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 Guardian FilmUK

Gentle Monster review – disquieting drama about two women facing the truth about the men they love

05.15

Cannes film festival: Léa Seydoux is a wife and mother whose life unravels when police arrive to quiz her husband; Jella Haase is a detective dealing with her ailing father’s misdeeds Marie Kreutzer…

Festivals & awards Cannes film festival Film Drama films Austria

Read at The Guardian Film ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

Gentle Monster review – disquieting drama about two women facing the truth about the men they love

Related

UKNightborn review – Rupert Grint bringing up a monster baby The Guardian Film

AsiaWINNERS OF THE 18TH ASIA PACIFIC SCREEN AWARDS ANNOUNCED Asia Pacific Screen Awards

AsiaASIA PACIFIC SCREEN AWARDS ANNOUNCE 2025 JURIES AND CELEBRATE REGIONAL EXCELLENCE Asia Pacific Screen Awards

AsiaWINNERS OF YOUNG CINEMA AWARD, BEST NEW PERFORMER, CULTURAL DIVERSITY AWARD & FIAPF AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT Asia Pacific Screen Awards

UKAnimol review – gritty young offenders drama challenges conventional machismo The Guardian Film