'It Comes': The bogeyman cometh in Tetsuya Nakashima's horror debut
Tetsuya Nakashima has been filming the darker sides of human nature for more than two decades, the most commercially and critically successful example being his 2010 murder mystery, "Confessions." So "It Comes," his screen adaptation of Ichi Sawamura's award-winning horror novel, feels like a natural ...
'jam': Comedy with a touch of 'Misery'
The films of Sabu — the pseudonym of actor-turned-director Hiroyuki Tanaka — are typically about guys on the move, be it as a troubled soul on a journey ("Blessing Bell") or a crook on the run ("Unlucky Monkey"). The object is usually laughs, though ...
'A Crimson Star': A taboo and toxic story of love
At a time when many aspiring Japanese filmmakers spend years working on other people's movies before having a chance to make one of their own, getting your first feature into cinemas at the age of 22 is no small achievement. Writer-director Aya Igashi was already ...
'Killing': A modern take on a samurai staple
Screening in competition at this year's Venice Film Festival, "Killing" is veteran provocateur Shinya Tsukamoto's first venture into the samurai genre. Made, like most of Tsukamoto's films, on a tiny budget and tight schedule, it does not attempt the scale of classics like "Seven ...
'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald': Wizards and wands, but no magic
Quick: what's a good spell against boredom? After getting off to a nimble start with "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" in 2016, J.K. Rowling's five-part prequel to the "Harry Potter" series is already starting to feel like an almighty slog. While its ...
'Gangoose': A modern take on old-school heists
Heist movies play to everyone's dream of easy money, earned by criminal smarts and daring. But a convention of the genre, going back to Stanley Kubrick's 1956 film "The Killing" and beyond, is that the big score is also a big trap for the ...
'Hard-Core': Of robots and socially marginalized men
Live-action manga adaptations — from weepy dramas about teenage love to goofy comedies set in fantasy worlds — usually reflect real life only at its extremes, whether it's the melodramatic or the idiotic. Then there is "Hard-Core Heisei Hell's Bros.," a cult manga about two ...
'Lying to Mom': A film about suicide that isn't as heavy as you'd expect
The Japanese suicide rate has fallen for eight straight years, to 21,321 in 2017, but this number is still high compared to other advanced countries, and is course of no consolation to the families of those who take their own lives. The effect of suicide ...
'The Gun': A blast of stylish nihilism
Chekhov's principle about how you can't introduce a gun in the first act of a story without using it later on might also apply to Toru (Nijiro Murakami). When the university student impulsively snatches a pistol from a dead body he finds by a riverside ...
'Love At Least': There's a shadow looming over this tale of romance
Mental illness takes many forms, but depression is among the most baffling to family and friends, since the afflicted may be physically healthy and verbally coherent but barely stir from bed for weeks or months at a time. But as Kosai Sekine shows with compassion ...
'Ten Years Japan': Chilling and sharp, these five shorts are a must-see for fans of 'Black Mirror'
In 2015, a dystopian omnibus film by five young directors from Hong Kong titled "Ten Years" became an indie hit. Envisioning the deteriorating state of the city in a decade's time, the film enraged Chinese authorities — and inspired "Ten Years" versions in Taiwan, ...
'Passage of Life': A family drama that treats refugees with respect
Hollywood films about the immigrant experience are common enough (see "The Godfather" and other classic gangster movies for examples), while Japanese films on the same topic are rare, save for those about Zainichi (ethnic Koreans) in Japan. (Among the best is Zainichi director Yoichi ...
