When we’re helpless to right the wrongs of reality, we turn to fiction. Thus it has always been, but perhaps more so than ever now. Read more
Movies
An Interview With Michaël Dudok de Wit: The Red Turtle, Studio Ghibli, and the Future of Hand-Drawn Animation
Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down for an interview with Oscar-winning director Michaël Dudok de Wit, whose “The Red Turtle” was co-produced with Studio Ghibli. Read more
Taifuu no Noruda
A nice appetizer, Taifuuu no Noruda really makes you long for the missing main course. When I first saw the promo art for this theatrical feature from the relatively obscure Studio Colorado, I was pretty excited. I mean, it was beautiful (the subsequent trailers even more so), it had a […] Read more
Aura: Maryuinkoga Saigo no Tatakai
This look at chuunibyou definitely swims in the deep end of the pool. Before there was Chuunibyou (with a capital “C”) there was Aura. I’m not going to post a real review of the film, as I saw it in Japanese at a theater in Ikebukuro and unlike some of […] Read more
I Wish
Time for a brief trip to the world of Japanese Cinema… Kore-eda Hirokazu isn’t a name that’ll be familiar to any but the most ardent art-house cinema buffs or serious Japanese culture geeks – but it should be. He’s a documentary trained director who’s turned his talents to narrative films that are […] Read more
Karigurashi no Arrietty (Arrietty the Borrower)
As “Arrietty” has just begun a theatrical release, I thought it would be a good idea to top this review. Remember, this is for the subtitled version – I’ve also seen the Disney dub and I can tell you it’s decent, though nowhere near as good (shocking, I know). David […] Read more
Summer Days With Coo
I suppose I went at Keiichi Hara backwards. I started with his most recent work, 2010’s Colorful. That was what piqued my interest in his 2007 film Summer Days With Coo. And I haven’t even dipped my toe into his large cache of Doraemon and Shin-Chan work. The oversight is […] Read more
13 Assassins
I think it’s worth mentioning up front that this film is violent. Extremely, spectacularly violent. Heads chopped off, graphic atrocities, guts spilled out. And blood. So much blood – vast spraying, soaking, bright red and viscous oceans of blood. Miike leads with blood, inducing the audience to squirm from the […] Read more
5 Centimeters Per Second
Tonight, I went to a theatrical screening of Makoto Shinkai’s magnificent “5 Centimeters Per Second” at Viz Cinema in San Francisco. It had been a couple of years since I watched it, and I was curious to see if my reaction would have changed. Though I’ve watched it multiple times […] Read more