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The latest from Kim Ji-woon (A Tale of Two Sisters, The Quiet Family), a slick tale of that revenge resounds with amazing style and wit, but ultimately do we really care?… (more…)

It’s no accident this has been causing such a stir! Intelligent with a fantastic premise, surely this one of the finest Hong Kong films of the last decade… (more…)

This year at Cannes sees the real heavy hitters come out to play, as the world’s greatest auteur directors gather to compete for the coverted Palme d’Or. As well as the latest films from Pedro Almodóvar, Ken Loach, Quentin Tarantino, Francis Ford Coppola, Jane Campion, Lars von Trier, Michael Haneke, and Terry Gilliam, there’s a strong Asian presence. Highlights include Park Chan-wook’s new vampire flick Thirst; Lou Ye’s Tiananmen Square-themed Summer Palace, which has incensed authorities to the point of them slapping a five-year ban on him; Tsai Ming-Liang’s film within a film Face; Johnnie To’s Vengeance; and Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock. Other films screening include Kore-eda Hirokaz’s Air Doll; the latest from The Host and Memories Of Murder director Bong Joon-Ho, Mother; and Petiton by Zhao Liang.

See the Guardian’s gallery guide to directors vying for the Palme d’Or »

Johnnie To and Wong Ka-fai’s Mad Detective, starring Lau Ching Wan, is on a limited theatrical release around the UK from 18 July, beginning at the ICA, London.

Triangle, featuring the combined directing talents of Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam and Johnny To, is released Manga Entertainment at selected cinemas on 29 August.

Johnnie To and Wong Ka-Fai’s latest collaboration Mad Detective is released on DVD and Blu Ray by Eureka on 3 November.

Read our review of Mad Detective here »

Three undisputed masters of contemporary Hong Kong cinema – Tsui Hark (Seven Swords; Zu Warriors; Once Upon A Time In China), Ringo Lam (Full Contact; City On Fire) and Johnny To (Mad Detective; PTU) – join forces for the first time ever to apply their directorial skills ‘exquisite corpse’ style to Triangle, an “inventive, and darkly comic” (Mail on Sunday) crime thriller starring Louis Koo (Flashpoint), Simon Yam (SPL; Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life), Honglei Sun (Mongol; Seven Swords), Lam Ka Tung (Mad Detective; Infernal Affairs) and Kelly Lin (Mad Detective; Zu Warriors).

Read our review of Triangle here »

Johnnie To’s triad epic may not offer anything new to the gangster genre, but his ensemble cast are a delight to watch… (more…)

It’s time for another Election, but can there really be any winners in Johnnie To’s vision of Hong Kong turbulent and violent underworld?… (more…)

Another rather convincing slice of the Hong Kong triad gang world from Election director Johnnie To – with an ensemble cast to die for!… (more…)

The UK’s premier annual Asian film festival, the Terracotta Far East Festival, will be held over four days this year at London’s Prince Charles Cinema from Thursday 21st May to Sunday 24th May. Presented by Terracotta Entertainment Group, the festival will feature 13 handpicked films representing the very best of contemporary Far East cinema, including titles from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea.

Opening the festival is Eye For An Eye, the eagerly awaited crime-thriller from directors Ahn Kwon-tae (My Brother) and Kwak Kyung-taek (Typhoon). Starring Han Suk-kyu (A Bloody Aria; The President’s Last Bang) and Cha Seung-won (Small Town Rivals; Ghost House), this Heat-style thriller concerns a soon-to-retire police detective who is drawn into an elaborate plot of robbery and revenge when he begins to investigate a heist during which one of the perpetrators impersonated him in order to pull off the crime.

Among the festival’s many highlights are: The Detective, the latest mystery-thriller from co-writer and director Oxide Pang Chun (Bangkok Dangerous; The Messengers; The Eye trilogy; The Tesseract); director Johnnie To’s (Mad Detective; Triangle; PTU) Sparrow, starring Simon Yam and Kelly Lin; the Malaysian horror-comedy, Zombies From Banana Village; and the martial arts action-thriller Legendary Assassin, which marks the co-directorial debuts of star Jacky Wu (Fatal Contact; The Legend of Zu; Drunken Monkey) and Jackie Chan’s longtime stunt coordinator Chung Chi Li. The festival’s programme will also include the films Muay Thai Chaya, Kim Ki-duk’s Dream, Keeping Watch, Ghost In The Shell (2.0), Me… Myself, After School and God Man Dog, the winner of the “Tagesspiegel” Readers’ Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Full details of the TERRACOTTA FAR EAST FESTIVAL can be found at the festival’s official website »

Lau Ching Wan (Mad Detective, The Longest Nite) and Francis Ng (The Bride With White Hair, 2000 AD) star in this superbly paced thriller from writer/director Ringo Lam (Full Contact, City On Fire)… (more…)

Though he might not have walked away with the celebrated Palme d’Or, Park Chan-wook’s latest film Thrist, an erotic thriller about a priest who is turned into a vampire after a botched medical experiment, did get the Cannes Jury Prize, shared with UK’s Andrea Arnold for her second feature Fish Tank.

Read more about the Cannes winners on the Guardian website »

An inventively twisted tale from directors Johnnie To and Wong Ka-Fai (Fulltime Killer, Running On Karma, My Left Eye Sees Ghosts). Finally the Hong Kong thriller is back on form – Korea watch out!… (more…)

Johnnie To and Wong Ka-fai’s terrific Hong Kong thriller Mad Detective is released today on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK by Eureka Entertainment.

Both releases will include:

Q&A with Johnnie To at the Cinémathèque Française – Johnnie To retrospective

Exclusive cast interviews shot during the Far East Film Festival featuring Lau Ching Wan, and Lam Suet

Interview with Johnnie To for the French theatrical release of Mad Detective

Original UK theatrical trailer

16-page booklet containing specially commissioned essay by David Bordwell (Jacques Ledoux Professor of Film Studies,University of Wisconsin-Madison)

You can read our review of the film here »

The UK’s premier annual Asian film festival, the Terracotta Far East Festival, will be held over four days this year at London’s Prince Charles Cinema from Thursday 21st May to Sunday 24th May. Presented by Terracotta Entertainment Group, the festival will feature 13 handpicked films representing the very best of contemporary Far East cinema, including titles from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea.
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The Terracotta Far East Film Festival 2009 runs at London’s Prince Charles Cinema off Leciester Square from today until Sunday 24th May. Presented by Terracota Distribution, the festival some of the best of contemporary Far East cinema, including titles from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea.

Opening the festival is Eye For An Eye, the eagerly awaited crime-thriller from directors Ahn Kwon-tae (My Brother) and Kwak Kyung-taek (Typhoon). Starring Han Suk-kyu (A Bloody Aria; The President’s Last Bang) and Cha Seung-won (Small Town Rivals; Ghost House), this Heat-style thriller concerns a soon-to-retire police detective who is drawn into an elaborate plot of robbery and revenge when he begins to investigate a heist during which one of the perpetrators impersonated him in order to pull off the crime.

Among the festival’s many highlights are: The Detective, the latest mystery-thriller from co-writer and director Oxide Pang Chun (Bangkok Dangerous; The Messengers; The Eye trilogy; The Tesseract); director Johnnie To’s (Mad Detective; Triangle; PTU) Sparrow, starring Simon Yam and Kelly Lin; the Malaysian horror-comedy, Zombies From Banana Village; and the martial arts action-thriller Legendary Assassin, which marks the co-directorial debuts of star Jacky Wu (Fatal Contact; The Legend of Zu; Drunken Monkey) and Jackie Chan’s longtime stunt coordinator Chung Chi Li. The festival’s programme will also include the films Muay Thai Chaya, Kim Ki-duk’s Dream, Keeping Watch, Ghost In The Shell (2.0), Me… Myself, After School and God Man Dog, the winner of the “Tagesspiegel” Readers’ Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Tickets are available for separate screenings, or you can get a festival pass for the whole weekend. Full details of the Terracota Far East Festival can be found at the official website »

Crying Fist director Ryoo Seung-hwan out Kill Bill’s Tarantino in this enjoyable Korean action movie with some real crowd-pleasing scenes… (more…)

Three of Hong Kong’s most respected directors – Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam and Johnnie To – each take one half-hour segment of the same plotline, each with complete creative control – but is it any more than an self-indulgent experiment? (more…)

Hong Kong directors are ditching young stars for old veterans who’ve hardly been on screen in twenty years or more, but the real surprise is they’re giving them the best roles (more…)