Category: Cha Review of Books and Films
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Carlo Ledesma (director), Outside, 2024. 142 min. This review contains spoilers. Outside (2024), written and directed by Carlo Ledesma, is the newest entry in the ever-growing list of zombie…
![[REVIEW] βImaging the Contemporary Filipino Zombie in Carlo Ledesmaβs ππ’π‘π πππβ by Nick Garcia](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/carlo-ledesma-director-outside.webp?w=1024)
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TIFF 2024 β Introductionβ 8. Band of Outsiders: On Neo Sora’s Happyendβ 7. The Soul of an Artist: On Hong Sang-sooβs By The Streamβ 6. The Two Maidens: On TrΖ°Ζ‘ng Minh QuΓ½βs Viet and Namβ 5. The Master and Her…
![[TIFF 2024] “The Inheritance: On π΄ππ πβπππ π΅π ππππ and πππππππ π ππ πβππππ ” by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/tiff2024-asian-cha.png?w=1024)
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TIFF 2024 β Introductionβ 8. Band of Outsiders: On Neo Sora’s Happyendβ 7. The Soul of an Artist: On Hong Sang-sooβs By The Streamβ 6. The Two Maidens: On TrΖ°Ζ‘ng Minh QuΓ½βs Viet and Namβ 5. The Master and Her…
![[TIFF 2024] “A World of Pain: On Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s πΆπππ’π” by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/cloud.webp?w=1000)
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TIFF 2024 β Introductionβ 8. Band of Outsiders: On Neo Sora’s Happyendβ 7. The Soul of an Artist: On Hong Sang-sooβs By The Streamβ 6. The Two Maidens: On TrΖ°Ζ‘ng Minh QuΓ½βs Viet and Namβ 5. The Master and Her…
![[TIFF 2024] “πππ π ππ πππ¦ππ: On Lou Ye’s π΄π πππππππ βππ πΉπππ” by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/an-unfinished-film_poster.jpg?w=705)
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TIFF 2024 β Introductionβ 8. Band of Outsiders: On Neo Sora’s Happyendβ 7. The Soul of an Artist: On Hong Sang-sooβs By The Streamβ 6. The Two Maidens: On TrΖ°Ζ‘ng Minh QuΓ½βs Viet and Namβ 5. The Master and Her…
![[TIFF 2024] “Introduction: TIFF 2024” by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/tiff.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Kiriti Sengupta. Bibhas Roy Chowdhury (poet), Kiriti Sengupta (translator), Poem Continuous: Reincarnated Expressions, Hawakal Publishers, 2024.114 pgs. βMy reader, I dip into the water just…
![[REVIEW] “Mesmerising CollectionβBibhas Roy Chowdhury’s ππππ πΆπππ‘πππ’ππ’π : π
πππππππππ‘ππ πΈπ₯ππππ π ππππ ” by Malashri Lal](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/kiriti-sengupta-translator-poem-continuous-reincarnated-expressions.jpg?w=880)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on The Woman in the Purple Skirt. Natsuko Imamura (author), Lucy North (translator), The Woman in the Purple Skirt, Penguin Random House, 2021. 224 pgs. The conventional…
![[REVIEW] “Thin Line Between Observing and Stalking: Natsuko Imamuraβs πβπ πππππ ππ π‘βπ ππ’ππππ πππππ‘” by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/the-woman-in-the-purple-skirt.jpg?w=925)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Teinosuke Kinugasa (director), A Page of Madness, 1926. 70 min. Itβs almost Halloween as I write this and it seems fitting to think about what it is that makes…
![[REVIEW] βπ΄ ππππ ππ ππππππ π and the Cinema of the Uncannyβ by Jeremiah Dutch](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/a-page-of-madness-film.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Aruni Kashyap, The Way You Want to Be Loved, Gaudy Boy, 2024. 256 pgs. In the first story of Aruni Kashyapβs short story collection, the narrator, a writer of…
![[REVIEW] “The Ways to Belonging in Stories: Aruni Kashyapβs πβπ πππ¦ πππ’ ππππ‘ π‘π π΅π πΏππ£ππβ by Faith Ho](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/the-way-you-want-to-be-loved.jpg?w=971)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Chaos and Order: The Way of Johnnie To, a 24-film retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, 12 Septemberβ13 October 2024. Exiled γζΎΒ·ιγ 2006. Hong Kong.…
![[REVIEW] βJohnnie To Unleashes Chaos and Order at New Yorkβs Museum of Modern Artβ by Jeff Tompkins](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/exiled_johnnieto.jpeg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ All We Imagine as Light. Payal Kapadia (director), All We Imagine as Light, 2024. 118 min. Payal Kapadiaβs debut film, A Night of Knowing Nothing…
![[REVIEW] “Elegy on Love and Migration: Payal Kapadia’s π΄ππ ππ πΌππππππ ππ πΏππβπ‘” by Namah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/all-we-imagine-as-light.png?w=1024)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kelly H. Chong, Love Across Borders: Asian Americans, Race, and the Politics of Intermarriage and Family-Making, Routledge, 2021, 246 pgs. As a single Asian man, I was once oversensitive…
![[REVIEW] “Itβs Only Love: Kelly H. Chongβs πΏππ£π π΄ππππ π π΅ππππππ ” by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/love-across-borders-asian-americans-race-and-the-politics-of-intermarriage-and-family-making.jpg?w=1000)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Half Sound, Half Philosophy. Jing Wang, Half Sound, Half Philosophy: Aesthetics, Politics of China’s Sound Art, Bloomsbury Academic, 2021. 232 pgs. Half Sound, Half Philosophy:…
![[REVIEW] “The World of Sound as Art in China: Jing Wang’s π»πππ πππ’ππ, π»πππ πβππππ ππβ𦔠by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/half-sound-half-philosophy.png?w=938)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Daryl Lim Wei Jie, Hamid Roslan, Melizarani T. Selva, and William Tham (editors), The Second Link: An Anthology of Malaysian and Singaporean Writing, Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2023. 320 pgs.…
![[REVIEW] “Reunion Dinner: πβπ ππππππ πΏπππ Serves Up A Careful Feast” by Theophilus Kwek](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/the-second-link-an-anthology-of-malaysian-and-singaporean-writing.png?w=892)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Tim Tim Cheng, The Tattoo Collector, Nine Arches Press, 2024. 72 pp. In case you hadnβt known that the British ruled Hong Kong until 1997 or needed sudden clarification…
![[REVIEW] βBlue Fires Burning in Tim Tim Chengβs πβπ πππ‘π‘ππ πΆππππππ‘ππβ by Michelle Suen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/cheng-tim-tim-the-tattoo-collector.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Erin Suzuki, Ocean Passages: Navigating Pacific Islander and Asian American Literatures, Temple University Press, 2021. 269 pgs. When the territories between land seem easier to define, the territories that…
![[REVIEW] “Connecting in a Sea of Islands: Erin Suzuki’s πππππ πππ π ππππ ” by Tin Yuet Tam](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/erin-suzuki-ocean-passages-navigating-pacific-islander-and-asian-american-literatures.jpg?w=1000)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Emi Yagi (author), David BoydΒ andΒ Lucy NorthΒ (translators), Diary of a Void, Viking, 2022. 213 pgs. Shibata works for a cardboard tube company on the fourth floor of an overheated office.…
![[REVIEW] βReimagining the Void: Emi Yagi’s π·ππππ¦ ππ π ππππ” by Lucy Hamilton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/review-reimagining-the-void-emi-yagis-diary-of-a-void22-by-lucy-hamilton.jpg?w=925)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ The Woman in the Purple Skirt. Natsuko Imamura (author), Lucy North (translator),Β The Woman in the Purple Skirt, Penguin Random House, 2021. 224 pgs. In Natsuko…
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Tapestry of the Mind. Aneeta Sundararaj, Tapestry of the Mind and Other Stories, Penguin Random House SEA, 2024. 272 pgs. Aneeta Sundararajβs Tapestry of the…
![[REVIEW] βA Powerful and Stimulating Collection: Aneeta Sundararaj’s πππππ π‘ππ¦ ππ π‘βπ ππππ” by Namrata](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/tapestry-of-the-mind-and-other-stories-aneeta-sundararaj.jpg?w=977)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Karen Tei Yamashita, Through the Arc of the Rain Forest, Coffee House Press, 1990. 212 pgs. Through the Arc of the Rain Forest opens with a memoryβa memory, that…
![[REVIEW] “A Stage for Life and Death: Karen Tei Yamashitaβs πβπππ’πβ π‘βπ π΄ππ ππ π‘βπ π
πππ πΉππππ π‘” by Anna Chung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/through-the-arc-of-the-rain-forest.png?w=683)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Sayantani Dasgupta, Brown Women Have Everything: Essays on (Dis)comfort and Delight, The University of North Carolina Press, 2024. 180 pgs. When you cheerfully but firmly believe that your brown-woman…
![[REVIEW] βExpanding Our World: Sayantani Dasguptaβs π΅πππ€π πππππ π»ππ£π πΈπ£πππ¦π‘βπππβ by Donna Miscolta](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/brown-women.jpg?w=970)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Pawo Choyning Dorji (director), The Monk and the Gun, 2023. 107 min. The Kingdom of Bhutan, 2006. Bhutan enters the modern world, becoming the last country in the world…
![[REVIEW] “Democracy Should Be Thought of as a Verb: Pawo Choyning Dorji’s πβπ ππππ πππ π‘βπ πΊπ’π” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/pawo-choyning-dorji-.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Shuang Xuetao (author), Jeremy Tiang (translator), Rouge Street: Three Novellas, Metropolitan Books, 2022. 216 pgs. Over the past few years, China has seen a resurgence of interest in its…
![[REVIEW] βFinding Hope in Despair: Shuang Xuetaoβs π
ππ’ππ ππ‘ππππ‘β by Kammy Lee](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/rouge-street-three-novellas.jpg?w=971)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Life Ceremony. Sayaka Murata (author), Ginny Tapley Takemori (translator), Life Ceremony, Granta Books, 2022. 266 pgs. A human heart, resting on a bed of rice noodles,…
![[REVIEW] βA Hearty Feast: Food, Cannibalism, and the Human Condition in Sayaka Murataβs πΏπππ πΆπππππππ¦β by Lucy Hamilton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/life-ceremony.jpg?w=1000)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Hiro Arikawa (author), Philip Gabriel (translator), The Travelling Cat Chronicles, Berkley, 2018. 277 pgs. Hiro Arikawaβs The Travelling Cat Chronicles, translated by Philip Gabriel, is a heart-warming book that…
![[REVIEW] βOut Beyond the Horizon: Hiro Arikawaβs πβπ ππππ£ππππππ πΆππ‘ πΆβππππππππ β by Hui-Hua Lu](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/screenshot-2024-08-28-at-15.31.04.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Nicole Tarulevicz, Eating Her Curries and Kway: A Cultural History of Food in Singapore, University of Illinois Press, 2014. 224 pgs. Anyone who has been to Singapore or Malaysia,…
![[REVIEW] βThe πππππ RepublicβNicole Taruleviczβs πΈππ‘πππ π»ππ πΆπ’πππππ πππ πΎπ€ππ¦: π΄ πΆπ’ππ‘π’πππ π»ππ π‘πππ¦ ππ πΉπππ ππ πππππππππβ by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/eating-her-curries-and-kway-a-cultural-history-of-food-in-singapore-university-of-illinois-press-1.jpg?w=500)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Thomas William Whyke and Melissa Shani Brown (authors), Queering Gender, Sexuality, and Becoming-Human in Qing Dynasty Zhiguai: Querying the Strange Tales, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023. 246 pgs. The title of this…
![[REVIEW] βBetween Queering and Querying: Thomas William WhykeΒ and Melissa Shani Brownβs ππ’ππππππ πΊπππππ, πππ₯π’ππππ‘π¦, πππ π΅πππππππ-π»π’πππ ππ ππππ π·π¦πππ π‘π¦ πβπππ’ππβ by Jonathan Ferguson](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/queering-gender-sexuality-and-becoming-human-in-qing-dynasty-zhiguai-querying-the-strange-tales-1.jpg?w=827)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS San Lin Tun, Yangon Days: A Collection of Urban Short Stories, Penguin Random House SEA, 2024. 240 pgs. If the Yangon you used to think of as so full…
![[REVIEW] βOur Yangon: San Lin Tunβs ππππππ π·ππ¦π β by Peixuan Xie](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/yangon-days-a-collection-of-urban-short-stories.jpg?w=977)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Yao-Chang Chen (author), Pao-Fang Hsu, Ian Maxwell, and Tung-Jung Chen (translators), Puppet Flower: A Novel of 1867 Formosa. Columbia University Press, 2023, 298 pgs. The American servicemen are in…
![[REVIEW] βSend in the Marines: Yao-Chang Chenβs ππ’ππππ‘ πΉπππ€ππβby Jeff Tompkins](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/puppet-flower-a-novel-of-1867-formosa.jpg?w=972)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Mao Suit. Antonia Finnane, How to Make a Mao Suit: Clothing the People of Communist China, 1949β1976, Cambridge University Press, 2023. 386 pgs. I have used…
![[REVIEW] “Impeccably Written: Antonia Finnane’sΒ π»ππ€ π‘π ππππ π πππ ππ’ππ‘” by Paul Bevan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/how-to-make-a-mao-suit-clothing-the-people-of-communist-china.jpg?w=1000)
Cha 