Asian Cinema?

[harajukuchic]

any asian cinema fanz here? i just got into that genre and I must say it's awesome...i just saw this movie, Purple Butterfly, and I thought it was amazing..it's a tragic love story and war movie...go to palmpictures.com for a better summary about the movie cuz i suck at giving summaries..haha...but it also has so many other awesome movies on that site too...i'm so glad i found that website...so has any1 seen purple butterfly?? what do u think? what other awesome movies do u guys recommend in this genre?

Lisa

 

[Arch]

There are a few really good ones, but most are terrible.

 

[harajukuchic]

What films do you recommend? I am always looking for new ones to check out. Have you watched any of the Palm Pics films like Last Life in the Universe?

 

[JayKeeley]

What do you mean by Asian? Like Indian Bollywood stuff? Or Russian stuff? Or Mongolian? Chinese? etc.

 

[IOfTheStorm]

Hey what are you doing here ?
He obviously means Japanese films (i think), because obviously there is no genre "asian cinema", and i have two names for him
Akira Kurosava
and
Takeshi Kitano
harahucuwhatever: check these guys' films

 

[brightkelly]

But the movie he/she mention "purple butterfly" is Chinese. I guess he/she was refering to Chinese/Japanese/Korean films.

 

[Algorab]

Yes, I like Asian movies.
Some movies I recall watching lately are My Wife is a Gangster (Korea), Kikujiro (Japan) and Postman Blues (Japan). I liked them all very much, so I can say that I recommend them.

If you are looking for older ones, you should watch Seven Samurai. It is a splendid classic.

 

[JayKeeley]

Ok if you just want Asian as in 'far eastern' then do this:

a - follow IoftheStorm's advice and dig out Akira Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress" and then see where George Lucas stole the idea for Star Wars.

b - Get Battle Royale and make sure it's uncut. By all means, ignore the sequel.

c - Then get the best Zombie flick since Day of the Dead....called Junk. It rules in a 'Reanimator meets Zombi meets Reservoir Dogs' kinda way.

d - The Ring and Dark Water. Forget the shitty American remake of The Ring, and they're now remaking Dark Water too. Just stick to the originals.

e - If you want something off the wall, get Ichi the Killer and Versus. The first is pretty gritty, and the second one is like live action manga.

Beat Takeshi = Violent Cop = great flick, but his role in Battle Royale is untouchable.

 

[RosesofShadow]

Shaolin Soccer
Kung Fu Hustle
Jose Rizal

 

[Episteme]

I grew to like Bollywood movies because my mum's a big fan of them and some of the Bollywood women are hot!

Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai is a great movie, definitely recommended. Japanese horror movies are great as well, check out a movie called The Audition. It's a little slow moving but god damn it's creepy. Much better than The Ring and The Grudge.

There's more good movies from Asia. But I can't remember them off the top of my head.

 

[harajukuchic]

I was refering to Korean, Thai, Japanese, and Chinese cinema

 

[Kenneth R.]

i've been watching this topic for a bit, i'll have to look for these. where would i find a place that rents/sells them?

 

[harajukuchic]

I know that Amazon.com has a lot of them. Bright Futures and Dolls came out on DVD today. They have all the palm pictures films. You might also try half.com. I hope that helps.

 

[brightkelly]

I've seen a japanese horror movie called "One missed call", you should check it out, it's 10 times better than the Ring and the Grudge!

 

[noisefan]

Starting with Japan...
Newbies should certainly check out films by Kurosawa.
Seven Samurai and Yojimbo are essential viewing and were remade in Hollywood as Magnificent Seven and Last Man Standing (and in Italy as Fist Full of Dollars). Hidden Fortress inspired Star Wars but is vastly different.
Ran is an epic masterpiece.

Google these amazing directors for more titles
Shohei Imamura (Black Rain-beautifaul yet devastaing look at post-bomb Japan, Ballad of Narayama- kind of like a very rural/ancient Logan's Run . There is another Ballad of Narayama which is also excellent but I don't rememeber the director)

Nagisa Oshima (his early films are hard to find but are among my favorites. You could probably find In the Realm of the Senses and Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (in english and with David Bowie) at most good video stores.

Hiroshi Inagaki (a lot of people rave over the Samurai trilogy starring Toshiro Mifune, to me there too slow, I prefer Chushingura which ain't terribly fast but feels more epic)

Folks who like horror and fck'd-up cinema in general should check out the prolific Takashi Miike (Audition-last 10 minutes will make 97% of people leave the room, Ichi The Killer, Visitor Q, Dead or Alive, and Happiness of the Katakuris-a totally insane musical!)

I highly recommend Onibaba, a black&white ghost story with little or no dialogue, I don't quite recall.

Another good ghost story is Kaidan (or Kwaidan) directed by Kobayashi.

Actor/Writer/Director/Comedian(yes comedian) 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano is an unstoppable force in Japan. His movies are usually quite violent. A few rec's- Violent Cop, Battle Royale, Zatoichi (the orginal Zatoichi films from the 60's/70's are pretty cool too as is the Lone Wolf and Cub series), Fireworks, Sonatine

Greatest anime director ever- Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, Nausicaa)

Other essential anime- Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll, Grave of the Fireflies

Finally, the original Godzilla (the japanese version without Raymond Burr) is one of my all-time favorites.

OK, I was going to list some Chinese films but this will have to do for now, and sorry for all the parenthesis.

 

[Arch]

What films do you recommend? I am always looking for new ones to check out. Have you watched any of the Palm Pics films like Last Life in the Universe?

There are a few cheezy love story movies I tend to avoid. I do like this old Cantonese series called "The God of Gamblers". I'm going to see Steamboy today and tell you if it's good or not.

 

[DiscipleOfPlato]

Kurosawa and Ozu.

 

[Arch]

Steamboy was good. Great visuals, but the storyline needs a little more twists to it.

 

[The Great Katatonic]

Ryuhei Kitamura films are the greatest! VERSUS is my favourite film of all time,and AZUMI is great,too.I also have 27 Godzilla(proper Godzilla)films,2 Mothra and 1 Gamera and Rodan : )

 

[Arch]

http://www.sonypictures.com/intl/cn/kungfuhustle/site/index_en.php