains MAJOR SPOILERS; you have been warned!] Contrary to their ostensible purpose—i.e., to depict an accurate...

Decided to cap off Japan Cuts 2020 with yet another short film double feature: See You on the Other Side: Director Yoko Yamanaka...

In Tora-san, My Uncle, the forty-second episode of Yoji Yamada’s long-running Tora-san series, the eponymous peddler surrenders the role...

Tora-san Meets the Songstress Again, the fifteenth entry in Shochiku’s sprawling Tora-san saga, begins with the eponymous peddler...

Continued to make the most out of Japan Cuts’ online edition with a screening of Mrs. Noisy, a thoroughly engrossing film that spins a...

A huge portion of this year’s Japan Cuts lineup is dedicated to honoring the legacy of the late Nobuhiko Obayashi—painter, pianist,...