It is an incredibly busy week of new releases, but quantity – it transpires – does not necessarily mean quality, as the distributors jostle to dump their non-blockbusters in a week without an obvious chart-topper. Amongst the chaff, however, there are a few prize grains of wheat, including the long-awaited new film from Soi Cheang and Iranian filmmaker Marjane Satrapi’s follow-up to her Oscar-nominated debut.

Movie of the Week: MOTORWAY

Directed by Soi Cheang
Soi Cheang has spent the last 2 years tweaking his high speed chase flick, and in the meantime certainly saw Nicolas Winding Refn’s DRIVE at least once. The result is a film that’s light on plot, but big on style – read my full review over at Twitch. (3/5)

SILENCED

Directed by Hwang Dong Hyeuk
Based on a true story, this is a tough Korean drama about an ambitious art teacher (Gong Yoo) from the city who takes a job at a remote school for the deaf, only to unearth a disturbing child abuse scandal. While pulling no punches, director Hwang delivers a slick production that manages to be entertaining as well as appropriately hard-hitting. (3/5)

CHICKEN WITH PLUMS

Directed by Vincent Paronnaud/Marjane Satrapi
After the success of Satrapi’s acclaimed debut, PERSEPOLIS, based on her own comic book, she stays in French-influenced Iran for her sophomore film. Matthew Amalric plays the unhappily married violinist Nasser-Ali, who resolves to kill himself after encountering a mysterious woman in the street. Over the course of his last 8 days alive we discover through flashbacks that the woman (the stunning Golshifteh Farahani – ABOUT ELLY) was no stranger at all. Satrapi’s style blends animation with expressionism and magical realism in a zany tableau that is both lively, expressive and somehow deeply moving. Pacing proves an issue during the second act, but there is tragic romance to spare in this encouraging second film. (3/5)

DIN TAO: LEADER OF THE PARADE

A massive hit in Taiwan, I reviewed this youth-oriented drumming drama here. (3/5)

THE RAVEN

Directed by James McTeigue
Hoping to do for Edgar Allan Poe what Guy Ritchie and Robert Downey Jr did for Sherlock Holmes, this strange and fanciful “What if…” from V FOR VENDETTA director McTeigue suggests that the acclaimed horror writer spent the last (unaccounted for) week of his life helping track down a copycat serial killer. John Cusack throws himself into the role and the film gives a suitable gothic look to 19th Century Baltimore, but the film never convinces its audiences to embrace this flight of fancy. (2/5)

BEING FLYNN

Directed by Paul Weitz
Adapted from Nick Flynn’s memoir Another Bullshit Night In Suck City, Paul “AMERICAN PIE” Weitz casts Paul Dano as the author’s onscreen namesake, working at a NYC homeless shelter. When his long-absent father (Robert De Niro), a self-declared genius novelist, appears in his lfe and soon ends up a resident of the shelter, Nick’s own life spirals out of control. The film takes itself incredibly seriously and struggles to convince the audience that it is as important as it believes itself to be. Not least because the numerous dramatic pitfalls that befall Nick and his father – alcoholism, drug addiction, random acts of violence, difficult relationships – come and go as conveniently, or inconveniently, as the plot requires, rather than shaping the narrative. Films about writers can often by inspirational, even when the characters’ writing itself isn’t, but in this particular case the infuriating protagonists (despite being well performed) make the film very difficult to like. That said, the Badly Drawn Boy soundtrack is bloody good. (2/5)

THE BOUNTY

Directed by Fung Chih Chiang
In an earlier incarnation, one suspects that THE BOUNTY was a comedic Western parody, as the film’s initial set-up introduces a number of tropes familiar with that particular genre. Chapman To plays a moneygrubbing bounty hunter for whom no job is too small. Trailing a vicious criminal who seriously brutalised a bride-to-be, he winds up at a remote island hotel run by Alex Man and his kooky daughter, Linda (Fiona Sit). Sadly the likable characters and promising premise are not enough for this oddball, uneven film to sustain audience interest and runs out of steam long before it finally comes to a close. (2/5)

SHADOWS OF LOVE

Directed by Calvin Poon
Cecilia Cheung plays opposite Korean stud Kwon Sang Woo in this long-delayed romance that was not screened for the press. The scant screenings on opening day suggest this might not be worth seeking out and continues Cecilia’s poor comeback track record.

THE WINGS OF THE KIRIN

Directed by Doi Nobuhiro
Japanese detective drama starring Abe Hiroshi and Aragaki Yui, based from a popular TV series. Now you know as much as I do.