Queer Japan

Featuring a wide array of interviews from kinksters, club owners, drag artists, and politicians -- Graham Kolbeins paints an electric and multifaceted portrait of queer culture in contemporary Japan.

There's a lot to see and to think about here, all well-curated by a documentarian with a clear passion for his subject.

Weaving something like 100 interviews into the narrative, director Graham Kolbeins paints with broad strokes, revealing a portrait of identity, labels and culture that's pretty dang enthralling.

Something of a freewheeling, kaleidoscopic delight, albeit one that is always aware of the struggles its subjects have endured.

The movie is a plea not simply for respect but for a recognition of the existential reality of each of our identities.

An engagingly colorful panorama.

But Kolbeins makes it all fit effortlessly and sensibly, finding space for all the voices in a way that lets the film work as a discussion rather than a lecture. A remarkable documentary.

Looking to expose lives often lived in the shadows, and it does so with feeling, giving the subjects time to share their histories, with Kolbeins capturing distinctly human experiences from refreshing perspectives.

...smashes through some glass ceilings with its celebration of fringe queer culture; digging deep to offer insight into societal attitudes and politics.

Broad and eye-opening visual and interview-based tour of LGBTQ people and issues across Japan. Covers a wide range beautifully and respectfully, but perhaps with insufficient depth or scrutiny.