A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Chinese and Chinese-language Films, Southeast Asian Films
Lan Hongchun, “Dear You” (2026) Made on a budget equivalent to US$2.06 million or nearly $3 million in Australian currency, with little marketing and promotion, and…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
“De-industrialization was Hong Kong’s Biggest Mistake” (Asianometry, 14 March 2022) Here is a very educational and succinct video explaining how Hong Kong rose to become a…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films, Multi-media Presentations
“Can the Chinese Communist Party Rule for Another 100 Years?” (Foreign Correspondents Club, Hong Kong, 29 June 2021) On the eve of the centenary of the…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
“The War in the Shadows: Challenges of Fighting Terrorism in Xinjiang” (China Global Television Network, 2021) Part of a series of documentaries produced by China Global…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films, Spanish Films
Alejandro Suarez Lozano, “The Fisherman” (2015) A cleverly made and succinct little SF horror film set in Hong Kong, “The Fisherman” combines a character study that…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
Teng Cheng, Li Wei, “Jiang Ziya: Legend of Deification” (2020) Inspired by the 16th-century Chinese novel by Xu Zhonglin, “The Investiture of the Gods”, itself based…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films, French and French-language Films
Ellis Ka-yin Chan, Tena van der Galovic, Zozo Jhen, Yen-chen Liu, Marine Varguy, “A Gong (Grandpa)” (2018) A tale of a small Taiwanese boy attending his…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films, North American Films
Lulu Wang, “The Farewell” (2019) As a character study of an individual torn between her parents’ Chinese culture and the Western culture she has grown up…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
Jiaozi, “Ne Zha” (2019) A loud, noisy and overblown blockbuster animation fantasy made to please most people, this film is loosely based on a legend about…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
Wang Liyin, “Forward, Comrades!” (2013) This animated Chinese short, made by a student at the Beijing Film Academy, focuses on the twilight days of the Soviet…