Short Cut Movie Review: A Letter to Momo

A Short Cut Movie Review is normally less than 400 words, but in some cases may go slightly over. This is my attempt to keep writing about as many films as I see without getting bogged down with trying to find more to say. They are meant to be brief snapshots of my reaction to a movie without too much depth.

Before Hayao Miyazaki was introduced to the United States, the majority of the best known animation from Japan was action-oriented anime involving monsters, robots, words, guns, and superhero-like costumes. Miyazaki’s worlds centered on mystery, fantasy, mythical creatures, and the imagination of childhood. Now he has a list of former apprentices, protégés, and imitators who continue to produce interesting animated stories following his tradition. A Letter to Momo, from writer-director Hiroyuki Okiura, is like a tame version of a Miyazaki fantasy.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi Movie Review

Visually splendid, but lacking depth, David Gelb’s Jiro Dreams of Sushi, certainly left my mouth watering for the delectable raw fish preparations that have exploded in popularity in the last decade. The Jiro of the title is the 85 year old chef and owner of a tiny ten seat sushi restaurant in a basement in Tokyo. It has twice been awarded three stars by the Michelin Guide, an honor that suggests it’s worth a trip to that country just to eat in the restaurant, where the menu is determined based on quality and availability that day, and perfection is the only standard by which Jiro judges the food.

Air Doll Movie Review

This film has opened commercially in a very limited capacity in the US and only in a handful of European and Asian countries.

Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda established himself in the 90s with two masterful films (Mabarosi and After Life) and followed up in 2004 with Nobody Knows, also a wonderful film, about 4 young children abandoned by their mother and living for several months in an apartment completely unnoticed by the world.

His latest film, Air Doll, while sharing in common with his other work a gift for seeing deep inside the human condition, follows on from some of the themes of Nobody Knows. In the story of an inflatable sex doll that comes to life, wanders around the city, gets a job and falls in love, Koreeda takes a more philosophical look at the isolation and loneliness of city life than in that earlier film.