Anime Blog Tracker

Kanata no Senko 彼方の閃光  (2023) Director: Yoshihiro Hanno [Japan Film Festival LA]

Playing as part of Japan Film Festival LA, LIGHTNING OVER THE WATER, is Yoshihiro Hanno’s earnestly-told anti-war pic buoyed up by crisp B&W visuals and brave performances from…

Genkinahito

Sep 13, 2024 • Subscribe

Faraway Family (彼方の家族, Taro Kawasaki & Eisuke Sakauchi, 2023)

A teenage boy struggling with grief and loneliness gains a new perspective after bonding with another lonely young man in Taro Kawasaki & Eisuke Sakauchi’s indie drama.

Windows on Worlds

Apr 8, 2024 • Subscribe

Where Love Goes 愛のゆくえ (2023) Director: Fuka Miyajima [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]

Where Love Goes 愛のゆくえ, from director Fuka Miyajima, is a rich story about love that takes a girl from Hokkaido to Tokyo and back, by way of magical realism.…

Genkinahito

Mar 15, 2023 • Subscribe

Raging Grace (2023) Director: Paris Zarcilla [Chicago International Film Festival 2023]

Raging Grace (2023), by director Paris Zarcilla, cleverly offers a balance of social commentary and historical horror that emerges in the experiences of a carer living in present-day…

Genkinahito

Dec 11, 2023 • Subscribe

Inch Forward 走れない人の走り方 (2024) Director: Su Yu-chun [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

Inch Forward 走れない人の走り方 (2024) Director: Su Yu-chun [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

Genkinahito

May 8, 2024 • Subscribe

Before Anyone Else (2023) Director: Tetsuya Mariko [Chicago International Film Festival 2023]

Before Anyone Else (2023), by director Tetsuya Mariko, is a very atmospheric and well-acted short film set in Chicago. A gritty and believable ride done with restraint and…

Genkinahito

Dec 4, 2023 • Subscribe

Sekai 世界 (2023) Director: Marina Tsukada [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]

Sekai 世界, directed by Marina Tsukada, is a rich portrait of two people living in Nagano prefecture. It gently guides us into their inner worlds and exploring them…

Genkinahito

Mar 11, 2023 • Subscribe

Beyond Love and Hate / 愛と憎しみの彼方へ / Ai to nikushimi no kanata e (1951)

Obscure Japanese Film #237Toshiro Mifune Abashiri Prison, Hokkaido. When six convicts escape one rainy night, kindly veteran screw Kubo (Takashi Shimura) is shocked to learn that one of the men was…

Martin Dowsing

Dec 22, 2025 • Subscribe

Scandal

Okiku and the World せかいのおきく (2023) Director: Junji Sakamoto [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]

Okiku and the World せかいのおきく (2023), directed by Junji Sakamoto, is an absolutely heart-warming and moving story of love set during the end of the samurai period. Its beautiful…

Genkinahito

Jul 16, 2023 • Subscribe

Monster  怪物 (2023) Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda [Chicago International Film Festival 2023]

Monster 怪物 (2023), by director Hirokazu Kore-eda, is a Rashomon-like story about how misapprehension can cause problems and hide people’s suffering. [Chicago International Film Festival 2023]…

Genkinahito

Dec 25, 2023 • Subscribe

Over the Town 街の上で Dir: Rikiya Imaizumi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]

A charming cringe comedy that takes place in Tokyo’s Shimokitazawa. Over the Town 街の上で Dir: Rikiya Imaizumi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]

Genkinahito

Apr 9, 2021 • Subscribe

Along the Sea 海辺の彼女たち Dir: Akio Fujimoto (2020) [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]

A riveting look at the migrant experience through the travails of three Vietnamese women in Japan who travel along the sea to where they hope will be a…

Genkinahito

Apr 30, 2021 • Subscribe

Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023

 For the second year in a row, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) which took place between March 10 and March 19.…

Heroic Purgatory

Mar 21, 2023 • Subscribe

Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023

 For the second year in a row, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) which took place between March 10 and March 19.…

Heroic Purgatory

Mar 21, 2023 • Subscribe

Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023

 For the second year in a row, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) which took place between March 10 and March 19.…

Heroic Purgatory

Mar 21, 2023 • Subscribe

Bear Man 웅남이 (2023) Director: Park Sung-kwang [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]

Bear Man 웅남이 (2023), by director Park Sung-kwang, is a solid comedy/action/crime film about bears that turn into men. It makes good on its premise and offers an…

Genkinahito

Jul 17, 2023 • Subscribe

Concrete Utopia 콘크리트 유토피아 (2023) Director: Um Tae-hwa [Chicago International Film Festival 2023]

Concrete Utopia 콘크리트 유토피아 (2023), directed by Um Tae-hwa, is a disaster movie that marries together an apocalyptic earthquake and the dog-eat-dog world of home ownership in Korea. [Chicago…

Genkinahito

Dec 18, 2023 • Subscribe

Japan Cuts 2018 Film Festival at the Japan Society

This past few weeks I  volunteered for the Japan Society Film Department’s annual Japan Cuts film festival, which screens a host of new Japanese blockbusters, avant-garde films, and…

踊る猿life is kyōgen

Aug 3, 2018 • Subscribe

New Religion ニューレリジョン (2022) Director: Keishi Kondo [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]

New Religion ニューレリジョン is a highly-atmospheric horror film from Keishi Kondo who crafts an original story with distinct visuals. It’s one of the best J-horror films I have seen…

Genkinahito

Mar 16, 2023 • Subscribe

Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (2023) Director: Elene Naveriani [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (2023), by director Elene Naveriani, is a touching late coming-of-age film about a 48-year-old woman in a Georgian village growing into herself after a near-death…

Genkinahito

Mar 6, 2024 • Subscribe

December 赦し (2022) Director: Anshul Chauhan [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]

December 赦し is director Anshul Chauhan’s third feature film. An impressive courtroom drama, it takes us through a harrowing criminal trial that constantly keeps us empathising with and questi…

Genkinahito

Mar 12, 2023 • Subscribe

The Residents 暮らしの残像 Director: Kahori Higashi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]

The Residents, by director Kahori Higashi, is a snappy ensemble comedy that follows a traditional four-act structure of intro, development, twist, and conclusion. The Residents 暮らしの残像 Director: Kah…

Genkinahito

May 27, 2022 • Subscribe

Special - Japan Cuts Film Festival 2024

  Table of Contents Hello everyone, Once again this year, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the Japan Cuts 2024 film…

Heroic Purgatory

Jul 21, 2024 • Subscribe

Mountain Woman 山女 (2023) Director: Takeshi Fukunaga [New York Asian Film Festival 2023] 2

Mountain Woman 山女 (2023), by director Takeshi Fukunaga (Ainu Mosir), is an atmospheric drama about outcasts struggling in a small famine-hit village in Tohoku, circa the late 18th Century.…

Genkinahito

Jul 24, 2023 • Subscribe

Mirai

Killing Romance 킬링 로맨스 (2023) Director: Lee Won-Suk [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]

Killing Romance 킬링 로맨스 (2023) Director: Lee Won-Suk [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]

Genkinahito

Jul 14, 2023 • Subscribe

Gon

Hail to Hell 지옥만세 (2023) Director: Lim Oh-jeong [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]

Hail to Hell 지옥만세 (2023), by director Lim Oh-jeong, is a glimpse into the harsh and dark aspects of Korean society and the people who prey on the…

Genkinahito

Jul 28, 2023 • Subscribe

Sojourn to Shangri-la 是日访古 Director: Lin Yihan [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

In “Sojourn to Shangri-la” 是日访古, director Lin Yihan uses the tragicomic event of a failed fashion shoot to slip into an exploration of the transcendent and mythological and…

Genkinahito

Mar 29, 2024 • Subscribe

BELLE Director Mamoru Hosoda at the Animation is Film Festival

Anime News Network met with Hosoda on the red carpet to discuss his futuristic retelling of the classic fairytale, including how 'beauty' has evolved in the last 300…

Anime News Network - Views

Oct 27, 2021 • Subscribe

BELLE

Performing KAORU’s Funeral カオルの葬式 Director: Noriko Yuasa [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

Performing KAORU’s Funeral カオルの葬式 (Dir Noriko Yuasa) is a heady story of remembering an individual through pulling together memories. Amidst the farce and tears of the funeral lies a…

Genkinahito

Apr 8, 2024 • Subscribe

The Abandoned 查無此心 Director: Tseng Ying-ting (2023) [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]

The Abandoned 查無此心, by director: Tseng Ying-ting (2023), is a solid serial killer film that finds originality in its milieu of illegal immigrants and in the theme of…

Genkinahito

Aug 2, 2023 • Subscribe

City of Wind (2023) Director: Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

City of Wind (2023), by director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, is a perfectly-crafted portrait of Mongolian youth that looks at the way modernity and tradition, social order and individuality affect…

Genkinahito

Mar 4, 2024 • Subscribe

Mayhem Girls メイヘムガールズ (2022) Director: Shinichi Fujita [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]

Mayhem Girls メイヘムガールズ (2022), by director Shinichi Fujita, is a fun youth story of girls finding self-confidence and a place in a world where everyday pressures and Covid-19 affect…

Genkinahito

Jul 26, 2023 • Subscribe

Whale Bones 鯨の骨 (2023) Director: Takamasa Oe [Japan Cuts 2024]

Takamasa Oe’s social media mystery turns into a satire of living life online as a hapless website worker tries to find a missing AR girl in his beautifully…

Genkinahito

Jul 13, 2024 • Subscribe

The Outsiders’ Club よそ者の会 (2024) Director: Hami Nishizaki [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025]

Hami Nishizaki’s use of location and her cast brilliantly depict the feeling of alienation through two characters whose intentions are misconstrued by the people around them in The…

Genkinahito

Mar 15, 2025 • Subscribe

New York Asian Film Festival 2023

Table of Contents For the third year in a row, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF)…

Heroic Purgatory

Jul 19, 2023 • Subscribe

exception

Blue Imagine ブルーイマジン Director: Urara Matsubayashi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024 / Japan Cuts 2024]

Director Urara Matsubayashi makes a definitive #MeToo film for the Japanese film industry with her sincere and complex drama Blue Imagine ブルーイマジン [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024 / Japan…

Genkinahito

Jul 18, 2024 • Subscribe

An Interview with Tetsuya Mariko, Director of Before Anyone Else (2023) [Chicago International Film Festival 2023]

An Interview with “Before Anyone Else” (2023) director Tetsuya Mariko, where he goes into the making of his atmospheric film. [Chicago International Film Festival 2023]

Genkinahito

Dec 4, 2023 • Subscribe

Japanese Films at the Chicago Film Festival 2023

A Preview of the Chicago International Film Festival 2023 – October 11 to 22 – Monster, Evil Does Not Exist, The Boy and the Heron, Before Anyone Else,…

Genkinahito

Sep 20, 2023 • Subscribe

The Boy and the Heron

It Must Be Love 愛の茶番 Director: Junko Emoto [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]

It Must Be Love 愛の茶番, by director Junko Emoto, has actors give fun improvisational performances as egotistic characters driven crazy by love in a film-meets-theatre experiment. [Osaka Asian…

Genkinahito

Mar 8, 2024 • Subscribe

Our House Party ボクらのホームパーティー (2022) Director: Shuichi Kawanobe [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]

“Our House Party” is a well-acted slice of gay life from Tokyo that gives an honest view of some of what it means to be gay in Japan.…

Genkinahito

Jul 13, 2022 • Subscribe

Ninja Girl シュシュシュの娘（こ）Director: Yu Irie (2021) [New York Asian Film Festival 2021]

Ninja Girl シュシュシュの娘（こ）Director: Yu Irie (2021) [New York Asian Film Festival 2021] is a quirky contemporary ninja action comedy/political satire. It plays on Sunday, August 15th at 5:30pm at…

Genkinahito

Aug 4, 2021 • Subscribe

Home Sweet Home スイート・マイホーム Director: Takumi Saitoh [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]

Home Sweet Home スイート・マイホーム, by director Takumi Saitoh, is a great thriller full of shocks and revelations, and threats that will draw viewers in and leave them on…

Genkinahito

Jul 27, 2023 • Subscribe

The Tales of Kurashiki 蔵のある街 (2025) Director: Emiko Hiramatsu [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025]

The Tales of Kurashiki 蔵のある街 (2025) is a celebration of the beautiful historic city by director Emiko Hiramatsu who sets a youth story in her hometown and delivers…

Genkinahito

Mar 14, 2025 • Subscribe

The Narrow Road 窄路微塵 (2022) Director: LAM Sum [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]

The Narrow Road 窄路微塵 is director LAM Sum’s moving ode to working-class life in Hong Kong during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Narrow Road 窄路微塵 (2022) Director: LAM Sum…

Genkinahito

Mar 14, 2023 • Subscribe

幻の光 OST - Ming-Chang Chen

Maborosi [Maboroshi no Hikari] Directed by: Hirokazu Koreeda 1995 Download

Nihon Cine Art

Dec 19, 2013 • Subscribe

Ripples (2023) review [Camera Japan Festival]

With her quirky sense of humor, she delivers one of the most illuminating explorations of the effect the gap between the imaginary equilibrium of the ego and the…

psycho-cinematography

Oct 16, 2023 • Subscribe

Japanese Films at the Rotterdam International Film Festival 2023

A preview of the Japanese Films at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2023

Genkinahito

Jan 18, 2023 • Subscribe

Japan Sinks: 2020, Kick-Heart, Lu Over the Wall, Mind Game, Ride Your Wave

Japanese Films at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2023

A Preview of the Japanese Films at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2023: THE FIRST SLAM DUNK and TOKYO POP are on the programme.

Genkinahito

Aug 16, 2023 • Subscribe

THE FIRST SLAM DUNK

Japanese Films at the Vancouver International Film Festival 2023

A Preview of the Japanese Films at the Vancouver International Film Festival 2022 – September 28th to October 08th – will screen MONSTER, EVIL DOES NOT EXIST, UNDERCURRENT, THE…

Genkinahito

Sep 7, 2023 • Subscribe

The Boy and the Heron

Japanese Films at the BFI London Film Festival 2023

A Preview of the Japanese Films at the BFI London Film Festival 2022 – 4 to 16 October in cinemas around the UK,

Genkinahito

Sep 5, 2023 • Subscribe

The Boy and the Heron