The Japan Society Review

Directed by Yuya Ishii Mitsuko Delivers: the title made me think of the very funny film by the same director with a similar title, Sawako Decides and it did dispense the same style good humour and feel good factor. The screening at the ICA […] Review by Susan Meehan

Directed by Shion Sono [園 子温], 2011, 129 minutes Review by Susan Meehan Film director Shion Sono was working on his adaptation of Himizu, a manga by Minoru Furuya [古谷 実 ,], when Japan was devastated by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. Sono incorporated […]

Always Sunset on Third Street 2 (ALWAYS 続・三丁目の夕日), directed by Takashi Yamazaki (山崎貴), 2007, 146 minutes Review by Susan Meehan (contains plot spoilers) As the Embassy screening of Always Sunset on Third Street 2 ended, I wished I’d seen the first in the series; not just because it’s a delightful family drama, but because I […]

Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi [米林 宏昌], 2012, 91 minutes, Released on DVD 9th January 2012. Review by Michael Sullivan. In 1952 The Borrowers was written by Mary Norton, since then it has been adapted for the screen several times in America and the UK. As recently as December 2011 a version of The Borrowers starring […]

Directed by Yuya Ishii (石井裕也), 2011, 110 minutes. Review by Susan Meehan Director Yuya Ishii is only 27 and has already released a number of films including last year’s hit, the hilarious and poignant Sawako Decides (川の底からこんにちは). A Man With Style is a bittersweet family drama which has at its centre two fifty-something school friends […]

Directed by Shinji Aoyama (青山 真治), 2011, 119 minutes. Review by Susan Meehan. Tokyo Park, based on a novel by Shoji Yukiya [小路幸也], opens with university student and aspiring photographer Koji, played by rising heart-throb Haruma Miura (三浦 春馬), taking photos in a Tokyo park. He directs his lens towards a beautiful woman pushing a […]

Review by Michael Sullivan. This film is based on the manga by Aoi Hiiragi [柊 あおい] and was the first Studio Ghibli film to be directed by Yoshifumi Kondō [近藤 喜文]. Sadly Yoshifumi passed away in 1998 at the age of 47. This movie was number one in Japanese cinemas in 1995 and has now […]

Directed by Gen Takahashi In Japan there are two things you should never try to oppose – the Emperor and the police!” Gen Takahashi’s Confessions of a Dog is a powerful, grim indictment of the Japanese police force based on Takahashi’s own experiences of the police and the work of his friend Yu Terasawa, a […] Review by Susan Meehan

Directed by Sang-il Lee (李相日), 2010, 139 minutes Review by Susan Meehan. It is five years since the release of Sang-il Lee’s hugely enjoyable Hula Girls [read our review on issue 11], a Full Monty-style feel-good film replete with social commentary and the only one of his works I’d seen. I was, naturally, looking […]

Directed by Tran Anh Hung, 2010, 133 minutes. Review by Susan Meehan.