Advertisement
Advertisement
TOPIC

Asian cinema

Asian cinema
Views, news, and reviews of films from the continent's biggest movie production centres.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM
The city of Baguio, on Luzon island, in the Philippines, was favoured by American administrators for its climate. Photo: Thomas Bird

Escape Manila’s heat for northern Luzon’s pine-scented hills and Sagada’s hanging coffins

They may not make for a typical Philippine holiday, but the highlands of northern Luzon are a world apart from Manila and the tropical lowlands, finds Thomas Bird

Reading Time:6 minutes
Wanrong and Puyi, in Tianjin, circa 1925. Photo: Getty Images

Paul French lifts veil on final months of China’s last emperor in the Forbidden City

Reading Time:6 minutes
Nurbol Baimukhanov’s Zhabe horse, Ayan, near Almaty, Kazakhstan. Photo: courtesy Nurbol Baimukhanov

Ode to the horse: 5,000 years of human-equine connection on display in new Kazakh museum

Reading Time:7 minutes
Wing Shya, Hong Kong-based photographer, artist and director, in Tai Hang. Photo: Alexander Mak

Wing Shya: photographer to Wong Kar-wai on working with the great and good of Hong Kong cinema

Reading Time:6 minutes
Chef-nun Jeong Kwan at the Bukhara Biennale, in Uzbekistan, as part of a kimchi-fermentation collaboration with the Koryo-saram community. Photo: courtesy Andrey Arekelyan and Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF)

Bukhara Biennial spearheads cultural blossoming of the city as well as the wider Uzbekistan

Reading Time:6 minutes
Architect Kisho Kurokawa with his creation, Japan’s Nakagin Capsule Tower, in 1972. Photo: Tomio Ohashi/M+

How Japan’s innovative Nakagin Capsule Tower is finding new life

Reading Time:6 minutes
MORE IN POSTMAG
Content from SCMP's Specialist Publications
A still from Between the Unsaid, which won the best micro film award at this year’s Inspiring Asia Micro Film Festival regional final for Hong Kong. Photo: Inspiring Asia Micro Film Festival
Artificial intelligence

Pakistani-made ‘micro film’ scoops top prize at Asian festival’s Hong Kong final

The event was the first Hong Kong finals of the Inspiring Asia Micro Film Festival, whose 2026 edition champions community empowerment.

Art

Mariko Mori’s landmark Tokyo retrospective traces an extraordinary cosmic journey

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

From Cheng Pei-pei to Michelle Yeoh, Hong Kong’s history of action heroines

Wellness

He trained Jet Li. Wu Bin, 89, shares his secrets to great health in old age

Martial arts legend Wu Bin talks about mentoring Jet Li and other wushu stars, and how building good habits is key to health in older life.

90-year-old Wuxia master Wu Bin, in Wan Chai. 17AUG26 SCMP/Jonathan Wong
European cinema

Best movies from the 2026 Venice Film Festival, including Possible Love and Musk

Indie dramas and documentaries, rather than big Hollywood productions, took the spotlight at this year’s festival. Here are 10 of the best.

videocam
Film reviews

Review | Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors: Lav Diaz’s gruelling colonial epic

Director Lav Diaz’s latest film explores colonial terror, faith and resistance in a perilous 17th century jungle in the Philippines.

videocam
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
K-drama news

Profile | Who is Nana, star of Netflix K-dramas The Scandal and Mask Girl?

Nana’s rise in the industry has been a journey of talent, resilience and reinvention, going from singer and model to bona fide actress.

Mask Girl NANA as Kim Mo-Mi in Mask Girl Cr. Jun Hea-sun/Netflix © 2023
On Our Radar

HKLGFF: 37 years of queer cinema, from Leslie Cheung to RuPaul

Asia’s longest-running international LGBTQ film festival invites Hong Kong audiences on an emotional, cinematic ride, with a revamped programming featuring six distinct ‘moods’.

Film reviews

Review | A Bit of Light: Iranian drama about Tehran doctor strikes melancholic chord

Ali Asgari’s Tehran-set drama about an aggrieved doctor who decides to end it all as war looms is well acted but never fully bursts into life.

videocam
Hong Kong society

‘Rest in eternal peace’: veteran horror actor, filmmaker Simon Loui dies at age 62

Long-time friend, fellow actor Frankie Ng reveals to reporters on Friday that Loui lost his battle with gastric cancer earlier this week.

Veteran entertainer Simon Loui (centre) appeared in nearly 100 films over the course of his career. Photo: Handout
Hong Kong celebrities and icons

Profile | How Cantopop lyricist Wyman Wong became a cultural force in Hong Kong

Songwriter for the stars, fashion journalist, LGBTQ activist – Wong’s impact on modern Hong Kong culture cannot be overstated.

Wyman Wong attends the Ultimate Song Chart Awards 2016 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on January 1, 2017. The Hong Kong lyricist, actor and fashionista has written career-defining hits for many Cantopop singers, appeared in various movies, designed and written about fashion, and promoted LGBTQ visibility in his home city. Photo: Visual China Group via Getty Images
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

On This Day | Deanie Ip scores first best actress win for Hong Kong in Venice – SCMP archive

Ip’s portrayal of an ageing domestic servant in Ann Hui’s film won her the prestigious Volpi Cup, the first for a Hongkonger.

Asian cinema: Chinese films

Review | Once Upon a Time in the Middle East: Shen Teng leads anti-war blockbuster

Full of roaring action and heart-wrenching tension, this mainland China hit delivers a message of peace through Chinese cooking appreciation.

videocam
Asian cinema: Korean films

The making of Na Hong-jin’s sci-fi spectacle Hope, most expensive Korean film

The director talks about tension, timelines, sequel potential and a clash of tastes at Cannes as Hope gears up for US and Hong Kong releases.

videocam
Hwang Jung-min (front) and Jung Ho-yeon on the set of Hope.
Asian cinema: Chinese films

Review | Arrested Memory: Ethan Ruan leads Sabu’s muddled police thriller

Ethan Ruan plays a detective with memory issues investigating a kidnapping case in this action-packed if confused police procedural.

videocam
Ethan Ruan in a still from Arrested Memory.
Asian cinema: Japanese films

Review | Look Back: Hirokazu Koreeda explores childhood manga dreams

A deep, intense friendship between two schoolgirls is explored in Hirokazu Koreeda’s adaptation of a manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto.

videocam
Asian cinema: Korean films

Review | Possible Love: Burning director Lee Chang-dong back with another masterpiece

Zo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong play a rich couple opposite Sul Kyung-gu and Jeon Do-yeon’s have-nots in Lee’s sharp critique of Korean society.

videocam
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Asian cinema: Japanese films

Review | Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People? is a striking portrait of Vietnam war trauma

The Vietnam war drama, in competition at the Venice Film Festival, explores trauma, redemption through a US Marine’s true-life journey.

videocam
Rodney Hicks in a still from Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?, directed by Shinya Tsukamoto. Geoffrey Rush, Mark Merphy and Tatyana Ali co-star.
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

The wild days of Hong Kong’s Category III era: when sex and gore went mainstream

The adults-only, Category III rating was introduced in 1988, making stars of actresses including Shu Qi and Amy Yip.

Asian cinema: Japanese films

Review | The Last Song You Left Behind: Japanese teen romance plays a familiar tune

Shunsuke Michieda and Meru Nukumi star as classmates who slowly develop feelings for each other over an unusual musical collaboration.

videocam
US-China relations

Can Chinese sleeper hit Dear You conquer the US box office next?

After grossing nearly US$300 million in mainland China, its North American release will test its popularity beyond Chinese-speaking diaspora.

videocam
11
A still from Dear You, the hit Chinese film shot in southern Teochew dialect. Photo: Handout
Asian cinema: Chinese films

Review | I Know Who You Are: Hu Ge leads Chinese spy drama that falters at the finish

Feng Xiaogang’s drama set during the early years of the People’s Republic of China entertains but is let down by an unsatisfying ending.

videocam
Hu Ge as Feng Jingbo, a spy who becomes embroiled in a years-long cat-and-mouse game with a stubborn Beijing official, in a still from I Know Who You Are (category: IIA Mandarin), directed by Feng Xiaogang. Lei Jiayin co-stars.
Crime in Hong Kong

Man, 87, arrested after gravestone of film star Linda Lin Dai found vandalised

Marble altar at Lin’s Happy Valley grave found covered in cement, with police saying cemetery staff reported suspected vandalism.

American cinema

Desk job to Jackie Chan stunts: martial artist Alfred Hsing’s rise in film

After leaving a financial career, the wushu champion became a fight coordinator, stuntman and actor working with some of film’s top stars.

videocam
Hong Kong celebrities and icons

Profile | How Josie Ho rejected her billionaire heiress destiny for indie filmmaking

Macau casino magnate Stanley Ho’s eighth child has built her own legacy as a musician, award-winning actress and movie producer.

Josie Ho attends the New York Asian Film Festival 2022, at Walter Reade Theatre, in New York, on July 16, 2022. Rather than following in the footsteps of her casino magnate father Stanley Ho, she has forged her own path in music and film, winning awards along the way. Photo: Getty Images for Josie Ho
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Review | Wakesurf Lovers: Jeffrey Ngai, Renci Yeung make a splash in uneven sports drama

Full of beautiful bodies but paper-thin characters, Fung Chih-chiang’s film about wakesurfing and cybershaming drifts nowhere in particular.

videocam
Renci Yeung (left) and Jeffrey Ngai in a still from Wakesurf Lovers (category IIB, Cantonese), directed by Fung Chih-chiang.
Asian cinema: Chinese films

The Chinese Mulholland Drive? Why ‘so bad it’s good’ film Niu Lai is special

Initially mocked, the low-budget film by a first-time animator and his mum is now being hailed as a bastion of hard work and free expression.

videocam
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

How Ronny Yu and Jet Li made Fearless (2006) a martial arts masterpiece

Director Ronny Yu put Jet Li’s martial arts skills and acting chops to good use in this classic, blending superb fights and a human story.

videocam
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Help preserve 120 years of quality journalism.
SUPPORT NOW
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement