Lee Chang-dong deeply explores the intertwining nature of love, loss and religious faith, backed by an emotionally intense performance by Jeon Do-yeon.
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Secret Sunshine (2007)
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Author / Eternality Tan
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Boxer from Shantung, The (1972)
Works somewhat like a Sergio Leone spaghetti western, this satisfying martial arts action drama set in centuries-old Shanghai sets a poor ‘newbie’, a boxer with ‘fists of fury’, against a world of rampant corruption and injustice.
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No Other Land (2024)
A documentary project by both Palestinians and Israelis that provides the necessary context for the eradication of several Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank by the IDF and armed settlers—it’s hard-hitting but a testament to courageous and responsible filmmaking in torrid circumstances.
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Taebaek Mountains, The (1994)
Im’s swift and nimble war epic eschews subtlety and nuance for an emotionally charged work about the moral dilemma of taking ideological sides as Korea became tragically divided after WWII.
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Oasis (2002)
Probably the director’s most challenging and audacious work about a social misfit who falls in love with a woman with cerebral palsy, featuring one of the all-timer performances by any lead actress in Moon So-ri.
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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
Eschewing narrative economy for an epic five-act saga, this prequel to Fury Road is a different beast of a film, focusing first on drama and then action, effectively deepening the mythos of the Wasteland.
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Ariel (1988)
Dreary yet comforting and a brilliant example of how to tell a story with poetic economy, this is a near-perfect work by Kaurismaki about a miner who loses his job but inadvertently encounters a parking attendant whom he falls in love with in the drollest possible way.
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My Favourite Films of 2023
As per tradition, I will give out imaginary awards to the films that I love most or hold in high regard from the preceding year.
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Evil Does Not Exist (2023)
Sublime, meditative yet elusive, Hamaguchi’s ecological drama isn’t that simple a concoction about capitalist expansion and its impact on the marginalised, exploring its theme on a more primal, anterior level.
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Musings #6: Trigger Warnings in Cinema
Article: Judi Dench on trigger warnings: if you’re that sensitive, avoid the theatre
The same applies to cinema. But it’s a chicken-and-egg situation. I hate content-related trigger warnings as they affect how I want to take a film in, so naturally I’m in the anti-camp.
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