‘Straying’: The realities of a love quadrangle
Rikiya Imaizumi’s comedy earns its R15 classification with sex scenes that reveal the honest and even humorous moments in intimate relationships.
Mark Schilling
Glimpses of postwar Hayama through a father’s eyes
"Hayama 1952-1953 Charles Junkerman,” a book of rare photographs, preserves the everyday lives of the seaside town's citizens in vivid color.
‘Intimate Stranger’ is a psychological thriller for the pandemic age
Director Mayu Nakamura's background in documentary filmmaking played a part in making the feature, which explores the depths of desperation.
‘Wedding High’: Nuptial chaos delivers big laughs
The ensemble comedy about a wedding gone wrong has some hilarious moments and digs into the ups and downs of Japanese weddings.
‘Intimate Stranger’: Asuka Kurosawa makes a triumphant return
The actress delivers a layered performance as a desperate yet calculating woman searching for her lost child in Mayu Nakamura’s psychological thriller.
‘Love Nonetheless’: Sexy romp delivers solid laughs
Hideo Jojo's smart comedy attemps to revive the erotic subgenres of the 1970s with mindful updates for modern audiences.
Hiroshi Okuhara’s ‘Hotel Iris’ is a house of mirrors
The director's film adaptation of Yoko Ogawa's novel, in which Masatoshi Nagase plays a dangerously seductive translator, blurs the line between fantasy and reality.
‘Ribbon’: Non unmasks pandemic frustrations in her first feature
The former “Amachan” actor’s film was inspired by the frustration and anger of young people whose lives have come to a standstill because of the ...
‘Just Remembering’: Bittersweet romance rings true
Daigo Matsui's romantic drama seems to draw inspiration from a segment from "Night on Earth," the 1991 cult classic by Jim Jarmusch and starring Winona ...
‘Popran’: Toilet humor with a moral message
Shinichiro Ueda’s zany comedy about the comeuppance of a man whose genitals fly the coop doesn’t quite match the energy of the director’s “One Cut ...