What Asian Films have you been watching 2007, 2008

[Mike T]

The Ghost (aka: Dead Friend; 2004, South Korea, 95m)
Well, as my friend Ferenc noted recently, the majority of modern horror is made with teenagers for teenagers, and this one is no exception (being that it sports the Korean "12 and over" classification). But on the plus side, it harbours some decent scares, albeit enhanced by the filmmaker's creative use of the film's Dolby digital soundtrack, and it pulls a startling about-face in its final act that manages to elevate it above the norm for these kind of films. College student Min Ji-Won (Kim Ha-Neul, My Tutor Friend) is plagued by an associative amnesia disorder that has all but erased her memories of life twelve months prior, and her former school friends are turning up dead under unexplained circumstances. It then becomes a race against time for her to unravel the mystery of her missing memories before whatever killed her friends catches up with her as well. Kim Tae-Gyeong's ghost film plays out more as mystery piece, in that its focus is Ji-Won searching for clues as to her past as well as what has triggered her amnesia, but there's some effectively creepy moments along the way. But none so creepy as the finale that tips everything the viewer has seen prior on its head; the set-up is there right from the opening sequence, but it's handed to the viewer in such a throwaway manner that it's quickly forgotten. An above average "teen-horror" with a really nasty sting in its tail.

[Wostry Ferenc]

OT:

check out my new asian movies blog:

http://azsiattak.freeblog.hu

It's in hungarian, so you guys won't understand a god damn word of it!

[Ian Jane]

Thanks for that, Mike. I'd considered buying this one but will probably pass on it now.

[Mike T]

Originally Posted by Ian Jane

Thanks for that, Mike. I'd considered buying this one but will probably pass on it now.

Damn! And here I was thinking that that was a positive reading of the film!

[Wostry Ferenc]

FALL GUY (Fukasaku)

The trials and tribulations of a studio stuntman who is also part of the entourage of an egomaniac star. He agrees to marry the pregnant girlfriend of the star and slowly they fall in love (the stuntman and the girl, not the stuntman and the star).

*spoilers*

Weeeeeeell... it's not Fukasaku's best film, none the less it's not a bad film. Fukasaku was such an angry man that even when he did a (supposed) comedy, the anger came through full force. It is a satire on the studio system and it's crazy stars, and on oppressive systems as a whole, but the ending makes me wonder: the stuntman metaphorically becomes a noble samurai, the total-waste-of-a-man star becomes his lord, and the very last scene shows a mock-up happy ending. Is it supposed to be cinical or not? I still can't decide...

[John White]

Yeah Fall Guy isn't great....

Prodigal Son (Hung)
Cracking mix of wing chun, revenge flick and comedy. Didn't get this the first time I saw it but it hit home this time, definitely one of Hung's best films - loved the calligraphy sequence and the nastiness of the night ambush.

[J Dewey Wallis]

Well, I liked Fall Guy. Agree its a bit of a tetter-totter of drama/comedy and its stage roots held it back a bit, but its a good farce and is another fine example of just how many damn gears Fukasaku had as a film maker.

[Steve Barr]

MEMORIES OF MATSUKO From the director of the magical Kamikaze Girls, a disappointing and ugly film underneath its computer-generated colors.

[John White]

The World Sinks Except Japan I wanted this to be great but it isn't even with the idea of Tom Cruise reduced to being a Kaiju extra.

Late Autumn One of Ozu's best and certainly his best paced and most successful comedy.

New Police Story Jackie Chan is not Alec Guiness and he proves it in this mess in spades. Better than his hollywood crap but only just.

[Ian Jane]

Sayonara Jupiter - Goofy. Nifty effects and a fun movie, but really really really goofy. Can't say I didn't enjoy it, because I did, but man is it ever goofy.

[Mike T]

Natural City (2003, South Korea, 113m)
For some weird reason I put off this, like the film below, for some time and when I finally visited it, it turned out quite good indeed. Pretty much a riff on Ridley Scott's Bladerunner, the story follows R (Yu Ji-Tae), a soldier who's fallen in love with a cyborg, Ria (Seo Rin), and will stop at nothing to beat her expiry date and transplant her consciousness into another host -- in this instance young prostitute Cyon (Lee Jae-Eun, Yellow Hair). Meanwhile, R's superior Noma (Yun Chan, Hypnotised) wages war against rogue combat cyborg Cyper (Jeong Du-Hong, Arahan) in an attempt to halt his plans for a cyborg uprising. If it weren't for the fact that Yu Ji-Tae's character is painted as such an arrogant, shallow prick, this'd be a genuine Asian sci-fi juggernaut. The FX are outstanding, the action scenes frenetic and bloody, and some of the emotions quite genuine...but the narrative hinges on a character who the viewer cannot possibly like or empathise with. Apart from that fact, this is a terribly impressive sci-fi blockbuster.

Tube (2003, South Korea, 116m)
Modelled after the director, Baek Wun-Hak's, enthusiasm for Jan De Bont's Speed this turned out to be quite an enjoyable actioner in the terrorist-bomber/covert-government stooge mold. Deposed fomer gov't operative Kang Ki-Taek (Park Sang-Min, General's Son series) plans a terrorist protest against his fomer departmental head that involves the Seoul subway, hundreds of innocent bystanders and several kilos of heavy-duty military explosives. Former security officer-turned-subway guard Jang Do-Jun (Kim Seok-Hun, So Cute), who harbours a connection to Kang, elects to pull a "Rambo" and single-handedly stop him; pickpocket Song In-Kyung (Bae Du-Na) ends up stuck in the middle of what rapidly races towards disaster. Well, yeah, a bit of Speed's latter trainbound action as its centrepiece, and a hint of Shiri as well as Silmido feel (with the covert gov't ops gone berserk angle). But it all fairly scoots along at a fast clip, there's masses of ammo expended in the firefights, and most if not all of the FX are extremely well executed -- just a big, loud action extravaganza and definitely a successful one of that idiom. Don't expect a happy ending, since this isn't a Hollywood picture.

NB: The subtitles on the HK DVD for this film, released through Joy Sales, Americanise all of the characters' names for some ungodly reason! Kang becomes "T", Jang - "Jay", and Song - "Kay" and so on...all I have to say is blah!

[Mike T]

Takeshis' (2005, Japan, 107m)
I have no idea how to create a capsule review of this film -- it's so craaaaazy, so I'll just say this: I think what delighted me most was when I pumped a suspect end title from this film into Babel Fish and it came out with the following translation: "Tap routine dedicated to my friend, Ian Jane". Gotta love a man who pays attenton to his fans!

[Ian Jane]

What? I had a tap routine dedicated to me? I suspect this is somehow related to his Zatoichi movie.

Watched Bullet In The Head last night, still holds up really well and it's nice to see a decent presentation of it (I'd never seen the HKL release). The opening few minutes are kind of corny and dated a bit but once it starts moving it really is a pretty powerful movie.

[Mike T]

Originally Posted by Ian Jane

What? I had a tap routine dedicated to me? I suspect this is somehow related to his Zatoichi movie.

[John White]

Do you think Takeshi likes Kenny Rogers as well?

Hapkido - Angela Mao sets up a Hapkido school back home in China but brother Sammo Hung gets into a fight and a blood feud starts with a Japanese martial arts school. Great demonstrations of the Korean art and Mao kicks butt but the story is far from original and it doesn't flow as well as I'd liked.