Best Asian Film Directors ?

Recently I just started watching all of Kitano Takeshi's films which are all really good. Another asian director I followed for a brief time was Chan Wook Park who's Sympathy for Mr. Vengance , Lady Vengance , and J.S.A were all huge disapointments after viewing his masterpiece Oldboy.

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At this moment I'd go with Juzo Itami as my favorite Japanese director:

Tampopo is one of the sexiest, most appetizing films ever.
Minbo is a cute and very bold attack on Yakuza extortion tactics.
The Taxing Woman series (two films) are awesome cop/procedural parodies.
The Funeral is a satirical but affectionate film about family, ritual observance and tradition.

I guess all of the above do have satirical elements about Japanese society but I think they're all pretty accessible. The only one I didn't totally love so far is A-ge-man (Tales of a Golden Geisha) which was still pretty enjoyable.

I certainly love Itami (R.I.P.), but I'm not sure meaty will agree.

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I know, but then, trying to predict the meat's inclinations is kind of like trying to grab the tiger by the tail. You can try, but is it really worth the risk?

One of my favorites is Yimou Zhang. Almost all of the films I've seen of his have moved me one way or another. When I see his name attached to a movie, I'll make an effort to see it. There are not many current director's (in any language) I can say that for.

Some of my favorite films of his are...

To Live (Huozhe) (1994)
Probably my favorite of his. One of the most moving films I've every seen...it stayed with me for days afterward. Great story, acting and they way it was all put together...

Raise the Red Lantern (Da hong deng long gao gao gua) (1991)
This was the first of his I'd seen. Beautifully done, and boy, did this make me feel...sad and angry (woman issues).

The Road Home(Wo de fu qin mu qin) (1999)
A bitter sweet story that again touched me. I love the sensitivity Yimou Zhang has for these smaller, more personal type's of stories than in the bigger/flasher types like House of Flying Daggers (which I still liked, just not as much as some of the others).

I also liked...
Happy Times[/b] (Xingfu shiguang) (2000)
Not One Less (Yi ge dou bu neng shao) (1999)
Hero (Ying xiong) (2002)
and...

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (Qian li zou dan qi) (2005)
Simple story with alot of heart. I liked Zhang's touch in this sensitive look at relationships and situations so much better than the big 2006 bruiser Curse of the Golden Flower.

Which brings me to the only film of his that I didn't like..

Curse of the Golden Flower
It was pretty to look at...at times...but it was so over done in every aspect, which was very disappointing to me. Zhang usually makes you feel for either his characters or feel for their situations, which is what I love about him. But, ehhh...this was just a lets just make a tragic check list and check everything off as we go and be done with it.

By the way...has anyone seen...
Chacun son cinéma ou Ce petit coup au coeur quand la lumière s'éteint et que le film commence (2007)?
The complete directors list is impressive and I'm very curious about it. Since this is a thread dedicated to asain directors though...the asian directors involved in the 33 stories are...

Kaige Chen in the segment Zhanxiou Village
Hsiao-hsien Hou in the segment The Electric Princess House
Takeshi Kitano in the segment One Fine Day
Ming-liang Tsai in the segment It's a Dream
Kar Wai Wong in the segment I Travelled 9000 km To Give It To You
Yimou Zhang in the segment En Regardant le Film

Has it been released in the U.S. yet?

I think that's also my favorite of his. If I could get my mother-in-law to watch a Chinese movie, I'd put this on and I'd bet that she would love it.

I agree. I did like Curse of the Golden Flower though. Probably my least favorite movies of his that I have seen, but I did like it. I loved To Live as well, but Raise the Red Lantern is my absolute favorite by him. And yes it does make me angry.
Chen Kaige must be mentioned in this thread for Farewell My Concubine. Powerful, fanstastic movie.

Ever since Kung-Fu Hustle Stephen Chow is pretty high on my list. I can't wait to see his new movie it looks totally ridiculous and I bet I'm going to love it. I'm a big fan of Yimou as well, House of Flying Daggers is just a gorgeous film. I've been getting into some Takashi Miike lately, he's definitely different. I saw Tampopo mentioned, not only is that fun to say but it's also a very good film. Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is obviously a big favorite of mine. I also love Time and Tide very much although I'm much to lazy to look up the actual director. I'll check back in later with more, my memory muscle doesn't always work so good and I'm leaving out several.

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Time and Tide was directed by Tsui Hark. I hesitate to call him "the best", but there's just something about the kind of chaos he brings to his primarily mainstream films that makes me watch his movies over and over. I'm sure I've seen Time and Tide at least a dozen times. I think only Robert Altman has done more movies that I never get sick of re-watching.



I think Tsui's best films are: The Blade, Once Upon a Time in China, Peking Opera Blues, Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain, Time and Tide, Don't Play With Fire, and Twin Dragons (co-directed with Ringo Lam).

Some that are a bit weaker but still pretty enjoyable: The Chinese Feast, Knock-Off, Once Upon a Time in China 2 & 3, Seven Swords, A Better Tomorrow 3.

Some that I found interesting but couldn't quite get into: Green Snake, The Butterfly Murders, We're Going to Eat You, The Lovers, Legend of Zu, The Master.

And a couple that are too bad even for me to endorse: Double Team, The Raid.

When my son was in China this summer he got to be an extra in a Tsui Hark film. He mailed me - ma do you know Tsui Hark...do I know Tsui Hark wtf??? The Blade - one of my favourite films!. Love White Snake Green snake too.

Best Asian directors besides Takeshi Kitano, my favourites are Yoji Yamada, Takashi Miike, Tian Zhuhangzuhang, Yimou Zhang, Kim Ki-Duk, Bong Joon Ho - every film of his has been good so far, Hong Sang-soo, Chen Kaige, the Vietnamese director Ahn Hung Tran for his fantastic films Cyclo, The Scent of Green Papaya and At the Height of Summer, and Hirokazu Koreeda if only for the gorgeous Maborosi. Then there's old school greats - Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa...and thats must of the top of me head. Prob think about loads more afterwards

I've only seen two Hark films, Seven swords and Zu: Warriors of the magic mountain....or rather, the first 30 minutes of both, and other than for fans of trashy B films, I really wouldn't recommend either to anyone...

As far as my favorite Asian director, Wong Kar Wai is miles ahead of anyone else...

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I am not a big Wong Kar Wai fan, and I've watched his films multiple times too. Of course, I don't think much of Godard either. However, I know their fans are rabid about them.

I'll check back later... I have to watch some more Berlin Alexanderplatz.

I don't see how the two compare...I seriously dislike Godard. Kar Wai is nowhere near as pretentious...:\

I have ZU Warriors, thanks lines I didn't know that was the same guy. Kind of a goof ball movie, of course I still somewhat enjoyed it. I'm hip like that.

OK. It turns out I have to wait to watch the Fassbinder. I agree, adidasss, that he's not as pretentious as Godard, but I fear he may get there. I certainly prefer his work to all of Godard's, except for a couple of the Frenchman's earlier films, but here's where I'm coming from: I prefer Chungking Express to both In the Mood For Love and 2046. I know you love some of his other films. I just wanted to comment to see where it goes. Be gentle; it's the old man's birthday.

As cool as Kung Fu Hustle looks - i hated the story and Takashi Mike's "Ichi the Killer" really makes me not want to see another one of his.

I'm a fan of Wong but don't consider myself rabid*. Unless foaming at the mouth is somehow integral to your definition of "fan". In which case I would ask, are you rabid about Spielberg? Honestly, the most obnoxious Wong fan I've ever seen was Quentin Tarantino on the vhs intro to Chungking Express. Came across as incoherent and looked like he was strung out on some nervous-dweeb-narcotics. He seemed pretty harmless though.

*Unless you mean "rabid" in the Cronenbergian sense, in which case yes, I grow a fanged penis from my armpit every time I watch 2046. The last time this happened they had to declare martial law in five counties in New Jersey. Haven't watched it since.

@ Adi, have you seen Final Victory? It wasn't directed by Wong but I read somewhere that it's his favorite of his own screenplays. I think that film has his two most charming female characters. Also one of the two male leads is played by Tsui Hark . Highly recommend it if you haven't seen it.

About Tsui being "trashy", I won't disagree too strongly with you there. He certainly has had a career focused on churning out genre titles quickly, with some visible carelessness in even is best films. I would gladly warn people who can't get past some of the peculiarities of HK genre films (of which his are in many ways typical) away from his movies, except that I used to be one of those people. It was really a couple scenes in The Blade and Once Upon a Time in China that made it completely worth getting through everything that had previously bothered me about pretty much all things Hong Kong: the jarring humor, jerky camera work, bad acting, cardboard western villains, and seemingly arbitrary plotting (always ending on a freeze frame, rushing to the finish once the action's over). Even made some of the bad points start looking like merits (oh! those ridiculous flashbacks).

@christine. I actually think I remember you mentioning Green Snake, maybe a couple years ago. That's really a cool about your son. What was he doing there, and what was the film, if you don't mind my asking? We have a somewhat lonely thread devoted to The Blade.

Shoot, you posted again while I was writing. Go watch Fassbinder already, you! .

2046 and In the Mood for Love are definitely different (more subdued?) from some of his other stuff like Chungking Express, so that's understandable. My recommendation to adidasss to see Final Victory migrates to you (and anyone else I can nag into finding it) too, now. You might dig it. I think it's a much funnier film and like the loserly but also somewhat complex scheming characters in that film better than Chungking. For the record I've seen In the Mood for Love twice and 2046 5 times. I'm still only lukewarm on 'Mood and while I started to like 2046 on my second viewing I didn't really fall in love until around the fourth.

He's the director of my favourite film so I suppose that this guy would be pretty high on my list, right?

An auteur and all-round Renaissance Man who likes taking the piss - my kinda filmmaker!

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