The Tokyo International Film Festival tries to accommodate the many critics, journalists and other freeloaders who want to see and report on its films, while squeezing as many paying customers into its screenings as possible. So folks in the former group are encouraged to attend special media-only screenings prior to and during the fest. (Otherwise, they have to compete for the few tickets set aside for the regular screenings.)

This takes some of the festivity out of the festival for this reviewer, since media types at screenings are usually as animated as coroners at an autopsy. On the other hand, their reactions, some of which will show up in a review or result in a foreign festival invitation, indicate how the critical winds are blowing.

This year, as in many years past, that read on the Japanese films at TIFF was more snarky than celebratory, especially for the films in the Special Screening section. These are mostly commercial releases that will open in the fall and winter months after the fest ends, such as "SP: The Motion Picture 1," the first of a two-parter based on Fuji TV's popular action series about security cops.