[Anomander Rake]

There are quite a lot good movies that come out of east asia, with some movies being remade by Hollywood. Its unfortunate that it is quite hard to get hold of most of the films in the UK.

What East Asian movies would you recommend?

Here's some that I've seen and recommend:

Very Good
Internal Affairs - This was remade remade by Hollywood as 'The Departed'. I saw the original well before the Departed was made.
Arahan - Supernatural Kung-fu comedy, really liked this especially the restaurant scene.
My Sassy Girl - This is a popular romantic comedy in Korea
The Good, the bad, the weird - Western style asian action movie
Chocolate - This is a awesome action movies (if you liked Ong Bak, you'll love this). About a autistic girl who learns fighting by watching tv, and kicks-ass. The stunts, the action were top notch and crazy.
Azumi 1 & 2 - A sword fighting assassin film.
Battle Royale - A school class get put on a island, and has to kill each other until 1 is left standing.



Okay

Old Boy - This is a very messed up film, I heard all the hype so thought I'll watch it, found it kinda sick.
Shoalin Soccer


I've seens quite a lot of other films (including the obvious ones such as Hero, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and will add others that I would recommend.

This post has been edited by Anomander Rake: 01 April 2011 - 07:08 PM

[Coco with marshmallows]

You mention Ong Bak, but don't actually list it?

HERESY!

Also, Born to Fight was by the same stunt team, pretty good, though a few bloody stupid points.

Also, you mean Infernal Affairs

Also, the John Woo/Chow Yun Fat back catalogue is good (Hard Boiled, The Killer, A Better Tomorrow 1 & 2, Bullet In the Head)

And you can't mention East Asia without mentioning "The Emperor" Kurosawa -

Shichinin no Samurai,
Rashomon,
Sanjuro,
Throne of Blood (admittedly, this is Macbeth)
Kagemusha,
Ran (admittedly, this is King Lear )
Sanshiro Sugata 1 and 2,

I'm also a fan of "Beat" Takeshi Kitano:
Sonatine,
Hana-Bi,
Zatoichi (Love this personally)

[worry]

Have you seen Kikujiro?? My favorite of his.

[amphibian]

Chocolate was terrible. Ong Bak at least had the rudiments of a story and a charismatic star. Chcolate has neither and Ong Bak 2 was even worse, while still having some good set-pieces with Jaa.

Old Boy had some excellent set-pieces, but really wasn't ever that good a movie. No idea why it has a cult following comparable to Boondock Saints - which is a better movie on the whole...

Tokyo Zombie is an incredibly good movie. Some martial arts (Brazilian jiu-jitsu, MMA, boxing) while being gloriously, deliciously off-beat and hilarious.

Still Walking is a calm, quieter movie - but in terms of structure, it's much like the Malazan books, with everything mattering and lots of recursion changing the story as it progresses. Loved it.

Jet Li's finest movie was Hero. Very much like Rashomon in structure, but updated and kung fu-ized without any detriment whatsoever. Brilliant movie with gorgeous scenery and a truly complex, enjoyable story.

Kikujiro is also a little-known Japanese gem.

[amphibian]

worrywort, on 01 April 2011 - 08:02 PM, said:

Have you seen Kikujiro?? My favorite of his.

Bless you.