Blog Archives

Let The Bullets Fly (2010)

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This 2010 China-Hong Kong co-production finally makes it to Australia on DVD, which is surprising considering it was China’s highest grossing film for that year, a title it still holds despite tough opposition from the recent Christmas releases of Zhang Yimou’s wartime drama The Flowers of War and Tsui Hark’s 3D fest Flying Swords of Dragon Gate.

Let The Bullets Fly’s distribution history outside China was also worrying: it couldn’t find a distributor in Australia on its release … (read more)

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To Live (1994)

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Late in the story, To Live bares its theme in an interchange of dialogue between its central male character, Fugui, and Chunsheng, the only person in the story who Fugui might want to call a friend. Having met each other as unwilling and clearly apolitical participants in the late-1940s war for the control of China, Chunsheng is later found responsible for an accident that claims the life of Fugui’s son. Now, years later, Chunsheng tells Fugui that his wife has … (read more)

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Big Shot’s Funeral (2001)

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What I thought about the film. Ahem.

Well, let’s start with what expectations I had coming into the film. Well I hadn’t seen the trailer though a number of my friends had raved about it during Japanime 02 and it was Rosamund Kwan (whom I hadn’t seen since the Once Upon a Time in China series) with a dead Donald Sutherland. So automatically, one thinks an East meets West scenario. And it is. There’s no denying it. However, normally these … (read more)

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A World Without Thieves (2004)

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A World Without Thieves is a crime caper, a personal drama, a morality play, and a travelogue all rolled into one. Pretty impressive stuff, and a lot to pack into a bit less than 2 hours. The fact that it worked so well is a testament to the skills of cast and crew, and the fine script that managed to weave these disparate threads into whole cloth.

Mind you, the fact that the director is Feng Xiao Gang has a … (read more)

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