Ghosts - The Chinese Cinema

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Ghosts

A collection of 9 posts

A Useful Ghost (Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, 2025)

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

2024 Festival Compilation

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

Sleep (Jason Yu, 2023)

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Sleep (Jason Yu, 2023)

Visible Secret (Ann Hui, 2001)

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Visible Secret (Ann Hui, 2001)

The Imp (Dennis Yu, 1981)

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The Imp (Dennis Yu, 1981)

Coffin Homes (Fruit Chan, 2021)

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Coffin Homes (Fruit Chan, 2021)

Legend of the Mountain (King Hu, 1979)

Legend of the Mountain (King Hu, 1979)

It starts with a Wagnerian incantation: elemental imagery calling forth the natural world, music rising with the sun, the mountain, the clouds and the river, always the river, rushing, falling, churning. A Touch of Zen begins much the same way, but this world is depopulated, not even a spider mars

Painted Skin (King Hu, 1993)

Painted Skin (King Hu, 1993)

King Hu’s final film, it is, like his greatest work (A Touch of Zen) and his first film as an assistant director (The Enchanting Shadow), an adaptation of a story from the 18th Century collection of folk and supernatural tales Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling.

The Happy Ghost Series (Clifton Ko & Johnnie To, 1984-1986)

The Happy Ghost Series (Clifton Ko & Johnnie To, 1984-1986)

After the failure of his debut film, The Enigmatic Case, Johnnie To went back to television for several years (where he directed, among other things, an acclaimed adaptation of Louis Cha’s Legend of the Condor Heroes), not returning to film until 1986, when Raymond Wong hired him to direct