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Feature

Top 10 Films of 2018: 10.1 A Land Imagined

Coming in joint #10th place on the easternKicks’ Top 10 Films of 2018 list, A LAND IMAGINED ★★★★★ is a huge boon to Singaporean cinema

Feature

Top 10 Films of 2018: 10.2 The Night Comes For Us

The Night Comes For Us kicks off easternKicks’ Top 10 Films of 2018, coming in at joint #10th place on the list…

Review

There is a Secret in my Soup

No prizes for guessing what the secret in question is… in this true crime Cat III shocker…

Review

Believer

Gripping and tense, it is a remake that is worth spending time on…

Review

On Happiness Road

Combines animation, political context and rich relationships to create a whimsical and poignant family drama…

Review
Women on the Run

Bigger budget, though no less sleazy a Cat III effort from directors Corey Yuen and David Lai, who should have known better…
Review
Men On The Dragon

Four guys get a second chance to grab life by the horns and the audience get one of the best films of the year…
Review
Letter from Masanjia

When Julie Keith discovers an SOS letter in a Kmart product, she begins a chain of events exposing Chinese forced labour…
Review
Ms. Meili

Return to the rough realism and character’s doomed fate, a pity the alternative way to survive seems to be out of the question…
Review
Still Human

A Filipino carer and a disabled old man bond to find their purpose in life…
Review
Buffalo Boys

Pretensions of historical depth aside, an adventure yarn with plenty of action and interesting hybrid styles…

COMING SOON...

Review: Distinctive
Review: A Chinese Torture Chamber Story 2
Review: Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock & Roll

Latest news

All the latest news from Asian cinema...

News
An Elephant Sitting Still has its London premiere at the ICA

Bo Hu’s first and last feature has been making waves across the festival circuit, now coming to UK cinemas…
News
Netflix unveils Anime highlights for 2019

Supernatural themes and classic franchises to mark the new Netflix’s Anime season…
News
Films to look out for at the 29th Singapore International Film Festival

Some highlights to look forward to at SGIFF 2018…
News
12th Five Flavours Asian Film Festival closes with winners announced

The Polish Asian film festival announces competition winners voted by the People’s Jury…
News
1st Chinese Arts Now Festival full programme has been announced!

Filming East Festival and Chinese Visual Festival will be showcasing the best of Chinese films at the end of January next year…
News
FILMASIA returns for its 14th edition this winter in Prague

The festival will return with 4 days of screening ranging from classics to new releases

Five Flavours Asian Film Festival 2018

Now in its 12th edition, the Five Flavours Asian Film Festival once again brings the best in Asian cinema to Warsaw from 14 to 21 November…

Review
On Happiness Road

Combines animation, political context and rich relationships to create a whimsical and poignant family drama…
Review
Operation Red Sea

Aimed at Chinese audiences, Dante Lam’s big budget film offers a proud and patriotic presentation of a heroic rescue…
Review
Hotel by the River

Hong Sang-soo’s new drama sees the director defiantly changing nothing at all about his methods…
News
12th Five Flavours Film Festival reveals their full programme!

A full-week filled with awesome Asian films will be held from 14 to 21 November…
Review
Suburban Birds

Qiu Sheng’s debut is at times non-linear and experimental, at others a heart-warming coming-of-age drama…
Review
A Land Imagined

Total immersion, fish tanks and the mystery of what Singapore is made of…
Review
Girls Always Happy

Yang Ming Ming’s debut is certainly from the left field, and wears that badge with pride…
Review
Da Hu Fa

Once Upon a Time in Peanut Town…
Review
River’s Edge

Successfully evoking the complexity of adolescence in a crude, unflattering and straightforward way…
Interview
1987: When the Day Comes interview: Kim Yoon-seok and Jang Joon-hwan

We talk to the star and director of the political drama based on true events…

Singapore International Film Festival 2018

The 29th edition returns this year, running from 28th November to 9th December, screening over 103 films from 44 different countries across 10 different programmes…

News
Films to look out for at the 29th Singapore International Film Festival

Some highlights to look forward to at SGIFF 2018…
Review
Asako I & II

Love is questioned when Asako starts dating her disappeared boyfriend’s doppelganger…
Review
Long Day’s Journey Into Night

A sumptuous, meandering fever-dream of love, loss and regret…
Review
Ash Is The Purest White

Zhao Tao plays one of the finest performances of her career so far, the return to form we’ve been waiting for from Jia Zhangke…
Review
Hotel by the River

Hong Sang-soo’s new drama sees the director defiantly changing nothing at all about his methods…
Review
Asako I & II

Girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl meets boy’s doppelgänger – but who loves who the most?…
Review
A Land Imagined

The Golden Leopard winner takes us on a journey through the darker side of Singapore…
Review
A Family Tour

Exiled Chinese filmmaker Ying Liang offers an empathetic, personal portrayal of how exile and oppression affect individuals…
Review
A Land Imagined

Total immersion, fish tanks and the mystery of what Singapore is made of…
Review
One Cut of the Dead

A refreshing new ‘take’ on the zombie film which combines horror and comedy in equal measure…

2018 San Diego Asian Film Festival

The 19th SDAFF returns with an incredible packed line-up, and audiences in store for a cinematic treat. Running from 8 to 17 November…

Review
Buffalo Boys

Pretensions of historical depth aside, an adventure yarn with plenty of action and interesting hybrid styles…
Review
Asako I & II

Love is questioned when Asako starts dating her disappeared boyfriend’s doppelganger…
Review
Origin Story

Kulap Vilaysack documents her journey from LA to Laos, in an attempt to find the father she didn’t know she had…
Review
Go-Go Sisters

A joyous Vietnamese remake of a modern Korean classic, that’s simply way, way better than it has any right to be…
Review
Long Day’s Journey Into Night

A sumptuous, meandering fever-dream of love, loss and regret…
Review
Ash Is The Purest White

Zhao Tao plays one of the finest performances of her career so far, the return to form we’ve been waiting for from Jia Zhangke…
Review
Dead Pigs

How did Cathy Yan’s first film entice Hollywood to let her helm the latest DC Comics spinoff?…
News
19th San Diego Asian Film Festival Launches This Week With Jam-Packed Festival

The 19th SDAFF launched on Thursday night with an incredible packed line-up, and audiences in store for a cinematic treat
Review
Asako I & II

Girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl meets boy’s doppelgänger – but who loves who the most?…
Review
A Land Imagined

The Golden Leopard winner takes us on a journey through the darker side of Singapore…

cineXtremes

Celebrating the excesses of Hong Kong Category III, Asian extreme and exploitation cinema…

Review
Women on the Run

Bigger budget, though no less sleazy a Cat III effort from directors Corey Yuen and David Lai, who should have known better…
Review
There is a Secret in my Soup

No prizes for guessing what the secret in question is… in this true crime Cat III shocker…
Review
The Peeping Tom

A crazed killer stalks Hong Kong, obsessed with hacking off the legs of beautiful women in this seedy Category III-rated shocker…
Review
Naked Poison

A downtrodden man uses a venomous aphrodisiac to take revenge the women around him, with sleazy results…
Review
Trilogy of Lust 2

Julie Lee writes, directs and stars in this lurid tale of rape and revenge, Category III style…
Review
Horrible High Heels

Infamous Hong Kong Category III sleazy shocker in which a cackling madman stalks, slashes, masked high-quality footwear and abuses an unfortunate goose…
Review
Human Pork Chop

The name says it all in this infamous true crime Category III shocker…
Review
The Eternal Evil of Asia

Cat III-rated classic in which a group of sleazy Hong Kongers run afoul of a Thai sorcerer, with spectacularly shocking results…
Review
Run and Kill

Category III-rated action shocker following an unfortunate man who drunkenly hires vicious killers to carry out a hit on his cheating wife…
Review
The Sleep Curse

Herman Yau and Anthony Wong reunite for old school category III shocks…

BFI London Film Festival 2018

The UK’s largest public film festival returns with 225 features from 77 countries…

Review
Believer

Gripping and tense, it is a remake that is worth spending time on…
Review
Asako I & II

Love is questioned when Asako starts dating her disappeared boyfriend’s doppelganger…
Review
Go-Go Sisters

A joyous Vietnamese remake of a modern Korean classic, that’s simply way, way better than it has any right to be…
Review
Long Day’s Journey Into Night

A sumptuous, meandering fever-dream of love, loss and regret…
Review
Ash Is The Purest White

Zhao Tao plays one of the finest performances of her career so far, the return to form we’ve been waiting for from Jia Zhangke…
Review
Dead Pigs

How did Cathy Yan’s first film entice Hollywood to let her helm the latest DC Comics spinoff?…
Review
The Spy Gone North

A masterfully played game of twisting meticulous timing chases businessman Hwang Jung-min in this spy epic…
Review
Asako I & II

Girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl meets boy’s doppelgänger – but who loves who the most?…
Review
Burning

Nothing short of a spectacularly shot psychological drama, lavishly stoking the frustrated rage of Korea’s entitled beta males…
Review
May The Devil Take You

An effective but disappointingly vapid 80s throwback demon horror from Timo Tjahjanto…

London Korean Film Festival 2018

Returns from 1 to 14 November in London before taking highlights around the country with its annual UK Tour…

Review
Seven Years Of Night

A thriller with depth and beautiful imagery to spare, the South Korean monopoly on great modern cinema continues…
Review
The Return

A poignant portrait of a Korean adoptee’s search for her roots…
Review
For Vagina’s Sake

Talking about taboos in this light documentary from South Korea…
Review
Hotel by the River

Hong Sang-soo’s new drama sees the director defiantly changing nothing at all about his methods…
Review
The Princess and the Matchmaker

Light-hearted comedy able to poke fun at traditions in fortune telling as well as story…
News
FULL Line-up announced of the London Korean Film Festival 2018

Check out the full line-up for the 2018 London Korean Film Festival, taking place from 1-25th November
Interview
Microhabitat interview: Jeon Go-woon and Ahn Jae-hong

We chat to the debut director on her tragi-comic portrait of South Korea and leading actor…
Review
Little Forest

Yim Soon-rye’s quiet, simply film unfolds as a memory of our lives in repose…
Review
Microhabitat

A young Seoul-ite engages in some forcible downsizing as prices for all her basic luxuries rise…
Review
Little Forest

A feel-good foodie flick about the simple pleasures in life…

London East Asia Film Festival 2018

LEAFF returns from 25th October and running till the 4th November…

Review
Distinction

Ten Years and Trivisa co-director Jevons Au’s solo directorial effort is a touching and meaningful film that does not deserve its ban in China…
Review
A Land Imagined

The Golden Leopard winner takes us on a journey through the darker side of Singapore…
Review
Project Gutenberg

A complex plot line and one of Chow Yun-fat’s best roles in years elevate this anticipated thriller…
News
LINE-UP ANNOUNCED | London East Asia Film Festival 2018 returns to London…

From 25th October – 4th November, LEAFF have released their full 2018 film programme!
Review
A Land Imagined

Total immersion, fish tanks and the mystery of what Singapore is made of…
Review
BuyBust

One squad. One notorious criminal. One mission gone terribly wrong. One film that will leave you completely breathless…
Review
River’s Edge

Successfully evoking the complexity of adolescence in a crude, unflattering and straightforward way…
Interview
1987: When the Day Comes interview: Kim Yoon-seok and Jang Joon-hwan

We talk to the star and director of the political drama based on true events…
Review
1987: When the Day Comes

A huge chronicle of the protest movement that ended the Chun Doo Hwan regime…
Review
Satan’s Slaves

Tales from the Muslim graveyard…

Tony Ching Siu-tung: Action and romance

With the upcoming BAFTA Masterclass and In Conversation with easternKicks events, we look back on the career of one of the most celebrated action directors ever!…

Feature
6 Fantastic Tony Ching Siu-tung Action Scenes!

The team at easternKicks select some of their favourite scenes from the great Hong Kong action director…
News
easternKicks presents an evening with Tony Ching Siu-tung

We screen classic Swordsman II and chat with the action directing legend himself…
News
BAFTA masterclass with choreographer/ director Tony Ching 程小东

BAFTA and Asian Film Awards Academy host masterclass with renowned choreographer and director, tickets on sale now!
Review
Future Cops

It’s kind of scary that this film beats other Street Fighter films…
Review
An Empress and The Warriors

From the action choreographer on Hero, House Of Flying Daggers, The Warlords and far too many others to mention…
Review
The Warlords

Peter Chan’s take on the historical wuxia drama is far grittier and more grounded than we’re used to, with a fine performance by Jet Li that will surprise his critics…
Review
Butterfly & Sword

Just another early 80s wire-fu movie – or at least it would be if not for the performances of leads Tony Leung and Michelle Yeoh and some fine action from Ching Siu-tung…
Review
The Curse Of The Golden Flower

Director Zhang Yimou’s latest swordplay inspired movie is a visual delight, but this one won’t please the martial arts fans…
Review
A Better Tomorrow II

It’s John Woo all right, but turned all the way up to 11!…
Review
Shaolin Soccer

With the imminent release of Kung Fu Hustle on DVD, is there a better time to revisit this silly but fun classic?…

Interviews

Our interviews with filmmakers, directors, actors, composers and much more besides from the world of Asian film…

Interview
Aya Igashi interview: “I didn’t make it for the #MeToo movement. I...

The up-and-coming filmmaker discusses A Crimson Star…
Interview
Microhabitat interview: Jeon Go-woon and Ahn Jae-hong

We chat to the debut director on her tragi-comic portrait of South Korea and leading actor…
Interview
Wrath of Silence Interview: Xi Yukun and Jiang Wu

We chat to the director and star about the impressive thriller…
Interview
Dong Yue interview: “Although he treats himself as a hero, the reality...

We talk to the director about his debut The Looming Storm…
Interview
1987: When the Day Comes interview: Kim Yoon-seok and Jang Joon-hwan

We talk to the star and director of the political drama based on true events…
Interview
Stephy Tang interview: “I was boxing 2-3 times a week, training my...

We talk to the Hong Kong actress about her role in Chapman To’s The Empty Hands…
Interview
Harata Masado interview: “Sekigahara, I have been dreaming about making it for...

The director talks about his work…
Interview
Dante Lam and Candy Leung interview: “Suddenly I see Dante with two...

We talk to the well-known filmmaker and his producer…
Interview
Akihiro Toda interview: “I really liked mixing these unknown characters together to...

We talk to the director of The Name…
Interview
Moon So-ri interview: “I wasn’t relaxed enough for us to improvise!”

We talk to the Korean actress about her feature film debut…

Top 10 Films of 2018: 10.1 A Land Imagined

Top 10 Films of 2018: 10.2 The Night Comes For Us

There is a Secret in my Soup

Believer

On Happiness Road

Women on the Run

Men On The Dragon

Letter from Masanjia

Ms. Meili

Still Human

Buffalo Boys

An Elephant Sitting Still has its London premiere at the ICA

Netflix unveils Anime highlights for 2019

Films to look out for at the 29th Singapore International Film Festival

12th Five Flavours Asian Film Festival closes with winners announced

1st Chinese Arts Now Festival full programme has been announced!

FILMASIA returns for its 14th edition this winter in Prague

On Happiness Road

Operation Red Sea

Hotel by the River

12th Five Flavours Film Festival reveals their full programme!

Suburban Birds

A Land Imagined

Girls Always Happy

Da Hu Fa

River’s Edge

1987: When the Day Comes interview: Kim Yoon-seok and Jang Joon-hwan

Films to look out for at the 29th Singapore International Film Festival

Asako I & II

Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Ash Is The Purest White

Hotel by the River

Asako I & II

A Land Imagined

A Family Tour

A Land Imagined

One Cut of the Dead

Buffalo Boys

Asako I & II

Origin Story

Go-Go Sisters

Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Ash Is The Purest White

Dead Pigs

19th San Diego Asian Film Festival Launches This Week With Jam-Packed Festival

Asako I & II

A Land Imagined

Women on the Run

There is a Secret in my Soup

The Peeping Tom

Naked Poison

Trilogy of Lust 2

Horrible High Heels

Human Pork Chop

The Eternal Evil of Asia

Run and Kill

The Sleep Curse

Believer

Asako I & II

Go-Go Sisters

Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Ash Is The Purest White

Dead Pigs

The Spy Gone North

Asako I & II

Burning

May The Devil Take You

Seven Years Of Night

The Return

For Vagina’s Sake

Hotel by the River

The Princess and the Matchmaker

FULL Line-up announced of the London Korean Film Festival 2018

Microhabitat interview: Jeon Go-woon and Ahn Jae-hong

Little Forest

Microhabitat

Little Forest

Distinction

A Land Imagined

Project Gutenberg