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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...

Film Review: Utopians 同流合烏 (2015) - Hong Kong Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia) I rated it 7/10 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 fearless, almost reckless sincerity to Scud’s Utopians (2015) that I found both disarming and occasionally exhausting. This is not a film that politely knocks on the door of your comfort zone; it kicks it open, removes its clothes, and invites you to join a conversation about desire, freedom, and...

Film Review: Century of the Dragon 龍在邊緣 (1999) - Hong Kong Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia) I rated it 8.5/10 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 In the shadowed alleys and neon-drenched nights of late-90s Hong Kong cinema, where loyalty is currency and betrayal comes with a bullet, arrives “Century of the Dragon.” This is no mere genre exercise in triad shootouts and undercover angst. Directed with muscular efficiency by Clarence Fok, it is a...