“Ponyo,” the new film from Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, opens with a shot of the sky on a sunny day. It’s only a short shot. Unlike Miyazaki’s earlier film “Porco Rosso,” “Ponyo” concerns itself with the sea, not the sky.
Sparkly vampires where?
“Thirst” is a new film directed by controversial South Korean director Chan-wook Park. The film begins with a fat man wheezing in his hospital bed. Between wheezes, he explains how he once held the world’s greatest sponge cake. He longed for nothing more than a private place to devour this cake. However, he came across two hungry sisters and gave the cake to them instead.
‘Evangelion’ film a good addition to anime
“Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone” (a film adapted from the Japanese science fiction anime “Neon Genesis Evangelion”) is set in the not-too-distant future, in a city called Tokyo-3. The buildings shimmer in a heat wave. The streets are suspiciously empty. A huge spray suddely sprouts out over the water.
Northwest Asian Weekly at SIFF
Week 2: Film reviews of those with a message “Kabei — Our Mother,” Japan Reviewed by Andrew Hamlin Japanese director Yoji Yamada’s 74th film abandons the samurai storylines he’s previously […]
Northwest Asian Weekly at SIFF!
Film reviews of the good, the great, and the ones you absolutely can’t miss “Daytime Drinking,” South Korea Reviewed by James Tabafunda
‘24 City’ falters when fiction appears
Directed by Zhang-ke Jia, “24 City” is a Chinese film that blends documentary and fiction. It opens with a grim tone: Factory workers heat and hammer metal, and shots reveal people lingering alone and in smaller groups. The film follows individuals as they recount the story of how a factory turned into an apartment complex, a reflection of how China modernized.
Director takes huge risk in casting a disabled star; the gamble pays off
By Andrew Hamlin Northwest Asian Weekly “Please set your volume high,” urges Japanese director Go Shibata in his introduction for the DVD release of his second feature film, “Late Bloomer.”
Far East awkwardly meets Old West ‘Yellowfish’ review
John Keeble’s novel “Yellowfish” begins in the thick fog of San Francisco’s Chinatown. In such a fog, things disappear
‘Gran Torino’ falls short on depiction of Hmong
The Internet Movie Database, with listings for roughly 755,000 films and TV shows, lists only four movies featuring the Hmong language.
The benefits of being a middle child
“I owe my life to two strokes of incredible luck,” writes Sarfraz Manzoor in his memoir. “I was not born female, and I was not the oldest son.” Manzoor discusses his life in a Pakistani immigrant family living in Luton, England. In his father’s rigid household, the first son would follow into the father’s work. The daughter would remain on her best behavior until she found a man to marry.