Skip to main content

Asian Cinema

As many know, I am obsessed with movies. It seems I know so many who won't watch movies that aren't in color or, even worse, watch foreign movies. I refuse to watch foreign movies without subtitles. I find when a movie is dubbed, I spend more time watching the person's lips than paying attention to the rest of the movie. You'd be surprised how little, if any, you miss reading the subtitles.

In recent years I have watched tons of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean horror films. Nearly every American horror film that has been made in the last ten years is a remake of an Asian classic. The Ring, The Eye, and the Grudge were all poorer remakes of Asian cinema.

Sure there are classics from other countries. One thing foreign movies seem to all have in common is a slow climb to an incredible climax. Asian films just do it better. Not all are top notch. I wouldn't even say all are in my favorites, but they all possess something that left an imprint on me.

When I first saw The Killer, it appeared to be a buddy movie, along the lines of Lethal Weapon, except the buddies were on different sides of the law. The movie is excellent from start to finish, but the finale is one of action cinemas crowning achievements. John Woo, who has made quite a name for himself in the US, dazzles us with the operatic finale, complete with doves! For any action fan this is a must see. Other options are Woo's A Better Tomorrow, Hard Boiled or City on fire (the film many credit as being the inspiration for Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs).

For those of you who like the martial arts genre and loved the ballet type fight scenes in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon may I suggest Hero. The use of color has never been used like this. The colors themselves become characters. Visually stunning, but a beautiful story. If the old school Saturday afternoon slap/chop movies are more your style, may I suggest Master of the Flying Guillotine. This movie might lack in other area, but has the coolest weapon of all-time.

I thought I had seen every cliche a horror movie could muster, until I saw Audition. Audition is a long, slow film that many might give up on within the first 30-40 minutes. Trust me when I tell you, that when the movie flips from being what appears to be a story about the search for love, into well, something else, you better get the hot water running. This movie will make you want to wash off the unclean feeling you'll acquire while squirming in your seat. The last 10-15 minutes is flat out difficult to watch, on many levels.

There are lesser known films that I adore, Like the thriller H. A Korean film about a detective who is after a serial killer. Only after the killer is caught does the movie really begin. Any more details would give it away.

While I have probably watched The Killer the most times (at least five). Probably my favorite Asian film is the Korean masterpiece Oldboy. It's the story of a man who for reasons unknown to him has been incarcerated in a hotel room for 15 years. During this time he is drugged, tortured and he doesn't know why. Suddenly he is set free and has a few days to find out who and why he was taken prisoner. What ensues for the next two hours is the most intense movie I've ever seen. It makes you question absolutely everything, even if you don't know why. There are scenes that make you claw at your chair and they don't seem to stop. The final scenes are so chilling that they make you ill and make you think at the same time. To me it's one of the most brilliant films ever made. It's not just a horror film, but you will feel scared. It's a thriller that never lets on until the end. The discomfort one feels while watching lingers long after the film is over. When I first watched it, I sat in the dark minutes after the credits rolled. I showered with water that hurt my skin and then I sat and watched it again. Rinse and Repeat. I think if anyone sees this film, it will open their eyes to not only how good foreign films can be, but how bad our local product is.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

White Privilege

This was a post I wrote on Facebook after surprisingly not seeing any moaning about the Documentary by Jose Antonio Vargas, titled White People Dayyum! I just scrolled my timeline and not a single white person got their feelings hurt by White People. I unfortunately haven't seen it, but the number of fake accounts that popped up on twitter, tells me it was a damn good show. Here's the thing. If someone of color aka non-white says "White Privilege," are you offended? If you said yes, then you are exhibiting white privilege. It has nothing to do with how hard you work or study, how you stayed out of trouble, because here's the thing, that is entirely the point. Somewhere out there, there are 100 Black, Spanish, Native American, Arab, Asian, who worked and studied as hard as you and never got in trouble, but they don't have what you "earned" or achieved. Stop looking at the one person you know who isn't white that achieved as your benchmark. Loo...

Quickie Review - Finding Vivian Maier

While I thoroughly enjoyed the film, especially the first 15-20 minutes, I was a little bothered by the way the film played out. The interviews with the clearly disturbed brother, sister and the mother, who obviously, was in for a cut, didn't need to be in the film. Then the woman who suggested abuse, yet seemed to have her life defined by Maier, as she tried to muster every ounce of emotion and fake guilt. Her friend, more than happy to be party of the charade. People who talk about abuse for the first time, usually don't do so on camera. The fact these scenes were so prominent, shows that they felt wronged that they were not rewarded. Maloof on the other hand, seems to disappear from the documentary during this part, almost hiding away from the fact, he went from complete praise, to even making money off of her, to destroying her personal legacy. He almost mentions the family of boys taking care of her rent, as an afterthought. Her burial spot, never shown, yet a video of her...

If You Listen To One Speech - Lana Wachowski

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/videos/lana-wachowski-opens-up-about-difficult-past-and-attempted-suicide-20121024 Today I saw a link to a video for a speech by Lana Wachowski.  The last name rung a bell, but I could't put my finger on it. Lana, used to be Larry, one of the writer, director, producers of the Matrix trilogy, V for Vendetta and the upcoming Cloud Atlas.  Lana is transgendered and has "come out" as a woman.  She was being honored by the Human Rights Campaign. I didn't know what to expect when this broad woman with crazy hair and a raspy voice began to speak.  She began with the usual pleasantries and told of her hair dresser. She then tells of her desire to be a quiet person and how hard the success of the Matrix movies made this.  The first ten minutes is telling of how she's not quite ready to be this spokesperson.  Then she speaks about the new movie Cloud Atlas and reveals the heart of the movie and this speech. She states,"The resp...