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Re: There are films. And then there are films.
by
FirstAscent
on 12/10/2012, 05:49:43 UTC
So I watched Manji last night. The 1964 film's plot is rather intricate and deals with more than the two beautiful Japanese women becoming infatuated with each others' bodies and the sexual relationship between them which follows.

Manji: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-5XRJYsOlc

waaaa? Sounds like my kinda movie. Ill have to hit up netflix

Erotic themes were quite common in Japanese films of the '60s - i.e The Japanese New Wave. Consider Gate of Flesh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0xWk4_EMx4

Women in the Dunes had a healthy dose of eroticism in it (a film I've repeatedly recommended here). But please, do not confuse these wonderful films which explore identity and freedom with trashy material. I do not promote trashy material here.

Below is a starter list for those wishing to explore Asian cinema in greater depth. The list here is just shy of 200 films. I have easily another 100 films to add to this list. These are not random selections, but carefully selected for their fame, winning of awards, their directors, critic reviews and public opinion. I have not seen them all, but I'm working on it. There are many very famous and highly revered films in this list. One of them is considered to be the greatest film ever made according to a directors' poll. Watch them all. Two or three times each. They are listed in no particular order.

The Host
Manji: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-5XRJYsOlc
The Warped Ones
Chungking Express: http://mubi.com/films/chungking-express
I Hate But Love
2046: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=G0XoGNy-4_c#t=1826s
Late Spring
Late Autumn
Farewell my Concubine
A Bittersweet Life
Ashes of Time Redux: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saHxm_md60c
Equinox Flower
Early Spring
Battle Royale
Tokyo Twilight: http://mubi.com/films/tokyo-twilight
The Scent of Green Papaya
Days of Being Wild: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cExEkJjyD8
High and Low
Cyclo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdOPQj8ccPA
Yi Yi: http://mubi.com/films/yi-yi-a-one-and-a-two
The Makioka Sisters
Pale Flower: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOOr4nuWFqU
Woman in the Dunes
The Face of Another
Pitfall
Secret Sunshine
Tokyo Drifter
Branded to Kill
No Regrets of our Youth
Priest of Darkness
Spirited Away
My Summer at Grandpa's
The Sandwich Man
Taipei Story
That Day, on the Beach: http://mubi.com/films/that-day-on-the-beach
Temptress Moon
Three... Extremes
Black Sun
A Borrowed Life
The Third Dead Angle
Intimidation
Thirst For Love
Lightning
Sudden Rain
Sound of the Mountain
A Wife's Heart
Untamed
Doube Suicide
Japanese Summer: Double Suicide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1J9Migw-zQ
Anzukko
Daughters, Wives and a Mother
As a Wife, As a Woman
A Wanderer's Notebook
A Woman's Story
Yearning
Mother
I Lived,  But...
Affair in the Snow
Flame and Women: http://mubi.com/films/flame-and-women
Home From the Sea
All About Lily Chou-Chou: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDr1scwNC78
All Around Us
Tokyo Sonata
The Taste of Tea: http://mubi.com/films/the-taste-of-tea
Vibrator
Black Rain (Shohei Imamura)
Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees
Pandemomium
Scattered Clouds
Silence Has no Wings
The Bad Sleep Well
Flowing
The Crucified Woman
Where Chimneys are Seen: http://mubi.com/films/where-chimneys-are-seen
Flavor of Green Tea over Rice
The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums
What Time is it There?
After the Rain
Spring in a Small Town (1948)
Floating Clouds (1955): http://mubi.com/films/floating-clouds
Blind Beast
Giants and Toys
Seisaku's Wife
The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka
The Terrorizers
A City of Sadness: http://mubi.com/films/a-city-of-sadness
Women in the Mirror
Coup D'Etat
The Human Promise
The Affair: http://mubi.com/films/the-affair
A Time to Live and a Time to Die
Three Times
The Puppetmaster
Good Men, Good Women
Flowers of Shanghai
Millennium Mambo
A Brighter Summer Day
Silence
Childhood Days
Spy Sorge
The Housemaid (1960)
Three Seasons
Forever Enthralled
Devils on the Doorstep
The Housemaid (2010)
Ju Dou
A Confucian Confusion
Fires on the Plain
Cure
The Clone Returns Home
Sansho the Bailiff
Heroic Purgatory: http://mubi.com/films/heroic-purgatory
A Story Written With Water: http://mubi.com/films/a-story-written-with-water
Woman of the Lake
Crazed Fruit
I am Waiting: http://www.criterion.com/films/2955-i-am-waiting
Osaka Elegy
Eros
The Grandmasters
Summer Soldiers
Rikyu
Tears on the Lion's Mane
The Petrified Forest
The Ruined Map
Only on Mondays: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tqW0Ota95Y
With Beauty and Sadness
Manji: www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-5XRJYsOlc
Twenty-four Eyes
Tokyo Olympiad
The Eel
Jigoku
The Insect Woman
The Vertical Ray of the Sun: http://mubi.com/films/the-vertical-ray-of-the-sun--2
Pigs and Battleships
Norwegian Wood
Empire of Passion: http://mubi.com/films/empire-of-passion
Gate of Flesh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0xWk4_EMx4
Antonio Gaudi (Hiroshi Teshigahara)
Kuroneko
Intentions of Murder
A Story of Floating Weeds
Eros Plus Massacre
The Pornographers
Red Cliff
Youth of the Beast
The Only Son
The End of Summer
Death by Hanging
Patriotism (1966)
Street of Shame
Dodes'Ka-Den
Cafe Lumiere: http://mubi.com/films/cafe-lumiere
Lust, Caution: http://mubi.com/films/lust-caution
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
Vengeance is Mine: http://mubi.com/films/vengeance-is-mine
An Autumn Afternoon
Floating Weeds
Good Morning
Poetry
In the Realm of the Senses
The Human Condition
Early Summer
Last Life in the Universe
Still Walking
Raise the Red Lantern
Dolls
Kwaidan
Onibaba
Mother (2009)
House
The Hidden Fortress
Hard Boiled
Sanjuro
Kagemusha
Audition
Fallen Angels: http://mubi.com/films/fallen-angels
Hero
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
Harakiri
Ugetsu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgBHeJfnJ5s
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Ikiru
Tokyo Story
Hiroshima, Mon Amour
Yojimbo
Rashomon
Oldboy
In the Mood for Love: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypY9OaKCfRU
Seven Samurai

I also have included the following movies, despite them not being Asian. One was inspired by Wong Kar-Wai's In the Mood for Love and explores Japanese society, one features a young Japanese couple exploring Memphis, and one stars Maggie Cheung, a famous star in Asia.

- Lost in Translation
- Mystery Train: http://mubi.com/films/mystery-train
- Clean