Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  Himiko 1974

  ★★★★½ Watched 28 Mar 2025

  RIP Masahiro Shinoda

  I haven’t felt this particular way watching a movie since Russel’s The Devils perhaps. Gorgeous, and kind of wanted it to never end.

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  Luminous Woman 1987

  ★★★★½ Watched 27 Mar 2025

  Oh hell yeah! What an amazing diamond in the rough this is. Dreamlike, unpredictable, funny, and tragic. Underground wrestling death matches, Obayashi filters, obnoxious opera, countless shocked Tokyo citizens, and much more. It has a bit of everything, and perhaps most striking are the visuals. There are shots and scenes in here that will stick with me for a long time to come. I absolutely love these kind of singular flicks, and hope they do not disappear in the sands…

Popular reviews

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  Heaven's Story 2010

  ★★★★★ Rewatched 02 Aug 2020 7

  This is the amalgamation of almost every piece of non-sappy modern Japanese drama you’ve ever seen and want to see. It’s an ambitious piece of work, but it fucking succeeds. It masterfully flows in and out of the core narrative with branching stories that might very well stand alone firmly. Effective attention for what normally would be flat side characters draws you in and helps make Heaven’s Story’s microverse feel alive. 

  I first saw this almost 9 years ago and,…

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  Lear on the Shore 2017

  ★★★½ Watched 24 Dec 2021 5

  Nakadai, please live another 40 years.

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