Southeast Asian film suggestions to fit proposed study

[dreamdead]

I'll be starting preliminary research on my (hypothetical) dissertation topic next semester. What follows is the proposal for the independent study to begin compiling a full reading and viewing list... any help you can offer me on the appropriate films and/or filmmakers to research would be appreciated. :)

Obviously, some filmmakers will be obvious picks but rather than list those I'm thinking of, I'd like you to go in blind and see where your suggestions lead.

Note: I'm avoiding Japan at the present time, so no suggestions of Japanese filmmakers, please.
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A Study of Contemporary Southeast Asian Cinema: History, Trauma, Memory, and Globalization

Southeast Asia has long been a fertile, albeit localized, ground for cinema. Because of our cultural, historical, and economic access to post-war Japan, we are most familiar with Japanese cinema. However, with the rise of symbolic, if not actual, New Waves of cinema presently occurring in other, increasingly global, regions of Southeast Asia, Westerners have become increasingly interested in how these national cinemas respond to and historicize the present cultural and global conditions. This curiosity is organized, principally, around how these filmmakers perceive and grapple with their country’s relationships to history, trauma, and memory (on both a national and personal level); globalization; issues of isolation and exclusion; and Asian appropriation of Western culture (on both an aesthetic and social level).

Are these countries viewing their increasingly globalized economies as an environment that is growing progressively more stifling? Is there redemption within these economies that was hitherto impossible? Is the opening-up of culture a positive or negative influence to these films? How are filmmakers responding to the present—through a historical documentation of it or through a retreat into the distant past? Are these films in conflict with the national orthodoxy or ideology, and, if so, to what end?

This project will allow me access to filmic and scholarly texts from China, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Vietnam, which will in turn allow me to begin answering these questions. The goal of this project is to assess how these films are culturally, associatively, and symbolically related.

[lovejuice]

my first shot is this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Judgment_%28film%29

a well-made thai film based on one of the widest-read thai contemporary novels:

http://www.thaispecial.com/bookimages/9749195795/cover1.jpg

about a man who is accused of coveting his late father's young wife. the novel/ film can be read in different lights, but one that i find most compelling is the conflict between pre-modern society vs. modernity. it shows how "backwater" some parts of rural thai still are. and how modernization only comes with technology but not the value.

about thai cinema. you want anything specific? i'll be honored to be of some help.

[dreamdead]

about thai cinema. you want anything specific? i'll be honored to be of some help.

Yeah, I've got Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, but they're the only two Thai filmmakers I've seen. Any additional suggestions, like the one above, are most welcome.

For other countries I've got:

China:
Jia Zhangke

Korea:
Hong Sang-soo
Chang-dong Lee
Kim Ki-Duk

Taiwan:
Edward Yang
Hou-Hsiao Hsien (also HK)

Hong Kong:
Wong Kar Wai

Vietnam:
Tran Anh Hung

[Spinal]

I don't have any obscure suggestions, but boy oh boy, I like me some Zhang Yimou.

Also, check out The Blue Kite if you haven't already seen it.

[Sycophant]

For Thai cinema, you should definitely see the work of Wisit Sasanatieng. He's only made three films, but his two best are easily available in America.

I have a long-standing note to myself to check out Malay director Yasmin Ahmad. I know how to track down some of her stuff, but just haven't gotten around to her yet. What I've read tells me she's worth checking out.

For Hong Kong, the films of Edmond Pang Ho-Cheung would be worth looking at. Derek Yee's been around for a while and is definitely worthy of consideration.

Korea: Bong Joon-Ho.

[Llopin]

Good names called out, but I'm not sure if you're only asking for POLITICAL films or what... but here's some... I would consider Zhangke (of course, his early movies specially, Platform is essential, but really everything), Xiashouai Wang's Drifters (which deals directly with immigration), Pirated Copy by Jianjun (a mockumentary about chinese government's attitude towards film), Passages by Yang Chao (the politic situation in China through a love story), Lu Zhang overall (specially Grain in Ear, an calm observation on asian culture clash and Desert Dream, about emmigration), Loach is Fish, Too and Wei Tie's Distance (which both deal with the rural exodus and urban adaptation of chinese people)... hmm maybe I come up with more later.

Yet I'm no expert on chinese cinema... if Li Lili was around she'd surely be of help.

[soitgoes...]

Zhang Yimou should be considered. Definitely.

[dreamdead]

Good names called out, but I'm not sure if you're only asking for POLITICAL films or what...

Not really, but my personal interests have meant that those are the filmmakers whose work I already have some knowledge of. Genre work that embraces issues of globalization and global culture are just as welcome, so stuff like Chan-Wook Park and Johnnie To's work is just as vital here.

[Eleven]

Tsai Ming-liang

[lovejuice]

For Thai cinema, you should definitely see the work of Wisit Sasanatieng. He's only made three films, but his two best are easily available in America.


i love love love sasanatieng's work, but i'm not sure how well his work fits under the bill of globalization. citizen dog might be read as commentary on urbanization.

joe's work is mainly about the conflict between rural and urban, so it should work in your favor. which movie of tom do you have? my favorite and the one that perhaps fit best with the topic is "monruk transistor" (no idea about the english title but it should contain the word "transistor," at least.)

there is this less discussed thai film called "Mekong Full Moon Party" which is really good -- i'll say, it's even better than a more well-known work of joe and tom -- and it shows the clash between traditional, supernatural belief and modern science.

[Duncan]

Jia Zhangke Definitely see Still Life if you get the chance. Saw it a couple weeks ago in theaters and loved it. I think it fits in with your themes pretty well too.

[origami_mustache]

Not really, but my personal interests have meant that those are the filmmakers whose work I already have some knowledge of. Genre work that embraces issues of globalization and global culture are just as welcome, so stuff like Chan-Wook Park and Johnnie To's work is just as vital here.

J.S.A.: Joint Security Area is a more serious toned political drama from Park worth checking out. I also highly suggest Ki-duk Kim's Address Unknown, if you haven't seen that already, as well as Chang-dong Lee's Peppermint Candy. Each of these focus on the concepts you're researching. Hsiao-hsien Hou's Good Men, Good Women is another film that explicitly explores the effects of historical trauma and memory on modern day Taiwan. I would also recommend City of Sadness from Hou.

[dreamdead]

Excellent, I just ordered Lee's Peppermint Candy today. :cool:

I'd heard good things about J.S.A., so that's exciting to learn of its usefulness here. I imagine the last couple of Kim's films apply here (haven't seen anything of his newer than 3-Iron), probably Time more so than The Bow, and Address Unknown slipped through the cracks when I was first getting into him so I've got some catch-up there.

And neither of those are Hou films I've seen. Actually, this thematic also means that I have incentive to give Milleniuum Manbo another shot as well, and that I can see if more than the opening tracking shot can hypnotize me this time.

[Raiders]

Zhangke's Platform is pretty great. I see you have "memory" and "trauma" listed there. Might I recommend the much discussed Tale of Two Sisters? Or perhaps even Kim Ji-woon's The Quiet Family.

[Duncan]

Actually, this thematic also means that I have incentive to give Milleniuum Manbo another shot as well, and that I can see if more than the opening tracking shot can hypnotize me this time.

Best opening shot to a mediocre film I've ever seen. Hypnotic, as you say.

[D_Davis]

I finally found the article I was looking for:

Colonial Modernity
A Study of Tsui Hark's Production and Films1 (http://www.hku.hk/hkcsp/ccex/ehkcss01/issue2_ar_ccsc_01.htm#1)

Cindy Chan Shu-ching is PhD Candidate at the Department of Radio-Television-Film, The University of Texas at Austin. She received her M. A. at the Department of Radio-Television-Film, Northwestern University. This paper was presented at the Fourth International Postgraduate Symposium on Hong Kong Culture and Society, The University of Hong Kong Dec 12-15, 2001

http://www.hku.hk/hkcsp/ccex/ehkcss01/issue2_ar_ccsc_01.htm

It has a list of sources at the end as well.

This might help some. It's a great piece.

[Qrazy]

Best opening shot to a mediocre film I've ever seen. Hypnotic, as you say.

Agreed on both counts.

[Li Lili]

To me Southeast Asian films, do not include at all films from China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, but from Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines.

I can suggest several films from this area if wanted.

[D_Davis]

To me Southeast Asian films, do not include at all films from China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, but from Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines.

I can suggest several films from this area if wanted.

I think is is true also. I don't think China/HK/Taiwan and such are actually considered Southeast Asian countries.

[Li Lili]

Good names called out, but I'm not sure if you're only asking for POLITICAL films or what... but here's some... I would consider Zhangke (of course, his early movies specially, Platform is essential, but really everything), Xiashouai Wang's Drifters (which deals directly with immigration), Pirated Copy by Jianjun (a mockumentary about chinese government's attitude towards film), Passages by Yang Chao (the politic situation in China through a love story), Lu Zhang overall (specially Grain in Ear, an calm observation on asian culture clash and Desert Dream, about emmigration), Loach is Fish, Too and Wei Tie's Distance (which both deal with the rural exodus and urban adaptation of chinese people)... hmm maybe I come up with more later.

Yet I'm no expert on chinese cinema... if Li Lili was around she'd surely be of help.

Oh, I'm so happy that you mentioned Passages because one of the actors in this film is a very, very, very close friend of mine, he's also a musician, a poet, and an artist and I'm glad also that you mentioned Wei Tie as I presented his first documentary film (the film that helped him to make Distance) in several occasions.

[Li Lili]

I think is is true also. I don't think China/HK/Taiwan and such are actually considered Southeast Asian countries.
Exactly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asia

A few recommendations :
- Cambodia : Rithy Panh (S21, The People of Angkor, Rice People and The Land of the Wandering Souls are highly recommended)
- Indonesia : Opera Jawa by Garin Nugroho
- Thailand : Stories From the North by Uruphong Raksasad (great documentary), Invisible Waves and Last Life in the Universe by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang (his early films are good too, didn't like much Ploy), Citizen Dog and Tears of the Black Tiger by Wisit Sasanatieng, as already mentioned (but The Unseeable was so so), Tropical Malady and Blissfully Yours by Apichatpong Weerasethakul..... many Thai films in fact....
- Malaysia : The Last Communist and Village People Radio Show by Amir Muhammad (actually most of his films are recommended, very interesting filmmaker), Sepet by Yasmin Ahmad (a woman filmmaker), Things We Do When We Fall in Love and The Beautiful Washing Machine by James Lee (like very much)...
- Singapore : Eric Khoo (Be with Me, Mee Pok Man) and Royston Tan (15, 881...), Tan Pin Pin (a woman documentary filmmaker who directed Singapore Gaga, quite funny)
- Philippines : I admit that I've only seen two (Gagamboy and Endo, the first funny, the other mediocre and boring) and one that I've got but still haven't seen it (The Bet Collector)
- Vietnam : I've seen a few, and got some documentation about Vietnamese cinema but can't recall right now

That's all of what I can think of right now.

[Bosco B Thug]

I see you have "memory" and "trauma" listed there. Might I recommend the much discussed Tale of Two Sisters? Or perhaps even Kim Ji-woon's The Quiet Family. Ooh, yeah, these are good ones (well, because I've actually seen these...). AToTS is definitely "memory" and "trauma," although it's not really political or historical. For that you'd be better off with The Quiet Family, which has an interesting attitude, uses Western music, and has this weird motif of Cold War references.

[dreamdead]

Ah, thanks for the terminology snafu, Li Lili and Daniel. Since I do want to include those countries, I will reconfigure the title of the project accordingly.

And any R1 Thai and Vietnamese films are especially welcome. They are the two national cinemas that I'm most interested in exploring and searching out...

[D_Davis]

I don't know if this will help you at all, but I have found a link that I use often:

http://newton.uor.edu/Departments&Programs/AsianStudiesDept/hk-film.html

This is a treasure trove of articles on East and Southeast Asian directors and filmmakers.

There is some incredible stuff here. I have often turned to these articles in my own studies of the subject.

You may also want to check out two texts:

Planet Hong Kong, by David Bordwell

Hong Kong Cinema, by Stephen Teo

These are two of the best books written on the subject.

[D_Davis]

Are you familiar with Ann Hui?

Here is a great essay called, Border Crossings.

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/02/22/hui.html

You may want to check out her film, The Boat People.

[D_Davis]

Hey dd,

Just wondering if you've had a chance to look into Hui yet?

[bac0n]

Vietnam: I sure enjoyed Three Seasons (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138874/) (Ba Mua).

Korea: Be sure and check out Chunhyang (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245837/).

Two beautifully shot, deeply moving films.

[dreamdead]

Just wondering if you've had a chance to look into Hui yet?

Not yet, no. And the article you posted makes her look positively illuminating, which is tragic since 'flix doesn't seem to carry most of the films that Freiberg talks about in her essay. The Vietnam films, and Song of the Exile, sound marvelous and it's a shame that they're unavailable here. That said, I will definitely check out July Rhapsody soon and see how well her aesthetic matches up to the project's interests.

[D_Davis]

I was just curious if this was the kind of film and filmmaker you were looking for.

It's pretty sad that her films are not more well known and available outside of HK. I really don't get it.

[Sycophant]

The only Ann Hui film I've seen is Jade Goddess of Mercy, apparently one of her weaker efforts (and I would hope so). It wasn't bad, but I was a bit disappointed by how bloated and histrionic it could be. I've got a copy of The Postmodern Life of My Aunt I've been meaning to watch.

[dreamdead]

I was just curious if this was the kind of film and filmmaker you were looking for.

It's pretty sad that her films are not more well known and available outside of HK. I really don't get it.

Yeah, this is definitely in the right vein as what I'm looking for. I should just get on a plane over summer, fly to Seattle, and chat with you. Over Starbucks. Cos I'm in Seattle. :P

[D_Davis]

Yeah, this is definitely in the right vein as what I'm looking for. I should just get on a plane over summer, fly to Seattle, and chat with you. Over Starbucks. Cos I'm in Seattle. :P

I'm game!

Unfortunately, I do not know too much about this side of the HK film industry.

However, I do know that the HK new wave movement was partially defined by one very important factor: for the first time in the history of the industry, HK filmmakers were making films about Hongkies, set in Hong Kong. This was a huge change. Up until this point, most of the films made in Hong Kong were actually set in China and featured more Chinese characters and narratives. The Hong Kong-ness of HK cinema wasn't really explored until the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Hong Kong has always been viewed as the East's window to the West, and the new wave movement helped to establish this more in the pop-culture.