easternKicks.com - the ultimate site for Asian film!

Review

Daimajin

Director Kimiyoshi Yasuda and Kuroda deliver one hell of a Kaiju experience…

Review

Shadows

A busy psycho-thriller with a mite too much on its plate, still carried well via its characters…

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

Bedevilled

A look back at one of the most brutal Korean revenge thrillers in recent memory…

Review

The Way We Keep Dancing

Dancers, stars and influencers participate in a publicity stunt to transform an area into a “Dance street”…

Review
Wild Search
Ringo Lam crafted a tighter composite of Golden Age Hong Kong and Chow Yun-fat’s talent than probably thought possible…
Review
Plurality
A stylish and effective Taiwanese psychological thriller…
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
Get the Hell Out
High energy zombie romp with plenty of blood…
Review
Traffickers
Organ smugglers target an unfortunate woman on a cruise ship while her husband tries to track her down…
Review
Drifting
A surprise stellar cast tell a story of Hong Kong’s downtrodden in arguably the industry’s most poignant film in years…

COMING SOON...

Review: The Eighth Night
Review: Madalena
Review: Alone (2007)

Wong Kar-wai 2-for-1 offer @ BFI Southbank

Latest news

All the latest news from Asian cinema...

News
Asian American International Film Festival announces opening film
The 44th edition of the festival will take place in-person and on digital platform
News
Mondo drop Godzilla exclusives at [email protected]
Godzilla and Hedorah glow-in-the-dark soft vinyl figures, posters and more…
News
Fantasia International Film Festival offers impressive array of Asian cinema
Festival will take place in-person and on digital platform from 5th till 25th August
News
Made in Hong Kong: Shaolin Jazz salutes Sammo Hung
As part of their Can I Kick It? series, Shaolin Jazz performs live with a bone-crunching martial arts extravaganza…
News
20th New York Asian Film Festival announces line up!
From 6th till 22nd August the festival takes on a hybrid form featuring over 60 latest Asian films in the programme…
News
Mamoru Hosoda’s BELLE launches at Cannes with World Premiere
BELLE will receive its World Premiere at the 74th Cannes Film Festival on Thursday July 15th in the Cannes Premiere section

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…

Udine Far East Film Festival 2021

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

Review
The Way We Keep Dancing
Dancers, stars and influencers participate in a publicity stunt to transform an area into a “Dance street”…
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…
News
Awards Announced for the 23rd Far East Film Festival 2021! #FEFF23
The 2021 edition of the Udine Far East Film Festival concludes with award announcements and record audiences!
Interview
Soi Cheang trains his cameras on a city in Limbo
‘Everyone is abandoned … and looking for redemption,’ says Hong Kong director…
Review
Death Knot
City dwellers travel to the countryside and fall foul of black magic in this familiar Indonesian horror…
Review
The Goldfish: Dreaming of the Sea
A tale about vulnerabilities and emotions in the inner world of two young girls in search of freedom and salvation…
Interview
How Ryusuke Hamaguchi turns fantasy into reality
An experimental anthology that portrays the stories of three unconventional women who discover something about themselves…
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…

cineXtremes

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

Review
Bedevilled
A look back at one of the most brutal Korean revenge thrillers in recent memory…
Review
Traffickers
Organ smugglers target an unfortunate woman on a cruise ship while her husband tries to track her down…
Review
Limbo
Soi Cheang returns to Hong Kong for a hardcore noir crime thriller, shot in stunning monochrome…
Review
Ichi the Killer
Takashi Miike’s blood-soaked 2001 manga adaptation remains a milestone in extreme Japanese cinema…
Review
I Saw the Devil
Kim Jee-woon’s Grand Guignol masterpiece remains one of the most brutal Korean films of the last few decades…
Review
Himizu
Another dark, though less surreal offering from Sion Sono, meditating on impact of the 2011 tsunami…
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…

The easternKicks Podcast

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

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…
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…

The best in film festival coverage, year after year

Coverage of CinemAsia Film Festival 2019

Coverage of Five Flavours Film Festival 2018

Coverage of Udine Far East Film Festival 2019

Coverage of New York Asian Film Festival 2019

Coverage of Chinese Visual Festival 2019

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…

Interviews

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

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…
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…

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…

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…

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…

Review
Drifting
A surprise stellar cast tell a story of Hong Kong’s downtrodden in arguably the industry’s most poignant film in years…
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…

Daimajin

Shadows

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

Bedevilled

The Way We Keep Dancing

Wild Search

Plurality

The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown Part 8: Divergence

Get the Hell Out

Traffickers

Drifting

Asian American International Film Festival announces opening film

Mondo drop Godzilla exclusives at [email protected]

Fantasia International Film Festival offers impressive array of Asian cinema

Made in Hong Kong: Shaolin Jazz salutes Sammo Hung

20th New York Asian Film Festival announces line up!

Mamoru Hosoda’s BELLE launches at Cannes with World Premiere

Episode 28 – The World of Wong Kar-wai

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

The Way We Keep Dancing

Blue

Limbo

Cornelio Sunny talks Death Knot and new directions in horror

Awards Announced for the 23rd Far East Film Festival 2021! #FEFF23

Soi Cheang trains his cameras on a city in Limbo

Death Knot

The Goldfish: Dreaming of the Sea

How Ryusuke Hamaguchi turns fantasy into reality

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

Bedevilled

Traffickers

Limbo

Ichi the Killer

I Saw the Devil

Himizu

Big Tits Zombie

Guilty of Romance

Our Town

Homunculus

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

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

The best in film festival coverage, year after year

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

Cornelio Sunny talks Death Knot and new directions in horror

Soi Cheang trains his cameras on a city in Limbo

How Ryusuke Hamaguchi turns fantasy into reality

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

Kimo Stamboel interview: “Joko and me were friends, but this was the...

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

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

Takeshi Fukunaga interview: “I wanted to carry the voices of Ainu people”

Popo Fan interview: “Borders are closing, it’s even more powerful to show...

Thop Nazareno interview: Edward