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Wednesday, December 1st, 2004A spell binding and often perplexing vision – it’s Wong Kai-wai’s much anticipated sequel to In the Mood for Love… (more…)

A spell binding and often perplexing vision – it’s Wong Kai-wai’s much anticipated sequel to In the Mood for Love… (more…)
Next Monday quite possibly the best martial arts/kung fu film ever finally makes its way on to DVD in UK! (more…)
It’s John Woo all right, but turned all the way up to 11!… (more…)
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…)
Kim Ji-woon (The Foul King, The Quiet Family) directs this intelligent Asian shocker with more than a few surprises… (more…)
Action choreographer on Hero, House Of Flying Daggers, The Warlords and far too many others to mention, Tony Ching Siu-tung is back in the director’s chair for the first time in five years – but is this the triumphant return we were hoping for…? (more…)
Fantasy fun from director Yojiro Takita, but seriously, it’s no When The Last Sword is Drawn… (more…)
This impressive debut by the Pang brothers is a heady mix of dazzling imagery and a violent tale of love, betrayal and redemption… (more…)
Biting social satire meets hilarious black comedy. Laugh or the dog gets it… (more…)
You couldn’t make it up! The bizarre true story of the man who became Thailand’s most famous kick-boxer to pay for an operation to become a woman… (more…)
This Korean Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon styled epic may have been top dog in it’s homeland, but – with a liberal referencing of over thirty years of Hong Kong swordplay films – it’s really more of a mongrel… (more…)
With the upcoming release of the live-action version, what better time to revisit the original that started it all… (more…)
Gong Li stars in this moving drama about a mother bringing up her deaf child alone… (more…)
A breathtakingly impressive directorial debut, and one of the best Asian films of 2009… (more…)
A fun filled pantomime from the Shaw Brothers – with super extending legs that can deliver a kick from a distance, dwarfs that squirt Alien-like acid puss from their spots and pet dragons… (more…)
Another solid horror from South Korea, but surely the lesson here is don’t give your daughter a scary haircut like that girl from The Ring?… (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…)
As the UK gears up for the release of Chocolate, Showbox / Cine-Asia have released a new clip where the filmmakers pay affectionate tribute to the icehouse scene in Bruce Lee’s The Big Boss. The film will make its official London theatrical debut on 24th October, before being launched on DVD and Blu-Ray on 3rd November.
At last! After the increasing interest in Thai action film Chocolate, starring martial arts star in the making JeeJa Yanin, is on limited release in London today at the ICA Cinema, ahead of the DVD and Blu-ray release on Monday 3 November. You can see details of the screenings and book here.
The UK release for Ong-Bak director Prachya Pinkaew’s latest have finally been officially announced. Following a couple of festival engagements during the next few weeks, the film will make its official London theatrical debut on 24th October, before being launched on DVD and Blu-Ray on 3rd November.
Chocolate introduces the latest female Muay Thai sensation, JeeJa Yanin, and is a non-stop martial arts action extravaganza about a young girl whose uncanny ability to mimic the combat skills of her heroes Tony Jaa, Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee has made her an unlikely but awesome fighting force.
Director Prachya Pinkaew brings us a whole new female fighting sensation in the making, JeeJa Yanin, but is it another Ong-Bak or an overly earnest disappointment like Warrior King? (more…)
The much-anticipated Chocolate, from Ong-Bak director Prachya Pinkaew and starring martial arts star in the making JeeJa Yanin, is on limited release in London cinemas today.
Wisit Sasanatieng’s long awaited follow up to Tears of the Black Tiger is a charmingly naïve and beautiful fairytale for adults – think Amelie with smoking teddy bears and zombie taxi drivers… (more…)
If you ever wanted to know where Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon came from you only need to know one name, King Hu. This ground breaking film, possibly one of the greatest of the martial chivalry genre, started it all… (more…)
A(nother) 21st century take on an anime fave from the past, former model Eriko Sato gets a flimsy excuse to run around in her underwear and skintight cat suit… (more…)
Leslie Cheung leads an all-star cast in Wong Kar-wai’s sophomore film… (more…)
Campy, explosive fun from the film that influenced the Lyre sequence in Kung Fu Hustle. Well, it’s not completely dreadful but… (more…)
Chor Yuan directs Derek Yee in this classic Wuxia tale from Shaw Brothers… (more…)
Derek Yee’s follow up to One Night in Mongkok, Protégé, is released on DVD today by Liberation Entertainment. You can read out review here »
And there’s still a chance to enter our giveaway competition to win one of three copies – but hurry, there’s just a few more days to go! Enter here »
A super slick thriller from Benny Chan (Heroic Duo, Gen-X Cops, A Moment of Romance) – but easy on the melodrama!… (more…)
Osamu Tezuka’s (Astro Boy) Dororo gets the live-action makeover, from director Akihiko Shiota, starring Memories Of Matsuko’s Kou Shibasaki, but spoiled a little by wishy-washy CGI and under-par action from legendary Ching Siu-Tung… (more…)
It’s Seven meets Ring in a supernatural horror from Peony Pavilion director Chen Kuo-fu – starring Hong Kong’s Tony Leung Ka-fai and America’s David Morse… (more…)
With brilliant fight scenes has Donnie Yen’s time in the spotlight finally come?… (more…)
Over half a decade since making such an impact with Nowhere To Hide, director Lee Myung-se finally returns to our screens with Duelist – but has it been worth the wait?… (more…)
The secret of eternal youth lies within Aunt Mei’s dumplings, but be warned, they may be an acquired taste… (more…)
Following its critically acclaimed UK theatrical release in January, Yang Ik-june’s award winning Breathless comes to DVD in March 2010 as a two-disc Special Collector’s Edition featuring a host of exclusive extras including interviews with the director and cast members, specially filmed festival footage and Q&As, plus a collector’s booklet featuring sleeve notes personally written by Yang Ik-june and co-star Kim Kkobbi.
The winner of numerous international film awards in 2009, including the Tiger Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, the Jury Prize for Best Film and Best Male Performance at Montreal’s Fant-Asia Film Festival and the Best Film award and Critics’ Prize at the Deauville Asian Film Festival, the debut feature from South Korean writer-director and star Yang Ik-june, Breathless is a brutal, uncompromising and profanity-filled look at the cause and effect of domestic violence.
Giving a stunning performance in the film’s lead role, Yang Ik-june stars as Sang-hoon, a deeply troubled man prone to violent outbursts, who freelances as a hired thug at his friend’s debt collecting firm. His private life revolves around his extremely strained relationship with his ex-convict father, who was directly responsible for the tragic breakdown of their family, and a slightly more subdued, but still difficult, connection with his stepsister and her young son.
Seemingly possessed by the pent-up rage caused by the domestic events from his past, Sang-hoon finds an opportunity for salvation when he encounters a similarly emotionally damaged schoolgirl ((Kot-bi Kim), who is as foul-mouthed, headstrong and fearless as he is. The two begin an offbeat and touching friendship, not realising that their lives are already connected in ways that will have a profound effect on both their fates.
As moving as it is shocking in its portrayal of people struggling to live in a world of routine violence and abuse, Breathless was hailed by ReelAsian.com as “one of the most powerful films of the year” and by Screen International as a film that marks director Yang Ik-june as a name to watch.
Breathless (cert. 18) will be released on DVD (£14.99) by Terracotta Distribution on 22nd March 2010.
Special Features include: interview with director Yang Ik-june (20 minutes); interview with actress Kim Kkobbi (10 minutes); behind the scenes at the Rotterdam Film Festival (20 minutes); special Korean Film Industry Preview Screening footage (10 minutes); London Korean Film Festival Q&A at the Barbican Centre; London Press Junket footage; trailers (Korean theatrical, Korean teaser, three UK trailers, French trailer); stills gallery.
The much-anticipated Chocolate, from Ong-Bak director Prachya Pinkaew and starring martial arts star in the making JeeJa Yanin, is released on DVD today by Cine Asia.
Hailed as a “bizarre, baroque, hilarious epic” (Total Film) and a “crazy, perversely monumental teen comedy romance” (Metro) on its UK theatrical release in October, director Sion Sono’s LOVE EXPOSURE comes to DVD in January 2010 as a two-disc release courtesy of Third Window Films.
Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize and the Caligari Film Award at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival, the latest film from acclaimed Japanese writer-director Sion Sono (Exte: Hair Extensions), LOVE EXPOSURE is a monumental work of cinema that manages to combine comedy, action, romance and drama into its compelling, satirical and frequently violent commentary on religion, morality, sexual perversion and, of course, love, both requited and unrequited.
Following the untimely death of his mother during his early childhood, Tokyo teenager Yu (Takahiro Nishijima) is raised by his father, Tetsu (Atsuro Watabe), who has dealt with his grief by becoming a Catholic priest. Despite his new calling, Tetsu is seduced into a love affair with an emotionally unstable parishioner, an act that causes him to transfer his guilt onto Yu, whom he forces to attend confession as often as possible. Eager to satisfy his father’s demands, but quickly running out of false transgressions to own up to, Yu begins to find new and genuine sins to confess, the most effective of which proves to be taking covert up-skirt panty photographs of young women on the city’s streets.
Eventually, Yu’s misdemeanours attract the attention of teenage girl Aya Koike (Sakura Ando) – a con artist, coke dealer, the regional leader of a bizarre religious cult and a victim of paternal abuse – who decides she can use the wayward “king of perverts” for her own means. Shortly after their auspicious meeting, a cross-dressing incident resulting from a lost bet also brings Yu into contact with Kurt Cobain-loving, but otherwise totally man-hating, schoolgirl Yoko (Hikari Mitsushima), with whom he falls instantly in love. The fates of this trio become hopelessly connected and sealed when Yu’s father decides to give up the cloth to marry his lover and Yu discovers that Yoko is about to become his stepsister!
Running at just under four hours (although moving at such a brisk pace it’s barely noticeable) and already being hailed as Sion Sono’s career masterpiece in many quarters, LOVE EXPOSURE stars Hikari Mitsushima (Shaolin Girl; Death Note: The Last Name; Death Note), Takahiro Nishijima (star of Japanese TV’s Ghost Friends), Sakura Ando (Crime Or Punishment) and Astsuro Watabe (Echo Of Silence) and was the recipient of the 2009 awards for the Best Asian Film, the Jury Prize for Best Female Performance (Hikari Mitsushima), the Jury Special Prize for Feature Film and the Most Innovative Film at Montreal’s Fant-Asia Film Festival.
The new film by director Derek Yee (One Night In Mongkok) and starring Andy Lau (House of Flying Daggers, Infernal Affairs) and Daniel Wu (One Night In Mongkok, Purple Storm) is released on DVD in the UK on 8 September by Liberation Entertainment.
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).