Peter Glagowski

Freelance gaming and film critic with a love of independent media.

- Associate Editor at Flixist

- Contract work for Vicarious PR, Arrow Video, 88 Films, Spectrum Films, and Vinegar Syndrome

- Bylines at Nintendo Wire, Destructoid, TheGamer, TechRaptor, and more.

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NY Asian Film Foundation

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NYAFF 2026

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NYAFF 2025

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NYAFF 2025 Review: Deep in the Mountains • Flixist

When reviewing foreign films, I try not to be too harsh on certain comedic sensibilities as I’m whiter than Wonder Bread. It’s pretty obvious that I won’t know the full context behind certain gags or why foreign audiences are drawn to particular styles of humor. That’s one of the reasons I engage with foreign media so often: I would like to at least have a surface-level understanding of how cinema differs across language barriers and varying customs.
That said, a film like Deep in the Mountains...
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NYAFF 2025 Review: My Friend An Delie • Flixist

As I sit down to write this review for Dong Zijian’s My Friend An Delie, I’m left pondering how to approach my thoughts. Do I provide a recap of the events and potentially spoil the film’s biggest trick, or do I go for something more cerebral and leave people wondering what the overall movie is? As a critic, am I trying to sell a movie to readers, or do I simply provide my thoughts and let the reader decide for themselves? Does the score I attach undo any critique I may provide?
The thing is, My...
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NYAFF 2025 Review: Samurai Fury • Flixist

I sometimes forgot how ubiquitous a director Akira Kurosawa was. While you can feel his influence in Hollywood productions, he obviously wasn’t as big of a deal in the USA as he was in his home country. Over in Japan, Kurosawa basically defined the modern blockbuster and helped launch the careers of many famous actors. He wasn’t ever stuck on one genre, but his name became synonymous with the jidaigeki genre, or “period piece,” and often had a focus on samurai stories. The most famous of those f...
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NYAFF 2025 Review: Perang Kota - This City Is a Battlefield • Flixist

For most Americans, our understanding of World War 2 begins and ends with America fighting the Nazis and winning. My time in high school did go into some of the Japanese side of the conflict, but it mostly stuck to Pearl Harbor and when we dropped the bomb on Japan. It did not explain how evil Imperial Japan was and the many countries it disrupted in its attempt to rule the East.
That’s what makes a film like Perang Kota: This City Is a Battlefield interesting from a distance. Dealing with the f...
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NYAFF 2025 Review: The Hearing • Flixist

I suppose when I wound up selecting specific films to cover at this year’s New York Asian Film Festival, I had societal consciousness on my brain. Similar to both Montages of a Modern Motherhood and MA – Cry of Silence, The Hearing, from director Lawrence Fajardo, is a film with a particular axe to grind about systemic structures that fail to help those suffering. For once, the description on NYAFF’s website doesn’t spoil the overarching theme, which left me suitably shocked when it played out b...
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NYAFF 2025 Review: The Way We Talk • Flixist

As a quick aside before this review, I did not expect to watch two films about the struggles of deaf individuals at this year’s New York Asian Film Festival. That was kind of a happy accident when I was browsing through different pictures to watch. Really, the main reason I watched The Way We Talk is that I was recommended it by a director/writer that I know. I figured she would have a good understanding of where the Hong Kong film industry is at, so I gave it a shot. It’s truly amazing how huma...
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NYAFF 2025 Review: Transcending Dimensions • Flixist

When I rolled credits on Remedy Entertainment’s 2023 title Alan Wake 2, there was a lingering thought that crossed my mind: Is this really a video game? Now, I’m not going to spin this film review off into a discussion about how we quantify what a video game is. No, I bring that up because my playthrough left me with a different realization. Sometimes, mediums can transcend their very confines to become something else. Alan Wake 2 isn’t explicitly a “good” video game, but it’s an incredible inte...
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NYAFF 2025 Review: MA - Cry of Silence • Flixist

I know I’ve expressed this thought in other reviews, but one of the joys of covering the New York Asian Film Festival is that I get to experience films from other Asian countries besides the majorly known ones in the US. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a Burmese film before, though I am familiar with how the 2008 Rambo film actually inspired the Karen National Liberation Army to fight harder against their oppressors. It’s fascinating what the power of moving pictures can do.
That said, even knowing M...
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NYAFF 2025 Review: Flat Girls • Flixist

While I had a relatively normal suburban upbringing as a child, I did suffer from depression and constantly thought the world was against me. It was hard for me to fit in with my peers, and throughout my time in high school, I was bullied for being so quiet and enjoying things like video games, martial arts films, and computer science. I would routinely wish for death in those moments, and it eventually culminated in me seeking help early in my 20s, which would change my life. When I look back,...
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NYAFF 2025 Review: Behind the Shadows • Flixist

Acclaimed Hong Kong star Louis Koo has had a long and prosperous career. Beginning in 1994, he’s consistently been featured in some of the biggest Hong Kong films over the last 30 years, including multiple projects with Johnnie To, a couple with Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen, and new box-office king Soi Cheang. Not every film is a must-see or even a classic, but you can rarely miss when checking out a Koo movie.
The same goes for his latest starring role, the mysteriously titled Behind the Shadows....
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NYAFF 2025 Review: Montages of a Modern Motherhood • Flixist

As someone approaching 40 who has yet to find a partner or father a child, I have some conflicting feelings about the prospect of parenthood. While I fully understand that I do not need to fulfill some societal checklist to be considered an adult, I also feel as if I’ve failed some kind of basic requirement for being human. Isn’t it natural to want a wife and kids? Isn’t having a child supposed to be the very goal of human existence? After watching Montages of a Modern Motherhood, I have to wond...
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NYAFF 2025 Review: I, The Song • Flixist

Bhutan is one of the most fascinating countries in the world. With a culture defined by its two neighboring countries and a focus on public happiness over gross profit, it’s become this mystical haven that feels steeped in historical reverence while also being on the edge of modernity. What adds to that mysticism is that Bhutan’s borders weren’t open to the public until 1974, meaning it had existed for centuries with no Western influences at all. Bhutan has rightfully earned its nickname of “The...
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NYAFF 2025 Review: Smashing Frank • Flixist

Social media has fundamentally changed the way in which people look at the world. While nothing was ever sunshine and roses, it seems that the rise of social media networks has seen an equal rise in people doing stupid things to garner fame. Be that imbeciles like Mr. Beast running what could charitably be called a Squid Game, or jackasses like Logan and Jake Paul flying to foreign countries and desecrating local monuments, there’s always some idiot that will do literally anything on camera just...
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NYAFF 2024

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Review: Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In • Flixist

One of the telltale signs that you’ve become an “old” person is when you start to pine for the “good old days.” While this can (and often does) take the form of nostalgia for past activities and entertainment, it can also morph into a romanticization of what you believed was better since you were younger. We’re seeing this right now in America with the ongoing presidential race where Republicans are trying to make the country “great” again and it’s a scary thing. This blanket belief that everyth...
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NYAFF 2024 Review: The Escaping Man • Flixist

The popularity and critical acclaim that Bong Hoon-Jo’s Parasite received has had a much bigger impact on Asian cinema than I really anticipated. While I do think the film is maybe a touch overhyped, its dissection of class struggle and the lengths people would go to in a broken society to achieve some semblance of success is a story that resonates with a lot of people. It’s not hard to understand why as capitalism is destroying anything resembling normalcy, but I also didn’t realize that practi...
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NYAFF 2024 Review: Baby Assassins: Nice Days • Flixist

For over 20 years now, action director Kensuke Sonomura has been rising up the ranks of both video game and film choreography to create a wholly unique and grounded style of action that incorporates both real-world tactics and flashy fisticuffs. While the average filmgoer in the States likely hasn’t heard of him, they may have actually seen or played some of his work. From games like Devil May Cry 3, Metal Gear Solid 4, and even the recent Resident Evil 3 remake to films such as Versus, Resident...
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NYAFF 2024 Review: Bushido • Flixist

Much like how Westerns have gradually faded away from modern Hollywood cinema, samurai films have mostly fallen out of favor with modern Japanese audiences. They still pop up now and then and we even recently saw FX achieve immense success with its TV adaptation of Shogun, but it’s safe to say that samurai movies are not super common anymore. When they do crop up, it feels special, and special is the perfect word to describe Bushido.
Bushido (its original Japanese title is Gobangiri) follows the...
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NYAFF 2024 Review: Snow in Midsummer • Flixist

One of the scenarios that can crop up when watching international cinema is that you might not be able to fully understand the cultural message that is being delivered. We, as people, are products of our environment. While it’s not difficult to read through research or anecdotes about tragedies, it’s impossible to put yourself into someone else’s boots who lived through such an event. That’s where I’m at with Snow in Midsummer, a well-executed and deeply personal movie that is about a subject I...
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NYAFF 2024 Review: Granny Prostitutes • Flixist

I’ll level with all of you right up front: the main reason I wanted to review Granny Prostitutes is because the title of the film is outrageous. I knew even before I checked out a trailer that this wasn’t some low-brow pornographic film, but just having that title listed on your website is sure to drive some kind of traffic. There are a ton of kinks out there that I might find bizarre, but which tickle someone’s fancy in ways they can’t quite explain.
Now, funny intro aside, I’m not quite sure w...
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NYAFF 2024 Review: The Guest • Flixist

It’s a bit refreshing to see such a minimalist horror/thriller get featured at a big film festival. After watching a ton of two-hour-long dramas and exposition-heavy action films, I was ready to relax a little with a sub-80-minute film. I mean, relax as much as I possibly could with a movie like The Guest, which could charitably be called South Korea’s version of Psycho with a dash of Hostel.
That description might make The Guest sound like a sleeper hit, but not everything is rosy with this sho...
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NYAFF 2024 Review: Carefree Days • Flixist

It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen a film that could be wholly categorized as a character study. As what seems to be a theme at this year’s NYAFF, most of the movies don’t have traditional plots and are eschewing linear structure for more of a freeform examination of life. Carefree Days is very much a film like that, cut from the cloth of films such as Millennium Mambo, Happy Go Lucky, and even Le Samouraï. It doesn’t have quite the same style as those aforementioned films, but it’s not a...
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NYAFF 2024 Review: Pattaya Heat • Flixist

It’s hard to come to terms with the fact that Hollywood has been influential across the entire globe while other countries struggle to have their specific brand of cinema recognized on a macro scale. I’m an avid lover of Hong Kong action cinema and that particular brand has at least crossed over to some degree, but ask any random US citizen what their favorite Sammo Hung film is and they’ll probably look at you like you have four heads. Now, ask someone in Hong Kong what their favorite Quentin T...
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NYAFF 2024 Review: For Alice • Flixist

As cliché as the “sad dad” story might be in 2024, one can’t deny that it holds dramatic impact. I still remember the heartbreaking finale of Million Dollar Baby that shifts into a completely different film before delivering an absolutely devastating gut punch to the audience. That one might take the cake for “saddest ending of all time,” but the core of the story is so engaging that you can’t help but get sucked in.
For Alice is not on quite the same level as that movie and it certainly doesn’t...
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NYAFF 2023

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NYAFF 2023 Review: The Sunny Side of the Street • Flixist

For decades now, there has been growing concern over the refugee population in Hong Kong. With stricter laws limiting their chances to become naturalized citizens and the wait times for work visas resulting in many families starving, younger generations are pushing for politicians to finally address these terrible living conditions. Why are these individuals suffering when Hong Kong is meant to be a prosperous nation?
The Sunny Side of the Street isn’t a film about providing answers or potential...
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NYAFF 2023 Review: Where is the Lie? • Flixist

As a middle-aged millennial with no real understanding of younger generations, I have taken an interest in films depicting youth as a way to try and learn about the unique struggles they face. We all have problems inherent to the generation we were brought up in and it can sometimes be difficult to convey that to your elders. Lord knows we’ve all tried to get a point across to our parents only to have them look dumbfounded.
That’s where a film such as Where is the Lie? proves useful. Set from th...
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NYAFF 2023 Review: Egoist • Flixist

All across the world, there has been a growing concern over the regression of several LGBTQ+ rights. What took centuries to ratify has been stripped back and stolen certain rights from people simply because the people in power live their lives with hatred. While many on this side of the pond will be aware of how the US Supreme Court has failed its citizens, they may not be aware that Japan is facing similar struggles.
That’s why a film such as Egoist is so important. While it doesn’t tackle heav...
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NYAFF 2023 Review: The Empty Nest • Flixist

There’s a growing concern in China about its elderly population living isolated lives due to mass urbanization. This cultural shift is due to the demanding work culture in the country and the lack of opportunities to break out from poverty. This trend is creating a huge dilemma over how these people will take care of themselves, not to mention it’s having a knock-on effect of forcing families apart and causing the elderly to fall victim to scams, etc.
That’s what the film The Empty Nest is attem...
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NYAFF 2023 Review: Mad Fate • Flixist

In my journey to discover Hong Kong cinema outside of the bubble that is 70s-90s action films, I figured it was best to start with some of the movies debuting at the New York Asian Film Festival this year (2023). If there was ever an event that would lead me to creative and interesting new movies from the region, this would be it.
One of the most talked about films making its US premiere at the festival is Mad Fate, a mystery thriller mixed with social commentary about the state of HK’s well-bei...

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