Sean Gilman

A film critic in Tacoma, Washington. Bylines at The Criterion Collection, the Mubi Notebook, Frame.land, InReview Online, Seattle Screen Scene and more.

Paid-members only

A Better Tomorrow

Wolf Pack and Baby Assassins (Michael Chiang, 2022 and Sakamoto Yugo, 2021)

The 36th Chamber

Septet: The Story of Hong Kong (Various, 2020)

It’s hard to imagine how long I’ve been talking about the film that would eventually become Septet: The Story of Hong Kong. The first time I tweeted about it appears to have been August of 2017, although that tweet is phrased as a reminder, which means I must

King Hu

The King of Wuxia (Lin Jing-jie, 2022)

Joining the ever-expanding pantheon of great Chinese filmmakers given the full-length documentary treatment is King Hu, the man behind many of the most accomplished and influential action films of all-time. But while Johnnie To, Ann Hui, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and Jia Zhangke are still very much alive and working, and thus

Paid-members only

Johnnie To

The Running Out of Time Series (Johnnie To, 1999 and 2001)

Paid-members only

Qiu Jiongjiong

A New Old Play (Qiu Jiongjiong, 2021)

Paid-members only

Cindy Chow

Lethal Panther 2 (Cindy Chow, 1993)

Paid-members only

Yuen Woo-ping

The Tiger Cage Trilogy (Yuen Woo-ping, 1988-1991)

Paid-members only

Godfrey Ho

Lethal Panther (Godfrey Ho, 1991)

Fallen Angels

Xie Jin

Reviews: Woman Basketball Player No. 5 (1957) – July 6, 2023 Red Detachment of Women (1961) – August 12, 2023

Devils on the Doorstep

Sakamoto Yugo

Reviews: A Janitor (2021) – June 15, 2023 Baby Assassins (2021) – October 6, 2022 Yellow Dragon's Village (2021) – June 15, 2023 Baby Assassins 2 Babies (2023) – November 8, 2023 Baby Assassins: Nice Days (2024) – July 18, 2024 List: Sakamoto Yugo Movies

Paid-members only

Strange Tales

2022 Spring/Summer Festival Compilation

Devils on the Doorstep

Jeong Ga-young Capsule Reviews

Capsule Reviews: Hit the Night (2017) – June 29, 2018 Hit the Night is an ultra-low budget comedy about a director who has an idea for a movie she wants to make. As research, she interviews a slightly older man about love, sex, and relationships (not necessarily in that order). Slowly

The Untold Stories

Godfrey Ho

Reviews: Lethal Panther (1991) – August 16, 2022 Capsule Reviews: Princess Madam (1989) — March 23, 2021

A Better Tomorrow

Chan Tze-woon

Reviews: Yellowing (2016) – October 5, 2016 Blue Island (2022) – January 29, 2022

Paid-members only

Strange Tales

The Best of the Martial Arts Films (Sandra Weintraub, 1990)

Paid-members only

Corey Yuen

Righting Wrongs (Corey Yuen, 1986)

Paid-members only

Wai Ka-fai

Detective vs. Sleuths (Wai Ka-fai, 2022)

Strange Tales

Notes Towards a Voting Guide for Chinese Language Film in the 2022 Sight & Sound Poll

It’s Sight & Sound Poll season, that time once a decade when the venerable British film magazine polls critics and filmmakers from around the world to create a list of the Great Films of All-Time. Last time around, the poll made headlines when Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo replaced longtime

Paid-members only

Hong Sangsoo

The Novelist's Film (Hong Sangsoo, 2022)

Choi Jaehoon

The Killer (Choi Jaehoon, 2022)

Last night I picked up and started reading the first Jack Reacher book. I saw the first Tom Cruise movie years ago, and liked it well enough, and really enjoyed the Amazon series that premiered on Amazon earlier this year. My edition of the book includes an introduction by author

Paid-members only

Lê Van Kiêt

The Princess (Le-Van Kiet, 2022)

Devils on the Doorstep

Lê Văn Kiệt

Reviews: Furie (2019) – March 13, 2019 The Princess (2022) – July 5, 2022

Paid-members only

Yuen Woo-ping

The Tai Chi Master (Yuen Woo-ping, 1993)

Paid-members only

Corey Yuen

My Father is a Hero (Corey Yuen, 1995)

Paid-members only

Tsui Hark

The Master (Tsui Hark, 1992)