Asian Drama

When the world is hit with a naturally occuring virus that spreads among all living things, humans begin to turn into insatiable zombies. In a blink, the world as we know it collapses. Furthermore, the few remaining survivors are unable to use the available food resources. They therefore develop a new crop to support themselves. Survivors depend on one profession, their only hope; someone in this profession must brave the dangers to send and recieve food and packages of necessities. These people are called Riders.

Saeba Ryo is a "sweeper" in the city of Tokyo. He works as a trouble shooter, cleaning the streets of vermin, and helping out desperate people. Sometimes he's a bodyguard, sometimes he's an assassin, whatever Ryo does he does it well. In fact, his only flaw is his hormones - he loves the ladies and sometimes turns into an idiot when he's near them. Thankfully he's got people like his partner Kaori Makimura to keep him in check.

(Source: Mangaupdates)

Adapted from the manga series "City Hunter" (シティーハンター) by Hojo Tsukasa (北条司).

Duration: 1 hr. 42 min.

Ratings: 8.1

After suffering from serial paranormal events, a wealthy family living in LA summons a young rising shaman duo Hwa Rim and Bong Gil to save the newborn of the family. Once they arrive, Hwa Rim senses a dark shadow of their ancestor has latched on the family in a so-called 'Grave Calling'.

In order to exhume the grave and relieve the ancestor, Hwa Rim seeks help from top-notch geomancer Sang Deok and mortician Yeong Geun. To their dismay, the four find the grave at a shady location in a remote village in Korea. Unaware of the consequences, the exhumation is carried out, unleashing a malevolent force buried underneath.

(Source: showbox.co.kr)

Duration: 2 hr. 13 min.

Content Rating: 15+ - Teens 15 or older

Mizushima Satoru is a designer, who prefers traditional things like handmade items and handwritten works. One day, he happens to meet a mysterious woman, Miharu Miyuki, at the cafe named Piano. She seems to have similar values to him and he is attracted to her. Mizushima Satoru asks for her cellphone number, but she doesn’t own a cellphone. They make a promise to meet at the cafe every Thursday. Since then, Mizushima Satoru & Miharu Miyuki meet every Thursday and their relationship develops romantically. Mizushima Satoru decides to propose her, but, on the day he is going to propose her, Miharu Miyuki doesn’t show up at the cafe.

(Source: AsianWiki)

Adapted from the novel "Analog" (アナログ) by Beat Takeshi (ビートたけし).

Duration: 2 hr. 0 min.

Content Rating: G - All Ages

Ratings: 8.2

In timeline at least, this is a sequel to director Teshigahara's earlier film Rikyu, which can be found on Asia Torrents here: RIKYU It follows the lives of Princess Go and Lord Oribe Furuhata from just after Rikyu committed 'sepukku' when Hideyoshi Toyotomi was in power until just after Lord Oribe's death when Shogun Ieyasu Tokagawa was in power. Though the daughter of the Lord of the Maeda clan, Princess Goh was adopted at birth by Hideyoshi, the supreme ruler at the time, who until that point had been unable to sire any children. He brought her up almost as a son and spoiled her quite completely. She was very intelligent and became highly skilled in the martial arts. She was also very headstrong and the arrogance of her youth matured into an imperious self-confidence as she aged. Throughout her life she used the more assertive (and usually masculine) form of the first person pronoun (ware) rather than the more socially acceptable, less assertive form generally used by women (watashi). There was nothing reticent or weak about this woman. Her story shows us her youth and early friendship with Lord Oribe during Hideyoshi's reign and then her later life under a virtual house arrest at her family mansion in Kaga. It is her attempt to renew her friendship with Oribe by inviting him to a tea ceremony with Lords Ukon and Tadaoki that stirs up not totally unforseen troubles. Intertwined with her storyline is the life of Lord Oribe who inherits Rikyu's position as Tea Master to Hideyoshi, although that comes with a thinly vieled threat to do better or suffer a similar fate. The film opens with this scene between Hideyoshi and Oribe. It is filled with tension and threat. As an aside, there have been some criticisms of Teshigahara's direction as being stiff, especially in this sort of scene. I would suggest that they come from a complete misunderstanding of the cultural and social millieu where even a nobelman like Oribe had to be very careful of every word and gesture for fear of upsetting a man who could easily have him killed. There is a very clear stiffness and awkwardness underpinned with fear and warriness which I believe is completely intended by the director. Later in the film Oribe finds himself in a similar relationship with Ieyasu. In this case it has to do with Ieyashu's fear of a Christian rebellion and that fact that Oribe's sister had married Lord Ukon the most prominent daimyo to convert to Christianity. Also Oribe's close friend Lord Hosokawa Tadaoki had married a very prominent and influencial noblewoman who converted to Christianity and took the name Gracia. These relationships caused Ieyasu to suspect Oribe's loyalty.

Top National Security agent Joo Tae Joo who is rapidly rising up the ranks, dislikes all animals. In order to obtain his next promotion, he volunteers to take on a mission in which he has to protect a special Chinese panda named Ming Ming. At its welcoming ceremony, Ming Ming is kidnapped by an international terrorist organization. While chasing after the terrorists, Tae Joo injures his head and is knocked out. When he finally regains consciousness, he finds out that he now possesses a strange ability to talk to the animals and finds a sole witness to the kidnapping incident – a stubborn retired military dog named Ali. Wanting to retake the title as the top agent, Tae Joo and Ali become unlikely partners on a mission to rescue Ming Ming.

The most audacious film to date from visionary director Tsai Ming-liang, The Wayward Cloud is about a porn actor and the museum tour guide who enters into a strange relationship with him, unaware of his profession. Hsiao-kang (Lee Kang-sheng) is the same alienated youth whose chance encounter with Shiang-chyi (Chen Shiang-chyi) provided the spark that fueled Tsai's earlier films. Once again, these two lost souls cross paths—he now works as an actor in no-budget porn films, and she wanders around Taipei, hoarding bottles of water because of a serious drought. In fact, the government is recommending that people eat watermelons to hydrate themselves. This fruit sets in motion a perverse (and often hilarious) symbolic theme throughout much of the film. As in his earlier film The Hole (SFIFF 1999), Tsai adds campy musical numbers into the narrative. These sequences play against the raw sex scenes, creating a bizarre, existential chaos. The filmmaker has created a perfectly realized alternative universe in his ongoing exploration of sex, bodies and loneliness. His stationary camera perfectly illustrates the isolation and exploitation the characters are trapped in—yet the film is as funny as it is emotionally tortured. Tsai's characters are indeed wayward clouds, drifting through life without purpose, in a world without water. And prepare yourself for the film's unbelievable final scene (no spoilers here), which manages to be both weirdly erotic and profoundly disturbing. For mature audiences only.

A group of four telecommunications employees at Pegasus Broadband, headlined by Francis Ng in his most charming role in recent memory, begrudgingly join the company dragon boat team hoping such a pledge of loyalty will keep them immune from encroaching layoffs. Under the tutelage of the pretty young no-nonsense coach, Dorothy (Jennifer Yu) they learn not just how to really race, but also to confront their own impending mid-life crises. From nagging families and infidelity to unrequited love and elusive Andy Lau concert tickets, myriad demons are exorcised as our bungling protagonists overcome the odds and take charge in this life-affirming comedy-drama

Many films have drawn from classic Japanese theatrical forms, but none with such shocking cinematic effect as director Masahiro Shinoda's Double Suicide. In this striking adaptation of a Bunraku puppet play (featuring the music of famed composer Toru Takemitsu), a paper merchant sacrifices family, fortune, and ultimately life for his erotic obsession with a prostitute.

A signalman at a remote train station in the heartland of Japan receives news that the job he has laboured at all his life is coming to an end as the train company have decided his station is uneconomic and are set to close it soon. Facing an uncertain future and recently widowed, the signalman takes solace from the past; a past that he increasingly comes to realise was laden with the wrong priorities.

3 Scary stories Occurred during Songkran.

This impressive debut feature by Ryo Katayama sets two parallel stories in Fukui City on the west coast of Japan. In the wake of a horrendous crime committed by his older brother, Makoto (Ryo Anraku) runs away from home and follows around a mysterious, silent vagrant (played by Katayama) who gets hired to beat up men. At the same time, radio announcer Hiromi (Mie Ota) tries to ward off the increasingly aggressive attention of her boss, with whom she starts a half-hearted affair, while struggling to find genuine love and compassion. As the different kinds of violence in both Makoto and Hiromi’s lives escalate, Roar builds to a boiling point that finds the two strangers confronting the violence within themselves and their individual desire for liberation