hm..I actually enjoy southie flicks, but there comes a time in every boys life when he gets tired of the redundant crap & he finds himself attracted to new woman....i mean....when he finds himself attracted to intelligent cinema. Fun and all is great, but there should be a limit. ALLLLL the films are alike for the past 10 years. It's amazing how southie cinema took a u-turn in the 90's (same with Hindi!!). When I watch EARLY 90's and prior flicks, I'm just simply amazed at how the AUDIENCE tastes have changed in the last decade. I mean, there was some seriously good non-masala type film making in the past. and it seems to me, guys like Rajni like to keep the audience locked into masala-only flicks!

I honestly hope there is no "next-rajini" or even a "next-kamal". I want unique film making. There should only be 5 masala flicks every year, not every single one!

anyway, i know you (DU) were being sarcastic....i think

HOFD was marketed wrongly (though it helped reap in the $$ ) - it is not a martial-arts film but really an art film amidst martial arts. This work is more deep than Hero and Crouching Tiger - which makes it more hard for the public to appreciate. To fully understand HOFD it is very important to know his earlier more subtler works .

Sometime back i ran across this "teaching guide" for HOFD ( from BFI) - if you are still curious enough then check it out

http://www.bfi.org.uk/education/events/ ... aggers.pdf

More info on the director and his works
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/ ... zhang.html

Let me stop here before you guys this i worship him everyday !

i know you were being sarcastic....i think


let me think.... may be!

I didn't like House of Flying Daggers. The story wasn't engaging to me, and I didn't think the filmmakers did a good enough job of making the outrageous stuff in the film interesting.

I thought Hero had profound and deep sentiments behind it, but maybe it’s just me. I just didn’t see the same in HOFD, maybe need to re-watch this sometime.

BTW check out two movies from Korean director Chan-wook Park; most recent and famous one is Oldboy (which coincidentally is being re-made in Hollywood) and the other one is Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. These are two of the most fantastic movies I’ve seen in recent times, the passion and flare these movies show are just a knockout. Visually they are stunning and story is gripping as they get. Chan-wook Park is doing a sequel to Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance entitled Sympathy for Lady Vengeance . Note, it’s not for the faint hearted or family wala – arsh bhai

Ali

OldBoy - my R2 Tartan DVD is on its way ( hopefully i can see it this weekend), looking forward to this one.

without revealing the details - can you tell if Symapthy of Mr. Vengence is a "loose" prequel to OldBoy ??

I never connected the two when I watched them (I saw Oldboy first though). Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is a totally different movie, only similarity maybe is they are both vengeance themed.

Ali

Thanks - looking forward to this one

HolyMoly what a movie Old Boy was - I have been hearing good things about it all year long and it did not fail me at all. Guys/Gals - See it , it is probably the best revenge movie ever ( I might be stretching the plane here , but its def. out there). Just to get you spine tickling it won the Grand Prix @ 2004 Cannes Film Festival. If I say anything more I might be spoiling it for you .

If you are region free then you have lot of options

http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=5640

However if you are R1 only then I think the official release comes in august (8/23 ?) with pretty much the same stuff as the Tartan R2 release

BTW like Ali says its not for kids ..., now I am looking forward to “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance”

I personally thought that Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance was better than Oldboy, definitely watch them both for what they are.

There's also a screen shots comparison of Oldboy DVDs here;

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare7/oldboy3.htm

and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance DVDs here;

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompar ... eance_.htm

Ali

Recently watched the latest of the Park Chan-Wook trilogies dealing with revenge, Sympathy For Lady Vengeance. Was somewhat disappointed by this after holding high expectation after seeing Sympathy For Mr Vengeance and Oldboy. This has to be weakest off the three but still definitely worth a watch as it stands head and shoulder above most movies that come out these days. Mr Vengeance remains my favourite though

Korean DVD review here;

http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/004738.html

Ali

All three are great movies, you all will enjoy them. I sure did.

I recently watch the Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and My Sassy Girl. Mr. Vengeance was awesome, but very very violent. Sassy Girl is very funny and romantic. I think Sassy Girl will work, if they ever decided to do a Bollywood remake. I must watch more Korean films!

I watched HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS some months back, and I heared a million good things about it, so I was expecting to see something extremely special. Well, I wouldn't quite say I'm disappointed, but the film isn't all that. I loved the music, the art, certain sequences (the Echo Game, the bamboo-scene, Mei's dance) etc., but to me the story wasn't anything refreshing or innovative enough. Now I won't say the film is bad, because I think the fault lies in its marketing in the Western countries. The title is HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, but that's not what the film is about. The title made me expect more than the film actually offers, imho. IMDb states that the literal English translation of the original Chinese title is AMBUSHED FROM TEN DIRECTIONS. Though I can understand that isn't a very attractive title. It's a nice film, but nothing great.

Anyhow, I haven't seen both CROUCHEN TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON and HERO yet. But the best Asian (non-Indian) film for me would be the Japanese film NOBODY KNOWS (original title: DARE MO SHIRANAI). That is one film that just excelled on EVERY level of filmmaking.

Another Asian film I found to be impressive was THE UNINVITED (4 INYONG SHIKTAK), very abstract and depressing, but also very, very deep and complex. I don't know who comes with these English titles for these films, but much like HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, this film too has a confusing title. The film is NOT about the "uninvited".

By the word 'visually' If you are referring to the cinematography you may like to know that this style was popularised by Christopher Doyle, An Australian who lived in India for a time. So maybe there is a chance of getting him for an Indian film. He was the visual consultant on Infernal affairs and worked on In the mood for love and 2046.
Although HOFD'c cinematography wasn't done by him, the style was definately his. Of course Zhang Yimou has a certain look to his films which he maintains.

In HOFD, what I didn't like is the girl chose the guy she knew in a just 3 days over the one she knew for years. I think most guys didn't like this because they imagine themselves in this situation. I didn't feel any sympathy for the female character, so I was satisfied with the end.