Asian Cinema

danwin

danwin

Oak Hard
1 December 2003
Anyone into Asian cinema? For me it has totally eclipsed Hollywood for a good few years now here's some of my favorites.

Hero (2002)

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A beautiful masterpiece with fantastic vibrant colours and breathtaking fight scenes.




Battle Royale (2000)

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A modern day Lord of the Flies, an absolute cult classic with exiled school children battling to the death.




Hard Boiled (1992)

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A classic John Woo movie, before he sold out in America. Great action scenes.
 
How can you mention Asian cinema and fail to include Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon!
 
Shaolin Soccer. I'm still not sure if it was poor translation or he really did say "oh my god my egg!".

A lot of the Asian cinema I've watched has been good, but nothing has really bowled me over in the same way something like LOTR or Fight Club did. Hero was good, but 'only' good. House of Flying Daggers was an extreme disappointment. The older ones are still best, CTHD as someone mentioned is terrific, Battle Royale was entertaining but a bit overrated.

A lot of it seems to be style over substance, for example House of Flying Daggers and to an extent Hero. Sometimes they put in a beautiful sequence for what appears to be just for the sake of it. Another example is a movie called Casshern, which I've read looks fantastic but the movie isn't actually that great (tho I'd still like to see it).

Spirited Away is the best one I've watched over the past year or two.
 
I really like HOFD. I liked the mix of arty slow spells and action bits. Lots of 'Wu Xia' style film purists berate it but I thought watching it in the cinema was great. The music score especially.
 
But you know you are getting a great film to watch as oppossed to a great plot/story line etc. I dont see a problem with that tbh, and i'd rather watch an Asian film as oppossed to some generic Hollywood film.

Have you seen KFH CD? Its really really good, some funny scenes and some of the fight scenes are totally hilarious!
 
Not seen that Loz. What do you mean by "you know you are getting a great film to watch as oppossed to a great plot/story line etc"? Surely the plot and storyline have a lot to do with the movie itself? It's not as if they aren't capable of it, CTHD had a great storyline.

Babs, I did watch it in the cinema also, just thought it had too much fluff. I know you have to take some of the scenes with a pinch of salt, like the daggers that change direction, etc, but the scenes near the end involving Ziyi Zhang are laughable. I really didn't care about any of the characters and I wanted to leave before the end.
 
It seemed to do that for lots, either get bored by it or suck it all in. I was sucked in all the way, yes the death was drawn out but it's just that style of film. The girl sat next to me who I work with was cracking up by the end, I was leant forward totally absorbed :)

On another note, I NEED to see Godzilla: Final Wars. Do a bit of reading on the net and tell me how that film could possibly fail? :D
 
ClassicD said:
Not seen that Loz. What do you mean by "you know you are getting a great film to watch as oppossed to a great plot/story line etc"? Surely the plot and storyline have a lot to do with the movie itself? It's not as if they aren't capable of it, CTHD had a great storyline.
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I mean with films like hero you know there are going to be scenes that arent true to life, like the fighting on the lake, but it isnt about reflecting real life, its about style and, to a certain extent, romanticism. Showing fighters with great technique and great coreography (sp?). The story really comes second and i can accept that.

As for CTHD, i've never seen that so cant really comment tbh. But you also get films, like shogun assassin, that do have a good story line and you do care about what happens to the characters, but they lack the style of films like hero and HoFD. well imho, at least. . . .
 
Fully understand what you mean but it's definitely not a requirement that to have these stylish scenes you must forgo any sort of solid plot. If you compare Hero to HFOD, both are beautiful films, but Hero has a much better story and you care more about the characters.

CTHD has similar scenes, fighing in tree-tops and on water, but has a great storyline.
 
The plot twists in HOFD were great though :) That whole five minutes was just full of 'ohhhh' moments :)
 
You must have been watching a different film from me, the plot I got was 'begins to fall in love with girl, cannot choose girl over duty, changes his mind chases girl - repeat with girl and boy swapping roles for last section of movie'.

You're easy pleased Babs ;).
 
Has anyone seen 2046 yet? It's directed by Wong Kar Wai, his films tend to be visually stunning... I love a lot Asian Cinema for the art side of it.

2046

and another great film by the same directer

Fallen Angels
 
ClassicD said:
You must have been watching a different film from me, the plot I got was 'begins to fall in love with girl, cannot choose girl over duty, changes his mind chases girl - repeat with girl and boy swapping roles for last section of movie'.

You're easy pleased Babs ;).
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What about the whole captured, can see, is gang member, friend turns out to be gang member, etc bit. That was done well :)
 
danwin said:
Hard Boiled (1992)

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A classic John Woo movie, before he sold out in America. Great action scenes.
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Sorry to interupt you sir, but i'd like to say ''you have a great taste in Asian films''.

Some of the action was breath-taking.
 
how about Infernal Affairs, The Returner and Versus...have you seen these?
 
Can anyone confirm the rumours I have heard about a possible film remake of the classic Monkey Magic series? I've been searching for days trying to find information on it but alas I have had no luck.
 
The Happiness Of The Katakuris , versus , infernal affairs trilogy , non dubbed shaolin soccer , ichi the killer ,Sympathy For Mr Vengeance , dead or alive . god the list is endless
 
babs said:
If you've not seen Azumi, you're missing a treat.

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Cheers for the recommendations babs, i saw this tonight and it is superb. Very stylised (so maybe not one for CD ;) ) but i have to say the plot is also pretty good.

Some very cool fight scenes and the woman that plays Azumi is hot :shock:
 
Can you guys find this type of movies in your local video clubs? Here in Portugal these kind of movies usually take years to arrive on dvd.

There's always the option to download them but i'm not a fan of that and don't appreciate the low quality of a divx compared to dvd...

I'm a big fan of asian cinema now and i'm looking forward to see that Azumi...unfortunatly I'll have to wait a long time.

And I forgot to mension OLDBOY...haven't seen it yet but seems like a really cool movie too.
 
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Has anyone seen Battle Royale 2? I saw it at HMV and was thinking about buying it?
 
Yeah, I've seen it. It's not worth buying mate, but probably worth watching if you're a fan. I'd recommend a rent, or tracking it down by other means.
 
I've just ordered the 2 disc HOFD HK release and Casshern which I've been meaning to catch up on. £19 delivered, not too shabby.
 
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