Tony Rayns

Writing

Tony Rayns

Born 1948-09-20 · Oxford, England, UK

Antony Keith Graham Rayns (20 September 1948 – 7 July 2026) was a British writer, commentator, film festival programmer and screenwriter. He wrote for the underground publication Cinema Rising before contributing to the Monthly Film Bulletin from the December 1970. He contributed writings to Sight & Sound from the 1970s, and also contributed to Time Out, Melody Maker, and Film Comment.

Acting credits

Hold You Tight poster
5.3

Two women are bound for the same plane, one of whom makes the flight while the other does not. In a cruel twist of fate, the plane crashes, killing everyone on board, and leaving the friends and family of the two women to talk about what was and what could have been.

Hold You Tight

1998

Tony Rayns, the Not-So-Distant Observer poster
8.0

Prominent film critic Tony Rayns has long been a supporter of Korean cinema. This film illustrates Rayns’ affection for Korean cinema through interviews of Korean cineastes that have a special affinity for him, including JANG Sun-woo, LEE Chang-dong and HONG Sang-soo among others.

Tony Rayns, the Not-So-Distant Observer

2012

A Different Kind of Chinese War Film: Tony Rayns on Wreaths at the Foot of the Mountain poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

A Different Kind of Chinese War Film: Tony Rayns on Wreaths at the Foot of the Mountain

2023

The Rediscovery of a Significant Part in Film History poster
NR

Interview with Tony Rayns on the history of early Chinese cinema and the 1931 silent film Love and Duty.

The Rediscovery of a Significant Part in Film History

2022

Flowers of Taipei: Taiwan New Cinema poster
7.1

With Taiwan remaining in the grip of martial law in 1982, a group of filmmakers from that country set out to establish a cultural identity through cinema and to share it with the world. This engaging documentary looks at the movement's legacy.

Flowers of Taipei: Taiwan New Cinema

2014

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

An Innovative Feature Film Debut: Tony Rayns on the Black Cannon Incident

2019

Visions Cinema: Film as a Way of Life: Hong Kong Cinema - A Report by Tony Rayns poster
NR

Examines the early 1980s Hong Kong filmmaking community. Tony Rayns interviews some of the new generation of filmmakers and figures from the wider film culture.

Visions Cinema: Film as a Way of Life: Hong Kong Cinema - A Report by Tony Rayns

1983

No artwork available
1.0

In this interview, conducted in 2013, Asian-film critic Tony Rayns offers his thoughts on the popularity of the ZATOICHI series, its main character, and some of the key talents involved in making it.

Serialized Success

2013

New Chinese Cinema poster
NR

Tony Rayns presents the work of the 'Fifth Generation' and other innovative filmmakers who emerged during the 1980s in China.

New Chinese Cinema

1989

Derek Jarman: A Portrait poster
NR

A BBC Arena profile of the Director from the time of the release of his film, The Garden, featuring interviews with Jarman, his collaborators and friends.

Derek Jarman: A Portrait

1991

Virtuous Women poster
NR

Tragical lives of Qing Yu, a woman lives in late Qing Dynasty and Gui Hua, a woman lives in modern time.

Virtuous Women

1987

Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema poster
5.5

An exploration of Chinese cinema and its relationships with gender and sexuality, which the film argues has been more frankly and provocatively explored than in any other national cinema. Utilizing both film excerpts and interviews with many leading directors and academics, the film examines topics such as male bonding in kung fu movies, depictions of same-sex bonding and physical intimacy, the emphasis on women's grievances in melodramas, and the career of Yam Kim-Fai, a Hong Kong actress who spent her life portraying men on and off the screen.

Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema

1998

An American Picture: Tony Rayns on 'An American Tragedy' poster
NR

Film critic Tony Rayns discusses Josef von Sternberg's 1931 film version of 'An American Tragedy'.

An American Picture: Tony Rayns on 'An American Tragedy'

2024

Home Movies 1971-81 poster
NR

Home movies shot on Super 8mm by W+B Hein over 10 years.

Home Movies 1971-81

1985

Legend of the Dragon: Tony Rayns on Bruce Lee poster
9.0

An overview of Bruce Lee's career and legacy by film critic and historian Tony Rayns.

Legend of the Dragon: Tony Rayns on Bruce Lee

2023

No artwork available
NR

An Interview With Critic And Hong Kong Film Expert Tony Rayns, About The Emergence, Key Players, And Success Of The Shaw Brothers Wuxia Film

Slicing At The Stars

2023

Visions Cinema: Cinema in China - An Account by Tony Rayns poster
NR

History of filmmaking in China from its beginnings in the 1920s to 1982, featuring Shanghai cinema of 1930s; the progressive filmmakers; the organisation of filmmaking under the post-war communist government; the impact of the Cultural Revolution; the work of Xie Jin.

Visions Cinema: Cinema in China - An Account by Tony Rayns

1983

Crystal Gazing poster
7.0

Experimental drama set in London during the Thatcher administration involving four characters: Neil, a science-fiction illustrator; Kim, a woman rock musician; Vermilion, an analyst of satellite photography; and Julian, an old friend of the illustrator who has just finished his Ph.D thesis on the fairy-tales of Charles Perrault. Their four lives are closely interlinked as events happen to each of them.

Crystal Gazing

1982

No artwork available
NR

New video interview with film critic Tony Rayns

Tony Rayns on Cruel Story of Youth

2015

No artwork available
NR

Interview with film critic Tony Rayns was conducted in December 2008.

Tony Rayns on Pigs and Battleships

2009

Damaged Romance: Tony Rains on 'Audition' poster
NR

An appreciation of the 1999 film 'Audition' by Japanese cinema historian Tony Rayns.

Damaged Romance: Tony Rains on 'Audition'

2016

Frame by Frame: Shanghai Animation Studio poster
NR

Shot in 1983, edited for the VISIONS: CINEMA programme in 1985, a short documentary about Shanghai Animation Studio.

Frame by Frame: Shanghai Animation Studio

1985

London Calling poster
NR

While attending a screening of his film at the London Film Festival, a Japanese man tries to track down a woman from his past after receiving a mysterious phone call.

London Calling

1985

No artwork available
6.0

Documentary about the making of Derek Jarman's 1979 film "Jubilee".

Jubilee: A Time Less Golden

2003

Behind the camera

Away with Words poster
6.4

A Japanese man and a gay bar-owner in Hong Kong drink beer as they talk about their childhood and experiences.

Away with Words

1999

The Jang Sun-woo Variations poster
8.0

Divided into chapters, the documentary examines Jang's career and films from many different angles and includes the voices not only of those who have worked with Jang but also of numerous ordinary Koreans who have been affected by his work. Individual chapters are devoted to such topics as Jang's idiosyncratic hairstyle and the controversy surrounding his previous feature Lies. The documentary tries to place Jang and his work in the widest possible social context, not only in the context of Korean cinema. At its heart is a series of remarkably candid and revealing interviews with Jang himself.

The Jang Sun-woo Variations

2001

Visions Cinema: Film as a Way of Life: Hong Kong Cinema - A Report by Tony Rayns poster
NR

Examines the early 1980s Hong Kong filmmaking community. Tony Rayns interviews some of the new generation of filmmakers and figures from the wider film culture.

Visions Cinema: Film as a Way of Life: Hong Kong Cinema - A Report by Tony Rayns

1983

New Chinese Cinema poster
NR

Tony Rayns presents the work of the 'Fifth Generation' and other innovative filmmakers who emerged during the 1980s in China.

New Chinese Cinema

1989

New Chinese Cinema poster
NR

Tony Rayns presents the work of the 'Fifth Generation' and other innovative filmmakers who emerged during the 1980s in China.

New Chinese Cinema

1989

No artwork available
NR

Early film by Tony Rayns.

Uriel: Overdrive

1970

Visions Cinema: Cinema in China - An Account by Tony Rayns poster
NR

History of filmmaking in China from its beginnings in the 1920s to 1982, featuring Shanghai cinema of 1930s; the progressive filmmakers; the organisation of filmmaking under the post-war communist government; the impact of the Cultural Revolution; the work of Xie Jin.

Visions Cinema: Cinema in China - An Account by Tony Rayns

1983

Frame by Frame: Shanghai Animation Studio poster
NR

Shot in 1983, edited for the VISIONS: CINEMA programme in 1985, a short documentary about Shanghai Animation Studio.

Frame by Frame: Shanghai Animation Studio

1985

No artwork available
NR

Early film by Tony Rayns.

Little Joe, Little Dragon

1974

Visions Cinema: Film in the Philippines - A Report by Tony Rayns poster
6.6

Film critic Tony Rayns interviews Lino Brocka and other prominent Filipino filmmakers.

Visions Cinema: Film in the Philippines - A Report by Tony Rayns

1983