A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Reviews of films from Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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…
North American Films, Southeast Asian Films
Carlton Meyer, “The American Military Retreat from Vietnam” (Tales of the American Empire, 19 June 2020) This video serves mainly as a retelling of the significant…
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, “Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives” (2010) The last days of a farmer dying from kidney disease on his farm in a…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films, Southeast Asian Films
Tan Ce Ding, “The Masseuse” (2018) An intriguing film set in a not-too distant dystopian future in Kuala Lumpur, “The Masseuse” poses questions about the nature…
Pongsa Kornsri, Gun Phansuwon, Nat Yoswatananont, “The Legend of Muay Thai: 9 Satra” (2018) Not known for its animation industry, Thailand nevertheless seems to be pinning…
North American Films, Southeast Asian Films
Phillip Noyce, “The Quiet American” (2002) A beautifully made film with much atmosphere, even if it is slow and unassuming in style, and its acting uneven,…
NewsAsia “Conversation with …” Interview with Sergei Lavrov (2015) For an example of an interviewee displaying grace under fire from a biased interviewer, I direct interested…
Northern European Films, Southeast Asian Films
Joshua Oppenheimer, “The Look of Silence” (2014) A companion piece to Oppenheimer’s earlier documentary “The Act of Killing”, this film considers the effects of Indonesia’s purges…
Australian and New Zealand Films, Southeast Asian Films
Bety Reis and Luigi Acquisto, “A Guerra da Beatriz / Beatriz’s War” (2013) A major first in the post-independence culture of Timor-Leste, “Beatriz’s War” is a…
Northern European Films, Southeast Asian Films
Joshua Oppenheimer, “The Act of Killing” (2012) A chilling film, made all the more so by moments of black humour, kitsch and banality, “The Act of…