Category: Cha Review of Books and Films
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “ReadingβMaking Notes on (There is Always Music)βGeoffrey William Brodaksilva’s The Philosophy of Aggressiveness” by Jeremy Fernando Geoffrey William. Brodaksilva. The Philosophy of Aggressiveness: The Necessity and Indeterminacy of Escape, Atropos…
![[ESSAY] “ReadingβMaking Notes on (There is Always Music)βGeoffrey William Brodaksilva’s πβπ πβππππ ππβπ¦ ππ π΄πππππ π ππ£ππππ π ” by Jeremy Fernando](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/the-philosophy-of-aggressiveness-geoffrey-w-brodaksilva-author.jpg?w=855)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “King of the Hong Kong Kids: Martin HΓΌrlimann’s Hong Kong” by Simon Patton Martin HΓΌrlimann. Hong Kong, Thames and Hudson, 1962. 139 pgs. From Martin HΓΌrlimann’s Hong Kong My sense…
![[REVIEW] “King of the Hong Kong Kids: Martin HΓΌrlimann’s Hong Kong” by Simon Patton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/martin-hurlimann-reader-image.jpg?w=651)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Inheritance and Reinvention in Kit Fanβs Goodbye Chinatown” by Jennifer Eagleton Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon Goodbye Chinatown. Kit Fan, Goodbye Chinatown, World Editions, 2026. 268 pgs.…
![[REVIEW] “Inheritance and Reinvention in Kit Fanβs Goodbye Chinatown” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/goodbye-chinatown-kit-fan-cha.jpg?w=938)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS Editor’s note: Ryan Ho Kilpatrick reflects on Reorienting Taiwan: Ocean, Selfhood, and the Pacific, a volume that interrogates Taiwanβs asserted maritime identity. The contributors expose tensions between political rhetoric, historical experience,…
![[ESSAY] “Islands in Denial: π
πππππππ‘πππ ππππ€ππ Amid a Sea of Contradictions” by Ryan Ho Kilpatrick](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/reorientating-taiwan-ocean-selfhood-and-the-pacific.jpg?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] βThe Three Teachings in Action: Wayne Wongβs Martial Arts Ecologyβ by Mario Rustan Wayne Wong. Martial Arts Ecology: Aesthetics, Philosophy and Cinematic Mediation, Edinburgh University Press, 2026. 304 pgs. After…
![[ESSAY] βThe Three Teachings in Action: Wayne Wongβs ππππ‘πππ π΄ππ‘π πΈππππππ¦β by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/wayne-wong.-martial-arts-ecology-aesthetics-philosophy-and-cinematic-mediation-edinburgh-university-press.jpg?w=750)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Gods, Ghosts, and the Lunar Year: Reading Joan Law and Barbara E. Ward’s Chinese Festivals” by Simon Patton Joan Mee Nar Law and Barbara E. Ward. Chinese Festivals: Hong Kong,…
![[REVIEW] “Gods, Ghosts, and the Lunar Year: Reading Joan Mee Nar Law and Barbara E. Ward’s πΆβππππ π πΉππ π‘ππ£πππ ” by Simon Patton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/41leivsiyil.jpg?w=500)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βWhen Goodbyes Are Not Permanent: Kit Fan’s Goodbye Chinatownβ by Susan Blumberg-Kason Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon Goodbye Chinatown. Kit Fan, Goodbye Chinatown, World Editions, 2026. 268…
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βContradictions Amidst a Nation Aborted in Jun Robles Lanaβs Sisaβ by Lorence Lozano Jun Robles Lana (director), Sisa, 2025. 115 min. After its world premiere last year at the 29th…
![[REVIEW] βContradictions Amidst a Nation Aborted in Jun Robles Lanaβs πππ πβ by Lorence Lozano](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/sisa-directed-by-jun-lana.jpg?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βThe Shame Economy: Caste as Currency in Mulk Raj Anandβs Untouchableβ by Abhinav Tulachan Mulk Raj Anand, Untouchable, Wishart Books Ltd., 1935. 160 pgs. βIn a country where caste is…
![[REVIEW] βThe Shame Economy: Caste as Currency in Mulk Raj Anandβs πππ‘ππ’πβππππβ by Abhinav Tulachan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/untouchable-mulk-raj-anand-1.jpg?w=979)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS Editor’s note: Beth Adams approaches Do You Like Brahms?, a Korean TV drama set within a prestigious Seoul music school, through her enduring interest in Asian television that explores artistic vocation,…
![[ESSAY] “Music, Ambition, and Quiet Longing in π·π πππ’ πΏπππ π΅ππβππ ?” by Beth Adams](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/do-you-like-brahms_.jpg?w=426)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βClaire Lee’s On The Verge: Silence, Urban & City Life, and Quiet Chaosβ by Tin Yuet Tam Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon On the Verge. Claire Lee, On the Verge, Independently…
![[REVIEW] βClaire Lee’s On The Verge: Silence, Urban & City Life, and Quiet Chaosβ by Tin Yuet Tam](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/on-the-verge_claire-lee.png?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Freedom from Time and Space: On James Sheaβs Last Day of My Face” by Jonathan Han Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Last Day of My Face. James Shea, The Last Day…
![[REVIEW] “Freedom from Time and Space: On James Sheaβs πΏππ π‘ π·ππ¦ ππ ππ¦ πΉπππ” by Jonathan Han](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/https-uipress.uiowa_.edubookslast-day-my-face.jpg?w=970)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βCultivating the Infinite: The Art and Spiritual Vision of Zhao Hai Tienβ by Jennifer Eagleton Zhao Hai Tien, Cultivation: The Art of Zhao Hai Tien, University of Hong Kong Press,…
![[REVIEW] βCultivating the Infinite: The Art and Spiritual Vision of Zhao Hai Tienβ by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/https-__www.haitienart.com_.webp?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS Editor’s note: Aastha Upretyβs essay reads Jia Zhangke’s Still Life and Razan AlSalah’s A Stoneβs Throw as twin elegies of engineered upheaval, where dams and pipelines reorder earth and memory. Through…
![[ESSAY] βEnergies of Displacement: Transformation in Jia Zhangkeβs ππ‘πππ πΏπππ and Razan AlSalahβs π΄ ππ‘πππβπ πβπππ€βby Aastha Uprety](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/energies-of-displacement-transformation-in-jia-zhangkes-still-life-and-razan-alsalahs-a-stones-throw-by-aastha-uprety.png?w=935)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βKarbala and the Ethics of Resistance: Premchandβs Vision of Communal Harmonyβ by Fathima M Premchand (author), Haris Qadeer and Sami Rafiq (translators), Karbala, Sahitya Akademi, 2023. 232 pgs. The tragedy…
![[REVIEW] βπΎππππππ and the Ethics of Resistance: Premchandβs Vision of Communal Harmonyβ by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/02smpremchand-removebg-preview.png?w=494)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS Editor’s note: Jonathan Chan reads She Follows No Progression (Wendyβs Subway, 2024), edited by Juwon Jun and Rachel Valinsky, as a collective meditation on Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, attending closely to…
![[ESSAY] βReading the Gap: Indeterminacy, Translation, and Legacy in πβπ πΉπππππ€π ππ πππππππ π πππβ by Jonathan Chan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/she-follows-no-progression-a-theresa-hak-kyung-cha-reader-edited-by-juwon-jun-and-rachel-valinsky.png?w=579)
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θΆ LEEDSθΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [LEEDS | REVIEW] “Primal Energy and Female Defiance in Sheng Keyi’s Northern Girls” by Cuilin Sang Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Northern Girls. Sheng Keyi (author), Shelly Bryant (translator), Northern Girls:…
![[LEEDS | REVIEW] “Primal Energy and Female Defiance in Sheng Keyi’s ππππ‘βπππ πΊππππ ” by Cuilin Sang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/northern-girls-cha.png?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS Editor’s note: Laurehl Onyx B. Cabiles considers the films Big Fish and Little Fish in relation to his father and the Filipino seafood dish kinilaw, using cinema as a lens for…
![[ESSAY] βπ΅ππ πΉππ β, πΏππ‘π‘ππ πΉππ β, & The Fake Legend of Kinilawβ by Laurehl Onyx B. Cabiles](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/big-fish-little-fish.png?w=940)
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All entries on SUNDANCE 2026 [SUNDANCE 2026] βVisions of a Future Self: Kogonadaβs ziβ by Nirris Nagendrarajah Kogonada (director), zi, 2025. 199 min. In cinema, whenever I see a shot of the back of a characterβs head, I think of…
![[SUNDANCE 2026] βVisions of a Future Self: Kogonadaβs π§πβ by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/zi-film-cha-nirris.png?w=702)
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θΆ LEEDSθΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [LEEDS | REVIEW] “Memory, Fiction, and Subjective Reality in Ge Fei’s A Flock of Brown Birds” by Todd Foley Ge Fei (author), Poppy Toland (translator), Flock of Brown Birds, Penguin…
![[LEEDS | REVIEW] “Memory, Fiction, and Subjective Reality in Ge Fei’s πΉππππ ππ π΅πππ€π π΅ππππ ” by Todd Foley](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/poppy-toland.jpg?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βThe GPA of Youth: On Boredom, Brilliance and the Cost of Conformity in Chetan Bhagatβs Five Point Someoneβ by Abhinav Tulachan Chetan Bhagat, Five Point Someone, Rupa Publications India, 2004.…
![[REVIEW] βThe GPA of Youth: On Boredom, Brilliance and the Cost of Conformity in Chetan Bhagatβs πΉππ£π πππππ‘ πππππππβ by Abhinav Tulachan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/five-point-someone-chetan-bhagat.png?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Off-Kilter Worlds and Authoritarian Futures in Ysabelle Cheung’s Patchwork Dolls” by Jennifer Eagleton Ysabelle Cheung, Patchwork Dolls, Blair, 2026. 200 pgs. Ysabelle Cheungβs stories are clearly connected to contemporary society,…
![[REVIEW] “Off-Kilter Worlds and Authoritarian Futures in Ysabelle Cheung’s πππ‘πβπ€πππ π·ππππ ” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/patchwork-dolls.webp?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “Filmic Silence and the Speaking Body in the Novel” by Thammika Songkaeo Click HERE to read all entrieson Stamford Hospital. Eva Trobisch (director), All Good, 2018. 93 min. In 2020,…
![[ESSAY] “Filmic Silence and the Speaking Body in the Novel” by Thammika Songkaeo](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/stamford-hospital-all-is-good.png?w=846)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS Editor’s note: In Hongwei Bao’s new essay, Pillion (2025), directed by Harry Lighton and adapted from Adam Mars-Jonesβs 2020 novella Box Hill, becomes a lens for exploring queer biker cinema, kink…
![[ESSAY] “Geared Up for Pillion” by Hongwei Bao](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/pillion-film-poster.jpg?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] βAesthetic Experiences: A Study of Anri Yasudaβs Beauty Mattersβ by Luca Griseri Anri Yasuda, Beauty Matters: Modern Japanese Literature and the Question of Aesthetics, 1890β1930, Columbia University Press, 2024. 304…
![[ESSAY] βAesthetic Experiences: A Study of Anri Yasudaβs π΅πππ’π‘π¦ πππ‘π‘πππ β by Luca Griseri](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/https-__m.media-amazon.com_images_i_819sezp2oml._sl1500_.jpg.jpg?w=1000)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] βFrom Star to Performer-Worker: Rethinking Anna May Wong Through Labourβ by Anna Nguyen Yiman Wang, To Be An Actress: Labor and Performance in Anna May Wongβs Cross-Media World, University of…
![[ESSAY] βFrom Star to Performer-Worker: Rethinking Anna May Wong Through Labourβ by Anna Nguyen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/yiman-wang-to-be-an-actress-labor-and-performance-in-anna-may-wongs-cross-media-world-university-of-california-press.jpg?w=1000)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Observation as Inheritance: iTim Fitts’s The Peopleβs Island” by Jack Greenberg Tim Fitts, The Peopleβs Island, Spuyten Duyvil, 2025. 175 pgs. The Peopleβs Island presents itself as a coming of…
![[REVIEW] “Observation as Inheritance: Tim Fitts’s πβπ ππππππβπ πΌπ ππππ” by Jack Greenberg](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tim-fitts-the-peoples-island-spuyten-duyvil.jpg?w=1000)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βTibet as an Imagined Nation: Myth, Reclamation, and Literary Politics in Koushik Goswamiβs Reimagining Tibetβ by Jyotirmoy Sil Koushik Goswami, Reimagining Tibet: Politics of Literary Representation, Routledge, 2023. 228 pgs.…
![[REVIEW] βTibet as an Imagined Nation: Myth, Reclamation, and Literary Politics in Koushik Goswamiβs Reimagining Tibetβ by Jyotirmoy Sil](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/tibet.jpg?w=664)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βEveryday Movement: Gigi L. Leungβs Love Letter to Hong Kongβ by Susan Blumberg-Kason ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Everyday Movement. Gigi L. Leung (author), Jennifer Feeley (translator), Everyday Movement, Riverhead…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βπΈπ£πππ¦πππ¦ πππ£πππππ‘: Gigi L. Leungβs Love Letter to Hong Kongβ by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/everyday-movement-by-gigi-l.-leung-translated-by-jennifer-feeley-.jpg?w=993)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] βNot A Utopian Land: Rereading the Evenki Culture in Chi Zijianβs novel The Last Quarter of the Moon and Gu Taoβs documentary film The Last Moose of Aoluguyaβ by Yiwen…
![[ESSAY] βNot Your Utopian Land: Rereading the Evenki Culture in Chi Zijianβs novel πβπ πΏππ π‘ ππ’πππ‘ππ ππ π‘βπ ππππ and Gu Taoβs documentary film πβπ πΏππ π‘ ππππ π ππ π΄πππ’ππ’π¦πβ by Yiwen Liu](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/not-a-utopian-land_yiwen-liu.png?w=1024)
Cha 