easternKicks.com - the ultimate site for Asian film!

Review

The Funeral

Entertaining comedy drama that pokes respectful fun at Japanese social mores and rituals…

Review

My Small Land

A subtle and complex view of life as a young refugee caregiver, dextrously balancing social issues with personal perspective…

Review

Buttonman

Francis Ng stars in an early crime thriller from Taiwanese horror director Joe Chien…

Interview

Maung Sun interview: “The film is about the endless pursuit of film”

The Money Has Four Legs director talks about filmmaking and more…

Review

Leonor Will Never Die

Philippine actioner combines playful worlds with meaningful conversations…

Review
Rebirth of Mothra (Original Motion Picture Score)
Toshiyuki Watanabe’s score for the 1996 reboot comes to special edition vinyl…
Review
Mama Boy
A quirk romantic comedy about a submissive son who falls for the maîtresse of a brothel…
Podcast
Episode 39 – The Sadness special
We interview director Rob Jabbaz exclusively…
Review
Crossfire
An explosive Japanese horror from 2000 which goes the Firestarter route rather than Ringu…
Review
Finding Bliss: Fire and Ice – Directors’ Cut
Hong Kong star Josie Ho and friends look for inspiration in Iceland…
Review
Five Shaolin Masters
Chang Cheh’s manly kung fu extravaganza is as sure to please aficionados as it is to turn off genre skeptics…

COMING SOON...

Review: All About Ah-Long
How Sino-Italian films are looking for the right recipe
Review: Intruders

Latest news

All the latest news from Asian cinema...

News
Asian films at the 75th Cannes Film Festival vol. 2
From 17 to 28 May 2022 Cannes Film Festival features 9 short films and 4 classics from East/Southeast/South Asia…
News
UK-China Filmcollab Presents “ODYSSEY: a Chinese cinema season” From May 10th to...
60+ Films in 8 curated sections, 10 discussion panels, exclusive Q&As and 4 awards…
News
Asian films at the 75th Cannes Film Festival vol. 1
From 17 to 28 May 2022 Cannes Film Festival premieres 7 full-length fiction features from East/Southeast/South Asia…
News
Queer East Film Festival announces full 2022 edition programme
Returning from May 18th – 29th in London, expect to see a huge programme with premieres and a follow-up UK tour
Competitions
Win The Funeral on Criterion Collection Blu-ray!
We have two copies to giveaway of Juzo Itami’s (Tampopo) debut…
News
Asian titles and John Woo among the first wave of Fantasia 2022...
The 26th edition announces its first wave of programming for July, including a career achievement award for the legendary John Woo…

Udine Far East Film Festival 2022

Europe’s biggest Asian film festival returns online and in-person for its 24th Edition – from 22nd – 30th April…

Review
My Small Land
A subtle and complex view of life as a young refugee caregiver, dextrously balancing social issues with personal perspective…
Review
Leonor Will Never Die
Philippine actioner combines playful worlds with meaningful conversations…
Review
Mama Boy
A quirk romantic comedy about a submissive son who falls for the maîtresse of a brothel…
Review
Finding Bliss: Fire and Ice – Directors’ Cut
Hong Kong star Josie Ho and friends look for inspiration in Iceland…
Interview
Kim Se-in interview: “I think the film wraps up my 20s”
We talk with the young Korean director about her full-length debut and capturing the complex mother-daughter relationship on screen…
Review
The Assistant
Malaysian director Adrien Teh takes on another action film, this time with a neck-snapping twist…
Review
Nice View
A rags-to-riches dramedy with a mix of entertainment and didacticism…
Review
Incantation
Disturbing a folk ritual unleashes havoc in Kevin Ko’s effective found footage horror…
News
Udine Far East Film Festival 2022 unveils a star-studded 24th edition and...
The Cannes of Asian Cinema returns with an incredible line-up of 72 films for 2022, plus TAKESHI KITANO! From 22nd – 30th April
Review
Caught in Time
A cop hunts a particularly violent robber in this old school Hong Kong China true crime thriller…

Close-Up on Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

A close-up look at the work and career of Oscar-winning writer-director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi…

News
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival returns online for January 2022!
Free from 17 to 23 January, featuring films from Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Naomi Kawase…
Podcast
Episode 36 – The End of the Year Show
easternKicks x Asian Movie Pulse as titans unite to chat about the year in Asian film!…
Review
Drive My Car
Could Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Murakami adaption be his best yet?
News
Close-Up on Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
Close-Up Film Centre presents a season dedicated to the director of Drive My Car and Happy Hour…
Review
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
Three vignettes about the lies we tell ourselves and each other…
Interview
How Ryusuke Hamaguchi turns fantasy into reality
An experimental anthology that portrays the stories of three unconventional women who discover something about themselves…

Asian Cinema Education

We showcase the best in new writing with our partnership with Asian Cinema Education. An international project to encourage discussion and writing on Asian Cinema…

Review
Chaos
Escape From New York, Herman Yau-style…
Review
Horror of the queer, terror of the West
Toshio Matsumoto’s Funeral Parade of Roses…
Feature
Restoring poetry: Xiao Wu’s ballad of loneliness
Jia Zhangke’s debut feature is a cosmic hymn to solitude…
Feature
Looking for hope in modern China
Can it be found in Hu Bo’s An Elephant Sitting Still?…
Feature
Mr. Suave and the Absurdity of the Macho Man
A look back at Joyce E. Bernal’s 2003 comedy…
Feature
A look back at In the Mood For Love
Wong Kar-wai’s timeless classic…

Arrow Video present the first collection of classics from the famed Shaw Brothers Studio, with 12 films spread across eight discs, jam-packed with extras, and two discs of soundtrack selections pulled from music library De Wolf.

Review
Five Shaolin Masters
Chang Cheh’s manly kung fu extravaganza is as sure to please aficionados as it is to turn off genre skeptics…
Review
Executioners from Shaolin
A Shaw Brothers nutzoid classic – with a bit more underneath the hood…
Review
Dirty Ho
Another Shaw Brothers martial arts classic from Lau Kar-leung and Gordon Liu, this time on the comedic side…
Review
The Mighty Peking Man
The Shaw Brothers’ ambitious take on King Kong remains one of their most far-out and fun films of the 1970s…
Review
Heroes of the East
A softer version of the Chinese vs Japanese theme in this classic from director Lau Kar-Leung…
Review
The Five Venoms
Cult? Sure. Legendary? Definitely. Kick-ass? Mostly. Any good? Depends on how cool you think venomous reptiles and stick-on beards are? Thought so…

The easternKicks Podcast

A regular magazine programme about East Asian film, with the latest news, reviews and interviews.

Podcast
Episode 39 – The Sadness special
We interview director Rob Jabbaz exclusively…
Podcast
Episode 38 – Spotlight on… Zatoichi
We chat in depth about everyone’s favourite blind swordsman…
Podcast
Episode 37 – The Long Walk special
We chat to the film’s director Mattie Do and screenwriter Chris Larsen…
Podcast
Episode 36 – The End of the Year Show
easternKicks x Asian Movie Pulse as titans unite to chat about the year in Asian film!…
Podcast
Episode 35 – All Aboard… for Hellbound!
We chat about Train To Busan director Yeon Sang-ho’s new series on Netflix…
Podcast
Episode 34 – The horror of Hong Kong!
A Halloween special on modern HK horror, from the 80s to now…
Podcast
Episode 32 – Spotlight on… A Tale of Two Sisters
A look back at a Korean horror classic…
Podcast
Episode 31 – Spotlight on… Daimajin
We unravel Daiei Film Studios very particular take on Kaiju…
Podcast
Episode 30 – The best of NYAFF 2021
We look at the New York Asian Film Festival line up, including an extended chat about Raging Fire…
Podcast
Episode 29 – PTU and Johnnie To’s crime drama years
We revisit one of the director’s classics…

cineXtremes

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

Review
Buttonman
Francis Ng stars in an early crime thriller from Taiwanese horror director Joe Chien…
Podcast
Episode 39 – The Sadness special
We interview director Rob Jabbaz exclusively…
Review
Crossfire
An explosive Japanese horror from 2000 which goes the Firestarter route rather than Ringu…
Review
Dorm
A creepy boarding school provides the backdrop for this 2006 Thai horror classic…
Review
Arang
Detectives investigate a series of familiar supernatural deaths in another mid-2000s Korean horror…
Review
In Love with the Dead
A man caring for his cancer-stricken wife starts to suspect that she might be a ghost in this 2007 Danny Pang outing…
Review
49 Days
A mid-2000s Hong Kong horror throwback which is at its best when serving up spooky nonsense…
Review
Midnight FM
A DJ is stalked by a crazed fan in this 2010 Korean serial killer thriller…
Review
I Love Maria
A classic of 80s Hong Kong madness, mixing Robocop, Metropolis and more…
Review
Antarctic Journal
Song Kang-ho leads an ill-fated Antarctic expedition in this 2005 mystery thriller, co-written by Bong Joon-ho…

The best in film festival coverage, year after year

Coverage of Udine Far East Film Festival 2019

Coverage of CinemAsia Film Festival 2019

Coverage of Five Flavours Film Festival 2018

Coverage of Nippon Connection Film Festival 2019

Five Flavours Asian Film Festival 2021

The 15th edition of Poland’s premier Asian film festival is back with a hybrid format, returning to Warsaw cinemas with a range of films including a retrospective of Wong Kar Wai…

▶︎ Visit Five Flavours site

Interview
Maung Sun interview: “The film is about the endless pursuit of film”
The Money Has Four Legs director talks about filmmaking and more…
Review
The Story of Southern Islet
Chong Keat Aun’s otherworldly debut…
Review
Looking for a Lady with Fangs and a Moustache
A slight if likeable work from filmmaker and lama Khyentse Norbu…
Review
Dear Tenant
A superb drama exploring LGBTQ equality against traditional gender roles…
Review
The Medium
Na Hong-jin (The Wailing) and Banjong Pisanthanakun (Shutter) combine forces, but is it anything new?…
Review
Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash
A refreshing throwback to 1980s kung-fu cinema with a socially conscious subtext…
Review
Last of the Wolves
A new rogue cop faces a new rogue yakuza amidst intrigue in both of their ranks for an ultraviolent sequel…
Review
As We Like It
Fun and bright adaptation that stays true to the spirit of the original play…
Feature
Ko Chen-Nien interview: “The most complex relationship is the battle between good...
We talk to the director Ko Chen-Nien about her powerful cinematic debut, The Silent Forest…
Review
Money Has Four Legs
A cynical but realistic drama that uses cinema as a metaphor for society…

London Korean Film Festival 2021

The LKFF returns to cinemas from 4 to 19 November, with a special focus on 2021 Academy Award winner Youn Yuh-jung…

Interview
Maung Sun interview: “The film is about the endless pursuit of film”
The Money Has Four Legs director talks about filmmaking and more…
Review
Sister J
A decade of struggle chronicled in intense detail…
Review
In Front of Your Face
The master of the mundane continues his current interest in female protagonists…
Review
Limecrime
Making sense of their own name is but one of many challenges from school to the streets for two aspiring rappers…
Review
Climbing
Paranoia reigns supreme in a visually striking debut feature…
Review
Aloners
A slow-burning drama offering engaging character study and meditation on social isolation…
Review
Recalled
Waking up after an accident, an amnesiac woman is haunted by disturbing visions of the near future…
News
London Korean Film Festival has announced its full programme
Screenings will be back in the cinemas, from 4^th to 19^th November…
Review
The Book of Fish
An exiled civil servant finds meaning in composing a new book on marine life in Korea…
Review
Canola, aka Grandmother Gye-choon
A wayward girl returns to live with her doting grandmother on Jeju Island…

BFI London Film Festival 2021

London’s premier international film festival returns retaining the hybrid format of last year, from 6 to 17 October…

Review
Hellbound
Will Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho’s new streaming horror series be the next Squid Game?…
Interview
Lav Diaz interview: “Existence is a euphemism for compromise. Period.”
The auteur on Philippines tragic history, his fascination for vaudeville and the need for artists to compromise…
Review
History of Ha
A profound exploration of the purpose of art and the quest to find a meaning of life when everything seems lost…
Review
The Medium
Na Hong-jin (The Wailing) and Banjong Pisanthanakun (Shutter) combine forces, but is it anything new?…
Review
Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash
A refreshing throwback to 1980s kung-fu cinema with a socially conscious subtext…
News
Asian films coming to BFI London Film Festival 2021
The BFI LFF has announced their programme…
Review
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
Three vignettes about the lies we tell ourselves and each other…
Review
Money Has Four Legs
A cynical but realistic drama that uses cinema as a metaphor for society…
Interview
How Ryusuke Hamaguchi turns fantasy into reality
An experimental anthology that portrays the stories of three unconventional women who discover something about themselves…
Review
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
In between coincidences and fate…

BFI Japan 2021

A celebration of over 100 years of Japanese Cinema. Coming to big screens UK-wide this autumn…

News
Close-Up on Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
Close-Up Film Centre presents a season dedicated to the director of Drive My Car and Happy Hour…
News
BFI Japan comes to big screens UK-wide this autumn
Highlights include a cinema re-release of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai and a major two-part season…
Review
Ichi the Killer
Takashi Miike’s blood-soaked 2001 manga adaptation remains a milestone in extreme Japanese cinema…
Podcast
Episode 24: Spotlight on… Battle Royale
We revisit Kinji Fukasaku’s classic…
Review
Battle Royale
Kinji Fukasaku’s classic returns with a new edition nearly 20 years after it was first released in the UK…
Review
The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On
A war veteran’s single-minded search for truth in this seminal documentary…
Review
Black Rain
Imamura’s film is, without a doubt, one of the most important films about the atomic bomb ever made…
Review
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
A hostess approaching 30 sees fewer days ahead in a male-dominated world, in Mikio Naruse’s understated kitchen sink drama…
Review
Akira
The gorgeous 4K remaster of Katushiro Otomo’s animated sci-fi classic hits UK screens…
Review
The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice
Rigidity and sentimentality meet in a quiet Tokyo household in Yasujiro Ozu’s superb drama…

Interviews

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

Interview
Maung Sun interview: “The film is about the endless pursuit of film”
The Money Has Four Legs director talks about filmmaking and more…
Interview
Kim Se-in interview: “I think the film wraps up my 20s”
We talk with the young Korean director about her full-length debut and capturing the complex mother-daughter relationship on screen…
Interview
Li Ruijun interview: “The land is the cleanest and purest existence”
The Chinese filmmaker reflects on the meaning of land, self-reliance, individual choice and China’s rapid modernization…
Interview
Ananta Thitanat interview: “The pandemic accelerated the emergence of this new film...
Documentary filmmaker discusses film culture in Thailand and the afterlife of standalone cinemas…
Interview
Lav Diaz interview: “Existence is a euphemism for compromise. Period.”
The auteur on Philippines tragic history, his fascination for vaudeville and the need for artists to compromise…
Interview
Evan Jackson Leong interview: “The underdog becomes a role model and an...
A film that took more than 14 years to make explores the world of human smugglers in NYC’s Chinatown underworld…
Interview
Takahiro Horie interview: “The root of revenge is love”
We talk to the Sensei, Would You Please Sit with Me? director…
Interview
Ann Hui interview: “I tried to find work whenever I could. I...
We chat to the celebrated Hong Kong filmmaker about her career and the documentary Keep Rolling…
Interview
How Anima echoes director Cao’s hope for homelands
Chinese director Cao Jinling’s debut is an impassioned plea for nature…
Interview
Cornelio Sunny talks Death Knot and new directions in horror
Exploring Indonesian horror with a unique debut film…

The wonderful world of Wong Kar-wai

With Criterion Collection’s new release of restored Wong Kar-wai classics, also coming to UK cinemas including BFI Southbank, we immerse ourselves in the auteur’s work…

Feature
A look back at In the Mood For Love
Wong Kar-wai’s timeless classic…
Podcast
Episode 28 – The World of Wong Kar-wai
We chat to Bede Cheng of L’Immagine Ritrovata Asia about the restoration process…
Review
Fallen Angels
Wong Kar-wai’s oneiric and vivacious journey to the Hong Kong underworld…
Review
2046
An absolute onslaught of narratives, styles, and structures makes for an infinitely rewarding opus from Wong Kar-wai…
Review
Happy Together
Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Leslie Cheung star masterpiece of melancholia…
Review
In The Mood For Love
Unrequited love never looked so good in this new version of a timeless classic…
Review
Days of Being Wild
Wong Kar-wai submerges us in his dream of Hong Kong and its lovers, killers, and lonely hearts…
Review
Chungking Express
Chance encounters in love are never quite as they seem…
Review
In The Mood For Love (Original Soundtrack)
Set the mood with a sultry cinematic soundscape perfect for the last days of lockdown longing…
Interview
Brigitte Lin interview: “I totally forgot what I had said. Was it...
We talk to the truly iconic actress about her career…

The Funeral

My Small Land

Buttonman

Maung Sun interview: “The film is about the endless pursuit of film”

Leonor Will Never Die

Rebirth of Mothra (Original Motion Picture Score)

Mama Boy

Episode 39 – The Sadness special

Crossfire

Finding Bliss: Fire and Ice – Directors’ Cut

Five Shaolin Masters

Asian films at the 75th Cannes Film Festival vol. 2

UK-China Filmcollab Presents “ODYSSEY: a Chinese cinema season” From May 10th to...

Asian films at the 75th Cannes Film Festival vol. 1

Queer East Film Festival announces full 2022 edition programme

Win The Funeral on Criterion Collection Blu-ray!

Asian titles and John Woo among the first wave of Fantasia 2022...

My Small Land

Leonor Will Never Die

Mama Boy

Finding Bliss: Fire and Ice – Directors’ Cut

Kim Se-in interview: “I think the film wraps up my 20s”

The Assistant

Nice View

Incantation

Udine Far East Film Festival 2022 unveils a star-studded 24th edition and...

Caught in Time

Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival returns online for January 2022!

Episode 36 – The End of the Year Show

Drive My Car

Close-Up on Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

How Ryusuke Hamaguchi turns fantasy into reality

Chaos

Horror of the queer, terror of the West

Restoring poetry: Xiao Wu’s ballad of loneliness

Looking for hope in modern China

Mr. Suave and the Absurdity of the Macho Man

A look back at In the Mood For Love

Five Shaolin Masters

Executioners from Shaolin

Dirty Ho

The Mighty Peking Man

Heroes of the East

The Five Venoms

Episode 39 – The Sadness special

Episode 38 – Spotlight on… Zatoichi

Episode 37 – The Long Walk special

Episode 36 – The End of the Year Show

Episode 35 – All Aboard… for Hellbound!

Episode 34 – The horror of Hong Kong!

Episode 32 – Spotlight on… A Tale of Two Sisters

Episode 31 – Spotlight on… Daimajin

Episode 30 – The best of NYAFF 2021

Episode 29 – PTU and Johnnie To’s crime drama years

Buttonman

Episode 39 – The Sadness special

Crossfire

Dorm

Arang

In Love with the Dead

49 Days

Midnight FM

I Love Maria

Antarctic Journal

The best in film festival coverage, year after year

Maung Sun interview: “The film is about the endless pursuit of film”

The Story of Southern Islet

Looking for a Lady with Fangs and a Moustache

Dear Tenant

The Medium

Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash

Last of the Wolves

As We Like It

Ko Chen-Nien interview: “The most complex relationship is the battle between good...

Money Has Four Legs

Maung Sun interview: “The film is about the endless pursuit of film”

Sister J

In Front of Your Face

Limecrime