I Just Didn't Do It (Japan, 2006)

An unemployed young man is on the packed Tokyo subway en route to a job interview when a schoolgirl grabs him by the wrist and fingers him as a molester. A man was feeling her up on the train. The young man is arrested and no one, not the station master, the public defender or the police, seems the least interested in his protestations of innocence. It would be much more efficient if he would accept a plea bargain.

When a court drama has to be good, it has to be really good. It takes a lot to keep viewers attention when you're portraying a rather dry and stale environment as the court. I Just Didn't Do It manages to be very engaging, following an innocent man all the way through a tiring, long process in Japan's legal system, fighting a seemingly hopeless battle for justice. The actors are great and Koji Yakusho was a pleasant surprise to see showing up as a defense lawyer. 

The director Masayuki Suo has previously made the wonderful Shall We Dance? so I shouldn't be too surprised at the quality of the film but still, I Just Didn't Do It makes everything needed for a good film click.

Genre: Drama

Sway (Japan, 2006)

On the anniversary of the death of the mother of a hip and happening Tokyo-based photographer, the son returns to his hometown for the funeral. What follows is a return to the past that is more than just a trek home. Old relationships, love, conflicts and memories resurface and collide. Apparently, old perspectives don't wither.

I thought I knew somewhat what Sway was going to be about. The beginning of it seem fairly standard; a man from the big city (played by Joe Odagiri) goes home to his rural roots and long past memories gets uprooted, but then the film does a 180 and what follows is a court room drama where you're not sure of what happened and two brothers perspectives are up against each other. Slow-paced, but still a recommended watch about the fragility of life.

Genre: Drama/Crime

Hana (Japan, 2006)

In 1702, set against the backdrop of a long-delayed and insatiable revenge, a reserved samurai, Aoki Sozaemon, leaves his hometown in Matsumoto to come to bustling Edo in search of his father's killer. Unaccomplished as a swordsman, with his funds quickly drying up, Sozaemon must honour his clan's demand to avenge a disgraceful death, however, when he finally finds his target, he will have to make a difficult decision before a crushing dilemma. Is the way of the samurai stronger than the way of the heart?

Turns out one of my favorite directors, Hirokazu Kore-eda (Nobody Knows, Air Doll), has also made a jidaigeki film, full of samurai and plots of revenge. What Kore-eda does though, is removing the action and replacing it with what he does the best, drama with emotional impact. Sozaemon meets a bunch of people who all effects his life in one way or another. Quite a bit of humor also sneaks its way in here, with quirky characters and funny events. Not one of Kore-eda's best films, but it was great to see him do a kind of low-key samurai film. 

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Sakuran (Japan, 2006)

A young girl is sold into a red-light district brothel and tries to adapt to life as an oiran (courtesan).

Sakuran isn't your typical stale geisha drama, but more like the rebellious sister of period films. A modern, rock-influenced soundtrack go hand in hand with a story that's usually accompanied by lonely koto melodies. The beautiful set designs makes me think of huge theatre productions, and there's a ton of gorgeous shots with cherry trees by moonlight and the colorful environment we're spending our time with. 

Being the directorial debut by Mika Ninagawa, who's famous for her extremely colorful and vivid photography, we're really being treated to her skillful ways of making the picture look like a dazzling, fascinating world. The film is adapted from a manga, so there's plenty of source material to take in. The perfect film to see if you want a stylish geisha film that's not littered with historical inaccuracies like Memoirs of a Geisha (2005). 

Genre: Drama/History

Unholy Women (Japan, 2006)

Unholy Women, is a composite of three unrelated half-hour horror movies. The first segment, "Rattle Rattle", tells the story of a young woman who is pursued by an evil other-worldly being. The second movie, "Steel", concerns a young man who agrees to take the sister of his boss out on a blind date, drawing him into a world more frightening than he ever dreamed possible. The third and final episode, "The Inheritance", is a supernatural tale of a woman and her young son, scarred by abuse and psychological trauma.

Unholy Women is an often disturbing and very creepy film, and tells three unrelated stories of horrific happenings. I rarely see this movie mentioned in horror articles about Asian films, which isn't overly surprising since it's not terribly scary, but I would at the very least recommend viewers to at least watch it once. Especially if you're starved for more Japanese horror films and think you've seen every last one of them. 

Genre: Horror

Nightmare Detective (Japan, 2006)

Three people in Tokyo take a surreal voyage of self-discovery through memory and nightmares. "O" intends suicide while talking on a cell-phone with a stranger he meets on line who plans a simultaneous suicide. Events take a horrifying turn. Keiko Kirishima is a cool, seemingly emotionless police detective, brilliant but off-putting. She's faced with two mutilated corpses who appear to have killed themselves, but she's not sure. A cell-phone number links the deaths. She calls on Akumu Tantei, a poor and suicidal young man who has the ability to enter people's dreams. 

So, I have finally seen the first Nightmare Detective (I wrote about the second one a long time ago) and can conclude that it's a pretty damn good duo of films. I really, really liked the sequel and since then I've had a hard time getting hold of this one. Here, Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo: The Iron Man) is just as amazing without his usually overly shaky camera and unconventional film style and uses a more traditional narrative format, a mystery thriller with his own  cool fantasy twist. In other words, even if you couldn't get into his more crazy stuff such as Bullet Ballet (1998) or Tokyo Fist (1995), you should still definitely check out both Nightmare Detective films.

Genre: Fantasy/Horror/Thriller

Arang (South Korea, 2006)

A salt storehouse near the sea may be haunted. A penniless ex-con dies a gristly death in a house he can ill afford. The detectives assigned the case are Min, newly reinstated after a suspension, and Lee, a new transfer from forensics. Min has nightmares: a sexual assault that haunts her. She and Lee work well together, but soon two more deaths occur - each mysteriously poisoned, both friends of the ex-con. A fourth friend, a newly married doctor, is a suspect. But what has all this to do with the salt storehouse, a death ten years ago, and a missing girl? 

Arang is a film which can be found on many lists of great horror films. I didn't see it back in 2006 so I couldn't tell you how original it felt back then, but nowadays the story of Arang is at least decent, though it uses the girl-with-long-black-hair-formula for a lot of the scares. Nevertheless, Arang is a good, scary experience and manages to be involving despite the use of some horror tropes.

Genre: Crime/Horror

Still Life (China/Hong Kong, 2006)

Coalminer Han Sanming comes from Fengyang in Shanxi to the Three Gorges town Fengjie to look for his ex-wife whom he has not seen for 16 years. The couple meet on the bank of the Yangtze River and vow to remarry. Nurse Shen Hong also comes to Fengjie from Taiyuan in Shanxi to look for her husband who has not been home for two years. The couple embrace each other and waltz under the imposing Three Gorges dam, but feel they are so apart and decide to have a divorce. The old township has been submerged, while a new town has to be built.

Still Life is a story about searching for what has been lost. In a town that's slowly being flooded during the construction of a dam, a man and a woman tries to find family and husbands. The beautiful mountains and rivers serves as a contrasting backdrop to the more desperate plot. 

Genre: Drama

Syndromes and a Century (Thailand, 2006)

A story about director Apichatpong Weerasethakul's parents who were both doctors, and his memories about growing up in the hospital environment.

Syndromes and a Century is one of those films that requires you to be in a certain mood before seeing it. The plot moves like a slowpoke, and there seem to be no hurry at all in advancing the story. If you can accept that, this film is actually really great, and much thank's to how it's filmed. Many static shots and long scenes, just the way I like it. A few times we may get a montage of different rooms and halls of a hospital where the lights are going out, and people that exercises in the park. So bring along a chunk of patience before watching it, and you will hopefully appreciate this meditative experience.

Genre: Drama

Cruel Winter Blues (South Korea, 2006)

Shim Jae-Moon watches his friend being stabbed to death by rival gang members and he quickly flees the area. A few years later, he sets out to revenge his friend's death and atone for his own actions. Jae-Moon travels to the small town of Bolgyo with his gang's newest recruit Chi-Guk. Chi-Guk is a former taekwondo athlete and familiar with the town of Bolgyo. Jae-Moon and Chi-Guk then scope out a modest restaurant in the town. The restaurant is owned by the mother of the man that killed Jae-Moon's friend. The two men begin to frequent the restaurant, all the while they wait for the restaurant owner's son to appear.

Apparently Cruel Winter Blues was marketed as a action gangster type of film, but that isn't really correct. Cruel Winter Blues feels more like a drama with a strong sense of threat that hangs in the air. It was directed by the same man who made the near perfect action thriller (in my opinion) The Man from Nowhere, so going back a few years in his filmography proved to be a terrific idea. 

The cast is also great, many recognizable faces from other fantastic films, for example Sol Kyung-gu, who've starred in films such as Peppermint Candy (2000) and Silmido (2003). All in all, it's a very memorable film and deserves your attention.

Genre: Crime/Drama

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Japan, 2006)

A teenage girl finds that she has the ability to leap through time. With her newfound power, she tries to use it to her advantage, but soon finds that tampering with time can lead to some rather discomforting results.

The concept of time travel has always been fascinating, and this film really plays around with the idea of going back in time over and over again. It's an imaginative story with great, great visuals and the director was also responsible for Summer Wars (2009) and the excellent Wolf Children (2012). 

Genre: Drama/Fantasy

The Banquet (China, 2006)

It is the end of the Tang Dynasty and China is divided. The Crown Prince, Wu Luan, is deeply in love with the noblewoman Little Wan. However, his father, the Emperor, decides to marry Little Wan. Wu Luan, deeply hurt, flees to a remote theatre to study the arts of music and dance. Shortly after Wu Luan's departure, the Emperor is murdered by his brother, Li. The film begins as Empress Wan sends messengers to the theatre, informing Wu Luan that the Emperor has died, and that his uncle will succeed the throne. Unknown to Wan, the usurping Emperor Li has already dispatched riders to assassinate Wu Luan.

The Banquet (a.k.a. Legend of the Black Scorpion) is a poetically beautiful and visually fantastic film. It runs in the same vein as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), but with a plot that's loosely based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. Expect grandiose storytelling and masterful fighting scenes.

Genre: Action/Drama

Death Water (Japan, 2006)

Newspaper correspondent Kyoko Togakure visits a nursing home in the outskirts of Tokyo. She finds the dead body of a resident. It was an apparent suicide. He's holding a piece of paper with the mystifying word "Death Water" written on it. Nearby are blood-stained scissors, and his eyes are squashed. She has no idea that this death is just the beginning of a horrendous nightmare

Death Water isn't the kind of horror where there's a jump scare every ten minutes, nor is it the kind where girls with long black hair comes after you. Instead, it's a rather slow-paced mystery surrounding a bizarre murder case that somehow involves water. It has decent actors and doesn't feel too long if you're up for a good thriller and doesn't expect to be bombarded with gore or murdering ghosts.

Genre: Horror/Mystery

Love and Honor (Japan, 2006)

Shinnojo, a low level samurai, lives with his pretty, dutiful and loyal wife Kayo. He has come to find his position in a castle as a food-taster for a feudal lord to be boring and pointless, and talks about opening a kendo school. Before he can act on his dream he becomes ill with a fever after tasting some sashimi made from shell fish, but an investigation reveals that the poisoning was not due to a human conspiracy, but a poor choice of food out of season. After three days he awakes but finds that the toxin from the food has blinded him.  

Love and Honor is the last entry in the samurai-trilogy that includes The Twilight Samurai and The Hidden Blade. They're all stand-alone movies, but shares the same goal: telling a great story set in Japan's samurai period, but without having it revolve around fighting. If you're only going to see a few samurai movies in your life, these three movies should be top priority.  Highly recommended.

Genre: Drama/Romance

I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (South Korea, 2006)

A young woman who believes she's a cyborg hears voices and harms herself while at work making radios. She's hospitalized in a mental institution where she eats nothing and talks to inanimate objects. She's Young-goon, granddaughter of a woman who thought she was a mouse and a mother who's a butcher. Young-goon comes to the attention of Il-sun, a ping-pong playing patient at the institution who makes it his goal to get her to eat. 

I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK must be one of Park Chan-wook's (Thirst, Oldboy) more unusual films, with a cast of institutionalized crazies. The mental hospital is full of colorful and nutty personalities, delivering a lot of comic relief. Regardless of what you may gain from the plot, Park Chan-wook has done an excellent job with the screenplay and blending a romantic drama with a surreal and quirky comedy-twist. An odd and sweet film with plenty of humor.

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

A Dirty Carnival (South Korea, 2006)

Byung-du is a 29-year-old career criminal, working for the middle-rank enforcer Sang-chul. Burdened with a terminally ill mother and taking care of younger siblings, Byung-du is feeling financial pressure as a substitute patriarch. When the big boss President Hwang is cornered by a corrupt prosecutor, Byung-du volunteers for an assassination and wins the big man's trust. However, this only makes more people turn against him...

Step into a world of small time mobsters, gang violence and one man's rise to power. A Dirty Carnival never treads water, the focus remains on Byung-du and he faces one problem after another that he must deal with, often in a bloody manner. Features some great fighting sequences and tight mob drama. 

Genre: Action/Drama/Thriller

Time (South Korea, 2006)

Seh-hee and Ji-woo have dated for two years; jealousy consumes her and she can't stand when other women even talks to him. She worries he will tire of her looks. Then, she disappears. Telling no one, she goes to a plastic surgeon for a new face.

An interesting drama from acclaimed director Kim Ki-duk (3-Iron, The Isle, Bad Guy), who tries to portray the issues in a modern relationship and take jealousy to a whole new level. In these days of twisted beauty ideals and where everyone wants to look perfect, Time is right on time (no pun intended). Great composition, cinematography and acting, as expected from the aforementioned director.  

Genre: Drama/Romance 

Retribution (Japan, 2006)

Yoshioka, an experienced detective, investigates the murder of an unknown woman in a red dress. She was drowned on the Tokyo waterfront, but an autopsy reveals that her stomach is full of seawater. Moreover, all the clues he finds relate to himself: A button found at the murder scene matches one that is missing from his own coat, and fingerprints found match his own. Yoshioka realizes that the only viable suspect is himself; but he doesn’t remember a thing.

Retribution (Sakebi) is a murder mystery that drifts further and further into a ghost story. Actor Kōji Yakusho (13 Assassins, Cure) is perfect for the role as a man who's psyche comes crashing down on him, and the special effects are superb when they do appear. The director truly nailed the feeling of walls closing in on our protagonist, and the sudden bursts of supernatural elements must be one of the best implementations of horror I've ever seen. Masterful suspense.

Genre: Horror/Mystery/Thriller

Memories of Matsuko (Japan, 2006)

Shou's father Norio finds his son in a rather meaningless existence in Tokyo dominated by alcohol and porn videos. Having left home two years earlier to pursue life as a musician, Shou has left his band and his girlfriend has left him. His father asks a favor, that Shou clean out the apartment of his aunt Matsuko, who he says led a meaningless life until her murder at the age of 53. The apartment is filled with garbage bags and is even more unkempt than his own apartment has become, and he becomes intrigued with his aunt as details of her life are surfacing. 

A roller coaster of emotions, Memories of Matsuko has the ability to change from the happiest, most joyful scenes of all, to the saddest and darkest place in a heartbeat. If you didn't think a murder mystery could be hilarious, you're about to be proven wrong. Wacky and sparkling, sad but also full of laughter, Matsuko is a genre-bending mix of everything between the silly and the sensible.

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Sun Scarred (Japan, 2006)

Katayama is on the way home to his wife and daughter when he stumbles on a gang of punks beating up an innocent man. Katamaya decides to help the stranger and surprisingly wins the fight. This turns out to be a bad decision as his daughter is kidnapped and murdered by the leader of the same band of young thugs. Katayama seeks revenge and tries to trace the gangs location.

Another great Takashi Miike (Audition) film, and it doesn't mess around. The violence in Sun Scarred (a.k.a. Scars of the Sun)  stays at a more realistic level, and leaves more room for the dark plot about how one man reaches his limit and wants nothing but vengeance. I don't blame him, the young thugs in this film makes Darth Vader look like a boy scout. Definitely a Miike film that's more serious in tone than many of his other works, and that's something I can appreciate after a handful films of his that uses very over-the-top violence and slapstick. 
Overall, a very dark but satisfying story of revenge.

Genre: Drama/Crime