Mourning Forest / Mogari no mori (2007)

One of the characters in The Mourning Forest says, “There are no formal rules here, you know.” That could be used as a motto for Naomi Kawase's movie. On the surface it is a simple story of an old man who wanders away from his young caregiver. She gets lost with him in the forest …

Suzaku (1997)

Suzaku is one of the four great constellations of Asian astronomy, generally known as the god of the south. What that has to do with the movie Suzaku is unclear, just as are most of the other major plot points in what can be seen as an signal example of a particularly Japanese kind of …

The Moon Has Risen / Tsuki wa noborinu (1955)

Kinuyo Tanaka's second foray into directing is a surprising movie, a romantic comedy without any real conflict. There are of course problems along the way or there would be no movie at all, but there are no serious misunderstandings or mislaid messages, no serious class divisions, nor even any interfering friends or jealous competitors. Nothing …