Holy Mother (2022)
I watched Holy Mother the day after Yoshihiro Nishimura’s death, which made it difficult to regard the film merely as another cheap, bizarre and, to some viewers, probably repulsive splatter movie.…
How do we choose places?
Films — places featured in scenes or of particular importance to the film.
Music — cities where record labels are based.
Comics — places associated with publishers.
Pins for record labels and publishers may mark a chosen spot in the city rather than their exact address.
A Short History of Cinema in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan: 1896-1981. Part 1.
Cinema reached China in 1896, but a quarter of a century would pass before Chinese filmmakers made their first feature: Yan Ruisheng, directed by Ren Pengnian. When moving pictures arrived in the…
Velarium mix #2
The second episode of the series brings together music I discovered relatively recently and recordings that have been with me for years. Artists familiar from the first mix also return. This time, we…
The Shadow’s Edge (2025)
Larry Yang’s The Shadow’s Edge is a Chinese-Hong Kong remake of Yau Nai-hoi’s 2007 Hong Kong police thriller Eye in the Sky. The newer production therefore not only tells a story about a clash…
Jennifer Blood #1-6 (2011)
Jennifer Blood #1–6(Dynamite Entertainment, February–November 2011) Writer: Garth EnnisArt: Adriano Batista (#1–2), Adriano Batista and Marcos Marz (#3), Marcos Marz i Kewber Baal (#4), Kewber Baal…
Should They Marry? (1951)
Should They Marry?aka Spoiling the Wedding Day(Wù jiā qī; lit. The Missed Auspicious Date or The Delayed Wedding) Directors: Zhu Shilin, Bai ShenScreenplay: Lu YuCinematography: Cao JinyunMusic: Li…
Panorama of Japanese Cinema 1951 (part 8)
Repastaka A Married Life(Meshi) Director: Mikio NaruseScreenplay: Toshirō Ide, Sumie TanakaCinematography: Masao TamaiMusic: Fumio HayasakaAsst. director: Masayoshi KawanishiStudio: TohoGenre: Drama…
Hell Sonja (2022), #1-5
Issue One. Issue Two. Issue Three. Issue Four. Issue Five. Hell Sonja, #1–5 Writer: Christopher HastingsArt: Pasquale Qualano (#1–4), Andres Labrada (#5)Colours: Kike J. Díaz (#1–2, #4), Ellie Wright…
Trapped (2025)
The story of Trapped takes place in 1995, one year before China’s gun-control law came into force. Director and screenwriter Zhang Qi uses this moment as a boundary between an old order governed by…
The Kid (1950): Childhood and Hong Kong Cinema in the Early 1950s
Issues surrounding childhood and portrayals of children repeatedly appeared in Hong Kong cinema during the early 1950s, in both the Cantonese and Mandarin film industries. They served as a metaphor…