Ring VS Ringu

RINGU> This japanese movie has had so much attention that it was recreated in Hollywood, yet one of the biggest and well known industry's for making movies in the world is "HOLLYWOOD" thus recreated a hring blockbuster of their own.

Midnight...

^^^^^
From this link and directors opinions and exeprience we can gather that, japanese blockbusters in horror as well as other movies have made a huge impact on the hollywood scene also.

Japanese Horror

LADY SNOWBLOOD

The early 1970's seems to have spawned a flood of female/heroine films in Japan, and some of these are remarkably good. Lady Snowblood, the film currently under review is certainly one of the exemplars and presents a wholly satisfactory and coherent tale of revenge and violence.

The director here is Fujita Toshiya (藤田敏八) who has directed 33 other films including this film's sequel, Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance (1974) and the original and one sequel of Stray Cat Rock.

The lead role here is played by Kaji Meiko (梶芽衣子), an actress used for several key tough girl/heroine roles during this period. She played the role of Mako, the lead femme fatale in Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter (1970). And a year prior to Lady Snowblood played the hard-as-nails female prisoner Matshushima Nami in both Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion (1972) and Female Convict Scorpion Jailhouse 41 (1972). She will also appear again as Yuki in the sequel to the current film Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance (1974). Kaji is a very convincing tough girl and easily conveys the steely-eyed countenance you'd expect from an old-school female assassin(esse).

The historical setting of the film is quite detailed and unique. The plot revolves around historical realities emerging immediately after the establishment of the Meiji Era. Though very many films are set in the chaos of the years leading up to the Meiji Era, I don't recall seeing any which base themselves in the confusion following Japan's turn toward modernity. The film is careful to provide accurate dates and historical events to buttress the backdrop for the tragedy of this tale. (I discuss this historical setting in depth in my review of this film's sequel.) The characters depicted here range from beggar villages to Westernized elitists. In the midst of these historically transitional figures, the intensely vengeance-driven character of Yuki stands out like a bushido pearl among pebbles.

For some reason, I've recently been watching alot of these 1970s heroine films and it is clear that a few stand far above the rest. The two exemplars which come to mind are this film and director Suzuki Norifumi's 1973 Sex and Fury. These two films both excel due to their having a wholly convincing and compelling narrative wherein audiences realize the motivations of revenge by the lead female characters. Likewise, both stories are self-contained, providing a fully explored beginning, an emotionally compelling development of the heroine, and a intellectually and emotionally satisfying conclusion to the tale.

Where these films significantly differ, however, is in the amount of skin the two directors put into their scenes. Whereas Sex and Fury undeniably deserves a "pink" categorization, no such elements of nudity or explicit female exploitation exist in Lady Snowblood. In other words, the success and popularity of the latter can be attributed wholly to its compelling character and narrative (rather than merely the libidinous gawking of male audience members).

Thus, this comes across as a very solid and entertaining female yakuza/samurai tale in which audience members can find themselves emotionally invested.

story

Kashima Yuki knows nothing of her parents except the tale handed down to her from her caretaker Okiku, a fellow female prisoner present at the time her mother gave birth to Yuki and soon thereafter died. The tale her mother wished Yuki to know is indeed a tragic one of murder, rape and vengeance. Following her release from prison Okiku told a local priest of Yuki's family history. The priest, understanding the purpose for which Yuki had been born, thrust her into an austere and strict regimen of training until she would be able to exact the revenge wished for in her mother's dying breath.

Many years later, Yuki, now a young woman, has come close to locating the four individuals responsible for the murder of her father and the rape of her mother. Though some of the four are now destitute and weak, the others remain formidably rich and well-protected.

Only her single-minded resolution and formidable skills will provide the chance to complete her life-long goal of exacting her mother's revenge.

Jet li Quits golden genre...

Jet Li quits martial arts movies
Tuesday, December 6 2005, 14:51 GMT

By Daniel Saney, Deputy Editor

Jet Li has stated that his upcoming martial arts movie Fearless will be his last.

Speaking to students at Fudan University, the actor explained that his future projects would most likely be more philosophical, family-based affairs than the martial arts films for which he has made a name, reports newspaper Youth Daily.

He said that the change in focus stems from a greater interest in spiritual matters in the past few years, explaining that he decided "it wasn't enough to have a strong body, you had to have a strong soul."

While Li has nothing specific on the horizon, he has been approached with regard to over twenty Hollywood projects, intending to "shoot whichever one comes to fruition first." One possibility is a further collaboration with Luc Besson, writer of Li's Kiss of the Dragon, reports The Associated Press.

Lurrveeee in Tokyo.. HongKong movie action!!

Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. It combines elements from the action movie, as codified by Hollywood, with Chinese storytelling and aesthetic traditions, to create a culturally distinctive form that nevertheless has a wide transcultural appeal. In recent years, the flow has reversed somewhat, with American and European action films being heavily influenced by Hong Kong genre conventions.

The first Hong Kong action films favoured the wuxia style, emphasizing mysticism and swordplay, but this trend was politically suppressed in the 1930s and replaced by styles in which films depicted more down-to-earth unarmed kung fu, often featuring folk hero Wong Fei Hung. Post-war cultural upheavals led to a second wave of wuxia films with highly acrobatic violence, followed by the emergence of the grittier kung fu films for which the Shaw Brothers studio became best known. The 1970s saw the rise and sudden death of international superstar Bruce Lee. He was succeeded in the 1980s by Jackie Chan—who popularised the use of comedy, dangerous stunts, and modern urban settings in action films—and Jet Li, whose authentic wushu skills appealed to both eastern and western audiences. The innovative work of directors and producers like Tsui Hark and John Woo introduced further variety (for example, gunplay, triads and the supernatural). An exodus by many leading figures to Hollywood in the 1990s coincided with a downturn in the industry.


The signature contribution to action cinema from the Chinese-speaking world is the martial arts film, the most famous of which were developed in Hong Kong. The genre emerged first in Chinese popular literature. The early 20th century saw an explosion of what were called wuxia novels (often translated as "martial chivalry"), generally published in serialized form in newspapers. These were tales of heroic, sword-wielding warriors, often featuring mystical or fantasy elements. This genre was quickly seized on by early Chinese films, particularly in the movie capital of the time, Shanghai. Starting in the 1920s, wuxia titles, often adapted from novels (for example, 1928's The Burning of the Red Lotus Monastery and its eighteen sequels) were hugely popular and the genre dominated Chinese film for several years

John Woo
As a producer, Tsui Hark facilitated the creation of John Woo's epoch-making heroic bloodshed movie A Better Tomorrow (1986). Woo's saga of cops and the triads (Chinese gangsters) combined fancifully choreographed (and extremely violent) gunplay with heightened emotional melodrama, sometimes resembling a modern-dress version of 1970s kung fu films by Woo's mentor Chang Cheh. The formula broke another all-time box office record. It also jump-started the faltering career of co-star Chow Yun-Fat, who overnight became one of the colony's most popular idols and Woo's favorite leading man.[3]

For the remainder of the 1980s and into the early 1990s, a deluge of films by Woo and others explored similar territory, often with a similar visual style and thematic bent. They were usually marked by an emphasis on the fraternal bonds of duty and affection among the criminal protagonists. The most notable other auteur of these themes was Ringo Lam, who offered a less romanticized take in such films as City on Fire, Prison on Fire (both 1987), and Full Contact (1992), all starring Chow Yun-Fat. The genre and its creators were accused in some quarters of cravenly glorifying real-life triads, whose involvement in the film business was notorious

Modern history of Martial arts

Modern history

Bruce Lee is widely regarded as one of the most influential martial artists of the 20th century.[7]The Western interest in East Asian Martial arts dates back to the late 19th Century AD, due to the increase in trade between America with China and Japan. Relatively few Westerners actually practiced the arts, considering it to be mere performance.

Edward William Barton-Wright, a railway engineer who had studied Jujutsu while working in Japan between 1894–97, was the first man known to have taught Asian martial arts in Europe. He also founded an eclectic martial arts style named Bartitsu which combined jujutsu, judo, boxing, savate and stick fighting.

During the late 19th century and early 20th century, catch wrestling contests became immensely popular in Europe. However martial arts remained largely unknown in the West even as late as the 1950s; for example, in the 1959 popular fiction Goldfinger, Karate was described to readers in near-mythical terms and it was credible for British unarmed combat experts to be represented as completely unaware of martial arts of this kind.[8] The novel describes the protagonist James Bond, an expert in unarmed combat, as utterly ignorant of Karate and its demonstrations, and describes the Korean 'Oddjob' in these terms: Goldfinger said, "Have you ever heard of Karate? No? Well that man is one of the three in the world who have achieved the Black Belt in Karate. Karate is a branch of judo, but it is to judo what a Spandau is to a catapult...". Such a description in a popular novel assumed and relied upon karate being almost unknown in the West; and it linked karate with judo, whereas in reality karate is a distinct art almost unrelated to judo.

As Western influence grew in East Asia a greater number of military personnel spent time in China, Japan, and Korea. Exposure to martial arts during the Korean war was also significant. Gradually some soldiers saw the value of Eastern martial arts and began training in them.

With large numbers of American servicemen stationed in Japan after World War II, the adoption of techniques and the gradual transmission of entire systems of martial arts to the West started. It was in the 1950 s, however, when this exportation of systems really began to gain momentum. Large groups of U.S. military personnel were taught Korean arts (Taekwondo) during the Korean conflict. In the early 1970s, martial arts movies, in particular those of martial artist and actor Bruce Lee, furthered the popularity of martial arts.

This exportation of the martial arts led to such styles as sport karate, which became a major international sport, with professional fighters, big prizes, television coverage, and sponsorship deals. This also lead to the creation of modern martial arts such as Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is a derivative of Kodokan Judo, extended and influenced by the no holds barred combat traditions of Brazil; it has been highly effective in mixed martial arts competitions around the world.

The later 1970s and 1980s witnessed an increased media interest in the martial arts, thanks in part to Asian and Hollywood martial arts movies and very popular television shows like "Kung Fu", "Martial Law" and "The Green Hornet" that incorporated martial arts moments or themes. Jackie Chan and Jet Li are prominent movie figures who have been responsible for promoting Chinese martial arts in recent years.

The bells of death

" It will be interesting to see what becomes of the “new Shaw studios” in Hong Kong, with over a million square feet of space built for a reported $180 million it is supposed to open sometime this year. Given how the old Shaw Studio phased out film production in favor of TV in the mid-eighties, it will presumably still cater largely to television content. One thing is for sure: digital formats will replace the 35mm Eastmancolor film stock that the old Shaw Studio exported throughout the world back in the sixties, when it was making 40 or more Shaw Scope films a year. That was a time when their air-conditioned costume warehouses were well stocked with 80,000 Chinese costumes for the dozen or so films they had in simultaneous production. The Bells of Death (Duo hun ling, 1968), directed by Feng Yueh (1901-1999), takes viewers back to that time.

The story and editing for The Bells of Death pay tribute to both Akira Kurosawa and Sergio Leone. What is intriguing is how similar it is to Once Upon a Time in the West (C’era una volta il West, 1968), by Leone since both that film and The Bells of Death were released in their respective countries the same year (1968). Leone was clearly paying attention to Asian cinema, since he remade Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (1961) as A Fistful of Dollars (1964), and Kurosawa had a thing for John Ford and Shakespeare, so the globalization of ideas was already in effect. But when concurrent productions mimic each other you can’t help but wonder how that kind of synchronicity occurs.

In Once Upon a Time in the West the villains are introduced when they ruthlessly kill a family. The protagonist, played by Charles Bronson, has a score to settle with these men and he has a habit of announcing his presence by playing a harmonica. In The Bells of Death, Wei Fu (played by Chang Yi), a woodcutter, sees his family brutally murdered and his sister kidnapped by three murderous horsemen. With the aid of martial arts training at the hands of an elder swordsman, Wei Fu seeks his vengeance, but instead of a harmonica he announces his presence with bells from a bracelet he wears from his murdered mother. One of the pleasant surprises about The Bells of Death is how “training by the master” moment does not subject viewers to a tedious montage of the training itself – a refreshing break from convention.

Wei Fu manages to trace down the murderous trio and the fights scenes that follow take him into bamboo forests, tricky candle-holding environments, and into dark alleys. Most of the action adheres to the physical realm except for one notable exception whereby Wei Fu somehow wields the power to blow leaves off a tree and onto his attackers, with the leaves sticking to their faces with such power that their removal peels off the skin too. Fans of the wuxia genre (defined as those films that mix honor code philosophies with martial arts) probably aren’t phased by the use of a little neijin (defined in Wikipedia as “the ability to control mystical inner energy”), but it definitely stands out.

As should be clear from the aforementioned action, this is an altogether different beast than your typical spaghetti western, but it does dip into the lexicon of tight facial close-ups that alternate with widescreen vistas, and has a dynamic soundtrack. The Bells of Death does not hit the consistent high notes of Leone’s epic masterpiece, but it retains its own modest charm."