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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

To Live

The quintessential Chinese film…

Review

In Front of Your Face

The master of the mundane continues his current interest in female protagonists…

Review

Drive My Car

Could Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Murakami adaption be his best yet?

Review

The Duel Project: Aragami / 2LDK

A double bill of high concept actioners that resulted from a drunken 2003 bet between Ryuhei Kitamura and Yukihiko Tsutsumi…

Review
The Battle at Lake Changjin
Three directors combine for three hours of patriotic warfare in the latest Chinese military propaganda blockbuster…
Review
Prisoners of the Ghostland
Visually arresting with an explosive Nic Cage/Sion Sono combo…
Review
Full Alert
Ringo Lam’s classic 1997 crime thriller gets a new UK Blu-ray release…
Review
Shanghai Triad
A less-talked-about addition to Zhang Yimou’s oeuvre, with visual elegance and playful approach to genre conventions…
Review
Limecrime
Making sense of their own name is but one of many challenges from school to the streets for two aspiring rappers…
Review
That Demon Within
A look back at Dante Lam’s final hard-boiled HK thriller before he moved into propagandist Mainland blockbusters…

COMING SOON...

Review: Chinatown Kid
Review: Dirty Ho
The Story of Southern Islet

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Latest news

All the latest news from Asian cinema...

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
Asian Pop-Up Cinema Announces Free Chinese Cinema Fall Screenings
Including a Chinese retrospective series on Xie Fei…
News
London Korean Film Festival has announced its full programme
Screenings will be back in the cinemas, from 4^th to 19^th November…
News
Cloudy Mountain Is Out Now In UK & Ireland Cinemas!
Check out one of the best Chinese films of the year from the 8th of October in a cinema near you!
News
Taiwan Film Festival Edinburgh returns with in-person and digital screenings
The screenings for Taiwanese cinema of 20^th and 21^st century taking place from 25^th to 30^th October…
News
Asian films coming to BFI London Film Festival 2021
The BFI LFF has announced their programme…

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

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…
Review
The Silent Forest
Hard-hitting real-life drama with a powerful message…
Interview
Cornelio Sunny talks Death Knot and new directions in horror
Exploring Indonesian horror with a unique debut film…
Podcast
Episode 28 – The World of Wong Kar-wai
We chat to Bede Cheng of L’Immagine Ritrovata Asia about the restoration process…

Close-Up on Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

To tie in with the UK release of Drive My Car, and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Close-Up Film Centre London presents the first UK retrospective of the writer-director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi…

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…
Review
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
In between coincidences and fate…
Review
Asako I & II
Girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl meets boy’s doppelgänger – but who loves who the most?…

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…

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…
Review
The Bacchus Lady
Youn Yuh-jung stars in E J-Yong’s comedy drama about elderly sex workers…
Review
A Good Lawyer’s Wife
A well-played and very open study of a modern dysfunctional family falling apart…

The easternKicks Podcast

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

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…
Podcast
Episode 28 – The World of Wong Kar-wai
We chat to Bede Cheng of L’Immagine Ritrovata Asia about the restoration process…
Podcast
Episode 27: Time & Tide & Tsui
We revisit Tsui Hark’s 2000 action classic, and the JCVD US films that came before it…
Podcast
Episode 26: One-Armed Jimmy
We look back on kung fu classic One Armed Boxer and star Jimmy Wang Yu…
Podcast
Episode 25: Cliff Walkers and Zhang Yimou
We review the director’s latest film and look back on his work…
Podcast
Episode 24: Spotlight on… Battle Royale
We revisit Kinji Fukasaku’s classic…

The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown

In honour of the forthcoming release of the late Benny Chan’s Raging Fire, we look back on his career and the genre for which he was best known.

Review
The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Final Part: Raging Fire
Benny Chan’s final film defies expectations with his most hard-edged, hard-hitting action…
Review
The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 10: The White Storm
Cementing his status as custodian and vanguard of Classic HK Action Cinema…
Review
The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 9: Invisible Target
A kung fu conscious cast for a police flick overflowing with excellent action and suspense…
Review
The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 8: Divergence
Looks great and draws you into its world and story, but ends up all dressed up with nowhere to go…
Review
The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 7: New Police Story
The two great Chans on either side of the camera in their most explosive collaboration, even if literally so…
Review
The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 6: Heroic Duo
Straight police action peppered with a quirky driving plot device showcases both sides of Chan well…
Review
The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 5: Gen-Y Cops
Say what you will about the actual content, but this was an auspicious success for HK and even the world. Ask Paul Rudd!…
Review
The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 4: Gen-X Cops
Chan and HK’s trendiest cops gave a big boost to their film industry when it needed it the most…
Review
The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 3: Big Bullet
Hits all its targets from every angle at the bullseye, even if it doesn’t find any new places to target…
Review
The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 2: Man Wanted
More notable for length and violence than narrative strength or cohesion, there’s still a lot of classic HK packed here…

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…

The best in film festival coverage, year after year

Coverage of Five Flavours Film Festival 2018

Coverage of BFI London Film Festival 2019

Coverage of New York Asian Film Festival 2019

Coverage of Nippon Connection Film Festival 2019

Asian Pop-Up Cinema: Season 13

Chicago’s Asian film festival returns with 30 films including Women In Film, Humanitarian Themes, Thrillers, Martial Arts Classics and more…

News
Asian Pop-Up Cinema announces Season 13
Women In Film, Humanitarian Themes, Thrillers, Martial Arts Classics and more…!
Review
Just 1 Day
A sugar-coated story about conservation in a fast revolving metropolitan city…
Review
Hand Rolled Cigarette
Gordon Lam dazzles again in a movie that unites the disparate elements in Hong Kong contemporary cinema…
Review
Escape From Mogadishu
Ryoo Seung-wan manages to make pulse-pounding popular cinema out of peculiar politics and extraordinary true events…
Review
Escape From Mogadishu
Energetic and totally gripping…
Review
Hand Rolled Cigarette
A gritty HK noir following an ex-solider working for the triads reluctantly protecting a South Asian immigrant…
Interview
How Anima echoes director Cao’s hope for homelands
Chinese director Cao Jinling’s debut is an impassioned plea for nature…
Review
The Fable: The Killer Who Doesn’t Kill
Kan Eguchi delivers a satisfying sequel…
Review
Drifting
A surprise stellar cast tell a story of Hong Kong’s downtrodden in arguably the industry’s most poignant film in years…
Review
Limbo
Soi Cheang returns to Hong Kong for a hardcore noir crime thriller, shot in stunning monochrome…

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…

cineXtremes

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

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
The Duel Project: Aragami / 2LDK
A double bill of high concept actioners that resulted from a drunken 2003 bet between Ryuhei Kitamura and Yukihiko Tsutsumi…
Review
That Demon Within
A look back at Dante Lam’s final hard-boiled HK thriller before he moved into propagandist Mainland blockbusters…
Review
Frantic
Frustrated actors take a theatre audience hostage in the latest from Shugo Fujii…
Feature
The Halcyon Horrors of Hong Kong
With Hong Kong horror in dire straits, we look back at some offbeat shockers from the last few decades…
Review
Naked Soldier
The third instalment in Wong Jing’s ‘Naked’ series featuring more nonsense around leather-clad female assassins…
Review
The Maid
A young maid finds herself haunted by the ghost of her predecessor after taking a job for a rich family…
Review
Evil Twin
A 2007 Korean horror starring Park Shin-hye offers something a little different thanks to a Joseon-era backdrop…
Review
The Heirloom
A familiar 2005 Taiwanese take on the usual post-Ringu ghost themes from director Leste Chen…
Review
Don’t Click
Another Korean take on the Ringu formula, this time with an online twist…

New York Asian Film Festival 2021

From 6th till 22nd August the festival takes on a hybrid form featuring over 60 latest Asian films in the programme…

Review
Office Royale
Office gang warfare amid colourful backdrops is the order of the day for vaguely feminist, frivolous fun…
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…
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
Sensei, Would You Please Sit with Me?
An irresistibly quirky and inventive examination of the challenges of marriage and/or adultery thru manga…
Review
Snakehead
Cold hard facts and fiction mingle in a moody crime indie echoing modern immigration issues…
Review
Coffin Homes
Take satire, mix in buckets of gore, add a heavy dose of social commentary, and you get… well, something…
Review
Office Royale
Japanese office ladies battle for supremacy in this whacky manga-style brawler…
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…

Udine Far East Film Festival 2021

FEFF returns for its 23rd edition in 2021, with both physical and online screeings…

Review
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
Three vignettes about the lies we tell ourselves and each other…
Review
Fan Girl
A coming-of-age drama meets the concept of fandom from a subtle feminist viewpoint…
Review
Just 1 Day
A sugar-coated story about conservation in a fast revolving metropolitan city…
Review
My Missing Valentine
A post office worker is waiting for her Mr Right but then things go (slightly) wrong on Valentine’s Day…
Review
Hand Rolled Cigarette
A gritty HK noir following an ex-solider working for the triads reluctantly protecting a South Asian immigrant…
Interview
How Anima echoes director Cao’s hope for homelands
Chinese director Cao Jinling’s debut is an impassioned plea for nature…
Review
Madalena
The first film from Macau to premiere in Udine’s Far East Film Festival. And no, it’s not about gambling and casinos…
Review
Blue
A heartfelt and astute depiction of the lives of three friends in and out of the boxing ring in Japan…
Review
Limbo
Soi Cheang returns to Hong Kong for a hardcore noir crime thriller, shot in stunning monochrome…
Interview
Cornelio Sunny talks Death Knot and new directions in horror
Exploring Indonesian horror with a unique debut film…

Shaw Brothers Classics

With the 88 Films ongoing release of Shaw Brothers classic horrors and martial arts on Blu-ray, we look at some of the finest films to come out of the Hong Kong’s world famous studio…

Review
The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter
The swansong of Shaw Brothers is a true martial arts masterpiece…
Review
Masked Avengers
A later Venoms mob film missing some regular faces but with a superb performance from Phillip Kwok, plus a bucketload of blood…
Review
The Flying Guillotine
Kung fu craziness with a mad emperor, villainous traitors and batsh*t insane weapon…
Review
The Oily Maniac
Classic exploitation howler where a man transforms to enact revenge upon those who have unwisely wronged him…
Review
Five Superfighters
Clash of the Titans kung fu style or a Hong Kong Dirty Almost half-a-dozen…
Review
The Seeding of a Ghost
One of the Shaw Brothers’ most infamous and sleazy shockers finally gets the rerelease it deserves…
Review
The Angry Guest
The “iron triangle” attempts to work its magic with a different approach, but falls pretty flat…
Review
Heroes of the East
A softer version of the Chinese vs Japanese theme in this classic from director Lau Kar-Leung…
Review
The Killer Snakes
A downtrodden young man finds he can communicate with snakes, and uses them to take gruesome revenge…
Review
House Of Traps
Chang Cheh’s action packed, and completely impractical, solution to simple home security! Definitely not sponsored by Ikea…

Interviews

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

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…
Interview
Soi Cheang trains his cameras on a city in Limbo
‘Everyone is abandoned … and looking for redemption,’ says Hong Kong director…
Interview
How Ryusuke Hamaguchi turns fantasy into reality
An experimental anthology that portrays the stories of three unconventional women who discover something about themselves…
Interview
Taiki Sakpisit interview: “She’s fighting her way from death back to being...
Director Taiki Sakpisit spoke to easternKicks about his award-winning feature debut film…
Interview
Kimo Stamboel interview: “Joko and me were friends, but this was the...
The director chats about The Queen of Black Magic and the popularity of Indonesian folk horror…

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…

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…
Review
As Tears Go By
Love and violence in the neon lit streets of Hong Kong…

The Mighty Peking Man

To Live

In Front of Your Face

Drive My Car

The Duel Project: Aragami / 2LDK

The Battle at Lake Changjin

Prisoners of the Ghostland

Full Alert

Shanghai Triad

Limecrime

That Demon Within

Close-Up on Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

Asian Pop-Up Cinema Announces Free Chinese Cinema Fall Screenings

London Korean Film Festival has announced its full programme

Cloudy Mountain Is Out Now In UK & Ireland Cinemas!

Taiwan Film Festival Edinburgh returns with in-person and digital screenings

Asian films coming to BFI London Film Festival 2021

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

The Silent Forest

Cornelio Sunny talks Death Knot and new directions in horror

Episode 28 – The World of Wong Kar-wai

Drive My Car

Close-Up on Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

How Ryusuke Hamaguchi turns fantasy into reality

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Asako I & II

In Front of Your Face

Limecrime

Climbing

Aloners

Recalled

London Korean Film Festival has announced its full programme

The Book of Fish

Canola, aka Grandmother Gye-choon

The Bacchus Lady

A Good Lawyer’s Wife

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

Episode 28 – The World of Wong Kar-wai

Episode 27: Time & Tide & Tsui

Episode 26: One-Armed Jimmy

Episode 25: Cliff Walkers and Zhang Yimou

Episode 24: Spotlight on… Battle Royale

The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Final Part: Raging Fire

The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 10: The White Storm

The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 9: Invisible Target

The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 8: Divergence

The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 7: New Police Story

The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 6: Heroic Duo

The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 5: Gen-Y Cops

The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 4: Gen-X Cops

The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 3: Big Bullet

The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 2: Man Wanted

Hellbound

Lav Diaz interview: “Existence is a euphemism for compromise. Period.”

History of Ha

The Medium

Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash

Asian films coming to BFI London Film Festival 2021

The best in film festival coverage, year after year

Asian Pop-Up Cinema announces Season 13

Just 1 Day

Hand Rolled Cigarette

Escape From Mogadishu

Escape From Mogadishu

Hand Rolled Cigarette

How Anima echoes director Cao’s hope for homelands

The Fable: The Killer Who Doesn’t Kill

Drifting

Limbo