Jen Yamato
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jenyamato.bsky.social
Jen Yamato
@jenyamato.bsky.social
3.5K followers 330 following 72 posts
journalist | film critic
movies, karaoke, repeat
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Jen Yamato
therebeccasun.bsky.social
Extremely honored to be invited on @vox.com's excellent Today, Explained podcast to discuss some of the ideas on my Substack post about #KPopDemonHunters. Vox's explanatory journalism has been a major inspiration for my newsletter, so this meant a lot to me.

open.spotify.com/episode/62wW...
KPop Demon Hunters keeps slaying
open.spotify.com
October 5, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Reposted by Jen Yamato
meikokaji.net
Day 1 of Meiko Kaji (梶芽衣子) at Beyond Fest was insane.

I recorded the entire Q&A with her and Jen Yamato and put it on YouTube for you.

youtu.be/rVFcM-O-Ua0

Apologies for the quality, I have an older phone and my seat was near the back.

I've got more, but it'll have to wait.
Meiko Kaji, center stage. Jen Yamato to her right and her interpreter to her left.
October 3, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Jen Yamato
latimes.com
Jenny Han on 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' series finale and why Belly had to go to Paris
Jenny Han on 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' series finale and why Belly had to go to Paris
The author, producer and showrunner knows fans are restless about how her hit Prime Video series might end, but she says she "loves surprising people."
www.latimes.com
September 15, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Reposted by Jen Yamato
screendrafts.bsky.social
The Varsity Squad is back at the Draft Table, and this time they're in the 21st Century!

'00s SPORTS mini-MEGA

Drafted by @lindaholmes.bsky.social, @jenyamato.bsky.social, @thefienprint.bsky.social, & @sepinwall.bsky.social

Listen everywhere!
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
Screenshot from Blue Crush with Michelle Rodriguez, Kate Bosworth, and another blonde actress.
August 12, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Jen Yamato
screendrafts.bsky.social
ICYMI

One of podcasting's great traditions continued, as @sepinwall.bsky.social, @thefienprint.bsky.social, @lindaholmes.bsky.social, & @jenyamato.bsky.social joined the Draft Table to competitively / collaboratively rank the 13 best SPORTS films from the 2000s!

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
Screenshot from the Zoom recording. Everyone is having a blast!
August 18, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Reposted by Jen Yamato
screendrafts.bsky.social
And coming August...

2000s SPORTS mini-MEGA with @sepinwall.bsky.social, @thefienprint.bsky.social, @lindaholmes.bsky.social, & @jenyamato.bsky.social
two men are talking in front of a crowd and one of them says that 's a bold strategy
ALT: two men are talking in front of a crowd and one of them says that 's a bold strategy
media.tenor.com
June 20, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Jen Yamato
dinoray.bsky.social
Watched OVERCOMPENSATING and had an unexpected existential crisis. Read about how Benny’s own journey is such a familiar story for any queer person going to college — no matter what generation you’re in. Read via new issue of the DIASPORA newsletter! thisisdiaspora.substack.com/p/overcompen...
May 23, 2025 at 6:06 PM
jenyamato.bsky.social
Fantastic #BleakWeek selection 👏
lulamaybelle.bsky.social Courtney Howard @lulamaybelle.bsky.social · Jun 3
#TheLastAmericanVirgin: A bleak sex comedy where a new girl in town must chose between 2 bad matches: a handsome player OR a sadsack wuss. Diane Franklin is magnetic, embodying teen girl realness to perfection. Banger soundtrack, tho not all needle drops work (“Oh No”) #BleakWeek
June 3, 2025 at 6:04 PM
jenyamato.bsky.social
Disney’s latest live-action remake recycles several of the same gags, camera shots & needle drops from 2002’s animated LILO & STITCH without adding enough new to the mix. Newcomer Maia Kealoha is the biggest reason to give this far less nuanced rework a spin: www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Review | ‘Lilo & Stitch’: An adorable alien remake with no new tricks
Newcomer Maia Kealoha shines in Disney’s now-familiar tale of a Hawaiian girl and her extraterrestrial “dog.”
www.washingtonpost.com
May 23, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Reposted by Jen Yamato
riodylan.bsky.social
Such a brilliant conceit at the heart of this film. I too am still mulling over the heady brew of fucking, despair, paranoia and growing old. #Cronenberg #TheShrouds #filmsky
jenyamato.bsky.social Jen Yamato @jenyamato.bsky.social · May 7
Death and how we live with loss is such a personal, nebulous, tricky thing. Cronenberg’s The Shrouds manages to be at once haunting and erotic, a morbidly funny meditation on grief that burrows deep and stays there. Still thinking about it weeks later.

www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Review | Got grief? David Cronenberg has an app for that in ‘The Shrouds.’
Vincent Cassel stars as a grieving tech magnate uncovering a conspiracy in the filmmaker’s latest creepy thriller.
www.washingtonpost.com
May 7, 2025 at 10:16 PM
jenyamato.bsky.social
Death and how we live with loss is such a personal, nebulous, tricky thing. Cronenberg’s The Shrouds manages to be at once haunting and erotic, a morbidly funny meditation on grief that burrows deep and stays there. Still thinking about it weeks later.

www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Review | Got grief? David Cronenberg has an app for that in ‘The Shrouds.’
Vincent Cassel stars as a grieving tech magnate uncovering a conspiracy in the filmmaker’s latest creepy thriller.
www.washingtonpost.com
May 7, 2025 at 9:56 PM
jenyamato.bsky.social
She’s sold millions of books, amassed 1M TikTok followers, and is about to release her 14th novel #KingofEnvy, all just 5 years after making her publishing debut. Still, bestselling romance author Ana Huang tells me: “If my mother ever read one of my spicy scenes, I don’t think I’d ever recover” 🌶️🧨📚
How BookTok sensation Ana Huang brings the spice
Ahead of the release of her 15th novel, “King of Envy,” the author looks back at a whirlwind five years.
www.washingtonpost.com
April 26, 2025 at 7:49 PM
jenyamato.bsky.social
What in the cursed camcorder just showed up at my door (and should I hit play)? #BringHerBack #A24
April 25, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Reposted by Jen Yamato
davidho.bsky.social
“Facing pressure to scrub its website of diversity and inclusion references, a Japanese American National Museum leader says the museum will ‘scrub nothing.’” 🔥
Japanese American National Museum takes a stand against DOGE cuts to NEH
The National Endowment for the Humanities warned museums across the country that it was slashing funding, including money previously pledged to places such as LACMA and the Japanese American National ...
www.latimes.com
April 6, 2025 at 4:18 AM
Reposted by Jen Yamato
georgetakei.bsky.social
A reminder that if the government can send migrants to a prison camp without any due process, it can send U.S. citizens there, too. I know because this happened to me and my family in 1942.
April 7, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Reposted by Jen Yamato
scottrenshaw.bsky.social
All-in for the Bernthalaissance
April 11, 2025 at 8:18 PM
jenyamato.bsky.social
Rami Malek is a STEM vigilante Bourne out for justice in The Amateur, the latest in a current run of “men at work” action yarns. By-the-numbers with a few fun surprises, but between this and The Accountant 2, at least, we get 2x the Jon Bernthal this month www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Review | Rami Malek steps out in techno spy thriller ‘The Amateur’
A CIA analyst goes rogue for revenge in a by-the-numbers action film.
www.washingtonpost.com
April 11, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Reposted by Jen Yamato
lafilmcritics.bsky.social
We join our colleagues in @nsfc.bsky.social, @nyfcc.bsky.social and @bsfc.bsky.social in condemning the attack on NO OTHER LAND co-director Hamdan Ballal.
U.S. FILM CRITICS’ GROUPS 
CONDEMN VIOLENCE AGAINST HAMDAN BALLAL We, the members of the National Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the Boston Society of Film Critics, express our support for the Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal and condemn, in the strongest terms, the brutal and unlawful attack he suffered this week at the hands of Israeli settlers, as well as his detainment by Israeli authorities. We are gravely concerned for Mr. Ballal’s health and safety, as well as the safety of his loved ones, and, now that he has been released, extend our hopes for his full recovery from his injuries. Mr. Ballal was assaulted near his home in Khirbet Susya, a village in the Masafer Yatta region of the occupied West Bank. Attacks on the residents of Masafer Yatta are nothing new, as we have seen from “No Other Land,” the Academy Award-winning documentary that Mr. Ballal co-directed with Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor. As critics representing four of the numerous organizations that honored “No Other Land” as the best documentary of 2024, we are infuriated that a filmmaker’s brave and principled advocacy has made him even more of a target in a community where Palestinians already exist under continual threat of displacement and violence. One of the most powerful aspects of “No Other Land” — and the reason so many have tried, in vain, to limit its reach and silence its message — is that it is itself a rare feat of collaboration between Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and artists, united by their belief in dignity and equality for all. By the very nature of its form and creation, the film represents, and dares to imagine, a more peaceful future. We applaud Mr. Ballal and his colleagues for the courage and artistry with which they have advanced that vision and affirm that it will never be forgotten.
March 27, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Reposted by Jen Yamato
karajwarner.bsky.social
Finally (finally!!) watching this terrific show and NONE of y'all told me Gambit is just hanging out in crop tops all the time?! Wtf is up w/ my algorithm and also how dare @jowrotethis.bsky.social @jenyamato.bsky.social @marcbernardin.bsky.social @germainlussier.bsky.social not tell me about it
March 26, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Reposted by Jen Yamato
crobertcargill.bsky.social
Great film writing is essential for film lovers to better understand the films they love so much. And great film writing should be well compensated. You can't have a stable of brilliant minds on gig-economy salaries. You can exploit talent only so long before it leaves.

Pay. The. Writers.
March 20, 2025 at 6:34 PM
jenyamato.bsky.social
Belated SXSW appreciation post! It was an honor to join @aishaharris.bsky.social & @timgrierson.bsky.social on the 2025 Documentary Feature jury, awarding our jury prize to Benjamin Flaherty’s SHUFFLE and special jury awards to THE PYTHON HUNT & REMAINING NATIVE. Great films, fascinating subjects.
A still from Benjamin Flaherty’s “Shuffle,” winner of the 2025 SXSW Documentary Feature Jury Prize SXSW 2025 Documentary Feature Jury Prize awarded to “Shuffle” A snake hunter on the hunt in Xander Robin’s SXSW 2025 special jury award winning documentary “The Python Hunt” Kutoven Stevens runs in Paige Bethmann’s special jury award-winning SXSW 2025 documentary “Remaining Native”
March 18, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Reposted by Jen Yamato
timgrierson.bsky.social
Part 2: Our winners have now been announced. It was a very fun deliberation discussing some very good documentaries.
2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival Awards Winners
Announcing the 2025 Jury and Special Award winners of the 32nd SXSW Film & TV Festival.
www.sxsw.com
March 13, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Jen Yamato
nathancone.bsky.social
A nice SXSW story from 10 years ago today. I was wandering by the “Bates Motel” pop-up and spotted @jenyamato.bsky.social, whom I only knew of from Twitter. “Hey, are you Jen Yamato?” I asked. “Yes,” she replied, and asked who I was. I introduced myself, that I was up from San Antonio. 1/
March 15, 2025 at 3:12 PM
jenyamato.bsky.social
Very sad to hear of David Ehrenstein’s passing. He was always a delight to chat with, and erudite indeed.
lafilmcritics.bsky.social Los Angeles Film Critics Association @lafilmcritics.bsky.social · Mar 12
RIP our brilliant colleague David Ehrenstein, the most erudite and impassioned of critics, who enlarged our understanding of cinema, especially LGBTQ and avant-garde cinema, in the pages of Film Comment, Film Quarterly, the Village Voice, The Advocate and countless others. He will be deeply missed.
March 13, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Reposted by Jen Yamato
aishaharris.bsky.social
Yessss it was such a pleasure watching some really interesting docs and serving with Tim and Jen on the Documentary Feature jury.

Catch me on the ground this weekend at my first SXSW in quite some time!
March 5, 2025 at 3:45 PM