Favourite type of Asian cinema?

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 20 Mar 2006, 12:57

Just wondering what sort of Asian films you enjoy?

Appologies for the somewhat general categories, but it's just to get some sort of idea. I know that a lot of Asian titles are multi-genred (Save the Green Planet anyone?) and some countries handle a style completely different from another.

I reckon for me, it'd be drama/melodrama - especially from Japan and South Korea. Perhaps it's because I'm a sucker for a good romance story or something.

Also love my extreme stuff (Miike) and action (if it's done well).

I'm not a huge fan of comedy, especially from HK. Just doesn't translate well for me I'm afraid. But there are exceptions (Shaolin Soccer).

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 20 Mar 2006, 13:29

Martial arts/Action/Sci-fi/War etc

A large category it has to be said, action and martial arts and sci fi would be better suited to their own category really, but hey I love them all

cannot say I see many "Sexual Exploitation" films

Mordib · Post by **Mordib** » 20 Mar 2006, 13:38

yeah what counts as 'violence/sexual' exploitation bisc?

Im going for the top one since it prety much covers every other catagory anyway

m.

Keung · Post by **Keung** » 20 Mar 2006, 13:47

My vote goes to Martial Arts but I also like comedies.....mostly action comedies....Jackie Chan in other words.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 20 Mar 2006, 14:46

Man that's a hard one.

I went for "Drama/Melodrama" but only because I could pick one.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 20 Mar 2006, 15:10

It seems I'm the only one to vote 'violence/sexual' exploitation'. The japanese 1970's exploitation cinema is by far by favourite genre.

Mordib wrote:yeah what counts as 'violence/sexual' exploitation bisc?

Probably films like Sex & Fury, Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs, School of the Holy Beast, Angel Guts series... (those are some of the best films I saw last year)

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 20 Mar 2006, 15:22

Yeah I love action comedies too. Would Jackie, Sammo etc be in the top category?
I've never heard of any of those movies Hung, what about Naked Killer etc?

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 20 Mar 2006, 15:28

Drama/Melodrama, well I cannot say I can think of many great ones myself from asia.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 20 Mar 2006, 15:35

But you're not a "Drama/Melodrama" fan.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 20 Mar 2006, 15:50

Im not into horror and exploitation flicks, but I'm pretty much into all kinds of genre's. I just wanna watch good movies, regardless of type/category.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 20 Mar 2006, 16:04

bradavon wrote:But you're not a "Drama/Melodrama" fan.

Not at all. I love good films, doesnt matter what they are I see loads, just cannot think of many great asian Drama/Melodramas, esspecially latley.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 20 Mar 2006, 16:09

grim_tales wrote: I've never heard of any of those movies Hung

Damn. You should check them out. Sex and Fury has one of the best swordfight scenes in movie history. It's also a visually stunning film with a great soundtrack. If you are unfamiliar with the genre, this is a perfect film to strat with. The sequel (Female Yakuza Tale) is also great. Both are available on R1 dvd with stunning transfers.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v716/ ... fury_5.jpg

Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs (1974) (don't confuse with the new straight to video films) is a super cool and extremely violent crime film starring my favourite actress; Miki Sugimoto.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v716/ ... organg.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v716/ ... dyface.jpg

School of the Holy Beast is a stunningly beautiful nunspoitation film directed by Norifumi Suzuki.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/S ... bcap2a.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/S ... hbcapa.jpg

Angel Guts series is a kind of combination of art and exploitation. The films are only connected by theme (rape). There's five films in the original series, produded by Nikkatsu (more films were later made by other sudios): Highschool Co-ed is a violent but somewhat intelligent gang film (a bit like A Clockwork Orange, but more exploitative and not quite as good). Red Classroom is a slow paced character drama, Nami is a nice combination of extreme violence and beautiful, almost poetic scenes. Red Porno is a really sleazy but still interesting film (weakest in the series) and Red Vertigo is a slightly surreal, visually stunning and twisted love story.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v716/ ... hsce2a.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Shurayuki/rc4.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/S ... /nami5.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/S ... /nami0.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Shurayuki/RP3.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/S ... ertigo.jpg

And I forgot to mention R1 Pinky Violence Collection featuring 4 great films: Deliquent Girl Boss: Worthless to Confess (featuring a stunning samurai sword massacre), Birl Boss Guerilla (topless female bikers), Criminal Woman: Killing Melody (really cool crime film) and Terrifying Girls' High School: Lynch Law Classroom (stuff you don't see in your average high school film; Suicides, sadistic torture scenes, lesbian sex, gang wars…)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v716/ ... till6g.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v716/ ... still1.jpg

And of course there's the classic Female Prisoner Scorpion films starring Meiko Kaji
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Shurayuki/701.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/S ... i/7011.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/S ... ouse41.jpg

grim_tales wrote: what about Naked Killer etc?

Yeah, though it's a bit "soft" compared to japanese exploitation films

EDIT: didn't realize I had written that much

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 20 Mar 2006, 16:23

Cheers Hung

May buy one of them with my next purchase to check out

Can't say that I'm that familliar with Japanese exploitation cinema in general. What would Ichi The Killer count as?

Keung · Post by **Keung** » 20 Mar 2006, 16:44

Yea, Zero Woman is the shit. Check it out Grim!

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 20 Mar 2006, 16:48

grim_tales wrote: What would Ichi The Killer count as?

I'm not quite sure. I never though of it as an exploitation film, but maybe someone else does. Personally I think it's just a violent comedy. Japanese exploitation is actually a genre that is very hard to define. For example Red Classroom is 10% exploitation and 90% art film, yet it is generally considered as exploitation. Same goes with Jailhouse 41, which is one of the most surreal and visually striking movies ever made. Battle Roale is also very close to exploitation, and if it was a bit more over-the-top and a bit less intelligent everyone would be calling it exploitation.

One more thing: Personally I think Naked Killed fits the category, but it's not really a good example of "Violent/Sexual Exploitation" IMO. Japanese exploitation is more serious even though it's over the top, while Naked Killer is a pure camp film where violence is played for laughs.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 20 Mar 2006, 17:08

grim_tales wrote:May buy one of them with my next purchase to check out

I bet you don't

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 20 Mar 2006, 17:12

Martial arts/Action/Sci-fi/War etc

Huh? That's four different genres!

I love Martial Arts but don't like Sci Fi... and how many War films can you think of?

Thus I picked Police/gangster.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 20 Mar 2006, 17:17

I said MAY

Theres stackloads of other films I want to buy

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 20 Mar 2006, 18:15

Markgway wrote:
Huh? That's four different genres!

Aye but assed listing every single genre known to mankind min.

Those genres generally have some sort of action element to them so that's why I listed them together for simplicity.

I think the sexploitation genre was explained nicely by HungFist. Although I did mean to include the extreme stuff by Miike in that category, as he quite often uses profound sexual/violent imagery in his films (Izo, Gozu, Visitor Q etc). Didn't realise we had quite a dedicated fan though...

romerojpg wrote: Drama/Melodrama, well I cannot say I can think of many great ones myself from asia.

Sekai no Chushin de, ai wo Sakebu
Hana and Alice
Nobody Knows
Oasis
Marathon
Fly me to Polaris
Twilight Samurai
A Moment to Remember
Bungee Jumping of their Own
Il Mare
Hinokio: Inter Galactic Love

I just thought of these titles in a space of 30seconds. All of them I'd class as excellent dramas and/or melodramas. They convey emotion without the need to go overboard.

However there is plenty of crap out there, titles that are way overly sentimental to the point where you wanna hurl. These include:

2 Young
Moonlight Jellyfish
Moon Child

I think Japan and Korea are masters at handling this genre(s). Will need to check out more HK titles but I'm not a fan of them using idols.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 20 Mar 2006, 23:03

Hey would the film "In the Realm of Senses" (aka Ai No Korida) be a sexploitation film? There's a lot of porking in that movie... I mean... that's all that happens when you think about it.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 20 Mar 2006, 23:22

Here is my review of "High School Co-ed", from the "Angel Guts"-series:
http://www.asia-on-dvd.com/ftr/reviews/ogr/hsce.htm

And Hung... Meiko Kaji is one of the most beautiful Japanese women ever.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 20 Mar 2006, 23:51

I accidently selected Drama/Melodrama, could one of you mods please remove one vote off that and add one to Police/Gangster for me? Thanks.

BiscLimpkit wrote: However there is plenty of crap out there, titles that are way overly sentimental to the point where you wanna hurl. These include:

2 Young
Moonlight Jellyfish
Moon Child

Add "Lost in Time" to that list.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 21 Mar 2006, 00:13

Add "Lost in Time" to that list.

Lost in Time ? Crap ?!

LD, bite him !

Shen · Post by **Shen** » 21 Mar 2006, 00:15

oh oh oh can i bite him?!!? biting people is fun, i randomly bite my family

i bited my mom on the finger in the city while she was waving it around i got a slapp round the head but it was fun

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 21 Mar 2006, 00:24

Tom2681 wrote:
Add "Lost in Time" to that list.
Lost in Time ? Crap ?!

EvaUnit02 wrote:Lost in Time is manipulative contrived garbage. The sickening piano and string solos, the little kid spouting lines like "What is dead?" "I miss you daddy.", ugh.

For what it's worth Cecilia Cheung's and Lau Ching Wan's acting in it is top notch.

Bullets 'n' Babes

Favourite type of Asian cinema?

What's your favourite type of Asian cinema?

Favourite type of Asian cinema?