Firecracker. 9.

Firecracker is now more than a magazine. From September 8 through 18, it'll be staging the Firecracker Showcase 2005, "London's East Asian film festival." What's more, its series of preview screenings continues this month in Manchester and Glasgow.

For those of us not on the Isles, though, there's the magazine. Even if it means reading about events in the UK, such as last month's Cambridge Film Festival. Dean Bowman reports on "a season of understated Studio Ghibli films."

Robert Williamson looks back to Kaizo Hayashi's The Most Terrible Time in My Life, "an affectionate tribute to a range of cinematic sources including American B-movie film noir, the French new wave, and Japanese gangster films of yesteryear."

Ben Slater revisits the long lost Singapore kung fu flick Ring of Fury, adding to observations initially made at harrylimetheme.

Erika Franklin interviews actor and director Robin Shou and Nick North reviews his "inventive half-doc, half-feature," Red Trousers: The Life of the Hong Kong Stuntman.

Reviews:

• North on Hur Jin-ho's "sensitively-told, almost sweet, but ultimately life-affirming" Christmas in August, Kim Tae-gyung's The Ghost ("if you know what you're going to get but want it anyway, [it] won't really disappoint"), Sadao Yamanaka's Humanity and Paper Balloons, "a work that deserves to be rediscovered," and Kaneto Shindo's "visually striking, subtly powerful work," The Naked Island.

• Anthony Holden on Shinji Aramaki's Appleseed, "a hollow shell of a film," and Mori Masaki's Barefoot Gen, "one of the most devastating and profoundly humanistic films ever animated."

• Ziad Semaan on "two less appreciated Akira Kurosawa classics," The Bad Sleep Well and Drunken Angel, and Clarence Fok's "action-packed, time travel martial arts classic," The Iceman Cometh.

• Franklin on Joe Ma's Fighting for Love, with Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and "Hong Kong pop Queen" Sammy Cheng Sau-Man: "Is this the most charming romantic comedy from Hong Kong, ever?"

• Kim Woods on Law Chi-Leung's Koma, "a fairly satisfying watch," and EJ Yong's "sexy and sumptuous" Untold Scandal

• Alison Wong on Andrew Lau and Alan Mak's live action Initial D: "[B]eautifully shot, in colours and frames that pay homage to anime."

• Dorothy Woodend on Alice Wu's Saving Face: "[I]t is painful to sit through this novice effort."

• And Leung Wing-Fai on Tsui Hark's Seven Swords: "Lovers of Hong Kong martial arts flicks will not be disappointed."

Posted by dwhudson at August 9, 2005 5:26 AM