Dear You: the Film with a Small Budget and a Big Heart
I had spoken about a low-budget indie film with Teochew dialogue telling diaspora experiences in Thailand, which had taken China by storm on Anglophone social media. Usually this would lead to immense enthusiasm from my followers, who would enquire about the release date, to which I would woefully reply, there’s no international release. So imagine my delight at being told that Trinity CineAsia had won the rights to Dear You. Sadly unable to attend the premier due to an engagement at a book festival, I made sure I saw it at the cinema. I’m currently recovering from a sleep-deprived fortnight and a bug, but wanted to make sure my thoughts and insights are articulated into an article, to support this amazing film that has captured the hearts of so many around the world. As I sat in the screen in London, letting the Cantonese nostalgia wash over me, it felt surreal.
Posted in Articles, Events
Sneaky Supper: Snack or Busted, Your Call!
I may not talk about my new found love for boardgames and TTRPGs enough, as I actively work on promoting Sinosphere created games, and help western creators produce culturally appropriate games content. It was with this hat on that I found myself at UK Games Expo this year, touching base with creators and generally looking around.
I stopped off at Capital Gains games, drawn in by their Zombie Life Insurance game (which I will be talking about soon), and found a lovely Singaporean company producing small box games with fun graphics, a wide range of subjects, quick playtimes, many of them capturing that Sinophone experience.
So many games of this type are food based. It’s a universal experience, but also carries the specificities of home. Apps and boardgames commonly draw on cooking, hot pot, buffet, dim sums, or ‘guess the dish’ mechanics, and I’ve found myself having to triple check which hotpot deck building dice game I’m playing. I get it. When there is SO MUCH content tied to culinary tradition, it’s hard to be original (says your girl as she edits another “Roll For Noodles” video). Sneaky Supper, however, is a subgenre I hadn’t seen before.
Posted in Articles, Events and tagged Asian, food, game, pop culture, review, Singapore, snacks, tabletop
Jia Zhangke’s A Touch of Sin: A Modern Wuxia Tale
I had the pleasure of giving a talking at Genesis Cinema when A Touch of Sin came out in the U.K. Over decade later, for the Jia Zhangke season at the Garden Cinema this year, I return to take a look at the director’s expression of Wuxia stylistics in the setting of contemporary China.
Posted in Articles, Events and tagged A Touch of Sin, cinema, come drink with me, film, Jia Zhangke, king hu, opera, Wuxia
The Woo-Xia in The Killer: John Woo’s Modern Cinematic Wuxia
On the release of the 40th anniversary ultimate collection’s edition of John Woo’s The Killer, I take a look at the director’s creation of modern cinematic Wuxia storytelling.
Posted in Articles, Events and tagged action, essay, film, john woo, last hurrah to chivalry, the killer, Wuxia
The Legend of Mando part 2: the Way of Jianghu
In the first of this two-parter, I’ve explored how Din Djarin is the very model of a Xia, and how his quests mirror so many wuxia tales, but there’s much more to the series, and the universe of Star Wars that aligns with the Chinese genre.
Posted in Articles and tagged Chinese, fantasy, fiction, film, novel, Star Wars, The Mandalorian, Wuxia
The Legend of Mando Part 1: a Tale of Quests in New Republic Jianghu
Whenever I wax lyrical about the wonders of Chinese wuxia, of clans, intrigue and swordsmen, I’m often told that people in the West will have a hard time understanding it, and yet, when I sit with my geeky friends, they are more than happy to info dump about old Republics, the Jedi Order, bounty hunters and the shadow organisations of Star Wars. Western nerds, you have been enjoying Wuxia stories, for nearly 50 years.
The main reason I hadn’t originally made the connection, was that I was relatively late to the franchise. I didn’t grow up in a culture where Star Wars was this huge thing, and it wasn’t really till the sequel trilogy came out that I sat down and actually watched the thing, and with 2016’s Rogue One, starring Donnie Yenn and Jiang Wen, I began to see the parallels with the martial arts fantasies I grew up with.
I had originally planned to write this as a two-part piece, the first for May the 4th, and the second for the release of The Mandalorian and Grogu. But the more I delved into the expanded universe, animations and series, the more I found I had to say. In fact, I’d like to begin away from the swords and sorcery of the Jedi’s story, and look at just how Wuxia-coded The Mandalorian’s story is. For a start, it’s three (and a half) season saga, and the imminent film release give it that feeling of modern Wuxia series, which often run to 30+ episodes, giving plenty of room for character growth amongst the battles and betrayals.
Posted in Articles and tagged jianghu, SFF, Star Wars, The Mandalorian, Wuxia
Blades of the Guardians: Heroes for Hire
An amazing piece of Wuxia cinema that lends hope not just for a sequel, but for the future of the genre as a whole…
Posted in Articles, Events and tagged action, blades of the guardians, bounty hunter, choreography, cinema, film, manhua, preview, Wuxia, yuen woo-ping
A New Era of Wuxia: the Female Writers
The global popularity of Chinese historical fantasy has brought forward a new era of female writers. How did this revolution start?
Posted in Articles and tagged books, chinese drama, fantasy, female writers, literature, martial arts, novels, SFF, TV, Wuxia, Xianxia