Typically all over the map, the Rotterdam Film Festival this year focused its considerable energies on an extensive Japanese section, bluntly titled "No Cherry Blossoms." The message was clear: Meet the new (or, at any rate, new-to-you) Japanese cinema, unconcerned with Western preconceptions, equally untroubled by the weighty legacy of the country's art-house titans. And so, amid local grumblings about the perceived Hollywoodization of this most eccentric of festivals... More >>>