Category: 2025 Entries
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Matthew Wong Foreman, Sunset at Lion Rock, Proverse Press, 2024. 288 pgs. ………Iβve no strength left to stop the contradiction………My heart is tired and my eyes blurry you know………βLeslie…
![[REVIEW] “Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Among Many, Many Other Things: Matthew Wong Foremanβs ππ’ππ ππ‘ ππ‘ πΏπππ π
πππ” by Jason S Polley](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/matthew-wong-foreman-sunset-at-lion-rock-1.jpg?w=962)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Bong Joon-ho (director), Mickey 17, 2025. 137 min. Header image Β© bartos. Bong Joon-hoβs Mickey 17 is at once an existential tragedy and a darkly comic spectacleβa sci-fi epic…
![[REVIEW] “Dying for a Living: Bong Joon-ho’s ππππππ¦ 17 and the Horror of Being Replaceable” by Ananya Singh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/c2a9marclafon-mickey17-rectangle.jpg?w=1024)
-
Russell Leong on these poems: Like apparitions or long-lost friends, these three unpublished poemsβwritten more than twenty years ago in New London, Connecticut; Cuse, France; and Hong Kong, Chinaβhave returned to me through the efforts of editor Tammy Lai-Ming Ho.…
![[EXCLUSIVE] Three Poems by Russell Leong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/three-poems-by-russell-leong.png?w=1024)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS For Gab Angeles, who lent me the book. Natsume SΕseki (author), Meredith McKinney (translator), Kokoro, Penguin Classics, 2010. 256 pgs. Kokoro is the final novel written by Natsume SΕseki.…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βThe Virtue of Melancholy: Reading Natsume SΕsekiβs πΎπππππβ by Ramzzi FariΓ±as](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/kokoro.png?w=1024)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Can Xue (author), Karen Gernant and Chen Zeping (translators), I Live in the Slums, Yale University Press, 2020. 344 pgs. Can Xueβs I Live in the Slums is an…
![[REVIEW] βA Shifting, Unstable World: Can Xueβs πΌ πΏππ£π ππ π‘βπ πππ’ππ β by Zalman S. Davis](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/i-live-in-the-slums-1.jpg?w=968)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Susan Barker, Old Soul, Penguin, 2025. 352 pgs. In 2014, Susan Barker published The Incarnations, which The Independent described as βChinaβs Midnightβs Children.β Like her previous two novels, it…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βSusan Barkerβs πππ πππ’π: A Globetrotting Horror with an Asian Sense of Eternityβ by Kevin McGeary](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/old-soul-susan-barker.jpg?w=975)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Hiroko Oyamada. Hiroko Oyamada (author), David Boyd (translator), The Factory, New Directions, 2019. 128 pgs. Hiroko Oyamadaβs The Factory weaves…
![[REVIEW] βA Senseless Menagerie: Hiroko Oyamadaβs πβπ πΉπππ‘πππ¦β by Tyran Grillo](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/the-factory.png?w=562)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Fly Me to the Moon. Sasha Chuk (director), Fly Me to the Moon δ½ι‘δΊΊι·δΉ , 2023. 112 min. Every era of Hong Kong cinema has…
![[REVIEW] βIn the Wake of Hong Kong Dreaming: Sasha Chuk’s πΉππ¦ ππ π‘π π‘βπ ππππ” by Tin Yuet Tam](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/fly-me-to-the-moon.jpg?w=1024)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Yuta Takahashi (author), Cat Anderson (translator), The Chibineko Kitchen, John Murray, 2024. 192 pgs. The Japanese iyashikeiβor healingβgenre has resonated deeply with readers worldwide, offering solace and comfort through…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Dining with the Departed: Yuta Takahashiβs πβπ πΆβπππππππ πΎππ‘πβππ” by Aditi Yadav](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/the-chibineko-kitchen-john-murray-1.jpg?w=651)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Absolutely on Music. Haruki Murakami (author), Jay Rubin (translator), Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa, Alfred A. Knopf, 2016. 352 pgs. When we look back…
![[REVIEW] “A Symphony of Words and SoundβHaruki Murakami’s π΄ππ πππ’π‘πππ¦ ππ ππ’π ππ: πΆπππ£πππ ππ‘ππππ π€ππ‘β πππππ ππ§ππ€π” by Antonia Yang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/absolutely-on-music-conversations-with-seiji-ozawa-alfred-a.-knopf-2016.jpg?w=751)
-
Kishore Kumar I was just five when I first “saw” Kishore Kumarβhis presence flickering to life on the tiny black-and-white television set my grandfather had brought back from one of his work trips to the then-USSR. There he wasβhandsome, dashing,…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βKishore Kumar: A Journey of Adoration and Rediscoveryβ by Namrata](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/kishore-kumar-cha.jpg?w=1024)
-
θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Before TSMC and Same-Sex Marriage: Qiu Miaojin’s Notes of a Crocodile” by Glen Loveland Qiu Miaojin (author), Bonnie Huie (translator), Notes of a Crocodile, NYRB Classics, 2017, 256 pgs. To…
![[REVIEW] “Before TSMC and Same-Sex Marriage: Qiu Miaojin’s πππ‘ππ ππ π πΆππππππππ” by Glen Loveland](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/qiu.crocodile.hires2-copy.jpg?w=990)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Petersen Vargas (Director), Un/Happy for You, 2024. 110 min. If there is one recent romantic drama that has left an everlasting mark on me, it is Un/Happy for You,…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Love and Loss in Petersen Vargas’s ππ/π»ππππ¦ πππ πππ’” by Jhon Steven C. Espenido](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/petersen-vargas-director-unhappy-for-you-1.png?w=841)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Chie Hayakawa (director), Plan 75, 2022. 112 min. Perhaps storytelling is an indispensable part of being human? Perhaps we all need to tell ourselvesβand each otherβcertain stories to get…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Stories We Live By: Narrative, Meaning, and Existential Emptiness in Chie Hayakawa’s ππππ 75” by Anders KΓΈlle](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/chie-hayakawa-plan-75.png?w=1024)
-
πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS in.light.of.livingβSik.Faan (author), jck (illustrator), and daanngaazai (calligrapher), Pattern, Language, SettingβA Glossary of City Spaces in Hong Kong, Enlighten & Fish, 2021. 240 pgs. Pattern, Language, SettingβA Glossary of City…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Importance of Nomenclature in πππ‘π‘πππ, πΏππππ’πππ, πππ‘π‘πππβπ΄ πΊπππ π πππ¦ ππ πΆππ‘π¦ ππππππ ππ π»πππ πΎπππ” By Vanessa Winghei Yeung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/in.light_.of_.livinge28094sik.faan-author-jck-illustrator-and-daanngaazai-calligrapher-pattern-language-setting-e28093-a-glossary-of-city-spaces-in-hong-kong.jpeg?w=1024)
-
πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Peter Ho Davies, The Art of Revision, Graywolf Press, 2021. 192 pgs. While I wasnβt particularly aware of the Graywolf Press series to which this book belongsβThe Art ofβ¦,…
![[REVIEW] “The Last Word on Writing: Peter Ho Daviesβs πβπ π΄ππ‘ ππ π
ππ£ππ πππ” by Noelle Q. de Jesus](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/peter-ho-davies-the-art-of-revision-1.jpg?w=1024)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Bhaswati Ghosh, Nostalgic for a Place Never Seen, Copper Coin Publishing, 2024. 102 pgs. Nostalgia is humanityβs Janus-faced companionβsimultaneously looking back and forward, with someone or something perpetually tugging…
![[REVIEW] “This is How Places Heave: Memory and Longing in Bhaswati Ghosh’s πππ π‘πππππ πππ π πππππ πππ£ππ ππππ” by Sayan Aich](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/bhaswati-ghosh-nostalgic-for-a-place-never-seen-1.jpg?w=543)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Paola Irene Galli Mastrodonato, Emilio Salgari: The Tiger Is Still Alive!, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2024. 462 pgs. The very first thought that crossed my mind upon seeing Paola…
![[REVIEW] βAsia’s Italian Novelist: Paola Irene Galli Mastrodonato” by Masturah Alatas](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/emilio-salgari-the-tiger-is-still-alive-1.jpg?w=932)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ A Woman Burnt. Imayam (author), GJV Prasad (translator), A Woman Burnt, Simon and Schuster India, 2023. 336 pgs. We step into a new worldβotherwise inaccessibleβevery…
![[REVIEW] “A Tale of Love and Abuse: Imayam’s π΄ πππππ π΅π’πππ‘” by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/a-woman-burnt-1.jpg?w=952)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Mohammad Rasoulof (director), The Seed of the Sacred Fig, 2024. 167 min. The fig tree spreads by entwining itself around another, slowly constricting, siphoning its strength, until nothing remains…
![[REVIEW] “Strangled by Power: Mohammad Rasoulof’s πβπ ππππ ππ π‘βπ ππππππ πΉππ” by Ananya Singh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/the-seed-of-the-sacred-fig_web-1024x559-1.webp?w=1024)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Yiyun Li.Β Yiyun Li, Must I Go, Penguin Random House, 2020. 368 pgs. Lately, I find fewer and fewer books that surprise meβnovels capable of…
![[REVIEW] “A Meditation on Memory and Loss: Yiyun Li’s ππ’π π‘ πΌ πΊπ” by Dorina Tataran](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/must-i-go-cha-an-asian-literary-journal.png?w=1024)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Fang Li (director), The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru, 2023. 123 min. The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru is a documentary film recounting the torpedoing of the Japanese cargo…
![[REVIEW] “Crying in the Cinema, Chinese Style: Fang Li’s πβπ πππππππ ππ π‘βπ πΏππ πππ ππππ’” by Edward Allen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/fang-li-director-the-sinking-of-the-lisbon-maru.webp?w=680)
-
There is a scene in the television show Friends where the six main charactersβthe titular friendsβdiscuss “Chinese food.” Chandler jokingly remarks, “Yes, but in China, they just call it food.” It was a humorous moment, and it made perfect sense.…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βThe Beginning of My Education in The Finer Points of Chinese Cuisineβ by Jeff Beyl](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/fremont-film-still.png?w=1024)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Katarina Zhu (director), Bunnylovr, 2025. 86 min. A webcam turns on: a white fishnet stocking appears up close, resembling a fenceβone that invites the possibility of being climbed, crossed,…
![[REVIEW] βThe Good Girl: On Katarina Zhuβs π΅π’πππ¦πππ£πβ by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/bunnylovr.jpg?w=1024)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Rohan Parashuram Kanawade (director), Sabar Bonda, 2025. 112 min. A death has already occurredβone that, over the ten days in which Sabar Bonda unfolds, will be mourned by a…
![[REVIEW] “An Unmarried Man: On Rohan Parashuram Kanawadeβs πππππ π΅ππππ” by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/sabar-bonda.jpg?w=1024)
Cha 