Your Recommended films from Asia

[Santeria]

Hi I was trying to search for good films from Asia.
I have seen only a few.
Oldboy, Vengeance for Mr Sympathy, Battle Royal 1 & 2, Ichi the Killer, Densha Otaku(Sp?), My Sassy Girl.

I saw the trailer for Tokyo Sonata and I thought it looked pretty interesting.

Do you guys have any recommendations?

I already have a thread for non-blockbusters, but for this one I want some good films from Asia and I dont want to miss out on any gems!

Thanks for sharing

I am open to any genres.

[Offender_Mullet]

Let's move this to the Asian releases section on this forum.

Here's what I have: Assembly, Ip Man & Oldboy.

Just ordered: Fearless, Flash Point, Mad Detective, Protege & SPL.

Buy all of them.

[Tru2theBlu]

You should really look into Korean films. They make very good films for the most part. Of course there are bad ones, but the style is much different than the U.S. Old Boy is a Korean movie for example. The action and violence is much different than you average U.S. film and arguably the best in Asia.

[steve_dave]

Here are some great Thai films:

Bullet Wives
Chocolate
Bangkok Haunted
Shutter
The Tiger Blade
Ocean Butterfly

Hong Kong:

Confession of Pain
Initial D
Infernal Affairs
Perhaps Love
City Hunter
A Better Tomorrow
God of Gamblers
House of Fury

Korea:

Il Mare (DO NOT BUY THE TAI SENG RELEASE)
3 Iron
R Point
Joint Security Area

These ones will be hard to find in their original uncut lengths but worth it:

Ong Bak
Tom Young Goong (Can find this as The Protector, play disc two not disc one)
Project A
Twin Dragons
My Father Is A Hero

[assydingo]

Yo-Yo Girl Cop

Pretty decent movie, worth a rental. Reminds me of the character from Ehrgeiz.

[Rob71]

A Tale of Two Sisters
Cello
The Host
Audition
Gozu
Premonition
Infection
The Eye

[brewp13]

Originally Posted by steve_dave

Tom Young Goong (Can find this as The Protector, play disc two not disc one)

I'm glad you mentioned this, I didn't even know there was another version of the film on the second disc. I'm excited to watch it now. Thanks.

[Trogdor2010]

Kung Fu Hustle and CJ7, Stephen Chow my dad and I would say is the chinese Orson Welles.

[kamenriderrx]

Too bad most of my favorite korean films are not on Blu Ray yet. (Sassy Girl, Friends, Bittersweet Life, etc)

[OrlandoEastwood]

Chinese films:
Confession of Pain - This one is good. I got my DVD off eThaiCD.com for $6.50. It's R3 PAL and has English subtitles. Only annoying thing is that there's a warning at the top of the screen whenever someone drinks alcohol.

Lord of the Wu-Tang aka The Evil Cult - The VHS version is called LotWT while the DVD version is TEC. TEC is 15 minutes longer. The DVD version is available in a JET LI 4 Pack set which I got for $13.

Black Mask - Apparently there's no real true version of this one. It's been edited in all versions that have been released in the world. US Edit is available on Blu-Ray.

Tokyo Raiders - The US DVD is released by Sony. I have the US VHS copy so I don't know what the DVD is like. I liked it. Hiroshi Abe is great in this film. He plays a Japanese mob boss who is after Tony Leung Chiu-Wai's character.

Japanese films:
CASSHERN - Great visuals and story. The action sequences are nice too. I got my copy off eThaiCD.com for $10.50. It's R0 NTSC and has English subtitles. No censorship.

Machine Girl - Crazy violent, if that's the kinda thing you are into. I got my DVD at Borders back last summer when it came out for $20.

Returner - A cool sci-fi action film. I got my copy for $5 in the cheapo bin at the US Navy Exchange. I've rented it a few years back and enjoyed it. When I saw in the bin, I grabbed and bought it.

Forbidden Siren - This one is based off the videogame Siren. Not sure which game it is based off of, haven't played them. Apparently the only legit DVD that has English subtitles is an R3 copy from Malaysia. But then again, it's Malaysia, another bootleg capital in Asian countries.

Battle Royale - Another violent goodie. Beware, most DVD copies are bootlegs.

Battle Royale II: Revenge - All right, here's the thing; two versions of the film. Battle Royale II: Requiem sucks go for the Revenge version.

Dolls - A sad film from Takeshi Kitano. Great movie, I got mine off eThaiCD for $8.50. The transfer is not that great due to PAL conversion.

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by Trogdor2010

Kung Fu Hustle and CJ7, Stephen Chow my dad and I would say is the chinese Orson Welles.

Don't forget Shaolin Soccer and...

Royal Tramp Collection. The Dragon Dynasty collection has politically correct subtitles while the original Hong Kong release has the proper (or as close as you can get without going over) subtitles. Import this set from either DDDHouse.com, its $28.21 US before shipping.

More great titles:

Once A Thief
Bangkok Dangerous
Curse of the Sun

These are specialty Thai films, nothing pornographic but they deal with some touchy subjects:

The Iron Ladies - About the first all-male Volleyball team. A majority of the players were homosexual. Its a comedic take on their story.

Beautiful Boxer - Drama based on the story of a "lady-boy boxer." The plot follows Nong Toom from his childhood to his matches to his operation.

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by OrlandoEastwood

Black Mask - Apparently there's no real true version of this one. It's been edited in all versions that have been released in the world. US Edit is available on Blu-Ray.

Actually, the complete original version has been released by Mei Ah as part of the "A Grand Colleciton of Black Mask" DVD set. Both films are the original Hong Kong versions with DTS & DD Cantonese 5.1 and English subtitles.

[OrlandoEastwood]

Yeah, I know about that version. The odd thing is for Black Mask 2: City of Masks, it doesn't contain the original English audio. But then again, Black Mask 2 wasn't that great.

[assydingo]

Great movies that are meant to be watched back-to-back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjRX4Fk2Rrg

[krazeyeyez]

lmao i am so sold on yo-yo cop from that poster, good call

[mikejet]

Originally Posted by Santeria

Hi I was trying to search for good films from Asia.
I have seen only a few.
Oldboy, Vengeance for Mr Sympathy, Battle Royal 1 & 2, Ichi the Killer, Densha Otaku(Sp?), My Sassy Girl.

I saw the trailer for Tokyo Sonata and I thought it looked pretty interesting.

Do you guys have any recommendations?

I already have a thread for non-blockbusters, but for this one I want some good films from Asia and I dont want to miss out on any gems!

Thanks for sharing

I am open to any genres.

Finish out the trilogy. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance should be your next movie.

For Korea:
Shiri
I'm a Cyborg But That's OK
Attack the Gas Station
And if you have the time watch the drama series Coffee Prince and I'm Sorry I Love You

Japan:
Anything by Beat Takashi or Takashi Miike.
For Beat Sonatine is my favorite. For Miike Graveyard of Honor.

[mikejet]

Originally Posted by kamenriderrx

Too bad most of my favorite korean films are not on Blu Ray yet. (Sassy Girl, Friends, Bittersweet Life, etc)

Are you talking about Chingu?

[OrlandoEastwood]

Originally Posted by mikejet

Japan:
Anything by Beat Takashi or Takashi Miike.
For Beat Sonatine is my favorite. For Miike Graveyard of Honor.

S**t, I forgot about Sonatine. Get the US DVD for Zatoichi which is retitled as The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi. It has Sonatine as a double feature.

[Psychonaut]

Asian really depends on what you are looking for. Some personal recommendations are

Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall...and Spring
The Road Home
The Twilight Samurai
The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi
The Isle
3-Iron
The Host (A little more accessible to the mainstream)
Audition
Visitor Q
Fudoh: The New Generation
Machine Girl
Tokyo Gore Police

[Illini007]

Tae Guk-Gi is one of my favorite war movies.