Guidance is an intriguing international science-fiction drama by Iranian director Neysan Sobhani shot in Mandarin with only four young actresses and actors. The film revolves around a young couple that retreats to a modern cottage in the mountains as they wait for their scheduled rocket trip to leave planet Earth. They decide to take a special type of pill known as Guidance that allows them step by step to discover everything they want to know about their partners. Soon, the young couple realizes that both partners have some hidden secrets and try to come to terms with the truth behind appearances.

This movie convinces on numerous levels. The science-fiction elements are carefully employed and never exaggerated. The film offers the backdrop of a disastrous war in the past, a recent terrorist attack, plans for evacuation from the planet and an interconnected society that slowly eliminates privacy and secrets. This movie subtly criticizes megalomaniac social media moguls, overambitious scientists and repressive governments without pointing fingers at any specific company, country or culture. This film is thought-provoking and worth to be discussed as its dystopian backdrop is terrifyingly realistic.

Another strength are the excellent acting performances. This movie essentially revolves around three characters that are supposed to carry this movie through its running time of ninety-three minutes. Despite a somewhat slow start, all three characters become more complex, intriguing and profound as the movie progresses. Another interesting element to notice is that all characters have significant flaws and strengths which make them credible and easy to empathize with.

The acting performances are also quite satisfactory. The performances are careful and slow but at the same time emotional and realistic. The dialogues have been established with great care. Since this movie tries to have a realistic vibe, the actresses and actors involved are enjoyably composed and never overact for the sake of attention.

The settings of this film have also been chosen with care. This movie has a constant vibe of isolation in the isolated cottage, the huge company building and the expensive bunker. Even though the decorations show a certain elegance, taste and wealth, they can't hide that all locations feel clinical, cold and void.

The soundtrack also blends in very well. It focuses on timeless classical music that underlines the movie's scenes decently without being overtly domineering. Just like the settings, the score seems intellectually intriguing at first contact but ends up sounding emotionally distant and even starts lacking identity. Settings and soundtrack complete each other splendidly.

The most notable downside of this film is its slow pace that takes some time to get used to. However, after a first third with a few lengths, the second third establishes the relationships between the different characters very well and the last third answers several important questions and even includes a creative twist that most viewers won't see coming.

At the end of the day, science-fiction drama Guidance deserves its excellent reviews and should benefit from much more attention. Iranian director Neysan Sobhani is a name contemporary cinephiles should remember. Let's hope that there are more full length features to come from this creative, subtle and talented artist.

Wu Ming, internationally known as Hidden Blade, is a Chinese espionage thriller set during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It follows a group of secret agents supporting the Chinese Communist Party while discrediting the collaborative Republic of China regime and slowing down the Empire of Japan in its attempt to control China.

This movie convinces on multiple levels. First of all, this movie presents detailed if obviously opiniated historic and historical events with authentic settings such as accurate clothing, elements of engineering such as cars and trains of that era, fitting locations bringing to life Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shanghai from the thirties to the sixties, popular music of its time and credible espionage techniques. These elements make the movie quite immersive despite the underlying propagandistic tendencies presenting the collaborators as dishonest, the invaders as arrogant and the communists as particularly courageous. The actual truth is obviously a lot less glorious for all parties involved.

Up next, the plot of this film is very clever and requests much attention to be fully understood without being overtly challenging in my book. There are quite a few characters with hidden agendas, several cliffhangers that are being picked up at later moments and a clever use of flashbacks and flashforwards. This intellectual storytelling is a brave but successful attempt at breaking with conventional and predictable scriptwriting to get intellectual and intelligent viewers mentally involved.

Speaking of the characters, all of them have much depth, including the heroines and heroes working under the most difficult circumstances, ambitious collaborators trying to achieve successful careers and the invaders trying to outwit their enemies with complex plans to bring their home country glory and respect. Even though these three groups have widely different perspectives of reality, they are all united by their dedication, intellect and resilience. These elements make the numerous confrontations throughout the movie so authentic, tense and unpredictable.

The intellectual storytelling is at times combined with some moments of action and drama. The former occurs during assassination attempts, car chases or shootouts. The latter take place during deep discussions about family, fate and friendship, intense interrogations leading up to scenes involving torture and murder and the film's numerous twists when the different characters' true intentions are revealed step by step.

Despite its intellectual strength, this movie's most memorable scene aside from the closing scene that answers the last remaining questions in a satisfactory manner is however the lengthy shootout at an apartment complex that showcases how every character involved makes enormous sacrifices to fight for ideals.

This movie isn't without its flaws however. The underlying element of propaganda has already been mentioned before and makes the movie less credible than it actually could have been. Up next, the movie has several lengths in its middle section with long conversations interrupted by at times rather confusing changes in place and time. While the movie's intellectual side is overall a welcome addition, this element is at times overdone and ends up harming the film's overall flow. Most viewers will get used to this unusual pace and style after a while but the movie might only be fully appreciated and understood upon watching it for a second time. Viewers are certainly expected to bring a lot of intellectual flexibility, background knowledge and stoic patience to the table to fully embrace this film. If you are looking for a smooth movie that entertains but doesn't request active intellectual participation, then this film is going to be a challenge and might even become a burden for you.

At the end of the day, I would recommend Hidden Blade to cinephiles interested in Chinese culture, historic dramas and conspiracy thrillers. Quite a few movies have recently been made about events occurring during the.so-called War of Resistance. Hidden Blade stands out as the most intellectual film of this selection but not as the overall most satisfying viewing experience which might rather go to Ba Bai, The Eight Hundred, released three years earlier.

The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die is a South Korean action thriller that takes no prisoners in ninety-five highly addictive minutes. Based upon a popular novel by Bang Jin-ho, this film tells the story of a retired hitman who reluctantly agrees to take care of the teenage daughter of his wife's best friend. While his selfish wife and her shallow friend party all the time in Jeju, the teenage girl back home is menaced by a human trafficking ring with connections to the Russian mafia. The retired hitman intervenes to save the girl but soon has South Korean police, South Korean human traffickers and Russian hitmen on his trail. As the protagonist tries to reveal how the different parties are possibly connected, he also discovers a terrible secret that puts his protégée's entire existence at risk.

This action thriller convinces on several levels. First of all, this movie has frantic pace from start to finish and impresses with brutal fight scenes, dramatic car chases and rough shootouts. Up next, the conspiracy behind the human trafficking ring is genuinely intriguing and comes around with one massive twist that leaves a lasting impression. The character development is also decent for such a short movie as the cool hitman turns out to have an intact moral compass, the popular teenager turns out being used and abused by her friends and the film often looks into the abyss of the human soul by exposing female human traffickers fooling young teenagers and seemingly respected gentlemen who turn out to be vile pedophiles.

The only element to criticize here is that this kind of scenario isn't exactly fresh and new. South Korean cinema has excelled at making sinister vengeance films for the past two and a half decades and some movies like Sympathy for Mister Vengeance, The Man from Nowhere and I Saw the Devil might be slightly better than this movie. However, this film here is still among the best action thrillers and was made with decent budget, excellent camera techniques and fitting special effects which all make for a highly satisfying cinematic experience.

The only type of viewers that should stay away from this kind of film are sensitive audiences who aren't interested in high body counts, brutal fights and defeatist atmosphere while also struggling with topics such as human trafficking, organized crime and influential pedophiles. This type of relentless film certainly isn't going to win an Academy Award and won't sit very well with deeply religious communities. These elements are also among the reasons why this film is so particularly efficient. The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die is highly recommended to fans of relentless action thrillers in general and fans of contemporary South Korean cinema in particular. I certainly hope this movie will see a massive international release because I can't wait to pick it up and watch it time and again.

Goodbye Cruel World is a Japanese gangster drama that convinces with an explosive opening sequence, profound characters and a defeatist finale that will leave a lasting impression. This movie revolves around five characters who join forces to solve their urgent financial issues by robbing a yakuza gang that is laundering money in an old-fashioned hotel. Soon after the robbery, profound conflicts between the five characters emerge as they are unable to return to their former lives as planned. The yakuza are also hot on their trails, try to get their money back and want to make an example of the civilians who dared confronting them. Also involved is a clever detective who quickly understands that someone from the inside must have revealed the location of the money laundering to at least one of the civilians.

This film convinces on numerous different levels. The opening twenty minutes are brutal, quick and tense and make for one of the greatest openings of a gangster film in a long period of time. Up next, the movie follows different story lines that intertwine cleverly. Viewers get to observe the nervous yakuza who attempt to get back their money before suffering terrible consequences, a clever detective who wants to prove time and again that he is useful to the criminals and five civilians who naively try to get back to their regular lives. All characters are quite different from one another which makes for a particularly diversified, entertaining and profound film. Viewers get to see two secret lovers looking for a fresh start in their lives, a pitiless gangster attempting to make money by any means necessary and a seemingly peaceful hotel owner with a dark criminal past who gets caught up by current events to only mention a few poignant examples. Step by step, the movie reveals the fate of every character involved, leaving no questions unanswered. The film's finale is particularly memorable and certainly not a welcome surprise for more sensitive audiences while being a pleasure for genre fans who remember Japanese V-cinema from the mid-nineties to the early years of the new millennium quite fondly.

Goodbye Cruel World is however not without its flaws. After a gripping opening twenty minutes, the next forty-five minutes are slow-paced, hesitatingly meandering from one scenario to the next and rarely getting to the point. This part of the movie certainly is the most difficult to sit through for genre fans. The shift back towards a more dynamic, engaging and pitiless approach is then quite sudden to a point that it seems inappropriate. Several scenes towards the beginning of the movie's second half are completely exaggerated, intensely overacted and ridiculously pulled out of thin air. The film's ending then slows the pace down a little bit again and might slightly overstay its welcome. In the end, this movie would have been better with an overall swift and consistent pace by cutting roughly twenty minutes of its length. As it turns out, this movie is too unstable to leave an entirely convincing impression.

At the end of the day, Goodbye Cruel World includes a few creative plot twists and also honours Japanese gangster movies of the nineties very appropriately. The film's meandering pace and at times exaggerated overacting however keep it from being a recommendable genre highlight. I would suggest this movie to experienced fans of Japanese gangster movies who simply don't want to witness this unique genre receding into the background. Those who are however relatively new to the genre have numerous other films to check out first such as Graveyard of Honour, Shinjuku Triad Society and Another Lonely Hitman to only mention a few.

Remember is a South Korean drama thriller inspired by an Atom Egoyan movie released seven years earlier. However, this film isn't an unimpressive remake but tells a very fascinating story of its own. This movie is about an Alzheimer's patient in his eighties who lost all his family during the Japanese colonial era. Once his wife has died, he decides to assassinate all those who have brought suffering upon his family and himself. The friendly elderly man tattooes the names of his targets upon his hand and goes on a killing spree with an unsuspecting work colleague from a restaurant in his early twenties. Soon enough, media, military and police are hot on their trails. Will the elderly man be able to see his vengeful plan through before he can be stopped?

This movie convinces on numerous elements. First of all, the sinister story finds the perfect balance between a drama and a thriller. This movie has genuinely caring, saddening and tender moments but also quite brutal, graphic and sinister sequences. This combination makes for a highly entertaining rollercoaster ride that goes by in a heartbeat.

Up next, the two main characters have excellent chemistry despite their obvious significant differences. Elderly Han Pil-joo is senile, gentle and fragile on the outside but actually clever, determined and organized on the inside. His dynamic character development is intriguing from start to finish. Park In-gyu on the other side looks stylish, helpful and confident on the outside but soon appears to be fearful, gullible and naive on the inside. His changes are nearly equally intriguing and contribute to a spectacular finale. Veteran actor Lee Sung-min and youngster Nam Joo-hyuk complete each other splendidly and deliver what might be the best performances of their respective careers.

This movie has a lot of intense scenes involving car chases, intellectual confrontations and obviously diversified killing scenes. The brutality is however never shallow and always serves a purpose. The film avoids unnecessarily exaggerated special effects and focuses on terrifying atmosphere instead which will keep viewers on the edges of their seats.

As you can read, dramatic thriller Remember is a feast for anyone who appreciates contemporary South Korean cinema of the past twenty-five years and counting. Anyone who likes movies in the key of I Saw the Devil, Oldboy or Memories of Murder should certainly give this overlooked and underrated film a try as well. This movie convinces with wonderful depth regarding its characters and gritty intensity concerning the killing spree. While this film might not be a good choice for a particularly sensitive audience, it should sit very well with most people who appreciate vengeful thrillers with a gritty twist.