Category: First Impressions
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Circumnavigation Without Glory: Lav Diazโs Magellan and the Violence of Discovery” by Oliver Farry Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Magellan. Lav Diaz (director), Magellan, 2025. 165 min. Lav Diazโs Magellan…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Circumnavigation Without Glory: Lav Diazโs ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ and the Violence of Discovery” by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/review-22history-as-painting-lav-diazs-magellan22-by-alicia-izharuddin.png?w=795)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โShining Through: The Loboc Childrenโs Choir in King Palisocโs Song of the Firefliesโ by Bryan Elijah Trajano King Palisoc (director), Song of the Fireflies, 2025. 110 min. Song of…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โShining Through: The Loboc Childrenโs Choir in King Palisocโs ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ โ by Bryan Elijah Trajanoย](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/https-icff.catitle-itemsong-of-the-fireflies.webp?w=432)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Guan Huโs Black Dog: Olympic Ambition Meets Provincial Reality” by Oliver Farry Guan Hu (director), Black Dog ็้ต, 2024. 110 min. Guan Huโs canine drama delineates a quixotic episode…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Guan Huโs ๐ต๐๐๐๐ ๐ท๐๐: Olympic Ambition Meets Provincial Reality” by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/black-dog-e78b97e998b5.jpg?w=945)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Dreams Without Dreamers: Bi Ganโs Beautifully Perverse Resurrection” by Oliver Farry Bi Gan (director), Resurrection ็้ๆถไปฃ, 2025. 156 mins. Bi Ganโs third film is a splendid-looking enigma in the…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Dreams Without Dreamers: Bi Ganโs Beautifully Perverse ๐
๐๐ ๐ข๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐” by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/resurrection.png?w=960)
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่ถ Click HERE for all First Impressions entries. Illustration by Ruby van der Hoeven We are constantly seeking submissions for ๐ ๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ, a section of Cha: An Asian Literary Journal devoted to compact reviews of books and films (300โ800 words;…
![[CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS] First Impressions](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/first-impressions-banner.png?w=1024)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “On the Verge with Claire Lee: Where Objects Become Literature” by Susan Blumberg-Kason Claire Lee, On the Verge, Independently published, 2025. 120 pgs. Claire Lee is an accomplished visual…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ with Claire Lee: Where Objects Become Literature” by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/on-the-verge_claire-lee.png?w=1024)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โWhen Technology Becomes a Tool to Erase History: Prabda Yoonโs Transmissions of Unwanted Pastsโ by Lorence Lozano Prabda Yoon (director), Transmissions of Unwanted Pasts, 2019. 24 min. Prabda Yoon…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โWhen Technology Becomes a Tool to Erase History: Prabda Yoonโs ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ค๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ โ by Lorence Lozano](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/f09d9187f09d919ff09d918ef09d919bf09d91a0f09d919af09d9196f09d91a0f09d91a0f09d9196f09d919cf09d919bf09d91a0-f09d919cf09d9193-f09d9188f09d919bf09d91a4f09d918ef09d919bf09d91a1f09d9192f09d919.webp?w=724)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โWhere Do We Belong? On Language, Migration, & Teresa Wongโs All Our Ordinary Stories” by Rebekah Chan Teresa Wong, All Our Ordinary Stories, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2024. 240 pgs.…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โWhere Do We Belong? On Language, Migration, and Teresa Wongโs ๐ด๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ โ by Rebekah Chan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/arsenal-pulp-press-our-ordinary-stories.jpg?w=1024)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โEtienne Pรฉrierโs Bridge to the Sun and Extremism Abroadโ by Jeremiah Dutch Etenne Pรฉrier (director), Bridge to the Sun, 1961. 113 min. Living abroad and watching oneโs homeland descend…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โEtienne Pรฉrierโs ๐ต๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐ข๐ and Extremism Abroadโ by Jeremiah Dutch](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/bridge-to-the-sun-cha.png?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Quan Manh Ha and Quynh H. Vo (translators), Longings: Contemporary Fiction by Vietnamese Women Writers, Texas Tech University Press, 2024. 260 pgs. Vietnamese literature in English translation is…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โFinding Meaning in the Very Act of Questioningโ๐ฟ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ : ๐ถ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐น๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ โ by Rebecca Maine](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/longings-contemporary-fiction-by-vietnamese-women-writers.jpg?w=907)
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๐ย RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ย RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS James Albon (author and illustrator), Love Languages, Top Shelf Productions, 2025. 176 pgs. The book begins with six pages of vibrant illustrations depicting people of diverse cultural backgrounds at…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โLife Outside the Bubble in James Albonโs ๐ฟ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ โ by Vanessa Winghei Yeung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/lovelangs_jalbon-2.jpg?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Hiro Arikawa (author), Allison Markin Powell (translator). The Passengers on the Hankyu Line, Penguin Random House, 2025. 256 pgs. It seems fitting that I began reading The Passengers on…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โThe Train Ride of Life: Hiro Arikawaโs ๐โ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ป๐๐๐๐ฆ๐ข ๐ฟ๐๐๐โ by Koay Xinyi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/81pcgpwou4l._sl1500_.jpg?w=956)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Masayuki Suo (director), Shall We Dance? 1996, 136 min. At college, I once romanced a young lady by agreeing to take ballroom dancing lessons with her after her…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โForget the Remake, Masayuki Suoโs ๐โ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ท๐๐๐๐? is in Perfect Step with Japanโ by Jeremiah Dutch](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/masayuki-sou-director-shall-we-dance-1996-136-min.-.jpg?w=686)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Akiko Ohku (director), Hold Me Back, 2020. 133 min. Akiko Ohku is best known for directing and co-writing Tremble All You Want and Hold Me Back, two films…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Feeling Seen: Akiko Ohkuโs ๐ป๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ต๐๐๐ and the Solitude of Modern Women” by Danica QP](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/hold-me-back-film-cha.jpg?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Lรช Minh Hoร ng (director), Saigon in the Rain, 2020. โWritten on a rainless Saigon day Urban life has long provided cinema with a stage upon which to capture…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โLรช Minh Hoร ng’s ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐
๐๐๐: A Resonance of Youth, Migration, and Urban Dreamsโ by Red Po](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/maxresdefault.jpg?w=1024)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โReliving the Filipino 90s Nostalgia in Marla Anchetaโs One Hit Wonderโ by Bryan Elijah Trajano Marla Ancheta (director), One Hit Wonder, 2025. 112 min. Before music was only a…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โReliving the Filipino 90s Nostalgia in Marla Anchetaโs ๐๐๐ ๐ป๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐๐โ by Bryan Elijah Trajano](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/marla-ancheta-director-one-hit-wonder.jpg?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Untold. Bae Suah (author), Deborah Smith (translator), Untold Night and Day, Jonathan Cape, 2020. 155 pgs. It has been some…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Between Dream and Wakefulness: Reading Bae Suah’s ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐๐โ๐ก ๐๐๐ ๐ท๐๐ฆ” by Dorina Tataran](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/untold-night-and-day-1.jpg?w=977)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Rajan Kurai Krishnan, Ravindran Sriramachandran, and V.M.S Subagunarajan, Rule of the Commoner: DMK and the Formations of the Political in Tamil Nadu, 1949โ1967, Cambridge University Press, 2022. 280 pgs.…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โPolitics of the Plebsโ๐
๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: ๐ท๐๐พ ๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ข” by Kathiravan Annamalai](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/rule-of-the-commoner.jpg?w=419)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Saad Omar Khan, Drinking the Ocean, Buckrider Books, 2025. 250 pgs. โWe die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have plunged into…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โA Love that Doesnโt Bind: Saad Omar Khanโs ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐โ by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/saad-omar-khan-drinking-the-ocean.jpg?w=971)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Girish Karnad, This Life at Play: Memoirs, Fourth Estate, 2021. 320 pgs. Memoirs strip writers of their literary pedestals. They become characters in their own narrativesโcurious onlookers of…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โA Playwrightโs Memoir: Girish Karnadโs ๐โ๐๐ ๐ฟ๐๐๐ ๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐ฆโ by Kathiravan Annamalai](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/girish-karnads-this-life-at-play.jpg?w=998)
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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 A Woman Burnt. Imayam (author), GJV Prasad (translator), A Woman Burnt, Simon and Schuster India, 2023. 336 pgs. “Every woman adores a Fascist, / The…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โPortrait of a Burning Woman: Imayam’s ๐ด ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ต๐ข๐๐๐กโ by Swagatika Rath](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/a-woman-burnt-1.jpg?w=952)
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๐ย RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ย RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kamila Kuc, Laima Leyton, Dara Waldron,ย Ecka Mordecai, and Jeremy Fernando (contributors), If loss were a currency: on Kamila Kucยดs I Was There. Delere Press, 2025. 114 pgs. According to…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โWhereof One Cannot Speak, Thereof One Cannot Stay SilentโOn ๐ผ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ค๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐ฆ: ๐๐ ๐พ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐พ๐ข๐’๐ ๐ผ ๐๐๐ ๐โ๐๐๐” by Anders Kรธlle](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/kamila-kuc-laima-leyton-dara-waldron-ecka-mordecai-jeremy-fernando.jpg?w=971)
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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 Hiroko Oyamada. Hiroko Oyamada (author), David Boyd (translator), The Hole, New Directions Publishing, 2020. 112 pgs. As a…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โUnanswered Questions of Balance: Hiroko Oyamadaโs ๐โ๐ ๐ป๐๐๐โ by Tyran Grillo](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/hiroko-oyamada_the-hole.jpg?w=778)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Dฦฐฦกng Hฦฐแปng (author), Quan Manh Ha and Charles Waugh (translators), No Man River, Penguin Random House SEA, 2025. 248 pgs. The recent publication of the English edition of Dฦฐฦกng…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โNo Human Being is Spared from Its Crimson Claws: Dฦฐฦกng Hฦฐแปngโs ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐
๐๐ฃ๐๐โ by Rebecca Maine](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/no-man-river-duong-huong-1.jpg?w=938)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kim Ki-duk (director), The Isle, 2000. 90 min. Some films are like waves that gently lap against the shores of our memories; others, however, jolt us by revealing…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โ๐โ๐ ๐ผ๐ ๐๐ at 25: Kim Ki Dukโs Blooming Poem on the Island of Solitudeโ by G.A. Gowtham](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/f_1_the_isle_01c5e5da4c.jpeg?w=1024)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โThe Legacy and Brilliance of Hong Kong Crime Novels: Charles Philipp Martinโs Rented Graveโ by Susan Blumberg-Kason Charles Philipp Martin, Rented Grave: An Inspector Lok Novel, Level Best Books,…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โThe Legacy and Brilliance of Hong Kong Crime Novels: Charles Philipp Martinโs ๐
๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐บ๐๐๐ฃ๐โ by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/rentedgrave-1.jpg?w=992)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Shunji Iwai (director), Undo, 1994. 47 min. The film Undo (1994) by Shunji Iwai is modest in length at just 47 minutes. Yet the narrative never feels rushed,…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Beyond Earshot: Transcribing Meaning in Shunji Iwaiโs ๐๐๐๐” by Miran Tsay](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/shunji-iwai.jpg?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Anand Patwardhan, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The World is Family), 2023. 96 min. “เฎฏเฎพเฎคเฏเฎฎเฏ เฎเฎฐเฏ! เฎฏเฎพเฎตเฎฐเฏเฎฎเฏ เฎเฏเฎณเฎฟเฎฐเฏ!” (โEvery place is our homeland, everyone is our kinโ)โthese words from the Tamil…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โBetween Memory and History: Anand Patwardhan’s ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐โ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐พ๐ข๐ก๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐โ by Kathiravan Annamalai](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/anand-patwardhan-vasudhaiva-kutumbakam-the-world-is-family-.png?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Uketsu (author), Jim Rion (translator), Strange Pictures, HarperVia, 2025. 240 pgs. In the Prologue, we are told: โAll right, everyone, now Iโm going to show you a picture.โ…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โThe Reader as Detective: Uketsuโs ๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐ข๐๐๐ โ by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/uketsu-author-jim-rion-translator-strange-pictures-harpervia-2025.png?w=974)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Sundar Sarukkai, The Social Life of Democracy, Seagull Books, 2022, 184 pgs. When I reflect on democracy in India today, I see a concept confined largely to the…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โDemocracy as Social Practice: Sundar Sarukkai’s ๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฟ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฆโ by Kathiravan Annamalai](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sundar-sarukkais-the-social-life-of-democracy.jpg?w=1000)
Cha 