For an entire generation of horror fans, the movies that came out of Japan around the turn of the millennium were crucial stopovers in our journey of cinematic discovery. They fell under the collective-yet-reductive umbrella of “J-Horror”, which had slowly burned out by the mid-’00s, but in 2023 the smouldering […]
Japan
Enter the Clones of Bruce Lee & J-Horror Virus (Frightfest 2023) (Review)
The Frightfest line-up is often home to some exceptional documentaries that chronicle everything from cultural curios to cinematic movements. They act as a sort of cinematic sorbet from the fictional chills and thrills that surround them, and this year is no different with two strong examples being Enter the Clones […]
River (2023) Junta Yamaguchi with another ambitious time-twisting treat (Frightfest 2023) (Review)
Junta Yamaguchi is a filmmaker who loves repeating himself, which is understandable given that his feature film work so far has concerned itself with two-minute cycles and loops in time that infuriate and complicate in equal measure. It should be clear from the outset, however, that this is not necessarily […]
Hiruko the Goblin (1991): A Uniquely Wild Fantasy Horror (Review)
Third Window continue their gradual releasing of director Shinya Tsukamoto’s filmography with his early feature known as Hiruko the Goblin overseas and Yokai Hunter: Hiruko in Japan, after the manga series of which two stories are adapted. Released in between the first two Tetsuo films that first made his name, […]
Golgo 13 (1973) Ken Takakura at his Effortless Best (Review)
The Katsuhito Ishii Collection (1995-2022) (Review)
Small Slow But Steady (2023): A Tender Character Study of a Hearing-Impaired Female Boxer (Review)
The latest film from Japan’s Shô Miyake, director of 2018’s And Your Bird Can Sing and 2020’s Ju-On: Origins, is Small, Slow But Steady, released to cinemas and Curzon Home Cinema on 30th June. Miyake’s touching movie is a highly original boxing drama inspired by the autobiographical book Makenaide!, the […]
Revenge (1964) A True Masterpiece of Japanese Cinema (Review)
How does one win when the chips are stacked so very high against you? In a society where social standing and face mean everything, the slightest disagreement or misunderstanding can escalate to unfathomable levels of violence, heaping consequence upon consequence. When does it end? And just how far does it […]
The Game Trilogy (1978/9) Classic Japanese Carnage with a Huge Slice of Cool (Review)
Standing at 6 feet tall and having an effortlessly cool demeanour, Yusaku Matsuda stood head and shoulders above his contemporaries in every sense of the term. His baby face masked by the always present sunglasses and a slender physique gave manga and anime artists their template for the next two […]