u/PKotzathanasis

https://asianmoviepulse.com/2026/05/the-way-we-talk-2024/

The narrative follows three friends – Wolf (Neo Yau), Alan (Marco Tsz Ho Ng), and Sophie (Chung Suet Ying) – each experiencing problems with hearing in different ways. Wolf and Alan have known each other since childhood, while Sophie is a newer addition to the group. She is a cochlear implant user torn between adapting to the hearing society and embracing her affiliation to the deaf community. Tensions rise among the three as they grapple with contrasting perspectives on deafness while remaining true to themselves.

Through a slow, gentle, and straightforward approach, Wong depicts the reality of hearing-impaired people in Hong Kong, where oralism predominated in education for that group until 2010. This system focuses on teaching profoundly deaf individuals to communicate through speech and lip-reading rather than sign language, which was banned in many educational institutions. Although the situation changed, with scenes highlighting direct discrimination and the superficial support from certain institutions – particularly corporations – the story reveals how contemporary society still marginalizes some of its members.

Check the full review in the link and let us know your thoughts on the movie

https://asianmoviepulse.com/2026/01/t-bird-at-ako-1982/

Featuring two of the most iconic Filipino actresses, Nora Aunor and Vilma Santos, “T-Bird at Ako” also includes one of the earliest portrayals of LGBT themes in Philippine cinema, emerging during a period of heavier censorship and more conservative audiences. The script was written by activist Portia Ilagan, who is openly gay, while the term t-bird itself is Filipino slang for a butch lesbian.

In 2015, thirty three years after the original release, “T-Bird at Ako” was digitally restored and remastered as one of the seventy five titles preserved by the ABS CBN Film Archives, in collaboration with Central Digital Lab.

Lawyer Sylvia Salazar has built a reputation as one of only two attorneys never to have lost a case. The other is Jake, who persistently asks for her hand in marriage. Sylvia, however, dissatisfied and uncertain about her feelings, continues to decline his advances, although the two maintain a cordial social relationship. During her defense of a t-bird named Maxie, she becomes acquainted with the lesbian community and eventually witnesses a performance by a local dancer named Sabel. Soon enough, Sylvia realizes her attraction to her.

Check the full review and let us know your thoughts about the movie

https://asianmoviepulse.com/2026/01/evil-dead-trap-1988-by-toshiharu-ikeda-film-review/

Years before the “Resident Evil” and “Silent Hill” franchises, and well ahead of J horror landmarks such as “Ringu” and “Ju On The Grudge”, pulp auteur Toshiharu Ikeda crafted a series of provocative works designed to disturb and intrigue late night audiences. Although Ikeda’s career came to an end with his passing in 2010, admirers of Japanese horror continue to rediscover, restore, and reassess his output.

Arguably representing Ikeda at his strangest and most accomplished, “Evil Dead Trap” stands as a visceral sexploitation horror work from the 1980s, one that would later influence numerous celebrated horror productions and video games to emerge from Japan in the following decade. With the recent restoration by Unearthed Films, “Evil Dead Trap” has arguably never felt more grotesquely compelling.

Check the full review in the link and let us know your thoughts on the film

https://asianmoviepulse.com/2026/01/evil-dead-trap-1988-by-toshiharu-ikeda-film-review/

Years before the “Resident Evil” and “Silent Hill” franchises, and well ahead of J horror landmarks such as “Ringu” and “Ju On The Grudge”, pulp auteur Toshiharu Ikeda crafted a series of provocative works designed to disturb and intrigue late night audiences. Although Ikeda’s career came to an end with his passing in 2010, admirers of Japanese horror continue to rediscover, restore, and reassess his output.

Arguably representing Ikeda at his strangest and most accomplished, “Evil Dead Trap” stands as a visceral sexploitation horror work from the 1980s, one that would later influence numerous celebrated horror productions and video games to emerge from Japan in the following decade. With the recent restoration by Unearthed Films, “Evil Dead Trap” has arguably never felt more grotesquely compelling.

Check the full review in the link and let us know your thoughts on the film

https://asianmoviepulse.com/2026/05/koji-wakamatsu-tribute/

Koji Wakamatsu was one of Japanese cinema’s most uncompromising voices, a filmmaker who turned pinku, exploitation, political rage, and low-budget filmmaking into a radical cinematic language.

From "Secrets Behind the Wall" and "Go Go Second Time Virgin" to "United Red Army" and "Caterpillar", his work remains ugly, poetic, furious, provocative, and frequently brilliant.

Read our tribute to a director who was not asking to be liked, but to be confronted.

Check the full article in the link and let us know your thoughts on Wakamatsu

https://asianmoviepulse.com/2026/05/koji-wakamatsu-tribute/

Koji Wakamatsu was one of Japanese cinema’s most uncompromising voices, a filmmaker who turned pinku, exploitation, political rage, and low-budget filmmaking into a radical cinematic language.

From "Secrets Behind the Wall" and "Go Go Second Time Virgin" to "United Red Army" and "Caterpillar", his work remains ugly, poetic, furious, provocative, and frequently brilliant.

Read our tribute to a director who was not asking to be liked, but to be confronted.

Check the full article in the link and let us know your thoughts on Wakamatsu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt9jHqE_47Q

Herman Yau returns with “We're Nothing At All”, a Hong Kong social drama with action elements screening in UK and Ireland cinemas courtesy of Cine Asia. In this video review, we discuss how the movie turns a shocking bus explosion into a wider critique of contemporary Hong Kong society, touching on poverty, sexuality, police pressure, the healthcare system, youth alienation, and institutional failure.

Starring Patrick Tam, Anson Kong, Ansonbean, Wong You-nam, and Kearen Pang, “We're Nothing At All” combines forensic investigation, melodrama, social realism, and Herman Yau’s trademark taste for excess. Is it one of the director’s strongest recent works, or does its ambition lead to too many characters and too many storylines?

Watch our full review in the link to find out how the movie works as a piece of social commentary, how the performances support its emotional core, and where it stands within the recent wave of more serious Hong Kong cinema.

And please let us know your thoughts on the film

https://asianmoviepulse.com/2018/12/film-review-the-gun-2018-by-masaharu-take/

Winner of the Cinema Splash Award for Best Director, “The Gun” is one of the most impressive films of the year and a rather interesting turn in 2018 for Masaharu Take, whose previous film this season was the light comedy “We Make Antiques“.

The script is based on Fuminori Nakamura’s Akutagawa award winner novel “Ju” and focuses on university student Toru Nishikawa, a rather detached young man whose life turns upside down when he discovers a gun by the riverside on his way home, and decides to pick it up and keep it. Initially, the gun gives him confidence and even swagger, which allows him to end up having sex with a gorgeous woman after a double date, and at the same time to pursue a relationship with fellow student Yuko, who seems to be rather interested in him.

When he finds out, though, that the gun was used in a murder that occurred in the area and a rather strange, pestering cop starts investigating him, he realizes that he got more than he bargained for. Nevertheless, his will to kill with this gun remains.

Check the full review in the link and let us know your thoughts on the film

https://asianmoviepulse.com/2026/05/toshiaki-toyoda-tribute/

Toshiaki Toyoda hardly needs an introduction to fans of Japanese cinema. Since his debut in 1999 with “Pornostar”, he has been acknowledged as one of the most original filmmakers in the country.

With films like “Blue Spring”, “Hanging Garden” and “9 Souls” he became internationally known, as his films continue to screen in festivals all over the world.

Check the full article in the link and let us know your thoughts on his work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjGXz1P8PTU

In this episode of Bad Accent Video Reviews, we take a look at “I Would Rather Kill You”, the 2025 Korean movie directed by Kim Sang-hoon, a provocative mix of erotic cinema, rural comedy, voyeurism, and unexpected power games.

The story follows two sisters from the city whose arrival in a quiet countryside village awakens the desires of the local men. However, when a dangerous fugitive enters the picture, the movie moves from soft-core titillation to dark comedy, reversal of power, and femme fatale territory.

Is “I Would Rather Kill You” just another Korean erotic movie, or does its mix of humor, rural satire, and surprisingly effective performances bring it closer to the mainstream?

Watch our full review in the link to find out and let us know your thoughts on the film

https://asianmoviepulse.com/2026/04/gen-ai-and-copyright/

AI is changing filmmaking fast, but the copyright questions are moving even faster.

In this new Asian Movie Pulse guest article, Michael Carrier and Brian Gabriel break down the legal risks surrounding AI-generated content, from US fair use cases and Chinese court decisions to Japan’s “enjoyment” test and Korea’s human-authorship guidelines.

For Asian filmmakers and creators, the key issue is no longer simply whether AI can be used, but how it can be used safely, legally, and responsibly.

Read the full article in the link and let us know your thoughts on the topic

https://asianmoviepulse.com/2026/04/my-hero-academia-2016-2025/

Based on Kohei Horikoshi’s hugely successful manga, “My Hero Academia” quickly became one of the flagship shonen titles of the last decade, a series that managed, at least in its best moments, to combine the hyperkinetic pleasures of superhero action with themes of social responsibility, media influence, and the burdens of inheritance.

Produced by Bones, later Bones Film, and directed for most of its run by Kenji Nagasaki, the anime built its reputation on a very clear premise: in a world where superpowers, known as Quirks, are the norm, heroism has become both a profession and a spectacle.

From there, however, the series steadily expanded into something much broader, examining not just what makes a hero, but also what kind of society creates heroes, consumes them, and ultimately turns against them when they fail.

Check the analysis of the all the seasons of the anime in the link and let us know your thoughts on My Hero Academia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bef-KmAAII

Back in 2019, Mari Asato’s “Under Your Bed” made a splash in the festival circuit, with its extreme approach on the erotic thriller. Now, another adaptation of Kei Ohishi’s homonymous novel comes to the fore, this time from Korea, although the director is a familiar Japanese, Sabu, in his first outing in the particular country.

“Under Your Bed” by Sabu is one of the most unsettling Korean thrillers of recent years. In this Bad Accent Video Review, we break down the film’s disturbing premise, psychological depth, and unique blend of erotic thriller and crime drama elements. From voyeurism and abuse to obsession and isolation, this is a movie that refuses to offer easy answers.

Is it just shock value, or is there something deeper beneath the surface?

Watch our full analysis in the link to find out and let us know your thoughts on the film and the Japanese original

https://asianmoviepulse.com/2022/09/film-review-the-stunt-woman-1996-by-ann-hui/

Featuring many iconic Hong Kong actors, including protagonist Michelle Yeoh, Sammo Hung, Michael Lam, and Richard Ng, “The Stunt Woman” has a very interesting premise, following the life of a female stunt woman, in a semi-biographical path considering that Yeoh also worked in that capacit. That Yeoh was seriously injured during a stunt involving jumping off a bridge was probably one of the reasons for this, since the production had to be rushed afterwards, but the main issue here seems to be the writing and the direction.

Check the full review and let us know your thoughts on the film

https://asianmoviepulse.com/2026/01/filipinana-2026/

Following its Sundance premiere, “Filipiñana”, the debut feature by Rafael Manuel, travels to Europe with its selection in the Perspectives section of the 76th Berlin International Film Festival. Executive produced by Jia Zhangke, the film confines itself almost entirely to a Manila golf course, using this enclosed environment to examine how class, power, and historical erasure quietly coexist beneath the language of leisure.

The story unfolds over a single, oppressive day. Isabel, a 17-year-old Ilokana newly arrived from the north, begins work as a tee girl at an exclusive country club where wealth circulates freely and labor remains carefully hidden. Her task is mechanical and degrading in equal measure: prepare the ball so the golfer never needs to bend. From the outset, the scene sequencing is clear, structured, protected and maintained through invisibility.

Check the full review in the link and let us know your thoughts on the film

The second theatrical entry in the ever-expanding “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime” franchise, “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea,” arrives in 2026 as a bridge between the third and fourth seasons of the anime. Directed by Yasuhito Kikuchi and produced once more by 8Bit, the movie builds on the immense popularity of the original light novel by Fuse, continuing a trajectory that has made the series one of the most prominent isekai properties of the last decade. Distributed by Bandai Namco Filmworks and released internationally through Crunchyroll, the production also marks a technical step forward, particularly in its use of water-based CGI for its underwater setting. While no major awards have been attached to the title yet, its wide IMAX and 4D rollout and global release underline its commercial ambition and franchise strength.

Set shortly after the Tempest Founder’s Festival, the story finds Rimuru Tempest and his companions accepting an invitation from the Celestial Emperor Elmesia for a relaxing retreat on a resort island. However, their brief respite is interrupted by the arrival of Yura, a priestess from the undersea kingdom of Kaien, who seeks their help in confronting a looming catastrophe. As pollution spreads through the so-called Azure Sea and a conspiracy emerges to awaken an ancient Aqua Dragon, Rimuru and his allies descend into the depths to prevent a disaster that could engulf both sea and land. At the same time, a parallel narrative unfolds through Gobuta, whose unexpected involvement with Yura begins in competition but soon changes to something completely different, adding a very appealing romantic aspect to the story.

In terms of context, the movie continues one of the franchise’s most compelling thematic threads, namely the idea that power inevitably carries consequences, particularly unintended ones. Rimuru, despite his overwhelming magical abilities, remains politically naïve, and his mere presence alongside a group of immensely powerful allies creates tension in any environment they enter. The narrative smartly explores how fear and perception can be weaponized, suggesting that even well-intentioned actions can destabilize entire regions.

Full Review
https://asianmoviepulse.com/2026/04/tears-of-the-azure-2026/

https://asianmoviepulse.com/2025/07/film-review-skin-of-youth-2025-by-ash-mayfair/

“Skin of Youth” is a collaborative production between Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, and the United States. It marks the second feature by director Ash Mayfair, following a hiatus after the controversy surrounding the acclaimed “The Third Wife.” Prior to its Tokyo premiere, the project earned a Special Mention at Talents Tokyo, the Open SEA Fund Award at the SE Asia Fiction Film Lab, and the Sorfond Award at the Busan Asian Film Market.

Set in Saigon in 1998, the story follows San, a transgender woman who sings at a nightclub and dreams of saving enough money for gender-affirming surgery. Her partner Nam, a devoted boxer, works tirelessly to help her achieve that goal. One night, Mr. Vuong, a powerful underworld fixer, visits the club and becomes mesmerized by San’s captivating performance. Hoping to fund her surgery, San begins meeting with Vuong in secret.

Meanwhile, Nam descends into the brutal world of underground boxing to earn more money. As the two are drawn deeper into the unforgiving nightlife, jealousy, betrayal, and growing emotional distance begin to erode their bond. Eventually, under pressure from his loving grandmother to find a woman and have a child, Nam starts seeing a prostitute named Mimi.

Check the full review in the link and let us know your thoughts on the film

https://asianmoviepulse.com/2023/07/fim-review-monster-2023-by-hirokazu-koreeda/

The film’s first acts soon develop into a hellish depiction of an environment so toxic that you want to spit the bile out. Resentment takes over every character – a misbehaving child, a spiteful parent, a cruel teacher, all reacting against each other with own caustic remarks, escalating the drama. Most strikingly, Koreeda displays how a collective evil can always be worse than the sum of its parts, as we see in the behavior of the school authorities towards the concerned parent. Just as little Minato’s mother, we as viewers are lost at that point, looking for answers and consolation, but the school board delivers pure oppression instead, its members hiding behind each other in a slapstick manner.

Check the full review in the link and let us know your thoughts on the film