Tag: Third Window
January 24, 2022 · 0 comments
Toshiaki Toyoda
By Tom Wilmot. When people think of the new masters of Japanese cinema, the same roster of names continues to crop up. Hirokazu Koreeda, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and Takashi Miike, among others, tend to be the usual suspects as far as international acclaim goes. However, there is another director whose consistently introspective, vibrant, and brutal work […]
November 5, 2021 · 0 comments
Funuke, Show Some Love
By Tom Wilmot. The family drama is a staple of Japanese cinema and has been for many years. From the shōshimin-eiga (lower middle-class films) of the 1930s to the many masterpieces of Yasujiro Ozu, Japan has a proud lineage of reserved and moving melodramas. Funuke Show Some Love You Losers! is no such film. Based on the […]
August 22, 2021 · 0 comments
Tezuka’s Barbara
By Tom Wilmot. An erotic and sexually charged story of introspection and insanity is unlikely to be the first thing one would associate with the “God of Manga” Osamu Tezuka. However, that’s precisely what you got with his 1973-74 manga series Barbara. The story is a dark and meditative journey into sexuality, perversion, and art, […]
February 8, 2021 · 0 comments
Ujicha
By Tom Wilmot. One of the most appealing aspects of animation is that the form offers so much variety. From traditional hand-drawn cel animation to stop-motion work, the medium has continued to grow, giving creators numerous ways to express themselves. And then there’s geki-mation, the production method that 35-year-old auteur Ujicha uses to bring his […]
September 6, 2020 · 0 comments
Melancholic
By Roxy Simons. “It’s dangerous to know something you’re not supposed to,” Kazuhiko’s boss at the local bathhouse tells him in Seiji Tanaka’s Melancholic. Feeling nosy over what is going on late at night at his workplace, Kazuhiko (Yoji Minagawa) decides to stake the place out, but quickly realises that there’s something far more ominous […]