Monday, September 27, 2010

WATCH CONTEMPORARY EAST ASIAN CINEMA ONLINE


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Welcome to the series on Contemporary East Asian cinema. This movies represent a selection encompassing the last two decades, and they are mostly J-horror and Art House flicks that showcase the skilful and the idiosyncratic storytelling techniques of Asian directors. This films need to be understood as mirrors of the...




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KI-DUK KIM, 2008 
SCREENPLAY: Ki-duk Kim
CAST: Jô Odagiri, Na-yeong Lee, Mi-hie Jang
RUNTIME: 95 min
COUNTRY: South Korea
LANGUAGE: Korean 
SUBTITLES: English

HIDEO NAKATA, 1998 
SCREENPLAY: Hiroshi Takahashi, from a novel by Kôji Suzuki
CAST: Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Ino'o  
RUNTIME: 96 min
COUNTRY: Japan
LANGUAGE: Japanese 
SUBTITLES: English


HIDEO NAKATA, 1999 
SCREENPLAY: Hiroshi Takahashi, from a novel by Kôji Suzuki
CAST: Mimi Nakatami, Yôichi Numata 
RUNTIME: 95 min
COUNTRY: Japan
LANGUAGE: Japanese 
SUBTITLES: English
WONG KAR-WAI, 2000 
SCREENPLAY:
CAST: Mimi Nakatami, Yôichi Numata 
RUNTIME: 95 min
COUNTRY: Honk Kong/France
LANGUAGE: Cantonese/Shangainese
SUBTITLES: English


SHION SONO, 2001 
SCREENPLAY: Shion Sono
CAST: Rio Ishibashi, Masatoshi Nagase, Rolly, Yoko Kamon, Sayako Agiwara 
RUNTIME: 99 min
COUNTRY: Japan
LANGUAGE: Japanese
SUBTITLES: English
SHION SONO, 2005 
SCREENPLAY: Shion Sono, adapted from his own novel
CAST: Kazue Fukiishi, Tsugumi, Yuriko Yoshitaka, Sanae Miyata 
RUNTIME: 159 min
COUNTRY: Japan
LANGUAGE: Japanese
SUBTITLES: English


KI-DUK KIM, 2005 
SCREENPLAY: Ki-duk Kim
CAST: Yeo-reum Han, Si-jeok Seo, Gook-hwan Jeon, Seong-kwang Jeon, Seok-hyeon Jo 
RUNTIME: 90 min
COUNTRY: South Korea/Japan
LANGUAGE: Korean
SUBTITLES: English
CHAN-WUUK PARK, 2003 
SCREENPLAY: Chan-wook Park et al.
CAST: Min-sik Choi, Ji-tae Yu, Hye-jeong Kang
RUNTIME: 120 min
COUNTRY: South Lorea
LANGUAGE: Korean

SUBTITLES: English 
WARNING!! Shocking and very graphic images. Rated R-18 in most countries


XIAOSHUAI WANG, 2001 
SCREENPLAY: Peggy Chiao, Hsiao-ming Hsu, Danian Tang, Xiaoshuai Wang
CAST: Lin Cui, Bin Li, Xun Zhou, Yuanyuan Gao, Shuang Li 
RUNTIME: 113 min
COUNTRY: China, Taiwan, France
LANGUAGE: Mandarin
SUBTITLES: English
JI-WOON KIM, 2003
SCREENPLAY: Ji-Woon Kim
CAST: Geou-Young Moon, Su-jeong Lim, Yung-ha Yum, Kap-Su Kim 
RUNTIME: 115 min
COUNTRY: South Korea
LANGUAGE: South Korea
SUBTITLES: English


KAIGE CHEN, 1984 
SCREENPLAY: Kaige Chen, from a novel by Lan Ke
CAST: Xueki Wang, Bai Xue, Quiang Liu, Tuo Tan 
RUNTIME: 89 min
COUNTRY: China
LANGUAGE: Mandarin 
SUBTITLES: English
KINJI FUKASAKU, 2000

SCREENPLAY: Kenta Fukasaku, from a novel by Koushun Takami
CAST: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Taro Yamamotu, Masanobu Ando, Chiaki Kuriyama, Takeshi Kitano
RUNTIME: 114 min
COUNTRY: Japan
LANGUAGE: Japanese
SUBTITLES: English




...cultures within which they have been created, and of which they are inevitably permeated. And in fact many cultural facts are key to the full understanding of this kind of films.

Many works produced in East Asia don't get shown in theatres in the West; so most of the people who watch them do so on DVD or online media. And yet, some of these film are so influential and full of meaning (and profitable) that producers want to distribute them in their countries. The result is the remake. Many J-horror have been remade in the US, as for instance The Ring and The Ring 2, originating from the two Japanese movies present in this series but honestly, the result cannot really compare to the original. The American versions loose that deep creepy atmosphere from the original, and that is one of the main factors for the appeal of those films. This is a welcome change for Western audiences, used to the cheap thrills and gore provided by Hollywood horror flicks. Unsurprisingly, for the American sequel to The Ring series, Dark Waters, the original Japanese director Hideo Nakata and the writer were chosen to take charge of the film.

Is maybe the remake the sign of Hollywood's involvement with the modern trend of outsourcing to Asia? It would certainly seem so, but at the same time Asian cinema is benefiting from this too because, even though the foreign box-office success is still not particularly evident, Home Cinema sales are soaring.
The value of East Asian films has by now been noticed and recognized by the Western directors, and their influence can be seen in the last decade or so. The poetic Art House flicks of Kim Ki-duk and Wong Kar-wai attract many followers among westerners, and have sometimes risen to the status of cult movies.
So, lovers of East Asian cinema, enjoy all the movies in this list, and stay tuned, we are definitely not done with Asia yet.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi, new to the site, thanks.

Antonius Block said...

Hello.
Welcome to my site. Hope you enjoy the posts

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Anonymous said...

Fasting comes after feasting.

Antonius Block said...

I guess so.
:-)
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