FANTASIA21 REVIEW: Yakuza Princess [2021]

There are no harmless old men. We enter twenty years into the past at a birthday party in Japan. This wealthy family spared no expense for the celebration, but no amount of money can stop what’s coming. Swords are drawn, guns are fired, and soon enough everyone is dead save a little girl taken from her mother’s lifeless arms. The assumption is that the victors have stolen her to nurture as their own before the inevitable discovery of her real heritage and her subsequent desire for revenge. Learning the opposite…

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TIFF17 REVIEW: Motorrad [2017]

How did you get past the wall? You won’t find a better locale for a film than Serra da Canastra in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Its rocky landscapes and serene hills are gorgeous, their quiet solemnity a perfect contrast to the loud gas-guzzling motorcycles director Vicente Amorim has roaming their dirt paths in Motorrad. The only other man-made objects found are constructions out of flat stones—an isolated home or ancient wall that shouldn’t be where it’s found. The same stones line the shores of calm lakes with which to let off…

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