It’s hard not to mention stuff that isn’t already somewhat canonized, what with Hou, Tsai, Wong, and so on. However, I have yet to hear (or see) many people talking about Zhimin Sheng’s great Bliss (Fu sheng) which is actually one of my favorite films of all time!
I don’t know about availability but how about more stuff from Garrel? Not even KG has The Wind of the Night with English subs! Always more Asian territory to cover. Is there any point in mentioning Naruse and Ozu (or Tsai and Hou) at this point? If not, there’s also Royston Tann, Ann Hui, Nobuhiro Yamashita, Jun Ichikawa, Jang Sun-Woo, Yoshishige Yoshida, Yibai Zhang, and hundreds more.
Some overlooked (some even by myself) Italians: Francesco Maselli, Paolo Sorrentino, Damiano Damiani, Pietro Germi’s non comedy films…
Hong Sang-Soo’s Night and Day
Nanouk Leopold’s Wolfsbergen
Harmony Korine’s Mister Lonely
Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s Voyage of the Red Balloon
Yoji Yamada’s Kaabee
Jim Jarmusch’s The Limits of Control
Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park and to a lesser extent, Milk
Jun Ichikawa’s How To Become Myself
Koji Wakamatsu’s Red Army
Naomi Kawase’s If Only the Whole World Loved Me
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Tokyo Sonata
Johan Renck’s Downloading Nancy
Ulrich Seidl’s Import/Export
Olivier Assayas’ Boarding Gate
I’ve actually already seen two of these, but whatever.
On Friday, I watched Henry Verneuil’s truck driver tragedy People of No Importance which features Jean Gabin’s final really great performance. I wrote more on my blog – here
Yesterday, I watched Yuan Mu-jinh’s Malu tianshi (1937). Some solid fun, but nothing too special. Also watched Asfalto, newer noir/thriller/love story from Spain. Aesthetically nice, but it didn’t leave a huge impression on me, at least not outside of the beautiful Najwa Nimri. She’s actually better in Medem’s messy Lynch-drama Sex and Lucia but I wasn’t a big fan of that film.
I love, love, love Mikio Naruse as surely some of you already know. Just for the hell of it, here’s how I’d rank his films:
- A Wanderer’s Notebook (1962)
- Flowing (1956)
- Bangiku (1954)
- Yearning (1964)
- Floating Clouds (1955)
- When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)
- Lightning (1952)
- Daughters, Wives, and a Mother (1960)
- Repast (1951)
- The Sound of the Mountain (1953)
- Wife! Be Like a Rose! (1935)
- Older Brother, Younger Sister (1953)
- Scattered Clouds (1967)
- Ginza Gesho (1950)
- Sudden Rain (1956)
- Okasan (1952)
- Flunky! Work Hard (1931)
The top ten are constantly shifting. It’s too hard to pick just one Naruse film! Hiroshi Shimizu, a colleague of Naruse, has also come to my attention lately. I’ve seen six of his films and all of them have been wonderful. Shochiku has already started releasing his work with English subtitles. Yoji Yamada is also grossly underrated. Alright, I’m tired…I’ll pick up where I left off tomorrow…
“Shimizu is one of the great unheralded Japanese directors, JAPANESE GIRLS AT THE HARBOR and MR. THANK YOU are both masterpieces, I can’t wait for their general re-discovery on home video. I believe Michael Kerpan has written quite a bit on Shimizu online, as has Acquarello (www.filmref.com).”
Battleground (William A. Wellman, 1949) – Another postwar masterpiece from Wellman. It’s not quite up to the level of his awe-inspiring effort from the year before, Yellow Sky, but it has a similar visual beauty. I’ve watched a lot of his pre-code films and lately and while they’re all a delight, I can’t help but think that this part of his career was his most successful. On the other hand, I’m only basing this off of two films.
Best of Recent Asian Cinema about 4 years ago
It’s hard not to mention stuff that isn’t already somewhat canonized, what with Hou, Tsai, Wong, and so on. However, I have yet to hear (or see) many people talking about Zhimin Sheng’s great Bliss (Fu sheng) which is actually one of my favorite films of all time!
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Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? about 4 years ago
I don’t know about availability but how about more stuff from Garrel? Not even KG has The Wind of the Night with English subs! Always more Asian territory to cover. Is there any point in mentioning Naruse and Ozu (or Tsai and Hou) at this point? If not, there’s also Royston Tann, Ann Hui, Nobuhiro Yamashita, Jun Ichikawa, Jang Sun-Woo, Yoshishige Yoshida, Yibai Zhang, and hundreds more.
Some overlooked (some even by myself) Italians: Francesco Maselli, Paolo Sorrentino, Damiano Damiani, Pietro Germi’s non comedy films…
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What to look forward in 2008? about 4 years ago
Hong Sang-Soo’s Night and Day
Nanouk Leopold’s Wolfsbergen
Harmony Korine’s Mister Lonely
Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s Voyage of the Red Balloon
Yoji Yamada’s Kaabee
Jim Jarmusch’s The Limits of Control
Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park and to a lesser extent, Milk
Jun Ichikawa’s How To Become Myself
Koji Wakamatsu’s Red Army
Naomi Kawase’s If Only the Whole World Loved Me
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Tokyo Sonata
Johan Renck’s Downloading Nancy
Ulrich Seidl’s Import/Export
Olivier Assayas’ Boarding Gate
I’ve actually already seen two of these, but whatever.
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Your Favorite Godard Film? about 4 years ago
Daniel, how are you italizing words?
On topic: Masculin, Feminin is far and above of my favorite, but the later films are growing on…
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Your Favorite Godard Film? about 4 years ago
Masculin, Feminin, then.
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VILLAINS. about 4 years ago
Me too, Baylor. Perhaps it’s because Little Joe is my hero.
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What are you watching now? about 4 years ago
On Friday, I watched Henry Verneuil’s truck driver tragedy People of No Importance which features Jean Gabin’s final really great performance. I wrote more on my blog – here
Yesterday, I watched Yuan Mu-jinh’s Malu tianshi (1937). Some solid fun, but nothing too special. Also watched Asfalto, newer noir/thriller/love story from Spain. Aesthetically nice, but it didn’t leave a huge impression on me, at least not outside of the beautiful Najwa Nimri. She’s actually better in Medem’s messy Lynch-drama Sex and Lucia but I wasn’t a big fan of that film.
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Nicolas Roeg about 4 years ago
1. Bad Timing
2. The Man Who Fell to Earth
3. Walkabout
4. Don’t Look Now
5. Performance
6. Full Body Massage
7. Track 29
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Favorite underseen/unknown directors almost 4 years ago
I love, love, love Mikio Naruse as surely some of you already know. Just for the hell of it, here’s how I’d rank his films:
- A Wanderer’s Notebook (1962)
- Flowing (1956)
- Bangiku (1954)
- Yearning (1964)
- Floating Clouds (1955)
- When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)
- Lightning (1952)
- Daughters, Wives, and a Mother (1960)
- Repast (1951)
- The Sound of the Mountain (1953)
- Wife! Be Like a Rose! (1935)
- Older Brother, Younger Sister (1953)
- Scattered Clouds (1967)
- Ginza Gesho (1950)
- Sudden Rain (1956)
- Okasan (1952)
- Flunky! Work Hard (1931)
The top ten are constantly shifting. It’s too hard to pick just one Naruse film! Hiroshi Shimizu, a colleague of Naruse, has also come to my attention lately. I’ve seen six of his films and all of them have been wonderful. Shochiku has already started releasing his work with English subtitles. Yoji Yamada is also grossly underrated. Alright, I’m tired…I’ll pick up where I left off tomorrow…
Go to Comment
Rivette over 3 years ago
There’s a R2 BFI disc.
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March 2009 Criterions over 3 years ago
“Shimizu is one of the great unheralded Japanese directors, JAPANESE GIRLS AT THE HARBOR and MR. THANK YOU are both masterpieces, I can’t wait for their general re-discovery on home video. I believe Michael Kerpan has written quite a bit on Shimizu online, as has Acquarello (www.filmref.com).”
So have I!
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Top 5 Ozu over 3 years ago
I Was Born But…
An Autumn Afternoon
Late Spring
Early Spring
Late Autumn
There’s twenty other amazing Ozu films that I could put in here, but that would be more than five…
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Last movie you saw and rate it about 3 years ago
Battleground (William A. Wellman, 1949) – Another postwar masterpiece from Wellman. It’s not quite up to the level of his awe-inspiring effort from the year before, Yellow Sky, but it has a similar visual beauty. I’ve watched a lot of his pre-code films and lately and while they’re all a delight, I can’t help but think that this part of his career was his most successful. On the other hand, I’m only basing this off of two films.
Go to Comment