Tag: small business

The Gorals
(산양들)

The Gorals (산양들)

Director – Yoo Jae-wook – 2025 – South Korea – Cert. – 107m

****

Four problem high school girls bunk off their special college application class to start a zoo in the woods with the school zoo’s animals – from LKFF, the London Korean Film Festival 2026 which runs in cinemas from Monday, November 2nd to Tuesday, November 16th

In danger of failing to secure themselves college places, four high school girl students are put in to a special class to help them get in somewhere. In-hye (indie director “Grace” Park Hye-jin) is busy delivering vaccinations to the ducks, rabbits and chickens in the school zoo. She likes the solitude of the job, but on this occasion, Seo-hee (Lee Seung-yeon) is watching from outside the enclosure, having been sent to find her along with two other girls, Lee Jung-ae (Park Hyo-eun) in class 2 and Kim Soo-min (Choi Soo-in from The House of Us, 2019; The World of Us, 2016, both Yoon Ge-eun) in class 1, by teacher Miss Kim Ah-tae (Kim See-eun from The Handmaiden, Park Chan-wook, 2016).

Teacher Kim wants the four of them to work on their interview skills so they can apply for a college – any college – and get in.… Read the rest

Movies Animation Features

Kiki’s Delivery Service
(Majo no Takkyubin,
魔女の宅急便)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date August 28 2026
No Comments on Kiki’s Delivery Service
(Majo no Takkyubin,
魔女の宅急便)

Kiki’s Delivery Service (Majo no Takkyubin, 魔女の宅急便)

Director – Hayao Miyazaki – 1989 – Japan – Cert. U – 103m

*****

A young witch sets up her own small business and must learn to make her way in the world – out in a 4K remaster in regular UK and Ireland cinemas from Friday, August 28th following last week’s exclusive presentation in IMAX cinemas

Having reached the age of 13, young Kiki (voice/1989 Japanese dub: Minami Takiyama; 1998 Disney dub: Kirsten Dunst) must leave home to do a year’s apprenticeship as a witch in a location where there isn’t one already. Loaned at the insistence of her mother (voice/1989 Japanese dub: Mieko Nobusawa; 1998 Disney dub: Cath Soucie) the latter’s tried and tested broomstick, and accompanied by her talking black cat Jiji (voice/1989 Japanese dub: Rei Sakuma; 1998 Disney dub: Phil Hartman), she flies out on a night of the full moon. An encounter with a somewhat snooty witch who has just completed her year out reminds Kiki that she needs to develop her own special skill: at this stage, she has no idea as to exactly what this skill might be.

Resting overnight in an in transit railway cattle truck, she takes off again and arrives in Koriko, a bustling city much bigger than the tiny, provincial town where she grew up.… Read the rest

Tags 13 year old, 4K, aerodynamics, airship, apprenticeship, artist, attic room, aviation, baker, bakery, bicycle, black cat, broomstick, cabin, Cath Souci, cattle truck, children of all ages, city and provincial town, crash, crow, delivery, Eiko Kodono, fading ability, feminine intuition, flight trial, flying machine, from girlhood into adulthood, full moon, geese flying in formation, Hayao Miyazaki, IMAX, industrial component, Janeane Garofalo, Japan, Joe Hisaishi, Julia Fletcher, Kappei Yamaguchi; Matthew Lawrence, Keiko Toda; Tress MacNeille, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Kikuo Inoue, Kirsten Dunst, landscape, losing her powers, make her way in the world, miaow, Mieko Nobusawa, Minami Takayama, Minami Takiyama, motivation, near-accident, neighbour, nerd, orders, Pamela Adlon, Phil Hartman), powers of flight, propeller, railway, recovery, Rei Sakuma, rescue, responsibility, romance, sky, small business, soul mates, special skill, Studio Ghibli, stuffed cat, technology, time out, traffic, traffic cop, vertical take off, wind current, witch, Yuriko Fuchizaki

Movies Features Live Action

Kaneko’s Commissary
(Kaneko Sashiireten,
金子差入店)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date February 7 2026
No Comments on Kaneko’s Commissary
(Kaneko Sashiireten,
金子差入店)

Kaneko’s Commissary (Kaneko Sashiireten, 金子差入店)

Director – Go Furukawa – 2025 – Japan – Cert. N/C 15+ – 125m

****

An ex-con runs a service delivering clothing, other supplies and messages from loved ones to convicted prisoners – plays UK cinemas in the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2026 which runs from Friday, 6th February to Tuesday, 31st March

A young mum, babe in arms, takes bags for her husband to a drop-off facility / creche so she can visit him in prison. The helpful assistant informs her that the commissary will be unable to accept most of the contents of the bag – basically, any clothing other than underwear. And off she goes for a prison visit with her husband, who has anger management issues and takes out on her the fact that she failed to visit last month, telling her, “it’s easy for you to abandon me.” His unabated rating and verbal abuse eventually drives her to a primal scream before she walks out, leaving him to ask, redundantly, after she’s left, if their child has been born yet.

His visit isn’t from her but the self-announced “Kaneko from Hosoda’s Commissary”, who has a deliver from his wife; divorce papers to sign.… Read the rest

Tags #JFTFP26, Akira Terao, anger, ants 80% / 20%, assault, best friend, borrow, bullied, childhood friend, closure, clothing, convict, delivery, divorce papers, dutiful daughter-in-law, duty, ex-con, ex-convict, ex-prisoner, family, family life, Go Furukawa, Goro Kishitani, husbands and wives, interview glass, interview room, Japan, Japan Foundation, Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme, Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2026, JPF, JPF 2026, Kira Miura, loved ones, Mana Kawaguchi, messages, mothers and sons, murder, parents and children, personal demons, potted plant, primal scream, primary school, prison, prison system, prison visit, prisoner, purpose in life, relatives and convicts, remorse, restrained, Risa Kaneko, rules and regulations, Ryuhei Maruyama, school, school staff room, small business, Takumi Kitamura, targeted vandalism, teacher, teenage, teenager, Toshie Negihshi, vandalism, welcome counter, yakuza, Yoko Maki, Yuko Natori

Movies Features Live Action

The Blue Caftan
(Le Bleu du Caftan)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date May 5 2023
No Comments on The Blue Caftan
(Le Bleu du Caftan)

The Blue Caftan (Le Bleu du Caftan)

Director – Maryam Touzani – 2022 – Morocco – Cert. 12a – 122m

****

A love triangle between a gay dressmaker, his wife and the man’s new apprentice, a movie which deserves to be cherished for a wide variety of reasons – out in UK cinemas and on BFI Player (rental) from Friday, May 5th

Halim and Mina (Saleh Bakri and Lubna Azabal) run a traditional clothing store in the street of one of the oldest medinas in Morocco. He inherited the store from his father, a maleem or master craftsman, and laments the fact that, with the rise of modern technology, the old skilled craftsman is dying out as people can buy the same products, made instead by machines, for lower cost. He gets very excited when his new apprentice Youssef (Ayoub Missioui) turns out to possess a rare aptitude and enthusiasm to learn those skills.

At the same time, Halim has a secret: in a conservative Muslim country where homosexual acts constitute a punishable offence, he is a gay man. He loves his wife dearly and would do anything for her, but his preference is for those of his own gender. She has learned to live with the fact.… Read the rest

Movies Features Live Action

Everything
Everywhere
All at Once

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date May 9 2022
No Comments on Everything
Everywhere
All at Once

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Director – Daniels (Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert) – 2022 – US – Cert. 15 – 139m

*****

Do you know kung fu? A launderette owner in trouble with the IRS is sucked into serial, parallel worlds to defeat the being who threatens to annihilate the multiverse – available on demand in the UK from Monday, June 13th

You could describe it as a Cubist take on The Matrix. Or a mother-daughter relationship drama. Or a multiverse movie. Or a film about filing taxes with the IRS. Or a (multiple set of) romance(s). Or a Michelle Yeoh action movie. Or a Chinese American movie. Or a film put together unlike any other you’ve ever seen. All these descriptions would be accurate.

Chinese American Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) runs her own business. A launderette (or laundromat in American parlance). She sits at the table in her apartment which is covered with piles of receipts. She is sorting through them in preparation for an upcoming interview with the IRS. She isn’t sure she’s ready.

This pressing issue aside, her life is not without its challenges. Her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan, formerly the kid from Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, Steven Spielberg, 1983; The Goonies, Richard Donner, 1985) is attempting to file for divorce and wants her to sign the papers.… Read the rest

Tags ageing relative, American English, annihilation, apartment, butt plugs, carer, champion, Chinese American, chocolate doughnut, controlled by raccoons, Cubism, Daniel Kwan, Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Daniel Scheinert, Daniels, divorce, divorce papers, doughnut, Dr.Seuss, drama, editing, Employee Of The Month, family, family drama, fingers, giant, hot dog sausages, hot dog sausages for fingers, husbands and wives, Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, interview, IRS, IRS examiner, James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis, janitor’s closet, Ke Huy Quan, launderette, laundromat, lift, Mandarin Chinese, martial arts, martial arts champion, Michelle Yeoh, Mike Jittlov, mothers and daughters, multiverse, neighbours, Nobuhiko Obayashi, Norman McLaren, nothingness, other worlds, people controlled by raccoons sitting on their heads, pressures of modern life, raccoons on their heads, raccoons sitting on their heads, rapid editing, receipts, Richard Donner, Shinya Tsukamoto, sitting on their heads, small business, Stephanie Hsu, Steven Spielberg, synthetic penises, Talie Medal, tax, tax examiner, taxes, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, The Goonies, The Matrix, The Wizard Of Speed And Time, US, void, Wachowski, Wong Kar-wai