Monthly Archives: September 2023

Review: No Bears

Posted on September 15, 2023 by philipbrasor

Between the time this movie was shot and its release date in Japan, its director, Jafar Panahi, was jailed and then released by the Iranian government for engendering “propaganda against the establishment”; and this on top of the 20-year ban … Continue reading →

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Review: Gran Turismo

Posted on September 14, 2023 by philipbrasor

As a studio, Sony Pictures is relatively light on IP product, though the one they do have, Spider-Man, is a heavyweight. I’m not sure if the race driver simulation game Gran Turismo is franchise-worthy, but the whole presentation here is … Continue reading →

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Review: Brother and Sister

Posted on September 13, 2023 by philipbrasor

This is at least the third new film by a major French director released in Japan this year that focuses on adults addressing their elderly parents’ pending deaths. Being that the director is Arnaud Desplechin, whose metier is family-centered black … Continue reading →

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Media watch: To survive, ex-cons have nowhere to go but back to jail

Posted on September 8, 2023 by philipbrasor

In an essay posted Aug. 23 on Magazine9, activist Karin Amamiya wrote about “someone the same age as me” (48) named Hiroshi Yamada who is currently on death row for the murder of an elderly couple in Nagoya in 2017. … Continue reading →

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Busan International Film Festival 2023 press conference

Posted on September 6, 2023 by philipbrasor

It seemed somewhat telling that the first question from reporters attending the online-only press conference for the 2023 Busan International Film Festival was about the Zoom format itself. Prior to COVID, the press conference, traditionally held the first week of … Continue reading →

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Review: Tell It Like a Woman

Posted on September 2, 2023 by philipbrasor

This omnibus of shorts, all written and directed by women of different nationalities and centered on the unique problems that women face in the world, is predictably earnest in a kind of European way (the production is mostly Italian), but … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Struggling to keep the memory of the 1923 Korean killings alive

Posted on September 1, 2023 by philipbrasor

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake, one of the worst disasters to ever strike Japan, a country that’s had more than its share both natural and man-made. In the days following the quake, which was centered … Continue reading →

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