logboy

seen mother, rough cut, dirty carnival, holiday, our town. have poetry. long interested in public enemy but can't figure which discs to go for. need to check trailers and remind myself of a few you've also mentioned. thanks for spending the time - always worth a try to spot new things.

Sweet Baby James

Amazon has the Blu-ray for I Saw the Devil up for pre-order. May 10, $20.99-


http://www.amazon.com/I-Saw-the-Devi...173964&sr=1-94

logboy

there's also the upcoming UK release in may

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Saw-Devil-Bl...dp/B004OQJT1C/

still waiting to find out the uncut status of this one though.

Rypro 525

IMDB sates that Magnet is releaing the movie unrated so that could be a sign (they almost always send their movies to get rated to the MPAA)

Rypro 525

Also for anyone interested, Best Buy has Man From Nowhere for 14.99 on dvd and 16.99 on Blu for when it comes out tuesday

flixtime

Watched South Korea's MAN OF VENDETTA (2010) aka THE DESTROYED MAN (better title this second one). All-in-all a rather conventional kidnap suspenser...basically the daughter of a priest is kidnapped...he both loses hope and turns his back on his faith...time passes...and then a sign of promise appears. The first half was actually very interesting and rather nicely done, but then the second half trackdown of the villain is more routine. It seemed to me that one scene early on functions as an homage to Kurosawa's classic kidnap thriller HIGH AND LOW. And maybe another peripheral aspect of the story might be a lift from Eastwood's THE CHANGELING (or, given it was rather generic and logical to the plot, maybe that is simply coincidence)...I really liked THE CHANGELING for what it's worth. Anyway, back to THE DESTROYED MAN...I wish they had spent more time exploring the dynamic between the two protagonists, with that too, I believe they needed to provide greater story for the villain during the second half. Without those aspects being present, the film starts to feel just a little thin somewhere past the midway point...and paced out a bit to reach its 114-minute runtime. Actually, this is now a few Korean films I've seen recently that seem to suffer by playing things out to what seems to be an expected 120-minute (approx.) runtime in Korean cinema. As far as action, there's a few stabbings/killings/beatings but it isn't an action film by any means. I think the last portions of dialogue during the epilogue hit home nicely so in that way the film ends on an uptick...so I could push my rating as high as "good"...South Korea seems to do a quality job in general with regards to providing a steady outflow of watchable/entertaining/better-than-average action/crime/suspense/thrillers. I enjoyed THE DESTROYED MAN well enough...if you're a fan of kidnap thrillers it should satisfy. I don't recall enough about the other Korean kidnap film - VOICE OF A MURDERER - from a few years back to really say which is the better film...that one did have a based-on-a-true-story aspect to it that made it heavy hitting at least at the very end...though THE DESTROYED MAN too does end with its own impactful scene.


Also had the chance to view ZATOICHI - THE LAST (2010, Japan)...having watched all 26 films, 74 (I believe) out of the 100 TV-episodes, Takeshi Kitano's 2003 version, the female ICHI movie from 2008...heck even Shintaro Katsu's SHIRINUI KENGYO...I think I can say I'm a fan of Zatoichi. This new entry was undoubtedly a below-average, dull, and bland movie. The actor they got to play Zatoichi...well I'd rather see Justin Bieber cast as the next James Bond. I don't have much positive to say...the cinematography is polished...it was nice to see Tatsuya Nakadai...the movie gets a little better over the last third. But, boy, the lead actor was a total flatline...thoroughly bland in his non-performance...and with no talent for physical comedy either. Standard elements such as the gambling scenes were barely there. The story is of the sort commonly found in all the movies and really done quite well - and well-suited - for the 45-minute TV-episodes...but here the material is bloated to a time-wasting, boredom-inducing 132-minute runtime. They should have just let the main actor open his eyes, given his character some other name, and made a generic ronin-type movie...it still wouldn't have been any good, but...man, the audacity to go on record with this as a Zatoichi movie...just a bad idea all around. I'd say skip it, but everyone who is a fan of Zatoichi is going to check it out for themselves anyway, but I doubt anyone will revisit it a second time when virtually any other viewing in the Zatoichi catalog would be a more pleasing option.

JHosk

Pretty sweet price. Bluray.com has a pretty glowing review up for the bluray. Can't wait to check it out.

flixtime

Watched Confessions (2010, Japan)...oh boy...for fans of vengeance flicks, well add this one to your list. That being said, the recommendation is not without caveat. This film is a different beast entirely. It is certainly one of the more interesting and unique films I've watched recently...very interesting actually...vengeance for the arthouse crowd. Still, that might not necessarily translate to ranking it as entertaining/enjoyable...something which can be said about the vast majority of even the most downbeat vengeance films. CONFESSIONS opens up with a perhaps thiry minute segment that in many ways felt like a short film on its own...such that when the fade to black out of that segment falls upon you, you almost feel that the movie is over (at least in a certain sense that you feel you've received a complete viewing experience). I think the style of the film plays very much to giving you that feeling. While generally following a conventional narrative...the presentation is more uncommon...it is a visual poem/opera, an aural dream, and a thematic nightmare. Intricately (or perhaps fragmentally over the middle sections especially) crafted in a way that also leaves you feeling a bit unsettled by the structure and atmosphere, and at a cold remove from the characters. I think there is too strong a current of social relevance to the story for it to function as entertainment (something like BATTLE ROYALE did not have this issue). Still, I believe the commentary on modern society offered up very much casts a pall on you after the viewing. In that way it is thoroughly disturbing...moreso than the majority of hero vs. the bad guys vengeance movies, or the recent way of bleak French horror, etc. CONFESSIONS is a display of fine filmmaking; I offer it much respect. Still, I can't help feeling the experience of watching it was bad for the soul. Recommended with enthusiasm (aka "better-than-good")...umm...as long as you know what you're in for. CONFESSIONS made the short list for Best Foreign-language film at this past Oscars.

Also watched ONG BAK 3...it seems not to have been received too favorably...from my perspective even that is too kind. And this is coming from someone who enjoyed Part 2 to a greater degree than the general consensus on that movie. In terms of padding out a film with pointless filler to reach feature length, ONG BAK 3 is about as guilty of that as I've seen in recent memory. Avoid.

J-Dubya

From Fish Story director(which I haven't seen) I just viewed Golden Slumber. I'm not a good writer but I can tell you that this movie suffers from a lack of pace and 30 minutes of extra footage. The protagonist also seems quite stupid at times and at other times very clever, or is it just luck?

flixtime

The new 2010 Korean remake of John Woo's A BETTER TOMORROW is releasing via Hong Kong DVD on March 22nd...listing at YesAsia. It hasn't yet been released on Korean DVD.

Ash Ketchum

I'm curious about Yakuza films from the 1960s, the ones made by Toei Co. Paul Schrader wrote about them in his seminal article on Yakuza-eiga in Film Comment (Jan.-Feb. 1974). The subject came up last night in a Q&A with Schrader at Japan Society in New York following a screening of the film he wrote, THE YAKUZA (1975).

As far as I can tell, none of those films have ever come out on DVD (or VHS) in the U.S. The only Yakuza films that have come out are the arthouse ones like Shinoda's PALE FLOWER and Gosha's THE WOLVES or Fukasaku's "documentary-style" films from the '70s (e.g. THE YAKUZA PAPERS, GRAVEYARD OF HONOR, etc.). But there was a whole series of formulaic Yakuza genre films starring either Ken Takakura, Junko Fuji or Koji Tsurta that came out in the 1960s that I'd love to see (with English subs. of course).

Toei has shown interest in distributing its titles in the U.S. How do we get them to market these?

logboy

there's probably quite a few more yakuza films out in the USA than first seems to be; quite a lot of subbed bootlegs too, unfortunately. i'd suggest reading mark schillings small book on nikkatsu noir as well as his book on yakuza movies :

http://www.amazon.com/No-Borders-Lim...dp/1903254434/

http://www.amazon.com/Yakuza-Movie-B...dp/1880656760/

personally, i'd guess the ninkyo films are far less likely to appear than the jitsuroku - the latter surpassed the popularity of the former in later years. fukasaku's yakuza papers series (battles without honour or humanity) are dense and incredibly crafted. the individual releases in america of street mobster, graveyard of honor, yakuza graveyard, blackmail is my life, cops versus thugs are all worth seeing too. worth checking the nikkatsu noir boxset from criterion also - quite pulpy like toei's movies; and see suzuki seijun's 'youth of the beast' and all those films like tattooed life, branded to kill, kanto wanderer, and tokyo drifter. and quite a lot of miike's 90's v-cinema films are great examples of decent yakuza movies from more recent times too.

sleepyhead55

I watched this yesterday and agree with some of what you posted. I found the structure interesting and a breath of fresh air when compared to the usual Asian revenge film genre. There are some definite "arthouse" scenes/ tendencies in this film.

I wasn't sure what to think about the film after the first thirty minutes. To be honest, I think the beginning was a tad too long. FWIW, an online friend of mine found the beginning anonoying. But after watching the entire film, I think it fits well with the overall story of the film. I could have never guessed how it would ended up.

The middle sections/shifts in narration work for me because it helps to define the characters and their motivations. The ending 30 minutes were excellent as it helped to bring the entire story full circle.

I would say on the characters that most of them are unlikable. Combine that with the bleak setting scenes (a lot of gray and black) and that is why the film comes off as cold.

Also watched yesterday: Suicide Club (2001). I liked it I guess. Even more of a social commentary film than Confessions. The camera almost functions as another character. Some of the plot ambiguities bugged me. There were also some enjoyable out of left field moments (the David Bowie like character who pops up during the second half of the film for example). I think I was expecting something a little more mainstream and violent.

Rypro 525

Wait, Suicide Club being the infamous movie with the train jump scene (that was lifted in Hostal)?

sleepyhead55

Yup, that's the one. I saw the uncut version.

LorenzoL

They are resurrecting the Hong Kong Legends label once again with their initial release to be Young Bruce Lee on Blu-ray and DVD along with 2 Disc DVD Ultimate Editions of The Big Boss, Fists of Fury, Way of the Dragon and Game of Death.

http://twitchfilm.com/news/2011/03/h...ives-again.php

Cardiac161

One film I would love to have on Blu-ray right now would be Miike's 13 Assassins. Saw this movie during an international film festival and would definitely rank it as one of the best samurai films in recent years. I know Magnet has the US rights to it and would re-watch it again when it's shown theatrically.

Kinda glad Yoji Yamada's Twilight Samurai & The Hidden Blade are available in Blu-ray as released by Panorama HK. Now just waiting for Love & Honor to complete the trilogy.

Rypro 525

per yesasia, this comes out the 27th of this month in japan and yesasia wants 55 bucks for the blu!

Also anything new and or exciting to check out from asia?

slop101

The US blu-ray for 13 Assassins will be out on July 5 for just $19, I'd say wait for that.

Rypro 525

Didn't Magnet/magnolia cut like 20 minutes out of the american release? Or did Miike do that?

logboy

neither. production company's decision to make an international version, which is what the UK and USA have had.

btw, people here mentioning revenge films as a genre. don't think they are, myself - lots of films that use revenge, particularly in Japan (technically part of Asia, but really a country & industry in it's own right) but it appears as a story device across other genres; yakuza, samurai etc.

I always remember what park chan-wook said about what someone questioning him refered to as "the vengeance trilogy" (western marketing tool) that vengeance wasn't the issue, it was redemption. younger viewers, I think, have darker fantasies about revenge upon their heavy-handed peers attempts to wrestle for prominence / status... adults, who've likely lost something important to their life's work/interest, focus more not on the revenge but on the chance of setting their life back on the right path, or improving / setting things straight. lots of fans of Asian films, in the west, tend to be late teens / early 20s, but the director is much older, and the view in tge film is intended for a bigger audience than that, and primarily for one that will understand the nuances of the story beneath the obvious elements too.

Brian T

. . . which probably explains the narrow conception of "Asian Cinema" that has dominated so much discussion of it in the west for 20 years, particularly in forums and user-contributed review sites, as well as the limited genres western distributors seem to release in response. Perhaps it also explains why "what's hot?"- or "what we're watching"-type threads fall silent for long stretches . . .

It's strange sometimes to read amateur reviews of stuff like the "Vengeance" films by people who may not even be aware they've been manipulated . . .

NIMH Rat

I think the youth of the audience IN ASIA has more to do with the types of films we see from Asia than the youth of audiences in the West.....

logboy

i'd say that's true for what cinema is produced currently, on the whole, within asian countries, of course, but pre-DVD there's so much of the history of the output that we only get slight tastes of - and companies in america, and elsewhere in the west, more often seem to pick the easiest-sells for the biggest potential audiences outside of japan, and the attention sought and sometimes received from a western crossover audience leaves us fairly consistently stuck in a rut of easily-digested entertainment rather than heading towards a more diverse or sophisticated interpretation of work that can often be said to be compromise between bold entertainment and some kind of social study or alternative world view.

would also be possible to say companies in one place pay attention to how their work's received elsewhere, even if it's inconsistent and patchy, particularly now that it's far more likely for films to have a chance to travel across borders - for example, i'd see gantz adaptations as likely having been given the go-ahead partly on the awareness of the franchises relative promenance in america and elsewhere, thanks to the anime (manga too?) being fairly high profile. it's likely also that it's worth noting there's frequent mentions that countries have certain directors that turn out certain kinds of films that aim fairly squarely at festival circuits, partly as a cover for additional revenue / publicity they may not otherwise easily get at home. then there's the minor trend for 'made for export' horror-schlock, which is a good indicator one person's money is as good as any others...

Brian T

That's debatable. While youth audiences in Asia -- as elsewhere (even here) -- often shape trends in entertainment over there, those same young Asian people rarely dictate what we see over here, unfortunately, otherwise we wouldn't have this steady diet of Hong Kong action/martial arts films, Korean "revenge" thrillers, Thai action movies (with elephants!) and gonzo Japanese T&A-whatever-the-hell-that-stuff-is-called (and not forgetting anything involving samurai, ninja or yakuza) foisted upon us by U.S. and European distributors content not to rattle the status quo that they've essentially established by pigeonholing Asian cinema into a very narrow set of genres in the minds of Western viewers. I'm certainly glad that many members in this thread, for example, import their Asian goodies, but the reviews herein often suggest that the same narrow set of genres are being explored (possibly out of financial constraints, obviously, but possibly also out of fear of the unknown).

For example, many verifiable Hong Kong box-office hits do not get released on DVD over here at all (beyond, perhaps, Tai Seng catering to the diaspora), not because they're "too regional" or anything like that, but because they don't revolve around martial arts, action or, in fewer cases, horror, aspects we've long been duped into believing "cross borders" more successfully from Asia, even as films from all genres make the grade from other countries via both major and indie labels, and often theatrically to boot. However, Hong Kong movies that DO utilize these ingredients, often regardless of box-office success or failure (or whether Asian youth are popularizing them), are practically guaranteed a DVD, Blu-ray or streamed release over here, simply because they fit the mold. I'm not knocking what does get released here -- I'll watch anything from Asia as long as the budget allows it -- I'm just knocking the narrow mindset of western distributors, which is often passed on to western audiences, whose willingness to buy the product only perpetuates the cycle.