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

Variety AsiaAsia

Korea Box Office: Anime Hit ‘Chiikawa’ Retains Lead as Brad Pitt Thriller ‘Heart of the Beast’ Debuts

11.01

Japanese animated phenomenon “Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of the Mermaid Island” held the No. 1 position at the South Korean box office over the weekend of Oct. 30–Nov.

Box office Anime Horror & thriller

Read at Variety Asia ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

Korea Box Office: Anime Hit ‘Chiikawa’ Retains Lead as Brad Pitt Thriller ‘Heart of the Beast’ Debuts

Related

Korea Box Office: Anime Hit ‘Chiikawa’ Retains Lead as Brad Pitt Thriller ‘Heart of the Beast’ Debuts Variety

MalaysiaAfter ‘White’ grossed RM2.5m, Malaysian filmmaker JeRR returns with ‘Lunar July’, inspired by the Chinese ghost month Malay Mail Showbiz

TIFF 2026: Anime’s Co-Pros; Hungry Ghosts; Feature Spotlights Cartoon Brew

Aliens, Battle Royales, And Vampire Romance: Atsushi Nishigori Poured His All Into ‘Grotesqqque,’ A Three-Course Anime Omnibus Cartoon Brew

JapanSpooky, scary, gory: Anime selection for the season The Japan Times

Africa‘IDIA’ Earns Three AMAA Nominations as International Awards Recognition Continues What Kept Me Up