It's been so great to read the Labyrinth of Cinema reviews coming in from critics and causal movie-goers alike. The fact that Labyrinth is finding it's fans among North American audiences is inspiring to us at Crescendo House are will hopefully let us continue to bring underrepresented independent foreign film-making to theaters here and the introduce a wider audience to what these films have to offer. Dave White writes about the importance of the questions Nobuhiko Obayashi asks as well as the message he leaves for us.
"When will human beings be free to live their futures — not to mention their various present-tense existences — without the threat of destruction? That question, and its desire for earnest reply, arrives near the end of Nobuhiko Obayashi’s final film (before his death in 2020 at age 82), “Labyrinth of Cinema,” a thrilling, sprawling sensory overload that simultaneously enchants and overwhelms; it’s a fine summation of principle, one that guides every sight and sound that comes before.
A kaleidoscopic rebuke to the idea of passive moviegoing, “Labyrinth” spends the first 120 of its 180 minutes spinning out in all directions, frenetically placing and re-placing three young cinephiles into key moments in Japanese war-film history."
Read the full Review at The Wrap