Category: Features

April 15, 2021 · 0 comments

by Jeremy Clarke. Naomi Kawase’s new film True Mothers deals with the interface between unwanted teen pregnancy and infertility among married couples and was Japan’s entry for this year’s Best International Feature Film at the Oscars. Sadly, its story of an unmarried mum who hands her child over to childless, adoptive parents only to later […]

April 12, 2021 · 0 comments

By Shelley Pallis. The forthcoming re-release of Makoto Shinkai’s world-beating romance Your Name is a perfect opportunity to revisit his 2016 blockbuster, and to poke around in some of the on 4K Blu-ray gossip and behind-the-scenes stories of its inception. The liner notes alone are thick with details liable to pass even hard-core fans by […]

April 9, 2021 · 1 comment

By Jeannette Ng. Set in the aftermath of an all-consuming war, Violet Evergarden follows the eponymous lead, an ex-child soldier, as she tries to piece together the fragments of her self through a new job ghost-writing letters.

April 6, 2021 · 0 comments

By Jonathan Clements. Long overdue for inclusion in the BFI’s Film Classics series, Isao Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies finally gets the critical treatment, courtesy of Alex Dudok de Wit. In 100 closely argued pages, he takes the reader through the film’s genesis at Studio Ghibli, the peculiarities of its director, its major themes and […]

April 3, 2021 · 0 comments

By Mario Battaglia. Although there were plenty of anime fans who were already watching Demon Slayer, its movie spin-off’s sudden breaking of box office records was greeted worldwide by the mainstream media as some sort of sneak attack, catching many pundits unawares. The winter’s big winner at the box office, Haruo Sotozaki’s Demon Slayer: Kimetsu […]