Family love and honor are forged in steel for Haofeng Xu’s dazzling generational epic The Hidden Sword, which crisply chronicles China’s early-to-mid 20th century history of war as seen through the eyes of blade-bearing walnut farmers. One family has the film’s focus while Xu allows a curious concoction of quirky humor, astonishing action, and rippling…
In 2016, the Freedom in the World report named Tibet as one of the most repressed countries in the world. Since China occupied Tibet over sixty years ago, hundreds of thousands of people have been tortured and imprisoned. Although the political conflict between China and Tibet plays a part, Moon Chang-Yong and Jin Jeon’s documentary…
When American audiences last saw our diminutive chopsocky champion, Jackie Chan, he was kicking butt and taking numbers alongside “Jackass” and “The Dukes of Hazzard” star Johnny Knoxville in the flaccid and forgettable 2016 voltage vehicle “Skiptrace.” Well, the sixty-something martial arts megastar has found yet another frenetic farce to strut his stuff as he…
Admittedly, things are bound be lost in translation when watching an international film. Certain cultural nuances from any given nation can mystify another nation that has its very own set of cultural nuances; that’s just how the world works. Particularly with folklore and mythology, the complete lack of social and cultural context outside of the…
Well, the sixty-something iconic martial arts wonder Jackie Chan certainly has not entirely lost his cinematic A-game when it comes to his trademark kinetic-style kicks and punches that worldwide movie audiences have come to embrace in the legendary performer’s adventurous chop-socky film career. Sure, Chan’s acrobatic skills in comically kicking butt and taking numbers may…
Everyone can agree that the exceedingly spry “Kung Fu Panda” film series have been certified exquisite and adventurous productions from day one. It is no surprise that the third installment, Kung Fu Panda 3, continues to carry the mantle by being a gorgeously stylish and visually arresting computer-animation film exuding a vibrant cheekiness that shines. More important…
Winner of the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Hou Hsiao-hsien’s (“Flight of the Red Balloon”) first film in eight years, The Assassin (Nie yin niang), may initially seem out of character for a director whose previous work has been in realistic social dramas set in a contemporary historical context. Yet it is…
