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Asian cinema: Japanese films

2024 or 1984? Films from Singapore and Japan tackle surveillance

Stranger Eyes, Happyend and 2073 take a worrying look at surveillance in Singapore, Japan and a Chairperson Trump-led future, respectively.

Stranger Eyes, Happyend and 2073 take a worrying look at surveillance in Singapore, Japan and a Chairperson Trump-led future, respectively

19 Sep 2024 - 9:40AMvideocam

Review | Broken Rage: Takeshi Kitano’s deliciously meta yakuza comedy

6 Sep 2024 - 11:30PM

On the Menu | Ever thought ‘I want to eat that dish’ while watching a film? Now you can

6 Sep 2024 - 7:45AMvideocam

Review | Cloud: Kiyoshi Kurosawa thriller takes aim at online reselling

The lead character’s get-rich-quick schemes rebound on him, and when a mob turns up the guns come out. Well enough acted and with atmospheric settings, Cloud is somehow less than the sum of its parts.

31 Aug 2024 - 10:37PMvideocam

5 movies or shows to watch in Hong Kong this weekend, August 31-September 1

This weekend watch Nicolas Cage as a serial killer or see a princess K-drama, a new Hong Kong gangster film, or an absurdist Greek triptych.

30 Aug 2024 - 10:05AMvideocam

Review | Look Back is a nostalgic Japanese film about manga and friendship

Fujino (voiced by Yuumi Kawai) is a schoolgirl who has built a fan base for her comic strip and who becomes jealous of another girl (Mizuki Yoshida) who is also a popular artist. Then they team up.

28 Aug 2024 - 11:26AMvideocam

Video | ‘For people like us’: Japan anime studio hires autistic artists

Shake Hands aims to help people with autism, who usually struggle to cope in Japan’s stressful work environment.

23 Aug 2024 - 2:10PM

5 movies or shows to watch this weekend August 3-4 in Hong Kong

The weekend’s viewing highlights include recent Godzilla and Planet of the Apes films, a ‘reverse heist’ caper, and from Korea, a historical hijack story and a mystery manhunt thriller.

1 Aug 2024 - 12:04PMvideocam

11 must-sees at Summer International Film Festival 2024 in Hong Kong

The original Godzilla and King Kong films, a documentary presented by fanboy Martin Scorsese about two of Britain’s greatest filmmakers, a portrait of Hayao Miyazaki – Hong Kong film fans are in for some treats.

1 Aug 2024 - 9:45AMvideocam

Review | Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 2 – chaotic finish

The end of humanity and an alien invasion vie for attention with the escapades of a group of young women in part two of a story that stumbles in its efforts to fully realise the potential promised in part one.

24 Jul 2024 - 11:15AMvideocam

A still from Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 2. Image: Inio Asano/Shogakukan/Dededede Committee.

Are AI-generated films the future? Festival launches competition for them

The first competition in Korea for AI-generated films has been launched by the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, where experts debated AI’s impact on content creation and the film industry.

16 Jul 2024 - 8:35AMvideocam

A still from AI-generated feature film Who Said Death Is Beautiful? Photo: Rain Trail Pictures

Review | Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 1: great sci-fi soap opera

Japanese anime Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 1 mixes the dramas of a group of teenagers and an alien invasion of Tokyo to great effect, leaving us eagerly awaiting Part 2.

10 Jul 2024 - 5:20PMvideocam

Seven Samurai at 70: why Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 film still moves audiences

Japanese director’s 1954 epic has influenced American filmmakers from Scorsese to Coppola and is considered among the greatest movies ever made. What is it that makes the film so special?

8 Jul 2024 - 11:57AMvideocam

Jojo Rabbit to Her, French-American entrepreneur Camille Glass’ top 5 films

Camille Glass, co-founder of wine bars Brut and Crushed in Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong, shares her top five films, from a Hayao Miyazaki classic to a comedy about Nazi Germany.

6 Jul 2024 - 5:15PMvideocam

Taika Waititi and Roman Griffin Davis in a still from Jojo Rabbit. Photo: Kimberley French/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Review | All the Long Nights: meditative return by Small, Slow But Steady director

Sho Miyake’s understated, refreshingly cliché-free drama tracks the lives of two people with different disorders who bond and grow more empathetic towards each other.

26 Jun 2024 - 7:15PMvideocam

Hokuto Matsumura (left) and Mone Kamishiraishi in a still from All the Long Nights.

Review | The Imaginary: Japanese animated fantasy lacks imagination

Netflix anime The Imaginary follows an imaginary friend (voiced by Kokoro Terada) trying to get back to his human companion Amanda (Rio Suzuki) in a story that is heavily inspired by the films of Studio Ghibli.

21 Jun 2024 - 11:36AMvideocam

Review | Ultraman: Rising – English-language reimagining of superhero is great fun

A baseball star who returns to Japan and inherits the superman role adopts a baby monster in Ultraman fan Shannon Tindle’s playful debut feature film.

8 Jun 2024 - 12:51AMvideocam

Review | 52-Hertz Whales: a tough yet immersive character drama

Hana Sugisaki and Tori Kuwana star in Izuru Narushima’s 52-Hertz Whales, a tough, immersive character drama that sees an abused woman try to save a boy from a similar fate.

4 Jun 2024 - 4:15PMvideocam

Hana Sugisaki (front) as Kiko and Jun Shison as An-san in a still from 52-Hertz Whales.

Review | The Floor Plan: Japanese mystery is dread-inducing – until it isn’t

Horror film based on a viral YouTube video stars Shotaro Mamiya as a YouTuber who reports on the occult, and who investigates a mysterious house with an architect (Jiro Sato). The ending disappoints.

27 May 2024 - 7:45PMvideocam

Review | Okiku and the World: no stinker here despite poop-filled storyline

Junji Sakamoto’s simple tale of the courtship between a manure salesman and the daughter of a disgraced samurai is a charming watch.

21 May 2024 - 6:16PMvideocam

‘Breathtaking’: anime classic Spirited Away becomes a sold-out West End hit

The live version of Hayao Miyazaki’s hit anime Spirited Away has found new fans in London’s West End – the three-hour play is filling the London Coliseum and its run has been extended by five weeks.

22 May 2024 - 4:07AM

The live version of Hayao Miyazaki’s hit anime Spirited Away has found new fans in London’s West End. Above: Mari Natsuki, 72, as Yubaba (left), Kanna Hashimoto (centre), and other cast members receive the audience applause during a curtain call at its London premiere at the Coliseum. Photo: Toho

Review | My Sunshine: Jesus director returns with poetic ice-dancing drama

dreamy colours, heartfelt performances and economical storytelling characterise My Sunshine, Japanese director Hiroshi Okuyama’s film following two young ice dancers and their coach.

20 May 2024 - 2:45PM

Kiara Nakanishi (left) as Sakura and Keitatsu Koshiyama as Takuya in a still from My Sunshine.

The mythical Japanese snake creature many villagers swear is real

The tsuchinoko, a creature resembling a fat snake that you wouldn’t want to anger, is the star of a new film that uses the mythical animal to explore how Japan has changed since the mid-20th century.

20 May 2024 - 7:15AM

Review | My Oni Girl: Japanese anime on Netflix is frustratingly familiar

Tomotaka Shibayama’s animated fantasy My Oni Girl on Netflix looks good but feels pedestrian and predictable, and sadly lacks the spark and inventiveness of a Studio Ghibli film.

19 May 2024 - 5:15PMvideocam

Can’t wait for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga? 5 post-apocalyptic movies from Asia

While you wait to see Anya Taylor-Joy battle Chris Hemsworth, how about treating yourself to some of the best Asian films depicting an uninhabitable future, from Akira to Snowpiercer.

16 May 2024 - 7:15PMvideocam

Anya Taylor-Joy in a still from Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Ahead of the film’s release, why not indulge in some of the best post-apocalyptic visions from Asian filmmakers, from Akira to Snowpiercer and Warriors of Future? Photo: Jasin Boland

Chinese nationalists take aim at Japanese animation master Miyazaki’s WWII film

Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron is a box office success in China, but some say the Studio Ghibli co-founder’s anti-war stance is ‘hypocritical’ as the film portrays Japanese characters as victims.

21 Apr 2024 - 12:12PMvideocam

Hayao Miyazaki is one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024. Photo: Chris Pizzello/ Invision/ AP

Review | City Hunter: Ryohei Suzuki as playboy detective in Netflix movie

Ryohei Suzuki stars as playboy detective Ryo Saeba in new Netflix movie City Hunter, the latest adaptation of the manga of the same name by artist Tsukasa Hojo.

19 Apr 2024 - 1:26AMvideocam

5 movies to watch instead of Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver

If Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver holds little appeal to you, try these five related movies instead - they’re all amazing.

19 Apr 2024 - 5:44PMvideocam

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Asian cinema: Japanese films

From Akira Kurosawa to Yasujiro Ozu, from Takeshi Kitano to Hirokazu Koreeda, from samurai to yakuza to the Japanese New Wave, and from anime to J-horror to pink films, this is the place to go for reviews, interviews and features about movies both classic and new from Japan.

last updated:

9 September, 2024

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