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Zipangu Fest 2010: ‘Annyong Kimchi’
★★★☆☆ Self-discovery can take many forms and shapes, but in Tetsuaki Matsue’s case, it’s a 16mm independent autobiographical documentary. Annyong Kimchi (1999) (literally Hello Kimchi) is the Korean-Japanese director’s graduation project, a representative work for the very prolific ‘jishu eiga’ (independent film) movement, and will screen at this year’s Zipangu Fest, taking place in London from…
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Interview: Jasper Sharp, Zipangu Fest founder
This past week, CUEAFS was privileged to have journalist and East Asian film& enthusiast Jasper Sharp in house to offer a rare screening of Tetsuaki Matsue’s Annyong Kimchee (1999), complimented by his lecture on independent film making in Japan. CUEAFS’ Nadia Baird took a moment to chat with Jasper before his lecture about the ethos and…
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LFF 2010: ‘Never Let Me Go’ review
★★★★☆ When Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go was first published in 2005, it found itself shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Arthur C Clark Award and also the National Book Critics Circle Award. TIME Magazine named it the best novel of 2005 and also placed in the TIME 100 Best English-Language Novels from 1923 to…
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Barbican Film: Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Blackmail’
When considering the many great works of Alfred Hitchcock, the title Blackmail (1929) is, for many, not one that would immediately spring to mind. Far more likely would be those famous household titles, such as Rebecca (1940), Psycho (1960), or The Birds (1963), each having embedded themselves firmly into the fabric of cinematic and popular…
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DVD Releases: ‘The Secret of Kells’
If you go down in the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise: The Secret of Kells (2009) is a weirdly unique Irish animation which tells the story of the Book of Kells – currently on display in Dublin’s Trinity College – a colourful manuscript made by monks in a tiny village who were…
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DVD Review: ‘Predators’
★★★☆☆ It’s no surprise producer Robert Rodriguez and director Nimród Antal stressed that they wanted this film to be seen as a sequel only to the original Predator (1987) movie, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. With their simplified plots and cartoon-like feel, it was also no wonder that Predator 2 (1990) and the two spin-off Alien…
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DVD Review: ‘Carlos the Jackal’
★★☆☆☆ To begin, I must admit that I have only been exposed to the 2 ½ hour “movie version” cut of Olivier Assayas’ Carlos the Jackal (2010), truncated from the original 5 hour TV mini-series by its director in order to make it more palatable for cinema audiences.From other, informed accounts, the longer version appears to be…
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My French Film Festival.com: Preview
Unifrance, in partnership with Allociné and with the support of the Centre National de la Cinématographie and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is organizing the first French online film festival open to internet users around the world. The objective is to take fully into account the evolution of cultural consumption and to reach a new audience…
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LFF 2010: ‘127 Hours’ review
★★★★☆ Foresight is a wonderful thing. With the gift of foresight, British director Danny Boyle – perhaps best known for the cult classic Trainspotting (1996) and 2008’s Academy Award-winning, feel good hit Slumdog Millionaire – would probably have thought twice before choosing to adapt Alex Garland’s novel The Beach (2000) (a spectacular flop, both critically and…
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Barbican Film: ‘Instant Swamp’
Instant Swamp (2009), Satoshi Miki’s quirky comedy about the disillusionment of the contemporary Japanese lifestyle certainly doesn’t disappoint. As part of The Barbican’s ‘Girlsworld: Women in Contemporary Japanese Cinema’ series, Instant Swamp artistically and hilariously highlights the struggles of modern women in Japan, with a lead evoking an edgy, Japanese ‘Bridget Jones’.This charming and personable movie follows…
EIFF 2026