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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

Big Tits Zombie

A cult favourite, which achieved a mainstream breakthrough of sorts thanks to its title and AV cast…

Review

Everything Is Cinema

What starts out as an ethnographic documentary turns into a study of a failing marriage during Covid lockdown…

Review

Decameron

Hong Kong endures a global pandemic and a trampling of rights, but has survived tragedies before…

Review

Time

A stylishly melancholic, surprisingly funny elegy to Hong Kong cinema…

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…
Review
Guilty of Romance
The third part of Sion Sono’s ‘Hate Trilogy’ is a twisted tale of true crime depravity and murder…
Podcast
Episode 26: One-Armed Jimmy
We look back on kung fu classic One Armed Boxer and star Jimmy Wang Yu…
Review
Flowers of Shanghai
All that glitters is not always gold in the tea rooms of 19^th century Shanghai…
Review
One-Armed Boxer
Before having one arm was cool, the kung fu film that started it all…
Review
Fallen Angels
Wong Kar-wai’s oneiric and vivacious journey to the Hong Kong underworld…

COMING SOON...

Review: Encounter of the Spooky Kind
Undercover Punch and Gun interview: Philip Ng and Van Ness Wu
Review: PTU

Latest news

All the latest news from Asian cinema...

News
Udine FEFF23 unveils packed programme for online and in-cinema audiences
The upcoming FEFF will take place at Udine and online from 24 June to 2 July…
News
Full programme for Taiwan Post New Wave Cinema has been announced!
Screenings of the underrated Taiwanese filmmakers will take place from 21 to 30 June 2021…
News
Chinese Visual Festival returns to in-person screenings for its 10th edition in...
The full programme for the 2021 Chinese Visual Festival has been announced, running 15-25 July in London…
News
10 Asian films to watch at the 2021 International Film Festival Rotterdam...
The summer edition stuns with Asian film premieres, mid-length features and a selection of mainstream and art-house titles…
News
The biggest European festivals launch online Asian Cinema Education platform
A new online international platform for Asian cinema enthusiasts with BIG opportunities…
News
Young journalist applications open for the 2021 FEFF Campus! #FEFF23
The Far East Film Festival returns for their 23rd year in Udine, and campus scheme applications are open now for young journalists

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…

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…
Feature
Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia – A True Celluloid Icon
We celebrate the career of the 80s and 90s most iconic HK actress, the subject of a Filmmaker in Focus strand at this years HKIFF…

Focus Hong Kong

A new UK film festival celebrating the amazing cinema of Hong Kong starts its inaugural event running from 9 to 15 February…

News
Chinese Visual Festival returns to in-person screenings for its 10th edition in...
The full programme for the 2021 Chinese Visual Festival has been announced, running 15-25 July in London…
Review
Fresh Wave 2019: 3 Generations 3 Days
21 minutes, 3 generations, 3 days, an unforgettable short…
Review
Beyond The Dream
To say that this HK social issue indie was a surprise blockbuster and delight is quite the understatement…
Review
I Still Remember
“Once in your life, you have to cheer for yourself!”…
Review
Once Upon a Time in China
Jet Li leaps into the role that had come before for others but that he was born to play!…
Feature
Jun Li interview: “I was concerned about the safety of the whole...
easternKicks catches up with the director of Tracey on his latest film Drifting…
News
Focus Hong Kong launches online UK Easter Edition
The Easter edition runs online 31 March to 6 April, screening UK premieres and much-loved classics…
Review
A Witness Out Of The Blue
An overly ambitious film sharing many of the attributes of Hong Kong’s best crime dramas…
Review
Memories to Choke On, Drinks to Wash Them Down
A snapshot of contemporary Hong Kong through four short films…
Review
A Witness Out of the Blue
A superb performance from Louis Koo elevates this intriguing thriller…

HKIFF45

The Hong Kong International Film Festival returns for it’s 45th edition, running from 1-12 April 2021…

Review
Yellow Cat
Quirky sweet fun with a bitter ending…
Review
Me and the Cult Leader
A life-affirming take on a difficult subject…
Review
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
In between coincidences and fate…
Review
Radiograph of a Family
An evocative and poignant look at family…
Review
Underdog
Take shows that the heroism of boxing lies in the subjective meaning that propels jabs, hooks and uppercuts…
Review
Luginsky
Bizarre yet mesmerising experimental animation…

Glasgow Film Festival 2021

Glasgow Film Festival goes online this year with their new online viewing platform but the same mix of films from across the globe…

Review
Minari
A warm drama about the power of family in the face of adversity…
Review
The Drug King
A solid but overly familiar true-life crime drama from Inside Men director Woo Min-ho…
Review
Back to the Wharf
Actions from 15 years ago haunt a man returning to his hometown…
Review
Dreams on Fire
A luminously kinetic run through Tokyo’s street dance scene and fine vehicle for dancer Bambi; nothing more nothing less…
Review
Spring Tide
Acclaimed director Yang Lina’s second fiction feature explores the lives of women in modern China…
Review
The Swordsman
A familiar-looking Joseon drama, redeemed by fantastically overblown fight sequences…

The easternKicks Podcast

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

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…
Podcast
Episode 23: Indonesian Folk Horror special
We chat to Kimo Stamboel about The Queen Of Black Magic…
Podcast
Episode 22: Tokyo Dragon Chef vs Crazy Samurai
We discuss the latest from Yoshihiro Nishimura and Tak Sakaguchi…
Podcast
Episode 21: The Woman Who Ran and Hong Sang-soo
We discuss the Korean director’s latest film…
Podcast
Episode 20: The Gift Guide
Naughty or nice, we select the perfect gifts for every Asian film fan…
Podcast
Episode 19: Spotlight on…The Bride with White Hair
We celebrate the classic starring Brigitte Lin and Leslie Cheung..
Podcast
Episode 18: Hungry Ghost Halloween!
We rediscover some unsung horrors from the 2000s…
Podcast
Episode 17: Into the Leijiverse!
We talk to Helen McCarthy about her new book on manga legend Leiji Matsumoto…

The best in film festival coverage, year after year

Coverage of Five Flavours Film Festival 2018

Coverage of New York Asian Film Festival 2019

Coverage of Toronto Japanese Film Festival 2019

Coverage of CinemAsia Film Festival 2019

International Film Festival Rotterdam 2021

The winter edition programme reveals 3 Asian debuts in the Tiger Competition, cutting-edge short films and new works of emerging filmmakers…

Review
Everything Is Cinema
What starts out as an ethnographic documentary turns into a study of a failing marriage during Covid lockdown…
Review
Decameron
Hong Kong endures a global pandemic and a trampling of rights, but has survived tragedies before…
Review
Time
A stylishly melancholic, surprisingly funny elegy to Hong Kong cinema…
News
10 Asian films to watch at the 2021 International Film Festival Rotterdam...
The summer edition stuns with Asian film premieres, mid-length features and a selection of mainstream and art-house titles…
Review
The Edge of Daybreak
The Fall of the House of…
Feature
Jun Li interview: “I was concerned about the safety of the whole...
easternKicks catches up with the director of Tracey on his latest film Drifting…
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…
Review
Sexual Drive
Promises sexual liberation through food, but is mostly a guy talking dirty to humiliate people…
Interview
Aristocrats interview: “The aim was to show discrepancies between a woman’s feelings...
We talk to the filmmakers of Aristocrats, premiered at the 2021 IFFR…
Review
Pebbles
Austere, impressive debut in which the landscape and nature dramatically dictate life…

cineXtremes

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

Review
Big Tits Zombie
A cult favourite, which achieved a mainstream breakthrough of sorts thanks to its title and AV cast…
Review
Guilty of Romance
The third part of Sion Sono’s ‘Hate Trilogy’ is a twisted tale of true crime depravity and murder…
Review
Our Town
Two maniacs for the price of one in this grisly Korean serial killer mystery…
Review
Homunculus
For his latest, Takashi Shimizu adapts a supernatural mystery manga, with mixed results…
Review
Helter Skelter
A nightmarish, hallucinogenic exploration of the excesses of the Japanese fashion industry…
Review
Cold Fish
A typically wild and offbeat take on the serial killer genre from Japanese auteur Sion Sono…
Review
Battle Royale II: Requiem
Hardly well-received on its original release, the overlong and muddled 2003 sequel hasn’t held up well…
Review
Battle Royale
Kinji Fukasaku’s classic returns with a new edition nearly 20 years after it was first released in the UK…
Review
Raped by an Angel 3: Sexual Fantasy of the Chief Executive
The third instalment of the infamous Category III sleaze series, and the strangest yet…
Review
All Night Long 3: The Final Chapter
Katsuya Matsumura moves away from revenge for the third in the series, and into even nastier territory…

Interviews

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

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…
Interview
Aristocrats interview: “The aim was to show discrepancies between a woman’s feelings...
We talk to the filmmakers of Aristocrats, premiered at the 2021 IFFR…
Interview
Brigitte Lin interview: “I totally forgot what I had said. Was it...
We talk to the truly iconic actress about her career…
Interview
Takeshi Fukunaga interview: “I wanted to carry the voices of Ainu people”
We talk to the director of the film Ainu Mosir, which recently premiered on Netflix…
Interview
Popo Fan interview: “Borders are closing, it’s even more powerful to show...
Chinese diaspora filmmaker, curator and writer speaks about upcoming film series inspired by transcultural exchange…
Interview
Thop Nazareno interview: Edward
We talk to the director of the acclaimed Filipino coming-of-age drama…
Interview
Norris Wong interview: “We’re slowly re-establishing Hong Kong filmmaking”
My Prince Edward writer-director shares her thoughts on marriage, migration, human connection and filmmaking…
Interview
Wang Jing interview: The Best Is Yet To Come
After working as an assistant director for Jia Zhang-ke, Wang Jing makes his impressive directorial debut…
Interview
Tiffany Hsiung interview: Sing Me a Lullaby
The award-winning Asian Canadian filmmaker offers a deeply personal and revealing story about her own family in Sing Me a Lullaby…

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…

Filmmaker Focus: Bong Joon-ho

With various award nominations and wins, including a record-breaking six nominations for a Korean film at the Oscars, we celebrate the director’s career…

Review
Snowpiercer
Bong Joon-ho’s 2013 fantasy sci-fi thriller finally receives a proper UK Blu Ray release through Lionsgate…
Review
Parasite (Black & White Version)
With the Oscar-winner still in UK cinemas, a new version is already here, but do we really need it?…
News
Parasite Makes History At 2020 Oscars With 4 Wins!
Bong Joon-ho picks up 4 Oscars in a record-breaking history-making night
News
Parasite wins at 2020 BAFTAs
Don’t count the Bong Joon-ho favourite out of the Oscars race yet, as it swept up two awards at the BAFTAs
Review
Parasite
Bong Joon-ho’s latest is a scathing, though uneven, take on the complexities of the modern class war…
Review
Parasite
A smart and snappy black comedy with a surprisingly dark denouement…
Podcast
Episode 2: A Parasite special
In a special episode, we look at the film on everyone’s lips…
News
Golden Globes 2020: Asian cinema makes big waves with 2 historic wins!
The first Korean film to win a Golden Globe…
Feature
Top 10 Films of 2019: 1 – Parasite
Here it is, the prestigious easternKicks FILM OF THE YEAR… coming in at #1 on our Top 10 Films of 2019 is PARASITE
Feature
Bong Joon-ho at BAFTA Screenwriters’ Lecture Series: “I first saw Hitchcock’s Psycho...
The award-winning Korean filmmaker discusses screenwriting at Curzon Mayfair, London

Geonbae! the cinema of Hong Sang-soo

With The Woman Who Ran coming to Curzon cinemas and Curzon Home Cinema from 11 December, and debuting on MUBI from 20 December, we toast one of Korea’s most idiosyncratic filmmakers…

Podcast
Episode 21: The Woman Who Ran and Hong Sang-soo
We discuss the Korean director’s latest film…
Review
The Woman Who Ran
What’s left unsaid and the spaces between the conversations are what make this film so compelling…
News
Hong Sang-soo’s The Woman Who Ran hits the UK December 11th
The latest award-winning film from the acclaimed Korean auteur comes to Curzon and Curzon Home Cinema via CMC…
Review
Grass
Indie director Hong Sang-soo’s latest film is short, sparse and (bitter)sweet…
Review
Hotel by the River
Hong Sang-soo’s new drama sees the director defiantly changing nothing at all about his methods…
Review
Woman is the Future of Man, Tale of Cinema: Two Films by...
On UK Blu-ray for the first time, Hong Sang-soo’s fifth and sixth films provide a double dose of relationship missteps and woe…
Review
The Day After
A publisher’s adultery is revealed in surprisingly linear tale of duplicity and mistaken identity from Hong Sang-soo…
Review
On the Beach at Night Alone
A young actress tries to get over a break-up in this latest musing on love, etc. from Hong Sang-Soo…
Review
Yourself And Yours
Hong Sang-soo returns with a recognisable mix in one of his most romantic films yet…
Review
Right Now, Wrong Then
The master of unreliable narrative returns with a different but familiar take…

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

Big Tits Zombie

Everything Is Cinema

Decameron

Time

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

Guilty of Romance

Episode 26: One-Armed Jimmy

Flowers of Shanghai

One-Armed Boxer

Fallen Angels

Udine FEFF23 unveils packed programme for online and in-cinema audiences

Full programme for Taiwan Post New Wave Cinema has been announced!

Chinese Visual Festival returns to in-person screenings for its 10th edition in...

10 Asian films to watch at the 2021 International Film Festival Rotterdam...

The biggest European festivals launch online Asian Cinema Education platform

Young journalist applications open for the 2021 FEFF Campus! #FEFF23

Fallen Angels

2046

Happy Together

In The Mood For Love

Days of Being Wild

Chungking Express

In The Mood For Love (Original Soundtrack)

Brigitte Lin interview: “I totally forgot what I had said. Was it...

As Tears Go By

Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia – A True Celluloid Icon

Chinese Visual Festival returns to in-person screenings for its 10th edition in...

Fresh Wave 2019: 3 Generations 3 Days

Beyond The Dream

I Still Remember

Once Upon a Time in China

Jun Li interview: “I was concerned about the safety of the whole...

Focus Hong Kong launches online UK Easter Edition

A Witness Out Of The Blue

Memories to Choke On, Drinks to Wash Them Down

A Witness Out of the Blue

Yellow Cat

Me and the Cult Leader

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Radiograph of a Family

Underdog

Luginsky

Minari

The Drug King

Back to the Wharf

Dreams on Fire

Spring Tide

The Swordsman

Episode 26: One-Armed Jimmy

Episode 25: Cliff Walkers and Zhang Yimou

Episode 24: Spotlight on… Battle Royale

Episode 23: Indonesian Folk Horror special

Episode 22: Tokyo Dragon Chef vs Crazy Samurai

Episode 21: The Woman Who Ran and Hong Sang-soo

Episode 20: The Gift Guide

Episode 19: Spotlight on…The Bride with White Hair

Episode 18: Hungry Ghost Halloween!

Episode 17: Into the Leijiverse!

The best in film festival coverage, year after year

Everything Is Cinema

Decameron

Time

10 Asian films to watch at the 2021 International Film Festival Rotterdam...

The Edge of Daybreak

Jun Li interview: “I was concerned about the safety of the whole...

Taiki Sakpisit interview: “She’s fighting her way from death back to being...

Sexual Drive

Aristocrats interview: “The aim was to show discrepancies between a woman’s feelings...

Pebbles

Big Tits Zombie

Guilty of Romance

Our Town

Homunculus

Helter Skelter

Cold Fish

Battle Royale II: Requiem

Battle Royale

Raped by an Angel 3: Sexual Fantasy of the Chief Executive

All Night Long 3: The Final Chapter