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Cinema Adrift

Film 'Zine (+Site) for Film Freaks
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Blu-Review: A Scene at the Sea (Takeshi Kitano, 1991) - Third Window Films

October 15, 2016 in Blu-ray/DVD

The fourth Kitano release from Third Window Films this year is his moving tale of self-fulfillment which still remains unique in Kitano's career now over twenty years old.

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Tags: A Scene at the Sea, Third Window Films, Japanese film, Takeshi Kitano, Jasper Sharp
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Blu-Review: Dark Water (Hideo Nakata, 2002) - Arrow Video

October 14, 2016 in Blu-ray/DVD

Just in time for October, Arrow Video gives this understated J-horror film the care it deserves.

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Tags: Dark Water, Hideo Nakata, Koji Suzuki, Junichiro Hayashi, J-Horror, Arrow Video, Ringu, Asami Mizukawa, Hitoki Kuroki, Kiyoshi Kurosawa
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NEW ISSUE: Volume VI - 2016 October

October 06, 2016 in Essays/Features
NEW ISSUE: Volume VI - 2016 October

The 2nd horror issue of Cinema Adrift is out. Recommended only for the faint of heart.

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Tags: Zine, Cinema Adrift
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Essential Assemblage: The Taste of Tea Guttokuro Box Limited Edition

October 03, 2016 in Blu-ray/DVD

In this new feature we take a look at special edition releases of films and highlight the love and care put into the packaging and presentation. 

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Tags: Essential Assemblage, The Taste of Tea, Limited Editions
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Film Review: The Age of Shadows (Kim Jee-woon)

September 26, 2016 in Film Reviews

The first South Korean co-production from Warner Bros., The Age of Shadows is easily Kim Jee-Woon's best Korean film since A Bittersweet Life.

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Tags: Korean film, The Age of Shadows, Kim Jee-Woon, Song Kang-ho
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Film Review: Nerve (Ariel Schulman/Henry Joost, 2016)

September 26, 2016 in Film Reviews

A genre-blending morality tale, Nerve is destined to be under-seen, underrated, and possibly misunderstood despite being successful on so many levels.

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Tags: Nerve, Ariel Schulman, Henry Joost, computer screen
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Blu-Review: The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1939) - Criterion Collection

September 26, 2016 in Blu-ray/DVD

Criterion bring the new restoration of Mizoguchi's masterpiece to the US in the form of this barely non-bare-bones presentation.

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Tags: The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum, Kenji Mizoguchi, Criterion Collection, Japanese film
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Two Evocations of the Japanese Flag

September 06, 2016 in Lists

A specific tool to be used for the politically minded filmmaker, here are two examples of filmmakers evoking their country's flag in inventive and meaningful ways.

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Tags: Female Prisoner Scorpion, Meiko Kaji, Tokyo Olympiad, Kon Ichikawa, Japanese film
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Film Review: The Tunnel (Kim Seong-hun, 2016)

September 02, 2016 in Film Reviews

The Tunnel marks Kim Seong-hun's standing as a modern master of the Korean populist entertainment film, highly crafted and socially minded.

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Tags: Korean film, A Hard Day, Kim Seong-hun, The Tunnel, Bae Doo-na, Ha Jung-woo, SDAFF 2016
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Film Review: The Handmaiden (Park Chan-wook, 2016)

August 23, 2016 in Film Reviews

Park Chan-wook's latest is a return to his home tongue (mostly) but remains a continuation of obsessions present throughout his whole career. It's a slick and classy story of a confidence game with the usual romance and added perversity.

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Tags: The Handmaiden, Park Chan-wook, Kim Min-hee
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Blu-Review: Woman in the Dunes (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1964) - Criterion Collection

August 23, 2016 in Blu-ray/DVD

Criterion brings this Sisyphean classic to high definition along with accompanying short films and essays.

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Tags: Criterion Collection, Japanese film, Japanese New Wave, Hiroshi Teshigahara, Woman in the Dunes, Kobo Abe, Toru Takemitsu, Short Film
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Movies to Watch as You're Dying Vol. 2

August 10, 2016 in Lists, Essays/Features

The return of films with life lessons, both constructive and destructive. Watch, take notes, recreate in personal life, then repeat.

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Tags: PlayTime, Aparajito, Demolition, Tokyo Marigold, Oculus, Fish Story, Vengeance Trilogy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, Satyajit Ray, Jun Ichikawa, Mike Flanagan, Jacques Tati, Movies to Watch as You're Dying
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Blu-Review: Female Prisoner Scorpion: The Complete Collection (Arrow Video)

August 09, 2016 in Blu-ray/DVD

Arrow Video give Meiko Kaji's greatest and most iconic of her outlaw film endeavors a grand treatment, making it one of the must have releases of the year.

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Tags: Japanese film, Meiko Kaji, Yasuharu Hasebe, Shunya Ito, Arrow Video, Female Prisoner Scorpion, Toei
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Japan Cuts 2016: Bakuman/New Anime Vanguard Spotlight

August 08, 2016 in Essays/Features

Jack Virnich writes on the pairing of manga-ka centric film Bakuman and a collection of experimental animated short films presented by Japan Cuts.

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Tags: Japan Cuts 2016, Animation, Bakuman, Experimental, Short Film, Japanese film
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Everything You Wanted to See in a Hollywood Picture But the Censors were too Afraid to Show You

August 06, 2016 in Film Reviews

Join Oswald Creery on his journey through the golden age of pornography.

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Tags: Exploitation.TV, Oswald Creery, Vinegar Syndrome
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Photo courtesy of Gil Asakawa.

Interview: Ken Ochiai on Chaplin, Jidai-geki, and the Japanese Film Industry

August 03, 2016 in Essays/Features

Uzumasa Limelight director Ken Ochiai gives his thoughts on the Japanese film industry, what draws him to a project, and also recommends some jidai-geki films. 

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Tags: Ken Ochiai, Uzumasa Limelight, Japanese film, Interviews
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Double Feature Review: Eat That Question/Train to Busan

August 01, 2016 in Essays/Features

Both films, in their own ways, showcase the struggle against the plastic people and forewarn viewers how they too can defend themselves in case of emergency.

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Tags: Eat That Question, Frank Zappa, Train to Busan, Documentary, Korean film, Yeon Sang-ho, Zombie film, Double Feature
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Japan Cuts 2016: Being Good (Mipo O)

July 31, 2016 in Film Reviews

Mipo O has grown exponentially as a filmmaker with her latest film, a triptych of hurt and redemption. An incredible portrait of the potential of hope and choosing to break from unwritten rules of socially acceptable disengagement.

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Tags: Mipo O, Being Good, Japan Cuts 2016, Japanese film, Kengo Kora, Machiko Ono, The Light Shines Only There, Tomorrowland
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Japan Cuts 2016: The Artist of Fasting (Masao Adachi)

July 29, 2016 in Film Reviews

This take on Kafka's short story is a radical blender in which modern concerns are thrown in with timeless hypocrisies and filtered through the aesthetic urges of one of the last surviving filmmakers of the Japanese New Wave.

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Tags: Nasao Adachi, Franz Kafka, The Artist of Fasting, Japanese film, Japan Cuts 2016, Japanese New Wave, 3/11
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Japan Cuts 2016: The Actor (Satoko Yokohama)

July 28, 2016 in Film Reviews

Satoko Yokohama's follow up to Bare Essence of Life is a film about the joy of creation where drive and ambition equally reward and penalize. A highly original film from any filmmaker in recent memory, Japanese or otherwise, female or otherwise.

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Tags: Japan Cuts 2016, Satoko Yokohama, Japanese film, Kumiko Aso, Ken Yasuda, Bare Essence of Life
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