Author Archives: philipbrasor

Busan International Film Festival 2025, Sept. 21

Posted on September 21, 2025 by philipbrasor

I finally saw Kokuho yesterday. I’m not on Toho’s mailing list so I wasn’t invited to any press screenings for the movie, and I didn’t catch it after it was released three months ago. I didn’t even know much about … Continue reading →

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Busan International Film Festival 2025, Sept. 20

Posted on September 20, 2025 by philipbrasor

I spoke to two people yesterday who have been working with and within the Korean film industry for a number of years, and both pretty much thought the new Competition Section of the festival is not going to achieve what … Continue reading →

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Busan International Film Festival 2025, Sept. 19

Posted on September 19, 2025 by philipbrasor

Been plagued by technical problems ever since I arrived. I bought a Wow card, which you can charge with any denomination of currency and use pretty much everywhere in Korea, including public transportation, which is what I bought it for. … Continue reading →

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Review: The Phoenician Scheme

Posted on September 19, 2025 by philipbrasor

As a comic filmmaker, Wes Anderson often doesn’t seem to be in on his own jokes. His overly fussy sets and precise camera movements feel so intense that it’s the intenseness that evinces laughs rather than what’s actually going on … Continue reading →

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Busan International Film Festival 2025, Sept. 18

Posted on September 19, 2025 by philipbrasor

Fairly smooth trip from Narita to Busan yesterday—except when I got to Korean immigration, which was packed. I’ve never waited that long before, and consequently, I wasn’t able to get to the Cinema Center before the badge desk closed to … Continue reading →

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Review: The Monkey

Posted on September 18, 2025 by philipbrasor

The best thing about Osgood Perkins’ adaptation of the Stephen King short story is the titular toy, whose malevolent intentions are obvious just by looking at its sick grin and wide-open eyes. Unlike the windup monkey you’re more likely to … Continue reading →

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Review: Black Dog

Posted on September 17, 2025 by philipbrasor

Lots of cliches move the emotional gears of this Chinese film, which won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. The titular canine is an extreme outcast in a former mining town … Continue reading →

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Review: Take Me Somewhere Nice

Posted on September 13, 2025 by philipbrasor

Alma (Sara Luna Zoric), who appears to be around 20 years old, is a Bosnian national raised in the Netherlands by her single mother, who brought her to Northern Europe with her father. At some point, however, the father decided … Continue reading →

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Review: In a Violent Nature

Posted on September 12, 2025 by philipbrasor

Horror movies are often predicated on ridiculously simple ideas usually having to do with not-so-innocent civilians intruding on the space of malignant forces. In Chris Nash’s debut feature, which picks and chooses its ideas from a number of well-known splatter … Continue reading →

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Review: Nocturnal

Posted on September 11, 2025 by philipbrasor

This is the third Korean thriller I’ve seen in the last year wherein a male novelist and a book he wrote figure significantly in the mystery, except that in the case of Nocturnal (also the title of the fictional book) … Continue reading →

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