stvs.tv/movie-diary/

21st Century Japan: Films from 2001-2020

モリのいる場所 Mori, The Artist's Habitat (2018)

The Chicken 2020

ハッシュ! Hush! (2001)

There’s a scene where a character ignores, and then gently apologizes to his partner for not listening. I can’t easily recall a film that displays the routine frictions between partners like this. It lends a genuine foundation to their relationship that so many on-screen romances lack.

たそがれ清兵衛 The Twilight Samurai (2002)

ジョゼと虎と魚たち Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (2003)

バーバー吉野 Yoshino's Barber Shop (2004)

アカルイミライ Bright Future (2003)

ゆれる Sway (2006)

さくらん Sakuran (2006)

エッシャー通りの赤いポスト Red Post on Escher Street (2020)

It was nice returning to Sono’s work after a year long break.

While this is getting a lot of comparisons to Why Don’t You Play in Hell?, I think the more interesting comparison is to Bad Film. In 2012, when it was finally released, it already represented the same gesture to a past film-making life that the character Kobayashi is seeking. The final minutes of this, too, echo the activities of Tokyo GAGAGA, the anarchist art collective Sono belonged to who served as Bad Film’s cast.

告白 Confessions (2010)

百万円と苦虫女 One Million Yen Girl (2008)

空気人形 Air Doll (2009)

2つ目の窓 Still the Water (2014)

鈴木家の嘘 Lying to Mom (2018)