I gone off buying Asian DVDs recently. It’s very sad because I used to import so many a lot of the time. But, I dunno...I guess I lost interest? I think there was a decline in quality or standards, or maybe I missed some absolute gems!
Can anyone reccommend anything that will get me back in the game? I’m looking forward to Peter Chan’s The Warlords and Ten Nights of Dreams. So if anyone can suggest anything at all that will get me away from Hollywood’s shitty attempts to woo me, please please do!
I can empathize. I absolutely love Asian films, but time and money have kept me from buying very much. I was very lucky to be able to see FLASH POINT, INVISIBLE TARGET, MAIKO HAAAN!!!!, THE RUG COP, and other great titles at Fantastic Fest, but DVD-wise, I’ve been limited. Last week, though, I caught up with Dennis Law’s FATAL CONTACT and Edmond Pang’s ISABELLA, which was even better.
What kind of films have you liked in the past? What’s the last Asian film that you really dug?
Where are you based? I tend not to buy DVDs until I’ve seen the film, so rely on my LoveFilm rental subscription to supply me with the tiles that interest me. Okay, so I’m limited to UK only releases but I’m not going to speculate £10 or so on one title when I can get to see 5 or 6 for the same money. Other countries probably provide similar services so it may be a viable alternative worth looking into.
Aww now that’s a question! I don’t know the last one that really really got me going. The last one I watched was Andy Lau and Daniel Wu in the Protoge. It was a good little piece but I need something more. I remember when there was the big Asian boom with movies. Oldboy, Bittersweet Life, Friend. I even hear Kitano’s new works aren’t all they’re cracked up to be! This is like blasphemy to me. But I think the last one I bought that impressed me hugely was Survive Style 5+, or Funky Forest; just because they had such balls to make movies like those. I think I’m looking for movies with balls haha. But I’m based in Leicester in the UK so I’m well out of reach of any Festivals sadly. I wanted to buy a great action movie but wasn’t sure which between Flash Point or Invisible Target. I guess I’m afraid I’ll be disappointed with all the reviews going around! Although Triangle is tickling me to some extent!
Havn’t seen it myself yet but they reckon Nightmare Detective is awesome. Its out now on a Thailand dvd and the USA dvd is due out very soon. I’ll definately part with some cash for that.
Aww now that’s a question! I don’t know the last one that really really got me going. The last one I watched was Andy Lau and Daniel Wu in the Protoge. It was a good little piece but I need something more. I remember when there was the big Asian boom with movies. Oldboy, Bittersweet Life, Friend. I even hear Kitano’s new works aren’t all they’re cracked up to be! This is like blasphemy to me. But I think the last one I bought that impressed me hugely was Survive Style 5+, or Funky Forest; just because they had such balls to make movies like those. I think I’m looking for movies with balls haha. But I’m based in Leicester in the UK so I’m well out of reach of any Festivals sadly. I wanted to buy a great action movie but wasn’t sure which between Flash Point or Invisible Target. I guess I’m afraid I’ll be disappointed with all the reviews going around! Although Triangle is tickling me to some extent!
Can anyone reccommend any hidden gems out there?
mc85, Leiecester is perfectly placed for film festivals, London is only a train journey away, living near Leicester myself, I find its probably the most easy Geographically to attend the decent film festivals in the UK.
Soi Cheang’s earlier films - Horror Hotline and New Blood are both excellent. Lately I’ve enjoyed Eye in the Sky and Flashpoint. I haven’t been importing as many titles because of the dollar’s weak-ass performance.
Soi Cheang’s earlier films - Horror Hotline and New Blood are both excellent. Lately I’ve enjoyed Eye in the Sky and Flashpoint. I haven’t been importing as many titles because of the dollar’s weak-ass performance.
...which is the reason I’ve been importing myself blind!
Soi Cheang’s earlier films - Horror Hotline and New Blood are both excellent. Lately I’ve enjoyed Eye in the Sky and Flashpoint. I haven’t been importing as many titles because of the dollar’s weak-ass performance.
...which is the reason I’ve been importing myself blind!
It’s made it tough to keep up - there are a lot of titles I’d love to see. And discs from the UK and Japan… fuggeddaboutit. No Blu-Ray Sukiyaki Django anytime soon :(
Soi Cheang’s earlier films - Horror Hotline and New Blood are both excellent. Lately I’ve enjoyed Eye in the Sky and Flashpoint. I haven’t been importing as many titles because of the dollar’s weak-ass performance.
...which is the reason I’ve been importing myself blind!
Tell me about it. I ordered Grindhouse from Amazon Japan (sorry!) and when I ordered on Jan 30, the price would have been $83, by the time it shipped last Friday, I was charged $91 because of the dollar’s slide against the Japanese Yen. That’s an 8% drop in 7 weeks!
Tell me about it. I ordered Grindhouse from Amazon Japan (sorry!) and when I ordered on Jan 30, the price would have been $83, by the time it shipped last Friday, I was charged $91 because of the dollar’s slide against the Japanese Yen. That’s an 8% drop in 7 weeks!
I saw the same thing and thought waitaminute… until I converted to Euros (I’m from The Netherlands) and saw nothing had changed.
The low dollar is starting to hit our economy as well though, because as you said it makes it expensive for USD-based countries to import stuff from Europe. But whenever I feel sad about that, I hit the internet to order DVDs…
mc85 mentioned Survive Style +5 and Funky Forest. I love the way those movies are experimental yet entertaining, and I’ve been looking for other movies like those, but couldn’t find much. Katsuhiro Ishii’s other films are in the same vein, especially The Taste of Tea and Party 7, and Studio 4c’s films, Mind Game and Tekkon Kinkreet, are like the animated versions of those, but I haven’t come across any others. They don’t really fall into any genre, so its not easy tracking down films that have similiar sensibilities.
Actually, Electric Dragon 8000v, Zatoichi, and Kamikaze Girls share the same freeform storytelling sense and visual panache of those films, now that I think about it. If anyone wants to suggest any more films that are like that it would be appreciated.
