Log: week 32 / 2025

Hou's finest hour. It's been a while since I last watched this film, and it's almost inconceivable that this used to be one of the first Asian movies to be released on DVD here. I've loved this one since the first time I watched it, so I wasn't going to squander the chance to see it on the big screen. Almost 25 years later, it's still an absolute beauty.

It's not too common to see these types of indie films in Russian cinema. Contemporary, lo-fi, and conceptual, the idea was pretty cool. On the other hand, the execution felt a little rushed and unfinished. A film like Dust tends to benefit from a nice, edgier presentation, but none of that here.

There are some standout scenes here, but for some reason, this never felt like a stand-alone film. It's more like an extended pilot of a series that never materialized. I can't pinpoint exactly what made me get that impression, because the budget was there, and Awareness is cinematic enough. Perhaps it's because everything felt a bit rushed and incomplete.

The Japanese sister of the more recent Gran Turismo film. An e-gamer works hard to become an actual pro racer, only we're talking drifting matches here. It's not the most original story, and if you've seen a few racing films, you should know what to expect. And that's including the ending.

The film starts strong and ends strong, but the 90 minutes in between are a bit of a struggle. The mystery slowly dims, the scares aren't very effective, and the narrative structure introduces too much dramatic overhead. Which is a real shame, because the premise of Weapons has lots of potential.

This wasn't my first adaptation of the Orpheus story, but I can't say the plot rang a bell. And to be fair, I'll probably say the same thing the next time I watch an Orpheus adaptation. What will stick is the lively mood of this film. It's set during Brazilian carnival, and that makes a big difference.

The plot sounds borderline acceptable, but this is one wonky little film. A mix of comedy and pinku, with added (but copious) bdsm elements and a finale inspired by early 90s Hong Kong martial arts cinema. This film is truly all over the place, but that's exactly why it was such a fun watch.

Busifan's first may not have the same visual prowess as The Storm, but his knack for creative world-building is already showing up in full force. The fantastical elements are sublime, the plot is surprisingly brazen, and the lore is beyond intriguing. The art style is fun and stylish too, though a bit more detail in the character designs would've been nice. Thank God for crowdfunding campaigns, because having seen both his feature films now, it would've been a crime if his talent had failed to surface. A delight for everyone who appreciates a proper animated fantasy film.

Shimizu just keeps on churning out these films. It's not that they are terrible. Let Me Hear certainly has its moments, but there's nothing new and/or original here, and people who have any familiarity with Japanese horror cinema of the past two decades will feel a bit too comfortable watching this.

One of the better entries in the series, but it's still a bit too epic and cheesy for my taste. The action scenes are more animated, and the presentation received some extra polish. The problem lies with the more dramatic scenes in between, which are overly long and completely mess up the pacing of the film.

Cheesy 60s Japanese horror. I'm a little unsure why this film has a better reputation than similar ones from that era, but it's certainly a pretty decent one, if you can handle the silliness. It does take a while to get going. The first fifteen minutes are a little unsure, but it gets noticeably better after that.

As a sequel, this film is wholly unnecessary, but as a fully-fledged comedy, it's a welcome sight. There's a dearth of actual comedy movies nowadays, so even the basic ones deserve an extra pat on the back. And this sequel has plenty of random gags and jokes, so I had a good time with it.