Monthly Archives: October 2022

Review: Recalled

Posted on October 30, 2022 by philipbrasor

An acquaintance who is very much into Korean TV dramas thinks that every single one has to contain either an amnesiac or incest. This twisted mystery sort of has both, but even if you go into it knowing that it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Leave a comment

Review: Songs For Drella

Posted on October 28, 2022 by philipbrasor

The skinny on this concert document is that it was lost shortly after it was recorded and broadcast in 1990 and then found in the director’s attic while Todd Haynes was putting together his Velvet Underground documentary. Lou Reed and … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Review: The Policeman’s Lineage

Posted on October 27, 2022 by philipbrasor

Ever since Serpico, the idea of a cop betraying colleagues who have broken the law themselves has always been catnip for filmmakers, since the whole premise is fraught with conflicting notions about the meaning of loyalty and integrity. This South … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Leave a comment

Media watch: Kishida will only go so far in denouncing anti-Korean hate

Posted on October 24, 2022 by philipbrasor

Whenever North Korea launches another missile in the general direction of Japan, you can bet that anti-Korean behavior among certain Japanese people will increase, especially against residents who are perceived to be North Korean sympathizers, such as students who attend … Continue reading →

Posted in Media | Tagged | Leave a comment

Media watch: Revision of 300-day law isn’t all it’s cracked up to be

Posted on October 22, 2022 by philipbrasor

As we’ve said here many times before, one of the main purposes of Japan’s family register system (koseki) is to determine paternity for the sake of bureaucratic convenience, which means that it is the authorities who have the last word … Continue reading →

Posted in Media | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Review: Creation Stories

Posted on October 21, 2022 by philipbrasor

I’m too lazy to check, but I’m pretty sure there’s already been at least one documentary made about Creation Records, the incongruously successful indie label that catapulted some of the biggest British acts of the 80s and 90s to world … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Busan International Film Festival 2022: Other movies

Posted on October 17, 2022 by philipbrasor

In my daily reports on this blog I reviewed movies I had seen in screenings at the festival, but I also saw other films online and in the Video Library. Here are observations of those movies. Festival section names in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Review: Spencer

Posted on October 14, 2022 by philipbrasor

Just as he did with his 2017 portrait of Jackie Onassis, director Pablo Larrain fixes his gaze on another famous female partner of an important man, Diana Spencer (Kristen Stewart), during a specific period of his subject’s life. In Onassis’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Busan International Film Festival, Oct. 11, 2022

Posted on October 11, 2022 by philipbrasor

A friend attended the public screening of Decision to Leave at the Sohyang Theater yesterday morning and said that the print they showed had no English subtitles. Consequently, almost all the non-Korean members of the audience just walked out after … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Busan International Film Festival, Oct 10, 2022

Posted on October 10, 2022 by philipbrasor

It rained yesterday off and on but never heavily, so while I carried around my umbrella, I never used it. Last night I had drinks with the director Shin Suwon and her producer. Though none of her films are being … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment