Category: Oliver FarryβTexts
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Circumnavigation Without Glory: Lav Diazβs 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 Diazβs Magellan…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Circumnavigation Without Glory: Lav Diazβs ππππππππ 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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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Guan Huβs Black Dog: Olympic Ambition Meets Provincial Reality” by Oliver Farry Guan Hu (director), Black Dog ηι΅, 2024. 110 min. Guan Huβs canine drama delineates a quixotic episode…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Guan Huβs π΅ππππ π·ππ: 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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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Dreams Without Dreamers: Bi Ganβs Beautifully Perverse Resurrection” by Oliver Farry Bi Gan (director), Resurrection ηιζΆδ»£, 2025. 156 mins. Bi Ganβs third film is a splendid-looking enigma in the…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Dreams Without Dreamers: Bi Ganβs Beautifully Perverse π
ππ π’πππππ‘πππ” by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/resurrection.png?w=960)
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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 All We Imagine as Light. Payal Kapadia (director), All We Imagine as Light, 2024. 118 min. Payal Kapadiaβs debut feature All We Imagine as Light is…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “A Poetic, Nocturnal Film: Payal Kapadia’s π΄ππ ππ πΌππππππ ππ πΏππβπ‘” by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/all-we-imagine-as-light.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Wei Shujun (director), Only the River Flows, 2023. 101 mins. Wei Shujunβs Only the River Flows, an adaptation of Yu Huaβs novella Mistakes by the River set in 1995,…
![[REVIEW] βSuch an Indelible Period Texture: Wei Shujunβs ππππ¦ π‘βπ π
ππ£ππ πΉπππ€π β by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/only-the-river-flows-banner.jpg?w=512)
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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 Hong Sang-soo. Hong Sang-soo (director), In Water, 2023. 61 min. Of the 31 features Hong Sang-soo has directed, youβd be hard pressed to find a…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βJust that Little Bit Different: Hong Sang-sooβs πΌπ πππ‘ππβ by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/in-water_hong-sang-soo.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Lee Sol-hui (director), Greenhouse, 2022. 100 min. Lee Sol-huiβs film Greenhouse is a domain of sickness. There is illness everywhere, physical, mental, social, degenerative. The only character…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “A Domain of Sickness: Lee Sol-hui’s πΊππππβππ’π π” by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/greenhouse-2022-film-still.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Ryo Takebayashi (director), Mondays: See You “This” Week!, 2022. 102 min. Ryo Takebayashiβs time-loop film Mondays: See You “This” Week!βs most obvious film of comparison is Groundhog…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Over and OverβRyo Takebayashi’s ππππππ¦π : πππ πππ’ ‘πβππ ’ ππππ” by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/the-pigeon.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir (director), City of Wind, 2023. 103 min. Films about Mongolia donβt make their way to Europe too often and in the past when they have,…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Beginning (or Continuation) of a Mongolian New Wave?βLkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir’s πΆππ‘π¦ ππ ππππ” by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/city-of-wind.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS RyΓ»suke Hamaguchi (director), Evil Does Not Exist, 2023. 106 min. RyΓ»suke Hamaguchiβs follow-up to his Oscar-nominated hit Drive My Car starts off as a seemingly much more…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βEnigmatic Pronouncement: RyΓ»suke Hamaguchiβs πΈπ£ππ π·πππ πππ‘ πΈπ₯ππ π‘β by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/evil-does-not-exist-new.jpg?w=1000)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Babak Jalali (director), Fremont, 2023. 88 min. “Fortune messages are a responsibility. Consciously, or unconsciously, they are going to act on the flux of things. They shouldn’t…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Inside the Fortune Cookie: Babak Jalali’s πΉππππππ‘” by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/fremont.jpg?w=799)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Γlise Girard (director), Sidonie in Japan, 2024. 95 min. Sidonie Perceval (Isabelle Huppert) is a writer, or at least she once was. She has now decided to…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βSpectral Valency: Γlise Girard’s πππππππ ππ π½ππππ” by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/elise-girard-director-sidonie-in-japan-2024.-95-min.jpg?w=559)
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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 Perfect Days. Wim Wenders (director), Perfect Days, 2023. 123 min. Wim Wenders is not alone among Western filmmakers in having a fascination with…
![[REVIEW] “Clean Work: Wim Wenders’s πππππππ‘ π·ππ¦π ” by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/74409c07-88f6-44de-94a4-98f879833225.jpeg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kim Jee-woon (director), Cobweb, 2023. 135 min. Song Kang-ho (best known for Parasite and A Taxi Driver) in Cobweb Kim Ki-yeol (Song Kang-ho, best known for Parasite and A Taxi…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “In the Tradition of Film-set Comedy Dramas: Kim Jee-woon’s πΆπππ€ππ” by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/first-poster-for-cobweb-starring-song-kang-ho-centers-v0-nlwknv9ea1za1.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Davy Chou (director), Return to Seoul, 2022. 119 min. Thereβs an ambiguity inherent in the title of Davy Chouβs film Return to Seoul. At first sight, it seems to…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Cultural Orphanage: Davy Chou’s π
ππ‘π’ππ π‘π ππππ’π” by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/return-to-seoul3.webp?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Soetsu Yanagi, The Beauty of Everyday Things, Penguin, 2018. 352 pgs. The best book purchases are those of volumes discovered serendipitously on a shop shelf, just as the best…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βCraft Work: Soetsu Yanagiβs πβπ π΅πππ’π‘π¦ ππ πΈπ£πππ¦πππ¦ πβππππ β by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/onta-ware-collected-by-yanagi-soetsu.jpg?w=1024)
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