A Chinese restaurant becomes a kind of home for a disparate collection of travellers and unanchored locals in Li Gen’s poignant drama.
Aug 11, 2022 • Subscribe
More like this
Just 1 Day (給我1天, Erica Li, 2021)
An emotionally unfulfilled woman gains a new perspective after reuniting with a childhood friend in Erica Li’s tearjerking romantic dramedy
Review: Before Next Spring (2021)
Before Next Spring 如果有一天我将会离开你 China/Hong Kong, 2021, colour, 2.35:1, 107 mins. Director: Li Gen 李亘. Rating: 6/10. Well-acted, authentic portrait of Chinese expats in a Tokyo suburb is…
Ode to the Spring (没有一个春天不会来临, Zhou Nan, Zhang Chi, Dong Yue, Tian Yusheng, Rao Xiaozhi, 2022)
With an all star cast and five top directors, Ode to the Spring celebrates the efforts of frontline workers in Wuhan during the pandemic.
Back to Love (带你去见我妈, Lan Hongchun, 2021)
The relationship between a young couple is tested by the conservative attitudes of small-town parents in Lan Hongchun’s lighthearted drama.
Love Never Ends (我爱你!, Han Yan, 2023)
The generational tensions in the contemporary society are gradually exposed when a retired mechanic begins to fall for a feisty widow in Han Yan’s quietly affecting romantic dramedy.
One Summer (一个夏天, Yang Yishu, 2015)
A wife is sent on a kafkaesque quest when her husband is taken away by a knock in the night in Yang Yishu’s social drama.
Hero (世间有她, Li Shaohong, Joan Chen, Sylvia Chang, 2022)
Li Shaohong, Joan Chen, and Sylvia Chang tell the stories of women in Wuhan, Beijing, and Hong Kong in this tripartite pandemic anthology film.
A Balloon’s Landing (我在這裡等你, Angel Teng I-Han, 2024)
A dejected Hong Kong writer longs to find the path back to paradise if in the most ironic of ways, but finds something quite different after accidentally being…
GameStop Bets Big on Next Gen Gaming
With the Xbox Series X|S & PlayStation 5 prices now known, Krystallina talks about GameStop trying to benefit from it in this week's column.
When the Dawn Comes (黎明到來的那一天, Zhang Hong-Jie, 2021)
Zhang’s documentary follows LGBTQ+ activist Chi Chia-Wei in the run up to the legalisation of same-sex marriage.
Fish Memories ((真)新的一天, Chen Hung-i, 2023)
A middle-aged man’s comfortable if emotionally empty existence is disrupted by his relationship with a pair of teenagers in Chen Hung-i’s poetic drama.
My Heavenly City (我的天堂城市, Yu Sen-I, 2023)
A collection of Taiwanese migrants live unwittingly connected lives while otherwise lonely in New York in Yu Sen-I’s melancholy drama.
The Best Secret Agent (天字第一號, Chang Ying, 1964)
A female super spy is forced to sacrifice romantic fulfilment in the pursuit of her duty but with it gains true freedom and independence in Chang Ying’s hugely…
Cloudy Mountain (峰爆, Li Jun, 2021)
Estranged father and son engineers must find a way to work together in order to save the town in Li Jun’s big budget disaster movie.
Drifting (濁水漂流, Jun Li, 2021)
Hong Kong’s homeless find themselves pushed ever further into the margins by an increasingly unequal society in Jun Li’s gritty drama
The Way We Talk (看我今天怎麼說, Adam Wong Sau-Ping, 2024)
In the opening scenes of Adam Wong’s The Way We Talk (看我今天怎麼說), deaf children are being taught in a specialist school but are prohibited from using sign language…
Spring 2021!
It’s been about a year now since we’ve all been experiencing (in one way or another) the effects of the global pandemic. I hope that you and yours…
Spring 2021.
Wanna hear something embarrassing? This post has been sitting, complete and ready to post, in my drafts for over a month now. I just lacked the energy to…
You Have To Kill Me (我是自願讓他殺了我, Chan Chun-Hao, 2021)
An earnest policeman’s world is shaken when he’s dispatched to investigate his girlfriend’s murder in Chan Chun-hao’s noirish drama
Netflix Movie Review – Next Gen Is Just Better Big Hero 6
Okay, hear me out. First of all, I have a mixed opinion of Big Hero 6. I liked it a LOT, and Baymax is one of the most…
WHICH NEW GEN ANIME WILL BE IN THE NEXT “BIG 3”
This post contains a lot of my personal opinions. I’ve no intentions of hurting anybody else’s feelings. Let’s see what we have here… DEMON SLAYER Even though it…
Embrace Again (穿过寒冬拥抱你, Xue Xiaolu, 2021)
Volunteer workers step up to keep the city running during the lengthy Wuhan lockdown of 2020 in Xue Xiaolu’s heartwarming ensemble drama.
Why It Works: Gen Urobuchi’s Puppet Masterpiece Returns This Spring!
Hey folks. I think you can figure this one out by the title – Thunderbolt Fantasy’s on the way back, and so I am conscience-bound to hype it…
Why It Works: Gen Urobuchi’s Puppet Masterpiece Returns This Spring!
Hey folks. I think you can figure this one out by the title – Thunderbolt Fantasy’s on the way back, and so I am conscience-bound to hype it…
A New Old Play (椒麻堂会, Qiu Jiongjiong, 2021)
An old man reminisces as he prepares to drink the soup of oblivion in Qiu Jiongjiong’s Brechtian epic of mid-20th century Chinese history as witnessed by a Sichuan…
Spring 2021 Anime...
My thoughts on Anime in the season of Spring 2021.
Tokyo Revengers, Clannad, Fruits Basket, MARS RED, Moriarty the Patriot
2021 Spring 3
Looks like Slime Taoshite is going to tell us a story. For this last installment we start with Slime Taoshite 300-nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level Max ni Nattemashita,…
To Your Eternity, Osamake: Romcom Where The Childhood Friend Won't Lose, SHADOWS HOUSE, I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level
2021 Spring 2
The slime spinoff starts with a window, presumably about to be opened. First we have Tensura Nikki – Tensei Shitara Slime datta ken. Basically it’s Rimuru and his…
Blue Reflection Ray, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord, Super Cub, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
2021 Spring 1
As I’ve gotten even older I’ve gotten more picky in the shows that I watch. And, as I think I said before, I don’t have the time or…
Spring 2021 1
Here we go again with the new shows I may or may not watch. (For the record, I took last season off from writing, and it’s probably a…
ODDTAXI, Peach Boy Riverside, Scarlet Nexus, Super Cub, The Case Study of Vanitas
Spring Preview 2021
As the spring showers wash away the last of the winter dew, we are once again greeted with a season of bountiful flora, thriving fauna, and new anime.…
Tokyo Revengers, High School Girls, Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun, Shaman King, Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway
Spring 2021 Schedule
Sunday Sentouin, Hakenshimasu! 21:00 AT-X (04/04) Dragon, Ie wo Kau. 22:00 Toyko MX (04/04) Yuukoku no Moriarty 2nd Season 22:30 Tokyo MX (04/04) Nomad: Megalo Box 2 23:00…
Tokyo Revengers, Backflip!!, My Hero Academia Season 5, Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun Season 2, Mars
The Asian Angel (アジアの天使, Yuya Ishii, 2021)
The lonely souls of Japan and Korea are brought together by angelic intervention in Yuya Ishii’s wistful drama
Isekai Izakaya “Gen”
Story about a modern day Japanese pub that’s serves citizens in the fantasy medieval kingdom of Oilia. Continue reading →
My Indian Boyfriend (我的印度男友, Sri Kishore, 2021)
A boy from India falls for a Hong Kong girl but encounters a series of barriers to romance in Sri Kishore’s Bollywood-style romantic melodrama
My Best Friend’s Breakfast (我吃了那男孩一整年的早餐, Du Zheng Zhe, 2022)
Lovelorn teens embark on an awkward romance mediated by misdirected breakfasts in Du Zheng Zhe’s high school rom-com.
The Dishwasher Squad (洗碗天團, Shum Sek-yin, 2021)
Two cynical businessmen eventually rediscover a sense of humanity while working with a series of marginalised employees in Shum’s breezy Hong Kong comedy
That Spring 2021 Schedule
It’s spring. Most hyped anime of the first few months in 2021, alongside many great anime have ended for now. But, as always, there’s more to come. let’s…
Spring 2021 – Week 3
That most infamous of weeks! Week three, when either the plot is settled or the Big Twist hits. It’s also the usual point where folks make their “keep/drop”…
Anime Lookout | Spring 2021
Well, to my surprise, it’s time once again to dive into a brand new season of anime. To be honest, considering how amazing 2021’s winter season was, I…
Spring 2021 Season Preview
Got a list of things to do but as always, the priority lies in what’s new and upcoming.
Spring 2021 Check-in
Both anime and I have changed a lot since we last had a season like this. Read more
Spring 2021 in Review
This past anime season, counting holdovers from the Winter 2021 season, I watched 26 anime. Of those, I completed 22. Normally, we at the Backloggers would do an…
SPRING 2021 | First Impressions
Hello and welcome for the post no one asked for! HAH! Can’t keep me away from writing about anime when my life is, all of the sudden, opening…
Spring 2021 Season Preview
Oh my god, what the fuck, what week is it? Week eleven of the winter season? Jesus fuck, these preview articles are supposed to go out on week…
Anime Awards: Spring 2021
Thus the spring season of anime concludes, and I shall now be taking a look back at what I watched over the past few months, and celebrating the…
Blue Reflection Ray, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level, My Hero Academia, My Hero Academia Season 5
2021 Spring Premiere Digest
The latest shower of premieres brought us a huge bouquet of new shows to watch!
Koikimo, Pretty Boy Detective Club, SSSS.DYNAZENON, To Your Eternity, Fairy Ranmaru
Spring 2021 First Impressions
Hello everyone, and welcome back to For Great Justice! A couple brief weeks ago, Yata delivered some overdue final verdicts on the winter season solo, and with the…
Hyping Up Spring 2021
I’m not even finished with winter yet…
Fruits Basket, To Your Eternity, Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun, Mars, The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent
Spring 2021 Anime Preview
Right on the heels of Winter 2021, which for many has seemingly given us possibly one of the best seasons of anime in a long time, we’re back…