Japanese Movies

[Master Blaster]

Yeah, It makes Wicked City look like Snow White by comparison. I've seen previews for Overfiend sequels, but I've never ran across them. I heard they were'nt very good though. Maybe when I go on my next Anime kick I'll see if I can find them.

[dean]

Japanese movies aren't cornering the market on wacky and wierd.  I recently watched a 'comedy' called sex and zen II which was incredibly wierd [and live action no less] which was Chinese, I think.  

I reccommend the first ten minutes of the movie, then just turn it off...
Also, some European movies are just plain off the wall.

Every culture has their good points in cinema.  Hong Kong and Japanese cinema just happen to be favourites, but recently I have been getting into Polish films.  I watched 'Avalon' the other day, a film by the director of Ghost in the Shell.  Yeah its a japanese film, but it was made in Poland, with polish actors and such [only ten of the crew were japanese]  It was an excellent film, but the architecture really stuck with me, so now I'm making more of an effort to expand my knowledge of foriegn films.

[Wence]

"Every culture has their good points in cinema" - that´s correct.

HongKong-Martial-Arts are an own category of movies. I love most of them.
IRON MONKEY
CHINESE GHOSTSTORY
CHINESE SWORDSMEN
THAI CHI  etc.
these movies are crazy in a "normal" way, I mean, most of hese movies lack pervert sexuality for example.
What makes these movies so good is the excellent exaggeration of the asian martial arts. There are so fast and unnatural fighting scenes that would never occure in a western film. A comparison between old HK-Chacky-Chan-Films and his newer Hollywood-Projects shows this difference clearly - there is much more "plot" and less action in the new ones.

[Chris K.]

Somebody also mentioned Kurosawa on this board, and I'm inclined to agree when it comes to his films. SEVEN SAMURAI, IKIRU (his best!), STRAY DOG, THE LOWER DEPTHS, YOJIMBO, etc. are all worthy introductions to Japanese cinema. For Christmas, I recieved the DVD of Kurosawa's THRONE OF BLOOD and I must say it is a perfect interpretation of Shakespeare's play Macbeth, but done in the Japanese stage Noh. His other films like THE DRUNKEN ANGEL, I LIVE IN FEAR, and THE IDIOT are not available, but one hopes...

And let us not forget Ishiro Honda, who worked as second-hand assistant director for Kurosawa, and would also unleash the original GODZILLA. Honda would be responsible for jumpstarting the sci-fi genre in Japan with films like EARTH DEFENSE FORCE (1957; U.S. Title: THE MYSTERIANS) and MATANGO (1963; U.S. Title: ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE). Anybody who want's to see sci-fi/horror from Japan needs to start with Honda's magnificant films. Despite critics turning Honda down because of the films that are normally seen in U.S. butchered versions, they seem to miss out on the original Japanese versions which are much better and contain really good acting. And just to let you all know, EARTH DEFENSE FORCE is going to have it's first Region 1 legit DVD release here in the U.S. by Tokyo Shock-Media Blasters in it's ORIGINAL VERSION!

I might even recommend Yasujiro Ozu, but he's kinda in the middle with me. Need to see more of his work.

[Gecko Brothers]

Actually Japan is suppose to be filled with perverts. Their are actually large complaints about gropers on their public transportation that they are thinking about segregating the cars.

[Gecko Brothers]

Get your cultures right! Jiun gui si(The Eye) is Chinese

[Gecko Brothers]

Err... spelling error Jian gui is a Chinese movie. Need more sleep.

[Gecko Brothers]

What about England's film! They are usually finally but they cuss every five minutes (less than that). Or Mexican films they have lots of perverts there too. Actually if you think about it, the world is full of perverts that  have fantasies. The game Rumble Roses shows us the different types.

[Hugomarink]

I liked Ringu and Audition quite a bit but was disappointed with Battle Royale (great concept, clumsy execution), Versus, and Ju-On. One of my favorite movies of the past year was the new Zatoichi movie. Awesome stuff. And the old Zatoichi movies are fun to watch as well. And, of course, you have Kirosawa who made some of the most highly regarded films in history. So Japanese cinema is certainly not all bad although they definitely put out some weird s**t. Then again, look at what comes out of Hollywood these days. What do you think a Japanese person would think watching a movie like "White Chicks"?

[Wence]

I heard that the culturally sanctioned repression of feelings in japanese culture is a cause for the strange plots, the pervert sexual fantasies and the brutality in their movies. I don´t think this is comparable with mexican or english culture...

I don´t want to blame japanese movies for sexuality in common, I am not a moralist, but often it disgusts me to watch the s**t happening in some of these films.
O.K. you can say "don´t watch these films" but that´s not the problem!
The problem is that this seems to get more and more normal !!!
Look what has done Tarantino with KillBill. Are there many people shocked?
Fifteen years ago the would have put KillBill on the Index in Germany - and now?
Every 14years old kiddy finds it cool...

PS: I hate moralists and all these backward a***oles that get p**sed when they see sex-scenes in films, meanwhile every second movie contains brutal shootings, decapitations, splatter etc.

[Max Gardner]

I'd recommend some of Mamoru Oshii's films. I wasn't impressed with his adaptation of Masamune Shirow's fantastic comic "Ghost in the Shell," but some of his live-action pieces are interesting, to say the least. Actually, there's a trilogy boxed set that includes The Red Spectacles, Stray Dog, and Talking Head. All a bit strange, especially Talking Head, but The Red Spectacles is entirely unique and enjoyable. The sequel, Stray Dog, is a completely different film in terms of tone and execution, but also quite good. There's a good deal of slapstick humor in Spectacles, but it's taken to extremes (one chase scene is even acted in mime on a stage) for reasons that become apparent by the end of the film. Condemning all Japanese cinema as inherently inaccessible and "weird" is a bit rash.

[BeyondTheGrave]

Max dont forget about Jin-Roh the anime feature that is a other sequel to red spectacles and stray dog. Its a great film.



"I know I know ive been exposed permeant psychoses..
at least the colors are nice"- Aeon Flux

[Wence]

"Devil Woman Doctor"  1990
The only recommendable Guinea Pig Film (all others are crap).

[liulei]

hot

[Haze]

Kill Bill takes the custom of outrageous violence from older martial arts films. The shooting blood, dismembered limbs, and such aren't supposed to be realistic, but is a display of power that has been around since the beginning. The whole concept has been derived from their culture since Wong Fei Hung was first committed to celluloid.

In contrast, it's sort of like slapstick, it's not a serious portrayal of violence, even if the film itself is serious.

As for the perverted humor, it's cultural. People are trying to break out with shock and weirdness because it wasn't marketed before. America goes through phases in cinema just like everywhere else. We just never hit the concentration of wild flicks that Japan, China, etc. are hitting.