A Little Discussion Of The Asian Cinema

I am an American. Now, to most people, that says right at the outset that I don't speak any language besides English, and that not very well; that I'm biased in favor of all things American; and further, that I have a resolute willingness to be lulled into inactivity for extensive periods by forms of "entertainment" not requiring a great deal of brainpower.
All of the above are true.

However, that does not totally remove my ability to distinguish between things which suck and things which don't. And it is for just this reason that I would like to make a blanket recommendation for anyone reading this: go check out some Asian movies. No, really.
In the last few years, movie critics all over the country have been bemoaning the lack of innovation and creativity in American cinema, weeping and wailing over the near-total triumph in Hollywood of the formula over the new storyline, and absolutely agonizing over the notion that creation of a franchise is more important than just plain telling a good story.
These same critics have hailed a few foreign films, notably Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers, while somehow managing to conveniently avoid noticing that there are, in fact, other movies coming out in Asia and the rest of the world.
Now I grant that we in America are resistant to anything different from our culture, whatever group you choose to identify yourself with; (how many black people went to The Station Agent? And how many whites went to Barbershop?) but sometimes we just need to get out a little more. The Academy Awards lump anything not made in Hollywood into one category, giving out a single Oscar for "Best Foreign Film." We ought to either open things up a bit (and maybe lower the number of bribes taken by Academy voters,) or rename the proceedings "The American Movie Awards."
Recently, there has been a bit of a renaissance of the horror film; it's amazing how many people really don't know where it comes from. Well, I'll tell you. Asia.
That's right. You may have heard of The Ring? Or, should I say, Ringu? Or its sequel, The Ring 2? I mean, Ringu 2? You've gone to the theater to be scared witless by The Grudge (by which I mean Ju-On,) and some of you may have noticed your local video store being invaded by Infection, Premonition, The Eye (1 and 2,) and Inner Senses? You SHOULD have heard of Dark Water, starring Jennifer Connelly, I mean Dark Water, starring Hitomi Kuroki?
A moment that absolutely made me grit my teeth was during the Halloween festivities on TV this year: Bravo ran a special on "the 100 scariest moments in movie history," or something like that. What's so bad about that? The fact that the idiot talking heads they got to comment on the "moments" spent 15 minutes raving about the innovation of the filmmakers who shot "The Ring," _completely ignoring the fact that it was a remake of a vastly superior movie (Ringu) that has been out for 10 years._
While we in America have been stifling innovation every chance we get, Asia has been blowing things up in a big way, and now it's starting to carry over into Hollywood, and we don't even seem to realize it. Over the next 3 years, over 30 Japanese and Chinese, and about 10 more Thai, movies of various stripes are planned for release in the U.S. in one form or another. They range from the excellent (Kairo, Ong Bak) to the pretty good ( Whispering Corridors) to the really out there(Versus.) Not only that, but literally dozens and dozens of remakes of Asian films, or outright ripoffs of the same, are planned, and yet we seem to be nearly totally unconscious of everything aside from the fact that "horror movies are cool right now."
Well, let me dispel an illusion for you, right now. AMERICAN horror movies are NOT cool right now. They suck. Anyone watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or The Amityville Horror, both terrible, pointless remakes of movies that frankly weren't all that great to start with? How about Wrong Turn, or Cabin Fever? These movies did poorly at the box office, and poorly so far on home video, because of one simple fact: they SUCK.
The Ring did well in theaters, and does well at home, because it doesn't; although it's not as good as the movie it's ripped off from, The Ring is actually a pretty sharp movie. Damn shame we didn't come up with the idea.
And why didn't we? More and more, Hollywood studios are treading the path of the reliable sale, and while this may lead to temporary profits, in the long term it's disastrous for their business, as more and more consumers are figuring out that you really can get anything you want on eBay, including really good movies from Asia. After all, why watch bad horror movies, when you can instead watch good ones?
More disturbing is the fact that American movie companies, and even American TV stations, don't seem to realize this. If you didn't notice while it was going on, take a look at the Halloween TV Guide; there was a parade of Halloween horror movies, nearly all of them bad. The Relic, a sad case taken from a really good book; the TV movie of The Shining, which stayed true to the book and somehow managed to suck anyway; Rose Red and Storm Of The Century on four different channels apiece; Halloween 5, Friday the 13th 6; need I go on?
Apparently, the TV stations' thinking went something like this: "Hey, horror movies are doing pretty good right now. (Notice there was barely any sign of the festivities this time last year.) Let's get some cheapie movies that we don't have to pay much for and run them, people will like them."
I don't get it. We, by and large, HATED those movies the first time around; just because we're enjoying the NEW, GOOD movies doesn't necessarily mean we will automagically love the OLD, CRAPPY movies.
You should definitely check out the Asian cinema, if you're interested in seeing some movies that don't suck, and you're willing to read subtitles.
I'll even give you some standout recommendations:
The Eye 2: oddly enough, this is vastly superior to the first one.
Premonition: low-budget, but manages to give you chills anyway.
Kairo: if you're not disturbed by this movie something is terribly wrong with you and you should seek professional help.
Not just horror, though: there are some really fantastic movies coming out of Asia right now that have nothing whatsoever to do with horror.
House of Flying Daggers: A great love triangle / assassination movie.
Hero (Jet Li): a wonderful, and overlooked, movie about sovereignty and the nature of governing;
Ong Bak: a Thai movie about a young fighter;
Yee Do Hung Gaan (Inner Senses): the Asian Sixth Sense, I will not call this a horror movie, although some of the circumstances surrounding it are a little weird.
And that doesn't begin to cover the animated movies, among which are the delightful films of Miyazaki Hayao, whose "Studio Ghibli" has produced some of the greatest animated films of all time. Don't believe me? Princess Mononoke, upon its release, became in short order the highest-grossing film in the history of Japan. Numbered among Miyazaki's cinematic accomplishments are Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Whisper of the Heart, Castle in the Sky, Grave of the Fireflies (possibly the saddest movie ever filmed of any kind, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED) and Kiki's Delivery Service.
You could also catch Steamboy, the latest feature film by the director of the internationally acclaimed movie Akira; it took 10 years to make, and looks it - Steamboy is one of the world's all-time most beautifully animated movies.
Or, you could go see Chicken Little.
It's up to you, but as time goes by, I'm paying more and more attention to the Asian cinema, and in the process rediscovering classics that most Americans never even knew existed. Did you know the classic Western movie The Magnificent Seven was a remake of a Japanese film, The Seven Samurai? Or that movies like The Usual Suspects owe their existence to a film called Rashomon, directed by Akira Kurosawa? Or that A Fistful of Dollars was originally a Kurosawa film as well? Or, for that matter, that the original Godzilla (Gojira) was an anti-war protest film, and Raymond Burr was nowhere to be seen?
It makes me wonder how long Hollywood has been stealing from Asia without us even knowing about it. As far as I'm concerned, it's long past time for some credit to be given where it's due: go rent an Asian movie today. You might be surprised.
(Just don't watch them in English. While the original audio features the finest actors in Asia, the English audio tracks often appear to have recorded by the bums sleeping outside the distribution houses in the streets, and can really detract from the impact of otherwise fine films. Think I'm kidding? Go watch Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in English. I dare you.)