Clay, a versatile material that turns into all kinds of objects when married with water and fire, is most often associated with pottery, which has thousands of years of history in China and other parts of the world. The xun – pronounced huen in Cantonese – a flute shaped like an egg but with a … Read more
“This film, set in the near future, brings to life the inevitable sadness and the beauty of the human experience as we follow a relationship between a man grieving a lost marriage and his new-found AI companion.” 2. Jojo Rabbit (2019) Glass never thought a comedy-drama set in Nazi Germany during the second world war … Read more
2/5 stars Audiences have been inundated this year with stories about imaginary friends, from John Krasinski’s effects-heavy IF, to insidious Blumhouse horror film Imaginary and Benedict Cumberbatch’s lumbering, Muppet-like alter-ego in the Netflix series Eric. They may address the subject matter differently, through whimsy, terror or trauma, but at the centre of each is a … Read more
2/5 stars Striving to be a people-pleaser can leave your own life empty and unsatisfied. This is the lesson learned by high-schooler Hiiragi in A Whisker Away co-director Tomotaka Shibayama’s new animated fantasy, My Oni Girl. The second feature film produced by Studio Colorido exclusively for Netflix (after 2022’s Drifting Home), My Oni Girl follows … Read more
The mixed responses came despite Miyazaki’s well-known anti-war stance in Japan, where he made headlines in 2015 as he urged his country’s leaders “to say clearly that aggressive war was completely wrong, having brought enormous damage to the Chinese people”. Miyazaki, a co-founder of Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli and director of films such as … Read more
For the first time in Hayao Miyazaki’s decades-spanning career, the 82-year-old Japanese anime master is No. 1 at the North American box office. Miyazaki’s latest enchantment, The Boy and the Heron, debuted with $12.8 million US, according to studio estimates. The Boy and the Heron, the long-awaited animated fantasy from the director of Spirited Away, My Neighbor … Read more
