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Another Heaven (2000)
If you’ve ever wondered what the inside of the skull looks like, then this is the film for you. Likewise if you’re looking for several new recipes with which to nauseate your friends.
This little-known gem of Japanese serial killer cinema starts with a murder scene, crawling with cops. When the morgue attendants arrive, with the senior saying “Oh, the corpse doesn’t look as gruesome as some. It’s my trainee’s first day” you know that both you and the trainee … (read more)
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Conman 2002 (2002)
OK, hands up all those who have seen Tricky Master 2000.
Right, keep your hands up if you LIKED Tricky Master 2000.
Mm hmm. Well, those of you with your hands still up probably going to love this film.
As for everyone else, well…
OK. I admit it. I laughed at this movie. I sat there, in the cinema, and did not have a horrible time watching it. It takes a certain sense of humour to appreciate this … (read more)
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Dance of a Dream (2001)
Andy Lau conceived this film as an antidote to the general spiritual malaise that swept the world in the wake of the World Trade Centre bombings: it went together fast, and was intended to make people in Hong Kong smile and feel good again. Andy himself was stuck in Toronto, having gone there with Johnnie To to promote Fulltime Killer, and didn’t make it to Australia in time for the Melbourne concert to which I had a damn good … (read more)
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Demi-Haunted (2000)
Let’s get my prejudices out in the open, OK? I have never been a particularly big fan of Chinese opera. Something to do with growing up and listening to it and not knowing what was going on and the constant clang of the percussion methinks. Even when I saw Farewell My Concubine, my eyes kind of glazed over when there were those (thankfully) few opera scenes. That and there seems on irregular intervals, bursts of hip-hop (another type of … (read more)
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Frugal Game (2002)
Ah.. in the harsh, capitalistic rat-race globe that we live in, this “frugal game” is more like the brutal game aka ‘survival of the fittest’.
Whatever game it may be, Chin-Wah [Miriam Yeung] a university graduate, is finding it tough to find work post Asian economy collapse. Her dad Wai [Eric Tsang] isn’t faring any better having been out of work for some time and keeping up the pretence that he’s employed by cheerily donning his suit in the morning … (read more)
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Funeral March (2001)
With a title like Funeral March, you can hardly expect it to be cheery and uplifting and boy does it not disappoint in the tragedy department.
Kwun Yi [Charlene Choi] is a wealthy cancer patient, convinced that she will die soon. She goes about arranging her funeral in advance, enlisting Siu Duen [Eason Chan], a funeral organiser to arrange the BIG day. She’s impressed by his pride in his work and his attention to details. It gets better, he … (read more)
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Golden Chicken (2002)
“What, no Andy, no moaning?” This has to be my favourite line from this film, and is a good contender for my favourite line ever. We hear it late in the film, when Ah Kam, our golden chicken, is being tutored in the fine art of moaning. This comes about as an extension of a famous ad that featured Andy Lau instructing Hong Kong workers how to serve customers: to Kam’s surprise, Andy climbs out of her telly and starts … (read more)
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Kikujiro (2000)
The first thing I should say about Kikujiro is that there’s no unsanctioned chopstick use. No guns. No knives. Not even a stick with a nail in it, although Beat Takeshi’s character cops, or delivers, the odd kicking.
No, this film is an atypical one for director Takeshi, and deliberately so: he sought to make a film that defied the stereotype for Beat Takeshi films. It does, however, bear the director’s stamp: in the same way as a Greenaway or … (read more)
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