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Japan Times

Tomatometer-approved publication.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
3/5
Black Ox (2024) Mark Schilling “Black Ox” concludes with a burst of color, beauty and natural violence that is visually enthralling, if enigmatic.
Posted Jan 22, 2026  Edit critic review
3/5
Love on Trial (2025) James Hadfield “Love on Trial” takes over an hour to reach the courtroom, which also gives the director ample time to demonstrate that he isn’t out to demonize.
Posted Jan 22, 2026  Edit critic review
3/5
Banji Kaicho All Greens (2026) Mark Schilling “All Greens” never quite loses the scrappy charm of its opening scenes despite dips into underplotted and rotely staged action.
Posted Jan 17, 2026  Edit critic review
3/5
Vicissitude (2024) James Hadfield Working with actors who clearly know their way around a ball field, Ijichi (a former high school baseball player himself) captures the sport’s rituals and spartan rigors with bracing immediacy.
Posted Jan 17, 2026  Edit critic review
2/5
10DANCE (2025) James Hadfield Playing more like an extended warm-up routine, “10 Dance” leaves the floor in anticipation of a sequel that it hasn’t earned. As dance movies go, this one doesn’t make it past the qualifiers.
Posted Dec 29, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
The Stars and the Moon are Holes in the Sky (2025) Mark Schilling This erotic drama set in 1969 has the look and feel of a period piece — from its black-and-white photography to its dated view of gender dynamics.
Posted Dec 24, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Good Luck (2025) Mark Schilling In directing this character-driven film, Adachi breaks free from commercial conventions to funny and, in his sudden twist third act, surprising effect, though his pacing before Miki makes her appearance is on the slow side.
Posted Dec 12, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Peleliu: Guernica of Paradise (2025) Matt Schley It's good to see an animated film so unsparing and unsentimental about the toll of war.
Posted Dec 12, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
The Chatterboxes (2025) James Hadfield “The Chatterboxes,” Ken Kawai’s scruffy and cynical crowd-pleaser, is a linguistic comedy of errors with some unusual players.
Posted Dec 10, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Black Box Diaries (2024) Mark Schilling [A] brave, disturbing and deeply personal film.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Sato and Sato (2025) James Hadfield There’s enough richness in the human drama for the film to avoid feeling didactic.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Bring Him Down to a Portable Size (2025) Mark Schilling Working from his own script, Nakano resists teary sentimentalism.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Scarlet (2025) Matt Schley "Scarlet" is at its best when it puts the narrative aside and lets the atmosphere take center stage. When it does, it's a ride worth taking.
Posted Nov 24, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Blonde (2025) Mark Schilling It is a refreshing change from the far more common broad-brush comedy.
Posted Nov 24, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Tokyo Taxi (2025) Mark Schilling “Tokyo Taxi” is a ride worth taking.
Posted Nov 22, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
A Light in the Harbor (2025) James Hadfield If Fujii had fed the contents of distributor Toei’s archives into ChatGPT, he probably could have come up with something more original.
Posted Nov 22, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
The Obsessed (2025) Matt Schley The real charm of "The Obsessed" comes from its supporting characters.
Posted Nov 07, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Two Seasons, Two Strangers (2025) Mark Schilling Working with cinematographer Yuta Tsukinaga and shooting in the boxy Academy ratio, Miyake has filmed his natural settings with stunning beauty and presence, as if they were about to burst from the frame.
Posted Nov 07, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Flames of a Flower (2025) James Hadfield Yamamoto is a magnetic lead, his brooding, emotionally restrained performance standing in contrast to some of the more theatrical support turns.
Posted Nov 03, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Baka's Identity (2025) Mark Schilling Kosuke Mukai’s script, which tells the story of three protagonists while moving back and forth in time, has an edgy, of-the-moment feel, though its restless chronological rhythms can tire and confuse.
Posted Nov 03, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Meets the World (2025) Mark Schilling This story plays out with Matsui’s usual fizzy energy and comic undertone.
Posted Nov 03, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
Climbing for Life (2025) James Hadfield Junji Sakamoto’s “Climbing for Life” is a perfectly watchable biopic that mostly avoids corniness, but it can’t resist the gravitational pull of its star, Sayuri Yoshinaga.
Posted Nov 03, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
The Sickness Unto Love (2025) Mark Schilling Hiroki’s hallmark is emotional honesty — “The Sickness Unto Love” is no exception.
Posted Oct 18, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Hokusai's Daughter (2025) James Hadfield Omori lingers too long over the minutiae of daily life during these scenes; the remainder of the film has a more telescoped and episodic quality, even as it sounds some deep emotional notes.
Posted Oct 18, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Transcending Dimensions (2025) James Hadfield Yes, the movie’s plot is thin, the pacing erratic, and it could have ended on a stronger note. But make no mistake: “Transcending Dimensions” will take you places.
Posted Oct 17, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Flame Union (2025) Mark Schilling Instead of relying on a high body count for cheap action thrills, “Flame Union” does the harder work of showing how mastery of fighting skills can make for high-level action entertainment, no bullets necessary.
Posted Oct 16, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
After the Quake (2025) Mark Schilling “After the Quake” tries too hard to thematically link its quartet of tales. It does, however, succeed in evoking the atmosphere of Murakami’s world, which is at once familiar and strange, blurring the distinction between waking and dreaming life.
Posted Oct 06, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Hero's Island (2025) James Hadfield While the payoff doesn’t justify the three-hour trip it took to get there, the journey itself isn’t without interest.
Posted Oct 06, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
The Last Blossom (2025) Matt Schley Despite its 90-minute runtime, "The Last Blossom" takes time fleshing out Minoru and his loving but complicated relationship with Nana.
Posted Oct 03, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Brand New Landscape (2025) Mark Schilling Working from his own script, Danzuka avoids the histrionics endemic to this sort of Japanese drama. Eruptions are loud but brief and seem more real for it.
Posted Oct 03, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
There Was Such a Thing Before (2025) James Hadfield There’s no doubting Matsui’s sincerity, but this is deeply paranoid stuff.
Posted Sep 23, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
Dear Stranger (2025) Mark Schilling The film’s intensity of feeling can hit hard and true. But next time around, Mariko might consider making a film more revealing of his very real talent, in a setting closer to home.
Posted Sep 18, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
100 Meters (2025) Matt Schley "100 Meters" has incredible visual dynamism thanks to Iwaisawa's signature animation method, rotoscoping.
Posted Sep 15, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
Faking Beethoven (2025) James Hadfield It left me feeling like the schoolboy in those modern-day segments — stuck in a classroom with a teacher who doesn’t know when to stop.
Posted Sep 15, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
How Dare You? (2025) Mark Schilling Its light comic tone is completely different from the director’s usual dark dramas, and her three young leads, all with impressive acting credits, deliver professional performances.
Posted Sep 09, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
A Pale View of Hills (2025) Mark Schilling Niki gets her story, but “The Pale View of Hills” leaves the audience with piercing intimations about the persistence of the past, the strangeness of reality.
Posted Sep 05, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Happy Life (2024) James Hadfield By keeping the focus on its young heroine, the film manages to tackle some pressing issues without feeling like an “issues movie.” It feels like real life.
Posted Aug 29, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Seaside Serendipity (2025) Mark Schilling “Seaside Serendipity” has a whimsical vibe and a relaxed pace that makes the two-hour-plus running time pass like a lazy afternoon spent munching multicolored snow cones under a beach umbrella.
Posted Aug 25, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
Fires on the Plain (1959) Mark Schilling “Fires on the Plain” depicts Tamura’s journey with a reality-grounded detail and primal psychological depth that makes it a one-of-a-kind feature in his lengthy filmography.
Posted Aug 20, 2025  Edit critic review
1/5
Yukikaze (2025) James Hadfield It makes for a drab and soporific drama, but “Yukikaze” ascends to true awfulness during its epilogue, in which it cycles through a series of possible endings, each more ill-advised than the last.
Posted Aug 19, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Nagasaki: In the Shadow of the Flash (2025) Mark Schilling It’s a valuable document of a horror endlessly depicted in Japanese films, here seen clearly and whole.
Posted Aug 18, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Stigmatized Properties: Scary Floor Plan (2025) Mark Schilling Despite his skimpy resume as a movie actor, Watanabe plays Yahiro with a blend of rube naivete, raw ambition and sangfroid in the face of occult phenomena.
Posted Aug 06, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
The Army in the Trees (2025) James Hadfield Tsutsumi is as solid as ever, but the bigger surprise is Yamada, whose career to date has traded more on his looks than his dramatic range.
Posted Aug 01, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
Rainy Blue (2025) James Hadfield Maybe there’s a version of the film that unites its cinephile fantasies, comic digressions and adolescent yearning into a more cohesive whole. The puckish energy and heartfelt emotions of “Rainy Blue” only get it so far.
Posted Jul 25, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Love Doesn't Matter to Me (2025) Mark Schilling As played by Minami and Baba, respectively, Hiiro and Enaga develop genuine on-screen chemistry and relatable human warmth despite the dark clouds hanging over both.
Posted Jul 21, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
New Religion (2022) James Hadfield “New Religion” is weird, all right, but it’s wearying, too.
Posted Jul 18, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Young & Fine (2025) James Hadfield The musical score, which consists of nothing but the sounds of a school band warming up, sets just the right tone.
Posted Jul 15, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Harbin (2024) Mark Schilling Franky’s layered performance, with its projection of inner steel beneath a velvety urbane exterior, is a master class in doing much with little.
Posted Jul 14, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Virgin Punk: Clockwork Girl (2025) Matt Schley The script is full of hackneyed dialogue, and some of the voice acting is pretty ripe, too. The thing is, it all fits within the film’s ‘90s throwback feel.
Posted Jul 11, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
I Am Kirishima (2025) Mark Schilling A strongly rooted, deliberately paced drama about the underground existence of Satoshi Kirishima.
Posted Jul 03, 2025  Edit critic review
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