Short Reviews: Asian Extreme Cinema

      Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020

Images from the Internet

The films reviewed here are, in alphabetical order:

Lady Vengeance (2005; Vengeance Trilogy Part 3)

Old Boy (2005; Vengeance Trilogy Part 2)

The Promise (2006)

SPL: Kill Zone (2005)

Survive Style 5+ (2005)

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002; Vengeance Trilogy Part 1)

Three Extremes (2004)

This particular blog is dedicated to the late, great Dermont Bruce, who introduced me to these films.

Lady Vengeance (aka Chinjeolhan geumjassi; Sympathy for Lady Vengeance)

Directed by Chan-wook Park

CJ Entertainment; Tartan Films; Moho Films; MVD Entertainment

115 minutes, 2005

Being the third in the Vengeance Trilogy, this film shares a secondary theme with the others of false imprisonment. Other films had kidnappings, being bound, being locked up for personal reasons, and in this case, Geum-ja Lee (Yeong-ae Lee) being locked away in a prison for 13 years for the murder of a child, returning to the concept of “a good kidnapping vs. a bad kidnapping” he established in Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. However, being bound is not out of the picture.

Even before she is let out, she is being stalked by a creepy Preacher (Kim Byeong-ok). He is trying to help her find the Lord, but you can tell his motives are suspect as he also has a thing for her. One of the socio-political commentaries woven repeatedly into the narrative is the hypocrisy of religion, and how it is used to coerce and justify evil actions as much as “save.” One could also see this as a statement about the conditions of the penitentiaries in South Korea, and the justice system.

Lee is an interesting character with two tones. She can be sweet as pie, making allegiances by helping others in prison to the point of donating a kidney, but it’s all for a purpose to put her plan of revenge into play. She’s had 13 years to work on it, and piece by piece, is reaching for her goal.

The story flashes back and forth between the present, post-release, and her activities inside the prison, explaining how she gained her alliances. And when she gets back her 14 year old daughter from a couple in Australia (who does not speak Korean), it complicates matters. Park does not take easy routes to his conclusions.

The prison scenes could easily have been the inspiration for the likes of “Orange is the New Black.” He uses a bit of humor in a very dire situation quite well, which elevates these scenes.

As for the last act, which is reminiscent of M (1931), it is simply heartbreaking, frankly. A situation no one wants to imagine themselves in; Stephen King said this type of event is something that is his one big fear. While we have sympathy for Lee, we have none for Mr. Baek (Min-sik Choi, star of Park’s earlier film, Oldboy), the focus of her revenge.

The trailer is HERE

Oldboy (aka Oldeuboi)

Directed by Chan-wook Park

CJ Entertainment; Show East; Egg Films; MVD Entertainment

120 minutes, 2005

Chan Woo-park (Korea) and Takashi Miike (Japan) are arguably to Asian extreme cinema what Argento and Fulci are to Italian giallo. Oldboy is considered not only one of Wook-park’s core masterworks, but it is noteworthily near the top of the genre in general. It was remade in the US in 2013 with Josh Brolin in the title role, but it has been generally ridiculed compared to the original, which is the second of Woo-park’s Vengeance Trilogy.

After a drunken night, Dae-su Oh (Min-sik Choi) is unexpectedly kidnapped and kept locked up in an abandoned hotel room for years, with no explanation. While he’s away, his wife is murdered, and he is the prime suspect. Meanwhile, Dae-su practices boxing, writing, and he watches television, with nothing else to do for hours on end, day after day. Just as unexpected, as he is ready to make an escape, he find himself released, given clothes, money, and a cell phone.

He is taken in by a sushi chef, Mi-do (attractive Hye-jeong Kang, who would go on to play the shrill Director’s Wife in the “Cut” segment of Three…Extremes) a year later.

Thing is, after all those years, our (old)boy is a bit tetched in the head. He’s rightfully paranoid, though, but mostly, he’s pretty fearless. He will (and does) face a hallway full of gangsters and hammers his way through it. It’s a methodical game to his capturer, Woo-jin Lee (Ji-Tae Yoo) that Dae-su has no choice but to play, but he is also a willing participant to find out why everything is happening to him.

The ending (I won’t give it away) is both beautiful and creepy at the same time, in a sentimental way.

Beyond the story, part of what makes this film so memorable is how it is shot. The cinematography is stunning, especially the hallway scene, and I would specifically like to point out the transition editing between scenes. Just wow. It is no surprise why this is considered one of the director’s crowning achievements.

The trailer is HERE

The Promise (aka Wu ji; Master of the Crimson Armor)

Directed by Kaiji Chen

21 Century Shengkai Films; China Film Group; Moonstone Entertainment

121 minutes, 2006

In the West, we have epic tales of battles with the gods interfering in mortal realms. Just look at The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Bible as examples. Mythology is full of these tales. Well, the same can be said about the Far East. In this case it is the snippy female Chinese goddess Manshen (Hong Chen) who forces people to make decisions that are detrimental to their lives at desperate times. First there’s pauper Quingcheng (lovely Cecelia Chung), who must never love because she will lose her lovers, in exchange for riches. For the general Guangming (Hiroyuki Sanada, who was in Ringu in 1998 and a few Marvel Universe releases), it was a wager that saw him lose his honor and victories. The third piece of this is the general’s slave, Kunlun (dashing Dong-Gun Jang, of Korea’s best-selling film Friend, from 2001).

Like many of the period pieces such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), people had nearly magical martial arts powers that could see them spin thirty feet in the air, jump from tree to tree (or rooftop to rooftop), or in this case, Kunlun could outrun a herd of bulls on his knees, carrying someone on his back; he reminds me more of Conan the Barbarian in style (Conan…Kunlun…hmm), without the bulging biceps – and he’s a lot more handsome than Mr. Austria, but I digress… Mysticism isn’t just for gods, apparently, especially since Kunlun comes from the “land of snow” (just as Conan is from Siberia).

There are two other interesting characters, namely a pasty-faced assassin in a black robe named Snow Wolf (Ye Liu, who steals all his scenes), and a fey evil Duke named, I kid you not, Wuhan (Nicholas Tse); this is the kind of villain Basil Rathbone would have played in the 1930s-‘40s.

Of course, there’s lots of actions with large scale battles, sword fights, martial arts, and a multitude of death. But with the epic feel and soaring music (and humans), as most of these stories are, this is a love story. The question is, of course, whose love story as there is the usual Shakespearean-level identity mix-ups, and emotionally fraught desires (again, to a swelling, orchestrated soundtrack). It is beautifully shot with lots of CGI, cherry blossoms and luscious landscapes. A treat for the eye from the director of the infamous Farewell My Concubine (1993).

The trailer is HERE

SPL: Saat po long (aka SPL: Kill Zone)

Directed by Wilson Yip (aka YipWai Shun)

Abba Movies Co. Ltd.; 1618 Action Limited; Celestial Pictures; Greek Mythology Entertainment Company; MVD Entertainment

93 minutes, 2005

Whatcha gonna do when you got so little to lose? Police Inspector Chan (Simon Yam) is miffed. His key witness to send up crime lord Wong Po (Sammo Hung, who is well known to the Kung Fu fans and American audience through the television show “Martial Law” from the late 1990s) has been killed, as is the family of his goddaughter (why they were in the same car seems kind of WTF to me, but whatever). He also has learned he has a health condition. This leads to him taking some chances with dealing with Po. But now there’s a new sheriff in town, Ma Kwan (super-duper chopper star Donnie Yen), who is taking over Chan’s post as he retires. But is Chan giving up against Po? Well, what are the odds of that? And will it be violent? As a reminder, the title of this is Kill Zone.

Story-wise, this could have been a pretty decent police procedural show, but this ain’t no CSI or Law and Order: [Fill in the Blank]. This four man police team is not above stretching the rules to get what they want, especially after one of them seems to be mistaken for a fairway. They take Sean Connery’s “They pull a knife, you pull a gun” speech from The Untouchables (1987) to heart. It goes on the verge of vigilantism. Maybe not as hardcore as Magnum Force (1973), but definitely beyond the borderline.

What I was really looking forward to, more than the action with Yam, was Yen and Hung gettin’ it on mano-a-mano (or rén-yû-rén). Both are masters in the chop-chop flip-flop, and Yen is also a world-leader in martial chorography. We get a hint of it at the almost one-third point, but I want a battle royal (as opposed to a Royale with Cheese).

To complicate things, Yam and Po actually have some personality traits in common, such as Yam and his toddler goddaughter (who amusingly looks the same after a three-year jump), and Po with his new infant daughter. These are family men in careers where death can be around the corner. And then there is the question of whether Ma is on the side of the cops, or workin’ for the Po man. Don’t worry, I won’t tell. Though I will add that Jing Wu plays a persuasive hit man. You don’t need a crystal ball to know that Ma is going to face off Wu and/or Po.

The cinematography is stunning throughout, but especially in specific scenes, such as one where someone is being chased in an alleyway and on a rooftop. The lighting and the positioning of the characters alone set a mood that is unmistakable. The action, while goes without saying, I will say (so there): really admirable work from everyone with, of course, Yen, Hung and Wu as the standouts.

One last thing that’s got nuthin’ to do with nuthin’: in a crowd scene, there is a young hoodlum wearing a The Dickies punk tee. That made me smile.

The trailer is HERE

Survive Style 5+

Directed by Gen Sekiguchi

Tohokushinsha Film Corporation

120 minutes, 2005

Riddle me this: when is an anthology film not an anthology film? In this case is it some kind of Japanese kaon? No, the answer is actually quite simple for this Japanese release. When you have five separate stories that eventually mere into a cohesive and singular ending. Yes, it’s been done before, but this is surprisingly effective. In the first story, a man (hitman?) has killed his wife and buried her in the woods, to return solo to his bright-colored and kitsch cluttered house that would never survive any remodeling show on HGTV (though the more rooms they show, the more I admire it; it makes Graceland look tame in comparison). Even his Dodge is decked out. But the main question is will his wife stay dead?

In an equally kitschy and colorful bedroom, a woman who makes television commercials has to deal with a verbally abusive and unjoyful one night stand (nice use of a Monty Python sketch motif and the William Tell Overture from A Clockwork Orange). Her weird and wired boss is played by the one and only Sonny Chiba. If you’re reading this review, I’m assuming you know the name.

Then there are three not too bright burglars in a colorful kitsch-filled bus (see a theme here?) who break into a house. For the next story, a hit man (ex-English Footballer Vinny Jones, who was also in a couple of Guy Richie classics and was the butcher on the 2008 Midnight Meat Train) and a Japanese associate are on an airplane harassing the cabin attendant with philosophical questions about the purpose of life (go with it). In the final premise, a family man buys some tickets for his kids to see a hypnotist. All things considered, since bird is the word, you know it’s not going to go well.

The stories are like little eddies that circle around both in its own tight whirl that touches other eddies, but as they join, they become whirlpools. This is kind of how this story progresses. And it works beautifully. There is humor, pathos, and some really fine action, all of it filmed in bright pastels and garish color combinations that will both attract your attention and repel at the same time. That’s also how the stories work. That it revolves around Christmas Eve, which is also both eye-catching and repulsive, fits it even better. It also has one of the most joyous and surprising endings that I’ve seen in a while. It is so well put together that it’s shocking that this was the director’s first feature.

The trailer is HERE

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (aka Boksuneun naui geot)

Directed by Chan-wook Park

CJ Entertainment; Studio Box; MVD Entertainment

121 minutes, 2002

The Vengeance Trilogy is a defining moment for South Korean director Chan-wook Park. While the audience was slow to pick up on them, over time they have become classics and nearly iconic in the Asian noir-violence cinema.

Green-haired Ryu (Shin Ha-kyun), our sensitive hero of the piece, has dyed green hair, much like most of the color schemes in his life, be it the machinery in the factory in which he works, and the natural world around him. I don’t know if it’s a Korean metaphor as well, but he’s also quite green on the ways of the world due to his being deaf and dumb. Meanwhile, his beloved sister, (Ji-Eun Lim) is dying of kidney failure and needs a new one, that Ryu cannot afford. Even his revolutionary girlfriend (Bae Doona), who speaks sign language, is sympathetic to the situation.

But things are going from bad to worse as Ryu loses his job, and while trying to sell his kidney (not a match to sis) in exchange for his sis and paying all the money he has in the world, the gangsters disappear with kidney and kash. Now, he has a week to find the money to pay for the operation. Desperate, he kidnaps his ex-boss’s daughter (about 8 years old), hoping to use the ransom money for the transplant. But things don’t go smoothly in these kinds of pictures.

One tragedy follows another, bad choices and bad hearing are blaring. The film is not as violent to start, as it is bleak and wearying. I can understand why audiences were slow to pick up on it, and why it did get picked. Much like Straw Dogs (1971), most of it is just a constant jab to the side, until the climax, which is nothing short of explosive.

The “vengeance” part is in the last half hour, but concerns two wrong parties rather than just one, with Ryu at the center The reasoning is where the sympathy comes in, but with the sheer level of actions taken, the question is do the ends justify the means? I’ll leave that up to you to decide in this case.

The trailer is HERE

Three…Extremes (aka Sam gang 2; 3…Extremes; Three Extremes)

Directed by Fruit Chan, Takashi Miike, Chan-wook Park

Lions Gate Films; Media Asia Group; MVD Entertainment

125 minutes, 2004

For those into the Asian Extreme genre, this film (along with 2000’s Audition), stands near the top, sort of like the original Jason/Michael/Freddy films are for slashers. This is an anthology film broken up into three stories, each one more intense than the previous. Like Deaf School’s song, “I Wanna Be Your Boy,”  just when you think it’s reached as intense as it can get, it goes up a notch. Interestingly, this is a cross-Asian compilation, from Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea, respectively.

First up is Takashi Miike’s “Box,” which clocks in at 40 minutes. Being a master at the slow burn, Miike starts of deliberately and with mystery. Lots of different kinds of boxes (or box shapes) fill the parameters of the story, such as small rooms, elevators, music boxes, and trunks. Novelist Kyoko (Kyoko Hasegawa) has handed in her latest manuscript, but guilt has been plaguing her for decades about her twin sister. While dream-like, this piece is particularly horrific for the claustrophobic viewer. The story itself is filled with imagery of snowy climes and circus tents, while the narrative is almost hallucinogenic. It’s hard to know what is real and what is imagined, but either way, it’s creepy and hypnotic.

At 37 minutes, Fruit Chan’s “Dumplings” may not be the bloodiest body horror in the collection, but it is gruesome and arguably the most controversial, and the one that is most often referenced. Mei (Bai Ling) lives in a slum apartment, but makes very expensive dumplings that would make Mrs. Lovett proud, using the… well, let’s just call this the non-”Call the Midwife.” Mrs. Li (Miriam Yeung) will do – or eat – anything to regain her youthful look, even eat something that is guaranteed to make most of us squeamish. But this is not surprising, considering what some women (and men) will do with plastic surgery to regain a temporary (albeit oft-times disfiguring) youthfulness. I give you Cher, Joan Jett, and Meg Ryan as just a few examples.

Through her own extraction methods and culled from clinics, Mei has a steady business. Ling won some awards for her role. I can understand why, as her Loki/trickster character is charming and chilling at the same time. But even with the shocking level of the story, the question is how much further one willing is to go for vanity. If the men aren’t repulsed by some scenes, I guarantee there will be women screaming (in the same way men would cringe and “oof” at scenes of being kicked in the balls; I worked in a cinema, and I’ve seen it firsthand).

I found this particular chapter very Cronenberg-esque. Amazingly, the Right Wing Religious fanatics have not used this segment as a tool, proclaiming it as a “real” possibility.

The last story is “Cut,” directed by Korean action director Chan-wook Park. It is the longest, at 47 minutes. It is the most grueling of the three, and the most vivid, as well. A film Director, (Byung-hun Lee), the Director’s Wife (Hye-jeong Kang), and a youngster are kidnapped by a Stranger (Won-hee Im). The Director is tied up in a way that gives him movement, and his pianist wife is immobilized through a series of thin wires at, of course, the piano. The Stranger has some odd demands for the Director.

The basic premise here is political, dealing with the social strata and the types who rise and those who do not. There is a lot of philosophizing thrown around, but I guarantee you’ll be wincing more than once as the Stranger reacts negatively but calmly and methodically to the Director’s answers. There are some heart wrenching twists and turns, and being a genre film, things go awry.

Lee is known to the West audiences through many roles, including his playing the T-1000 in Terminator Genisys (2015). This was Kang’s first role after Oldboy.

This film is definitely not for the weak of heart or stomach. Even some of the implications are repulsive, but this is such a beautifully done trilogy, and well deserves the recognition it has received.

The trailer is HERE