My wife is a big Miyazaki fan, and we bought the Disney re- releases of Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky, and Kiki’s Delivery Service. They have the original Japanese soundtracks, and I can watch them with the subtitles on. However, the US version of Totoro is only available dubbed(and it lacks), so for Christmas I bought her the original Japanese version and a region 2 DVD player. Anyway, now I have a region 2 DVD player, but I really don’t know much about Japanese films(other than the obvious anime, Kurosawa, etc.) Any Japanophiles out there able to recommend( preferably live action) Japanese films/TV series worth buying?(renting is most likely not an option where we live)
Have you seen Only Yesterday by Isao Takahata? It’s anime but not well known so I thought I would mention it. It’s a marvellous film and I believe it has been released on DVD in Japan. I think it’s called Omoide Poro Poro in Japanese. Another anime film which is less known: Junkers Come Here which is available in the US. It’s quite similar to Miyazaki’s films and very good.
As for live-action films I enjoyed Ozu’s Tokyo Story recently which has been released R1 by Criterion. I expect there are a lot more Ozu films available on DVD in Japan. I don’t think there are any Mizoguchi films available R1 on DVD and you might want to check them out (Ugetsu, Sansho the Bailliff etc). I haven’t seen them myself though.
If you are interested in Kurosawa, try Throne of Blood. It’s the MacBeth story set in feudal Japan. Interestingly enough, they didn’t have to change all that much in the plot when moving it to a different country. Appearances aside. the cultures weren’t all that different. And try Rashomon of course. I don’t know how many other stories have imitated the device of telling a tale from several different points of view.
I don’t have a very high opinion of non-animated Japanese movies so I can’t realy recommend any (save perhaps Shall We Dance?), but I would like to warn you to be careful; English subtitles on Japanese-language DVDs are not very common.
I rented a good one yesterday.
Chaos (Hideo Nakata)
It’s a Japanese movie with subtitles, but the dialogue isn’t hard to follow.
That’s funny, my wife is from Japan and she dosen’t hold live action Japanese films in high regard either, she much prefers American movies. That’s why I was hoping there were some film buffs out there somewhere who could give me the straight dope, because she only really likes certain animated films and television programs. I thought Adrenaline Drive was pretty cool, I’m kinda looking for that type of movie.
a few classic great japanese movies, not necessary action one but great nevertheless:
.Takeshi Kitano movies, like Violent Cop, Hana Bi; getting any, Kid’s return or Dolls
.Battle royale of course
.Dark Water: the story of an haunted appartment
a bit off topic but you should also try Korean movies, they’ve got some very good one, like 2099 Lost memories (what if the japaneses had been on the other side during WWII and had stayed in Korea, lots of action and time travel)…or Volcano High (kung fu like in a high school with fireball and all)…or Shiri (about the rivalty of the 2 Korea)…
My favorite Studio Ghibli movie is Pom Poko, about tanuki. You need a region 2 DVD player or an illegal copy to see it, because it’s never going to be released in the U.S. what with all the tanuki testicles and all. It was, however, recently re-released in Japan.
Another great one that’s been slow to see a U.S. release is Porco Rosso. A lot of people name it as their favorite Ghibli/Miyazaki movie.
gawen, I would love to recommend some Korean movies as well, but Korean DVDs are region 3, not 2.
I’m currently on something of a Nakata kick, so don’t mind me. His other films that I’ve seen are Dark Water (previously mentioned), Ringu (which isn’t as good as Dark Water, IMHO), and Last Scene (English translation of the title?).
DW and Ringu are both horror movies, as you probably know, but both are very good. Last Scene is a drama (for lack of a better word). I’ve seen all of these, and will probably watch Chaos tonight, but they all have great, deliberate (I suppose some would say “slow”) pace that makes for excellent story-telling, IMHO.
Oh, and Happiness of the Katakuris by Takashi Miike. A fun, somewhat surreal film by a great director. His other stuff is good but tends, shall we say, to be just a little violent.