Film Review: The Great Buddha+

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The so-called poetry of poverty gets a particularly rare and beautiful workout in writer-director Huang Hsin-yao’s affecting, very funny “The Great Buddha+.” Read More

Film Review: Hong Kong Trilogy

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Loosely structured look at kids, activists and senior citizens in Hong Kong from famed cinematographer Christopher Doyle. Read More

Film Review: A Loner

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Director Xing Xiao’s "A Loner," a Shanghai Film Festival premiere in June, is a quiet stage upon which the remarkable veteran actress Zhu Xijuan’s powerful performance enumerates the challenges facing China’s rapidly aging population. Read More

Film Review: ‘King of Peking’

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This must-see gem of a comedy from sophomore writer and director Sam Voutas is about father and son projectionists who stick together through hard times in Beijing, making ends meet by pirating movies. Read More

Film Review: ‘Battle of Memories’ Puzzles but Isn’t Easily Forgotten

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Director Leste Chan's "Battle of Memories" is a Chinese puzzle of a sci-fi murder mystery about the human tendencies to try to control destiny and then escape the pain when things don’t turn out as planned. Read More

Film Review: ‘The Great Wall’ is The Best of Zhang, The Worst of Zhang

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  The Great Wall (2016), story by Max Brooks, Edward Zwick & Marshall Hershkovitz; screenplay by Carlo Bernard & Doug Miro, Tony Gilroy; directed by Zhang Yimou Distributed by Universal Pictures (cinemas here) Grade: B+ The first coproduction between China and the US directed by an A-list auteur from either country, Zhang Yimou’s The Great Read More

Film Review: ‘Demons Strike Back’ at the Audience in ‘Journey to the West 2’

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Slapstick subversiveness notwithstanding, "Journey to the West 2: The Demons Strike Back" still amounts to a Sinocentric power play that diminishes the appeal of the enterprise. Read More

Film Review: ‘The Wasted Times’ is Vulgar and Silly, but Exquisite

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Pretty people and prettier pictures are among the laudable assets in the pedigree and filigree of this gangster story set in Shanghai. Read More

Film Review: ‘Old Stone’ is Neorealist Noir

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"Old Stone" (Lao Shi/老石), the debut feature by Chinese-Canadian director Johnny Ma, makes a kind of hybrid neorealist noir, something akin to the rising, ultra-unreal (chaohuan) sensibility, through the story of a hapless taxi driver, the titular Lao Shi, whose desire to act morally is at every turn thwarted by an inhuman system. Read More