Given its international success and recent Oscar triumph of Ryusuke Hamguchi’s “Drive My Car”, Japanese cinema seems to be not only highly regarded, but also a powerhouse of creativity and artistry. Even before that, Shinichiro Ueda raised quite a few eyebrows with critics and genrefans with his underground hit “One Cut of the Dead”, which also created quite a lot of pressure on the filmmaker and the follow-up to this blend of comedy and zombie-horror. While “Special Actors” could not quite live up to the hype, it nevertheless manifested the reputation of its director as mixing genre elements and a quirky sense of humor with personal drama and observations on Japanese pop culture. In many ways, his new feature “Popran” continues this approach, given its comedy elements also pave the way for a drama about a man who finds back to his roots, and thus back to his beloved manhood.
- 9/11/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Winner for Best Director at the Tokyo Film Festival, Best Debut Feature in Udine, Jury Award in Camera Japan and of Audience Award in Japan Cuts, Nippon Connection and Asian Pop-Up Cinema, Seiji Tanaka’s feature debut Melancholic is one of the smartest Japanese films we have seen during the latest years, particularly in the way it mocks a number of genre conventions and general concepts, while remaining entertainingly genre itself.
“Melancholic ” is streaming on Sakka Films
Despite having graduated from the prestigious Tokyo University, Kazuhiko is unemployed and living with his parents without any plans for the future, in a lifestyle that could be easily described as that of a hikikomori. As the story begins, however, two events change his life completely, in rather unexpected ways. One day, he stumbles upon a former classmate, Yuri Sojima, who, opposite of him, is socially adept, cheerful, and even more surprisingly, seems to like him.
“Melancholic ” is streaming on Sakka Films
Despite having graduated from the prestigious Tokyo University, Kazuhiko is unemployed and living with his parents without any plans for the future, in a lifestyle that could be easily described as that of a hikikomori. As the story begins, however, two events change his life completely, in rather unexpected ways. One day, he stumbles upon a former classmate, Yuri Sojima, who, opposite of him, is socially adept, cheerful, and even more surprisingly, seems to like him.
- 7/3/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
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