HERO
(YING XIONG)
CHINA-HONG KONG 2002
Director ZHANG YIMOU

Chris Berry
Zhang Yimou’s Hero is China’s first global blockbuster in the American mode. Made with the largest budget ever for a mainland Chinese film, it is driven by action, spectacle, and stars with a global reputation. (Read more...)


SHADOW KILL
(NIZHALKKUTHU)
INDIA 2002
Director ADOOR GOPALAKRISHNAN

M Mukundan
“A simple film replete with clichés”, said a friend. We had just seen Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s new film, Shadow Kill. (Read more...)


BIRD-MAN TALE
(AKU INGIN MENCIUMMU SEKALI SAJA)
INDONESIA 2002
Director GARIN NUGROHO

Nazir Husain Keshvani
A young high school student Arnold (Octavianus Rysiat) is obsessed about kissing a young woman who visits his port village in the turbulent province of Papua, while around him (Read more...)


MAGNIFICO
PHILIPPINES 2003
Director MARYO J DE LOS REYES

Noel Vera
Maryo J de los Reyes’ Magnifico is something fairly new in recent Philippine cinema: a wholesome, family-oriented picture without soft-core nudity, gushing blood, elaborate digital effects or even large gasoline explosions that is actually quite good. (Read more...)

DAZZLING
(HUA YAN)
CHINA 2002
Director LI XIN

Chris Berry
Dazzling is an example of the intriguing new films made by the younger generation of Chinese directors. The primary characteristic distinguishing these films from those that attracted most attention in the (Read more...)


AUSPICIOUS MOMENT
(SHUBHO MUHURAT)
INDIA 2002
Director RITUPARNO GHOSH

Shoma A Chatterji
How would Miss Marple, that irrepressible old spinster who could detect heinous crimes almost by remote in Agatha Christie’s novels, look on the Bangla screen? (Read more...)


THE SONGS OF MY HOMELAND
(AVAZHAYE SARZAMINE MADARIYAM)
IRAN 2002
Director BAHMAN GHOBADI

Hormuz Key
Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi’s second film, The Songs of My Homeland, taken together with his first, A Time for Drunken Horses, is a new stone in the edifice of Iranian cinema. (Read more...)