Double Suicide (Japan, 1969)

In 18th Century in Japan, the paper merchant Jihei falls in love for the courtesan Koharu, but he can not afford to redeem her from her master and owner of the brothel, since he spent all his money in the place with Koharu. Jihei's wife Osan tries to keep her husband with his two children and asks Koharu to leave him. The two lovers make a pact of double suicide to escape from the rigid rules of the Japanese society of 1720 and stay together after death.

Double Suicide is based on an old play that was normally performed with puppets. Here, the puppets have been replaced with real actors, but the concept remains the same. Black-clad puppet masters is often seen in the background, hiding in the shadows and controlling the fate of the actors. You could call this a puppet play without strings, a really cool idea.   

Genre:  Drama

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Japan, 1960)

This is the story of Mama, a.k.a. Keiko, a middle-aged bar hostess who must choose to either get married or buy a bar of her own. Her family hounds her for money, her customers for her attention, and she is continually in debt. The life of a bar hostess is examined as well as the way in which the system traps and sometimes kills those in it.

Through smoky hostess clubs and deep pitfalls of debts we follow a woman who tries to break free from the chains that holds her, played by Hideko Takamine (Twenty-Four Eyes). It's a great portrayal of a woman's role in a society such as Tokyo in the fifties, were the biggest lust of all were the lust for money. 

Genre: Drama

An Actor's Revenge (Japan, 1963)

While performing in a touring kabuki troupe, leading female impersonator Yukinojo comes across the three men who drove his parents to suicide twenty years earlier, and plans his revenge, firstly by seducing the daughter of one of them, secondly by ruining them.

A tale of vengeance, lies, deceit and murder. An Actor's Revenge is a powerful story about a man who's whole being is to seek revenge for his parents death. A lot of really stylistic imagery and settings drastically improves the themes of actors and theaters. It's also wild how actor Kazuo Hasegawa plays both of the two main characters, switching personality from scene to scene, something I don't think was very common back then. 

Directed by Kon Ichikawa (The Burmese Harp), who'd established himself as one of the big directors as early as the 50's, which are widely known as the Golden Age of Japanese cinema.

"I've made various types of films: period dramas, modern dramas, films set in the Meiji period. But I don't make any distinctions between them - they're all films. True, with a period drama, there are certain conventions. With a modern drama, there is a different style of shooting. So you have to make changes according to the genre, but I never think, 'This is a period drama, so I have to shoot it in such and such a way.' Films are films. If you don't understand that, then you start filming lies".

- Kon Ichikawa

Genre: Drama

Helpless (South Korea, 2012)

A woman suddenly disappears. Her fiance then sets out to find her and, in the process, uncovers layers of dark hidden secrets. One month prior to Moon-Ho and Sun-Young's wedding, they take a road trip to Andong. Moon-Ho plans to formally introduce his fiance to his parents. Along the way to Andong, they pull over at a highway rest stop. Moon-Ho goes inside, while Sun-Young waits in the car. When Moon-Ho arrives back at his car, he discovers that his fiance has now completely disappeared. Frantic, Moon-Ho looks all over the rest stop, but Sun-Young is nowhere to be found.

I love being surprised in films, especially when I think I know what's going on and imagines how it's going to end. Helpless threw a curveball at me and sent me back to square one. The suspense and thrills had me in a tight grip, and I couldn't wait to find out how this search for a lost woman would end.  Great performances, also. A kidnapping mystery may sound somewhat done to death, but I really liked this one. 

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Hwayi: A Monster Boy (South Korea, 2013)

A 5 member gang, led by Seok-Tae, kidnaps a baby boy named Hwa-Yi and raises the baby like their own son. The baby boy is now 17 years old and he has been trained to become a lethal killer. Taking part with his fathers in his first murder, Hwa-Yi learns something about his own past. Hwa-Yi pulls out his gun to find out who he really is.

With a title like that, I didn't know what to expect, but as it turns out, this film was a great thriller that stood out from the ordinary. Some twists and turns keeps it interesting throughout the whole film and the action sequences are nicely done. It was directed by the same man who made the immensely popular Save the Green Planet ten years earlier, so it was about time he came back. Original and dark, A Monster Boy should not disappoint. 

Genre: Action/Thriller

A City of Sadness (Hong Kong/Taiwan, 1989)

A meditative look into the country’s transition from the end of Japanese occupation in 1945, to its secession from mainland China in 1949 and beginning of nearly 40 years of martial law. Formally rigorous approach, along with a contemplative and mournful tone, were used for chronicling how each seemingly positive development, which, at that point, provided reason for hope for a more peaceful future, eventually always led to tragedy.

A City of Sadness is a striking story about one family's journey through some of the hardest years in Taiwanese history. In one of the main roles we have the outstanding Tony Leung, who's been in great films like In the Mood for Love (2000) and 2046 (2004). This film is spoiled with great actors who give much credibility to some really horrific events, and watching this film feels like an essential cultural achievement.  

Genre: Drama

Café Lumière (Japan, 2003)

In a residential Tokyo neighborhood, Yoko, a young freelance writer defies her strongly traditional parents with news that she is pregnant and has no desire to marry the father. She calmly accepts this reality and stoically deals with the worried reactions of her family. In an effort to alleviate her loneliness, she befriends the owner of a second-hand bookstore. He falls in love with her, but keeps his feelings silent. Gradually, Yoko begins to re-evaluate everything in her life in this meditative masterpiece of young urban solitude.

Hou Hsiao-hsien pays homage to one of the greatest film makers in Japanese history, Yasujiro Ozu, who gave us such classics as Tokyo Story (1953) and Floating Weeds (1959). If you aren't familiar with Ozu's work, you won't spot the film style that director Hou is going for, but let me tell you, he really nailed it. Often the camera is placed at low height, and rarely does it move. Some of my favorite scenes is the static shots of the city districts where the trains pass each other and continues on their way into dark tunnels below the cramped buildings, really beautiful in a certain way, and so alike Ozu's way of shooting buildings or other objects in his transitions between scenes. 

All this camera goodness is really just the tip of the iceberg for me, because in front of the lens we have a subtle, fantastic drama. Tadanobu Asano (Ichi the Killer) plays one of the main roles, a man who goes around recording the sounds of trains. Yes, really. I can't recommend this film enough, so if you're in the mood for a film that takes it time, watch this meditative and lovely movie now.

Trains are a big part of Café Lumière, in a strangely subduing kind of way.

Genre: Drama

April Story (Japan, 1998)

In spring, a girl leaves the island of Hokkaido to attend university in Tokyo. Once there, she is asked to reveal why she wanted to go there in the first place.

Director Shunji Iwai has some respectable films under his belt, among them are the critically acclaimed All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001) and Love Letter (1995), a mammoth of a love story. With April Story he made a slower paced and more relaxed romance drama involving a teenage girl on a kind of quest. A simple story but with a lot of heart, and if Iwai hadn't treated the film the same way as with his other huge films the plot would have fallen apart instantly. It's quite short, clocking in at barely over an hour, but I wish it went on longer because you really get into the story and at the end, when all the pieces are put together you just want to see how it all plays out. I wouldn't say that nothing gets resolved, it's just me who wished to stay a little while longer in Tokyo, waiting for a happy end. And if I don't want a film to end, I'd say that's a great achievement.   

Genre: Drama

Pieta (South Korea, 2012)

A loan shark is forced to reconsider his violent lifestyle after the arrival of a mysterious woman claiming to be his long-lost mother.

Upon its release, Kim Ki-duk's (3-Iron) Pieta got very mixed reviews. The somewhat disturbing and questionable themes of the film sparked negative reviews, and others said the sexual violence and animal cruelty wasn't necessary. Now I may be a blind Kim Ki-duk fanboy and my opinions about his films are rarely even remotely negative, but for what it's worth, I was completely drawn into this film despite its suggestive nature. There's some really f-cked up things going on when a son molests his mother and asking her "I came out of here? Can I go back in?" when grabbing her between the legs. On that subject, the two main characters are very well-casted, and they feel very natural. I think the one and only aspect of a Kim Ki-duk film I don't like is the animal cruelty, because I'm never in the mood of seeing small animals being hurt. 

But nonetheless, Kim Ki-duk knows the art of film making, and he's one of Asia's most interesting directors, delivering a sense of ultra-realism in his pictures. And that's something I always can get behind.

Genre: Drama

The Wind Rises (Japan, 2013)

Jiro dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes, inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni. Nearsighted from a young age and unable to be a pilot, Jiro joins a major Japanese engineering company in 1927 and becomes one of the world's most innovative and accomplished airplane designers. The film chronicles much of his life, depicting key historical events, including the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the Great Depression, the tuberculosis epidemic and Japan's plunge into war. Jiro meets and falls in love with Nahoko, and grows and cherishes his friendship with his colleague Honjo.

Here we are with a brand new Studio Ghibli film, The Wind Rises, and what is said to be the last Hayao Miyazaki film. This is his goodbye to all his fans and to his past as one of the worlds greatest animators, and how fitting it that he decides to make this his most different film to date? When The Wind Rises was released in Japan, kids all over the country didn't like it, they thought it was boring. In a sense, I can understand that, because it's a far cry from earlier films by Miyazaki like My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away. Hayao Miyazaki himself said that this isn't a movie for kids, and it shows in the slower tempo and lack of fantasy elements. Here's a film about a real life plane engineer, and how he sought out his dream. As I said, it's probably the most different film by Miyazaki, the most mature and serious. The one thing that remains intact is the wonderful animation, it's so warm and has that sort of fairy tale feel to it, even though the story is set in a realistic world this time. 

There's no wonder Hayao Miyazaki put so much effort in this film because airplanes is one of his favorite things, both to draw and to experience up close, so there's little doubt that this film has meant much to him and I'm really glad he finally got to make film that centers around planes (his film Porco Rosso (1992) also featured a lot of planes though not as in depth). If you can accept the more grown up story, then this film is a wonderful treat that has lots beautiful sights to show. The problem for all those Japanese children is that they were expecting another cute film like Ponyo (2008), and this couldn't be further away from that, but it's a fantastic film in every way possible. 

Genre: Animation/Biography/Drama

Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 2 (Japan, 1993)

In response to Japan's request for a countermeasure against Godzilla, UN engineers construct Mechagodzilla, a giant robotic version of Godzilla. Nonetheless, Godzilla proves himself a force to be reckoned with against this monstrosity and battle ensues.

This will be my second and maybe last look at the Godzilla franchise. I mentioned in my earlier Godzilla post a few films that stands out from all the rest, and well, those films might be really great but in a sea of Godzilla movies, there's bound to be more that deserves mentioning. Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 2 is one of those that just goes all out and reduces cities to burning rubble, it's genuinely awesome and the practical effects really impresses. 

One the other side of the spectrum we have the films that entertains us because they're so cheesy and funny, like Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975), a film that has that charm of the older Godzilla films. I couldn't help but laugh when the evil monster Titanosaurus kicks Godzilla's body and he flies away like a  pool toy. It's hilarious. So for me there's two kinds of Godzilla movies: the more serious and much more technically advanced one, which satisfies your cravings for insane destruction, and then there's the films that makes you laugh and are more goofy. To experience what Godzilla really is, one should experience both these sides of the franchise,  because they're both immensely entertaining.  

Genre: Action/Sci-Fi 

Miracle in Cell No. 7 (South Korea, 2013)

In room number 7 of the prison where all kinds of criminals are gathered, comes Yong-gu, a father with the sense of a 6 year-old and his 7 year-old daughter Ye-seung. The mission of these criminals in room number 7 is to protect these two who can never stay apart for a single moment. Will they succeed?

To this day, I've yet to see a person who disliked Miracle in Cell No. 7. Maybe that's because if you're seeing it, you know what kind of film it is: lighthearted and funny, but there's also that sad side of the story. The child actor is just about the cutest thing ever, and the inmates in cell no. 7 all have a hilarious personality. This is a film that everyone can enjoy, and if you're very sensitive you'll laugh like a drain and cry like a baby. 

Genre: Drama /Comedy

Millennium Mambo (Taiwan, 2001)

The youthful Vicky is torn between two men, Hao-hao and Jack. At night she works as a PR person at a nightclub to support both of them. Hao-hao keeps vigilance over her all the time, no matter if she is on or off the job. He checks her charge accounts, telephone bills, mobile phone records, and even her body odor in an attempt to trace Vicky's activities. She cannot stand him any longer; she runs away. Hao-hao finds her, begging her to go home. She sets herself a deadline to end the relationship - when the $500,000 in her bank account is used up.

Another great film from the almighty director Hou Hsiao-Hsien (Raise the Red Lantern). Millennium Mambo portrays a flawed relationship to say the least, with the help of a really good actress in the lead. Youth and love can often be a terrible combination, and here's a love triangle that shows you exactly why. 

Genre: Drama/Romance

Three Times (Taiwan, 2005)

In 1966, Chen meets May playing pool in a bar when he is joining the army. He sends letters to her and he comes to the bar to meet her again in his leave. However, May had traveled to another place and Chen seeks her out. In 1911, the writer Mr. Chang works for Mr. Liang and frequently travels to a brothel, where he meets the singer. He financially helps the courtesan Ah Mei to become a concubine. When the singer asks him if he would help her to leave the brothel, there is no answer. In 2005, in Taipei, the messy relationship of the photographer Zhen, his girlfriend Jing and a bisexual singer.

Three love stories set in different time periods, same two actors. Originally the three segments would have different directors, but after some financing problems director Hou Hsiao-Hsien took over the production, which I can't complain about because Three Times is a gorgeous film with some serious variety in settings and characters. Some may find the middle to be a bit slow paced with the dialogue being written instead of spoken, but it's all good if you ask me and I got to hand it to the director for being able to show such range in the story.  

Genre: Drama/Romance

Gauche the Cellist (Japan, 1982)

Goshu is a young man who lives in a small house outside of town and plays the cello in the local orchestra. Unfortunately, Goshu's playing is letting down the rest of the orchestra and the conductor is running out of patience with him. Over the next few nights, however, Goshu is visited in his home by a succession of animals with musical requests for him, much to Goshu's annoyance. What Goshu doesn't realize is how much this will teach him.

If you're not familiar with Isao Takahata, here's a short rundown: he co-founded Studio Ghibli along with Hayao Miyazaki and directed films such as Grave of the Fireflies (1988), Only Yesterday (1991) and my personal favorite, Pom Poko (1994). He's always made a bit different films than his partner Miyazaki, more mature and serious in tone. Gauche the Cellist (a.k.a. Goshu the Cellist) is an early film of his, and while it actually is quite sweet and warm-hearted, it still has that deep curve in emotions. I never knew I could have so much sympathy for a mouse. 

Genre: Animation/Fantasy/Music