What was the film that started your passion for Asian movies? We asked some friends…
Call it the ‘tipping point’ if you will. Perhaps not the first Asian film you saw, doubtlessly not even your favourite, but the film that made you want devote your time (whether professional or spare) to Asian film. We asked fellow critics, friends and contributors to easternKicks.com, and here’s what they said…
Kelan Headley, easternKicks contributor
“Ironically enough, the film that kick started my interest in Asian cinema wasn’t even an Asian film, but an American film which starred the greatest Asian icon of them all…
“It was May 27th, 1995 – my Mother’s 40th birthday. She had arranged a party in our house and six year old me was sent up stairs to watch TV in my bedroom. It was a Saturday night and BBC 2 were having Kung Fu night; the latest in their themed programming blocks. They showed a few different documentaries about the Kung Fu phenomenon, and then Enter the Dragon, starring Bruce Lee. It’s hard to believe anyone not knowing who Bruce Lee is, but at six years old I’d never heard of him before. It didn’t take long for me to be enthralled. Throwing kicks around my bedroom as I watched Bruce take on the villainous Han, it had a monumental effect on me. I was a Bruce Lee fan and my life was changed forever.
“In the pre-internet days of the mid 90′s, I devoured all Bruce related information available to me. The local video shop was limited to Enter the Dragon, Game of Death and Dragon: the Bruce Lee Story, and this was all I had to tide me over for the next few years. Shown late on Channel 4, Bruce’s Way of the Dragon was the first foreign film I ever saw and is still my favourite of his output. By around nine years old, I had seen most of his films and had great portions of his life committed to memory.
“Bruce Lee argued that by exposing the west to Chinese culture, it would create a domino effect, making people appreciate the other cultures of Asia and then the varying cultures of the world. The films of Bruce Lee exposed me to Hong Kong Action cinema, made me seek out films from Japan and the rest of Asia, as well as foreign films at large. It’s hard to think it all began as a six year old boy, throwing kicks around his bedroom.”
Samuel Jamier, co-director, New York Asian Film Festival
www.subwaycinema.com
“The film that started it all for me, the one that show me something beyond the Western canon of cinema, was Wong Kar-Wai’s Days Of Being Wild, which I watched in the 1990s in Paris, in a small cinema in Paris, around 2 AM or something… I’m mentioning the context because my conviction is that when it comes to film, memory is a crucial aspect. Also, I’m talking about Wong Kar-Wai, someone one for whom time and memory are front and centre.
“At the time, Asian cinema mostly meant (to me) the Shaw Brothers’ stuff and Hong Kong genre flicks (I was a huge fan), a few Japanese masters, and the (few) Chinese filmmakers of the 5th generation. In that context, the screening of Days Of Being Wild a major revelation. Actually, let’s say it: it was a life-changing experience, a once-in-a-lifetime event. Kind of like meeting the perfect girl (I was barely out of adolescence back then). I had never felt such a strong emotional connection with a film before. The characters, the beauty of their chance encounters, how they drift to and from each other… I was truly enthralled.
“Of course, there was the exoticism of the time and place represented (1960s Hong Kong), the foreignness of it, but behind, or beneath all that, there was, in that film, a breath of fresh air, a new form of cinema: ghostly, abstract, choreographed and chaotic, tender and cruel, melancholy and eerie, with no equivalent anywhere else in the world. So to me, the discovery of Asian cinema is forever associated with this late-night screening of Days Of Being Wild.”
Phil Newton, managing editor at Chris and Phil Present
“It was the late ’80s. I was just starting out at college, furthering my education, and more importantly, furthering my film education. Having been a late adopter to VHS I was now gorging on all the films I’d missed in my early teens, and like many boys my age, was obsessed with the action films of Jean-Claude Van Damme, the rising star of the time. Then in the Summer of 1989 I tuned in to watch Son Of The Incredibly Strange Film Show on Channel 4, hosted by a young Jonathan Ross; the first episode in the series focussed on Jackie Chan, and within the first five minutes there was a scene from Armour Of God (1986) in which Jackie fled down a perilous incline, pursued by hordes of natives. In that one moment I’d found my new action hero.
“Subsequently tracking down and watching Armour Of God for the first time was quite an eye opener for me. The choreography of the fight scenes, the perilous stunts – performed by Chan himself – mixed with such a sense of humour was something I had never seen before. I was soon devouring all the other classic Jackie Chan films – Project A, Police Story, Wheels On Meals – and it was these films opened my eyes to other films coming out of the Far East. Without Armour Of God and the films of Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, I’d have never have discovered the work of Tsui Hark or John Woo, or later, the ‘Asia Extreme’ films led by the likes of Takashi Miike and Hideo Nakata. In hindsight it’s not his best work, but Armour Of God will always have a special place in my heart for spearheading my journey into Asian cinema.”
Hayley Scanlon, writer at uk-anime.net
ireallyhavenothingtosaybutiwanttosayitallthesame.com
“I don’t quite remember when it was I first discovered Asian film, it feels as if it was always there somewhere in the background. In an odd way I guess it might have started with Blade Runner and it’s neo-noir, neon lit futurism but then in the mid to late ‘80s the future was very definitely ‘Eastern’ and all eyes were looking towards Japan and the re-awakening China. The earliest Asian films I can clearly remember watching were from Hong Kong – a perhaps unconventional double bill of Chungking Express and The Killer both of which had quite a profound effect on me. Both films remain among my favourites even today but there’s another film that came later and though perhaps isn’t as well loved by the masses, is fondly remembered at least by me.
“Yes, I am talking about Tsui Hark’s Time And Tide which in which Nicholas Tse gets himself involved in some dodgy business eventually ending up delivering his friend’s baby in the midst of a hail of bullets all the while mooning over the lesbian cop he accidentally got pregnant after a drunken one night stand neither of them can remember. The plot is…well, it’s better not to talk about the plot but the film has bags of style, great action sequences and a whole bunch of random South American gangsters. Signalling Tsui’s return to HK cinema after a (fairly disastrous) spell in Hollywood, Time and Tide arrived just before HK action became cool again with Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s Infernal Affairs but I like to think that in some small way Time And Tide with all its anarchic charm is the best fusion of old school HK action films and the (slightly) more cerebral art house aesthetics which were finally beginning to take over.”
Victor Fan, lecturer at Kings College London
“I have seen many exciting and thought-provoking films produced in Asia in my life thus far. Yet, whenever I am being asked what film truly left a mark in my cinematic memory, I always reply: Tokyo Story (Tokyo monogatari, Ozu Yasujiro, 1953). I first saw this film during my freshman year in university at Rochester, New York. I heard of it in several discussions among my friends in Hong Kong, and I always wondered what impact a film could possibly make on so many people’s lives. I rented a VHS copy by mail from Facet Video in Chicago, and I watched the film around midnight in my little dormitory room. It probably wasn’t a viewing condition most conducive to appreciating a masterpiece. But the film stood the test of a tiny TV monitor, and ever since then, I have watched it at least once a year in different formats and under various conditions.
“Tokyo Story is about an old couple, Tomi (Higashiyama Chieko) and Hirayama Shukichi (Ryu Chishu), who travel from their hometown Onomichi in order to visit their grown children’s families in Tokyo. But instead of feeling welcomed, Tom and Shukichi soon realise that their visit is seen as an imposition for their children, with the exception of their widowed daughter-in-law Noriko (Hara Setsuko), an ‘outsider’ to the family. Upon returning to Tokyo, Tomi falls ill and eventually passes away. At first glance, Tokyo Story seems to be about the transience of life and the irretrievable loss of family values in post-war Japan. In the film, Ozu uses a set of deliberately limiting camera and editing techniques he developed since the 1920s—always placing the camera approximately at the height of a person sitting on a tatami mat, performing day-to-day actions in real time, having actors speak almost directly at the camera, choreographing calculated bodily movements and gestures, and editing with careful graphic matches—in order to tell this story in a seemingly quotidian, nonchalant, and highly elegant manner. For me, Tokyo Story is like a cup of warm tea. It has a certain tenderness, sweetness, bitterness and flatness that allow me to experience time in a way I do in my everyday life; yet, these everyday qualities, once crystalised in the cinema, somehow become an exception that turns the surface of the everyday into an entrance into the abyss of life—or, perhaps, turns the depth of life into something that is as simple, necessary and inevitable as the everyday.”
Jason Verney, reviewer and filmmaker
MiniMiniMovies | NativeNomadPictures.com
“A tough feat would be to pinpoint the exact time or film as my foray into Asian pictures, because it was a gradual one… albeit up a rapidly climbed gradient. I became uninterested with the run-of-the-mill Hollywood films and maybe as a distraction from other life moments or happenings, it was then that I started frequenting not only new-to-me picture-houses but also foreign films. I do recall quite vividly attending a few Japanese film screenings, such as Kamone Diner, and I was interested in various films… independent, different and tonal. I still am.
“Director Hong Sang-soo was probably next, but only a few of his – and there was a season of these too. Furthermore, this was probably around the time that I, pretty infrequently [although they themselves have since got more frequent with their film nights] visited the Korean Cultural Centre for their regular film screenings. The films of Sion Sono could definitely not be disregarded also… I love those I saw. To cut a long story short, I’d have to go with a film which holds as firm in my memory for events surrounding it, and subsequent embarkings of projects myself equally, with how it impacted me. That film? Breathless (똥파리 Ddongpari).
“The reasons: It’s raw, real and really hard-hitting, with realistic characters. Yes, it involves mob-like characters, gangs and violence in many parts but the director (Yang Ik-jun), whom is also the main actor, shows it as stripped-down as he possibly can. The budget will have played a part but it’s testament to how, if a story and believable characters & their lives are written and performed well, a film really can work. One of the memorable scenes is of the two main leads – male and female (Kim Kkobbi) – crying in unison. I later realised that many Korean films involve tears. It shows daringness, both in its subject matter and in the very independent & small-budget look, feel and actuality of the movie. The latter appealed to me, being a filmmaker. That can’t be true of all artists, but most definitely this man writing the words you’re reading now.
“Furthermore, subconsciously, it marked the beginning of many filmmaking projects, artist interviews [following an interview, and time spent with the remarkable Ms KIM], more writing of film reviews and general further gained interest in Asia &Asian films. In short, Breathless left me Breathless.”
Kenneth Brorsson, creator and reviewer at sogoodreviews.com
Podcast On Fire Network producer
“My film is Bullet In The Head. It was my introduction to Hong Kong cinema where I got excited and destroyed in one go. John Woo’s movie certainly is about the stylish action, but the anger is put to use in a way where we realize the term bloody brotherhood has never been as well executed.”
Wai Lu Yin, founder/writer at SumGyeoJin Gem
“Back in my high school days, I used to see Hong Kong martial arts films that not only had action but drama that made me felt so excited, while being sentimental at the same time. In terms of Korean film, the very first film that I watched was War Of The Arrows, which was shown at the London Korean Film Festival 2011. I was really impressed with not only how actors conveyed their emotions in different scenes, but how different elements in filming (eg. camera direction, music etc.) were used to bring out visual meanings.
“War Of The Arrows is special in a way that its storyline and characters in a historical setting that grabs my attention. It’s not about having plenty of action like Hollywood films. It is about the balance of both action and drama with great quality of content and filmmaking skills. It made me realized that there are still other areas of Korean culture, especially Korean films, which need to be explored and known to global audiences. From there, I started to have interest in Korean films followed by watching and reviewing them. To me, Asian films have a balance of action and sentimental values that are conveyed with great visuals with simple but unique interpretation of exciting and meaningful stories. Every single element in films is taken into consideration.”
Phil Gillion, founder/writer of Eastern Film Fans
“The film that started my Asian film passion wasn’t the first Asian film I’d seen. In fact I’d started out like alot of people with VHS versions of Bruce Lee films. It was a trip to the Scala Cinema, London, in the early 90′s when I went to see Eastern Condors on the big screen.
“I think it was because it was on a big screen and the atmosphere was so electric people wolf whistling, clapping, shouting, screaming with every punch, kick and flip it was an experience I’d never felt, an interaction with film and audience. This wasn’t a place where people were told off for speaking it was actively encouraged.
“The film itself also left an impression, I’d seen Jackie, Sammo and Yuen in other films but it was an introduction to Lam Ching-Ying, Joyce Godenzi, Corey Yuen and Yuen woo-ping to name but a few. It opened a door from Martial Arts related films to Heroic Bloodshed and Chow Yun-fat and broadened my horizon on Asian film. Every Birthday I watch the film its a reminder that for me my Asian passion took flight with Eastern Condors ;-)”
Kevin Ma, Film Business Asia
“Growing up in Hong Kong, I became a Hong Kong film fan by nature. Before I became a real film buff, I remember catching HK films like the new Jackie Chan, Stephen Chow and of course, Japanese animated films. Unlike many western film fans, I’m more fond of Hong Kong’s comedies and dramas than its action films. In my family, we have one film that we often rewatch together, and that film was Mabel Cheung’s An Autumn’s Tale.
“It might be the connection we feel as immigrants in the U.S. (though I grew up in San Francisco, not New York), it was mostly Chow Yun-fat’s iconic performance as Cherie Chung’s foul-mouthed and unkempt cousin that made the film for us. The two stars share great chemistry, and as two Hong Kongers who spent an extended period of time in New York City, Cheung and her co-writer Alex Law managed to capture a Hong Konger’s American experience with great humour. Beyond the Hong Kong perspective, An Autumn’s Tale is just a lovely, timeless film that is worth watching again and again. It may not be the best Asian film I’ve ever seen (and I wouldn’t know which film would get that spot anyway), but it is one of my favourites.”
Colette Balmain, film lecturer, editor and writer
Oriental Nightmares
Directory of World Cinema: South Korea (editor)
“As someone who writes about horror cinema and had a wonderful independent video shop back to the day when such things existed, it is difficult to remember the first Japanese film I saw (and it would have been Japanese as that was my primary entrance into East Asian Cinema until I started teaching and became obsessed with the heroic bloodshed of the early films of John Woo when teaching a module on gangster cinema). I think it would probably be Miike Takeshi’s Audition (1999), a film that terrified me for a long time after I first saw it: Aoyama softly chanting ‘deeper, deeper’ as she carefully and slowly inserts needles into the eyes of her paramour, Asami, just before she saws off his feet, is one of the most brutal moments in contemporary horror cinema.
“At the time I saw it, I was writing about the femme fatale (or the diva) in the films of Italian horror auteur, Dario Argento, and saw a commonality between Argento’s strong women who fought back against oppression and that of Aoyama (or indeed that is what I argued in my conclusion to my doctorate). The poetry of violence in Miike’s film endeared me to Audition, as did its feminist subtext (well that is what I would argue). For me Miike is a director whose visual flair and cinematic poetry make the most mundane film into something extraordinary.”
Stephen Palmer, easternKicks contributor
Gweilo Ramblings
“It was my idea. This whole “what got you hooked on Asian cinema thing” that is. Of course, when I posed the question, I thought the answer would be easy. In fact many years ago I posted on my own blog, something similar to this, in a way explaining why I was about to embark on a little project detailing my 10 favourite Asian Movies (and that turned out well!). But thinking back? I’m not sure I got it quite right.
“Was my exposure down to that now famous Chinese Ghost Stories season on Channel 4? Or maybe it was catching Monkey or The Water Margin on BBC 2. Or maybe it was watching something on the much-missed Moviedrome also on BBC2. All-important foundations, but nothing I would say “hooked”, more generated a general interest in what is often horribly termed ‘Cult’ cinema. I loved Horror movies, and for some reason there was a natural progression from this to discovering an entire world of Cinema.
“I remember Ringu. Which was an obsession but not because it was Asian. Ringu led to something else. It helped spark a release of Japanese Horror movies in the UK. Labels like Tartan actually started releasing subtitled DVDs, laughably using ‘Extreme’ as a label. That’s where I know I got hooked. And it’s a film I know exactly when the penny dropped. And funnily enough it’s a film I know don’t actually hold in any kind of special high regard, Audition.
“I remember reading a little review in the wonderful and also missed Hotdog magazine. It wasn’t more than a few lines, but the creepy cover image sucked me in. It wasn’t hard to find a copy. During a regular Friday night drink/watch/game session with a couple of colleagues from work, I offered up this funny little Japanese movie as our video treat. It was watched in near silence (something that was both unusual and a sign that all three of us were utterly entranced). We jumped in unison when the sack moved, felt ill when vomit was offered up as food, swore when the foot hit the window. It was a bonding moment (leading to all the later events involving me bringing along a Asian horror movie).
“The other guys saw it as a fun, strange movie, but it genuinely sparked something else for me. This is where I started looking for other films by this Takashi Miike fellow. And then I found there were not only a bunch of Japanese films that did this different kind of horror, but also some from South Korea. Which led me to totally different genres, and countries. From Audition to Azumi to My Sassy Girl to Chungking Express to…. well you get the idea.
“The thing that is strange is that whilst I guess I consider this the moment where it really clicked, where my focus wasn’t just on the strange and the cult and the unusual, but looking back? Audition isn’t even that great a movie; faithful to the source novel, certainly. But the first 75% of the film may be high on atmosphere and foreshadowing, but dreadfully boring. Eihi Shiina was captivating and scary, but hardly seen again.
“It looks like they are doing that inevitable Western remake, I doubt I will be watching.”
Do you have a film that started your passion for Asian movies? Let us know below in comments, on Facebook, or tweet #filmThatStartedItAll to @easternKicks. Watch out for part two next week!
Big thanks to everyone that agreed to take part in this feature!
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