Cinema 120
Pumpkin & Mayonnaise
By Andrew Osmond. Some live-action manga adaptations proclaim they are manga adaptations in each and every frame, with lurid colours and effects, absurd costumes and acting that would look broad in a panto. Pumpkin and Mayonnaise, which is screening around the UK and Ireland as part of the Japan Foundation’s Touring Film Programme for 2019, […]
Early Korean Cinema
by Jeremy Clarke. This month, BFI Southbank and the Korean Cultural Centre UK are mounting a season of films from Korea made up to and including 1946 under the moniker Early Korean Cinema: Lost Films From The Japanese Occupation Period. The season is curated by KCCUK’s Hyun Jin Cho and University of Sheffield’s Kate Taylor-Jones.
Alita: Battle Angel
By Andrew Osmond. Midway through Alita: Battle Angel, the cyborg heroine realises she’s provoked the mother of all bar brawls – with a crowd of horribly beweaponed cyborgs – and now must kick an ironmonger’s worth of metal ass. She cautions her human boyfriend Hugo (Keean Johnson) to stand back, way back. This line of […]
The Scythian Lamb
By Roxy Simons. “You don’t fear me?” Ryuhei Matsuda’s Miyakoshi asks council worker Tsukisue (Ryo Nishikido) when he arrives in the sleepy town of Uobuka, his new home for the next ten years. “You and I are humans,” Tsukisue responds, despite his reservations about the sudden influx of ‘suspicious’ people in the town. Miyakoshi is […]
Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura
By Andrew Osmond. The family fantasy Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura is at the populist end of this year’s Japan Foundation Film Programme, which tours UK and Ireland through February and March. Released in Japan over the Christmas season in 2017, Destiny is a little like Harry Potter, and a little like Ghibli. It’s also […]