What´s HOT in Asian cinema right now?

[TheDoug]

Originally Posted by zombeaner

This is really good, I caught at a festival screening in a crowd FULL of Vietnamese Americans and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Hmmm. This film seemed to pass me by, thanks for the head's up on this Vietnamese film. I see where Amazon.com has it for sale:
http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Fall-K.../dp/B000U788WU

Or I may rent it from Netflix.

[newginafets]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

I never said Oldboy was painful. Quite the opposite, Oldboy is a masterpiece! Taegukgi I did see and was nothing special...And i've seen Seven Samurai, which is okay as well...My favorite Asian movies are Tampopo (or anything basically by Juzo Itami), anything by Miyazaki/Ghibli, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, IP Man, Battle Royale, The Great Yokai War, Mind Game, Akira, Ghost in the Shell. I've seen many of those art-house Asian films "Scent of Green Papaya on the Road Home Under the Green Lantern to say Farewell to My Concubine" which are okay, but nothing amazing or memorable. Also, any Tibetan related-movies are pretty good...But I want a little more from a movie besides fabulous cinematography...I still want to rent Vietnam's Journey From the Fall though. I'll someday check out the others on your list...I'm not too impressed with the new fresh crop of male actors from China, Korea, or Japan. Asian actresses on the other hand are so much better...Don't even start recommending me Wong Kar Wai as a good Asian filmmaker as well...Him and Lars Von Trier are the biggest cinema scam artists in history. Here's a review of Lars Von Trier's ANTI-CHRIST from New York Press, which exactly sums up Von Trier as well as Wong Kar Wai:

HISTORY SHOULD RECORD Danish filmmaker Lars Von Trier as cinema’s biggest hoaxster.Von Trier’s never made a good film—Zentropa, Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville (most of them part of his “Dogme” movement) were shams perpetrated on the culturally absent-minded—yet von Trier has bamboozled critics and festival organizers into repeatedly showcasing his hoodwinks. Von Trier’s new film Antichrist, starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, is his latest manipulative salvo. The quasi-religious title is misleading provocation; Antichrist is really anti-cinema.

Here's the link to the rest of the review that I agree with: http://www.nypress.com/article-20508-antichrist.html



Iranian and Indian movies are another story and in another thread!

Iran and India are part of Asia. How about movies by Kim ki-duk? Like 3-iron, Breath, Address Unknown?
House of Flying Daggers for me is good, just because of its visual. They are basically dancing, not fighting. It's good to know you actually like some Asian movies that i also like (Battle Royale). I thought you really hated asian movies that you don't have any favorite at all.

[nitin77]

all personal taste guys, I love some of the movies toddly classed as 'ok' and you could throw back some of his own arguments against the movies he's said he has liked. But in the end, its personal taste.

Except when it comes to akshay kumar, then its just a matter of taste

[toddly6666]

Originally Posted by newginafets

Iran and India are part of Asia. How about movies by Kim ki-duk? Like 3-iron, Breath, Address Unknown?
House of Flying Daggers for me is good, just because of its visual. They are basically dancing, not fighting. It's good to know you actually like some Asian movies that i also like (Battle Royale). I thought you really hated asian movies that you don't have any favorite at all.

I like Iranian movies, although you got to seriously be in the mood for them, or basically in the mood for a "dreary female rights related flick".

I watch most Indian movies as well (as long as they don't star Ashkay Kumar or Salman Khan). I've seen most of the good ones post-2000. What do you think of my percentile of good Indian films per year - 1 percent are good and 99 percent are crap. Do you agree with that? How about you guys, Flixtime and Nitin? You can even change the percentile to 8 percent good and 92 percent are crap if that makes a difference...

I think I've seen all the wrong Ki-duk Kim films - I've only seen the awful Samaritan Girl, Bad Guy, and The Isle...I still need to see his more respectable ones....

[nitin77]

1 percent is generous

toddly, not sure kim ki-duk is really your type of filmmaker.

[flixtime]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

What do you think of my percentile of good Indian films per year - 1 percent are good and 99 percent are crap. Do you agree with that? How about you guys, Flixtime and Nitin? You can even change the percentile to 8 percent good and 92 percent are crap if that makes a difference...

Without having to declare a percentage, the "miner" reference put forth by BuddhaWake in the Indian cinema thread is accurate, you do have to plow through a pile of coal to find the diamond...and though coal is at least useful for some things, the bad Indian movies are really, really, really....really bad...and cost in time too because of the 140-minute runtimes. So as compared to all the other major film-producing nations, the "miner" reference certainly fits India more aptly than anyplace else.

As someone who watches a lot of movies though, I'm generally content with the variety, change of pace, and uniqueness provided by Indian cinema...and they are useful for when I am looking for very light entertainment (and "yes", as I write this, I'm succeeding at putting a mental block on all the times they fail at even light entertainment).

[flixtime]

Originally Posted by Ralph Jenkins

I've been discovering some great Japanese films from the '50s, '60s and '70s,

Have you seen THE MAN WHO STOLE THE SUN (1979) yet? It rates top shelf in my book.

For the curious, it's available via an English-friendly, R2 Japan DVD (maybe $30 from YesAsia). There's a cheapie Hong Kong DVD too but - from hazy recollection - I think they might have changed the character names from Japanese to Chinese and stuff like that in the subtitles. I haven't followed if it received any other DVD release (picked up the Japanese DVD a long while back).

[eXcentris]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Don't even start recommending me Wong Kar Wai as a good Asian filmmaker as well...Him and Lars Von Trier are the biggest cinema scam artists in history.

This is of course ridiculous. Just because you value film as entertainment over film as art (not implying that the two are incompatible) doesn't make the later crap or the directors "scam artists". Sometimes, your "criticism" of film is downright mindboggling...

[toddly6666]

Originally Posted by eXcentris

This is of course ridiculous. Just because you value film as entertainment over film as art (not implying that the two are incompatible) doesn't make the later crap or the directors "scam artists". Sometimes, your "criticism" of film is downright mindboggling...

I know people love Wong Kar Wai and is respected as a filmmaker, I just think he's awful. What would he be without Christopher Doyle as well?

Wong Kar Wai is an artist but it's at the same level as this:

[newginafets]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

I know people love Wong Kar Wai and is respected as a filmmaker, I just think he's awful. What would he be without Christopher Doyle as well?

Wong Kar Wai is an artist but it's at the same level as this:

Some people would consider that as the best art in the world.

[toddly6666]

Originally Posted by newginafets

Some people would consider that as the best art in the world.

Those are the same people that may consider Wong Kar Wai and Lars Von Trier as the best filmmakers in the world.

[TheDoug]

Those who love Wong Kar Wai and Lars Von Trier might be classified as "dogmatic" (sic) in their devotion. I've lost favor with Lars Von Trier's pomposity , and Wong Kar Wai tends to be over indulgent at times as well in the way he approaches to telling cinematic stories. Art is so subjective though, so I think we may be beating a dead horse, as they say. Aren't we all getting away from the topic of this forum?

[flixtime]

The Hong Kong hitmen thriller ACCIDENT from director Soi Cheang (LOVE BATTLEFIELD, DOG BITE DOG, SHAMO) is coming to Hong Kong DVD/Blu-ray on November 11th. The movie seems to have been quite well-received by critics.

[BuddhaWake]

Originally Posted by flixtime

The Hong Kong hitmen thriller ACCIDENT from director Soi Cheang (LOVE BATTLEFIELD, DOG BITE DOG, SHAMO) is coming to Hong Kong DVD/Blu-ray on November 11th. The movie seems to have been quite well-received by critics.

How dare you derail from the toddly bashing? shame on you! Toddly, you don't have to justify yourself to anyone. you like what you like and everyone likes what they like. no big deal.

[Giles]

from what I've read my next order will be

MOTHER
ACCIDENT

and maybe YATTAMAN - what have the reviews been like for it??

[newginafets]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Those are the same people that may consider Wong Kar Wai and Lars Von Trier as the best filmmakers in the world.

what i was trying to say is we can't justify what's best for us upon others' opinion. Art is subjective.

[toddly6666]

Originally Posted by Giles

from what I've read my next order will be

MOTHER
ACCIDENT

and maybe YATTAMAN - what have the reviews been like for it??

Its a fun but stupid movie - wanna buy my version. Its wortu buying just for the packaging.

[Brian T]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Don't even start recommending me Wong Kar Wai as a good Asian filmmaker as well...Him and Lars Von Trier are the biggest cinema scam artists in history.

Originally Posted by eXcentris

This is of course ridiculous. Just because you value film as entertainment over film as art (not implying that the two are incompatible) doesn't make the later crap or the directors "scam artists". Sometimes, your "criticism" of film is downright mindboggling...

Attempting to debate him over it is pointless, and rather like arguing with an old vinyl LP that's skipping. Just go with his downbeat flow and try not to permanently lodge your eyes back in your head from constantly rolling them--that can hurt. If you want thoughtful discussion of Asian cinema without all the hate & hijackings ("retards"? Seriously? ), DVDTalk is, generally, not the place to find it.

Asking for straight-up recommendations here is generally (though obviously not entirely) a pointless task, as has been proven before, unless you enjoy reading more about movies and performers that people hate, rather than those people actually like, and why.

Perhaps if there was a general Asian cinema thread here, at least some of this narrowmindedness would have the context of pro-con debate, but in a thread where someone simply wants to know what's "hot" or popular, the fun sure dries up quickly. And at the hands of the same person nearly every time!

Originally Posted by TheDoug

Art is so subjective though, so I think we may be beating a dead horse, as they say. Aren't we all getting away from the topic of this forum?

The topic derailed, as it nearly always does here in regards to Asian cinema, as soon as the same old tired lists (read: horses) of movies, performers and directors that certain people hate began to surface (as well as the inevitable links to articles that only parrot the sentiment). Perhaps the person who asked the original question will be better rewarded elsewhere (once he's exhausted the previous few inarguably "positive" recommendations in this thread).

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Its a fun but stupid movie - wanna buy my version. Its worth buying just for the packaging.

Because this is what really matters.

[Brian T]

I'm certainly interested in checking out HAEUNDAE, but after seeing the jaw-dropping trailer for 2012, HAEUNDAE might suffer in comparison...a case of bad timing for HAEUNDAE.

Saw this on the big screen here in Toronto during it's run, and I'm not sure the two films deserve to be compared, especially since the Korean film was hugely successful exactly where it was supposed to be—at home. Taken in context of its intended audience and it's release date earlier this past summer, there was no case of bad timing. Additionally, it's too uniquely Korean in its approach to character and storytelling to have strong legs nearly anywhere else (other than for the spectacle, which comes late in the film, which probably won't be the case with 2012). Therefore, 2012, whether it proves to be good or bad in any individual's eye, shouldn't be compared on any level beyond, perhaps, special effects, and that would be patently unfair since it's got about 15-20 times the overall budget behind it, so its effects, at the very least, should be better. My overall thoughts on the film, though, just won't be worth including in this thread at this point, sadly.

Originally Posted by TheDoug

Finally, is HAEUNDAE sounded out like HYUNDAI the Korean car manufacturer???

No.

[BuddhaWake]

not everything can nor deserves to be turned into a dissertation. some movies are good to pass the time and others require much more.

[Brian T]

Originally Posted by BuddhaWake

not everything can nor deserves to be turned into a dissertation. some movies are good to pass the time and others require much more.

Not expecting dissertations in a thread like this in a broad-range forum, but it would be really nice to see fewer rants and insults about who and what people hate when such things weren't even solicited in the original post.

[BuddhaWake]

Originally Posted by Brian T

Not expecting dissertations in a thread like this in a broad-range forum, but it would be really nice to see fewer rants and insults about who and what people hate when such things weren't even solicited in the original post.

funny you mention that because most of the insults here have been by you to toddly and the rest of us. maybe not directly by calling him or us names but indirectly. if you have a stick up your ass because of your great knowledge of asian films that are not oldboy or Jackie Chan like the rest of us (in your mind) doesn't mean that you are even addressing the question which was What´s HOT in Asian cinema right now. So your collection of vcds from all the chinatowns in canada and the US is still not answering the question. you constantly talking down to people because they don't like something you feel is some gift to mankind really has no bearings on peoples taste. maybe some tastes are not as refined as yours. maybe the criterion forum is more for you but good luck even talking about non kurosawa. if the Oldboy is the greatest movie ever fanboyism of these boards is bad, good luck over there. ask about taiwanese films, or vietnamese or indian since that is also asia but often forgotten or ignored in discussions. You are already an expert in all this so maybe there is no need to even have discussions. but even then, you can still come down mount olympus and tell us how big idiots we are for not liking x film and for liking y film or for never having heard of z film. which you would probably tell us about after just hearing about it yourself. the only narrowmindedness here is really from you. taste is subjective. is hard to understand sometimes, i often wonder why people like some of the crap they do, but i know its all about tastes and i don't have to think further on it. For the record, I disagree with toodly a good 90% of the time, especially with the Kar Wai and Von Trier stuff but so fucking what. I don't need to insult him nor anyone else or act like a pompous asshole just because i disagree or because i have some intangible knowledge of some crap no one cares about. Now, write your book on asian cinema so we can learn something from you. wear your asian crusader cape and get your panties bunched because someone insulted someone who more than likely, doesn't care about you if you love him or hate him, and could care less if someone on the internet of all places calls someone ugly, fat, retarded or whatever no matter how insensitive it.

all grammatical errors, mispelling and diction errors purely on purpose because in the internet and no one should care so much.

[flixtime]

Wow Brian T, quite the haughty tone for someone who has offered a grand total of zero recommendations to the original poster Dane. If you think so little of us - as per the incredibly condescending tone of your recent posts - feel free to excuse yourself from the forum. Candidly, it appears you have a tough time relating to people who don't hold opinions in line with your own.

[toddly6666]

So, overall, what we are all trying to say is, "no, there arent any hot Asian movies out now in theaters or on dvd.

[Tutut]

Originally Posted by BuddhaWake

funny you mention that because most of the insults here have been by you to toddly and the rest of us. maybe not directly by calling him or us names but indirectly. if you have a stick up your ass because of your great knowledge of asian films that are not oldboy or Jackie Chan like the rest of us (in your mind) doesn't mean that you are even addressing the question which was What´s HOT in Asian cinema right now.

I didn't see Toddly talking a lot about what's hot except for Goemon, he began saying good asian films are hard to find, then talking about some actors (Choi Min Sik did nothing in 2009), then about some directors (WKW no work in 2009 and Von Trier who has nothing to do with the topic) and he tried to sell his DVD.
Looks like you know Brian T personnaly, I don't, but I understand his feelings because I don't like negative statement without any little explaination and what I read in your post make you look narrow minded and intolerant.