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Asian Films
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Good recommendation. The thing that I really liked about that movie was how little conversation there was in it; just speaking through actions.Boney said:
I watched it last night and thought it was pretty awesome. Sure there were some overblown parts but overall I thought the movie was good.micster said:
36 year old guy has 22 year old daughter and 6 year old grandsonshahkur said:Nice thread guys.
Although not romance, SPEEDY SCANDAL is still a nice KOREAN FAMILY film. With one cute kid.
And here's a quite depressing one that you should NOT MISS!!! A Japanese film called BLUE LIGHT.
The second one does have elements of romance.
..... how is that even possible ?
SouthernDragon
Member
farnham said:
He had her when he was 14 and she had her child when she was 16?
Also, subscribing. Looks like I'm going to be very poor once I get a job.
sixteen-bit
Member
SUPARSTARX said:Also,
Angelus Errare
Banned
dvdjamm said:The movie is actually called Nowhere To Hide
Pretty sure that's what he said =P
Since we've deviated from talking about romance dramas, here are some of my favorite Asian films:
Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? (Bae Yong-Kyun, 1989)
IMO the best Korean film ever made, and the film which Kim Ki-Duk (who is not even a Buddhist) aped for his pathetic SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER...AND SPRING. A deep, spiritual film that recalls Tarkovsky as much as Buddhist teachings. Golden Leopard (Best Film) and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, Locarno Film Festival.
Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnIXg6-8lic
The #1 Film of the past decade as voted by sixty international film historians, archivists, curators, and programmers, Syndromes and a Century is Thai maverick Weerasethakul's magnum opus. Austere, hypnotic and beguiling - and requires an imagination for it to really sink in.
Distance (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2001)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtoCBpQf6XE
While NOBODY KNOWS and AFTER LIFE are his most popular films, it is the film sandwiched between the two more populist titles which deserve the accolades as the director's best. An extraordinarily compassionate film about forgiveness, it was made after the Ark of Truth cult disaster.
Tony Takitani (Jun Ichikawa, 2004)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkLUJMOXHLw&feature=related
Never has loneliness been so realistically portrayed in a film. The quietly devastating was the first-ever adaptation of a Haruki Murakami work, and I daresay it's even better than the short story itself. Sublime score by Ryuichi Sakamoto, along with ace performances by Issey Ogata and Rie Miyazawa.
Eureka (Shinji Aoyama, 2000)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpOsVjE_XoI
*note* don't see the end of the trailer if you do not want to be spoiled.
The double-prize winner at Cannes Film Festival, this sepia-toned 3+ hours opus is one of the most gorgeously enigmatic elegies about people struggling to overcome their past traumas. Even the trailer is epic - nearly 5 minutes!
Secret Sunshine (Lee Chang-Dong, 2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klJIqZOEQ9s
Jeon Do-yeon deservedly won Best Actress for this heartwrenching film that doesn't shy away from about controversies, especially regarding Christian proselytizism. Very powerful film.
A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang, 1991)
An indisputable classic by the late Edward Yang, the 4-hour A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY was a viewing experience I will not forget. Surprisingly, the 4 hours went by extremely quickly - anyone who has seen 2000's YI YI can attest to this. Not to be missed.
Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? (Bae Yong-Kyun, 1989)
IMO the best Korean film ever made, and the film which Kim Ki-Duk (who is not even a Buddhist) aped for his pathetic SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER...AND SPRING. A deep, spiritual film that recalls Tarkovsky as much as Buddhist teachings. Golden Leopard (Best Film) and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, Locarno Film Festival.
Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnIXg6-8lic
The #1 Film of the past decade as voted by sixty international film historians, archivists, curators, and programmers, Syndromes and a Century is Thai maverick Weerasethakul's magnum opus. Austere, hypnotic and beguiling - and requires an imagination for it to really sink in.
Distance (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2001)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtoCBpQf6XE
While NOBODY KNOWS and AFTER LIFE are his most popular films, it is the film sandwiched between the two more populist titles which deserve the accolades as the director's best. An extraordinarily compassionate film about forgiveness, it was made after the Ark of Truth cult disaster.
Tony Takitani (Jun Ichikawa, 2004)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkLUJMOXHLw&feature=related
Never has loneliness been so realistically portrayed in a film. The quietly devastating was the first-ever adaptation of a Haruki Murakami work, and I daresay it's even better than the short story itself. Sublime score by Ryuichi Sakamoto, along with ace performances by Issey Ogata and Rie Miyazawa.
Eureka (Shinji Aoyama, 2000)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpOsVjE_XoI
*note* don't see the end of the trailer if you do not want to be spoiled.
The double-prize winner at Cannes Film Festival, this sepia-toned 3+ hours opus is one of the most gorgeously enigmatic elegies about people struggling to overcome their past traumas. Even the trailer is epic - nearly 5 minutes!
Secret Sunshine (Lee Chang-Dong, 2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klJIqZOEQ9s
Jeon Do-yeon deservedly won Best Actress for this heartwrenching film that doesn't shy away from about controversies, especially regarding Christian proselytizism. Very powerful film.
A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang, 1991)
An indisputable classic by the late Edward Yang, the 4-hour A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY was a viewing experience I will not forget. Surprisingly, the 4 hours went by extremely quickly - anyone who has seen 2000's YI YI can attest to this. Not to be missed.
^ great list of mostly new recommendations, thanks!
I have Tony Takitani but haven't heard of the others, besides Secret Sunshine which has been on my to-watch list for a long time. Most of those movies look interesting to me. I'll definitely have to check out Distance... I'm a fan of Koreeda's but I haven't seen that one.
I have Tony Takitani but haven't heard of the others, besides Secret Sunshine which has been on my to-watch list for a long time. Most of those movies look interesting to me. I'll definitely have to check out Distance... I'm a fan of Koreeda's but I haven't seen that one.
Vard said:
Thanks! Admittedly none of the films above are "easy" films to watch, but they reward you in spades. Especially with DISTANCE, which AFTER LIFE fans find to be very remote and inscrutable.
There are a few others I would also recommend:
Goodbye, South, Goodbye (Hou Hsiao-Hsien, 1996)
Shara (Naomi Kawase, 2003
Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997)
Platform (Jia Zhangke, 2000)
Vive l'amour (Tsai Ming-Liang, 1994)
Nard Bagman
Member
Drunken Master was awesome. I watched it three times in three days when I saw it first.
Cosmic Bus
pristine morning snow
Grimmy is the reason I still come into these topics. A little surprised that it took this long for those to be recommended, but I'm glad they're present now.
"Populist" is a very silly adjective to describe those films. Admittedly I also object to your description of Kim's Buddhist tale. Yes, its characters are similar, that early scene with the kid mirrored, but then again these are hardly themes Bae conjured up himself, and what religion the director chooses to live by doesn't matter one bit. The movies aren't that alike otherwise, "aped" it is not.
Peru said:
Well, after learning that you like the atrocity called SPRING..., I have nothing else to say, except that I would like to refer you to Tony Rayns' article on Film Comment called "Sexual Terrorism: The Strange Case of Kim Ki-duk." Film Comment, Vol 40, No.6, (November/December, 2004): 50-51. He is much better at detailing why Kim is a hack better than I ever could.
Cosmic Bus said:
Thanks! I do like some of the films recommended before as well though. Can't believe I forgot to recommend LOVE IN A PUFF by Pang Ho-Cheung - one of the most refreshing HK films I've seen in a while.
Some 2010 Asian films I liked:
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand)
Poetry (Lee Chang-Dong, South Korea)
Thirteen Assassins (Takashi Miike, Japan)
Winter Vacation (Li Hongqi, China)
Gallants (Derek Kwok & Clement Cheng, Hong Kong)
Love in a Puff (Pang Ho-Cheung, Hong Kong)
Sandcastle (Boo Junfeng, Singapore)
Bi, Don't Be Afraid! (Phan Dang Di, Vietnam)
I Wish I Knew (Jia Zhangke, China)
Good Morning to the World! (Hirohara Saturo, Japan)
A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang, 1991)
An indisputable classic by the late Edward Yang, the 4-hour A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY was a viewing experience I will not forget. Surprisingly, the 4 hours went by extremely quickly - anyone who has seen 2000's YI YI can attest to this. Not to be missed.
Still waiting for this to be released on dvd. Heard rumblings of criterion some time ago, but nowhere to be seen yet.
Grimmy said:
About his supposed misogyny, right? Let's just say I've had enough of theories about this, and that, and that, and that director's supposed hatred of women. You and I are clearly different in that aspect, you care about the director's religion, and his person. I don't believe in giving the director any authority over his work, and that inclues other people's 'reading' him or her and applying it to the films. Art and creator is seperate, I care about his movies, not him or his sexual life.
Peru said:
"Supposed"? It's not supposed. Everyone in the industry knows Kim tried to rape a festival volunteer in 2004. I really don't have any respect for him. When I asked him in 2005 why as a Christian he wanted to make these films with Buddhist themes, he said, and I paraphrase (through an interpreter): "I'm not a Buddhist and I don't give a shit".
Ironically, his best film is probably his most misogynistic - BAD GUY. Everything else after the COAST GUARD was crappy pseudo-Buddhist zen BS sold to the West as supposed exoticism.
Grimmy said:
Seems like a fair answer, why should anyone give a shit? Lots of directors make good movies about things they've never experienced. Most, in fact! And again, I don't care about what kind of person he is.
"pseudo-Buddhist zen BS sold to the West as supposed exoticism" is an extremely cheap argument. Why shouldn't he be allowed to make a simple, fundamentally emotional movie in the context of themes and signs central to his country? Does everything featuring Buddhist themes have to say something profound, present a careful, nuanced take? The ideas in this movie couldn't be simpler, but its execution, rhythm and performances are the qualities which sell it. It has nothing to do with exoticism, supposed or otherwise, and everything to do with whether one finds the journey of the main character engaging or not. I did.
That's the usual line when any critically lauded, distinctively 'Asian' movie faces backlash, isn't it? That all of its supporters, the sheep, are ignorant foreigners blinded by the weird rituals and funky hairdos into thinking it's a great movie. Never mind actual arguments about the movie itself!!
Now THAT's eurocentrism at its worst: "This is made for the West... because I say so".
Peru said:
Go read Tony Rayns' article. And it's pointless to argue in the a forum like this when I have already made the same cases with the heads of Locarno and Cannes. Putting DREAM in Cannes competition was one of the worst decisions they made in recent years. There's a reason why his works are becoming less and less acclaimed - it's called the Emperor Has No Clothes.
And what other "critically lauded, distinctively 'Asian' movie faces backlash"? There are hardly any other big filmmakers as overrated as Kim.
No House yet? For shame, GAF!
Here's the utterly batshit trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN0HVJ5tkIM
If that doesn't sell you on the movie (shame on you if it doesn't), there's a great review on why this movie is worth checking out: http://fourfour.typepad.com/fourfour/2010/01/the-joy-of-hausu.html
House!
I also recommend Seijun Suzuki's yakuza movies from the 60s. They were so ahead of their time that Suzuki ended up being blackballed from Japanese cinema for a couple of decades. Jim Jarmusch is a huge fan of his and based a bunch of scenes in Ghost Dog after Branded To Kill.
What makes his movies really interesting is that he's brilliant with composition and uses a lot of theatrical effects to accent the scenes. There's a fight scene in Tokyo Drifter that occurs on a background of pure white and as the protagonist kills the badguys, it turns more red each time someone is killed. In a perfect world, he would have directed a Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD film based on the Steranko run.
Anyhow, here's a music video for Tokyo Drifter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENLNIQGmk90&feature=related
And a trailer for his latest yakuza movie, Pistol Opera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_GlZTv-g_4
Here's the utterly batshit trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN0HVJ5tkIM
If that doesn't sell you on the movie (shame on you if it doesn't), there's a great review on why this movie is worth checking out: http://fourfour.typepad.com/fourfour/2010/01/the-joy-of-hausu.html
House!
I also recommend Seijun Suzuki's yakuza movies from the 60s. They were so ahead of their time that Suzuki ended up being blackballed from Japanese cinema for a couple of decades. Jim Jarmusch is a huge fan of his and based a bunch of scenes in Ghost Dog after Branded To Kill.
What makes his movies really interesting is that he's brilliant with composition and uses a lot of theatrical effects to accent the scenes. There's a fight scene in Tokyo Drifter that occurs on a background of pure white and as the protagonist kills the badguys, it turns more red each time someone is killed. In a perfect world, he would have directed a Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD film based on the Steranko run.
Anyhow, here's a music video for Tokyo Drifter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENLNIQGmk90&feature=related
And a trailer for his latest yakuza movie, Pistol Opera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_GlZTv-g_4
In festival circles, perhaps, but in mainstream media there's plenty. I'm no Ki-Duk fanboy, I think he mostly comes off as a try-hard with increasingly high concept, low on content-offerings. Sometimes people make a movie or two that's much better than their filmography would suggest.
mourad louali
Member
I really like these two korean movies :
Once upon a time in highschool
A man once a superman
Once upon a time in highschool
A man once a superman
NinjaMouse
Gold Member
I watched "Man, Woman, and the Wall" on Netflix and I was reasonably entertained. The chick in it is bangin', too, hehe.
Angelus Errare
Banned
Man Shu Qi is so unattractive to me.
TheKaeptain
Banned
icarus-daedelus said:Does it suddenly become less romantic when you find out the, ah, depth of the relationship between Oh Dae Su and Mido?
It becomes hotter.
Kim Ki-duk being misogynist is not to surprising. There's always been something "off" about his portrayal of woman in all the films I've seen by him. Also since he's a christian i wonder if he's homophobic too? this one film i saw by him showed a "gay" man in a rather one-dimensional and negative light.:lol
I still like 3-iron quite a bit, although i can't stand any of his other films.
I always read your posts.:3
I really need to get around to seeing this. Considering i recorded it on television a while back.
EYEL1NER
Member
I was actually going to recommend that one. I saw it at Blockbuster one time and read the back and thought it sounded good. Ended up paying the $5.00 more or so to keep it.Grimmy said:
And wow, there are a lot of movies in here that I am going to go nuts with my money and buy. Quite a few I would recommend to the OP that meet his criteria and some, quite a few I have wanted to see for a while, and quite a few I now want to see after reading about them.
Wow, I didn't know about Kim Ki-duk / his films supposedly being misogynistic or "exploitative." I've been meaning to see a few of his films... now I have no idea what to expect!
Timbuktu said:
It should (hopefully) be coming out in 2011. It's a shame that Criterion only wanted A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY and not the other Yang films.
icarus-daedelus said:
TROPICAL MALADY is a truly fantastic film from Thailand, but it's not an easy one. The first half does resemble a languid gay romance, but the second part is dark, mysterious, animalistic and very, very compelling. It's directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, possibly the world's finest filmmaker at the moment (see my avatar).
LethaL ImpuLse
Member
Haven't seen this mentioned so -
Just watched it recently and it's a fantastic film.
Just watched it recently and it's a fantastic film.
MrGame&Watch
Member
_dementia said:
Chungking Express will always stay with me. I saw it the week before I left Hong Kong, after being abroad there for 6 months. It captured my feelings of HK so well, and the feelings of the romances I had there as well. I haven't watched it since, mainly because I don't to reignite old wounds and feelings. Call me a vagina, I don't care, that movie had fucking heart and soul
Given all the appreciation Chungking Express receives in this thread, you people should really give a shoot to Fallen Angels; the second one is like the first one's older brother that drinks, smokes, spends all night in seedy bars and has already lost all hopes before reaching 30. But, there is still romance in a way in this movie ^^'
(Also the direction is fucking awesome)
(Also the direction is fucking awesome)
RobotChant
Member
OP mentions Memoirs, which is accessible hollywood fare and Gaf goes on a arty asian movie rampage. Oh, well. I'll probably take some of the recommendations for myself as I've not seen any Asian flicks I've liked much as of late.
I'll add:
Both are "romance" without being full on chick flick, romance cheese. Both are part of Yoji Yamada's samurai trilogy. Didn't really like the third movie, but if anyone likes the first two they should seek out the third and judge for themselves.
I'll add:
Both are "romance" without being full on chick flick, romance cheese. Both are part of Yoji Yamada's samurai trilogy. Didn't really like the third movie, but if anyone likes the first two they should seek out the third and judge for themselves.
TheKaeptain
Banned
^Love And Honor is my favorite from the Samurai movies.
RobotChant
Member
CaptYamato said:
Takuya Kimura just couldn't pull it off for me. I just kept seeing Takuya and the emotional impact of the previous two wasn't there for me.
TheKaeptain
Banned
RobotChant said:
I'm glad I didn't know about his pop stardom before watching the movie.
TheKaeptain
Banned
AAK said:
HappyBivouac
Member
Just watched Love Exposure. Wow.
That sure was uh
something.
That sure was uh
something.
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