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Eternality Tan

Hailing from Singapore & writing about cinema since 2007

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Featured

Lingui, the Sacred Bonds (2021)

June 24, 2022 by Eternality Tan

Nostalghia (1983)

June 23, 2022June 24, 2022 by Eternality Tan

Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival (1970)

June 21, 2022June 21, 2022 by Eternality Tan

Broker (2022)

June 20, 2022June 20, 2022 by Eternality Tan

Remorques (1941)

June 19, 2022 by Eternality Tan

Vie de Jesus, La (1997)

June 18, 2022 by Eternality Tan

Trial of Joan of Arc, The (1962)

June 17, 2022June 17, 2022 by Eternality Tan

I Wish I Knew (2010)

June 14, 2022June 14, 2022 by Eternality Tan

Official Competition (2021)

June 13, 2022June 13, 2022 by Eternality Tan

Court (2014)

June 12, 2022June 12, 2022 by Eternality Tan

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Tag / China

June 14, 2022June 14, 2022 by Eternality Tan

I Wish I Knew (2010)

  • Jia, Zhangke
  • 2010, China, Documentary, Jia Zhangke
  • Leave a comment

Eighteen persons with personal connections to the political, social and cultural history of Shanghai share their recollections in Jia Zhangke’s somewhat stolid documentary, where the sum feels lesser than its parts. 

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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June 3, 2022 by Eternality Tan

Lan Yu (2001)

  • Kwan, Stanley
  • 2001, China, Hong Kong, Stanley Kwan
  • Leave a comment

Stanley Kwan’s gay drama, set in 1980s Beijing, feels more impressionistic than a deeply-felt journey with its characters, though the performances are compelling enough to overcome its rather lean narrative.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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January 31, 2022 by Eternality Tan

Love After Love (2020)

  • Hui, Ann
  • 2020, Ann Hui, China
  • Leave a comment

Ann Hui’s latest period piece has a slow-burning elegance, but despite the array of world-class talents involved—Christopher Doyle, Ryuichi Sakamoto and the late Emi Wada—and adapted from an Eileen Chang text no less, it feels too thematically shallow to work.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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December 29, 2021 by Eternality Tan

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2005)

  • Zhang, Yimou
  • 2005, China, Japan
  • Leave a comment

A mid-2000s departure from his wuxia epics, Zhang’s largely restrained work about an aged Japanese father travelling to China to film a traditional mask opera for his estranged dying son ultimately teeters towards the emotionalism of the director’s earlier melodramas.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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December 2, 2021 by Eternality Tan

Blind Massage (2014)

  • Lou, Ye
  • 2014, China, Lou, Ye
  • Leave a comment

While the storytelling sometimes struggles to convince, the technical prowess of Lou Ye’s team in capturing the extraordinary performances and putting together one mesmerizing and sensual image after another is deserving of praise.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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November 28, 2021 by Eternality Tan

Spring Fever (2009)

  • Lou, Ye
  • 2009, China, Lou Ye
  • 2 Comments

Clandestine affairs and the desire for sexual connection mark Lou Ye’s naturalistic, if at times, meandering take on the taboos of the conservative Chinese society.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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November 23, 2021 by Eternality Tan

Saturday Fiction (2019)

  • Lou, Ye
  • 2019, China, Lou Ye
  • Leave a comment

Effortlessly mounted and conceptually strong, Lou Ye’s latest starring Gong Li is a dreamlike, meta-layered tale of espionage as the Allies attempt to one-up the Japanese in WWII Shanghai.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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November 22, 2021November 28, 2021 by Eternality Tan

Suzhou River (2000)

  • Lou, Ye
  • 2000, China, Lou Ye
  • 3 Comments

Lou Ye’s breakthrough is a risqué-lite affair, shot in a gritty, disjointed style that pays homage to Hitchcock’s Vertigo.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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May 20, 2021May 20, 2021 by Eternality Tan

Grandmaster, The (2013)

  • Wong, Kar Wai
  • 2013, China, Hong Kong, Wong, Kar Wai
  • 3 Comments

Like Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America, this is a film about the nostalgic evocation of time, space, style, and tradition.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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May 2, 2021November 7, 2021 by Eternality Tan

Cliff Walkers (2021)

  • Zhang, Yimou
  • 2021, China
  • Leave a comment

Zhang’s latest, an espionage thriller set in 1930s Manchuria, mostly works as a violent, intricately-plotted genre exercise about spies and traitors. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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