February 26, 2013
Mitsuko Delivers is a great beginning to the festival for me, starting with what could be the best acting performance of the year. Riisa Naka plays the eponymous Mitsuko, an energetic and pregnant young woman who travels back to her old stomping grounds and quickly befriends a cast of quirky local characters, forcing them to seek happiness, whether they’re open […]
November 28, 2010
Love in a Puff (Pang Ho-cheung, 2010), from one of Hong Kong most promising directors, stands out as a great example of how to do romantic comedies right.
March 3, 2011
In Legendary Assassin, following the murder of a triad boss, an assassin is trapped on the small island where the deed occurred due to weather conditions.
October 17, 2013
Shield of Straw My first film at Fantasia in 2013 was Takashi Miike’s Shield of Straw, one of the director’s contribution to the festival. Miike is a known workhorse, directing sometimes three films per year, in a myriad of genres and styles. Yet, there seems to be a connecting thread through his films, which feels harder to ascertain for me […]
November 26, 2010
in its new restoration, Kuroneko (Kaneto Shindo, 1968) is one of those gems, a ‘60s Japanese horror film with a sharp aesthetic.