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Asian movies

Started by popcorn, June 12, 2014, 09:42:24 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

BlodwynPig

I have only seen Love Exposure and it is immense. Not the usual style that I watch, but so much fun.

phantom_power

Whenever these threads come round I always recommend Save The Green Planet, a strange sweet Korean film

Fist of Legend is one of my favourite action films. Once Upon a Time in China is another good Jet Li film

Sonatine is a really good, atmospheric Takeshi Kitano film

Oh yeah, Shaolin Soccer is possibly the greatest film ever made. Funny, action packed, sweet. It has everything. Kung Fu Hustle is also very good, most people seem to prefer it but they are WRONG

Oldboy, The Host, Audition, The Raid, the usual suspects


Van Dammage

Quote from: phantom_power on June 16, 2014, 11:27:05 AM
Whenever these threads come round I always recommend Save The Green Planet, a strange sweet Korean film

Fist of Legend is one of my favourite action films. Once Upon a Time in China is another good Jet Li film

Sonatine is a really good, atmospheric Takeshi Kitano film

Oh yeah, Shaolin Soccer is possibly the greatest film ever made. Funny, action packed, sweet. It has everything. Kung Fu Hustle is also very good, most people seem to prefer it but they are WRONG

Oldboy, The Host, Audition, The Raid, the usual suspects
Jet Li's early stuff is amazing. I can't believe i forgot about Shaolin Soccer. I loved the part where the keeper walked into the wrong goals and hit her head off the post.

El Unicornio, mang

Quote from: popcorn on June 14, 2014, 03:05:15 AM
Just watched this and enjoyed it. Very clean and focused, which I like. Ending is effective but sudden to the point of being comedic.

It did have an interesting ending, definitely unexpected.

It's his first non-Iranian film (he made 40+ films there previously). His other non-Iranian film, Certified Copy (French/Italian) with Juliette Binoche, is also very good

Herbert Ashe

Re: Kiarostami. I also really liked Like Someone in Love; not seen Certified Copy but I hope Kiarostami does more films abroad, out of his comfort zone. Of his earlier, more straightforward films, I like Mossafer / The Traveller (watch it in a double bill with Offside) and Where is the Friend's House. Of his more difficult ones, I like Taste of Cherry and The Wind Will Carry Us most. I guess I've seen about half his films, no duds so far (well, you can avoid 5 Dedicated to Ozu unless you're into that sort of thing).

Takeshi Kitano's 2000s films are pretty patchy and I'd started to write him off a bit, but I think Outrage & Outrage Beyond are a real return to form. Quite different from his earlier Yakuza films: whimsy-free & funereal. Obviously everything pre-Brother is a must-see.

Subtle Mocking

The Wong Kar-Wai trilogy - Days of Being Wild, In the Mood For Love, and 2046 - are all great films, particularly In the Mood. Also, Maggie Cheung is utterly beautiful:


billtheburger

I tried In the Mood for Love, but wasn't really in the mood for infidelity and decided to watch Coffy instead.
I may go back to it when I'm older.

Urinal Cake

Unfortunately most of his films have infidelity or rued loved. Chungking Express is a good film that encapsulates what it's like to be in your mid-20s. The Grandmaster was pretty disappointing.

billtheburger

I always forget about Chungking Express. I think I'll pop my cherry on that one first.

Van Dammage

Quote from: Urinal Cake on June 18, 2014, 09:07:58 AM
Unfortunately most of his films have infidelity or rued loved. Chungking Express is a good film that encapsulates what it's like to be in your mid-20s. The Grandmaster was pretty disappointing.

The Grandmaster was about Yip man wasn't it? I hear that it was visually stunning but dragged on. I also heard that it wasn't as good as the donnie yen Ip man films.

Puce Moment

Hard to know how to post about a hundred years of film from an entire continent that I adore in one post, but naturally I revere Ozu (particularly Early Summer), Mizoguchi (Ugetsu), Kurosawa (Ran)....and then all your recent Wong Kar-wai, Park Chan Wook, Takeshi Kitano (especially Hanna-Bi and Zatoichi), plus the work of CaB fave Takashi Miike who is a force of nature and I would not know which one film to pick out.

I adore Kim Ki-duk, and apart from his obvious films I think Samaritan Girl is great, although 3-Iron is a masterpiece.

I also like the short films, documentaries and features of Royston Tan, a Singaporean director who made the wonderful 4:30.

And of course, there are films such as Tears of the Black Tiger, which is heavily influenced by the Expressionistic cinematic style of the great Kwaidan, directed by the maverick Masaki Kobayashi.

I have realised now that there are too many to list, just thousands of wonderful Asian films, so I will finish for now with Kaneto Shindo, who directed Kuroneko and Onibaba, two films I adore for their innovative, expressionistic and cinematic qualities, plus their forthright and bold presentation of female sexuality in the 1960s.

Urinal Cake

Quote from: Van Dammage on June 18, 2014, 11:54:53 AM
The Grandmaster was about Yip man wasn't it? I hear that it was visually stunning but dragged on. I also heard that it wasn't as good as the donnie yen Ip man films.
Yep.

The Yen films are quite clear in what they are- a martial arts film first, a biopic second. The Grandmaster doesn't seem to know what quite it is- a ma, biopic, historical drama or love story. It picks up threads and never really finishes them. Apparently there is a US edit that is shorter and tighter.


Van Dammage

Quote from: Puce Moment on June 18, 2014, 12:11:57 PM
Kaneto Shindo

Died two or three years back, amazingly he was still working past his 100th birthday. Great director.

Quote from: Urinal Cake on June 18, 2014, 09:07:58 AM
Unfortunately most of his films have infidelity or rued loved. Chungking Express is a good film that encapsulates what it's like to be in your mid-20s.

It's one of the greatest films ever made, yes. I've seen nothing else which has made me feel the queasy mundane anxiety of everyday unfulfilled love. It's also full of hope and honesty and humour. Top three of all time, for me.

Kishi the Bad Lampshade

Maybe it's a little bit girly for all you big muscular penis-owning penis men, but Kamikaze Girls has long been a favourite of mine. It's a Japanese film, based on a popular young-adult novel, about two teenage girls who become unlikely friends, one a wannabe biker, the other a lonely devotee of goth-loli fashion living in the middle of nowhere. Perfectly captures being young and bored for me, in a way that's rather lovely, plus bits and bobs of strange dark humour. Bit of a saccharine ending, but I still love it.


maett

Quote from: Kishi the Bad Lampshade on June 22, 2014, 02:04:30 PM




I love that film and fully intend to name any daughter of mine Momoko. I generally prefer the more quirky Asian films to the Tartan Extreme type. I enjoyed Swing Girls and Citizen Dog is a masterpiece.

Van Dammage

Tartan do have their fair share of odd ones too though. Not to the same extent as Kamikaze girls though.
Anyone seen Fish Story or The Foreign Duck, The Native Duck and God in a Coin Locker?

popcorn

At maett's recommendation I watched Barking Dogs Never Bite. Enjoyed it, and I liked how unflinchingly mean it was to adorable puppies (even though I like puppies). It's made me fall in love with Bae Doona again, obviously, and now I'm watching Air Doll, which is far less annoying than the trailer and reviews suggested. She really is magic.

Moribunderast

I also watched Barking Dogs Never Bite the other day. Really enjoyable despite all the puppy-hurting. Bae Doona does have a magical quality - I had to check her IMDB after watching the film and of course realised that she's been in a bunch of films I've seen. I fell in love with her during the movie but this thread indicates that I'll have to take a spot in a long queue. Not that I'm assuming there's some kind of Annabel Chong choo-choo she's allowing her fans to run. God, what an unpleasant thought - shut up, Moribunderast.

I also watched Antarctic Journal and Hansel and Gretel, the former of which was written by Joon-ho Bong. It was decent but somewhat cluttered in terms of storyline. Still, had some beautiful cinematography and another good performance by Kang-ho Song.

Hansel and Gretel was an interesting one. It's marketing favourably compares it to Pan's Labyrinth and A Tale of Two Sisters which is setting it up to fail by contrast. On it's own merits it's a nifty little fantasy/horror story about a home in the forest (The House of Happy Children) that keeeps a hold on those who stumble upon it. The three lead child actors were all quite good and there's some cool ideas therein. It's directed by the guy who directed Antarctic Journal and after seeing both in the same day, I have to lament that they could've been better in other hands. He's capable, for sure, but there just seemed to be something missing in both films. H&G, in particular, was within reach of being quite great but just narrowly missed. Great finale though.

popcorn

Doona does a really good job of acting like a live person being deflated in Air Doll, without the aid of special effects. She's very talented.

SetToStun

A Chinese Ghost Story - an absolute stonker of a film from 1987. Excellent plt, some good acting, fine script. The special effects are going to be a bit ropey by modern standards, obviously, making it look a bit dated, but it's still an absolute cracker of a film.

Herbert Ashe

Chinese Ghost Story 2 is also pretty damn good, it's a bit sillier and more overblown than the first but still worth watching.

Don't bother with the 3rd one. It's a semi-remake of the first set a hundred years after or something, rather than Leslie Cheung's dopey-but-amiable scholar it has some Buddhist monk. It's all a bit laborious.

Moribunderast

I must thank popcorn for recommending Linda Linda Linda. It's an absolutely fantastic film. I watched it yesterday and am still intoxicated by it's sweetness. There's no conflict in the film, whatsoever - it's just a band rehearsing and hanging out - and yet it's compelling for the entire duration. The performances are all very good and natural with thread favourite Bae Doona in great form as the vocalist. She shows off some good comedic chops in this one and is very endearing. The fact that the stars actually play the songs (and the songs sound great) really elevates the film. Having been in rehearsal rooms before, I was constantly smiling watching them as they learned the songs. The group have a great chemistry which aides in the overall lovely tone.

I can't think of anything I've seen that's really like it. It's one of my favourite films I've watched this year.

popcorn

I'm so glad you like it. I watched it with my Japanese mate Tomomi last week. Here is her review:

"Thank you for yesterday!! It was really lovely time:] Linda x 3 was so sweet film. It reminds me of Japan and school days.
Thanks a lot:]"

Everybody loves Linda x 3!

popcorn

Has anyone seen Tamako in Moratorium, the newest film by the Linda x3 director Nobuhiro Yamashita? It's about a USELESS LAYABOUT GIRL and sounds right up my street. Here's the opening shot, how brilliant is this:



It's on the torrents but I can't find any English subtitles yet. I tried to watch it in Japanese but my Japanese is TOO SHIT and I had to force myself to turn it off.

Mr Banlon

Kikujiro was better than Oh Brother Where Out Thou.

Moribunderast

#56
Quote from: popcorn on August 04, 2014, 01:44:39 AM
I'm so glad you like it. I watched it with my Japanese mate Tomomi last week. Here is her review:

"Thank you for yesterday!! It was really lovely time:] Linda x 3 was so sweet film. It reminds me of Japan and school days.
Thanks a lot:]"

Everybody loves Linda x 3!

Haha, that's great. It really is wonderful. I've been setting aside I'm A Cyborg And That's Okay as a date movie to watch with one of them human women like I seen depicted in the "PHWOAR" thread. I think I'll add Linda x 3 to the list and cultivate the warmest, loveliest vibe possible!

Meanwhile, I'll probably do more of a write-up on the "Good Horror Movies" thread but it fits in this thread, also: Thai film, Shutter, is a splendid little horror flick. I'm a hard nut to crack when it comes to scares as I've watched a billion horror films but Shutter made me scream on numerous occasions. It had that great quality, wherein you're constantly guessing (and frequently correct) as to where the next scare is coming from but it's done so effectively that you still jump/scream. The tension it builds is really fantastic and the ending had me laughing out of frightened joy.

I'm quite in the mood for more Asian films - I think I'm going to keep switching between sweet and horror. My Sassy Girl and Dark Water, here I come!

Moribunderast

Quote from: Mr Banlon on August 04, 2014, 02:47:23 AM
Kikujiro was better than Oh Brother Where Out Thou.

Everything's better than Oh Brother Where Art Thou! That said, Kukujiro does sound interesting - will add it to the list.

popcorn

#58
Shutter rules. Great twist.

I couldn't deal with My Sassy Girl. It's that stupid tsundere thing where you're supposed to think the girl being an insane and gently violent asshole is really cute and hot. I find this vaguely sexist because it's, like, if girls are violent assholes it's "cute", like they're incapable of actually being angry human beings, it's like a toddler being angry and we all think it's adorable. It's very patronising.

Van Dammage

Quote from: popcorn on August 04, 2014, 06:01:18 PM
Shutter rules. Great twist.

I couldn't deal with My Sassy Girl. It's that stupid tsundere thing where you're supposed to think the girl being an insane and gently violent asshole is really cute and hot. I find this vaguely sexist because it's, like, if girls are violent assholes it's "cute", like they're incapable of actually being angry human beings, it's like a toddler being angry and we all think it's adorable. It's very patronising.

Keep in mind that this was actually what she was like. It's based on an online diary a guy kept about a girl he met. I read a few of the entries and the girl seen in the film is pretty close to the one described in the diary. I think the diary is still up somewhere, worth a look.