Can't recommend All About Lily Chou Chou. Downbeat like a Lars Von Trier film with some excellent music.
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Asian Films
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Oh yeaaahh. I became a big fan of Salyu (the titular Lily Chou-Chou in the film) after watching this movie. Dark, but very much worth it.
If you can find it, Swallowtail Butterfly is another great film by Shunji Iwai.
I just watched SEARCHING recently in Cinema. Yea it might be not a real Asian film but hey, most of the lead characters are Asians so good enough!
That movie is fantastic, I couldn't recommend it highly enough. Anyone haven't watched it should try to do so, it's a really great experience.
That movie is fantastic, I couldn't recommend it highly enough. Anyone haven't watched it should try to do so, it's a really great experience.
Ive only seen the remake, which I did like. I should get around to watching this though, I also have legend of the mountain sitting at home which I need to watch at some point, but the film is about 3 hours long...
Great film. I much prefer it to any of Kurosawa's samurai flicks, including Seven Samurai.Finally going to right a wrong and watch this. Hopefully at the weekend.
I saw piece a while back about how this could be China's first big SF blockbuster or something. Initial impression is that it looks like it could at least be decent.
I watched it a couple of weeks ago. Excellent film. Lots of small, mundane scenes that might come off as boring or slow for some people, but it fleshes out the character's lives nicely and paints a different Japan in a way a few films have. Sakura Ando was great, the kids were great, and it was painful to see Kirin Kiki in her last film. By the end, it was like a blow to the heart. Highly recommended.
I went into the store called fopp for the first time and they had so much world cinema I was in heaven. I only got this though after wanting to check it out for ages.
Also seeing this in half an hour, really looking forward to it.
Also seeing this in half an hour, really looking forward to it.
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I always head into FOPP if I'm going by Curzon Soho. Great shop for film buffs.I went into the store called fopp for the first time and they had so much world cinema I was in heaven. I only got this though after wanting to check it out for ages.
Also seeing this in half an hour, really looking forward to it.
I've been meaning to watch Shoplifters...maybe Saturday morning or so.
I love Our Little Sister because of how heartwarming and soothing it was and general hate endings that make me cry. Just how prepared should I be to cry? D:
I love Our Little Sister because of how heartwarming and soothing it was and general hate endings that make me cry. Just how prepared should I be to cry? D:
It's not a tearjerker, if you ask me, but it does hit you right in the feels. Watched it with some guy and girl friends and they said they didn't cry.
Shoplifters was great. It's melodramatic for sure but well earned and still heartbreaking. A couple scenes really hit home like the fire hug scene with Yuri. Reminded me of Tokyo Godfathers in that poor people not related to each other still get to feel like family.
Shoplifters was very good, I recommend it. Sad seeing Kirin so frail like that, especially knowing she passed away only a couple of months ago.
You really can't go wrong with Kore-eda. He's definitely one of the best Directors in Japan. I still need to watch Afterlife and Air Doll, however Afterlife isn't easy to get here. I think I rate I Wish and Like Father, Like Son highest of his work that i've seen.
You really can't go wrong with Kore-eda. He's definitely one of the best Directors in Japan. I still need to watch Afterlife and Air Doll, however Afterlife isn't easy to get here. I think I rate I Wish and Like Father, Like Son highest of his work that i've seen.
I love Kore-eda. Looking forward to watching Shoplifters at some point. Still Walking and Our Little Sister are my favorites of his. After The Storm didn't resonate as much unfortunately.
I picked up The Handmaiden from the library, not sure when I'll get to watch it though...
Also the Zatoichi Criterion set. It's very much a slow burn series.
Also the Zatoichi Criterion set. It's very much a slow burn series.
Looks gorgeous, gonna seek this out.just watched taipei story and it was good. Have The Terrorizers as well to watch.
So this could come off as ignorant but I've found that, after a lifetime of regularly watching foreign cinema, that Korea seems to make the best drama/thriller films of all the East Asian countries (modern era film, anyway)
That's not to say that those other countries don't have great dramas and thrillers, or other genre strengths, but I just feel like Korea's output is consistently high and strong.
Of course, i pretty much never see all the trash they make because it's natural for me to really only hear and take notice of the best, but that applies to other countries as well. Korea just seems to have a lot of talent making films in these genres.
But that main body of films is so good and ridiculously consistent. Like a fantastic TV show where each episode is 90 minutes long.
Fight, Zatoichi, Fight! is probably my favorite and it's the eigth Zatoichi film, released within 2 years of the first!
That's not to say that those other countries don't have great dramas and thrillers, or other genre strengths, but I just feel like Korea's output is consistently high and strong.
Of course, i pretty much never see all the trash they make because it's natural for me to really only hear and take notice of the best, but that applies to other countries as well. Korea just seems to have a lot of talent making films in these genres.
I fucking love Zatoichi but I recently watched the 2003 film and was really let down. It was a thoroughly mediocre Zatoichi story and I wasn't a big fan of Takeshi's interpretation of the character - even if he did have all of Shintaro's tics and mannerisms down.
But that main body of films is so good and ridiculously consistent. Like a fantastic TV show where each episode is 90 minutes long.
Fight, Zatoichi, Fight! is probably my favorite and it's the eigth Zatoichi film, released within 2 years of the first!
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This scene hit me too, the way she was hugging Yuri and everyone was silent in their own thoughts.
I also loved the cut before they went on the train to go to the beach, and having the camera still on the train and the side green scenery just fly by.
And lastly the long take on the fireworks scene, that was a great camera placement. Overall amazing film
Was quite hyped for the Criterion Channel, I subscribed early for the discount only having vague knowledge on the Criterion library. I just skimmed through it and their selection of Asian films is awful.
It's like the curator is a teenager who can't get over French New Wave cinema...
No movie by Hou Hsiao-Chen and only 3 by Edward Yang. None by Shunji Iwai, Naomi Kawase, or Shinji Aoyama... etc etc. And virtually no movie from what was imo the golden age of contemporary Japanese cinema (late 90's to early 00's). Super disappointed.
It's like the curator is a teenager who can't get over French New Wave cinema...
No movie by Hou Hsiao-Chen and only 3 by Edward Yang. None by Shunji Iwai, Naomi Kawase, or Shinji Aoyama... etc etc. And virtually no movie from what was imo the golden age of contemporary Japanese cinema (late 90's to early 00's). Super disappointed.
For what it's worth, that's not indicative of their entire lineup. A lot of Criterion films never made it onto their channel, you should check their website.
I'm by no means a Japanese film scholar, but it seems like they have a ton of noteworthy ones.
http://criterion.com/
What's your definition of a "new" director. Jang Hoon made his first movie over a decade ago now and while I agree that A Taxi Driver is just fine, if we take his debut time as a reference there have been plenty good and promising new directors with great output all over Asia.
China's Gan Bi's 'Long Day's Journey Into Night' is one of the most revered movies of last year. Along with his 'Kaili Blues' some years ago, he keeps getting compared to Tarkovsky, Kar-Wai and Apichatpong while managing to still find his own visual language, anyway. Unfortunately, I haven't seen the former yet, but the latter is terrific and worth checking out if you're into meditative cinema and he will almost certainly establish himself as one of the most prominent voices of global cinema in the upcoming years.
Also from China, Hu Bo's 'An Elephant Sitting Still' was a monumental piece of work last year which deservedly (China/Taiwan politics put aside) won big at the Golden Horse Awards. Then Ying Liang, Yukun Xin, Zhang Dalei who are all representatives of New Independent Chinese Cinema's movement right now characterized by taking out of personal experiences to reflect a new period of Chinese history this younger generation has lived through. Taiwan's The Great Buddha+ was a feature length debut and, while I didn't love it, is still a reminder that Taiwan has new voices debuting every year.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi's first movie debuted a decade ago, as well. 'Happy Hour' has been gaining more and more traction for combining Japanese cinema's elements of seemingly rudimentary, ordinary life stocking up big emotions but eventually turning into something grander, less clear by the end to the point Cannes even embraced him into their competition line-up only for that. Otherwise, Japan's Nagahita is up and coming with a unique voice that feels like a mix of Sono + Obayashi. Hikari experienced raves for his debut in Berlin just today. Ueda's 'One Cut of the Dead' was a subversive yet fun meta-commentary on filmmaking and zombie genre expectations last year.
South Korea's Kim Bo-ra could be significiant and essential to female filmmakers' future credibility in their country. And she's not the only one! Lee Kyoung-mi just won Best Director at the Korean Film Critics Awards for The Truth Beneath in 2016.
Additionally, SK's Na Hong-Jin debuted in 2008, too, and has already established himself in the international film circuit as probably the most prominent male South Korean director to debut since the original 6 who've reformed Korean cinema.
Indonesia is having a moment, especially in the horror genre with Joko Anwar and Timo Tjahjanto. Singapore's Sandi Tan and 'Shirkers' just last year, too.
And this is really just off of the top of my head, no doubt forgetting and overlooking many other notable directors in different countries.
Now I think there's an argument to be made that Chinese and Taiwanese cinema aren't quite as excitingly groundbreaking as their previous generations were but that's because cinema in those countries was experiencing a creative rebirth with directors who had more of a new, very unique way of telling stories. But, really, finding new directors with very distinct visual or narrative languages is rare no matter where you look, it's not a trend specific to Asian cinema. And even then, again, there are great new directors with good output if you know where to look.
Been watching Hiroshi Shimizu films. Watched Ornamental Hairpin and Mr Thank You. Highly recommend both if you like Ozu style films.
Just watched The Continent by Han Han.
Really liked it. Compared to other chinese films it kinda shows the "real china". Its essentially a roadtrip about 3 poor people from eastern China to western China. It was some kind of bizarre sad comedy while keeping it real.
Really liked it. Compared to other chinese films it kinda shows the "real china". Its essentially a roadtrip about 3 poor people from eastern China to western China. It was some kind of bizarre sad comedy while keeping it real.
I watched a few Kurosawa films and Ozu films i've never seen before in February.
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail
Sanshiro Sugata
Sanshiro Sugata Part Two
Scandal
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An Autumn Afternoon
Ohayo
All the films were:
All good stuff. Trying to expand my Kurosawa to not just Samurai films. I think i've seen 23 now so almost everything.
I tried to watch the Idiot on Prime, but the subs were all messed up so I had to stop it unfortunately.
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail
Sanshiro Sugata
Sanshiro Sugata Part Two
Scandal
----------------------------------------------
An Autumn Afternoon
Ohayo
All the films were:
All good stuff. Trying to expand my Kurosawa to not just Samurai films. I think i've seen 23 now so almost everything.
I tried to watch the Idiot on Prime, but the subs were all messed up so I had to stop it unfortunately.
Except for Ikiru, every Kurosawa film I've watched were samurai films. Any recommendations for the non-samurai ones?
I was the same, I was mostly samurai only but I started to expand out. High and Low is essential, one of the best for sure. I like Stray Dog, Drunken Angel and Red Beard quite a bit too.
Shadow was really great! Its kind of a slow movie though compared to other Zhang Yimou movies.
Heck yeah. A lot of people don't know about the 1980s Taiwan new wave scene. Highly recommend Hou Hsiao-hsien's A City of Sadness as well. Fucking gorgeous.
OP
OP
You're discovering more of my Taiwan fetishism, how embarrassing......
But re: that post you quoted, Terrorizers was good too.
Slow is fine with me as long as it is a good film! Is the conclusion good/great or is it nothing to write home about?
I've been watching more and more Asian Action films, namely Korean and Chinese ones. Really been enjoying what I've seen. Sure a lot are derivative of Hollywood ones but I like them none the less, terrible CGI implementation aside. Also they feel/are LONG, partly how they are structured with having several arcs in one each ending in a big action set piece that would end any other movie or story, just to hop right over to the next moment.
Though the two tropes I just can't do anymore are:
Korean movie always has some shoehorned speech and sudden character slow motion monolog about family and how the nation/people are working together and its beautiful...
Chinese movies... having an old man character that dies at the 40% mark after his speech about living the poor life with his wife and making comments about how her food wasn't great but he loved her, his family, and their situation.
EVERY TIME. It's like clockwork each movie lol. It's these regions slow motion American flag shot in a Michal Bay movie.
Like I said though, I'm down for these movies and their tropes more each time I watch one.
Though the two tropes I just can't do anymore are:
Korean movie always has some shoehorned speech and sudden character slow motion monolog about family and how the nation/people are working together and its beautiful...
Chinese movies... having an old man character that dies at the 40% mark after his speech about living the poor life with his wife and making comments about how her food wasn't great but he loved her, his family, and their situation.
EVERY TIME. It's like clockwork each movie lol. It's these regions slow motion American flag shot in a Michal Bay movie.
Like I said though, I'm down for these movies and their tropes more each time I watch one.
Just watched Pegasus.
Like all Hanhan movies, really great again.
I really think most of Chinas blockbusters are often really really bad, but the smaller, more "arthouse" movies (not that Hanhans movies are like that, but remind me of them) dont get recognition.
People always talk about that Mermaid movie, Monster Hunt, Wandering Earth when Pegasus, The Continent, Duckweed etc. exist.
Like all Hanhan movies, really great again.
I really think most of Chinas blockbusters are often really really bad, but the smaller, more "arthouse" movies (not that Hanhans movies are like that, but remind me of them) dont get recognition.
People always talk about that Mermaid movie, Monster Hunt, Wandering Earth when Pegasus, The Continent, Duckweed etc. exist.