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anyone in to asian films?

H

harajukuchic

New Member
I recently become into asian films. One of my friends at UMVD got me into them and now i love them, the first asian film i saw was "Purple butterfly" it was a great movie, also the actress Zhang Ziyi gave a great perfromance. I'm looking forward to watching "Dolls" now which is supposed to be a great movie. One of my friends recommended that i check out palmpictures.com for info on recent films and i recommend it to you if your into these types of films. It's a great site. i would also love to talk with you if you know any other good films or have seen the ones i've mentioned.
 
I watch lots of Hongkong movies, serials, etc. I practically grew up on them. However the more recent ones I've skipped, because of the general decline in Hongkong cinema (IMHO), where movies take less than a month to make, with plotlines so thin you can see through them before you even buy the tickets. The movies now practically sell themselves through the strength of the stars alone, which does not always a good movie make.

People like Stephen Chow were brilliant early in their careers. Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Samo Hung, Yuen Biao, Michelle Yeoh (country-woman!) made kung-fu flicks to watch those days. Chow Yun Fat for God of Gambler and his gangster flicks.

The recent surge in Japanese/Korean scare flicks I missed, somehow.

ds
 
direstraits said:
The recent surge in Japanese/Korean scare flicks I missed, somehow.
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It has been hit and miss, I suppose. Of course, we only get the ones that could possibly sell. Gozu is an exception, I believe. It went straight to video in Japan but found acclaim in Europe despite it being a pile of nonsense with its fair share of funny and disturbing moments.

The Triad/Yakuza films can be good at times. I've been meaning to watch Infernal Affairs 2 for a while now. Maybe over the weekend.
 
Interesting, Stewart. You've watched the first Infernal Affairs? How did you like it? Did you watch dubbed or subbed? Or do you understand Cantonese, one of many in your arsenal of languages? :)

The IF trilogy is supposedly one of the better movies to come out of HK in recent memory. The other interesting one that I'm aware of is 2046, by Wong Kar Wai.

Have you watched the Ekin Cheng's Young and Dangerous series?

ds
 
direstraits said:
Interesting, Stewart. You've watched the first Infernal Affairs? How did you like it? Did you watch dubbed or subbed? Or do you understand Cantonese, one of many in your arsenal of languages? :)
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I watched it with subtitles. I don't like to watch dubbed films - I get distracted by the poor lipsynching. I thought it was a great film and was saddened to hear an American version is being made. :rolleyes: I don't know Cantonese although I did learn something (don't know if it was Mandarin or Cantonese) from a Chinese engineer from Guangzhou.

The other interesting one that I'm aware of is 2046, by Wong Kar Wai.
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I want to see this. I also want to see Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance.


Have you watched the Ekin Cheng's Young and Dangerous series?
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Alas, no.
 
Stewart said:
I watched it with subtitles. I don't like to watch dubbed films - I get distracted by the poor lipsynching.
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Agreed. I have this same rule while watching anime.

Also, watch Y&D if possible. There are 5 in the series. The early ones are very good (and violent).

ds

p.s. If it's Guangzhou, then it's most probably Mandarin.
 
I've watched a lot Zhang Yimou films, particularly his older ones. I would watch any film with Gong Li in it, she's a wonderful actress. A lot of Yimou's older films have her as the starring role. If I had to recommend some really good Asian films....

Watch..

Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou)
Ran (Akira Kurosawa)
Farwell my Concubine (Zhang Yimou)
To Live (Zhang Yimou)
Eat Drink Man Woman
Tanpopo
Enjoy :)

I wouldn't really recommend any Wong Kar Wai films but maybe I haven't found one of his better films yet.
 
Some of my favorite Asian films:

The Killer
Hard Boiled
Bullet in the Head
Audition
Battle Royale
the Lady Snowblood films
the Lone Wolf and Cub films
Oldboy
Once a Thief
Full Contact
In the Realm of the Senses
A Woman Named Sada Abe
A Woman with Red Hair
Tokyo Decadence
A Snake of June
Infernal Affairs

Anime is a whole other list.
 
Bride with the White Hair? Iron Monkey? Once Upon a Time In China series? Police Story series?

As you can see, I'm a kungfu flick fan.

Hard Boiled was brilliant.

ds
 
He wasn't the only one: Jet Li (my favourite, and the most disappointing!), Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat (the crap they have him do these days!), Samo Hung, Donnie Yen (in Highlander - ouch).

ds
 
I think John Woo movies suffered since he went to Hollywood!
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I agree! The only one I thought was worth anything was Face/Off.

On another note, I recently watched Hero, which I thought was pretty good and I'm looking forward to House of Flying Daggers which I missed on it's theatrical run.
 
john woo is pretty ok, but if anyone's look for quality asian cinema, check out akira kurosawa. his films are very solid. ikiru, seven samurai, rashômon, yojimbo, the hidden fortress, red beard, sanjuro, throne of blood, stray dog, ran, pick any one of his films and you'll see a masterful study of cinematography.
 
Jojimbo did seem to be a "quieter" movie with more emotional depth to it. Although, I like them about the same :)
 
Out of all of Kurosawa's stuff, I like Ran the best. Kagemusha has just been released on dvd by The Criterion Collection.
 
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