Category: First Impressions
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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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There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
![Protected: [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “On the Horizon: Xu Xi’s Hong Kong Across Three Decades” by Jonathan Han](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/horizonhongkong122925.webp?w=1000)
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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)
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๐RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Clickย HERE to readย all entries inย Chaย onย Mending Bodies. Hon Lai Chu (author), Jacqueline Leung (translator), Mending Bodies, Two Lines Press, 2025. 240 pgs. For those who haven’t read the original Chinese…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โMagical Realism or Political Prophecy? Hon Lai Chuโsย ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ต๐๐๐๐๐ ย Reexaminedโ by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/hon-lai-chu-author-jacqueline-leung-translator-mending-bodies-two-lines-press-2025.-240-pgs.jpg?w=938)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Tรฉa Sernelj, The Confucian Revival in Taiwan: Xu Fuguan and His Theory of Chinese Aesthetics, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021. 280 pgs. In The Confucian Revival in Taiwan: Xu…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โBroad and Balanced: Tรฉa Serneljโs ๐โ๐ ๐ถ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ ๐
๐๐ฃ๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ค๐๐โ by Hantian Zhang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/tea-sernelj-the-confucian-revival-in-taiwan-xu-fuguan-and-his-theory-of-chinese-aesthetics-cambridge-scholars-publishing.png?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Philip Yung (director), Papa, 2024. 131 min. Prologue: Watching Hong Kong films overseas is a transposing experience. When I leave a cinema in Toronto after watching a…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โ๐๐๐๐: Time to Forgiveโ by Tin Yuet Tam](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/philip-yung-director-papa-2024.-131-min-1.jpg?w=923)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Shinya Tsukamoto ๅกๆฌๆไน, Tetsuo: The Iron Man ้็ท, 1989. 67 min. I leave the factory. Pass through a haze of cigarette smoke. Walk to the car. Slide…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โViewing ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ข๐: ๐โ๐ ๐ผ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ in an Old Pajama Factory in a Small Town Americaโ by Kristen Cantor](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/shinya-tsukamoto-tetsuo-the-iron-man-e98984e794b7.jpg?w=600)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Donald Keene, The First Modern Japanese: The Life of Ishikawa Takuboku, Columbia University Press, 2016. 288 pgs. At the age of fifteen, I first encountered the Chinese translation of…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โA Poetโs Most Unvarnished Desires and Defeats: Donald Keeneโs ๐โ๐ ๐น๐๐๐ ๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฝ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐โ by Jiahe Chen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/the-first-modern-japanese-the-life-of-ishikawa-takuboku-2.jpg?w=1000)
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๐ย RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Quan Manh Ha and Cab Tran (editors), The Colors of April: Fiction on the Vietnam Warโs Legacy 50 Years Later, Three Room Press, 2025. 306 pgs. The Colors of…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โAn Empathetic Communion with the Pastโ๐โ๐ ๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ด๐๐๐๐: ๐น๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐๐โ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐๐๐๐ฆ 50 ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ก๐๐โ by Aaron Gerhart](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/the-colors-of-april-fiction-on-the-vietnam-wars-legacy-50-years-later--1.jpg?w=1000)
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๐ย RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ย RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Naomi Kawase, True Mothers, 2020. 140 min. Are human faces a resource? Are they a commodity? Can they be picked like grapes and harvested like grain? Can they be…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Face Of Integrity In Naomi Kawase’s ๐๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐กโ๐๐๐ ” by Anders Kรธlle](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/true-mothers.jpg?w=708)
Cha 