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easternKicks
@easternkicks.bsky.social
The ultimate website for Asian films, featuring news, reviews and interviews.
A stylin’ modest milestone in Japanese crime cinema that birthed a franchise, a medium, and a movement with a smirk: CRIME HUNTER: BULLETS OF RAGE ★★★★ | Part of V-Cinema Essentials: Bullets & Betrayal from @arrowvideo.bsky.social
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December 2, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Haunting drama with surprisingly relevant social criticism: SPLENDID OUTING ★★★★ | Released on Blu-ray from 8 December by @filmsradiance.bsky.social
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December 1, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Lee Man-hee’s enjoyable caper recalled in Kim Jee-woon's The Good, The Bad, The Weird: BREAK UP THE CHAIN | Screened as part of the London Korean Film Festival 2025 / Korean Cultural Centre UK #LKFF

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November 28, 2025 at 8:17 PM
A young Japanese woman travels to Seoul to search for her missing sister and crosses paths with a mysterious plastic surgeon: GHOST MASK: SCAR | This week's #cineXtremes entry!

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November 27, 2025 at 7:20 PM
CHANG CHEH brings Peking Opera to the screen in THE FANTASTIC MAGIC BABY | Available now on Blu-ray as part of FURIOUS SWORDS AND FANTASTIC WARRIORS: THE HEROIC CINEMA OF CHANG CHEH from #eurekavideo

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November 26, 2025 at 8:23 PM
A middling showcase for the always charming Yuen Biao: ROSA | Available now on Blu-ray from @88films.bsky.social

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Movie review: Rosa | easternkicks.com
A middling showcase for the always charming Yuen Biao... While is does have Sammo Hung producing and Wong Kar-wai on co-writing duties the often-forgettable Rosa, recently restored by 88 Films, is pro...
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November 25, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Japanese screen legend AKIRA EMOTO speaks with us about his English-language debut in RENTAL FAMILY | In US cinemas now via #searchlightpics and coming to a special preview at #BFI Southbank

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Akira Emoto interview: “I hope more films are made about Japan from a different perspective” | easternkicks.com
A Japanese screen legend speaks with us about his English-language debut... Rental Family is the highest-profile Japan-set film of the year, but it’s an American studio picture. This is (thankfully) n...
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November 25, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Brendan Fraser stars in Hikari’s film about Japan’s infamous acting services, RENTAL FAMILY | Screened as part of #BFI London Film Festival #LFF2025 and released in the US today via #searchlightpics

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Rental Family | easternkicks.com
Brendan Fraser stars in Hikari’s film about Japan’s infamous ‘rental family’ services… All aboard for the latest entry in the Brendan Fraser comeback trail. Next stop: Japan, as we explore that Japane...
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November 21, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Tsunami survivors find themselves hunted by a giant croc in 2021 Chinese creature feature CRAZY TSUNAMI | This week's #cineXtremes entry!

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Movie review: Crazy Tsunami | easternkicks.com
Tsunami survivors find themselves hunted by a giant croc in this 2021 Chinese creature feature... It’s never much of a challenge to figure out the inspirations behind most of the recent wave of made f...
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November 21, 2025 at 3:31 PM
A Ninja for All Seasons reboots the classic series, cementing the shinobi's tragic-heroic image for generations to come SHINOBI NO MONO 4: SIEGE ★★★★ | Available now as part of Shinobi Vol 2 from @filmsradiance.bsky.social

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Movie review: Shinobi no Mono 4: Siege | easternkicks.com
A Ninja for All Seasons reboots the classic series, cementing the shinobi's tragic-heroic image for generations to come... 1615. Ieyasu Tokugawa (Ganjirō Nakamura II, Floating Weeds) — having already ...
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November 19, 2025 at 12:00 PM
An all-star cast take part in battles without honour (or humanity) in Kinji Fukasaku’s genre-reviving classic SHOGUN’S SAMURAI ★★★★ - presented by #eurekaentertainment in a new limited edition #MastersofCinema blu-ray

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Movie review: Shogun’s Samurai | easternkicks.com
An all-star cast take part in battles without honour (or humanity) in Kinji Fukasaku’s genre-reviving samurai classic... There are few directors who proved to be as shocking a lightning rod as Kinji F...
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November 19, 2025 at 11:55 AM
The cult avant-garde anime classic is back with a 4K remaster: ANGEL'S EGG ★★★★★ | On US screens from November 19, released by @gkids.com #mamoruoshii #angelsegg

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Movie review: Angel’s Egg | easternkicks.com
The cult avant-garde anime classic is back with a 4K remaster… Japanese director Mamoru Oshii’s cult classic Angel’s Egg (1985) returns to cinemas this year in a newly remastered print, marking the fi...
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November 17, 2025 at 3:35 PM
HO MENG-HUA’S hidden masterpiece THE BLACK ENFORCER is about a constable seeking retribution after his family’s killers imprison him for 15 years ★★★★★ | Available as part of @shoutstudios.bsky.social Shaw Brothers Classics Vol. 6

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Movie review: The Black Enforcer | easternkicks.com
A wrongly convicted constable seeks revenge after 15 years in prison... Ho Meng-Hua is responsible for a slew of classic movies, from The Jade Raksha (1968) and The Lady Hermit (1971) to The Flying Gu...
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November 13, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Found footage horror following an American filmmaker travelling to a remote village to meet a girl he’s been chatting with online: LURED | This week's #cineXtremes entry!

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Movie review: Lured aka The Evil Within | easternkicks.com
Found footage horror following an American filmmaker travelling to a remote village to meet a girl he’s been chatting with online... Lured is another film from director Dawei Lee, who had previously d...
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November 13, 2025 at 10:05 AM
The Many Faces of Sylvia Chang and Taiwan Cinema - Ming-Yeh Rawnsley looks at how monumental the actress has been in a country's cinema

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Profile: The Many Faces of Sylvia Chang and Taiwan Cinema | easternkicks.com
Ming-Yeh Rawnsley looks at how monumental the actress has been in a country's cinema... There are many interwoven reasons why women have long been overlooked in film historiography. A key factor lies ...
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November 13, 2025 at 10:04 AM
With Sean Baker co-writing the results are perhaps not unexpected, but still a joy | Screened as part of #BFI London Film Festival #LFF2025 and on limited release from 14 November @netflix.com

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Movie review: Left-Handed Girl | easternkicks.com
With Sean Baker co-writing the results are perhaps not unexpected, but still a joy… Only Taiwanese-American Shih-Ching Tsou’s second film as director, and first single-handed (no pun intended), Left-H...
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November 13, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Shih-Ching Tsou and Sean Baker’s TAKE OUT is a cutting drama capturing the bleak monotony of pursuing the American Dream | Screened at @thegardencinema.bsky.social | Tsou's Left-Handed Girl will be on limited release from 14 November @netflix.com
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November 7, 2025 at 8:17 PM
A young woman fights for her life against an oversized shark in this 2021 Chinese creature feature: the subtly-titled HUGE SHARK | This week's #cineXtremes entry!

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November 6, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Donnie Yen does double-double duty as director/producer/heroes in novel if overdone kung fu court drama: THE PROSECUTOR | Available on Blu-ray from @signatureuk.bsky.social

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Movie review: The Prosecutor | easternkicks.com
Donnie Yen does double-double duty as director/producer/heroes in novel if overdone kung fu court drama... Officer Fok (Donnie Yen, Raging Fire) is head of the Narcotics Division, commanding partners ...
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November 5, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Isabella Wei stars as a young woman stuck in her family’s takeaway business who dreams of something more: HIGH WIRE | Screened as part of #BFI London Film Festival #LFF2025

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Movie review: High Wire | easternkicks.com
Isabella Wei stars as a young woman stuck in her family’s takeaway business who dreams of something more… Rising star Isabella Wei leads Calif Chong’s debut feature had its world premiere at the BFI L...
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November 5, 2025 at 5:00 PM
A wild but much sillier adventure from Lam Nai-Choi: PEACOCK KING ★★★★ | Available on Blu-Ray now from #88_Films

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Movie review: Peacock King | easternkicks.com
A wild but much sillier adventure from Lam Nai-Choi... Hong Kong’s Category III films were introduced in the late 1980s, providing audiences with more adult and unrestrained content that grim violence...
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November 5, 2025 at 4:57 PM
East Asian films at Leeds International Film Festival (LIFF) - Currently screening up to 16 November, here’s what to watch… @leedsfilmfest.bsky.social #LIFF2025

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November 5, 2025 at 4:55 PM
East Asian films at #BFI’s Too Much: Melodrama on Film season - At BFI Southbank and across the country, plenty of classics to be seen - including the 4K restoration of THE ARCH!

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News: East Asian films at BFI’s Too Much: Melodrama on Film season | easternkicks.com
At BFI Southbank and across the country, plenty of classics to be seen… Through November and December, the BFI embarks on a celebration of melodrama with classics from the silent era right up to date....
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October 31, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Sadako haunts a projector instead of a videotape in this low-budget Chinese Ring knock-off: SADAKO RETURNED | This week's #cineXtremes entry! #Halloween #SpookySeason

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Movie review: Sadako Returned | easternkicks.com
Sadako haunts a projector instead of a videotape in this low-budget Chinese Ring knock-off... Since the publication of Koji Suzuki's Ring back in 1991 there have been no less than ten different film a...
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October 31, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Sine Screen in Focus: Kaori Oda - A programme exploring the work of the experimental filmmaker and artist #Sine_Screen #ICALondon

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News: Sine Screen in Focus: Kaori Oda | easternkicks.com
A programme exploring the work of the experimental filmmaker and artist... Alongside their Whose Homeland series across various venues between November 2025 and March 2026, Sine Screen will also be pr...
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October 31, 2025 at 12:09 PM