film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997
This tonal misfire never hits the notes of drama and romance it aims for with its ickily problematic terrorist-hostage relationships. Facile and uncomfortably implausible, emotionally and practically.
Crams the “quirky” back into the please-god-kill-me-and-save-me-from-yet-another-ridiculous-teen-romance.
This triptypch of short flicks about the Japanese capital by non-Japanese filmmakers is wildly intriguing to me, as someone who has never been there but would like to visit — I wonder, though, how natives or familiar foreigners would parse the peculiarities of these disturbing urban fairy tales.
