Asiafan.org

1. What’s Left For Us
2. The Real Thing
3. Sick
4. Ruin
5. Cry and Fall
6. Beyond Hope
7. Moment of Silence
[playtime: 29'27"]

After two years of silence – which I spent listening to the previous albums released by the band - HeavenDust is back with a nice bonus album. They’re working on a new album as well, one that will have Shin singing, because they have no female singer anymore. The next album will have the usual heavy rock music they do, mixed with traditional Japanese music and traditional instruments. This bonus album is somewhat different, it’s more relaxed, mellow, it’s kind of like a solo album from Shin, who wrote all the songs. It’s quite dark too.

The album costs only around $6, and can be bought at iTunes, Amazon or cdbaby. It’s online only, has been released by the band, the producers are Shin and Okaji (drummer), the latter has mixed and mastered the album. The quality is very good and it’s worth to buy and listen. Most of the songs are slow and dark, with serious lyrics and very beautiful shakuhachi playing. The most upbeat track is the one that has a music video, Cry and Fall. Ruin and Moment of Silence are instrumental tracks, and so far my favorites are the first song and Sick. I recommend this album to anyone who likes the band or dark music, and those who don’t know them yet, should really check them out, e.g. on youtube.

So, I recently moved to New York and soon got hold of a free ticket for Tribeca Film Festival. What should I watch? An Asian movie, of course… so I ended up seeing the premier of this great, new, Vietnamese martial art/action movie, directed by Le Thanh Son. I had no expectations and got surprised what a great choice it was, this movie is amazing, and I’m sure as soon as it hits  internatinal theaters or DVD, many people will talk about it. In Vietnam it was a big box-office success.

The story is about a female gangster who teams up with a group of guys to take possession of a suitcase. There are some philosophical talk and cheesy, dramatic scenes, but the movie is all about the fights and other action scenes. And they are great. Thanks to Johnny Tri Nguyen who we can know from Tom Yum Goong or The Rebel. His real-life girlfriend and partner in the film, Veronica Ngo is also cool. Watch the trailer:

I haven’t seen many movies this year, so can only offer these for voting:

And these I’ve only heard about, so recommend me the best:

(mostly 2008 movies and some late 2007 ones) 

The Tai-Chi Master (aka Twin Warriors) soundtrack is a rare gem, and it’s quite surprising that it’s still available at yesasia (or at least it was recently), since this classic kung fu flick starring Jet Li was made in 1993. The composer is Wu Wai-lap (William Wu). A video:
http://www.crunchyroll.com/media-277310/OST-The-Master-of-Tai-Chi.html

The CD has 28 songs, most of them are about 1.5 minutes long, the album has 55 minutes of music on it. The mood takes us back to the kung fu films of the 90′s, and it’s one of the best soundtrack of the era. It uses traditional Chinese melodies and instruments as well, and is a nice album to listen even without the movie. The songs are nice, calm and the sound is of high standard. I saw the movie years ago, somehow I didn’t notice the music back then and I’m glad I got back to it now. Recommended.

Kuro Obi (2007), Japan

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1084019
http://kuro-obi.cinemacafe.net/ (official site)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2uDBttbuGg (trailer)
http://peevee.tv/v?1pil3 (making of)
http://blog.livedoor.jp/kuro_obi (blog)

The movie tagline: “Real Fight, Real Karate, Real Japan” just says it all. Nothing to add, so my review can only be a variation of the same statement. I waited much to see this. There is no English subtitled edition yet, but finally they released the DVD in German (with original audio too, check Amazon), so I watched it. The movie lived up to my expections, which were based on the trailer and the fact that the main “actors” are real karate masters of 1st, 5th and 6th dan.

The story takes place in the 30′s, the country is about to go to war. A military troop arrives at a dojo where 3 guys practice karate with an old master and they soon engage in a fight. The soldiers want to take the building but finally they take the karate pupils, after they demonstrated their strength. The old master soon dies and leaves the black belt – representing their dojo – behind so that the most worthy of them can get it. But they have a lot to learn before.. Giryu (Akihito Yagi) is very naive and gets hurt soon on the way, while Taikan (Tatsuya Naka) is the opposite of him, so they take different routes of growth until they find the golden mean in the middle of a fight. The story, the acting, the movie itself could stand on it’s own without any karate show-off, so we get something even more convincing. The scenery is nice, the drama, the characters are well built, the directing is very simple, yet powerful, honest. The music is also worth mentioning, it was composed by Naoki Sato (who won an award for Alway – Sunset on Third Street).

So, what’s so special about this movie? There are lots of amazing fight scenes to watch on screen these days, there are talented and real fighters, there are good movies. This is more. It has talented, real, authentic fighters, who are good actors, amazing fights, a nice movie, a meaningful story, a respectful message and representation of karate – a martial arts style which we rarely see on screen this way. Compared to hundreds of movies about flying swordsmen or vengeful kung fu masters, karate – one of the main martial art traditions of Japan – is just not so popular in movies. Maybe that’s because it’s not about showing off, so it doesn’t look that cool. I hardly remember ever being amazed by watching it as much as other styles on film – or in real life. But now I can understand and see the power of karate – thanks to this great movie and its great cast.

Don’t expect any wire-work, any stuntmen falling ten meters or special effects to exaggerate anything. There is nothing to exaggerate here, because even the simplest, shortest moves look so perfect and powerful that it needs no explanation. This movie makes a lot of things more clear about karate, and gives meaning to it. Reading about the movie on the net I found several karate forums where people praised the actors for being great masters and also great, nice, humble persons after knowing them. The fact that the movie was also advertised in these circles and appeared on the JKA website made it clear that it’s not an average action flick. Naka sensei, who plays Taikan in the movie is an instructor (ranked 6th dan) of the Japan Karate Association and Akihito Yagi (5th dan) is also an instructor and the president of IMGKA (International Meibukan Gojyu-Ryu Karate Association). I hope it wasn’t the last movie they appeared in, their charm and talent would be a great addition to Japanese cinema and could further exhibit the true power and meaning of karate traditions.

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About the DVD: It’s good the movie got released in Europe, a German edition is available in shops and from Amazon.de (I bought mine in Zürich for 21 CHF…). It has that nice, blue picture from the poster as the front cover and seeing it’s a DVD9 made me think it’ll have great quality. The picture is average IMO, but I was dissappointed when watching it on my laptop, it looks a lot worse there (maybe due to the heavy copy protection??) than on a standalone. Another letdown is that the disc which I bought starts with a stupid antipiracy brainwashing clip and then movie ads come. But there’s one thing to make me forgive them: the extras. There are more than one hour of making of documentary on the DVD, lots of interviews with the cast, behind the scenes karate practicing with commentary by the actors. It’s really worth it.

(Hungarian review here)

check what others say:

Midnighteye.com (Tom Mes)
Variety.com (Eddie Cockrell)
Kung Fu Cinema (Mark Pollard)
Seisen Karate blog
Montreal Gasette
Budo Spirit Ganbarou
German review

A couple of weeks ago I found and interesting Bhutanase blog on the Internet and sent them some questions about the movie industry. Norbu from the site “Kuzu” (Bhutan Weblog: www.kuzuzangpo.com) was kind enough to answer them, so here’s an interview with him about Bhutanese cinema:

asiafan: – Imdb lists 10 movies from Bhutan, are there more?

There are lots more movies than 10. The number should be close to 100 or even more.

- Are people interested in local movies? Are they released on DVD?

Local movies are very popular now with their qualities improving. People know about every local movie shown through advertisement and word-of-mouth. Most of the movies produced have DVD releases.

- How many movie theaters do you have?

There are 3 formal cinemas. One in the capital city, Thimphu – it is called Lugar Theatre. Two are in the southern city, Phuentsholing, called Norgay Cinema Hall and Mig Hall respectively. In other parts of the country, movies are shown in rented halls e.g. auditorium.

- Are people more interested in hollywood movies?

Generally or majority of the people prefer local movies with good qualities. However, more educated people still prefer Hollywood movies over local productions.

- Does the country have any kind of principle in choosing what to show on screen?

There is no principle like it. There is only a censorship board.

- Can you tell me some recent movie hits in the country?

Kushi Thara, Sangwai Chharo, Zhepchu-Zhegu (49 days), Sergyel, Tshering Meto, Baak Chha, Laywang Hingi Meto, are  some of the recent hit movies.

- Are movies dubbed in local language?

All local movies are in local language. Few movies which are shown outside carry subtitles.

- Do new things like television, movies and internet have an impact on life in Bhutan?

The impact of tv, movies and Internet have been tremendous. While they have been good in terms of learning about the outside world, Bhutan is loosing our closed-knit social and community life. People are more glued to themselves now than with society and community. So, the impacts of these on our tradition and culture are kind of negative.

- What kind of popular music do people listen to? Are there any rock bands?

People listen to pop music. It is very hard to tell whether local, English or Indian music is the most popular in Bhutan.
I have read on our weblog, one of our writers – ‘TheReaper’ has his band. For sample of his band’s music, please check out the following.

You may like to check out
www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7763
[it's a good article about the movie industry]

thanks to www.kuzuzangpo.com and Norbu!

more links: Bhutan’s fledgling cinema influenced by Hollywood and Bollywood
a Bhutanese film blog: http://bhutanfilms.blogspot.com

http://www.milarepafilm.com/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499238

Bhutanese movie from 2006 in Tibetan language. Premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. Director: Neten Chokling Rinpoche. Lead actor: Gimyan Lodro.

The Bhutanese film industry seems to bloom, I already need both of my hands to count the movies made in the Himalayan kingdom. :) I found this movie because of a false record at imdb, I though my “favourite Bhutanese director”, Khyentse Norbu made a new movie, but it’s not his. Although it has many relations with his first film The Cup aka Phorpa (which was recently released  in the US, with a new, digital transfer and more extras). Neten Chokling played one of the monks (Lodo) in that 1999 buddhist soccer comedy, and the cinematographer is also the same. We can see another actor from that movie, too: Orgyen Tobgyal  who played Geko in The Cup playes a sorcerer in this one. One of the great things in the previous Bhutanese movies I’ve seen was that the cast consisted of real monks, hence amateur actors, including Neten Chokling. So it’s a long way from there to become a movie director, and it’s very admirable.

The story revolves around a 11th century Tibetan yogi, Milarepa, who was a real person and is quite famous in Buddhism. He left several great writings but also had a legendary life including romantic elements like magic, sorcery, love and even murder. The validity of his biography can be questioned but it’s very insightful and a great story anyway. He was born as Thöpaga and had a rough life until enlightment - which will only be the story of the second film planned for release in 2009. As a child he loses his father and his greedy aunt and uncle take away their property, and refuse to give back any of his inheritance later on. His mother sends him away to learn sorcery to take revenge and she even threatens to kill herself if he doesn’t succeed soon. Quite a troubled family compared to what I’ve seen before in movies taking place in these beautiful mountains where everyone seems to lead a simple, modest life. The scenery is still haunting, the sky is vivid blue, the Himalayas are just so beutiful that it’s impossible to shoot a bad movie there :)

Compared to similar movies I think the budget was a little low, we won’t see CGI magic and special effects and I’m not really satisfied with the cast either. It’s still a good movie with lots of goodwill and enthusiasm, and a great accomplishment from a country which only lists 10 movies altogether on imdb. I’ve had a chance to see two of those movies before (directed by Khyentse Norbu Rinpoche) and instantly gave them a 10/10 rating, so my expectations became high and they’re still are. I’m looking forward to see the next part and I hope Bhutanese monks keep making movies :)

trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=y1fSE4spGDs
behind the scenes: http://youtube.com/watch?v=j-XO0UAlwsw
rendező a kőomlásról: http://youtube.com/watch?v=GUKvrOT5wIs