Ring 2 (Japan, 1999)

In this sequel to Ringu (1998), Mai Takano is trying to learn more about the death of her professor, Ryûji. She soon hears stories about a videotape haunted by the spirit of a girl named Sadako, who died many years earlier. Supposedly, anyone watching the tape will die of fright exactly one week later. After some investigating, she learns that Ryûji's son, Yôichi, is developing the same psychic powers that Sadako had when she was alive. Mai must now find some way to keep Yôichi and herself from becoming Sadako's next victims.

You'd think it would be a horrible move to make a sequel to such a big horror milestone as Ringu, and while Ring 2 doesn't live up to high expectations following such a great horror film it does however fill in some gaps and delivers a subtle feeling of dread. It has all the right ingredients; characters that doesn't feel shoehorned in for the sake of the plot, a spooky and unnerving soundtrack (the intro music sets the mood perfectly), no desperate tries to shock the viewers with gore/jump-scares but instead keeps a steady and dark atmosphere throughout the film. It's not as memorable as the first installment but still worth a watch if the Ringu itch didn't end after the first film. 

Genre: Horror/Mystery

Tomie (Japan, 1999)

A traumatized young woman is trying to recover her memories with the help of a psychiatrist. During her hypnosis sessions, she repeats the name "Tomie" but is unable to recall where she knows it from.

Tomie is the first film in the longest Japanese horror series to date, with eight other films in the franchise. Based on the manga by Junji Ito, Tomie is a very creepy and disturbing film, though never as horrifying as its manga counterpart. Even though the series consists of nine movies, this first film is one of the better ones and definitely worthy of your attention. A good J-horror experience.

So what about all the other Tomie-movies? Well, here's my personal recap of the rest of the series:

Tomie: Another Face (1999) - Another Face features horrible acting and atrocious production values, and for some reason I got very annoyed at the girl playing Tomie. Not recommended.
Tomie: Replay (2000) - A huge improvement over Another Face, Replay digs deeper into the story but unfortunately isn't particularly scary. It was based on one of the more interesting chapters from the manga; "Basement".
Tomie - Re-birth (2001) - This one just didn't do it for me. Failed to scare me, failed to make me feel anything for the characters, and this film is really repetitive when Tomie comes back over and over again. Tomie dies in every film and is resurrected, but for some reason Re-birth just went to town with that idea and it's just not scary. It's pretty cool that it was directed by Takashi Shimizu (Ju-on), though he hasn't made anything good in a long, long time (so I guess it's not cool).
Tomie: Forbidden Fruit (2002) - I'm kind of torn on this one. It starts off almost as a J-drama about friendship? Then it turns into a very bizarre creature horror film with Tomie depicted as a huge meat potato and must be driven around in a baby stroller. So it's actually fun from time to time, and I also like the music (the soundtrack is always important to me).
Tomie: Beginning (2005) - This Tomie-film felt a bit too uneventful, and it almost had the feel of a student's film project. This series should be filled with horror gems, but instead we get something as mediocre as this. Where did the horror go?
Tomie: Revenge (2005) - I haven't seen all of it but it seemed fairly promising, actually.
Tomie vs Tomie (2007)  - Unfortunately I haven't found any working subtitles for this one.
Tomie: Unlimited (2011) - If you just can't get enough Tomie, here's another one for you. Better effects, but still not as scary as it should be. A fun B-horror flick that could work if you're in the mood for it.

Genre: Horror

Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (Japan, 1999)

This final installment of the recent Gamera trilogy begins with schoolgirl Ayana discovering a large egg in a cave that, according to legend, houses demons. The egg hatches into a small monster, which Ayana decides to raise and quickly develops as psychic bond with. As Ayana's monster, named Iris, grows to adulthood, the flying turtle Gamera begins to take an interest in this new potential threat. Who will be the victor in the final battle, and how much of Japan will be left standing at the end? 

I've already written about the second Gamera reboot film, Attack of Legion (1996), so now we're at the last film of the trilogy. Just like the previous one, Revenge of Iris gives us some mighty impressive city destruction and chaos, and the best thing is that it's mostly practical effects. Amazing practical effects. The story isn't exactly as incredible as the effects, but it does its job and works well, I think. Watch it if you want to see giant monsters battle it out in the streets of Tokyo.

Genre: Action

Barren Illusions (Japan, 1999)

Many years from now, a dangerous pollen will fall all over Tokyo. In this age, two people decides to become guinea pigs for a new drug that may prove to be the cure for this new epidemic.

Barren Illusions is a fairly unknown film, and has probably been seen mostly by those who are willing to dig in the filmography of the fantastic director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse). This movie was made by Kurosawa with help from many of his film student. The plot rarely shows its face, and we're left with a man and a woman who must face the consequences of trying to help others. It's very minimalistic and mysterious. Not for everyone but interesting for those who wish to see some early work by one of Japan's most interesting contemporary directors.

Genre: Drama/Romance

Shower (China, 1999)

Shenzhen businessman, Da Ming, goes home to Beijing when he thinks his father has died. He finds his father hard at work at the family's bathhouse (the false message was a ruse of Da's mentally-handicapped brother, Er Ming, to get Da home). Da stays a couple days, observing his father being social director, marriage counselor, and dispute mediator for his customers and a boon companion to Er. Da is caught between worlds: the decaying district of his childhood and the booming south where he now lives with a wife who's not met his family. When Da realizes his father's health is failing and the district is slated for razing, he must take stock of family and future.

Shower is a film that spends it time developing a father-and-son relationship inside of a bathhouse. The premise makes it sound like a quirky comedy but there's a lot more to it than that, and halfway through the film it drastically changes tone. A good drama, with both humor and grief. 

Genre: Drama/Comedy

Gohatto (Japan, 1999)

Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path. 

Gohatto (a.k.a. Taboo) is one of the first films I've seen that deals with homosexuality in the shogun era. It features two of my favorite actors, Tadanobu Asano (Last Life in the Universe) and Takeshi Kitano (Hana-bi), which elevates the film considerably. It's nice to see a samurai film that doesn't tell the same old story about two battling clans or where a group of bad guys must be defeated. Instead, Gohatto delivers a fresh approach and tells the story that goes on between the sheets.

Genre: Drama/History/Thriller. 1h 40min.

The Road Home (China, 1999)

City businessman Luo Yusheng returns to his home village in North China for the funeral of his father, the village teacher. He finds his elderly mother insisting that all the traditional burial customs be observed, despite the fact that times have changed so much, and that it involves many people carrying his father's body back to the village - the road home. As Yusheng debates the complications involved in organizing such a big feat, he remembers the magical story of how his father and mother first met and got together.

The Road Home features a very simple but yet effective story of love at first sight. In the main role we have Ziyi Zhang, who's had prominent roles in great films such as Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). She's  all kinds of amazing and carries this film on her back with a superb performance as an innocent, shy but also curious young girl who just can't stop thinking about a boy.

It's a film that's not just your average run-of-the-mill love story, but a warm and delightful little movie. 

Genre: Drama/Romance

Dead or Alive (Japan, 1999)

Without a home and feeling no obligation to Japanese society or Yakuza, Ryuichi and his small group decide to make their own place by trying to take over the Shinjuku underworld and the drug trade from Taiwan. As they plan an all-out-assault on the remaining Chinese and Japanese mafia kings, only Detective Jojima stands between them and complete domination.

In 1999, Takashi Miike started working on a trilogy of films, Dead or Alive. They have no connection to each other except for the same director, two actors and same title. The first one is a nice Yakuza flick that just breaths Takashi Miike style with every scene. It doesn't take itself so seriously so expect crazy shootouts that demolish everything and mad Japanese perversity. The first one is the one I would watch again, the second one is a bit slower and the third one just tips insanity-scale so much with a post-apocalyptic setting. 

So, you may or may not know what to expect of a Takashi Miike film where he's in a playful mood, but Dead or Alive is a good example of what could be the result of his madness. Fun stuff, and the ending will surprise everyone.

Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller

The Harmonium in My Memory (South Korea, 1999)

Hong-yun is a high school girl in little mountain village when she falls head-over-heels for a handsome new school teacher, Mr. Jang. What with taking care of her youngest baby brother for her widowed mother and the impossible age difference, it is a roller-coaster ride for her as she tries to become someone special for Mr. Jang while he seems interested in the other new teacher at the school, Miss Yang.

The Harmonium in My Memory stars two fantastic actors in the lead roles: Byung-hun Lee who you might recognize from films such as A Bittersweet Life (2005) and I Saw the Devil (2010), and  Jeon Do-yeon, who's starred in great films like Happy End (1999) and Secret Sunshine (2007). This could have been just another romance film, but fortunately, they turned down the age of the love interest to seventeen and placed her in a messy high school. A fun love story with an age gap, this should be your next film if you want something lighthearted and sweet.

Genre: Drama/Romance

Gemini (Japan, 1999)

Yukio is living a charmed life: he is a respected young doctor with a successful practice and a beautiful wife. His only problem is that his wife is suffering from amnesia, and her past is unknown. Things begin to fall apart, however, when both his parents die suddenly, killed by a mysterious stranger with Yukio's face. Only when Yukio confronts this stranger will the mystery of his identity, and his wife's past, be revealed. 

Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto, Gemini (a.k.a. Soseiji) has that strange presence to it that he's so good at expressing in his films. It's sinister, genre-bending and at first you really don't know what to believe about what's going on. It could all be just a figure of your mind, or something much worse. Tsukamoto captures all these questions and presents them in an astonishing way, with great cinematography and screenplay.

Genre: Drama/Horror

Moonlight Whispers (Japan, 1999)

An offbeat study of the adult games that men and women play filtered through the actions of two seemingly innocent Japanese school kids, Satsuki and Takuya, two 17-year-olds who first meet practising kendo but later fall head over heels in love. They then discover the ways they can most exuberantly express their love for one another, no matter how perverse.

Moonlight Whispers (a.k.a. Sasayaki) portrays a twisted relationship that only becomes more disturbing as time goes on. A teenage romance gone perverse and deranged, but also a romance that feeds off the students own bizarre desires.

Genre: Drama/Romance

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (Japan, 1999)

Ten years after the end of World War II; anti-terror policeman Fuse gets suspended from service after the suicide by self-detonation of a young terrorist girl during an operation, as he failed to shoot her in time. When he tries to gather some information about her, he meets her sister and befriends with her. Both get dragged into the rivalries between the administration of the police and the counter terrorism commando unit 'Jin Roh' (human wolves).

Jin-Roh portrays a bleak and gritty alternate history where Germany has conquered Japan, and a special police force has been formed to defend the capital. With Jin-Roh, animation studio Production I.G created a terrifying, cold and grim universe, but kept it free from fantasy elements so that it feels more like a realistic 'what if'-scenario. Also, the animation is fantastic.

Genre: Animation/Drama

Railroad Man (Japan, 1999)

A railway stationmaster at a dying end-of-the-line village in Hokkaido is haunted by memories of his dead wife and daughter. When the railroad line is scheduled to be closed, he is offered a job at a hotel, but he is emotionally unable to part with his career as a railroader. His life takes a turn when he meets a young woman with an interest in trains who resembles his daughter.

Railroad Man (a.k.a. Poppoya) is a well-acted and moving film about a dedicated railroad worker who has lost everything, and is about to lose the one thing he has left.  Recommended for those who want a memorable and emotional drama.

Genre: Drama

After the Rain (Japan, 1999)

Ihei Misawa and his wife Tayo, stranded by rains at a country inn, bring a great deal of happiness to the other residents of the inn by means of Ihei's generosity and good spirit. Ihei is a masterless samurai and fencing expert. Ihei comes to the attention of Lord Shigeaki, who hires him as fencing instructor for Lord Shigeaki's men. But Ihei's expertise causes friction and jealousy in Shigeaki's castle and his future there comes into doubt.

After the Rain is based on the last script ever written by Akira Kurosawa, and with this one he chose to tell a simple story about a ronin and his wife and how they cope with being poor. A type of feel-good movie, not many bad guys, not exactly a plot with twists and turns, but nonetheless a film that deserves your time.

Genre: Drama

Tell Me Something (South Korea, 1999)

In Seoul, parts not matching of severed copses of three men are found in cars and bags left in public spaces. Detective Cho, who is under investigation of the Internal Affairs, is assigned to lead the investigation with his team. When the identities of the men are discovered, the police finds that the artist Su-Yeon Chae, who lives with her friend Seungmin Oh, had been involved with all of the victims.

Tell Me Something is just as gruesome and full of suspense as you hope it to be. Koreans are born to make these kind of detective mysteries and always seems to play their cards right when it comes to telling a frightful story with compelling characters. 

Genre: Thriller/Horror/Crime

Happy End (South Korea, 1999)

Bora is a successful career woman who becomes involved with her destructive ex-lover, Kim. Bora's home life is a snore: she's mother to an infant child and her husband Seo, who has lost his job. But as time goes on, Seo starts suspecting his wife more and more...

Happy End stars Choi Min-sik (Oldboy, I Saw the Devil) and Jeon Do-yeon (Secret Sunshine, The Housemaid) as two spouses that drifts further and further away from each other. A dying love story about a desperate husband that culminates in a very powerful and unpredictable way.

Genre: Drama/Romance

Judgement (South Korea, 1999)

1995. Seoul. A huge shopping centre, the Sampung department Store collapsed, killing about 500 people and injuring many others. Half a million dollars were offered in indemnity to the victims' relatives, and this triggered a merciless looting made by unscrupulous people. In a morgue where the lifeless body of a girl lies, waiting to be identified, a man and a woman, who introduce themselves as the parents of the victim, are distraught over the loss of the young girl. However, after a moment's hesitation, a morgue employee claims he is the girls real father.

Judgement (a.k.a. Simpan) is an early film by the fantastic Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Thirst, Joint Security Area). A short film (26 min) that focuses on the greed which followed in the wake of a tragedy, and is an early example of Park Chan-wook's skills in film making.  

Genre: Short/Drama

Peppermint Candy (South Korea, 1999)

Yong-ho, a depressed, mentally broken down man wanders to a reunion of his old student group. Facing an oncoming train, he exclaims "I want to go back". What follows is reversed chronology, where the key events of the past 20 years of Yong-ho's life is unfolded, and bit by bit it's revealed why he decided to take his own life.

A movie that swallows you up in a vortex of sadness, jealousy, hate and every godawful feeling there is. Doesn't sound so great? Well, it is. Peppermint Candy is one of the the best and most memorable moments in Asian film history. The narrative structure of the film isn't anything new, Lawrence of Arabia (1962) is perhaps one of the most well-known examples where a man dies and his life story then unfolds. It's a rewinding of a life where every turn taken was for the worse, and a story about how one can go from youthful innocence to regretful and cruel. It was directed by the great Lee Chang-dong who've made films with deep emotional impact such as Secret Sunshine (2007) and Poetry (2010). Lee is perfect at making silence speak for itself and build atmosphere without too much dialogue. 

An unforgettable journey into the past, and one of my favorite films from South Korea.

Genre: Drama

Kikujiro (Japan, 1999)

Brash, loudmouthed and opportunistic, Kikujiro hardly seems the ideal companion for little Masao who is determined to travel long distances to see the mother he has never met. Their excursion to the cycle races is the first of a series of adventures for the unlikely pair which soon turns out to be a whimsical journey of laughter and tears with a wide array of surprises and odd ball characters to meet along the way.

A heart-warming drama directed by Takeshi Kitano (Hana-bi, Battle Royale), that explores themes of alienation and isolation in the Japanese society. Along the way we meet a bunch of wacky characters and see an unexpected friendship unfold. It's a summer vacation filled with memorable moments and new experiences, joy and sadness balanced perfectly. A film that puts you in a good mood for the rest of the day, simple as that. Too bad that Kitano doesn't make movies that often anymore, because he's really one those directors you can trust to make a truly good film. Plus, it features a beautiful soundtrack composed by mastermind Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro). The intro music is enough to make me all warm inside and brings back a lot of fond memories from when watching the film for the first time. Do your music collection a favor and get it immediately. Kikujiro is a trip you should take every summer. 

Genre: Drama/Comedy

Audition (Japan, 1999)

Aoyama, a lonely Japanese widower whose son is planning to move out of the house soon expresses his sadness to a friend and fellow film producer, who becomes inspired to hold an audition for a non-existent film so that he can select a new potential bride from the resulting audition pool. Aoyama, ultimately becomes fascinated by one particular young woman, but first impressions can often be horribly wrong....

Apparently, Audition had a record number of walkouts at a film festival due to its grisly content, and one woman passed out and was in need of emergency room attention. Wow. In my opinion it's more of a very unnerving thriller than something that repulsing, because there aren't many scenes that makes your stomach turn up until the ending. 

But it's a great film nonetheless, and it's made by Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer), one of Japans most interesting directors. I've always liked the main actor, Ryo Ishibashi, and the first half of the film is a great build-up before things get really sick. Miike once said that if people such as the aforementioned woman walks out on his films due to graphic content, then he had done a good job and considered it a success.  

Genre: Thriller