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

The Film Stage

Queen at Sea Review: Tom Courtenay and Juliette Binoche Lead Thorny Moral Dilemma

10.29

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2026 Berlinale coverage. The film arrives in theaters on October 30.

K-drama & series

Read at The Film Stage ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

Queen at Sea Review: Tom Courtenay and Juliette Binoche Lead Thorny Moral Dilemma

Related

AustraliaScreen Australia, SBS and NITV announce 9 new projects for Digital Originals initiative ScreenHub Australia

Hong KongPrime Video K-drama Final Table: Ahn Hyo-seop is unbearable in unappetising culinary drama SCMP Film

SpainMariano Llinás completa su particular, magistral e infinita película de arena sobre Borges El Mundo — Cine

'Cocaine Cowboys' 20th Anniversary Re-Release Adds AI-Generated Reenactments and a 4,000-Shot Visual Overhaul VP Land

Hong KongWho is Kim Jae-young, imposing star of K-dramas Make Me Tingle and The Judge from Hell? SCMP Film

Hong KongPrime Video K-drama Love in Disguise: Yim Si-wan, Seol In-ah lead gender-reversal romcom SCMP Film