Best Films from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan

Wonders in the Dark is having a poll to determine the best 15 films from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

It is tough to narrow down just 15 films from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan especially since they all have a rich history of cinema going back almost a century to the 1920s-early 1930s. On top of that, there are many diverse genre films from this part of the world making it challenging to pit one film style against another. Ultimately, I opted for the following 15 films.

Best Films from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan

1. In the Mood for Love (2000, Hong Kong, Wong Kar-wai)
2. Yi Yi: A One and a Two (2000, Taiwan, Edward Yang)
3. Flowers of Shanghai (1998, Taiwan, Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
4. Platform (2000, China, Jia Zhang-ke)
5. Eat Drink Man Woman (1994, Taiwan, Ang Lee)
6. Election (2005, Hong Kong, Johnnie To)
7. Spring in a Small Town (1948, China, Fei Mu)
8. Raise the Red Lantern (1991, China, Zhang Yimou)
9. West of the Tracks (2002, China, Wang Bing)
10. What Time is It There? (2001, Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang)
11. Chungking Express (1994, Hong Kong, Wong Kar-wai)
12. Infernal Affairs (2002, Hong Kong, Andrew Lau/Alan Mak)
13. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Taiwan/Hong Kong/China, Ang Lee)
14. Devils on the Doorstep (2000, China, Wen Jiang)
15. Ash is Purest White (2018, China, Jia Zhang-ke)

One surprising aspect of this list was finding out that I included 5 films from the Year 2000. That means 1/3 of all the films in this list came from one year. The stellar quality of these 5 films does indicate that 2000 was a strong year for Hong Kong, Taiwan and China.

In the Mood for Love (2000, Hong Kong, Wong Kar-wai)
Yi Yi: A One and a Two (2000, Taiwan, Edward Yang)
Platform (2000, China, Jia Zhang-ke)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Taiwan/Hong Kong/China, Ang Lee)
Devils on the Doorstep (2000, China, Wen Jiang)

In the Mood for Love is one of Wong Kar-wai’s most iconic films. Yi Yi is considered one of Edward Yang’s best films while Jia Zhang-ke’s second feature, Platform, helped propel his name globally. Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon certainly established a new found love for wuxia in the West. Wen Jiang’s powerful 2nd feature Devils on the Doorstep got plenty of attention after it won the Grand Jury prize at Cannes 2000.

[Updated List, May 11, 2022]

Best Films from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan

1. In the Mood for Love (2000, Hong Kong, Wong Kar-wai)
2. Yi Yi: A One and a Two (2000, Taiwan, Edward Yang)
3. Flowers of Shanghai (1998, Taiwan, Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
4. Platform (2000, China, Jia Zhang-ke)
5. Boat People (1982, Hong Kong, Ann Hui)
6. Eat Drink Man Woman (1994, Taiwan, Ang Lee)
7. Election (2005, Hong Kong, Johnnie To)
8. Raise the Red Lantern (1991, China, Zhang Yimou)
9. West of the Tracks (2002, China, Wang Bing)
10. What Time is It There? (2001, Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang)
11. Chungking Express (1994, Hong Kong, Wong Kar-wai)
12. Infernal Affairs (2002, Hong Kong, Andrew Lau/Alan Mak)
13. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Taiwan/Hong Kong/China, Ang Lee)
14. Devils on the Doorstep (2000, China, Wen Jiang)
15. Ash is Purest White (2018, China, Jia Zhang-ke)
16. Spring in a Small Town (1948, China, Fei Mu)

Chinese Cinema

The only requirement for a spotlight on recent Chinese cinema was that the selections should be mostly documentaries. With that in mind, I put down Wang Bing immediately as I had wanted to see his works for almost 2 years now. I slowly opened the gates to allow 2 non documentaries to flow through but one of these films, Oxhide, blurs the line between documentary and fiction. The only true narrative film Sun Spots has minimal dialogue and plenty of long takes so it felt right at home with the other films which offered plenty of contemplative moments.

Film List

Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2003, Wang Bing)
Oxhide (2005, Jiayin Liu)
He Fengming: A Chinese Memoir (2007, Wang Bing)
Crime and Punishment (2007, Zhao Liang)
Sun Spots (2009, Heng Yang)

Wang Bing

I was first alerted to Wang Bing's potential via a magnificent article by Robert Koehler in Cinema Scope. Koehler asks of Wang Bing's first film West of the Tracks: "is there a more sublime debut in recent history?"

I cannot answer that question as I still have many recent debut features to go through but I can assert that his 2003 film is indeed a "sublime debut". The film, divided in three parts, is shot in North Eastern China and requires an investment of 9 hours from its viewers but it rewards those patient viewers with plenty of riches. I like to label his film as a pure documentary where the camera patiently records everything in sight and allows viewers to listen in to all the daily noises while leaving plenty of room for them to draw their own conclusions.

The first part (Rust) is almost 4 hours long and is the pick of the bunch. The camera moves freely and shows the workers in their everyday factory surrounding and captures them as they go about their daily tasks or takes a peak into the workers break area and locker room. As a result, the film allows us to get to know each person a bit better thereby adding depth to each person's personality. We understand their views a bit better and are not surprized to see them behave the way they do. Also, Wang Bing smartly places his camera either at table height or at eye level, thereby giving the impression that the viewer is either seated at the worker’s table or is standing in one corner of the room looking at the different people walking in and out.

Part II: Remnants moves the camera away from the factories into the worker's residential quarters. Since the factories are in the process of going bankrupt and shutting down, the workers will have to be relocated as their factory provided houses will be torn down. Watching a neighbourhood in the process of destruction feels similar to Costa's In Vanda's Room which captured the demolition of the Fontainhas slums. The one difference between In Vanda’s Room and West of the Tracks is that while Costa confined himself mostly to just one room, Wang Bing wanders through multiple alleys and homes giving us a more complete picture and impact of the destruction. We also get to see the laid off worker's kids and observe how their lives will be altered by the factory shutdowns. Part III: Rail perfectly ties the film together with its comparatively brief 2 hour running time. We get to board the railcars and are introduced to the workers that drive the trains to and from the factories. This final segment allows us to piece together all the lives that are dependent on the factories existence giving us a full sense of impact the plant shutdowns will have on the nearby surroundings.

A truly impressive debut film that works hard to give a complete picture of the factories and workers that once kept an economy moving!!

Wang Bing completely switches gears with Fengming. The film’s opening shot follows He Fengming up to her apartment through a snowy pathway. The initial sequence feels like a shot straight out of West of the Tracks. However, once the camera enters the apartment, it stays stationary for almost the next 3 hours and does not leave the apartment. There are almost no close-ups for at least the first hour of the film and the camera only slightly moves back and forth a few times during the film's duration. The stationary camera might have been a handicap but He Fengming's story is so powerful and engaging that one soon forgets the boundary between the screen and He Fengming. The viewer is like a guest seated in her apartment listening to her tragic story in complete detail. This guest perspective is emphasized by two examples -- bathroom break and the sunset. When He Fengming has to take a bathroom break, the camera stays stationary giving the impression that the seated viewer is indeed patiently waiting for her to return. During the first hour, the sun slowly sets and darkness gradually starts to make its way into the apartment, only for He Fengming to get up and turn on the light before proceeding with the story. These two examples appear to take place in real time and only add to the illusion that the viewer is listening to the story in one continuous evening.

The Spotlight almost turned into a one man show with 12+ hours of film by Wang Bing and a further two films (Coal Mine and the short film Brutality Factory) up for inclusion but I decided to put off a separate spotlight on the director until I viewed his first fictional film The Ditch which premiered at Venice and TIFF and is currently playing in Montreal. Ofcourse, I would like to see his 14 hour documentary A Journey of Crude Oil but a DVD release is surely out of question, or is it? Over to IFFR to see if their Tiger Release DVD label will oblige.

Still staying in North Eastern China..snow and law

Police enforce laws. Citizens break laws.

Sounds simple enough. But what if the laws aren't fair? What if the laws impede people's everyday lives? These are some of the questions that pop up in Crime and Punishment as Zhao Liang's camera observes the everyday routines of the border police as they try to enforce laws, arrest and question thieves/criminals/law violators. Sometimes the criminals do not cooperate and that leads to usage of force by the officers. On two occasions, the camera was asked to be turned off after a beating started and the audience can easily guess what happened next. The camera spends enough time observing each arrested individual and that method allows one to question if the arrested person is guilty or innocent. In one case, we get an example of a person, Old man Wang, who clearly knows that he has violated the law but is trying his level best to find any wiggle room that he can.

The movie has shades of the fascinating documentary Checkpoint which showed that sometimes the job of enforcing laws isn't that clear cut. Checkpoint showed that if there are laws which disrupt people's lives and make it difficult for individuals to move about, then surely there will be situations where people will either break the law or not respect the law altogether. Crime and Punishment picks up on this idea and shows that if the law is not going to be respected, then there will be cases where police officers enforcing the law will be abused. Abusing police seems to be the first and most accessible step in defying the law. Yet, those abusing the police can end up making lives difficult for themselves especially if the police officers retaliate thereby leading the troubled citizens down a horrible cycle of crime and punishment.

At the end of the credits in Crime and Punishment one of the people thanked is Wang Bing. It wouldn't be surprizing if two directors exchanged notes as both of them shot their first films in the North Eastern part of China.

Restricting space vs opening up space / darkness vs bright light

Oxhide

Jiayin Liu's remarkable tactic of shooting in a darkened confined space perfectly illustrates the living conditions in her parent’s apartment. The restricted camera angles depict the tiny size of the apartment while the lack of lighting indicate that her parents don’t have enough money for electricity or that they don’t get running power for long durations. It is a fascinating experiment to illustrate lack of physical space by squeezing out space in front of the camera thereby invoking a disorienting claustrophobic effect in the viewer.

After a while, the family’s situation is apparent and we learn enough about the dynamics in the household. Oxhide shares a cinematic space with Pedro Costa’s In Vanda’s Room. In both cases, the directors form a solo crew and carefully control their environment and only feed us information in pieces (be it is visual or audio) as per their choices. However, Costa was restricted in his choices because he only had a few hours to shoot in the slum every day. Whereas, Jiayin Liu was not as restricted yet chose to be. Also, Costa had no choice but to shoot in a darkened and restricted space but he was able to get some light for his shots by using broken mirrors and other objects as reflectors because he wanted his character’s faces to be visible. On the other hand, Jiayin Liu wants us to get a sense of her parents living situation and does not want much light to filter in the frame.

Oxhide gives out bits of information to the viewer in tiny increments and that makes for a satisfying conclusion when all the pieces are put together after carefully listening in to all conversations.

Sun Spots

In a complete contrast to Oxhide, Heng Yang opens up space in front of the camera in his second feature Sun Spots. His camera stays still and absorbs everything in front of the brightly lit settings. Slowly, objects and humans enter the frame and gradually leave but the camera stays still. There are no pans and no cuts during each fixed shot.

In Sun Spots, the breathtaking background of mountains/rivers provides a peaceful, calm setting while the characters saunter into the frame. The gangster and love triangle story is also a fascinating experiment about how a lot can be conveyed with as little as possible. The dialogues are sparse yet the character's body language depicts enough of their behavior to follow the chain of events. Finally, the decision to shoot in HD gives the film a beautiful richer than life quality.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this was an immensely enjoyable spotlight with all 5 works falling neatly into the contemplative cinema category. Each work requires an investment from the viewer and also leaves plenty of fodder for the viewer to draw their own conclusions.

(East + South East) Asia Spotlight

Ten films covering four countries:

China -- Fujian Blue, Fish Eyes
South Korea -- Rough Cut, Daytime Drinking, My Love Yurie
Malaysia -- Call If You Need Me, Karaoke, This Longing
Philippines -- Independencia, Adela

Call If You Need Me, Karaoke, Daytime Drinking, Rough Cut and Fish Eyes were mentioned previously in CIFF previews I & III. These five films are included here with shorter comments.

So in order of preference:

Call If You Need Me (2009, Malaysia, James Lee)

A visually sharp film that combines the style of diverse film-makers such as Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and Quentin Tarantino while still retaining a unique Malaysian flavour. Hou Hsiao-Hsien elevated a gangster film to an art form with Goodbye South Goodbye and James Lee does a very job in carrying on that tradition. Call If You Need Me is about gangsters and kidnappings but there isn’t a single gun or drop of blood to be found on screen. All the violence is kept out of the frame and we are instead shown events that precede or succeed a violent act. Because there is no violence shown on screen, we can instead focus on the characters and their day to day lives, including their love interests and their choice of food and drugs.

Karaoke (2009, Malaysia, Chris Chong Chan Fui)

This beautifully shot film attains a level of beauty normally associated with the cinema of Thai film-maker Apichatpong Weerasethakul, especially Tropical Malady. While the images are mesmerizing, one must also pay careful attention to all the sounds that can be heard. The lyrics of the Karaoke videos are also important as they provide a clue to the film’s three act structure.

This Longing (2008, Malaysia, Azharr Rudin)
Original title: Punggok rindukan bulan

The minimalist style of This Longing will frustrate some viewers but patient viewers will be rewarded with moments of beauty spread throughout the film. There are two stories here which are loosely tied and both show the gradual decline of an apartment complex in Johor Baru which is slated for destruction. The 90 minute long first segment is about the relationship between a young boy (Sidi) and his father. The second segment (about 30 minutes) features a completely different character, Riza, who returns home to have another look at the place where she grew up. After she arrives, Riza finds that the complex is almost empty as most of the residents have been relocated. Her walks through the same halls that Sidi passed through makes one question all the scenes in the first segment and whether Sidi and a younger Riza had crossed paths.

This Longing blurs the line between documentary and fiction not only because of its style but also because it was shot in a real apartment complex which was about to be destroyed. Seeing the cranes crunching away at the building at the film’s end (without any background sound) lends a haunting perspective to the story.

Fish Eyes (2009, Korea/China, Zheng Wei)

Zheng Wei makes an impressive debut with this well shot film that does not burden the screen with needless dialogue. The minimalist style works to perfection here as we witness the everyday events of a father and his son. Their daily routines are altered when a mysteriously girl shows up. While the father cares for the girl, the son sees the girl as someone who can be used to gain an advantage with the local gang.

Fujian Blue (2007, China, Weng Shou Ming)

The film takes place in the Fujian province and observes a slice of the human trafficking operation. On one hand we witness the methods of the local gangs seeking to profit from people wanting to leave China and on the other, we see the reasons for these people’s departure. Leaving one’s country illegally isn't easy and not without danger, but it isn't any easier to carve out a respectable living at home when crime and poverty are close-by. In this aspect, the film shares sentiments of Italian films set in the port cities during the 30's-50's when Italians sought to leave for America.

The vibrant look of Fujian Blue makes for a very calm watching experience despite the negative characters and situations on display. Overall, a worthy debut film and it is easy to see why it won the 2007 VIFF Dragons and Tigers award.

Independencia (2009, Philippines co-production, Raya Martin)

Raya Martin has certainly carved a unique style for this film with the studio sets, black and white film mixed with some staged newsreel shots. The controlled set environment allows Martin to play with the lightning (example, a studio light serves as the shining sun) and sound, thereby providing some of the film's best moments. The story spanning two generations is set against the backdrop of the island's historical aspects between the departure of the Spanish and the arrival of the Americans, with the American involvement in the Philippines growing steadily during the course of the film. The film's title proclaims Independence but that is an elusive concept as depicted by the film. Even at the film's end, we get a clue to impending blood shed that will take place on the islands when two foreign countries (America and Japan) will go to war.

It took me two viewings to appreciate the beauty of Independencia but I still missed out on some of the symbolism on the second viewing. When I saw the film the first time, the controlled set surroundings didn't produce a natural reaction in me because I could not bounce any emotional resonance off the stage settings. Only after the news reel appeared around the 30 minute mark, did I being to appreciate the film's humour and pokes at history. The second viewing was far more rewarding and allowed me to observe things with a different perspective.

Independencia could form an interesting double-bill with Kon Ichikawa's Fires on the Plain. While Independencia ends with the Japanese yet to arrive on the Philippines, Fires on the Plain shows the American and Japanese soldiers locked in brutal war on the islands. Atleast, in Independencia we see the local Filipinos but the locals are hard to come by in Ichikawa's masterful work.

Daytime Drinking (2008, Korea, Noh Young-seok)

A delightful film that provides plenty of laughs with its sincere tale of love, friends, alcohol and good food. When I was not busy laughing, I was craving hot ramen noodles with cold beer just like the characters in the film.

Rough Cut (2008, Korea, Hun Jang)

Rough Cut is a fascinating no holds barred action film that puts a new spin on the traditional gangster genre. Some aspects of the film within a film story are similar to the extraordinary Korean film Dirty Carnival but Rough Cut has gone in a far more gritty direction with good effect. Kim Ki-duk's screenplay is different from anything he done before, and that includes the gangster film Bad Guy that he directed early in his career.

Adela (2008, Philippines, Adolfo Alix Jr.)

The film resides on quite an emotional and powerful performance from the 85 year old actress Anita Linda. The usage of the slum location adds to the film's realism and invites a glimpse into the character's lives. In this regard, the film is similar to other recent fascinating Filipino films set in real slum/shanty town locales such as The Bet Collector (directed by Jeffrey Jeturian) and Foster Child, Slingshot (Brillante Mendoza).

My Love Yurie (2008, South Korea, Ko Eun-Ki)

Donga falls for his neighbour Yurie but he can't have her because of one tiny problem -- Yurie’s father is the devil! To complicate things, Yurie's father forces his daughter into prostitution, something which further torments Donga. Desperate to gain Yurie's love, Donga has no choice but to make a deal with the devil. After the deal is made, Donga is happy but his happiness has restrictions because a deal with the devil always has consequences.

The film has a creative take on Goethe's Faust tale and the interesting set-up of two houses in the middle of nowhere is a great idea as it gives the film a timeless look. After a very good opening, the film goes off track around the point when Donga makes a deal with Yurie's father. As part of the deal, Yurie's father gives Donga a picture book which shows his future with Yurie. The scenes that follow do not sit in the film's previously developed ideas of the purity of love that Donga wants and the devilish nature of the trade that Yurie is involved in thanks to her father. Instead, these picture book scenes halt the film's flow and grind the story to a halt.

Pacing Asia -- Bicycles, Trains and Gangsters

Beijing Bicycle (2001 film directed by Xiaoshuai Wang): Rating 10/10

Emotional and beautiful cinema at its best! This is a movie which grabs you emotionally, forces you to root for the underdog, but then forces you to shift your viewpoint as it gives you a different perspective and then finally reaches a just rewarding end. A stubborn quiet villager comes to Beijing to earn a living. He finds his calling acting as a bicycle courier – it is a job which gives him happiness. One day, his bike is stolen. That shatters him as he had worked day and night to earn the bike and was only a day away from owning it outright (the bikes are owned by the courier company until an employee works enough hours to own the bike). The next segment introduces us to a young college kid with the same stolen bike. He is genuinely happy with this bike and it is form of his freedom. The villager finally finds his bike and takes it back. But the college kid’s friends beat the villager up and take the bike back. As it turns out, the school boy had paid for the stolen bike from the black market and feels he owns the bike. Finally after some more fighting, a compromise is reached between the two and they agree to share the bike every other day. The bike represents freedom to both males and how they go about their lives with a bike acting as a focal point is fascinating to watch.

We don’t need much dialogue in this film as the story moves along briskly. And the carefully timed expressions give us an insight into the characters motives and hence it is no surprize when the college kid’s jealousy and vengefulness ensures a final fight is in store. I was very impressed with this film and I am glad I got to watch it. No doubt the bike’s theft will point to another famous bicycle movie but this one is unique to the Chinese landscape.

The World (directed by Jia Zhang Ke): Rating 8/10

In some movies, a set can really steal the show. And that is just the case in this film as the location is just precious. The film is set in Beijing’s World Theme park where replicas of all the world’s monuments are on display – Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, Pyramids, London Bridge. One can see the entire world without ever leaving China!! And as one park worker observes, the park still has its twin towers in tact while the real ones no longer exist. That is an important element as it alludes to the film’s core – sometimes a fake replica can be more real than the real thing. The film follows some of the park workers and when the camera leaves the park, it gives us a peak into their lives. The setting leaves room for a rich story and for the first hour, it is completely engrossing. However, once the camera left the park, the film lost some its energy. I like Jia Zhang Ke’s recent Still Life a lot more but The World is still an important film. And as China’s economy continues to exert a bigger presence in the global market, this movie can be taken as a case study in how on one hand, globalization can shrink the world and on the other hand, trivialize cultures. Can one symbol really capture a nation? Not really but that how is what is used by all countries to define a nation.

I need to get more of Zhang Ke’s older films as his work gives a unique & refreshing look into China.

My Wife is a gangster (2001 film directed by Jin-gyu Cho): Rating 7.5/10

Will Hollywood finally go ahead and re-make this Korean movie? Apparently, this was supposed to be the first Korean movie to be remade by Hollywood but the project has not yet taken off. The story is easily adaptable for the commercial tastes catered to by both Hollywood and Bollywood.

The title really gives the plot away (innocent man does not know his wife is a gangster) and also points towards the film's genre -- comedy!! A tough woman gangster finally finds her long lost sister. Her sister is dying and one her final wishes is to see her tough sister married. This may be the gangster's toughest job but through a bizarre series of incidents she lands a husband. The humour in this film is run on familiar jokes such as the woman trying on heels for the first time. Despite being the run of the mill stuff, it ends up being funny. The best aspect of the story is the role reversal shown -- the gangster woman acts like a macho man, and the humble husband is left to cook, clean and cater to his wife's moods. For some reason, the side characters are given some subplots which really add nothing to the story but seem more like material to extend the film. Nonetheless, it was a fun watch. And the ending really left the door open for future sequels and sure enough, two more sequels have been made.

Café Lumiere (2003 film directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien): Rating 6/10

What is this movie? Is this what we are left to call art? The movie is HHH’s tribute to Ozu’s Tokyo. I am sure it is in some ways but since I am not too familiar with all of Ozu’s techniques, I wasn’t too thrilled. A café, a young girl and a man obsessed with recording sounds of Tokyo’s unconnected train stations! That is about it. Yes at times, the long takes are beautiful but not much happens. Maybe not much is supposed to happen but I rather go sit at a café or a train station on my own time!

Kilimanjaro (2000 film directed by Seung-ook Oh): Rating 4.5/10

Run of the mill film. Two twin brothers, one a cop, the other a gangster. The gangster dies and the cop goes to his brother’s hometown to find things out. He is mistaken for his twin brother and mayhem results. Fight. Blood. Guns. Yawn…

Global Cinematic Duels, Part II

The idea of pitting different movies from a country/region against each other was quite enjoyable so here’s a second and final installment for this year atleast. If a country had 2 or more movies, then I decided the country could compete separately. If a country only had one movie, then I paired that country with the nearest region, with the pairing based more on culturally and cinematic grouping as opposed to geographically. For example, I combined the sole Mexican film in the list with South America under a ‘Latin America’ category as opposed to having the Mexican movie under North America.

China + Hong Kong: Butterfly (Yan Yan Mak, 2004), Blind Shaft (Yang Li, 2003, also co-production with China and Germany), Fear of Intimacy (Hong Kong, Vincent Chui, 2004)

Butterfly is a refreshing love story, although not a conventional one. A young girl develops a crush on her teacher. Even though the teacher is a married woman with a child, she reflects on her youth when she had a fling with another girl. That relationship ended unhappily and her repressed feelings from that fling finds another outlet via the present situation with the young student. The movie is shot partly in Macao and just like a lot of movies shot in that exotic Island, Butterfly contains some sensual elements which just enhance this film. Well worth the watch! Rating 8.5/10

Blind Shaft came out of nowhere and blind-sided me. I had never heard of this movie when I discovered this tucked away in the video store. But oh what a movie! The opening shot shows men working in a darkened coal-mine. While three men take a break, they pass the time with meaningless conversations. And without any warning, one of the men is killed by the other two. As it turns out, the purpose of the killing was money. The two men go around scamming mine owners by pretending that one of their relatives or brother is killed in the mine and as result, the mine owner is forced to pay some money to keep them quiet, lest they make it public. When the two men find another prey, this time a young16 year old kid, one of the men starts having second thoughts (ethics and morality). How the movie ends is a surprise but not totally unexpected. This is a very watchable movie that is well paced and takes time to lay the characters out. Rating 9.5/10

Fear of Intimacy starts off interestingly but then gradually loses steam. A busy photographer does not have time for his girlfriend and is constantly leaving her. One day, when he rushes for an assignment, she leaves him for good. The story then picks up 5 years later when the photographer now works as paparazzi stalking and taking pictures of celebrities and rich people. A young woman becomes his partner and a quiet relationship begins to take shape. Things take a twist when he discovers his girlfriend from 5 years ago, but she seems to be involved with a shady character who might be involvement in a rich woman’s murder. Nothing great, but not a bad film either!
Rating 6.5/10

Overall Rating: 24.5/30 = 8.17

France: Sex is Comedy (Catherine Breillat, 2002), Unleashed (aka Danny the Day, co-production with UK and USA, Directed by Louis Leterrier)

The two movies can be summarized as Sex and Violence! Sex is Comedy is unlike Catherine Breillat’s other shocking sex filled films but the idea behind this movie came from her film Fat Girl . She uses the same young actress from that movie and tries to show how much works goes in filming sex scenes for a movie. While the final product might seem passionate and erotic, in reality the scenes could not be more boring and dull to shoot. A light hearted movie that does get dull very soon because after the first 30 minutes the viewer gets the point that the complains/fuss of actors can be a real hindrance to the final product. Rating 7.5/10

Luc Besson has really developed his own system of action thrillers which form a middle road in between the big budget Hollywood productions and the lavish Asian martial films. Most of Besson’s films atleast have a well defined story which revolves around a plot of revenge and clear cut good/bad guys. Every now and then, Besson scripts unique scenes to spice up the tried out action/thriller genre. This time around, the main character, Danny (Jet Li) is a trained fighter who is merely a slave to his master (Bob Hoskins). When his master removes Danny’s collar, he is ready to kill at will. But one day, Danny finds reprieve in the form of music via a blind piano tuner (Morgan Freeman). The soothing music triggers long buried memories in Danny which lead him on a different path. The story of revenge from this point on feels like earlier Besson films but it is not that bad, although it feels dull in parts.
Rating 6.5/10

Overall Rating: 14/20 = 7.0

India: Lage Raho Munna Bhai (sweetly directed by Rajkumar Hirani), Fanaa (mis-directed by Kunal Kohli)

Two hyped up Bollywood movies but two completely different outcomes!

Lage Raho Munna Bhai is refreshing flick that is very rare in commercial cinema while Fanaa is just another run of the mill patriotic trash that has plagued Bollywood for more than a decade or so. Fanaa may be technically good (with some stunning Kashmiri visuals) and even has some touching performances from Kajol and Rishi Kapoor but overall, it has too many loop holes and an awful miscast role for Tabu (why on earth do directors/producers keep picking her even though it is obvious she can not deliver dialogues?). Lage Raho… is not a sequel to the original Munna Bhai film but simply a different story with the same loving lead characters. I have to say that the character of Circuit (played amazingly well by Arshad Warsi) is one of the best characters to ever grace the Indian celluloid screen – the loyal street savvy tapori has been played countless times over the decades but never this well and this good!

Lago Raho…Rating 9/10; Fanaa….Rating 5.5/10

Overall Rating: 14.5/20 = 7.25

Japan: The Great Yokai War (Takashi Miike), All about Lily Chou-Chou (Shunji Iwai)

There was a time that I tried to watch every new Takashi Miike movie. But I quickly found out that was a difficult and frustrating task -- difficult because Miike directed and acted in several films each year; frustrating because his films are very inconsistent, with a brilliant film followed by a complete dud. Needless to say, I was still looking forward to The Great Yokai War which was hyped up quite a bit. It is not disappointing but it is nothing great either. It mixes fantasy, myth, sci-fi and action elements with robots, gremlins, humans, furry creatures, power sword wielding characters occupying equal screen time. A little boy uncovers a magical world where the battle of good vs evil is taking place and finds himself center stage in the fight for the planet’s fate.
Rating 6.5/10

All about Lily Chou-Chou has an interesting story but nothing not seen before – alienated youth finds solace in a fan chat room about the popular pop singer Chou-Chou. However, a series of incidents lead to a fan getting killed and the alienated youth finds himself lonely and more confused about what to do. After a while, the online web poetry gets tedious and the movie drags on longer than it should. Rating 6.5/10

Overall Rating: 13/20 = 6.50

Latin America: Caballos salvajes (1995, directed by Marcelo Piñeyro, Argentina), Ciudad de M (2000, Directed by Felipe Degregori, Peru), Sin destino (2002, Leopoldo Laborde, Mexico)

Caballos salvajes is a charming bank heist/outlaw/road trip movie. And like most Argentine movies, it has its own peaceful rhythm. Rating 9/10

City of M is a well crafted low budget with shades of Waiting of Godot . M can’t find a job but then again, he has no college education. Desperate to get work, M and his friends hatch plots to become rich fast. Eventually, three of them agree to smuggle drugs to America. All they have to do is wait for the ‘Bolivian’ who will give them the goods and help their dreams come true. The waiting part feels like the Godot play and at this point, I felt the movie might end. But the ‘Bolivian’ does show up and even though we don’t see his face, he gives them the goods. Since it is a low budget movie, I never expected the three to leave Peru so the events that follow after the three get the goods are not unexpected. Rating 8/10

Shot mostly in stark black and white, Sin destino is a film about street life. Fran is a 15 year-old boy who gets by prostituting himself for money. Via flashbacks, we are shows how a 9 year old Fran was introduced into this life by an elder man, Sebastian. Just when Fran is finally starting to fall for women, Sebastian enters his life again. Conflicted between his real desires and need for money, Fran ends up on a destructive path which leads him to destroy everything in sight. And when he is done, Fran reverts back to being a child again, attempting to regain the innocence that was taken away from him. The movie is influenced by Luis Buñuel's Los Olvidados and even has a common thread via the role of Sebastian, who acted in Buñuel's 1950 film. Interestingly, the only time there is color in the movie is when Fran’s fantasies & nightmares are shown which indicate the hellish state of Fran’s fragile mind (no matter how pleasant the start of the fantasy is, it eventually turns ugly). Rating 7.5/10

Overall Rating: 24.5/30 = 8.17

Russia & former Soviet-republics: I am Cuba (1964, Mikheil Kalatozishvili, Former soviet-Union/Cuba co-production), Night Watch (2004, Timur Bekmambetov)

I am Cuba is vintage cinema and ranks alongside Battle of Algiers and Z as one of the best examples of great cinema that once existed! The film gives us a ring-side seat to a changing Cuban landscape and shows different stories about the rich, the poor and the revolutionaries. We see how the rich dance their life away in a haze of music and alcohol, how the poor farmers have to struggle at every step, how a revolution starts, how a revolution can be crushed and the creation of a legend! Amazing stuff. Rating 9.5/10

Night Watch is a completely unique and original film but does contain traces of Blade , Matrix, Ghostbusters and other sci-fi/fantasy adventure films. As per the well crafted story, there has been an endless battle between good and evil but so far the balance has been maintained. However, the ‘one’ will come one day and the balance will never be the same. The manner in how the story unfolds is very interesting (curses, spells, vampires + flashy special effects). The film is a slap-in the face for all the North American distributors who complain that foreign cinema is not entertaining enough! The second movie in this trilogy was released in Russia this year, with the third film will be out next year but will be in English. Rating 9/10

Overall Rating: 18.5/20 = 9.25

Thailand: Ong-bak (Prachya Pinkaew, 2003), 69 (Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, 1999)

I finally got around to seeing Ong-bak and it is nothing special, although the fights are amazing. Safe to say the story is paper-thin and the film is a mere excuse to see Tony Jaa in action with his Muay Thai moves. Rating 6.5/10

69 is a well crafted dark comedy/thriller. A boss can’t decide which of his employees to lay off, so he makes the women pick numbers. One of the three laid off employees has the number 9. As it turns out, she lives in apartment 6, but the number 6 is not properly attached to her door and constantly swings around to become a 9. One day, she hears three knocks on her door and when she goes out in the hallway, she finds a box. Upon opening the box, she finds bundles of money notes. What to do? She decides to keep the money. And when the gangsters come to get their box, a struggle ensues and she manages to kill both the men. From then on, no matter what she does, the body count just seems to keep increasing. Dark yet tinged with some unexpected humour throughout!
Rating 9/10

Overall Rating: 15.5/20 = 7.75

USA: Walk the Line (James Mangold, 2005), Fun with Dick and Jane (Dean Parisot, 2005), The Squid and the Whale(Noah Baumbach, 2005), Miami Vice (Michael Mann), The Illusionist (Neil Burger)

Yes the performances of Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon are very good in Walk the Line but so what? The movie story is something rehashed in Hollywood countless times – a nobody becomes famous, struggles with fame and dives into drug/alcohol, messes his life until he gets a second chance to turn it around. Yawn! And if the main character is based on a real-life character, well then you have an award winning movie! Rating 7.5/10

Fun with Dick and Jane is a comic look at present day corporate fraud, although the movie is set decades before Enron and the other greedy companies were caught red-handed. Jim Carrey is good in a role that requires him to go from slapstick to the dead-pan Truman character. Alec Baldwin is the usual cool & sly person who cheats others and gets away with it (almost...). In a funny tribute, the end credits give thanks to all the corporations caught in money-fraud schemes. Rating 6.5/10

I can finally see what the hype around The Squid and the Whale is about. It is indeed a very good movie and well worth all the praise it has received. A fighting writer couple’s marriage is shown and how it affects their two sons with each son siding with one parent. Amazing performances all around especially the two kids. Also, an interesting case-study on how easily kids can be influenced especially by parents they worship. Rating 9.5/10

Miami Vice was an unexpected surprise for two reasons – one it is actually a good movie and second (more importantly) is the seductive role of Gong Li. I had no idea she was in this movie and in the end if it were not for character’s affair with Sonny (Colin Farrell), this movie would not have been this good. There is no real story per se, (two undercover cops have to bust a drug ring) and most of the dialogues make no sense or are kept to single sentences. So it is up to the visuals to set the mood and with most Michael Mann films, the atmosphere gives a sense of cool with blue being the prominent colour in the background. In the end, the movie is about the characters and their lives. The fact that they happen to be undercover cops is just a technicality. Overall, the movie feels like a sibling of Mann’s Heat. Rating 8.5/10

Magic or simply an Illusion? A mere trick of the hands or genuine dark powers? The Illusionist is an intriguing thriller which has an innocent love story as its focal point. The production visuals are very good with Paul Giamatti stealing the show with an amazing and precise performance. Rating 9/10

Overall Rating: 41/50 = 8.20

Yet another surprise winner: A film from the former Soviet Union + a modern Russian flick take top prize with 2 solid entries!!!!!