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Ian Buruma

Ian Buruma's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at Tomatometer-approved publication(s).

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Silence (2016) 83% EDIT “The struggle to reconcile spirit with the flesh, to find deeper meaning in the lives of sinners, is a more powerful one. It inspired Endō to write a great novel, and Scorsese to make a great film.” – The New York Review of Books Mar 7, 2019 Full Review City of Life and Death (2009) 92% EDIT “City of Life and Death is not an analytical film...it is stronger on atmosphere and feeling.” – The New York Review of Books Nov 5, 2018 Full Review A Film Unfinished (2009) 98% EDIT “The impact of A Film Unfinished is surely sufficient proof that, even in our media-saturated age, filmed images can still move our feelings, if not necessarily create a better world.” – The New York Review of Books Nov 5, 2018 Full Review Tokyo Sonata (2008) 94% EDIT “Kurosawa's film tells us a great deal about contemporary Japan without being overtly political.” – The New York Review of Books Aug 29, 2018 Full Review Standard Operating Procedure (2008) 79% EDIT “Both Morris's film and the book based on it by Gourevitch are devastating, even without going into detail about the complicity, or indeed responsibility, of top officials in the Bush administration.” – The New York Review of Books Aug 29, 2018 Full Review EDIT “Highly stylized, it manages to combine theatricality with intimacy, which perfectly suits the tone of Döblin's narrative.” – The New York Review of Books Aug 23, 2018 Full Review Rescue Dawn (2007) 90% EDIT “Somehow his story, reenacted in the feature film, fails to catch fire in the way it does in the documentary. It looks oddly conventional, even flat.” – The New York Review of Books Aug 23, 2018 Full Review Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) 91% EDIT “You realize how very young many of these men were, and how ill-suited to be turned into killing machines.” – The New York Review of Books Aug 23, 2018 Full Review Flags of Our Fathers (2006) 76% EDIT “Eastwood does manage to provide a hint (and a hint is all that is feasible) of the way war affects an ordinary soldier: the terror, the cruelty, but also the moments of selflessness, even grace.” – The New York Review of Books Aug 23, 2018 Full Review Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown (1997) 92% EDIT “There is something missing in the film. It is flat.” – The New York Review of Books Aug 17, 2018 Full Review The Remains of the Day (1993) 96% EDIT “The movie looks splendid. Arcadian views and honeyed filters have been largely resisted. But the content, that is to say, the script, has problems.” – The New York Review of Books Aug 14, 2018 Full Review The Home and the World (1984) 100% EDIT “A masterpiece compared to most movies in India, or anywhere else...” – The New York Review of Books Aug 13, 2018 Full Review Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) 79% EDIT “If one cannot seriously address the sexuality of a man who was so obviously obsessed and driven by sex, then why bother making a film of his life at all?” – The New York Review of Books Jun 18, 2018 Full Review Like Someone in Love (2012) 83% EDIT “Tokyo, the ultimate modern metropolis, with its neon-lit commercial graffiti and buildings that look like a pastiche of everywhere and nowhere, is perfect for Kiarostami's story of closeness between strangers.” – The New York Review of Books Aug 21, 2017 Full Review Beyond the Hills (2012) 91% EDIT “In lesser hands than Mungiu's, the film might have become a simple indictment of religious orthodoxy. . . The story told by [Director Cristian] Mungiu, one of the best contemporary directors in Europe, is more complicated, and interesting.” – The New York Review of Books Aug 21, 2017 Full Review Diplomacy (2014) 94% EDIT “The best way to look at his film is as a love story about Paris. One can differ about the interpretation of events presented in the movie. It is hard to disagree about the worthiness of his love.” – The New York Review of Books Aug 21, 2017 Full Review Mountains May Depart (2015) 89% EDIT “[Director Jia Zhangke] has an instinctive feel for China's shifting rural and urban landscape. . . He is superb at catching the changing moods of his country in poetic, frequently wordless, and often absurd images.” – The New York Review of Books Aug 21, 2017 Full Review Denial (2016) 82% EDIT “The weakness of the film lies in the two protagonists, despite some brilliant acting.” – The New York Review of Books Aug 21, 2017 Full Review
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