Review: I Am What I Am
I Am What I Am is the exact sort of pleasant surprise that defines Japan Cuts for me. The synopsis on the festival website led me to...
The ramblings of a wannabe cineaste. Join me as I dissect the art of storytelling in films, comics, TV shows, and video games.
I Am What I Am is the exact sort of pleasant surprise that defines Japan Cuts for me. The synopsis on the festival website led me to...
After taking last year off due to COVID-related concerns, Japan Cuts has finally returned to NYC! Since I’m feeling a bit out of...
[The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Greta Gerwig’s Barbie opens with an extended montage depicting an average...
[The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] How should a director approach depicting the concept of “genius?”...
[The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] When childhood sweethearts Na Young and Hae Sung first part ways at...
[The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Objective. Obstacle. Solution. Complication. Rinse and repeat until the...
[The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] A great mystery requires a certain degree of misdirection. The Last...
[The following essay contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Hadestown is a brilliant reinterpretation of the Greek myth of...
[The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Does a film truly need to slavishly adhere to a traditional...
[The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Asteroid City isn’t just the quintessential Wes Anderson film; it’s...
Recently, I read an exquisitely curated collection of jisei—Japanese death poetry. It was a thoroughly engrossing volume, offering unique...
[The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] What is “bravery?” Is it dying for one’s cause without hesitation, even...
[The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] In Withnail and I, the characters are defined by their environment; the...
[The following essay contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Modern blockbusters—especially those belonging to the increasingly...
INT. EMPTY ROOM - NIGHT The room is featureless and almost completely bare. A BED, meticulously made, in one corner (it hasn’t been slept...
[The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Five year ago, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse argued that...
[The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Loyalty. Tradition. Brotherhood. These are the values that govern...
[The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Knightriders is a movie about legacy. I mean, if you want to get...
[The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] I didn’t fall in love with Solaris at first sight. Its pacing is languid...
[The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Fall Guy is the perfect English title for Kinji Fukasaku’s scathing...