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— by Carl Davis
Remaking foreign films here in the U.S. is nothing new — studios have been "adapting" overseas classics since the '30s — but thanks to the advent of the DVD, film fans in the States no longer have to make do with a butchered or watered-down version of a great French, Japanese or Uzbekistani film.
With "The Grudge" out now on DVD and "The Ring Two" about to hit theaters, the Asian-remake market has never been hotter. Horror, action, drama and even comedies from all over Asia are being bought up and "Americanized" by the major studios. At the same time, however, some smaller film distributors are beginning to release the original films here on DVD before they're remade in the States. In light of the near-simultaneous release of Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Doppelgänger" and "Bright Future," we thought now would be the perfect time to highlight some of the best releases Asia has to offer, on DVD.
 "Bright Future" / "Doppelgänger" (2003)
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Kiyoshi Kurosawa, best known for the horror movie "Cure," employs elements of that genre to deliver two very different but equally riveting films. "Bright Future" follows the everyday struggles of Mamoru (Tadanobu Asano) and Yuji (Jô Odagiri), a couple of wage slaves eking out a meager existence at a Tokyo towel
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factory. One day, Mamoru snaps and commits a heinous crime, leaving Yuji to care for his poisonous pet jellyfish, which eventually wreaks havoc when it finds its way into the city's water system. The use of a jellyfish, the slacker of the sea, as a metaphor for today's alienated land-dwelling youth suggests that Kurosawa is working on a completely different level from the rest of us. "Doppelgänger," meanwhile, finds Kôji Yakusho playing a brilliant scientist who comes face-to-face with his double, causing his life to spiral out of control. He loses his job developing a thought-controlled robotic chair to help the disabled, and it's up to the doppelgänger to sort everything out. The idea of the "double" is certainly nothing new, but Kurosawa's original style sets this dark comedy apart.
"Last Life in the Universe" (2003)
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By all appearances Kenji (Tadanobu Asano, again) and Noi (Sinitta Boonyasak) are complete opposites. He's a calm, quiet, suicidal librarian from Osaka living in Bangkok; she's a tough, chain-smoking slob from Bangkok who hopes to move to Osaka. They don't even speak the same language, but before you can say "The Odd Couple," director Pen-ek Ratanaruang is showing us how two utterly different people are really looking for the same thing to bring meaning to their lives: love, obviously enough. Christopher Doyle's painterly camera further blurs the line between the waking and dreaming worlds that these two outsiders inhabit.
"Zatôichi" (2003)
The figure of Zatôichi, the blind swordsman, is a cultural icon in Japan, having appeared in numerous films and television series over the past 30 years. Thankfully, the equally iconic Takeshi Kitano is up to the task of directing and starring in this rousing update of the classic character. The story is so loaded — sinister gangsters, treacherous geisha and a vicious bodyguard (Tadanobu Asano yet again) — that Zatôichi's cane-sword has to work double-time in order to fill the screen with copious amounts of CGI bloodshed. Miramax has also seen fit to include Kitano's much-sought-after yakuza epic, "Sonatine," as an added bonus DVD.
"Infernal Affairs" (2002)
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Following the go-for-broke excesses of many Hong Kong police epics in the '90s, "Infernal Affairs" provides a slow-burning suspense story of two police recruits, one of whom is a mole for the triads (Chinese Mafia) and another who is ostensibly "kicked off" the force, but is actually sent to work undercover in the same triads. Fast forward 10 years, and triad mole Ming (Andy Lau) and undercover cop Yan (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) are each having an identity crisis as to which side they are truly on. When both men discover that their organizations have been infiltrated, it's a race for each of them to uncover the other before their own true identities are revealed. Leo DiCaprio and Matt Damon are starring in"The Departed," Martin Scorsese's remake of this film, which is scheduled for release next year.
"Shaolin Soccer" (2001)
Hong Kong funnyman Stephen Chow wrote, directed, and stars in this mind-blowing, crowd-pleasing action comedy. Chow plays Sing, a Shaolin monk whose "leg of steel" just doesn't pay the monastery's bills these days — that is, until a disgraced soccer great realizes what Sing and his Shaolin brothers could do with their gifts on a soccer field. It's a fight to the finish as the Shaolin team plays the "Evil Team" to redeem their fallen coach and prove to the world how great the way of Shaolin is. Miramax has included both their edited cut, as well as the 112-minute Hong Kong version, but do yourself a favor: skip Miramax's version entirely, as the HK cut is where it's at.
"Versus" (2000)
Ryuhei Kitamura knows what's cool, which explains why his over-the-top collision of "Matrix"-style action and "Evil Dead" levels of gore made this a midnight movie must-see on the festival circuit. As pistol packing Yakuza face-off against kung-fu zombies in one of the 666 portals to the underworld, it's a toss-up who will win: but for humanity's sake, it better be recently escaped prisoner and reincarnated samurai KSC2-303 (Tak Sakaguchi). The film's gory mayhem won't be everyone's cup of tea, but those who do enjoy that sort of thing are in for one hell of a ride.
"In the Mood for Love" (2000)
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Silence speaks far louder than words in Wong Kar Wai's atmospheric tale of forbidden romance. Set against the backdrop of 1960s Hong Kong, Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) and Chow (Tony Leung) find themselves neighbors in an overcrowded apartment building. Both of them are married with spouses who are frequently out of town on "business." Chow soon discovers that his wife is having an affair — with Li-zhen's husband. The two come together to work through their rage and despair, until something else, something that feels suspiciously like love, begins to develop between them. Once again, Christopher Doyle's lush camerawork is breathtaking, and by never showing us the cheating spouses' faces, the film allows our hearts and minds to remain focused on the casualties of the affair.
"The City of Lost Souls" (2000)
Eclectic Japanese auteur Takashi Miike directs this kinetic thrill-ride about the trials and tribulations of true love. Half-Japanese, half-Brazilian Mario (Teah) stages a daring rescue of his Chinese girlfriend Kei (Michelle Reis) before she is deported from Japan. Stealing a helicopter, they make their getaway by literally jumping into the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. The two lovers traverse Shinjuku's bustling underworld and make arrangements to leave the country for the sanctuary of Brazil, but along the way find themselves caught between rival mobsters playing a deadly game. Miike's Tokyo is unique in that it's not the drone society so often portrayed in movies; instead, he overflows his cityscape with characters of all races and nationalities, while also offering up treats like deadly ping-pong games, "bullet time" cockfights and an ending that must be seen to be believed.
"Attack the Gas Station" (1999)
Question: "Why do they attack the gas station?" Answer: "Because they are bored." So begins the hilarious story of four disenfranchised teens — the Jock, the Rocker, the Artist and the Idiot — and the chaos that ensues when they take out their frustrations on the same mini-mart twice in the same night. Finding the safe emptied on their return trip (duh!), they have no choice but to lock up the employees and pump customers' gas to make money. Things soon spiral out of control as vengeful delivery boys, irate gangsters and confused cops all converge on the gas station to deal with our hapless, engaging anti-heroes. Director Kim Sang-jin claims to have a social message in here, but happily the slapstick set-pieces render any such morals irrelevant.
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Photos: Palm Pictures
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