Tynan Yanaga

1 week ago | filminquiry.com | Tynan Yanaga

If you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, at 5 years old, I would have said, “A baseball player.” A few years into a Little League career I probably already knew I would never make it, but even if you leave baseball, when you’re introduced to it early, baseball never leaves you. It doesn’t need to be a career if it’s a part of your life. There’s something elemental about it even to this day.

1 month ago | filminquiry.com | Tynan Yanaga

Any chance I get to live vicariously through someone else’s experience in Japan, I’ll take it, especially in films. There are normally two modes of Tokyo movies: those that take on the point of view of native Japanese and those framed around foreigners. This sounds obvious, yet it fundamentally changes how we understand the city and its function within narratives.

2 months ago | filminquiry.com | Tynan Yanaga

I missed out on director Junta Yamaguchi and writer Makoto Ueda‘s breakout debut Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes. Times were strange in 2020. I was just back from living in Japan full-time, and it is very possible the movie was also overshadowed stateside by Palm Springs. The only reason I found out about their follow-up River was on the recent recommendation of a colleague. However, the beauty of these circumstances is clear.

Aug 15, 2024 | filminquiry.com | Tynan Yanaga

I normally watch movies by trade. TV is a longer commitment so when I’m planning to kick my feet up, I like something fun and breezy like a rerun of Parks and Recreation. Sunny isn’t what I would usually sign up for when it comes to serialized content. It’s a dark, uncanny thriller adapted by writer Katie Robbins and director Lucy Tcherniak from a novel by Irishman Colin O’Sullivan. The growing sense of tension and general unease running through the show frazzles the nerves.

Aug 13, 2024 | filminquiry.com | Tynan Yanaga

With the forthcoming release of Francis Ford Coppola‘s new film Megalopolis, it makes sense there will be renewed interest in his earlier films. Rialto Pictures is distributing a 4K restoration of The Conversation in honor of the 50th anniversary of its original theatrical release. Reappraisals of Coppola’s work, particularly something like The Conversation, normally live in the shadow of The Godfather films or Apocalypse Now. It’s far more unassuming in scope.