Shiver (2003)

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Posted on October 1, 2003 by Eugene

When one comes across a film like Shiver I’m never sure whether we’re catching the tail end of a fad for ghost stories or serial killings or whether we have movie studios throwing all the components of what was ‘in’ in the hope that they can create something new and exciting.

Of course, it is rare that this happens but then there is the analogy about the amount of manure and needed to grow a flower. That’s not to say … (read more)

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Running on Karma (2003)

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Posted on September 27, 2003 by Eugene

I have to admit to not expecting much out of this one. The few stills from the film looked pretty silly especially with Andy looking <INSERT ACCENT="austrian"> “mighty”. The synopsis is not exactly something that inspires a lot of confidence as well. With a line like that, you have a sneaking suspicion that they’d travel the countryside in a van solving mysteries.

And the opening scene with Andy doing a strip show and going the full monty… hey, where’d everyone … (read more)

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God of Cookery (1996)

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Posted on September 27, 2003 by Mark Morrison

I keep reading that #1 Hong Kong box office star Stephen Chow is the master of the Cantonese pun, and that if you don’t speak Cantonese, then you just won’t get him.

Well, all those writers can go boil their heads.

Chow is also the master of slapstick, send-up, sight gag and silly expressions. He knows funny, and the perfect introduction to his wild makes-no-sense comic style is God of Cookery.

He plays (of course) the God of Cookery, … (read more)

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Dragon Loaded 2003 (2003)

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Posted on September 18, 2003 by Jonathan

Dragon Loaded 2003 is the most morally repugnant film I have seen this year. It features, among other things, scenes of a rascist, sexist and blasphemous nature, scenes of violence involving a minor, organ piracy, police vigilantism, sexual deviancy, full-frontal male nudity, substance abuse and nastiness with a bear trap. But… it’s funny.

Dragon Loaded wants to be a Stephen Chow film. It’s about half way there … it has no brains, sure, but it also has no Stephen Chow. … (read more)

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Fiza (2000)

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Posted on September 17, 2003 by Eugene

I, for one, remember little of the Mumbai riots.

If truth be told, I have trouble recalling when it was and what I was doing at the time. Despite the violence and destruction, it happened a world away and I was shielded from the goings on because there was no local connection.

Cold but true.

So watching Fiza was less a revisitng and more an awakening of what happened almost a decade ago in India and, more importantly, a look … (read more)

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Puchon Film Festival 03

Posted on September 14, 2003 by Russell

The Seoul sattelite city of Puchon or as it is now officially known Buchon is attempting to scale up its film festival and quit some of its high school play atmosphere. There was a sense at PIFAN (Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival) 2003 that things are just a bit more important, a bit more vital. And word has it that the local government are concerned that their money could be better spent elsewhere. But the festival itself is not in … (read more)

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Sydney International Film Festival 03

Posted on September 14, 2003 by Russell

Meanwhile at the State Theatre…

by Russell Edwards

Part 1: Chinese films at Sydney 2003

The 2003 Sydney Film Festival was one of the most consistently enjoyable – albeit unspectacular – festivals in director Gayle Lake’s reign. However the under-representation of Asian films in her programming, and the lack of quality on display, is a sad testimony as to why Sydney needs Paul De Carvalho’s and Juanita Kwok’s Sydney Asian Pacific Film Festival, when Melbourne and Brisbane seem to be … (read more)

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Hong Kong International Film Festival 02

Posted on September 14, 2003 by Alison

Episode 0: What Else I Did On My Holidays

First up, for anyone who doesn’t know, I was lucky enough to weasel my way into a private dinner with Johnnie To, director of various funky films and boss of Milkyway Image. Given the frisson I get whenever that cool logo sizzles its way across the screen, signalling the onset of another fine snippet of cinema, you can imagine how chuffed I was. And I somehow managed to be seated next … (read more)

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