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International Examiner •

Three 2023 SIFF films range from wistful to dystopian - International Examiner

This year’s Seattle International Film Festival got off to a resounding start with the world premiere of Past Lives at the Paramount Theater. Written and directed by Celine Song, the wistful drama stars Greta Lee and Teo Yoo as childhood sweethearts who reconnect as adults.
Nora (played by Lee as an adult) and Hae Sung (Yoo) are grade school classmates in Seoul, competing with each other to be the top of their class and just beginning to acknowledge their mutual crush when Nora’s family emigrate...
International Examiner •

Q&A: Gen Z filmmaker Sarah Kambe Holland makes her feature debut at SIFF - International Examiner

Premiering in the New American Cinema program at this year’s Seattle International Film Festival, Egghead & Twinkie is a multi-textual, Gen Z-driven coming-of-age meets road trip movie. Centering on a recently out Asian American teen and her best friend in the weeks before they part ways for college, the film is a light-hearted yet heartfelt exploration of love, friendship, identity and self-expression.
Multi-hyphenate Sarah Kambe Holland, who directed, wrote, produced and edited the film, an ex...
International Examiner •

Q&A: Filmmaker Sudeshna Sen returns to SIFF - International Examiner

Local filmmaker Sudeshna Sen returns to the Seattle International Film Festival to unveil her first feature-length film. Anu, based on the novel Looking for Bapu by Anjali Banerjee, follows the titular character in the aftermath of her beloved grandfather’s death. It’s a compact story that captures the nuance and complexities of grief and trauma processing, shot locally during the pandemic in places astute viewers are sure to recognize.
Sen, who wrote, produced and directed the film, got on Zoom...
International Examiner •

'Paper Names' effectively portrays generational trauma - International Examiner

I originally accepted the assignment of reviewing Susie Luo’s debut novel Paper Names on the basis of its title, expecting a narrative having to do with the so-called paper sons (including my great-grandfather) who immigrated to the United States during the Chinese Exclusion Act. Instead I received an advance copy of a drama centered around a family of three who leave behind modest stability in Dalian, China, and the adversity they face in rebuilding their lives from scratch in 1980s New York Ci...
International Examiner •

'Hidden Letters' film reveals a dark glimpse into Chinese women’s lives - International Examiner

Hidden Letters from director Violet Du Feng examines the ancient, sororal language Nushu through the eyes of two young women in modern-day China trying to preserve it. By juxtaposing past and present, the film unflinchingly peels back the layers of sexism and internalized misogyny that have and continue to support the patriarchy. Equal parts fascinating and uncomfortable, Feng challenges viewers to look beyond the facade of contemporary gender equality and examine the still problematic roots of...
International Examiner •

Hong Sang-soo’s The Novelist’s Film is a cheeky meditation on art and the creative process - International Examiner

Prolific South Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo returns with The Novelist’s Film, a cheeky meditation on art and the creative process through the eyes of a cynical writer yearning for fresh inspiration. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, this meta-feature is Hong’s most personal film to date and offers a suggestive glimpse into the filmmaker’s psyche.
Lee Hye-yeong stars as Junhee, a successful writer whose career has plateaued. Perhaps driven by loneliness or a longi...
International Examiner •

Talking with Ke Huy Quan on his triumphant and endearing return to the big screen in "Everything Everywhere All at Once" - International Examiner

People of a certain age probably remember actor Ke Huy Quan for his roles in two of the most iconic ‘80s films: as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Data in The Goonies. But in the years that followed his debut, Quan’s thespian ambitions were sidelined by Hollywood’s whiteness.
Leveraging his martial arts expertise and film degree from the University of Southern California, he turned his attention to working behind the scenes as everything from stunt coordinator and fight c...
International Examiner •

"Omoiyari" combines music, documentary style interviews and historical footage in exploring former Japanese American incarceration sites - International Examiner

Omoiyari: A Song Film by Kishi Bashi (reviewed in the IE here, scroll down) is a unique documentary that blends live music performance, interview, history and archival footage, centering on the legacy of Japanese American incarceration during WWII.
Co-directed by Kaoru Ishibashi (known professionally as composer and songwriter Kishi Bashi) and Justin Taylor Smith, the film is as much about the present as it is the past. In 2017, Ishibashi was commissioned to compose a multimedia piece about Exec...
International Examiner •

Documentary film director Ahsen Nadeem seeks enlightenment on Mt Hiei in Japan in “Crows Are White” - International Examiner

Ahsen Nadeem’s directorial debut, Crows Are White (review in the IE here, scroll down), chronicles his personal journey to bridge the gap between him and his parents while seeking enlightenment from the secluded Buddhist monks who live on Mt. Hiei outside of Kyoto, Japan.
Having grown up in a traditional Muslim household, first in Saudi Arabia and then in rural Ireland after the start of the Gulf War, the adult Nadeem struggles to reconcile who he is with the version of himself that his parents...
International Examiner •

It’s a family affair in the documentary "Bad Axe" - International Examiner

When the film industry ground to a halt in March 2020, director David Siev left New York for his hometown of Bad Axe, Michigan, to ride out the pandemic at his parents’ house. When he first picked up the camera to film his family, no one could have predicted the turn that events would take in the months to follow, nor how they would affect the Siev clan.
Over the past two years, the filmmaker shaped hours of footage into the documentary Bad Axe (reviewed in IE here, scroll down) which debuted at...
International Examiner •

Dispatches and movie reviews from the 2022 SXSW festival - International Examiner

Everything Everywhere All At Once
Directors: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Schreinert
USA

From directing duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Schreinert comes a fresh take on the multiverse concept. Anchored by a strong cast of veterans (Michelle Yeoh, James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis), emerging talent (Stephanie Hsu) and reemerging talent (Ke Huy Quan, back onscreen after two decades behind the camera), Everything Everywhere All At Once asks some of life’s big questions and finds answers in surprising, delightful...
International Examiner •

SAAFF film: Documentary "The Six" works to uncover the mystery of six Chinese men who survived the sinking of the Titanic - International Examiner

It’s hard to remember a time before the 1997 juggernaut that broke box office records The Titanic launched the careers of its two leads, and forever cemented the tragedy of the British passenger liner within public consciousness. Writer and director James Cameron’s fictional story about an ill-fated love affair captured the hearts of millions, yet perhaps the most historically accurate detail of the film is relegated to a deleted scene, in which a lifeboat trawls the wreckage to rescue a Chinese...
International Examiner •

"We Are Little Zombies" is a punk coming of age story that could achieve cult favorite status - International Examiner

Two years after winning the Short Film Grand Jury Prize for And So We Put Goldfish in the Pool, director Makoto Nagahisa returns to the Sundance Film Festival (held in January) with his debut feature-length film, We Are Little Zombies, a punk coming-of-age story whose vibrant palette and quirky soundscape complement its emotionally devoid protagonists.
Four newly orphaned Japanese youths (their average age is 13) meet at a crematorium, bonding not only over their recent parental losses, but also...
International Examiner •

Documentary shows the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes her cult of personality in Silicon Valley - International Examiner

Director Alex Gibney, whose previous works include Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, debuted his latest deep dive into corporate fraud and the tragic CEO at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival held in January. Centered on former startup ingenue Elizabeth Holmes, whose now-dissolved company Theranos had proposed revolutionary blood-testing technology, The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley explores how a novel idea with little to no grounding in scien...
International Examiner •

"Searching" starring John Cho is a triumph for representation and original storytelling and filmmaking - International Examiner

“Someday, someone will write a thesis on this film,” said the Q&A moderator following the world premiere of Aneesh Chaganty’s groundbreaking debut Searching, which won the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize. Taking place entirely on computer screens with the characters interacting through voice calls, texting, and FaceTime, the film is the first of its kind, succeeding where others have failed at trying to convey modern use of technology by its all-out yet realistic approach.
The open...
International Examiner •

"The Third Murder" plays this weekend only at SIFF Cinema Uptown: Aug. 24 , 25, 26 - International Examiner

The Third Murder opens with the visceral shot of a burning body. Unfortunately, what follows over the course of the next two hours is much less interesting.
Koji Yakusho stars as Misumi, a previously convicted criminal who does not contest his involvement in the titular murder. However, as his legal team soon discovers, Misumi is simultaneously too compliant and wholly unreliable. Each time they visit prison to question him, his story shifts slightly. Something is clearly amiss, but with a suspe...
International Examiner •

Film documentarian Li-Shin Yu: “Issues about race and everything that is on fire today traces back to the Chinese Exclusion Act” - International Examiner

For all the atrocities that the current administration is committing – the systematic purges of immigrants, the ban on individuals from certain countries entering our borders, the cruel severing of family units – most have precedence in a dark, forgotten part of American history. Between 1882 and 1943, the Chinese Exclusion Act, a policy rooted in xenophobia, fear and racism, curtailed immigration from China.
Ric Burns and longtime collaborator Li-Shin Yu co-directed a documentary for PBS by the...
International Examiner •

"Ask the Sexpert" tells the story of India’s foremost sex expert - International Examiner

For nearly a decade, nonagenarian and retired gynecologist Dr. Mahinder Watsa has been writing a daily sex column for the Mumbai Mirror newspaper. His candor and humor are legend amongst the city’s urban dwellers – particularly youth, many of whom have memorized which page the column usually falls on. In Ask the Sexpert, director Vaishali Sinha explores the nuances of India’s conservative mores – the lack of sex education, the pervasiveness of wives’ tales regarding contraception, the expectatio...
International Examiner •

Pham’s Nailed It digs into Vietnamese American resilience - International Examiner

In any given metropolitan area or strip mall in America, chances are there are at least a few Vietnamese-owned nail salons. Tracing the roots of the industry to the diaspora precipitated by the Vietnam War and the humanitarian efforts of actress Tippi Hedren, who paired a local beauty school with the first group of Vietnamese women refugees, filmmaker Adele Pham’s documentary Nailed It takes a deep dive into an insular community and its rich history. For Pham, whose film premiered last month at...
International Examiner •

"The Doctor From India" plays at the Northwest Film Forum June 6-10. - International Examiner

Septuagenarian Dr. Vasant Lad, one of the world’s leading experts in Ayurveda, a traditional form of medicine, hasn’t let age slow him down one bit. Lanky, bespectacled and speaking in evenly measured tones, his practice hasn’t changed much over the decades; rather public opinion and reception to it has. Jeremy Frindel’s documentary, The Doctor From India, follows Dr. Lad’s journey from relative obscurity to global renown after introducing Ayurveda to the west in the late 1970s.
Coming from a mo...
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