The 10th anniversary edition of Japan Cuts, North America’s largest festival for new Japanese film, runs from July 14th to the 24th, and we’re aiming to cover as many of the films in its program as we can. Our second dispatch features Junji Sakamoto’s new comedy; teen…
Sourcing material from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anthony Doerr certainly lends Yoshifumi Tsubota’s second film a certain pedigree—and indeed, The Shell Collector looks as if it may prove an evocative drama of dueling personalities for much of its first half. Unfortunately, awkward tonal shifts, which may…