(dir. Edward Yang 杨德昌) Adults and children alike search for love and meaning in this Taiwanese film. Nien-Jen Wu 吳念真 is wonderfully understated as a father who is struggling with his marriage and career, and his interplay with Issey Ogata イッセー尾形 as Mr. Ota is a particular delight. ★★★★★

(dir. Derek Tsang 曾國祥) This film, about a bullied high-schooler and a drop-out, was delayed because of censorship issues, but thankfully finally released in China and abroad in 2019. Based on a popular young adult novel, In His Youth, In Her Beauty《少年的你，如此美丽》, it is an often harrowing depiction of the difficulties facing many young Chinese people. Zhou Dongyu 周冬雨 deservedly won the best actress award at the Hong Kong Film Awards, her co-star Jackson Yee 易烊千玺 won Best New Performer, and director Derek Tsang took home Best Film and Best Director. The film has been available on Netflix UK, and there is also an American blu-ray release. ★★★★★

(directed by John Woo 吴宇森) I missed seeing this in the cinema, probably because I didn’t want to see the heavily-cut two hour version that reached the UK and States. The full five hour version was released later on DVD and Blu-ray, and is absolutely brilliant. A great cast, excellent action scenes, and fantastic music from Japanese composer Taro Iwashiro make this an outstanding version of this classic tale from Three Kingdoms. ★★★★★