Genre: Drama

‘A Distant Cry From Spring’ is the very best of Yamada’s themes, contained in a truly beautiful masterpiece that leaves tears in the eye as the credits roll.

Perhaps if the story were more involving or it contained better action, it might have been more appealing. As it stands though, it’s really only going to serve as a quick fix for hardcore Andy Lau fans.

Perhaps Billy Chong’s most polished and constantly entertaining film, ‘A Fistful Of Talons’ takes a well-used storyline and turns it into something much more original.

While not without some dry humour, Jack Ng’s courtroom drama is a mostly sober look at a theme that pops up in cinema worldwide, namely how the legal system tends to favour those with money and influence.

‘A Loner’ is therefore a solid, thoughtful meditation on a traditionally Western problem that is now creeping into the affluent East, but should have been more than its good intentions.

Andrew Lau has a very obvious formula for making comic book adaptations and it’s one that is ultimately not very satisfying.

The destination will probably be inevitable to you 5 minutes into the movie, but that is unlikely to stop the tears rolling down your cheeks come closing credits and the journey, not the destination is the thing of greatest importance.

As it draws to it conclusion, that Korean melancholy kicks in and the characters begin to extend beyond caricatures.

‘A Simple Life’ is the perfect marriage of arthouse style and heart-rending substance.

If you are willing to substitute blood for brains and real heart for cheap scares, this movie will be one you will remember long after you see it.

This is a lustrous production that flatters to deceive, aiming for the intellect, but eventually preferring to show empty spectacle and supposed depth.

There are moments of entertainment here, but the flat denouement sums up the lack of real polish that the preceding 100 minutes had provided.