Mark Horiuchi
“Pachinko” hits Apple TV
This is a review of the first three episodes of Pachinko season 1.
Pachinko, if nothing else, is an ambitious TV series. The show juggles two timelines, a wide cast of characters – some...
SAAFF film review: “Manzanar, Diverted” documents the intersection of Native American forced removals, Japanese...
“Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.” - Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
We...
Mamoru Hosada’s latest animated feature “Belle” is a fun, messy and esoteric of identity...
The new movie from famed animated film director, Mamoru Hosoda, swings for the fences, and that’s both a good and a bad thing. (Though, mostly, it’s a good thing). Hosoda, likely most well-known for...
A meditative exploration of capitalism and the sacrifice of traditional ideas and cultures in...
Visionary director Bong Joon-ho once said that, about his award-winning film Parasite, that “we all live in the same country, called capitalism.” He was expressing the idea that the basic conflicts within capitalism, between...
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s latest film “Wife of a Spy” takes on Hitchcockian suspence during the...
Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse, Tokyo Sonata) is known for his meticulously plotted horror films but in his latest film, Wife of a Spy, he’s turned to Hitchcockian suspense. Set during the outbreak of WWII...
Poetry, photography, sound and music fuse together in “Instrument” by artist Dao Strom
Vietnamese-American artist Dao Strom has created an all-encompassing experience with her poetry work Instrument, which is accompanied by its companion piece, an album by the name of Traveler’s Ode. Within, there is an exploration...
Araki Kodo VI preserves shakuhachi music in a way that only a master of...
Hanz Araki is one of the best Irish traditional flute players in the U.S. and also a sixth-generation shakuhachi player from a school of Japanese masters that goes back six generations. He grew up...
“On Gaku: Our Sound” follows the music exploits of three teenaged boys and shows...
Before even watching a single frame of On-Gaku: Our Sound, it’s hard not to find it impressive. Partially crowdfunded and created over the span of seven years, this independent animated film is a testament...
Unfortunately a talking cat can’t even make up for the lackluster story and animation...
If I may, I’d like to start this review with a brief disclaimer.
Earwig and the Witch is the latest film from Studio Ghibli, the legendary animation film studio from Japan. I’m a huge fan...