Bits of film criticism, film history, film theory, and probably sometimes music.
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Robot Dreams
There is very little I could say or explain about Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams that hasn’t already been said or explained by perhaps better – certainly more professional – critics and writers, but what is the Internet for if not screaming into the void? An adaptation of a graphic novel by Sara Varon, the film… Read more
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The Garden of Evening Mists (2019)
An incredible cast, a great Taiwanese director, and remarkable production values from a co-production by heavyweights featuring HBO Asia, among many others. Unfortunately, it all let down by the absolutely incompetent storytelling decision to use dialog that is probably around 90% expository. Where did it all go wrong? Sylvia Chang, Malaysia’s Angelica Lee or Lee… Read more
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Goddamned Asura (2021)
Six people affected differently by the same effect; a mass shooting at a night market. The shooter, his friend, a victim, the victim’s fiancée, a journalist, and a witness. Where to start? Taiwanese cinema has long explored bleak depictions of working and middle class urban lives, and since the New Taiwan Cinema there has also… Read more
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Buddha Mountain (2010)
Buddha Mountain (观音山) 105 minutes China, 2010 5/5 A senior citizen opera singer (played by Sylvia Chang in a heartwarming but devastating flourish) is frustrated by the push for increasingly younger singers who disregard her teaching and direction. Elsewhere, three teenagers (Fan Bingbing, Chen Bolin, Fei Long) resist the pressure to sit for university exams… Read more
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The Seeming and the Meaning 