CineVue
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Udine Far East Film Festival 2010: The Films of Lee Yong-Ju
Possessed (2009) is one of the best South Korean horrors in recent years. In Lee Yong-Ju’s personal opinion this is due to the fact that the film touches upon unexplored ground: “Usually, Korean horror is about good vs. evil.” Where this film differs, however, is that it reflects the conflict between Christianity and shamanism.Religious contradictions…
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Udine Far East Film Festival 2010: ‘Echoes of the Rainbow’
★★★★☆ 2010 may still be in its first quarter, but it already seems certain that Echoes of the Rainbow (2010) will remain as one of the all time highlights of Hong Kong cinema. Its touching story, wonderful soundtrack and superb acting have already been praised worldwide, winning four of this year’s Hong Kong Film Awards (‘Best…
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Theatrical Releases: ‘I Am Love’
The opening scene of Guadagnino’s I Am Love (2009) throws the doors wide open onto the lavish lifestyle of an upper class Italian family, the Recchi’s, great industrialists who have accrued a vast fortune through their textile empire. As the city of Milan is entrapped in a wintry chill, the Recchi’s enjoy the warmth and…
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Udine Far East Film Festival 2010: Udine at a Glance
As the 12th Udine Far East Film Festival progresses into its eighth day, the selection of films is still impressing audiences with its quality. The broad range of countries and genres presents an invaluable opportunity to compare stereotypes and traditional storylines, as well as to observe audience turn-out and reaction, shaping the understanding of the festival and…
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Theatrical Releases: ‘The Ghost’
To say Roman Polanski has suffered some bad press lately would be an understatement. The 76-year-old is detained in Switzerland, waiting to hear if he’ll be extradited to the United States to stand trial for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977. Love or hate his ‘justice-dodging’ ways, Polanski has undoubtedly made some fantastic…
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Udine Far East Film Festival 2010: ‘Gallants’
★★★★☆ At the beginning of Gallants (2009) the opening narrator introduces the audience to the film’s protagonist Cheung (Yau-Nam Wong ), an awkward nerd of Napoleon Dynamite (2004) proportions. He dreams of becoming a Kung-Fu fighter, but now that his youthful bullying days are behind him he is forced to take abuse rather than dispense it within his…
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Udine Far East Film Festival 2010: ‘Nudes! Guns! Ghosts!’ – The films of Shintoho
This year, the 12th instalment of the Udine Far East Film Festival is to screen a retrospective set of films produced by Japanese film studio Shintoho from the late 1950’s to the early 1960’s, including Shimura Toshio’s Revenge of the Pearl Queen (1956) and The Horizon Glitters (1961) by Doi Michiyoshi.Shintoho was started in 1947 by employees of the Tokyo-based Toho Company during…
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DVD Review ‘An Education’
★★★★☆ An Education (2009) is based on the memoir of British journalist Lynn Barber. In the early 1960s, aged sixteen, she was swept off her feet by the attentions of an older man. Fortunately, she discovered in time that he was living a lie and managed to extricate herself with no other damage than a…
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Special Feature: Is ‘X2’ the greatest comic book adaptation?
I saw Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass (2010) for the second time last night and I can honestly say the film loses none of its edge on a repeat viewing. Like many of those who have seen the big screen adaptation of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr’s graphic, yet hilarious take on the superhero genre, I…
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DVD Review: ‘We Live in Public’
★★★★☆ If you haven’t heard of Josh Harris before, perhaps it’s time to rectify that. The timely release of Dig! (2004) director Ondi Timoner’s new documentary, We Live in Public reminisces on the last 40 years since the dawn of the internet, specifically tracking the arguably destructive path of Harris, one of the masterminds behind the…
