swturswt Reviews

The Disappearance of Mrs. Wu (2021)

A female-centered family drama that will warm your heart

[8/10 · 15 July 2023]

I watched this film via my local library's free Hoopla download. The overall review rating seem not bad, so I gave it a try. At first I was a bit annoyed by the two young female leads' rather 'corny' teenagers' dialogue as well as the Asian American family's bickering which seemed a bit too 'Americanized' for me. But as the plot progress and each character got more and more chances to reveal their inner feelings and also the revelations of some surprising family secrets left behind both in China and California, the story slowly evolved and pulled you into these people's lives and feelings. The last 30 minutes or so will warm your heart and think about your own loved ones when they are near the end of their life journey. (Dignity, family and love). I am glad I saw this movie and stick to the very end. Well worth it. A fresh breeze from the new generation of Asian American cinema.

Secrets of the Dead: Ultimate Tut (2013) Season 12, Episode 5

Good film but tried too hard to sensationalize it!

[7/10 · 24 May 2023]

This is a well made TV 'documentary'. However I found the entire production was trying too hard to sensationalize King Tut's supposed historical 'mystery'. Particularly with the protagonist walking around and acting as if he is the only authority in the entire world to determine the right answers simply by asking a bunch of 'experts', all from England, to conduct some rather fancy computer assisted testings, and it nearly completely avoided seeking any opinions from the Egyptian side. These people acted as if they 'owned' the entire King Tut's theories without further consultation or explanation from any Egyptian historians or archeologists. It definitely made this film feels more or less like mainly for some armchair history buffs instead of serious scientific/historic film.

Cobalt Blue (II) (2022)

Pretentious, shallow characters and poorly crafted Indian gay film

[3/10 · 31 May 2022]

As a non-Indian gay man, I was delighted to find this film in Netflix. I had a rather high hope when the movie starts, but little by little, I found its cheap craftsmanship was overwhelmingly unbearable. If this is any indication of how Indian queer films will be like in the future, I am not very optimistic. The only thing I really enjoyed from this film is the intoxicating Kerala waterway sceneries. Among all the characters, only the deeply closeted school teacher and the young Catholic nun touched my heart somewhat, alas, the story and the film is not about them. I wish Indian film makers will be more serious about their crafts. Go see the wonderful Guatemala gay film 'Jose', Mexico's '4 Moons', 'Dance of the 41' or Britain's 'Lilting', among many. Cobalt Blue is just as bad as some cheaply made West Hollywood gay films which tarnished enough of queer films reputation, so is this one.

Ashes of Time (1994)

One of the worst films I've ever seen

[5/10 · 24 November 2021]

This is simply one of the worst films, if not ~the~ worst, I have ever seen. It is almost as if Wong Kar-Wai made this entire film while he was drunk. The story and the characters are so under-developed and confusing, most of the time I had no ideas what was going on and who was who. Nearly every one in the film was one dimensional. The acting was poorly done with same expression over and over as if they were doing a commercial still shot. The whole bunch of famous HK actors could not save this boring and poorly executed film.

The Burmese Harp (1956)

Is it a true anti-war and Buddhism teaching film?

[5/10 · 28 March 2007]

After seeing this poetically crafted anti-war film from the recent new DVD release from Criterion, I must say there are something disturbed me profoundly. The platoon led by Captain Inouye (Mikuni Rentaro) was depicted throughout the entire film more like a Boy Scout group than WWII Japanese Imperial soldiers. They enjoyed choral singing so much as if they weren't aware that they were battling with the British army in the tropical Burmese jungle during the final days of WWII. The film never dropped any slightest hint of any suffering or hardship of the local Burmese people because of the war brought onto their land by the Japanese and British. The film concentrated on the main character, the harp-playing soldier Mizushima's spiritual awakening while disguised as a Burmese monk fleeing alone from a deadly battle in the mountain to join up his platoon which have already surrendered and been taken as war prisoners by the British army. The film showed several times how Mizushima was shocked and horrified upon seeing dead bodies of his fellow Japanese soldiers scattered in a raven, along a river bank or in the jungle. But the film never showed even once any casualty or suffering of any Burmese people, which made it appeared as if the Burmese people during the war were nothing but a bunch of on-lookers. The story in this film seemed to tell us that Mizushima's transformation from a soldier to a Buddhist monk was solely because he saw many dead bodies of his fellow Japanese soldiers but not because he saw the mass killings on ALL SIDES, including the death of innocent civilians. Ichikawa Kon's film had an admirable anti-war intention and message, but unfortunately it appeared it laden with the ever subtle message that says "We Japanese soldiers are good people, we never really want to do harms to others, we suffered and died just like any other war victims." Some people may think this film has a clear Buddhist teaching in it, but the way I see it, it's not a pure Buddhist altruism because I can smell the 'nationalism' hidden behind that harp.

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Thank you, Mr. Ang Lee

[10/10 · 29 December 2005]

I have waited a long time (probably more than 2 years) from the first moment I heard Ang Lee took over the Brokeback Mountain project. I knew Mr. Lee will not disappoint us, yet nobody knows just exactly what the final cut will be like. We waited patiently with some sporadic grapevine news came out from Alberta during the shooting of the film. Then in early September, all of sudden we heard this unbelievable good news from Venice. From that moment on, the anticipation has gone only higher and higher each day. I finally got to see this much waited film a week ago. I was deeply touched (and haunted ever since) by this masterpiece exquisitely crafted by Mr. Lee.

I want to thank Ang Lee, the two leading actors and the rest of the cast for giving us such a deep and heart-felt movie so truthfully capture and present the inner feeling of many gay people out there. Back in 1993, Ang Lee gave us 'The Wedding Banquet' to show us the hope and warmth in a wonderful lighthearted comedy set in a Chinese family with a gay son. Today, Mr. Lee gave us the more powerful Brokeback Mountain. I believe Ang's unequivocal altruism as a film director will be deeply appreciated by many through the whole world. Thank you, Ang Lee. We wish you much success both in the upcoming awards season and the box office sale. We hope to see more great films from you in the coming years.

Brokeback Mountain: 10/10

Beautiful Boxer (2003)

A beautiful and touching film.......

[10/10 · 20 March 2005]

This wonderful film has so much spirituality and depth in it, yet it's gripping, moving and entertaining. I've never seen any film dealing with gender identity issue as good, delicate and penetrating as this one. Asanee Suwan, a real life Thai kick boxer, did an incredible job in his first acting role to capture Nong Thoom's life from a shy, poor country boy to a champion boxer and eventually a beautiful woman. The film flows smoothly and seamlessly. The only thing I did not care much was some short and brief music scores in the back ground sounds a little 'shaky' or 'melodramatic'. But over all, a marvelous film. And what an eye opener to see the beautiful Thailand!

Bride & Prejudice (2004)

Great disappointment.........

[2/10 · 19 March 2005]

I'm a big fan of Bollywood's dashing colorful dance and music. I've enjoyed some really good and entertaining Bollywood productions in the past few years. I've also enjoyed some of the more 'conventional' movies with Indian background, such as 'Bend It Like Beckham', 'Bhaji on the Beach', 'Monsoon Wedding', 'The Mystic Masseur', even the silly but funny 'The Guru'. But I was totally disappointed by 'Bride and Prejudice'. Regardless this film is supposed to be a farce or not, I think it did a horrible job in portraying the Indian people (or should I say the 'rich' Indians?). Except the father, the entire family (all the females) seem obsessed with only one thing in their minds - To get married with either a rich Indian guy living in the West or any white boy. I found the beautiful ex-supermodel Rai's acting pathetic. And there's absolutely no chemistry between her and Henderson through the entire movie. And the colorful Bollywood dance and singing which featured a couple of times at the beginning of the film simply mysteriously abandoned entirely in the second half of the film. Instead, the entire cast seemed just busy flying back and forth between India, London and LA.