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A young director with high aspirations, we talk to Lu Chuan exclusively about his second film Kekexili: Mountain Patrol, set in the Tibetan Plateau… (more…)

Gong Li stars in this moving drama about a mother bringing up her deaf child alone… (more…)

A beautiful film by veteran filmmaker Im Kwon-taek with a fine performance by Oldboy’s Choi Min-sik, but suffers from covering far too long a period… (more…)

Yep, Asia’s biggest star has had another foot in mouth moment. Seemingly endorsing China’s strict censorship policy, Jackie Chan told an audience of business leaders at a high-profile conference that the ‘Chinese need to be controlled’. Unsurprisingly his comments have sparked anger, particularly in Hong Kong and Taiwan, where legislator Huang Wei-cher said: “He himself has enjoyed freedom and democracy and has reaped the economic benefits of capitalism. But he has yet to grasp the true meaning of freedom and democracy.”

Oh boy, here we go again…

Read the full story on the Guardian Online »

Nominated for an Oscar, Jet Li stars in director Zhang Yimou’s (Raise The Red Lantern, Not One Less) first foray into the swordplay genre, and it’s one of the most beautiful and offbeat yet… (more…)

A beautiful tale of romance and bitter betrayal, Zhang Yimou’s follow-up to Hero is even better… (more…)

They don’t come much slicker than this – Tony Leung and Andy Lau shine in this classy thriller… (more…)

Tsui Hark’s follow-up to the classic Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain is a spell blinding feast for the eyes. The special effects are equal anything Hollywood has to offer, but sadly it’s also just as hollow… (more…)

Chen Kaige’s The Promise finally crawls its way on to UK DVD and Blu-Ray, courtesy of Momentum Pictures. Originally released way back in December 2005 and reviewed by us shortly afterwards, it failed to spark any interest from UK distributors despite being given a limited release in the US, France, Germany, Greece, Russia – in fact just about everywhere else! Unsurprisingly Chen’s attempt to follow rival Zhang Yimou into wu xia territory met with mixed reactions. Indeed the core story itself holds a neat fable with beautifully baroque costume design (pre-empting Yimou’s Curse Of The Golden Flower), but relies perhaps a little too heavily on CGI to make it all happen.

Sadly, this is a ‘bonus feature lite’ DVD release, and worse still, it’s the edited US release, running some 20 minutes shorter. Mind you, guess better to have it than not at all (?)

Also out today, Afro Samurai: Resurrection on DVD from Manga Entertainment.

Melodramatic over acting, sworn vengeance for the death of loved ones, scruffy looking tramps who kick arse, superfluous bucktoothed comedy characters and subtitles that don’t make sense… maybe things haven’t changed that much after all! (more…)

Director Zhang Che on top form with a real gem of a film, but if you’re expecting the usual bloodthirsty, simplistic, macho approach, think again!… (more…)

Beautifully crafted, superbly told – surely this is one film that should always be in those ‘Top 100′ movie lists? If only people knew about it… (more…)

First Zhang Yimou made a film about the same subject as Chen Kaige had, now Kaige has followed Yimou by making a CGI led ‘wuxia pian’ movie – will these guys ever stop treading on each others toes?… (more…)

An introduction to the work of director Tsai Ming-liang, both beautiful and confrontational. We look at I Don’t Want To Sleep Alone, The Wayward Cloud and Goodbye Dragon Inn. Just don’t expect a lot of dialogue… (more…)

Director Sun Zhou’s second collaboration with Gong Li after Breaking The Silence, a drama about a aspiring poet, a ceramic artist and a vet is not unlike a love poem itself – beautiful, fleeting and sometimes a little flowery… (more…)