A Tale of Samurai Cooking - A True Love Story (Japan, 2013)

Set within the Kaga Domain in the Edo Period. Oharu is an excellent cook and recognized for her skills. Due to her cooking talents, she marries Yasunobu, who is an heir in the Funaki family. The Funaki family serves as the cook for the Kaga Domain. Nevertheless, Yasunobu himself is a terrible cook. With the help of Oharu's mother-in-law Mitsuru, she begins to teach Yasunobu how to cook.

Here's a samurai film where the samurai are not wielding swords, but chopsticks. An easygoing and charming film about trying to cook the perfect meal. It goes without saying that there's not a lot of drama or action, but I still commend it for telling a story other than clans who are at war with each other. Consciously silly and borderline sappy, A Tale of Samurai Cooking is not for everyone but will please those looking for something that's not too serious.

Genre: Drama/History

The Handmaiden (South Korea, 2016)

1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to elope with him, rob her of her fortune, and lock her up in a madhouse. The plan seems to proceed according to plan, until both girls discover some unexpected emotions.

I'm very late to the party with this one, and everyone has basically praised it enough, but one more recommendation can't hurt. Extremely well shot, full of memorable scenes (keep an eye out for the giant octopus), and a superb direction by the legend Park Chan-wook all makes it one of those films you just need to experience. You'll quickly notice how every scene is fine tuned to perfection and nothing was left to chance. It's based on (or loosely inspired by, if you ask the novels writer) an English novel called Fingersmith, which is set in London's Victorian era and you can really get the sense of that and not only because of the mandatory comedic scene involving a corset. Beautiful visuals and cinematography which is to expect when watching a film by Chan-wook, and even compared to his previous feats such as the deliciously edited Stoker (2013) and the fantastically written J.S.A. (2000), The Handmaiden ranks as one of his finest works.

My curious eye for art also picked up some interesting things, like when one of the characters is reading from an actual existing woodblock-printed book erotica, painted by the Japanese artist Hokusai. One of his most famous pieces include The Great Wave off Kanagawa, but the fact that he drew erotic art was news to me. In the film, his piece The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife is featured, and it's quite something. It has some sort of horrifying beauty to it and you get the feeling that it could be part of a much bigger mythos.  A fascinating flashback to old art.

Genre: Drama/Mystery/Romance