With a career spanning over 6 decades and more than 100 credits to his name, Koji Yakusho is one of the most renowned Japanese actors, with his success being rather evident in both his home country and internationally, particularly after his roles in “Memoirs of a Geisha” and “Babel”. A true chameleon of acting, Yakusho has played all kinds of roles in his career, always being convincing whether in horror, comedies, social dramas or samurai movies, whether in blockbusters or independent productions, whether on TV or even voice acting in anime. As a tribute to this remarkable actor, we present 20 of his best roles throughout his career, in chronological order.

1. Dark Society in the East (Shokaku Baba, 1993)

How many actors do you think can walk up to a woman and say “I want to fondle your breasts” and be accepted, in the same film that begins with them literally scraping crap off freshly excreted cocaine bags? “None” is the answer you’re looking for, unless of course you happen to be Koji Yakusho being a totally smooth badass in “Dark Society in the East”. Nowhere near a perfect film – its refusal to admit that Japan has a drug problem and laying the blame on foreign gangsters instead is particularly problematic – but Yakusho’s performance, an English-speaking Sho Kosugi and an extended cameo from Jimmy Wang Yu, a mood reminiscent of Paul Schrader’s “Light Sleeper” and the bombastic finale warrants “Dark Society in the East” (also called “Drug Connection”) a necessary stop in exploring Yakusho’s filmography. (Rhythm Zaveri)

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2. Shall We Dance? (Masayuki Suo, 1996)

Koji Yakusho’s embodiment of the everyman is magnificent here, portraying the middle-aged salaryman stuck in the same daily cycle with relatable timidity that comes with the territory. However, as his character opens up and finds itself through dance, so does Yakusho’s performance, which reaches its high points in the scene where he confesses his reasons for taking up dance to Mai. His efforts at getting the dance parts right are commendale, of course, but it is the subtlety that he brings to the quiet, unassuming Sugiyama that remain with you and is a significant reason for “Shall We Dance?” working as well as it does. (Rhythm Zaveri)

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3. The Eel (Shohei Imamura, 1997)

One of the most renowned films of contemporary Japanese cinema, “The Eel” won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, among a plethora of other international and Japanese awards. Koji Yakusho plays Takuro Yamashita, a regular blue-collar worker who likes to fish in his spare time. One day, he receives an anonymous letter, which states that every time he goes fishing, his wife cheats on him. Therefore, he decides to return home early one day. Upon his return, he finds his wife having sex with another man. Almost without remorse, he grabs a knife and stabs them both to death. After this, he surrenders to the police. Eight years later, he is released on parole along with an eel that he kept in prison as a pet. His parole officer is a priest, who takes him to the village where he lives. Yamashita decides to open a barbershop in that village. Everything seems to be going fine for him, and he even manages to make some friends. However, when he saves Keiko Hattori from committing suicide, his life becomes complicated once more. Yakusho is impressive in highlighting the passions lurking underneath the calm and abiding life of a seemingly normal man, whose behaviour is also shaped by jealousy, rage, regret and guilt as much as from an eagerness to finally find redemption, through a second chance presented through love. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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4. Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997)

Instead of resorting to plot twists and reversals, Kurosawa gradually creates a maze that combines terror with confusion, in a tactic that exemplifies the ingenuity of both his direction and writing. The build-up of the tension through the narrative is one of the film’s greatest assets, as Kurosawa creates a world where nothing is for certain, including the existence of the supernatural. Koji Yakusho, in one of the best efforts of his vast filmography, functions as the receiver of this tension, with his change in attitude that borders on the nervous breakdown as the story of unfolds, being one of the highlights of the film, while the scenes where he lushes out are among the most memorable in the genre.

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5. Charisma (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2000)

Koji Yakusho’s role as a tired and undecided police negotiator is different from his role as a rugged detective in Kurosawa’s films “Cure” and “Retribution.” Instead of these crime-thriller roles which feature him tirelessly looking for leads and new evidence, “Charisma” presents him as an exhausted man in a moral qualm, calmly wandering through a bizarre metaphysical world as he interacts with people who may or may not exist in actual reality. (Spencer Nafekh-Blanchette)

6. Dora Heita (Kon Ichikawa, 2000)

Remake of the 1959 film, “Machibugyo nikki: Tekka botan”, “Dora-heita” is as mischievous as its main character, who is portrayed greatly by Koji Yakusho, in a style that is both extravagant and measured on occasion, also including a number of rather impressive action scenes, where he also shines. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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7. Eureka (Shinji Aoyama, 2000)

After they have survived a violent bus hijacking, Kozue (Aoi Miyazaki), her brother Naoki (Masaru Miyazaki) and the bus driver Makoto (Koji Yakusho) have trouble coping with the event they have experienced. While Makoto quits his job and roams around the country for two years, the two siblings fall silent altogether, bringing the marriage of their parents to a breaking point. Upon his return, Makoto aims to start anew and with the support of his family and friends he eventually finds a new job. However, as he learns about the fate of the siblings, who now live in their family home with both of their parents gone, and becomes the suspect in a murder investigation in his home town, he realizes the past still has a firm hold on them. In order to help them as well as himself to move forward, he makes a drastic decision. Through his shaking voice and his insecurity later on, Koji Yakusho sets the tone for the acting in the film, with the economy he exhibits finding its apogee in the “eloquent silence” of Kozue and Naoki, which speaks volumes of their violated souls.

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8. Warm Water Under a Warm Bridge (Shohei Imamura, 2001)

Shohei Imamura’s last film tells the story of Yosuke, a salaryman who has been laid off from his job at an architectural firm in Tokyo and is undergoing marital difficulties. When his old friend dies, he travels to the small fishing town of Himi, Toyama to find a treasure that the old man had hidden in a house there decades before. He does not find what he expects, but takes a job with local fishermen and becomes romantically involved with a woman with an exaggerated proclivity towards female ejaculation. Koji Yakusho delivers a rather tame performance, which is, however, filled with humor and a very fitting sense of measure, in one of the most erotic performances of his career. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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9. Doppelganger (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2003)

Koji Yakusho delivers an impressive performance as both Hayashi and his Doppelganger, particularly in the way he manages to embody two polar opposite characters, who do share, though some basic similarities. Furthermore, the portrayal of the downward spiral of the “original” is a treat to watch, in rather elaborate transformation. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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10. University of Laughs (Mamoru Hoshi, 2004)

The two-man play set in 1940s Japan is an adaption of Koki Mitani’s most successful play. Koji Yakusho performs as a government censor who has to check the script of a comedian before the rehearsals begin. In the interrogation scenes, director Mamoru Hoshi puts the spotlight on Yakusho’s character development, changing from a strict and cold-hearted bureaucrat to a more approchable personality. Although Yakusho keeps up the serious posture of his role, in the end, he reveals signs of humanity and gives us a smile.  (Alexander Knoth)

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11. Uchoten Hotel (Koki Mitani, 2006)

The quirky mixture of „Four Rooms“ and „Budapest Hotel“ shows Koji Yakusho as Shindo, the accommodation manager of a five-star hotel, during his shift on New Year‘s Eve. The highest-grossing domestic film at the Japanese box office in 2006 features many of Mitani’s ensemble actors such as Koichi Sato. But the many memorable characters are outshined by the performance of Koji Yakusho, who tries to keep everything together. Nominated for 11 Japanese Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Koji Yakusho, the screwball comedy unfortunately did not win in any category. (Alexander Knoth)

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12. Tokyo Sonata (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2008)

Some of Yakusho’s best works have come with Kiyoshi Kurosawa and “Tokyo Sonata” is no exception. Though the actor’s role is rather small, it is no less significant and Yakusho makes the most of it, leaving a lasting impression in what is easily among top tier Yakusho performances and what ends up making “Tokyo Sonata” more memorable than it already is otherwise. (Rhythm Zaveri)

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13. 13 Assassins (Takashi Miike, 2010)

Koji Yakusho is wonderful as always in the role of Shimada Shinzaemon, despite the fact that he acts in the fashion of the protagonists of the samurai films of the 60s, with grandiloquence and intense theatricality. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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14. The Woodsman and the Rain (Shuichi Okita, 2011)

In a small mountain village, Katsuhiko (Koji Yakusho) lives a quiet, but often lonely life. After his wife’s death nearly two years ago, his life had become a routine for him divided between his work as a woodsman and regular arguments with his son Koichi (Kengo Kôra) about his future. However, this routine changes as a film crew arrives in the village to shoot a zombie movie written by Koichi (Shun Oguri), who is also the director.  Despite their oddities, neither Katsuhiko nor Koichi are portrayed as caricatures, but rather as individuals who have at one point decided not to take part in life any longer. Koji Yakusho’s and Shun Oguri’s performances highlight the kind of dilemma of men eventually forced to clearly express their views, take responsibility and take over a role they have either neglected or not yet defined for themselves.

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15. The Kiyosu Conference (Koki Mitani, 2013)

This was the third and to this date, final collaboration between Koji Yakusho and director Koki Mitani, making him somewhat part of his steady set of actors. The historical dramedy about the successor of Nobunaga Oda is slower than other Mitani films but comes up with a light-hearted version of Japanese history, in which Koji Yakusho  plays Katsuie Shibata, a samurai and military commander. In contrast to Yakusho’s other traditional,  more short-spoken and graceful, roles (e.g. „The Pass: Last Days of Samurai“ 2021, „13 Assassins“ 2010), Mitani gives him the chance to go out of character and to show his comedic talent.

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16. The World of Kanako (Tetsuya Nakashima, 2014)

Koji Yakusho as Akikazu proves, once more, the reason he is considered one of the best contemporary Japanese actors, since he can elaborately portray any role asked of him. Here, he plays a father who cannot believe his daughter is not the wonderful creature he thought her to be, and is willing to go to extremes to prove he is right. A distinct example of his character is that as he learns more about her, he suffers even more physically, in a notion mirrored in his white clothes that seem to fill with blood, sweat, and mud as the story progresses. Nakashima focuses the film on him, and he delivers in the most elaborate fashion. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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17. The Third Murder (Hirokazu Koreeda, 2017)

Shigemori seems confident and very sure of himself and his role as a lawyer, but, through his interaction with Misumi, finds himself changing, and instead of simply trying to win a case (which actually serves him as much as it does his client), eventually becomes interested (obsessed even) with finding the truth. These changes, and the many one-on-ones between the two men are the most impressive aspects of the story and the narrative, with Masaharu Fukuyama as Shigemori and Koji Yakusho as Misumi highlighting both their prowess in portraying their parts and their chemistry. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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18. The Blood of Wolves (Kazuya Shiraishi, 2018)

The “Training Day” axis derives from the relationship of the veteran Ogami and the “rookie” Hioka, with the first taking the latter for a ride in the complex politics that shape the ties between crime and punishment, and the actual situation in the area. Shiraishi, though, takes this concept a step further, by eventually presenting a second layer in Ogami, which offers a plot twist that turns the film completely around, both regarding the veteran, and his relationship with the rookie. The medium of this change is Hioka, with Tori Matsuzaka presenting both the rookie and the disillusioned cop with equal elaborateness, despite the radical differences between these two personas. Shiraishi does a wonderful job in portraying this change through two violent scenes involving Hioka and a gangster in the beginning, and the owner of a pigsty, near the end. Koji Yakusho is outstanding as always as Ogami, both as a dirty cop and as something completely different, as revealed in the second part of the film. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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19. Under the Open Sky (Miwa Nishikawa, 2020)

Koji Yakusho has been one the very top of Japanese actors for decades now, and he reaches one of his apogees here, in a rather demanding role that allows him to highlight his versatility and the sense of measure that characterizes his performance in the most eloquent way. Either angry, violent and frustrated or remorseful, pleading and sad or even simply happy, Yakusho is a pleasure to watch, in one of the best performances of his career. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

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20. The Pass: Last Days of the Samurai (Takashi Koizumi, 2020)

Takashi Koizumi directs a movie that is split into two parts, with the first focusing on Tsuginosuke as a character and his efforts to avoid war against all odds, and the second on the military operations between the two factions. Although much different in narrative approach and aesthetics, both parts are equally intriguing. The first one, which presents a truly charismatic individual, in an approach that is essentially an eulogy, benefits the most by Koji Yakusho’s acting, who gives another great and rather measured performance that highlights both his experience and his charisma. Particularly the scene where he is dancing will definitely stay on the mind of the viewer. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

This is the third and final instalment of MIIKE Takashi’s “The Mole Song” action-comedy trilogy about a bumbling cop who goes undercover and becomes a fully fledged yakuza. In this movie, cop-gangster hero Reiji (IKUTA Toma) is ordered to infiltrate Japan’s largest yakuza organisation and prevent a drug shipment worth 600 billion yen. His swansong mission and shenanigans take place aboard a luxury cruise ship where Reiji faces his strongest enemy yet.

“The Mole Song” movies are based on the manga by TAKAHASHI Noboru which has been serialized since 2005. As with the previous two movies, “The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji” in 2013 and “The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio” in 2016, prolific director MIIKE Takashi has teamed up again with equally celebrated director/scriptwriter KUDO Kankuro.

Theatrical release: November 19, 2021

If someone ever asked me to suggest a movie that captures the inner workings of the Malayali psyche, this would be it. The need to have a good time, is common across the world. And in Kerala, travel and booze are integral to this. But never did I imagine that “Ozhivudivasathe kali” (English translation – An off-day game) could encapsulate what Kerala is, so elegantly unlike any other.

Five friends decide to have a good time on election day which is a holiday declared by the state government to facilitate voting. The group has representation from different sections of society. Thirumeni (Girish Nair), Dharman (Nishtar Sait), Dasan (Baiju Netto), Vinayan (Pradeep Kumar) and Asokan (Arun Nair), though bound by the exhilarating prospect of booze, keep their prejudices and allegiances very close to their hearts. They go to a secluded guest house surrounded by natural vegetation. Geetha (Abhija Sivakala) who attends to the keep-up of the place and cooking accompanied by a male caretaker ensure that the group have all that they need to have a good time. Once they have a look around, the group settle down to their drinks. Conversations, songs and the intoxication free them from whatever little inhibitions they might have held. And in a scenario where nothing else could quench their thirst, they decide to play a game.

Choreography starts off by capturing an election campaign more like from a television news coverage. Fixed camera for long durations was a plus as it was aiding the scenes from moving closer to reality than fiction. The wild flora surrounding the guest house is both beautiful and unapologetic at the same time.

Subtitles are essential as some of the dialogues are not audible and that adds to the feeling of us watching what happens in the day-to-day life of few men from a distance. The element of voyeurism makes you want to know more about the characters involved.

The story by R Unni is converted into a great screenplay by the Sanal Sasidharan, whobeautifully weaves in the spontaneous undertakings of such a group of men without any of it looking like an artificial detour. All the groundwork is laid and all characters seem to have exhausted their material when the game is introduced. And that is where ‘Ozhivudivasathe Kali’ takes the jibe at everything we know and take for granted as part of the modern civil society.

Padmarajan’s “Arapatta Kettiya Gramathil” (English translation – In the village which wears a warrior’s belt) in my opinion is in a very similar vein though the livid characterization and the acting is way superior. It has more creative and art value going for it. Dramatization and acting prowess however are not the key in ‘Ozhivudivasathe Kali’ as the screenplay and cinematography deliver powerful images which stay with you for a long time.

Men have long left behind the exterior manifestations of wilderness which originated in their ancestors from the forest. The wild have become focused, sophisticated and cynically self-serving. The game is fun for some and not so much for others. And from the looks of it, the game has been around (not just in schools) for some time and does not seem to have any end in sight. As the prejudices of politics, education, money, class, caste, sex and intellect peel off one after the other, what is left behind is the raw image of man and his surroundings which requires a special palette to appreciate.

I would put Ozhivudivasathe Kali in the league of Jean Renoir’s ‘The Rules of the Game’ and Satyajit Ray’s ‘Aranyer Din Ratri’ (English translation – Days and Nights in the Forest). A genre the subtle powers of which have been effectively used by the greatest of auteurs.

The Filippino thriller master Erik Matti is in Venice with “On The Job: The Missing 8”, the sequel to his action flick “On The Job” from Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2013. As for the previous film, the script was penned by Matti’s spouse Michiko Yamamoto, whose feeling for fine tuning and presenting many things happening at the same time leaves no confusion about who- and whydunnit, although the backside challenging 208′ of the film’s runtime will probably prove more fitting for the broader audience in the format in which is shown now – as a six episode HBO Asia mini-series.

The longest Venice main selection contender was screened towards the end of the festival to an already tired viewership that had previously sat through a huge chunk of films, and yet it managed to stand out as one of the more accomplished competition titles due to its interesting narrative, balanced tempo and enough excitement to keep the curiosity burning.

The story is, unlike the first film which was set in Manilla, based in the municipality of La Paz, in the seemingly safest community of the Philippines, ruled over and controlled by Pedring Eusebio (Dante Rivero), an influential politician loved by the voters but known only by few for what he is. His ‘clean’ town is rather cleansed by none else than him, be it for the crimes really committed, or for his allergy to people standing his way. Eusebio is unscrupulous and protected by the reputation his family enjoys, with their white vest image kept clean by an oiled network of right helpers – mainly consisting of police officers who ocasionally let out cons out of prison to do the dirty jobs, and a PR machinery with expertise in fabricating fake stories. The innocent victims’ past is being forged for the calculated purposes of keeping things under control: those who lost their lives get posthumously dragged into dirt with fake news being fed to media just in case anyone comes to the idea of asking questions.

Real and fake news enter the battle of information, showing just how little power is left to the independent print media to fight its way to the public. The moving images and audience-grabbing headlines take over, simply reflecting the world we live in, thursty for extremes, ruined images of individuals and scandals. Manipulative as it is in its ‘pointing-the-obvious’ way to cause a head-tilting reaction, this approach has its point. The film does deal with the specific domain of fabricated truth that serves its pourpose in political games.

One could also call the music choices manipulative, but damn do they work. The film is fuelled with the power of beats and lyrics to accompany every single significant moment. Most noteably, this is the case with The Animals’s song “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” set to the violent prison riot in which the unvolountary murderer Roman (Dennis Trillo) – a former petty criminal turned into a hitman by force, finds his temporary way out of hell.

Inspired by true events, the film looks into a deeply corrupted system that protects the powerful at the costs of its fragile citizens, taking no prisoners. But when they take them, they use them as a weapon of distruction. Roman, a simple youth from a small village, is the only one who understands the situation he is put in, and turns informer.

Eusebio’s (and also Pacheco’s) biggest enemy is the local newspaper publisher Arnel Pangan (Christopher de Leon) who stubbornly refuses to succumb to the trend of praising the politicians’ ‘accomplishments’ for the community. It is a story as old as humankind – those who oppose the mechanisms of power will eventually be swallowed by it. The problem is that on the night he is supoised to meet his destiny, he isn’t alone. Eight people get killed instead of one, including his 8-year-old son. This is what it takes for Pangan’s business partner Sisoy Salas (John Arcilla) to rethink his previous loyalty to Eusebio, who used him as his puppet in the morning radio shows.

Matti is addressing one of the biggest problems in the Philippines – the ‘disappearance’ of many people who oposed the regime in the past decades, and he isn’t gentle about it. On the other hand, he is taking stylistic compromises led by the emotional input.

For his role of an initially corrupt journalist who realised the full weight of his wrong-doings after the murder of his friend and his young son, Arcilla won the the Volpi Cup for Best Actor in Venice. Towards the end, he turns into a modern hero who live-casts his own way of no return in a scene which is a poignant reminder of a digitally-steered parallel reality we curretly occupy.

“Funimation is excited to return to New York Comic Con in what has been a monumental year for anime and for the fan community,” says Gita Rebbapragada, Chief Marketing Officer of Funimation Global Group. “NYCC attendees and fans will truly feel welcomed and embraced into the world of anime with the activations and brand presence we have planned.”

Attendees are invited to escape the bustle of the ‘Con, find your zen and enter into an anime sanctuary where everyone belongs. Fans will be transported to Funimation: Sakura Park, an experience that will be a manifestation of Japanese-inspired anime fantasy. Throughout the weekend, guests are welcome to enjoy a branded food truck, search for hidden easter eggs, snap one-of-a-kind photo opps behind aesthetic backdrops and faux cherry blossom trees, win exclusive giveaways, engage in a professional cosplay photo shoot, and much more — including exclusive opportunities and benefits for Funimation subscribers!  And, of course, the adjacent Funimation Shop to bring all fans’ beloved anime lifestyle home with them.

NYCC attendees — whether superfans of anime or just casual viewers — can also gain insights on the hottest anime titles this year in Funimation-hosted panels, including My Hero Academia and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Funimation kicks off its panel lineup on Thursday with its Anime Lives Here: Funimation Panel, providing insights on what’s new and exciting in the world of anime. On Friday, the English dub voice actors from My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission, the third film of the series coming to US theaters on October 29, will set the stage to discuss one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year. Lastly, grab a Saturday ticket aboard the hype train for a look back at the worldwide phenomenon Demon Slayer -Kimtesu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train, with appearances from the English dub voice actors from the series and box office-shattering film.

On Thursday, October 7, Funimation will host a one-night Subscriber only celebration of anime at NYC’s premier rooftop bar at The Press Lounge, blocks away from the convention center. The event is for anime fans looking to kick back, catch up with old friends and new, and enjoy themed drinks, photo booths, and more under the stars. The event is free on a first-come, first-serve basis with limited capacity and attendees must RSVP, be 21+ years of age, and must show their NYCC badge, proof of Funimation subscription and proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

For those who cannot make it to the panels, Funimation: Sakura Park experience, or attend NYCC, Funimation will be hosting daily recaps on its Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube Channel, giving fans all the greatest highlights from each day, including panels, cosplay, fan interviews, collectible features, and so much more.

Check out Funimation’s full NYCC lineup of panels and experiences below:

FUNIMATION: SAKURA PARK
Thursday, October 7 – Saturday, October 9 | 10:00 am – 7:00 pm EST
Sunday, October 10 | 10:00 am – 5:00 pm EST
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center Showroom – Booth # 1557
Escape the shuffle of the con floor and step into Funimation: Sakura Park, where you can snap pics, grab giveaways, and take a breather. Find your zen, then turn the corner for The Funimation Shop booth. Looking for anime? It all happens here!

ANIME HAPPENS HERE: FUNIMATION PANEL
Thursday, October 7 | 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm EST
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center – Location TBD
The world of anime is about to get a whole lot bigger! Huge new shows streaming this Fall, Funimation co-productions, and hot topics like My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission. Catch all the latest news in anime, all right here.
●      Moderators: Lauren Moore (Funimation) and Chris Han (Funimation)

FUNIMATION SUBSCRIBER EVENT
Thursday, October 7 | 9:00 pm – 11:00 pm EST
The Press Lounge (653 11th Avenue at 48th Street, 16th Floor, New York, NY, 10036)
Funimation also invites its subscribers to a one-night only celebration of anime at NYC’s premier rooftop bar at The Press Lounge, blocks away from the convention center. The event is free on a first-come, first-serve basis with limited capacity and attendees must RSVP, be 21+ years of age, and must show their NYCC badge, proof of Funimation subscription and proof of COVID-19 vaccination. The event is for anime fans looking to kick back, catch up with old friends and new, and enjoy themed drinks, photo booths, and more under the stars. RSVP TO: FunimationFansNYCC@civic-us.com

MY HERO ACADEMIA NEW MOVIE PANEL
Friday, October 8 | 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center – Empire Stage
Your sneak peek into the next chapter of the global anime phenomenon starts here. Presented by Funimation, the panel includes an exclusive preview of My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission before the movie hits theaters October 29!
●      Panelists: TBD
●      Moderator: Lauren Moore (Funimation)

DEMON SLAYER: MUGEN TRAIN PANEL
Saturday, October 9 | 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm EST
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center – Empire Stage
Board the Mugen Train once again! Presented by Funimation, this panel is your deep dive into Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train. Join the English voices of some of your favorite characters as they discuss everything from heart-wrenching scenes to moments that fans love most.
Panelists include Aleks Le (Zenitsu), Abby Trott (Nezuko), Landon McDonald (Enmu), and Lucien Dodge (Akaza – Upper Three) along with a special video message from Zach Aguilar (Tanjiro), Bryce Papenbrook (Inosuke), and Mark Whitten (Rengoku).
●      Panelists: Aleks Le, Abby Trott, Landon McDonald, and Lucien Dodge
●      Moderator: TBD

Kartika (Radhika Madan) and Jaggi (Sunny Kaushal) bump into each other in Paris and through a chain of events, fall madly and passionately in love. While there’s an enticing chemistry between the two, destiny plays the villain in their love story as Kartika is all set to tie the knot with someone else.

The rest of the story revolves around how these star-crossed souls engulfed in a web of passionate love, cross all obstacles for their shiddat wala pyaar. One also gets a glimpse of Mohit Raina and Diana Penty in the trailer. However, the makers have kept their roles under wraps. While the former exudes some smoldering charm in his suave groom avatar, the latter looks pristine in a bridal outfit.

Winter Film Awards Is New York City. Like the city itself, the organization showcases the eclectic diversity and excitement of the independent arts world. The 10th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival runs September 23-October 2 2021, and includes awesome film screenings, cool discussion panels, career-building professional development workshops and super-fun parties at venues throughout NYC.

The Fest celebrates the outstanding work of emerging filmmakers in all genres from around the world, with an emphasis on highlighting underrepresented and marginalized artists. The Festival’s 2021 lineup includes 91 outstanding films from 28 countries; half of the films were created by women, 53% were created by or about people of color.

For its 2021 program, Winter Film Awards is honored to screen an incredible collection of eleven films from Asia!  All screenings take place at CINEMA VILLAGE, 22 East 12th Street, New York NY 10003.

Features

The Puppet (Kathaputali)

2020 | Nepal | 118 mins | Nepali | Horror
World Premiere
Directed By Veemsen Lama

Trapped in an abandoned royal palace, a young prince must confront the unsettling secrets of his family’s past, escape evil forces and battle dark magic in order to survive.

Bloody Sunday Sep 26, 8:30pm – 11:10pm

Touch

2020 | United States/China | 97 mins | Chinese | Feature Film
World Premiere
Directed By Aleksandra Szczepanowska

Fei Fei, a married Caucasian western woman living in China suddenly meets Bai Yu, a Chinese blind masseur. Against all odds, Bai Yu and Fei Fei come together in an intense love affair. When Fei Fei pulls away from the affair, Bai Yu grows obsessive, possessive, possessed. Finally, the characters find the demons they’ve created can only implode in a clash of mixed desires and violent impulses.

Tuesday Sep 28, 8:30pm – 10:30pm

Shorts

Gon, The Little Fox (ごん)

2019 | Japan | 28 mins | Japanese | Animated
Directed By Takeshi Yashiro

Documentary Day Sep 25, 12:00pm – 2:10pm
Animation Afternoon Sep 27,1 3:00pm – 4:45pm

Handscape (夏青)

2020 | China | 19 mins | Mandarin, Chinese Sign Language | Short
NYC Premiere
Directed By Yiru Chen

Friday Sep 24, 6:30pm – 9:00pm

High Flying Jade

2019 | Viet Nam | 22 mins | English | Documentary
Directed By Katherine Sweetman

Documentary Day Sep 25, 7:10pm – 9:15pm
Documentary Shorts Matinee Wed Sep 29, 3:00pm – 4:45pm

iScream Stories: A Couple of Nightmares

2018 | Philippines | 6 mins | English, Filipino | Horror
US Premiere
Directed By Jules Katanyag

Bloody Sunday Sep 26, 3:30pm – 5:45pm
Horror Shorts Matinee Thursday Sep 30, 2:30pm – 4:45pm

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2021 | United States | 5 mins | English | Animated
US Premiere
Directed By Ziyi Wang

Thursday Sep 30, 8:30pm – 10:45pm
Animation Afternoon Sep 27,1 3:00pm – 4:45pm

The Winter

2020 | China | 5 mins | English | Animated
Directed By Xin Li

Wednesday Sep 29, Shorts 5:00pm – 6:45pm
Animation Afternoon Sep 27,1 3:00pm – 4:45pm

Two Little People

2020 | China | 3 mins | English | Animated
Directed By Xin Li

Monday Sep 27, Shorts 5:00pm – 6:45pm
Animation Afternoon Sep 27,1 3:00pm – 4:45pm

Who Got Balls: Jeffrey Cariaso

2020 | Philippines | 9 mins | English | Web
US Premiere
Directed By Jet Leyco

Tuesday Sep 28, Shorts 5:00pm – 6:45pm

Tickets are available  at https://wfa2021.eventcombo.com/ .  Get 20% off with code WFA21GRP20

Like many capitals from all over the world, Berlin has become a melting pot of different lifestyles, cultures and beliefs. In the face of aggressive capitalization and gentrification, the diversity which used to be much more present, is slowly disappearing and exchanged by lofts and apartments serving more as investments rather than places people actually live in. However, despite these developments, Berlin still has a great pub culture, many nightclubs and a great nightlife, and you can have some of the best, strangest and interesting encounters while enjoying the nights in Germany’s capital.

“Beer! Beer!” is streaming on CathayPlay

In many ways, Chinese filmmaker Popo Fan’s 2019 short “Beer! Beer!” is a testament to this side of Berlin, its, at times, odd charm and the aforementioned encounters, making living there so attractive to many people. In the story, Fan plays Tao, a Taiwanese immigrant living in Berlin, who, after a long night of partying, steps out of a club to have a smoke and runs into Sebastian (Marc Philipps). The two men quickly strike a conversation while Sebastian accompanies Tao to his apartment, and they touch various subjects, from the cultural differences of Germany and China to the idea of eating meat. Sebastian, who was originally just worried about Tao getting home, is quite attracted to him, who, while flattered about the reaction, seems to have fun talking Sebastian into various things under the premise of inviting him to his apartment for one final beer.

Even though the short feature focuses on the two men, the city of Berlin is more than just a background to the story, but a character in its own right. Its streets, the music, the shops and the Berlin citizens themselves define this feeling of anything can happen and one should go with the flow rather than sticking to a formula or routine. Interestingly, Tao seems to be much more open-minded about the whole concept, using whatever possibility he can, from ordering food at a shop still open after midnight to the pieces of furniture people leave on the streets for others to take with them (at least this is how Sebastian explains the whole concept).

Aesthetically, the use of black-and-white imagery (which changes into color after a while) and a jazz-infused score, stresses the sense of relaxed aimlessness as well as the comedic features of “Beer! Beer!”. As the night is full of options, the choice of jazz supports this notion with its smoothness on the one hand and its improvised nature on the other hand. The stylized images from cinematographer Arne Büttner further emphasize this approach, the oddness and also the slapstick elements created by the conversation of the two males or other aspects, such as the aforementioned pieces of furniture found on the streets.

“Beer! Beer!” is a funny short feature about the improvised nature of life and the chance encounters our time on earth is filled with. Director Popo Fan has managed to create a quite entertaining feature, whose choice of Berlin and its nightlife as backdrop to its story is quite fitting and works very well.

Atsuko (AMAMI Yuki) is an ordinary housewife married to Akira (MATSUSHIGE Yutaka) with a daughter and son. She is thrifty when it comes to money. After saving for their retirement from her husband’s salary and her earnings from her part-time job, Atsuko thought their life would be peaceful in retirement. However, suddenly she has to spend money on her daughter’s wedding and her father-in-law’s funeral. Their savings dwindle and to make matters worse, both Atsuko and Akira lose their jobs.

Based on the novel by KAKIYA Miu who is also one of the screenwriters, this comedy is directed by MAEDA Tetsu of “A Banana? At This Time of Night?” and “The Boy Inside”.

Theatrical release: October 29, 2021 and Roadshow: October 30, 2021

Portland, OR – Comics publisher ABLAZE has announced that Barnes & Noble will be among the  key national retailers stocking the zombie survival-horror adventure, CRUELER THAN DEAD, by  Tsukasa Saimura and Kozo Takahashi. The first issue of the new manga series launches in print  and digitally on September 21^st.  

Readers are invited to order their copy directly from Barnes & Noble at:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/crueler-than-dead-vol-1-tsukasasaimura/1138878788?ean=9781950912414 

CRUELER THAN DEAD is distributed in North America by Diamond Book Distributors. 

CRUELER THAN DEAD • MSRP: $12.99 • Release Date: Sept. 21^st 

No one knows where it started…but when the world finally realized what was going on, it was already too late. When Maki Akagi wakes up in a lab full of corpses, she learns from a dying soldier that she is the result of a last-ditch experiment to  cure humans of a virus turning them into zombies. Accompanied by  a young boy who also miraculously escaped, she will have to try to  get to the very center of a devastated Tokyo filled with bloodthirsty monsters. The dome located there contains the last survivors of mankind. And humanity’s very survival depends solely on a few drops of this miraculous vaccine… 

Inspired by Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira), The Walking Dead, Romero classics, and new zombie films  like 28 Days Later, Crueler Than Dead delights in the meticulous detail of decomposed flesh,  with a wicked and hungry eye…evoking a modern vision of a zombie world that is terrifying and  tension filled. 

FOLLOW ABLAZE ONLINE  

ABLAZE Twitter: http://twitter.com/AblazePub 
ABLAZE Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ablazepub/ 
ABLAZE Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ablazepub/
ABLAZE Website: http://ablazepublishing.com 

COMIC SHOP LOCATOR SERVICE: 1-888-comicbook, www.comicshoplocator.com Get in touch with ABLAZE: info@ablazepublishing.com 

ABOUT ABLAZE: 

ABLAZE is a new publishing company releasing a variety of titles—in different formats, genres,  and age ranges—original material, crowdfunded titles, reprints, art books, including  international titles from Europe, Asia (manga, manhwa), and more.  

The mantra of ABLAZE is quality first, with the goals of giving creators a platform, bringing new  voices into the conversation, serving as diverse an audience as possible, and growing the  company’s publishing schedule sustainably over time.  

Presented by the California Film Institute, the 44^th Mill Valley Film Festival runs October 7-17, 2021. The MVFF is an acclaimed eleven-day cinema event celebrating the best in American independent and world cinema. Located just north of San Francisco, it’s known as a filmmakers’ festival, and the West Coast launch pad for many Academy Award®-winning films, annually showcasing 200+ films from over 50 countries. The MVFF creates a community that celebrates the best in international film as well as Tributes and Spotlights with major film talents. Below, we’ve got the whole roster of their Asian / Asian American film slate.

FEATURES

Anima (Mo Er Dao Ga) (China, narrative feature, dir. Jinling Cao) A tale of tested fraternal bonds and ecological catastrophe shot on location in Mongolia’s national parklands, writer-director Cao Jinling’s gorgeous, thrilling drama forces viewers to ask themselves: What happens when we disrupt the harmony of our world? And how can we restore the balance? In Chinese with English subtitles – West Coast Premiere

Drive My Car (Japan, narrative feature, dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi) In this enchanting narrative, a theater director reeling from family tragedy is invited to direct a production of Uncle Vanya in Hiroshima. He’s assigned a driver, and during their time together, the two unburden themselves of their personal traumas. Winner of the Cannes Best Screenplay Award, Drive My Car is an exquisitely crafted mosaic about emotional connection. In Japanese with English subtitles. – West Coast Premiere

Found (US, documentary feature, dir. Amanda Lipitz) Three American teenagers, each a single daughter adopted from China, discover they are cousins through 23andMe, spurring them to confront long-withheld questions about their origins and lost histories. Filmmaker Amanda Lipitz artfully documents the girls’ physical and emotional journeys as they travel together to China in search of answers.

A Hero (Iran, narrative feature, dir. Asghar Farhadi) Acclaimed filmmaker Asghar Farhadi returns with another gripping human drama, chronicling a man (Amir Jadidi) in prison for an unpaid debt who makes a plan for freedom. Brilliantly mapping out a moral dilemma and astutely examining our fascination with (and suspicion of) folk heroes, A Hero travels an unpredictable, unforgettable path. In Farsi with English subtitles

India Sweets and Spices(US, narrative feature, dir. Geeta Malik) Progressive firebrand college student Alia returns home for the summer and confronts the jarring reality that parents are people, too, when complicated family truths emerge in this lively coming-of-age dramedy that is also a biting portrayal of suburban snobbery. There are laughs aplenty, but this is a game-changing journey for Alia—and her parents.

The Last Film Show(India, narrative feature, dir. Pan Nalin) A movie about the magic of movies had better be magical, and this one truly is. In rural India, a spirited 9-year-old bribes his way into watching a summer’s worth of on-screen wonders from a projection booth. This semi-autobiographical tale explores the nature of creation—and spins a love song to cinema. In Gujarati with English Subtitles  – West Coast Premiere

Like a Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong-Torres(US, documentary feature, dir. Suzanne Joe Kai) With no shortage of rich material from his life and storied career, Suzanne Joe Kai’s documentary presents an intimate portrait of the social activist and legendary rock critic, a Bay Area institution and one of the most essential journalists of the American counterculture. – Northern California Premiere

Marvelous and the Black Hole(US, narrative feature, dir. Kate Tsang) Teen delinquent Sammy (Miya Cech, Always Be My Maybe) finds a path through grief and family dysfunction by forming an unlikely friendship with Margot (Rhea Perlman, Cheers), a children’s party magician giving off grumpy-but-wise grandma vibes. An uplifting coming-of-age story blazing with dark humor, fun fantasy, and charming magic. Age 11+ Please note: This film contains profanity, teenage smoking, comedic scenes of fantasized violence, and references to self-harm through stick-and-poke tattooing. – Bay Area Premiere

Memoria(Columbia/Mexico/France/UK/Thailand/Germany/China/Switzerland, narrative feature, dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul) Set in Colombia and starring Tilda Swinton, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s first feature film made outside of Thailand covers familiar thematic terrain for the veteran director in its exploration of the blurred boundaries between the natural world and spirit realm, and the way that collective traumas burrow deeply into those affected and those around them, emerging as memories or dreams. In English and Spanish with English subtitles.

Mission: Joy – Finding Happiness in Troubled Times (US, documentary feature, dirs. Louie Psihoyos, Peggy Callahan) A fascinating look at the friendship between the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, this doc from Peggy Callahan and Oscar®-winner Louie Psihoyos tackles big topics and big feelings. It’s an engrossing portrait of two influential world leaders who share the ability to find hope––and even joy––in adversity.

The Rescue(US/UK, documentary feature, dirs. Jimmy Chin, E. Chai Vasarhelyi) The Oscar®-winning documentary duo behind Free Solo (MVFF 2018) returns with this pulse-pounding insider account of the miraculous 2018 rescue of a soccer team trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand. – Bay Area Premiere 

Rickshaw Girl(Bangladesh, narrative feature, dir. Amitabh Reza Chowdhury) In Bangladesh, feisty teen artist Naima disguises herself as a boy and braves the dangers of the big city, driving a rickshaw to earn extra cash for her struggling family. But it’s her vivid artwork that reveals her true calling. Based on the beloved young adult novel by Mitali Perkins. Age 11+ – North American Premiere

SHORTS

Beyond the Model (Erin Kökdil, US 2020, 5 min) After the assaults and discrimination of Asians because of COVID-19, this film shines a light on what it is like be a “model minority” in an increasingly divided America. – Youth Produced

Connection, (Ciara Lacy & Tracy Nguyen-Chung, US 2021, 8 mins) A lifelong angler, Autumn Harry had never fished beyond the waters of her reservation—until she picked up a fly rod.

The Fairy Tale (Seung jae Lee, Korea 2020, 15 min) When Eun-jung gets asked out by a classmate, she hands him a handmade book with a fairy tale of her own design that helps him to gradually understand the real reason she has rejected him.

Furthest From (Kyung Sok Kim, US 2020, 19 mins) The story of two best friends who must embrace change but separate from each other when their trailer park is evacuated due to a water contamination crisis.

God’s Daughter Dances (Byun Sung-bin, South Korea 2020, 25 min) A trans dancer’s efforts to opt out of mandatory military service forces a gutsy confrontation.

Golden Age Karate (Sindha Agha, US 2021, 5 mins) Jeff Wall is a teenage martial-arts pro excited to share his passion for the dojo with an unlikely group of students: senior citizens.

Kata (James Latimer, Japan 2021, 7 min) Introduces us to the incredible spirit and unique talent of tween Mahiro Takano, a national karate champion in Japan. In Japanese with English subtitles

My Little Hilton (Kevin Duncan Wong & Todd Sills, US 2019, 12 mins) After 25 years as an in-home caregiver, a Midwestern Black woman in her 60s strikes out for San Francisco to restart her music career.
 

SPECIAL EVENT

Masterclass | SCREENWRITING AND BEYOND
WRITING, DEVELOPING, AND CREATING RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON
Virtual Event

The collaborative processes that it takes to bring together a major film are addressed by key creatives from Raya and the Last Dragon. They’ll unpack how screenwriting and storyboard artists work together; what cultural inspirations and research-informed the film; and the work done with Disney’s in-house South East Asian artists and cultural trust. Bringing an insider’s look into what it takes to bring a film to life, their insights inform filmmaking of all kinds. Invited Participants:

• Qui Nguyen – co-writer, Raya and the Last Dragon
• Osnat Shurer – producer, Raya, and the Last Dragon, Moana
• Fawn Veerasunthorn – head of story (Thailand), Raya and the Last Dragon

While the works of his colleague Hayao Miyazaki remain the most popular entities within Studio Ghibli’s output in the 1980s, it is perhaps the features by Isao Takahata that will leave the greatest impact on their viewer. One of the director’s most famous features during that time period is “Grave of the Fireflies”, a movie based on the short story by writer Akiyuki Nosaka, which deals with the trauma of Second World War, as experienced by a young man and his sister, who try to survive in these difficult times. Whereas a large portion of the audience perceived animation to be largely directed at a younger audience, Takahata managed to make a very adult film, about the bond between two siblings as well as the loss and protection of childhood and innocence.

Buy This Title

In 1945, Seita, a teenage boy, lives with his younger sister Setsuko and their family in Kobe. After an air raid, their mother eventually dies due to severe burning on her body, leaving Seita in charge of his sister, while their father, a marine officer, is still at sea fighting the allied forces. For the time being, they manage to stay with their aunt, and Seita decides to not tell his sister about their mother’s death, in an attempt to protect her from the cruelty of war and the grief he experiences. Like his other relatives, Setsuko does his best at trying to survive, at gathering what few supplies are left and selling whatever they can spare to have some rice for his sister and himself.

However, as time goes by and become even more trying on the family, his aunt confronts Seita about what she perceives as laziness and not doing his duty for the nation. As their arguments put a strain on their relationship, Seita and Setsuko leave their aunt’s home for an abandoned bomb shelter nearby, where they eventually decide to live. In the weeks that follow, the teenage boy realizes he can no longer protect his sister from war and sickness, as she becomes weaker due to lack of proper food and clean drink.

At the center, “Grave of the Fireflies” combines a war-time story with a coming-of-age-drama. The relationship between brother and sister serves as a sharp contrast between Setsuko’s innocence and lust for life and Seita’s growing responsibility to take care of her and becoming an adult within only a few days. While Takahata could have chosen the melodramatic approach, thus creating a mere tearjerker of a movie, his feature, similar to the short story, emphasizes the worth of innocence in a time when this ideal seemingly has become worthless or has been abandoned in favor of surviving. Much like in other war movies, most specifically Elem Klimov’s “Come and See” or Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Ivan’s Childhood”, sacrificing the innocent results in the true loss of humanity, which Takahata’s stresses throughout his movie, making the scenes between the two siblings quite special, loving and at times quite tough to watch.

Meanwhile, there is also the question about what this loss of innocence leads to, and what kind of nation comes after. Even though the story of brother and sister is always in the forefront, Takahata also shows the kind of trauma from times of great shortages, when food, shelter, clean water and also compassion was in short supply. This is especially true for the relationship of Seita, Setsuko and their aunt, which changes over time, resulting in the unfair accusation of the teenage boy not doing his duty for the nation. The fact she denies them both food (which Seita has paid for, selling the kimonos of his dead mother) further highlights a point which seems to go beyond the family drama.

Apart from its themes, “Grave of the Fireflies” is also quite an artistic achievement, with the animation and character design supporting the story quite well. Especially the bombing of Kobe early on in the feature is quite an intense scene, and while it does not contain any graphic imagery, it clearly shows the amount of destruction and loss, making these images a metaphor for the kind of feelings Seita and many other survivors probably experience. Additionally, the film’s score by composer Michio Mamiya fits quite well to the tone and themes, without becoming too melodramatic or obtrusive.

In the end, “Grave of the Fireflies” is a touching war-time story and coming-of-age drama about loss, trauma and innocence. Isao Takahata has created a feature whose image and characters will leave quite an impression on its audience, especially due to its emotional core and its committed anti-war message.

Summer
2014, 30 Min, Liu Qiang

The short film recorded a group of children living status in a brick factory. It won the Jury Grand Prize of International Student Short Film Unit at 2019 Shanghai International Film Fest.
Watch it here.

Ma Xiaobing’s Summer
2016, 87 Min, Chen Xinzhong

Ma Xiaobing seeks to move his mother’s tomb to his father’s burial site so that they can reunite in the Other World. But the turbulent and often violent forces of Chinese urbanization make this no easy task. In a city of constant change, destruction, and revolution, Xiaobing’s attempt to grasp onto something of meaningful permanence could have potentially deadly consequences.
Watch it here.

Use the Code “SUMMER” to watch both films.

Beijing-born director Peng Fei is back with a film that explores once again the intricate tangle of generations, cultural identity, family ties, sense of belonging. A co-production with Japan, “Tracing Her Shadow” shows in the credits directors Jia Zhangke and Naomi Kawase as executive producers and was co-financed and co-produced by Nara’s biennial film festival, which Kawase helped found in 2010.

“Tracing Her Shadow“ is screening at CineCina Film Festival

After a brief introduction to the main character Xiao Ze (or Shimizu Hatsumi as Japanese name, played by Peng Fei’s regular muse Ying Ze) a young woman working in a bar in Nara, Japan, the film utilises a short animation to explain the preconditions for its plot and its historical context. At the end of WW2, the Japanese settlers fled northeast China in a frenzy and lots of their children were left behind. Some were sent back to their homeland, but many were abandoned, and Chinese families took them in and raised them as their own children. Later, when Japan and People’s Republic of China settled relations in 1972, many of these orphans travelled back to Japan and tried to track down their families and relatives, in the awkward status of strangers in their own country. Some of them were lucky enough to retrace their roots, some less so, often rejected for fear of inheritance claims.

Even in “Tracing Her Shadow” a war orphan called by Chinese name Chen Lihua has returned to Japan leaving behind her dear foster mum Chen Huiming (veteran actress Wu Yanshu), but after few years of letter exchange, she’s gone silent and hasn’t sent a reply for a long time. Therefore, now is Chen Huiming’s turn to fly to Japan in search of her lost foster daughter of whom she doesn’t even know the Japanese name. Xiao Ze will help her as she is also a half-Chinese raised in China and daughter of a Japanese war orphan friend of the old lady. When Xiao Ze takes her grandma (as she likes to call her) for dinner in the izakaya where she works, a retired policeman (Jun Kunimura) and regular of the bar joins the couple, and after learning the touching story, offers his help in the search for the missing woman.

The three don’t have many resources to track down the missing person. Chen Huiming has got only the letters she received from Chen Lihua, during her Japanese years and the policeman has a small network of ex-colleagues that could help. The trio will form an almost familial bond and will proceed slowly meeting many other war orphans with their own stories and the people that kindly helped them along the way.

In a slow-cinema mode, “Tracing Her Shadow” takes its time to narrate a collective story of forgotten people (in Chinese riben yigu “Japanese orphans” or canliu gu’er “leftover orphans”), shadows lingering between two places and two hearts. The director underwent a long period of research in Japan, before writing the script, collecting stories and testimonies from returned orphans and their families, and purposely set it in 2005, an era when smartphones and internet weren’t so widespread and consequently, the search has to have a more “human” pace; reading letters for clues, visiting families, and talking with people. We get to know Chen Lihua slowly, in an indirect way, through the letters, the accounts, the people who met her briefly; we barely see photos of her. In fact, many of the links and relations in the film are indirect. The policeman sees his estranged daughter in Xiao Ze and assesses his feelings. On her side, Xiao Ze calls Chen Huiming “grandma” but she is not really her niece, only the daughter of another war orphan that knew her. More sweetly, Chen Huiming savours a tofu donut with her eyes closed, thinking that Chen Lihua had been working in that shop and maybe something of her still lingers in the fryer. It is a subtle net of strong ties that goes beyond bloodlines or obviousness, it is the slippery matter life is made of. It is also the director way to talk about the war. Not addressing directly the issue, but focusing on the capers of people that were scarred and damaged by it. In fact, Peng Fei, in line with his style, adopts a very humanistic approach and his critique to the sino-japanese conflict highlights the sorrow and anguish that both parts suffered and still endure.

It’s not the main intent of the film, but sideways it cannot help addressing also the age-old Japanese problem of discrimination towards mixed-race people (hafu). In a light way when reading out Chen Lihua’s experience and in Xiao Ze’s reticence in disclosing her Chinese side, but also more brutally, showing a flashback where the parents of Xiao Ze’s boyfriend harshly forbid him to marry a “half Chinese”.

However, despite the somber subject matter, the narration is punctuated with some graceful and amusing vignettes, with some surreal comedy sense, a mix between Jacques Tati and Roy Andersson in a good mood. Like when Chen Huiming and the policeman, in a symmetric visual composition, exchange silently the pictures of their younger selves to know each other better despite the language barrier. And when Chen Huiming, shopping for food, has a conversation with the butcher (director Peng Fei, in a cameo) all made up of animal noises.

The quiet, calm surroundings of Nara is a reminder of Naomi Kawase’s participation as executive producer. Her homeland, often celebrated in her works, is a perfect backdrop for this slow-paced character-centred drama, where the inner struggle for connections and the determination of love is more important than the efficiency of the search itself. Peng Fei’s and Tsai Ming-liang’s regular DOP, Taiwanese Pen-Jung Liao, renders flawlessly the melancholic beauty of the provincial autumn in Nara Prefecture, the long shadows and the warm interiors. The splendour of nature though, doesn’t dwarf the humans, but, on the contrary, it underlines the organic flow of the emotions and the bond-forming experience. Acting is one of the best points of “Tracing Her Shadow”, with two excellent veteran actors, Wu Yanshu and Jun Kunimura, giving a passionate but subtle performance and Ying Ze in a connecting role between the two, and looking very comfortable under Peng Fei’s direction.

The film ends enigmatically with a long take of the three characters walking silently and steadily. It is the cathartic act of moving on and a hopeful gaze into the future.

Anglo-American titles took up much of the buzz at Telluride this year, with the exception of one title: Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero” (2021). Farhadi — known mostly for his Oscar-winning film “A Separation” (2011) — came back to the circuit to reap more awards. This Iranian Palme d’Or nominee triumphantly won the Grand Prix and the Francois Chalais Award at Cannes. Loaded with a beautifully subtle storyline and an irresistible cast of characters, this film is sure to see more accolades throughout the rest of the fest season. 

In “A Hero,” one good deed blows up into a fiasco. Rahim (Amir Jadidi) is in prison because of debt. During his two-day leave, he and his secret lover Farkhondeh (Sahar Goldust) conspire to pay it off with a serendipitous bag of seventeen gold coins. Halfway through the transaction, however, Rahim decides to backtrack — and instead give the bag back to its owner. When the local papers find out, they don’t leave him in peace. They praise him, televise him, and even award him with a charity fund and certificate to mark his valiant deed. Everyone seems to agree that Rahim is a hero… until his debtor (and former father-in-law) Bahram (Mohsen Tanabandeh) takes it upon himself to prove the world wrong.  One little white lie leads to another, and Rahim’s happiness ostensibly falls apart.

Like “A Separation,” Farhadi’s latest work provides an incisive portrait of contemporary society. Instead of a divorce story, however, we see a fascinating take on surveillance. At first, it does seem to be good to record evidence to make Rahim’s case: the CCTV shot of the bag’s owner, Rahim’s lauded TV interview, and even his highly-photographed charity event. When the camera changes hands, however, Rahim’s public image makes a complete 180. On one level, this nod to camerawork feels like a wry wink from Farhadi to the act of recording. It adds a level of self-reflection, as well: who are we, simple onlookers, to judge a man’s character? 

In this way, Farhadi skillfully navigates the unique pillars of the 21st century (like Twitter, for example) without actually depicting social media. This is one of the ways where this film truly shines. Unlike a slick Netflix feature – with fancy chat bubble graphics and the iconic iPhone schwoop — Farhadi sticks to the basics. Analog wired telephones and burner cells scatter across the screen, allowing the viewer to make up their own mind as to Rahim’s true intent.

Amir Jadidi performs wonderfully in his role as well. Indeed, his part is not an easy one. After all, he must consider – is he a hero? A villain? The victim, the middleman, the opportunist or the indebted? But Jadidi takes the audience along with him, equally reacting to his ever-shifting social landscape with a level of distance and disbelief. While everyone around Rahim possesses a clear-cut objective and role in the story, Jadidi’s unsure expressions translate well into the ambiguity of his bit.

Rahim, then – our tragicomic star of “A Hero” – shines as an emblem of cancel culture. A role model, a father, a criminal and a whipping boy all at once, Rahim is a man of multiplicities that 280 characters cannot quite describe. This thought-provoking (and a touch absurd) film makes for a compelling watch. Farhadi, as usual, cuts deeper than the surface. Reflexively and reflectively, this film is sure to make you wonder.

When Erik Matti’s “On the Job” premiered in 2013, it shortly became an important title for many of the Filipinos. With the image of the corrupted landscape of Manila captured in a gritty, dark lens of noir-like thriller; with cops being paid off, prisoners used as hired guns, and politicians as gangsters, the film encapsulated the energy of the real events on which it was loosely based on. Once again, Manila became a violent and hostile place, a depiction that Filipino filmmakers lean towards with an obvious motivation in mind. The blood is there and it deserves representation.

Several years later, Matti comes back with the informal sequel to his story. Premiered in the 78th Venice Competition as a sole representative of Asian Cinema, his “On the Job: Missing 8” became a 208 minutes-long take on the current state of corruption, journalism and politics in the Philippines. This time around, it is set not in Manila, but at a provincial town of La Paz, where Matti lampoons the very severe network of connections, and questions the integrity of the dynamics between politics and journalism. Told as a narrative of gangsters, it re-imagines a story based on real events, that of the Maguindanao Massacre from 2009, when 58 people were kidnapped and killed. Most of them were journalists, who stood their ground against the government, which resulted in their death.

“On the Job: Missing 8” is one of the most ambitious of Matti’s projects. He unfolds his narrative through a vast range of genres and forms: a prison film, gangster movie, journalism criminal, but then again, a character study or a portrayal of the city. When La Paz is shaken by the disappearance of the journalists, this is Sisoy (John Arcilla) – a local radio star shaped through his loyalty towards the mayor Eusebio – who is about to set his private investigation to find his colleagues, but also his own identity as a man of truth. Matti navigates between genre expressions to grasp the essence of Filipino interrelations, the sweet unbearableness of everyone knowing everyone and its aftermath for the everyday reality. And since it is 208 minutes that the film has to offer, the intensity, depth and clarity are there. The only thing one has to do is to plunge oneself into the narrative and take it as it is.

“On the Job: Missing 8” received a standing 5 minutes-long ovation after its premiere screening at Lido and was praised for its acting, with the main actor, John Arcilla, being awarded the Volpi Cup for his performance. After its premiere in Venice, “On the Job: Missing 8”, as well as “On the Job”, will appear on the HBO GO platform from September 12th onwards, where they will be streamed as a series of 6 episodes.

We managed to talk with the mastermind behind the project, prolific filmmaker Erik Matti, during the just-finished Venice Film Festival. In an exclusive interview, he talked us through his inspirations for making the second part, the idea of encapsulating the corruption in the Philippines (its origins and current state), grasping the visual language of both Manila and La Paz, and generational gaps in his country.

The interview was conducted by Lukasz Mankowski with a help of the Philippines-based journalist Jason Tan Liwag, who offered priceless consultation.

Both parts of “On the Job” reflect on the real events and show generational corruption in the Philippines over the years. What changed in the creative process of the second part?

Concerning the first part, the process for the second one took a while. Not just in terms of scale, but also regarding approaching the theme. Even scripting was more difficult. This time around, we [Erik and his scriptwriter and wife, Michiko Yamamoto] decided to focus on journalism. We spent a lot of time doing interviews. We had a long investigation of our own. And it wasn’t easy; it was tough to find the inner workings of journalism. We divided the writing process into three segments.

The first one was the interviews with journalists. The second one was the online research. And the last one was additional research on things we couldn’t find online, but we know that they exist. For that, we hired special researchers so they could help us look further into certain topics we wanted to include in our story.

The earlier drafts of the script were denser in terms of depicting journalism, as I was quite vicious in my attempt to discuss the issues related to journalism in the Philippines. But it made the script too big. So we had to get rid of the national angle and, instead, focused on the small-town journalism. That sparked our interest more than the national TV. Primarily because in small towns like La Paz, what’s really interesting is that you have journalists who are not big names. They’re below the mayors or governors, and eventually, they exist in this universe as the mouthpieces for those who are in power. A lot of times, these journalists lose track of what it means to be journalists. Only later do they realize they’ve already sacrificed their integrity as journalists. It is the moment when they become propaganda tools for the politicians.

In the first part, you focused on the environment of Manila. This time around, it is the provincial town of La Paz. In those two cities, there is a very peculiar contrast in the depiction of violence. Manila is very hectic, abundant in literal violence, very noir-like. Meanwhile, violence in La Paz isn’t shown directly; it’s more systemic, institutional, at times even spiritual. How did you approach the depiction of the violence in both of these environments?

It was quite deliberate to make a distinct difference between Manila and La Paz. And the biggest difference lies in the city itself; the milieu lies in the city. In Manila, things are grittier, even visually. The way we decided to capture the city was quite different from the approach towards La Paz. That’s also apparent in the way we depicted prisoners-assassins. Being in a national penitentiary is a lot more unforgiving for their long-term situation. While in the second part, it’s a prison set in the countryside, it has a more homey feeling.

There is also a stark difference in the way we presented the image of prisoners being brought out of prison to kill. The first part talks about being a professional assassin, with a set of rules that define how one should commit murder. And in the second part, since in the smaller cities people are into more petty crimes, we decided to show them simply as good followers, far from the image of the professional hired guns. They don’t do much planning, do they? So it becomes something of a black comedy when they go for their killing mission, but it doesn’t end up as smooth and as efficient as it should be. When they dig the hole, it’s too shallow; they hesitate with timing as to when to attack the car; they didn’t plan to kill the witness. There’s a lot of randomness to the killing they commit, as opposed to the killers in Manila from part one.

More than just the idea of journalists being in the countryside, we felt we needed to provide a contrast on the visual ground as well. We had a new story and it needed a different texture. Of course, most of the stories we picked out from our research were grounded in the countryside. “On The Job: Missing 8” comprises a composition of several true events. That includes the infamous disappearance of people related to the Maguindanao Massacre from 2009, when a lot of journalists, who were on the case of one candidate running for the mayor’s seat, were slaughtered, together with their family and relatives.

What’s more is that in the film, one shall simply not make it out of La Paz alive. And ironically, some of the characters desire to leave the town for Manila. And if we remember Manila from the first part, well, it’s not really the place to go. 

Many people like me, as I also come from the countryside, emigrate to bigger cities because we want to find something in our lives. When I decided that I want to make a career for myself as a filmmaker, I wanted to go to the place where the big things happen. At first, of course, it’s tough. I worked as a production assistant and assistant director for 6 years. Sometimes you might never be discovered nor be allowed to do things you really want to do. But sooner or later, you start to find out how the city works. And if you come from a smaller city, you might use your background to get what you want. Because you get the idea of how to work with the space and its people. La Paz is that kind of place that announces itself as the cleanest city, the most efficient one. But then, underneath all of that, there are so many nasty things waiting to be discovered: corruption, crime and all these people trying to keep that order. But if they move to a bigger city, it only means that it will still be happening. Even more so.

That leads me to a question – where did the corruption start in the Philippines in general? What are its roots?

The corruption is systemic. There is one scene in the middle of the film when it sort of discusses the roots of it all. It’s an eternal cycle of corruption; no one is accountable for anything and everyone is forgiven or forgotten. So it’s systemic, but it dates way back. In the film, there is a link to the Marcos era, a period when it all started. At least most people feel it that way. But more than that, the system of corruption exists mainly because we’re such a small country. Everyone knows everyone. That’s why we decided to depict the dynamics of corruption this way in our film.

Even if you’re a prisoner, you’ll get to know the mayor; if you’re mayor, you’ll get to know major celebrities or journalists in your town. It’s such a small place! Everybody gets to know everybody. And because of that, things like impunity or non-accountability happen all the time; one simply doesn’t want someone else to be accountable for that thing or the other. I was asked a while ago: “Will we ever see the end of “On the Job?”. And the answer is, that we don’t think of sequels every time we write “On the Job”. We write it as a stand-alone film. But with corruption as the main theme, it might never end! There are so many stories about these characters. They have moral dilemmas and their moral compass gets challenged all the time. So perhaps it will never end.

Coming back to your question. Where did it start? For me, it started way back when we were still a colonized country. We had so many conquerors, starting with Spain, then Japanese, Americans. We’ve learnt to be accommodating to all of these ‘kings’ that took our country. With that, of course, corruption starts. You want opportunities for your family? You befriend the Spanish authorities. It really starts there and just goes on and on, and it snowballs. Before you know it, you’re stuck in this corruption cycle. It gets rid of your integrity and credibility and you don’t even realize this.

Since everyone and everything is connected, was there any moment for you that you felt you’re getting too close to something or someone? That it’s becoming too dangerous?

Both of the films talk about characters based on real people, but we don’t call them by their real names. We would even whisper that to the actors, (laughs), who their characters are based on so that they could start making research and realize how these people are in the real life. But at the end of the day, in the Philippines, we’re not like Japan or Korea, where there is a strong sense of the culture of shame. We don’t take shame that seriously. If there are some suspicions regarding corruption, one can easily resign. We’re more like American gangsters. Movies are based on gangsters’ lives in the Philippines and sometimes, these real gangsters would take their families to the cinemas to show off and say: “look, that’s me on the screen!”. As long as you don’t call them by names who they are, they just let go of the fact that it’s their atrocity being pictured on the screen. They can even drop you a comment, that you depicted it in the right way! That makes us safe. And of course, it’s also wrapped up in a lens of the genre. It becomes sleek, not too real, so it allows them to look at it as a movie, not just the image of who they really are.

There is also a recurring motif in the film of the dynamics between fathers and their sons, and the obsession and fear of one being better than the other. Where does it come from?

In the first “One the Job”, I wanted to portray the relationship of mentors and protegees. At the time when we wrote the script for the second part, I wondered if I can continue that trope by exploring the relationship between the father and the son, but also in the friendship among two journalists, one being better at what he does, but the second one being more popular. The dynamic is based on constant friction. Even in prison, it’s the big brother using the other guy to do the killing; in politics, the son is being more ambitious than his father. In both parts, this is quite constant.

But our focus wasn’t set on the aspect of going more into corruption. Rather than that, we wanted to portray the inability to become better in an environment like this. Bernie might in fact be better than his father and make the country a little better. But it’s his father that stops him from doing so; he’s suppressed so that any sort of change won’t happen in this society. And then there’s Sisoy, who rediscovers himself as a journalist. His close friend disappears and he starts getting on the right track. The hope for a change is there, in the ambition of both Sisoy and Bernie, but will this change ever be allowed in a system like this? With all the manipulations coming from Bernie’s father or Pacheco, it shows there is barely any margin to do right. And it’s also so difficult to resist the charm of corruption, as it opens so many doors.

There is also a personal level when it comes to the mentor-protegee relationship. I’ve been mentored as a filmmaker and if you’re mentored as a filmmaker, part of you is influenced mainly by the aesthetic of your mentor. As a disciple, you want to use all the knowledge coming from your master, but at the same time, you want to bring it further and become better than the mentor. That being said, I also mentor a lot of directors. As a mentor, you want to maintain the kind of aesthetic you feel is right for cinema, but you also do realize that all these protegees have their sense of aesthetic, that they want to find a name on their own and leave a mark in the industry for themselves. A lot of times, that’s where you have to work around each other and see whoever gets to what they want first.

In the film, you navigate between the gangster movie, prison film or journalism criminal. What was the most challenging in balancing between these sub-genres?

My filmography in general is a total mix of so many things. Mainly because I’m not the kind of filmmaker who sticks to one type of film and then builds a career on doing different envisions of the same thing. As a filmmaker, I cherish the pursuit of exploring cinema. With “On the Job 1”, I wanted classic cops vs robbers, reminiscent of Melville or Johnnie To, as I was a big fan of that aesthetic. It became very gritty and dark, not only visually but also thematically.

With the second part, there is this recurring line stating the idea that politicians are essentially gangsters. It made me think about my aesthetic pursuit, that I want this vibe of American gangster movies of the 70s or 80s, sprawling, huge, lots of Scorsese in it. Even the music was selected in a way it would provide irony and contrast to what’s happening on the screen. I also wanted to include classic standards – Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, Johnny Mathis – because it also gave a more gangster flick to the whole. Aside from that, we used lots of single tracking shots for most of the scenes so we could establish a particular setting and the atmosphere. All of that was designed to strengthen the essence of the gangster genre.

I know that you planned the second part to be partly in the dialogue with the phenomenon of fake news, but as a matter of fact, the elections in the Philippines are just around the corner. How do you feel the audience will reflect on these issues related to corruption and politics?

This is how cinema works for us, really. When someone watched “E.T” during the time it was released, all the events around at that time dictated how they felt about the film, right? And when you watch it 10 years later, after watching “Alien” and many other films, it also determines how you take the film, as it comes to you again with different contexts.

It’s the same with “One the Job”. In our minds – filmmakers, producers, writers – the film exists as an exploration of journalism, corruption or fake news. But now, that it’s released when the elections are just right around the corner in a few months, I’m curious about how the audience will respond to it, with a lens on all these issues depicted in the film. They won’t be just looking at the case of fake news that you’ve heard about in the past five or six years and the constant barrage of untrue stories, but this time around it will be connected directly to the domestic ground and elections.

I want to see how people react to the film, with both of these things in mind – fake news and elections – and realize how these two things intermingle with each other. Thanks to the elections on the horizon, the film became more timely, more urgent, and more immediate. It became possible to connect the dots and maybe people will see what is possibly coming to our country.

There is also a lot of attachment to the place, where one’s home is. Roman repeats his wish to be back home; a sense of locality ties the bounds of La Paz’s community. But where exactly is this home?

“One the Job: Missing 8” is built around the final confrontation between Roman and Sisoy in the end. Both protagonists traverse the whole film, they carry it unto themselves, but in the end, they confront and the question is – who do they represent? The last election in the Philippines polarized everyone on social media. Some people want to fight for what’s right and they want to make a statement, loud and clear, how the country should change. And there are people, who just want to keep quiet and live their lives simply, whether there’s a new government or not. Both of these groups are represented in Sisoy.

It comes from the fact that I’ve been quite vocal on social media about criticizing the current government, which sometimes resulted in a detriment on my side, as many trolls started to attack me. At the same time, my relatives often ask me: “Erik, why wouldn’t you just be quiet?”. They say, “Live your life, you have a good one. You have a car, a house. Why do you have to fight for something you cannot win?”. And that’s Roman. I’m doing all of these not to say journalism is corrupted or to change La Paz. I just want to go home. (laughs) I just want to go home and I don’t care about your beliefs nor your principles. I want to be back home, with my family, start taking care of my farm.

And then you have Sisoy, who at first has forgotten what home means, but then the experience changes him. He becomes ready to be the fighter he used to be. He finds his life again, one that he forgot he had. But before that, he supported the mayor. He and Roman represent two polarizing opposites of the Filipino society who both fight for a certain image of the home on social media, every single day.

A friend of mine, a journalist from the Philippines, described “On the Job: Missing 8” as the ghost story of the first part.

That’s something new I hear about the film. But I agree. Mainly because our past has dictated what we are now. There is this constant line in the film, that says ‘never forget’. We can easily forget the new cycle, but the thing is not to forget the dead people. Because we easily forget. And we fight for it, we fight for something today. Two days later, a new article comes out. The world moves on. And in the film? The missing 8 hasn’t been found. There’s a piece of big news about the typhoon. People start forgetting. Those who remember? They’re looking right in the eyes of the past all the time. Constantly. Only those who never forget can bring some change to certain things. Sisoy never forgot. Even if the police went on to fool around, even if the typhoon arrived, even if all these cycles have changed into something else, Sisoy was always there to find his colleagues. That became his mantra. He decided that nothing will get in his way to forget about what happened to them.

Midway into the film, we see the roots of the disappearances, the ghosts. The disappearances have hounded us for years. If you look at the photos of those who disappeared – these are the real people, real photos. We didn’t take them for the film. These are real people who disappeared. And the audience needs to be constantly reminded that the case was not closed. Those involved in these cases have been in the government up to now, but no one’s holding them accountable for what they did.

When the controversial extradition bill was withdrawn in November 2019, the repercussions of the months of protesting, the images of police violence and the deaths among the protesters had left quite a mark on Hong Kong citizens, one which will surely need time to heal and to be processed. In the last months, we have seen quite a number of documentaries as well as feature films dealing with the demonstrations of 2019, for example, “Montage of Hong Kong” and “Hong Kong Moments”, that have done their part in showing the various facets of the events and how it established a division among the Hong Kong populace. While those documentaries focused on the demonstrations as a whole, “Inside Red Brick Wall” concentrates on the clash of student protesters and the Hong Kong police at the Polytechnic University. Using the material of various filmmakers, it shows how the protest developed into a 13-day-siege causing numerous people to be injured and arrested.

Inside the Red Brick Wall is screening at CineCina Film Festival

Similar to “Taking Back the Legislature”, the collection of numerous accounts is what sets “Inside the Red Brick Wall” apart from other documentaries dealing with the Hong Kong protests of 2019. While on the one hand you will be able to follow the dramatic development of the events, emphasized by the police and the students communicating through megaphones, which becomes increasingly more aggressive and desperate, as well as the drama and the emotions on the other hand, especially on the side of the students who, at one point, have to face the difficult decision of staying and be arrested or trying to flee the scene. Considering many of them are in the hands of the authorities, have been beaten and have not been heard from for quite some time, the growing fear in some of the students becomes something of a companion in various sequences, with one of them expressing his “fear of disappearing” and having sacrificed himself just to be forgotten.

In combination with the fast-paced editing, most specifically in the scenes showing the protesters fighting with the police, retreating from them and frantically searching for cover, you might get the impression you are watching footage of a street war. As the students repeatedly try and break the police’s line of defense, the despair and violence becomes quite hard to watch and bear at times, highlighting the true meaning of the information presented at the beginning of a number of protesters having vanished after being arrested.

“Inside the Red Brick Wall” is a very well-edited, but at times hard-to-watch documentary about an important event within the 2019 protests following the introduction of the extradition bill in Hong Kong. The numerous perspective of the siege, and the painstakingly long periods of waiting before the next attack occurs give the impression you are watching footage from a war zone, which again emphasizes the importance of processing the impact of 2019 and the mark it has left on Hong Kong.

Based on a manga written and illustrated by Masaki Segawa, which was also adapted, by the 1958 novel “The Kouga Ninja Scrolls” by Futaro Yamada, “Basilisk” seems to follow closely the aesthetics of “Ninja Scroll”, expanding them significantly, however, by presenting the ninjas as fodder for a fight that is taking place on a much higher level than their own.

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In the late 16th century, two rival ninja clans, the Iga Tsubagakure and Kouga Manjidani have been involved in a fight that has been going on for ages, with a number of them not even being sure what started it. The fighting finally ends when Hattori Hanzo the 1st succeeds in forging a cease fire between the two clans by conscripting both into the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu. The bad blood of centuries remain, but the pact actually allows for some peace, and even more remarkably, for the two future leaders of the clan, Gennosuke from Kouga and Oboro from Iga to fall in love, to the point that they are even preparing to get married. Alas, a succession dispute has risen concerning which of Ieyasu’s grandsons are destined to take up the reins of power when their father finally decides to step down, and the solution the higher ups come up with, is to break the pact among the two ninja clans, and have ten of the best fighters of each fight each other, with each group representing one of the heirs. The winning one will also dictate the successor. Unbeknownst of the game that is played in their backs, the two leaders of the clans select their ten best fighters, which are recorded in two identical scrolls, and allow their feud to bloom fully again. Expectedly, soon all hell breaks loose.

The way Fuminori Kizaki presents the two sides is one of the most interesting aspects of the narrative. While Oboro appears to be the most likeable among all the characters presented, the Iga almost immediately take up the role of the favorite/villain, particularly because they exhibit much more cunningness in the way they proceed with the battle, thus, in conjunction, making the Koga the outsider/heroes, particularly due to the nobility Gennosuke exhibits, even when it becomes obvious that he has realized he has fallen into a trap. As time passes, however, it is revealed that there are true monsters on both sides, that both groups are equally cruel and cunning, to the point that this sense is toned down, although not completely, particularly through the presence of Tenzen, whose role is revealed as something completely different than anyone suspected.

On a second aspect, which becomes more intense as the story progresses, it becomes evident that, despite its overwhelming power, these people are actually exploited and used as tools by a higher power that exploits their century-long feud to pit them against each other, thus deeming them as truly tragic figures. Gennosuke and Oboro are the main mediums of this approach, as they find their happiness destroyed just as it was about to bloom fully and bridge the gap of the two clans, but the same applies to a number of other characters, as various relationships are revealed as the episodes pass.

This aspect induces the narrative with a distinct drama element that frequently borders on tragedy, but as the focus on Tenjen and his back story becomes more intense, the exploitation element is also stressed significantly, with the torture and the rape efforts being presented in horrendous fashion, mostly through the sound. At the same time, though, even this element does not exist solely for impression, but is well-embedded in the story, adding much to the whole context.

In a style similar to “Ninja Scroll”, the action is impressive as it is brutal, benefiting the most by the outstanding character design of Michinori Chiba, who has induced all characters with a uniqueness that fits their individual powers to perfection. The animation by Gonzo is also excellent in that regard, although the non-action scenes are equally artful.

Despite a bit of lagging towards the end, “Basilisk” is an excellent title that retains interest from beginning to end, through a great combination of bloody action and character-driven drama.

Japan Film Festival Plus — a website run by the Japan Foundation aiming to spread Japanese films overseas — reveals their first article this month with two stars in Asian Cinema. Hirokazu Kore-eda, master of slow cinema (and the 2018 Palme d’Or-winning film “Shoplifters”) talks to rising star Yoon Dan-bi — a promising Busan Film Festival and IFFR favorite for her debut feature, “Moving On”. In this article, they talk about their own works as well as the state of films in Japan and South Korea. You can find the full article here.

In this month’s second article, Taiwan-born illustrator Shiho So creates colorful reproductions of famous romantic scenes from Japanese films selected by Haochen Xu, a movie writer from Shanghai, taking you into the world of Japanese romance films. Read the full feature here.

From Viddsee: With a pandemic on our hands, sometimes it’s hard to see beyond fear, much less go beyond for our fellow man. Host Divian Nair journeys in the shoes of three foreign workers who have gone beyond their shores to man Singapore’s frontlines during this time of uncertainty. What struggles and triumphs will he experience with these unsung heroes? Along the way, he discovers that no role is too small, and no virus too big to eclipse a heart that goes above and beyond to contribute.

Episode 1: Clean & Keen
Premieres Friday, 10 September 2021

How often do we look beyond the surface to deal with what’s truly important? For Nilar, it’s the essence of what she does. Disinfecting homes during the pandemic is a matter of survival not just for Singaporeans, but also for Nilar’s family in Myanmar, who depend on her income.

Divian takes on Nilar’s job for a day to wipe down every surface, and wipe out every stereotype associated with our migrant worker friends and the roles they play in our community. Along the way, Divian discovers that it’s what’s beneath the surface that really counts.

Episode 2: Food Is Our Common Language
Premieres Sunday, 12 September 2021

A sprinkle of patience, a dose of care, a dash of respect, and often times just a mad dash… could these be the ingredients that bind us? With many Singaporeans homebound during the pandemic, Vikas – a Hawker Captain – races against time to feed not just hungry Singaporeans, but also his family back home in India.

Our host, Divian Nair, takes a dash in Vikas’s shoes and learns what it means to go beyond for community, for family and… for food!

Episode 3: Till Death Do Us Part
Premieres Tuesday, 14 September 2021

Meet Danilo, a man from the Philippines who faces death every day and meets it with pure love. As a senior embalmer in the Covid Care Team of Ang Chin Moh Funeral Directors Pte Ltd, Danilo’s is the last face that greets our beloved when they pass on from the dreaded virus.

Our host, Divian Nair, takes a walk in his shoes to discover what it takes to handle the aftermath of a death from contagious disease, and what it means to love even beyond death.