By Andrew Lam New America Media Many years ago, before the age of cyperspace, I found a Japanese manga series at a specialty bookstore in San Francisco. Created by Yukito Kishiro, Battle Angel Alita is the story of a post apocalyptic world where humans scavenge to survive, many using robotic technology to replace lost limbs. […]
Not a film, but a triumph
By Andrew Hamlin Northwest Asian Weekly “This Is Not a Film,” a documentary by co-directors Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, opens with a man seated at his breakfast table, preparing to eat. He takes a phone call, puts it on speaker phone, and seems to tense up in his shoulders, bending slightly to avoid looking […]
Director Lu explores fall of Nanking
By Andrew Hamlin Northwest Asian Weekly Chinese director Chuan Lu graduated from the prestigious Beijing Film Academy and wrote his dissertation on Francis Ford Coppola, director of the “Godfather” saga. He summons all of his knowledge for his devastating third dramatic feature, “City of Life and Death,” a study of the Nanking Massacre. The still-shocking […]