Tag Archives: Jafar Panahi

Busan International Film Festival 2025, Sept. 19

Posted on September 19, 2025 by philipbrasor

Been plagued by technical problems ever since I arrived. I bought a Wow card, which you can charge with any denomination of currency and use pretty much everywhere in Korea, including public transportation, which is what I bought it for. … Continue reading →

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Best Movies 2023

Posted on December 27, 2023 by philipbrasor

Owing to Japanese distributors’ habit of taking their time to promote overseas releases, foreign films often don’t show up in theaters here until well after they’ve shown up elsewhere. This trend was exacerbated by COVID and thus I figure more … Continue reading →

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Review: No Bears

Posted on September 15, 2023 by philipbrasor

Between the time this movie was shot and its release date in Japan, its director, Jafar Panahi, was jailed and then released by the Iranian government for engendering “propaganda against the establishment”; and this on top of the 20-year ban … Continue reading →

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Review: Hit the Road

Posted on August 25, 2023 by philipbrasor

When I think about Iranian cinema, certain adjectives immediately come to mind—allegorical, stark, allusive—but “breezy” isn’t one of them. In that regard, the offhanded narrative style of Pahan Panahi’s debut feature resembles that of no other Iranian director I can … Continue reading →

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Busan International Film Festival, Oct. 11, 2022

Posted on October 11, 2022 by philipbrasor

A friend attended the public screening of Decision to Leave at the Sohyang Theater yesterday morning and said that the print they showed had no English subtitles. Consequently, almost all the non-Korean members of the audience just walked out after … Continue reading →

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Review: 3 Faces

Posted on December 16, 2019 by philipbrasor

In his last samizdat production, Taxi, Jafar Panahi spent almost the entire running time behind the wheel. He spends a good portion of his latest movie also in a car, thus in a way extending a cinematic style perfected to … Continue reading →

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Best movies 2017

Posted on December 30, 2017 by philipbrasor

Every year my movie-watching regime becomes more rarefied owing to tighter schedules and diminished monetary inducement. Nowadays, however, I can often make up for the films I miss at press screenings by seeing them later at my local multiplex, on … Continue reading →

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April 2017 movies

Posted on April 1, 2017 by philipbrasor

Here are the movie reviews I wrote for the April issue of EL Magazine, which was distributed in Tokyo on March 25. Captain Fantastic Road trips vivify the great American indie movie, and while Matt Ross’s feature is light as … Continue reading →

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BIFF Day 2

Posted on October 5, 2013 by philipbrasor

The festival put me in the Seacloud Hotel this year rather than the Grand, where I usually stay. I stayed at the Seacloud once when it first opened and liked its efficiency rooms with a sink, stovetop, and even a … Continue reading →

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Best movies 2012

Posted on December 29, 2012 by philipbrasor

These are my favorite movies that were released in Japan in 2012. Of them, only one was produced here and that one wasn’t even directed by a Japanese person, thus demonstrating my continuing resistance to post-bubble Japanese cinema, which isn’t … Continue reading →

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