Search:

Ribbon (Non - Japan 2022)

Non (actress, writer, model Rena Nonen), a multitalented young woman who might be a Japanese Miranda July, and has made a feature about the early days of COVID and the...

SHINJI HIGUCHI: SHIN ULTRAMAN シン・ウルトラマン(JAPAN 2022)

A shiny new reimagining of the most successful tokusatsu-vs.-kaiju series of all time, with the silver superhero helping earthlings fight off...

EIJI UCHIDA: OFFBEAT COPS 異動辞令は音楽隊！(Japan 2022)


A joyous comedy caper about a loose-cannon detective (NYAFF 2022 Star Asia honoree Hiroshi Abe), who’s shunted off to the police band, where he...

NON: RIBBON (JAPAN 2022)

http://www.chrisknipp.com/images/ribbon.jpg
MISAYO HIRUKI AND RENA NONEN IN RIBBON

COVID disrupts the life of an art school student

Ribbon is the first feature...

DANIEL GELLER, DAYNA GOLDFINE: HALLELUJAH: LEONARD COHEN, A JOURNEY, A SONG (2021)

http://www.chrisknipp.com/images/HJLC.jpg
LEONARD COHEN IN HALLELUJAH. . .

TRAILER

A modern anthem and the...

Ox-Head Village 牛首村 (Takashi Shimizu, Japan, 2022)

The third in a popular horror trilogy from a very prolific director whose JU-UN GRUDGE series has been a big success and been remade in the...

Lesson in Murder 死刑にいたる病 (Kazuya Shiraishi, Japan, 2022)

Shiraishi is a veteran director and his BLOOD OF THE WOLVES was featured in the 2018 NYAFF. This closely follows the format of Demme's...

Intimate Stranger 親密な他人 (Mayu Nakamura, Japan 2021)

Still another change of pace and genre, this is a suave little psychological horror mystery film. Mayu Nakamura, who studied film at NYU, has...

Grown-Upsわたし達はおとな (Takuya Kato, Japan 2022)


Another big change of pace, this is a sophisticated, minimalist, elegant vérité film set in the present day. Two slouchy, good-looking art students...

Broken Commandment 破戒 (Kazuo Maeda, Japan, 2022)

This is about minorities too, the "eta" or outcast people whose ostracism was supposed to end in the nineteenth century. The stigma had remained,...

Angry Son 世界は僕らに気づかない (Kasho Iizuka, Japan, 2022)

Not sure how much of this is autobiographical but the director is a trans person and a passionate spokesperson for minorities. The protagonist...

One and Four一个和四个 (Jigme Trinley, China, 2021)

A double-cross mystery in a gnarly far-north setting with shades of THE HATEFUL EIGHT, this is the debut of the son of Tibet's best known director,...

Before Next Spring 如果有一天我将会离开你 (Li Gen, China, 2021)

This meandering ensemble piece focuses on Chinese residents in Japan working in a popular Chinese restaurant in a Tokyo suburb. One is a...

First reviews are below. More will follow


LINKS
Before Next Spring 如果有一天我将会离开你 (Li Gen, China, 2021)
One and Four一个和四个 (Jigme Trinley, China, 2021)
Angry Son 世界は僕らに気づかない (Kasho Iizuka,...

TAKASHI SHIMAZU: OX-HEAD VILLAGE (JAPAN 2022)

http://www.chrisknipp.com/images/ren.jpg
KEIKO HORIUCHI, RIKU HAGIWARA IN OX-HEAD VILLAGE

A popular horror thriller mystery in a woodsy setting...

MY DONKEY, MY LOVER AND I/ANTOINETTE DANS LES CÉVENNES (Caroline Vignal 2020): US theatrical release.

This successful comedy (rated 4.0 or 80% on AlloCiné) is opening in US theaters July 22, 2022.

KAZUYA SHIRAISHI: LESSON IN MURDER 死刑にいたる病 (Japan, 2022)
TRAILER

http://www.chrisknipp.com/images/kn.jpg
KENSHI OKADA, SADAWO ABE IN LESSON IN MURDER

Warning: depicts torture

AS the...

MAYU NAKAMURA: INTIMATE STRANGER 親密な他人 (JAPAN 2021)

http://www.chrisknipp.com/images/fu.jpg
FÛJU KAMIO AND ASUKA KUROSAWA IN INTIMATE STRANGER

Spider and fly

Intimate Stranger is a slow...

Thanks for reading me.

TAKUYA KATO: GROWN-UPS わたし達はおとな (Japan 2022)

http://www.chrisknipp.com/images/kto.jpg
FUJIWARA KISETSU, KIRYUU MAI IN GROWN-UPS

The unexpected pregnancy of an art student

The director and...

Another reason for the erosion of democracy is the invasion of corporations into everything. Here's the beginning of a current article in the publication called THE HUSTTLE. This is something like...

Nice to know you read it. There is so much to write about now, including Ukraine.

KAZUO MAEDA: BROKEN COMMANDMENT 破戒 (Japan 2022)

http://www.chrisknipp.com/images/cknd.jpg
ANNA ISHII AND SHOTARO MAMIYA IN BROKEN COMMANDMENT

New adaptation of Shimazaki's 1906 novel about...

KASHO IIZUKA: ANGRY SON/ 世界は僕らに気づかない (Japan 2022)

http://www.chrisknipp.com/images/GOW.jpg
GOW AND KAZUKI HORIKE IN ANGRY SON

The coming of age of a beleaguered "Jappino" is a messy but...

Here's an excerpt from an editorial in LE MONDE (translated by DeepL, free version) that reflects reactions all over the civilized world:


This is when the enormity of what the Trump Supreme...