A Variety of Reasons Why Asian Films Kick Ass.

Mmm. Trailery goodness. Some with commentary, some without.

Innocence: Ghost in the Shell
Two reasons to get excited about this film. 1) Mamoru Oshii is a genius. For proof, go check out the inexcusably poorly packaged DVD of Avalon that Miramax just put out. 2) Production IG is about the finest technical animation house in the world today. Nobody fuses CG with cel animation better than these guys and some of the images in these trailers are pants-fillingly incredible. This is the same production house that did the anime bits in Kill Bill, by the way … Three trailers here:

http://www.innocence-movie.jp/trailer/index.html

Appleseed
Another anime title, this one is by the same author as Ghost in the Shell, but different animators. Not quite up to Production IG standards, but still scary good.

http://www.apple.com/jp/quicktime/trailers/appleseed_large.mov

Doppelganger
New one from Japanese cult director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, whom I love and whose Cure has just been released domestically on DVD. Creepy psychological thriller, that one, and definitely worth a look.

mms://vod.hani.co.kr/cine21/multi/trailer/c-d/doppel_pre.asf

Hero
I really, really love Crouching Tiger but I think Hero is a better film in every way. Art house meets kung fu with stunning cinematography and a collection of the best dramatic and martial arts talents Asia has to offer. Why hasn’t it been released here yet? Only Bob Weinstein knows … trailer links are down the left hand side:

http://asp.mov3.com/trailer/index.asp?mov_id=1021&ver=B5

Infernal Affairs
Due for the Miramax hack and slash treatment this summer, do yourself a favor and import a Hong Kong edition first. Fantastic cop thriller.

mms://202.85.172.209/m_trailers/infernal_affair.asf

Juon 2
Whee! An English subtitled DVD of this is due out in a couple weeks … can’t wait …

http://www.filmhorizon.com/fh-media/TheGrudge2_512.asx

Musa the Warrior
Massive (and beautiful) Korean historical epic … I really don’t understand why this film never came into North America after the success of Crouching Tiger since it shares one of Tiger’s stars. A good all region Hong Kong edition of this was just released with good English subtitles. Pretty much essential viewing.

mms://vod.hani.co.kr/cine21/multi/trailer/m-n/musa2.asf

Natural City
Apparently the plot is wafer thin and it steals liberally from Blade Runner, but the trailer looks mighty impressive …

mms://vod.hani.co.kr/cine21/multi/trailer/m-n/natural_trailer.asf

Ong Bak
Whee! Hadn’t seen this particular trailer until just now and it kicks ass. This film is flat out incredible and absolutely essential for any martial arts film fan. The star is a pretty even split of Jackie Chan and Jet Li in terms of raw talent and willingness to do absolutely ridiculous stunt work. The fight scenes are staggering. According to the guy who runs the Midnight Madness program at the Toronto Film Festival Ong Bak got the best response of any film the program has ever screened, hands down.

mms://streams.netcine.com/europa/ong/t_ong_whd.wmv

Ping Pong
Japanese high school kids playing Ping Pong. You wouldn’t think it’d make for a good film, but it really does.

http://asp.mov3.com/trailer/index.asp?mov_id=982&ver=B5

Save the Green Planet
I caught this one at the Toronto Film Festival and it’s a genre mashing classic … Pill popping sociophobe is convinced the world is about to be invaded by aliens and kidnaps the head of a large chemical corporation to prove it. Thing is he might be right. The opening sequence alone is worth the price of admission.

http://www.film2.co.kr/theater/trailers/T0000998.asx

Shaolin Soccer
Profoundly silly and drop dead funny Shaolin Soccer is another film to be sucked into the Miramax black hole. I’ve got five bucks that says Steven Chow’s next film is finished and released before Miramax ever puts this one out. Do yourself a favor an find an imported version without the bad Miramax dub and cut job …

http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/shaolin_soccer/

Wonderful Days
Anime from Korea. A bit uneven but the good bits are mighty impressive.

http://www.film2.co.kr/theater/trailers/T0001094.asx

Zatoichi
Samurai film from incredible Japanese film maker Takeshi Kitano. Kitano’s take on the classic Blind Swordsman story (20+ feature films in Japan plus a long running tv series) was the big winner at this year’s Toronto Film Fest and has won a stack of international awards. Again, due for the hack and slash treatment from Miramax, so try and find an unaltered version if possible …

http://210.153.96.5/zatoichi/trailer/zatoichi_2_l.wmv

Zebraman
The latest from Japanese shock-meister Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, Audition) is a family friendly (by his standards, anyway) send up of Japanese superhero mystique circa 1970. Think Power Rangers.

http://festa.biglobe.ne.jp/zebra/zebra_300k.asx

Devilman
Live action adaptation of a 70’s era Japanese anime series.

mms://wm1.www.nifty.com/service1/a1/theater/preview/031106/devilman_1M.wmv

Dragonhead
Post-apocalyptic flick from Japan.

http://www.dragonhead-movie.jp

Battlefield Baseball
Whee! Who says baseball, zombies and to the death combat don’t mix? Heh … produced by Ryuhei Kitamura who was responsible for the hyper kinetic and uber-low budget zombie flick Versus and directed by Kitamura’s AD from that film.

http://www.klockworx.com/jigoku/trailer/yokoku_bb.mov