The Japan Society Review

Directed by Hamaguchi Ryusuke Based on a Murakami Haruki’s story, Oscar winning film Drive My Car explores issues related to individual, national and international trauma through a curated film style and aesthetics. Review by Michael Tsang

Directed by Graham Kolbeins Queer Japan, directed by Graham Kolbeins in 2019, is a documentary which explores the LGBTQ+ community in Japan offering an illustrative view of the queer culture in the country. Review by Jenni Schofield

Written and directed by Hikari 37 Seconds explores the coming-of-age story of Yuma, a woman with cerebral palsy, and her quest to become more independent from her overbearing mother. Review by Jenni Schofield

Directed by Stephen Scott for Netflix A six-part Netflix historical documentary series, Age of Samurai retells the final decades of the Sengoku Jidai, a 150-year period of near continuous civil war, examining the reunification of Japan through the rise of three figures: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Review by Riyoko Shibe

Written and directed by Fukunaga Takeshi Ainu Mosir is a sensitively filmed slice of contemporary Ainu life, as well as a rites-of-passage story set in Lake Akan Ainu Village in Kushiro City, Hokkaido. Review by Susan Meehan

Directed by Matsuyama Hiroaki If you haven’t already heard of Netflix’s latest obsession, Japanese drama Switched, you will probably not be prepared for the exhilarating, beautiful and horrifying ride you are about to embark, thanks to [...] Review by Severah Noureen Akhtar

Directed by Kore-eda Hirokazu Kore-eda Hirokazu’s latest outstanding film Shoplifters confirms the unbelievable talent with which the director depicts the beauty and tenderness of the broken ways in which family unite functions with [...] Review by Morgane Chinal-Dargent

Directed by Mori Tatsuya Samuragochi Mamoru is a figure buried in infamy in the Japanese media. He became a familiar name as the composer of music in a romantic style, but what really got him prominence in media stories [...] Review by Roger Macy

Directed by Hara Kazuo Hara’s film gives the briefest of briefings on the historical background before spending nearly all of its four hours following a group of ex-workers during their eight-year struggle to get compensation from [...] Review by Roger Macy

Directed by Yakumo Seiji The story is set in the prestigious all-girls Virgin Mary Christian academy where we find our main characters; the members of the literary club chaired by the principal’s daughter Itsumi. She is admired and [...] Review by Morgane Chinal-Dargent