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

CineuropaEurope

Review: Before the War - Venice 2026 – International Film Critics’ Week

09.07

VENICE 2026: Using the slender narrative thread of an impossible love, Tommaso Usberti crafts a hard-hitting, atmospheric film that calls out the macho climate poisoning the youth of northern…

Festivals & awards news

Read at Cineuropa ↗

EuropeInterview: Ann Sirot, Raphaël Balboni • Directors of Diane in the Loop - "The western cannot be reserved for male wounds" - Venice 2026 - Orizzonti Cineuropa

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

Review: Before the War - Venice 2026 – International Film Critics’ Week

Related

EuropeReview: Sometimes Sadness, Sometimes Rebellion - Venice 2026 – Giornate degli Autori Cineuropa

EuropeReview: Woman Unknown - Venice 2026 – Competition Cineuropa

EuropeReview: The Burning Giants - Venice 2026 – Orizzonti Cineuropa

EuropeReview: Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger - Venice 2026 – Venice Open Out of Competition Cineuropa

EuropeReview: The Echo Chamber - Venice 2026 – Competition Cineuropa

EuropeInterview: Ann Sirot, Raphaël Balboni • Directors of Diane in the Loop - "The western cannot be reserved for male wounds" - Venice 2026 - Orizzonti Cineuropa