Soldiers Alive – A Novel of the Japanese in China, 1937
For century upon century, from the time of the stories of Gilgamesh (18th BCE), stories of war have been told …
Category Archives: Asia
Zone of Emptiness – A Japanese Novel of WWII
Zone of Emptiness by the Japanese novelist Hiroshi Noma, when it was published in 1952 after years of military censorship, …
Liu Xiaobo: Keeping Alive
Liu Xiaobo, one of the world’s most courageous men, Chinese dissident, died of liver cancer in a Chinese hospital, died …
Japan, After the War, Two Widows, Two Movies
In nineteen forty-seven, a year and a half after the end of WWII, Japanese film makers were still facing war-time shortages, …
More Post-War Movies: Three from Japan
It is of continuing interest to me how people in all their cultural wrappings respond to portrayals of themselves as …
Japan’s WW II Cinema: Bucking Up the Home Front
Watching Japanese films from the 1940s and 50s is difficult for many. No big sword fights,no clothing shed in intimate love affairs. …
The Music of Strangers — Bringing Down the Walls
You don’t want to miss seeing, and hearing, The Music of Strangers, a fresh breath of air in this season …
Xiao Hong — Women in Rural China
Some months ago I saw The Golden Era, a recent movie by Ann Hui about a ground breaking Chinese woman writer …
The Golden Era — A Writing Woman in Occupied China
Ann Hui, the prolific Hong Kong director, not well known in the United States, adds a serious biopic of Chinese …
Clouds Above the Hill — Japan’s Good Wars
Shiba Ryōtarō is said to be one of Japan’s favorite authors. Prolific in multiple genres, he’s credited with over 500 …
The Missing Picture – Oscar Nominee from Cambodia
Update: Too bad, The Missing Picture, a powerful, engaging film about the Cambodian genocide did not win Best Foreign Film …
Earth: The Tectonics of Violence
Deepa Mehta’s Earth is the second in her film trilogy of women’s lives in India as the country exited from …