Japanese movies

[Souichiro]

I am a HUGE fan of Anime( Japanese Cartoons) but as of lately I have been buying and watching real movies as well the ones I have seen so far are:

Dead or Alive
Battle Royale 1,2 (one is a must see)
Ichi the killer
Deadly outlaw rekka
Ju On 1 (still have to watch the 2nd) (a.k.a. The grudge featuring buffy )

And some others...Some of them korean or Chinese.

I was wondering does anybody here look at Japanese/Asian Movies? and If so which do you recommend?

Thanks

[Yurei]

ok this is my speciality, i wrote my final year dissertation about Japanese horror movies

some good movies you watched, but Ju On2 is actually not "the Grudge". The Grudge is the american remake of the Japanese Ju On cinema version. theres also a Japanese Ju On 2 and a TV version of Ju On1 which is far better than the Japanese cinema version (the one you watched most likely). i highly recommend getting the TV version, the Quality isn't worse and the entire film is just way scarier. i actually kinda enjoyed the remake probably because it's still set in japan and even the ghosts are the same Japanese actors as in the original. it was also directed by the original director.

Of course you have to watch the ring trilogy if you haven't done so, i can assure you that you'll enjoy those. oh yeah, if you have watched the american rip off "the ring" (i'm sorry i just hate that movie ) you might as well leave the original out as usually people will like the version they have seen first better. if you like these kind of films (juon, ring etc) i would recommend a brilliant Korean production called "a tale of two sisters". it's a very disturbing film with some of the best ghost effects i have ever seen and an extremely complex story. also i think you will like the Thai/Hong Kong production "the eye", it's freaky as hell. if you are into traditional japanese ghost themes, i'd recommed you watch "Shikoku". it's a very beautiful ghost film, a bit more subtle and softer than the likes of ring but very good nonetheless.
ok, just ask me if you want more info or whatever

[Loafing Smurf]

I thought the movie Dead or Alive was from the Volleyball game. Me and my friends play it on our spare time.

What I found funny was the warning on the movie. Whats so bad about clowns?

WARNING: This motion picture contains explicit portrayals of violence; sex; violent sex; sexual violence; clowns and violent scenes of violent excess, which are definitely not suitable for all audiences.

[Yurei]

i haven't seen dead or alive but i think it's based on the actual beat-em-up game (that volleyball game features the characters of the beat-em-up). that warning sounds more like a joke tho

[Souichiro]

Dead or a live is not based on any of the games. It's a gangster movie. I have all 4 parts of the ring lying around and I'll watch them on a very short notice. I havent seen the original so... If you haven't seen Battle  Royale Yurei It's a must. On bases of that movie questions were asked in the Jap parliament . It's my favorite. Do you watch anime as well?

[Wing Nut]

Get any film by Akira Kurosawa and you can't go wrong.  He is constantly cited as an influence dy George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and a host of other American directors.  His 'Hidden Fortress' contained one of the main inspirations for 'Star Wars'

Kurosawa's masterpiece 'Seven Samurai' is probably the most copied movie formula to date.  Every movie where a character sets out to recruit a band of people to accomplish a goal is copying from this original.  It also contains many 1st time innovations that were immediatley copied by his Western contemporaries.  Several movies that were heavily inspired by, or were direct remakes of this movie:

The Magnificent Seven
Ocean's Eleven
A Bug's Life
The Blue's Brothers
Saving Private Ryan

'Seven Samurai' is a good place to start, but almost as influential are 'Rashomon', 'Yojimbo' and 'Ikiru'

'Ikiru' is probably one of the greatest movies I have ever seen...

Kevin

[Yurei]

Dead or a live is not based on any of the games. It's a gangster movie.

thanks for clearing that up . yeah i got battle royale 1-2, love the first one. it's a very strange movie and it took me a while to actually appreciate it, but now i absolutely love it. i think i got the movie back then because chiaki kuryama was in it but i was kinda pissed off that she died so soon . i think the second battle royale is not that good tho.

Do you watch anime as well?

actually not at all anymore. i used to be into anime alot when i was younger, collected some seriously crazy movies, but i kinda lost interest and went over to normal films. i still enjoy the occasional anime, for example "grave of the fireflies" completely stunned me. it is such an incredibly beautiful but also extremely dramatic and shocking film, i couldn't belief that an animated film would have such a strong impact on me. i would still say it is one of the best anti-war movies i've ever watched and i would strongly reccommend it to everyone. oh and i have to say that i do enjoy all the other studio gibli films as well.

Get any film by Akira Kurosawa and you can't go wrong.

i absolutely agree. kurosawa is incredible and any of his films is worth watching! if you like older films i can also strongly recommend any film directed by Yasujiro Ozu. his films are mostly from the 50s and are very worth watching if you enjoy social-study, family drama kind of films. beautiful cinematography too.

[beaky]

I have a serious Kurosawa problem... fortunately Netflix has pretty much his entire catalog, so I'm working through renting and watching them all. He's one of my favorite directors. I simply cannot recommend him too highly. He was not only a giant of Japanese cinema, but a truly great visionary director of cinema in general. If you don't know his work, start with The Seven Samurai - that's the film that The Magnificent Seven was based on. Then maybe Yojimbo or Ran, which are both awesome Feudal-era war epics. Dreams was his last film- a mind-blowing, haunting collage of semi-autobiographical vignettes. The one I saw most recently was Ikuru (1952), a powerful story of a boring civil servant in postwar Japan who discovers the true purpose of his life.It's in b&w, the music's a little weepy, and it starts very slowly, but by the end, I was spellbound.
  Akira Kurosawa was one of those directors who could render a gigantic war epic, complete with accurately-detailed, full-scale battle scenes, or a quiet tale about some ordinary schmuck, and do both with an intense clarity that is very powerful. He also was madly in love with light, shadow, and color, and it really shows.
 Other than that, I'm not very well-versed in Asian cinema, but I do enjoy Miyazaki's stuff very much, and will watch almost any kung fu movie (Enter the Dragon is a masterpiece, IMHO).
Then there's all those old Godzilla movies... still love that stuff, even the silly ones.

[JBaymore]

Kurosawa-sensei wa totemo sugoi desu yo.

"Ran" is one of my favorites.

I also happen to really like a flick called "Ugetsu".   It is a typical Japanese "morality play" that involves a "ghost" bit.  Being a professional potter with a strong interest in Japanese ceramics, this one is great for me because the protagonists are potters.

best,

..................john

[Yurei]

well said rottydaddy,

[X56SB]

ringu

[ATI_7500]

The only japanese movie I've seen until now was an anime called "Jin-Roh".
And I was very amazed by it. The story is just - "woah"!

[Ijineda]

OLDBOY!!!The best south-corean movie ever!forget pulp fiction, here comes Oh-Deh-Suh!

[beaky]

Thanks for the recommendation, Yurei- I hadn't heard of that one. I'll be off to the Netflix site next, to see if they have it...

[Scorpiоn]

It may not be Japanese, but Tae-Guk-Gi has taken its spot as my favorite movie of all time.  Better than Saving Private Ryan.  It's a movie about the Korean War in... erm... Korean.  Much more than excellent.

Other than that I don't know, the Japanese seem to be fond of anime, and I've never cared for the style myself, so I'm of no real help here.

Godzilla movies are always good!