Author Archives: rebelsoftheneongod

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 LeeContinue reading “The Garden of Evening Mists (2019)”

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 alsoContinue reading “Goddamned Asura (2021)”

4.5/5 Writer, director, and editor Cooper Raiff’s coming-of-age dramedy about a 19-year old struggling to adapt to college life seems like a series of red flags; unassuming male protagonist, possibly creepy behavior as romance, stoner roommate, and whatever else you might be tired of seeing in indie and mainstream features about young adults in college.Continue reading “Shithouse (2020)”

Blue Bayou 112 minutes USA, 2021 4.5/5 Justin Chon’s 3rd feature-length outing as writer/director is an assured, confident mix of family drama, crime drama, and social commentary. Telling the story a 33-year old Korean adoptee who was brought to the US as an infant, our protagonist finds himself to have never been granted citizenship despiteContinue reading “Blue Bayou (2021)”

Writer/director Matsumoto Kana’s brilliant follow-up to her equally brilliant Mother Water (マザーウォーター) follows the actress Touko, portrayed by Kobayashi Satomi, who hitchhikes into the Tokyo night, encountering random people she connects with over the next two days. The first, Nagano (Kase Ryo, whom I have yet to see take on a bad role), believes he’sContinue reading “Tokyo Oasis (2011)”