A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
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…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
Te Wei, “Feelings of Mountain and Water” (1988) Inspired by the traditional Chinese shanshui genre of landscape painting – “shanshui” means “mountain – water” – in…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
Jia Zhangke, “The World” (2004) In future years, this film, long and meandering though it is, may well be regarded as an early masterpiece in Jia…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
Wu Yonggang, “The Goddess / Shen nu” (1935) A year after this film was made, its star Ruan Lingyu took her life by overdosing on barbiturates,…
British Films, Chinese and Chinese-language Films
Ian Bremner, “Secret History (Season 14, Episode 4: The Great Wall of China – Hidden Story)” (2014) The famous Great Wall of China is rightly one…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
Zhang Yimou, “Hong gao liang / Red Sorghum” (1987) “Red Sorghum” marks the debut of Zhang Yimou as an important director in Chinese film and of…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films, Korean Films
Yoichi Shimatsu, “US Missile Base Upsets the Morning Calm (Lens.tv Report: THAAD Deployment in South Korea)” (2017) Structured as a news report rather than as a…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
Zhang Yimou, “Raise the Red Lantern” (1991) This is a beautiful film of minimal, even severe and classic simplicity, that lets the cruelty and jealous passions…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
Zhang Yimou, “Hero” (2002) If one needs proof that a visually gorgeous film with a good cast can ultimately be undone and wasted by a demoralising…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
Wong Kar Wai “2046” (2004) If ever a film could be considered typical “art house” with an emphasis on visual candy, music substituting for emotion and…