Author Archives: philipbrasor

Review: The Dry

Posted on September 25, 2022 by philipbrasor

The awkward title of this mystery, based on a best-selling novel, describes a small town in rural Australia that has been suffering through a drought for some time. The intent seems to be to prepare an environment of discomfort and … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Review: The Monopoly of Violence/Babi Yar. Context

Posted on September 24, 2022 by philipbrasor

For those of us who don’t live in France or, for that matter, the EU, the so-called Yellow Vest Movement, in which mostly working people and far-left and far-right elements opposed to Emmanuel Macron’s neoliberal policies clashed violently with police … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Leave a comment

Review: Lamb

Posted on September 23, 2022 by philipbrasor

Though it does contain a cosmic joke that’s shockingly funny if not particularly original, Icelandic director Valdimar Johannsson’s Lamb seems stuck for most of its running time in narrative limbo. Atmospherically creepy and purposely bizarre, its milieu is nevertheless so … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Review: Petite Maman

Posted on September 22, 2022 by philipbrasor

Serious movies that focus on the lives, particularly the inner lives, of children make me suspicious; or, at least, mildly uncomfortable. The assumption of innocence allows filmmakers to exploit feelings in the viewer that might be more problematic were the … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment

“Pachinko,” Korean heritage, and sidestepping the real Japan

Posted on September 16, 2022 by philipbrasor

Last spring I saw Korean-Japanese filmmaker Yang Yonghi’s latest documentary, Soup and Ideology, at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan. During the post-screening Q&A, Yang expressed frustration over her belief that Japan has not really produced any great films about … Continue reading →

Posted in Me, Miscellaneous | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Media watch: Government does itself no favors with new incentives to promote My Number cards

Posted on September 11, 2022 by philipbrasor

For several years the Japanese government and, more specifically, the new digital agency has been trying to sell the public on the My Number system, which assigns a 12-digit ID number to everyone who lives in Japan. Assigning the numbers … Continue reading →

Posted in Media | Leave a comment

Review: Hostage: Missing Celebrity

Posted on September 9, 2022 by philipbrasor

Basically meta-cinema for dummies, Pil Gam-sung’s debut feature takes full advantage of its star’s screen image to keep you guessing as to how much he is acting. Hwang Jung-min has cultivated an enviable, respectable career playing a wide variety of … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Opening press conference for the 27th Busan International Film Festival

Posted on September 8, 2022 by philipbrasor

It was obvious from all the prefatory statements made by the various officials of the Busan International Film Festival on Sept. 7 to announce what would take place this year that the opening press conference was supposed to be a … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Leave a comment

Media watch: Media take a more clinical look at sex crimes

Posted on September 6, 2022 by philipbrasor

Last month, a man named Akinori Hashimoto was sentenced by the Tokyo District Court to 20 years in prison for sexually abusing and photographing 20 boys between the ages of 5 and 11 from 2015 to 2020. Hashimoto, an accredited … Continue reading →

Posted in Media | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Review: Incredible But True

Posted on September 2, 2022 by philipbrasor

Like fellow French filmmaker Michel Gondry, Quentin Dupieux favors plots governed by fantastical, absurd elements, but while Gondry has very definite narrative goals in mind Dupieux seems so hung up on the elements themselves that he can’t quite get them … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Leave a comment