Cosmopolitan cinema: Cross-cultural encounters in East Asian film [Book review]

• Main Author: ESPENA Darlene Machell
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2018
• Subjects: Asian Studies; Film and Media Studies
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3375; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4632/viewcontent/Cosmopolitan_cinema_bkrev.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

In this exceptional book, Felicia Chan dives deep into the complexities of cosmopolitanism and cinema, questioning the meaning of ‘foreignness’ and aspirations of ‘belonging’ in the global context. Grounded on the premise that transnational cinema, or cinema in general, is an important platform for the production, imagination, and interrogation of cosmopolitan ideals, the book focuses on East Asian cinemas from China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore, challenging notions of definitive cultural boundaries. The book offers a way to understand cross-cultural encounters that emphasises the nuances and subjectivities of cultural imaginaries that cinema itself advances and challenges at the same time. While we see aspects of what appears to be seamless border-crossing, transnational circulation, and multilingualism, Chan renders specificities embedded in historical memory and narrative vividly coherent. Throughout the book, one gets a sense of uncertainty and ambiguity constantly occurring in cross-cultural encounters. The result is an eloquent critical reading of East Asian cinema under the framework of modernity, highlighting its self-reflexive tendencies and how it transforms as it crosses cultural and linguistic borders.