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Miko Girl 巫女 (2018) - Japan Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia) This is a slow-burner coming of age film that shows how a young immature girl grows up and find herself within a Japanese temple as a “Miko Girl”. Director Su-yeon Gu purposely pace the film allowing the characters to slowly get into their roles and translating on screen the evolution and change. What makes the film more enjoyable than it should be, is largely due to the journey that the audience become invested in and by the end of the film the characters grew and...

Honey 亲爱的 (2018) - Japan Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia) Based on the popular Japanese manga series “Honey”, it is the kind of romantic comedy that we have seen many times about high school sweet hearts with shy young girl meeting trouble-making, but handsome young boy. The Japanese audience enjoy these kind of cliche stories and it is precisely the kind of expect the expected type of film. The film is still enjoyable as the duo in question (played by Yuna Taira and Sho Hirano) are well suited and the sweet romance is easy to root for....

The Trough 低壓槽 (2018) - Hong Kong / China Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia) Nick Cheung transition to film director continues in his third neo-noir film “The Trough”. From those expecting the usual action thriller be warned as it is clearly an inspired experimental film capturing the dystopian island of Hong Kong in the bleakest possible form and almost dream-like. Don’t expect a coherent story as Cheung is aiming of style over substance, but filmed in an entirely original way. Compliments should be given for the level of details that Cheung shows of the dark and...

L Storm L風暴 (2018) - Hong Kong / China   Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)     It is probably as generic as it gets in terms of the latest “Storm” series and ICAC promotional cinematic piece. Director David Lam whose only notable films in the past decades are “Z Storm” and “S Storm”, continues this tradition with a tag on patriotic ending that is in line with the Chinese government stance on anti corruption. Ignoring this aspect, the film is quite solid if never spectacular from the direction to film editing to the casts. Once...

Mile 22 絕地22哩 (2018) - USA   Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)     Indonesian martial arts sensation Iko Uwais is the best thing to come out of this uninspiring crime action thriller headlines by Mark Wahlberg. What went wrong begins with director Peter Berg who previously crafted decent crime action thrillers with Wahlberg on several occasions, Lone Survivor, Patriots Day and Deepwater Horizon. However, this film fails from not having an interesting story, lack of sparks and characters that we care or connect with. In the end, the film feels half baked, uninteresting and bland...