7.5
With a narrative that feels uncomfortably ripped from the headlines, The Journalist reinforces the need for a critical and independent media through the tense lens of a bureaucratic thriller.
5.5
The rise of Japanese chess enthusiast Shoji Segawa into the cutthroat professional world makes for some predictable yet crowd-pleasing fare.
8
Drifting through radical tonal shifts with ease, Melancholic is a quirky tale of murder and a quarter-life crisis that confidently hails a fresh directing talent.
2.5
An exercise in baiting and switching, Jesus promises a quirky faith parable but delivers a sterile and derivative coming-of-age tale.
4
Erica 38 may be based on a true story, but that doesn’t stop it from being flaccid and tedious.
9.5
Like an insane descent into the dreary streets of Tokyo’s gang-ruled underground, Shinya Tsukamoto’s Bullet Ballet is a landmark entry in Japan’s punk-film movement.
6
Weighed down by a poorly handled mystery plot, Red Snow is an airless exploration of repressed trauma and past guilt that is just too dour to follow.
8.5
And Your Bird Can Sing is a subtle meditation on bacchanal self-destruction that mines unspoken moments for unexpected impact.
9
As a chilling portrait of a city in turmoil and a boisterous tribute to its struggling residents, The Kamagasaki Cauldron War is the comedy for the proletariat told with invigorating realism.
8
Maggie is a puzzling oddity whose creative aimlessness endears itself to its head-scratching audience.
8.5
#NYAFF Review: Deftly tapping into a common Millennial anxiety, 5 MILLION DOLLAR LIFE is a sardonic, existential exploration of one's value in society.
7.5
A fresh take on the tired zombie formula, played with enjoyable farcicality by a standout cast, makes The Odd Family: Zombie for Sale an absurdist delight.
6
By exploring the small overlaps between, and coincidences among, the stories of complete strangers, Jam fails to become as good as the sum of its parts.
5
Full of gratuitous eye candy, White Snake is a derivative exercise that wrongly believes overloading itself with style and action can sustain yet another take on the ancient Chinese legend.
7
Violence Voyager remains a disturbing bait and switch of gory delights for all who can stomach it.
7.5
While trying to sell you on the maverick, anarchist sensibilities of its central subjects, Dare to Stop Us slots itself into standardized yet serviceable biopic formula.
