Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
@swenryan.bsky.social
Freelance film critic, lafilmcritics.bsky.social member, list obsessive. Host of Catalyst and Witness, co-host of 24 hours don't make an ideology. USC JD, CAMS MA.
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
New ep—A BITCH BEST SERVED COLD! Yes, we’re talking lady vigilantes (vigilant-shes?), women pushed to the brink who take the law into their own hands! But are they going too far? According to all of these films, nope! #thebraveone #peppermint #avigilante
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
November 26, 2025 at 9:09 PM
New ep—A BITCH BEST SERVED COLD! Yes, we’re talking lady vigilantes (vigilant-shes?), women pushed to the brink who take the law into their own hands! But are they going too far? According to all of these films, nope! #thebraveone #peppermint #avigilante
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
New Rose Hotel is one of my favorite movies. I’m very happy that it is now on Blu-ray and that I got to contribute a booklet essay for it.
New Rose Hotel
2025 Subscribers: This is NOT included in your Subscription. If you'd like to purchase it, you will need to login to view your special 50% off SRP pricing.
Flash Pre-Order Absolutely Everything custom
vinegarsyndrome.com
November 28, 2025 at 12:05 PM
New Rose Hotel is one of my favorite movies. I’m very happy that it is now on Blu-ray and that I got to contribute a booklet essay for it.
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
Top 10 dos Cahiers
November 28, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Top 10 dos Cahiers
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
I did a new set of subtitles for Arrow's just announced release of Peking Opera Blues coming next year. This one required taking certain creative risks to properly match the film's tone and energy (so I guess we'll see if that pays off).
November 28, 2025 at 3:46 PM
I did a new set of subtitles for Arrow's just announced release of Peking Opera Blues coming next year. This one required taking certain creative risks to properly match the film's tone and energy (so I guess we'll see if that pays off).
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
Isabelle Huppert, big Left-Handed Girl fan.
November 26, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Isabelle Huppert, big Left-Handed Girl fan.
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART I opens this weekend in Los Angeles, Seattle, Oklahoma City and Cleveland. For the @latimes.com, I made the case for one of the year's singular films.
Review: 'My Undesirable Friends' puts us front row as a real-life Russian TV channel unravels
Filmmaker Julia Loktev was in Moscow following her journalist friends as Russian forces invaded Ukraine. She captured a changing media climate for reporters.
www.latimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:36 AM
MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART I opens this weekend in Los Angeles, Seattle, Oklahoma City and Cleveland. For the @latimes.com, I made the case for one of the year's singular films.
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
Chloé Zhao's HAMNET, reviewed. Bring tissues; wet streams may come. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
“Hamnet” Feels Elemental, but Is It Just Highly Effective Grief Porn?
In Chloé Zhao’s film, adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, the death of a child gives rise to the creation of a literary masterpiece.
www.newyorker.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Chloé Zhao's HAMNET, reviewed. Bring tissues; wet streams may come. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
“What were any of us doing at that age that was comparably heroic or meaningful? What are we doing now?” The great @timgrierson.bsky.social on one of the year’s great films, MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART I — LAST AIR IN MOSCOW. Opens Nov. 28 in L.A.: www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: 'My Undesirable Friends' puts us front row as a real-life Russian TV channel unravels
Filmmaker Julia Loktev was in Moscow following her journalist friends as Russian forces invaded Ukraine. She captured a changing media climate for reporters.
www.latimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:05 AM
“What were any of us doing at that age that was comparably heroic or meaningful? What are we doing now?” The great @timgrierson.bsky.social on one of the year’s great films, MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART I — LAST AIR IN MOSCOW. Opens Nov. 28 in L.A.: www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
“The Night”: Gains a lot of its meditative tension from Tsai’s slow emptying out of the Hong Kong streets, in-between spaces gradually entering a limbo where connection to the here and now becomes ever harder to imagine; one of his great and most crucial final music cues too.
November 25, 2025 at 2:46 AM
“The Night”: Gains a lot of its meditative tension from Tsai’s slow emptying out of the Hong Kong streets, in-between spaces gradually entering a limbo where connection to the here and now becomes ever harder to imagine; one of his great and most crucial final music cues too.
“Madam Butterfly”: Virtually a neorealist film for Tsai, stretching both very extended digital handheld shots and one(?) actor amid a real bus station; somewhat limited dramatically and Lee is missed but gets at a certain erotic longing; more of DAYS in this than expected.
November 25, 2025 at 2:34 AM
“Madam Butterfly”: Virtually a neorealist film for Tsai, stretching both very extended digital handheld shots and one(?) actor amid a real bus station; somewhat limited dramatically and Lee is missed but gets at a certain erotic longing; more of DAYS in this than expected.
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
Some guy randomly found the original handwritten screenplay for Ann Hui's Boat People. Writer Chiu Kang-chien's original Chinese title was literally 'Boat People', but this was changed to 'Seeking Refuge to the Angry Sea' at the suggestion of wuxia novelist Jin Yong.
November 25, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Some guy randomly found the original handwritten screenplay for Ann Hui's Boat People. Writer Chiu Kang-chien's original Chinese title was literally 'Boat People', but this was changed to 'Seeking Refuge to the Angry Sea' at the suggestion of wuxia novelist Jin Yong.
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
dropping next monday on the patreon (28 minutes)
November 24, 2025 at 5:33 PM
dropping next monday on the patreon (28 minutes)
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
funniest comedy movies of all time:
10. simpsons movie
9. simpsons tv show
8. randy's candies (1988)
7. randy's candies (2007)
6. randy's candies (1902)
5. chiefs vs. browns (2002)
4. randy's candies (2029)
3. a TRULY funny film that ya GOTTA see to believe!!
3. simpsons
2. comedies
1. GREAT movies
10. simpsons movie
9. simpsons tv show
8. randy's candies (1988)
7. randy's candies (2007)
6. randy's candies (1902)
5. chiefs vs. browns (2002)
4. randy's candies (2029)
3. a TRULY funny film that ya GOTTA see to believe!!
3. simpsons
2. comedies
1. GREAT movies
November 24, 2025 at 4:03 PM
funniest comedy movies of all time:
10. simpsons movie
9. simpsons tv show
8. randy's candies (1988)
7. randy's candies (2007)
6. randy's candies (1902)
5. chiefs vs. browns (2002)
4. randy's candies (2029)
3. a TRULY funny film that ya GOTTA see to believe!!
3. simpsons
2. comedies
1. GREAT movies
10. simpsons movie
9. simpsons tv show
8. randy's candies (1988)
7. randy's candies (2007)
6. randy's candies (1902)
5. chiefs vs. browns (2002)
4. randy's candies (2029)
3. a TRULY funny film that ya GOTTA see to believe!!
3. simpsons
2. comedies
1. GREAT movies
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
badly losing every single one of the 17 quote-post arguments i’m simultaneously having after insisting that the chiefs are socialist now because one of their coaches disagreed with donald trump’s comments about kickoff formations
November 23, 2025 at 6:52 PM
badly losing every single one of the 17 quote-post arguments i’m simultaneously having after insisting that the chiefs are socialist now because one of their coaches disagreed with donald trump’s comments about kickoff formations
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
operator: 911, please state the nature of your emergency
me: i know a lot of popular songs. a lot of times when i’m out and about and i hear a song, i know exactly which song it is
operator: oh wow. were you born in any particular year
me: i sure was
operator: that’s great. gotta love it
me: i know a lot of popular songs. a lot of times when i’m out and about and i hear a song, i know exactly which song it is
operator: oh wow. were you born in any particular year
me: i sure was
operator: that’s great. gotta love it
November 22, 2025 at 7:39 PM
operator: 911, please state the nature of your emergency
me: i know a lot of popular songs. a lot of times when i’m out and about and i hear a song, i know exactly which song it is
operator: oh wow. were you born in any particular year
me: i sure was
operator: that’s great. gotta love it
me: i know a lot of popular songs. a lot of times when i’m out and about and i hear a song, i know exactly which song it is
operator: oh wow. were you born in any particular year
me: i sure was
operator: that’s great. gotta love it
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
daisy commercials imply that people are having entire sour cream themed parties. people are dipping chips and hamburgers and all kinds of things into sour cream. i bet the u.s. still owns a lot of those islands mostly made of guano deposits that we could give them for free. they’d love it
November 22, 2025 at 5:44 PM
daisy commercials imply that people are having entire sour cream themed parties. people are dipping chips and hamburgers and all kinds of things into sour cream. i bet the u.s. still owns a lot of those islands mostly made of guano deposits that we could give them for free. they’d love it
SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE: Cooper succumbs to a whole host of biopic clichés and dunderheaded decisions, but at its core this approaches the concept of crafting a transcendent artwork still not being enough with a real earnestness; not bad.
November 24, 2025 at 4:55 AM
SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE: Cooper succumbs to a whole host of biopic clichés and dunderheaded decisions, but at its core this approaches the concept of crafting a transcendent artwork still not being enough with a real earnestness; not bad.
NIGHT OF THE DEMON: Evokes how skepticism and the mundane can melt into total disarray with lightning-quick precision; Tourneur’s abundance of signifiers ultimately boils down into what can or can’t be confronted, and this threads that line wonderfully.
November 24, 2025 at 4:45 AM
NIGHT OF THE DEMON: Evokes how skepticism and the mundane can melt into total disarray with lightning-quick precision; Tourneur’s abundance of signifiers ultimately boils down into what can or can’t be confronted, and this threads that line wonderfully.
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
What I believe I see recorded in that speck of film fills me with such fear, such utter dread and loathing, that I think I shall never dare to make another photograph.
Here it is. Look at it. Do you see what I see, Charlie Brown?
Here it is. Look at it. Do you see what I see, Charlie Brown?
November 24, 2025 at 4:12 AM
What I believe I see recorded in that speck of film fills me with such fear, such utter dread and loathing, that I think I shall never dare to make another photograph.
Here it is. Look at it. Do you see what I see, Charlie Brown?
Here it is. Look at it. Do you see what I see, Charlie Brown?
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
We’ll see how he governs. But he has the most talent I’ve seen since Ocasio-Cortez. As Buchanan said of Obama, “a political athlete.”
Sir, what level of talent are we talking here with Mamdani?
November 22, 2025 at 8:19 PM
We’ll see how he governs. But he has the most talent I’ve seen since Ocasio-Cortez. As Buchanan said of Obama, “a political athlete.”
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
WHAT DOES THAT NATURE SAY TO YOU: Initially off-balance yet pleasant until it reveals itself as one of Hong’s most focused in quite some time, operating along spectrums of morality and polite behavior that morph with each scenario; damningly orchestrated.
November 23, 2025 at 4:00 AM
WHAT DOES THAT NATURE SAY TO YOU: Initially off-balance yet pleasant until it reveals itself as one of Hong’s most focused in quite some time, operating along spectrums of morality and polite behavior that morph with each scenario; damningly orchestrated.
Reposted by Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tien-hsing
Justin Chang breaking out some of his best work in the pun department in his WICKED 2 review.
November 21, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Justin Chang breaking out some of his best work in the pun department in his WICKED 2 review.