Category Archives: Movies

Review: Dominique

Posted on November 20, 2025 by philipbrasor

Having not dived too deeply into recent B-movie extreme action cinema, I was not familiar with Ukrainian-American model-actor Oksana Orlan, but apparently she’s a formidable presence in that particular field. Here she fleshes out a role she originated in a … Continue reading →

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Review: Blue Boy Trial

Posted on November 15, 2025 by philipbrasor

The Japanese constitution, like the American one on which it was modeled, guarantees the people the right to be happy, a rather amorphous concept that’s difficult to pin down legally, but usually it is interpreted to mean that everyone should … Continue reading →

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Review: Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

Posted on November 14, 2025 by philipbrasor

It’s interesting that 20th Century Fox has released two films within the last year each of which portrays one of Columbia/Sony Records’ biggest artists and only one of them has the artist’s name in the title. Is it because Bob … Continue reading →

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Review: Kill

Posted on November 13, 2025 by philipbrasor

The local distributor is promoting this Indian action film as Bollywood John Wick, which is comprehensible shorthand for what the target audience should expect: lots of balletic, well-executed carnage but in an Indian setting; and, for sure, it delivers that … Continue reading →

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Review: The Dream Songs

Posted on November 12, 2025 by philipbrasor

The edit of this 2022 Korean movie intended for release outside of Korea contains opening title cards in English that glancingly refer to the Sewon ferry accident of 2014, a disaster that claimed the lives of hundreds of children who … Continue reading →

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Review: The Bibi Files and Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin

Posted on November 8, 2025 by philipbrasor

Japanese distributors are releasing Alexis Bloom’s muckraking documentary about the House of Netanyahu a year after it was first shown elsewhere. Given the velocity of breaking news these days it would seem to follow that the movie is dated, but, … Continue reading →

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Review: Two Seasons, Two Strangers

Posted on November 7, 2025 by philipbrasor

The fact that Sho Miyake’s latest movie (Tabi to Hibi in Japanese) is based on two manga may cause some misunderstanding. The manga author is Yoshiharu Tsuge, whose work is subtle and idiosyncratic, meaning it doesn’t adhere to the kind … Continue reading →

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Tokyo International Film Festival 2025

Posted on November 6, 2025 by philipbrasor

Here are links to the articles I wrote for the TIFF 2025 web site. Mother Bhumi Q&A In-I in Motion Q&A Journey into Sato Tadao Q&A Heads or Tails? Q&A Masterclass with Soi Cheang Mothertongue Q&A Echoes of Motherhood stage … Continue reading →

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Review: A Traveler’s Needs

Posted on November 1, 2025 by philipbrasor

There’s obviously something about Hong Sangsoo’s methodology that appeals to Isabelle Huppert, because this is the third movie of his that she’s starred in. It may be the free-form way Hong constructs his narrative. Like Mike Leigh, Hong doesn’t start … Continue reading →

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Review: So Long, See You Tomorrow and Spirit World

Posted on October 31, 2025 by philipbrasor

Baek Seung-bin’s third feature’s literary pretensions go beyond his borrowing the title of William Maxwell’s classic 1979 novel. There’s a gay bar that figures centrally in the plot called Giovanni’s Room, the title of an early James Baldwin novel and … Continue reading →

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