The Asian Film Thread
 

Ah, the source of many American movie ideas today...

Has anyone seen any great Asian movies as of late?

Needless to say, I recently saw the conclusion to Park Chan-Wook's Revenge Trilogy, "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance." Definitely the most arthouse entry in the trilogy, the occasional bizarre imagery and overall direction (as well as a great performance by Lee Young-Ae) make this a well worth the wait.

Well nothing great, but I watched Pulse/Kairo the other night. It's apparently going to get the American make over, and when it came by my store I jumped at the chance to watch it.

Disappointing.

While the movie had a few creepy moments and visuals, it wasn't very scary at all. I'll admit, I'm a major coward when it comes to horror, but this movie just didn't have anything that stuck with me. The storyline also failed to make any sense. One minute we're talking about suicide, the next the world's ended. I'm actually looking forward to how Hollywood will translate the (or fabricate a new) story.

Rent it if you're curious. You're better of renting or buying a classic like Audition, which in itself isn't scary but is ten times more enjoyable than this garbage.

Ah, asian movies, my favorites :)
Yesterday me and a friend watched something called Phone (Korean I think?), some horror about phones and girls with long black hair. Anyhow, we didn't finish the movie, it really sucked :\

Kairo's definitely on the deliberate side in terms of pacing, but though the story's not exactly the clearest to me, from what I've discussed on other boards as well as my own viewing, the depressed suicidal entity (the one seen near the end in the warehouse) has always been there with that computer program thing, getting through to others by way of loneliness. As he gets to more and more people, there are more of those red tape-sealed rooms for the ghosts to get more people. The fact that so many people get taken in the end is just a means for Kurosawa to illustrate the society of disconnect we live in: we are all "connected" by way of internet, but in reality, we are all as distant and as alone as we'll ever be in life.

Oh yeah, and Crying Fist I saw a while back. Choi Min-Sik never disappoints.

Firstly, thanks for stealing my thread (I was going to make it!) Oh well.

Well, I haven't seen any new Asian films really. I haven't been watching the OMNI Channel much because alot of the movies they play now simply don't interest me in the slightest. However, the last good film I saw was AV. This is a film directed by Edmond Pang (Men Suddenly In Black). While, it's not as good as Men Suddenly In Black, I must give credit to it's creativity. Basically, you follow this group of teenagers who try running a porn video business and the whole film is basically about making a porn film. It's pretty funny at times, but overall, it's not a film I'd recommend.

I also want to check out Election, by Johnnie To. I've heard quite a number of good things about this film. Like, how it's as good as his The Mission and PTU. I heard a sequel was being made to the film, called Election 2. Johnnie To never seems to disappoint me. I really hope he doesn't go Hollywood like John Woo or Ronny Yu.

Speaking of Kairo, I've got to say that film is really good. It's not scary, that I will agree on, but it's definitely an enjoyable film. I remember I posted a review of the film in the last Asian movie thread. It's a slow film, but I didn't find it distracting. It was basically a film about Tokyo falling apart, and residents disappearing one by one in a ghost like town. I thought the elements of "quiet" and "slow" made sense. I'd say it's more of a drama horror, than one of those psycholical horrors.

Phone sucks. It's not even worth a review.

I just watched Hero last night, but considering that everyone has seen that movie, I don't know if that makes me really hip/cool or anything.

Are there any specific movies/directors that anyone would suggest to someone who wants to see more films of the Asian variant?

Hachifusan: If you like Hero, you would probably enjoy "House of Flying Daggers" too. They are very alike.

Yeah, I just watched Hero like last month, I borrowed it from a friend. I didn't really like it.

As for House of Flying Daggers, that movie was alright, a little better than Hero. I'm not really into the romance part I just like to watch the fight choreography.

I actually liked Flying Daggers better, neither of the movies has a great story (in my opinion) but Flying Daggers is plain beautiful, prettier than Hero :)

Are there any movies like "Oldboy" out there? I seen it a while back, and while I thought it was over-rated like heck, I still really liked it.

I've seen a couple of asian films lately:


Lorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Ocean

A fairly unambitious Japanese remake of the classic Das Boot (with a paranomal twist!). Basicly a good score saved it from being a complete waste of time.

The Quiet Family

Another film heavily inspired by an old European film. In this case the hysterical Delikatessen. It's got good performances by Song Kang-ho and Choi Min-sik (among others) and an engaging (and very funny!) story. I can definitely recommend this one.

Koi no Mon

The best romantic comedy I've seen in ages. Definitely recommended. There's a good review of it on it's imdb page. So read that if you're interested.


Add to that a row of more-or-less low budget HK kung fu films, with names such as 18 Fatal Strikes, 46 Deadly Fists and Bruce Lee The Invincible (starring one of the countless Bruce Lee imitations that came along after his death). Great stuff for sleepless nights!


I liked this film as well. My favorite Korean film of last year together with A Bittersweet Life.


I heard good things about it as well. In fact I haven't seen a single bad review of it, which suprises me since I didn't think it was anything to get particularly excited about. Felt like a very standard Johnny To film to me.

My very recent was Old Boy. Hell, I'm not even that into much with Asian cinema but whatever really.

Old Boy was a ride since many tell me it's "oh my gawd its asian SO IT IS GUD" cliched phrase of suck I hear so I told them that I'll watch it. Eventually.

And I did. I must admit I am pleased. Not because of the violence with the hammer but because of the story. Everything seems to patch together.

I just brought:
- My Wife is a Gansta
- Dark Tales of Japan
- Ringu
- Breaking News
- The Promise

They look pretty good... anyone seens these?

Pardon::

Does anyone know the status/details on the production of "Battle of Red Cliffs?"

Also, if you're looking for an absolutely fantastic Korean movie, check out Welcome to Dongmakgol if you can find it.

One of the best Asian films i've ever seen.

Is this a ghetto version of My Wife is a Gangster or what? I liked that film a lot, as well as the sequel.

A few months ago I saw this cracked out Korean movie called Save the Green Planet. It was one of the strangest movies I've ever seen, and it left an impression on me. Finally, I was able to find it on DVD this week at an import store. The movie I guess would be classified as a dark comedy, with a lot of suspense and horror thrown in.

"Hopped up on consiracy theories and sci-fi films, Lee, a blue-collar sad sack is on a mission to save the world. Andromedian aliens have infiltrated human society and are planning to destroy the planet at the next lunar eclipse. The one alien possessing the Royal Genetic Code needed to stop this plan just happens to be his old boss."

Basically the main character, Lee, kidnaps his old boss under the excuse that he's an alien, and starts torturing him. Since Lee also takes lots of halucinogenic drugs, you aren't sure whether he really believes that these aliens exist, or whether it's just an excuse to get revenge on the boss who fired him.

It's all very cleverly done, and the movie will make you laugh, cringe, and freak you out a bit all at once. Definitely worth seeing if you want to see something a little different.

Oldboy is amazing :)
Why not try out the movie A Bittersweet Life? It's not about being held prisoner for 15 years, but there are some details in it that makes it feel a bit like Oldboy. Both are great movies.

I'm gonna watch something called A Tale of Two Sisters soon, same director as in A Bittersweet Life (Ji-Woon Kim). I heard it's a very scary psychological horror, just my taste :)
Any comments on it?

And since we're talking about Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, the two other "episodes" of the vengeance trilogy by Chan-wook Park are really worth a watch or two (...or 5).

Last asian movies I saw were "Tom yum goong " (they call it "Ongbak 2" and I still wonder why) which was a waste of time except for 1 or 2 nice fights. Scenario, acting, directing, everything was lame (the scenario is even worse than Ong Bak, which is a little revolution by itself).
On the other hand : "Sha Po Long" with Sammo Hung, Donnie Yen and Wu Jin was astonishing. The first part of the movie was a little slow paced, with a common chinese mob VS good cops story, but in the second part, this is where it gets serious. Every scenes featuring Wu Jin are delightful, in a sadistic way. Not to mention the last fight full of anger between Sammo and Donnie Yen.
A movie which made me think that the HK action movie genre is not totally dead yet.

The last Asian film I watched was "Nobody Knows". I had to write up a bit about it for a class, so here's what I wrote.

http://www.astor-theatre.com/images/...knows-wide.jpg
A film about four children forced to survive on their own after being abandoned by their mother, Nobody Knows is simultaneously uplifting and tragic. It is sad to see their lives slowly fall apart as time passes, but at the same time is is very touching watching them combat this simply by being children. Techincally, the film as a whole is actually very simple, leaving the actors to carry the film. This was definitely for the best as the children look and act very natural onscreen which adds exponentially to the film. The film is very, very sad; the family is slowly sliding into poverty and the twist at the end is crushing, but the (naive?) hopefulness of the children lifts the mood of the film and keeps it there. Overall, it is an excellent film about childhood that balances its tone wonderfully.

I watched Welcome to Dongmakgol. Its Korean, and one of my favorite Asian movies. I have been watching quite a few as of late and I enjoy many of them.

Loved Lady Vengeance to death. I thought it was, in many ways, better than Oldboy. I still enjoyed Oldboy more, but Lady Vengeance was a much more touching and emotional story overall.

In terms of visuals, Lady Vengeance is without question the most beautiful film I've ever seen. Hero held that title for a while, but I've never watched a movie where I couldn't wait for the next shot to appear just to see how good it was going to be. Every frame in that film is beautiful. It's a testament to both Chan-wook and his DP.

Has anybody seen Park Chan-wook's first film, JSA (Joint Security Area)?

Currently I'm most interested in Korean movies an dramas. Korea is currently the collest place on earth so can anyone advice on some good movies other then Oldboy and the obvious. ^^

I've seen mostly Korean movies. The latest Korean movie I watched was "She's On Duty" and it was actually more violent than I assumed during the later scenes.

I tend to like action films with a bit of comedy, but I haven't seen anything else since November or so.

I'm going to rent Taegukgi tomorrow, which I'm assuming most of you have seen but I hadn't even heard of until yesterday. It's supposed to be very good, so I guess I'm kind of excited.

Hopefully the hype won't kill it for me.

People say Stephen Chow (Chow Sing Chi) movies are pretty funny.
I've only seen about 2-4 of his movies. It has stupid comedy but it's so funny.
Anyway, maybe someone can recomend some of his title since I haven't seen many.

I don't watch many Asian movies, although I loved Battle Royale.

Everyone should check out 3-Iron. It's an indie Korean film directed by Ki-duk Kim, who does these great slow moving and mellow films that are just really powerful, his films are a total experience in itself.

It's hard to describe the plot. Basically a jobless college graduate breaks into people's houses to live for a couple days while they're on vacation. He breaks into one house to find a housewife there that's being abused by her husband so they run away together. Stuff (but not hilarity) ensues.

Also check out Afterlife, a Japanese film by the guy who did Nobody Knows. It's an interpretation of what the afterlife (natch) is, in which you have to pick one memory from your entire life and you relive that one moment over and over for all eternity, forgetting everything else.

I've seen it. It's my personal favorite of the films I've seen by him as well as one of my favorite Korean films overall.


oh, and it was not really his first film


I wonder which the obvious ones are!

Anyway, here is a gang of films I can recommend wholeheartedly:

JSA
On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate
...Ing
Reversal of Fortune
My Wife is a Gangster
My Sassy Girl
A Good Lawyers Wife
3-Iron
Barking Dogs Never Bite
Samaria
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
Bad Guy
Who's got the tape
Crying Fist
A Bittersweet Life
Malaton
Friend
The Quiet Family


Take your pick. If you like one you're likely to like them all, really.

Some of my personal favorites include Love on Delivery and Royal Tramp 1 and 2.

I saw Moon Child about three weeks ago and even though it was longer than I thought it should've been, Gackt and Hyde did a pretty good job acting. However, having Hyde as a vampire was a little weird. I think Gackt did a good job of portraying a gangsta. Overall, the movie was good, even in the end.

Hadn't been to GFF in a while before that little hiatus, but I find it funny that it seems so sudden that a fair amount of people suddenly used Asian film avatars. Geum-Ja, Sun-Woo...

Since everything's been restarted, how about discussion of a rather popular Asian film...

Let's go ahead with Tom Yum Goong.

I've gotta say I never would have thought "Give me back my elephant" would be a compelling enough driving force for a film but this one completely disproved me. All that crunching was satisfying in every sense of the word. That first real fight (with the guy with the therapeutic jars on his back) was so abruptly started (flying knee kick) that it just got the movie started for me. Everything was "elephant, elephant, elephant" for the first ten minutes, and then finally he lost the damn thing and everything went uphill. I came for an action movie, and I got it.

Woah nice. Thanks for the list! I just discovered A Bittersweet Life yesterday thanks to a friend. I still need to watch it though. Looks awesome.

Seen Samaria and a few of the others, but some of those you listed are new to me.

Oh god, I'm sorry but are you fucking insane? That movie was horrid. Horrid. A blatant rip off of everything Anne Rice, no not because of the vampires but because they stole pratically every idea and scene from her books (the dancing with the corpse? Give me a break). It made me cry for all the wrong reasons and their acting skills were awful. If there was an Japanese equalivent of a Razzie, they'd take every one.

Gackt is a pretty sexy bastard though. It just bummed me out because they could have done a pretty decent film but I guess Gackt's writing is really not up to snuff. As if any other outcome would have been true.

Taegukgi is a great movie. I thought it was very hollywood-ish, but still a great film.

Yes! It's one of my favorites, it's an amazing story in my opinion.

I watched this movie the other week, and I whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone who's a fan of psychological horror. If you don't mind not knowing what the hell is going on until the very end of the movie, you'll probably like it. ;) It contains some of the old stand-bys of Asian horror (chicks with long dark hair, etc), but it focusses more on the relationship between the characters (mainly the sisters and their stepmother) than on cheap scares. Though there's a few of those too, and pretty good ones at that. There's one I saw coming a mile away, but it still managed to make me jump when it finally happened.

I've been watching random Asian horror lately, though I haven't seen very many yet. Watched The Eye the other night, which was actually really, really good. Very Sixth Sense-ish, if a bit more depressing at the end.

I read a review on it some time ago, where the guy who wrote it said he was about to give the movie a 4/10 or something, but then he read a little about the movie and lastly saw it one more time. He then understood the movie fully, and gave it a 10/10 :)
In other words, I guess I have to have my eyes open during the movie.

Oh, absolutely. Unless you're particularly keen, you're probably not going to know exactly what's happening until the very end, and it can get frustrating at times if you're one of those people who's prone having "What the fuck is going on?!" moments when watching movies. But the plot's actually not OVERLY complicated. Just obscure, and it saves most of the revelations until the very end. Though personally, I liked it just fine the first time around. Even when things get confusing, the relationship and emotion between the characters is still strong enough to carry the movie.

When you finish the movie the first time, go online and read up on it so you can finish piecing all the particularly weird bits of the story together. Then watch it a second time. With the initial viewing plus doing the reading online, it will make much more sense the second time around. :)

I remember loving a Tale of Two Sisters after watching it for the first time even though I was confused about a lot of stuff just because it was really beautiful and I wasn't expecting that from a "horror" movie.

I recently checked out the Myth with Jackie Chan, Everlasting Regret, and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. The Myth was pretty good, not my favorite Jackie flick but it was entertaining. Everlasting Regret I ended not liking as much as I thought I would even though I'm a Sammi Cheng fan. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance was amazing, can't wait to see Lady Vengeance.

I recently bought Election off of ebay after confirming with the seller that it was the official HK DVD but what ended up in the mail? A bootleg. How lame, I guess I've learned my lesson.

the most scared and mesmerized I think I have ever been by a movie was when I was watching the magnificent A Tale of Two Sisters. I bought it on word of mouth only, and am very glad I did, as it is now my favorite foreign film. it's so beautiful and frightening. it has great set design and music and really brilliant acting.
the whole movie is just so inspired and amazing. I can't sing its praises enough.

on another note, I finally saw Battle Royale 2, and that sucked.

Has anyone who's seen BR2 actually thought it was good? I hear the director's cut does wonders for the film. I doubt it.

What a piece of trash that movie was. From the beginning till the end, I couldn't stand it. And boy did I force myself to finish that load of the crap in the name of the first BR.

Save yourself some pain man. Don't watch that utter piece of shit.

Already have. I just hadn't seen the director's cut.

I rewatched the live-action of "Hotaru no Haka" the other day. I heard it takes a different perspective on the story than the anime version (which I haven't seen, so I can't make any comparisons). But still the movie was excellent. I cried, which is a rarity.

I also saw "Full Time Assassin" (Chuen Jik Sat Sau), an action movie with Andy Lau and Takashi Sorimachi (GTO, whut). The whole thing was cheesy as shit but I found myself loving every second of it.

I just saw "My Sassy Girl" and "Windstruck" today. (About time..)
My Sassy Girl is really good, great ending too. I thought the character development was well done and it's great to hear oldies and classical songs in this movie. Windstruck is just a nice extra but that's all.

I watched Oldboy about a week ago, but I don't think I need to reiterate what's already been said many times over about it. :) My teeth still hurt every time I think of that movie.

Will be sure to check out Mr. & Lady Vengeance soon.

I didn't get to see "Widstruck" until much later and didn't know that it was related to the other movie. "My Sassy Girl" was actually the first Korean movie I watched.

I just recently finished "Il Mare." Its story resembles something from the American movie, "Frequency," except they write letters and use one mailbox.

Well, it's not directly related. It's more like spiritually related. I mean, she has the same characters in her movies, they meet the same way too but there's differences like her depression periods and her occupation. The plot fits but the circumstances don't.

I haven't watched Il Mare yet but I look forward to it. Many gave it a good rating.

Double Post:
Ok, I just saw Il Mare and I liked it a lot. I thought it was very sweet.
It has a really nice slow and quiet mood. I love that but some people can't stand it.

Yay for Asian movies :)

I just got done watching Failan (South Korea, 2001). This is the 2nd Korean movie I've seen (first was Oldboy, like many people's :P). It was pretty good and even got a tear or two from me at the end...I have to say I felt it was a bit too sappy though. Both Oldboy & this featured a sort of always-smiling, angelic type saintly girl juxtaposed against the brutal violence in the rest of the film. (I wonder if this is a pattern throughout all Korean films?) It just seems like this type of character is crippled by too much one-dimensionality (as the embodiment of purity) and could not really exist in the real world. But still a good film, I'd give it 7.5/10.

I think I will try to get my hands on 3-Iron next.

Edit: omg, an Asian movie like Frequency? Must get!

I admit that I put the movie down for almost a year because I couldn't finish it due to the slow pace. I finally finished it a few weeks ago and it was indeed worth it.

The plot is like frequency but the time paradox theory is different and there's no action but it's still worth the watch.

There's a movie that came out in HK a few years ago called A World without Thieves. Many people liked it. Synopsis on http://imdb.com/title/tt0439884/

Thanks for listing your titles, I'll check them out. I like melodramas.

Not sure if this counts, I just finished watching Spy Samurai, pretty good film. I really liked the black and white. But I also heard some cars in the backround which doesnt fit samurai era :P

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059303/

A World Without Thieves was indeed an excellent movie. I can vouch almost any move starring Andy Lau (none of you guys mentioned Internal Affairs I-III??) are superb. There's only one clear exception:
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/ab...rious_file.jpg
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/we...rious_file.htm

I watched "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" lately and it sucks... I hope the last part of trilogy is better.

:doggy:

What about Tampopo? That was a great Japanese film.

Haha, I just remembered something called "Sicily 2 Kilometers", something korean. It's a appearently a Comedy/Horror (Yes, horror and comedy...). It's not scary at all, but it's seriously HILARIOUS! Anybody wanting a good laugh should check it out :)

I haven't seen Initial D yet. It's a HK movie starring Edison Chan, Jordan Chan, Shawn Yu, and Jay Chou. Some people said it was a blow off movie. For those who've already seen it, what do u think?

I just saw Failan and it is sad. I haven't seen much K-movies so I don't know if there's a pattern. I like it and I'll admit that I was crying throughout the last hour of the movie.

I'm plan to watch "Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu". It's a Japanese movie and it's also sappy but I like that so I look forward to it.

The Promise and Fearless are being released in US cinemas in May and August respectively as wide releases. I'm looking forward to seeing both of them even though people have said the Promise sucked. Anyone seen it?
http://impawards.com/2006/promise.html

I saw it this weekend and didn't like it much. I wasn't too impressed with the acting, and some of the effects were sort of cheesy. In a way it was a bit fun, but overall I found it more boring. At least in my opinion not worth submission for an oscar.

Glad you liked Failan, jouhou. I felt they were laying on the sappiness a bit thick in the 2nd half so I kind of felt smothered, but I must admit I got really touched at the end.

Got a real good surprise the other day with Postman Blues (1997, Japan). Sort of a multi-genre off-beat film... Quirky like Tarantino, except, well, not sucky :X (sorry to any QT fans, can't stand his films). Anyway, the way the two "sides" of the movie ran parallel and contrasted was well-done and frequently hilarious ("Is he fast?" "...Like a rocket."). A touch sad when they intersected at the end though :(. My only complaint is that it felt slow at times. 9/10!

Well, I watched Godzilla: Final Wars yesterday. I've got to say that I found the whole mutant/human storyline to drag on for far too long. I wanted to see more of Godzilla beating the crap out of everything around him. I don't feel this is an appropriate temporary finale for the big beast. I found the little Minira to be the most stupidiest looking thing I've ever seen. It should have never been in the movie at all. Nonetheless, when Godzilla is on the screen beating things up this movie is good, otherwise everything else is crap. Ryuhei Kitamura is one of the worst Japanese directors. I found Godzilla: Final Wars to be too The Matrix like in it's fight scenes. Bullet time, slow motion shots, etc. A complete rip off. I did like when the American Zilla was put to waste in a matter of seconds by the big G. Apparently that scene got a standing ovation by the Japanese. I don't recommend this film to the average viewer. Godzilla fans might like this, but then again they may not.

If you didn't appreciate SFMV, don't expect to be captivated by SFLV. The general consesnsus is that oldboy is the greatest of the three, usually because of its visual overload. I find SFMV to be the greatest of the Revenge Trilogy.

I have gotten to the point where I pretty much only stock up on Japanese films now adays, surprise, surprise...

Anyway, some recent pictures for me include:

Kamikaze Girls: What a lovley, insane little comedy this turned out to be. Probably one of the more enjoyable films I have seen in quite some time.

Survive Style 5+: Like Kamikaze Girls in style, only much more off the wall. Not for everyone's tastes, but I enjoyed it.

Lupin the 3rd - Strange Psychokinetic Strategy: Live action Lupin done rather... poorly, I'm afraid. At least the assassin nun group was cool.

ESPY: Interesting little 1970's sci-fi picture, to say the least. Not what I would call a great film, but I'm a sucker for Japanese cinema from this decade so I enjoyed it quite a bit along with the contemporary score. Also always great to see Kaoru Yumi in her prime. :)

I fully agree with you. I got to attend the world premiere of the film in LA back in 2004, and left the theater extremely dissapointed by the whole thing (although the experience of attending the event was great). Even at the world premiere, people couldn't help but laugh at "the one" sequence where he stops the laser blasts/bullets mid-air. I don't know if I would say that all of Kitamura's movies are bad, though... I did enjoy his Azumi flick.

I just saw Please Teach Me English. While my experience with Korean rom-coms is limited, from what I've read and what I little I know, the film seemed to fit the mold precisely. Nothing new, but it was a fun watch. Some quirky CG and animations pop up in some unexpected moments, perhaps another staple of the genre I'm not aware of, but it is chockful of off-the-wall antics that I've come to expect from these things. The male lead here is the male lead from Volcano High; good or bad, that's for you to decide.

There is one Asian film I recommend to everyone if you haven't seen it:

Shaolin Soccer

Stephen Chow is a golden god!

Heh...that's like recommending Ayumi Hamasaki in a J-Pop thread. ;)

I recently saw the great yokai war which was a pretty fun movie and had a few laughs. Great movie for kids.

I'm not too sure about Promise, but I'm looking forward to seeing Fearless. I believe it was supposed to be Jet Li's last movie too. :( He's not the best actor I've seen, but he has some really good moves. It's a shame that he doesn't use the spear or bamboo pole in too many of his movies.


I just got around to seeing Shaolin Soccer. (HAH! I'm, like, really late on that) Ehh...I dunno. I didn't really like it. Sure, it had its good moments and quirky style, but overall, I wasn't impressed by the storyline at all-- very predictable and dull. I'm not saying that the movie itself was dull though; in fact, it has some of the most original, hilarious things I've seen.



I must admit, however, that it was a fun (and funny!) movie.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289181/

Has anyone seen Failan?

Wow, this movie was actually emotionally touching. The character development is wonderful. You can read other reviews, because honestly, I can never fully write some of the emotions I feel after watching something like this.

All those missed chances that just bypass us. Makes you wonder to never take anything for granted...

I just saw a film cowritten by Park Chan-Wook called the Humanist. It's this black comedy involving a rich brat and two of his friends trying to get their way out of a murder charge. I don't know how much he wrote, but it's pretty bad, with a lot of gross-out humor that just comes off as sophomoric. One of the guys was from Attack the Gas Station though. Just a little side note, but it doesn't redeem that film in any sort of way.

Lately, the only asian films I've watched fit into the teeny-bopper stereotype. Blade of the Rose, Seven Swords, etc. I not really for the local films here because the films are usually catered to mass appeal. Mass appeal is unfortunately translated as very predicatable, melodramatic tear fests. The probably only thing that can save these movies is if their are really good actotrs on board.

My friend just mentioned the "Asian Film Festival" to me. I've missed it the past two years but this year I marked it down on my calendar. To find out about it just do a search on any search engine with "Asian Film Festival". I'm not sure which cities participate in this so you have to find out for yourself.

I watched Oldboy yesterday. What a fucked up movie. I sort of called the big suprise for Daesu though. Man, gross.

Not Asian, but what about The Crying Game for twisted?

So, has anyone checked out Shinobi yet? I just watched it today, and to be honest, I can't say I recommend it. There were some nice moments (the ending might remind some of Oldboy), but overall, everything about it just seemed mediocre to me.

If you're curious though, it won't hurt to give it a shot. I've seen much worse ways to spend an hour and a half. Also, I've heard it's actually based on a manga...anyone know which one? I'd be interested in checking it out.

I've just finished watching Sekai no chuushin de ai wo sakebu(Crying out love in the center of the world) which is a japanese drama. I must say this topped most of the movies I've seen even the korean dramas. Here is a music video for you guys who are interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2pxT...0out%20love%20

I'm suprised Yamamanama didn't create this thread.

I'm surprised your avatar isn't black.

Oh yes, Initial D...
It's a good movie to watch if you're...
A) A fangirl of those four guys you mentioned
B) Into Initial D
C) Into cars and and Anne Suzuki
D) All of the above

Other than that (I apply to 'A') Jay Chou is a horrible actor and should only be a singer for the rest of his life. The storyline is ok I suppose... expect another Initial D movie coming very soon.


As for Movies that I really really love and can't stop watching them cuz they're just THAT great...
Stephen Chow stars in both of these movies and no it's not Shoalin Soccer or Kung Fu Hustle
A Chinese Odyssey I and A Chinese Odyssey II
They're both fairly old but omg.. Stephen Chow is the best!!!
The story is about the Monkey King and how he came to be. It's also got the Stephen Chow touch to it so the movie is funny. And of course it's got action and drama, romance... but very funny too...

Speaking of Initial D, there's news that Edison is going to be in the Grudge 2.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...goryid=28&cs=1

What I'm looking forward to is the US release of Lady Vengeance. Even though it'll probably never reach me in theaters, I'm waiting for the Region 1 DVD because I still haven't gotten a all-region player.
http://films.tartanfilmsusa.com/lady...TrailerLow.mov

I was lucky to catch most of April Story by Shinji Iwai on TV yesterday and really loved it. It's about a shy girl who comes from Hokkaido to Tokyo to attend university.

"April Story" is the international title. "Shigatsu monogatari" is the original title for those who want to know.
You saw this on TV?? Where do you live? What tv station?

I just went back and watched The Lotus Lantern yesterday. It's a rather old animated movie (Chinese!), but it's still fun to watch. It's about a boy who is the son of a goddess and a mortal man, but because the gods weren't really supposed to marry mortals, the boy's father was killed. Eventually, the mother gets punished and is trapped under a mountain. The boy then tries to rescue his mother. The end. :D

I really liked this movie. It was cute, and I got quite a few chuckles out of it. Definitely worth watching. :) I'm not too sure about how popular it was when it first came out, I'd call it a classic. I also love the music.

The channel is called AZN TV which I think is only on cable TV. They play a lot of the same movies over and over again but I lucked out when they played this. :)
http://www.azntv.com/fc_movie.aspx

Anyone see Miike's bit in Masters of Horror, Imprint? Considering American standards, it's no surprise it got pulled. In and of itself though, it's still one grotesque work. You can spot a mishmash of elements from recent great Asian cinema - oldboy, Three: Dumplings, Audition - but it is nonetheless its own hand-y beast.

The last Asian movie I watched was Suicide Club. It was pretty boring and didn't make a whole lot of sense, so I just turned it off and never finished it.

I downloaded Battle Royale (I know, old news) a few days ago, but I haven't gotten around to watching it yet.

Battle Royale is great; almost everyone will say the sequel is crap; and the novel is infinitely better. Most obviously, having so much more space to tell the story of an entire class gives more room for character development. Nonetheless, though I like the portrayal of Kazuo in the novel as amoral, the film version of him as simply a psychotic killer is great and absolutely creepy.

That and he has an awesome hairdo.

As the saying goes, "quoted for truth."

Just watched Mr. Vengeance.

Messed.

UP.

And that's not even counting the pedophilic undertones.

Pedophilic undertones? You mean the retarded guy getting the girl's necklace?

I actually never figured out what was the deal with the retarded guy.

But yeah, that and a couple other times, like when Ryu lifts up her skirt when he's playing with her.

I've always seen the retarded guy as a sort of deus ex machina. It never hurts to rewatch to think of something else because the rest of the film is so finely crafted.

I can't recall the skirt-lifting scene very well, but it's not intentional and I'm pretty sure you don't think so, though correct me if I'm wrong.

What is your final evaluation of the film? Good? Bad? Obviously those undertones you perceived aren't a good thing, but the messed up doesn't give me a good idea.

I definitely enjoyed it. It was a little slow for the first half, and I had a hard time figuring out the basic scenario and characters. I was actually starting to think there wasn't going to be any actual violence and it would just be more of a psychological mind-rape film. But it turns out it had both, and it made up for the lack of violence in the first half with the sheer brutality of the second. :D

I think as long as people don't go into this movie expecting to see Oldboy 2 or something, they'll see this film stands out in its own right.

Now for Lady Vengeance! :)

Definitely a very different film than oldboy. Park Chan-Wook has said that the visual overload in oldboy was a result of his being so tired of his minimalistic approach in SFMV.

Lady Vengeance is the most arthouse-like film in the Revenge trilogy so hopefully that will be helpful in shaping your expectations.

Do any of you like older asian movies? Yasujiro Ozu stuff? "Tokyo boshoku" and "Tokyo monogatari" are pretty good movies; i have monogatari on here if someone wants and can't find or anything.

So I just finished watching Suicide Club.
 

I honesly don't quite understand this movie. So the opening scene of 50 girls jumping right into the tracks of the number 8 train was "entertaining", but I was quite confused with the rest of the movie elements. A few twists I didn't expect:




I basically don't quite understand the ending, and it's funny after the credits that it announces THIS FILM IS BASED ENTIRELY FICTION, ANY RESEMBLANCE TO ACTUAL PERSONS OR EVENTS IS A COINCIDENCE. :tpg: I sure as hell hope so, or else my next trip to Japan will be postponed indefinetly.

Who was the blond haired freak and what was his roll? Who was the Bat and what was her purpose? To play a joke?

I saw Tokyo Story a few days ago; good movie. Personally, I prefer Kurosawa over Ozu's films (Ikiru is probably my favorite though it's been a while). I haven't seen much of Ozu, though.

What are some good "Kurosawa" films?

I think most people will recommend The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and Rashomon. Those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

That movie was horrible. Sion Sono (I think that's how it's spelled) got praised to no end and the hype for this was incredible. It turns out it's just some completely disjointed piece of crap with lots of incredibly violent scenes. By the by, did anyone spot the reference of this in the much worse film Hostel?

Anyway, the blonde guy was someone who was seeking infamy by taking credit for the entire suicide trend/cult/mania going on throughout the city. It was just a red herring to set up the surprise revelation that it's this group of kids. Been a while since I saw it, so up for discussion on points.

My favorite scene is hands down the little montage with the kids music playing and everyone around the city is commiting suicide. I really flinched with the mom in the kitchen. Ugh.

Did anyone here thought the music was catchy? "Mail me..."

As for older Asian films, I've seen in parts that one Seijun Suzuki movie, the one with the sequel of it being Pistol Opera... I forgot but I'd like to see his other more linear works.

Haven't seen Kurosawa which needs to be remedied.

Is anyone excited for "I'm a Cyborg But That's Ok," Park Chan-Wook's upcoming comedy (yes, Park Chan-Wook as in "tendon-cutting and teeth-pulling" guy and comedy as in "funny ha ha")?

Don't forget he's also He can have a sense of humor sometimes. ;)

Definately see Ikiru if you get the chance. Also Stray Dog and Red Beard are very good.

As far as Japanese cinema goes I generally prefer the films made in the black & white days (particularly when compared to the often bleak films made today). There is a veritable goldmine of great stuff to be found from this era if you look deep enough. And few have contributed to it as much as Yasujiro Ozu.

All of his films are good. There's simply no such thing as an Akira Kurosawa film not worth watching. Some of my personal favorites include:

Madadayo
Ran
Yume
Kagemusha
Sanjuro
Ikiru
Rashomon
No Regrets for My Youth
Drunken Angel

I found that very fake, honestly. The blood was all orange, like some carrot juice mixed with flour to thicken it. So far the best prop for fake blood I've seen is the cherry flavoring used in Dairy Queen blizzards, as when I worked there I accidently sprayed myself with it and the manager immediately called the ambulance.

Yeah I personally didn't like Suicide Circle. It didn't put its message out clear enough and I don't think multiple views would help to make the message any clearer. What exactly do the kids want people to "connect" to and to find about? This film needed more dialogue and less "scary" scenes (which were pretty pathetically done. The security guard in the hotel wasn't very convincing).



I also rented from Rogers Video:

Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa after hearing so much "hype" and good reviews.

Millenium Actress (an anime, I know), and it seems Bigblah gave it quite a good reception.

Thanks for suggestions from those who suggested. Getting Ikiru and Rashomon now ~

The trailer for the Il Mare Remake is out...
http://pdl.stream.aol.com/aol/us/mov..._wsdert_dl.mov

starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves.
Glad I saw the original first.

Yeah, i saw that the other day. I really wish hollywood would stay away from already great asian films. I wonder what the remakes of Old Boy, My Sassy Girl, Windstruck, and Daisy will be like.

There's going to ne a remake windstruck? i thought defiling My Sassy Girl was enough. remakes are nice in the fact it gives another perspective, but most of the time i think remakes are just poorly constructed.

i do however enjoy modern remakes of older movies, as i have a hard time tolerating the washed-out colors and primitive special effects.

But it's dumb when remakes are made because western audiences don't like reading subtitles or seeing foreign faces. Especially when they don't really acknowledge the original.

Just saw Oldboy today. Great fucking movie. The english dub is actually very well done. Except for Mido's voice, which was kind of annoying.



I don't know if anyone else has seen it in english, but was that Crispin Freeman voicing Lee Woo-Jin? The guy who played the dentist sounded very familiar too.

Haven't been watching Asian films for a very long time. So I've got tons of catching up to do. The last one I caught was "Perhaps Love" by Peter Chan. It's essentially a "musical within a musical" about unrequited love. The plot is pretty simple but works very nicely in exploring, broadway style, the inner struggles of the three lead characters played by Jacky Cheung, Zhou Xun and Takeshi Kaneshiro.

Cheung and Zhou are fantastic actors. Cheung plays the role of a melancholic director with extreme finesse, but I was more surprised by how good Zhou was. Granted she doesn't quite have the same vocal powers as Cheung during the musical numbers, the doe-eyed Zhou captures the innocence and fragility of her character very well. Not surprised that she won a best actress accolade at the recent Hong Kong film awards. I was rather disappointed with Kaneshiro at several points. He can't quite seem to detach himself from the pretty boy label, except for the flashback sequences which I thoroughly enjoyed. He doesn't emote very well for the most part. That and his character was given some really strange moping scenes.

The movie does have its flaws. Some of the musical sequences are a little bit overdone. I really didn't like Kaneshiro's singing. And there were some situations/relationships I felt could have been further developed on. While not an excellent film, "Perhaps Love" is still very enjoyable and touching, leaving a strong bitter-sweet after taste. The great visuals and sets certainly add to the experience as well. Definitely worth a recommendation.

I'll watch it... but not in the theatres. No way am I gonna pay $10 to watch an American remake, I'll wait a year or watch a bootleg of it. I already have a passion for the original. And no way the remake can top those variations of the ending song, "must say goodbye" I think it's called.

The "Black and White" days ended in the mid 1950's in Japan, when there was a huge shift toward color outside of a few mavericks like Akira Kurosawa, and films like Double Suicide, which kept producing black and white movies into the late 1960's.

Anyway, the 1950's and the early 1960's are often referred to as the "Golden Age of Japanese Cinema", so you are hardly alone in that feeling. Personally, I just enjoy all of the movie made in the Showa era (up to the 1989) over the current crop of films out there, beyond some exceptions like Kamakize Girls and of course anything by Miyazaki.

New Hayao Miyazaki film to be announced May 5th I think.

I forgot if I mentioned this before, although I know if so, no one answered so... did anyone see Miike's Imprint yet?

yay. for new hayao miyazaki film.

O_o Really? Man, and he said he was going into retirement after Princess Mononoke, and now look where we are. I'm not complaining though, great news. Got a link for where it was mentioned?

Awesome, thanks for the link!

Not a problem. Tonari no totoro to-toro.

Watched Lady Vengeance a couple weeks ago...not bad, but definitely not as good (i.e. brutal) as the first two in the trilogy. It was a little held back by the "female touch," in my opinion. I actually almost found myself rooting for Oh Dae-Su the bad guy instead.

Speaking of SFLV, did anyone enjoy spotting the cameos? It was awesome to see Shin Ha-Kyun and Song Kang-Ho as the hired assassins.

Yeah, but I only spotted two (the ones in your av/sig :) ).

Gang Hye-Jung is a newscaster.
The actress who played Woo-Jin's sister is one of the girls in the "Reaction to Geum-Ja" montage. I believe she actually says "Kind Geum-Ja!"
The actor who played Mr. Han plays the fervent religious who sells out Geum-Ja to Mr. Baek.

Weird, will have to look out for those on the next viewing.

Anyway, watched A Tale of Two Sisters yesterday. The ending was surprising, although to me it just came out of nowhere. It struck me as sort of a cross between Fight Club and The Sixth Sense, but it didn't really have the "OHHHHHH, it all makes sense now" effect of either of those movies. The production and soundtrack were beautiful, though. Will definitely have to watch it again sometime.

I the only one who feels My Sassy Girl has nothing really going for it, at all? It seems like the typical romantic comedy, except it's in Korean. If it was the exact same movie, except in English, I doubt anyone would give a shit about it.

I recently watched this movie by director Toshiaki Toyoda called Nine Souls. Movies seem to impact me a lot more when I'm well, stoned, so I'd have to watch it sober to see whether it was actually as good as it seemed, but what it seemed like was a masterpeice of a film filled with all sorts of little love stories and such detailing the lives of the characters before they were in prison.

My friend also showed me the trailer for Chinese movie called SPL(2005) by director Wilson Yip and starring Donnie Yen and a few other martial arts geniouses. Shit looks hardcore to say the least. I'll have to check it out for sure soon.

Here's teh trailer for SPL.

Anyone watch Ichi the Killer. Somewhat of a disgusting comedy. Gory and disturbing.

I loved it though.

Just got it yesterday. Good solid action movie. Samo Hung might be old but he's still bad ass :D

Donnie Yen is slowly comming out of the shadows finaly. He's a bit underratted been that he never does a film where he's the main star anymore. Then again I think this is something I like about him.

A Bittersweet Life is well worth checking out; the latest from the director of A Tale of Two Sisters. It is a simple revenge film but superbly made although never reaches the bleakness of Sympathy for Mr Vengence.

Just wondering has anyone else seen Takashi Miike's Gozu? I don't really know what to say after watching it. It's just like... holy fuck what did I just watch?

One thing I noticed were a few odd similarities between Gozu and the plot of Silent Hill. Three obvious ones being; companion mysteriously dissapears, fucked up town and that the road is blocked by a river at one point.
Oddly enough this movie

I just saw Shadowless Sword the other night. Other than the final fight scene this movie is a complete waste of time. Save yourself the trouble and just watch the last ten or fifteen minutes, if you bother at all. Not that I was expecting much, since it is a Korean movie.

Yeah, i heard Shadowless Sword wasn't all that good. I'll still take a look at it, but won't have any high expectations.

SPL is an awesome movie, though extremely tragic. Good to see Donnie Yen back in action too.

i was going to watch that. is it any good? have you seen ichi the killer also directed by Takashi Miike?

Yah I've seen Ichi. Gozu is more recent and yah, it's good I'd say albeit quite gross.

Well if you live in 2006, Korean cinema has became one the the most (maybe the most) interesting asian cinema since the retrocession of HK to China. Of course Hong Kong still can do some great movies like they used to bring us in the 90's, like the recent "Sha Po Lang" or "Fearless". But it's better to not underestimate the korean cinema anymore. That said, I agree Shadowless Sword miss something to be a great sword movie. The photography, the scenery and the costumes are beautiful (although they didn't used the costumes of the promotional posters -_-), some action scenes delivers, but overall this little something to be a great epic movie is missing. Not to mention the "flying fights" scenes are somewhat ridiculous.
I recently saw "Shinobi" (The anime Basilisk is adapted from the same novel : Romeo and Juliet in the ninja land) and it suffer from the same flaws, the shape is nice but what's inside isn't that interesting.

Uh oh...I was planning to check out Basilisk at some point. Tell me it's better than Shinobi. ;_;

It's harmless, go on. The firsts episodes are good at least. Still, Ninja Scroll TV is better than that in many ways.

Anyone seen Survive Style Five? That shit's got fucking Vinnie Jones in it!!!
If you havent seen it, see it!

has anyone seen seven swords. Obviously a recreation from seven samurai but it concentrates on the different abilities of each sword. An awsome movie, are there any other martial art films worth watching?
I'll also make sure to look up surfive style 5, seems to have some good ratings ^_^

Check Fearless (Huo Yuan Jia), the best Jet Li movie since 1994.
Seven Swords was alright. Just an ok Tsui Hark, but not as crazy as his previous movies like The Blade or the Swordsman trilogy. Not to mention the OUATIC saga. But Seven Swords got its moments (the last fight with Donnie Yen was SO Tsui Hark).

Yeah Fearless was a good movie but It reminded me of hero a bit too much. It seems like jet li is becoming kinda like zhang ziyi becuase of:

Spoiler for jet li and zhang ziyi movies. .

erm.


And Fearless was 100 times superior to Hero IMHO, which was almost entirely show off and slow motion, aimed for the western audience, like Crouching Tiger was. Fearless got a solid story, great photography and outstanding well executed action sequences. Ronnie Yu is, by far, a better director for this movie genre than Zhang Yimou will ever be. Check the Bride with White Hairs (Jiang Hu). A true Wu Xia Pian masterpiece.

well I just finish watching the Korean movie "Daisy" with my favorite actress of all time Ji-hyun Jun

this movie was really good and really sad ; ;

I just love all the film she played in, she' didn't do a lot of movie (about 6 be are all good!), but I think she's a very good actress that can really make you feel all kind of emotion. Anyone who know "My Sassy Girl" know of who i'm talking about ^^ I so love her in "My Sassy Girl" "Windstruck" and "Daisy"...well I love her in all her movies XD She did too "Il mare" which got a remake called "The Lake House" curently playing in theater (still didn't see it, wonder in Sandra Bullock play the role of Ji-hyun Jun as good as her)

well anyway, anyone who like some "romantic comedy" I suggest My Sassy Girl and Windstruck! and for Drama: Daisy, Il Mare ^^

gasp where did you get Daisy from?
I wanted to catch it but the torrents are already dead and it just came out this year too.
I think I cried in Il Mare, hahaha. Maybe I'll cry in Daisy if I get the chance to see it. How's the music in Daisy? I liked the songs in Il Mare a lot.

=O I am suprised that no one has even mentioned Lee Jun Ki/이준기. He is like, TEH popular in South Korea.

=O Even more suprising thing is, this guy was never mentioned if I remember right.[yes, I am talking to all of you Japanese wannabees]
Lee Byung-Hun/이병헌, he is supposted to be SUPER popular in Japan.

Finally got to see Sha Po Lang about a week ago, what an awesome flick. The fightscenes at the very end, are now at the top of my list for most awesome fight scenes ever. On that note, I was also unfortunate enough to watch Death Trance.....:(

Gotta love Wu Jing. ;)
This guy just rules in every scenes he plays in. Not to mention Sammo in the unusual badguy role. Btw, there is a version "cut" for this movie. If you saw the uncut version then

Is he in any other action flicks like this?

I only saw The Tai Chi Master (not the one with Jet Li, the one from 2005), The Legend of Zu, and Drunken Monkey. The first one wasn't that bad, the second is great but we don't even notice Wu Jing, and I didn't liked the third one, for being a crappy copy of Once Upon A Time In China, with less creativity. So Sha Po Lang was the first movie where I noticed him.

Pretty much agreed. However, a major issue I had with the film was in the action choreography for the Japanese warrior - it looked absolutely ridiculous the way he flailed his katana around like it was a wu shu sword. Of course it's a Chinese film with Chinese action choreographers with a distinctly Chinese style, but IMO Chinese style choreographry + Japanese katana swordplay just don't go well together. Also look at the Princess Blade, directed by Donnie Yen (a superb action director as well). The katana-based swordplay in that film also looked silly and ridiculous. It was just a tarnish on an otherwise excellent film.

I saw the Takeshi Kitano film Hana Bi the other day. See that movie. One of the best movies ever made.

Stephen Chow movies
 

Yes, I have to echo that. A Chinese Odyssey 1 and 2 are two of my favorite movies. They are both incredibly funny. Yet, the romance and drama are also well done, something which is hard to do with so much comedy going on. I also liked From Beijing with Love and God of Gamblers 3, two other movies with Stephen Chow.

From Beijing with Love is a 007 spoof with abundant irony, both verbally and situational-ly. It is best appreciated if you understand the language. But, even without the language, im sure there's plenty of places that will bring laughter. Of course, there are places with boobies, which are present in all his movies. That's the only downside, I think. I guess it depends on what you look for in movies. I think those places are like defects in an otherwise perfect diamond.

Now, here's something which might be a tangant. Does anyone know where I can get the soundtracks for Stephen Chow movies? They are kind of old, so I don't even know if they exist. For the sake of maintaining the focus in this thread, I guess if anyone knows, they can PM me. Thanks.

My favorite asian movies so far:

Battle Royale
- Art of the Devil 2
- Dragon Ball The Magic Begins!! (you will laugh enough)
- All-Out Nine
- Strange Circus
- City Hunter
- Cromartie High School
- Ashura