Tag Archives: Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Review: Evil Does Not Exist

Almost deceptively, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest film initially comes across as a conventional story about a big, bad corporation invading a rustic village for profit. The simplicity of the premise is what works for me, since I love stories that explain … Continue reading

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Best Movies 2023

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: Third Time Lucky

When it premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in 2015, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Happy Hour revived interest in Japanese art house cinema among those who had mostly given up on it since the dawn of the 1990s. A long, intimate portrait … Continue reading

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Review: Asako I & II

I have yet to see Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s previous film, the internationally lauded 5-hour domestic drama Happy Hour, which, probably due to its length, hasn’t been picked up by WOWOW. But having read about its charms for almost a year I … Continue reading

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