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Feature

Xiao Wu: from underground film to restored cinema classic

Bringing unique images Jia Zhangke’s hometown to the world…

Review

Heads for Sale

A violent early Shaw Brothers production from King Boxer director Jeong Chang-hwa…

Review

The Prodigal Son

Sammo Hung writes and directs a darkly comic take on the kung fu classic…

Review

Pigs and Battleships

Shohei Imamura plays his story of love and crime amid the shadow of occupation with verve, gallows humour and tears…

Review

Hiruko the Goblin

Cult director Shinya Tsukamoto’s bizarre second feature gets a new special edition Blu-ray release…

Feature
The Neverchanging Magic of Hope for the Better Future
The Symbolic Escapism of An Elephant Sitting Still…
Review
Vampire vs Vampire
Lam Ching-ying directs and faces off against a western vampire in this 1989 jiangshi classic…
Review
Crows and Sparrows
An allegorical melodrama that saw two Chinas at a historic junction of modern Chinese history…
Review
13 Beloved
A desperate man is sucked into an increasingly deadly game in this grim Thai 2006 morality tale…
Review
The Bravest Revenge
A generic but fun slice of 1970s martial arts action from Taiwan…
Review
Red Sorghum
Zhang Yimou has never bettered his astonishing debut…

COMING SOON...

Review: Rule #1
Review: Lady Whirlwind
Review: The Third Wife

Latest news

All the latest news from Asian cinema...

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…
News
Focus Hong Kong returns for Chinese New Year 2022
The only UK film festival dedicated to Hong Kong cinema returns with a special programme of classics…
News
TaiwanPlus Launches Free Virtual Cinema Programme
10 film showcase includes films from Chung Mong-hong, King Hu and restored lost black and white Taiwanese films
News
Filmasia Is Back With Its 17th Edition!
Checkout Filmasia on the 2nd – 7th of December, arriving in cinemas Ponrepo and Lucerna at Prague, Czech Republic!
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…

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
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…
Review
The Mighty Peking Man
Shaw Brothers’ excursion into the Kaiju genre produces this fun, wacky Hong Kong homage to King Kong…
Review
King Boxer
Better known under its deliriously exploitative US title Five Fingers Of Death, a bona fide bone crushing kung fu classic – bring it on!…

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…

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…
Review
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
In between coincidences and fate…

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
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…
Review
The Silent Forest
Hard-hitting real-life drama with a powerful message…

The easternKicks Podcast

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

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…
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…

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
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…
Review
The Bacchus Lady
Youn Yuh-jung stars in E J-Yong’s comedy drama about elderly sex workers…

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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…

The best in film festival coverage, year after year

Coverage of Nippon Connection Film Festival 2019

Coverage of Hong Kong International Film Festival 2019

Coverage of Chinese Visual Festival 2019

Coverage of Udine Far East Film Festival 2019

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…

cineXtremes

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

Review
Hiruko the Goblin
Cult director Shinya Tsukamoto’s bizarre second feature gets a new special edition Blu-ray release…
Review
13 Beloved
A desperate man is sucked into an increasingly deadly game in this grim Thai 2006 morality tale…
Review
A Devilish Homicide
A look back at an early Korean horror classic, from noted genre director Lee Yong-min…
Review
The Machine Girl
A look back at one of the key films in the bloody wave of early 2000s Japanese splatter…
Review
The Imp
A look back at a real classic of Hong Kong horror, and at one of the most influential genre films of the 1980s…
Review
Chaw
A 2009 Korean take on Jaws, featuring a giant man-eating mutant pig on the rampage…
Review
Bloody Fight in Iron-Rock Valley
A violent Korean revenge thriller from back in 2011 that offers a western-inspired take on the genre…
Review
Kakashi
An early 2000s Junji Ito adaptation and a great piece of Japanese folk horror featuring sinister scarecrows…
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…

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…

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…

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…

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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…

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…

Xiao Wu: from underground film to restored cinema classic

Heads for Sale

The Prodigal Son

Pigs and Battleships

Hiruko the Goblin

The Neverchanging Magic of Hope for the Better Future

Vampire vs Vampire

Crows and Sparrows

13 Beloved

The Bravest Revenge

Red Sorghum

Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival returns online for January 2022!

Focus Hong Kong returns for Chinese New Year 2022

TaiwanPlus Launches Free Virtual Cinema Programme

Filmasia Is Back With Its 17th Edition!

Close-Up on Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

Asian Pop-Up Cinema Announces Free Chinese Cinema Fall Screenings

Dirty Ho

The Mighty Peking Man

Heroes of the East

The Five Venoms

The Mighty Peking Man

King Boxer

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

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

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

The Silent Forest

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

Episode 28 – The World of Wong Kar-wai

Episode 27: Time & Tide & Tsui

Episode 26: One-Armed Jimmy

Sister J

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

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 best in film festival coverage, year after year

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

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Money Has Four Legs

How Ryusuke Hamaguchi turns fantasy into reality

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Hiruko the Goblin

13 Beloved

A Devilish Homicide

The Machine Girl