Category Archives: Uncategorized

Thai director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s debut feature, A Useful Ghost, has the opposite effect of being haunting. In tone and pace, it’s closer to the work of Aki Kaurasmaki, with actors striking disaffected poses regardless of what they’re reacting to. Moreover, … Continue reading →

This documentary purports to reveal a more intimate side of the legendary pianist and big band leader through “private correspondence and home movies” that, supposedly, have never been made public before. Most of these documents seem to consist of letters … Continue reading →

After the Lower House election took place in February, some people on social media called into question the surprisingly good results of the newish Team Mirai party, which managed to secure 11 seats out of a total 14 candidates. There … Continue reading →

Anyone who has read this blog with any consistency will know my opinion of hit man (or woman) movies: There’s way too many considering the profession itself is essentially a fantasy. And because of the sheer volume of films represented … Continue reading →

I spoke to two people yesterday who have been working with and within the Korean film industry for a number of years, and both pretty much thought the new Competition Section of the festival is not going to achieve what … Continue reading →

Fairly smooth trip from Narita to Busan yesterday—except when I got to Korean immigration, which was packed. I’ve never waited that long before, and consequently, I wasn’t able to get to the Cinema Center before the badge desk closed to … Continue reading →

Movie distributor Kadokawa just announced that the Korean movie Harbin, which topped the South Korean box office for several weeks after it opened on Christmas Day, will be released theatrically in Japan on July 4, which is great news for … Continue reading →

The biopic, especially those about musicians, was rendered a cliche when John C. Reilly cosplayed as a Johnny Cash-like character in Walk Hard, but that movie did nothing to slow the continuing onslaught of “based on true” recreations of the … Continue reading →

Here’s our latest article for the FCCJ, which is about the Korean response to Japan’s newest World Cultural Heritage site.