EAST ASIAN
15 MUST WATCH TITLES
The GATA team loves cinema, and as part of our ongoing series, we present you 15 of our favourites East Asian movies. Don’t miss them:
T H I R S T
Park Chan Wook (2009)
A priest who offers himself up for a medical experiment in the attempt to find a cure for a deadly virus ends up inadvertently transforming himself into a vampire-like creature who must drink blood. Another stylish and extreme movie carefully constructed by the master auteur Park Chan-wook, Thirst was released in 2009 to generally positive reviews. The strength of the movie Thirst lies in the way it plays the theme of a divided self, how we must balance our desire to be good and holy with our deep and decadent desires.
“- We can both go to hell for this
- I don’t have faith, I am not going to hell. ”
O N I B A B A
Yome Odoshi No Men
Onibaba is a 1960s horror film that takes inspiration from the Shin Buddhist parable Yome-odoshi-no-men, (bride-scaring mask) in which a mother dons a hideous mask, in order to scare her daughter, only to have it eventually weld itself to her face. Set in 14th century Japan, a time period in which the country raged with civil war, Onibaba explores the strained relationships between three poor peasants who have to resort to desperate measures in order to survive.
Featuring a masterful soundtrack that draws elements from both Taiko drumming and Jazz and shot in widescreen black and white film through TohoScope lenses, Onibaba is a stunningly beautiful film that was ahead of its time.
“I’m not a demon! I’m a human being!”
D A Y S O F B E I N G W I L D
Wong Kar Wai (1990)
Days of Being Wild, a play on the originally translated title for the 1955 classic A Rebel Without a Cause, is the quintessential Wong Kar Wai film. In a dreamy 1960s Hong Kong setting, it is a tale of disenchanted youths smoking cigarettes, dancing to Mambo and coming to terms with love, loss and longing. Quite possibly one of the coolest films ever made.
“ I used to think there was a kind of bird that, once born, would keep flying until death”
T H E A C T O F K I L L I N G
Joshua Oppenheimer (2012)
In 1965 at the height of the cold war, the government of Indonesia was overthrown by its military. Anyone who was suspected of being in opposition to the military dictatorship was executed under the premise of being a “communist.” In less than a year between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people were murdered by paramilitary groups and hired gangsters.
The Act of Killing is a documentary film in which they find the people involved in this mass murder and interview them, asking them why they committed these acts. Surprisingly a lot of these men show no remorse in their actions, and in fact were proud to show off exactly how they killed their victims. Absolutely insane, surreal and one of the most unique things to ever make it onto film, The Act of Killing is one of those things that simply leaves you speechless.
“In my dreams they have threatening voices. They’re like ghosts who hate me... They laugh, but frighteningly.”
T H E H A N D M A I D E N
Park Chan-Wook (2016)
A film brought to us by acclaimed director Park Chan-wook, based on the novel Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. Originally set in Victorian Britain, The Handmaiden sees its setting instead shifted to that of Japanese-occupied Korea.
One of the frontrunners of the exciting new Korean cinema that burst onto the scene in the early 2000s, Park Chan-wook creates a visually stylish and evocative erotic thriller with The Handmaiden. Blending architectural motifs from Britain and Japan and referencing traditional Japanese visual styles such as Shunga, which is all viewed through a contemporary lens that wouldn’t be far detached from a photographer like Nobuyoshi Araki, The Handmaiden truly is a visual delight.
“Would it be like being with a corpse? You know, my hands and legs cold?”
A U D I T I O N
Takashi Miike (1999)
One of the first films I saw that came out of Japan. Audition will always have a special little place in my heart. Adapted from the satirical novel by Ryu Murakami and produced by Basara Pictures, which also brought us the horror classic Ringu, Audition was one of Takashi Miike’s earliest forays into the world of Horror cinema.
Audition tells the story of a widowed man who stages a fake movie casting with his producer friend, in the attempt to find a new wife. His search seems to be a success when he meets a beautiful young actress, but his happiness is short lived and quickly turns into a labyrinth of sinister secrets. Splitting critics at the time, some saw it as a film drenched in misogynistic gawking while others praised it as an empowering feminist tale of revenge.
“Only pain and suffering will make you realize who you are.”
I S A W T H E D E V I L
Kim Ji-Woon (2010)
Another intensely violent revenge film to come out of South Korea. This time Choi Min-sik the star of Old Boy plays a sadistic serial killer. When he murders the wife of a government secret agent, he enters into a cat-and-mouse game in which the script is flipped and he becomes the prey. A film in which even the apparent good guys descend into immoral acts and violence seems to have no end in sight, it will leave you questioning the value of revenge. I Saw the Devil is a technical masterpiece showcasing some brilliant camerawork at times, which I’m sure a lot of young filmmakers can take inspiration from.
“When you’re in the most pain, shivering out of fear, then I will kill you. That’s a real revenge. I will kill you when you are in the most pain. When you’re in the most pain, shivering out of fear, then I will kill you.”
U Z U M A K I
Higuchinsky (2000)
Uzumaki translated as Spiral in English is a 2000 Japanese horror movie based on the manga written and illustrated by Junji Ito. Ito tells a story about the fictional town of Kurouzu-cho which is cursed by a series of supernatural events involving spiral patterns. Heavily influenced by writers such as H.P. Lovecraft, Uzumaki is a disturbing and atmospheric story. The film was produced alongside the manga so there were slight differences in the story but the spirit remains the same.
“Spirals.... this town is contaminated with spirals”
B E D E V I L L E D
Jang Cheol-soo (2010)
Bedevilled is a 2010 South Korean Thriller about a stressed out bank worker living in Seoul who is forced to take a vacation in order to recover from her excessive workload. She travels to a desolate Island where she spent some of her childhood and reunites with one of her childhood friends. However things are not as they seem and the peace she seeks may be difficult to find.
“I stared at the sun for a long time, and it spoke to me.
”
T H E W A I L I N G
Na Hong Jin (2016)
The Wailing is a 2016 South Korean horror film directed by Na Hong-Jin that centres around a police officer's investigation into a series of viral outbreaks that is causing a number of violent deaths in this remote hamlet. Initially mushrooms are suspected to be the cause of this virus but eventually suspicions fall on a Japanese man, who recently moved to the town and appears almost supernatural in nature. Odd, jumping from comedic moments to horror scenes, The Wailing is another great film to come out of South Korea in the past few years.
L A D Y V E N G E A N C E
Park Chan-Wook (2005)
Highly stylised and experimental in its manner of storytelling, Lady Vengeance is the third installment in Park Chan-wook’s vengeance trilogy. The first two films being the classics Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Old Boy. Lee Yeong-ae plays Geum-ja, a beautiful woman who commits a horrendous crime resulting in a 13 year stretch in prison. In prison, she has a saint like conversion to Christianity and vows to make amends for her past. However, she is in fact harbouring a secret desire to murder the the person that really forced her into confinement.
Another beautifully constructed film by the masterful Park Chan-wook, Lady Vengeance is surprisingly funny and absurd at times, even when dealing with some shocking subject matter.
“Listen carefully. Everyone make mistakes. But if you committed a sin, you have to make an atonement for that sin. Atonement, do you know what that means? Big Atonement for big sins. Small Atonement for small sins”
C H U N G K I N G E X P R E S S
Wong Kar-Wai
A film filled with quotable lines and an infectious charm that still feels fresh and exciting today. Wong Kar Wai presents a gorgeous story of loss, longing and dreams. Two police officers, heartbroken after the end of their relationships, suddenly find themselves involved with two new women in their lives. Told in two parts, showcasing the city of Hong Kong, first through it’s nightlife and then by day, Chungking Express is one of those films that lives up to its reputation.
“We’re all unlucky in love sometimes. When I am, I go jogging. The body loses water when you jog, so you have none left for tears.”
A T A L E O F T W O S I S T E R S
Kim Jee-Woon (2003)
A Tale of Two Sisters is an eerie and constantly surprising horror movie directed by Kim Jee-woon. It tells the story of a young girl recently released from a mental institution after some unknown traumatic experience, who travels to her family home to recover but then, has to readdress her strained relationship with her wicked stepmother. This truly is an arresting story that shifts and twists endlessly, leaving you questioning the reality of every scene. Genuinely scary unlike many horror films and featuring superb performances from its cast, A Tale of Two Sisters is an underrated gem that sometimes gets forgotten in the sea of horror movies.
“Do know what’s really scary? You want to forget something. Totally wipe it off your mind. But you never can. It can’t go away, you see. And... and it follows you around like a ghost.”
I C H I T H E K I L L E R
Takashi Miike (2001)
Deliciously depraved, over the top and lacking any restraint, Ichi the Killer is a film made by Takashi Miike based on the manga of the same name. Ichi, an unstable young man who is turned on when inflicting violence and murder, becomes entangled in the lives of a group of gangsters. Highly controversial and straight up banned in a number of countries, Ichi the Killer is hard to categorize, part treatise on the nature of pain and pleasure, part exploitation film set against the backdrop of a Yakuza flick. One thing for sure is that it’s relentless in its delivery. Uncompromising cinema.
“Put some feeling into it, already! If you’re going to give someone pain, you’ve got to get into it!”
Curated by Marta Espinosa, Aki Kurasaki, SAMO & Vloek
