• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

In my day, never was longer.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

The willow is too close to the house.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

Mobile Menu

  • Four Directions Montana
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2024 Elections
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / TV & Movies / Movies / Asian Cinema

Asian Cinema

by John Cole|  April 21, 20059:25 pm| 40 Comments

This post is in: Movies

FacebookTweetEmail

I was wondering if any of you had some suggestions regarding Asian cinema. All I have ever seen are the mainstays, including:

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
House of Flying Daggers
Hero
Warriors of Heaven and Earth
Gojoe: Spirit War Chronicle

I liked all of them. I tried to watch the Master Swordsman, but that was awful- it was like an Asian A-Team.

Any suggestions?

I should probably add that of all the ones I listed above, my favorite, by a boatload, was Gojoe. Keep that in mind when you make suggestions.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Crisis of Faith
Next Post: Guilty As Charged »

Reader Interactions

40Comments

  1. 1.

    Ben Regenspan

    April 21, 2005 at 9:32 pm

    If you want something bizarre and heavily stylized (imagine a 40s melodrama/Western hybrid with lots of great action sequences and straightfaced parody), go for the Thai movie “Tears of the Black Tiger“.

  2. 2.

    Mark

    April 21, 2005 at 9:41 pm

    Anything with Sh

  3. 3.

    Aaron

    April 21, 2005 at 9:46 pm

    Tokyo Decadence

    –but there’s no swords or flying in it.

  4. 4.

    Sonja

    April 21, 2005 at 9:58 pm

    For an all time classic, you have to sit thru Seven Samurai,

    Fist of Legend (Jet Li, excellent fight scene)

    Iron Monkey (pretty good also)

    Shaolin Soccer (Hilarious! and he’s about to release Kung Fu Hustle)

  5. 5.

    giasen

    April 21, 2005 at 10:17 pm

    THE ORIGINAL “Shall we Dance?”

    NOT starring Susan Sarandon

    Gary Johnston: Your skills are fading with age, Mrs. Sarandon.
    Susan Sarandon: You will die a peasant’s death!

  6. 6.

    stickler

    April 21, 2005 at 10:27 pm

    Rashomon. And Seven Samurai. There are things we Westerners aren’t going to ‘get’ about Japan, but those films are literature on celluloid.

    Plus, lots of swordplay.

  7. 7.

    HH

    April 21, 2005 at 10:36 pm

    Kung Fu Hustle is hitting theatres tomorrow… supposed to be more humorous than most.

  8. 8.

    norbizness

    April 21, 2005 at 10:58 pm

    For lesser known Kurosawa: Red Beard, High and Low, and especially Ikiru (which may be remade soon starring Tom Hanks). Well shit, any Kurosawa. Trust me.

    Also, the Tokyo gangster films of Seijun Suzuki (Branded to Kill, Tokyo Drifter) which had a big influence on Tarantino. And John Woo’s Hong Kong films.

  9. 9.

    dagon

    April 21, 2005 at 11:36 pm

    john,

    you’re speaking my language.

    to start:

    honk kong era john woo:
    –a better tomorrow 1 & 2
    –a bullet in the head
    –the killer
    –hard boiled

    zhan yimou style chinese dreamscapes (he’s the guy who made house of flying daggers and hero btw)
    –raise the red lantern
    –ju doh

    my all time favorite, wan kar wai
    –chungking express
    –in the mood for love

    and for samurai flicks, you can’t go wrong with any of the above mentioned kurosawa but i would also recommend a little know, yet recently re-mastered gem called “the twilight samurai”

    and that’s just for starters. hit me up if you need more. basically , the secret is the same for all films. pick a film you like, find out who directed it and check out all of his/her work….then find out who their influences were….

    peace

  10. 10.

    Russ

    April 22, 2005 at 12:02 am

    It would be mighty hard to go wrong with anything Kurosawa did.

    Not previously mentioned so far is “Ran” – a re-telling of “King Lear” in a medieval Japanese context that really works well.

    Shakespeare must translate well cross-culturally; Kurosawa also did “Throne of Blood” – the Japanese “MacBeth,” which I recommend.

  11. 11.

    sidereal

    April 22, 2005 at 12:08 am

    Second Ran. Also Heaven and Earth is excellent in the same style.

    Honestly, ‘Asian cinema’ doesn’t exist. If you like Hong Kong cinema, you should follow up with the Jon Woo films dagon recommended (start with The Killer).

    Also good are Miyazake anime, particularly Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.

  12. 12.

    bg

    April 22, 2005 at 12:18 am

    I don’t know if it goes without saying, but if you’re gonna check out Kurosawa, try to get criterion collection DVDs. Their version of Seven Samurai, which was the first of his movies that I’d seen, has a commentary by a film professor that really helped me understand it.

  13. 13.

    dagon

    April 22, 2005 at 12:25 am

    the kurosawa criterions are MUST-HAVES! but i think some of the older releases may be out of print.

    also, criterion is planning on releasing a set of kurosawa ‘compilations’ later this year. i’m a little worried about that because it may take away some of the ummph of the individual releases.

    peace

  14. 14.

    Bryan C

    April 22, 2005 at 12:38 am

    Akira Kurosawa, defnitely. I like “Throne of Blood”, the samurai-era adaptation of Macbeth, and the lesser known “Stray Dog” a detective story set in post-WWII Japan. Sounds like I should find the Criterion editions.

  15. 15.

    Walt Pohl

    April 22, 2005 at 1:51 am

    For modern HK action movies, I’d recommend either “Hard Boiled” (incredibly violent, but has interesting characters) or “Fallen Angels” (brilliant, but somewhat surreal). “Supercop” is also good, but cartoony.

    For “historical” HK movies, I’d recommend “Tai Chi Master”. Oddly, the movie has been released in two different versions — avoid the one not called “Tai Chi Master” at all costs — they shortened the dialogue into incomprehensibility. “Drunken Master II” (believe it or not, not a sequel) is also a terrific action movie/comedy.

    The movies you’ve seen are in some ways misleading for recent Chinese-language film. “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” is like a Chinese-language American movie — it was big flop in China. The two movies by Zhang Yimou (“Hero” and “House of Flying Daggers”) are much artsier than most Chinese or HK action movies, and are a big departure for the director. (His older movies “Raise the Red Lantern” and “Shanghai Triad” are good, though.)

    As for Japan, “Seven Samurai” is incredibly long, but one of the masterpieces of world cinema. Kurosawa is one of the most imitated directors (“Seven Samurai” was remade into the “Magnificent Seven”; “Yojimbo” was made into “Fistful of Dollars”, and “Star Wars” is loosely based on “The Hidden Fortress”.)

    “Spirited Away” — basically a children’s story — is the best of anime, though the recent “Ghost in the Shell: Innocence” is also very good.

  16. 16.

    Darone

    April 22, 2005 at 1:56 am

    There are some great movies in those posts, especially pics from Kurosowa and early pre-Americancinema John Woo, but a couple other films are recently “Zatoichi, the Blind Swordsmen”, “Internal Affairs” which is going to be remade here with Tom Cruise and Matt Damon, and “Five Deadly Venoms”

  17. 17.

    Fledermaus

    April 22, 2005 at 2:55 am

    Shaolin Soccer!

    (make sure you get the full original version and not the Mirimax chop job – although I believe that both versions are on the same DVD in the US)

  18. 18.

    Fledermaus

    April 22, 2005 at 3:03 am

    Also a bunch of my friends say that “Sprited Away” is one of the best animated movies ever. I haven’t seen it but the recommendation, coming as it does from the same people who made me watch “Shaolin Soccer,” carries a lot of weight.

  19. 19.

    Aaron

    April 22, 2005 at 3:45 am

    I can’t believe that people talking about Asian cinema haven’t mentioned Yasajiro Ozu, the greatest Japanese director. While Kurosawa is undoubtedly amazing, in Japan he is regarded as a “Western” director (a fair description? I don’t really think so, but that’s what the Japanese think). For the real Japanese cinema, check out “Tokyo Story” and “Early Spring.” Both films made me cry. Also in the vein of Ozu: Hirokazu Kore-eda’s films “After Life” (called “Wonderful Life” in Japan) and “Maborosi” (which is poetic and tragic and amazing). Kore-eda has a way with subtle, understated romance that most American audiences simply wouldn’t get.

    Enjoy.

    Aaron

  20. 20.

    Richard Bennett

    April 22, 2005 at 4:12 am

    “Lost in Translation” was very cool and kinda Asian, but nothing holds a candle to “Seven Samurai.”

  21. 21.

    dhw

    April 22, 2005 at 4:48 am

    Ijust saw a Japanese film called, I think, ‘No One Knows’ that was fantastic…also, wrt anime, ‘Perfect Blue’.

  22. 22.

    ape

    April 22, 2005 at 5:21 am

    JC –

    IMHO(!)
    Chinese/ Hong Kong/ Taiwan:

    1) Wong Kar Wai/ Chris Doyle are the greatest movie makers of all times and places:

    Fallen Angels/ Chunking Express
    and Days of Being Wild.

    2) All Ang Lee movies except Hulk and Ride Like the Devil are brilliant: Eat Drink Man Woman and the Wedding Banquet. Also Sense and Sensibility. I’ve never managed to find a copy of ‘Pushing Hands’; but im sure that’s good too.

    3) For ‘Crouching Tiger’ style swords and romance: Try Swordsman I and Swordsman II (inspired by a long-running TV show; revived the Wu Xia style in the cinema & reached the West).

    “Saviour of the Soul” is an underrated curio written by WKW. For comedy Kung Fu “Drunken Master”.

    For classic Wu Xia.. ‘Dragon Inn’ (1966) is supposed to be prototypical of the genre.. it is good; but I suggest ‘Golden Swallow’ for preference. It stars Pei-Pei Cheng (the witch in ‘Crouching Tiger..’!).. has any woman had more beautiful eyes?

    4) Edward Yang: Anything you can find.. the more famous is ‘Yi Yi’ (“A One and a Two”). See what you think of the bizarre ‘A Brighter Summer Day’.

    5) Random nice Chinese melodramas: Try ‘Shower’ (should be available). ‘Kitchen’ and ‘Struggle for My Son’/ ‘Running for Son’ if you can find it. ‘Chinese Odyssey 2002’ was produced by Wong Kar Wai and gently mocks the genres.

    6) Japanese.. not really a fan of most Japanese cinema.. certainly not the contemporary stuff, except the Studio Ghibli cartoons which have already been mentioned. (‘Princess Monoke’ is a marvel, better by far than the excellent ‘Spirited Away’.)

    2 of the 3 masters have ben mentioned, Kurosawa and Ozu. (I think ‘End of the Summer’ is the best Ive seen by Ozu, better than the more celebrated ‘Tokyo Story’. ‘Floating Weeds’ is very similar)..

    BUT THE THIRD MASTER is Mizoguchi: Sansho Dayu is surely amongst the greatest movies. The more famous ‘Life of Oharu’ is unbearable to my mind. Try ‘Ugetsu Monagatari’ too.

  23. 23.

    ape

    April 22, 2005 at 5:39 am

    couple more (incidentally, none of the films I suggest fit with the super-violent/ cruel version of Asian/ japanese cinema. If you want that it’s all easy to find):

    Vietnamese: Height of the Summer/ Vertical Ray of the Sun.

    Korean: Chi-wa-ha-seon (sp?).. the 93 film by its Director finally made it to the West and I thought it was brilliant.

    Thailand: Tears of the Black Tiger must be seen.. make of it what you will.

    But check out the excellent ‘Monrak Transistor’ if you can.

    Despite the iconic erotic poster images (by Chris Doyle) I think, ‘Last Life in the Universe’ was dissappointing.

    Enough.

  24. 24.

    Dave Straub

    April 22, 2005 at 7:57 am

    Fists of Fury all the way.

    “I’m the one with the good head!”

  25. 25.

    Joel

    April 22, 2005 at 9:00 am

    Well speaking of the violent stuff, there are two directors who should be mentioned: Takeshi Kitano (aka Beat Takeshi) and Takashi Mike. Kitano is generally known for his quite violent, gangster/cop themed films (Violent Cop, etc.) but has also branched out a bit (the aforementioned “Zatoichi” and “Kikujiro”). Takashi Mike is more notorious than famous at this point (at least in the states)–his movies are generally extremely violent, perverse, with a generous helping of oddball surrealism and sicko humor thrown in as well. I think he’s brilliant, but I can only recommend “Ichii the Killer” and “Odishon” with an enormous grain of salt to any potential viewer. If you were bothered by the violence in “Sin City” or “Kill Bill Pt. 1” don’t even bother, and even if you weren’t consider yourself forewarned.

    Also “Spirited Away” is easily one of the best films I’ve seen this decade. A classic in all regards.

  26. 26.

    thomas

    April 22, 2005 at 9:02 am

    Second all of the above, esp. Wong kar wai. I would add takeshi kitano to the list. Also, I just saw oldboy at the theater, which I can’t recommend highly enough.

    Oh, and anything with Maggie Leung, especially Irma Vep, which isn’t really asian cinema I guess.

  27. 27.

    Randi

    April 22, 2005 at 9:17 am

    Been awhil, but I think the name was “The Pillow Book” Really, really good….small hint…tattooed skin. Oh, and for a laugh, a really cheesy horror flick, “Iron Man”

  28. 28.

    FC

    April 22, 2005 at 9:53 am

    The Pillow Book was good, if you can handle the artisticitude.

    The exclusion of “The Killer” from the list of things you haven seen is a travesty. Purcahse now.

  29. 29.

    Slartibartfast

    April 22, 2005 at 10:06 am

    If you’re into horror, Ju-on was highly creepy. Ditto Ringu. Don’t expect the storylines to make all that much sense, though.

  30. 30.

    farmgirl

    April 22, 2005 at 10:51 am

    For anime, don’t forget Millennium Actress. One thousand years of Japanese history rolled into half-a-century of yearning for a lost love. Wonderful.

    Also, am I blind, or did no one mention Enter the Dragon yet? :)

  31. 31.

    Joel

    April 22, 2005 at 12:15 pm

    Yes “Oldboy” was oustanding. Korean cinema has really been on the upswing the past couple of years. But again, be forewarned, it is extremely violent.

  32. 32.

    Gary Farber

    April 22, 2005 at 1:38 pm

    Seeing the number of comments before seeing them, I expected this would be redundant, and indeed it is, but without suggesting that he is representative of “Asian,” or even “Japanese,” film, I simply can’t pass by the need to reiterate that not seeing the major Kurosawa films is to live the life incomplete. And it’s not as if they can’t be seen an infinite number of times; there’s a (good) reason they’ve been so inspirational to so many great film-makers, and audiences.

  33. 33.

    Half Canadian

    April 22, 2005 at 2:23 pm

    I’m throwing in a plug for Millenium Actress as well. It was amazing. My wife normally hates sub titles, but dubbing in English would have stripped out the incredible voice acting that was done.

    I really enjoyed Yojimbo and Seven Samuria. I’m also a sucker for Miazaki (Spirited Away, Kiki’s Delivery Service, etc.). He’s an amazing story teller.

  34. 34.

    C&L

    April 22, 2005 at 7:24 pm

    Kung FU hustle is very funny.
    Iron Monkey is from 93′ but has some great fight scenes and is great.
    The Bride with White Hair- is very cool early 90’s
    Dark Waters -is as scary a movie as you will see> horror
    Swordsman II with Jet Li is great
    Old Boy-is very wild, but interesting
    Ringu-the original is cool
    Wing Chun is fun- Michelle Yeoh
    Shiri-very good Korean
    AZNFILMS.COM is a good website to check out films

  35. 35.

    wufnik

    April 23, 2005 at 4:49 pm

    In addition to the Japanese films mentioned above, there is a whole slew of other Samurai movies rarely seen in the US or Europe, but which are just amazing. I remember years ago the old Surf theater had a Japanese film festival, whith all these extraordinary movies I had never heard of. The ones that linger in the memory are the Samurai trilogy, Samurai Rebellion, which I still remember as having the most amazing photography, and Sword of Doom. Almost all of these were in black and white. And many had Mifune, who is probably the best known Japanese actor in the west. But in many of these his oppossite number was Nakadai, equally as good.

    And just to throw in something from poor Taiwan while it still remains an independent country, there was a movie out a couple of years ago called A One and A Two, about a Taiwanese family and its range of troubles, that was quite affecting.

  36. 36.

    Sickduck

    April 23, 2005 at 11:59 pm

    Don’t forget:

  37. 37.

    shark

    April 24, 2005 at 12:04 pm

    “Blind Swordsman” or anything with Kenny Takashi

    Also, anything even remotely based on the Lone Wolf and Cub stories are great fun

  38. 38.

    shark

    April 24, 2005 at 12:08 pm

    And of course, for classic cool (or camp) you can’t beat the Toho Monster Films…

  39. 39.

    Datou

    April 26, 2005 at 10:21 pm

    Far a trippy ride from HK in the 60’s to a blade runner-like future, try “2046”. The first flick I’ve seen where Zhang Ziyi really showed her beauty. Also with Tony Leung, a dull Wang Fei, and classic Gong Li looking old and beat up.

    The Internal Affairs movies are also cool. I’m sure the US version will suck hard in comparison. Then again, thats a safe bet if Matt Damon is in it.

  40. 40.

    Dave Munger

    April 28, 2005 at 5:17 pm

    Twilight Of The Cockroaches.
    Akira.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

  • Martin on Righteous Rant Open Thread (Apr 15, 2024 @ 5:54pm)
  • Formerly disgruntled in Oregon on Righteous Rant Open Thread (Apr 15, 2024 @ 5:52pm)
  • Dan B on Righteous Rant Open Thread (Apr 15, 2024 @ 5:51pm)
  • Geminid on Take the Fucking Win (Apr 15, 2024 @ 5:50pm)
  • 3letterjon on Righteous Rant Open Thread (Apr 15, 2024 @ 5:49pm)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Talk of Meetups – Meetup Planning
Proposed BJ meetups list from frosty

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8
Virginia House Races
Four Directions – Montana
Worker Power AZ
Four Directions – Arizona
Four Directions – Nevada

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
Positive Climate News
War in Ukraine
Cole’s “Stories from the Road”
Classified Documents Primer

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Political Action 2024

Postcard Writing Information

Balloon Juice for Four Directions AZ

Donate

Balloon Juice for Four Directions NV

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2024 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!