Drama

The Piano Lesson (2024) is an American drama film from director Malcolm Washington, producer Denzel Washington (his father) and starring John David Washington (his brother). It tells the story of the Charles family in 1930’s Pittsburgh, as they debate whether to sell a piano that has become a family heirloom. The film debuted at the Telluride […]

Continue reading “”
Adventure

And so I’ve been on a bit of a Hemingway kick while reading a brand new book (Just released) by favorite author Mark Kurlansky. Kurlansky tracks some of his adventures in journalism alongside those of Hem while on assignments and travels in Europe, Cuba and elsewhere. I didn’t read this particular […]

Continue reading “”
Amazon Prime Video

In the Realm of the Senses (1976)

Nagisa Oshima’s controversial erotic art film, “In the Realm of the Senses,”  as it is known in the United States, has two other titles. L’Empire des Sens (Empire of Senses) in France, and an original Japanese title, Ai no Corrida (Bullfight of Love). For once, I believe that the Americans got it right with their […]

Continue reading “In the Realm of the Senses (1976)”
Amazon Prime Video

Milos Forman ran away from his home country, Czechoslovakia, after the Russian tanks put down the more liberal Czech government, and he was subsequently fired from the Czechoslovakia state-run movie studio.    His American movie that he most likely felt an affinity for was his cinematic interpretation of Ken Kesey’s brilliant exhibition of the totalitarian […]

Continue reading “”
Comedy

Mom, Is That You?!こんにちは、母さん

Just like Clint Eastwood, who is still making films at 93, 92-year-old Japanese filmmaker Yoji Yamada (山田洋次) is also proving that age is just a number. The man who brought the world the beloved TORA-SAN series has recently released his 90th work, MOM, IS THAT YOU?! It’s the third film in his “Mother” series that […]

Continue reading “Mom, Is That You?!こんにちは、母さん”
Crime

Only the River Flows 河邊的錯誤

If you’ve been watching the movies coming out of China over the past few years, you’ve no doubt noticed that many… okay, most… of them have a patriotic bent. Gone are subjects that the government has deemed to undermine national security, and that means no more movies about corrupt cops or government officials because they […]

Continue reading “Only the River Flows 河邊的錯誤”
Documentary

The Voices of the Silenced (2023)

Documentary film “The Voices of the Silences”, which won the Mecenat Award for Best Documentary when it was shown at the Busan International Film Festival in last year, is about one defiant old Korean Japanese woman and her old but valuable chronicles of her fellow Korean people in Japan. As her several old documentary films […]

Continue reading “The Voices of the Silenced (2023)”