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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. Some films are simply like that—from the moment you…
![[REVIEW] “𝐼𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 at 25: Wong Kar-wai’s Cinematic Language of Longing” by G.A. Gowtham](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 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 Alex John Catanese, Buddha in the Marketplace: The Commodification of Buddhist Objects in Tibet, University of Virginia Press, 2019. 334 pgs. The phenomenon of religious commodification across diverse…
![[REVIEW] “Commodifying the Sacred: Alex John Catanese’s 𝐵𝑢𝑑𝑑ℎ𝑎 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑡𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒” by Palden Gyal](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/buddha-copy.jpg?w=1024)
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Chris Song and Simona Gallo Dwelling in Tongues◉ Part I—”Hong Kong & Poetry”◉ Part II—”A Translingual Self: The Art of Self-Translation” Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series of interview entitled “Dwelling in Tongues: A Conversation on…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Hong Kong & Poetry” by Simona Gallo and Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/simona-gallo-and-chris-song.png?w=1024)
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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 Mandira Chakraborty, Firefly Games, Sambhavna Prakashan, 2025. 217 pgs. The world we inhabit today is a curious interplay between misinformation and an overwhelming excess of information—one click or…
![[REVIEW] “Mandira Chakraborty’s 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑦 𝐺𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠: Stories of Light and Shadow” by Sayan Aich](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/mandira-chakraborty-firefly-games.jpg?w=1000)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Nobuhiro Doi (director), Hanamizuki, 2010. 128 min. Water plays a significant role in the work of many filmmakers. One might, for instance, recall the rainwater and silvery puddles…
![[REVIEW] “The Measure of Love in Nobuhiro Doi’s 𝐻𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑧𝑢𝑘𝑖” by Anders Kølle](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/hanamizuki-e3838fe3838ae3839fe382bae382ad.png?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Anru Lee, Haunted Modernities: Gender, Memory and Placemaking in Post-industrial Taiwan, University of Hawai’i Press, 2023. 246 pgs. Anru Lee first learned of the 25 Maiden Ladies’ Tomb…
![[REVIEW] “From Spirits to Statues: Commemorating Women Workers in Anru Lee’s 𝐻𝑎𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠” by Elsa Mathews](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/haunted-modernities-gender-memory-and-placemaking-in-postindustrial-taiwan.jpg?w=994)
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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 Han Kang (author), e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris (translators), We do Not Part, Hogarth, 2025. 272 pgs. Kyungha struggles to sleep or eat, suffers from persistent…
![[REVIEW] “The Persistance of Memory: Han Kang’s 𝑊𝑒 𝐷𝑜 𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑡” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/https-www.penguinrandomhouse.combooks718535we-do-not-part-by-han-kang-translated-by-e-yaewon-and-paige-aniyah-morris.png?w=1024)
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