Infernal Affairs III (2003)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Jonathan

My expectations for Infernal Affairs 3 were not high. Infernal Affairs 2 had proved to be little more than a lazy attempt to ‘cash in’ on the (deserved) success of the first film by inexplicably substituting the original’s too-cool style for some bland direction and stupid story choices, and there seemed little reason to think IA 3 would be any different.

Well, at least this time Andrew Lau and Alan Mak have made something that can be described as a … (read more)

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Infernal Affairs II (2003)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Alison

Infernal Affairs 2, as the second act of the trilogy, starts the race with a handicap. Second acts are traditionally more down beat and less popular they either the first or third acts. Also, it follows up the enormously popular first part of the series, starring two of Hong Kong’s most popular A list actors. Nonetheless, it’s still a good film in its own right.

This is partly because the cast includes some seriously good dramatic actors, such as … (read more)

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In the Realm of the Senses (1972)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Alison

I’d probably have to call this one an example of hardcore arthouse erotica. You might call it a stick film with subtitles. Whatever we call it, it’s a challenging film with an awful lot of sex. An awful lot. The frequency of the sex gives rise to serious questions about abrasion and probably exhaustion. Sex sex sex sex sex, lashings of it. Phwoooar.

Now that the obligatory sleazy response is done with, I can get on with a more measured … (read more)

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Illicit Desire (1973)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Justin

Illicit Desire is another erotic costume drama from Li Han Hsiang, and the third from him that I’ve seen so far that is (at least partly) an adaptation from the same source — The Golden Lotus, as seen also in (unsurprisingly) The Golden Lotus and The Tiger Killer. He even uses some of the same actors, with Tanny Tien Ni, Hu Chin and Chen Ping also in this one.

This film’s a little different, though. It’s essentially three … (read more)

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Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Deni

Howl’s Moving Castle is as charming, as astonishingly detailed, as wonderful and magical as anything Miyazaki has ever offered to date. More fairytale than mythology, the story is based on the work of Diana Wynne Jones, a British fantasy novelist of long and popular standing. Sophie Hatter has a quiet and perfectly satisfying life taking after her name as a hat-maker, that is until the she meets both handsome magician and wicked Witch of the Waste in the same day … (read more)

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Dragon Tiger Gate (2006)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Eugene

‘BIF! KA-POW! CRASH!’

This is the comic book aesthetic viewed so fondly in retrospectives of those formative, younger years. Colourful garb and improbable science dominated those moments in the school yard in between those regularly scheduled beatings from the schoolyard bullies.

Such sentimental attachment brings a welling of emotion from within whenever there is a cinematic realisation of scenes previously locked in poses by the constraints of paper and ink — even in adaptations of source material that is otherwise … (read more)

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House of Flying Daggers (2004)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Eugene

I have to admit that when I first saw House of Flying Daggers, I felt somewhat ambivalent about it. I had somewhat decent expectations for the film since it was a Zhang Yimou film, the man who brought us Hero, and had a solid enough cast of Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau and Zhang Ziyi. Yet, while the performances were strong and set pieces impressive, the story was lacking and a great deal of the fighting lacked a certain … (read more)

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The Hidden Blade (2005)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Deni

Yohji Yamada’s second film is soft with the same rural beauty that made Twilight Samurai such a remarkably refreshing period piece. It is a personal story, unconventional perhaps because its subject matter seems so very conventional, and Yamada is becoming something of a thematic auteur with his quiet, realistic portrayals of the samurai way of life, his harmless non-heroes, his uncomplicated humour and his slow sense of inevitable conclusion.

Munezo Katagiri (Masatoshi Nagase) is an unmarried samurai indentured to a … (read more)

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