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Asian Cinema 2011

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Anyone know if the "Desire to Kill" DVD/BR is out yet? Looked a few places but no die.

For anyone who doesn't know the movie

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Sang-eop (Yu Hae-Jin) suffers from a brain disease and is paralyzed. One day he suddenly remembers an instance from the past that he has totally forgotten.

Both men reside in the small confines of a hospital ward. They will soon seek to kill the other.
Since the time, Min-ho (Cheon Ho-Jin) witnessed his lover’s death he has attempted suicide numerous times. Now hospitalized, Min-ho is guided by his distorted memories.

Sang-eop (Yu Hae-Jin) suffers from a brain disease and is paralyzed. One day he suddenly remembers an instance from the past that he has totally forgotten.

Both men reside in the small confines of a hospital ward. They will soon seek to kill the other.
 

AAequal

Banned
All of his films are great and it's a shame that there aren't many films in the same style as his anymore - but I suppose that's what you get when you're considered the next best Japanese director after Kurosawa. The closest director I can think of that achieves the same dynamics is probably Koki Mitani, and even then he is a bit different due to his work being much more theatre-inspired.

I always found it inspiring that Itami did not become successful until he hit the age of 50. Hard to believe that in such a short span of 14 years he managed to pump out ten movies that are all quality watching. A shame that his life was cut so short during his peak (I loved one of his latter movies, Supermarket Woman).

Supermarket Woman was really great. It was much like rest of his work and followed same paterns but I only take that as a plus when it comes Itami. It was also the last film I watched in my marathon and it was a good choiche since his later movies got bit more darker then his early works (not counting funeral). Supermarket Woman was light hearted comedy for all ages and it really brought smile to my face. Perfect way to end the marathon.

Tampopo remains as my favorite. Main story line was great and all the short stories told during the film were also pure geniuse (food sex scene really came out nowhere :D). I won't even rank rest of his films since they were all good in their own ways. Funeral stands out as the most different film and doesn't really work as satiric comedy but still superb film, I wouldn't start with it since it might not be for everyone.

edit: Well, Taxing Woman 2 was tad disappointing, mainly because ending felt so rushed and I really didn't understand what was going on. I couldn't figure out identity of the
floating body at the end
and it seems like it was something important :D Also I didn't really get what happened to everyone who were charged. And while many of the cast returned for this movie it lacked the chemistery of the first film, Hideki Gondô was such a neat bad guy. It did give good look on how Yakuza scared of tenants out of their houses during the housing bubble but other then that not so interesting film.

Next I will watch The Family Game and one of my old-time favorites Man Who Stoled the Sun (watch it!). I'm also in process of tracking down Seijun Suzuki films, I have seen the popular ones but still many that I have missed.

On a new movie frontier I just watched Bayside shakedown 3. I don't know why but I do like these movies, maybe because I was such a huge fan of the TV show back in the days and the films do justice for the series. It wasn't great or anything but it didn't get boring and I enjoyed it as it was.
 

AAequal

Banned
Man Who Stole the Sun - Wasn't great as it was back in the days :D It's still a good film but there were still some really awful scenes, especially the
last show down between the main guy and Bunta Sugawara,
also the whole
raid to nuclear power plant was just horrible.

Trailer for those who are interested

Now I'm going to watch Campaing
uPW9U.jpg

This is democracy — Japanese style. Campaign provides a startling insider's view of Japanese electoral politics in this portrait of a man plucked from obscurity by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to run for a critical seat on a suburban city council. Kazuhiko "Yama-san" Yamauchi's LDP handlers are unconcerned that he has zero political experience, no charisma, no supporters and no time to prepare. What he does have is the institutional power of Japan's modern version of Tammany Hall pushing him forward. Yama-san allows his life to be turned upside down as he pursues the rituals of Japanese electioneering — with both tragic and comic results.

If you live in US you can watch it from pbs.org
http://www.pbs.org/pov/campaign/campaign_fullfilm1.php
 
watched 13 assassins and wanted to say, the first 10 mins about the cruelty of the shogun's brother, especially THAT lady, still haunts me.

Brilliant movie, reminds me of 7 samurai.
 

qcf x2

Member
I'm just gonna lazily write this:

^ 13 Assassins was really good.

I watched and enjoyed Tampopo after reading this page. Beautifully done! Strangely enough it didn't make me as hungry for noodles as Castaway on the Moon.

Has anyone here seen Poongsan? It's a solid action movie with a limited budget. The lead actor is pretty good, all things considered.


To date my favorite Korean movie is Breathless, but I've seen a lot of good ones, mostly thanks to this thread. Didn't really like A Dirty Carnival though.
 

AAequal

Banned
Anyone seen King of Pigs yet?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-umnLBbOnb80/TrX20y0SE9I/AAAAAAAAAa0/HWUoAIQK5uc/s400/king%2Bof%2Bpigs%2Bstills.jpg[IMG]
[IMG]http://www.hancinema.net/photos/photo207250.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]

Is it out already or still in theaters?

btw neojaponisme had interesting article about [url=http://neojaponisme.com/2011/11/28/the-great-shift-in-japanese-pop-culture-part-one/]shift in japanese pop culture.[/url]
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware

Gala

Member
Can you guys recommend me any good asian Sci-Fi?

I watched 20th century boys, 2046 and some Anime like Ghost in the Shell and Noein
 

AAequal

Banned
yYBX1.jpg

Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald take a hilarious look into the world of radio drama production and the chaos that unexpectedly ensues when creative liberties are taken to the extreme. The film takes place almost entirely within the confines of the broadcasting studio, where common housewife Miyako (Kyōka Suzuki) has won the opportunity to have her proposed script—entitled “Woman of Destiny”—turned into a radio drama. All turns out well during rehearsal, but when the main star of the production—the egotistical and stubborn Nokko (Keiko Toda)—suddenly decides that she dislikes her character’s rather casual background, the script has to be haphazardly rewritten in a hurry to accommodate her wants before the live broadcasting begins. It doesn’t help that a co-star of the production, Hiromitsu (Jun Inoue), feels a sense of jealously by the changes made to Nokko’s character and demands a change for his character as well. When the show goes on the air with the changes in place, the staff soon discovers that the changes they made have led to some crucial plot inconsistencies. This forces producer Ushijima (Masahiko Nishimura) and staff to work out the kinks while the show is broadcasting live, leading to various comedic moments of trial-and-error and imaginative solutions.
It’s this descent into chaos that Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald truly shines as a comedic exploration of the radio industry and the pressure to perform well within Japanese society. The rather frantic pace in which the broadcasting staff seeks out solutions to the constant stream of changes made to the script, allows for various moments of comical genius to be showcased within the film. It is often in these moments that film presents an underlying theme of dedication; rather than just call the broadcast off as a complete and utter failure, the cast and crew still push forward diligently no matter how strangely bizarre the script changes end up being. And the changes do end up being extremely perilous—essentially transforming an innocent script about love into a daring excursion into the likes of guns, natural disasters and space travel—it’s absolutely hilarious to see how far they go in order to remedy simple mistakes they made previously. And while Miyako’s original script gets absolutely butchered, she is motivated to see that her script does retain at least one thing—a happy ending.

This has to be one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. Reminded me lot of Juzo Itami's work and there are few homages to him in the film (example Ken Watanabe makes short cameo as a familiar truck driver).

Superb movie, see it if you haven't.

My name is... Donald McDonald!
 

AAequal

Banned
One minute teaser for Nameless Gangster. Looks dam good. Should we start asian cinema 2012 general discussion thread soonish?

A South Korean cop film starring Choi Min-sik (Oldboy) & Ha Hung-woo (bad guy in The Chaser). Nice cast, but what the film is all about?

Nameless Gangster is set during the 1990s. At that time, the new South Korean Government declared war on organized crime. Choi Min-sik is playing a corrupt customs officer, who’s working closely with the local mob, but wants to find his way out without losing his job.

A promising subject involving police corruption, Korean mafia… Where characters are ready to do anything just to survive this war. The main character looks like a phony, with actor Choi Min-sik seemingly having fun playing him – quite a change from Kim Jee-woon’s I Saw The Devil!

Based on this teaser, the film seems to be some kind of nostalgic thriller with little with bits of comedy – corrupt cops acting like wannabe-gangsters before being knocked off their pedestals by the new government policy.

Nameless Gangster will be theatrically released in South Korea on February 2, 2012.
 

vitacola

Member
@UKGAF:

A question regarding the DVD release of Cold Fish by Sion Sono.

Did the label fuck up the PAL-Transfer again (ghosting etc) like they did it with Love Exposure or didn't they? Just asking because it's pretty cheap in the UK (6 Pounds @zavvi).
 

meppi

Member
@UKGAF:

A question regarding the DVD release of Cold Fish by Sion Sono.

Did the label fuck up the PAL-Transfer again (ghosting etc) like they did it with Love Exposure or didn't they? Just asking because it's pretty cheap in the UK (6 Pounds @zavvi).

Not sure if this helps, because I got the Bluray version.
But my copy seems perfectly fine.
 

EYEL1NER

Member
Haha! I finally get to see I Saw the Devil!
The blu ray dropped in price on Amazon to $17.49. For the longest time it was >$20, which is more than I want to spend on a movie.
Can't wait to finally watch it.

I grabbed Ichi as well for $10, even though I don't think it looks good at all. I needed something to kick the price up to get free shipping since I no longer have Prime.
 

Gala

Member
After watching Guilty of Romance, I still have this bad feeling in my stomache. That film was really cruel and intense. Maybe Shion Sonos best work in my opinion.


And I'm still looking for great Asian sci-fi suggestions
 

meppi

Member
Watched it last week and really liked it. Something very different from what I thought it would be.
But I have a feeling that I'll have to watch it a second time to fully appreciate it.

Same thing with Cold Fish, which did click with me a lot more quickly.

I still have Strange Circus and Noriko's Dinner Table that I really want to watch.

He's quickly become one of the persons who's films I preorder without knowing anything about them. :)
 

Vard

Member
I'm curious, is Netflix good for asian films?

Disc? Then yes. Streaming is quite limited but they've gotten better over the past year. Most are subtitled now too. I remember about 2 years ago all they seemed to have was Oldboy - and it was dubbed.
 

G17

Member
If someone does make a 2012 thread, post the link here. :) We do need a new one. I kind of like filtering it by year.
 
For those who have seen The Client

The%2BClient.jpg


who was the chick in the kitchen drinking water?

The movie is awesome and left me guessing until the final court room scene, then everything clicked for me and I figured it out. Though my suspicions were right the entire time regardless, the final court room scene cemented it.
 
Maybe a bit LTTP, but I really enjoyed "You are the apple of my eye".

Favorite 2011 movie, if I must say so. After watching it, it left me with a strange nostalgic feeling.
 
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