What´s HOT in Asian cinema right now?

[Dane]

Haven´t been updated regarding Asian cinema in a while. Was wondering what Horror/Thriller/Suspense movies that made a mark at the box office, and is worth getting on DVD/Blu-ray.

[toddly6666]

Any Asian film with a good story and good acting...those are hard to find!

[nitin77]

Mother by Joon-Ho Bong from Sth Korea

Thirst by Chan Wook Park from Sth Korea (note this is not to erveyone's taste, I only liked parts of it myself)

The Chaser by Hon-Jin Na from Sth Korea


toddly, you dont like any of the sth korean stuff?

[toddly6666]

Originally Posted by nitin77

Mother by Joon-Ho Bong from Sth Korea

Thirst by Chan Wook Park from Sth Korea (note this is not to erveyone's taste, I only liked parts of it myself)

The Chaser by Hon-Jin Na from Sth Korea


toddly, you dont like any of the sth korean stuff?

well, I used to be able to watch more Korean stuff, but I currently have trouble watching any Korean movie that doesn't star Min-sik Choi - the only Korean actor that I truly respect.

[nitin77]

fair call, what about Kang-Sang Ho (memories of murder, the host etc)?

korean cinema isnt as strong as hat it was a few years ago but theres still the odd gem every now and then.

[toddly6666]

Originally Posted by nitin77

fair call, what about Kang-Sang Ho (memories of murder, the host etc)?

korean cinema isnt as strong as hat it was a few years ago but theres still the odd gem every now and then.

Kang sang ho is one of the main reasons I cant watch Korean films anymore. I cant stand his poor acting and I cant look at his ugly face.

[flixtime]

What's HOT in Asian cinema right now? Easy answer - Maria Ozawa!!!!

Umm, didn't want to bypass the opportunity to try and mark my territory as number one fan of Maria O-wowza! here at DVDTalk.

Anyway, is it just me or is Asian cinema discussion really dormant around various Internet message boards nowadays (actually for a while it seems), and I suppose the dearth of discussion extends to foreign films in general.

For more casual fans of Asian cinema, the suggestions might be slim. In all likelihood, nitin offered the best feedback in terms of waiting for MOTHER and THIRST (both up as pre-orders in R3 and R1 respectively). With one notable exception, I've found myself in a good place and have been very content with the recent output from South Korea. Though I might not label them essential viewing, I've been pleased with the majority of recent Korean suspense/thrillers...the most recent being HANDPHONE...and a number of them fall in the category of good/watchable/entertaining for me. One movie that is up for pre-order and now has me interested - after reading some (surprisingly to me) reasonably positive reviews - is the South Korean monster pig flick CHAW. So that is really tempting, but then I'd be tempted to pick up the UK disc of PIG HUNT too, and do a monster pig double feature...and I'd probably have to order in some Chinese spare ribs and shredded pork with garlic sauce to enhance the viewing atmosphere.

A South Korean horror film to keep an eye out for (no DVD announcement as of yet) is POSSESSED; it has received good reviews.

And why the recent Korean thriller MISSING (aka SHILJONG) was released to DVD without English subtitles is still a headscratcher to me.

Beyond South Korea, nothing is jumping to mind in terms of essential horror/thriller/suspense type films. Hong Kong/China is doing their usual with a bunch of cop/crime films and I still have to catch up with efforts such as OVERHEARD, I CORRUPT ALL COPS, TURNING POINT, PLASTIC CITY, LADY COP AND PAPA CROOK, OCEAN FLAME, and maybe too BUTTONMAN (even though it seems it might be rather poor). And CHAMELEON - an action flick from Japan - seems interesting, and likely too their Oscar submission NOBODY TO WATCH OVER ME (more a drama apparently)...and the Chinese WWII drama CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH has received some mention from others in this forum.

So maybe the pickings might indeed be slim in terms of must-see Asian horror/thriller/suspense movies (for casual viewers), though I suppose you can apply that label beyond Asian cinema as well.

One last thought, if you don't mind going old-school maybe THE HOUSEMAID (1960) from Korea. It is considered to be a classic of Korean cinema. It didn't really work for me in that sense, but if approached without those lofty expectations maybe I could find myself more appreciative of the effort...maybe as a dark comedy or something similar.

In this post it seems I've said a lot without really saying anything...I suppose I've missed my calling...I could have been a great politician!


P.S.
toddly's nightmare scenario that'd make him give up movie watching forever:
casting SONG Kang-ho and Akshay Kumar as co-leads in a remake of DUMB AND DUMBER...and make it Bollywood-long with a three-hour runtime

[nitin77]

interesting because I think Kang Sang Ho is a very good actor, at least from what I have seen him in.

Akshay Kumar on the other hand is a complete moron.

[toddly6666]

Flixtime, sometimes im amazed how well u know my taste. Putting those two retards in a movie together IS my nightmare!

[TheDoug]

I might as well throw in my two cents worth. FLIXTIME I love your longwinded answer, and many of your choices. How could you forget the tidal wave movie
HAEUNDAE? As to the actor factors, I'll lean towards Min Sik-Choi, although I do like Song Kong-ho in MEMORIES OF MURDER. (I see it as overexposure).

Toddly6666 must be happy that Min Sik-Choi has finally come out of his self-imposed five year dormancy with release of HIMALAYA, WHERE THE WIND DWELLS on dvd.

[Rypro 525]

I really really liked Thirst (yes i saw it in its very limited theatrical release lol). Now if only universal would have released this in more theaters to capitalize on the vamp craze, this could have made some good bank (or at least in more then 15 screens). My only problem with it was that a few of the scenes that needed wire removal are a bit dodgy looking.

[newginafets]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Any Asian film with a good story and good acting...those are hard to find!

unless you're an asian.

[toddly6666]

Originally Posted by newginafets

unless you're an asian.

got any recommendations then?

[zombeaner]

Originally Posted by nantaprong

Haeundae is one of its kind in my opinion... its almost at the top of my korean movie list

I didn't think it was that great, decent though. It is now available on DVD in the UK

[flixtime]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Flixtime, sometimes im amazed how well u know my taste. Putting those two retards in a movie together IS my nightmare!

And Studio Ghibli is going to cease production of animated films, opting instead to fund sequels to the Asian DUMB AND DUMBER...along with producing original ventures all featuring Asian actors with really trendy haircuts.

Originally Posted by TheDoug

FLIXTIME I love your longwinded answer, and many of your choices.

Thanks TheDoug, I appreciate the sentiment, glad to hear my musings provide some entertainment value.......umm, just to clear one thing up, when you put forth that you love many of my choices...well, you wouldn't be trying to cut in on my Maria Ozawa action, would you...I wouldn't be too happy about that.

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.

[zombeaner]

I may have to challenge you to a duel for calling SONG Kang Ho a retard. He is one of my favorite actors.

[TheDoug]

Originally Posted by flixtime

And Studio Ghibli is going to cease production of animated films, opting instead to fund sequels to the Asian DUMB AND DUMBER...along with producing original ventures all featuring Asian actors with really trendy haircuts.


Thanks TheDoug, I appreciate the sentiment, glad to hear my musings provide some entertainment value.......umm, just to clear one thing up, when you put forth that you love many of my choices...well, you wouldn't be trying to cut in on my Maria Ozawa action, would you...I wouldn't be too happy about that.

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.

After googling Maria's photo montages, I then understood what you meant by her being "hot!" I'll stick with my Hong Kong hottie's for now. Finally, is HAEUNDAE sounded out like HYUNDAI the Korean car manufacturer???

[Ralph Jenkins]

Aside from Thirst, there are really no recent Asian films on my radar. Kind of sad, really. When I try to think of recommendations, all I come up with are older films. I've been discovering some great Japanese films from the '50s, '60s and '70s, but yeah, that's not exactly "right now".

[Tutut]

Originally Posted by nitin77

Mother by Joon-Ho Bong from Sth Korea

Thirst by Chan Wook Park from Sth Korea (note this is not to erveyone's taste, I only liked parts of it myself)

The Chaser by Hon-Jin Na from Sth Korea

I would add Private Eye from Park Dae Min to this good list.

toddly, you dont like any of the sth korean stuff?

Since he doesn't like Song Kang Ho I guess he missed these :
The Day a Pig Fell into the Well
Green Fish
The Quiet Family
Shiri
The Foul King
Joint Security Area
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Memories of Murder
The President's Barber
Antarctic Journal
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
The Host
Secret Sunshine
The Good, the Bad, the Weird
Thirst

[dleedlee]

The Message. fits the OP, it has torture, espionage, thriller, kinkiness, drama and good acting.

[toddly6666]

Originally Posted by Tutut

I would add Private Eye from Park Dae Min to this good list.


Since he doesn't like Song Kang Ho I guess he missed these :

Shiri - my favorite Korean movie (he wasn't annoying in this film)
Joint Security Area - painful movie
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance - painful movie
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance - painful movie
The Host - painful movie
The Good, the Bad, the Weird - I couldn't even watch it after 10 minutes

[toddly6666]

Well, I just bought two highly anticipated Japanese films on DVD the other day. One was painfully stupid, and one seemed pretty good. Both don't have English subtitles on the DVDs.

YATTAMAN

YATTAMAN was painfully stupid. I wanted to fast forward through the whole movie. It's basically a cross between Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Imagination Movers. Bad acting, boring action, and just plain stupid.

FILM: 5.5
DVD VIDEO: 9
DVD AUDIO: 9
EXTRAS: 9


GOEMON

GOEMON was awesome! Casshern director Kazuaki Kiriya is getting better and better it seems. I like his style a bit more than Ryûhei Kitamura. The story seemed interesting, the acting was good. The main actor reminded me of a Japanese Colin Farrel. Very good action and all eye candy. Much improvement over CASSHERN. I watched the whole movie without English subtitles (because there weren't any) and I was totally entertained and did not nod off or want to fast forward.

FILM: 8
DVD VIDEO: 8.5
DVD AUDIO: 8.5
EXTRAS: 0


Here's the trailer for GOEMON:


Here's a trailer for next year's THE CUP OF TEARS by director Kazuaki Kiriya:



Is anyone interested in buying my YATTAMAN DVD? I'll sell it for $20 including shipping. It's the super box set. 1 disk is the movie and 2 more disks of endless extras. Awesome packaging. If you wait for the official English-subtitled DVD, you can use this superbox set for the packaging and just the extras. Here's pictures of my dvd. Iif anyone is interested, please email me at toddly@hotmail.com or pm me:





And here's the trailer for Takashi Miike's YATTAMAN if no one has seen it yet:

[newginafets]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

got any recommendations then?

no matther how good the movie id recommend if your mindset of asian movies already bad, it would never change.

But maybe you can try these:

- Pintu Terlarang/Forbidden Door (Joko Anwar, Indonesia)
- Children of Heaven, The Color of Paradise (Majid Majidi, Iran)
- Black (Sanjay Leela Bhansali, India)
- The Rainbow Troops/Laskar Pelangi (Riri Riza, Indonesia)
- Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, Japan)
- Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, Japan)
- Taegukgi (Je-gyu Kang, South Korea)

But stating Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Lady Vengeance, JSA painful is baffling, i wonder what your fave movies are.

[toddly6666]

Originally Posted by newginafets

no matther how good the movie id recommend if your mindset of asian movies already bad, it would never change.

But maybe you can try these:

- Pintu Terlarang/Forbidden Door (Joko Anwar, Indonesia)
- Children of Heaven, The Color of Paradise (Majid Majidi, Iran)
- Black (Sanjay Leela Bhansali, India)
- The Rainbow Troops/Laskar Pelangi (Riri Riza, Indonesia)
- Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, Japan)
- Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, Japan)
- Taegukgi (Je-gyu Kang, South Korea)

But stating Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Lady Vengeance, JSA painful is baffling, i wonder what your fave movies are.

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!

[zombeaner]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

I still want to rent Vietnam's Journey From the Fall though.

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.