December 16, 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 […]
December 5, 2010
The Housemaid (Ki-young Kim, 1960) is one of the oldest films known to have survived South Korea’s evolution from Third-World country to G20 powerhouse. The print shown at Fantasia this year was restored by Martin Scorsese’s World film Restoration Foundation in tandem with the South Korean government and follows The Housemaid (Sang-soo Im, 2010) remake’s stellar performance this year at […]
April 20, 2010
Fur, from director Steven Shainberg, is a deeper exploration of sexually non-normative behaviour and longing for companionship.
November 6, 2013
Ip Man: The Final Fight is centred around an ensemble cast of characters including Ip Man’s first students, so we get to see the evolution of Hong Kong in this period through their eyes.
June 3, 2011
“Most critics really don’t get it.”, as they say. I feel compelled to respond to the casual filmgoers who don't understand the critic’s perspective.