One day Hideyoshi Date (Katsunori Takahashi), a debt-ridden, suicidal 30-something discovers a runaway kid named Densuke Aikawa (Roi Hayashi) in the back of his car. Densuke turns out to be fleeing an overbearing father but when Hideyoshi realises the kid’s parents are loaded he hatches an impromptu kidnap scheme and demands a huge ransom for the boy’s return. Unknown to … Read the rest
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Suburra (Stefano Sollima, Italy, 2015)
A Mafia dealmaker (Claudio Amendola) has plans to turn the summer resort of Ostia into an Italian Las Vegas. But when a bent politician (Pierfrancesco Favino) crucial to the deal is blackmailed the politician seeks help from an ambitious criminal (Alessandro Borghi) and his junkie girlfriend (Greta Scarano) who between them run all illegal activity in Ostia. Before long the … Read the rest
Lucky Dragon No 5 (Kaneto Shindo, Japan, 1959)
The crew of the fishing boat Lucky Dragon venture far outside their usual waters in search of a bigger catch. Near Bikini Atoll a bright flash of light on the horizon turns the night into day and is followed by a strange cloud of ash which covers the ship and its crew. Returning home, the dreadful truth slowly emerges and … Read the rest
Lost In Time (Yee Tung-shing, Hong Kong, 2003)
Subtle, engagingly played and shrewdly observed romantic drama in which the death of a mini-bus driver (Louis Koo) in a traffic collision forces his fiancee Sui (Cecilia Cheung) into taking on his job in order to support the child she has from a previous marriage. Spectacularly ill-suited at coping with both driving and life in general Sui is shown the … Read the rest
Manhunter (Michael Mann, US, 1986)
A retired FBI profiler named Will Graham (William Peterson) has the ability to put himself into the mind of his quarry and at the prodding of a former colleague (Dennis Farina) reluctantly accepts an assignment to hunt down a serial killer nicknamed the Tooth Fairy (Tom Noonan) who targets entire families for slaughter. As Graham renews contact with a former … Read the rest
Train to Busan (Yeon Sang-ho, South Korea, 2016)
A hard-hearted Seoul businessman (Gong Yoo) accompanies his 9 year old daughter (Kim Soo-an) on a train journey to meet his estranged wife in the city of Busan. Unfortunately for them the victim of a zombie attack boards the train seconds before departure and before you can shout ‘All aboard!’ the zombie virus spreads like wildfire and isolated pockets of … Read the rest
Hereafter (Clint Eastwood, US, 2010)
In Asia, French TV reporter Marie (a luminous Cecile deFrance) briefly dies during a horrific natural disaster and has a vision of what she suspects may be the afterlife. Back home she can’t get the experience out of her mind and her obsession threatens her high-flying career and friendships. In San Francisco, lonely, middle-aged factory worker George (Matt Damon) can … Read the rest
Shin Godzilla ( Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi, Japan, 2016)
A strange creature emerges from Tokyo harbour and wreaks havoc on land. As clueless politicians talk and talk junior adviser Rando Yaguchi (Hiroki Hasegawa) sets up a taskforce of tech savvy geeks to uncover the truth. When airstrikes and artillery attacks prove futile the Americans send in bombers but the creature – nicknamed Godzilla – proves even more destructive than … Read the rest
The Housemaid (Kim Ki-young, South Korea, 1960)
A music teacher (Kim Jin-kyu) with a crippled daughter and a young son succumbs to his materialistic wife’s request for a housemaid (Lee Eun-shim). But the new arrival soon turns the quiet, ordered life of the family upside down and when the teacher sleeps with the housemaid and makes her pregnant her demands push the family to the brink of … Read the rest
Sori: Voice From The Heart (Lee Ho-jae, South Korea, 2016)
A U.S. spy satellite receives a distress call from a female soldier in Afghanistan and plunges back to Earth intent on a rescue mission. Landing in the sea the satellite is recovered by Hae-gwan (Lee Sung-min) a distraught father who has spent the last decade searching for his missing daughter. Together the odd couple come to an agreement; the satellite … Read the rest
