X

2021
Lightdox
1 h 40 m

2021
Lightdox
1 h 40 m

The Witches of the Orient

Summary How does a Japanese women’s volleyball team from the late 1950s become an international sensation, feminist role models, the subject of a wildly popular comic book, and a still-influential anime? This stranger-than-fiction story is dynamically told by Julien Faraut (John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection), with an ironic twist on the o...

Written By: Julien Faraut

2021
Lightdox
1 h 40 m

2021
Lightdox
1 h 40 m

The Witches of the Orient

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 6 Critic Reviews

74

User Score Available after 4 ratings

tbd

My Score

Hover and click to give a rating Saved

Summary How does a Japanese women’s volleyball team from the late 1950s become an international sensation, feminist role models, the subject of a wildly popular comic book, and a still-influential anime? This stranger-than-fiction story is dynamically told by Julien Faraut (John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection), with an ironic twist on the o...

Written By: Julien Faraut

Top Cast

Kinuko Tanida

Self - Japanese Volleyball Player

Yoshiko Matsumura

Self - Japanese Volleyball Player

Yoko Shinozaki

Self - Japanese Volleyball Player

Katsumi Matsumura

Self - Japanese Volleyball Player

Yuriko Handa

Self - Japanese Volleyball Player

Hirofumi Daimatsu

Self - Japanese Volleyball Coach

Yuko Fujimoto

Self - Japanese Volleyball Player

Anton Geesink

Self - Olympic judo champion

Sata Isobe

Self - Japanese Volleyball Player

Lyndon B. Johnson

Self - US president

Akio Kaminaga

Self - Olympic judo finalist

Masae Kasai

Self - Japanese Volleyball Player

Maseko Kondo

Self - Japanese Volleyball Player

Emiko Miyamoto

Self - Japanese Volleyball Player

Yoshinori Sakai

Self - Olympic cauldron lighter

Setsuko Sasaki

Self - Japanese Volleyball Player

Ayano Shibuki

Self - Japanese Volleyball Player

View All Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews

Metascore

Generally Favorable Based on 6 Critic Reviews

83% Positive
5 Reviews

17% Mixed
1 Review

0% Negative
0 Reviews

All Reviews
Positive Reviews
Mixed Reviews
Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

Metascore

Generally Favorable Based on 6 Critic Reviews

83% Positive
5 Reviews

17% Mixed
1 Review

0% Negative
0 Reviews

All Reviews
Positive Reviews
Mixed Reviews
Negative Reviews

Los Angeles Times

Jul 15, 2021

Fusing exquisitely shot color 16mm footage from 1964 of the team’s training sessions, drone-like music and splices of animation, we get a delirious sense of what these committed women endured six out of seven days a week.

By Robert Abele FULL REVIEW

Jul 13, 2021

By pairing real-life events with their animated interpretations, the film not only offers a fresh approach to documentary style but also draws out the tension between reality and artifice, private and public memory.

By Phuong Le FULL REVIEW

The New York Times

Jul 8, 2021

If the team was derided by their prejudiced (and defeated) foes in the moment of their success, this documentary elegantly restores the glow of legend, saving the champions the trouble of having to explain their heroism in words.

By Teo Bugbee FULL REVIEW

Austin Chronicle

Jul 14, 2021

As he did with his previous doc, 2018’s John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection, Faraut finds and obsesses over the rhythm of bodies in motion, using repetition and cross-cuts of the team’s training footage and gameplay with anime sequences and textile manufacturing. These collisions, set to music from Portishead and Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle, are the heart of Witches, hypnotic patterns of serene velocity.

By Josh Kupecki FULL REVIEW

Jul 6, 2021

The film’s fanciful archival montages shrewdly demonstrate the ways in which memory and art seamlessly combine to document reality.

By Mark Hanson FULL REVIEW

Jul 8, 2021

For all the film’s playful artistry, the effect is more scattershot.

By Jessica Kiang FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

Details

Production Company UFO Production, Institut National du Sport, de l'Expertise et de la Performance (INSEP), Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC), La Région Île-de-France

Release Date Jul 9, 2021

Duration 1 h 40 m

Genres

Website https://toyonomajo.com/

View All Details

Awards

Nippon Connection Japanese Film Festival

• 1 Nomination

IndieLisboa International Independent Film Festival

• 1 Nomination

Related Movies

Hoop Dreams

Universal Acclaim

Man with a Movie Camera

Universal Acclaim

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Universal Acclaim

I Am Not Your Negro

Universal Acclaim

Woodstock

Universal Acclaim

Collective

Universal Acclaim

Amazing Grace

Universal Acclaim

Stop Making Sense

Universal Acclaim

We Were Here

Universal Acclaim

Faces Places

Universal Acclaim

David Byrne’s American Utopia

Universal Acclaim

Shoah: Four Sisters

Universal Acclaim

Our Body

Universal Acclaim

Sherpa

Universal Acclaim

The Decline of Western Civilization

Universal Acclaim

Brother's Keeper

Universal Acclaim

Crumb

Universal Acclaim

One More Time with Feeling

Universal Acclaim

Sugarcane

Universal Acclaim

The Act of Killing

Universal Acclaim

De Humani Corporis Fabrica

Universal Acclaim

Menus Plaisirs - Les Troisgros

Universal Acclaim

Related News

DVD/Blu-ray Releases: New & Upcoming

DVD/Blu-ray Releases: New & Upcoming

Jason Dietz

Find a list of new movie and TV releases on DVD and Blu-ray (updated weekly) as well as a calendar of upcoming releases on home video.

2024 Movie Release Calendar

2024 Movie Release Calendar

Jason Dietz

Find a schedule of release dates for every movie coming to theaters, VOD, and streaming throughout 2024 and beyond, updated weekly.

May 2024 Movie Preview

May 2024 Movie Preview

Keith Kimbell

Get a look at the most notable movies debuting in May, including a Mad Max prequel, a Planet of the Apes sequel, and a promising Ryan Gosling-led action-comedy.

Every Zack Snyder Movie, Ranked

Every Zack Snyder Movie, Ranked

Nick Hyman

With the arrival of Zack Snyder's latest Rebel Moon chapter on Netflix, we rank every one of the director's films—from bad to, well, less bad—by Metascore.

Every Guy Ritchie Movie, Ranked

Every Guy Ritchie Movie, Ranked

Nick Hyman

We rank every one of the British director's movies by Metascore, from his debut Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels to his brand new film, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.