Hello, folks! Welcome back to Thursday Movie Picks where we recommend you the lamest films. Thursday Movie Picks is a weekly film recommendation from a certain theme. It's hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Today's theme is.........................Asian Language Movies set in East Asia.
WHAT?! I THOUGHT ASIA IS JUST...ASIA. I thought Asia is this one big country where everybody looks the same. Oh, nevermind my blabber. So, I've researched a bit for this theme. Turns out, East Asia is a place where people looks so Asian.
Kung Fu Hustle (Stephen Chow, 2004) --> Hong Kong
This film ruined my relationship with my bed when I was in primary school. I ignored my bed so I could continue to watch Stephen Chow's action in television. Even before the film finished, I had decided that Kung Fu Hustle is my favorite film.
I know that Kung Fu Hustle is cheesy and exaggerating CGI, but this film still makes me laughing out loud, for Kung Fu's sake. I love how it's a bit more bleak than the usual comedy films. I love all the characters, from the lady whose lipstick got smeared to the psychopath kung fu master.
All the good things aside, I don't like how Kung Fu Hustle tells you that you can't be a hero unless you're the one or have some sort of power.
Letters from Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood, 2006) --> Japan
I'm not sure with this week's criteria, but I'm sure it's Asian language, not Asian director or something.
I don't know which one is more depressing. Seeing a pair of siblings dying slowly or seeing innocent men were forced to be in war they didn't want. I know Japan is one of the bad guys in World War II, but it still clenches my heart to know that there are thousands of people suffered in Japan, too. But it doesn't erase Japan's sin as a country in the past, for me at least.
The most depressing scene is where the soldiers listen to children's singing through the radio. Some of them crying. Perhaps they know they won't make it, or they're reminded by their own children.
Kudos for Clint Eastwood because he didn't make the Japanese people as gibberish enemy and talking in actual Japanese. He didn't do this film like Scorsese did to Hugo. It's also a shame that Letters from Iwo Jima is an underrated film.
Memories of Murder (Bong Joon Ho, 2003) --> South Korea
If you love True Detective, you should give Bong Joon Ho's 2003 brilliant masterpiece a look. I think the two detectives from MoM are a mix from Rust and Martin Hart. The main detective has Rust's quirkiness and Marty's easygoing and unquestioning nature. While the detective from town doesn't like to break the rule, but he doesn't talk much (it's debatable), critical, and detail-oriented like Rust.
Fyi, this film is based on true story.
Honorable mentions:
Battle Royale (I don't see it as a horror)
Happy Together
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Akira
The Chaser
