Japan

In December 2021, I was made aware of a film challenge on Letterboxd, a social media platform for films. The challenge, simply titled Japanuary Challenge 2022, presented a series of prompts aimed at introducing users…

Wife of a Spy won the Silver Bear for Best Director at last year’s Venice Film Festival. I had heard of director and co-writer Kiyoshi Kurosawa (not related to the late great master of Japanese…

Sports movies can provide great insight into foreign cultures. Almost every country in the world weaves sports into its culture to some degree, even relying on them greatly to present a strong national image to…

For many, their introduction to Björn Andrésen was watching him as an old man falling off a cliff during the ättestupa scene in Midsommar, followed by the all-too-gruesome moment of him having his skull smashed in…

A renowned philosopher and swordsman of the early Edo period, the life of Miyamoto Musashi has been told onscreen countless times since the late 1920s. Most notably in Hiroshi Inagaki’s Samurai Trilogy, where the legendary…

Tubi TV is a fascinating, free service full of cult oddities from around the world. It’s got a little bit of everything a movie fan could ever want. As such, on a recurring basis, we’re…

Dear Hollywood, Please stop with the reimaginings, reboots, retellings, sequels, prequels, or any other “quel” involving beloved franchises. If you feel the need to go back to any well that was thought to be empty,…

Some stories start at the end. My time at the 59th Krakow Film Festival is one of those stories. This is the place where I saw a mass of films ranging from feature-length documentaries to animated shorts.…

It might be sixty years old, but The Hidden Fortress is fun, comedy, and adventure rolled up in an epic package. It is just as good today as when it was first made. A Japanese…

After seeing Crazy Rich Asians I checked out the review of the movie on our site. Following the well-thought-out piece, I scrolled through the comments where I noticed one commenter bringing up an important topic up. They said, “My…

You know, if Netflix is going to continue to move towards its ultimate goal of world domination, it has to account for every culture around the world. Enter Bleach, the live-action version of the popular anime…

It’s about time Netflix diversified their weekly film content by including an animated film. This isn’t just some throwaway, cheap animation meant to fill in the slate. It’s an acquired anime film from the studio…

Some films just can’t seem to hold onto their A-list talent.  At the onset of pre-production, reports claimed that Michael Fassbender was to star in The Outsider alongside director Daniel Espinosa, but those two quickly walked…

Wes Anderson’s signature quirkiness has already left an indelible mark on the film industry.  In fact, he could probably stop making films right this instant and he would already have left behind a wonderful assortment…