Sep 23
By Tom Eckert Johnnie To has created a fast paced thrilling insight into the dynamics of Hong Kong mobsters in Election. The setting was perfect in depicting the underground transactions and businesses run by the tribes – the juxtaposition between raw brutality and loyalty to a family would not have worked as well anywhere else …
Sep 19
By Tom Eckert Yang Zhang’s Paths of the Soul is a deeply meditative experience that touches on the deep spirituality of native Tibetans in an idiosyncratic pilgrimage journey of 2,000km to their most holy site made, unbelievably, whilst prostrating themselves to pray every few steps. The cinematography is simultaneously deeply respectful and awe-inspiring. Keeping his …
Sep 19
By Tom Eckert Yang Zhang’s documentary Paths of the Soul is a deeply meditative and privileged vision of an idiosyncratic Tibetan Buddhist pilgrimage ritual that sees them traveling 2,000km to their holy capital whilst throwing themselves prostrate every few steps. The cinematography is simultaneously deeply respectful and awe-inspiring. Keeping his distance, Zhang never allows the …
Sep 18
By Tom Eckert Stranger is the completion of Ermek Tursunov’s trilogy examining the Kazakh identity. Whilst described as apolitical by the director, Stranger is set in the times leading up to world war two after its protagonist defies to Soviet Union by not serving in the military following a situation where his father dies …
Sep 17
by Tom Eckert Psycho Raman, a psychological suspense film directed by Anurag Kashyap has a lot going for it but unfortunately could have been executed better. The plot centers around the parallel narrative of a psychopath and the Mumbai policeman whom he becomes platonically infatuated with upon seeing the policeman murder someone with the …
Sep 26
What is generally regarded as acclaimed Indian director Satyajit Ray’s most accomplished film, the 1964 masterpiece, Charulata (The Lonely Wife) screened during the OzAsia Festival to a sizeable crowd. Rich, beautiful and lonely Charulata (Madhabi Mukherjee in the titular role) is sick of life in her gilded cage in turn-of-the-century 1900s Calcutta. Despite the adoration …
Sep 16
Nobody really likes the idea of a 50+ year old man marrying a girl barely into her teens as part of an arranged marriage, particularly against the background of recent – tragic – media attention relating to the terrible consequences of such an intergenerational relationship. Even worse is the concept of imagining the act of consummating such …
Sep 16
What happens when somebody reaches out to you for help and you miss their cry? What consequences follow from your accidental failure? These are the questions posed in the South Australian premiere of Ishikawa Hiroshi’s ‘Petal Dance’, an evocative examination of the nature of grief, suicide, abandoned friendship and the rekindling of old connections. Haraki, …
Sep 12
Christmas Rose is the hotly anticipated directorial (and screenwriting) debut of popular Hong Kong actress Charlie Yeung, having its world premiere only a few months ago in May. Set almost exclusively inside a courtroom, this taut, clever legal thriller pits former hotshot defence lawyer turned highly moral prosecutor Tim (a dark and brooding Aaron Kwok) against …
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