Asian cinema

Arkaron · 14-10-2014 6:55pm #1

I was wondering if there were any Asian film enthusiasts around here? I myself very much enjoy watching them, especially anything Wu Xia Pian related, HK mob films, and Korean thrillers.

I ask because I just arrived back in Ireland after a two-year spell abroad, and am amazed at how difficult it is to find the films I'm looking for on DVD, let alone at the cinema. Tower Records in Dublin 2 have an okay section, with the odd rarity, but it's overall pretty restricted. HMV basically have nothing... I do most of my shopping on the Internet anyway, but since I'd really like watching a few of them on the big screen every now and then, I wanted to see if anyone knew of a cinema or a festival likely to show them? I know of the Japanese Film Festival already, but as the name gives it away, it doesn't include HK/Chinese/Korean films.

There used to be a Chinese Film Festival around the Chinese New Year. I went for the 1st edition, and saw Bodyguards & Assassins and both Ip Man films with Donnie Yen, among others. It was pretty terrific. I suppose it didn't survive?

I mean, has Young Detective Dee been shown at all in Ireland? It came out at the cinema in many countries already, even if only at a handful of locations.

As there are a few upcoming features from South-East Asia that I am eagerly looking forward to, I'd like to know if I can hope for some screening somewhere, or if I'll have to wait another 2 years for a questionable DVD version?

Sad Professor · 14-10-2014 7:51pm

It’s DVD, other sources or bust for the most part, I’m afraid. The majority of Asian cinema never gets any sort of release over here, not even on DVD.

It’s tempting to think the biggest and best stuff makes it over, but that simply isn’t the case. I mean, look at The Grandmaster. Big, expensive film by a director very well known in the West, picked up a big international distributor and it’s still sitting on the shelf because they don't think it’s worth the cost of releasing over here.

johnny_ultimate · 14-10-2014 11:32pm

It takes a heck of a lot of effort to be a fan of Asian cinema these days, sadly. The films don't come to you, with some exceptions: you have to go to them. A whole lot of good stuff is near impossible to find - barring learning the language and spending a fortune tracking the titles down, a significant majority of the best independent, experimental and even mainstream stuff is out of our reach. It always depresses me reading the Midnight Eye list of the best Japanese films of the year, knowing that I'll never get the opportunity to see a good proportion of the stuff they mention.

Dublin Film Festival tends to have a few Korean films every year - the programmer has confessed she has a particular interest in the country's output - but Japanese and Chinese cinema tend to be ill-served outside their dedicated festivals (I'm not sure about the Chinese Film Festival, there doesn't seem to have been one in 2014, but it definitely went down in 2013).

Keep an eye on the enthusiast labels who keep putting out releases from the region - Terracotta (more genre fare) and Third Window are two of the very few dedicated labels left, although the likes of Soda Pictures, Eureka and others tend to have a few new Asian releases a year. Disappointingly, it's often only big name directors - Zhang Yimou, Sion Sono, Takeshi Miike, Studio Ghibli's directors - that are usually granted a decent theatrical or Blu-Ray release, but even that's not a given.

On the plus side, video on demand and easy importing mean more films are available if you put in the effort. And the modest but definitive Kickstarter success of Third Window's New Directors from Japan boxset (they sold out in a day or two) is a small but encouraging indicator that there are people out there who want to see more films from emerging talents in these countries. Fingers crossed it doesn't just prove to be a once off case, and the niche audience keeps supporting the stuff that does get released. Commercially there's no doubt Asian cinema simply does not do the business - even the dedicated distributors will tell you that in no uncertain terms, and it's a mini-miracle they're still around - so it will be up to a minority to ensure even a few films make it through.

Links234 · 30-11-2014 10:52pm

Bit of a fan of Japanese movies, was just watching Yokomichi Yonosuke for the second time.

I kinda know the feeling of there being nothing being in the shops, I wanted to pick up the Rurouni Kenshin movie a while back, didn't see it anywhere. Might grab it from Amazon at some point though.

Bipolar Joe · 01-12-2014 12:03am

I hate to admit it on here, but if it weren't for piracy I wouldn't see a lot of Asian movies. A lot of stuff is only subtitled by fans, which is the only way I can watch a movie

.

Arkaron · 01-12-2014 2:36pm

So, The Grandmaster (some version of it anyway) comes out on Friday in the UK. Will Irish cinemas be blessed with this gracious release as well? The Cineworld website doesn't list any screenings, obviously.

johnny_ultimate · 01-12-2014 2:40pm

It's on in the IFI anyway.

Arkaron · 01-12-2014 2:43pm

Cool, thanks for the tip. I now realise the IFI only lists this week's showings on their home page (which makes sense, I know). Well, I've seen the film already, like many, but I might go, since it's become near to impossible to see Asian films on the big screen here.

Links234 · 01-12-2014 5:10pm

Wonder why there just doesn't seem to be a market for Asian movies any more? Do you think it's something to do with the way it's been marketed previously that's pidgeonholed it to some degree? Because I think that might be something to do with it. Like back a few years ago, when the whole Tartan Asia Extreme label was doing the rounds, you had some seriously amazing movies being released like Ring, Audition, Oldboy, Infernal Affairs, all sorts of great things like that. For a while it was like Asia was the go to place for horror movies or otherwise "extreme" or ****ed-up stuff, but then they started just releasing any old crap. If it was something that was roughly along the same lines of movies that worked for them before it would get a release, so we got a crappy Grudge clones and stuff like that, and other companies kinda jumped on the bandwagon and similarly released any old crap as long as it was Asian and fit with the "extreme" label that was going around. I remember seeing The Machine Girl and thinking to myself, this is utter garbage, what the hell am I even watching?

In a lot of ways it reminds me of anime and the publisher Manga Entertainment, I remember when I first got into anime as a kid (there's still a Ghost in the Shell VHS knocking around the old family homestead somewhere, oldschool cred, eh?

) you had a few great titles out there like Akira and the like that really blew people away, but after a while they just kinda stuck with a formula and only released the most hyperviolent crap, so if it wasn't like Fist of the North Star it wouldn't be seen over here, and you'd see utter garbage like Violence Jack because it's anime and it's full of violent and sexual content. Loads of other stuff never saw the light of day over here because it didn't fit with the themes of hyperviolent ****ed-up anime, and I don't think things got better until after Spirited Away came out. It was huge and kinda kicked the doors open for loads more anime, and a lot of people saw there was way more to anime than OTT violence and juvenile crap.

But do you think that for a lot of people, they have in their heads that all asian cinema is a certain thing, a certain type of movie, because that's all certain publishers pushed a few years back?

It's like, one movie I really wanted to see for ages was this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nbjlTSDisQ

It was picked to represent Japan in the Oscars, the story seems really interesting, but it's never seen a release over here.

DoYouEvenLift · 02-12-2014 4:28pm

Even using other means to watch them is difficult since subtitles make it even harder. Is there no streaming service like Netflix that has a selection of them? I think I remember seeing Gareth Evans posting a PIC of what seemed to be something like that on twitter but he's probably living in Asia to use it anyway

02-12-2014 9:07pm

DoYouEvenLift wrote: »

Even using other means to watch them is difficult since subtitles make it even harder. Is there no streaming service like Netflix that has a selection of them? I think I remember seeing Gareth Evans posting a PIC of what seemed to be something like that on twitter but he's probably living in Asia to use it anyway

Supposedly Netflix are looking at launching in a number of Asisn countries and if they do I hope that they'll provide English subtitles like they do with many shows and films on their various regions.
Netflix are rather good for getting a wide variety of Asian cinema, they had Donnie Yen's The Iceman before it hit DVD here and you can find a lot of stuff when you search through the catalogue.

Links234 · 18-12-2014 2:02pm

So, I just found out there's a Black Butler movie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciiD6J9UucA

Arkaron · 19-02-2015 9:17pm

I'm looking for nice wuxia original soundtracks to listen to. I already revisit the ones from the Once Upon in China series often, and my absolute favorite is probably the score from Swordsman 2 (itself one of my favorite films), but I find it difficult to identify and find ways to listen to more of these... Does anyone have any recommendations? Some of my favorite wuxia pians don't have soundtracks that can really sustain repeated relistens on their own, so it's difficult.

Arkaron · 24-02-2015 4:09pm

The IFI is showing Fei Mu's Spring in a Small Town (1948) this Saturday, as part of the Chinese New Year Festival. So I suppose we've gone from one week of Chinese films in 2011 to one classic film in 2015. Nice... -_-

Decuc500 · 24-02-2015 4:32pm

Dublin Film Festival programme announced tomorrow. Hopefully some good Asian cinema there.

Links234 · 22-09-2015 1:17am

Does anyone know if The World of Kanako will be getting a Bluray release this side? Third Window were supposed to be doing it, but passed it onto another company last I heard

Arkaron · 15-01-2016 5:02pm

Hi,

Ip Man 3 just came out at the cinema today. Like, at cineworld. Five showings a day. It must be a sign of the apocalypse.

Farewell,

Ascendant · 31-01-2016 4:15pm

Arkaron wrote: »

Hi,

Ip Man 3 just came out at the cinema today. Like, at cineworld. Five showings a day. It must be a sign of the apocalypse.

Farewell,

I caught it a couple of weeks ago - slightly surreal to see Donnie Yen square up against Mike Tyson but a good end to the trilogy.

I'm looking forward to the Japanese Film Festival this year - saw some of it in the Lighthouse during 2015 and 2014, and the standards of the films were high.

01-02-2016 12:12am

I've been out of the loop regards Asian stuff last 5-7 years. Anyone want to offer me some recommendations of must see stuff from that period.

I used to favour Korean stuff over Japanese, unless something has drastically changed in those years.

Links234 · 06-02-2016 11:57pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I used to favour Korean stuff over Japanese, unless something has drastically changed in those years.

You know, it might just be me, but there seems to have been an absolute dearth of decent Korean movies in recent years. My best guess as to why is that so many Korean stars and directors have been doing things in America, such as Chan-wook Park doing Stoker, Joon Ho Bong doing Snowpiercer, or Jee-woon Kim doing The Last Stand, all stuff that's fairly meh compared to their previous work, though I did enjoy Stoker somewhat. Likewise actor Byung-hun Lee is off doing stuff like GI Joe and Terminator, as are a few others, Min-sik Choi showed up in Lucy.

So maybe I'm just out of the loop, but personally I've not seen any good Korean movies in ages, and I think, or rather I'm guessing that's why.

I've loads of recommendations for Japanese films though, but what kinda genres do you have in mind? I'm going to throw a wild guess out there and say that if you like Korean cinema, you're ok with some of the more messed-up subject matter? If so, I'd highly recommend Confessions from director Tetsuya Nakashima, it's a bit of a twisted revenge tale that wouldn't feel out of place next to Chan-wook Park's vengeance trilogy, and Nakashima is an equally amazing director. But I tend to watch a lot of Japanese drama, which might not be quite your cup of tea, so I won't throw out any more recommendations just yet.

07-02-2016 12:18am

Loads of good to great cinema coming out of South Korea in recent years, last year alone we had Assassination, Gangnam Blues, The Deal, The Shameless, The Target, The Piper, The Chronicles of Evil, The Priests, The Deal, The Deal, The Target and the rather damn great A Hard Day which was one of last years best films released over here. You can find equally great films released each year in Korea and like any other country the great thing is that we only really get the best that they have to offer.

Links234 · 07-02-2016 12:34am

Deleted User wrote: »

Loads of good to great cinema coming out of South Korea in recent years, last year alone we had Assassination, Gangnam Blues, The Deal, The Shameless, The Target, The Piper, The Chronicles of Evil, The Priests, The Deal, The Deal, The Target and the rather damn great A Hard Day which was one of last years best films released over here. You can find equally great films released each year in Korea and like any other country the great thing is that we only really get the best that they have to offer.

So what you're saying is, check out The Deal?

Guess it must be that a lot of the filmmakers I keep an eye on haven't been doing much lately, and I'm out of the loop on newer stuff.

johnny_ultimate · 07-02-2016 7:07am

[Deleted User] wrote: »

the great thing is that we only really get the best that they have to offer.

Given the continued lack of distribution of almost everything Hong Sang-Soo makes, sadly that is untrue

johnny_ultimate · 08-02-2016 5:09pm

Arrow just announced a Blu-Ray release for Kobayashi's The Human Condition trilogy.

****!

I'm increasingly of the opinion that the point will come soon where they can't actually one up themselves anymore :pac:

09-02-2016 10:23pm

Links234 wrote: »

You know, it might just be me, but there seems to have been an absolute dearth of decent Korean movies in recent years. My best guess as to why is that so many Korean stars and directors have been doing things in America, such as Chan-wook Park doing Stoker, Joon Ho Bong doing Snowpiercer, or Jee-woon Kim doing The Last Stand, all stuff that's fairly meh compared to their previous work, though I did enjoy Stoker somewhat. Likewise actor Byung-hun Lee is off doing stuff like GI Joe and Terminator, as are a few others, Min-sik Choi showed up in Lucy.

So maybe I'm just out of the loop, but personally I've not seen any good Korean movies in ages, and I think, or rather I'm guessing that's why.

I've loads of recommendations for Japanese films though, but what kinda genres do you have in mind? I'm going to throw a wild guess out there and say that if you like Korean cinema, you're ok with some of the more messed-up subject matter? If so, I'd highly recommend Confessions from director Tetsuya Nakashima, it's a bit of a twisted revenge tale that wouldn't feel out of place next to Chan-wook Park's vengeance trilogy, and Nakashima is an equally amazing director. But I tend to watch a lot of Japanese drama, which might not be quite your cup of tea, so I won't throw out any more recommendations just yet.

Thanks, actually Confessions is up next on my to watch pile. I'd forgotten Park did Stoker, I really had no idea what to expect from that when I saw it, I had low expectations if I recall but I really enjoyed it.

Loved a Bittersweet life and a tale of two sisters , this they were both jee-woon films? Those are ones I remember well there's a few I'll have to google to remember names for, like I said it's been years

I know I've seen a few of Miiki Takashi's ones , found those hit and miss. Gozu was one I couldn't get into but one I've been meaning to go back to maybe.

Links234 · 10-02-2016 5:02pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I know I've seen a few of Miiki Takashi's ones , found those hit and miss. Gozu was one I couldn't get into but one I've been meaning to go back to maybe.

He's an extremely hit and miss director alright, but when he has a hit, it's a serious hit. Gozu was a hard watch even by his standards, so if you didn't like it I wouldn't bother going back, he's got way better.

Speaking of, I must check out Harakiri

11-02-2016 12:02am

Links234 wrote: »

He's an extremely hit and miss director alright, but when he has a hit, it's a serious hit. Gozu was a hard watch even by his standards, so if you didn't like it I wouldn't bother going back, he's got way better.

Speaking of, I must check out Harakiri

That's an old ... old one no?

Have you seen As the Gods Will ? Sounds a bit like Takashi does Battle Royale on paper. To be fair to him he is certainly one of if not the busiest film maker in Japan? Looks like he does 2 or 3 a year.

EDIT: Actually reminds me, must look for a HD copy of Ichi The Killer. Have a lovely 3 disc dvd set i picked up for a 5er years ago with the film and anime and loads of extras that was never watched and put it in last night and my hd spoiled eyes couldn't take it

Edit Edit: Actually this whole entire thread reminds me of my compulsion to buy everything tartan dvd back then , god I miss those guys

The movie could be pure tripe but at least you got the impression you would be getting something different every time.

Asian cinema

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