The Japan Society Review

Directed by Lee Sang-Il The most surprising thing about this remake, directed by Korean Lee Sang-Il, is how closely it sticks to the source material, and how successfully it does so considering the wildly different settings. Review by Chris Corker

Directed by Nagisa Isogai The Lust of Angels stands out from the many other Japanese films being shown in London at the moment for the fact that it was written and directed by a woman and the short movie’s main cast are all girls. Review by Mike Sullivan

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki Jiro Horikoshi was a designer of Japanese fighter planes during World War II and The Wind Rises follows him as he struggles to build his aircraft and grapples with life in pre-war Japan. There are elements [...] Review by David Knox

Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda Like Father Like Son is looking at human lives as we see how two families cope when they discover that their sons were mixed up at birth and that each set of parents had been bringing up the child of [...] Review by Mike Sullivan

Directed by Ryohei Watanabe The movie has a narrative by the main character Misa Kumada. From the beginning it is clear that the main story follows her past experiences at high school while infrequently we see her as an adult in [...] Review by Mike Sullivan

Directed by Abbas Kiarostami Abbas Kiarostami's style is quite different to Hollywood directors who prefer big blockbuster action movies, moreover, his movies can be controversial. Like Someone in Love is no exception to this and [...] Review by Mike Sullivan

Directed by Keiichi Hara The movie Colorful was screened at the ICA and included an introduction by the film’s director, Keiichi Hara, as well as a Q & A afterwards. Review by Mike Sullivan

Directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo and written by Katsuhiro Otomo Focusing on the problem of Japan’s ageing population, the film satirically reproduces the mech-orientated glory days of Japanese animation, placing this camp and overblown genre within a serious moral construct. Review by Chris Corker

Directed by Scott Hicks This is a story about the trial of a Japanese American, Kabuo Miyamoto, accused of murdering a white American, Carl Heine, over a land dispute. Review by Michael Sullivan

Directed by Jonathan Teplitzy The Railway Man is a powerful film based on Eric Lomax’s book of the same name, featuring particularly wonderful performances by Colin Firth and Jeremy Irvine as, respectively, the young and older Lomax. Review by Susan Meehan