First off, let us take a moment to contemplate the glory of Michelle Yeoh, the queen of late 80’s Hong Kong action films.
Now for the news.
For Asian Cinema fans in the UK:
Johnathan Ross on the “Asian Invasion”:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressrele…05/cinema.shtml
Also, some reassurring news, re: the action scenes in Shadowless Sword.
http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/004247.html
Hey WonK, I just now noticed this thread and I have added it to my subscribe list. I am all into Asian films (I’ve watched over 130 Korean films in the past 2-3 years, as well as countless HK and quite a bit of Japanese as well). My DVD collection is heavily weighted to Asian films.
Your posts here will help me to keep up with the new stuff, even though I’m not the type to rush right out the moment a film or DVD is released.
I’ve written some reviews. I can post a couple if there is interest. (Korean: No Blood, No Tears; A Family; Romance of Their Own; A Moment to Remember; and the adult film Beautiful Pado and Bada) (Other Asian: The Mystery of Rampo; Wing Chun; The Seventh Curse; Flying Dagger; and **Clean ** [A French film, I know, but it does star one of my major crushes Maggie Cheung])
Glad to be of help.
[quote]
I’ve written some reviews. I can post a couple if there is interest.
Why not?
I’ve seen and liked No Blood, No Tears and The Mystery of Rampo; but others might like hearing about them. Wasn’t the biggest fan of Wing Chun; and Clean, despite the presence of Michelle Yeoh:
- and Maggie Cheung.
Saw two interesting, somewhat low key films this weekend. Both were about low-rent thugs.
So Close to Paradise (China 1998) is a spare, tight, well told story about the changing relationships between three people: two young men from the country, struggling to survive in the “big, bad city”, and a vietnamese karaoke bar singer that hooks up with one of them. One of the young men has turned to crime, and eventually he gets into to serious trouble and has to go to ground. In many ways, the plot recalls the hard boiled tough guy movies of the 40’s and 50’s, but with a curious inversion of the typical point of view. Instead of following a fallible anti-hero around, the focus is instead on his roommate, who is content with making a living as a laborer, and finds his life compromised and endangered by his connections to the singer and the man-in-hiding when a local mob boss goes after them.
This film was originally finished in '94, but was subject to extensive cuts, resulting in reshoots to fill the missing spaces with reworked content, as a result of official censorship. One wonders how drastically the story might have been changed to conform to the politics or message of the day: I certainly wanted to see more of the small time hood. Regardless, director Wang Xiaoshuai managed to produce a suspenseful, engrossing film that received awards and positive notes at Cannes and other festivals, and displays the eye for color and composition that Wang would develop further in films like Beijing Bicycle (a winner at Berlin), and, reportedly, in his new film Shanghai Dreams (Cannes).
Failan (Korea, 2001) is an award winning, deeply moving and often beautiful film about Park Kang-Jae, low-rent, aging mobster on the skids played by the estimable Choi Min Shik (Oldboy). Openly despised by the younger members of his gang, the only thing keeping them from beating Park to death is his “friendship” with the boss, a relationship that goes back almost a decade. Pressed to serve time in prison for his boss, Choi learns that a young chinese woman, Failan, (played by Cecilia Cheung, One Nite in Mongkok) with whom he entered into a “paper marriage” (he got money, she got working papers) has died. Obliged to collect her ashes, Park begins an unexpected journey of discovery, as he retraces her life through letters she wrote, and conversations with others, that cannot fail to wrench the heart of even the most hardened viewer, all the more so since the story is told from the viewpoint of such a pathetic, selfish and self-destructive peice of work. This film was wildly popular in Asia when it came out. It’s not hard to see why. Recommended.
I thought **Failan ** was very good. Like a lot of Korean films, there is a definite shift of tone as the movie progresses. In some films, the shift comes later (e.g., Sex is Zero, which goes from an “American Pie” type sex comedy to some pretty heavy drama toward the end). In the case of Failan, the shift comes earlier, which is a good thing because the first 20 or 30 minutes are not that good and do not give a good indication of the depth and emotion that this film eventually delivers. I also highly recommend this movie and encourage people to stick it out past the first third.
Here is my review of No Blood, No Tears:
Wow, this action/comedy gangster/heist flick really delivers the goods! Mix several parts “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels,” a dash of “Go,” a smidgen of “True Romance,” and fights as brutal as “Fight Club” (but with women giving and taking beatings as much or moreso than the men) – put it all through the filter of a Korean gangster film and you have No Blood, No Tears, a tour de force by hot young director Seung-wan Ryoo (“Die Bad”; “Crying Fist”).
The plot is complex. But not so that you can’t follow what is going on as it happens. Don’t plan on being two jumps ahead, however. Just let the movie come to you and you will be rewarded.
The whole issue of the heist and most of the fights (which are pretty brutal) doen’t really come into play until the second half of the film, but there is plenty of good stuff in the first half to get you there.
The story is centered around two good female leads. Hye-yeong Lee plays Kyeong-seon, who owes the local neighborhood loan shark a lot of money. She’s got a certain past and tends to solve problems by a beer bottle across the head or a kick to the gut. Then we have Su-ji (played by Do-yeon Jeon)–the frequently smacked around moll of a low-level gangster. A chance encounter puts them together and gets the wheels turning on how they can make off with a whole lot of the high-level gangster’s money.
There are double crosses, triple crosses, and lots of surprises along the way. A multitude of other characters play important roles. Inept police detectives; idiotic street punks who switch back and forth from being informants for the police and trying to get in on the goods themselves; loan collectors who don’t know if they should start taking off fingers or sit down and eat lunch with the debtor. Perhaps most impressive is a gangster tough (credited as “Silent Man”) played by famed martial arts action director Doo-hong Jung. He has a great fight scene where he really gets to strut his stuff.
Plus, the closing credits song rocks!
If you are tired of the same old Hollywood plots, fights, and chases, do yourself a favor and seek this film out. The Korean disc is R0 (although it says R3 on the case). This is the one I watched and the look of the film and the subtitling were very good. It seems there is now an R1 disc as well, but I can’t vouch for the presentation quality.
Since you’ve already this one, I’ll post another review of a film you might not of seen. Stay tuned.
(And if you like heist or scam films, I also recommend **The Big Swindle ** and Jakarta.)
A strip of images from “No Blood No Tears” (now available in a region one edition from ADV films)
I have seen “The Big Swindle” a caper film featuring great performances from the three principal actors. (When I heard Yeom Jeon-A was in it I had to check it out - she was great in “Tale of Two Sisters” and holds her own here. )
On the whole I applaud the films ambition. It’s generally pretty good. The only thing that didnt work for me is the broad humor in the early montage of sequences where a crew of crackerjack thieves and con men set up their big sting - some of the jokes just fell flat (perhaps something was lost in translation? I’m not sure.) The latter half , where the cons within cons narrows down to the three principals in a tense endgame is the best part of the film, least for me.
Yeah, I’ve learned to just accept that *many * Korean films throw in some broad comedy that does seem out of place, especially to western viewers. Broad camera mugging, slapstick, and other physical affectations that seem over the top. To me, if it is otherwise a good film then the silliness is not overly distracting. In some films (e.g., The Classic; Guns & Talks; Make It Big), it’s actually endearing.
Okay, I’ll move on from heists, capers, and braod comedy and post a review for A Moment to Remember, which shows that the melodrama that Korean filmmakers have been known for is still alive and well.
When a Korean romance and melodrama film works, it really works. This movie hit on all cylinders for me.
Su-jin (played by the very pretty Ye-jin Son; “The Classic”) is the pampered daughter of a high-ranking property developer. She is used to being chauffeured around and has made a name for herself as a designer. Cheol-su (played by Woo-sung Jung; “Musa”) is a skilled but headstrong carpenter who works for Su-jin’s father. Cheol-su is content to drive a ratty old pickup and live in conditions that we might classify as ‘trailer park chic.’
Anyway, in typical movie fashion they have a meet cute where they don’t exactly hit it off right off the bat. A semi-comical misunderstanding sets things in motion. We soon discover that each has past baggage (he, a jailed mother who abandoned him and she, an affair with a married man). Their differences become less and less important to each of them as their feelings develop.
I’ve just described a plot seen countless times in film. Throw in the inevitable fatherly disapproval and we’ve got the same old story, right?
Not so fast. This set-up takes you about halfway in. It is at this point where the film really grabs you and starts tugging at the old heartstrings. What is so good about the first hour is just how well we get to know the characters and really care about them. Cardboard cutouts used simply to move the plot along they are not.
Without going into detail, let me just say that this movie leads us down an emotional path. Once the stage is set we can guess what types of scenarios our two leads will face. For example, if this were a movie about a kid with cancer (which it is not), we would know we were in for the chemo scenes, the hair falling out, the stuggles, the temporary victories and setbacks, and (depending on the film) eventual triumph or bring out the hankies.
It is a testament to the director and the cast that the “inevitable scenes” were handled so well. I never felt manipulated; never felt like the drama or emotions were being forced down my throat (a couple of other Korean films, “Scent of Chrysanthemums” and “Last Present” come to mind as examples of forced and overly melodramatic treacle. Bleah.).
**A Moment to Remember ** really elevated itself.
4.5 stars for me. Deduct half a star because one of the subplots seemed thrown in and not really important to the story. A minor quibble.
Important note: This review is for the theatrical version. The 2-disc set also contains an extended director’s cut. However, I read a couple of opinions at DVDTalk that if the theatrical was a 4-5 star film, the extended would rate much lower by comparison, and although I own this set I have not watched the extended version.
Only available in R3 as far as I know.
Speaking of tearjerkers, I don’t think I discussed this one before,… least not on this forum, You Are My Sunshine (Korea, 2005),…
Korean romantic melodramas are often terribly overbaked, I gave this a try because I have nothing but nothing but respect for Jeon Do-yeon as an actress. She’s been great in everything I’ve seen her in (Happy End, Untold Scandal, No Blood No Tears) and Jessica Alba reportedly paid a hefty sum for the remake rights for this film, which piqued my curiousity. I have almost nothing to add to the koreanfilm.org review
http://koreanfilm.org/kfilm05.html#mysunshine - except to say that Jeon is great as ever, and yeah, the film could have lost about ten-fifteen minutes and still worked fine.
An interesting article: The Death of J-Horror
Read the rest at: http://www.midnighteye.com/features/death-of-j-horror.shtml
Thoughts Anyone?
Some news about Jet Li’s reported last martial arts film, Fearless which was screened in Beijing and Taipei recently…
Gracious Woman.
Some actresses would have threatened to sue.
For those wondering why Li is leaving the martial arts genre: from
http://www.star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp?file=/2006/1/9/movies/13049258&sec=movies
One last related post:
On the man Jet Li is playing in Fearless: from a webpage on the history of the Northern Shaolin School of Kung Fu.
Huo Yuanjia (1868-1909), born in Tianjin, Huo became one of the most famous martial art heroes in modern Chinese History. Due to the oppressive state of China during the turn of the century, by foreign occupation and the failing Ching Dynasty, Huo, like many patriots was motivated to keep the honor of his people alive. His father was a bodyguard for caravans traveling to the northeast, Huo trained diligently on his family martial art skills.
In 1901, one of his students showed him a leaflet. It carried an advertisement about a Russian boxer, who proclaimed himself as “Unmatched in China”, and again in Shanghai with a British boxer, both proclaiming their greatness, but when Huo met their challenge neither bothered to show. This enraged Huo, who erected his own platform in a Shanghai park, open to anyone who thought the Chinese were weaklings. This set the stage for a string of contestants, who were easily beaten. On one occasion a team of Japanese took on the famous teacher, after losing to both his student and the master, the Japanese delegation gave a party in honor of the teacher. However, this was just a ploy in which to seek revenge. It was reported that in the medicine he took for a fever, there was actually poison. Huo died several days after on Sept. 14, 1909.
During his life, Huo established the famous Ching Mo School in Shanghai. Inspired by the conviction of their late teacher, many of his students opened branches all over China.
One of his top disciples, Jew Lin Waar, was left in charge of the Shanghai branch. It was here that Master Poon Mao Yung graduated with top honors.
Interesting stuff there about Li and his latest film. I guess we can expect a DVD release of the theatrical version and then two years of rumors, anticipation, disappointment, etc. for when the “extended cut” will be released. If people went nuts over the few minutes of Hero, I can only imagine what the frenzy will be like for the 40 cut minutes of this film!
Good point. From all I’ve heard those few minutes in Hero didn’t add very much. I still prefer my old mpeg-5 chinese edition (green cover). The translations also better (and far more universal in meaning) than the American version.
Is 2003 recent enough? If so, here is a review for a comedy I very much enjoyed.
In the mood for a fun and funny battle of the sexes? Try Men Suddenly in Black, a lighthearted screwball comedy/triad gangster spoof with a great ensemble cast. Eric Tsang (recently seen as the gangster boss in “Infernal Affairs”) is the inspiration for a group of fellows who just want to let loose and have a little adulterous fun. The only problem is that their wives and girlfriends are constantly keeping an eye on them and thwarting their plans and schemes.
But one day the four women plan a short trip to Thailand. Opportunity! Time to make plans! The movie follows the men as they conspire to drink, skirt-chase, and engage in other male-bonding rituals while the girls are away. It seems that the poor guys just miss their bachelor days and gee, what the girls don’t know won’t hurt them, right?
Oh, but the ladies are not stupid. Their suspicions peaked, they take us on a cat-and-mouse adventure as the guys try to stay one step ahead. Elaborate deceptions and near-misses ensue.
What makes this movie so enjoyable are the cast and the vignettes that they guys go through. Each guy has his own “thing” that he wants to get away with. So the plan allows for each guy to pursue that separately while still allowing for episodes of group activity (such as a visit to a cyber sex café and a hotel room party). All this is intercut with the ladies planning their own traps for the guys.
And these vignettes are nothing short of hilarious. See the guys try to negotiate for better looking and more interested “dates” at the cyber café (and learn that what is advertised is not exactly what you get, especially when you are trying to do it on the cheap). In one especially inspired episode, the guys are almost caught by camera-wielding paparazzi (the last thing the guys need is to be on the evening news). The whole scene plays out as a spot-on send-up of a John Woo film. Slow motion flying through the air, and, well, I don’t want to give it away, but when you see what they use instead of guns, I dare you not to laugh out loud.
Another funny episode involves “Ninth Uncle.” It seems that in an earlier escapade, Ninth Uncle (played by Tony Leung Ka Fai, “The Lover”; Johnny To’s “Election”) took the fall when the girls showed up, thus allowing the other guys to make a clean getaway. Now he is a prisoner in his own home (his wife won’t even allow him to read “porns,” poor guy!). Very funny stuff here.
As I mentioned before, the cast is great. In addition to Tsang and Leung, the movie features Jordan Chan, Chapman To, Teresa Mo, Candy Lo, Tiffany Lee, and a number of cameos.
Available in 1-disc or 2-disc R0 DVD.
I have heard that a Chinese Tall Story is quite good. Think Star Wars crossed with the Monkey God, changing aliens for demons, and you get a premise for a rather wacky story.
I haven’t been here in a while and I’m happy to see an Asian film thread!
Earlier this week I received in the mail the Limited Edition set for Welcome to Dongmakgol. It was a little hesitant about buying this release, but I figured it might be worth the extra four bucks if I enjoy it–it is the highest grossing Korean film of 2005, and it is also officially South Korea’s entry into the Foreign Film category of the Oscars.
The set:
http://211.234.93.143/image/dvd/dvd017049_3.jpg
The autographed card I got inside the set:
http://www.picvault.info/images/176413_IMG_0268.jpg
(Would anyone know whose autograph this is?)
I’ll skip the summary and detailed review, but I loved the film. Easily ranks in my top 3 favourite Korean films. It is just so enchanting, with so many finely executed elements working so well together. This film was based on a play, and the director wonderfully transferred the stage play feel, with its colourful CG and backdrops. It has also been described as a live-action Miyazaki/Ghibli film.
As other reviews on the 'net have mentioned, there’s such a warm sincerity about this film. The magical feel was further enhanced by the memorable score from Hisaishi Jo, which is simply magic in aural form (especially the main theme). It’s just a pity that the Hisaishi’s people had the soundtrack disc pulled from the Limited Edition release pretty much last minute.
If anyone else out there is planning to see this, I advise you not to watch the teasers or trailers, which do a poor job of representing the film and contain spoilers, including an end scene and one of the most enchanting scenes you will see in a film (at least I hope it will make you smile the way it did me).
Speaking of scenes that make me smile, I loved the last scene. It was like walking away from a beautiful moment, and taking one last glance around your shoulder at it. The happiness captured in that short scene was just so bittersweet, that it had to be the most tearjerking moment in the whole film.
Oh hey, divemaster! I saw on the Spot that you bought Dongmakgol. Have you seen it yet?
Also, has anyone here seen Antarctic Journal. It looked good, plus I like Song Kang-ho and Yu Ji-tae, so I was tempted to get it, but there were so many negative reviews that I passed on it. Tell me your thoughts, before the LE version goes out of print! 
No, I have not seen this. Actually, I don’t own this DVD–I’ve only got it on my wishlist. I need to click on over to YesAsia, see what they have and put together an order. I also want to pick up **Wanee and Junha ** (a 2002 movie that I really liked).
Not familiar with this one at all, I clicked over to Darcy Paquet’s page to read the review. Seems like another “visually stunning but meandering genre mishmash” type of film.
from that site:
Hmmm, guess I’ll pass for now. But I’m not necessarily tied to reviews. There are plenty of films I really like for whatever reason, that have a bad review or two floating around. And some that were highly regarded by critics ond others that I did not like *at all * (e.g., Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, most of Kim Ki-duk’s works)
Good News for Asian Film Fans:
Three years ago, on the old MW Asian film thread, a couple of friends of mine had the following exchange:
Set in fuedal China, the Korean “Braveheart”, Musa has elements of different movies present, from the *Seven Samurai * to The Searchers. *Ziyi Zhang *plays a Chinese princess abducted by Mongol warriors who enlists the aid of an exiled group of Korean envoys and warriors to free her. Within the group there are clear divisions though which threaten to tear apart the alliance and could seal the fates of all involved. Some have accused the movie of being too linear but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It has a far more visceral, graphic nature to the fights and violence that occurs than many recent HK movies. No wire work here. It’s closer to Braveheart in the battle scenes, with amputations and decapitations occuring on a semi-frequent basis, and its somewhat refreshing for it’s more realistic approach to people hitting each other with sharp metal objects:) The acting is good and direction and cinematography are very well done, although it doesn’t have the rich textures and colours that Hero has. My only complaint would be that the English subtitles are a bit off in places, needing to be interpreted themselves as they often take a too literal translation of the dialogue. On the whole a very enjoyable movie and well worth checking out if you can track it down.
Musa!! AWESOME! This is one of the best movies I’ve seen recently…definitely washed the bad, fetid taste of Ichi the Killer right on out of my mouth. Only complaint was the subtitling, as I think I saw somebody else mention…I had a hard time with some of the character names too…did the Monk ever get a name? Was the interpreter just “Interpreter?” And the guy with the axe, was he ever named? Regardless, a minor nitpick to a great movie. I felt for evey character in this…Yeosol was my fave tho. Juts entirely badass, and he does indeed take part in (as www.lovehkfilm.com calls) one of the best film decapitations ever. I loved Yu Rong Guang (sp?) here too…the Iron Monkey guy. In case you didn’t know. I need to see more of his films.
Finally,…!
Musa the Warrior, oft-referred to as the the ‘Korean Braveheart’. Without question, this has to be one of the best war movies I’ve ever seen, ranking up there with Platoon, Cross of Iron & Go Tell the Spartans (though it does run a bit longer than it really has to). It features great, realistic (possibly a bit too realistic for some) battle scenes, and fantastic characterization(when you think on it, character interplay, and not action, is really what separates memorable war films from run-of-the-mill stuff). I could go on about this film for hours, so instead, please see the reviews cited below:
http://www.kungfucinema.com/reviews/musa.htm
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/panasia/musa_the_warrior.htm
A friend dropped by last night and we watched Musa: the Warrior again. Man this film rocks: again, it’s the best straight war film I’ve seen in decades: Spielberg’s Private Ryan meets Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, indeed. … of the films we’ve discussed on this topic thread, it’s definately one of the headliners on my top ten list…
… where it remains to this day.
For your information: an uncut (154 minute) region-1 DVD edition, re-titled “The Warrior”, is due out in March 2006 (previous all-region Tai Seng editions were cut by as much as 28 minutes - previous region-3 korean versions preserved the original running time, but suffered from weak subtitles). See:
http://www.kungfucinema.com/2006/010102.htm
Woo Hoo!