Patrick R

The Asian Film Thread

Recommended Posts

I decided this year I would dive deeper into Asian film, a region whose cinema I've always appreciated but never explored very deeply. I think part of me prefers American films because I have more cultural context and when watching foreign films (particularly those from the east) I have a fear about missing some crucial bit of info that informs the entire work. Watching a bunch of movies in a row makes patterns emerge more clearly, so right now my approach is to mostly dive into the work of a single director before moving on.

 

I started with Yasujiro Ozu, a seminal Japanese director I had seen nothing by. I saw (in order) Tokyo Story, Late Spring, A Story of Floating Weeds and Floating Weeds. The first two proved me out because, after watching Tokyo Story and Late Spring back to back, I saw that Ozu's work seemed preoccupied with a sort of post-war malaise, an anxiety about the dissolution of the family unit, traditions and which should be upheld. It took some work for me to really get on Ozu's wavelength but his movies look incredible and his deep meticulously arranged frames are stunning throughout. By the time I watched A Story of Floating Weeds (a silent melodrama he made in the 30's) and Floating Weeds (a color remake he made in the 50's) I was more comfortable with his work and could appreciate them without too much extra effort. It helps that the Floating Weeds story is more melodramatic than he's known for (there's actually outbursts of shouting and violence!) and that Floating Weeds was my first color Ozu film and his use of color enhances his already beautiful style in a way I didn't think possible.

 

If you are like me and never watched any Ozu but are curious I would probably recommend starting with Late Spring instead of Tokyo Story, as the former is a little more "eventful" (whatever that means in the context of Ozu's quiet and gentle stories) and latter is a little tougher to crack emotionally. I also watched a documentary about Ozu's life called I Lived, But..., which is a Japanese documentary from the 80's on Ozu's life. I wouldn't say it informed how I watched his films (it's not a critical study) but it does feature a lot of movie clips and leans into personal anecdote rather than biographical facts, so I found it more interesting than most bio-docs.

 

I'll be returning to Ozu later but for now I've switched over to Hong Kong action director Ringo Lam. Lam directed my favorite action movie of all time*, Full Contact, and I've enjoyed watching some more of his work. City On Fire is an amazing undercover cop movie that, like Full Contact, stars Chow Yun Fat and is probably most famous for being the inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. The two films are actually quite different (Reservoir Dogs only takes place in the last 20 or so minutes of City on Fire's story) but there are about 4 or 5 moments that Tarantino ripped off (or homaged) wholesale. What makes City on Fire for me is Lam's vision of Hong Kong as a teeming city of chaos. Every part of the movie goes big. Every action scene happens in public, in impossibly crowded streets, every squib holds twice as much blood as you think it should, every cop in the country descends upon the warehouse the criminals hole up in at the end. The film gives a feeling of loss of control, where both cops and robbers are constantly screwing up. I've seen this (and similar feelings in Lam's other work) attributed to anxiety over "The Handover" (the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the UK to China that happened in 1997) but I couldn't speak to that. Whatever the political subtext, it's an awesome and intense crime movie and Lam is amazing at orchestrating public chaos in his action scenes.

 

I also watched one of Lam's western films, the DTV Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle Replicant, where Van Damme plays the clone of a serial killer (also played by Van Damme, naturally) tasked with tracking him down. It's not a good movie. It takes itself too seriously for such a monumentally dumb premise. But there is fun to be had with "newborn" Van Damme as a man-child trying to understand the world like Milla Jovovich in The Fifth Element, and the action is good with a handful of stunts that look irresponsibly dangerous. My favorite is in the trailer, at the 0:55 mark:

 

 

Last night I watched Wild City, a 2015 Ringo Lam crime film about two brothers caught up in trouble with the Triad (and some Taiwanese thugs the Triad is contracting with) over a woman on the run and a briefcase of stolen money. It's pretty good, with some good action, but it lacks the fire and intensity I associate with Lam. And there is a certain cartoonish sheen to Asian b-movie CGI effects that I've never gotten used to, and the climax of Wild City features a lot of very ugly looking CGI during the car chase.

 

I also have watched a couple of Miyazaki movies due to a recent retrospective at my local arthouse theater (Princess Mononoke, which I really liked and Ponyo, which I really didn't) and Branded to Kill, which is a Seijun Suzuki yakuza movie that was way too wild and abstracted for me to parse out. I'll be returning to that, and his other films, later when I can get a better fix on his career.

 

But if anyone has recommendations of other Asian cinema to check out, I'd really like to hear it. I'm flying by the seat of my pants here, and don't have long-term plans. And if anyone else wants to try to make a commitment to watching Asian films, this thread would probably be more interesting than if it was just me.

 

*Unless you count Raiders of the Lost Ark (which is very different but undoubtedly better) as an action movie.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's been almost two decades since I saw them, but I remember Beat Takeshi's films Sonatine and Hana-Bi being great.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I’m a huge fan of Wong Kar Wai and I could recommend nearly everything of his except his foray into the west ‘My Blueberry Nights’ which I haven’t seen, but am given to understand is not good.

 

Of the remainder, I probably have the least affection for Days of Being Wild because the budget/production quality on it is weaker, and 2046 whose plot kind of doesn’t hang together despite gorgeous production quality.

 

Probably my top 5 in descending order would be

In the Mood for Love

Chungking Express

Ashes of Time (redux, I guess, though I am not 100% sure what the differences are)

Fallen Angels

The Grandmaster

 

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Patrick R said:

If you are like me and never watched any Ozu but are curious I would probably recommend starting with Late Spring instead of Tokyo Story, as the former is a little more "eventful" (whatever that means in the context of Ozu's quiet and gentle stories) and latter is a little tougher to crack emotionally.

 

That's seredipitous - those are the two Ozu films I picked up in a recent BFI sale and I'm planning to watch them soon! I wasn't really sure what to expect but I knew both were highly regarded. Thanks for the tip, I'll start with Late Spring.

 

Sticking with Japan, do you know much Mizoguchi? I've seen Ugetsu and Sansho The Bailiff and found them totally absorbing moral fables, with beautiful cinematography. The tragic, epic sweep that Sansho crams into just two hours is pretty staggering, and I loved how Ugetsu blended ghost stories into a realistic period setting. The 'Late Mizoguchi' box set seems to be out of print, but I keep meaning to watch more of them because those two films are fascinating.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Studio Ghibli, and Miyazaki in particular have some true bangers. I would recommend Porco Rosso, Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro as 3 great and pretty varied of his films.

I know virtually nothing about Thai cinema, but I do know that Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior is one of the most fun movies I've ever watched.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

In a couple weeks I will be seeing Late Spring as it is playing at SFMOMA and I'm pretty excited (also the next day one of my local indie theaters is playing a double feature of Kiki's Delivery Service and Princess Mononoke).  I would recommend at some point possibly checking out Tokyo-Ga, a film by Wim Wenders that is basically a documentary on Ozu, but also kind of a movie about Wim Wenders being really into Ozu.  I know it's included as an extra in the Criterion release of Late Spring, but I don't know how easy it is to track it down on it's own (there's always the internet though).

 

Last year I saw Funeral Parade of Roses when it was showing in theaters after being restored and I liked it.  It's a film about the underground gay culture in Tokyo in the 60's.  It's pretty experimental and kind of blurs the line between documentary and drama.  The trailer does a pretty good job portraying what the movie is like (everything in that including the interviews about making the film are from the movie).

 

I also watched Black Rain a little while back and thought it was great.  It should probably be noted to avoid any confusion that there are two films called Black Rain that came out in 1989.  One is an American film starring Michael Douglas as a cop who goes to Osaka to take on the Yakuza and the other, the one I am referring to, is a Japanese film about the aftermath of Hiroshima.

 

I've been meaning to watch The Eel for a while, originally it was on my radar just because it won the Palme d'Or, but it was also directed by Shohei Imamura who directed Black Rain.  Maybe this thread will get me to actually do it.  

 

For a while I've wanted to watch more modern Japanese films as I've seen a fair amount of older ones, but as far as movies made in the 21st century go I don't think I've seen any live action ones besides horror stuff which I'm not into.  Sway is one that I've picked up and along with The Eel might actually get played soon, and then after that I Wish is on my radar.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Kurosawa is an obvious recommendation. Seven Samurai is his most famous followed maybe by Rashomon, but there are plenty of other ones worth recommending. A few off the top of my head would be Yojimbo/Sanjuro, Ikiru, Throne of Blood (Macbeth set in feudal Japan), and Hidden Fortress (George Lucas cites this as an inspiration for Star Wars, but I wouldn't read too much into that).

 

Harakiri by Masaki Kobayashi. A dark take on feudal japan...relatively slow paced but it's got some scenes that are incredibly intense. The other one of his I've seen is Samurai Rebellion, which I remember enjoying a lot. Harakiri got remade relatively recently by the absurdly prolific Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, Audition, a million more movies). And now I'm looking through his list of films and see it includes the live action Phoenix Wright movie...has anyone seen that? Also a live action Jo-Jo's Bizarre Adventure just last year...

 

You mentioned Branded to Kill, which I agree is totally weird but I completely love. Tokyo Drifter is another one by him that I want to say is more straightforward (it's been a while) but still has some really interesting visual touches.

 

Mother and The Host by Bong Joon-Ho...he's gone on to do some well known english stuff (Snowpiercer, Okja), but Mother is probably my favorite of his.

 

If you want lighter stuff, you could go into some old Stephen Chow movies. Shaolin Soccer, and Kung Fu Hustle are both goofy as hell and a lot of fun.

 

I don't think I watch movies at the rate you do, but if you mention what you're looking at watching next, I'd probably try to go along at least some of the time.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
19 hours ago, Ben X said:

It's been almost two decades since I saw them, but I remember Beat Takeshi's films Sonatine and Hana-Bi being great.

Thanks for the rec! My local film society is showing a film print of Beat Takeshi's A Scene At The Sea at the end of April, so I'll try to time giving those a look around then.

18 hours ago, juv3nal said:

I’m a huge fan of Wong Kar Wai and I could recommend nearly everything of his except his foray into the west ‘My Blueberry Nights’ which I haven’t seen, but am given to understand is not good.

 

Of the remainder, I probably have the least affection for Days of Being Wild because the budget/production quality on it is weaker, and 2046 whose plot kind of doesn’t hang together despite gorgeous production quality.

 

Probably my top 5 in descending order would be

In the Mood for Love

Chungking Express

Ashes of Time (redux, I guess, though I am not 100% sure what the differences are)

Fallen Angels

The Grandmaster

 

 

 

I adore Wong Kar-Wai! I'm going to be rewatching some stuff this year, and In the Mood For Love (a close runner for my favorite film ever), Fallen Angels and Happy Together are definitely getting watched at some point. I've always avoided Ashes of Time because I heard the Redux is a downgrade but I suppose the original is forever lost and if you vouch for it I'll give it a look.

17 hours ago, Simon said:

 

That's seredipitous - those are the two Ozu films I picked up in a recent BFI sale and I'm planning to watch them soon! I wasn't really sure what to expect but I knew both were highly regarded. Thanks for the tip, I'll start with Late Spring.

 

Sticking with Japan, do you know much Mizoguchi? I've seen Ugetsu and Sansho The Bailiff and found them totally absorbing moral fables, with beautiful cinematography. The tragic, epic sweep that Sansho crams into just two hours is pretty staggering, and I loved how Ugetsu blended ghost stories into a realistic period setting. The 'Late Mizoguchi' box set seems to be out of print, but I keep meaning to watch more of them because those two films are fascinating.

I've seen zero Mizoguchi but my video store has both Sansho and Ugetsu so I'll give them a shot.

17 hours ago, jennegatron said:

Studio Ghibli, and Miyazaki in particular have some true bangers. I would recommend Porco Rosso, Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro as 3 great and pretty varied of his films.

I know virtually nothing about Thai cinema, but I do know that Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior is one of the most fun movies I've ever watched.

I run hot and cold on Miyazaki (though there's always something dazzling to appreciate), absolutely adoring KikiSpirited Away while mostly not liking Totoro, Howl's & Ponyo. I will make an effort to see Porco Rosso, though, in part because your recommendation lines up with my partners who said it's very much my kind of thing. Weirdly I have a better success rate with non-Miyazaki Ghibli films like Grave of the Fireflies, Whisper of the Heart, From Up On Poppy Hill and When Marnie Was There, which I'm all very fond of. Honestly I think one of my goals for this year will be to branch out into non-Ghibli anime, particularly from the 20th century. Maybe even a series or two, though I'm trying to keep the focus to film.

 

The only Thai cinema I'm familiar with is that of slow cinema stalwart Apichatpong Weerasethakul, whose work couldn't be further away from the bone-crunching action I've seen from Tony Jaa via YouTube clips. Ong-Bak is definitely a seminal 21st century Asian film, so it's going on the list!

16 hours ago, TheLastBaron said:

In a couple weeks I will be seeing Late Spring as it is playing at SFMOMA and I'm pretty excited (also the next day one of my local indie theaters is playing a double feature of Kiki's Delivery Service and Princess Mononoke).  I would recommend at some point possibly checking out Tokyo-Ga, a film by Wim Wenders that is basically a documentary on Ozu, but also kind of a movie about Wim Wenders being really into Ozu.  I know it's included as an extra in the Criterion release of Late Spring, but I don't know how easy it is to track it down on it's own (there's always the internet though).

 

Last year I saw Funeral Parade of Roses when it was showing in theaters after being restored and I liked it.  It's a film about the underground gay culture in Tokyo in the 60's.  It's pretty experimental and kind of blurs the line between documentary and drama.  The trailer does a pretty good job portraying what the movie is like (everything in that including the interviews about making the film are from the movie).

 

I also watched Black Rain a little while back and thought it was great.  It should probably be noted to avoid any confusion that there are two films called Black Rain that came out in 1989.  One is an American film starring Michael Douglas as a cop who goes to Osaka to take on the Yakuza and the other, the one I am referring to, is a Japanese film about the aftermath of Hiroshima.

 

I've been meaning to watch The Eel for a while, originally it was on my radar just because it won the Palme d'Or, but it was also directed by Shohei Imamura who directed Black Rain.  Maybe this thread will get me to actually do it.  

 

For a while I've wanted to watch more modern Japanese films as I've seen a fair amount of older ones, but as far as movies made in the 21st century go I don't think I've seen any live action ones besides horror stuff which I'm not into.  Sway is one that I've picked up and along with The Eel might actually get played soon, and then after that I Wish is on my radar.

 

I missed the Funeral Parade of Roses restoration when it played here and felt like a real chump. My partner is doing an LGBT film challenge this year and they were interested in seeing it so I'll try to track it down. The new release doesn't seem to be at any of Chicago's video stores so I may just buy the blu-ray sight unseen? We'll see!

15 hours ago, Professor Video Games said:

Kurosawa is an obvious recommendation. Seven Samurai is his most famous followed maybe by Rashomon, but there are plenty of other ones worth recommending. A few off the top of my head would be Yojimbo/Sanjuro, Ikiru, Throne of Blood (Macbeth set in feudal Japan), and Hidden Fortress (George Lucas cites this as an inspiration for Star Wars, but I wouldn't read too much into that).

 

Harakiri by Masaki Kobayashi. A dark take on feudal japan...relatively slow paced but it's got some scenes that are incredibly intense. The other one of his I've seen is Samurai Rebellion, which I remember enjoying a lot. Harakiri got remade relatively recently by the absurdly prolific Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, Audition, a million more movies). And now I'm looking through his list of films and see it includes the live action Phoenix Wright movie...has anyone seen that? Also a live action Jo-Jo's Bizarre Adventure just last year...

 

You mentioned Branded to Kill, which I agree is totally weird but I completely love. Tokyo Drifter is another one by him that I want to say is more straightforward (it's been a while) but still has some really interesting visual touches.

 

Mother and The Host by Bong Joon-Ho...he's gone on to do some well known english stuff (Snowpiercer, Okja), but Mother is probably my favorite of his.

 

If you want lighter stuff, you could go into some old Stephen Chow movies. Shaolin Soccer, and Kung Fu Hustle are both goofy as hell and a lot of fun.

 

I don't think I watch movies at the rate you do, but if you mention what you're looking at watching next, I'd probably try to go along at least some of the time.

Kurosawa is definitely one of the major names I'll be tackling at length, though I tend to find his dramatic work too cloying and sentimental. The genre stuff like Seven Samurai and Yojimbo, though, I am all about.

 

Harakiri is on my radar for sure, and maybe I'll pair it with Miike's remake for a double feature. I never played the video games, but his Ace Attorney adaptation certainly seems...faithful to the experience of playing a video game on DS. Miike's a director I'm already quite familiar with (though it won't be until after he's dead that anyone in the West will be able to sort out his career in any kind of definitive way) so I don't think I'll spend too much more time on him.

 

Tokyo Drifter is wonderful, and I like Seijun Suzuki's Fighting Elegy even more, but Branded to Kill feels personal and subversive in a different, more complicated way that I just wasn't able to parse out this time. Right now the plan is to end the year with as many Seijun Suzuki and Yasujiro Ozu films as I can access. Those are going to be the folks I dive deepest into.

 

I love The Host, Memories of Murder and Snowpiercer, so Mother is one I'll be watching for sure. I haven't seen Shaolin Soccer or Kung Fu Hustle since Hustle came out in theaters, so maybe if I can track down God of Cookery and King of Comedy (both I've recently read very good things about) as well I'll make a real go of it.

---------------------

 

As for my schedule going forward, I have two more Ringo Lam films to see (Prison On Fire and Burning Paradise) and one Shaw Brothers black magic film (Seeding of a Ghost) and then I'm majorly switching gears to Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien, director of subtle arthouse films such as Flowers of Shanghai, Millenium Mambo and 2015's The Assassin. From there I'll probably transition to my favorite Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang, who directed one of my favorite films ever Rebels of the Neon God. I'm wholly unfamiliar with Hou Hsiao-hsien but I can recommend Tsai Ming-liang to anyone who has a taste for slow or unusual cinema. Rebels of the Neon God and What Time Is It There? are both A+ examples of films about loneliness, while Goodbye Dragon Inn is a maddeningly slow paced film that follows, nearly in real time, the final screening of a rep theater before it closes down for good. It's haunting and beautiful but it also tried my patience and feels designed to be specifically seen in theaters. 

 

I'll probably follow up Tsai Ming-Liang with another action or martial arts director, but not definite plans on who yet.

 

Also I rewatched Ringo Lam's Full Contact this morning and rather than wax poetic about it, I'll just link to the trailer which does a very good job of selling it as the ultimate action film via the music of early 90's heavy metal songbirds Extreme:

 

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Lots of great recommendations already! 

 

Since you started off with Ozu, I'd highly recommend "Good Morning" and "An Autumn Afternoon." The former is his most lighthearted and entertaining movie (about two bratty but lovable kids pestering their parents for a television set so they can watch sumo wrestling), and it's my personal favorite. And "An Autumn Afternoon" is my second favorite of his late-period movies shot in color. 

 

One of Hirokazu Kore-eda's movies ("I Wish") has already been mentioned in the thread. Kore-eda is the closest we have to a modern-day Ozu, employing a lot of the same narrative and visual techniques. His movie "Still Walking" (2008) is the most Ozu-like and my absolute favorite of his.

 

Of course Studio Ghibli is immensely popular, and for good reason. My two favorite movies from the studio are "Grave of the Fireflies" and "Only Yesterday," directed by Isao Takahata. Both are incredible, but "Only Yesterday" is the one that seems to be the most overlooked. About a woman in her late 20s who goes to work on a family member's farm to take a break from city life, the movie is filled with her thinking about various flashbulb memories from her childhood. It is perhaps the most gentle and affecting of Ghibli's entire output, and one of the greatest movies ever made. (I also really liked his recent "The Tale of Princess Kaguya," but more for its visuals than narrative.)

 

Of the Miyazaki-helmed movies, which of course are all great, my favorites are "Porco Rosso," "Kiki's Delivery Service," "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind," "Spirited Away," and "My Neighbor Totoro."

 

"Tokyo Godfathers," "Mind Game" (2004), "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time," "Summer Wars," "Akira," "Ghost in the Shell," etc. are all very good animated movies, as well.

 

Kurosawa of course has been mentioned. He had a long career filled with many great movies--my absolute favorites are "High and Low" and "Ikiru." 

 

(Word of warning on the Criterion "High and Low" Blu-ray: the white typeface is a bit annoying for the first 15 minutes or so of the movie. It's an interior shot that is brightly lit and the subtitles kind of bleed into the background a bit more than they should. But this issue goes away once the movie transitions to another sequence and the subtitles are easy to read for the majority of the movie. You can definitely still read the text at the beginning, but it's the only time I remember ever having slight difficulty reading subtitles because of their color interacting poorly with the movie image itself--I think I had to pause a couple times to ensure I got everything. The movie is definitely damn good enough to warrant dealing with that minor annoyance at the very beginning, though.)

 

Wong Kar-Wai has also already been mentioned. I see that Patrick is already familiar with his work, but for anyone that isn't I'd recommend starting with "Chungking Express"; it's his most entertaining movie. "In the Mood for Love" is great, but it is a purposefully slower-paced movie that rewards rewatching to fully grasp and might be a bit much for one's first foray into his work.

 

On that note, Edward Yang similarly made great and purposefully slower-paced movies. I'd recommend starting with "Yi Yi," the easiest to get into (though it is 3 hours long). "A Brighter Summer Day" is his masterpiece, a sprawling work informed by personal experience. It's 4 hours long/a bigger commitment, though it's definitely worth it.

 

One of the best documentaries I've ever seen is "Last Train Home" (2010), directed by Lixin Fan. It's about how millions upon millions of Chinese factory workers (often underage) live and sleep at the factories they work at (making jeans and other bric-a-brac for Americans to "enjoy"), working excessively to try to help themselves and/or their family financially. They all work at factories for most of the year and get one single break/vacation, when they all travel home for the Chinese New Year. The movie is filled with unforgettable imagery of the factory conditions, the mass exodus of all these incredibly hard-working people trying desperately to cram onto trains to get home for the one minor break they receive, and the tireless resolve of these workers to try to better their lives via a corrupt, denigrating, and uncaring system. 

 

Though it is obviously a deeply upsetting and harrowing movie, it is well worth watching, both to witness conditions many of us have never endured, but also to see the brief moments of hope and joy these people still exude. Though the economic system is utterly failing them and doing everything it can to deprive them of their basic living conditions, it can not *completely* take away their humanity. One can only hope one day this type of atrocious economic system is dismantled and replaced with a viable one, and that some form of reparation is given to these people, no matter how late and disproportionate it will be to what they've suffered through.

 

I'm sure there's many more I'm failing to think of off the top of my head; I'll make another post after trying to remember all that I've seen. But of course as already evidenced by other suggestions folks have given in the thread, there are clearly many more great movies that fit this particular category for me to see. 

 

I think there is strong merit in having threads dedicated to moviemaking or creative works from specific regions, but maybe a general "foreign movies" thread would be welcome, as well? Thinking about the movies for this thread was yet another reminder of a fact I observed long ago: that creative works made outside of America on average are both of a higher quality and often more genuine in nature. Don't get me wrong, of course there are still many exemplary works that come from here, but I think many people from here, especially the more jingoistic among us, think that we excel at/are the best at everything, which couldn't be further from the truth. Foreign movies (and most other creative works/other endeavors done elsewhere) have long been on average better than ones produced here, and this disparity in quality only seems to increase as time goes on. (For example: there isn't any American movie made so far in this decade that holds a candle to "A Separation," in my opinion.)

 

With all of the appalling information that has come out about aspects of the American movie production apparatus in the last few months, as well as the fact we're apparently going to allow one company to control the majority of it, I hope beyond hope that more people from here seek out more and more movies and other creative works made elsewhere. (Of course there is no doubt that atrocious individuals are involved in movies made elsewhere, as well--Bernardo Bertolucci and Lars von Trier are as reprehensible as Woody Allen and Roman Polanski, etc. But the overall higher quality and greater sincerity of the best works made elsewhere strongly indicate many of them are also made by nicer people, and I feel more comfortable supporting the best works made outside of America.)

 

It is easier than ever to find out about and experience these works. Landmark Theatres (owned by Mark Cuban, who also owns the Mavericks and seems like an upstanding person, though I certainly don't claim to have done extensive research on him) is the largest chain that shows foreign movies here in America, and every major city also has at least one if not a handful of independently-owned theaters that show limited-release foreign movies. (Even many places with population sizes between 35,000-100,000 will have one theater in town that shows foreign movies.) 

 

Criterion and Masters of Cinema have brought a lot of the best foreign movies to home video and have both done mostly sterling HD restoration work for their Blu-ray releases. FilmStruck has a lot of the Criterion collection available to stream; you can try out a free two-week trial here--just make sure to select the middle option as that's the one that includes the Criterion catalog. (For those that care: the video quality of HD streaming on FilmStruck and also Netflix, Hulu, etc. is somewhere in-between that of DVD and Blu-ray. I did a comparison a couple years ago of a handful of Criterion movies I have on both DVD and Blu-ray to how they looked in HD streaming and the video quality was always better than the DVD but worse than the Blu-ray--like I said, pretty much directly in-between the two formats in terms of clarity/quality. For most movies I'd say streaming is definitely good enough--if you have the bandwidth to stream in HD--but if you can get access to the Blu-rays from a mom-and-pop rental store or Netflix, it will be a bit better.)

 

Thanks for starting the thread @Patrick R and everyone else for their great suggestions. Will be checking in on this one regularly--looking forward to seeing more great movies!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hello, this is a nice idea for a thread and I have so many Asian films in my to watch list, I'm gonna commit to watching more too.  As for recommendations there has been so many great ones already. I love koreda too, nobody knows and Our little sister are my favourites of his but I think I'm alone in liking the latter so much. Last year I found out about the great Hong Kong director, Johnnie To. He's made some great action films, Drug War, The Mission and breaking news are ones I'd recommend. Oh I like castle of Cagliostro too only saw that the the first time last year, such a cool movie though as you are hit and miss with Miyazaki it might not be your cup of tea. Oh and if anyone has a free day the entire 9 hours of the Wang Bing documentary Ti Xi Qu is on YouTube, the film that contains one of the most upsetting scenes I've ever seen. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Siromatic said:

 

I think there is strong merit in having threads dedicated to moviemaking or creative works from specific regions, but maybe a general "foreign movies" thread would be welcome, as well? Thinking about the movies for this thread was yet another reminder of a fact I observed long ago: that creative works made outside of America on average are both of a higher quality and often more genuine in nature. Don't get me wrong, of course there are still many exemplary works that come from here, but I think many people from here, especially the more jingoistic among us, think that we excel at/are the best at everything, when the reality couldn't be further from the truth. Foreign movies (and most other creative works/other endeavors done elsewhere) have long been on average better than ones produced here, and this disparity in quality only seems to increase as time goes on. (For example: there isn't any American movie made so far in this decade that holds a candle to "A Separation," in my opinion.)

 

With all of the appalling information that has come out about aspects of the American movie production apparatus in the last few months, as well as the fact we're apparently going to allow one company to control the majority of it, I hope beyond hope that more people from here seek out more and more movies and other creative works made elsewhere. (Of course there is no doubt that atrocious individuals are involved in movies made elsewhere, as well--Bernardo Bertolucci and Lars Von Trier are as reprehensible as Woody Allen and Roman Polanski, etc. But the overall higher quality and greater sincerity of the best works made elsewhere strongly indicate many of them are also made by nicer people, and I feel more comfortable supporting the best works made outside of America.)

 

I agree with a lot of this but I think it's worth saying that, of every film made in Asia (a big continent that includes India, which makes way more movies than America), we in America only get exposed to those that western critics and distribution companies have deemed most likely to connect with a small market of discerning American moviegoers who have an interest in seeing films with subtitles. It may or may not be the best stuff out there, but I bet there's a lot of meaningless impersonal crap that gets made as well. One of my goals is to not just watch the work of criticially acclaimed Asian auteurs (I've never seen anything by Kore-eda, Hong Sang-soo or Edward Yang and I'm excited to change that) but also some random Asian movies that haven't been recommended to me by anyone. I'm a firm believer that you can't know why something's done well unless you've seen it done poorly, and trash is a regular part of my movie diet.

 

17 minutes ago, Woodfella said:

Hello, this is a nice idea for a thread and I have so many Asian films in my to watch list, I'm gonna commit to watching more too.  As for recommendations there has been so many great ones already. I love koreda too, nobody knows and Our little sister are my favourites of his but I think I'm alone in liking the latter so much. Last year I found out about the great Hong Kong director, Johnnie To. He's made some great action films, Drug War, The Mission and breaking news are ones I'd recommend. Oh I like castle of Cagliostro too only saw that the the first time last year, such a cool movie though as you are hit and miss with Miyazaki it might not be your cup of tea.

 

To is on my list for sure! And I do like Castle of Cagliostro quite a bit, but I forgot to mention it because it's not Ghibli.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You should watch Dabangg which is the only Bollywood movie I've ever seen, and is also one of the greatest movies I've ever seen

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Bollywood is a must! I've seen one Bollywood film in my life (on a lark for my birthday, a family drama about Progeria) and it's actually kind of embarrassing for me. Provided I can get access to it, Dabangg will be seen by me!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

In terms of Johnnie To, I'd recommend Election and Exiled.

 

Also if anime is fair game, Satoshi Kon's entire oeuvre is worthwhile. My favourite of his is probably the series Paranoia Agent, but you can't really go wrong with him IMO.

Also, absolutely don't miss Nekojiru/Cat Soup.

 

Edit: also Miike has been mentioned already, but I'd recommend the first entry in his Dead or Alive trilogy. The opening 4 and half minutes especially. The film predictably cannot (and does not try) to keep that breakneck pace, although the ending certainly does an interesting thing as well. Miike has a surprising (? maybe not, given how prolific he is) amount of range, from the kind of more normal horror Audition, period samurai story 13 Assassins, and the more contemplative The Bird People in China, to the pulp schlock of Fudoh: The New Generation to the plain weirdness to be found in Visitor QHappiness of the Katakuris or his Dead or Alive trilogy.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I am not a big fan of 13 Assassins as it feels like an inferior Seven Samurai, but the rest are excellent choices for Miike.

 

I saw someone mention Ong Bak, good choice and worth seeing with it is Tom Yum Goong or The Protector as it is known in the west as they thought that Spicy Prawn Soup would be a ridiculous translation. Both great Thai films.

 

Filmed in Myanmar - I would strongly recommend My Buddha is Punk, it is a documentary about a group of teenagers trying to mix the philosophy of Buddhism with Punk as well as talking about the atrocities being committed in Myanmar right now.

 

Train to Busan is a big Korean movie that is worth checking out, some good humour and likeable characters to go along with it. Mother and The Host are good shouts too. I don't know if this film holds up but Save the Green Planet! left an impression on me when I watched it about 14 years ago, it has a weird story but I wouldn't want to spoil it.

 

Obviously there is The Raid and The Raid II that were made as a response to everyone saying that Thailand had the best Martial Arts/Stunts groups and Idonesia decided to try and prove them wrong. The first is set at a breakneck pace, the second is curious because it has a lot of story and it focuses more on the motivations of the villains (it reminds me a lot of the Yakuza games' plot but don't let that put you off).

 

Kung Fu Dunk, I thing is Taiwanese and follows the Shaolin Soccer approach. It isn't great but the lead is genuinely funny (he was the Green Hornet in the Seth Rogan vehicle) and there is a great song right in the middle about To Fu that makes it worth watching for that alone.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So I've finished up with Ringo Lam! I think when I finish with a director I'll make a personal ranking of the films I've seen, just so if people want to dip their toes in they'll have an easy guide to see where to start.

 

RINGO LAM DEFINITIVE 120% OBJECTIVE QUALITY POWER RANKINGS FROM NOW UNTIL FOREVER

1. Full Contact

2. City on Fire

3. Burning Paradise

4. Wild City

5. Prison On Fire

6. Replicant

 

 

Prison On Fire is a look at prison politics and brutality, but it suffers in 2018 because, since 1987, that topic has been covered frequently, with more depth, a keener eye towards social issues and more exploitative violence. It's a prison film in which rape and racially motivated violence are non-existent and snitches are punished not with death but punches to the stomach. It's a condemnation of our country's justice system to say it, but Prison on Fire almost seems quaint. Certainly, despite it's setting, it's the least brutally violent Ringo Lam film I've seen, and that's kind of his bread and butter. Chow Yun-Fat is super charming though as the lifer who takes the newbie under his wing and there is a riot at the end with some very well-orchestrated chaos.

 

 

Burning Paradise is Lam's (only?) wuxia film, and it delivers everything you would want from Lam, with bloody comic book violence set in a fantastic magical world. It's based on The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple, a lost silent film serial thought to be the first wuxia film ever made. It certainly shares the roller-coaster pacing of the serial-inspired Indiana Jones films and, more specifically, the setting and gross-out sensibility of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It's not an homage to that film but the wonderfully elaborate sets were certainly influenced by it. If you can imagine Temple of Doom as a martial arts film couched in the real history of Shaolin monks battling Manchu forces, you get the idea. The story kind of grinds to a halt once they reach the Temple and the characters are thin, but the fight scenes and art direction are incredible and it's well-paced. Lot of fun.

 

(The following trailer is NSFW: gruesome gore)

 

 

I also watched Seeding of a Ghost. It's produced by the legendary Shaw Brothers Studios, who popularized kung-fu films, and is one of their "black magic" films, a sub-genre of supernatural horror movie known for it's nasty sensibility and gross-out gore. The only other black magic film I've seen is The Boxer's Omen and that was the best film experience I had last year, so I think it may have set expectations a little too high for this one. This still has a lot of great special effects work and bizarre moments (as you can see in the trailer above) but it lacked the imagination, pacing and conviction of The Boxer's Omen. The set-up is slow and misogynist while the pay-off is kind of the same scare sequences happening to an interchangeable series of people. Still a great bugfuck movie experience, but not nearly the masterpiece The Boxer's Omen is.

 

----------------------------------------------

 

But that's enough disreputable exploitation cinema. Next up is arthouse darling Hou Hsiao-hsien! Think I'm gonna start with Millenium Mambo.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I finally watched A Brighter Summer Day and liked it a great deal. Feel silly having put it off for so long having enjoyed Yi Yi and Terrorizers. I still haven't seen mahjong though. Difficult to precisely identify what I like about Edward Yang's films but they are slow and quiet and often strikingly beautiful, the climax to this film left me with a lump in my throat just as Yi Yi did. If you have a free day to devote to a film I'd recommend either of these. Perhaps get up early and enjoy them with a nice breakfast beer as I did. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Is A Brighter Summer Day that long because it depicts a long period of time/many events or is it a slow-cinema sort of thing where you will occasionally just watch someone chopping vegetables for 4 uninterrupted minutes?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 1/24/2018 at 6:04 PM, Patrick R said:

 

I agree with a lot of this but I think it's worth saying that, of every film made in Asia (a big continent that includes India, which makes way more movies than America), we in America only get exposed to those that western critics and distribution companies have deemed most likely to connect with a small market of discerning American moviegoers who have an interest in seeing films with subtitles. It may or may not be the best stuff out there, but I bet there's a lot of meaningless impersonal crap that gets made as well. One of my goals is to not just watch the work of criticially acclaimed Asian auteurs (I've never seen anything by Kore-eda, Hong Sang-soo or Edward Yang and I'm excited to change that) but also some random Asian movies that haven't been recommended to me by anyone. I'm a firm believer that you can't know why something's done well unless you've seen it done poorly, and trash is a regular part of my movie diet.

 

Oh yeah, totally agree that there's a lot of not-great movies made elsewhere, and that there's surely some campy fun to be had in some of them that we're likely not going to experience/know about since what we receive here is purposefully filtered/tailored for the market.

 

My point was simply that since the best movies made outside America are often of a much higher quality than the best that are made here, I also presume the same is true for mid and low-tier (in terms of quality) works. 

 

Take "Miss Hokusai," for example, an animated movie I could have mentioned for this thread but purposefully didn't because though its premise and elements of it are great, the execution of the movie as a whole unfortunately falls a bit flat. I'd consider it a mid-tier movie in terms of quality. That said, what it's about is better and more interesting than 99% of animated movies made here in America. The movie isn't executed as well as the best movies from Laika, Pixar, and Disney, but it also was made with a fraction of the budget, people, and resources as movies made by those American companies (and like all foreign movies also made an infinitesimal fraction at the box office compared to movies made by those American companies). 

 

And when I say a fraction, I'm not exaggerating. Can't find a specific number for the budget of "Miss Hokusai," but the production company has 120 people *total* and also does television and video game work, so I doubt everyone was on the project. 120 people is 1/10 the amount of people Pixar has, so one can assume the budget is also a tiny fraction of what one is for a Pixar movie, and the reported box office gross is 0.0003265% that of Pixar's latest movie "Coco." Of course "Coco" played at hundreds if not a thousand more theaters than "Miss Hokusai" did, but even if foreign animated movies played at the same amount of theaters as an American animated movie does, it seems highly likely they would still make a fraction of what they do at the box office. Also even if you compare "Miss Hokusai" to a smaller-sized American animation studio whose movies unfortunately do the lowest numbers at the box office (Laika), it's still a fraction. The "Miss Hokusai" production company has 3/10 the amount of people Laika has, again you can assume a fraction of the budget, and made 0.003184% what Laika's most recent movie ("Kubo and the Two Strings") did. So a bit better, but still pretty far from 1% of the total gross of the worst-performing (god why do more people not go see Laika movies they're really fucking good) contemporary American animated movie from a major studio. (I probably should have compared "Miss Hokusai" to the worst or mid-tier quality movies from both those companies, such as "Cars 2" and "The Boxtrolls," but the numbers would be very similar.)

 

Me hoping that more American moviegoers seek out foreign movies is so we get exactly the kind of movies you're talking about--ones that previously would have only been known about by people that live in the places they come from. (My point in giving the stats above was to convey that if just 1/50 of the people that show up for major American movie releases went and saw foreign movies, they'd be doing much better financially and we'd get even more of them.) I'd love to get way more mid and low-tier quality foreign movies, and I'd also love for the people that make the best ones to do better financially so they can make even more great movies, etc. (Though of course no matter what there's always going to be creative works that are only known locally--whether it's isolated to a town, state, or entire country. Some stuff just never breaks through to a wider audience. But I do strongly think that if foreign movies made more money at the box office, we'd see companies taking more risks in terms of what movies get distribution, how many get the green-light in the first place, etc.)

 

So if foreign movies are made with a fraction of the people, budget, and resources as American movies, and yet are often so much better in quality (like I said earlier, compare "A Separation" to anything that has been made in this decade so far here in America), what accounts for the discrepancy in quality? Surely a multitude of factors, but one that stands out to me is the sad fact that the story of America so far has been the story of white mediocrity in control. (And I don't say that to be harsh or hypocritical--I'm one of if not *the* most mediocre white people on the planet.) Many of these foreign works are made by way less white people than your average American production, and I think this is one of the huge benefits they have. I say this because the same thing is true of works made here in America--"Do the Right Thing," "Children of Men," "The Square" (2013), "Fruitvale Station," "Moonlight," etc.--most of our more recent great movies have come from non-white people. (Even silly entertaining stuff like "Thor: Ragnarok" has a vibrancy and style that most of its peers in its genre are missing, likely due to the director and people in the movie crew.)

 

Sure, a lot of white people made some great stuff here from the 20s-60s, but non-white people didn't have much of a chance to get into high-up positions. And when you look into a lot of the best works made by white people, especially collaborative works like movies, you often find there was one or a handful of non-white people who actually did most of the crucial work and then the white people in charge unconsciously or consciously took and received the credit for it. (This stuff still happens a lot today, sadly.) Somewhat similar to how you often find out a spouse of a famous man deserves way more credit than given for the success of their work (and that it should be referred to as their work since they both contributed to it), such as Elaine Bass, Marcia Lucas, et al. Also, just think of how much better a lot of that work from the 20s-60s would be if there had been more diverse creative teams working on them, and how much better works made by mostly white people today would be. (Hell, as much as I like the diverse cast and story group on the new "Star Wars" movies, I wish they'd gone with different directors. Would love to see a Janelle Monae or Alfonso Cuaron helmed "Star Wars" movie. Oh well.)

 

Would also like to try to dispel the myth that foreign movies with subtitles are difficult to watch/get into and that it's only for "smart" people or some such nonsense. (Hopefully there are folks that read this thread that have seen few foreign movies before and now feel more interested/excited to do so.) I totally understand there is some percentage of people that either have visual or learning impairments that would make reading subtitles difficult or impossible. But a huge percentage of the American population can easily read subtitles. Characters in movies hardly ever speak more than 1-2 sentences at a time, and even more rarely do they use words that people would not have heard of/need to look up the definition of. Reading subtitles in foreign movies is nothing like reading a book, or even a comic strip--it's way simpler and to the point. I've had more difficulty trying to pronounce and understand the meaning of words I've come across on food menus than I ever have from a foreign movie. And I think most people, once they've watched 2-3 movies with subtitles, will start to notice they better understand the narrative/plot due to reading instead of just hearing the dialogue. I watch most movies where the dialogue is spoken in English with subtitles for exactly that reason, and find it to be a much more enjoyable experience.

 

The one argument against subtitles I can understand a bit more is folks that want to take in the visuals as much as possible. I really don't find reading subtitles to be any different than just listening to the dialogue in terms of my ability to observe the visual details (either way your brain cannot 100% focus on the visuals--you're either reading the subtitles or instinctively parsing what is being said, and honestly I find reading 1-2 sentences a lot easier to do than processing the same spoken dialogue), but obviously when you're reading the subtitles your eyes are no longer taking in the whole image/paying as close attention to the details. My biggest counterargument against this position, as someone who really loves visuals, is that I find I am way more likely to rewatch/experience any media I really like visually at least one more time after my initial experience. And it's a lot easier to focus and observe visual details on a second viewing of any movie, subtitled or not.

 

And the last myth/stereotype that seems to drive people away from experiencing foreign movies (and other media) is that they think the theaters that play them are more "fancy" than a standard wide release multiplex. Some people seem to think it's equivalent to going to a high-end restaurant where the food is all mega-expensive, people are snooty and dressed to the nines, etc. In my experience this is hardly ever the case or is blown out of proportion. Some theaters that show foreign and independent movies are older movie palaces and may have some nice decoration, but when it comes to the seats, screen, and audio they're often slightly worse or no better than a standard wide release multiplex. (A tradeoff that's easy to accept for the kinds of movies you get to see.) And many of them are just basic ass theaters. The audience is usually a smattering of people in their early 20s, a few more people in their late 20s/30s/early 40s, and some older people. Some of the middle-aged/older folks may be dressed nicely, but I've never been to a screening where everyone is--it sure as shit ain't required and I've never felt out of place dressing normally. And the worst misconception is pricing--tickets on average are much cheaper at theaters that show foreign and independent movies than at a wide release multiplex. Matinee showings at Landmark Theatres across the U.S. are $7, and evening/standard showings are $9. Independently-owned theaters that show foreign movies can be even slightly cheaper. Good luck finding tickets at a wide release multiplex that low, unless it's before noon on a specific weekday when they have a sale.

 

I'd love if more folks from all types of backgrounds started seeing these movies. The tickets are cheaper than for a wide release multiplex movie, the movies are better, etc. Though I totally understand for some folks these theaters are too far away from where they live/work to regularly go to, which is a shame. Again, FilmStruck streaming, mom-and-pop rental stores and damn Netflix are your best options if that's the case.

 

Anyway, most of that is tangential to the topic at hand and more regarding foreign movies in general. Don't mean to get the thread off-topic; just wanted to give a reply since I agree with you @Patrick R that I'd be nice for mid and low-tier quality Asian and other foreign movies to play here, too. (And like I said, based on all the info above I think mid and low-tier quality works from Asia and elsewhere would be better than ones made here, as well.)

 

Some other movies I thought of: not sure if "The Act of Killing" counts (co-directed by Christine Cynn and shot in Indonesia)--that's another remarkable documentary. And when it comes to campy/not-great-but-also-the-greatest-because-of-how-not-great it is movies, "Hausu" is aces. (Though it's Criterion-approved, so surely doesn't fit the criteria of a lesser-known not-great work like you were talking about.) But yeah, "Hausu" is probably the most I've laughed during/enjoyed a not-great movie, since it's so hilariously bizarre and some of the techniques employed make such little sense. And I have not seen these yet, but I've owned the Blu-ray set for a few years now: "The Samurai Trilogy" movies by Hiroshi Inagaki, which are supposed to be good. (This is a good reminder that I need to watch those! They aren't even very long, just roughly an hour and a half each.)

 

Also, glad to hear you liked "A Brighter Summer Day" @Woodfella! Always nice when one of those 4-9+ hour movies are compelling enough to make you excited to take breaks and see the whole thing. Nice to save those for a cozy Saturday or Sunday.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I decided to delve into this thread finally. First of all, I will say that I've already seen a lot of recommendations which I might follow, and a lot that I would recommend have already been mentioned. I'll only echo three movies, which are my favourites among Asian cinema so far: Chungking Express, High and Low, Harakiri. These are just brilliant, maybe in my top 10, if I had a real one. So I'll focus on the movies that haven't been mentioned yet, and that are maybe not top 10 or even top 100 movies necessarily.

 

Also I might join the effort to see more Asian movies, but my focus should be on seeing movies from new countries. Already done: Thailand, Japan, China, Taiwan, Iran, South Korea, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, India, Saudi Arabia, Georgia, Afghanistan. But now, some recommendations from movies I've seen in the past 2-3 years:

 

Onibaba (Kaneto Shindō). This is a brilliant horror movie, and one of the series of Japanes movies that takes place in a really weird setting - people living in a huge field of reeds, stealing gear from fallen soldiers.

 

Kuroneko (Kaneto Shindō). Also pretty weird and well done horror, but this is more like a normal Japanese ghost story.

 

Lady Snowblood (Toshiya Fujita). A visual masterpiece, but a rather simple revenge story. Inspiration for Kill Bill AFAIK. Skip the sequel unless you really like the visuals.

 

Kwaidan (Masaki Kobayashi). Several Japanese ghost stories in one technically masterful movie.

 

Like Someone in Love (Abbas Kiarostami). A Japanese film by an Iranian director. That itself is notable, while the quality of the film is debatable.

 

Woman in the Dunes (Hiroshi Teshigahara) is another Japanese film in a super weird setting. The setting is a beach with huge sand holes with houses in them, where the protagonist becomes trapped.

 

 

Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray). I think this is the strongest of the Apu Trilogy films and you should definitely watch at least one. The others are Apur Sankar and Aparajito. The Big City is also good.

 

Wolf Children (Mamoru Hosoda) is the most moving anime I've seen. I'd also recommend other movies by this director, like Summer Wars, The Boy and the Beast, The Girl Who Leapt through Time and a One Piece movie.

 

Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami). A man trying to find someone to assist with his suicide. Close-Up is also very good.

 

Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou). About the difficulties of a fourth (I think) wife of a noble in China. Also Hero is quite ok.

 

Eat Drink Man Woman (Ang Lee) a really good film about a Taiwanese chef and his family.

 

Once Upon a Time in Anatolya (Nuri Bilge Ceylan) - in case Turkey already counts as Asia, this is a good one. Clouds of May is also a good one, about an old man confused about change in land ownership laws.

 

A Quiet Dream (Zhang Lu) is basically a lot like a Jim Jarmusch movie. I liked it because of this, others might not.

 

Oldboy probably needs no mention.

 

Children of Heaven (Majid Majidi). More good stuff from Iran. Style is similar to Italian neorealism.

 

The Housemaid (1960, Kim, Ki-young) is a great horror film. Unfortunately, it's only partially restored, at least the copy I saw.

 

'Til Madness Do Us Part (Wang Bing) is a rather long documentary filmed in a mental asylum in China. Worth seeing, I think.

 

The Extremists' Opera (Junko Emoto) is about a Japanese experimental theater troupe led by a lesbian and her relationship difficulties in said troupe.

 

Empire of Passion (Nagisa Ōshima) another Japanese ghost story. Also by the same director: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence with David Bowie, about war prisoners and Japanese culture.

 

Tokyo Sonata (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) Don't remember much about it. There was some tension in family relations and I remember it was quite good.

 

Project A (Jackie Chan). Some cool physical stunts.

 

Antiporno (Sion Sono) A visually pretty drama with twists.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If you've never seen his films I'd recommend Tropical Malady and Uncle Boonme Who Can Recall His Past Lives! Weerasethakul's work is absolutely wonderful and warm, though you definitely need to be prepped for slow cinema and watch it in a way where you can fall under it's hypnotic spell, without having a phone out or pausing it too often. 

 

I've started with Hou Hsiao-Hsien and I'm not sure I'm that into his thing. The only one of his films I saw previously was The Assassin, for which Hou won the best director award at Cannes. I saw in theaters in 2015 and realized about 15 minutes in that I hadn't been reading any of the subtitles. I decided to watch the rest of the film that way and appreciated it alright as a purely visual experience but, naturally, I felt distanced from it. This time I'm actually watching the movies properly but a lot of that distance still remains.

 

Millennium Mambo, a film about a young woman disenchanted with the Taipei nightlife and her abusive boyfriend, has an interesting formal approach: every scene is done in one master shot in which the camera is almost always rooted in place but free to pan and zoom across the scene. It has a lot of the loneliness and long takes one would associate with a lot of slow cinema but not the stillness. It's restless without being too energetic, which fits the story perfectly. My problem is that it's a story that's way too familiar. Even as someone who isn't a dedicated Asian cinephile has seen this story of lonely alienated Chinese youth burnt out on meaningless pleasure on the fringes of the criminal world before in movies like Unknown Pleasures, Fallen Angels, and Rebels of the Neon God. And even with the main character narrating the film (from a vantage point of ten years later) the characters feel opaque and underwritten. The film's objective camera is too objective for me to form real attachment to them and I found the entire experience rather cold.

 

(This trailer has a couple shots of a butt in a thong, so possibly NSFW)

 

The same was true for much of one of Hou's earlier films, 1986's Dust In The Wind. However about an hour or so in there's a moment that recontextualized the vague directionless dissatisfied young adult narrative into something much more specific, large and sad. Overall I found the film much more rewarding, and it's milieus (mid-century Taipei, a small village in north-east Taiwan, and an army base) absolutely captivating. There was less formal rigor here as well, though most scenes still play out in a limited number of master shots with no shot/reverse shot kind of coverage. Taiwan looks absolutely gorgeous in this movie.

 

 

I also balanced out all this graceful arthouse fare with the classic Godzilla monster mash Destroy All Monsters! The first Godzilla is a masterful sci-fi film, one of a few to perfectly capture national trauma in the guise of crowd-pleasing genre fiction, much moreso than any atomic anxiety in 1950's American sci-fi. The sequels I've seen, however, are usually pretty clumsy, clearly aimed at children and usually get way too bogged down in a bunch of boring sub-plots involving the humans on the ground. I was under the impression that Destroy All Monsters! corrected this last point, but this too has a whole bunch of scientists running around on the ground doing inane things for inane reasons. However the art direction in this film is INSANE, with tons of spaceships and alien technology and high-tech science labs that all look gorgeous. The movie pops like a four-color comic book and there's a LOT of monsters and miniatures to enjoy. I don't think I really like Godzilla movies outside of that effects work, though. I'm probably gonna give Godzilla vs. Hedorah (with the reputation of being "the psychedelic Godzilla movie") a shot sometime this year, though.

 

 

I got one, maybe two more Hou films to check out (The Time to Live and The Time to Die & possibly The Puppetmaster) and then I'm gonna pivot into two other seminal Taiwanese filmmakers, Tsai Ming-liang and Edward Yang. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I watched In the mood for love today and thought it was quite wonderful. Looking forward to more Wong Kar Wai. 

 

I also watched the second half of The Wind Rises after falling asleep halfway through last night. It was fine, looked amazing obviously, I would have liked it more if I'd watched it in one I expect. Looking forward to hearing what you think of Yang Patrick. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now