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Asian cinema fan thread


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I haven't seen Audition yet, nor have I seen the Infernal Affairs Trilogy. As usual I'm behind on the big ones. Outside of Korean cinema I love Yimou Chang (House of Flying Daggers), but then who doesn't. Have yet to see A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop (remake of Blood Simple).

Two of my current favourite directors is Park Chan-wook and Kim Jee-woon. Not a big fan of Kang Je-ghu (Shiri) as Korean cinema has yet to quite get "blockbusters" right yet, the Good the Bad the Weird being their best "big" film imo.

Park Chan-wook

Well come on, his Vengeance Trilogy is one of the best trilogies out there and there is a wonderfully uplifting quirkiness that balances the darker than black humour, to make his films more memorable than a man eating a live octapus. I actually laughed (I felt terrible afterwards) in Sympothy For Mr Vengeance despite it being one of the most brutally poetic films I've seen (so it's not a comedy).

And well.. there's Oldboy, the film that got me hooked on foreign cinema as a whole and inspired me to pursue a career in filmmaking. I always describe it as my Vertigo, as Hitchcock's film was the one that inspired Park to make films no matter what. I'm glad he never gave up.

Kim Jee-woon

A Bittersweet Life. Wow. Love that film so much, despite it not actually being that original. The soundtrack is amazing and the parable like narrative really makes it stand out as a memorable film noir.

I own, but haven't seen A Tale of Two Sisters, but I love the Quiet Family - hilarious. Good the Bad the Weird is probably the most popular Korean film in my experience as everyone on my course have seen it. Oldboy is probably second.

I think my reason for loving Korean cinema, and especially these two directors so much is because Song Kang-ho is one of my favourite living actors, along with Choi Min-sik and Lee Byung-hun.

Feel free to talk about other Asian cinema :D

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@ Pete. Do you mean anime films? If so perfect blue and paprika were superb, so long as you could get by the first fitf minutes of blue. They are both by Kon, although check out his paranoia agent series if you get a chance. Outside of that I like one called Sky blue which is actually Korean. There are loads out there but if you want to go proper left field try princess which is part danish I think. If you just mean Asian films then battle royale is a nice crossover from anime I would suggest.

@ panda. You are preaching to the converted on both of those directors. Bittersweet and a tale of two sisters are two of my date films, let alone Asian films. Haven't seen quiet family but have seen Katakuri's.

Have you seen any of Kim ki duks work? I would be interested to heart your thoughts if you have.

Edit. Still have a soft spot for Jackie Chan. Police story, project a and wheels on nmeals first got me into foreign films.

On a side note wheels on meals still has the most obvious product placement I have seen in any film ever.

Edited by Chucklemonkey
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Creepy:

Audition

Ringu (Not the US version called The Ring)

Uzumaki

The Ju-On series (the Grudge, but not the US versions... blech)

Kairo (Pulse) (Again not the US version)

Crazy over the top fun:

Death Trance

Versus

Alive

The Returner

Volcano High School

I could go on and on...

I will add save the green planet to the crazy list. Although I can now see me watching a versus, stgp double bill this weekend. When the cats away the mouse will watch obscure foreign nonsense...

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I have looked into and researched Kim Ki-duk, but whilst I own Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring, I haven't gotten round to watching it. I am not usually a fan of his type, but his style has a wonderful purity and honesty, he's a great observant. One of my lecturers has a very similar film style to him, but I don't like the films my lecturer produces.

Anime-wise I don't have to mention Cowboy Bebop. Haven't seen Death Note but my brother owns them all. Sky Blue is great. Last Exile, Gun Sword, Hack//Sign, Samurai 7 (just started), Noein, Otogi Zoshi, etc...

Is Gintami any good? Saw an image and it looks quite cool.

As for Asian cinema, has anyone seen Three Extremes 1 & 2?

Edit: Oh and yes! to Save the Green Planet, wonderful film

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I was a little underwhelmed with Red Cliff. it was great, but I was (I guess) hoping for something more along the lines of an epic 24+ hour movie. Oh well... :) I still enjoyed the movie.

Hmmm, consider watching "Mother" by director Joon-Ho Bong

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1216496/

I was disturbed ever so slightly...

The King and the <someone has issues :)> (Wang ui Namja) by director Jun-ik Lee is a fun historical movie and one of my favorites.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0492835/

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A Tale of Two Sisters (was remake as the dismal The Uninvited) is excellent and wort ha watch I also second Volcano High and it's even funnier with the British dub (3 people doing all the voices, plus they did things like the dub on Ju-on, etc).

Other over the top movies I recommend are:

Robogeisha

Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl

S.T.A.C.Y. (AKA - Attack of the Schoolgirl Zombies)

Attack Girls Swim Team vs The Undead

Tokyo Gore Police

The Machine Girl

Samurai Princess

Gothic & Lolita Psycho

Tokyo Zombie

Wild Zero

Mutant Girl Squad

Chanbara Striptease (though Chanbara Beauty was better)

Big T**s Zombie

A really great movie if you can track is down is Goodbye Mister Good. very much worth seeing.

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A Tale of Two Sisters (was remake as the dismal The Uninvited) is excellent and wort ha watch I also second Volcano High and it's even funnier with the British dub (3 people doing all the voices, plus they did things like the dub on Ju-on, etc).

Other over the top movies I recommend are:

Robogeisha

Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl

S.T.A.C.Y. (AKA - Attack of the Schoolgirl Zombies)

Attack Girls Swim Team vs The Undead

Tokyo Gore Police

The Machine Girl

Samurai Princess

Gothic & Lolita Psycho

Tokyo Zombie

Wild Zero

Mutant Girl Squad

Chanbara Striptease (though Chanbara Beauty was better)

Big T**s Zombie

I am yet to see any of the gore police or Chanbara type films. Not sure why, just haven't got round to them yet. I will have to sort that.

@ panda. On ki duk, I find myself with four of his films in my collection. Spring, summer, 3 iron, bad Guy and coast guard. The first two I really liked. The last two and especially coast guard are a bit too bleak for me. I definitely feel you have to be in a specific mood to watch his films. Despite all that I would still watch more.

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Some awesome films in his thread :)

I still can't watch Audition without cringing, and A Bittersweet Life is fantastic.

I would recommend One Night in Mongkok as well.

Also, if you want really freakin' weird then you can't beat Takeshi Mike; Visitor Q, MPD Psycho (still trying to figure parts of that one out!) and Ichi the Killer are all very cool and very weird although a little over the top for some people.

I'd also very highly recommend films by Takeshi Kitano, Zatoichi, Sonatine and Hana-Bi are excellent and well worth watching.

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Ooh yeah, i love Asian cinema, but sitting here at work I can't for the life of me remember half the films I have seen and liked.

Obviously Battle Royale is up there (possibly my favourite, i still have the sequel to watch)

And I loved Lady Vengeance....funny, weird and plain nasty in places. but a good film...

@Chucklemonkey: And your tagline makes no sense now you've been puppeted! But then again, neither does mine! ;)

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Yeah I guess thats why I haven't seen it yet...I have a paranoia about sequels not living up to the originals.

I picked up the DVD for BRII about two years ago for £2 in a charity shop. Still haven't watched it. But have watched the first one about 4 times.

And I am currently reading the mangas. Just finished Volume 8.

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I don't watch really any Asian cinema besides Anime, but for a very long time one of my favorites is a nice show called Big O. A giant mecha anima set in a post apocolyptic 1950's style setting. It has some great Film Noir moments to it as well as a hefty dose of Mecha!

23440-big_o_large.jpg

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