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European cinema

European cinema
From Danny Boyle to Michael Haneke, from Francois Truffaut to Ingmar Bergman, from Soviet Montage to French New Wave to Romanian New Wave, and from Berlin film festival to Cannes to Venice, this is the place to go for features, interviews and reviews about movies both classic and new from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and every other country in Europe.
Elle Fanning (right) and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas in a still from Sentimental Value. The two actresses, along with the other two leads, Stellan Skarsgard and Renate Reinsve, have received Academy Award nominations for their roles in Joachim Trier’s Norwegian family drama.
American cinema

Why Sentimental Value is the most acclaimed European film of the year

The Norwegian drama with Stellan Skarsgard and Elle Fanning won the Grand Prix at Cannes and has 9 Oscar nods. What makes it so appealing?

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American cinema

Review | 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple – Ralph Fiennes leads savage sequel

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Film reviews

Review | The Thing with Feathers: Benedict Cumberbatch carries moving tale of grief

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American cinema

12 new Hollywood movies to watch this winter, from Hamnet to Song Sung Blue

Project Hail Mary, Wuthering Heights, Anaconda and Scream 7 join Hamnet, Song Sung Blue and others on our list of anticipated upcoming films.

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Ryan Gosling in a still from Project Hail Mary, coming to Hong Kong cinemas in early 2026. The sci-fi is among a bevvy of star-studded Hollywood movies being released this winter. Photo: Jonathan Olley
Asian cinema

Want to find solace in film? 10 movies that may offer catharsis and hope

Following last week’s tragic fire at a Tai Po estate in Hong Kong, we look at films in which humanity endures through the darkest of hours.

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Obituaries

Oscar-winning UK playwright Tom Stoppard dies aged 88

His work ranges from plays like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead to the film Shakespeare in Love, which scooped seven Academy Awards.

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Asian cinema: Chinese films

British film about Hong Kong immigrants showed grim reality of their new lives

Soursweet (1988), about a Hong Kong family’s UK struggles, was a progressive film, despite the narrative controlled by its British makers.

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Sylvia Chang in a still from Soursweet (1988). Film4’s drama about a Hong Kong family trying to make a new life in London was written by Ian McEwan and directed by Mike Newell, and had almost no Chinese people behind the camera.
American cinema

Why this French film star just had to visit Hong Kong’s Chungking Mansions

In town for the Hong Kong French Film Festival, Garance Marillier discusses her ‘must visit’ list and acting with Angelina Jolie in Couture.

Fame and celebrity

Pope hosts Hollywood stars at Vatican, laments decline in cinema-going

The pontiff urged filmmakers to confront violence, war, poverty and loneliness with honesty, and to resist ‘the logic of algorithms’.

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Asian cinema

Can’t get enough of Another World? 10 animated films set in the afterlife

If you liked Another World, you will love these 10 afterlife animations, with subjects from rabbits and dogs to a pianist and a corpse bride.

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A screen grab from Soul, starring Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey, one of 10 animated films focusing on the afterlife. Photo: Disney/Pixar
Asian cinema: Chinese films

How Macau and Hong Kong inspired Colin Farrell’s Ballad of a Small Player

Farrell and Edward Berger share why Macau was a ‘perfect setting’ for a tale about an erratic gambler and how he finds reprieve in Hong Kong.

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Colin Farrell in a still from Ballad of a Small Player. In Netflix’s new film, the actor stars opposite Tilda Swinton as an unhinged gambler running through the casinos of Macau, and occasionally escaping to Hong Kong. Photo: Netflix
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Jean-Claude Van Damme films with Hong Kong roots, including Bloodsport

Action star Jean-Claude Van Damme has made a number of films either filmed in or linked closely to Hong Kong. Here are four.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Hong Kong-born filmmaker in the UK reflects on her immigrant experience

Filmmaker Calif Chong and actress Isabella Wei talk about Chong’s debut film High Wire and the realities of immigration in the UK.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

The story of Ping Pong, pioneering first film shot in London’s Chinatown

Also the first UK film made by a director of Chinese descent, Leong Po-chih’s Ping Pong flopped upon release but is being rediscovered.

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David Yip (left) and Lucy Sheen in a still from Ping Pong (1986), directed by Leong Po-chih and filmed in London’s Chinatown.
Fame and celebrity

Italian actress Claudia Cardinale dies aged 87

The actress, who starred next to leading men from Burt Lancaster to Henry Fonda, was the muse of Luchino Visconti and Federico Fellini.

Italian actress Claudia Cardinale (right) and Italian film director Federico Fellini appear during an Academy Awards ceremony in Rome on May 27, 1964. Photo: AP Photo
Fame and celebrity

After 15 years of Downton Abbey, ‘if this is where it ends, I’m happy’

Creator Julian Fellowes, actor Hugh Bonneville and producer Gareth Neame reflect on the period drama’s success and its enduring legacy.

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American cinema

12 Hollywood movies to watch in autumn 2025, from Zootopia 2 to Tron: Ares

Our list also includes Regretting You, Wicked: For Good, Predator: Badlands, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and Now You See Me: Now You Don’t.

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American cinema

10 of the best movies from the 2025 Venice Film Festival

You won’t find the Golden Lion winner on this list, which includes harrowing Palestinian drama The Voice of Hind Rajab and British film Ish.

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Lee Byung-hun in a still from No Other Choice, directed by Park Chan-wook.
Venice Film Festival

US indie film beats out Gaza war docudrama for Venice top prize

Jim Jarmusch’s ‘Father Mother Sister Brother’ took home the Golden Lion, while ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ took second place.

Film reviews

Review | Silent Friend: Tony Leung Chiu-wai appears in his first European film

The Hong Kong star of In the Mood for Love and Lust, Caution plays a scientist in one section of Ildiko Enyedi’s three-part botanical film.

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American cinema

Why Jet Li’s action thriller Kiss of the Dragon was banned in China

Kiss of the Dragon was a box office success in 2001, but its racial stereotyping, violence and sexual frankness caused it problems in China.

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Jet Li carries Bridget Fonda in a still from Kiss of the Dragon (2001), a popular film around the world that was banned in China. Photo: SCMP
Venice Film Festival

8 stand-out looks from the Venice Film Festival red carpet

Shu Qi, who just made her directorial debut, graced the red carpet in Gaurav Gupta, while Emily Blunt wore a Tamara Ralph gown.

Amanda Seyfried stuns in a Prada gown with a bow, and Tiffany & Co. jewellery. Photo: Reuters
On Our Radar

The Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival is more relevant than ever

Showing 22 movies and 37 shorts, the 36th HKLGFF is a critical reflection on the challenges faced by an LGBTQ community under threat around the world.

Venice Film Festival

Male actors who stunned at the Venice Film Festival, from Jude Law to The Rock

Jude Law looked classy in a Brunello Cucinelli suit, while Callum Turner donned a crisp white suit by Louis Vuitton.

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Chinese person, English name: Hong Kong filmmaker explores ‘mistaken identity’

Being raised in a Chinese family with an English surname left Mary Stephen with questions she seeks to answer in her new documentary.

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A photo of Mary Stephen’s parents Henry and Hilda Stephen, as seen in Palimpsest: the Story of a Name. Photo: Mary Stephen
Cinema

10 films to watch this fall: Anemone, Nuremberg and a Springsteen biopic

Jeremy Allen White plays Bruce Springsteen in his upcoming biopic while Scarlett Johansson makes her directorial debut with Eleanor the Great.

Andrew Garfield and Julia Roberts in After the Hunt, and Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson in The Smashing Machine. Photos: @afterthehuntmovie/Instagram, TNS
American cinema

Review | After the Hunt: Julia Roberts is a professor in muddled sexual assault drama

While Julia Roberts shines in After the Hunt, which explores the chaos of a sexual assault case, the real crux of the story remains unclear.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

How Wong Kar-wai’s The Hand made the 2004 anthology Eros worth watching

The Hong Kong director’s segment from the three-part erotic anthology Eros outshone those by Steven Soderbergh and Michelangelo Antonioni.

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