Asian Films

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Winnow
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Asian Films

Post by Winnow »

I watched back to back subtitled movies the past two nights.

The first was '2046' which is either a Chinese or Japanese movie. I get confused ever since chinese women played Japanese geisha with english accents in Memoirs of a Geisha.

2046 was ok. A journalist living in Hong Kong in the 60's moves into a hotel room #2046 and integrates people he meets there into his science fiction novel, '2046'. A whole lot of heartache later, the move ends.

6/10

I don't mind slow moving movies but this was a mediocre slow moving movie.

---

As for Sukida, it was even slower. I don't think it's possible for a movie to have less action than this one. There was zero action. Everyone in the movie, which primarily consists of the lead male and female characters, barely even talk. What you do get is outstanding cinematography.

Although I couldn't understand the Chinese in 2046 or the Japanese in Sukida, the Japanese made for better background jibberish. The Chinese sound like they're speaking with their jaw locked...seriously. Try it. don't move your jaw and try to speak. Sounds just like Chinese eh? I digress.

This movie kicks ass in that I can't think of anything good to say about it but loved it.

If you don't mind subtitles, can watch an entire movie without a hint of action, that has almost no dialog on top of that, you should put Sukida on your netflix list.

Here's a better description of what the movie's about;

http://lunapark6.com/?p=2203

you will remember the guitar chord from the movie forever. There are a couple WTF, why the hell did I sit through this, moments in the movie but it all pans out into a good viewing experience.

8/10

Great visuals and you will feel for the characers which means it did it's job.
Last edited by Winnow on April 10, 2007, 1:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Sionistic »

A good way to tell the difference between chinese and japanese is to listen to the syllables. Chinese uses many, single syllable words. While Japanese uses a lot of multiple syllable words.

Chinese
A Boy = Yi ge nan hair

Japanese
A Boy = Otokonoko
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Post by Winnow »

I downloaded a bunch of PDF Japanese language books. It's fascinating stuff. There's a chance I could learn a few phrases for traveling but no way I'd ever grasp Japanese writing with it's multiple formats.

This book is pretty good for a quickie overview of the various ways of writing Japanese and phrases written phonetically.

Sake ga atsui desu ka? *Is the sake hot?*

I'm all set for my trip to Japan now!

Instant Japanese PDF 37mb
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Post by Winnow »

Wrapping up my Japanese movie interest spree, I watched, "When the Last Sword is Drawn" which is a story about A villager that leaves his family in order to join a group of Samurai called the Shinse-gumi to make money in order to feed his family. It's fiction but a historical piece with actual clans and situations. Grab it off the newsgroups if you don't mind watching subtitles and drama. I thought the DVD extras, also available on the newsgroups, were interesting as well. They interviewd the Director, two actors, and the man who wrote the book the story is based on. (posted 23 days ago in alt.binaries.movies.xvid) I love the newsgroups for being able to find random stuff like this I would normally never see.

7.8/10 good movie covering the honorable ways of the samurai in their twilight years
8.3/10 if you understand some of the Japanese culture that I don't which may make some parts more meaningful
Story: Kanichiro Yoshimura is a samurai family man who can no longer feed his wife and children due to the low wages paid from his small town clan. Sadly, he packs up and leaves his loved ones behind so he may make a higher earning to support his family in the big city as he joins the large and renowned samurai faction, the Shinsen-gumi, where he will lead a difficult, but enriching life during one of the most tumultuous times in Japanese history.
When the Last Sword is Drawn (Japanese: 壬生義士伝, Mibu gishi den) is a 2003 Japanese movie directed by Yojiro Takita. It tells the story of two Shinsengumi samurai, one of whom is a taciturn killer (played by Koichi Sato), and the other who appears to be a money-grubbing country bumpkin (played by Kiichi Nakai). The main storyline is set during the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate, but it is told in a series of flashbacks as two characters reminisce.

The movie's themes include conflicting loyalty to the clan, lord, and family. Many viewers found the final scenes of the movie extremely poignant.

When the Last Sword is Drawn won the Best Film award at the 2004 Japanese Academy Awards, as well as the prizes for Best Actor (Kiichi Nakai) and Best Supporting Actor (Koichi Sato). It received a further eight nominations.
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Post by Winnow »

Not much interest in these but I'll post anyway!


I watched, "Memories of Matsuko" over the past two nights.

Matsuko's life is pretty much the shits her entire life and nothing special. She's basically a positive, helpful person that gets beat down at every turn in her life. There's really no happy ending to this one although there is something learned from the piecing together of her life by her nephew that is asked my Matsuko's brother to clean out her apartment after her death.

The link has a good review of the movie. I'd recommend reading that as I'm not doing a very good job of describing it.

There's an important message delivered by the film although it's subtle. It's kind of hard to watch two hours of Matsuko encountering bad situations in her life while remaining positive.

This one's purely for the patient viewer that can watch a flashback movie with subtitles. Not your typical movie. Excellent cinematography.

Review:

http://lunapark6.com/?p=2847
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Post by Kluden »

check out ZATOICHI The Blind Samurai and The Twilight Samurai

They're good :)
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Post by rhyae »

An oldie but Seven Samurai was on TV last night.
I :<3: Kurosawa.


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Post by Fairweather Pure »

I watched Curse of the Boring Flower the other night. That was pretty bad. 4/10. Lots of plot holes and fair to poor use of CGI. All the action in the movie was about 10 minutes total. The story just wasn't compelling at all.

It was funny for awhile because I was eating Captain Cruch, so turned the subtitles on so I could read while I ate that delicious cereal. The english dub would say something like "Your son is here", while the subtitle would say "Your humble sevant bows before you, mighty Imperial Emperor. The crown price has just returned from a victory against our enemies in the far west and is requesting council."

It was pretty much the most memorable part of the movie.
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Post by Hesten »

I didnt like The Blind Samurai, almost fell asleep in the theater :(.

But if you wanna see something good, try Oldboy. I had a rip of it on my HD for like a year, meaning to see it someday, and finally felt like it, and DAMN what a good movie.
The nastiest revenge movie i have seen, including Kill Bill, and its a movie im definitely gonna get on DVD.
Hell, its even on the top 250 list on IMDB, its #118

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364569/

Get this and watch it.
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Post by Hesten »

Fairweather Pure wrote:I watched Curse of the Boring Flower the other night. That was pretty bad. 4/10. Lots of plot holes and fair to poor use of CGI. All the action in the movie was about 10 minutes total. The story just wasn't compelling at all.

It was funny for awhile because I was eating Captain Cruch, so turned the subtitles on so I could read while I ate that delicious cereal. The english dub would say something like "Your son is here", while the subtitle would say "Your humble sevant bows before you, mighty Imperial Emperor. The crown price has just returned from a victory against our enemies in the far west and is requesting council."

It was pretty much the most memorable part of the movie.
Hehe, that just again show you should aviod dubs at all cost :).
Worst case i have seen are still Legend of the Overfiend, but Ghost in the Shell was also pretty bad, since it was the old english dub, and subtitles for the japanese version.
A friend of mine with NO clue on anime borrowed it, i TOLD him to watch the japanese language and put subtitled on, and the dumb fuck put the english dub + subtitles on, and gave it to me the next day and said it was a piece of shit and that it made no sense since the subtitles and speak told 2 different stories.
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Post by pyrella »

Hesten wrote:I didnt like The Blind Samurai, almost fell asleep in the theater :(.

But if you wanna see something good, try Oldboy. I had a rip of it on my HD for like a year, meaning to see it someday, and finally felt like it, and DAMN what a good movie.
The nastiest revenge movie i have seen, including Kill Bill, and its a movie im definitely gonna get on DVD.
Hell, its even on the top 250 list on IMDB, its #118

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364569/

Get this and watch it.
Watched this tonight - the movie is amazing. Thanks for the recommendation.
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Post by Kwonryu DragonFist »

Asian movies?

Check out the movie

VERSUS (2000)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0275773/

or

Story of Ricky / Fist of Power / King of Strength based on the Manga "Riki Oh" (1991)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102293/
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Post by vn_Tanc »

Versus totally rules but is about 30 mins too long IMO. Well worth a watch still.
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Post by Winnow »

pyrella wrote:
Hesten wrote: But if you wanna see something good, try Oldboy. I had a rip of it on my HD for like a year, meaning to see it someday, and finally felt like it, and DAMN what a good movie.
The nastiest revenge movie i have seen, including Kill Bill, and its a movie im definitely gonna get on DVD.
Hell, its even on the top 250 list on IMDB, its #118

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364569/

Get this and watch it.
Watched this tonight - the movie is amazing. Thanks for the recommendation.
Watched the first half of Oldboy last night. I'm liking it but have an english version with dubbed voices. I'm used to subtitles now. I feel like I'm watching an old Bruce Lee movie (just audio part).

Good movie so far. Wish I had a subtitled version though!
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Post by Keverian FireCry »

Dubbing ruins any movie unless it's an animated film. Oldboy is way too good to screw up with dubbing!
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Post by Winnow »

OK, will have subtitled version ready for viewing tonight! Thx infoz Py.
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Post by Aslanna »

Keverian FireCry wrote:Dubbing ruins any movie unless it's an animated film.
I concur. I can't stand watching a dubbed movie.
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Post by Hesten »

Hehe, i just ordered this little gem:

http://www13.cd-wow.com/detail_results_ ... de=1068896

Kinda expensive for a movie, but its 3 DVDs, so ill live :)
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Post by Keverian FireCry »

For those of you who liked Oldboy, it's the second film in the director Chan-Wook Park's "vengeance" trilogy.

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is the first film. It is also very good, but not a masterpiece like Oldboy.

I haven't seen the third film, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, but it's supposed to be good too!


Another GREAT Asian film series is the Lone Wolf and Cub series called "Sword of Vengeance", which is based off a Japanese manga. The six films follow a samurai named Ogami Itto's travels with his 3 year old son as they seek vengeance on the Yagyu clan who framed him and murdered his wife. It's a very action-packed and violent series that I'm sure many of you would appreciate.

The first film in the series is "Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance"

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Post by Winnow »

Hmm, seems most like the action movies. Sukida, 2046, and Memories of Matsuko are more for the drama crowd. Of those three, I'd recommend Sukida for anyone that might have the patience to sit through a non action movie.

For those interested, Sukida was posted again on alt.binaries.asianusenet less than a day ago w/subs.

I highly recommend "When the Last Sword is Drawn" for the more action oriented although theres a lot of drama in it as well. (posted 91 days ago so time's running out!)
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Post by Kwonryu DragonFist »

From the movie

Story of Ricky / Fist of Power / King of Strength


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Post by Keverian FireCry »

Jeeeezus Kwon, that is nasty...which movie is that from?
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Post by Keverian FireCry »

Here's a fight scene compilation from Lone Wolf and Cub. Mainly I'm posting this because I want to know what song is used in it?

Anyhow, this manga and film series is a large part of what inspired Tarantino and movies like Kill Bill. Over the top action/nudity/gore ftw. :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBUwpKAO--4
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Post by Kwonryu DragonFist »

Keverian FireCry wrote:Jeeeezus Kwon, that is nasty...which movie is that from?
Story of Ricky aka Fist of Power aka King of Strength aka Lai Wong, based on the manga about Riki-Oh.

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Post by Winnow »

Quit screwing up my Asian thread!

You're stereotyping all Asian movies as samurai or martial arts! :evil:
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Post by Boogahz »

Winnow wrote:Quit screwing up my Asian thread!

You're stereotyping all Asian movies as samurai or martial arts! :evil:
Not to mention inducing seizures!
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Post by Kwonryu DragonFist »

Winnow wrote:Quit screwing up my Asian thread!

You're stereotyping all Asian movies as samurai or martial arts! :evil:
Stereotyping schmereotyping!

I know asian movies have many more genres, but Versus and Story of Ricky were my recommendations to you. :)

Nobody is forcing you to watch them!

But i suggest you do if you want some splatteraction! :twisted:
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Post by nneenaK »

Keverian wrote: I haven't seen the third film, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, but it's supposed to be good too!
I have not seen the other two in the trilogy, but I really thought this was an outstanding movie. The first half of the movie seemed like an extremely dark comedy to me. I am not sure if that is how it was intended, but it was a good movie.


Another couple of movies I have watched recently Audition and Three...Extremes If you are easily grossed out I would not watch Three Extremes. It is three films made by Directors Fruit Chan, Takashi Miike and Chan-Wook Park. I enjoyed Cut and Dumplings, but Box (director Miike) the jury is still out.

I would also recommend Kansen aka Infection
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Post by Hesten »

Yep, Audition a great too, watched it at a night film festival like 8 years ago or so. Great movie, got the DVD too :)
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Re: Asian Films

Post by Winnow »

I'll keep the subtitled Asian movies I watch to this thread. I just finished, about 10 minutes ago, watching Heavenly Forest.

Heavenly Forest is a Japanese film and at first glance, it looks like your typical love movie. You have a shy guy, a non popular girl, and a very pretty girl. The girl with a medical condition keeping her from growing likes the guy while the guy likes the other girl.

Since that was a really bad description, heres another:
Romance blooms between two awkward college freshmen in this surprisingly engaging entry into the otherwise increasingly formulaic "Pure Love" subgenre of romantic films. Heavenly Forest exceeds expectations in no small part due to the genuine chemistry between its two leads, both of whom deliver fine performances in their own right. Aoi Miyazaki fans will not be disappointed.
I wasn't an Aoi Myazaki fan before this film but I am now.

Mixed into the story is a photography theme which develops along with the story. While photography isn't the main subject of the film, those that like this hobby may enjoy the movie a little more for that reason.

I don't want to describe this movie as being sad but I had a some watery eyes. It's refreshing to have everyone in the movie be generally good hearted. It's the sign of a good movie when you don't need some dramatic asshattery to build the story.

I'll caution that this movie moves along at a very leisurely pace. You need to be in the mood for story that takes time to develop. (give it a good 30 minutes) Subtitles work best with these kind of movies IMO so that shouldn't distract much. I must be a very patient person when it comes to movies as "Memories of Matsuko" and "Sukida" were also slow but very enjoyable for me.

As Japanese movies go, this is one of the best I've seen. (non action) and I recommend it if you have Newsleecher and can grab it off alt.binaries.movies.divx posted within the last few days.

87/100 (patience and mood for non action story required)


Edit:

wow, I just checked IMdb and Aoi Miyazaki is the same actress from Sukida (divx posted 129 days ago). Nice. She played her role so well, I didn't even recognize her. Heavenly Forest moves along a little faster than Sukida though which was a great movie but slowest ever. You can give Moonwynd a run for his money in that 60 minute circle of silence if you can make it through Sukida. (I really liked it, just saying)
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Re: Asian Films

Post by Winnow »

Adding another subtitled Japanese movie to the list.

I watched, "Nana" the other night which is a Japanese film based on a manga series. It is yet another film that features Aoi Miyazaki who also starred in Sukida and Heavenly Forrest which I previously reviewed in this thread.

The basic story is about a chance meeting between two 20 year old Japanese women on a train heading to Tokyo. Both turn out to be named "Nana". One is a somber emo (extremely skinny) type vocalist for a band and the other, Aoi Miyazaki, is a very energetic person that's heading to Tokyo to settle down with her boyfriend who's already moved there.

The story revolves around these two dealing with their futures, conflict in personalities and of course, relationships. It takes a good 30 minutes to get into the story. Right off the bat, you're hit with a band performance where the vocalist sings in broken English which might scare even the most dedicated viewers away but it all turns out OK if you have some patience to let the story develop.

This probably isn't a movie you'll find anywhere to rent. I posted it on my server for a friend so am linking it here for a few days in case anyone wants to check it out. The file is 1.2GB so if you don't have a fast connection to the net, don't bother. The subtitles are hard-coded into the movie so there's no need to worry about those unless you know Japanese as you're going to see the English subtitles no matter what.

I've been hooked on Asian films lately and this movie isn't ground breaking so it may have limited appeal to others.

Nana (Japanese w/English Subtitles ~1.2GB

This is a link to the wiki info of the manga series the movie is based on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nana_(manga)

Here's a quick storyboard for the movie I made so you have an idea of what you're getting into before downloading the large file:

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Re: Asian Films

Post by Winnow »

Taking a break from Japanese movies, I watched Summer Palace tonight.

The movie takes place in China (and Berlin as well) between 1988 and 1998.

http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/summerpalace

Sex. Sweet bajeezas, there's a lot of sex in this movie. Chinese sex. Raw sex. With that said, it's the kind of sex that moves the plot along.

It's odd that Metacritic chose to show a picture of the lead actress after an accident she has in the movie as that isn't really important to the story either.

The lead female character and star of the film does an excellent job of playing an unstable university student. I now know why there's so many people in China. If this movie is accurate, Chinese fuck like bunny rabbits. I suppose it's one of the few pleasures they had back in the 80's. I'd have to go back and check but I'm thinking there's a sex scene about every five minutes in Summer Palace.

This movie will be memorable for me as it shows the build up before Tiananmen Square with the college students, and following that, tearing down the Berlin Wall. Mixed inn with that is the confusion of the main characters as to what they want.

As with all Asian films, there's a ton of drawn out turmoil between the main characters where as in a U.S. film, someone would just pick up the phone and call the other person. After watching several Asian films, it's an ongoing theme. Two people meet, fall in love, something causes them to separate and then theres 90 minutes of anguish while the two fight their emotions.

Summer Palace is a good movie. I enjoyed the first half (college years) more than the second half (an hour of the two main characters thinking about each other from long distance)

Lei Hao (lead actress) has skills. I hope to see her in more movies.

I recommend it for the patient people. It's drama. The raw sex in the movie seems excessive but they do make it interesting and the Chinese seem to have a tough time finding a private place to do the deed so that adds a lot of variety to the locations.

Heavenly Forest would be the one to see before this.

If you grab this one off the newsgroups, be sure to get the version with the English subtitles. There's one with French subs out there as well.

8/10 first half
7/10 second half

7.5/10

I'd check some of the previous reviews in this thread first if you're setting up your Asian film marathon queue.
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Re: Asian Films

Post by Winnow »

I just watched Heavenly Forrest again and cried like a baby. Well, not quite that bad but tears were present!

I had to justify the watery eyes so I checked into it:
Crying, like sneezing, coughing and defocating, is a natural way of releasing toxins that are associated with various emotions: both those considered 'good' and those considered 'bad'.

Biochemist William Frey (Crying: The Mystery of Tears, Winston Press, Texas, 1977) compared the normal moisturizing tear with the tear caused by emotion and found that stressful tears contained ACTH or adrenocorticotrophic hormone. ACTH is a hormone associated with high blood pressure, heart problems, peptic ulsers and other physical conditions closely related to stress.
According to the above info, you should probably find a reason to cry each day while you're sitting on the can executing a #2 to get both body fluid releases out of the way at the same time.
Another chemical theory is that crying helps to release endorphins into the bloodstream. Endorphins are chemicals that act as mood-elevators and pain relievers. Both this and the above theory give chemical credence to the assertion that most people feel physically better after having a good sob.
Taken this way, I could have been crying to relieve the pain of watching a bad movie.
Some researchers argue that crying is a form of emotional communication — it shows that our emotions are honest. It's notoriously difficult to fake sobbing, as many actors can tell you. Tears also help to convey emotions that we may find difficult to verbalize. In addition, tears emphasize that our facial expressions are trying to convey sadness or grief. In one study, researchers showed participants photographs of people weeping, some with the tears removed by a computer. Participants had difficulty identifying the emotion being expressed by faces that had been re-touched to remove the tears.

While not everyone agrees on the biological, chemical, social, or psychological factors that make us cry, most agree that crying is healthy for you and your sympathetic nervous system.
Researchers have analyzed the chemical difference between tears shed by people who were moved emotionally by a Hollywood tearjerker and tears brought about from cutting onions. They found a difference in the proteins between the two types of tears, and concluded that those produced by the weepy film were from hormones released by the body. So "crying it all out" could literally mean crying those hormones out of your body.
Unless my tears are analyzed for their chemical content, I can't prove 100% that I was moved by the movie but IMO it's safe for me to recommend this movie based on my physical state while watching it. I was neither tired (no reason to yawn) nor did I have any foreign objects in my eyes which would cause the tearing.

Based on this second viewing, I'm raising my 87/100 rating to 90/100.


My original review from earlier in the thread:
----------------------------------------------------

Heavenly Forest is a Japanese film and at first glance, it looks like your typical love movie. You have a shy guy, a non popular girl, and a very pretty girl. The unpopular girl with a medical condition keeping her from growing likes the guy while the guy likes the popular girl.

Since that was a really bad description, heres another:
Romance blooms between two awkward college freshmen in this surprisingly engaging entry into the otherwise increasingly formulaic "Pure Love" subgenre of romantic films. Heavenly Forest exceeds expectations in no small part due to the genuine chemistry between its two leads, both of whom deliver fine performances in their own right. Aoi Miyazaki fans will not be disappointed.
I wasn't an Aoi Myazaki fan before this film but I am now.

Mixed into the story is a photography theme which develops along with the story. While photography isn't the main subject of the film, those that like this hobby may enjoy the movie a little more for that reason.

I don't want to describe this movie as being sad but I had a some watery eyes. It's refreshing to have everyone in the movie be generally good hearted. It's the sign of a good movie when you don't need some dramatic asshattery to build the story.

I'll caution that this movie moves along at a very leisurely pace. You need to be in the mood for story that takes time to develop. (give it a good 30 minutes) Subtitles work best with these kind of movies IMO so that shouldn't distract much. I must be a very patient person when it comes to movies as "Memories of Matsuko" and "Sukida" were also slow but very enjoyable for me.

As Japanese movies go, this is one of the best I've seen. (non action).

87/100 (patience and mood for non action story required)
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Re: Asian Films

Post by Hesten »

You should all give Sukiyaki Western Django a try.
I havent seen it myself yet, but thats because i messed up the dates and didnt get to see it in theaters here, and the rip i got dont have subs, and the fairly bad english kinda require subs :)

But lets starts with the good stuff:
Instructed by Takashi Miike
Remake of Django (who were a remake of one of Kurosawas movies)
Tarantino is in it.
Lots of action (again, havent seen it, judging from the trailer and clips)

Check it out here, and i bet you want to see it :)

http://www.sukiyakimovie.com/

Oh, and remember to turn the sound OFF on the website before watching the trailers, or you will have the bloody theme music playing during it.
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Re: Asian Films

Post by Keverian FireCry »

For anyone that likes Kurosawa, you have to watch Dersu Uzala.

It's about a group of Russian soldiers who accompany a cartographer on a quest to explore areas of Siberia that are previously unexplored. The title character is an old native man that meets them as they are lost and in danger of running out of food/heat.

George Lucas has said that Yoda was inspired by Dersu Uzala. Watch the movie and you can see why. He's one of my favorite characters ever.

An absolute must see.
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Re: Asian Films

Post by Winnow »

Found Heavenly Forrest YouTube Style:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

Part 13

Worst way ever to view a movie with good cinematography and subtitles!

Anyway, the first 6 minutes is a "flash-forward" and you won't have a clue what's going on until you get through at least two 10 minute sections. Hard to read the tiny subtitles.

(this is a 100% zero action movie)
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Re: Asian Films

Post by Lalanae »

2046 is Chinese. It was a sequal to In the Mood For Love, which is a superior film in my opinion. The theme song had me looking up the soundtrack and the composer. Kar Wai Wong, the director, is a new favorite of mine. He has a rich visual style that I really adore. He also directed My Blueberry Nights, which is not an Asian, but was pretty good. Natalie Portman (who is always great) plays a woman with a gambling addiction and she pretty much steals the movie.
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Re: Asian Films

Post by Winnow »

I keep forgetting to post the Asian movies I've watched.

Most recent one was "Tidal Wave"

A "blockbuster" Korean movie:

http://www.asiatorrents.com/details.php ... dd0c48190d
Man-sik, a native of Haeundae, lost a co-worker to a tsunami on a deep-sea fishing trip four years ago. He leads a simple life running a small seafood restaurant and is preparing to propose to his longtime girlfriend, Yeon-hee. Man-sik’s brother Hyung-sik works as a coast guard. One day, he rescues a female college student from Seoul who promptly, comes on to him aggressively. While these everyday domestic affairs unfold, geologist Kim Hwi, an expert on tsunami research, discovers the East Sea is showing signs of activity similar to the Indian Ocean at the time of the 2004 tsunami. Despite his warnings, the Disaster Prevention Agency affirms that Korea is in no harm of being hit. When he discovers a mega-tsunami is headed straight for the Korean peninsula, he quickly heads down to Haeundae. Eventually, Kim gets a call about a deadly oncoming wave, with only ten minutes to spare! A mega-tsunami is headed straight for Haeundae at 500 miles per hour.
It was so so. What I noticed is that Koreans feel they have to act like goofballs in their movies. You've got an intense disaster movie and they have to throw in some comedy relief. While a little humor works, they overdue it which causes a strange mix of disaster and slapstick comedy.

Korea has a long ways to go to match American film making for action/blockbuster type movies. I've found some romance movies from asia to be excellent. This was the highest grossing movie in Korea last year so it's worth watching for the curiosity factor but I really don't get their three stooges comedy thrown into the disaster movie.

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Re: Asian Films

Post by Winnow »

From Japan:

Nobody to Watch Over Me

http://asianmediawiki.com/Nobody_to_Watch_Over_Me
A shocking crime brings together a frightened girl and a battle-hardened cop in this drama from writer and director Ryoichi Kimizuka. When two children are found murdered, an eighteen-year-old high school student becomes the prime suspect, and the case quickly becomes a media sensation. As both the press and an angry public descend on the home of the accused, his family finds themselves at the mercy of strangers unconcerned with their welfare. Takumi Katsuyoshi (Koichi Sato) is a veteran police detective who is assigned to look after Saori (Mirai Shida), the fifteen-year-old sister of the accused; while he initially regards the assignment as frivolous, it isn't long before he sees what kind of toll the attention has taken on the family, and he becomes all the more concerned when he witnesses the reckless behavior of the paparazzi. Katsuyoshi feels Saori is no longer safe in Tokyo, and takes her to a small town in the countryside where they can wait out the uproar, but they soon discover the news has followed them to every corner of Japan, and nowhere is safe from the prying eyes of the tabloid press and the people who read it. Dare Mo Mamotte Kurenai (aka Nobody To Watch Over Me) received the Best Screenplay award at the 2008 Montreal World Film Festival, sharing the prize with Welcome To Farewell-Gutmann
This one isn't too bad. No unnecessary comedy thrown in. It's serious from start to finish. It's not predictable. My only comment is that most Japanese mail actors have bad hair.

The main question of the movie is if the families of murderers deserve protection. Seems like in Japan, the rest of the family is blamed as well if a family member kills.
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Re: Asian Films

Post by Bubba Grizz »

I recently got a copy of a movie I had not seen in a long time. Shogun Assassin. I really like that film. Has anyone seen the sequels?
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Re: Asian Films

Post by Fairweather Pure »

Sequels are not as good as the original IMO. They start to get a little whacky. In one, tbe shogun defeats an entire standing army all by himself. The series requires suspension of disbelief, but it just became silly trying to one-up itself.

Worth a watch though!
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