Category Archives: Movies

Fourth Place (2015) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): What does really matter to this swimmer boy?

Posted on August 26, 2019 by

South Korean film “Fourth Place” surprised me as defiantly swimming across lanes of genre conventions with grace and tact. At first, the movie merely seems to be a simple educational tale on teaching and student civil rights, but then it … Continue reading →

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Cemetery of Splendour (2015) ☆☆☆(3/4): Baffling but intriguing

Posted on August 25, 2019 by

Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Cemetery of Splendour” alternatively baffled and intrigued me. Just like his previous film “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” (2010), the movie intentionally blurs the line between reality and fantasy in its own idiosyncratic way, so … Continue reading →

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The House of Us (2019) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): An intimate summer story of three young girls

Posted on August 24, 2019 by

I could not help but smile as watching South Korean film “The House of Us”, which is another remarkable work from director/writer Yoon Ga-eun. The movie presents its three young main characters and their daily life with considerable intimacy and … Continue reading →

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Futuro Beach (2014) ☆☆☆(3/4): After leaving the beach

Posted on August 24, 2019 by

“Futuro Beach”, a Brazilian-German film directed by Karim Aïnouz, is a dispassionate but interesting queer drama to observe and appreciate. Although it is often a bit too oblique and distant in terms of story and characters, the movie steadily engages … Continue reading →

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American Factory (2019) ☆☆☆(3/4): One new factory in post-industrial Ohio

Posted on August 23, 2019 by

Netflix documentary “American Factory”, which received the Documentary Directing Award when it was shown at the Sundance Film Festival early in this year, is initially amusing but then becomes more pointed than expected. As closely looking into one particular industrial … Continue reading →

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Cold Case Hammarskjöld (2019) ☆☆☆(3/4): A compelling conspiracy investigation

Posted on August 20, 2019 by

Danish documentary film “Cold Case Hammarskjöld”, which received the World Cinema Documentary Directing Award when it was shown at the Sundance Film Festival early in this year, is about a potentially dubious but undeniably compelling conspiracy investigation. While I still … Continue reading →

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The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Of a house and the city

Posted on August 19, 2019 by

“The Last Black Man in San Francisco” is a seemingly simple but surprisingly rich and powerful drama packed with mood and details to be savored and admired. Although I must confess that it took some time for me to become … Continue reading →

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