Yu Qiu (Nick Cheung) is a police officer deep undercover among the city drug gangs. After rescuing a young girl from a kidnapping, he stumbles upon a criminal enterprise exploiting children at the behest of a criminal mastermind known only … Continue reading REVIEW: The Trough (2018)
There is a relatively standard model to most sports documentaries: introduce the players, showcase their training process and get to know what achievement is at stake, and then play out the tournament to reveal whether or not they succeed. It … Continue reading JFF REVIEW: Sumodo: The Successors of Samurai (2020)
Con artist and habitual criminal Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) steps out of a five-year prison stay with the plan for her next heist already worked out in her head. With her cynical partner Lou (Cate Blanchett), she recruits a skilled … Continue reading REVIEW: Ocean’s 8 (2018)
An ambitious war hero (Gunnar Tolnæs) leads a mission to the red planet in Danish filmmaker Holger-Madsen’s ambitious silent feature A Trip to Mars (1918). A Trip to Mars was released just 16 years after George Méliès’ iconic A Trip to … Continue reading REVIEW: A Trip to Mars (1918)
In Nobody, a quiet middle-class husband and father is revealed to have a dark and violent past. He unleashes his rage on a group of young criminals – and that leads to him being targeted by the Russian mafia. You would be forgiven … Continue reading REVIEW: Nobody (2021)
There is a perilously fine line in most arthouse-oriented pictures between generating eye-opening epiphanies and inviting eye-rolling groans. What is worse, it is a line that is not only narrow but largely invisible. What works for one viewer does not … Continue reading REVIEW: The Falling (2014)
On 14 January 1987, student activist Park Jong-chul dies in police custody after being tortured over his suspected anti-government links. His murder sets off a chain of events involving a conscientious prison guard, a young first-year student, an alcoholic court … Continue reading REVIEW: 1987: When the Day Comes (2017)
When 1965’s Gamera the Giant Monster was an unexpected hit, the Daiei Studio commissioned a sequel, upped the budget and appointed a more prestigious director. When that follow-up, Gamera vs Barugon, was not the popular success the studio had imagined, they dropped the budget … Continue reading REVIEW: Gamera vs Gyaos (1967)
Kokone (Mitsuki Takahata) is a teenager living two lives. When she is awake, she is a Japanese schoolgirl on the run after her father was arrested and a mysterious tablet computer was shoved into her hands. When she sleeps she … Continue reading REVIEW: Napping Princess (2017)
We can argue the relative merits of adapting true events into fictional entertainment forever, and it is unlikely that we would ever reach a consensus. When we argue over adaptations of true events that involve death, tragedy, and murder, the … Continue reading REVIEW: Nitram (2021)
