K-20: Legend of the Mask

K-20:  Legend of the Mask  aka  The Fiend with 20 Faces
Japan (2008)
Starring:  Takeshi Kaneshiro, Takako Matsu, Toru Nakamura
Award:  2009 Hochi Film Award
I went on this long hunt for foreign superhero movies and K-20:  The Fiend with 20 Faces emerged.

From his humble beginnings Heikichi Endo is forced to move from being Japan's number one circus act to becoming Japan's number one enemy.  With his name in ruin Heikichi trains to gain the skills required to capture the man who set him up.

This Japanese fantasy movie is pretty cool.  There's some fun stunts, a few decent scenes, a number of good laughs, some drama, a couple of scenes that beg for the audience's emotions, and a bit of scientific mystery.  Sure there were parts that didn't really jive and some scenes where the helicopters looked like little remote control helicopters, but it was worth overlooking that.

I would have watched this even if it had horrible reviews, just because it is a foreign superhero movie.  Regardless of why I would have watched it though, I'm glad I did.

Ajeossi - The Man from Nowhere

Ajeossi - The Man from Nowhere
Korea (2010)
Starring:  Bin Won, Sae-ron Kim, Hyo-seo Kim


Ajeossi was unique.  It certainly isn't the typical bullet ballad or is it a straight kick ass movie, but it has aspects of both.  The beginning is a little slow, but when the action starts to kick in the pace changes completely.  


As the movie starts it opens up defining this awkward relationship between a pawn shop owner that shuts most of the world out and a little girl that is without friends or a father.  There's speculation due to his seclusion that the pawnshop owner is a sexual predator, but we soon learn that is far from the truth.  


From one silent good deed to the next he takes care of the little girl till her mother betrays the wrong group of people and she is kidnapped.  From then on this silent pawn shop owner goes up against gangs, villains, organ harvesters, police, and his own past. . . when all the forces at work in the movie come together there's one spectacular bang. 


The Man from Nowhere touches on some subjects that we all wish didn't exist.  In some very blunt ways it depicts the atrocities committed by organ harvesters, the dark underworld of gangs and drugs, and the violence created by these shady paths of life.  This movie is super graphic and will leave you going WTF? a few times.  To me it is in a small way a reminder of the acts committed against other humans on a daily basis, we should all be so lucky as to never see this part of life in reality.


With that said, the choreography is done well.  The cinematography is also pretty good.  Every person in the movie had a foul mouth and the way things were translated gave me a good laugh.  It could be the movie was actually written that way and it was designed to interject humor through dialog - I would welcome someone's opinion who can understand it in it's native language.  All in all I'm glad I watched it.  If you want to see it in English though, I'd go for the subtitled version instead of the dubbed one - the audio on the dubbed version is all kinds of horrible.   
Quote:  He didn't flinch when I shot the gun.

Zhan gu - The Drummer

Zhan gu - The Drummer
Hong Kong/Taiwan (2007)
Starring:  Jaycee Chan, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Angelica Lee, Josie Ho, and Kenneth Tsang
Awards:  Golden Horse Award - Best supporting Actor (2007), Wine Country Film Festival - Best Feature Film & Best Actor (2009)

The son of a powerful triad gang leader through his own decisions turns his and his family's lives upside down.  After sleeping with the girlfriend of a powerful gang leader Sid is forced into seclusion as an alternative to losing his hands or his live.  Having been the drummer in a band he is drawn to the sounds of drumming echoing through the mountains in his exile.  The discovery of the Zen Drummers changes his life forever.

This movie was interesting.  There is a mix of some action with inspirational concepts buried in the story around the Zen Drummers.  It doesn't go so far as to be a spaghetti style Hong Kong triad movie and has a bit more action then your typical Buddhist inspired movie.  Such a balance is a difficult one to maintain in a movie and the did a decent job walking that fine line in this movie.