Villain (Japan, 2010)
Before achieving mainstream success with Hula Girls (2006), a based-on-fact drama about a group of women who save their economically-troubled mountain village through hula dancing,...
DumBeast (2009)
In its eleventh year, the highly celebrated, Frankfurt-based Japanese film festival Nippon Connection had the extra responsibility of promoting solidarity for Japan after the devastating...
Everybody Must Get Stoned: Stomping Through Feudal Japan With The Stone God Daimajin
In 1966, Daei released a trilogy of relatively sober kaiju films, the Daimajin series. In each, a giant stone god comes to life, usually at...
The Servant (South Korea, 2010)
Kim Dae-woo is running the risk of stereotyping himself, but when the result is a film like The Servant (2010), is this a bad thing?...
Tetsuo: The Bullet Man (Japan, 2009)
Cyberpunk cinema has been largely defined by the intense imagery of Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) and Tetsuo: Body Hammer (1992), a pair of extremely...
Grotesque (2009)
When Grotesque received a banning from the British Board of Film Classification back in 2008, it effectively earned its fifteen minutes of fame. It took...
April Story (Japan, 1998)
There are very few Japanese filmmakers working today who can convey the pitfalls and pressures – but also the pleasures – of youth as well...
A Frozen Flower (South Korea, 2008)
Eclectic director Yu Ha’s fifth feature explores yet a new generic territory. After drama in Marriage Is a Crazy Thing (2002), high school angst in...
Pinoy Sunday (Taiwan, 2009)
Manuel and Dado are simple men. In fact, one could argue that they are simpletons. Part of the ever-increasing Philippine migrant worker community, not just...
Loyalty In Japanese Film: Hachi-ko and The 47 Samurai
Loyalty, I would hazard, is a highly regarded virtue in Japan. From the bushido practice of unwavering fealty to one’s lord, to the national adoration...