Our mark is 銀幕, ginmaku — the silver screen, and the same two characters in Japanese, Chinese and Korean.

I came to Tokyo at twenty-three for a summer job at a Shibuya mini-theatre and the job never quite ended. Fifteen years of festivals later I still think the only review that counts is the one the room gives you: where the laugh lands, the moment three hundred people stop moving at once, whether anybody stays for the credits.

Cinepuuulse follows Asian cinema — Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand — across about a hundred and twenty sources. A good number of them are Spanish, French and Portuguese, because those countries programme this work seriously and write about it better than most of the English-language trade. Genre and art-house get the same seat here. I am not ranking them, and nothing is scored out of ten.

Each story is a headline, a short excerpt, one still and a link to the outlet that did the reporting. We never republish the piece, and the still belongs to its studio or its photographer. A Korean trade paper appears in Korean, a French review in French. We point at the work; we do not put words in anyone's mouth.

— Daren Wise, Tokyo

← Cinepuuulse Archive

The Straits TimesSingapore

Actors John Cena and Jessica Biel hit the gas in Matchbox: The Movie

October 15

The action-comedy film on Apple TV is directed by Sam Hargrave of the Extraction movie franchise.

K-drama & series Action & martial arts

Read at The Straits Times ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

Actors John Cena and Jessica Biel hit the gas in Matchbox: The Movie

Related

India‘Matchbox: The Movie’ review: John Cena keeps things moving in this action comedy The Hindu — Movies

SingaporeTop-rated K-drama Doctor X: Mafia In White draws criticism over alleged medical inaccuracies The Straits Times

Sylvester Stallone Has ‘Millions of Regrets’ About Doing His Own Stunts: ‘I’m An Idiot for Doing That’ Variety

FranceLes Misérables : c’est quoi le problème du blockbuster français ? Écran Large

ArgentinaEstrenos: crítica de ‘La caída de la ballena’ (‘Whalefall’), de Brian Duffield Micropsia

‘The Lowdown’ Season 2 Review: Ethan Hawke and Betty Gilpin Light Up a Rollicking, Moving Mystery IndieWire