Monthly Archives: May 2024

Media watch: Japan contends with the consequences of a sellers’ job market

Posted on May 30, 2024 by philipbrasor

A front page story in the May 25 print edition of the Asahi Shimbun reported that the overwhelming recruitment rate for new graduates continued this spring, with 98.1 percent of people graduating from universities in 2024 securing work, the highest … Continue reading →

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Review: The Zone of Interest

Posted on May 23, 2024 by philipbrasor

By now everyone knows how director Jonathan Glazer keeps the horrors of the Auschwitz death camp out of sight in his movie about the commandant of the camp, Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), and his family, who live in well-appointed digs … Continue reading →

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Review: The Teachers’ Lounge

Posted on May 17, 2024 by philipbrasor

You have to hand it to the Germans. Their capacity for self-examination, which often leads to self-condemnation, seems almost limitless, and can lead to inadvertent injustices, as seen by the way the country’s strict definition of antisemitism has recently affected … Continue reading →

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Review: Bob Marley: One Love

Posted on May 16, 2024 by philipbrasor

In some ways, this movie about reggae legend Bob Marley, which takes in the years 1976-78—after he had already become a superstar—relies on narrative notes that one doesn’t usually find in big budget biopics. It seems more interested in capturing … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Mayor of town on front line of possible Taiwan dispute demands constitutional revision

Posted on May 12, 2024 by philipbrasor

On May 3, which is Constitution Day in Japan, prominent right wing pundit Yoshiko Sakurai held a symposium in Tokyo on the Constitution, which she wants to amend in order to establish the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) as a full-fledged national … Continue reading →

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Review: Anyone But You

Posted on May 10, 2024 by philipbrasor

In its own super-contrived way, the plot dynamics of Will Gluck’s rom-com, Anyone But You, should offer assurances to those of us who have always appreciated the genre for the way it’s challenged good screenwriters to come up with witty … Continue reading →

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Review: The Lost Weekend: A Love Story

Posted on May 9, 2024 by philipbrasor

In 1973 and 1974, John Lennon lived apart from Yoko Ono during a licentious interlude that Lennon himself dubbed his “lost weekend.” His companion was May Pang, a Chinese-American woman who had become Lennon and Ono’s personal assistant sometime before … Continue reading →

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Review: Honey Sweet

Posted on May 3, 2024 by philipbrasor

Yoo Hae-jin is one of those movie stars who would seem to flourish as a character actor but somehow is flourishing as a leading man; though, granted, the people he plays are not what you would normally think of as … Continue reading →

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Review: Green Border

Posted on May 2, 2024 by philipbrasor

As up-to-the-minute filmmaking goes, Agneiszka Holland’s take on the migrant crisis in northern Europe exudes a professionalism that tends to overwhelm its harrowing themes. Though the moral and humanitarian stakes are never in question, it’s easy to fall into the … Continue reading →

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