Author Frederick Blichert

Hou Hsiao-hsien’s first film in eight years was also his first foray into the wuxia genre. With The Assassin, he joins other top-tier auteurs like John Woo, Wong Kar Wai, Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou, and Jia...

In a pivotal scene from Masaki Kobayashi’s classic jidai-geki, the ageing samurai Isaburo Sasahara stands in his empty home, having just stripped it of all of its contents. Played by Toshiro Mifune, the...

What I don’t like is the persistent denial by blubbering sentimentalists of man’s basic nature. Away with those who would sterilize life, or, as they call it, ‘spiritualize’ life. - Erich von...