Backrooms is a triumph that is not for everyone, but is certainly for me

Backrooms is a triumph that is not for everyone, but is certainly for me

A guy struggling his way through life and therapy finds strange portal-like doorway in the basement of his furniture store that leads to a seemingly endless maze of weird, not-quite-right, office-like rooms. He goes inside. Many of you probably know the rough real world story of this by now. The Backrooms are an Internet-invented idea that all began with this image and caption: It sparked a whole community-driven bunch of lore and shared storytelling that turned the concept into its own little fictional universe. While this was happening, young Kane Parsons was making videos based on the concept. He was…
A Month of Kurosawa: Madadayo (1993)

A Month of Kurosawa: Madadayo (1993)

To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, Akira Kurosawa: A Viewer's Guide, due out Dec. 15 from Rowman & Littlefield -- preorder here! -- I'll be doing capsule reviews all month covering every single Kurosawa film and posting (very) brief excerpts. These will be short impressions and recommendations, nothing more. For a full, detailed analysis of each, grab the book! Madadayo (1993) Akira Kurosawa's final film concerns an older man experiencing the ups and downs of a long life, looking back at a life well led, and saying to himself, "I'm not ready to go yet." It sure is…
A Month of Kurosawa: Rhapsody in August (1991)

A Month of Kurosawa: Rhapsody in August (1991)

To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, Akira Kurosawa: A Viewer's Guide, due out Dec. 15 from Rowman & Littlefield -- preorder here! -- I'll be doing capsule reviews all month covering every single Kurosawa film and posting (very) brief excerpts. These will be short impressions and recommendations, nothing more. For a full, detailed analysis of each, grab the book! Rhapsody in August (1991) In his final years, Akira Kurosawa was tremendously concerned with the idea of legacy: what we leave behind and what our life meant. These ideas first started appearing in Dersu Uzala and Kagemusha, and then…
A Month of Kurosawa: Dreams (1990)

A Month of Kurosawa: Dreams (1990)

To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, Akira Kurosawa: A Viewer's Guide, due out Dec. 15 from Rowman & Littlefield -- preorder here! -- I'll be doing capsule reviews all month covering every single Kurosawa film and posting (very) brief excerpts. These will be short impressions and recommendations, nothing more. For a full, detailed analysis of each, grab the book! Dreams (1990) It would perhaps be overstating the case to call Dreams the final masterpiece by Akira Kurosawa, as this anthology of short films doesn't quite rise to the level of his greatest works, but at times it comes…