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 Hollywood Reporter

‘White Lotus’ Breakout Adam DiMarco Attached to Star in ‘Dark Ocean,’ Glassriver’s First Feature (Exclusive)

10.22

The Canadian joins Baltasar Kormákur and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson on the film set in the "hyper-masculine world" of a trawler, which will be directed by Balvin Z, the co-owner of the Icelandic…

Indie & debut

Read at The Hollywood Reporter ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

‘White Lotus’ Breakout Adam DiMarco Attached to Star in ‘Dark Ocean,’ Glassriver’s First Feature (Exclusive)

Related

IrelandShort Film Review: Fat Film Ireland

UKExclusive First Look at the BIFA 2026 Best British Short Film Longlist Directors Notes

Asia44th Busan International Short Film Festival – Call for Entry 2027 Asian Film Festivals

UKCraig Bingham Demonstrates How “Restraint Breeds Creativity” with His Mythic Fantasy Sci-Fi Short ‘FARANOOKA’ Directors Notes

Asia20 Must-see short films from the 30th ifva Festival (Part 2) Asian Film Festivals

RHYTHM IS A DANCER: Lauren Caster’s Heartfelt Indie Debut Film Inquiry