Rate the Last Film You Watched

[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

 

[NormanicGrav]

For Day 26 I watched the 2015 Japanese film Lowlife Love (下衆の愛) directed by Eiji Uchida. This film is alright but it's quite hard to be invested due to the main character who is very unlikeable in the film, and although there is a redeeming arc of sorts, it's still not enough to enjoy the film in the end. The story is alright but I would say I'm more disappointed than anything else.

3/5

Lowlife Love is available to own on Blu-ray by 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
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
26	28	Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	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
Abnormal Family NEW ADDITION TO LIST	Masayuki Sao	Japan
Blue Film Woman NEW ADDITION TO LIST	Kan Mukai	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 27 I watched two films! The first is the 1984 Japanese film Abnormal Family: Older Brother's Bride (変態家族兄貴の嫁さん) directed by Masayuki Suo (Shall We Dance!). This is a weird film and after doing some quick research its basically a parody of Yasujirō Ozu's works which actually makes sense. The story is simple but these characters are just weird. It's only an hour long so I can't fault it but it's just a weird film.

3/5

The second is the 1969 Japanese film Blue Film Woman (ブルーフィルムの女) directed by Kan Mukai. This one actually has a pretty decent premise and is one of the better Pink films across the four that I have watched thus far. Like Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wasteland, it tries to actually have a story to go alongside the Pink film genre. It's also got an interesting colour choice in the presentation.

3.25/5

Abnormal Family and Blue Film Woman are both available to own as part of the Pink Films Vol. 3 & 4 collection in Blu-ray & DVD combo pack 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
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
26	28	Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
27	29	Abnormal Family: Older Brother's Bride	Masayuki Suo	Japan
27	30	Blue Film Woman	Kan Mukai	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
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 28 I watched the 2006 Japanese film Memories of Matsuko (嫌われ松子の一生) directed by Tatsuya Nakashima. This film felt like a nostalgic experience, with a mix of homages to the 50s to 80s era, great musical numbers and soundtrack choices, and a heartbreaking story, this is probably the director's best work honestly. I would say that it's an almost perfect film, with the present time scenes could do with a bit more to them and the CG was pretty noticeable at times.

4.75/5

Memories of Matsuko 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
26	28	Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
27	29	Abnormal Family: Older Brother's Bride	Masayuki Suo	Japan
27	30	Blue Film Woman	Kan Mukai	Japan
28	31	Memories of Matsuko	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
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]

Rounding up the final day of the Asian Cinema Backlog Phase 2 is the 2008 Japanese film Tokyo Sonata (トウキョウソナタ) directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. This film is about a family that slowly delves into some realistic situations. I liked this movie a lot and it's really relatable with the main father because the world is cruel and not everything can go the way you want it. My favourite character is actually the little son who's arc wraps up the best of the lot. I think my main issue is that the older brother didn't have much to do and the pacing can stall at times, but overall it is a very solid film for Kurosawa and different to his usual horror backgrounds of Sweet Home (the film that inspired Resident Evil) and Pulse (my favourite horror film of all time).

4.25/5

Tokyo Sonata was licensed by distributor Eureka Entertainment as part of the Masters of Cinema series for Blu-ray but as of 2020 has since gone out of print.

And that concludes my film watch for the month. Didn't want to delve into the BFI titles because I would have gotten burnt out (plus they're mostly 2 hours or longer). Here's all 32 films 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
26	28	Lowlife Love	Eiji Uchida	Japan
27	29	Abnormal Family: Older Brother's Bride	Masayuki Suo	Japan
27	30	Blue Film Woman	Kan Mukai	Japan
28	31	Memories of Matsuko	Tetsuya Nakashima	Japan
29	32	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