Blog Archives

The Founding of a Republic (Jain Guo da Ye) (2009)

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Posted on October 18, 2009 by Deni

There’s always a level of alienation involved with being a non-Asian watching Asian cinema. I don’t mean to say being Asian automatically endows one with an in-depth knowledge of several thousand years of one’s own history any more than being a White European means you can, say, speak in detail about the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain in the migration period of 500AD. It’s just a fact; there are always going to be things that a person from one culture has … (read more)

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K-20 (Kaijin niju menso den) (2008)

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Posted on August 23, 2009 by Deni

It was bound to happen; in fact, it actually hails from a fairly respectable lineage. Films like Jet Li’s The Black Mask, a whole swag of masked kamen riders and power rangers too numerous to name, as well as legendary thieves like Lupin and A.J. Raffles are definitely where K-20: Legend of the Mask draws some of its narrative quirks. But there’s a strong Western feel to the film too; the way it looks and plays out are a … (read more)

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Three Extremes 2 (2002)

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Posted on May 13, 2007 by Alan

Back in my wayward youth – not all that dissimilar to my wayward adulthood – I recall watching numerous horror anthology films on late night Saturday TV. Those were the days. Corkers like the original Tales from the Crypt with Peter Cushing and, um, Joan Collins, and Trilogy of Terror, the well known trio of films all starring Karen Black, one of which featured a particularly nasty African Zuni fetish doll that comes to life and wreaks merry havoc.… (read more)

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The Great Yokai War (2005)

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Posted on March 24, 2007 by Deni

There’s a little folklore everywhere you look, especially in Japan, and Takashi Miike, in his charming, slightly left of centre way, has perhaps never looked so closely nor with such relatively gentle nostalgia, at this traditional source of fear.

The Great Youkai War is of course a children’s film, so gentle is a more appropriate term to use than you might have expected from this director, although he does get in a few subtle hair raisers. Mainly, it’s a standard … (read more)

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Dumplings (2004)

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Posted on March 4, 2007 by Alison

Okay, everyone knows that the surprise is that there’s no surprise: the age-defying dumplings are filled with foetuses. Chan shoves that fact in our face right up front, with no coy pretence, so we know this is not a mystery with a horrifying secret to be revealed in the final scene. So, given that the whole plot is given away in the first few minutes, what keeps us watching?

Well, gentle readers, what keeps us watching is that Chan is … (read more)

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