What is Cinema?

We're only on the first month of 2014 and this film junkie has already seen a number of good films in the cinemas. First was the tearjerker catastrophe drama " Aftershock " by Chinese filmmaker Feng Xiaogang. Then, master director Martin Scorsese's " The Wolf of Wall Street ", which is a gangster film really - but this time, it's the gangsters of the stock and financial market. And now, " Snowpiercer ", the first English-language film of Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho, who is known to cineastes as the maverick who brought them such gonzo Korean flicks like " Barking Dogs Never Bite ", " Memories of Murder ", " The Host " and " Mother ". Bong wasn't the only Korean filmmaker who has recently been given the opportunity to work with a predominantly American and/or English-speaking cast. There were Park Chan-wook (" Oldboy ") who helmed Nicole Kidman in the chiller " Stoker " and K...

In a country that has a stern and heavy film censorship, it is always interesting to find out how the Chinese filmmakers would be able to exercise their craft. It is either they toe the line and carry on with their government's program and propaganda, or they make a detour and go against the system, with their subversive modes of thought and action in hand. The 8th Spring Film Festival at the Shang Cineplex may just be the opportune way for film enthusiasts to check out if any of the selected Chinese film entries vacillate between the two opposing sensibilities.  This film junkie has managed to see one thus far:" Aftershock " by Feng Xiaogang. This natural-calamity film clearly fits the first sensibility - meaning to say, mainstream, audience-friendly, feel-good and blockbuster fare. But in a pleasantly surprising way and for a good reason. I was not expecting much from the film before I saw it;in fact, my decision to see it at the Spring film fest was merely a way t...