Photosensitivity Warning: Occasionally black and white films will possess a flicker and its continuous presence within The Betrayal may prove disorienting to photosensitive viewers. One of the greatest mistakes in humanity is incuriosity, this notion that all you know is… Read More ›
Manga author Koyoharu Gotouge’s fantasy adventure shonen Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (鬼滅の刃) first published in February 2016, introducing audiences to Tanjiro Kamado, a young boy living in Taishō era Japan with his mother and siblings, making their living as… Read More ›
To go into a movie without knowing anything about it is a rare experience, but sometimes something drops into your inbox and you decide to jump head first into it knowing nothing other than that it is a festival screening…. Read More ›
Photosensitivity Warning: There are three instances of powerful strobing/flashing lights that may trigger a painful response in audiences: two shortly after the title card appears and one in the climatic sequence of the film. Japanese filmmaker Toshiaki Toyoda has built… Read More ›
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… Read More ›
Content Warning: The following review discusses scenes of sexual violence. A sweaty biker gang leader with a head shaved in the shape of a swastika huffs fumes from a plastic bag, swearing revenge and delivering exposition at the same time…. Read More ›
Between the stories we tell ourselves and the ones we present to others, somewhere in the middle lies the truth of who we are, that part of ourselves that we either can’t bear to put into the light of day… Read More ›
Live. Die. Repeat. Live. Die. Repeat. Live. Die. Repeat. Live. Die. Repeat. Before these words were linked to the Doug Liman-directed Edge of Tomorrow (2014), they belonged to Hiroshi Sakurazaka and his light novel All You Need Is Kill. Initially… Read More ›
We are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams;— World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world… Read More ›
Trigger Warning: An extended introduction sequence includes frequent brief flashing effects that may be difficult for photosensitive viewers. What does it mean to be a hero? Stories from around the world and throughout time try to navigate this question. Few… Read More ›
If someone is asked to identify their favorite war-related films, most likely they’ll name American-made films, not because they’re inherently better but because they are often more prolific. The truth is that war is one of the few concepts that… Read More ›
Art isn’t for everyone. It can be profitable for the artist if it is, striking the balance between personal vision and widespread appreciation, but it’s not a necessity. Sometimes art is entirely for the artist, the work so niche that… Read More ›
Each story — the ones we tell ourselves that make up our reality and the ones that creatives make for the books, shows, and films we ingest — is a matter of perspective and, frequently, the audience is rarely asked… Read More ›
Warning: The following review will include discussion of violent imagery, infanticide, and genocide. If you read my piece last year on Hayao Miyazaki’s modern masterpiece The Boy and the Heron (君たちはどう生きるか) (2023), then you know that the Ghibli studio head… Read More ›
When people talk about stories standing the test of time, at least in America, it’s usually in a hyperbolic sense, talking about the awesome impact and influence that a specific tale has infiltrated since conception. We certainly have stories to… Read More ›
In the history of the world, there have been indigenous peoples and there have been colonizers. In some cases, it’s viewed as a matter of perspective, but, by and large, if a people originated from a location, they are the… Read More ›
From September 2nd, 1945, until April 28th, 1952, the U.S. American military, backed by the U.K., occupied Japan in order to supervise the surrender of their competition in World War II. It’s easy for U.S. history today to recall the… Read More ›
Before writer/director Naoko Yamada created The Colors Within (2024), she released Garden of Remembrance, a 2022 short film in which remembrance gives way to healing from grief, the presentation of which involved toying with colors, specifically the way in which… Read More ›
In the visual essay “Rule Breaker: An Introduction to Sado Najajima” (2025), film critic Tom Mes calls director Sadao Nakajima (The Great Okinawa Yakuza War; Jeans Blues: No Future) one of “the Three Aces of Toei,” and laments that this… Read More ›
In January of 2025, Radiance Films released Underworld Beauty, a 1958 yakuza drama from filmmaker Seijun Suzuki, the second restoration by the boutique distributor of the filmmaker’s work. Now, with A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness (1977), Radiance Films offers… Read More ›