Moonlight In Tokyo (2005)

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Posted on December 31, 2005 by Eugene

Would I be alone in thinking there’s something amiss about the idea of Chapman To pimping out Leon Lai on the streets of Tokyo? If the answer was yes, then Moonlight in Tokyo is the answer to this singular eccentricity of yours.

If the answer was no … well I won’t have to call for the big guys with the padded van.

Disturbing as the central premise sounds, Moonlight in Tokyo is a surprisingly enjoyable film that looks at the … (read more)

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Requiem From The Darkness (2005)

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Posted on December 31, 2005 by Deni

Requiem from the Darkness, Kosetsu Hyaku Monogatari in Japanese, which translates as One Hundred Ghost Stories, might have been better served by keeping its original title. It could be argued that the original title describes better what the series is all about – it’s ghost stories around a campfire, under the covers on a sleepover with friends. It’s the silly chill derived from venturing into places as a child (dark places that are known and familiar during the day … (read more)

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Panda! Go Panda! (1972)

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Posted on December 31, 2005 by Ching Yee

What the synopsis above doesn’t tell you is how Mimiko ended up with such a family. Mimiko’s grandmother goes away on a short trip and after sending her off at the train station, Mimiko comes home to find a baby panda asleep on her porch. Before long a big (and I mean big) papa Panda comes looking for baby panda. Inspired by this cute panda duo and perhaps reminded of her own orphan status, Mimiko immediately asks the pandas to … (read more)

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Godzilla: Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)

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Posted on December 31, 2005 by Mat

With the current trend in the quality of Godzilla films that are being released, I was prepared to be disappointed with Godzilla: Invasion of Astro-Monster. The fact that it’s one of the old Godzilla films hailing from 1965 resulted in flashbacks of a dancing Godzilla from Godzilla vs. Ebirah which filled me with dread. Thankfully, I can say that Godzilla’s dancing in Godzilla: Invasion of Astro-Monster is limited to a simple ‘happy dance’ to signify that he is top … (read more)

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Kino’s Journey (2003)

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Posted on December 17, 2005 by Deni

Kino’s Journey is oddly ephemeral, like a dream where things make a strange kind of intangible sense, where whatever happens seems to elude true logic once awake. Or it’s like a mythology, a series of fairy tales where each story seems like a lesson the learner knows they must grasp, because the meanings can be felt, but not seen clearly. Each incomprehensible, beautiful country Kino and the sentient motorcycle Hermes visit is yet another piece of what seems to be … (read more)

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Duel Of Fists (1971)

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Posted on December 15, 2005 by Angus

Popular Shaw Brothers babes Ti Lung and David Chiang star in yet another Chang Cheh film about fraternal love, Duel of Fists. This came runner up to The Big Boss in the 1971 Hong Kong box office, but it’s much better.

Chang Cheh keeps things very simple in terms of plot, leaving as much room as possible for the action—on his fathers dying wish, Fan Ko (David Chiang) goes to Thailand to find his brother Wen Leih (Ti Lung), … (read more)

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My Generation (2004)

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Posted on December 10, 2005 by Christian

The world of DV filmmaking is a tantalising concept. Anyone can pick up a cheap camera, get a bunch of friends together arguing over a map and make their own Blair Witch Project. It’s affordable and offers complete control to the budding filmmaker, such that DV is sometimes also described as a “liberating” format by established big gun directors. Despite this dangling carrot of auteur-ship, the DV format seems to be something that these established film directors dabble … (read more)

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Crying Out Love, In The Centre Of The World (2004)

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Posted on December 9, 2005 by Christian

Dante once wrote “Places that are empty of you… are empty of all life” as an expression of the void created by the absence or loss of a loved one. It is this obtusely tragic sentiment which is explored by Isao Yukisada’s seventh feature film Crying Out Love, In The Centre Of The World. How does one deal with the loss of a loved one? Do we face it head on or do we turn our back to it; … (read more)

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