Category: First Impressions
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN 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 Iwai’s 𝑈𝑛𝑑𝑜” by Miran Tsay](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/shunji-iwai.jpg?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Anand Patwardhan, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The World is Family), 2023. 96 min. “யாதும் ஊரே! யாவரும் கேளிர்!” (“Every place is our homeland, everyone is our kin”)—these words from the Tamil…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Between Memory and History: Anand Patwardhan’s 𝑉𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑑ℎ𝑎𝑖𝑣𝑎 𝐾𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑎𝑘𝑎𝑚” 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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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Uketsu (author), Jim Rion (translator), Strange Pictures, HarperVia, 2025. 240 pgs. In the Prologue, we are told: “All right, everyone, now I’m going to show you a picture.”…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Reader as Detective: Uketsu’s 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑃𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠” 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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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN 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] “Democracy as Social Practice: Sundar Sarukkai’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐷𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑦” 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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📁RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on 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] “Magical Realism or Political Prophecy? Hon Lai Chu’s 𝑀𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐵𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠 Reexamined” 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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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Téa 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] “Broad and Balanced: Téa Sernelj’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑇𝑎𝑖𝑤𝑎𝑛” 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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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 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] “𝑃𝑎𝑝𝑎: Time to Forgive” 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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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Shinya Tsukamoto 塚本晋也, Tetsuo: The Iron Man 鉄男, 1989. 67 min. I leave the factory. Pass through a haze of cigarette smoke. Walk to the car. Slide…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Viewing 𝑇𝑒𝑡𝑠𝑢𝑜: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐼𝑟𝑜𝑛 𝑀𝑎𝑛 in an Old Pajama Factory in a Small Town America” 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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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 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] “A Poet’s Most Unvarnished Desires and Defeats: Donald Keene’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑛 𝐽𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑒” 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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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Quan Manh Ha and Cab Tran (editors), The Colors of April: Fiction on the Vietnam War’s Legacy 50 Years Later, Three Room Press, 2025. 306 pgs. The Colors of…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “An Empathetic Communion with the Past—𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙: 𝐹𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑖𝑒𝑡𝑛𝑎𝑚 𝑊𝑎𝑟’𝑠 𝐿𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑐𝑦 50 𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝐿𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟” 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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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 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 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠” by Anders Kølle](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/true-mothers.jpg?w=708)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Susan Barker’s Old Soul: A Globetrotting Horror with an Asian Sense of Eternity” by Kevin McGeary Susan Barker, Old Soul, Penguin, 2025. 352 pgs. In 2014, Susan Barker published…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Susan Barker’s 𝑂𝑙𝑑 𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑙: A Globetrotting Horror with an Asian Sense of Eternity” by Kevin McGeary](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/old-soul-susan-barker.jpg?w=975)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Yuta Takahashi (author), Cat Anderson (translator), The Chibineko Kitchen, John Murray, 2024. 192 pgs. The Japanese iyashikei—or healing—genre has resonated deeply with readers worldwide, offering solace and comfort through…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Dining with the Departed: Yuta Takahashi’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑘𝑜 𝐾𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑛” by Aditi Yadav](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/the-chibineko-kitchen-john-murray-1.jpg?w=651)
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[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Love and Loss in Petersen Vargas’s 𝑈𝑛/𝐻𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑌𝑜𝑢” by Jhon Steven C. Espenido
📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 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 𝑈𝑛/𝐻𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑌𝑜𝑢” 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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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 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 ourselves—and each other—certain stories to get…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Stories We Live By: Narrative, Meaning, and Existential Emptiness in Chie Hayakawa’s 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑛 75” by Anders Kølle](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/chie-hayakawa-plan-75.png?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Importance of Nomenclature in Pattern, Language, Setting—A Glossary of City Spaces in Hong Kong” By Vanessa Winghei Yeung in.light.of.living—Sik.Faan (author), jck (illustrator), and daanngaazai (calligrapher), Pattern, Language, Setting—A…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Importance of Nomenclature in 𝑃𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛, 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒, 𝑆𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔—𝐴 𝐺𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐻𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝐾𝑜𝑛𝑔” 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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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS 📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kōki Mitani (director), Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald, 1997. 103 min. Kōki Mitani has a particular knack for satirising the Japanese inclination to avoid confrontation. As the screenwriter…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Japanese Comedy Cinema at Its Finest: Kōki Mitani’s 𝑊𝑒𝑙𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝐵𝑎𝑐𝑘, 𝑀𝑟. 𝑀𝑐𝐷𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑑” by Jeremiah Dutch](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/mv5bodhimtlimzmtodk0my00ogjklwjjmwytythlyta3mzllzjq1xkeyxkfqcgc40._v1_.jpg?w=853)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Art of Waking Up Words: Tammy Lai-Ming Ho’s If I Do Not Reply” by Anders Kølle Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on If I Do Not Reply. Tammy Lai-Ming Ho,…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Art of Waking Up Words: Tammy Lai-Ming Ho’s 𝐼𝑓 𝐼 𝐷𝑜 𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑦” by Anders Kølle](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/if-i-do-not-reply_tammy-ho.jpg?w=907)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Marcus Fedder, My Shanghai Neighbours, Black Spring Press, 2023. 130 pgs. Having spent four years living in a Shanghai lane between 2012 and 2016 (when I left China), I…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Resurrecting Longtang Memories: Marcus Fedder’s 𝑀𝑦 𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔ℎ𝑎𝑖 𝑁𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠” by S.C. Gordon](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/my-shanghai-neighbours-1.jpg?w=985)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Transcendence and Redemption—Umi Ishihara’s Gravity and Radiance” by Marsha McDonald Umi Ishihara (director). Gravity and Radiance, 2021. 30 min. Images featured in this piece courtesy of the director. Gravity…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Transcendence and Redemption—Umi Ishihara’s 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑅𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒” by Marsha McDonald](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/gravity-and-radiance-3.png?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 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. Quintos’s 𝐴𝑛𝑎𝑘” by Jhon Steven C. Espenido](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/the-child.webp?w=800)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on In the Mood for Love. Wong Kar-wai (director), In the Mood for Love, 2000. 98 min. I have been haunted by the same film for twenty-five…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Ghosts of Wong Kar-wai: On 𝐼𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒” by Anders Kølle](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/in-the-mood-for-love-wong-kar-wai-2020-4k-red-ds-os-195-_blur.webp?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Jiaming Tang, Cinema Love, John Murray, 2024. 304 pgs. Cinema Love is the impressive debut novel by Chinese-American writer Jiaming Tang. The book’s blurb and the opening chapters may…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Gut-punching Melodrama: Jiaming Tang’s 𝐶𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑎 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒” by Hongwei Bao](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/jiaming-tang-cinema-love-john-murray.jpg?w=975)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Mina’s Matchbox. Yōko Ogawa (author), Stephen B. Snyder (translator), Mina’s Matchbox, Pantheon Books, 2024. 288 pages. In Yōko Ogawa’s previous novel, The Memory Police, set…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Memory-keeping: Yōko Ogawa’s 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑎’𝑠 𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑏𝑜𝑥” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/819ycgclrml._sl1500_.jpg?w=940)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “A Place’s Sorrowful Tomorrow: Wong Siu-pong’s Obedience” by Vanessa Winghei Yeung Wong Siu-pong (director), Obedience, 2024. 71 min. Although Wong Siu-pong’s latest observational documentary, Obedience, does not actively stir…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “A Place’s Sorrowful Tomorrow: Wong Siu-pong’s 𝑂𝑏𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒” by Vanessa Winghei Yeung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/obedience_wong.jpg?w=1024)
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📁RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Jose Lorenzo “Pepe” Diokno, Isang Himala, 2024. 145 min. Isang Himala (A Miracle), directed by Jose Lorenzo “Pepe” Diokno, is an adaptation on three levels—of the screenplay by National…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Miracle of Adaptation in Pepe Diokno’s 𝐼𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑔 𝐻𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑎” by Richell Isaiah Flores](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/jose-lorenzo-pepe-diokno-isang-himala-2024_2-2.jpg?w=1024)
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📁RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Stuart Heisler (director), Tokyo Joe, 1949. 89 min. Of all the gin joints in all the world, Humphrey Bogart had to walk into yet another one. Swap North Africa…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Play it again… Ito?: Stuart Heisler’s 𝑇𝑜𝑘𝑦𝑜 𝐽𝑜𝑒” by Jeremiah Dutch](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/tokyo-joe-old-japan-hollywood-movie-humphrey-bogart-film-shibuya-tokyo-japanese-history-9.webp?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Haunting World of Random Encounters in Izumi Kyōka’s Japanese Gothic Tales” by Vanessa Winghei Yeung Izumi Kyōka (author), Charles Shirō Inouye (translator and author of introduction and afterword),…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS]“The Haunting World of Random Encounters in Izumi Kyōka’s 𝐽𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑐 𝑇𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠” by Vanessa Winghei Yeung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/japanese-gothic-tales-1.png?w=1024)
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📁RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kogonada (director), Columbus, 2017. 100 min. There’s a profound sense of openness in Kogonada’s Columbus (2017). The film invites us to step into its scenes, transforming them into spaces…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Beyond the Physicality of Places: Kogonada’s 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑢𝑠” by V Clark](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/columbus-1.jpg?w=736)
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📁RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS John Wells (director), August: Osage County, 2013. 116 min. As Christmas draws near in the West, the East prepares for the arrival of Lunar New Year. To those unfamiliar…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Here’s To Family Drama, In All Its Universality—𝐴𝑢𝑔𝑢𝑠𝑡: 𝑂𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑦” by Hai-Mo Hu](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/1.august-osagecountyensemblecastpic.jpg?w=1024)
Cha 