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CONTEMPORARY EAST ASIAN CINEMA

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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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	DREAM 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
RING 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
	RING 2 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
IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE WONG KAR-WAI, 2000  SCREENPLAY: CAST: Mimi Nakatami, Yôichi Numata  RUNTIME: 95 min COUNTRY: Honk Kong/France LANGUAGE: Cantonese/Shangainese SUBTITLES: English
	SUICIDE CLUB 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
NORIKO'S DINNER TABLE 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
	THE BOW 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
OLD BOY 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
	BEIJING BICYCLE 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
A TALE OF TWO SISTERS  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
	YELLOW EARTH 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
BATTLE ROYALE 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.