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Culturegasm: Southeast/East Asian Cinema to watch out for?

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      CommentAuthorFinagle
    • CommentTimeAug 7th 2009
     (5975.1)
    Next on my list: /Thirst/, another South Korean production from Park Chan-wook:

    Director Park, best known to DVD connoisseurs for his Vengeance trilogy, is a past master of emotional violence, and Thirst is his richest, craziest, most mature work yet. He gets valiant work from Song, a top Korean star whose trademark stolidity is a suitable vessel for Father Hyun's stoic battle against the impulses that have invaded his system. But it's the lovely Kim, just 22, who is the revelation here. She can play — no, she can be — a creature of mute docility, then searching ardor, then explosive eroticism, then murderous intent. She is Lady Chatterley and Lady Macbeth in one smoldering package.

    Blending plot elements of Double Indemnity and Natural Born Killers with the ripe sensuality of Francis Coppola's take on Dracula, the film should make audiences sit up in startled pleasure, as if they'd just received the most luscious neck-bite. So take a break from the summer's zombified blockbusters and surrender to the crimson ecstasy of Thirst

    - Review in Time Magazine
    • CommentAuthoroga
    • CommentTimeAug 7th 2009
     (5975.2)
    I saw Thirst at the film festival last week. AWESOME!
    • CommentAuthoroga
    • CommentTimeAug 7th 2009
     (5975.3)
    Mind you. I just read the Time review. If there was a zombie movie that could beat Thirst, Dead Snow would be it.
  4.  (5975.4)
    My friends saw Dead Snow (which I believe is Scandanavian, not Asian) and loved it but it looked crap frm the trailer. Good zombie make up but that's about it.
    • CommentAuthorUrbanAngel
    • CommentTimeNov 10th 2009
     (5975.5)
    Just to say that I can't wait for Bunraku to be released. It was meant to be in 2009 but now there is a release date for June 2010 for Turkey. Check it out on www.imdb.com. A whole host of starts, including Gackt (extremely famous Japanese musician). Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson.. partially animated, part real life. Looks great.
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      CommentAuthorjonni
    • CommentTimeNov 10th 2009
     (5975.6)
    Oh dear, I want to see Bunraku now just because it has Gackt in, though in my defense Moon Child was pretty good, not amazing and it benefited from pretty boys, but the final sequence was haunting and utterly beautiful. Also, not a very typical vampire movie at all.
    • CommentAuthorVaruker
    • CommentTimeNov 10th 2009
     (5975.7)
    For a great S. Korean action flick, "Shiri" was fantastic. For campy/ fun horror flicks:

    "Machine Girl"- Girls brother is killed by a gang. Girl seeks revenge, but gets arm chopped of instead. Sympathetic mechanic attaches machine gun to girls stump. Awesomeness ensues.

    "Tokyo Gore Police"- Female cop with sword battles mutants that can grow chainsaws and other fun devices from the stumps of severed body parts.

    And seconding "Wild Zero"- It's got a drinking game in the special features that involves drinking whenever a head explodes, something blows up, someone says "rock 'n roll" ect...
  8.  (5975.8)
    Stay away from Kitano's KANTOKU BANZAI! (ALL HAIL THE DIRECTOR! maybe?) if it ever gets released outside of Japan; it's two hours of flat, meandering episodic comedy sketches about how he can't think of a decent subject for a movie. TAKESHIS' was okay, though - a semi-David-Lynch-style meditation on the unbearable lightness of being Beat Takeshi. I enjoyed it well enough, but your mileage may vary. I still like his first film, VIOLENT COP, the best, I think. I love the Japanese title, which translates as something like THAT MAN IS A VIOLENCE-MAGNET. I want that on my tombstone.

    DORORO, GOEMON and TSUBAKI SANJURO weren't bad out of recent-ish samurai-type movies. I also quite liked GATCHI BOY, a comedy-drama about an ace legal student with no short term memory who trains to become a luchador, but I don't think it's available in English. If you've not seen them yet, it's really worth your time getting Sonny Chiba's THE STREETFIGHTER movies. I could watch the first one of those every day of my life and not get sick of it. The Japanese name comes out as SUDDEN ATTACK! MURDEROUS FIST! and I think that tells you everything you need to know. The best version available is probably Optimum's UK boxset, which I believe is the only non-dubbed English version available.
    • CommentAuthorMarty Nozz
    • CommentTimeNov 13th 2009
     (5975.9)
    I came up in martial arts, so I also came up with a love of martial arts movies and spent many Saturday afternoons watching "Kung-Fu Threater" on the local TV station.

    Quite a few of my favorites have been mentioned like Hard-Boiled, Once Upon a Time in China and Oldboy. There a bunch of others I really love.

    For fun fight scenes: Fist of Legend and Fearless starring Jet Li, Dragon Tiger Gate starring Donnie Yen, and the Thai movies Ong Bak, Ong Bak 2 (Warning, the story is a bit hard to follow), Tom Yum Goong (Released as "The Protector") and Chocolate.

    More movies with fight scenes but also a good story: Throwdown (A Hong Kong flick centered around Judo, and is pretty quirky, but interesting), Fighter in the Wind (Based very loosely on the life of Mas Oyama, founder of Kyokushinkai Karate) and SPL. I'm putting out a warning on SPL, that movie is brutal. It's the only time you'll see Sammo Hung play a villain. It also features an INSANE fight with Jing Wu and Donnie Yen that had my jaw on the floor.
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      CommentAuthornigredo
    • CommentTimeNov 13th 2009
     (5975.10)
  11.  (5975.11)
    Ha, yeah I was reading something about that the other day. Looks fun - I'm reminded of Miike's FULL METAL YAKUZA, which I am pretty sure I enjoyed.
    •  
      CommentAuthorFinagle
    • CommentTimeNov 14th 2009 edited
     (5975.12)
    I just watched /Ong Bak 2/, and while I don't quite know what I saw or what the ending was all about, it was completely mental, and the best martial arts fighting I've seen...possibly ever. I liked /Ong Bak/, but this completely took it to the next level.

    Thai ninjas, crocodile wrestling, a well-integrated dance number, and a running wall-flip off an elephant's head.
    The action was raw and explosive, a welcome change from Hong Kong-flavored wuxia wire-work.
    Highly recommended.

    What else has Tony Jaa done that's available and recommended? He's simply brilliant. - OK, I just looked on Wikipedia, and am completely floored to learn this is only his 3rd major film release. And even more so to read about the degree to which he performs his own actual athletic moved with little wire-work or special effects. That takes my amazement to yet another degree.
    • CommentAuthorMarty Nozz
    • CommentTimeNov 14th 2009
     (5975.13)
    @Stydmata: Ong Bak, Tom Yum Goong (You'll probably find it as The Protector) and he had kinda a bit role in another movie that I'm told isn't really worth tracking down.
    •  
      CommentAuthorFinagle
    • CommentTimeNov 14th 2009 edited
     (5975.14)
    Oh, I did see /The Protector/, but I confused it with /Ong Bak/. Well, just have to watch them both again I suppose.

    I'm pleased to note /Ong Bak 3/ is in preproduction for a 2010 release.

    I think I mentioned this before as well, but I have been rather pleased with Netflix's Watch It Now availability for quite a surprising amount of the films discussed here - the whole Vengeance trilogy, for instance.
    • CommentAuthorMarty Nozz
    • CommentTimeNov 14th 2009
     (5975.15)
    I figured they'd be working hard to get Ong Bak 3 out. After the ending of 2 my wife and I were both thinking "That's it?" and I suspected it would be set up for a sequel. Jaa really is quite talented at adapting to multiple different styles of martial arts. I'm very impressed with him.
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      CommentAuthorDavies0010
    • CommentTimeNov 15th 2009
     (5975.16)
    Saw a trailer for a Korean film, title of Secret i think. Looks to be a fair ways south of sanity.

    Also, Ninja Assassin - name says it all really.
    • CommentAuthorMarty Nozz
    • CommentTimeNov 15th 2009
     (5975.17)
    I'm skipping Ninja Assassin. Partly due to hating typical Hollywood portrayal of ninjas. Partly due to the wachowski Brothers only making one movie that I've actually liked.
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      CommentAuthorDavies0010
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2009
     (5975.18)
    Turns out Secret is a police/gangster suspense drama, along the lines of L.A. Confidential in plot terms. The mental looking film is titled Jeon Woo Chi: The Taoist Wizard, and well... judge for yourself.

    • CommentAuthorMarty Nozz
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2009
     (5975.19)
    I'm intrigued.

    However, with November here and the holidays looming, I'm now banned from the import shop.

    No buying myself DVDs until after Christmas.
    • CommentAuthorUrbanAngel
    • CommentTimeNov 26th 2009
     (5975.20)
    Fist of Legend (Jet Li) is great, isn't it? Based on Fist of Fury with Bruce Lee I was told (which I'm yet to see). Must buy the former on DVD. Or ask for it for Christmas!

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