In her brief introductory speech preceding Japan Society’s screening of When Morning Comes, I Feel Empty, director Yuho Ishibashi claimed...

[The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Near the end of The Legend & Butterfly—a lavish period epic...

I went into Single8 hoping that it would recapture the magic of It’s a Summer Film!—which remains one of the best movies I’ve ever seen...

This one was kind of a cheat. The Japan Cuts screening of The First Slam Dunk sold out almost immediately after tickets became available...

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...