Marshy's 11 Favourite Asian Movies of 2013 Part 1

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Abductee - dir. Yamaguchi Yudai, Japan

Sushi Typhoon regular Yamaguchi takes a break from his normal frenetically paced mania for this minimal exercise in claustrophobic paranoia. Yoichi Nukumizu plays a down-on-his-luck and deeply in debt family man who wakes to find himself bound and caged in a shipping container, currently on its way to who knows where. What Yamaguchi accomplishes over the next hour and a half - with one actor and one confined location - is an exercise in tension and innovation well worth seeking out.

Read my review here

A Case of Eggs - dir. Kanchiku Yuri, Japan

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at this year's Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival, A Case of Eggs is the story of a lonely South Korean translator who on her 30th birthday, resolves to lose her virginity. When she is forced to chaperone a horny Japanese photographer around town, this increasingly awkward and uncomfortable misadventure may yet prove her saving grace. Witty, sweet-natured and beautifully short, the only thing standing in the way of this film and widespread distribution is the fact it's only 40 minutes long!

Drug War - dir. Johnnie To, China

Hong Kong favourite Johnnie To heads north of the border for his first mainland production in decades - it also proves to be his best film in years. Sun Hong Lei plays the tough narcotics cop looking to smash a major drug smuggling operation, with the help of cornered dealer-turned-informant Louis Koo. To was clearly paying attention when the excellent Beijing Blues appeared last year, as in its opening third at least, the director abandons his typically glossing aesthetic for a more grim and documentary approach to the drug trade. Things pick up though and the action builds to one of the most insane shoot outs To has ever staged. The result is an invigorating turn to form for a director who has lacked originality or vision for some time.

Read Ard's review here

Gangs of Wasseypur - dir. Anurag Kashyap, India

Anurag Kashyap’s incredible crime epic spans three generations of a gangster family in the Eastern state of Bihar. The film charts the bitter feud between two rival families, as the Khan family battles to avenge the death of its patriarch by a rival gangster with powerful political connections. As the decades pass by, more family members and their loyal footsoldiers meet increasingly bloody ends, until the fate of the family falls at the feet of reluctant, drug-adled Faizal (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) who, much like Michael Corleone in The Godfather (a film that Gangs openly and lovingly references many times) proves to be the most ruthless villain of them all.

From its stunning locations to its sumptuous photography, great performances and incredible soundtrack, I cannot stress how fantastic this two-part five-and-a-half hour epic is. Part 1 carefully sets up the interweaving relationships and characters, the individual rivalries, motives and machinations, and ends on a superbly explosive note that will have audiences desperate to jump right into Part 2. It is here where the action really ramps up a gear, as Faizal take centre stage. The result is a vibrant, colourful and energetic epic of crime fiction that deserves to rank among the very best in World Cinema.

Read Kurt's review here

The Grandmaster - dir. Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong/China

It may have taken a decade to get to the screen, but Wong Kar Wai’s martial arts biopic proves well worth the wait…provided you are not looking for the next installment of Donnie Yen’s Ip Man saga. The Grandmaster is first and foremost a Wong Kar Wai film, brimming with gorgeous visuals, moody settings and contemplative heroes, mourning the passing of time and their fading memories. There is little concrete plot here, but at the film’s centre is a potential romance between Tony Leung Chiu Wai’s wing chun master and Zhang Ziyi’s Gong Er, daughter of a rival martial artist from the north. Their flirtations play out in fights, almost as if they were dancing, and with each touch of each other’s skin, the yearning within grows ever stronger.

Different versions of the film already exist, before The Grandmaster has even opened in the West, but by all accounts the Chinese 130-minute cut is the most complete version currently available. Kung fu fans may get frustrated by the lengthy lapses between fight sequences, but those with patience and a penchant for balletic storytelling should find plenty to enjoy in Wong’s latest offering.

Read my review here

Ip Man: The Final Fight - dir. Herman Yau, Hong Kong

Of all the recent Ip Man-related films, Herman Yau's latest effort has been the most surprising. While his earlier film, The Legend Is Born, was decent enough, the news that Anthony Wong was taking over the mantle in order to tell of the grand master's later years just reeked of desperation. However, Wong embarked on a year of wing chun training, Eric Tsang also brushed up his martial arts skills, while the film itself paid as much attention to recreating 1950s Hong Kong as getting its fight on. The result is a modest, yet rather charming little slice of nostalgia that proves far more worthwhile than perhaps anyone imagined.

Read my review here

Lesson of the Evil - dir. Miike Takashi, Japan

After experimenting with everything from child-friendly comedies to austere period dramas in recent years, Miike Takashi returns to his bloodsoaked exploitation roots with this deliciously nasty thriller about a psychotic high school teacher who proceeds to off his students one by one. As gratuitous and offensive as the set-up might sound, Miike pitches his film as an acerbic black comedy, while there will doubtless be flashes of wish fulfillment for frustrated teachers out there, who have suffered at the nonchalant attitudes of their students one too often.

Read my review here

Maruyama The Middle-schooler - dir. Kudo Kankuro, Japan

Young men of a certain age would be lying if they claimed they had never, at one time or another, tried to suck their own dick. That particular adolescent Holy Grail is at the centre of Kudo's charming, off-the-wall comedy. Our eponymous hero has a widely overactive imagination, and when he's not at wrestling training in the hope of improving his flexibility so he can...you know...then he's imagining his parents are spies or that his neighbour is a murderer. But it's not just Maruyama who's not all he appears to be, everyone on screen has their secrets, idiosyncracies and foibles that make for an incredibly entertaining viewing experience.

Read Brian's review here

A Story of Yonosuke - dir. Okita Shuichi, Japan

I almost let this one pass me by, put off by the daunting 160 minute runtime, but my efforts were handsomely rewarded as Okita's adaptation of Yoshida Shuichi's popular novel is fantastic. Told as a series of reminiscences from those who knew him during their college years together, we learn of the eccentric, and bizarrely monikered lad, Yonosuke Yokomichi. He bumbles through life, assuming the best - utterly unprepared for the worst - and inevitably has a humbling and incredibly positive effect on everyone he meets. Kora Kengo is great in the lead role, while Yoshitaka Yoriko almost steals the show as the rich beauty who falls for his innocent unique manner. Touching, funny and unrelentingly joyous, A Story of Yonosuke is one of the highlights of the year.

The Way We Dance - dir. Adam Wong, Hong Kong

Taiwan led the way and mainland China has followed hot on its heels, but until now Hong Kong has resisted the allure of the oh-so-hot youth film. That is until The Way We Dance hits screens later this summer. Adam Wong's ambitious film features a cast of unknowns, plucked from the streets and from dance schools around the world, for Hong Kong's very own entry into the Step Up canon of street dance flicks. The result is smart, funny and incredibly refreshing.

Read my review here

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? - dir. Arvin Chen, Taiwan

Arvin Chen scored a brilliant debut with his assured first film Au Revoir Taipei. For his follow-up, he trains his eye on domesticated thirysomethings and dares to challenge not only their relationship status but also their sexual orientation. Richie Jen has never been better as a supposedly happily married optician whose adolescent experimentations with homosexuality are suddenly reawakened by a chance encounter with an old friend. While juggling a broody wife (Mavis Fan) looking to conceive again, a reclusive child and a sister (the excellent Kimi Hsia) with a commitment phobia, Weichung (Jen) takes his first tentative steps back into the gay scene, with hilarious, poignant and smartly observed consequences.

Read my review here