Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  Comedy of Mismatches 1964

  ★★★ Watched 24 Feb 2025

  Deeply middling in pretty much all respects (plotting, intensity of feeling, comedy-farce, ... ). But! also has the delightful graceful symmetries of this plot-instigating sequence (~1 minute, about 16:40 in) to more than justify it's existence.

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  Killer Constable 1980

  ★★★★ Rewatched 18 Feb 2025

  Rewatch of the Korean version included on Shawscope 3 (nice one, Arrow!). Skillfully adapted for that market by making the gold Korean, along with some trumped up motivation for Chen Kuan-Tai and (spoilers!) an off-screen happy ending for him and the blind girl.

  Needless to say the rating is for the original.

Popular reviews

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  Green Snake 1993

  ★★★★½ Rewatched 28 Sep 2024 1

  My third rep screening of a Hong Kong film at the BFI this year, and the third time it's been plagued by "inappropriate laughter", absolute fucking joke. (and it's not just Hong Kong stuff - remember this for a couple of 30s/40s Japanese rep screening the other year as well). Anyway fuck 'em, if this is how limited their artistic sensibilities are.

  Film is still basically perfect, of course, even this newly added CGI snake wasn't too intrusive.

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  Hideko the Bus Conductress 1941

  ★★★★½ Rewatched 09 Nov 2022

  Sure, a 'light' comedy, if by 'light' you mean a young woman tries to innovate for her failing company whilst her probably-criminal boss asset-strips the business and leaves her out of a job.

  Naruse, you're the best.