Lost for decades, Asia is One was rediscovered in 2005. Shot around the time of the reversion, Asia is One initially begins by capturing shifting perceptions in Okinawa and economic developments—from the onset of increased tourism and cultural preservation, to the exodus of islanders migrating to the mainland for better opportunities whether for work, education or a better life. Composed of testimonials, Asia is One uncovers the history of labor abuse and exploitation by mainland mining companies since the 1930s and documents the Taiwanese and Zainichi immigrants who worked in these harsh mines, confronting the legacy of imperialism alongside concepts of border and identity on the vast stretches of islands that lead down to Taiwan.Read More »

Friendship and principles are put to a test in the circle of Jakarta’s social elite which can be as turbulent as the city’s slums.Read More »

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The incomparable Gong Li (Raise the Red Lantern) gives a mesmerizing, take-no-prisoners performance in Saturday Fiction, a slow-burn spy thriller set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai on the cusp of World War II. She plays acclaimed actress Jean Yu, who has returned to Shanghai from China after a long absence. Jean Yu is in rehearsals for a play to be directed by a former lover (Mark Chao), but she seems to have ulterior motives, functioning as a double agent and gathering intelligence for the Allies, including the fateful realization of Japan’s imminent attack on Pearl Harbor. Shooting in evocative black-and-white, director Lou Ye (Spring Fever) has created here a gripping thriller that builds to a nerve-wracking climax, and which never loses sight of the human beings caught up in the gears of history.Read More »

The great Okawa Hashizo plays a double role in this thrilling tale of intrigue and corruption within the capital city of Edo. When Moriya Shuma, an injured Edo officer is rescued by a vassal whose appears to be his exact double, he swears to sweep out all the criminals from the city. Directed by one of Japan’s most revered filmmakers, Nakagawa Nobuo, this story is filled with twists and turns, and loaded with surprises. Plenty of realistic swordplay highlights this exciting motion picture.Read More »

A young girl, Kodou, submits herself, somewhat out of bravado, to a tattooing practice. But in the middle of the ceremony, and while the matrons are singing to her, Kodou runs away – a serious offence to the age-old traditions of the village. Kodou’s family feels discredited, her friends make fun of her. Confined to a quasi-quarantine, Kodou goes mad and violently attacks the young children. Her parents end up taking her to a psychiatric hospital run by a European doctor, but to no avail. They then decide to submit her to a traditional exorcism session. Then Kodou is brought back home. Will she be cured?Read More »

About the movie:
(fictionalised documentary), script and directing with Witold Lesiewicz. A two-part film. The part made by Munk is about the work ethos again, this time the work ethos of miners. It is a story about people from the mine’s management who want to fulfil the production quota, which is at risk of not being met, and go down an old, unused mine shaft to look for coal. The film is schematic in plot but interesting as to form. (Awards: 1955 – Special Mention from the State Award Committee)Read More »

IMDB wrote:
A teacher of philosophy encounters a complicated pupil; a seventeen year old girl who possesses quite a cynical view of the world. He attempts to help her focus on her studies, but soon becomes fascinated by her.Read More »

Synopsis: Kamikaze Hearts provocatively depicts a relationship between two lesbian drug addicts. By blending cinema verite and docu-drama, Juliet Bashore’s one-of-a-kind entry mines the raw material in this love story about porn star Sharon Mitchell and her sometime producer Tina “Tigr” Mennett. What unfolds is an uncommon peek at the underground “adult film industry.” Moreover, viewers see two unusual women
who buck the traditional ways of a male-dominated society through wholly unconventional, if self-destructive, means.Read More »

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Robin Wood located the seeds for the ghoulish moppet’s maternal stabbing in Night of the Living Dead (and The Exorcist, The Omen, The Brady Bunch, et al.) in little Tootie pulverizing the snowmen in Meet Me in St. Louis; roots had already settled by the time Maxwell Anderson’s play about a soulless sprite got transplanted to screens, only the intergenerational anxiety is whipped into safe, static, psycho-babbling kitsch hysteria. Rhoda (Patty McCormick), the pigtailed, 8-year-old devil, skips back home from drowning a schoolmate and asks mom Nancy Kelly for a peanut-butter sandwich; a “perfect little ray of sunshine,” Au Clair de la Lune played on a loop while the handyman (Henry Jones), wise to the monster behind the curtsies, is barbecued in the basement. Read More »