Japan
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The Films of 2025, Ranked
It’s that time of year: It’s time to look back at and rank every 2025 film that I saw. Instead of doing a top 10 or bottom 10 or anything like that, I’m ranking absolutely everything. And this year, I saw a whole bunch. I’ll say up front that I don’t bother with movies that… Read more
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Little Amelie or the Character of the Rain (2025) Review
Grey joined me for a review and discussion of the 2025 animated film Little Amélie or the Character of the Rain from co-directors Liane-Cho Han Jin Kuang & Maïlys Vallade, and adapted from the autobiographical novel written by Amélie Nothomb. The story of a Belgian child growing up in Japan who believes she’s God .… Read more
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The Top 100 Best Action Movies Ever Made
The full list is available below the video and on Letterboxd. Read more
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The Face of Another is Essential Cinema
The Face of Another is a 1966 Japanese drama, thriller with horror elements from director Hiroshi Teshigahara and author Kobo Abe and starring the incredible Tatsuya Nakadai, RIP. This video is part of my Essential Cinema series examining what I consider to be some of the best films ever made. 10/10 Read more
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The Best Films of 2023
At the time I made my 2023 recap video, I had only seen eight or so films released in 2023, so I instead ranked best films released any time that I watched for the first time in 2023. You can find that video below, but now that I’ve seen way, way, way more films released… Read more
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How a South Korean Horror Film Became A Japanese Musical
1998’s The Quiet Family from South Korean writer/director Kim Jee-woon is a dark comedy horror/thriller. When Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike decided to remake the film as The Happiness of the Katakuris, he did so as a musical with goofy humor and wild stop-motion animation. This video essay explores how the story translated into different genres… Read more
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The Best Found Footage Horror Movie You’ve Never Seen
From Japanese horror filmmaker Koji Shiraishi, often considered a master of the found footage format, comes the underrated and under seen film “A Record of Sweet Murder,” which was made in South Korea and stars a partially South Korean cast. Here’s my review highlighting the movie as an under the radar gem. 8.5/10 Read more
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The Human Condition Trilogy is Essential Cinema
An entry in my Essential Cinema series for The Human Condition trilogy, which I collectively named the best film ever made in my top 250 list. It’s tough to cover an entire trilogy without getting into spoilers, but I kept this as spoiler-free as possible. 10/10 Read more
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Top 250 Best Films Ever Made
This was a massive undertaking that was years in the works. The video is available below, and there’s a bonus video available on the Patreon that runs through a bunch of runners up. The list is available on Letterboxd as well, which can make it easier for you to add any of the films to… Read more
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