Tag: exam

Deadline
(自殺通告)
(2025)

Deadline (自殺通告) (2025)

Director – Kiwi Chow – 2025 – Hong Kong, Taiwan, UK – Cert. 15 tbc – 118m

****

A secondary school focused on maximising exam results is upset by pending suicide and use of performance-enhancing drugs – plays as part of the UK’s Hong Kong Film Festival which runs from Friday, September 25th to Sunday, 4th October at various venues

The students of En-Shan Secondary School, clad in distinctive uniforms of purple shirt with militaristic shoulder boards and dark grey tie, perform aggressive workout moves as they chant their school litany extolling hard work leading to success. Principal Kung (Anthony Wong Chau Sang from Infernal Affairs, Andrew Lau, Alan Mak,2002; Hard Boiled, John Woo, 1992; My Name Ain’t Suzie, Angie Chen, 1985 – this latter showing in this year’s HKFF) encourages them in the idea that present suffering leads to later success.

The ubiquitous iSmart system contains a database of vocabulary the students must master to game the exam system; its latest 2.3 iteration uses eye-tracking software to record how much time the pupil is taking in direct eye contact with the teacher. It makes the surveillance technology of Happyend (Neo Sora, 2024) sound amateurish by comparison, even if, overall, Deadline is the more satisfying viewing experience.… Read the rest

Tags A4 flier, ADHD, Allison Lin, Anthony Wong Chau Sang, anti-depressants, bully, bullying, checking in, countdown, deadline, drug test, education, education system, exam, exam results, eye-tracking software, flier, game the system, garden, hard work, head boy, head teacher, high school, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Film Festival, Hong Kong Film Festival 2026, iSmart system, IT, Jimmy Lia, Kiwi Chow, lavatory cubicle, Meng Syun, Michael Chang, mystery, No Student Suicide Contract, performance-enhancing drug, present suffering, principal, pupil, rally, RD Huang, regimented, school, school building, school garden, school uniform, science lab, secondary school, security camera, self harm, Shao YI Mei, smart cards, smartphones, student, success, suicide, surveillance, surveillance technology, syringe, Tai Ting-wei, Tai Ya Zhi, Taiwan, teacher, textbook, threat, UK, uniform, upset, Wang Tzu Tiang, Zoom

Animation Features Movies

Chang’an
(Chang’an San Wan Li,
长安三万里,
lit. 3 000 Miles from Chang’an)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date February 26 2025
1 Comment on Chang’an
(Chang’an San Wan Li,
长安三万里,
lit. 3 000 Miles from Chang’an)

Directors – Xie Junwei, Zou Jing – 2023 – China – Cert. 12a – 168m

****

General Gao Shi of the Tang dynasty recounts his life, his struggle to become a poet and his friendship with Li Bai, a more renowned poet – animated epic is out in UK cinemas on Friday, February 28th

Set roughly halfway through the Tang dynasty (618-907 A.D.), this lengthy, animated epic starts off like an historical war movie in the vein of the live action Red Cliff (John Woo, 2008, 2009) but swiftly morphs into something else entirely as this initial narrative about the capture and interrogation of an enemy soldier turns into a frame story – which is rather more than that, popping up repeatedly throughout the narrative with the frame story’s resolution taking centre stage towards the end of the proceedings. Even this is deceptive; while military strategy and conflict is covered, the narrative is far less interested in that than in the overall life of main protagonist and minor poet Gao Shi, his meetings and friendship through the years with secondary character and major poet Li Bai, and the wider poetry of the period.

Believing himself about to be punished for the failure of his well planned and fought military campaign against the Tubos (the Tibetans, their ethnic identity never clarified within the film itself – at least, not in the English subtitles, presumably because the film is aimed at a Chinese audience who would already know this ethnic, historical; background), the ageing General Gao Shi (voice: Wu Junquan) falls neck first on his spear before receiving the Emperor’s emissary who wants to question him, it turns out, about not his military campaign but, rather, Li Bai.… Read the rest

Tags 2D animation, 3D computer animation, acolyte, action, animation, ashes of the dead, battle, blowing, burial, calligraphy, cavalry, CG, CG animation, Chang’an, China, class system, conflict, Cui Hau, culture, dancing girls, desk job, drink, drunkard, Du Fu, duel, eagles, emissary, Emperor, enemy, epic, estate, exam, fall on his spear, female beauties, fight, Gao Shi, general, governor, grass, grasslands, historical epic, history, horse, hostelry, inheritance, interrogation, Li Bai, Liang Gardens, Light Chaser Animation Studios, Ling Zhenhe, make an impression, male-dominated society, merchant class, military, military strategy, musician, nobility, oppressed women, painting, palace, patriarchy, poet, poetry, poetry boards, power to commission, princess, prisoner, profligacy, Pujinyi Inn, Qiuzai Jiang, renown, reputation, restaurant, Shang Qui, Shanghai Animation Studio, Shimeng Li, skirmish, soldier, spear, spearman, state official, Sun Lulu, Tang dynasty, Tang poets, Taoist, Tibetan, town and country, trot, Tubo, Wang Wei, war, war movie, wartime and peacetime, wind, wine, wrestling, Wu Junquan, Wuhan, Xiaoyu Liu, Xie Junwei, Yang Tianxian, Yangtse River, Yangzhou, Yellow Crane Tower, Zou Jing

Features Live Action Movies

Another Round
(Druk)

Director – Thomas Vinterberg – 2020 – Denmark – Cert. 12a – 115m

****1/2

Four teachers decide to test the theory that human beings function better with a little alcohol permanently in their blood – out on rental on various platforms including BFI Player and Curzon Home Cinema in the UK from Monday, September 27th

Racing round the lake carrying a crate of beer. Drink a bottle at every stop. Penalty points if you puke, less points if you all puke together as a team.

That’s a typical weekend activity for their students, but four teachers are an older generation, some of them married with kids and dealing with more mature relationship issues.

One of them has been reading an academic theory that humans have an alcohol deficiency of about 0.5% and convinces the other three to help him conduct an experiment. They will all consume the amount of alcohol required to bring them up to the theory’s optimum level.

The experiment is initially successful, but then wreaks havoc within each of their lives as they up the quantity of alcohol to the next level.

Using intertitles to indicate the increasing percentage of alcohol in the blood as the four drink collectively or individually, this drama charts what happens to the four as they pursue their idea to its logical conclusion and beyond.… Read the rest