Director: Christopher Makoto Yogi Starring: Steve Iwamoto, Constance Wu Runtime: 100 mins Having premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, I Was a Simple Man follows the slow and impending demise of an elderly Japanese American man living in Hawaii and pieces together the parts of his life that have made him who he is.…
Director: Yu Chieh Cheng Starring: Mo Tzu Yi, Chen Shu Fang, Run Yin Bai Runtime: 106mins Taiwanese director Yu Chieh Cheng is a near veteran when it comes to issues surrounding identity. 2009 saw the release of Yang Yang, a film that probed the complicated journey of a French-Taiwanese woman and how this shaped her…
Director: Kavich Neang Starring: Piseth Chhun, Hout Sithourn, Jany Min Runtime: 130 mins For filmmaker Kavich Neang, White Building is deeply personal. Already in his youthful but promising career, he has cut his directorial teeth by chronicling the painful destruction of the apartment block where he and his peers were raised. In 2019, he documented…
Director: Audrey Diwan Starring: Anamaria Vartolomei Runtime: 100 mins Happening (L’événement) is a French film adapted from Annie Ernaux’s autobiographical account of having an illegal abortion in the 1960s. Ernaux’s genuine experience gives this film the weight and depth required for such serious subject matter. In Happening, we meet Anne Duschene (played by Anamaria Vartolomei), a young college student…
The collaborative efforts at the Irish Film Institute to showcase East Asian cinema will be returning soon. The sixth edition of the East Asia Film Festival Ireland will be on at the IFI and online via the IFI@Home platform this spring, in Dublin from Thursday, March 31st to Sunday, April 3rd. The EAFFI will be hitting the…
Director: Ryoo Seung Wan Starring: Kim Yoon Seok, Jo In Sung, Heo Joon Ho, Kim So Jin Running Time: 121 minutes As can no doubt be gleaned from current global events, accuracy is important in depictions war. While factual accuracy should never be side-lined in pursuit of a good plot, it’s often the case that…
