Fantasia ’21 Review: ‘Yakuza Princess’ is an intriguing setup with lacklustre execution

Yakuza Princess

The largest population of Japanese people outside of Japan is actually located in Brazil. São Paolo, to be exact. Of the roughly twelve million people who live there, more than a million and a half of them are Japanese or of Japanese descent; the legacy of a bilateral agreement between the two nations to promote migration in the late 1910s. This is, in a word, fascinating.

Yakuza Princess is set in this diaspora, the story of an orphaned girl with no knowledge of her past who was secreted away after her family was massacred. Now, of course, she is going to find out, and vengeance will be hers. Eventually.

Continue reading “Fantasia ’21 Review: ‘Yakuza Princess’ is an intriguing setup with lacklustre execution”

Review: ‘Edge of the World’ is a beautiful –but kinda boring– adventure

Edge of the World

Edge of the World is based on the life of James Brooke, the man who inspired –in whole or in part– novels by Conrad and Kipling. Brooke, a veteran of the Bengal Army, sailed to Borneo in the late 1830s and, after helping the Sultan of Brunei put down a rebellion, was gifted rule of Sarawak, a large swath of land on the northeast side of the island. He ruled for decades, and his descendants ruled all the way into the mid 20th century.

There is, as they say, a lot of story to tell here. This movie doesn’t quite tell it, though.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Edge of the World’ is a beautiful –but kinda boring– adventure”