Rate the Last Film You Watched

[NormanicGrav]

For Day 10 I watched the 2010 Japanese film Confessions (告白) by Tetsuya Nakashima. This has been a film that I had been meaning to watch for years, like at least 5 years or so which was a long time and being able to acquire the out of print Blu-ray back in March was a miracle because this film was worth the wait. When I first heard of the film's synopsis, I was expecting it to be the whole film but as I watched the story progress it became something else entirely and it blew my expectations. This is a really good film, in fact, it's so good that I am disappointed that it's no longer available in print because it deserves more attention. That being said, the soundtrack is really unique because it doesn't have an original soundtrack but rather a mixture of songs from bands including Boris, Radiohead and The XX. The characters were well-developed and the pacing was pretty good even though it's slow but it builds up to a pretty satisfying level.

Confessions was licensed by distributor Third Window Films for Blu-ray but as of 2019 has since gone out of print.

4.5/5

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Backlog Phase 2

Watched:

Day	#	Localised Name	Director	Country
01	01	Crime Story	Kirk Wong	Hong Kong
02	02	Pluto	Shin Su-won	South Korea
03	03	Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wasteland	Atsushi Yamatoya	Japan
04	04	The Adventures of Denchu-kozo	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
04	05	Haze	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
05	06	Killing	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
06	07	Spiral	George Lida	Japan
07	08	Dragons Forever	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
08	09	Gushing Prayer: A 15-Year-Old Prostitute	Masao Adachi	Japan
09	10	Cold Fish	Sion Sono	Japan
10	11	Confessions	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan

Coming Soon:

Localised Name	Director	Country
9 Souls	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Antiporno	Sion Sono	Japan
For Love's Sake	Takashi Miike	Japan
Han Gong-Ju	Lee Su-jin	South Korea
Hana-Bi	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
Heart of Dragon	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
Kamikaze Girls	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Kotoko	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
Memories of Matsuko	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Miracles: The Canton Godfather	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Pornostar	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
The Protector	James Glickenhaus	Hong Kong
Ring 0: Birthday	Norio Tsuruta	Japan
Tokyo Sonata	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Tokyo Tribe	Sion Sono	Japan
Unchain	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Vulgaria	Pang Ho Cheung	Hong Kong

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Titles

Localised Name	Director	Country
13 Assassins	Takashi Miike	Japan
After the Storm	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Audition	Takashi Miike	Japan
Battle Royale	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Before We Vanish	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Black Butler	Kentarō Ōtani, Keiichi Satō	Japan
Blade of the Immortal	Takashi Miike	Japan
Blue Spring	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Burning	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
Dangan Runner	Sabu	Japan
Dark Water	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Dead or Alive	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive 2: Birds	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive: Final	Takashi Miike	Japan
Departures	Yōjirō Takita	Japan
Dreams	Akira Kurosawa	Japan
The Forest of Love	Sion Sono	Japan
The Handmaiden	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Happiness of the Katakuris	Takashi Miike	Japan
Hero	Zhang Yimou	China
The Host	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
House	Nobuhiko Obayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part II: Road to Eternity	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part III: A Soldier's Prayer	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
I Saw The Devil	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Infernal Affairs	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Infernal Affairs II	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Lady Snowblood	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers	Macoto Tezka	Japan
Lesson of Evil	Takashi Miike	Japan
Ley Lines	Takashi Miike	Japan
Love Exposure	Sion Sono	Japan
The Mermaid	Stephen Chow	China
Mother	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Oldboy	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
One Cut of the Dead	Shinichiro Ueda	Japan
Orgies of Edo	Teruo Ishii	Japan
Parasite	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Police Story	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Police Story 2	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A Part II	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Pulse	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
The Raid	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
The Raid 2: Berandal	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
Rainy Dog	Takashi Miike	Japan
Retaliation	Yasuharu Hasebe	Japan
Ring	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Ring 2	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 2: Kyoto Inferno	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Shadow	Zhang Yimou	China
Shin Godzilla	Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi	Japan
Shinjuku Triad Society: China Mafia War	Takashi Miike	Japan
Shoplifters	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
The Story of Yonosuke	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Street Mobster	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Tag	Sion Sono	Japan
Tale of Cinema	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
A Tale of Two Sisters	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Terra Formars	Takashi Miike	Japan
Tetsuo: The Iron Man	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
The Third Murder	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Thirst	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Train to Busan	Yeon Sang-ho	South Korea
The Villainess	Jung Byung-gil	South Korea
The Woodsman and the Rain	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Unforgiven	Lee Sang-il	Japan
Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope	Kazuhiko Yamaguchi	Japan
Woman is the Future of Man	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
Yakuza Law	Teruo Ishii	Japan

 

[NormanicGrav]

For Day 11 I watched the 1998 Japanese film Pornostar (ポルノスター) by Toshiaki Toyoda. This is an interesting film and I like the concept. The best parts for me personally were the scenes with the Yakuza gang because it reminded me a lot of the Yakuza games. Unfortunately, this film is not perfect because the main character's motivations felt inconsistent and there were side characters that just appear and go away without enough context. It's a shame because there's a lot of good stuff going with this film such as the visual presentation and the music score. Regardless it's a good film overall.

Pornostar is available to own as part of the Toshiaki Toyoda: The Early Years collection on Blu-ray from distributor Third Window Films.

3.5/5

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Backlog Phase 2

Watched:

Day	#	Localised Name	Director	Country
01	01	Crime Story	Kirk Wong	Hong Kong
02	02	Pluto	Shin Su-won	South Korea
03	03	Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wasteland	Atsushi Yamatoya	Japan
04	04	The Adventures of Denchu-kozo	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
04	05	Haze	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
05	06	Killing	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
06	07	Spiral	George Lida	Japan
07	08	Dragons Forever	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
08	09	Gushing Prayer: A 15-Year-Old Prostitute	Masao Adachi	Japan
09	10	Cold Fish	Sion Sono	Japan
10	11	Confessions	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
11	12	Pornostar	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan

Coming Soon:

Localised Name	Director	Country
9 Souls	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Antiporno	Sion Sono	Japan
For Love's Sake	Takashi Miike	Japan
Han Gong-Ju	Lee Su-jin	South Korea
Hana-Bi	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
Heart of Dragon	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
Kamikaze Girls	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Kotoko	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
Memories of Matsuko	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Miracles: The Canton Godfather	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
The Protector	James Glickenhaus	Hong Kong
Ring 0: Birthday	Norio Tsuruta	Japan
Tokyo Sonata	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Tokyo Tribe	Sion Sono	Japan
Unchain	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Vulgaria	Pang Ho Cheung	Hong Kong

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Titles

Localised Name	Director	Country
13 Assassins	Takashi Miike	Japan
After the Storm	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Audition	Takashi Miike	Japan
Battle Royale	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Before We Vanish	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Black Butler	Kentarō Ōtani, Keiichi Satō	Japan
Blade of the Immortal	Takashi Miike	Japan
Blue Spring	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Burning	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
Dangan Runner	Sabu	Japan
Dark Water	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Dead or Alive	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive 2: Birds	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive: Final	Takashi Miike	Japan
Departures	Yōjirō Takita	Japan
Dreams	Akira Kurosawa	Japan
The Forest of Love	Sion Sono	Japan
The Handmaiden	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Happiness of the Katakuris	Takashi Miike	Japan
Hero	Zhang Yimou	China
The Host	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
House	Nobuhiko Obayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part II: Road to Eternity	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part III: A Soldier's Prayer	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
I Saw The Devil	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Infernal Affairs	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Infernal Affairs II	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Lady Snowblood	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers	Macoto Tezka	Japan
Lesson of Evil	Takashi Miike	Japan
Ley Lines	Takashi Miike	Japan
Love Exposure	Sion Sono	Japan
The Mermaid	Stephen Chow	China
Mother	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Oldboy	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
One Cut of the Dead	Shinichiro Ueda	Japan
Orgies of Edo	Teruo Ishii	Japan
Parasite	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Police Story	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Police Story 2	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A Part II	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Pulse	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
The Raid	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
The Raid 2: Berandal	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
Rainy Dog	Takashi Miike	Japan
Retaliation	Yasuharu Hasebe	Japan
Ring	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Ring 2	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 2: Kyoto Inferno	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Shadow	Zhang Yimou	China
Shin Godzilla	Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi	Japan
Shinjuku Triad Society: China Mafia War	Takashi Miike	Japan
Shoplifters	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
The Story of Yonosuke	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Street Mobster	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Tag	Sion Sono	Japan
Tale of Cinema	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
A Tale of Two Sisters	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Terra Formars	Takashi Miike	Japan
Tetsuo: The Iron Man	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
The Third Murder	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Thirst	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Train to Busan	Yeon Sang-ho	South Korea
The Villainess	Jung Byung-gil	South Korea
The Woodsman and the Rain	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Unforgiven	Lee Sang-il	Japan
Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope	Kazuhiko Yamaguchi	Japan
Woman is the Future of Man	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
Yakuza Law	Teruo Ishii	Japan

 

[NormanicGrav]

For Day 12 I watched the 2000 Japanese documentary film Unchain (アンチェイン) by Toshiaki Toyoda. This documentary follows the life of Unchain Kaiji and his boxing friends throughout the 90s and it's surprisingly interesting. The focus is a bit unpolished since it covers different boxers throughout the documentary but I felt that the fights themselves were pretty interesting. These people aren't the best boxers out there but it's admirable that they kept going even if they fall. I felt the ending was a bit abrupt but overall I thought it was a good watch.

Unchain is available to own as part of the Toshiaki Toyoda: The Early Years collection on Blu-ray from distributor Third Window Films.

4/5

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Backlog Phase 2

Watched:

Day	#	Localised Name	Director	Country
01	01	Crime Story	Kirk Wong	Hong Kong
02	02	Pluto	Shin Su-won	South Korea
03	03	Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wasteland	Atsushi Yamatoya	Japan
04	04	The Adventures of Denchu-kozo	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
04	05	Haze	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
05	06	Killing	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
06	07	Spiral	George Lida	Japan
07	08	Dragons Forever	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
08	09	Gushing Prayer: A 15-Year-Old Prostitute	Masao Adachi	Japan
09	10	Cold Fish	Sion Sono	Japan
10	11	Confessions	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
11	12	Pornostar	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
12	13	Unchain	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan

Coming Soon:

Localised Name	Director	Country
9 Souls	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Antiporno	Sion Sono	Japan
For Love's Sake	Takashi Miike	Japan
Han Gong-Ju	Lee Su-jin	South Korea
Hana-Bi	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
Heart of Dragon	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
Kamikaze Girls	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Kotoko	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
Memories of Matsuko	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Miracles: The Canton Godfather	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
The Protector	James Glickenhaus	Hong Kong
Ring 0: Birthday	Norio Tsuruta	Japan
Tokyo Sonata	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Tokyo Tribe	Sion Sono	Japan
Vulgaria	Pang Ho Cheung	Hong Kong

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Titles

Localised Name	Director	Country
13 Assassins	Takashi Miike	Japan
After the Storm	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Audition	Takashi Miike	Japan
Battle Royale	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Before We Vanish	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Black Butler	Kentarō Ōtani, Keiichi Satō	Japan
Blade of the Immortal	Takashi Miike	Japan
Blue Spring	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Burning	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
Dangan Runner	Sabu	Japan
Dark Water	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Dead or Alive	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive 2: Birds	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive: Final	Takashi Miike	Japan
Departures	Yōjirō Takita	Japan
Dreams	Akira Kurosawa	Japan
The Forest of Love	Sion Sono	Japan
The Handmaiden	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Happiness of the Katakuris	Takashi Miike	Japan
Hero	Zhang Yimou	China
The Host	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
House	Nobuhiko Obayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part II: Road to Eternity	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part III: A Soldier's Prayer	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
I Saw The Devil	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Infernal Affairs	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Infernal Affairs II	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Lady Snowblood	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers	Macoto Tezka	Japan
Lesson of Evil	Takashi Miike	Japan
Ley Lines	Takashi Miike	Japan
Love Exposure	Sion Sono	Japan
The Mermaid	Stephen Chow	China
Mother	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Oldboy	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
One Cut of the Dead	Shinichiro Ueda	Japan
Orgies of Edo	Teruo Ishii	Japan
Parasite	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Police Story	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Police Story 2	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A Part II	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Pulse	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
The Raid	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
The Raid 2: Berandal	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
Rainy Dog	Takashi Miike	Japan
Retaliation	Yasuharu Hasebe	Japan
Ring	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Ring 2	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 2: Kyoto Inferno	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Shadow	Zhang Yimou	China
Shin Godzilla	Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi	Japan
Shinjuku Triad Society: China Mafia War	Takashi Miike	Japan
Shoplifters	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
The Story of Yonosuke	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Street Mobster	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Tag	Sion Sono	Japan
Tale of Cinema	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
A Tale of Two Sisters	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Terra Formars	Takashi Miike	Japan
Tetsuo: The Iron Man	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
The Third Murder	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Thirst	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Train to Busan	Yeon Sang-ho	South Korea
The Villainess	Jung Byung-gil	South Korea
The Woodsman and the Rain	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Unforgiven	Lee Sang-il	Japan
Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope	Kazuhiko Yamaguchi	Japan
Woman is the Future of Man	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
Yakuza Law	Teruo Ishii	Japan

 

[NormanicGrav]

For Day 13 I watched the 2003 Japanese film 9 Souls (ナイン・ソウルズ) by Toshiaki Toyoda. The latest film in the Early Years collection and honestly it's the highlight. This is a character-driven film and well-done with each character having enough development to make you understand their backstory and motives, and it ends on a solid note. The music is pretty good and the presentation fits the tone of the film. The story is simple but easy to understand despite the almost 2 hour runtime that it has. Overall, 9 Souls is probably Toshiaki Toyoda's best work of the four films that I've watched from his catalogue (Pornostar, Unchain and Blue Spring) followed by Blue Spring.

9 Souls is available to own as part of the Toshiaki Toyoda: The Early Years collection on Blu-ray from distributor Third Window Films.

4.5/5

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Backlog Phase 2

Watched:

Day	#	Localised Name	Director	Country
01	01	Crime Story	Kirk Wong	Hong Kong
02	02	Pluto	Shin Su-won	South Korea
03	03	Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wasteland	Atsushi Yamatoya	Japan
04	04	The Adventures of Denchu-kozo	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
04	05	Haze	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
05	06	Killing	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
06	07	Spiral	George Lida	Japan
07	08	Dragons Forever	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
08	09	Gushing Prayer: A 15-Year-Old Prostitute	Masao Adachi	Japan
09	10	Cold Fish	Sion Sono	Japan
10	11	Confessions	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
11	12	Pornostar	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
12	13	Unchain	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
13	14	9 Souls	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan

Coming Soon:

Localised Name	Director	Country
Antiporno	Sion Sono	Japan
For Love's Sake	Takashi Miike	Japan
Han Gong-Ju	Lee Su-jin	South Korea
Hana-Bi	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
Heart of Dragon	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
Kamikaze Girls	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Kotoko	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
Memories of Matsuko	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Miracles: The Canton Godfather	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
The Protector	James Glickenhaus	Hong Kong
Ring 0: Birthday	Norio Tsuruta	Japan
Tokyo Sonata	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Tokyo Tribe	Sion Sono	Japan
Vulgaria	Pang Ho Cheung	Hong Kong

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Titles

Localised Name	Director	Country
13 Assassins	Takashi Miike	Japan
After the Storm	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Audition	Takashi Miike	Japan
Battle Royale	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Before We Vanish	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Black Butler	Kentarō Ōtani, Keiichi Satō	Japan
Blade of the Immortal	Takashi Miike	Japan
Blue Spring	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Burning	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
Dangan Runner	Sabu	Japan
Dark Water	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Dead or Alive	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive 2: Birds	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive: Final	Takashi Miike	Japan
Departures	Yōjirō Takita	Japan
Dreams	Akira Kurosawa	Japan
The Forest of Love	Sion Sono	Japan
The Handmaiden	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Happiness of the Katakuris	Takashi Miike	Japan
Hero	Zhang Yimou	China
The Host	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
House	Nobuhiko Obayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part II: Road to Eternity	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part III: A Soldier's Prayer	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
I Saw The Devil	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Infernal Affairs	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Infernal Affairs II	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Lady Snowblood	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers	Macoto Tezka	Japan
Lesson of Evil	Takashi Miike	Japan
Ley Lines	Takashi Miike	Japan
Love Exposure	Sion Sono	Japan
The Mermaid	Stephen Chow	China
Mother	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Oldboy	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
One Cut of the Dead	Shinichiro Ueda	Japan
Orgies of Edo	Teruo Ishii	Japan
Parasite	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Police Story	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Police Story 2	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A Part II	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Pulse	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
The Raid	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
The Raid 2: Berandal	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
Rainy Dog	Takashi Miike	Japan
Retaliation	Yasuharu Hasebe	Japan
Ring	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Ring 2	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 2: Kyoto Inferno	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Shadow	Zhang Yimou	China
Shin Godzilla	Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi	Japan
Shinjuku Triad Society: China Mafia War	Takashi Miike	Japan
Shoplifters	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
The Story of Yonosuke	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Street Mobster	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Tag	Sion Sono	Japan
Tale of Cinema	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
A Tale of Two Sisters	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Terra Formars	Takashi Miike	Japan
Tetsuo: The Iron Man	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
The Third Murder	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Thirst	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Train to Busan	Yeon Sang-ho	South Korea
The Villainess	Jung Byung-gil	South Korea
The Woodsman and the Rain	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Unforgiven	Lee Sang-il	Japan
Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope	Kazuhiko Yamaguchi	Japan
Woman is the Future of Man	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
Yakuza Law	Teruo Ishii	Japan

 

[NormanicGrav]

For Day 14 I watched the 1985 Hong Kong film Heart of Dragon (龍的心) by Sammo Hung. This is a different type of action film compared to the others and like Crime Story it's got its own twists to the mix. While Crime Story was more serious, Heart of Dragon is more focused on characters most notably with Sammo Hung's portrayal of a mentally disabled person. His character will divide folks for this film and there's some scenes that can make you cringe, but his interactions with Jackie Chan were pretty good and the ending was bittersweet. There is some action scenes and they were good fun, with the final act being the best part. There is a villain but it's not as well detailed as other films were, heck the first half of the film never really had one.

Heart of Dragon is available to own on Blu-ray from distributor 88 Films.

3.75/5

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Backlog Phase 2

Watched:

Day	#	Localised Name	Director	Country
01	01	Crime Story	Kirk Wong	Hong Kong
02	02	Pluto	Shin Su-won	South Korea
03	03	Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wasteland	Atsushi Yamatoya	Japan
04	04	The Adventures of Denchu-kozo	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
04	05	Haze	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
05	06	Killing	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
06	07	Spiral	George Lida	Japan
07	08	Dragons Forever	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
08	09	Gushing Prayer: A 15-Year-Old Prostitute	Masao Adachi	Japan
09	10	Cold Fish	Sion Sono	Japan
10	11	Confessions	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
11	12	Pornostar	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
12	13	Unchain	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
13	14	9 Souls	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
14	15	Heart of Dragon	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong

Coming Soon:

Localised Name	Director	Country
Antiporno	Sion Sono	Japan
For Love's Sake	Takashi Miike	Japan
Han Gong-Ju	Lee Su-jin	South Korea
Hana-Bi	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
Kamikaze Girls	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Kotoko	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
Memories of Matsuko	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Miracles: The Canton Godfather	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
The Protector	James Glickenhaus	Hong Kong
Ring 0: Birthday	Norio Tsuruta	Japan
Tokyo Sonata	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Tokyo Tribe	Sion Sono	Japan
Vulgaria	Pang Ho Cheung	Hong Kong

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Titles

Localised Name	Director	Country
13 Assassins	Takashi Miike	Japan
After the Storm	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Audition	Takashi Miike	Japan
Battle Royale	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Before We Vanish	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Black Butler	Kentarō Ōtani, Keiichi Satō	Japan
Blade of the Immortal	Takashi Miike	Japan
Blue Spring	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Burning	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
Dangan Runner	Sabu	Japan
Dark Water	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Dead or Alive	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive 2: Birds	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive: Final	Takashi Miike	Japan
Departures	Yōjirō Takita	Japan
Dreams	Akira Kurosawa	Japan
The Forest of Love	Sion Sono	Japan
The Handmaiden	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Happiness of the Katakuris	Takashi Miike	Japan
Hero	Zhang Yimou	China
The Host	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
House	Nobuhiko Obayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part II: Road to Eternity	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part III: A Soldier's Prayer	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
I Saw The Devil	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Infernal Affairs	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Infernal Affairs II	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Lady Snowblood	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers	Macoto Tezka	Japan
Lesson of Evil	Takashi Miike	Japan
Ley Lines	Takashi Miike	Japan
Love Exposure	Sion Sono	Japan
The Mermaid	Stephen Chow	China
Mother	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Oldboy	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
One Cut of the Dead	Shinichiro Ueda	Japan
Orgies of Edo	Teruo Ishii	Japan
Parasite	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Police Story	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Police Story 2	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A Part II	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Pulse	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
The Raid	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
The Raid 2: Berandal	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
Rainy Dog	Takashi Miike	Japan
Retaliation	Yasuharu Hasebe	Japan
Ring	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Ring 2	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 2: Kyoto Inferno	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Shadow	Zhang Yimou	China
Shin Godzilla	Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi	Japan
Shinjuku Triad Society: China Mafia War	Takashi Miike	Japan
Shoplifters	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
The Story of Yonosuke	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Street Mobster	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Tag	Sion Sono	Japan
Tale of Cinema	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
A Tale of Two Sisters	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Terra Formars	Takashi Miike	Japan
Tetsuo: The Iron Man	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
The Third Murder	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Thirst	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Train to Busan	Yeon Sang-ho	South Korea
The Villainess	Jung Byung-gil	South Korea
The Woodsman and the Rain	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Unforgiven	Lee Sang-il	Japan
Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope	Kazuhiko Yamaguchi	Japan
Woman is the Future of Man	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
Yakuza Law	Teruo Ishii	Japan

 

[NormanicGrav]

For Day 15 I watched the 1997 Japanese film Hana-bi (はなび) by Takeshi Kitano. Yes folks I finally watched a Takeshi Kitano film and honestly, I don't need to say anything - this film is fantastic, I could just end the paragraph there. The best thing about going into these films blind is that they can surprise you with what they deliver in its presentation. This film's story is simple but is portrayed really well by the characters, visual presentation and music score, which was composed by Joe Hisaishi who did the music for various Studio Ghibli films and one of my favourite Japanese films Departures. This film has a lot of charm to it and Kitano's character is quiet but understandable. The pacing was surprisingly well-done and every scene flowed really well. You could say it starts a bit confusing but it gets clearer quite early on as to what is happening. Overall, Hana-bi was amazing and I can't wait to check out the rest of his works which thankfully one of his most popular films Sonatine is out on UK Blu-ray next month.

Hana-bi is available to own on Blu-ray from distributor Third Window Films.

5/5

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Backlog Phase 2

Watched:

Day	#	Localised Name	Director	Country
01	01	Crime Story	Kirk Wong	Hong Kong
02	02	Pluto	Shin Su-won	South Korea
03	03	Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wasteland	Atsushi Yamatoya	Japan
04	04	The Adventures of Denchu-kozo	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
04	05	Haze	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
05	06	Killing	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
06	07	Spiral	George Lida	Japan
07	08	Dragons Forever	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
08	09	Gushing Prayer: A 15-Year-Old Prostitute	Masao Adachi	Japan
09	10	Cold Fish	Sion Sono	Japan
10	11	Confessions	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
11	12	Pornostar	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
12	13	Unchain	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
13	14	9 Souls	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
14	15	Heart of Dragon	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
15	16	Hana-bi	Takeshi Kitano	Japan

Coming Soon:

Localised Name	Director	Country
Antiporno	Sion Sono	Japan
For Love's Sake	Takashi Miike	Japan
Han Gong-Ju	Lee Su-jin	South Korea
Kamikaze Girls	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Kotoko	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
Memories of Matsuko	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Miracles: The Canton Godfather	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
The Protector	James Glickenhaus	Hong Kong
Ring 0: Birthday	Norio Tsuruta	Japan
Tokyo Sonata	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Tokyo Tribe	Sion Sono	Japan
Vulgaria	Pang Ho Cheung	Hong Kong

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Titles

Localised Name	Director	Country
13 Assassins	Takashi Miike	Japan
After the Storm	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Audition	Takashi Miike	Japan
Battle Royale	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Before We Vanish	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Black Butler	Kentarō Ōtani, Keiichi Satō	Japan
Blade of the Immortal	Takashi Miike	Japan
Blue Spring	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Burning	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
Dangan Runner	Sabu	Japan
Dark Water	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Dead or Alive	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive 2: Birds	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive: Final	Takashi Miike	Japan
Departures	Yōjirō Takita	Japan
Dreams	Akira Kurosawa	Japan
The Forest of Love	Sion Sono	Japan
The Handmaiden	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Happiness of the Katakuris	Takashi Miike	Japan
Hero	Zhang Yimou	China
The Host	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
House	Nobuhiko Obayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part II: Road to Eternity	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part III: A Soldier's Prayer	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
I Saw The Devil	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Infernal Affairs	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Infernal Affairs II	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Lady Snowblood	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers	Macoto Tezka	Japan
Lesson of Evil	Takashi Miike	Japan
Ley Lines	Takashi Miike	Japan
Love Exposure	Sion Sono	Japan
The Mermaid	Stephen Chow	China
Mother	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Oldboy	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
One Cut of the Dead	Shinichiro Ueda	Japan
Orgies of Edo	Teruo Ishii	Japan
Parasite	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Police Story	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Police Story 2	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A Part II	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Pulse	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
The Raid	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
The Raid 2: Berandal	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
Rainy Dog	Takashi Miike	Japan
Retaliation	Yasuharu Hasebe	Japan
Ring	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Ring 2	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 2: Kyoto Inferno	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Shadow	Zhang Yimou	China
Shin Godzilla	Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi	Japan
Shinjuku Triad Society: China Mafia War	Takashi Miike	Japan
Shoplifters	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
The Story of Yonosuke	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Street Mobster	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Tag	Sion Sono	Japan
Tale of Cinema	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
A Tale of Two Sisters	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Terra Formars	Takashi Miike	Japan
Tetsuo: The Iron Man	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
The Third Murder	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Thirst	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Train to Busan	Yeon Sang-ho	South Korea
The Villainess	Jung Byung-gil	South Korea
The Woodsman and the Rain	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Unforgiven	Lee Sang-il	Japan
Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope	Kazuhiko Yamaguchi	Japan
Woman is the Future of Man	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
Yakuza Law	Teruo Ishii	Japan

 

[HWR]

I watched Heart of Dragon tonight and my thoughts on it are very similar to that of yours @NormanicGrav, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of Sammo Hung’s character at times but the action and car chase sequences were typically raw and gritty (in the bonus features they show the filming of the motorcycles jumping from a bridge and one of the stunt drivers ends up-from what can be fathomed-badly injured) but also fun and frenetic.

 

[NormanicGrav]

For Day 16 I watched two films because these are not actually made in Asia but rather have actors and the speaking languages involved with the film. The first is the 2016 Australian film Top Knot Detective by directors Dominic Pearce and Aaron McCann, which is a mockumentary of a fake 90s Japanese series that is considered 'so-bad-it's-good'. This is a lot better than I had anticipated and it's quite impressive the creators were able to come up with a silly idea like this. There's a lot of fun humour as well and the way it was presented was pretty good. The only issue is that the quality of the film is hit or miss most notably with the on-screen text and its hard-subbed for the Japanese dialogue, but overall this was entertaining.

3.75/5

Top Knot Detective is available on Blu-ray from distributor Third Window Films.

The second is the 1985 American film The Protector by director James Glickenhaus starring Jackie Chan in his second attempt at reaching the US audience in Hollywood format. The version I watched is the original US version which is the one that Jackie Chan hates. Honestly, I can see why because the action scenes are rather slow when you compare it to the Hong Kong films he's been in. That being said, I do think this film is entertaining and the side-kick role that Danny Aiello plays is not as bad as I had imagined (I thought he would be an annoying one but turned out to be pretty decent). The villain is average and the American police officers are your typical idiots but overall this film was a good popcorn flick, definitely not as strong as the actual Hong Kong films of course.

3.5/5

The Protector is available on Blu-ray from distributor Third Window Films.

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Backlog Phase 2

Watched:

Day	#	Localised Name	Director	Country
01	01	Crime Story	Kirk Wong	Hong Kong
02	02	Pluto	Shin Su-won	South Korea
03	03	Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wasteland	Atsushi Yamatoya	Japan
04	04	The Adventures of Denchu-kozo	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
04	05	Haze	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
05	06	Killing	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
06	07	Spiral	George Lida	Japan
07	08	Dragons Forever	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
08	09	Gushing Prayer: A 15-Year-Old Prostitute	Masao Adachi	Japan
09	10	Cold Fish	Sion Sono	Japan
10	11	Confessions	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
11	12	Pornostar	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
12	13	Unchain	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
13	14	9 Souls	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
14	15	Heart of Dragon	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
15	16	Hana-bi	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
16	17	Top Knot Detective	Dominic Pearce, Aaron McCann	Australia + Japan
16	18	The Protector	James Glickenhaus	United States + Hong Kong

Coming Soon:

Localised Name	Director	Country
Antiporno	Sion Sono	Japan
For Love's Sake	Takashi Miike	Japan
Han Gong-Ju	Lee Su-jin	South Korea
Kamikaze Girls	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Kotoko	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
Memories of Matsuko	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Miracles: The Canton Godfather	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Ring 0: Birthday	Norio Tsuruta	Japan
Tokyo Sonata	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Tokyo Tribe	Sion Sono	Japan
Vulgaria	Pang Ho Cheung	Hong Kong

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Titles

Localised Name	Director	Country
13 Assassins	Takashi Miike	Japan
After the Storm	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Audition	Takashi Miike	Japan
Battle Royale	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Before We Vanish	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Black Butler	Kentarō Ōtani, Keiichi Satō	Japan
Blade of the Immortal	Takashi Miike	Japan
Blue Spring	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Burning	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
Dangan Runner	Sabu	Japan
Dark Water	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Dead or Alive	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive 2: Birds	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive: Final	Takashi Miike	Japan
Departures	Yōjirō Takita	Japan
Dreams	Akira Kurosawa	Japan
The Forest of Love	Sion Sono	Japan
The Handmaiden	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Happiness of the Katakuris	Takashi Miike	Japan
Hero	Zhang Yimou	China
The Host	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
House	Nobuhiko Obayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part II: Road to Eternity	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part III: A Soldier's Prayer	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
I Saw The Devil	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Infernal Affairs	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Infernal Affairs II	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Lady Snowblood	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers	Macoto Tezka	Japan
Lesson of Evil	Takashi Miike	Japan
Ley Lines	Takashi Miike	Japan
Love Exposure	Sion Sono	Japan
The Mermaid	Stephen Chow	China
Mother	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Oldboy	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
One Cut of the Dead	Shinichiro Ueda	Japan
Orgies of Edo	Teruo Ishii	Japan
Parasite	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Police Story	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Police Story 2	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A Part II	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Pulse	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
The Raid	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
The Raid 2: Berandal	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
Rainy Dog	Takashi Miike	Japan
Retaliation	Yasuharu Hasebe	Japan
Ring	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Ring 2	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 2: Kyoto Inferno	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Shadow	Zhang Yimou	China
Shin Godzilla	Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi	Japan
Shinjuku Triad Society: China Mafia War	Takashi Miike	Japan
Shoplifters	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
The Story of Yonosuke	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Street Mobster	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Tag	Sion Sono	Japan
Tale of Cinema	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
A Tale of Two Sisters	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Terra Formars	Takashi Miike	Japan
Tetsuo: The Iron Man	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
The Third Murder	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Thirst	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Train to Busan	Yeon Sang-ho	South Korea
The Villainess	Jung Byung-gil	South Korea
The Woodsman and the Rain	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Unforgiven	Lee Sang-il	Japan
Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope	Kazuhiko Yamaguchi	Japan
Woman is the Future of Man	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
Yakuza Law	Teruo Ishii	Japan

 

[HWR]

Tonight, I delved once again into my (way too big) film backlog and watched Stormy Monday (1988, Mike Figgis in their directorial debut). I was quite impressed with this, it’s a gritty neo-noir that is fairly straightforward but works thanks to the actors and their performances.

Sean Bean and Melanie Griffith are great in their respective roles as the leads whilst the supporting cast like Sting and Tommy Lee Jones also do well with their characters. The ending was unexpectedly not as dire as I was expecting too. I’m a sucker for these kinds of films and this was a solid 4/5 for me.

This is available in a Blu Ray/DVD set from Arrow Video for those who want to check it out.

 

[Winkuru]

Stormy Monday is definitely a underrated gem. It might not have greatest plot but i love the mood that it sets. Sean Beans character is also certainly not the most typical protagonist.

 

[NormanicGrav]

For Day 17 I watched the 2016 Japanese film Antiporno (アンチポルノ) by director Sion Sono. Despite its shorter runtime than his other films, Antiporno is pretty complex in its story-telling. I like the narrative that it was going for and the music and characters were well done. I think my main issue is that it was a bit too confusing in terms of the direction but overall it's an interesting and unique film for Sono to go through. I wouldn't say that it was his best though but there is something to like with this film.

3.75/5

Antiporno is available on Blu-ray from distributor Third Window Films.

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Backlog Phase 2

Watched:

Day	#	Localised Name	Director	Country
01	01	Crime Story	Kirk Wong	Hong Kong
02	02	Pluto	Shin Su-won	South Korea
03	03	Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wasteland	Atsushi Yamatoya	Japan
04	04	The Adventures of Denchu-kozo	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
04	05	Haze	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
05	06	Killing	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
06	07	Spiral	George Lida	Japan
07	08	Dragons Forever	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
08	09	Gushing Prayer: A 15-Year-Old Prostitute	Masao Adachi	Japan
09	10	Cold Fish	Sion Sono	Japan
10	11	Confessions	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
11	12	Pornostar	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
12	13	Unchain	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
13	14	9 Souls	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
14	15	Heart of Dragon	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
15	16	Hana-bi	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
16	17	Top Knot Detective	Dominic Pearce, Aaron McCann	Australia + Japan
16	18	The Protector	James Glickenhaus	United States + Hong Kong
17	19	Antiporno	Sion Sono	Japan

Coming Soon:

Localised Name	Director	Country
For Love's Sake	Takashi Miike	Japan
Han Gong-Ju	Lee Su-jin	South Korea
Kamikaze Girls	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Kotoko	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
Memories of Matsuko	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Miracles: The Canton Godfather	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Ring 0: Birthday	Norio Tsuruta	Japan
Tokyo Sonata	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Tokyo Tribe	Sion Sono	Japan
Vulgaria	Pang Ho Cheung	Hong Kong

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Titles

Localised Name	Director	Country
13 Assassins	Takashi Miike	Japan
After the Storm	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Audition	Takashi Miike	Japan
Battle Royale	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Before We Vanish	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Black Butler	Kentarō Ōtani, Keiichi Satō	Japan
Blade of the Immortal	Takashi Miike	Japan
Blue Spring	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Burning	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
Dangan Runner	Sabu	Japan
Dark Water	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Dead or Alive	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive 2: Birds	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive: Final	Takashi Miike	Japan
Departures	Yōjirō Takita	Japan
Dreams	Akira Kurosawa	Japan
The Forest of Love	Sion Sono	Japan
The Handmaiden	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Happiness of the Katakuris	Takashi Miike	Japan
Hero	Zhang Yimou	China
The Host	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
House	Nobuhiko Obayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part II: Road to Eternity	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part III: A Soldier's Prayer	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
I Saw The Devil	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Infernal Affairs	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Infernal Affairs II	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Lady Snowblood	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers	Macoto Tezka	Japan
Lesson of Evil	Takashi Miike	Japan
Ley Lines	Takashi Miike	Japan
Love Exposure	Sion Sono	Japan
The Mermaid	Stephen Chow	China
Mother	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Oldboy	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
One Cut of the Dead	Shinichiro Ueda	Japan
Orgies of Edo	Teruo Ishii	Japan
Parasite	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Police Story	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Police Story 2	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A Part II	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Pulse	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
The Raid	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
The Raid 2: Berandal	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
Rainy Dog	Takashi Miike	Japan
Retaliation	Yasuharu Hasebe	Japan
Ring	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Ring 2	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 2: Kyoto Inferno	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Shadow	Zhang Yimou	China
Shin Godzilla	Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi	Japan
Shinjuku Triad Society: China Mafia War	Takashi Miike	Japan
Shoplifters	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
The Story of Yonosuke	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Street Mobster	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Tag	Sion Sono	Japan
Tale of Cinema	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
A Tale of Two Sisters	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Terra Formars	Takashi Miike	Japan
Tetsuo: The Iron Man	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
The Third Murder	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Thirst	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Train to Busan	Yeon Sang-ho	South Korea
The Villainess	Jung Byung-gil	South Korea
The Woodsman and the Rain	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Unforgiven	Lee Sang-il	Japan
Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope	Kazuhiko Yamaguchi	Japan
Woman is the Future of Man	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
Yakuza Law	Teruo Ishii	Japan

 

[NormanicGrav]

For Day 18 I watched the 2000 Japanese film Ring 0: Birthday (リング0 バースデイ) by director Norio Tsuruta. I went into this film expecting it to be the weakest of the Ring Arrow box set and honestly I liked a lot of aspects this had to offer. The film does have a bunch of flaws though, for starters the characters are pretty badly developed with one of them being an idiot and then at the very end decides to support the main characters which is baffling. The only characters I liked were Sadako and Toyama. There is also a scene that is inspired by Carrie but I haven't watched that film but I am aware of what scene it's referring to. The final act is pretty much my biggest issue because it just feels like they forgot that this was a Ring film and even though it tries to tie into the prequel aspect, there's a lot of missing gaps that need explaining. Overall it's actually a decent entertaining watch, but it fails as a prequel to the Ring films. I think of this film as a non-canon side-story that just happens to be set in the prequel-verse.

3.25/5

Ring 0: Birthday is available to own as part of the Ring collection on Blu-ray from distributor Arrow Video.

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Backlog Phase 2

Watched:

Day	#	Localised Name	Director	Country
01	01	Crime Story	Kirk Wong	Hong Kong
02	02	Pluto	Shin Su-won	South Korea
03	03	Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wasteland	Atsushi Yamatoya	Japan
04	04	The Adventures of Denchu-kozo	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
04	05	Haze	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
05	06	Killing	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
06	07	Spiral	George Lida	Japan
07	08	Dragons Forever	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
08	09	Gushing Prayer: A 15-Year-Old Prostitute	Masao Adachi	Japan
09	10	Cold Fish	Sion Sono	Japan
10	11	Confessions	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
11	12	Pornostar	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
12	13	Unchain	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
13	14	9 Souls	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
14	15	Heart of Dragon	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
15	16	Hana-bi	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
16	17	Top Knot Detective	Dominic Pearce, Aaron McCann	Australia + Japan
16	18	The Protector	James Glickenhaus	United States + Hong Kong
17	19	Antiporno	Sion Sono	Japan
18	20	Ring 0: Birthday	Norio Tsuruta	Japan

Coming Soon:

Note: Despite recently acquiring 5 films from Akira Kurosawa as well as 2 more coming soon from BFI, these will not be joining Phase 2 of the Asian Cinema Watch. Heck I didn't even realise Seven Samurai was a 3.5 hour film until I was checking the discs lol.

Localised Name	Director	Country
For Love's Sake	Takashi Miike	Japan
Han Gong-Ju	Lee Su-jin	South Korea
Kamikaze Girls	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Kotoko	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
Memories of Matsuko	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Miracles: The Canton Godfather	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Tokyo Sonata	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Tokyo Tribe	Sion Sono	Japan
Vulgaria	Pang Ho Cheung	Hong Kong

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Titles

Localised Name	Director	Country
13 Assassins	Takashi Miike	Japan
After the Storm	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Audition	Takashi Miike	Japan
Battle Royale	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Before We Vanish	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Black Butler	Kentarō Ōtani, Keiichi Satō	Japan
Blade of the Immortal	Takashi Miike	Japan
Blue Spring	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Burning	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
Dangan Runner	Sabu	Japan
Dark Water	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Dead or Alive	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive 2: Birds	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive: Final	Takashi Miike	Japan
Departures	Yōjirō Takita	Japan
Dreams	Akira Kurosawa	Japan
The Forest of Love	Sion Sono	Japan
The Handmaiden	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Happiness of the Katakuris	Takashi Miike	Japan
Hero	Zhang Yimou	China
The Host	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
House	Nobuhiko Obayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part II: Road to Eternity	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part III: A Soldier's Prayer	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
I Saw The Devil	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Infernal Affairs	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Infernal Affairs II	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Lady Snowblood	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers	Macoto Tezka	Japan
Lesson of Evil	Takashi Miike	Japan
Ley Lines	Takashi Miike	Japan
Love Exposure	Sion Sono	Japan
The Mermaid	Stephen Chow	China
Mother	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Oldboy	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
One Cut of the Dead	Shinichiro Ueda	Japan
Orgies of Edo	Teruo Ishii	Japan
Parasite	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Police Story	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Police Story 2	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A Part II	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Pulse	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
The Raid	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
The Raid 2: Berandal	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
Rainy Dog	Takashi Miike	Japan
Retaliation	Yasuharu Hasebe	Japan
Ring	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Ring 2	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 2: Kyoto Inferno	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Shadow	Zhang Yimou	China
Shin Godzilla	Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi	Japan
Shinjuku Triad Society: China Mafia War	Takashi Miike	Japan
Shoplifters	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
The Story of Yonosuke	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Street Mobster	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Tag	Sion Sono	Japan
Tale of Cinema	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
A Tale of Two Sisters	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Terra Formars	Takashi Miike	Japan
Tetsuo: The Iron Man	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
The Third Murder	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Thirst	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Train to Busan	Yeon Sang-ho	South Korea
The Villainess	Jung Byung-gil	South Korea
The Woodsman and the Rain	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Unforgiven	Lee Sang-il	Japan
Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope	Kazuhiko Yamaguchi	Japan
Woman is the Future of Man	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
Yakuza Law	Teruo Ishii	Japan

 

[NormanicGrav]

For Day 19 I watched the 2011 Japanese film Kotoko by director Shinya Tsukamoto. Kotoko is a horror film in disguise and it's very unsettling to watch due to the main character's experiences. It's really intriguing and scary as you watch the film unfold and it ends on an interesting note. The main actress is also a singer and her songs are great too which fit her character. Also a baby's head explodes jfc. Overall, Kotoko is a disturbing but solid film to watch.

4.25/5

Kotoko is available to own on Blu-ray from distributor Third Window Films.

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Backlog Phase 2

Watched:

Day	#	Localised Name	Director	Country
01	01	Crime Story	Kirk Wong	Hong Kong
02	02	Pluto	Shin Su-won	South Korea
03	03	Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wasteland	Atsushi Yamatoya	Japan
04	04	The Adventures of Denchu-kozo	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
04	05	Haze	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
05	06	Killing	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
06	07	Spiral	George Lida	Japan
07	08	Dragons Forever	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
08	09	Gushing Prayer: A 15-Year-Old Prostitute	Masao Adachi	Japan
09	10	Cold Fish	Sion Sono	Japan
10	11	Confessions	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
11	12	Pornostar	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
12	13	Unchain	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
13	14	9 Souls	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
14	15	Heart of Dragon	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
15	16	Hana-bi	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
16	17	Top Knot Detective	Dominic Pearce, Aaron McCann	Australia + Japan
16	18	The Protector	James Glickenhaus	United States + Hong Kong
17	19	Antiporno	Sion Sono	Japan
18	20	Ring 0: Birthday	Norio Tsuruta	Japan
19	21	Kotoko	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan

Coming Soon:


Note: The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice, Funeral Parade of Roses, The Hidden Fortress, Sanjuro, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo won't be watched during the Asian Cinema Watch Phase 2 line-up.

Localised Name	Director	Country
For Love's Sake	Takashi Miike	Japan
Han Gong-Ju	Lee Su-jin	South Korea
Kamikaze Girls	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
Memories of Matsuko	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Miracles: The Canton Godfather	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Tokyo Sonata	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Tokyo Tribe	Sion Sono	Japan
Vulgaria	Pang Ho Cheung	Hong Kong

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Titles

Localised Name	Director	Country
13 Assassins	Takashi Miike	Japan
After the Storm	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Audition	Takashi Miike	Japan
Battle Royale	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Before We Vanish	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Black Butler	Kentarō Ōtani, Keiichi Satō	Japan
Blade of the Immortal	Takashi Miike	Japan
Blue Spring	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Burning	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
Dangan Runner	Sabu	Japan
Dark Water	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Dead or Alive	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive 2: Birds	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive: Final	Takashi Miike	Japan
Departures	Yōjirō Takita	Japan
Dreams	Akira Kurosawa	Japan
The Forest of Love	Sion Sono	Japan
The Handmaiden	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Happiness of the Katakuris	Takashi Miike	Japan
Hero	Zhang Yimou	China
The Host	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
House	Nobuhiko Obayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part II: Road to Eternity	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part III: A Soldier's Prayer	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
I Saw The Devil	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Infernal Affairs	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Infernal Affairs II	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Lady Snowblood	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers	Macoto Tezka	Japan
Lesson of Evil	Takashi Miike	Japan
Ley Lines	Takashi Miike	Japan
Love Exposure	Sion Sono	Japan
The Mermaid	Stephen Chow	China
Mother	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Oldboy	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
One Cut of the Dead	Shinichiro Ueda	Japan
Orgies of Edo	Teruo Ishii	Japan
Parasite	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Police Story	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Police Story 2	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A Part II	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Pulse	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
The Raid	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
The Raid 2: Berandal	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
Rainy Dog	Takashi Miike	Japan
Retaliation	Yasuharu Hasebe	Japan
Ring	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Ring 2	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 2: Kyoto Inferno	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Shadow	Zhang Yimou	China
Shin Godzilla	Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi	Japan
Shinjuku Triad Society: China Mafia War	Takashi Miike	Japan
Shoplifters	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
The Story of Yonosuke	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Street Mobster	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Tag	Sion Sono	Japan
Tale of Cinema	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
A Tale of Two Sisters	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Terra Formars	Takashi Miike	Japan
Tetsuo: The Iron Man	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
The Third Murder	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Thirst	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Train to Busan	Yeon Sang-ho	South Korea
The Villainess	Jung Byung-gil	South Korea
The Woodsman and the Rain	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Unforgiven	Lee Sang-il	Japan
Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope	Kazuhiko Yamaguchi	Japan
Woman is the Future of Man	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
Yakuza Law	Teruo Ishii	Japan

 

[NormanicGrav]

For Day 20 I watched the 2012 Hong Kong film Vulgaria (低俗喜劇) by director Pang Ho-cheung. This is a comedy that I actually really enjoyed watching, and it's not for everyone considering there's a lot of crude jokes but the main character was great. Loved his performance especially in moments that just makes him express a "are you kidding me" reaction in many scenes. I will definitely rewatch this film sometime because it was a fun watch. Not going to give away any plot details or trailers because this film is a lot more fun going in without much knowledge.

4.5/5

Vulgaria is available to own on Blu-ray from distributor Third Window Films, however, their license has expired so it'll be going out of print.

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Backlog Phase 2

Watched:

Day	#	Localised Name	Director	Country
01	01	Crime Story	Kirk Wong	Hong Kong
02	02	Pluto	Shin Su-won	South Korea
03	03	Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wasteland	Atsushi Yamatoya	Japan
04	04	The Adventures of Denchu-kozo	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
04	05	Haze	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
05	06	Killing	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
06	07	Spiral	George Lida	Japan
07	08	Dragons Forever	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
08	09	Gushing Prayer: A 15-Year-Old Prostitute	Masao Adachi	Japan
09	10	Cold Fish	Sion Sono	Japan
10	11	Confessions	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
11	12	Pornostar	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
12	13	Unchain	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
13	14	9 Souls	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
14	15	Heart of Dragon	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
15	16	Hana-bi	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
16	17	Top Knot Detective	Dominic Pearce, Aaron McCann	Australia + Japan
16	18	The Protector	James Glickenhaus	United States + Hong Kong
17	19	Antiporno	Sion Sono	Japan
18	20	Ring 0: Birthday	Norio Tsuruta	Japan
19	21	Kotoko	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
20	22	Vulgaria	Pang Ho-cheung	Hong Kong

Coming Soon:

Note: The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice, Funeral Parade of Roses, The Hidden Fortress, Sanjuro, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo won't be watched during the Asian Cinema Watch Phase 2 line-up.

Localised Name	Director	Country
For Love's Sake	Takashi Miike	Japan
Han Gong-Ju	Lee Su-jin	South Korea
Kamikaze Girls	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
Memories of Matsuko	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Miracles: The Canton Godfather	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Tokyo Sonata	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Tokyo Tribe	Sion Sono	Japan

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Titles

Localised Name	Director	Country
13 Assassins	Takashi Miike	Japan
After the Storm	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Audition	Takashi Miike	Japan
Battle Royale	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Before We Vanish	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Black Butler	Kentarō Ōtani, Keiichi Satō	Japan
Blade of the Immortal	Takashi Miike	Japan
Blue Spring	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Burning	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
Dangan Runner	Sabu	Japan
Dark Water	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Dead or Alive	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive 2: Birds	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive: Final	Takashi Miike	Japan
Departures	Yōjirō Takita	Japan
Dreams	Akira Kurosawa	Japan
The Forest of Love	Sion Sono	Japan
The Handmaiden	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Happiness of the Katakuris	Takashi Miike	Japan
Hero	Zhang Yimou	China
The Host	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
House	Nobuhiko Obayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part II: Road to Eternity	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part III: A Soldier's Prayer	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
I Saw The Devil	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Infernal Affairs	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Infernal Affairs II	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Lady Snowblood	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers	Macoto Tezka	Japan
Lesson of Evil	Takashi Miike	Japan
Ley Lines	Takashi Miike	Japan
Love Exposure	Sion Sono	Japan
The Mermaid	Stephen Chow	China
Mother	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Oldboy	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
One Cut of the Dead	Shinichiro Ueda	Japan
Orgies of Edo	Teruo Ishii	Japan
Parasite	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Police Story	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Police Story 2	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A Part II	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Pulse	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
The Raid	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
The Raid 2: Berandal	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
Rainy Dog	Takashi Miike	Japan
Retaliation	Yasuharu Hasebe	Japan
Ring	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Ring 2	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 2: Kyoto Inferno	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Shadow	Zhang Yimou	China
Shin Godzilla	Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi	Japan
Shinjuku Triad Society: China Mafia War	Takashi Miike	Japan
Shoplifters	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
The Story of Yonosuke	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Street Mobster	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Tag	Sion Sono	Japan
Tale of Cinema	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
A Tale of Two Sisters	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Terra Formars	Takashi Miike	Japan
Tetsuo: The Iron Man	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
The Third Murder	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Thirst	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Train to Busan	Yeon Sang-ho	South Korea
The Villainess	Jung Byung-gil	South Korea
The Woodsman and the Rain	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Unforgiven	Lee Sang-il	Japan
Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope	Kazuhiko Yamaguchi	Japan
Woman is the Future of Man	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
Yakuza Law	Teruo Ishii	Japan

 

[NormanicGrav]

For Day 21 I watched the 2004 Japanese film Kamikaze Girls (下妻物語 ヤンキーちゃんとロリータちゃん), also known as Shimotsuma Story: Yankee Girl and Lolita Girl, by director Tetsuya Nakashima. This is a film that definitely screams "don't judge it by the cover" because it is a great film to watch. I loved the main character Momoko and her interactions with the girl biker character Ichigo was great. Pretty much this film was very "anime" and a nice change of pace. Yoko Kanno did the music for the film and it's got a FLCL-esque feel to it. Story is simple but was good.

4/5

Kamikaze Girls was licensed by distributor Third Window Films, however, it is no longer in print.

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Backlog Phase 2

Watched:

Day	#	Localised Name	Director	Country
01	01	Crime Story	Kirk Wong	Hong Kong
02	02	Pluto	Shin Su-won	South Korea
03	03	Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wasteland	Atsushi Yamatoya	Japan
04	04	The Adventures of Denchu-kozo	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
04	05	Haze	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
05	06	Killing	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
06	07	Spiral	George Lida	Japan
07	08	Dragons Forever	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
08	09	Gushing Prayer: A 15-Year-Old Prostitute	Masao Adachi	Japan
09	10	Cold Fish	Sion Sono	Japan
10	11	Confessions	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
11	12	Pornostar	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
12	13	Unchain	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
13	14	9 Souls	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
14	15	Heart of Dragon	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
15	16	Hana-bi	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
16	17	Top Knot Detective	Dominic Pearce, Aaron McCann	Australia + Japan
16	18	The Protector	James Glickenhaus	United States + Hong Kong
17	19	Antiporno	Sion Sono	Japan
18	20	Ring 0: Birthday	Norio Tsuruta	Japan
19	21	Kotoko	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
20	22	Vulgaria	Pang Ho-cheung	Hong Kong
21	23	Kamikaze Girls	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan

Coming Soon:

Note: The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice, Funeral Parade of Roses, The Hidden Fortress, Sanjuro, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo won't be watched during the Asian Cinema Watch Phase 2 line-up.

Localised Name	Director	Country
For Love's Sake	Takashi Miike	Japan
Han Gong-Ju	Lee Su-jin	South Korea
Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
Memories of Matsuko	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Miracles: The Canton Godfather	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Tokyo Sonata	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Tokyo Tribe	Sion Sono	Japan

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Titles

Localised Name	Director	Country
13 Assassins	Takashi Miike	Japan
After the Storm	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Audition	Takashi Miike	Japan
Battle Royale	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Before We Vanish	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Black Butler	Kentarō Ōtani, Keiichi Satō	Japan
Blade of the Immortal	Takashi Miike	Japan
Blue Spring	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Burning	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
Dangan Runner	Sabu	Japan
Dark Water	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Dead or Alive	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive 2: Birds	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive: Final	Takashi Miike	Japan
Departures	Yōjirō Takita	Japan
Dreams	Akira Kurosawa	Japan
The Forest of Love	Sion Sono	Japan
The Handmaiden	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Happiness of the Katakuris	Takashi Miike	Japan
Hero	Zhang Yimou	China
The Host	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
House	Nobuhiko Obayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part II: Road to Eternity	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part III: A Soldier's Prayer	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
I Saw The Devil	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Infernal Affairs	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Infernal Affairs II	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Lady Snowblood	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers	Macoto Tezka	Japan
Lesson of Evil	Takashi Miike	Japan
Ley Lines	Takashi Miike	Japan
Love Exposure	Sion Sono	Japan
The Mermaid	Stephen Chow	China
Mother	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Oldboy	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
One Cut of the Dead	Shinichiro Ueda	Japan
Orgies of Edo	Teruo Ishii	Japan
Parasite	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Police Story	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Police Story 2	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A Part II	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Pulse	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
The Raid	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
The Raid 2: Berandal	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
Rainy Dog	Takashi Miike	Japan
Retaliation	Yasuharu Hasebe	Japan
Ring	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Ring 2	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 2: Kyoto Inferno	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Shadow	Zhang Yimou	China
Shin Godzilla	Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi	Japan
Shinjuku Triad Society: China Mafia War	Takashi Miike	Japan
Shoplifters	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
The Story of Yonosuke	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Street Mobster	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Tag	Sion Sono	Japan
Tale of Cinema	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
A Tale of Two Sisters	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Terra Formars	Takashi Miike	Japan
Tetsuo: The Iron Man	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
The Third Murder	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Thirst	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Train to Busan	Yeon Sang-ho	South Korea
The Villainess	Jung Byung-gil	South Korea
The Woodsman and the Rain	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Unforgiven	Lee Sang-il	Japan
Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope	Kazuhiko Yamaguchi	Japan
Woman is the Future of Man	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
Yakuza Law	Teruo Ishii	Japan

 

[NormanicGrav]

For Day 22 I watched the 1989 Hong Kong film Miracles: The Canton Godfather (奇蹟) directed by Jackie Chan. The version of the film I watched is the original Hong Kong version, also known as Mr. Canton and Lady Rose. This movie was a lot more entertaining than I had anticipated. It's not violent like the others which honestly worried me, but in return it had a great story and the performances were really good. Pacing was spot on for a 2 hour film and while I have some issues with the whole antagonist aspect for select characters, overall it was a solid film.

4/5

Miracles: The Canton Godfather is available on Blu-ray from distributor 88 Films.

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Backlog Phase 2

Watched:

Day	#	Localised Name	Director	Country
01	01	Crime Story	Kirk Wong	Hong Kong
02	02	Pluto	Shin Su-won	South Korea
03	03	Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wasteland	Atsushi Yamatoya	Japan
04	04	The Adventures of Denchu-kozo	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
04	05	Haze	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
05	06	Killing	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
06	07	Spiral	George Lida	Japan
07	08	Dragons Forever	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
08	09	Gushing Prayer: A 15-Year-Old Prostitute	Masao Adachi	Japan
09	10	Cold Fish	Sion Sono	Japan
10	11	Confessions	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
11	12	Pornostar	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
12	13	Unchain	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
13	14	9 Souls	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
14	15	Heart of Dragon	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
15	16	Hana-bi	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
16	17	Top Knot Detective	Dominic Pearce, Aaron McCann	Australia + Japan
16	18	The Protector	James Glickenhaus	United States + Hong Kong
17	19	Antiporno	Sion Sono	Japan
18	20	Ring 0: Birthday	Norio Tsuruta	Japan
19	21	Kotoko	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
20	22	Vulgaria	Pang Ho-cheung	Hong Kong
21	23	Kamikaze Girls	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
22	24	Miracles: The Canton Godfather	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong

Coming Soon:

Note: The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice, Funeral Parade of Roses, The Hidden Fortress, Sanjuro, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo won't be watched during the Asian Cinema Watch Phase 2 line-up.

Localised Name	Director	Country
For Love's Sake	Takashi Miike	Japan
Han Gong-Ju	Lee Su-jin	South Korea
Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
Memories of Matsuko	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Tokyo Sonata	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Tokyo Tribe	Sion Sono	Japan

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Titles

Localised Name	Director	Country
13 Assassins	Takashi Miike	Japan
After the Storm	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Audition	Takashi Miike	Japan
Battle Royale	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Before We Vanish	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Black Butler	Kentarō Ōtani, Keiichi Satō	Japan
Blade of the Immortal	Takashi Miike	Japan
Blue Spring	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Burning	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
Dangan Runner	Sabu	Japan
Dark Water	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Dead or Alive	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive 2: Birds	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive: Final	Takashi Miike	Japan
Departures	Yōjirō Takita	Japan
Dreams	Akira Kurosawa	Japan
The Forest of Love	Sion Sono	Japan
The Handmaiden	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Happiness of the Katakuris	Takashi Miike	Japan
Hero	Zhang Yimou	China
The Host	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
House	Nobuhiko Obayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part II: Road to Eternity	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part III: A Soldier's Prayer	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
I Saw The Devil	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Infernal Affairs	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Infernal Affairs II	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Lady Snowblood	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers	Macoto Tezka	Japan
Lesson of Evil	Takashi Miike	Japan
Ley Lines	Takashi Miike	Japan
Love Exposure	Sion Sono	Japan
The Mermaid	Stephen Chow	China
Mother	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Oldboy	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
One Cut of the Dead	Shinichiro Ueda	Japan
Orgies of Edo	Teruo Ishii	Japan
Parasite	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Police Story	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Police Story 2	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A Part II	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Pulse	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
The Raid	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
The Raid 2: Berandal	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
Rainy Dog	Takashi Miike	Japan
Retaliation	Yasuharu Hasebe	Japan
Ring	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Ring 2	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 2: Kyoto Inferno	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Shadow	Zhang Yimou	China
Shin Godzilla	Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi	Japan
Shinjuku Triad Society: China Mafia War	Takashi Miike	Japan
Shoplifters	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
The Story of Yonosuke	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Street Mobster	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Tag	Sion Sono	Japan
Tale of Cinema	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
A Tale of Two Sisters	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Terra Formars	Takashi Miike	Japan
Tetsuo: The Iron Man	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
The Third Murder	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Thirst	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Train to Busan	Yeon Sang-ho	South Korea
The Villainess	Jung Byung-gil	South Korea
The Woodsman and the Rain	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Unforgiven	Lee Sang-il	Japan
Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope	Kazuhiko Yamaguchi	Japan
Woman is the Future of Man	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
Yakuza Law	Teruo Ishii	Japan

 

[HWR]

Tokyo Knights (1961) is the final film offering from the Seijun Suzuki The Early Years Vol. 2 Boxset from Arrow Video.

Here we get a story focused on the young heir of a crime syndicate with a talent for music and love for jazz as we follow their struggles in a storyline that loosely follows the story beats of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Said heir, played well by Kôji Wada, is a talented musician and lover of jazz but finds themselves torn between the carefree life as a teenager and the high-risk lifestyle of a Syndicate head.

I found it fairly entertaining and, overall, Would recommend both Early Years boxsets to any fans of Seijun Suzuki’s work.

3.5/5

 

[NormanicGrav]

For Day 23 I watched the 2012 Japanese film For Love's Sake (愛と誠) directed by Takashi Miike. Miike has made any films, from J-Horror, to anime/manga adaptations, to samurai films, to Yakuza films, and now we have a musical. The music in this film is quite good and I loved the cute scene with Ai when she sang her musical piece, it was the definition of kawaii (hhnngg). Now the actual story premise is interesting but the main issue that is an occuring problem is that it's inconsistent with its structure and pacing. This film is longer than it needs to be and there's actually not enough music in this film, heck it felt like it forgot that it was a musical. The final fight would have been better had it been a musical piece imo. The ending was bittersweet though and it has a very anime-esque harem to it which actually makes me want to watch a live-action J-series that has a harem now lol.

3.5/5

For Love's Sake was licensed by distributor Third Window Films for Blu-ray but as of 2019 has since gone out of print.

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Backlog Phase 2

Watched:

Day	#	Localised Name	Director	Country
01	01	Crime Story	Kirk Wong	Hong Kong
02	02	Pluto	Shin Su-won	South Korea
03	03	Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wasteland	Atsushi Yamatoya	Japan
04	04	The Adventures of Denchu-kozo	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
04	05	Haze	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
05	06	Killing	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
06	07	Spiral	George Lida	Japan
07	08	Dragons Forever	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
08	09	Gushing Prayer: A 15-Year-Old Prostitute	Masao Adachi	Japan
09	10	Cold Fish	Sion Sono	Japan
10	11	Confessions	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
11	12	Pornostar	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
12	13	Unchain	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
13	14	9 Souls	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
14	15	Heart of Dragon	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
15	16	Hana-bi	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
16	17	Top Knot Detective	Dominic Pearce, Aaron McCann	Australia + Japan
16	18	The Protector	James Glickenhaus	United States + Hong Kong
17	19	Antiporno	Sion Sono	Japan
18	20	Ring 0: Birthday	Norio Tsuruta	Japan
19	21	Kotoko	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
20	22	Vulgaria	Pang Ho-cheung	Hong Kong
21	23	Kamikaze Girls	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
22	24	Miracles: The Canton Godfather	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
23	25	For Love's Sake	Takashi Miike	Japan

Coming Soon:

Note: The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice, Funeral Parade of Roses, The Hidden Fortress, Sanjuro, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo won't be watched during the Asian Cinema Watch Phase 2 line-up.

Localised Name	Director	Country
Han Gong-Ju	Lee Su-jin	South Korea
Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
Memories of Matsuko	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Tokyo Sonata	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Tokyo Tribe	Sion Sono	Japan

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Titles

Localised Name	Director	Country
13 Assassins	Takashi Miike	Japan
After the Storm	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Audition	Takashi Miike	Japan
Battle Royale	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Before We Vanish	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Black Butler	Kentarō Ōtani, Keiichi Satō	Japan
Blade of the Immortal	Takashi Miike	Japan
Blue Spring	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Burning	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
Dangan Runner	Sabu	Japan
Dark Water	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Dead or Alive	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive 2: Birds	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive: Final	Takashi Miike	Japan
Departures	Yōjirō Takita	Japan
Dreams	Akira Kurosawa	Japan
The Forest of Love	Sion Sono	Japan
The Handmaiden	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Happiness of the Katakuris	Takashi Miike	Japan
Hero	Zhang Yimou	China
The Host	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
House	Nobuhiko Obayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part II: Road to Eternity	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part III: A Soldier's Prayer	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
I Saw The Devil	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Infernal Affairs	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Infernal Affairs II	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Lady Snowblood	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers	Macoto Tezka	Japan
Lesson of Evil	Takashi Miike	Japan
Ley Lines	Takashi Miike	Japan
Love Exposure	Sion Sono	Japan
The Mermaid	Stephen Chow	China
Mother	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Oldboy	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
One Cut of the Dead	Shinichiro Ueda	Japan
Orgies of Edo	Teruo Ishii	Japan
Parasite	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Police Story	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Police Story 2	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A Part II	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Pulse	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
The Raid	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
The Raid 2: Berandal	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
Rainy Dog	Takashi Miike	Japan
Retaliation	Yasuharu Hasebe	Japan
Ring	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Ring 2	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 2: Kyoto Inferno	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Shadow	Zhang Yimou	China
Shin Godzilla	Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi	Japan
Shinjuku Triad Society: China Mafia War	Takashi Miike	Japan
Shoplifters	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
The Story of Yonosuke	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Street Mobster	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Tag	Sion Sono	Japan
Tale of Cinema	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
A Tale of Two Sisters	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Terra Formars	Takashi Miike	Japan
Tetsuo: The Iron Man	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
The Third Murder	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Thirst	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Train to Busan	Yeon Sang-ho	South Korea
The Villainess	Jung Byung-gil	South Korea
The Woodsman and the Rain	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Unforgiven	Lee Sang-il	Japan
Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope	Kazuhiko Yamaguchi	Japan
Woman is the Future of Man	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
Yakuza Law	Teruo Ishii	Japan

 

[NormanicGrav]

For Day 24 I watched the 2014 Japanese film Tokyo Tribe (トウキョウ トライブ) directed by Sion Sono. Based on Santa Inoue's manga series Tokyo Tribes (which did get an anime by Madhouse for those curious), this is a pretty cool film that is basically Durarara!! (without the supernatural stuff) meets hip-hop. The music throughout is really good and everyone did a great job with the acting. The main issue that I have is with the story structure which is a bit inconsistent at parts and can be hard to follow, primarily during the first half of the film. The second half was easier to follow once I figured out who the protagonist was because the film doesn't do a good job at showcasing who is the main one you want to pay attention to (I thought it was the hooded dude narrating but I was wrong). At least they got the antagonists right which was great to watch. Overall a solid film.

4/5

Tokyo Tribe was licensed by distributor Eureka Entertainment for Blu-ray but as of 2019 has since gone out of print.

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Backlog Phase 2

Watched:

Day	#	Localised Name	Director	Country
01	01	Crime Story	Kirk Wong	Hong Kong
02	02	Pluto	Shin Su-won	South Korea
03	03	Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wasteland	Atsushi Yamatoya	Japan
04	04	The Adventures of Denchu-kozo	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
04	05	Haze	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
05	06	Killing	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
06	07	Spiral	George Lida	Japan
07	08	Dragons Forever	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
08	09	Gushing Prayer: A 15-Year-Old Prostitute	Masao Adachi	Japan
09	10	Cold Fish	Sion Sono	Japan
10	11	Confessions	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
11	12	Pornostar	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
12	13	Unchain	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
13	14	9 Souls	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
14	15	Heart of Dragon	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
15	16	Hana-bi	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
16	17	Top Knot Detective	Dominic Pearce, Aaron McCann	Australia + Japan
16	18	The Protector	James Glickenhaus	United States + Hong Kong
17	19	Antiporno	Sion Sono	Japan
18	20	Ring 0: Birthday	Norio Tsuruta	Japan
19	21	Kotoko	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
20	22	Vulgaria	Pang Ho-cheung	Hong Kong
21	23	Kamikaze Girls	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
22	24	Miracles: The Canton Godfather	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
23	25	For Love's Sake	Takashi Miike	Japan
24	26	Tokyo Tribe	Sion Sono	Japan

Coming Soon:

Note: The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice, Funeral Parade of Roses, The Hidden Fortress, Sanjuro, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo won't be watched during the Asian Cinema Watch Phase 2 line-up.

Localised Name	Director	Country
Han Gong-Ju	Lee Su-jin	South Korea
Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
Memories of Matsuko	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Tokyo Sonata	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Titles

Localised Name	Director	Country
13 Assassins	Takashi Miike	Japan
After the Storm	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Audition	Takashi Miike	Japan
Battle Royale	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Before We Vanish	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Black Butler	Kentarō Ōtani, Keiichi Satō	Japan
Blade of the Immortal	Takashi Miike	Japan
Blue Spring	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Burning	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
Dangan Runner	Sabu	Japan
Dark Water	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Dead or Alive	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive 2: Birds	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive: Final	Takashi Miike	Japan
Departures	Yōjirō Takita	Japan
Dreams	Akira Kurosawa	Japan
The Forest of Love	Sion Sono	Japan
The Handmaiden	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Happiness of the Katakuris	Takashi Miike	Japan
Hero	Zhang Yimou	China
The Host	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
House	Nobuhiko Obayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part II: Road to Eternity	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part III: A Soldier's Prayer	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
I Saw The Devil	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Infernal Affairs	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Infernal Affairs II	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Lady Snowblood	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers	Macoto Tezka	Japan
Lesson of Evil	Takashi Miike	Japan
Ley Lines	Takashi Miike	Japan
Love Exposure	Sion Sono	Japan
The Mermaid	Stephen Chow	China
Mother	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Oldboy	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
One Cut of the Dead	Shinichiro Ueda	Japan
Orgies of Edo	Teruo Ishii	Japan
Parasite	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Police Story	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Police Story 2	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A Part II	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Pulse	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
The Raid	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
The Raid 2: Berandal	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
Rainy Dog	Takashi Miike	Japan
Retaliation	Yasuharu Hasebe	Japan
Ring	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Ring 2	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 2: Kyoto Inferno	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Shadow	Zhang Yimou	China
Shin Godzilla	Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi	Japan
Shinjuku Triad Society: China Mafia War	Takashi Miike	Japan
Shoplifters	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
The Story of Yonosuke	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Street Mobster	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Tag	Sion Sono	Japan
Tale of Cinema	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
A Tale of Two Sisters	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Terra Formars	Takashi Miike	Japan
Tetsuo: The Iron Man	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
The Third Murder	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Thirst	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Train to Busan	Yeon Sang-ho	South Korea
The Villainess	Jung Byung-gil	South Korea
The Woodsman and the Rain	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Unforgiven	Lee Sang-il	Japan
Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope	Kazuhiko Yamaguchi	Japan
Woman is the Future of Man	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
Yakuza Law	Teruo Ishii	Japan

 

[NormanicGrav]

For Day 25 I watched the 2013 South Korean film Han Gong-ju (한공주) directed by Lee Su-jin. This was a pretty hard film to watch due to the subject matter, but the performance done by Chun Woo-hee was excellent throughout. As the story unfolds it starts to get even more depressing especially with its ending but I really liked the film as a whole though some of the scenes were a bit confusing in parts (sometimes you think it's the past but it's actually the present).

4.5/5

Han Gong-ju was licensed by distributor Third Window Films for Blu-ray but as of 2019 has since gone out of print.

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Backlog Phase 2

Watched:

Day	#	Localised Name	Director	Country
01	01	Crime Story	Kirk Wong	Hong Kong
02	02	Pluto	Shin Su-won	South Korea
03	03	Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wasteland	Atsushi Yamatoya	Japan
04	04	The Adventures of Denchu-kozo	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
04	05	Haze	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
05	06	Killing	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
06	07	Spiral	George Lida	Japan
07	08	Dragons Forever	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
08	09	Gushing Prayer: A 15-Year-Old Prostitute	Masao Adachi	Japan
09	10	Cold Fish	Sion Sono	Japan
10	11	Confessions	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
11	12	Pornostar	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
12	13	Unchain	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
13	14	9 Souls	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
14	15	Heart of Dragon	Sammo Hung	Hong Kong
15	16	Hana-bi	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
16	17	Top Knot Detective	Dominic Pearce, Aaron McCann	Australia + Japan
16	18	The Protector	James Glickenhaus	United States + Hong Kong
17	19	Antiporno	Sion Sono	Japan
18	20	Ring 0: Birthday	Norio Tsuruta	Japan
19	21	Kotoko	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
20	22	Vulgaria	Pang Ho-cheung	Hong Kong
21	23	Kamikaze Girls	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
22	24	Miracles: The Canton Godfather	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
23	25	For Love's Sake	Takashi Miike	Japan
24	26	Tokyo Tribe	Sion Sono	Japan
25	27	Han Gong-ju	Lee Su-jin	South Korea

Coming Soon:

Note: The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice, Funeral Parade of Roses, The Hidden Fortress, Sanjuro, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo won't be watched during the Asian Cinema Watch Phase 2 line-up.

Localised Name	Director	Country
Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
Memories of Matsuko	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
Tokyo Sonata	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan

Spoiler: The Completed List of Asian Cinema Titles

Localised Name	Director	Country
13 Assassins	Takashi Miike	Japan
After the Storm	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Audition	Takashi Miike	Japan
Battle Royale	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Before We Vanish	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
Black Butler	Kentarō Ōtani, Keiichi Satō	Japan
Blade of the Immortal	Takashi Miike	Japan
Blue Spring	Toshiaki Toyoda	Japan
Burning	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
Dangan Runner	Sabu	Japan
Dark Water	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Dead or Alive	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive 2: Birds	Takashi Miike	Japan
Dead or Alive: Final	Takashi Miike	Japan
Departures	Yōjirō Takita	Japan
Dreams	Akira Kurosawa	Japan
The Forest of Love	Sion Sono	Japan
The Handmaiden	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Happiness of the Katakuris	Takashi Miike	Japan
Hero	Zhang Yimou	China
The Host	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
House	Nobuhiko Obayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part II: Road to Eternity	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
The Human Condition Part III: A Soldier's Prayer	Masaki Kobayashi	Japan
I Saw The Devil	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Infernal Affairs	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Infernal Affairs II	Andrew Lau, Alan Mak	Hong Kong
Lady Snowblood	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance	Toshiya Fujita	Japan
Lady Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers	Macoto Tezka	Japan
Lesson of Evil	Takashi Miike	Japan
Ley Lines	Takashi Miike	Japan
Love Exposure	Sion Sono	Japan
The Mermaid	Stephen Chow	China
Mother	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Oldboy	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
One Cut of the Dead	Shinichiro Ueda	Japan
Orgies of Edo	Teruo Ishii	Japan
Parasite	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
Police Story	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Police Story 2	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Project A Part II	Jackie Chan	Hong Kong
Pulse	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan
The Raid	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
The Raid 2: Berandal	Gareth Evans	Indonesia
Rainy Dog	Takashi Miike	Japan
Retaliation	Yasuharu Hasebe	Japan
Ring	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Ring 2	Hideo Nakata	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 2: Kyoto Inferno	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends	Keishi Ōtomo	Japan
Shadow	Zhang Yimou	China
Shin Godzilla	Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi	Japan
Shinjuku Triad Society: China Mafia War	Takashi Miike	Japan
Shoplifters	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
The Story of Yonosuke	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Street Mobster	Kinji Fukasaku	Japan
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Tag	Sion Sono	Japan
Tale of Cinema	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
A Tale of Two Sisters	Kim Jee-woon	South Korea
Terra Formars	Takashi Miike	Japan
Tetsuo: The Iron Man	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer	Shinya Tsukamoto	Japan
The Third Murder	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
Thirst	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Train to Busan	Yeon Sang-ho	South Korea
The Villainess	Jung Byung-gil	South Korea
The Woodsman and the Rain	Shūichi Okita	Japan
Unforgiven	Lee Sang-il	Japan
Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope	Kazuhiko Yamaguchi	Japan
Woman is the Future of Man	Hong Sang-soo	South Korea
Yakuza Law	Teruo Ishii	Japan