Author: Andrew Saroch

‘A City Called Dragon’ is one of many 70s Taiwanese action films that deserve a wider audience and hopefully modest reviews like this can help.

Overall this is an interesting, thoughtful collection of stories that shows promise. Yet it is once again a film whose historical significance leaves more of an impression than the material therein.

Far East Films talks to Hong Kong writer and director, Norris Wong (黃綺琳).

Tackling familiar pressures that face young couples – especially women – in modern Hong Kong, Wong favours an understated, low-fi style that suits the material very well.

Too early for the post-‘Once Upon A Time In China’ boom and too late for the post-‘Shaolin Temple’ frenzy in 1981, ‘Zen Master 6’ is perhaps better appreciated all of these years later.

‘Skyfire’ is a suitably big and brash disaster epic that mimics the bombastic Hollywood productions that reached their apex in the 1970s.

It’s a solid study of the strains that sudden fame has on friendship, especially when the screaming girls and management team are favouring two members over the whole five.

If you’re in the mood for a measure of catharsis, mid-isolation, ‘Flu’ is a well made disaster film that is just polished enough not to be too harrowing in the current climate.

Ichikawa has put together an attractive and professional interpretation of one of Japan’s beloved characters.

‘Once A Black Sheep’ is solid fare though its relative anonymity should tell you much about its place in Hong Kong cinema.

Hard to categorise, gorgeously shot and occasionally challenging in form, ‘Up The Mountain’ is quite unlike anything else.

Had ‘The Captain’ focused on the drama on the plane and not felt the need to flick back-and-forth to dull secondary characters, it might have brought the true story to the screen with aplomb.