Reviews by Shreeux

No one is ever happy with what they have.

Turkish director Emin Alper’s third feature film set in small-town of Central Anatolia. A fairy tale of three rural sisters. The girls were adopted by affluent families as foster children. However, all three are forced to return to the village due to unforeseen circumstances. It’s also about displacement, and how the stories poor people tell to help them cope with present troubles.

Ma'Rosa is the name of a small grocery store where a family lives, who, to make ends meet, trades in white powder. A neighbor denounces it and the police accused the parents. This is the beginning of a long day, locked up in a neighborhood police station with cops who soon ransom the poor people. The Filipino director Brillante Mendoza still manages to seize raw blocks of truth that show the violence of his country.

Tamara tells the story of Teo Almanza who, upon hearing about the death of his brother, returns to his hometown in Venezuela. The film explores Teoʼs desire to become a woman and shows the protagonist’s search for his true self, The film intentionally sways away from the violence perpetually inflicted on the transgender community and, rather, chooses to focus on the complexity of identity. Even though person is an altogether different experience shows in this movie...The Danish Girl (2015) was much better than this category.

Insanity is a film that deals with real issues about how mental illness can affect everybody at any moment in your life. The film tries hard to tackle the art of mental illness and the inability to control and tamper with. Emotions are a difficult thing to understand and the human mind is a vast field to master. Producer Derek Yee and first time writer and director David Lee makes a good fist of the scenario and portray just enough unbelievably to make it realistic.

Based on a Japanese folk legend that echoes the tale of Robin Hood, this ninja thriller follows the exploits of Goemon Ishikawa (Yôsuke Eguchi), who leaves his fighting clan after its chief is murdered and uses his skills as a thief to help the poor. But after learning the identity of his leader's killer - the traitorous Hideyoshi (Eiji Okuda) - Goemon sets out on a bloody path of vengeance, joined by his loyal friend, Saizo

Cold Steel (2011)
"Bian di lang yan" (original title)

"The sniper's heart is like a lonely hunter."
Based on a popular online novel, the slick period action movie Cold Steel follows the exploits of a Chinese sniper unit during the Sino-Japanese War. Peter Ho (Sophie's Revenge) and Tony Leung Ka Fai star as the headstrong rookie and veteran marksman, respectively, in this wartime action drama about romance, camaraderie and the way of the bullet. Directed by David Wu (The Bride with White Hair 2), the film is packed with action sequences and shootouts and features supporting performances from Song Jia (Once Upon a Time in Tibet), veteran martial artist Yu Rong Guang, television actor Wilson Guo (Palace) and Angeles Woo (Reign of Assassins), daughter of director John Woo.

Young hunter Mu Liangfeng (Peter Ho) is arrested after getting into a fight with some soldiers over war widow Liu Yan (Song Jia). While he is being transported to the army camp, the convoy falls under attack by Japanese snipers, and Mu ends up saving the day with his sharpshooting skills. He is then promptly conscripted into the army's newly formed sniper unit, led by platoon leader Zhang Menzi (Tony Leung Ka Fai). The sniper unit is tasked to slow down the Japanese army's advancement, but many lives are at stake when their mission goes wrong.