Kung Fu (2026) NYAFF 2026 Fantasia 2026

Nebish is trained by a vagrant who is actually a martial arts master in order to help fight a big bad.

Smack the schedulers of NYAFF for burying this in a late night weeknight slot since this film would rock out on a rainy Saturday or Sunday Afternoon. This is pure entertainment.

The best sort of knowing send up, this is a film that kicks serious ass. It know it isn't doing anything new but it goes for it anyway, dressing it self in incredible action sequences, spot on jokes and a sense that underneath the humor and familiarity that this is still a pretty cool story worthy of hearing again.

Does it rattle the pillars of heaven? In a theater with a rowdy crowd stoked on sugary drinks and popcorn it will.

This is an old school NYAFF film and as such recommended.

China Sea (2025)Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

A fighter accidentally injures another fighter and is blackballed. Left with no place to fight he returns home and finds life complicated.

This is a dark sad drama that is going to leave you broken at the end. No one and nothing is spared (that is a spoiler/warning). There is a reason why we never see sunshine and that is because there is no daylight for anyone in the film. A coproduction between Lithuania and Taiwan the film has the bleakness that you can only find in Eastern European films. It's so dark I had to try it a second time because the first attempt at watching it depressed me so.

This is cinema as gut punch. It's a film that grabs you by the eyes in the open moments and puts you in a place that stays with you for days. Its a place you will be glad that you are only visiting. This is a film that is set among the people who don't realize how deep in hell they are.

That, my friends is a rave. 

This is a brilliant one-of-a-kind film, and I want to never see it again. I can't say much more because I need to get out of the film's headspace.

I have no idea what director Jurgis Matulevičius has done before but I want to see everything.

A must see.

Haunted Mountain: The Yellow Taboo (2025) Fantasia 2025

 Hikers head into the woods and end up in a weird loop of events.

This is not a time loop sort of film but something else entirely. It's a replaying of events and varations and... I really can't explain it simply.

What I can explain simply is that I am torn about this film . The images are truly spectacular, this maybe the best looking horror film I've seen this year. There are moments and sequences that are truly chilling. This film has some images that are now burned into my brain

 On the other hand the narrative and its looping story telling never really comes together. This is always a danger with films that loop, and its a danger most films of this sort fall into. I know that some times with films from outside of the US the narrative is not rigidly controlled, and in most cases it works, but the looping, time shifting, weirdness here keeps the film from truly working. Yes by the time the film ended I knew what was going on, but at the same time I was never connected. Intellectually I knew what happened, but emotionally I felt nothing.

I don't hate this film, I just wish the great visuals and moments had a better narrative thread to hang off of.

EMBERS (2024) NYAFF 2025

 This is the best film I saw at NYAFF. Even if this wasn't a weak year at NYAFF this would still be one of the best films at this fest (and many others as well)

The film is the story of a police detective sucked into the bad old times of the White Terror after the leads in a marketplace murder lead into unexpected places.

This film is riviting. Its a slow burn and complicated (in the right sort of a way) thriller that grabs you early on and makes you want to see where it goes. It's also a film that doesn't dumb anything down and trusts it's audience.

This film is light years ahead of even the recent thrillers from Hollywood.

I fell hard for this film. I was running out of stamina after a long series of not very good films when I put this film on. I was thinking I was going to bail on the film somewhere into the film (I've done that with too many films recently). Because I expected not to like the film I didn't think the almost three hour run time was going to matter... It did matter because I was so locked and loaded into the film I got to bed several hours after my normal bed time.

This is a great film and a unheralded  gem

Highly recommended.

Find Me (2024) DOCNYC 2024

"Your the best Mom I could have asked for" 

A Chinese woman name Kuo attempts to find her birth mother in Taipei.

Kuo is a thirty something year old woman who works as a flight medic.  Not long after she was born in Taipei she was adopted by an American family. The question of her birth family was somewhat of a mystery because she was a child connected to an infamous scandal where a woman was obtaining babies under questionable circumstances, misdirection and possible out right theft was involved.  While Kuo sorted out some of her past other parts remain clouded and she goes to try and find it.

This is a super short film that I would love to see expanded into a feature film both because the subject has a lot to it but also because there is potentially more to it that is coming. Director Hsi Cheng does something most directors would never do and that is let the subject  tell their story and lets it go where it will. The result is a very real film that makes us feel like we really know Kuo and her mother. It’s so moving that when I heard the final line I got misty.

This is great filmmaking

BREAKING AND REENTERING (2024) NYAFF 2024

After a band of thieves break into a bank and clean out the vault, they find that they have to put the money back because the leader's  girlfriend is blamed.

It's much more complicated than that but that is enough to get you started with this delightful caper film that riffs on all the recent Hollywood caper films while turning them all on their ear. This is just great fun.

To be honest you have to stay through the set up. I had a hard time warming to the film for the first few minutes because it was spinning out in such a rote method. It was so obviously riffing on films like OCEAN'S 8, 11,12 and 13 that I was bracing for a ride I could plan from start to finish. Thankfully there was a point where the film just flopped and shook off the copying and then began to really knock my socks off.

What an absolutely delightful film.

Ultimately it doesn't entirely chart a new path, but it manages to be so damn entertaining you really won't care.

Highly recommended.

It hits Netflix August 1

OLD FOX (2023) NYAFF 2024 Asian Film Festival of Dallas 2024

Set in 1990 during the economic boom in Taiwan the film follows a young boy living with his widowed father. They have plans to open up hair salon as soon as they save up enough money. The boy becomes friends with a crafty old man, their landlord, who is a master at manipulation.

Solid drama that in some ways echoes films like A BRONX TALE, minus the gunfire, about a young man finding a surrogate father in an unexpected place. It's a film that manages to overcome the occasional expected beat by showing us things we never quite expected. 

That the film is so compelling is thanks to the cast who lift up their characters and make them into something more than run of the mill.

While the film isn't going to rattle the pillars of heaven, the film does entertain from start to finish which is always enough to recommend it

Be With Me (2023) NYAFF 2024

Hou Hsiao-hsien produces the first film of his art director Huang Wen-Ying to mixed results.

In BE WITH ME an art director leaves her film to go take care of her father who is stopping all treatment for his illness. As she cares for him she ponders her life, loves and mostly her relationship with her grandfather who set her on her life path.

Great looking, moody drama is a tough slog to get through. This a deep and meaningful art house film that plays like a lesser Hou Hsiao-hsien film. While not bad, it's so low key and deliberately paced that interest wanes.  There is a good story here, it just needs a telling that moves a bit quicker.

While I didn't care for it die hard fans of Hou Hsiao-hsien may want to try it.

The Time of Huannan (2023) NYAFF 2024

Set in 1991 in a legendary food market, the film charts the relation ship between a gang of four friends, three boys and a girl. 

Romance mixes with fantasy and drama as this tale juggles a lot of threads that go all over the place in an insistent  way. I never warmed to the film which seemed to want to let us know all through it that it has something important to say. I'm not so certain it does.

A miss.

Invisible Nation (2023) closes Slamdance 2024 January 25

INVISIBLE NATION is a vital must see film. The film is a look at the thorny situation the island nation of Taiwan is in.  Stuck in the unenviable position of being one of the great commercial powers of the world, it is in a quasi-nation status officially because no one wants to piss off Mainland China. As Chinese begin to make moves to try and take the island back, this film will explain what is going on.  Focusing on the tenure of Tsai Ing-wen, the first female president of Taiwan, the film explains how she came to power and how she has to walk a tightrope

While the world is currently focused on the Middle East a lot of people are forgetting that the Taiwan/China  situation is threatening to cause a conflict on the other side of the globe. I say this because there simply isn't enough reporting of China's belligerent moves, just as they don't report what is going on in Hong Kong. People don't realize that China may very well invade and try to take the country back. Sadly because everyone wants to stay on the good side of the Communist government. This film explains why this is a bad thing.

I'm kind of at a loss for words. This film simply filled me with so much information and anger that I don't know what to say. The information is a look at the whole  history of the country and how it is slowly being made the red headed stepchild. The anger is from the realization that perhaps Taiwan maybe doomed because too many people, including those in the various governments across the globe, are unaware of what is at stake. This film explains what is at stake.

The only thing I can say is just go see this film. Its a calm and reasoned film about a very dangerous situation that could end up very badly.  You need to see this so that you know what is happening because it is going to effect what happens to you.

Highly recommended

Invisible Nation (2023)Middleburg Film Festival 2023, IDFA 2023,Hamptons 2023

INVISIBLE NATION is a vital must see film. The film is a look at the thorny situation the island nation of Taiwan is in.  Stuck in the unenviable position of being one of the great commercial powers of the world, it is in a quasi-nation status officially because no one wants to piss off Mainland China. As Chinese begin to make moves to try and take the island back, this film will explain what is going on.  Focusing on the tenure of Tsai Ing-wen, the first female president of Taiwan, the film explains how she came to power and how she has to walk a tightrope

While the world is currently focused on the Middle East a lot of people are forgetting that the Taiwan/China  situation is threatening to cause a conflict on the other side of the globe. I say this because there simply isn't enough reporting of China's belligerent moves, just as they don't report what is going on in Hong Kong. People don't realize that China may very well invade and try to take the country back. Sadly because everyone wants to stay on the good side of the Communist government. This film explains why this is a bad thing.

I'm kind of at a loss for words. This film simply filled me with so much information and anger that I don't know what to say. The information is a look at the whole  history of the country and how it is slowly being made the red headed stepchild. The anger is from the realization that perhaps Taiwan maybe doomed because too many people, including those in the various governments across the globe, are unaware of what is at stake. This film explains what is at stake.

The only thing I can say is just go see this film. Its a calm and reasoned film about a very dangerous situation that could end up very badly.  You need to see this so that you know what is happening because it is going to effect what happens to you.

Highly recommended

INVISIBLE NATION screened earlier today at the Middleburg Film Festival. It screens next at IDFA on November 14,15,16 and 18

The Abandoned (2022)NYAFF 2023 Fantasia 2023

Burned out cop who is about to commit suicide is surprised when people come running around her car, fleeing from a dead body. This sends the reluctant detective to team up with a newbie to track down a serial killer.

This mix of one part psychological study and one part thriller results in a  moody trip to the dark side. The film also has something to say about the way people see migrants since the victims all appear to be one. But don't worry about that last part this is a gritty thriller that is likely to get under your skin.

 I really liked this film a great deal, Sure there is a few too many pregnant silences, but the the thriller itself is so compelling that you are going to want to see how this plays out...and then you'll want to see it again to see what you missed.

Recommended.

Bad Education (2022) NYAFF 2023

The set up of BAD EDUCATION would seem to make it seem at least a little humorous. The reality is this is a film that turns the bad night out with friends genre on its head in ways that even dark versions of it haven't managed to achieve.

The set up has a group of friends telling stories of the worst thing they have ever done. It's not always clear if the things happened or its boasting. When one of them doesn't have a tale, they decide to do something about it and it all goes to hell.

While I'm not going to lie and say the film is perfect, the film at times feels a bit to much like a morality tale then a trip to the sewer, but the film most certainly creates a horrible sense of dread. Lines are crossed, bad things happen, cries get caught in our throat and "oh ----no" will be said out loud to no one more than a few times. This is a film that will make you squirm in your seat.

The temptation is to talk too much about this film, but you really should go in blind. The less you know the better. Trust me.

If you want the truth, I wasn't going to cover this film. It was mixed in with a bunch of titles and I was going to ignore it. Then I decided to just try it to see what it is. Basically, I went into this film with no expectations. Actually, I went into the film expecting to watch ten or fifteen minutes and then jump to something else. I never jumped. I was too must talking at the screen and wondering where this was going to move on to the next thing. Films like this the sort of nightmarish discoveries that made me fall in love with NYAFF.

A hidden gem of this years NYAFF, BAD EDUCATION is recommended.

Hideout (2023)Fantaspoa 2023

 

Hideout just misses.

The story of a get rich quick scheme involving a briefcase full of cocaine that goes horribly wrong the film is never really compelling.

The problem with the film never wholly feels real. The characters feel like someone’s idea of what characters would be in a crime drama instead of actual people. That might have worked if there was a real sense of urgency to the proceedings but we never feel that. This feels like just a bunch of people interacting over criminal matters instead of people doing illegal things that will result in a bunch of them dying. While I appreciate the film trying to simply make events seem like they are just part of life, the fact that there is no real effort to be a crime drama works against this film. The film looks like a family drama is going to break out at any moment instead of an act of violence so we never feel the need to lean in.

While I think the script works, I’m not sure the directorial choices do.

A rare Fantaspoa miss

GODDAMNED ASURA (2022) TIFF 2022

Director Lou Yi-An GODDAMNED ASURA will rock you.  The film is the story of a shooting in Taiwan and what happened in it's wake. Its a story of six people, a video game a, a comic, alter senses of reality and several other threads that will make you realize that nothing is as cut and dry as you see on the news.

I am normally very wary of any film that is the official entry for the Oscar's because it's more often than not a seemingly randomly chosen film that is okay but nothing special. Every year as the entries cross my in box I am always left to decide if I want to be disappointed or not. On the other hand GODDAMNED ASURA surprised me in the best sort of way.  This is a film that is worthy of Oscar's notice simply because it's a great film. If Oscar were truly an awards show for the best films of the year it would be running for many awards.

While I love pretty much everything about this film, I am most thrilled with the screenplay. A tightly wound affair it takes it's time building characters and setting up the narrative threads. Everyone is well rounded and complex. There are layers to everything and everyone and I was half way into the film when I realized that I need to see the film a second or third time just to catch all the little nuances and details that Lou Yi-An put into every scene. Most American films are nowhere near as rich as this and yet they get all the notice.

The cast is first rate. Another recent example of the Academy needing an ensemble award, there was no point where the actor separated from their character, despite knowing I have seen their work in other films. They are so good as a group that  I don't want to single anyone out.

GODDAMNED ASURA also doesn't really resolve many of the threads. Yes we know what happened and why, but the threads of people's lives, the threads of what happens next to everyone isn't settled. We are left to ponder everyone and everything that we have seen with the result that the film hangs with us as we ponder what happened after the final fade out. 

I love this film to death. It kicked me in the gut and made me think about a lot of things that I am still trying to process.

One the best films I've seen this year, it's a film I am going to be pulling for to make it into the final group of Oscar films. It's also a film I don't want to see Hollywood to remake because they will only mess it up.

Highly recommended.

Demigod:The Legend Begins (2022) Fantasia 2022

The creators of LEGEND OF THE SACRED STONE return with another puppet wuxia epic that you have to see to believe.

The film begins with Win Lin unintentionally taking sides in a battle between two mythical monsters. This sets in motion events that may spell the doom of everyone.

Don’t let the fact this film is all puppets turn you off this is kick ass film making and towering story telling. The puppets give us a sense of reality while at the same time opening up our minds to the sense that anything can happen. Playing exactly like a martial arts epic of the 1970’s the film amps it up by having creatures that fit the world. There is no noticeable CGI so we believe anything is possible, and fear for the characters because they can get hurt (blood flows).  This is movie magic of the highest order.

I can’t recommend this film enough. It’s a great action epic and one hell of a story.

This is what going to the movies is all about.

THE FUNERAL (2022) NYAFF 2022

 

Mother and daughter go home for a funeral and feel they are being pursued by spirits.

Mostly good horror film really could have used a decision as to what sort of a film it is.  Is this a moody supernatural tale or is this a loud noise jump machine? I found the film worked best when creating mood rather than  going for the jump scares. 

There is a good plot here though I don't know if director Dan-Guei Shen understands that since the late in the game sting in the tail could have been more chilling had Shen not tried to make the film everything to everyone. You can't have the film cover everything since some of the legs collapse as we go along. 

Still I mostly had a good time. Worth a look for horror fans. 

Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003)hits the Metrograph tomorrow

 

I am all over the place with the films of  Tsai Ming-liang. Some I like (YOUR  FACE) some I dislike (DAYS)  and some I’m mixed on (STRAY DOGS).  I know the feeling is shared by many of my film friends, all of whom will always dash out to see the latest film by the master simply because he is going to give us something approximating life in a way no one else is really doing.

The one film everyone seems to love is GOODBYE, DRAGON INN his classic  about a screening of the classic film DRAGON INN on a rainy night in a theater slated to close. While I won’t call it, as Apichatpong Weerasethakul has, the greatest film in the last 125 years, I do think it’s a very good film. With the film getting a run starting Friday at the Metrograph in New York I revisited the film for the first time in a decade or more

The film doesn’t have a plot as such, it’s simply people living. The ticket seller tries to give the projectionist a bun, a tourist tries to pick up some one up and people watch the film. Basically life happens.

I like that we just sort of fall into the film. I love how we effortlessly are placed into the theater and the events. From the opening moments when we are peaking out of curtains we are in the theater with these people. It’s a small trick that made me understand why I like this film more than some of the directors other films, and that our introduction to events is effortless.  He tricks us into thinking we are there. The camera set-ups and shot choices are always places where we could be. That always isn’t the case, especially  DAYS, which left me wondering why we are there. In GOODBYE I understand why, because we bought a ticket and we decided to wander the theater.

Watching the film I understand why the film clicks with so many. There is a not only a life to it but a genuine and real connection to our life through the way we are drawn into the action.

If you’ve never seen it, you should. If you have seen it see it again, especially if you are like me and revisiting it again for the first time in a long time.

Recommended.

Dead and Beautiful (2021)

 Dead and Beautiful is a form over content “horror” film. It’s the story of five rich bored friends who set up adventures for each other in the hope of ending the boredom finding that they have become vampires after one adventure goes wrong.

Its not that scary or that exciting as the film seems to be more interested in exploring notions of how we see life and how we interact with each other. It could have been an interesting change of pace but the construction of the film doesn’t allow for it.  After the set up the film then has the characters explore what being a vampire really means. The rules of this iteration of being a vampire are interesting and I looked forward to seeing what the film did with it.

Unfortunately somewhere around the midpoint the film shifts and we get a film that tosses the fear for drama as the dull boring characters have to deal with what their situation means and how it effects their relationship. It might have been interesting if we had interesting people on screen but everyone is so self-absorbed we never care.

While the film most definitely looks great there isn’t anything here beyond that.

Detention (2020) opens Friday

Taiwan in 1962, during the time of the White Terror in Taiwan, a time of martial law a secret literary group gathers in a school to discuss banned books. When the teacher running the group disappears things go sideways with young Wei waking up at her desk to find the school over run with dark forces.

Historical drama collides with a coming of age tale in a monster filled supernatural world in an ever shifting film that gets under your skin. While never bone chillingly terrifying, there are too many threads that prevent the film from sliding over in to pure horror, the film is the sort of tale that hangs with you long after you see it. It’s actually so good that it isn’t surprising that the film has won a boat load of awards.

Interestingly the film is based on a video game. I can’t imagine what that would be like since the film always seems to be narrative based and never drifts into sequences where you would think it’s mimicking game play.

Recommended.