Best of 2006 - Asian films

Since I've done this by year of production, here is a temporary best of films made in 2006 (see post here for 2005 and 2004).
Most are seen at film festivals or alike and many others will be seen in 2007. I must say that I probably haven't seen as many films this year as I have ever seen before, and quite funny hardly any US or European films (and actually not even a single one made this year).
I can already notice a few things. First despite the huge amount of Korean films, I must say that the novelty and originality stand out less, more and more Korean films are produced and are appreciated, many remain in genre films, big budget films. However, some are entertained and very well done, particularly in the crime/gangster genre films. Kim Ki-duk's Time and Hong Sang-soo's Woman of the Beach (two mature directors) don't differ much or don't show any kind of innovation (as already said in previous post).
Innovation was for me, for this year, more in the documentaries or in South Eastern Asian films, films from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines, countries from which the films and new filmmakers, I am pretty sure, will come up with more international recognition.
As for China, where the independent production still continues and is still developing, surely some young new filmmakers will arise while Jia Zhangke is now internationally acclaimed even though, to me, his first films were the best and more interesting ones (I had a little disappointment with Still Life and Dong).
Again, this is a personal with no consensus.

1. I don’t Want to sleep Alone (Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan, fiction)
2. Yellow Box (Huang Ting-fu, Taiwan, doc)
3. Opera Jawa (Garin Nugroho, Indonesia, fiction)
4. Stories From the North (Uruphong Raksasad, Thailand, doc)
5. The Last Communist (Amir Muhammad, Malaysia, doc)
6. Betelnut (Yang Heng, China, fiction)
7. Election 2 (Johnnie To, HK, fiction), Exiled was ok.
8. Invisible Waves (Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, Thailand, fiction)
9. Dong/Still Life (Jia Zhangke, China, fiction&doc)
10. Isabella (Pang Ho-Cheung, HK)

Others quite good & worth watching : Dog Bite Dog (Soi Cheang, HK, fiction), Exiled (Johnnie To, HK), No Mercy for the Rude (Park Cheol-hie, South Korea), After this Our Exile (Patrick Tam,HK), Tazza : The High Rollers (Choi Dong-hun, South Korea), Luxury Car (Wang Chao, China), Crazy Stone (Ning Hao, China)...

update 03/2007.

Best of 2005 - Asian Films

This is a personal best Asian films (fiction and documentary) produced in 2005 (made in 2005 but not necessarily seen in 2005, many were actually seen in 2006). 2006 will come later. 2004 has been posted here : 2004
Tsai's film is easily the best one, his latest one, I don't Want to Sleep Alone is also a great one, for a director who said to us that he would stop making films... His next project is set in Le Louvre and will star Maggie Cheung!!! Such a great project to be looking forward.
Contrary to 2004, it seems that I have seen mainly films from Far East Asia, not even a Thai film of 2005 I can remember of.... South Korea is as usual producing a quantity of movies, but more genre movies or big productions. However Hong Sang-soo and Kim Ki-duk keep on going, although not as innovative and rather mixed for Kim's work (The Bow was too symbolic and metaphorical again).


1 The Wayward Cloud (Tian bian yi duo yun, Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan)
2 Three Times (Zui hao de shi guang, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan
3 Election (Hak se wui, Johnnie To, HK)
4 Haze (Haze, Shinya Tsukamoto, Japan)
5 Dream Walking (Meng You, Huang Wenhai, China, doc)
6 Takeshis (Takeshis, Takeshi Kitano, Japan)
7 Peacock (Kong que, Gu Changwei, China)
8 A Bittersweet Life (Dalkomhan insaeng, Kim Ji-woon, Korea)
9 The Sunflowers (Kui Hua Duo Duo, Wang Biaomin, China)
10 4:30 (Royston Tan, Singapore)


To continue :
11. Canary (Akihiko Shiota, Japan),
12. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (Park Chan Wook, Korea),
13. Welcome to Dongmakgol (Park Kwang Hyun, Korea),
14. King and the Clown (Lee Jun-ik, Korea),
15. So Much Rice (Li Hongqi, China)
16. The Tale of Yamanaka Tokiwa (Sumiko Haneda, Japan, doc),
17. Shanghai Dreams (Wang Xiaoshuai, China),
18. Crying Fist (Ryoo Seyng-wan, Korea),
19. Mongolian Ping Pong (Ning Hao, China),
20. Be With Me (Eric Khoo, Singapore)

Special Mention :
Time between Dog and Wolf (Jeon Soo-il, Korea), A Stranger of Mine (Kenji Uchida, Japan), Singapore Gaga (Tan Pin Pin, Singapore), A Tale of Cinema (Geuk jang jeon, Hong Sang-soo, South Korea).

No point to name the worse ones or the ones that were a big disappointment...

Still to see :
Rampo Noir, Eli, Eli, rema, sabachthani?, Operetta Tanuki Goten, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles which I will see soon....
and many more...

some SB movies

Deadly Duo (1971) and Magnificent Wanderers (1977) both by Chang Cheh and starring David Chiang, but Magnificent Wanderers is not very good (the characters are too "clownish" and stereotyped, especially the "bad" ones, the humour isn't great and the film isn't great acted and rather badly edited).

Deadly Duo doesn't run for long (about 70 minutes) but goes straight to the action, in fact it seems to show fights after fights (mainly with swords, axes, or a few other weapons). The plot is simple : set at the end of the Sung dynasty, "this picture shows how prince Kang was saved by many patriots and the selflessness of these valiant men"!
Hero Bao (Ti Lung) and three of his courageous men will have to cross a bridge that only an expert can do, and who is, of course, Little Bat (David Chiang). As usual, Chang Cheh gives portraits of heroes carried by the great values of virile friendship (one can notice that there is no a single female character at all in this film) and by the sense of sacrifice, strong will and invulnerable bravery which Chang Cheh expresses entirely at the the final scene in a very visual way.

2 other SB films not directed by Chang Cheh:
Swordsman At Large (Chui Chang Wang, 1971) and The Fastest Sword (Pan Lei, 1968). Two different ones.
The Fastest Sword offers a simple plot about the best and fastest swordsman, also called the Sourthern Swordsman, who, victim of his title, is constantly challenging by other swordsmen. Proud and arrogant, he meets an old monk who defeats him within a blow. The old monk then teaches him humility and the futility of glory and importance for 3 years by making certain long tasks alone (copying old scripts, making a very small statue out of a massive rock). But when he goes back to the world, not only relatives of swordsmen he killed in his previous life come back to him but he's also challenged by another famous swordsman, the Northern Swordsman.
The Fastest Sword is to me closer to a chambara kind, not much action and a long final duel (that lasts about 10 minutes with slow motion shots and close-ups), the complicity of the village and even the main character, Ding Menghao (Lu Ping who acts very well), almost walks and acts like a Japanese swordsman.

Swordsman at Large involves many characters - female and male, often in couples such as Flying Eagle and Zhao Tai Chi, the Lian cousins, Xiao the rambler and Xi Niang. The plot presents several conspiricies and ways to get the prestigious Deer Knife in order to rule the martial world as well as a romance story (that could have been shorterned).

a couple of other SB movies mentioned here.

and....
A top 10 of Martial Arts HK films (posted on the Kung Fu corner thread on RT) :

Top 10 Before the 80s
1. Raining in the Mountain (King Hu, 1979)
2. The New One Armed Swordsman (Chang Cheh, 1971)
3. Have a Sword, Will Travel (Chang Cheh, 1969)
4. The Assassin (Chang Cheh, 1967)
5. Cold Blade (Chu Yuan , 1970)
6. Touch of Zen (King Hu, 1969)
7. That Fiery Girl (Yan Jun, 1968)
8. Temple of Red Lotus (Chui Chang-wang, 1965)
9. The Wandering Swordsman (Chang Cheh, 1970)
10. Come Drink with Me (King Hu, 1968)

Top 10 After the 80s
1. Once Upon a Time in China (1&2) (Tsui Hark, 1992,1993)
2. The Blade (Tsui Hark, 1995)
3. New Dragon Inn (Raymond Lee, 1992)
4. Iron Monkey (Yuen Woo-ping, 1993)
5. Fong Sai-Yuk 1 (the 2 is okay but not as good) (Corey Yuen, 1993)
6. Tai Chi Master (Yuen Woo-ping, 1993)
7. Wing Chun (Yuen Woo-ping, 1994)
8. Dreadnaught (Yuen Woo-ping, 1981)
9. Blade Of Fury (Sammo Hung, 1993)
10. Swordsman 2 (Ching Siu-Tung, 1991)

Perhaps not in specific orders and it could easily change. Also films like Bride with White Hair and A Chinese Ghost Story, which are more wu xia fantasy, are very good films.

Top 10 of Asian Movies in 2004

Top 10 of Asian Movies in 2004

Only Asian movies made in 2004 (although most of them were seen in 2005...). 2004 was a rich year, the best came probably from Japan and Tadanobu Asano was surely the best actor who played several films in 2004 (Survive Style 5+, The Taste of Tea, and Vital which I still haven't seen yet).
The list may change since I'm so indecisive with lists.
Movies of 2004 that I still haven't seen : A Letter from an Unknown Woman (Xu Jinglei) - seen in 2006, Kekexili: Mountain Patrol (Lu Chuan), seen in 2006, The Foliage (Lu Yue), Shanghai Story (Peng Xiaolian), Two Great Sheep (Liu Hao), Vital (Shinya Tsukamoto) - seen in 2006, One Night in Mongkok (Derek Yee) - seen in 2006, Shutter (Thailand) and more...
The 2005 list will come later...

10. Day and Night - Riri yeye - (Wang Chao, Mainland China).
09. 3-Iron - Bin-jip - (Kim Ki-duk, South Korea)
08. Kungfu Hustle - Gong fu (Stephen Chow, HK)
07. Nobody Knows - Dare mo shirana - (Hirokazu Koreeda, Japan)
06. Survive Style 5+ - (Gen Sekiguchi, Japan)
05. The World - Shijie - (Jia Zhangke, Mainland China)
04. Café Lumière - Kôhî jikô - (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan)
03. The Beautiful Washing Machine - Mei li de xi yi ji - (James Lee, Malaysia)
02. A Taste of Tea - Cha no aji - (Katsuhito Ishii, Japan)
01. Tropical Malady - Sud pralad - (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand)

Other movies I liked and that are worth being mentioned (and from "big Asia") : Barbecue (Jun Geng, Mainland China), Passages (Yang Chao, Mainland China), Pirated Copy (He Jianjun, Mainland China), Schizo (Guka Omarova, Kazakhstan), Earth and Ashes (Atiq Rahimi, Afghanistan), Bitter Dreams (Moshen Amiryoussefi, Iran), 15 (Royston Tan, Singapore), Citizen Dog (Wisit Sasanatieng, Thailand), 2046 (WKW, HK), Howl's Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki, Japan), Cutie Honey (Hideaki Anno, Japan) ...