Category Archives: Movies

Review: The Donut King

Posted on November 11, 2021 by philipbrasor

Tales of immigrants making it big in their adopted countries are irresistible, regardless of which side of the political divide you find yourself. Liberals appreciate the idea that new blood invigorates society and thus hold such stories up as examples … Continue reading →

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Tokyo International Film Festival 2021

Posted on November 9, 2021 by philipbrasor

Here are links to the reports I wrote for the website of the 34th TIFF. In passing, I would say it was a better festival than it has been for many years, owing mainly to its change of venue to … Continue reading →

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Review: Respect

Posted on November 4, 2021 by philipbrasor

The most common complaint about the standard Hollywood biopic, especially ones about musicians, is that their subjects’ lives are made to conform to a dramatic arc that isn’t realistic, and thus leave out things that are important for understanding a … Continue reading →

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Review: Monos

Posted on October 30, 2021 by philipbrasor

The lack of specificity that runs through Alejandro Landes’ free-form film about a group of teenage commandos living in the South American jungle can be seen as its main stylistic purpose. The viewer never finds out why these kids have … Continue reading →

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Review: The Mauritanian

Posted on October 29, 2021 by philipbrasor

Kevin McDonald’s movie about Mahamedou Ould Slahi, a Mauritanian who was swept up in the capture of suspects for the 911 terrorist attack and sent to the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, seems to assume that the viewer … Continue reading →

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Review: Sweet Thing

Posted on October 28, 2021 by philipbrasor

New York indie standard bearer Alexandre Rockwell is mainly known for giving Steve Buscemi his first leading man role in the 1992 underground hit In the Soup, which also happened to be Rockwell’s debut. Since then he’s maintained a career … Continue reading →

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Review: I Am Greta

Posted on October 21, 2021 by philipbrasor

As the title suggests, Nathan Grossman’s documentary about teen climate crisis activist Greta Thunberg is more about the person than the activist, though, with someone like Greta, the distinction may be moot. Consequently, the viewer often gets the feeling that … Continue reading →

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An interview with Todd Haynes, 2008

Posted on October 19, 2021 by philipbrasor

The following is a transcript of a telephone conversation I had with director Todd Haynes in 2008 about his movie, I’m Not There, a kind of fantasia about Bob Dylan. It was done for the Asahi Shimbun’s English language edition … Continue reading →

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Review: The Jazz Loft According to W. Eugene Smith

Posted on October 18, 2021 by philipbrasor

As a kind of adjunct local release to Minamata, the controversial feature film treatment about American photographer W. Eugene Smith’s black-and-white record of the first major industrial pollution case to garner global headlines, Sara Fishko’s 2015 documentary The Jazz Loft … Continue reading →

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Review: Our Friend

Posted on October 16, 2021 by philipbrasor

The problem with cancer movies isn’t that the disease is often meant to symbolize something else, but rather that in showing the process of dying over a period of time the natural instincts of a filmmaker work to elide anything … Continue reading →

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