What Asian Films Have You Been Watching Recently?

[Takuma]

Watched Shogoro Nishimura's roman porno take on the dokufu Oden Takahashi story, CRIMSON NIGHT DREAM. This was pretty lame and didn't go into her notorious crime at all but rather focused on making her a sympathetic figure who was abused by her brute of a husband and only found respite from his boorish behavior in the arms of her new found lover. A few foggy sex scenes and a couple of lingering shots of the debauched housemaid were not worth the effort of seeking this out. I'd rather watch the old Nobuo Nakagawa movie based on her life than this pile of crap.

Neither the story description nor the screencaps you posted belong to Nishimura's Crimson Night Dream (which I think is one of Nishimura's better Roman Porno films). Nishimura's film portrays Oden Takahashi as a sympathetic woman who was trying to take care of her sick (and relatively nice guy, if my memory serves me correct) husband. It also shows the murder she committed.







Your screencaps seen to be from something called 秘蔵版　日傘の女

[47lab]

Watched Shogoro Nishimura's roman porno take on the dokufu Oden Takahashi story, CRIMSON NIGHT DREAM. This was pretty lame and didn't go into her notorious crime at all but rather focused on making her a sympathetic figure who was abused by her brute of a husband and only found respite from his boorish behavior in the arms of her new found lover. A few foggy sex scenes and a couple of lingering shots of the debauched housemaid were not worth the effort of seeking this out. I'd rather watch the old Nobuo Nakagawa movie based on her life than this pile of crap.













On my "to watch list" I have the Kara Hui revenge actioner, MRS K, the Korean action noir thriller, REAL & the loose remake BETTER TOMORROW 2018. Hope to watch all 3 of these this weekend.

[Takuma]

Bullet Terror (恐怖の弾痕) (Japan, 1957) [35mm] - 2.5/5
A young judo expert (Akira Takarada) assumes a white collar job in a night club company that is being harassed by the yakuza and their sword for hire bodyguard (Jun Tazaki), whose father was once upon a time killed by the judo guy's good-for-nothing father (talk about coincidences) - an incident that has stained the decent son's life and career ever since. The new employer soon turns out to be no better - their real business is revealed to be narcotics. Mildly entertaining b-action film with a couple of judo vs. sword duels. The storyline and characterization are purely programmer stuff, though, and some scenes are badly dated (e.g. long episode featuring a time bomb ticking in the clueless hero's car while he's chasing the bad guy).



Blood and Diamonds (血とダイヤモンド) (Japan, 1964) [35mm] - 3/5
A diamond heist goes wrong, leaving one member bleeding with a bullet in the stomach. They retreat to a bunker where tensions begin to rise. This Toho crime thriller by Jun Fukuda bears striking similarity to Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (far more than City on Fire) and some plot elements can't be discussed without spoiling both films. Blood and Diamonds isn't as tightly written but features a noirish atmosphere and interesting characterization especially regarding bleeding, sweat-covered gangster Makoto Sato whose greed for money is bone chilling. Takashi Shimura plays a doctor whose daughter is captured by the gangsters to force him to dig out the bullet of Sato's stomach.

Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (座é å¸‚と用心棒) (Japan, 1970) [BD] - 3.5/5
Part 20. There's a scene in many of the Zatoichi films where Zatoichi is walking down a countryside road and enjoying life's little pleasures, such as the sun gently embracing his face. This film starts with the rain beating his face. He is sick and tired of it all, the rain, the coldness, the killing. This was the second film in the series produced by Katsu's own company. From visuals to characterization it's a much darker take on the franchise, devoid of the kind of beauty and romanticism that were present in the more conservative crowd pleasers produced by Daiei. Of course, it's still an extremely commercial film with some humorous moments and two legendary characters, but they are both given a grittier portrayal than one might expect. At 115 minutes it's the longest film in the series, and while it may not rank among the very best, the final 20 minutes is quite spectacular with director Okamoto, composer Ikufube, cinematographer Miyagawa and the cast all doing amazing job. In addition to Mifune and Katsu, there are excellent supporting turns by Shin Kishida (assassin) and Kanjuro Arashi (sculptor).



(Maruhi) Jorí´ zankoku iro-jigoku ((秘)女郎残酷色地獄) (Japan, 1973) [35mm] - 2/5
This Roman Porno film has, for some reason, been neglected in English language writing to the extent that it doesn't seem to have an English title. The loss is not big. Decently acted and produced, but unimaginatively directed by the artistically non-gifted Shinichi Shiratori, it's yet another sad story of girls forced to work as courtesans in Edo. Leading girl Rie Nakagawa was one of the early Roman Porno starlets, and had a slight edge over some of her fellow actresses in terms of acting talent.

Once a Thief (Hong Kong, 1991) [DVD] - 3.5/5
John Woo's fun and stylish caper where, surprisingly enough, Chow Yun Fat is the weakest link. I used to love the film but seeing it again now I must say Chow is more irritating than charming with his comedy act. He does have his moments though, and there are times when the dumb humour works in the "only in Hong Kong" sense. Otherwise the film is quite enjoyable with cool cinematography, fun action and occasional master class scenes, such as the encounter in front of a grocery store, and the wonderful dance scene which ranks among Woo's finest moments.

Zatoichi (座é å¸‚) (Japan, 2003) [DVD] - 3/5
Kitano's over-rated revival of the legendary character features good moments (e.g. the tap dance scene) but suffers from a mediocre script. Kitano himself makes a passable but forgettable Zatoichi. He acquits himself well with sword, and the action could be quite enjoyable if it wasn't for the God-awful CGI blood. Co-star Tadanobu Asano plays a hired-by-the-yakuza ronin with a sick wife, a strangely under-written character whose kind is familiar from dozens of ninkyo yakuza films. The score is pretty good at times, though no Hisaishi. Looking back at the film and its initial popularity, it probably benefitted from Kitano and Asano having been at the height of their popularity, and many viewers not having been terribly familiar with Japanese yakuza and jidai geki films beyond Kurosawa, mistaking Kitano's "vision" as something more original than it really was. It's not that different from Shintaro Katsu's Zatoichi films, and in the Zatoichi cannon it's a pretty mediocre entry.

Exodus (Hong Kong, 2007) [DVD] - 4/5
A police officer (Simon Yam) begins to suspect women are conspiring to kill all men from the face of earth. Brilliant mixture of satire and paranoia thriller is mostly played straight, without underestimating the viewer, much in the sense of 70s cinema that could be playfully outrageous yet take itself seriously enough not to wink its eye at the viewer every bloody 10 seconds. The latter only happens a few times in Exodus, mainly the poor opening scene and some bits near the end in an otherwise excellent film. Watching the film kept thinking if Twitch Film's Todd Brown has seen the it and taken offence. He had, and he did. Oh, and the cinematography is lovely as well.

[47lab]

Caught the Korean political crime thriller, V.I.P. directed by Park Hoon-jung. I had high expectations going into this one due to 1) having been scripted & helmed by the guy who wrote the screenplays for I SAW THE DEVIL & THE UNJUST and directed NEW WORLD (all 3 are very good to excellent flicks), 2) starring some big name actors such as Jang Dong-gun, Kim Myung-min and rising young actor, Lee Jong-suk & 3) being a fan in general of Korean crime thrillers as they have a knack for the genre...well, I guess my expectations were too high as this was a terribly disjointed movie with a ridiculous politically motivated plot line. Not too mention it was boring for most of its runtime. The bookend opening and closing scenes were okay but this flick needed some serious editing (another in a long line of Korea films that are over 2 hours) & Lee Jong-suk, with his delicate flower boy looks appeared to be the perfect candidate for the role of the effete North Korean serial killer but halfway in, I realized he was miscast. He lacked any depth to his character and his attempts to emote any type of sinister aura was a joke. Also, that Swedish actor from FARGO (Steve Buscemi's partner in crime) is in this as a CIA operative and he was terrible! The director could've gotten some fat balding sexpat from Itaewon to play that role more convincingly. I believe this is also Jang Dong-gun's first movie since that godawful NO TEARS FOR THE DEAD and he plays a similar type of character. What happened to this guy? He had a string of great roles in the late 90s to early 2000s & was poised to be Korea's breakout star in the West. I blame that movie he did with Kate Bosworth as starting his downfall.

[47lab]

Oh shit! Will fix that immediately.

I am trying! About to make a concerted effort to get a Taiwanese exploitation film from the early 80s. Wish me luck!

Also have a bead on some more vintage Korean films! So hopefully sometime in the next two years we'll be able to do more of those.

okay, the PM should go through now. So check your inbox if you don't get a notification.

Early 80s Taiwanese exploitation? Hope it's one of the 'rape and revenge' black films like GIRL WITH A GUN. :up:

[Jared A.]

Oh shit! Will fix that immediately.

I am trying! About to make a concerted effort to get a Taiwanese exploitation film from the early 80s. Wish me luck!

Also have a bead on some more vintage Korean films! So hopefully sometime in the next two years we'll be able to do more of those.

[47lab]

@Jared from Mondo Macabro.

I tried to PM you back but get this message.

Jared A. has exceeded their stored private messages quota and cannot accept further messages until they clear some space.

Btw, when are you going to acquire more Korean horror titles or Asian titles in general?

[47lab]

Had a few movies on my "to watch queue" that I finally got around to catching earlier today. First up was Kinji Fukasaku's DRIFTING DETECTIVE: TRAGEDY IN RED VALLEY. I was thinking it was going to be neat to see a real young Sonny Chiba in a 'drifter' type series with a heavy Western influence but damn, he was goofy as hell here. On top of that, he wasn't even funny in the supposed comedic scenes & Chiba's hammy acting was strictly amateur hour. This is only recommended for Chiba completists and those interested in seeing one of Fukasaku's early works. I believe he made another flick right after in this DRIFTING DETECTIVE series & can only hope that one is more entertaining than this one.

Next up was Joseph Kuo's THE SEISURE SOUL SWORD OF A BLIND GIRL. Okay, lead actress Cheung Ching-ching is no BLIND OICHI in the CRIMSON BAT series but she puts in a decent effort here. Similar storyline about a blind girl trained by a master and sets on her path for vengeance. I like the fact, this flick doesn't get too much into her backstory, instead it goes straight to the point of what the viewers want to see and that is this blind lady fucking up the baddies with her 'magic' sword. I cracked up at the rather primitive optical effects that show the 'power' of her sword onscreen but can't really expect much from these low budget Taiwanese martial arts flicks. It was still entertaining despite my copy sourced from Jamal having embedded Korean subtitles over the English ones which was annoying.

The best for last and that was Miike's BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL. I'll have more to say about this flick on its own thread but suffice to say, it was goofy fun. I really enjoyed this one on a purely visceral level. One of the better Miike flicks in recent memory and I prefer this over his adaptations of 13 ASSASSINS and HARI-KIRI.

[47lab]

Caught a triple header today. First up was Kam Bo's BLIND FIST OF BRUCE starring Ho Chung-tao & Simon Yuen. Got the German print here from Akuma with the custom English dub. Kind of a nondescript film in the sub-genre of Brucesploitation but Beggar Su certainly helps elevate it above some others.

Next up was the Korean political crime thriller, THE TRUTH BENEATH directed by Lee Kyoung-mi. I've seen her debut work, CRUSH AND BLUSH and I have to admit I really wasn't a fan of it. Enjoyed this one much more. She's got close ties with Park Chan-wook and even worked as an AD & script writer for SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE and one can see Park Chan-wook's influence in this flick. Lead actress, Son Ye-jin gives a fantastic performance as a mother who slowly discovers the secret behind her daughter's disappearance on the eve of her husband's campaign for political office. The actress who played the missing daughter in question, Shin Ji-hoon deserves plaudits for her performance here as well. She's a pop singer & former competitive amateur figure skater & now one can confidently add actress to her list of talents. She certainly has a bright future. Yes, some parts were overly long and the editing and visuals had a bit too much in terms of arthouse pretensions for my liking but overall, I thought this was a highly entertaining and engrossing thriller which treads on some dark territory without being overly morose.

Last was Yasuzo Masamura's JOTAI aka VIXEN starring Ruriko Asaoka & Eiji Okada. I read a brief synopsis beforehand and I couldn't help but feel this femme fatale role was tailor made for Masumura muse, Ayako Wakao. But after finishing the movie, my original thought was wrong -- this role was made for Asaoka as Wakao might have been a bit too 'refined' for this role. A role that required Asaoka to play the wild sexually liberated modern woman to the hilt but without being a caricature. Masumura's favorite themes are all present here (individualism, battle of the sexes, hypocrisy of patriarchal society, etc) & they are laid bare for the viewer to see and laid on a bit too thickly for my taste but i can't deny that I was fixated on Asaoka's onscreen antics. As prolific as Masamura was working within the confines of the studio system, he sure had a helluva run of films there in his middle period - not a dud among them. Can't say that about many other directors.

[47lab]

Re-watched Lee Tso-nam's LEG FIGHTERS aka THE INVINCIBLE KUNG FU LEGS. Ha Kwong-li is the standout for me here & as the title suggests, it's all about the legs baby! I'm a fan of Dorian Tan but I've always enjoyed John Liu, Bruce Leung, Casanova Wong & Chen Shan more. Of course, Hwang Jang-lee is on another level altogether.

Also, re-watched Parkman Wong's FINAL JUSTICE. I remember initially watching it for Stephen Chow playing the low level hoodlum who steals cars and drives them for Shing Fui-on's criminal gang. Now on the re-watch, I have to say the thing that impresses me the most about this flick was the bad guys. Tommy Wong and Victor Hon were pretty bad ass here but Shing Fui-on was the scene stealer. Shame he passed on before his time as I'll always remember him as one of HK's best villain character actors. Sure he was typecast as a Triad heavy but he sure suited that role to a T. Fung Hak-on was another one who passed away recently, who really did a great job playing the ruthless bad guy onscreen. RIP to both. As far as lead, Danny Lee...he was okay but nothing special that distinguishes him from his other flicks playing the ubiquitous rebellious cop character.

[agent999]

Very much agreed. It's a messy film, but also kind of fun, the kind of crazy exploitation/crime/horror/comedy hybrid that only Hong Kong cinema could produce. Although not a "CAT III" flick, I think you would feel comfortable putting it next to all the CAT III films in your DVD shelf...

I watched this a few months ago, I agree completely, this is insane fun. Ridiculous ending too! Not having seen much recent HK cinema, is there anything comparable to this sort of genre mash up still being made today?

[Takuma]

The second was the giallo infused crime thriller, THE RED PANTHER (1983) directed by Kong Lung. Lead Eurasian actor, James Yi looks like chubby Asian Frank Zappa and has a running gag about his hemorrhoids which becomes super annoying about a third of the way in & his scenes with his bed wench nurse was also tiresome but the gradual divulging of the identity of the serial killer was quite entertaining & I would've never guessed who it ended up being. Some gory deaths scenes mixed in with some giallo suspense and off beat slapstick humor made for a decent if uneven flick.

Very much agreed. It's a messy film, but also kind of fun, the kind of crazy exploitation/crime/horror/comedy hybrid that only Hong Kong cinema could produce. Although not a "CAT III" flick, I think you would feel comfortable putting it next to all the CAT III films in your DVD shelf...

[47lab]

Tuesdays are reserved for martial arts flicks, so decided to check out Ho Meng-hua's SWIFT SWORD (1980) starring Wang Yu (Wong Yue) & Lo Lieh as what else but the main villain dressed up in his Pai Mei (white eyebrows) get up. This is a wuxia based on the Louis Cha novel, SWORD STAINED WITH ROYAL BLOOD and it has quite an elaborate plot with a multitude of characters but this flick dumbs it down a bit compared to the other remakes (3 or 4?) as it doesn't involve long flashback sequences. It was okay but something about Wang Yu always bothered me. He can be quite annoying playing his usual comedic roles but here he's playing it straight and he just doesn't have the presence required of the role. I enjoyed Philip Kwok much more in the other remake released by Shaw a couple years later. I have no such reservations about Lo Lieh as he can play these villain roles in his sleep and play them convincingly. The actual swordplay and martial arts on display is decent enough. I read this was Ho Meng-hua's last flick for SBs, so he went out with a whimper rather than a bang.

Next up was a re-watch of Wilson Tong's 1979 kung fu comedy, KUNG FU GENIUS. This might be my favorite Cliff Lok flick all around. THE RING OF DEATH, DUEL OF THE 7 TIGERS & MAD MAD KUNG FU (also directed by the aforementioned Ho Meng-hua) are good as well but I really like him here. For me, it's a good mix of Kung Fu comedy and on screen fight choreography which doesn't bore the viewer. A lot of the credit goes to Cliff Lok's screen presence but also to Wilson Tong, who was not only the main villain but also the action director. Old stalwarts like Lee Hoi-san, Peter Chan-lung and Shaw second tier star, Hsiao Ho impress in their scenes too especially Hsiao Ho with his usual superb acrobatics. I have this Japanese print here but fan subbed & dubbed by Akuma with both English options.

[47lab]

Re-watched a couple of CATIII flicks with the first one being Johnny Lee's 1993 police thriller, A DAY WITHOUT POLICEMEN. Hilarious watching Simon Yam suffering from impotence and episodes of PTSD every time he sees an AK-47. Perhaps a nod to feminism as the female characters (Yam's wife and sister-in-law) have more balls than Yam and Tommy Wong put together.

The second was the giallo infused crime thriller, THE RED PANTHER (1983) directed by Kong Lung. Lead Eurasian actor, James Yi looks like chubby Asian Frank Zappa and has a running gag about his hemorrhoids which becomes super annoying about a third of the way in & his scenes with his bed wench nurse was also tiresome but the gradual divulging of the identity of the serial killer was quite entertaining & I would've never guessed who it ended up being. Some gory deaths scenes mixed in with some giallo suspense and off beat slapstick humor made for a decent if uneven flick.

[47lab]

Decided to check out one of the flicks in release last night and was debating between Jackie Chan's latest sci-fi, BLEEDING STEEL or Kim Yong-hwa's fantasy film, ALONG WITH THE GODS: THE TWO WORLDS. My buddy had seen BLEEDING STEEL a couple of days ago and told me it was pap, so went ahead to check out the Korean flick. I had read a few tidbits of this movie and knew it was a box office sensation in Korea but didn't go in with any real expectations. It's based on a webtoon and a sequel was shot at the same time and scheduled for release next year. In the last few years, I've sensed Korean VFX (CGI) work was gaining traction on Hollywood's best work particularly the effects work coming out of Dexter Studios & it's on full display here. This is a big budget film for Korea and it definitely shows as the visuals are pretty impressive. Nothing original or anything that stands out but it's fair to say that it's on par with anything Hollywood puts out. The story was a bit of mixed bag though - I liked the initial storyline but it veered off wildly in two different directions (mystery crime thriller & tearjerker melodrama) and wasn't cohesive as a whole. I was ready for the tearjerker aspect even if it felt a bit contrived because if there is a sure thing, it's go for the filial piety angle and you'll have the native audience wallowing in their tears (sure enough I could hear the muffled tears among the audience) but the secondary plot involving the younger brother's disappearance from his mandatory military service didn't really tie in and it felt like it was there just to promote the upcoming second film. Speaking of which, the sequel is teased at the end and it piqued my interest as none other than Ma Dong-seok will be one of the "guardians" - I can't help but to think the sequel might be more entertaining than this first entry. Lead actor, Cha tae-hyun is okay but he's well within his comfort zone here as I've seen him play these type of 'everyday man' roles ad nauseum in dramas as well as films...I realize he's made his career out of playing the comedic bumbling nice guy role but I'd like to see him play a serial killer or evil Chaebol type for once.