Author Archives: philipbrasor

Media watch: Local governments finance potential future mothers as marriages decline

Posted on March 25, 2024 by philipbrasor

Though the dwindling birth rate continues to be an important media topic, two recent news items, taken together, highlight one of the less remarked upon reasons for the lack of babies in Japan. At the end of February, the welfare … Continue reading →

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Review: Penalty Loop

Posted on March 24, 2024 by philipbrasor

As long as everyone is talking about Christopher Nolan, let’s look back at Memento, still my favorite movie by him because it’s such pure cinema, and not just in terms of what you see on the screen. The story is … Continue reading →

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Review: Paragraph 175

Posted on March 23, 2024 by philipbrasor

Originally released in 1999, Rob Epstein’s and Jeffrey Friedman’s documentary was another in the directors’ explorations of gay history and themes, with The Times of Harvey Milk (1984), The Celluloid Closet (1995), and the Oscar-winning Common Threads (1989) being their … Continue reading →

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Review: Call Jane

Posted on March 22, 2024 by philipbrasor

In 2024, almost two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and sent the question of abortion back to the states, a movie about how women accessed the procedure before it became constitutionally protected in 1973 will … Continue reading →

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Review: Count Me In

Posted on March 16, 2024 by philipbrasor

As James Brown would always say to his audience at a show, “Give the drummer some,” and this documentary attempts to do just that, though its range of appreciation is fairly narrow. For one thing, none of JB’s drummers, who … Continue reading →

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Review: Greenhouse

Posted on March 15, 2024 by philipbrasor

Lee Sol-hui’s impressive debut feature is formally characterized by ellipses. Though initially presented as a psychological drama about the fragile bonds of family, Lee’s concerted habit of leaving out crucial plot information has the effect of turning the story into … Continue reading →

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Review: Migration

Posted on March 14, 2024 by philipbrasor

Since the whole point of talking animals in animated films is to anthropomorphize typical critter behavior, children who view such films form the opinion that animals are just like us and probably are taken aback when they eventually discover they … Continue reading →

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Review: The Night of the 12th

Posted on March 13, 2024 by philipbrasor

With a title that calls to mind the intense streaming drama, The Night of…, which has conquered three different markets (UK, US, Korea), Dominik Moll’s award-winning French police procedural suggests a ripped-from-actual-headlines thriller. Inspired by a true story, Moll refuses … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Tamori edges closer to full retirement

Posted on March 11, 2024 by philipbrasor

On Feb. 14, NHK announced that its regular program, “Buratamori,” would end in April. The official explanation is that Tamori, the show’s star, who is now 78 and reportedly still in good shape, feels the format of the show is … Continue reading →

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Review: Dogman

Posted on March 8, 2024 by philipbrasor

Having been hypnotized by Caleb Landry Jones as a mass murderer in the 2021 Australian feature Nitram, I passed over the fact that this similarly themed movie was written and directed by Luc Besson and gave it a whirl since … Continue reading →

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