Short Reviews

The Deflowering of Eva van End

Playing like a Dutch version of Wes Anderson or Todd Solondz, Michiel ten Horn’s deliciously black comedy sees a high-strung middle class suburban family hrown into meltdown when a German… Read More
After Lucia

Superb character drama from Mexico that follows a father and daughter battling to put their lives back on track following the death of their wife and mother. Alejandra (Tessa Ia)… Read More
The One

For some reason I had been under the impression that this sci-fi actioner, teaming Jet Li with Jason Statham, was good. But it isn’t, not at all. It’s cheap, uninteresting,… Read More
Drug War

Johnnie To heads to the mainland for this tense, absorbing thriller starring the excellent Sun Hong Lei as a dedicated cop trying to take down a complex drug operation that… Read More
Library Wars

From the director of Gantz comes the big screen live action adaptation of the popular novels. In a Bradbury/Orwell future where books are burned as subversive, a young woman joins… Read More
Talk To The Dead

This low budget Japanese horror flick from The Ring and The Grudge producer Ichise Takashige is the story of Yuri, who is forced to work as a call girl to… Read More
Ip Man: The Final Fight

Opening this year’s HK International Film Festival is Herman Yau’s follow up to The Legend Is Born. Anthony Wong stars as an aging Ip Man, forced to abandon his wing… Read More
Mama

Guillermo del Toro dons his executive producer hat once again, helping first-time writer-director Andres Muschetti adapt his 2008 short film into a feature. Shot in Canada, Mama tells the story… Read More
The Croods

From the creative team behind How To Train Your Dragon comes this prehistoric animated comedy, originally conceived as a project for Aardman Animation, with an original script by John Cleese. Read More
Quadrophenia

My March entry in Twitch’s Full Disclosure feature is Franc Roddam’s big screen adaptation of The Who’s classic album. Phil Daniels plays a pill-popping young Mod, who tires of his… Read More
A Case of Eggs

Set in South Korea, this short film is the story of Ji-hye, a beautiful woman whose job as a translator dominates her life. When her 30th birthday comes round and… Read More
Oz the Great and Powerful

Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Spider-man) re-teams with James Franco for this big budget prequel to the classic MGM musical, dispensing with the songs but layering on the lurid 3D… Read More
Saving General Yang

Ronny Yu, the director of The Bride With White Hair and Freddy Vs. Jason, tries his hand at the large-scale period Chinese epic, recounting the famous story of General Yang… Read More
Rust and Bone

As a big fan of Jacques Audiard and his films (A Prophet, The Beat That My Heart Skipped), as well as stars Marion Cotillard (Inception, La Vie en Rose) and… Read More
Southern Comfort

I first came to this film during my university days, in the wake of John Boorman’s Deliverance – a film I love to this day. I knew Walter Hill from… Read More
Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007

Stevan Riley’s fantastic new documentary on the James Bond franchise is now available to watch on iTunes. It is an absolute must-see for any self-respecting Bond fan. You can find… Read More
Witness For The Prosecution

The final film in the Hong Kong Film Archive’s short series honouring the cinematic collaboration between Billy Wilder and Marlene Dietrich, is this masterclass in courtroom drama and wry British… Read More
Thirst

The last film in my Park Chan-wook retrospective is his utterly bonkers vampire film from 2009. Song Kang-ho plays Sang-hyun, a Catholic priest who volunteers to help find a cure… Read More