The latest Asian movie releases. This week, Kim Ki-Duk’s strange, powerful self-portrait Arirang arrives in UK cinemas from Terracotta Distribution ARIRANG Kim Ki-Duk, 2011, South Korea UK theatrical (Terracotta Distribution) After spending many years telling the stories of others, it’s never surprising when filmmakers choose to turn the camera on themselves. Sometimes this means casting an actor as a fictionalised cypher (Fellini’s 8 1/2), sometimes the director will play that… Read More »
Browsing Category
The Fifth Dan
The Fifth Dan: Himizu
The latest Asian movie releases. Prolific Japanese director Sion Sono returns with Himizu, a dark teen drama out in cinemas today from Third Window Films HIMIZU Sion Sono, 2011, Japan UK theatrical (Third Window Films) The use of disasters – both natural and man-made – as a backdrop to film drama isn’t new. Events likes 9/11, Titanic, the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 or the eruption of Mount Vesuvius have… Read More »
The Fifth Dan: Nightfall
The latest Asian movie releases. Simon Yam finds himself drawn into a strange murder case in the Hong Kong cop thriller Nightfall, out now on Region 3 DVD. NIGHTFALL Roy Chow, 2012, Hong Kong Simon Yam has been one of my favourite Hong Kong actors for nearly as long as I’ve been watching Asian movies. By 1992, Yam had been acting for well over a decade, but it was his… Read More »
The Fifth Dan: Crime Or Punishment?!?
The latest Asian movie releases. There’s crazy cops’n’robbers hijinks in the Japanese comedy Crime Or Punishment?!?, out on DVD this week from Third Window Films. CRIME OR PUNISHMENT?!? Keralino Sandorovich, 2009, Japan UK DVD (Third Window Films) Comedy comes in many different flavours, and is perhaps the hardest film genre to get right. It’s also the genre that travels the least well – while an effective horror film or thriller… Read More »
