Jarrett the Cinephile

Seasons greetings all. This is no ordinary announcement because how it impacts the blog is permanent. I have moved my blog to Substack ! To save time, my reasons are as follows: Blogger , while nostalgic and relatively user-friendly, has lost its appeal and lucrativeness in today's writing and reading space. Substack  offers more diverse options and mechanics for me to be creative. A subscription model enables me to better track my work and allows me closer and more direct access to constructive feedback for me to improve my content. Happy New Year and I look forward to more intimate engagements with everyone at my new home! See y'all at the movies, as always~ - Jarrett

It's been five years. Have we all moved on? Lou Ye returns with perhaps his least film-looking film, and very much one which also lives up to its title, An Unfinished Film  (《一部未完成的电影》). The artificial documentary from the Chinese auteur has recently bagged the two top prizes at this year's Golden Horse Awards (金马奖) - best directing and best narrative feature (aka best picture). On top of those, it has also won viewers' hearts with the Audience Choice Award at the 35th edition of the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF). Do you remember your first instance of being restricted due to COVID-19? Lou Ye's film takes us on a journey through a perspective that perhaps not many among us experienced. The film follows a film crew who, upon reviving a decade-long idle computer, decides to continue shooting a half-done movie, only to be smacked with the ensuing COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown just when the movie is almost completed. Still of Qin Hao (left) and Ma Xiaorui i...