It’s an accomplishment for any filmmaker to be able to showcase their work at London Film Festival; however, for Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, he has two films showing at this year’s festival. With his adaptation of Drive My Car sweeping awards at Cannes Film Festival (you can read my review here), his second film Wheel… Read More London Film Festival 2021: Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
One of the many films to captivate audiences at this year’s Cannes Film Festival was Drive My Car where it won three awards including Best Screenplay. Adapted from Haruki Murakami’s short story of the same name from his 2014 short story collection Men Without Women, Drive My Car follows stage actor Yūsuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima)… Read More London Film Festival 2021: Drive My Car
One of my favourite anime shows of all time is the 90s classic Sailor Moon. The original anime based of the hugely successful manga by Naoko Takeuchi ran from 1992-1995 for five seasons following teenager Usagi Tsukino who is an underachieving schoolgirl by day and a crime-fighting hero by night. Along with the other Sailor… Read More Top 5 Sailor Moon Episodes
It’s hard not to think about Hayao Miyazaki when choosing what anime film to watch. Known as one of the founders of the Japanese animation powerhouse Studio Ghibli, Miyazaki has established a name among critics and audiences alike as an important figure in helping Japanese cinema reach a global audience with films that are suitable… Read More Hayao Miyazaki: Film Ranking
My favourite animation of the past decade hands down belongs to Isao Takahata’s swansong which is a retelling of the Japanese folktale “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter”. It follows a man who finds a small girl in the centre of a bamboo shoot, he picks her up and she turns into a baby and… Read More The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013)
Another day, another Ghibli review. Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke is a Medieval set fantasy in the ancient land of folklore and Gods and the battle between Mankind and the spirits in the forest. The film follows Prince Ashitaka who is cursed by a dying boar and must venture to the West to find the reasons… Read More Princess Mononoke (1997)
One of the big ones to come out of Studio Ghibli and with good reason, Spirited Away follows protagonist Chihiro who finds herself in the spirit world where her parents have been turned into pigs. Chihiro must work under the ruthless Yubaba in a bathhouse for spirits where she is forced to take care of… Read More Spirited Away (2001)
Hayao Miyazaki’s 1986 family action film, Castle in the Sky was the first film made under the Studio Ghibli brand (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was made before Ghibli’s inception although it is now included in the Ghibli catalogue). The film follows young orphan Pazu who catches a girl, Sheeta, after she falls from… Read More Castle in the Sky (1986)
“Many of my movies have strong female leads- brave, self-sufficient girls that don’t think twice about fighting for what they believe with all their heart. They’ll need a friend, or a supporter, but never a savior. Any woman is just as capable of being a hero as any man.” Hayao Miyazaki “I do not make… Read More The Heart in Studio Ghibli
