Monthly Archives: April 2024

Review: System Crasher

Posted on April 27, 2024 by philipbrasor

With her debut film, German director Nora Fingscheidt demonstrates unequivocally that she isn’t fooling around. The title is a kind of inside joke among social workers in Germany, as it refers to a case that basically breaks the carefully wrought … Continue reading →

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Review: Evil Does Not Exist

Posted on April 26, 2024 by philipbrasor

Almost deceptively, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest film initially comes across as a conventional story about a big, bad corporation invading a rustic village for profit. The simplicity of the premise is what works for me, since I love stories that explain … Continue reading →

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Review: 20 Days in Mariupol

Posted on April 25, 2024 by philipbrasor

While many people have opinions about director Jonathan Glazer’s allusion to the current state of affairs in Israel/Gaza at the recent Oscars ceremony, fewer have remarked on Mstyslav Chernov’s equally powerful remarks when he accepted the Best Feature Documenary award … Continue reading →

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Review: Kidnapped

Posted on April 24, 2024 by philipbrasor

Given his prodigious output over a career that started in 1965, it should be surprising that director Marco Bellocchio doesn’t have more of an international following, but it may have something to do with the parochial nature of his work, … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Five years in, how does Naruhito stack up to his father?

Posted on April 22, 2024 by philipbrasor

On March 22, Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako visited victims of the New Year’s Day earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula on the Japan Sea coast. It was the couple’s second visit to a disaster area since Naruhito ascended to … Continue reading →

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Review: Youth (Spring)

Posted on April 20, 2024 by philipbrasor

Wang Bing’s latest documentary may not, at 215 minutes, be one of his typically longer works, but it is probably his most vivid. He spent 6 years recording the lives of young textile workers in the city of Zhili and … Continue reading →

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Review: All of Us Strangers

Posted on April 19, 2024 by philipbrasor

I’ve only seen two of Andrew Haigh’s previous movies, but Lean on Pete and, especially, 45 Years gave me the impression he is a director who has little use for conventional sentimentality, no matter how much the material warrants it. … Continue reading →

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Review: Manticore

Posted on April 18, 2024 by philipbrasor

At its most sensitive, Spanish director Carlos Vermut’s fourth film is about a burgeoning love affair between two lonely but very different people. Julian (Nacho Sanchez) is a modeler for a video game company who specializes in weird, terrible creatures. … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Mainstream press again decides Koike’s possibly fraudulent c.v. isn’t news

Posted on April 15, 2024 by philipbrasor

Back in 2020, shortly before Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike ran for a second term, a journalist named Taeko Ishii came out with a book about Koike called Jotei (Empress) that became an instant best-seller. Ishii included an interview with a … Continue reading →

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Review: No. 10

Posted on April 12, 2024 by philipbrasor

The title of Alex van Warmerdam’s latest feature is meaningless in terms of describing the film. It is called No. 10 because it is van Warmerdam’s tenth film, nothing more and nothing less; and, in fact, given the slippery nature … Continue reading →

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