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

Palestine Cinema Dispatch: Fall 2026 Palestine Cinema Preview

October 7

Some very exciting films about Palestine are coming to cinemas and streaming this fall. Documentaries about doctors trying to save as many people as they can, about journalists who stayed in northern…

Read at Film Inquiry ↗

One letter a week, in your inbox.

Latest

Palestine Cinema Dispatch: Fall 2026 Palestine Cinema Preview

More from Film Inquiry on Cinepuuulse

NYFF64: Rose, Fatherland Film Inquiry

AMERICAN BABY: The Countless Eyes Cast Upon Her Film Inquiry

Interview With Jennifer Velasco Creator of The 31 Day Exorcise Challenge Film Inquiry

NYFF64: Nowhere to Lay My Eyes, The Day She Returns Film Inquiry

THE VETERAN: A Lifeline Between Strangers Film Inquiry

NYFF64: FJORD, ALL OF A SUDDEN, NAZA Film Inquiry