10. Detention (John Hsu)
One could say that the sociopolitical comments and the metaphors that communicate them are too obvious, but considering the genre premises of the film, I would say that this tactic actually works quite well. In the end, it is always great to watch a horror film with some substance, and that is exactly what “Detention” offers. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
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9. 76 Days (Hao Wu, Weixi Chen and Anonymous)
Featuring unprecedented access to the hospitals that first had to deal with the virus on an international level, “76 Days” is one of the most significant documentaries of the year, particularly for the bravery of its directors in their effort to present the truth. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
8. Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (Gu Xiaogang)
“Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains” is an impressive debut that truly deserves all the awards that has already received (Tokyo Filmex, First, Hamburg etc) by a director who is bound to keep us busy in the next years, particularly since the film is planned as the first part of a trilogy. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
7. The Cloud in Her Room (Zheng Lu Xinyuan)
The quite original as much as impressive monochrome cinematography of DP Matthias Delvaux is actually the main aspect of the narrative, with everything that take place in front of the screen revolving around the imaging techniques. Negative reversals, unusual framing occasionally bordering on the documentary and occasionally on the surrealistic, and scenes where the white takes completely over the scene all come together in utter harmony to present a number of different sequences, both contextually and stylistically. In that fashion, the road trip segments give their place to sex scenes, to “interviews” , to singing scenes inside bars, to images of tunnels or construction sites or stairwells, all in an effort that seems to highlight how lost Muzi is, perpetually caught among people, locations and timeframes. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
6. Mama (Li Dongmei)
“Mama” is a touching and beautifully-shot family drama. Li Dongmei manages to tell a story about time, loss and the circle of life, how these affect the lives of a community, a family and eventually your own. (Rouven Linnarz)
5. I WeirDO (Liao Ming-yi)
“I WeirDO” is a narrative that is cute and is wrapped in a lot of love and loneliness. It is quite an accomplished tale of a love blossoming and withering. But most importantly, it is a work that heralds the coming of a strong talent in Liao Ming-yi and I, for one, am excited to see what he does next. (Rhythm Zaveri)
4. Days (Tsai Ming-liang)
All in all, “Days” is a gripping film that poses questions about relationships, sexuality and health, but most of all about solitude and loneliness. On top of that its slow but stunning shots are a feast for the eye, leaving the viewer with the desire to revisit. (Nancy Fornoville)
3. Your Name Engraved Herein (Kuang-Hui Liu)
“Your Name Engraved Herein” is not a classical story about love between two people of the same sex. There is no real happy end, and nobody gets really naked. It pays attention to historic details and it shows another kind of reality, the one that is just a very short step back into the past, unkind to personal choices and the individual’s wish to break free from the chains imposed by the society. When it gets too emotional, it does for a reason, even though a slightly less Broadway-like ending would have been more fitting. (Marina Richter)
2. A Sun (Chung Mong-Hong)
The topic of light, which is implicated in the title of the film, can be seen as a metaphor of life. “Where there is light there is also shadow” sums up the overall theme of the complex feature. Sometimes we are blinded by the bright light and things are overseen and hidden in the shadows. People tend to hide their feelings behind a smile and often we cannot see their real emotions. Chung Mong-Hong uses the light to project truth on the screen. He may become the next big teacher of Taiwanese Cinema, walking in the footsteps of Edward Yang. (Alexander Knoth)
1. Better Days (Derek Tsang)
The most obvious asset of the film is, evidently, the story. Wing Sum Lam, Yuan Li and Yimeng Xu have done a tremendous job in creating (adapting if you prefer) an intensely multilayered story that includes everything: crime thriller, (school) drama, romance, coming-of-age, even a bit of comedy. This combination, along with the many, occasionally completely unexpected plot twists, takes care of the entertainment aspect of the movie, resulting in a production that retains interest for the whole of its 135 minutes, which, in this case, are completely justified in an effort to present the case and the characters as thoroughly as possible. “Better Days” manages to combine the best from both independent and mainstream cinema, which is the recipe that led to both critical and commercial success. Definitely one of the best films of the year. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
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