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HKIFF Film Review: Spare Queens 大分瓶 (2026) - Hong Kong Reviewed at the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival 2026 Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia) I rated it 8/10 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’s a moment about halfway through In “Spare Queens” when Stephy Tang’s character, a bowling alley manager whose best years feel like a distant country, watches Chrissie Chau’s character—a former rival now forced to share her lane—execute a perfect strike....

HKIFF Film Review: The Dating Menu 廚師發辦 (2026) - Hong Kong Reviewed at the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival 2026 Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia) I rated it 7.5/10 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 A Multi-Course Meal for the Soul - Here is a film about hunger—the kind that rumbles in your stomach and the kind that keeps you awake at 2 a.m. scrolling through faces that all start to blur together. Amos...

HKIFF Film Review: The Chronology of Water 水的編年史 (2025) - USA / France / UK / Latvia Reviewed at the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival 2026 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 scene about halfway through Kristen Stewart’s “The Chronology of Water” where Imogen Poots, playing the memoirist Lidia Yuknavitch, stands in a swimming pool at night. The water is black. The...

HKIFF Film Review: Silent Friend 寂靜的朋友 (Stiller Freund) (2026) - Germany / France / Hungry Reviewed at the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival 2026 Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia) I rated it 8/10 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 moment in Ildikó Enyedi's "Silent Friend" when the camera simply rests on the gnarled bark of a centuries-old Ginkgo biloba, and something remarkable happens. You stop waiting for something to happen. That,...

Film Review: Send Help 腦細天劫 (2026) - USA Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia) I rated it 7.5/10 Rating: ★ ★ ★ ½ 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 Sam Raimi’s ‘Send Help’ Is the ‘Evil Dead’ of Office Politics - There is a moment about forty-five minutes into Sam Raimi’s “Send Help” where Dylan O’Brien’s character—a tech-bro boss named Bradley so perfectly odious you half-expect him to ask a coconut for a synergy meeting—attempts to “disrupt” the coconut industry by...