For the past month, arts and culture sections in newspapers and magazines have been filled with top 10s, fives and perhaps a few top 14s, but no discussion of the three most important and enjoyable events in Asian cinema from the past decade.
In an effort to remedy this deficiency, the Manitoban has selected one work of film from each of East Asia’s three major film exporters, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan. Two of the three are trilogies, but are considered one work. These films were chosen for entertainment value, critical success and impact. The Manitoban urges that you not go another decade without watching:
Infernal Affairs I-III (Hong Kong, 2002-2003)
Perhaps best known in North America for inspiring Martin Scorcese’s critically-acclaimed The Departed, the Infernal Affairs trilogy follows the lives of two moles, one in a police department and one in a triad, each working for the opposing organization. It stars some of Hong Kong’s best acting talent of the last decade — and likely the next. Andy Lau, not to be confused with director Andrew Wai-Keung Lau, plays Inspector Lau Kin Ming. Tony Leung, another prominent face of Hong Kong cinema, plays Chen Wing Yan.
The Infernal Affairs trilogy is tragic, epic, beautiful and entertaining. Whether or not you liked The Departed, you owe it to yourself to see at least one film of this trilogy. Years later, you will find yourself still deeply moved by Fiona Fung’s haunting theme.
The Vengeance Trilogy (Korea, 2002-2005)
Chan-wook Park’s Vengeance Trilogy is composed of three films with the theme of revenge, but do not have a common plot: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Oldboy (2003) and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005).
Oldboy, the best-known of the trilogy, is the story of Dae-su Oh (played by Min-sik Choi), a man who is suddenly kidnapped and kept in isolation for 15 years without ever seeing his captors. One day, without explanation, he is suddenly released. While Oldboy has won 17 awards and received critical acclaim, it also attracted a lot of attention for its brutality. The protagonist famously celebrates his freedom by eating a live octopus while its tentacles grasp at his face from the inside of his throat. He also favours a hammer as the instrument of much of his revenge. Oldboy is intriguing in a morbid way, and it has its emotional moments, but more than anything it’s cool.
The other two films in the trilogy are similarly brutal and do not shy from disturbing themes, but like Oldboy, they’re executed with style. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, the first in the trilogy, is about a deaf and dumb factory worker who kidnaps his boss’s daughter to help pay for his sister’s kidney transplant, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance follows Geum-ja Lee, a woman released from prison who seeks revenge on the man who put her there.
Zatoichi (Japan, 2003)
Takeshi Kitano, who performs as Beat Takeshi, is one of Japan’s most prolific and successful actor-directors. He directed his first feature, Violent Cop, in 1989, but he has been acting since 1980. In Zatoichi, Kitano plays the titular character, a blind masseur and swordsman.
Kitano directed seven movies in the past decade, and Zatoichi is not necessarily the best. Its inclusion on this list is due to its director and another star of its stars, Tadanobu Asano. Asano is Japan’s answer to Johnny Depp, except his beard is less annoying. He is perhaps best know for his role as Ichi in Takashi Miike’s Ichi the Killer, but his success in Japan has led to some overseas work as well. He is to play Hogun in Kenneth Branagh’s upcoming Thor and a character called Chris in Regular Boy with Asia Argento.
The noughties are over, but there’s still a chance to catch up on Asian cinema. Take it.
