China
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Initially derided by audiences for its poor quality, Niu Lai – a home-made, micro-budget animated feature film – has become a cultural sensation in China, one that is being belatedly… Read More
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This week on RTHK Radio 3’s The Brew, I chat with Phil Whelan about Ricky Gervais’ animated Netflix series Alley Cats, episode six in the Insidious franchise, Chinese animated fantasy… Read More
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Chinese animation is riding an unprecedented wave of success, exemplified by the record-shattering run of Ne Zha 2 last year, but also represented by the likes of Chang’an (2023) and… Read More
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This week on RTHK Radio 3’s The Brew you can hear an excerpt from my interview with film composer Lorne Balfe, followed by reviews of Stephen Chow’s all-female sports comedy… Read More
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Twenty five years after scoring a resounding critical and commercial hit with the martial arts sports comedy Shaolin Soccer, Hong Kong film industry legend Stephen Chow unleashes an absolute howler… Read More
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This week on RTHK Radio 3’s The Brew, I chat to Phil about season 4 of Ted Lasso, the Teochew romantic comedy Back to Love, Korean family drama Number One,… Read More
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Earlier this year, Lan Hongchun’s historical romance Dear You became a surprise smash hit at the box office – both in Hong Kong and especially in mainland China, where it… Read More
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Boasting a cast of largely unknown actors and playing out almost entirely in the Teochew (Chiu Chow) dialect of eastern Guangdong, Lan Hongchun’s modestly budgeted drama Dear You has become… Read More
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Since it premiered at the 2024 Shanghai International Film Festival, Guan Hu’s pandemic-set drama A Man and a Woman has been languishing in a quarantine-like limbo for almost two years,… Read More
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Shifting gears between careers as a writer, entrepreneur, rally driver and filmmaker, post-80s poster boy Han Han adds another accolade to his cluttered trophy cabinet, scoring the biggest hit of… Read More
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Produced under the guidance of China’s Ministry of State Security, Zhang Yimou’s hi-tech spy thriller Scare Out is the first contemporary Chinese film to tackle the issue of national security… Read More
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Wu Jing and Nicholas Tse headline a star-studded action epic from martial arts master Yuen Woo Ping, adapted from the “Biao Ren” manhua comic books. Jet Li, Tony Leung Ka… Read More
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Wealth and good fortune are the twin engines of the Lunar New Year film season, and Hong Kong filmmaker Philip Yung Tsz-kwong’s The Snowball on a Sunny Day is the… Read More
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According to the Chinese horoscope, those born in the Year of the Horse are characterised as popular, charming and active, as well as energetic and independent. In the Year of… Read More
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In the wartime action drama Gezhi Town, set in a remote mountainous region of China, a group of desperate commoners and untrained soldiers band together to fend off a platoon… Read More
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Hong Kong movie star and producer Louis Koo Tin-lok is currently rewriting history – and box office records – with the time-travel adventure Back to the Past. Taking in over… Read More
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Jackie Chan strives to paint himself as a respectable father figure yet again in his new comedy drama Unexpected Family, playing an elderly man struggling with Alzheimer’s disease who mistakes… Read More
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In 2025, Asian cinema continues to make its mark around the world. Animated features from mainland China and Hong Kong, as well as Japan, have shattered box office records, while… Read More
The James Marsh film review archive 