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Alone Again Wonderful World (SINGLE+DVD)(First Press Limited Edition)(Japan Version)
Plastic Tree
Though I love Plastic Tree at all paces and pitches, I am particularly fond of the band's slower, quieter numbers, and their new single Alone Again, Wonderful World is an outstanding example why. Written and composed by vocalist Ryutaro, the song starts off with steady strokes of repeating guitar chords, setting the stage for Ryutaro's signature melodic, childlike voice which tip-toes in and calmly curls around the guitar. In comparison to many of Plastic Tree's more ethereal mid-tempo numbers, Alone Again, Wonderful World largely employs a straightforward band sound arrangement, letting Ryutaro's singing carry the song's introspective lyrics and sentiments. The combination of the floating... [read more]
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PK.COM.CN (DVD) (English Subtitled) (China Version)
Jaycee Chan (Actor)
| Wilson Chen (Actor)
| Niu Meng Meng (Actor)
| Xiao Jiang (Director)
I've never seen a Mainland film like PK.COM.CN. While that doesn't make it a great film per se, it does make PK.COM.CN an interesting venture for Chinese commercial cinema and a novelty well worth watching. To even consider a film like PK.COM.CN commercial cinema is already a minor surprise as its head-scratching story and pop arthouse aesthetics resemble a post-modern stage play more than anything. Not even Taiwan would throw out something like this and call it a commercial youth film. And yet, the type of buzz, budget, and promotion PK.COM.CN warranted, not to mention the casting of Wilson Chen and Jaycee Chan, makes it an undeniably commercial film, albeit one that is born from and... [read more]
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Komaneko - The Curious Cat (DVD) (Special Edition) (Taiwan Version)
Health is poor, spirits are low, work is piling, and rent remains blissfully unpaid. At least I still have Komaneko. Written, designed, and directed by Goda Tsuneo, Komaneko - The Curious Cat is a feature-length stop-motion animation starring a very cute, very cuddly, and very curious stuffed cat who happens to be an aspiring stop-motion animator herself. Clearly the paws-on type, Komaneko earnestly goes though the steps to make her very first stop-motion film, down to sewing little felt leads and creating sets and background art with paper and crayons. With everything in place, she starts snapping away with her 8mm, but that's when everything starts falling down... Komaneko's opening... [read more]
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Ru Guo Wei Lai (China Version)
Fusion Band
Despite the cliched name and even more cliched campus punk fashion, young Mainland band Fusion proves to be the real deal with their first album Ru Guo Wei Lai ("If the Future"). The only Mainland act signed under Taiwan folk rock veteran Jonathan Lee, Fusion makes an impressive debut here with a versatile range of ear-pleasing pop rock numbers that embody both bouncy youth and mellow maturity. Songwriting is split between bassist Tao (the bleached-hair, visual kei-looking one) and vocalist Leakey (or Sun Quan, but clearly his English name is more entertaining), both of whom show a true talent with words and notes. Picking up the album with no prior knowledge of the band, I became a believer... [read more]
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The Customer Is Always Right (DVD) (DTS) (Korea Version)
Myung Kye Nam
| Sung Hyun Ah
| Lee Seon Gyun
| Sung Ji Ru
I've always found barbershops to be rather foreboding, and I'm glad director Oh Ki Hyun has confirmed my fears with his remarkable 2006 debut The Customer is Always Right. A delightful tangle of black humor, off-kilter suspense, and quirky character studies presented in a stunning visual package, The Customer is Always Right is the rare film that offers the substance to match its ultra-stylized visuals. Lee Myung Se, please take note. Character actor Sung Ji Ru makes his leading man debut as Ahn Chang Jin, a surgically precise barber obsessed with his own professionalism. His barbershop is a post-modern sight for the eyes - monochrome decor, sparkling clean, and uncomfortably sterile - and... [read more]
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Assembly (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Hu Jun (Actor)
| Zhang Han Yu (Actor)
| Ren Quan
| Wang Bao Qiang
China has made many, many modern war films dedicated to just about every battle worth romanticizing during the Sino-Japanese Wars, Chinese Civil War, and Korean War. These films generally hold marginal interest for those outside of China since they operate mainly as military-buff recounts and celebrations of PLA valor over fill-in-the-blank reactionary enemy that fall in line with the party's vision of modern Chinese history. Recent blockbuster Assembly, however, represents a new kind of war film for China, and not just because it's managed to reach a lot more people than, say, Battle on Shangganling Mountain. Assembly is a Chinese war film that offers no politics, concentrating on the... [read more]
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Our Town (DVD) (Special Edition) (Korea Version)
Jung Gil Young (Director)
| Ryu Deok Hwan (Actor)
| Oh Man Seok (Actor)
| Lee Seon Gyun (Actor)
Is Chungmuro's new niche serial killers? Paradise Murdered was one of 2007's few success stories, collecting over two million admissions and a considerable number of awards. In comparison, Jung Gil Young's Our Town, released near the end of the year, was greeted with significantly less commercial fanfare, but it's no less of a film. In fact, of the two I actually like Our Town more. Paradise Murdered works primarily as a suspense thriller, detailing the increasingly desperate and eerie hunt for a killer amongst an isolated group of people, as well as the psychological derailing of the collective. Despite starting with the traditional crime investigation setup, Our Town is largely not a... [read more]
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Super Sunshine (MV Encore Version) (CD+DVD)
Gary Chaw (Singer)
Other than the fairy-tale contestants, the singer who benefited the most from last year's One Million Star craze just might be Gary Chaw, considering Aska Yang and Jam Hsiao's competition renditions helped turned his "Betrayal" into the karaoke ballad of 2007. Of course, "Betrayal" is only one part of Gary Chaw's quick rise to fame since debuting in 2006 with an album that had critics tripping over themselves with superlatives. By mid-2007, he had already made the transition from awkward newcomer to experienced artist deemed senior - or at least ratings-friendly - enough to judge the One Million Star finale. It's almost too easy to forget that Gary is pretty new himself. An outstanding debut... [read more]
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Lovely Complex (DVD) (Reduced Price) (English Subtitled) (Japan Version)
Nukumizu Youichi
| Terajima Susumu
| Tamaki Nami
| Wentz Eiji
Bright, fluffy, and guiltily enjoyable, Lovely Complex is the feature film answer to Japanese teen drama goodness. Based on Nakahara Aya's manga, Lovely Complex tells the sometimes angsty, but mostly silly story of a budding high school romance between a tall girl and a not-so-tall guy. The film's wardrobe and set design has the colorful subtlety of an Easter basket full of Lisa Frank stationary, lanky lead actress Fujisawa Emi lays on the Kansai accent and exaggerated expressions, and lead actor Koike Teppei looks blissfully clueless for most of the film's duration. Cinema doesn't get much lighter than this, and I wouldn't have it any other way. The English subtitles proudly declare Lovely... [read more]
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Magic Boy (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Tsui Tin Yau (Actor)
| Kate Yeung (Actor)
| Anjo Leung (Actor)
| Adam Wong (Director)
Adam Wong made a solid directorial debut in 2004 with the indie feature When Beckham Met Owen, an insignificant-slice-of-life drama about a middle school boy who begins to question his own sexual orientation. The film was mostly an exercise in mundane realism, capturing the unexciting living conditions and internal conflicts of a housing estate youth in everyday Hong Kong. And yet for a film with unattractive photography, amateur leads, and no emotional or narrative ups and downs to speak of, When Beckham Met Owen was quite palatable, just on the brink of meaning something. It was a fine start for a new director working on a shoestring budget, and Wong has made good on his promise with his... [read more]
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I Scream Party (Normal Edition)(Japan Version)
SuG
Happy and hyper is the way to go for new oshare kei band SuG, which was picked up last year by PS Company's indie label. PS Company has been on a roll the last few years, cornering the market on chart-friendly visual kei with popular artists Miyavi, Kagrra,, Kra, alice nine., and the GazettE. The label seems to have another winner on their hands, because SuG's brand of "heavy positive rock" is undeniably infectious, if on the immature side at times. SuG's first mini album I Scream Party sounds as colorful as the band members' hair, and that's no easy task. Fun and frivolous from the very first note, LOVE SCREAM PARTY (Track 1) has fabulously catchy lead-in chords and a rolling nonsensical... [read more]
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Travelogue, three
Chet Lam
Chet Lam's third album in his Travelogue series doesn't take listeners to Prague or Paris, but to the city he knows best: Hong Kong. I've loved every album Chet Lam has released, and this one just may be my favorite (well, until the next one). Chet's local travels start appropriately with "City-covering Saga" (Track 1), a jaunty, breezy song drenched in Hong Kong imagery and sentiments. The title and lyrics pay tribute to late street poet Tsang Tso Choi, an eccentric local icon who declared himself the "King of Kowloon" and spent years diligently covering Hong Kong with his calligraphy. At one point, his graffiti poetry greeted pedestrians from what seemed like every electric pole the city... [read more]
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The Blue Hearts (First Press Limited Edition) (Japan Version)
The Blue Hearts
If you were in Japan during the late 1980s and early 90s, The Blue Hearts needs no introduction. For the rest of us, it might have been Yamashita Nobuhiro's 2005 film Linda Linda Linda and Bae Du Na's endearing screeching that announced the rocking sounds of the iconic 80s pop punk band. The Blue Hearts' albums are a bit hard to track down though when you join the bandwagon over a decade late, making the recent reissues of the band's early albums all the more worthy of belated collection. The Blue Hearts' first three albums - The Blue Hearts, Young & Pretty, and Train-Tain - were re-released in November last year with conveniently minimal packaging and very affordable price tags. Hopefully,... [read more]
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Island Etude (DVD) (Single Disc Edition) (Taiwan Version)
Yang Li Yin (Actor)
| Tung Ming Hsiang (Actor)
| Xu Xiao Shun
| Wu Nien Jen
When I was living in Taiwan, one of my big plans was to take a round-island trip. Unfortunately, it simply never happened, so now I can only live vicariously through Island Etude. The directorial debut of A City of Sadness cinematographer En Chen, the eminently enjoyable Island Etude follows a hearing-impaired young man's one-week bike circuit of Taiwan. Starting and ending at the southern port city of Kaohsiung, the film has all the romanticism of a traditional road movie, and leading man Tung Ming Hsiang paints some inspiring imagery as he huffs along on a scrappy bike, with a pack and guitar on his back. As expected, the film is comprised of random encounters and episodes that seem to add... [read more]
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Tokyo Tower - Mom & Me, And Sometimes Dad (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version)
Matsu Takako (Actor)
| Odagiri Joe (Actor)
| Kiki Kirin (Actor)
| Uchida Yayako (Actor)
In Praise of Mom and Odagiri Joe's ScarfOn my most recent birthday, my mother told me good-naturedly over the phone that I hadn't returned home in three years. She knew because she had just counted the red pockets under my pillow. After I left the States, my mother continued the tradition of giving out red pockets for New Year's and birthdays, only she would leave mine under the pillow on my old bed. Whenever I think of the unclaimed red pockets waiting for me to come home and the aging hands that placed them there, a tight feeling starts to form in my chest. At its best, Tokyo Tower - Mom & Me, and Sometimes Dad brings out this feeling. Some people go into a movie like Tokyo Tower hoping to cry their hearts out, but it's really... [read more]
January 29, 2008 Picked By Sanwei See all this editor's picks
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Da Mouth
Da Mouth (Singer)
Da Mouth has "short-lived concept group" written all over them, but I'll listen for as long as they last. Out of the many newcomers the Taiwan music scene coughed up last year, four-member group Da Mouth is certainly the most interesting, and their self-titled debut album is very much worth a listen. Da Mouth's fun and funky club hip-hop brings something different to mainstream Mando-pop, as does their unique member composition. The group is formed by many hyphens: Taiwanese-Japanese DJ Chung Hua, Canadian-Taiwanese MC 40, Korean-Taiwanese-American male vocalist Harry, and Japanese female vocalist Aisa. Yes, that Aisa. A former member of the short-lived pop group Sunday Girls, Aisa is a... [read more]
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The Melody Vol. 1 - The Melody
The Melody
The Melody reminds me of Mary Poppins. Which is perhaps not what the typical indie rock band is aiming for in their music, but The Melody is certainly anything but typical. Genre labels like pop rock and indie pop really fail to describe the band's bright and airy melodies and arrangements, soft sentiments with rough edges, and hardy, funky, endearing cheer. The Melody makes music that puts a spring in your step, great for a morning commute soundtrack. The closest equivalent that comes to me would be the J-pop act Section-S, but The Melody is even better. The album starts on a bounce with a busy, playful, circus-like opening instrumental track that channels happy thoughts and content smiles.... [read more]
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In The Name Of... Love (CD + Mini Movie DVD)
Eric Suen
After a surprisingly successful comeback album in June, Eric Suen closes the year with In the Name Of... Love, making it his second full-length Cantonese album in half a year. This is certainly an ambitious move considering we've long past the days when Hong Kong artists could release four albums a year; now even top singers like Eason Chan and Joey Yung stick to the protocol of one Cantonese and one Mandarin album per award season. Though Eric wasted no time putting out a second album, it doesn't mean he shirked on production values. If anything, the success of the previous album has allowed him to reach a little higher with this one. In the Name Of... Love largely continues the pleasing... [read more]
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Shaberedomo Shaberedomo (DVD) (Special Edition) (English Subtitled) (Japan Version)
Kokubun Taichi
| Karina
| Matsushige Yutaka
| Morinaga Yuki
Japanese humor can be a perplexing beast. The wacky game shows and eccentric movies I can appreciate, but word comedy is a lot harder to understand. It's not just the language barrier, but the style of delivery. The non-stop verbal barrage of manzai stand-up comedy, for example, often gives me a slight twitch. Compared to manzai, rakugo (traditional comic storytelling) at least doesn't make me feel like a deer in headlights, but the punchline payoff versus story length is questionable. In its pure form, rakugo is a precise art of gestures, tones, and expressions, and a master can bring down the house telling a familiar story that has already been told countless times. Or so I've gathered. I... [read more]
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Damo: The Undercover Lady Detective (MBC TV Series) (US Version - Limited Edition)
Ha Ji Won
| Lee Seo Jin
| Kim Min Joon
| Lee Moon Shik
Fusion period dramas are ratings gold in South Korea, but for the most part, it's a genre I've avoided. The combination of long, serious, and complicated really doesn't appeal to me after a long day's work. Though I am periodically tempted to see what the fuss is all about, the thought of investing myself in an 80-episode monster is just too tiring. Damo, however, comes in a nice digestible size - 14 episodes. If only all period dramas could be this length and this good. Damo packs a very meaty, wrenching, and constantly evolving story into its short length. Ha Ji Won stars as the titular Damo, Jang Chae Ok, an able, no-nonsense female detective who can swing her sword with the best of men.... [read more]
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