AIDAN SMITH-FAGAN WRITES — These days, remakes and reboots rarely offer surprises on the silver screen. But Studio Chizu’s Belle -which hit US theatres January 14th– goes beyond the typical remake formula to fully reimagine and reinterpret the classic Beauty and the Beast tale. Writer/director Mamoru Hosoda not only builds…
AIDAN SMITH-FAGAN WRITES – Balance is tough for any action film to get right, especially in franchises known for their blockbuster effects and grand set pieces. Too easily, action flicks can fall into the trap of having so many fists flying, guns firing, and cars doing backflips that it all…
Directed by Leon Le, the movie Song Lang, set in 90s Saigon, begins with Dung “Thunderbolt”, a debt collector, meeting Linh Phung, a cải lương (Vietnamese opera) actor. When Dung sees Linh Phung on stage, Dung was instantly pulled back to the past he has long been trying to ignore…
IMMANUEL PORTUS WRITES- The 35th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival ushered in a myriad of untold stories within the backdrop of the Asian-American canvas. Waves of audiences lavished applause as every film took its place and breathed color into every every nook, cranny, and fold of the cinematic canvas. And in…
YUXIN ZHOU WRITES — On April 2, the Chinese TV drama series “All is Well” ended. The show was about a typical Chinese family, in which, yes, (as the title suggests) all is well. Is it? While the show features an ordinary Chinese family, in one episode Mingyu (played by…
PAULA MARKOW WRITES– Outfest Fusion, a film festival that showcases the LGBTQ community, ran from March 1 to 5 at the Chinese Theatre, offering an array of short films. One segment that caught my attention was a series of shorts about the LGBT community in India. The first short, Yaman,…
‘(This article contains spoilers) YUXIN ZHOU WRITES — On February 5th, the Chinese sci-fi movie “ The Wandering Earth” was released worldwide. Directed by Frank Gwo, the film is a significant landmark in Chinese cinema, with record-breaking box office success, stunning visual effects, and unique storytelling in the epic science…
“You can’t keep living for other people, you know. No one is going to win like that.” Hana defies every norm: as a full-time student studying math, and the daughter of an immigrant, she is also a daughter caring for her ill mother, a part-time worker at her family’s Korean…
CONOR FAIRTLOUGH WRITES — You’ve probably never seen the Japanese animation “Kimi no Nawa” (Your Name), but if you are a film critic, chances are you haven’t stopped hearing about it. The 2016 feature, directed by Makoto Shinkai, is not only currently the highest grossing anime and Japanese film, but…
JENICA ROSE GARCIA WRITES — Every December, the internet excitedly awaits the acclaimed “Moving Pictures” mashup, which strings multiple pieces of footage from disparate movie trailers into a whole new trailer. The creative genius behind “Moving Pictures” is Clark Zhu, who has accumulated millions of fans and has been featured…
IMMANUEL PORTUS WRITES- Purple and scarlet lights illuminated Stage 4’s facade at Sunset Las Palmas Studios during the event of New Filmmakers Los Angeles on October 6th, a film festival that aims to celebrate LA’s heritage and identity. Emerging creative voices such as LA filmmakers Rona Par and Mengfang Yang drew…
ALEXIS CRUZ WRITES — The end of summer marks the start of the academic year, and I am ecstatic to go back to school. But this time, I will be in graduate school pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Policy at the USC Price School of Public Policy. I figured…
ELIZABETH SOELISTIO WRITES – Despite the cheerful and bright colors advertised on its billboards and posters, “A Taxi Driver” is a film that depicts the serious tale of an unsung hero who helped defend democracy by exposing a military dictatorship’s misdeeds in Gwangju, South Korea. Balancing comedy and political thrills,…
FASSA SAR WRITES — Korean filmmakers and actors put pressure on President Park Geun-hye to release the names of 9,473 film artists – including film-makers, actors and studio executives – that have allegedly been put on a secret list that would deny them government financial and logistical support for their…
RYAN DAO WRITES — After a long 12-year hiatus, the legendary king of monsters makes his triumphant return of the silver screen with “Shin Godzilla” (“Shin Gojira,” or internationally known as “Godzilla Resurgence”), a modern-take on a classic Japanese icon. “Shin Godzilla” is the 29th installment in the Godzilla franchise…
FASSA SAR WRITES – Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s new Bollywood film, Pink, combats underlying sexism and androcentrism within Indian culture. The film points out the misogynist culture that justifies violence against and control of women. The film, Pink, tells the story of three girls, Meenal, Falak, and Andrea, who attend a…
