The Japanese Film Festival 2016 is coming

Posted on August 31, 2016 by Justin


It’s the time of year when the Japanese Film Festival in Australia rolls around again, this year for the twentieth time!

The hardworking JFF crew have released their festival dates for all six cities, plus their initial slate of films, with more info to come as we get closer to the dates. The schedule looks like this:

  • Canberra: 14-23 Oct
  • Adelaide: 21-30 Oct
  • Brisbane: 26-30 Oct
  • Perth: 2-6 Nov
  • Sydney: 17-27 Nov
  • Melbourne: 24 Nov-4 Dec

The initial crop of … (read more)

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Millionaires Express (1986)

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Posted on August 18, 2016 by Andrew

This movie is ridiculous. I mean that in the best sense of the word, as in over-the-top silliness, expertly crafted to make you grin with glee or cringe with incredulity depending on your familiarity with Hong Kong’s special filmic sauce — equal parts broad visual gags, verbal comedy that doesn’t quite translate, kinetic action and a pinch or two of political incorrectness, all boiling down to a bubbling broth of good old fashioned fun.

Just look at that cast list! … (read more)

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This week in cinemas: ‘Train to Busan’ (South Korea)

Posted on August 13, 2016 by Justin

Speeding through Australian cinemas right now is South Korean hit zombie film Train to Busan, which has been garnering accolades both in Korea and abroad: ten million tickets sold domestically, an American cinema release and a bidding war over Hollywood remake rights. It’s safe to say that director Yeon Sang-ho has done well with his first live-action feature.

The film is a propulsive action/horror thriller with a more than a dash of social criticism at its core. It follows … (read more)

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Train to Busan (2016)

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Posted on August 8, 2016 by Justin

Korean film watchers might have spotted the news that zombie film Train to Busan screamed past the 10 million domestic tickets mark on Sunday, becoming the fourteenth Korean film to do so, ever. From all accounts, it seems to have been a bit of an unexpected hit, too: the zombie genre hasn’t been explored (even done to death?) in South Korea as it has in Hollywood, and it’s the first live action film from director Yeon Sang-ho, whose previous … (read more)

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Korean Film Festival (KOFFIA) 2016

Posted on July 27, 2016 by Justin

Film festival season is in full swing, with SFF having rolled through Sydney and MIFF up and running right now in Melbourne, but my personal favourite of the more focused festivals has arrived: The Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA) has released their dates and program for this year, and it looks great!

The festival comes to six cities this year, and the dates are:

  • Sydney: Aug 10-18
  • Brisbane: Aug 23-29
  • Melbourne: Sep 1-8
  • Canberra: Sep 3-4
  • Adelaide: Sep 15-18
… (read more)
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The Boy and the Beast (2015)

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Posted on July 1, 2016 by Deni

Mamoru Hosada has in some respects done what it seemed next to impossible to do a decade ago — make a name for himself in the Japanese animated feature film space. With the glut of it’s-a-movie-of-the-series films — understandably because that’s where the money’s at domestically — features that find their way beyond Japan’s borders and onto our cinema screens are a little few and far between and there are only a handful of directors known in the mainstream outside … (read more)

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This week in cinemas: ‘Three’ (HK/China)

Posted on June 26, 2016 by Justin

Already in Australian cinemas this week (it opened last Thursday, June 23) is a new film from one of our favourite directors, Hong Kong’s Johnnie To. And this time he’s returning to that most beloved of genres, the tense action-thriller.

Set in a hospital, Three revolves around a rapidly escalating standoff between a criminal who’s been admitted as a patient (Wallace Chung), the detective trying to bring him to justice (Louis Koo), and a neurosurgeon (Vicki Zhao Wei). The film … (read more)

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This week in cinemas: ‘The Wailing’ (South Korea)

Posted on June 7, 2016 by Justin

I was alerted this evening (thanks John!) to the fact that The Wailing (곡성), the new film from South Korean director Na Hong-jin (The Chaser, The Yellow Sea) opens in Aussie cinemas this week.

In keeping Na’s previous work, this looks like a gritty fusion psychological thriller and horror film, with a plot centered around a rural village in which a spate of mysterious illnesses and killings have erupted. The film stars Kwak Do-won, Hwang Jung-min, … (read more)

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