Films to watch for people getting into asian cinema

[bohboh]

Hi all, I have been slowly getting into asian cinema the same way a lot of others are... by watching the original films of hollywood remakes. I would like to watch more but dont really know where to start. If you wanted to introduce some to asian cinema.. which films would you suggest to watch? i can imagine everyone has different ideas. Thoughts?

[steve_cole1]

i would start with some of the obvious asian stars like jackie chan , chow yun fat jet li e.t.c

[toadvenom]

Gordon Liu, no wires no fancy crap just gongfu

[fartbubble]

the two that sent me on my way(besides stuff from copies of kung fu theater) was Master Killer and The 36 Chamber of Shaolin both with Gordon Liu. But if your looking for newer movies, I would go with Drunken Master 2, Project A series, Fong Sai Yuk 1 and 2, Bride with White Hair(I consider this more Drama, but great fight scenes), Swordsman triology. Or if you want to see Jet Li in a chicken suit, check out Last Hero in China. The names everyone has mentioned are typically the ones that are the gateway drug of choice.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

When researching into new film, I always like to start with the most famous and critically known first then delve into the more esoteric. The problem is that there is so much awesome material when talking about Asian films. I'll give some of my favs according to genre/country/etc...

Japan -- Akira Kurosawa
Ikiru
Ran
Seven Samurai
Yojimbo

Chambara (also written as Chanbara -- loosely refers to Samurai films)
Lone Wolf and Cub Series (six films)
Kill
Sword of Doom
Any Zatoichi film

Jidai Geki (Japanese period piece)
Ugetsu
Harikiri
Samurai Trilogy

At least one Takashi Kitano film.
At least one Takashi Miike film.
All of Bruce Lee films (not including Game of Death).
At least one Bruceplotation film.
At least one hopping vampire film.
An early Sammo Hung film.
At least one Wong Kar-wai film.
Several Wu Xia films (start of with the latest Zhang Yimou films)

The ones mentioned earlier are great films too, but I would have to add to watch at least one Stephen Chow film, one Korean film (like Oldboy or Volcano High or even Save The Green Planet, my Korean film knowledge is weak though).

OK this could go on forever.

[fartbubble]

oops, forgot The Blade from Tsui Hark. I think that movie is mandatory viewing. And then there is Zu Warriors from Magic Mountain in the wuxia style.

And if we are also including Japan, I would add: 47 Ronin 62', Lady Snowblood, Hanzo the Razor and the Zaitochi series.

For Sammo Hung, I like his directing over his acting (please don't shoot). My favorite film would be Blade of Fury from him.

The Bruceplotation genre my favorite actor would be Bruce Le.

[bohboh]

I have watched oldboy and thought it was brilliant. I have also seen suicide circle. Its those sorts of movies i would prefer to watch rather than martial arts movies. If i wanted to watch similar movies, which ones would you recommend, not only titles but directors, production companies etc.

[fartbubble]

ok, so your more into horror and thriller? Here are some to start you off with.

China: Ebola Virus(Universial Laser version), Black Magic, Untold Story(Tai Seng version), Seeding of a Ghost, Infernal Affairs, Dragon Squad, The Mission, Shaw Brothers explotation films

Thailand: Bangkok Dangerous, Eye 1 and 2, Sorum

Korea: J.S.A, Sympathy for Mr. Vengence, Sympathy for Lady Vengence, H, Save the Green Planet(more of a dark comedy)

Japan: Tetsuo Iron Man, Tokyo Fist, Dead or Alive series, 964 Pinocchio, Rubber's Lover, Death Powder, Red Room, Versus, SkyHigh, Aiegis, Visitor Q, Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films, Aragami, Azumi, Ichi, Ringu, Ju-on, Marabiteo, Organ, Hana-Bi, Violent Cop

[bohboh]

Cool, ...

If anyones interested..

Theres a bbc 4 documentary on asian cinema..

Jonathan Ross' Asian Invasion
1/3. Japan: Jonathan Ross visits Japan to explore rumours that Japanese cinema has gone off the boil, and meets visionary animator Mamoru Oshii. Part of BBC FOUR's Asian Invasion Season.
BBC Four, Tue 10 Jan, 22:00-23:00

[fartbubble]

hell you should check out Oshii's Live action work, didn't even think of him. Avalon, Red Spectacles and Stray Dogs are the best of the bunch

[gordo]

If you are in the United States, I advuse going to Best Buy or Circuit City and getting the Fortune Star series from FOX....I know they're dubbed, but its a decent dubbing.

Check out
Mr. Vampire
Operation Scorpio
The Prodigal Son

I was hooked!

[Brian Thibodeau]

One idea might be to grab a couple of older books on Hong Kong or Asian cinema, many of which can be found through used dealers on Amazon for as little as a couple of bucks each, and use them as erzatz checklists. We've discussed many of them in this thread:

http://hkmdb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=42478

Probably the best one, if you were looking for the cream of the crop of HK cinema, would be SEX & ZEN & A BULLET IN THE HEAD, which, while often revealing a bit too much plot wise and prone to hyperbole, pretty much covers the top movies any newcomer to the field SHOULD see (including horror films and thrillers), as well as a many less-known gems.

As, err, fartbubble points out, Korea and Japan have a better track record with thrillers and horror films, particularly on a technical level, though the Hong Kong films THE EYE, NEW BLOOD and INNER SENSES were probably the first three to successfully adapt westernized horror tropes to inherently Chinese spook tales, leaving behind the silly comedy respites, goofy green lights under chins, and gratuitous Helena Law Lan.

I recently watched the Korean film GHOST, starring Kim Ha-neul (a personal favourite actress) and was surprised to finally see a Korean horror piece that maintained its internal logic right through to the end. I'd strongly recommend A TALE OF TWO SISTERS as well. A solid work with some genuine creepout moments.

Too often, Korean films feel like they were filmed without completed screenplays, so you will likely end up with a few style-over-substance movies in your collection. Here's a few thriuller/horror/sci-fi to AVOID unless you don't mind looking at gorgeous images with poor quality writing: RED EYE (the Korean train flick, not the American plane filck), NIGHTMARE, PHONE (close but ultimately no cigar), BLOODY BEACH, TUBE, NATURAL CITY (althought the FX are phenomenal in this), YESTERDAY and R U READY.

From Japan, I'd recommend RING, RING 2, DARK WATER, JU-ON (theatrical version) and KAIRO (aka PULSE). All of these have inferior American remakes (PULSE comes out in the spring), although if you've already seen them, your expectations of the originals might be dulled. The BAYSIDE SHAKEDOWN movies (three to date, although the third is a spinoff, the title of which eludes me) are spirited thrillers with some nice comic touches.

[fartbubble]

I thought Eye was a Thai film.

But just to warn you, Asia has been cannibalising(bad spelling) hit horror films. So you get alot of the stories that are pretty much the same with slight changes. You will be suprised on how many knock off Ringus there is.

sorry for the name, it stuck 6 years ago and haven't bothered to think up something new.

[Brian Thibodeau]

Despite being mostly set in Thailand, THE EYE is indeed a Hong Kong production:

http://www.hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=9988

Can remember for sure, but the directors/writers may actually hail from Thailand, but their co-writer, the producers and most of the primary cast are from the Hong Kong industry via there and other locales.

Also, SORUM is a Korean film.

[fartbubble]

Pangs are from Thailand, but they moved to HK. Eye must be the first HK film.

[Mike Thomason]

Erm, actually, the Pang brothers are from Hong Kong and moved to Thailand...

http://www.fortissimo.nl/catalogue/dire ... filmID=132

...hope that clarifies things somewhat.

Additionally, per Peter Chan's production company, Applause Pictures, the film was one of many of his intended "Pan-Asian" ventures -- Chan intended to bring together Asian filmmakers from a number of different regions to collaborate on cumulative productions. THE EYE (for Brian) was a co-production between Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore -- investors/co-producers Raintree Pictures are a Singaporean company.

[fartbubble]

didn't mean it that literaly, just that they got started in Thailand. But I didn't write that as clear as I should of. Sorry

[fartbubble]

bohboh, here is two others I just bought that you might like

Marebito- Takashi Shimizu's 2004 film. It is about a free-lance cameraman who goes around capturing different fears on tape. He then stumbles into the underground where he frees a girl. Like most horror from Japan, this needs more than one viewing. And if you don't like digital video, you won't like this but it does work for the style of the film. This movie actually suprised me on what Shimizu can do when he is not directing the same movie over and over.

Vital- First I have to admit that I am a fan of Tsukamoto so yes I am biased. It is about a med student whose girlfriend dies, a week later he is given her body to do a exercise autopsy on it. Once again, the reliable Tadanobu Asano does a great job on conveying emotion through his eyes and his motions.


The problem to me is that except for a few, most HK horror add too much comedy to make them actually scary. And IMO the SFX ruins most of the "OH s**t" moments in that most seem to hire unqualified artists.

As for Natural City, I actually like it if you don't go in with high expectations and with the thought that you won't be seeing original. Plus the beauty of the fights make the short comings of the story negligible.

[bohboh]

Cool, thanks everyone. I have Whasango on order from PLAY and so my tentitive venture into asian cinema continues.