“There’s more syrup than spell-casting here, though I found it pleasantly sweet.”

“… at once animated by artistic appreciation and tinged with a realistic sense of regret.”

“Sessa gives you the sense that he could not care less about the likability of his character.”

“A portrait of women stuck in a loop of patriarchal oppression…”

“… like something Agatha Christie might have written after binge-watching a bunch of Akira Kurosawa.”

“. . . a bitter, brilliant pill to swallow.”

“If you weren’t a dad before seeing Power Ballad, you’d likely be transformed into one by the movie’s end.”

“Scorsese pulls out a handful of stylistic flourishes…”

“… can only be described as botanical: slow, serene, sensuous.”

“Kurosawa nudged Japan both politically and aesthetically into a new era.”