There is something special about movies that are love letters to filmmaking, genres, and low-budget movies — it is just such a niche topic to touch upon but, when done right, it can be a cinephile’s perfect movie. Thankfully, Kenichi Ugana’s newest feature, I Fell in Love with a Z-Grade Director in Brooklyn is exactly that and then some. Ugana truly created a fun, adventurous, and, at times, hilarious romantic comedy encased in blood, guts, and glory, the only way meta movies can truly pull it off.
Estevan Muñoz as Jack in I FELL IN LOVE WITH A Z-GRADE DIRECTOR IN BROOKLYN. Photo courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival.
The film focuses on Jack (Estevan Muñoz) who is a struggling Brooklyn director trying to make his newest feature for a film studio that is clearly inspired by and in the same vein as Lloyd Kaufman and Troma, which is fitting for the genre and type of movie that Ugana creates here. However, on the other side of the planet is Shina (Ui Mihara) who has fallen out of love with her career choice, acting, and her popularity has dwindled. So she goes with her boyfriend, Ren (Katsunari Nakagawa), to New York City for a break and a hopeful reset. However, neither of them speak English and travelling to New York City is proving to be challenging, yet Ren does the worst thing imaginable and dumps Shina on their first day in New York, leaving her helplessly stranded.
Shina stumbles into a bar run by the Lucky 13 Bar Manager (Christopher Kahler) which is where Jack, Chip (Stephen Solomon) and Cassio (Madeline Barbush) and the rest of the crew are hanging out. Shina and Jack are the last two people in the bar before getting kicked out and, through a series of broken conversations, Jack asks Shina to be in his movie (having literally no idea who she is other than a woman and that’s what he needs for his project) in exchange for board and a flight back to Japan in a week. Reluctant at first, eventually Shina says yes as she doesn’t see another way around New York, or home. What ends up occurring, aside from trying to create a film, is a human bond that has both Jack and Shina re-evaluate what’s important and discover that even when making a movie ghost movie, the living still make the biggest impact.
What makes I Fell in Love with a Z-Grade Director in Brooklyn so great is the writing and direction that Kenichi Ugana provides in the movie, never shy about touching upon human feelings and emotion while making things that are not necessarily tied to humanity. Absolutely, the film he’s trying to make is engrossed in humanity and connection, and it’s reflective in the creative script Ugana creates and is exemplified by the down-to-Earth, rich performances that are delivered by both Estevan Muñoz (I Need You Dead!) and Ui Mihara (Takara’s Treasure), who are the life blood, heart, and soul of the movie.
L-R: Estevan Muñoz as Jack and Ui Mihara as Shina in I FELL IN LOVE WITH A Z-GRADE DIRECTOR IN BROOKLYN. Photo courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival.
Separately, Muñoz and Mihara are excellent as their different perspectives fall into a world the audience clearly loves (cinema, because that’s why we’re all here anyways). However, their performances are brightest when they are together. There is something just so special shared by two characters who struggle to communicate and the way they bond is touching and electric, making I Fell in Love with a Z-Grade director in Brooklyn one of the rare cases of a meta movie that hits the audience right in the feels, even if the movie within the movie is about the deceased.
Screening during Fantasia International Film Festival 2025.
For more information, head to the official Fantasia International Film Festival I Fell in Love with a Z-Grade Director in Brooklyn webpage.
Final Score: 4 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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