15 years after the expiration of South Korea’s Statute of Limitations, after which a criminal can no longer be legally charged with his crime, the handsomely boyish Lee Du-seok publishes his autobiography in which he confesses to the murder of 10 teenage girls in such detail his guilt appears unarguable. Watching with impotent rage is Detective Choi (Jeong Jae-yeong), the … Read the rest
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Young, Violent, Dangerous (Romolo Guerrieri, Italy, 1976)
Three young men – Blondie (Stefano Patrizi), Luigi (Max Delys) and Joe (Benjamin Lev) – pull a petrol station robbery for kicks but events rapidly get out of control when the lads gun down the cops sent to arrest them. In quick succession the boys rob a bank then team up with friends to raid a supermarket. But the robbery … Read the rest
Le Serpent (Henri Verneuil, France/Italy, 1973)
A Russian Colonel named Vlassov (Yul Brynner) defects with a list of high ranking double agents working in the West he’s willing to turn over to CIA head Davies (Henry Fonda). As word of the traitors trickles back to the countries concerned the suspects begin turning up dead by suicide and it looks as though Vlassov’s been telling the truth. … Read the rest
Temptation (Kozaburo Yoshimura, Japan, 1948)
Yajima (Shin Saburi) the middle-aged friend of a deceased former schoolteacher offers to take the dead man’s orphaned daughter Takako (Setsuko Hara) into his household. But even as Takako settles in with Yajima’s young children she and her benefactor soon develop romantic feelings for each other as Yajima’s wife lies seriously ill in hospital.
A pleasant and well crafted melodrama … Read the rest
Too Many Ways To Be No 1 (Wai Ka-Fai, Hong Kong, 1997)
A hilarious, violent and sweetly touching tribute to the solidarity of Hongkies everywhere, this crime comedy from Johnnie To’s production outfit Milky Way is directed by Wai Ka-Fai with such gonzo energy courtesy of Wong Wing-Hang’s virtuoso hand-held camerawork that it leaves you breathless. Watching it one can understand just why Quentin Tarantino rates this film as one of his … Read the rest
Overheard (Felix Chong/Alan Mak, Hong Kong, 2009)
A trio of police surveillance experts are ordered to bug a financial corporation suspected of insider trading. But personal problems lead the three men (Lau Ching-Wan, Daniel Wu and Louis Koo) to use the information they’ve obtained for their own financial benefit. So when events inevitably escalate out of control the three men find themselves hunted both by their own … Read the rest
Snowpiercer (Bong Joon Ho, South Korea, 2013)
In the near future the world has frozen and the remnants of humanity survive inside a train endlessly circumnavigating the globe. The richest live in luxury at the front, the poorest exist in squalor at the back. But one day those in the rear carriages decide to seize control.
A fascinating, stylishly executed and exciting tale with good performances across … Read the rest
Secret (Jay Chou, Taiwan, 2007)
Talented piano student Je (Jay Choo) finds his attention caught by the enigmatic Rain (Guey Lun Mei), a girl who tells him about a mysterious melody hidden in their music school’s soon to be demolished ballroom. But when Je later discovers a decades old photo of Rain with his father (the girl looking exactly the same age) it leads him … Read the rest
Key of Life (Kenji Uchida, Japan, 2012)
A broke and struggling actor named Takeshi (Masato Sakai) seizes the chance to swap his identity and home with middle-aged assassin Kondo (Teruyuki Kagawa) after an accident in a bath house leaves the latter with amnesia. As Takeshi settles into Kondo’s luxurious pad a bewildered Kondo, who’s now living in Takeshi’s hovel, begins a relationship with emotionally repressed businesswoman Kanae … Read the rest
An Inn At Osaka (Heinosuke Gosho, Japan, 1954)
Mr. Mita (Shuji Sano) a Tokyo insurance clerk demoted after punching a superior at work finds new lodgings at the titular inn. Confronted by a hard-hearted landlady, her lazy brother Ossan, overworked servant girls Oyone, Orika and Otsugi, lecherous tenant Mr. Noro, poverty stricken seamstress Omitsu (Sachiko Hidari), visits from friends Tawana and geisha Miss Uwabami (Nobuko Otawa), Mr. Mita … Read the rest
