Asian Cinema

[zoop]

Any fans of Asian films around? I've recently started watching a lot of Japanese and Korean movies (and some others, beyond those), and have been extremely happy with some of what I've seen. While it obviously isn't all good, there are a lot of gems around that offer a very welcome change of pace from what you typically see in your typical American films.

 

Here are some of the things that I've watched, in no particular order, that I'd recommend.

 

(Movie synopsis are from letterboxd.com)

_________________________________________________________

 

Why Don't You Play in Hell?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZW6jGDCemo

In Japan, gonzo filmmakers hatch a three-pronged plan to save an actress’s career, end a yakuza war and make a hit movie.

 

This one is... different. The filmmakers in question are a small rag-tag group that run around proclaiming themselves to be the Fuck Bombers, of all things, while acting like delusional children for lack of a better way of putting it. They end up getting mixed up in a yakuza war, in which they see their chance to finally strike it big.

 

It's hilarious. Completely, absurdly, hilarious - to the point that I'd say that this is one of the funniest movies that I've ever seen.

 

_________________________________________________________

 

Kumiko The Treasure Hunter

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDK9jdtwdTo

In the massive city of Tokyo, Kumiko, a twenty-nine year old, lives in utter solitude. She works a dreadful, dead-end job under an awful boss, is intimidated by her well-off peers, and nagged incessantly by her overbearing mother who is exasperated by the fact that her daughter is not married or even in a relationship. The only joys in her life come from a grainy VHS tape – an American film in which a man buries a satchel of money in the snowy Midwestern plains – and her beloved pet rabbit, Bunzo. Kumiko is somehow convinced that this treasure is real, and obsesses over its discovery. With a hand-stitched treasure map and a quixotic spirit, Kumiko embarks on an incredible journey over the Pacific and through the frozen Minnesota wilderness to uncover a purported fortune.

 

Japanese woman digs up a VHS tape of Fargo, watches it, and becomes convinced that the money that is stashed away in the movie is real. As her day to day life wears her down further and further, she becomes fixated with this idea, leading to her purchase of a one-way ticket to America. It is funny at times, absurd at all times, and at the same time a downright heartbreaking drama as the main character's frankly miserable existence is put on display.

_________________________________________________________

71 Into the Fire

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuAfubkv3y0

 

A civil war broke out in the 1950s between North and South Korea which changed the country forever. 71: Into the Fire centers on the struggles of 71 student soldiers who fought through the Korean War. Using real people and events based on the opening moves of the Battle of P’ohang-dong, the film exposes the personal and physical conflicts that these students faced when finding themselves on the last line of defense at P’ohang-dong Girl’s Middle School against the NKPA’s advancement, needing to hold out until back up from other Korean troops and the Allies arrived.

 

Yikes. I don't quite know what I was expecting with this one, but it honestly blew me away, and was one of the most impactful war movies I've ever seen. It has a fairly slow start, but once it gets going, it keeps going.

 

_________________________________________________________

Assassination

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLs5zf5XtGo

Assassination is set in Korea and Shanghai in the 1930’s during the Japanese occupation. The government resistance assigns a secret commando group with killing collaborators.

 

This one is a real treat! The Letterboxd synopsis doesn't really do it justice, to be honest. It's about a group of three resistance fighters being sent into the heart of Japanese occupied Korea to assassinate a key general and a well known collaborator. What should be a fairly straight forward plan is instead complicated by betrayal and unforeseen circumstances, resulting in a narrative that is wild and complex without ever (in my opinion) being difficult to follow. Jun Ji-hyun's character is a major highlight of the movie.

_________________________________________________________

 

Train to Busan

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyWuHv2-Abk

Martial law is declared when a mysterious viral outbreak pushes Korea into a state of emergency. Those on an express train to Busan, a city that has successfully fended off the viral outbreak, must fight for their own survival…

 

I love zombie movies... or, rather, I want to love zombie movies - unfortunately, not many of them seem to want to be loved. This one, on the other hand does, and by God do I love it. This Korean take on a zombie apocalypse is absolutely fantastic and horribly tense all through.

Edited May 3, 2017 by Guest

[zoop]

Sadako vs. Kayako

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw0Ip5XoXyw

A girl, Yūri Kurahashi, after watching a cursed videotape together with her friend in a haunted house, becomes trapped in a conflict between the two murderous ghosts: Sadako Yamamura and Kayako Saeki.

 

I'll be completely honest with you: this movie is extremely silly... it's also extremely fun, and manages to make the concept work decently well. I went into it with extremely low expectations, but was very pleasantly surprised.

_________________________________________________________

The Wailing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43uAputjI4k

A stranger arrives in a little village and soon after a mysterious sickness starts spreading. A policeman is drawn into the incident and is forced to solve the mystery in order to save his daughter.

 

This movie is a bit... different. Early on, it flip-flops between tension and absurd comedy before finally settling on being suspenseful as all hell. Basically... an old Japanese man moves to a small remote Korean town, which soon after starts to experience an outbreak of violence and madness. As one might presume, the first person that anyone suspects is the foreigner.

_________________________________________________________

The Host

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HRTy26s4hw

Gang-du is a dim-witted man working at his father’s tiny snack bar near the Han River. One day, Gang-du’s one and only daughter Hyun-seo comes back from school irritated. She is angry at her uncle, Nam-il, who visited her school as her guardian shamelessly drunk. Ignoring her father’s excuses for Nam-il, Hyun-seo is soon engrossed in her aunt Nam-joo’s archery tournament on TV. Meanwhile, outside of the snack bar, people are fascinated by an unidentified object hanging onto a bridge. In an instant, the object reveals itself as a terrifying creature turning the riverbank into a gruesome sea of blood. Amid the chaos, Hyun-seo is helplessly snatched up by the creature right before Gang-du’s eyes. These unforeseen circumstances render the government powerless to act. But receiving a call of help from Hyun-seo, the once-ordinary citizen Gang-du and his family are thrust into a battle with the monster to rescue their beloved Hyun-seo.

 

this movie is friggin' hilarious. A monster attacks a South Korean riverfront park and abducts a little girl, who's family then decides to go full on monster-hunting-vigilante to try and rescue her.

_________________________________________________________

Rurouni Kenshin

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXkyJxyJT3E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJgqWzErnlw

Former legendary assassin Kenshin Himura has now become a wandering samurai. Offering aid & protecting those in need as atonement for his past deeds. During this time Kenshin Himura comes across and aides Kaoru Kamiya (Emi Takei). Her father opened the Kamiya Kasshin-ryu, a kendo school located in Tokyo and Kaoru is now an instructor there. Kaoru then invites Kenshin to stay at her dojo. Their relationship develops further, but Kenshin is still haunted by his violent past

 

I liked these movies more than the anime. Come at me.

_________________________________________________________

Harakiri

This one is... old. Really old. Filmed in 1962, in fact, in stunning black and white. I confess - I haven't really liked many of the super old Samurai movies that I've seen... I couldn't make it through Yojimbo or Seven Samurai - they just weren't my cup of tea. Harakiri, on the other hand, is a bloody masterpiece and is easily one of the best movies I've ever seen.

_________________________________________________________

And... there you go. Anyone else seen any of these, or have any other movies that you'd like to recommend?

Edited May 3, 2017 by Guest

[Nectar]

Kumiko The Treasure Hunter and Why Don't You Play in Hell? look pretty damn cool actually, I'll definitely add those to my list to obtain xP

 

Might make some fun lazy Sunday viewing this weekend, you think?

Nice list, though I bet that took a while to compile

 

I can't say I've ever watched any before, the most Asian live action I've ever watched is the occasional TV drama

[zoop]

Kumiko The Treasure Hunter and Why Don't You Play in Hell? look pretty damn cool actually, I'll definitely add those to my list to obtain xP

 

I had the chance to see Kumiko in a theater during a local film festival, which was a complete and utter blast to say the least!

 

Both of those movies should make for good gateway drugs, I think, and are high on my favorites list - should be fun! :3

 

Nice list, though I bet that took a while to compile

 

Doing all of the formatting, getting all of the trailers and such did take a little while... thus my often times lazy commentary on the movies.

 

Hope you like them!

[Histoire]

Even tho I am Asian myself, I haven't watched any Asian movies outside of my own country's local movies. Heck, even those local movies suck.

So I actually love watching Western ones rather than ones from my own continent.

 

But I'd be willing to watch some of those recommendations once I do get both the time and motivation.

[SAO LILDOOP]

I like Asian films a lot, ive not seen that many but I have seen a few Chinese ones that have been really good (sry I cant remember names) I would also like to watch the original "Rings" sometime.

Edited May 4, 2017 by Guest

[Orius]

I used to have an aversion to Asian movies and just Asian culture in general. Despite being an Asian Chinese myself (or probably because of it), I found Asian culture terribly boring. Of course, this does not include Japanese culture and Japanese movies for some reason, probably because Japan incorporated much more "western" (AKA American) elements into their culture than China and Hong Kong.

 

But over the last 6 years or so, I have been more open to Asian films. I really liked the original version of Infernal Affairs. The American remake, The Departed, was a good attempt at westernizing the story, but I felt like it missed a lot of the spiritual themes from the franchise. It's a movie called "Infernal" Affairs, after all. There was a lot of stuff related to karmic retribution and redemption that The Departed couldn't capture. The third Infernal Affairs was unfortunately a mess, but I felt like it presented that theme more obviously than the rest of the movies, particularly due to Andy Lau's character coming to terms with what he have done in the first film.

 

Looking back now, I was actually a bigger fan of Asian cinema as a kid because my parents would force me to watch them, and thus, exposing me to their influence. But as I grew up and watched my own movies, I started paying more attention to American cinema, particularly those explosive blockbusters like Terminator, Aliens, Predator, etc. They were just more showy and fantastical than the more subtle and grounded Asian movies, a trait I still favor today among American movies.

 

That said, I still have fond memories of certain Asian movies. For starters, I loved Chow Yun-Fat and God of Gamblers. So badass:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mibGBsWF4E0

That iconic theme is unforgettable.

 

There was something about "hard-boiled" heroes with the weight of the world on their shoulders that Asian cinema likes to mix with gambling for some reason. lol I remember watching this local TV serial as a kid, also a gambling show, where the protagonist is much like Chow Yun-Fat, a gritty hero with enemies everywhere. You can see the entire pilot episode here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZxpY_G3nHg

Very intense stuff. Russian Roulette with gunfire and mayhem... along with some gambling on the side. lol

 

I also really liked Stephen Chow's older films. They were great comedies, though I did prefer some of Jim Carrey's movies over Steph's (Liar Liar was great). I think my favorite Stephen film was "From Beijing with Love". Even though he still played a goof, it was his coolest role to date as a parody of James Bond:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKcfD19xAtE

Hong Kong was doing Austin Powers way earlier than America, it seems. lol There was also an emotional touch to the story, much like a lot of HK flicks, that I enjoyed.

 

And last but not least, who could forget Jackie Chan? Also loved his older flicks a lot when I was younger. My favorite was one that I grew up with:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PTTRQIFO7U

Needless to say, the trailer really emphasized how hyperbolic and cheesy the plot was. That was one reason why I stopped liking his films when I got older, because they just got way too silly for me, especially his American-starring works.

 

I am disappointed, however, that the trailer didn't use the really awesome theme song from Thunderbolt:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-OOwWwixGw

Edited May 27, 2017 by Guest