A baby box is a small space, where parents can leave behind their babies anonymously. Sang-Hyun (Song Kang-Ho) finds new parents for a baby left in a baby box and makes a special deal with them. He calls himself a broker of good will. Sang-Hyun works with Dong-Soo in this endeavor. They get involved with So-Young, who placed her baby in the baby box, but has now come back for her baby. Meanwhile, Detective Soo-Jin and Detective Lee chase after Sang-Hyun and Dong-Soo. While doing research for his film Like Father, Like Son (2013), director Hirokazu Koreeda came across the conce ..read more

An introverted schoolgirl falls in love and starts a relationship with one of her classmates. Set in a small seaside town in Japan, the love of her life eventually leaves her for her boyfriend in Tokyo. Another great drama film which relies on the acting abilities of fairly young people, and we see the blossoming of their love lives. The dialogue is delivered very thoughtfully and measured, making it much more realistic and emotional at times. You get the feeling there's a ton of weight behind the words, and the director did a great job at also bringing out the characters even when silent.&n ..read more

20-year-old Mio has lost her parents early and runs a traditional Japanese inn in Nagano with her grandmother. As her grandmother gets sick and hospitalized, Mio is forced to leave the inn and reluctantly comes to Tokyo to live with her father's old friend Kyosuke. Helping him at the bathhouse he runs, she begins to find her way in everyday life. Mio on the Shore doesn't strive to be the most original film of the year, but its personal scope is one of its biggest strengths. With some breathtaking cinematography, equally dedicated to shots of mountains and landscapes as to people and the smal ..read more

Mana Kotani was friends with Sumire Utsuki for years. She admired Sumire's freewheeling ways and mysterious charm, but Sumire broke off connections with her. Later, Mana hears of Sumire's death, which she cannot get over. Directly dealing with the effects of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, One Day You Will Reach the Sea is a powerful and well-acted film about the loss in a young woman's life, and the realization of how important a past friendship really was. The director Ryutaro Nakagawa (Mio on the Shore), who himself lost a close friend shortly after the disaster and wanted to ..read more

An aging silent film actress hires a private eye and his wacky but helpful assistant to track down her missing daughter, Bellflower. The two follow a succession of bizarre, obscure clues, until they track down the location of the kidnappers and the daughter. With one of the most interesting and imaginative plots I've ever seen, To Sleep So As To Dream feels like a hidden avant-garde classic that's been unearthed from the old days of Japanese cinema. It's a surreal watch and unfolds like a mysterious, grainy silent movie-era fantasy adventure, inviting you into its dreamlike narrative.  ..read more

In the mid-60s a "yokai boom" swept across Japan following the successful release of the manga GeGeGe no Kitaro, centered around the spirits from Japanese folklore known as yokai. This prompted film studio Daiei to produce a trilogy of films about these bizarre creatures; Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters (1968), Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare (1968) and Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts (1969). It should be said that these films include a great deal of cheesy special effects but instead of feeling hopelessly outdated they're charming and campy in the right kind of way. The films make extensive us ..read more

A cafe owner discovers that the TV in his cafe suddenly shows images from the future, but only two minutes into the future. Fact: Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes is an absolute happy pill. After learning he can talk to his future self, Kato is drawn into a hilarious time-loop which his friends are no late to abuse and have some fun with, while at the same time of course putting themselves in a big mess. All shot in one take, the formula really reminds me of One Shot Of the Dead (2017) with its meta-humor. Clocking in at just over an hour, Beyond is a fresh thinking and light-hearted mini adv ..read more

An ingratiating bride develops warm ties to her father-in-law while her cold husband blithely slights her for another woman. In the same year that saw the release of Godzilla, the exact same cinematography crew from that film helped Mikio Naruse on Sound of the Mountain. Naruse, a major figure in Japans 'golden age of cinema' portrayed women in a much more central role and nuanced light than his contemporaries and is one of the first directors who challenged the gender norms of Japanese society in a time when barely anyone would have called themselves a feminist. Sound of the Mountain is a ..read more

A middle-aged former yakuza, Mikami, is released from prison after thirteen years where he was placed for murder. He is struggling to adapt to society and freedom, find a job and communicate normally, but he is also preoccupied by the quest for his mother from whom he was separated as a child. He finds allies in his search for his parent and a place in mainstream society, but the process is not seamless or smooth. Directed by Miwa Nishikawa (Sway, The Long Excuse), Under the Open Sky looks at the life of a yakuza who's trying to re-enter society but finds himself ostracized and alone in a Ja ..read more

A horrifying story of a shaman's inheritance in the Isan region of Thailand. What could be possessing a family member might not be the Goddess they make it out to be. The Medium will immediately grab any horror fans attention just by the names behind the film. Director Bangjong Pisanthanakun gave us the spooky Shutter (2004), and South Korean screen-writer Na Hong-jin made a huge splash in the industry with his fantastic The Wailing (2016). The Medium digs into possessions and has a documentary team follow a small village shaman in the midst of strange and disturbing events.  While you ..read more