Japan's Classics

Crazily Rational

Humans pride themselves on being "rational animals," yet in waving the banner of reason, how often do we overlook the passions and turbulence that defy reduction? Are our actions truly as orderly and logical as we believe? At what point does the pursuit of order and truth tip into the realm of madness? Perhaps "strangeness" is an essential part of being human — and the boundary between reason and insanity is far thinner than we imagine.

Nihon Eiga：Life in the Floating World

Some choose to change society through words. Some release pressure through acts of violence. Others exile themselves in sex. When values and beliefs collapse, what remains—ghosts or humans? In a world spiraling out of order, they descend into collective ecstasy and moral decay— yet also rise in fierce, unrelenting debate. They may be revolutionaries from Japan’s student movement era, a gay man reenacting the Oedipal tale of desire and patricide, or men and women consumed by the thrill of power and lust. But beneath these extremes of reason and emotion lies a common thread: a desperate, lucid critique of existence itself. Giloo presents six handpicked films from East Asia— each delving into a raw and radical human struggle on the edge of belief, where the urge to live collides with the desire to disappear.

Taboo of Love

The erotic classic The Lover boldly pushes the boundaries of sensual cinema. Freaks blends horror and surrealism into a provocative spectacle of visual violence and beauty. In In the Realm of the Senses, an unforgettable depiction of suffocating, all-consuming desire secures its place in film history. In Oasis, two marginalized individuals find a love purer than anything the world around them can understand. And in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Bowie share the screen—and a legendary, forbidden kiss. These films dare to confront desire, taboo, and tenderness—through shock, poetry, and unforgettable images.

死びとの恋わずらい Undying love

I’m drawn to those films where love is fearless and all-consuming—like an addiction I can’t escape… They believe in love, and love their beliefs. Every glance feels like it’s on fire.

All About Lust and Strange Tales. | Comic Artist Anpin's Picks

【 CCC Comic Channel × Giloo Documentary “Frames of Autumn: A New Sensory Stroll through Manga” Series 】 On the strange, the obsessive, and love that doesn't ask to be understood. Perhaps it's this kind of inexplicable, unreciprocated passion, desire, and hatred that gives birth to ghost stories. As for "Tropical Fish(1995)," speaking of Asakusa, you definitely come up with Misemonogoya (Freak Show)! 📖 "Fruits of Passion" pays homage to the short comic "○": https://www.creative-comic.tw/zh/book/380/content

Boni's Picks

"One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman." There is no such thing as a woman who is born confident and radiant — we all stumble, search, and grow into the body image and way of life that feel most like home, learning slowly how not to dislike ourselves so much. Documentary films quietly and honestly reflect women in their most unadorned states — ordinary, oppressed, loathed, awkward, or uninhibited — and all of these are part of who they are.