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

Film Inquiry

LFF 2026: THE LIBERATION

10.28

The Liberation is a story of personalities. How they’re formed and where they might lead us. How they clash or meld with others’, how they change over time. It’s also a personal story.

Read at Film Inquiry ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

LFF 2026: THE LIBERATION

More from Film Inquiry on Cinepuuulse

Director Ellen Rodnianski For AMERICAN BABY: Finding Nuance in Divisive Debate Film Inquiry

Vincent Grashaw On BRUTON & the Art of Staying Independent Film Inquiry

CAT CAM: Paranormal Feline Activity Film Inquiry

NYFF Review: Lee Chang-dong’s POSSIBLE LOVE Film Inquiry

Paris Was a Woman: Paris When It Sizzled Film Inquiry

LFF 2026: INK Film Inquiry