News — Hong Kong Film

Film Review: Voyage 遊 (2013) - Hong Kong Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia) I rated it 6.5/10 Rating: ★ ★ ★ Support my reviews by buying me a Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/neofilmblog Support our reviews by buying from official DVDs / Blu Rays at NeoFilmShop.com There is a quiet courage in films that stare directly into the abyss of depression and suicide without flinching or offering easy comforts. “Voyage,” the 2013 feature from Hong Kong director Scud, possesses that courage in abundance. It is not always easy to watch, nor is it always successful in its ambitions, but...

Film Review: Love Actually… Sucks! 愛很爛 (2011) - Hong Kong Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia) I rated it 5.5/10 Rating: ★ ★ 1/2 Support my reviews by buying me a Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/neofilmblog Support our reviews by buying from official DVDs / Blu Rays at NeoFilmShop.com There is a moment early in Scud’s “Love Actually… Sucks!” when a wedding celebration, brimming with the usual Hong Kong banquet excess, curdles into something far darker. It is the sort of tonal pivot that announces the film’s intentions: this will not be a cheerful valentine. Instead, it is an anti-romance,...

Film Review: Amphetamine 安非他命 (2010) - Hong Kong Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia) I rated it 6.5/10 Rating: ★ ★ ★ Support my reviews by buying me a Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/neofilmblog Support our reviews by buying from official DVDs / Blu Rays at NeoFilmShop.com “Amphetamine,” a 2010 Hong Kong drama from the provocateur known as Scud, tries hard to do exactly that. It is a film soaked in neon, desire, and chemical haze, and while it doesn’t quite reach the heights of its ambitions, it lingers like the aftertaste of something you probably shouldn’t have taken. The...

Film Review: Permanent Residence 永久居留 (2009) - Hong Kong Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia) I rated it 6.5/10 Rating: ★ ★ ★ Support my reviews by buying me a Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/neofilmblog Support our reviews by buying from official DVDs / Blu Rays at NeoFilmShop.com There is a quiet, stubborn courage in Scud’s Permanent Residence (2009) that I admire even when the film itself doesn’t quite land with the emotional force it clearly intends. Here is a Hong Kong filmmaker working in a commercial industry that traditionally prefers safer ground, choosing instead to tell a story about...

Film Review: City Without Baseball 無野之城 (2008) - Hong Kong Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia) I rated it 6.5/10 Rating: ★ ★ ★ Support my reviews by buying me a Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/neofilmblog Support our reviews by buying from official DVDs / Blu Rays at NeoFilmShop.com There is a quiet melancholy in the image of young men playing baseball in a city that barely knows the game exists. Empty stands, the crack of the bat echoing into indifference, and lives lived in the margins of a hyper-modern metropolis like Hong Kong. “City Without Baseball” (2008) leans into...