Mixing

Discussions on Asian cinemas: Japanese, Korean, Thai, ....

Postby Brian Thibodeau » Tue Dec 07, 2004 4:39 pm

Not sure what you mean by "besides with American," but if you're referring to movies mixing cultures exclusive of "American" culture, I can think of a couple.

The Japanese-Korean action movie SEOUL (2002) is a good, albeit somewhat one-sided cross-cultural study in the guise of an cop thriller, although it’s clear the mostly-Japanese filmmakers prefer to paint their countrymen as more “enlightened” than the Koreans in the film, which is a small slap in the face. The Korean film 2009: LOST MEMORIES is a nice counterpoint to this film.

Tonnes, and I mean TONNES, of Hong Kong pictures deal with the relationship between Hong Kong and the mainland - two decidedly different cultures - at just about any time in history you’d like to examine. Pre-handover films painting mainlanders as an illiterate, desperate, scheming plague are a dime a dozen.

The awful romantic comedy FALL FOR YOU sort of highlights the Chinese diaspora in France, although it never rings true for a second, nor does the hit comedy IT’S A MAD MAD WORLD II from 1988, in which an ambitious family learns many hard lessons living abroad in the urban jungles of...British Columbia, Canada. Herman Yau’s gory Category III film EBOLA VIRUS positions its Chinese characters in South Africa, where Anthony Wong rapes and kills an infected local, then unwittingly spreads the virus around.
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Postby MrBooth » Wed Dec 08, 2004 10:06 pm

Loads of such films really...

It's quite a common theme in Takashi Miike's films, e.g. CITY OF LOST SOULS/HAZARD CITY, RAINY DOG, GUS FROM PARADISE, BIRD PEOPLE IN CHINA and DEAD OR ALIVE 3.

Shunji Iwai's SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY deals with immigrants in Japan to an extent, and is thoroughly recommendable for a myriad other reasons.

Korean films include JSA (North and South Korea being quite different cultures), FAILAN and MUSA.

From Hong Kong, HEROES OF THE EAST (aka SHAOLIN CHALLENGES NINJA) might be an example :p Or ROYAL WARRIORS, FIST OF LEGEND, FIST OF FURY, WAY OF THE DRAGON, LIFE OF NINJA, BEYOND HYPOTHERMIA, BLACKSHEEP AFFAIR, A FIGHTER'S BLUES, CHINA STRIKE FORCE, TOKYO RAIDERS, COLOUR OF PAIN, FATAL VACATION, ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA 1, 2, 3 & AND AMERICA, POLICE STORY 3 (SUPERCOP), A MAN CALLED HERO, FULLTIME KILLER and TIME & TIDE all sort of fit the bill, but don't expect any in-depth cultural analysis. MIDNIGHT FLY might be a more interesting example, but I haven't seen it.
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Postby magic-8 » Thu Dec 09, 2004 9:25 pm

Check out Fighter in the Wind. Korean dude must endure racism in Japan, but conquers all the martial artists in the country to be the best in the world.
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