Sean Gilman

A film critic in Tacoma, Washington. Bylines at The Criterion Collection, the Mubi Notebook, Frame.land, InReview Online, Seattle Screen Scene and more.

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Yuan Muzhi

Scenes of City Life and Street Angel (Yuan Muzhi, 1935 and 1937)

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Tsui Hark

All the Wrong Clues (...for the Right Solution) (Tsui Hark, 1981)

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Strange Tales

The Best Non-Chinese Language Films of the 21st Century (Thus Far)- Part Two (1-50)

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Strange Tales

The Best Non-Chinese Language Films of the 21st Century (Thus Far)- Part One 110-51

Zhou Jinghao

Girl on Edge (Zhou Jinghao, 2025)

A slightly different version of this was originally published at InReview Online as part of their coverage of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival series. There are two kinds of cinephile: those who hear a movie described as “Black Swan on ice” and sneer, noses upturned, their one line one-and-a-half star

Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke

A Useful Ghost (Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, 2025)

A slightly different version of this was originally published at InReview Online as part of their coverage of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival series. One day, noticing an influx of dust into their apartment due to some construction outside, a person known only as an “academic ladyboy” (as they call

Min Kyudong

The Old Woman with the Knife (Min Kyudong, 2025)

Look, I’m only human. You tell me there’s a movie where a woman plays a professional killer, and I’m in. I love Girls with Guns movies, from the certified classics starring the classy stars like Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock to the early 90s underground of Moon

Shi Shujun

Girl Students' Dormitory (Shi Shujun, 1983)

Just concluded at the BAM in New York was a very cool series of films that were set and filmed in Wuhan. Programmed by CineCina’s Frank Yan, the series explored different aspects of the city that’s become notable in recent years as the epicenter of the COVID pandemic.

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Higuchi Shinji

Bullet Trains (Sato Junya, 1975 & Higuchi Shinji, 2025)

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Naruse Mikio

No Blood Relation (Naruse Mikio, 1934)

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Strange Tales

The Best Chinese Language Films of the 21st Century (Thus Far) - Part Three: 1-39

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Strange Tales

The Best Chinese Language Films of the 21st Century (Thus Far) - Part Two: 79-40

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Strange Tales

The Best Chinese Language Films of the 21st Century (Thus Far) - Part One: 110-80

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Ruan Lingyu

National Customs (Zhu Shilin & Luo Mingyou, 1935)

Yamanaka Yoko

Desert of Namibia (Yamanaka Yoko, 2024)

A slightly different version of this was originally published at InReview Online as part of their coverage of the Museum of the Moving Image's 2025 First Look series. At first, Yamanaka Yoko’s Desert of Namibia seems to be just another entry in what I’m calling Millennium

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Fei Mu

Blood on Wolf Mountain (Fei Mu, 1936)

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Contemporary Chinese (Streaming) Cinema

The MIYA Memo: Shell Girl (Wang Xia, 2024) and Female Special Police Officer (Zhang Zhen, 2022)

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Ram Gopal Varma

Enter the Girl Dragon (Ram Gopal Varma, 2022)

Rithy Panh

Rendez-vous avec Pol Pot (Rithy Panh, 2024)

A slightly different version of this was originally published at InReview Online as part of their coverage of the 2025 Rendez-vous with French Cinema series. It’s been over a decade now since I caught Rithy Panh’s The Missing Picture at the Vancouver Film Festival. His chronicle of his

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Contemporary Chinese (Streaming) Cinema

More Condors, More Heroes: The Dragon Tamer (Diao Yu and Zhu Lingfeng, 2021) and What is love (Lin Zhenzhao, 2025)

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Tsui Hark

Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants (Tsui Hark, 2025)

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Kitano Takeshi

Broken Rage (Kitano Takeshi, 2024)

Miike Takashi

Blue Fight (aka Blazing Fists) (Miike Takashi, 2025)

A slightly different version of this was originally published at InReview Online as part of their coverage of the 2025 International Film Festival Rotterdam. I watched two films for this year’s IFFR. One was the smash hit Hong Kong family melodrama set in the world of funerals The Last

Anselm Chan

The Last Dance (Anselm Chan, 2024)

A slightly different version of this was originally published at InReview Online as part of their coverage of the 2025 International Film Festival Rotterdam. It may be somewhat surprising to learn that The Last Dance in 2024 became the highest-grossing (domestic) film in Hong Kong history, if only because we’

Devils on the Doorstep

Yamada Naoko

Reviews: Liz and the Blue Bird (2018) – November 14, 2018 The Heike Story (2021) – November 22, 2024 Capsule Reviews: K-On! The Movie (2011) – August 13, 2019 A Silent Voice (2016) – November 9, 2019 Liz and the Blue Bird (2018) – August 1, 2019 Yamada Naoko Movies