Category: 2025 Entries
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ 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 ๐๐/๐ป๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ข” by Jhon Steven C. Espenido](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/petersen-vargas-director-unhappy-for-you-1.png?w=841)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ 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 ourselvesโand each otherโcertain stories to get…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Stories We Live By: Narrative, Meaning, and Existential Emptiness in Chie Hayakawa’s ๐๐๐๐ 75” by Anders Kรธlle](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/chie-hayakawa-plan-75.png?w=1024)
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๐ย RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ย RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS in.light.of.livingโSik.Faan (author), jck (illustrator), and daanngaazai (calligrapher), Pattern, Language, SettingโA Glossary of City Spaces in Hong Kong, Enlighten & Fish, 2021. 240 pgs. Pattern, Language, SettingโA Glossary of City…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Importance of Nomenclature in ๐๐๐ก๐ก๐๐๐, ๐ฟ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ก๐ก๐๐๐โ๐ด ๐บ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐ถ๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ป๐๐๐ ๐พ๐๐๐” 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)
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๐ย RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ย RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Peter Ho Davies, The Art of Revision, Graywolf Press, 2021. 192 pgs. While I wasnโt particularly aware of the Graywolf Press series to which this book belongsโThe Art ofโฆ,…
![[REVIEW] “The Last Word on Writing: Peter Ho Daviesโs ๐โ๐ ๐ด๐๐ก ๐๐ ๐
๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐๐” by Noelle Q. de Jesus](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/peter-ho-davies-the-art-of-revision-1.jpg?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Bhaswati Ghosh, Nostalgic for a Place Never Seen, Copper Coin Publishing, 2024. 102 pgs. Nostalgia is humanityโs Janus-faced companionโsimultaneously looking back and forward, with someone or something perpetually tugging…
![[REVIEW] “This is How Places Heave: Memory and Longing in Bhaswati Ghosh’s ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐” by Sayan Aich](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/bhaswati-ghosh-nostalgic-for-a-place-never-seen-1.jpg?w=543)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ 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] โAsia’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)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Clickย HERE to readย all entries inย Chaย onย A Woman Burnt. Imayam (author), GJV Prasad (translator), A Woman Burnt, Simon and Schuster India, 2023. 336 pgs. We step into a new worldโotherwise inaccessibleโevery…
![[REVIEW] “A Tale of Love and Abuse: Imayam’s ๐ด ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ต๐ข๐๐๐ก” by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/a-woman-burnt-1.jpg?w=952)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ 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 ๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐” by Ananya Singh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/the-seed-of-the-sacred-fig_web-1024x559-1.webp?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Clickย HERE to readย all entries inย Chaย onย Yiyun Li.ย Yiyun Li, Must I Go, Penguin Random House, 2020. 368 pgs. Lately, I find fewer and fewer books that surprise meโnovels capable of…
![[REVIEW] “A Meditation on Memory and Loss: Yiyun Li’s ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐ผ ๐บ๐” by Dorina Tataran](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/must-i-go-cha-an-asian-literary-journal.png?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ 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 ๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ข” by Edward Allen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/fang-li-director-the-sinking-of-the-lisbon-maru.webp?w=680)
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There is a scene in the television show Friends where the six main charactersโthe titular friendsโdiscuss “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] โThe Beginning of My Education in The Finer Points of Chinese Cuisineโ by Jeff Beyl](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/fremont-film-still.png?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ 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 fenceโone that invites the possibility of being climbed, crossed,…
![[REVIEW] โThe Good Girl: On Katarina Zhuโs ๐ต๐ข๐๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ฃ๐โ by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/bunnylovr.jpg?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Rohan Parashuram Kanawade (director), Sabar Bonda, 2025. 112 min. A death has already occurredโone that, over the ten days in which Sabar Bonda unfolds, will be mourned by a…
![[REVIEW] “An Unmarried Man: On Rohan Parashuram Kanawadeโs ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ต๐๐๐๐” by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/sabar-bonda.jpg?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Shze-Hui Tjoa, The Story Game: A Memoir by Shze-Hui Tjoa, Tin House Books, 2024. 208 pgs. It was exam season, except this time I was in university. This class…
![[REVIEW] “Excavation and Memory in Shze-Hui Tjoa’s ๐โ๐ ๐๐ก๐๐๐ฆ ๐บ๐๐๐: ๐ด ๐๐๐๐๐๐” by Nur Hadziqah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/shze-hui-tjoa-the-story-game-a-memoir-by-shze-hui-tjoa.jpg?w=971)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS ๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Bei Dao (author), Jeffrey Yang (translator), Sidetracks, New Directions, 2024. 176 pgs. The โsidetracksโ of Bei Daoโs title can first be understood as a structural metaphorโtwo parallel…
![[REVIEW] “The Fugitive: Bei Daoโs ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ ” by Jeff Tompkins](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/sidetracks-bei-dao_cha.jpg?w=611)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS ๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kลki Mitani (director), Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald, 1997. 103 min. Kลki Mitani has a particular knack for satirising the Japanese inclination to avoid confrontation. As the screenwriter…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โJapanese Comedy Cinema at Its Finest: Kลki Mitaniโs ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ต๐๐๐, ๐๐. ๐๐๐ท๐๐๐๐๐โ by Jeremiah Dutch](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/mv5bodhimtlimzmtodk0my00ogjklwjjmwytythlyta3mzllzjq1xkeyxkfqcgc40._v1_.jpg?w=853)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS ๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Karan Mujoo, This Our Paradise, Penguin Random House, 2024. 240 pgs. For some, Kashmir is a paradise of serene valleys and pristine lakes. For others, it is…
![[REVIEW] “A Fractured Paradise: Karan Mujooโs ๐โ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐” by Ananya Singh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/this-our-paradise.jpeg?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS ๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Susan Lieu, The Manicuristโs Daughter: A Memoir, Celadon Books, 2024. 305 pgs. The Manicuristโs Daughter: A Memoir is both a profound exploration and a courageous recovery of…
![[REVIEW] โTeetering Between Cultures: Susan Lieuโs ๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ท๐๐ข๐โ๐ก๐๐โ by Thu Le](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/the-manicurists-daughter.jpg?w=987)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS ๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kang Hwagil (author), Clare Richards (translator), Another Person, Pushkin Press, 2023. 302 pgs. When her boyfriend chokes her for the fifth time since their office romance began, Kim…
![[REVIEW] “Unmasking Toxic Cultures: Kang Hwagil’s ๐ด๐๐๐กโ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐” by John Teoh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/another-person-78-reviews-authors-hwa-gil-kang-author-clare-richards-translator.jpg?w=950)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Clickย HERE to readย all entries inย Chaย onย If I Do Not Reply. Tammy Lai-Ming Ho, If I Do Not Reply, Shearsman Books, 2024. 110 pgs. Tammy Lai-Ming Ho in Chicago, November 2024…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Art of Waking Up Words: Tammy Lai-Ming Ho’s ๐ผ๐ ๐ผ ๐ท๐ ๐๐๐ก ๐
๐๐๐๐ฆ” by Anders Kรธlle](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/if-i-do-not-reply_tammy-ho-1.jpg?w=907)
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๐RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS โ Shao Yihui (director), Her Story ๅฅฝไธ่ฅฟ, 2024. 123 min. โ Ling Jia (director), YOLO ็ญ่พฃๆป็ซ, 2024. 130 min. Decades after Chairman Mao declared that โwomen hold up half…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “๐ป๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐๐ฆ, ๐๐๐ฟ๐, and the Alternative Family in Chinese Cinema” by Edward Allen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/the-alternative-family-in-chinese-cinema.png?w=1024)
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๏ป RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๏ป RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kim Soom (author), Bruce Fulton and Ju-Chan Fulton (translators), One Left, University of Washington Press, 2020. 224 pgs. During the Second World War, over 200,000 Korean girls…
![[REVIEW] “Bearing Witness to History: Kim Soom’s ๐๐๐ ๐ฟ๐๐๐ก” by John Teoh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/kim-soom-author-bruce-fulton-and-ju-chan-fulton-translators-one-left-1.jpg?w=971)
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๏ป RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๏ป RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Yilin Wang (editor & translator), The Lantern and the Night Moths: Five Modern and Contemporary Chinese Poets, Invisible Publishing, 2024. 120 pgs. The Lantern and The Night…
![[REVIEW] “Poetry Translation in the Chinese Diaspora: Yilin Wangโs ๐โ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐โ๐ ๐๐๐โ๐ก ๐๐๐กโ๐ ” by Hongwei Bao](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/the-lantern-and-the-night-moths.jpg?w=1024)
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Ma Ka Fai’s note: These are selected excerpts from my novel Once Upon a Time in Hong Kong III (้ๅคฉ่ณๅฐ), forthcoming this year. The storyโs protagonist, Hon Tien-Yan, is a passionate martial arts enthusiast and an ardent admirer of Bruce Lee.…
![[TRANSLATION] “Master Ip and the Dragonling” by Ma Ka fai, translated by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/ma-ka-fai-e9a6ace5aeb6e8bc9d.png?w=1024)
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Poet’s note: I consider this poem an ode to beginningsโa constant reminder that, before the hurt sets in, before any damage is done, the first page of any story holds infinite promise. There is always a reason for characters to…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Beginnings are Generous” by Marco Yan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/frost-flowers-thumb.jpeg?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Umi Ishihara (director), Gravity and Radiance, 2021. 30 min. Images featured in this piece courtesy of the director. Gravity and Radiance, a 2021 experimental documentary by the London-based Japanese…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Transcendence and RedemptionโUmi Ishiharaโs ๐บ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐๐๐ ๐
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐” by Marsha McDonald](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/gravity-and-radiance-3.png?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Idol, Burning. Rin Usami (author), Asa Yoneda (translator), Idol, Burning, Canongate, 2022. 96 pgs. Rin Usamiโs Idol, Burning (ใๆจใใ็ใใ, 2020) offers an incisive exploration of…
![[REVIEW] “Belief, Devotion, and Estrangement in Rin Usamiโs ๐ผ๐๐๐, ๐ต๐ข๐๐๐๐๐” by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/idol-burning-canongate.jpg?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Rory B. Quintos (director), Anak, 2000. 135 min. Where would we be without our mothers? Watching Anak, one is immediately drawn into its poignant narrative, centred on the life…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Cost of Love and Sacrifice in Rory B. Quintosโs ๐ด๐๐๐” by Jhon Steven C. Espenido](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/the-child.webp?w=800)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Aparna Upadhyaya Sanyal, Instruments of Torture, Harper Collins India, 2024. 200 pgs. In this haunting collection of stories, each narrative is aptly named after a medieval torture device, metaphorically…
![[REVIEW] โLabyrinthine Corridors of the Human Psyche: Aparna Upadhyaya Sanyalโs ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐ข๐๐โ by Namrata](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/aparna-sanyal_cha.jpeg?w=800)
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Authorโs note: This is a review of the Disco-TECA performance that took place at The Stage, London, as part of Queer East 2024, which may be different from its previous or subsequent versions. A trailer of the show can be…
![[REVIEW] โDisco-TECA: Disco Culture as Queer Cultureโ by Hongwei Bao](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/g47a2566x.jpg?w=1024)
Cha 