June 29, 2010

20th Century Boys Trilogy (Yukihiko Tsutsumi, 2008-2009)

WHAT IT IS: Kenji, a failed musician turned convenience store clerk, notices about a terrible (but familiar) virus outbreak in Africa. When a popular doomsday cult surfaces branding the symbol Kenji conceived as a child with his friends, world events take on new meaning. Someone is using the Book of Prophesies Kenji wrote years ago as a blueprint for the […]
November 26, 2010

Sell Out! (Joon Han Yeo, 2008)

The only showing of the Singapore film, Sell Out, is, oddly enough, sold out. It’s my first Singaporean film, a musical sporting a peculiar premise, so I’m excited about it. A young Singaporean engineer, working for a multinational conglomerate, designs a terrific new product (a tofu processor) but discovers that his invention (and any kind of innovation) isn’t welcomed at […]
December 16, 2013

The Lady Assassin (Quang Dung Nguyen, 2013)

The Lady Assassin, a martial arts blockbuster, is my first Vietnamese film. A light Sunday night screening at this year’s Fantasia Festival, it was attended by a notable number of people from Montreal’s Vietnamese community. Billed as a Vietnamese wu xia, in the film, a princess sold in marriage is taken in by a team of high-flying, ass—kicking, thieving assassins […]
March 28, 2013

Sunny (Hyeong-Cheol Kang, 2011)

Sunny is at once a coming-of-age film, with detective elements, feminine-pop aesthetics, fleshed-out characters and intricate narrative elements.
April 20, 2010

Fur: An Imaginary Portrait Of Diane Arbus (Steven Shainberg, 2006)

Fur, from director Steven Shainberg, is a deeper exploration of sexually non-normative behaviour and longing for companionship.