This Hong Kong film made waves for its bold take on transgender issues. It was the debut feature of its director and writer Jun Li and stars multiple well known Hong Kong performers. Unfortunately while I can’t fault its courage I do question its authenticity as it presents a scenario that is just a little too neat to feel quite real.

Get Out was one of my favorite films in the year of its release, being a wonderfully fresh take on the horror genre. As such I had high hopes for this newer, more expensively made film. Unfortunately while this one does have some great moments early on, its central theme is weak stuff and on the whole is a far inferior film.

Here’s a South Korean film from a director, Lee Su-jin, whose work we’ve never seen before and is in fact his directorial debut. This one is somewhat difficult to judge as it plays up the mystery of what it’s actually about and keeps it up right until the end. Yet since it was based on real events in South Korea, the public could not have not known what it’s about. How this affects domestic audiences and international ones would therefore be very different as the former would instantly recognize what is being referenced while the latter would be genuinely mystified just as we were.

This is one of those films that really need its year of release appended to its title because it’s been made and remade so many times. I suppose the original 1868 novel by Louisa May Alcott is just that beloved. In fact yet another adaptation is due to be released later this year, directed by Greta Gerwig. Still, for now at least this 1994 version featuring multiple performers who would later become very well known, should be the standard bearer.

I suppose it must be documentary week as here is another back to back. I don’t really know of Yayoi Kusama but like everyone else I’ve seen her distinctive polka dot art before without realizing who made them. This is a biography of her life and career by first-time director Heather Lenz and quite clearly was made in cooperation with Kusama herself. It’s a well-made and comprehensive account but considering how flamboyant a personality Kusama herself is, this documentary feels oddly straightforward and conventional.

We watch a pretty healthy mix of documentaries amidst feature films in our cinematic diet but it occurs to me that almost all of them are English language ones. This one is a Taiwanese documentary by first time director Hsieh Chin-lin and its subject is the New Taiwan cinema of the 1980s itself. We’re a long way from watching everything from that era but I think we’ve watched enough that we’re not hopelessly ignorant and can recognize enough of the clips included here to make going through this overview a worthwhile experience.

Daniel Day-Lewis is one of those actors who have a reputation for being so completely committed to their roles that anecdotes of their intensity border on being obsessive-compulsive. This is apparently his final performance as he has announced his retirement, but he’s not dead yet so who knows. It’s also his second collaboration with director Paul Thomas Anderson. Considering that the first one resulted in the immensely good There Will Be Blood, it adds up to many good reasons to watch this one.