‘Very few cartoons are broadcast live,’ said the animation producer to Homer Simpson, ‘it’s a terrible strain on the animator’s wrists.’ This advice clearly went unheeded by the cast of Anime Supremacy!, a Japanese workplace drama in which rival teams of … Continue reading REVIEW: Anime Supremacy! (2022)
Here is the weirdest thing that happens in Eiji Uchida’s feature Love and Other Cults. Three teenage boys have called a telephone number that was scrawled onto a bathroom wall and are expecting a young woman to turn up to … Continue reading REVIEW: Love and Other Cults (2017)
In 1960 an independent Japanese production company sat on the verge of bankruptcy. Using a shoestring budget and shooting entirely on location, one of their regular directors shot what was expected to be the company’s final film. The Naked Island, … Continue reading Silence and Sorrow | The Naked Island (1960)
Science fiction television series Ultra Q was, upon its original release in Japan in 1966, a substantial commercial hit. It was its sequel series Ultraman, however, that properly hit the pop culture stratosphere. Between then and now there have been 34 separate … Continue reading REVIEW: Shin Ultraman (2022)
Since his feature debut with 1989’s Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Shinya Tsukamoto has long held a reputation as one of Japanese cinema’s greatest enfants terrible. His independent productions, from Tetsuo and its sequels to Bullet Ballet, Tokyo Fist, and A Snake of June, have consistently forged their … Continue reading REVIEW: Killing (2018)
Oh, it’s fine. Universal and Nintendo’s animated collaboration brings the venerable Super Mario Bros videogame series to cinemas for the first time since 1993’s abortive live-action effort starring Bob Hoskins. Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic (Teen Titans Go) the film presents a … Continue reading REVIEW: The Super Mario Bros Movie (2023)
Japan has a complex relationship with depictions of sex and sexuality. As early as the Heian period sexual acts were being depicted on scrolls and other art works, while the invention of woodblock printing during the Edo period led to … Continue reading REVIEW: Still Life of Memories (2018)
Asahi (Shinichiro Matsuura) is a boxing trainer. After growing up in an orphanage, he moved to Tokyo and now lives with his fiancée Kaori (Yumi Endo). When a boxing client named Kita (Nobu Morimoto) announces that he is opening a … Continue reading REVIEW: Going the Distance (2016)
All major human events will, inevitably, be adapted into motion pictures. The time from event to film is going to vary. HBO’s Chernobyl miniseries was released 33 years after the Soviet power station suffered its catastrophic meltdown. It took only … Continue reading REVIEW: Fukushima 50 (2020)
Haruki Kinemura’s short feature debut is as well-observed as it is succinct, depicting an unplanned teen pregnancy in a Japanese port town. Its brevity is, as always, likely to hamper its chances with a wide audience, which is a shame: … Continue reading OAFF: Cafune (2023)
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