What Asian Films Have You Been Watching Recently?

[47lab]

I'll usually check out a couple flicks on Christmas depending on the mood. I've already earmarked IP MAN 4 and ASHFALL as the two I'll definitely make time for next week.

[47lab]

As mentioned I went to check out BETTER DAYS and despite all the controversy regarding this film from the Chinese censorship issue to the accusations of plagiarism of Keigo Higashino's works, I thought it was an entertaining flick (think of it as a Chinese version of the early 80s coming of age flick, MY BODYGUARD but without the light hearted melodrama) but ultimately falls short of being a "must see." Asian cinema has tackled the issue of school bullying with greater nuance and effect in films like BLEAK NIGHT, HAN GONG-JU, PLUTO and ALL ABOUT LILY CHOU CHOU - those flicks are just off the top of my head. But what makes BETTER DAYS a worthwhile watch are the superb performances by the two leads, Zhou Dongyu and Jackson Yee. Yee in particular as I've only seen him in MR. SIX prior to this film but he really impressed me. His performance reminded me a bit of Yang Ik-jun in BREATHLESS - the same pent up rage & sense of hopelessness. Zhou Dongyu plays the bully victim as realistically as any I've ever witnessed onscreen. There are hints of a budding romance between the two but I'm glad Tsang doesn't force the issue, instead focusing on the bond that both share through the emotional and physical pain inflicted on them. The latter third turns into a police procedural and I think that's when the flick falls a bit flat. Of course, the "crime doesn't pay" epilogue and PSA about bullying mandated by the Chinese censors cheapens the ending as well but that's to be expected of these Mainland films. Well Go has the North American rights, so hopefully they can put out an uncensored director's cut of the film on physical media.

[47lab]

Mentioning that OST earlier made me want to hear it again but I forgot where I placed it. After a frantic search, I found it in a crate with a bunch of other CDs. The cover is cool but I forgot the inside of the digipak is a replica movie poster.




I'm off to see Derek Tsang's latest, BETTER DAYS as it has been causing some buzz lately.

[47lab]

I'll be catching this at the end of the month at Laputa Asagaya's Toho New Action series. I think Nishimura is one of the most under-appreciated, undiscovered filmmakers of the 70s. His debut film Too Young To Die (1969) is an absolute masterpiece, unfortunately not available on DVD. Hairpin Circus (1970) and the heroic bloodshed action thriller A Creature Called Man (1970) (with more similarities to 80s and 90s John Woo films than you can count) are very cool too.

I've been wanting to see THE CREATURE CALLED MAN for ages (ever since i read about it in Chris D.'s book) but never got a chance. I know the dvd has been out in Japan forever and one day I'll get around to ordering it. I actually listened to the soundtrack before even seeing the movie because I really dig the Masahiko Satoh score and bought the OST plus it had a cool looking cover.

[Takuma]

After catching Nishimura's HAIRPIN CIRCUS recently, I decided to check out his hard boiled action film he did for Toho in 1970 titled ATTACK AT DAYLIGHT aka ATTACK AT HIGH NOON.

I'll be catching this at the end of the month at Laputa Asagaya's Toho New Action series. I think Nishimura is one of the most under-appreciated, undiscovered filmmakers of the 70s. His debut film Too Young To Die (1969) is an absolute masterpiece, unfortunately not available on DVD. Hairpin Circus (1970) and the heroic bloodshed action thriller A Creature Called Man (1970) (with more similarities to 80s and 90s John Woo films than you can count) are very cool too.

I caught Nobuhiro Yamashita's 2018 live action adaption of Takashi Imashiro's cult manga, Hard-Core Heisei Hell's Bros titled HARD-CORE.

I've been meaning to check this out. I know Yamashita will never be able to match the perfection of Ramblers () but I kept seeing his new films in theatre until he made Over the Fence with Yu Aoi. There went down two idols at once :down:

[47lab]

I caught Nobuhiro Yamashita's 2018 live action adaption of Takashi Imashiro's cult manga, Hard-Core Heisei Hell's Bros titled HARD-CORE. The central characters are two social outcasts played superbly by Takayuki Yamada & YosiYosi Arakawa. Yamada is an anti-social loner prone to violent outbursts and Arakawa is a homeless bum (he was born to play these type of roles) who ran away from his hometown after cracking under pressure at his prestigious high school. They end up buddies and Yamada becomes a protective brother towards the mentally challenged Arakawa. Both end up working for a crazy old coot who leads a Nationalist right wing group and spend their weekends working part-time digging for gold in an abandoned mine. The gold will be used to fund a new movement which will overthrow current Japanese society and usher in a revivalist one with old Samurai values at its core. yeah, it's pretty weird but things get even crazier when the two misfits discover an old robot in an abandoned factory. They quickly name it Robo and it becomes part of the family. Despite it's retro looks, the robot was at the forefront of AI development back in the day and with the aid of Arakawa's salary man computer expert brother, they teach the robot to find the long lost gold and then the story goes off the rails involving deceit & murder. There's also a focus on these two losers relationships with women at large. Arakawa is an awkward virgin who scrimps and saves his mining salary to ultimately get laid by a hooker and Yamada's has a volatile relationship with the nympho daughter of the foreman of the mine. I enjoyed this flick as it had some dark humor, black comedy, social critique and sci-fi elements but the screenplay was too convoluted and all over the place. There is a real lull in the middle and doesn't pick up again until the last reveal. Still recommended though especially if you're a fan of Yamashita's off beat humor and portrayal of society's underlings.

[Takuma]

High Noon for Gangsters (白昼の無頼漢) (Japan, 1961) [DVD] - 4/5
An excellent, racially and sexually charged heist thriller with gangster Tetsuro Tamba blackmailing 4 foreigners (a black G.I., a racist white American and his wife, and a Korean) into robbing an armoured vehicle with him, girlfriend and yakuza bro Sone. "$300 000 for me, $200 000 for the six of you, that's $50 000 a head" Tamba says, and remarks after being told his math is off "school math won't do, at least two of you are gonna die, that's $50 000 a head". There's terrific tension throughout and some witty dialogue in both Japanese and English (Tamba interpreting his Japanese lover for the American wife: "She said you're pretty charming for a pig"). The foreign cast is passable, and the white American actually speaks fluent Japanese while Tamba speaks understandable English. The heist itself is a bit rushed and there's an uninspired twist here and there, but only noticeable because the film is damn good overall! Fukasaku's 1st full length film.



A Man's Showdown (男の勝負) (Japan, 1966) [TV] - 1.5/5
Hideo Murata was a pretty big ninkyo star in the 60s despite lacking anything resembling charisma. His enka singing career ensured his popularity. This is a co-starring vehicle for Murata and Shigeru Amachi, an actor who did better when portraying suffering, morally compromised tough guys (e.g. Yellow Line, The Tale of Zatoichi). They make a rather dull heroic duo against crooked Bin Amatsu. Young Sadao Nakajima directed this under Masahiro Makino's supervision. The film feels more Makino than the Nakajima. Not so much a terrible film as just a boring one. The only energetic scenes are in the mid third: a duel between Murata and Amachi, and a stylishly executed sakazuki scene.

Delinquent Street (不良街) (Japan, 1972) [TV] - 2.5/5
Lightweight yakuza romp with a cool Hiroki Matsukata theme song and an ultra-violent finale, where the heroes massacre at least 40 bad guys. Matsukata, Hayato Tani and a moustached, sun glassed Shingo Yamashiro make a three man punk gang. Girlfriend Mari Tsutsui hangs around in revealing tops, and Bunta Sugawara shows up in two scenes. Yukio Noda directs with a tad more seriousness than some of his other films, and Yamashiro is surprisingly tolerable, even cool. It's just regretful the film is another waste of a great title: there is no delinquent street here.



Hobo General (Kinkin no lumpen taisho) (ã‚ンã‚ンのルンペン大将) (Japan, 1976) [VoD] - 1/5
A forgotten Teruo Ishii comedy, by far one of his worst films. Kinya Aikawa (Sugawara's co-star in the Truck Yaro series) is a silly country bumpkin in Tokyo without home or friends. Extremely tame, childish, unfunny gags and some weeping follows. Imagine the comedy segments from the Abashiri Prison series extended into a feature length film minus all the yakuza stuff and you are... still not low enough. This is a far cry from the naughty comedy genius of The Executioner 2: Karate Inferno which looks like a Stanley Kubrick picture in comparison.

Taiyo no koibito: Agnes Lum (太陽の恋人 アグネス・ラム) (Japan, 1976) [TV] - 2.5/5
A Toei curiosity that misleadingly occasionally pops up in Pinky Violence context. This isn't actually a movie, but a 25 min gravure film with Hawaii beauty Agnes Lum. Japanese men had such a crash for Lum (familiar from magazines and commercials) that Toei sent action director Atsushi Mihori (Criminal Woman: Killing Melody) to Hawaii to film this piece, and unloaded it onto screens as theatrical youth triple bill with Gang of Men: Delinquent Prison and Detonation: 750cc Tribe. Difficult to evaluate from the cinematic side - it largely lacks one - but for what it's worth, Lum looks stunning and (the costume department) has impeccable taste in bikini. Includes slow-motion running in bikini, and the Hawaii locations provide additional eye candy. Lum comes off sweet and naive, and the single interview scene where they try to force her talk about her body feels nasty and exploitative (unless her reactions were scripted for the pleasure of sadist Japanese viewers).



Best Guy (ベストガイ) (Japan, 1990) [VoD] - 1/5
A miserable Top Gun derivative from Toru Murakawa. The biggest problem is that while it's as superficial as Top Gun, it's not any wilder, imaginative or exploitative, it's just duller. The characters are cardboards, the Canadian band doing the music awful, and the film goes on forever at 114 min. The action, with some decent flying clumsily mixed with cast insert shots and background projections, seems half-watchable at first but even these scenes drag to no end. The title supposedly refers to a Japan Air Self-Defense Force rank, but it conveniently also works as a Karate Kid reference (known as “Best Kid” in Japan).

[47lab]

I recently watched Naoyuki Tomomatsu's EAT THE SCHOOLGIRL: OSAKA TELEPHONE CLUB (1997) at the suggestion of a buddy. I've seen some of Tomomatsu's other stuff like STACY, LUST OF THE DEAD, ZOMBIE SELF DEFENSE FORCE & MAID DROID, so I know he's someone that likes to mashup genres especially pink films with horror and supernatural elements. This is probably his most experimental and mean spirited vision of the pink /slasher/gore film. It's very cheap looking but that actually works to its advantage and while it's no GUINEA PIG or TUMBLING DOLLS OF FLESH, it still has some quite disturbing material. Story is about two low level chinpira working for the Yakuza, by randomly kidnapping girls off the street to be used by the Yakuza thugs in very sadistic gonzo rape porn. One them is a stuttering autistic fool and the other a quiet loner whose only sexual release is through phone sex clubs. The moron character is ridiculed by hookers he picks up and develops an intense hatred towards females in general. He can only get sexual satisfaction while violently mutilating and killing them. The loner guy suffers from PTSD from having witnessed his family murdered as a young child and has all sorts of visions and hallucinations. Some brutal scenes on display including a very graphic forced enema on a poor victim and another graphic disembowelment in the shower. Overall, it's not very good with just a bunch of guerilla street shots and no real directorial vision other than inserting various disturbing scenes for pure shock value but if you're a fan of this type of stuff, then it'll be worth checking out for the novelty. Features a soundtrack by noise band HARSH NOISE MOVEMENT with songs like Yakuza Enema & Semen Guts.

[47lab]

I saw Shinya Tsukamoto's first period samurai flick, ZAN aka KILLING the other night. I read a bit about the background of this flick and knowing Tsukamoto, I didn't expect it to be a long meditation on the samurai code or shit like that. Thankfully, Tsukamoto gets down to business early on the brisk pacing of the film is an asset. It's a fairly straightforward story about a samurai's reluctance to take another life and the implications it has for a family of farmers. The plum role is played Tsukamoto himself and he is excellent as the stoic ronin who is looking for young recruits to go to Edo and fight for the Tokugawa Shogunate against the Meiji restorationists. There are some weird Tsukamoto moments as to be expected but it's mostly a morality tale about the implications of a Samurai's code of Bushido and the vicious cycle of violent revenge and retribution that ensues. The downside is the limited budget as this could easily be mistaken for a low budget TV drama in terms of production value. Unfortunately, this cheap look really dampens the mood of the flick and there is a pivotal violent fight scene with a band of rogue ronins in their forest hideout but it's impact is lessened due to the cheap effects on display. On the other hand, the score was fantastic with a foreboding menacing soundtrack. Sadly, long time Tsukamoto collaborator, Chu Ishikawa passed away shortly after he scored this film.

[47lab]

After catching Nishimura's HAIRPIN CIRCUS recently, I decided to check out his hard boiled action film he did for Toho in 1970 titled ATTACK AT DAYLIGHT aka ATTACK AT HIGH NOON. First off, thanks to the always reliable ShaolinWolf for the subs! Stars Toshio Kurosawa as a roughneck truck driver who reunites with his old reform school buddy and a go go dancer at a club and they undertake in low level criminal activity (robbing prospective johns with Toshio's gf as the bait). After killing a rich college kid and injuring another, he goes on the lam with the assistance of a Yakuza and he is quickly blackmailed into joining the organization. Toshio shows the boss that he's got guts and isn't shy about killing and soon works himself up the ranks. After a betrayal, Toshio and his buddies (one of them a gaijin named Johnny) have a showdown with the police. Decent little flick with a great finale involving a bloody shootout on the pier. Nishimura seems partial to seeing people get shot in the eye! Another highlight was the jazz soundtrack by Terumasa Hino & Hiroki Tamaki.

[Ian Jane]

Thanks. PQ looks better than I figured. The burned in duel language subs don't bother me, I've seen plenty of Chinese movies like that in the past!

[47lab]

47, how is the picture quality? I don't need or expect perfection here but it is at least a legit HD transfer from a film source?

yeah, it's fine considering the source material. The audio is very good as well.The one issue is the burnt-in subtitles (Chinese on top, English on bottom) but it doesn't bother me at all. I can imagine the time and expense it would take to mask the subs and create new subs and doubt this label has that type of budget.

You can get a quick glimpse at the PQ in this sample of Michael Worth's audio commentary.

https://vimeo.com/365994304

[Ian Jane]

47, how is the picture quality? I don't need or expect perfection here but it is at least a legit HD transfer from a film source?

[47lab]

Received my blu ray of THE LEG FIGHTERS the other day. Gotta support this Pearl River Collection and any label that puts out these kung fu classics on blu ray. Watched it three times with all the audio options including the Michael Worth commentary. He has a very pleasant delivery and doesn't sound like a pompous twit like Bey Logan or a buffoon like Ric Meyers. I just marvel at the leg work of Dorian Tan but the fight between Master Mo (Sun Jung-chi) and Peng Kang was superb too. Of course, Ha Kwong-li is always nice - my fave movie from her was another Lee Tso-nam flick, THE WOMAN AVENGER. Love to see that movie get the blu ray treatment.

[Takuma]

King Kong vs. Godzilla (ã‚ングコング対ゴジラ) (Japan, 1962) [VoD] - 3/5
Fun entry with an awesome monster pairing, a more watchable than usual media satire storyline, and perhaps the most awesomely ridiculous Godzilla discovery scene in the whole series. Osman Yusuf appears for a few seconds as well. Version reviewed: Japanese.

Son of Godzilla (怪獣島の決戦 ゴジラの息å) (Japan, 1967) [VoD] - 2.5/5
Godzilla teaches toxic masculinity to his son. Intelligent kaiju film was 50 years ahead of its time.

The X from Outer Space (宇宙大怪獣ギララ) (Japan, 1967) [VoD] - 3/5
A pleasant surprise for a non kaiju fan. The opening half is dull as they tend to be, but then you get Guilala, the Nicolas Cage of giant space monsters! From there on it's non-stop destruction with a wonderfully monotonic score, an exciting car vs. giant monster chase, and the infinitely charismatic antenna-headed space-bird on drugs, Guilala.



Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla (ゴジラvsスペースゴジラ) (Japan, 1994) [VoD] - 2/5
The cutest minilla ever almost saves this watchable but unremarkable entry. The end fight has potential for an epic, but comes off unfocused. Megumi Okada from Hana no Asuka gumi co-stars, the score rips off You Only Live Twice.

South to the Horizon (南へ走れ、海の道を!) (Japan, 1986) [VoD] - 3/5
Three Okinawa punks fuck with the yakuza and pay the price. Fast forward one month and shift gear to revenge film as combat vet older brother Koichi Iwaki comes out of the jungle for vengeance. The main target is yakuza boss Hideo Murota. Delightfully violent b-action film disguised as Shochiku studio production, by former porn director Seiji Izumi who splatters the walls with blood and can't even resist wielding some chainsaw. Plenty of bad writing, several gaijin supporting actors (mostly good, not bad guys) and music cues so bad they shouldn't suffice even for b-cinema. And it's all rather enjoyable; the kind of action cinema Japan wasn't producing anymore in the 80s. You just need to get past the deceivingly dull opening act. Director Izumi's 80s mainstream work has been a discovery: he also did the renegade biker cop film On the Road (1982) and the gritty delinquent girl rock picture Majoran (1984), both minor cult classics.




Four Days of Snow and Blood (226) (Japan, 1989) [VoD] - 1.5/5
Dull military drama tries to humanize the men behind the infamous Feb. 26 1936 coup d'état attempt. This is of the few male-centric films by late Hideo Gosha who had switched almost exclusively to women's cinema in the 80s. It makes no difference, the man was long out of touch. The only points of interest here are the ridiculously packed cast - stars like Tetsuro Tanba, Tatsuya Nakadai, Tatsuo Umemiya, Hiroki Matsukata and even Takuzo Kawatani popping up in 2 minute roles, sometimes without a single line of dialogue (Nobuo Kaneko) - and the perspective which is strictly with the renegade military men. The other 2/26 film I've seen, the 1962 Ken Takakura film The Escape, focuses on the prime minister hiding in the house (barely featured in this film at all) and the police trying to save him.

For those who slept in their history class, the incident was about a conservative military wing trying to assassinate Western minded politicians, the prime minister being the prime target. They invaded the prime minister's house with several hundred men, but lacking smart phones and Google Image Search they committed the fuck-up of the century and killed the wrong man (the brother-in-law posing as the prime minister) without ever realizing their mistake. The real prime minister managed to hide in the house for several days and finally escape.