An Exploration of Bonds, Losses and Resilience in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Family Dramas
โKore-eda has the caring, loving eyes of a father who cannot help but follow all his children walking hand in hand towards the horizon.โ
Hope and Despair: Paul Schraderโs ‘First Reformed’ Screenplay
โFor Paul Schrader, First Reformedโs visual style realizes ideas of transcendental style that he first theorized at the beginning of his career. But that style only works because it serves the story and character he crafted so carefully.โ
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms: On Transcendental Style and Paul Schrader’s ‘First Reformed’
โThe power of โFirst Reformedโ is rooted in Schraderโs ability to take a number of clear forbearers — Bresson, Dreyer, Pialat — and twist them into a style that feels wholly unique and rooted in a personal set of values and obsessions.โ
A Matter of Style: Yasujirล Ozu Covers ‘Christopher Robin’
Michael J. Casey Imagines โChristopher Robinโ in the Style of Yasujirล Ozu
Las Palmas Film Festival Review: Ya-chuan Hsiao’s ‘Father to Son’
โThe fatherโs strength lies in knowing when to โprotect the heart by pretending to have no heart,โ and the moment when he chooses to do so is devastating.โ
Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie? – On Philippe Garrelโs ‘Frontier of the Dawn’
“This is a love story expressed through gaping structural absences.”
Las Palmas Film Festival Review: Kรดji Fukadaโs โHarmoniumโ
“It’s the demons within that Kรดji Fukada astutely brings to life in ‘Harmonium.'”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Jeremy Carr on Yasujirรด Ozu’s ‘I Was Born, But…’
“If Ozu has taught us anything, itโs that life doesnโt get any easier. But life does go on.”
The Exaggerated Joy of Jรปzรด Itami’s ‘Tampopo’
“If ‘Tampopo’ initially seems familiar, itโs only because Itami masks the exterior as a Western.”
Review: Ira Sachs’ ‘Little Men’
“At its best, ‘Little Men’ swings the viewer from the small, important signs of young friendship to the uncomfortable and conflicting economic interests of adults.”
Studio Ghibli Forever: An Initiation โ ‘Only Yesterdayโ
“An enchanting film that surreally embraces the child within, ‘Only Yesterday’ feels like the first Studio Ghibli film to be firmly aimed at an adult crowd.”
‘The Profound Desires of the Gods’ Is a Great Example of Film Excess
“Throughout much of his 60s work, Imamura often examined the balance between ordinary and unordinary people, and in The Profound Desire of the Gods, he finds an exceptional way of highlighting the extremity of this concept.”