This essay considers the cultural significance of the commercial success of recent fiction feature films from the Philippines, Thailand and South Korea. The author situates the emergence of contempo- rary Asian blockbusters in relation to the discourse of economic recovery and the revitalization of national film industries—especially as these Asian films outperform Hollywood at the domestic box- office. I use Hollywood's blockbuster Titanic as a reference point, and films such as Nang Nak (Thailand, 1999), Jose Rizal (Philippines, 1998), and Shiri (South Korea, 1999) will be discussed in terms of their cinematic strategies of representing “nation.” Elements such as “indigenous” narratives, genre, stars, special effects, production quality, marketing, and critical/popular reception are considered. Trends such as international co-productions, distribution and exhibi- tion strategies, and the rise of pan-Asian movie-going (and Western interest in Asian films) are also addressed—as further evidence of the connections between popular culture, commerce, globalization, and geopolitics.

This article analyzes the reception of Japanese cinema at international film festivals between the years 1951 and 1970. Concentrating on information published during these years in the British magazine Sight and Sound, it demonstrates how Japanese cinema became enlisted at this time in the politics of British film culture. Appropriated as a form of cultural currency, Japanese movies were supported by critics and journalists who sought to establish a new film festival for the city of London. As a result, only one kind of Japanese cinema—its "boutique cinema"—found support in the pages of the magazine. In the process, however, a close and mutually beneficial relationship was forged between a select group of critics, festival organizers, and film distributors.

This paper examines the politics of representing male homosexuality in Chinese cinemas. With such recent, high profile Chinese films as The Wedding Banquet and Farewell My Concubine featuring male homosexuality, scholars and critics have raised issues relating to the cultural politics of representing homosexuality, including the contestation of stereotypes, the politics of coming out, the politics of sexuality, race, gender, and class. This paper stresses the importance of reading films in their specific historical and cultural contexts and not blindly imposing western concepts and practices on the discussion of Chinese cinemas. Finally, drawing comparisons with the experiences and political struggles of other minority groups and subalterns in relation to cultural representation, it calls for a recognition of identity as invariably multi-faceted and for greater interrepresentation between different groups, minority or otherwise.

This article brings together films of two countties that at first sight seem separated by a sea of differences: British “angry young man’ films of the late 1950s and early 1960s and Chinese “youth problem” films of the late 1980s. A study of parallels and differences between the youth films of the two countries not only throws light on similar economic and cultural changes responsible for burgeoning youth cultures in Britain and China but also suggests that the formation of youth culture depends as much on specific social systems as on appropriate cultural contexts. This study makes clear how young people of disparate cultures may have similarities in lifestyle, behavior, and attitudes, and share a common opposition to mainstream values.

Remaking the French film La Femme Nikita (Luc Besson, 1990), Chinese-born Hong Kong filmmaker Stephen Shin modified the story’s basic structure to take it out of its western context and place it in a South-East Asian cultural context. Black Cat (1991) diverges from the original tale of La Femme Nikita by adding a twist inspired by Wu Cheng-en’s literary classic Journey to the West. The two films explore ethical margins: the transgression of the murder taboo and the imprisonment of a woman by a patriarchal state. In their concern with the ethics of killing in the name of the State, both narratives present ideologies which reflect their respective cultures. The comparative analysis approach taken here foregrounds the cultural traits of the two stories.

Director Wong Kar-wai has become internationally recognized as a Hong Kong auteur. A visual poet of longing, in his collaborations with editor and art director William Chang and cinematographer Chris Doyle he has created a filmic representation of an imagined Hong Kong which is always already lost, despite numerous attempts to recapture it. From his second film Days of Being Wild (1990) to the more recent Cannes-winning In the Mood for Love (1999), Wong's visual imagination is painfully meditative and evocative of emotions tinged with sadness. In the Mood for Love, like Wong's other films to date, deals with consistently examined themes—love, longing, and loss—but the development along the way has become much more intimate and more purely cinematic. Beginning with its setting and time, In the Mood for Love is his most autobiographical film to date.