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.

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

Yamada Naoko

Yamada Naoko Capsule Reviews

K-On! The Movie (2011) – August 13, 2019 Basically just a long couple of episodes of the show, but since the show is one of the greatest things ever, that’s perfectly swell.  Was a bit unsure when I started this series. Coming off of Sound! Euphonium, this is much sillier,

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Kuei Chih-hung

Killer Constable (Kuei Chih-hung, 1980)

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Contemporary Chinese (Streaming) Cinema

The Raquel Report: iQIYI's Queen of Triads, Snipers, and Wild Agents

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Kung Fu Cult Masters

A Martial Arts Triple-Feature at the Grand Illusion in Seattle

Donnie Yen

The Prosecutor (Donnie Yen, 2024)

A Donnie Yen courtroom drama may seem like an ominous way to kick off the year in film 2025, but this is the world we’ve made for ourselves and we must go to where the movies are. Probably inspired by recent films like A Guilty Conscience and The Sparring

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Tsai Ming-liang

Abiding Nowhere (Tsai Ming-liang, 2024)

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Yamada Naoko

The Heike Story (Yamada Naoko, 2021)

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Qin Pengfei

The Bodyguard and Blade of Fury (Qin Pengfei, 2024)

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Yuen Woo-ping

Movie Magic: The Yuen Clan's Magic Movies

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Hong Sangsoo

A Traveler's Needs and By the Stream (Hong Sangsoo, 2024)

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Strange Tales

Contemporary Chinese (Streaming) Cinema

Strange Tales

2024 Festival Compilation

As I've done for the last couple of years, here is a collection of the reviews I wrote this year for InReview Online's coverage of various film festivals from around the world (Rotterdam, Cannes, the New York Asian Film Festival, Venice, Toronto, and the New York

Ryoo Seungwan

Veteran 2: I, the Executioner (Ryoo Seungwan, 2024)

I couple days ago, I wrote about the upcoming film The Shadow Strays and introduced it by hyping up all the incredible action movies we’ve seen coming from around the world over the last several years. It was by no means meant to be an exhaustive list, but in

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Jason Yu

Sleep (Jason Yu, 2023)

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Corey Yuen

The Bodyguard from Beijing (Corey Yuen, 1994)

Mark Lee Ping-bing

Let the Wind Carry Me (Chiang Hsiu-Chiung & Kwan Pun-Leung, 2009)

New York City has once again been blessed with a killer film series at the Metrograph. “Daring Motion” is dedicated to the cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-bing, best known for his collaborations with Hou Hsiao-hsien, but who has also worked with Wong Kar-wai, Tran Anh Hung, Kore-eda Hirokazu, Jiang Wen, and

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John Woo

The Killer (John Woo, 2024)

Soi Cheang

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Soi Cheang, 2024)

Even though it sounds like one of those straight-to-iQiyi action movies, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In is in fact one of the most highly anticipated Hong Kong films in years. As a star-studded period piece, it might have fallen in to the trap of so many recent films in

Devils on the Doorstep

Japan Cuts 2024 - Part 3

It’s taken me a bit longer than I’d hoped to roll out this third and final installment of my Japan Cuts coverage. Mostly because I was enjoying watching the Olympics so much this past weekend. But in a wild coincidence, both of the movies I’m reviewing here

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Wei Shujun

Only the River Flows (Wei Shujun, 2023)

Devils on the Doorstep

Japan Cuts 2024 - Part Two

The 2024 Japan Cuts may have already concluded, but I’m still catching up with some of the films that played there. I hope to have another of these dispatches by the end of the week, to cover Somai Shinji’s Moving and Ishii Gakuryū’s August in the Water.

Devils on the Doorstep

Japan Cuts 2024 - Part One

If you’re a subscriber to The Chinese Cinema, you know that the posts have been sparse over the last month or so. That will happen occasionally, as I get commissions that require some weeks of research and writing to put together, and I hope you all will continue to

Anno Hideaki

Shin Godzilla: Orthochromatic (Anno Hideaki & Higuchi Shinji, 2016)

It’s hard to believe it’s been eight years since Shin Godzilla. I guess a lot of things have happened in the world since 2016, but it doesn’t really seem all that long ago. Anno Hideaki and Higuchi Shinji have since proceeded to reinvent the sci-fi films of