Author Archives: philipbrasor

Review: House of Hummingbird

Posted on June 20, 2020 by philipbrasor

In a year when world movie fans finally woke up to the consistent brilliance of Korean cinema through the vehicle of Parasite, it should probably be noted that in South Korea itself the movie that vied with Parasite in 2019 … Continue reading →

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Review: Adrift

Posted on June 19, 2020 by philipbrasor

Romantic melodramas adapted from real-life incidents can often feel doubly phony, since the viewer’s consciosness that these things really happened makes the contrivances feel all the more stagey. Adrift, which is adapted from a memoir by Tami Oldham, has a … Continue reading →

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Review: Luce

Posted on June 18, 2020 by philipbrasor

Julius Onah’s 2019 American film, based on a play by J.C. Lee (who wrote the screenplay with Onah), proves, if anything, that Hollywood and its lesser lights are not afraid to address thorny issues for the sake of provocation. Luce, … Continue reading →

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Review: Vox Lux

Posted on June 17, 2020 by philipbrasor

Caveat to Sia fans: Don’t go see Vox Lux just because you want to hear your idol’s compositions. The movie does end with an extended concert sequence featuring several Sia songs written expressly for the movie, and they’re not bad, … Continue reading →

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Review: The Dead Don’t Die

Posted on June 16, 2020 by philipbrasor

Without a doubt, zombies are the prime pop culture metaphor of our age, distilling the idea of a population zapped out on consumerism down to deadeyed cannibalism. Jim Jarmusch’s comedy is clearly in on the joke and while portions zip … Continue reading →

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Review: Harriet

Posted on June 15, 2020 by philipbrasor

A biopic of Harriet Tubman is way overdue, though one could make the argument that the timing of Kasi Lemmons’ movie takes full advantage of the prevailing public sentiment of Black Americans at the moment. When the movie was released … Continue reading →

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Media Mix, June 14, 2020

Posted on June 14, 2020 by philipbrasor

Here’s this week’s Media Mix about the Kurokawa mahjong scandal and how the press gets information through access to government officials. Most of the column was about the reporter’s side of the transaction, but, of course, officials have their own … Continue reading →

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Review: Young Ahmed

Posted on June 13, 2020 by philipbrasor

You have to hand it to Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, the Belgian filmmaking brothers whose dramas make difficult socioeconomic issues relatable on a personal level. Despite the dozens of awards they’ve received and a reputation for unsentimentalized realism that even … Continue reading →

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Review: Little Women

Posted on June 12, 2020 by philipbrasor

Greta Gerwig made a bold decision to tackle for her second directorial effort not only one of the most beloved classic novels of the 19th century, but one that has been adapted as a movie about a dozen times already. … Continue reading →

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Media Mix, June 7, 2020

Posted on June 7, 2020 by philipbrasor

Here’s this week’s Media Mix about Daigo Naito, the presumptive heir to the Takeshita political dynasty of Shimane Prefecture. As is apparent to anyone who follows Japanese politics even cursorily no one begrudges an aspiring office holder who is already … Continue reading →

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