Takehinko Shinjo has, over the course of his directorial career, acquired the title “master of romance movies.” Here, in his beautifully composed fifth feature film, Beyond The Memories, the romance is constantly shadowed by tragedy and feelings of regret. Adapted from a manga comic that has sold over 2.95 million copies, Beyond The Memories starts […] Read more »
Probably Wong Kar Wai’s best film and certainly his most visually accomplished, this is a delicate, ornate study of social mores, forbidden love and loyalty in the face of infidelity. Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung are immaculate and stunning as they loiter around each other’s apartments, share clandestine meetings in the back alleys of 1960s […] Read more »
I can probably count the number of Vietnamese films I’ve seen on one hand, but this 3D martial arts romance had proved a huge success at the domestic box office earlier in the year that had warranted it a limited release in North America. As a result I was given the opportunity to review it. […] Read more »
I almost let this one pass me by, put off by the daunting 160 minute runtime, but my efforts were handsomely rewarded as Okita Shuichi’s adaptation of Yoshida Shuichi’s popular novel is fantastic. Told as a series of reminiscences from those who knew him during their college years together, we learn of the eccentric, and […] Read more »
The director of Shutter and Alone breaks all the box office records in Thailand with his latest, a vivacious and humorous retelling of one of the country's most famous ghost stories. Read more »
Baz Luhrmann takes an enthusiastic swing at F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic of American literature, and while he never holds back on his trademark aesthetic of excess – even going so far as to shoot the film in 3D – the performances, and DiCaprio in particular as the titular antihero, together with the quality of the […] Read more »
Nothing to do with Bong Joon-ho’s Korean monster movie, this is the big screen adaptation of Stephenie “Twilight” Meyer’s sci-fi novel, which reimagines Invasion of the Body Snatchers for her regular demographic of lovelorn, hormonally-charged teenage girls. Saoirse Ronan stars as Melanie Stryder, whose body has recently become inhabited by an alien – one of […] Read more »
I have been a big fan of director Ben Wheatley since his debut, Down Terrace, and for my money he is getting better and better with each film he makes. I understand that Kill List has a strong and loyal following, but that chilling, claustrophobic experience – as successfully rendered as it is – doesn’t […] Read more »
Very much cut from the same cloth as the Step Up series, Adam Wong’s Hong Kong dance comedy sees plucky young wannabe Fleur (Cherry Ngan in what will surely prove a career-making role) join a university street dance gang. Not only does this pit her against the finest dancers in the city, but promises love, […] Read more »
Taiwanese director Arvin Chen follows up his hugely entertaining debut, Au Revoir Taipei, with a perhaps even better second effort. Richie Jen is excellent as an unassuming family man who is challenged to readdress his sexuality after a chance run-in with an old, gay friend. Find my full review here Read more »
Much derided at the time of its original release, Roberto Rossellini’s 1950 drama has been restored by Martin Scorsese’s film preservation initiative and is ripe for reassessment. I had never seen the film before, but it does appear that the reason the film failed on initial release was in large part due to the public’s […] Read more »
Going into this Okinawa World Premiere completely blind I could not have been more surprised by the film I saw. I had somehow failed to notice that Kaneto Shusuke’s film was adapted from an award-winning piece of “R-18″ rated literature, meaning that this was essentially going to be porn. The film tells of the fledgling […] Read more »
From the director of Gantz comes the big screen live action adaptation of the popular novels. In a Bradbury/Orwell future where books are burned as subversive, a young woman joins the Library Team Defense Force to protect literature and hopefully track down her dream man. I’d have loved this to have focused more on the […] Read more »
As a big fan of Jacques Audiard and his films (A Prophet, The Beat That My Heart Skipped), as well as stars Marion Cotillard (Inception, La Vie en Rose) and Matthias Schoenaerts (Bullhead), I was primed to really enjoy this engaging drama, particularly off the back of almost uniformly positive buzz following its debut at […] Read more »
I am in serious danger of over-hyping Bryan Singer’s Jack The Giant Slayer, for the simple reason that I thought it was going to be rubbish, and it really isn’t. Played dead straight, without a whiff of post-modern irony that seems compulsory these days, the film takes some of the core elements from the classic […] Read more »
The last film in my Park Chan-wook retrospective is his utterly bonkers vampire film from 2009. Song Kang-ho plays Sang-hyun, a Catholic priest who volunteers to help find a cure for a horrific virus, only to contract it himself. After receiving a life-saving blood transfusion, Sang-hyun develops an unhealthy craving for human blood, sensitivty to […] Read more »
Following the international success of his “Vengeance Trilogy”, Park Chan-wook shifts gears completely with this good natured, day-glo coloured romantic comedy set in a mental institute. Lim Su-jeong plays a troubled young woman who is committed following a suicide attempt. She believes she is a cyborg and refuses to eat, which only makes her condition […] Read more »
I finally caught up with Wong Kar Wai’s much-lauded 1997 film, starring Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu Wai as tempestuous lovers living in Buenos Aires. To find out what I thought about it, you’ll have to read my February submission in Twitch’s Full Disclosure series, which will be appearing on the site this Sunday. Read more »
Screening as part of the Film Archive’s 100 Must-See Hong Kong Movies, this is a delightful romantic comedy from 1987, starring Chow Yun Fat and Cherie Chung, and filmed in New York City. Innocent young stuent Jennifer (Chung) moves to NYC to study and be close to her boyfriend, staying with a distant relative she’s […] Read more »
This Valentine’s Day I picked a notoriously slushy romance for the girlfriend and I to watch, one that neither of us had seen but I had a copy of lying around the house. This tale of forbidden love separated by class and parental aspiration stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams and pulls no punches along […] Read more »