For Eternal Hearts (2007)

Link…: http://global.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/code-k/section-video/pid-1005022216/

Genre…………: Drama/Horror/Fantasy
Distributor……: ?
Year………….: 2007
Country……….: Korea
Director………: Hwang Kyoo Deok

The opening film of the 2007 Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival, For Eternal Hearts is a surreal, supernatural romantic drama that transcends time, death, and all expectations. Written and directed by Hwang Kyoo Deok (Cheol Su Loves Young Hee), the film deftly blends dream and reality, confusing the boundaries between life and death to tell a haunting love story that is at once unsettling and affecting. Starring Kim Min Sun (Memento Mori), Jung Kyung Ho (Herb), and newcomer Cha Soo Yeon, For Eternal Hearts brims with hushed youthful passion and metaphysical musing, making it one of the most original and captivating Korean films of 2007. A professor of German literature, Su Young (Jung Jin Young, King and The Clown) is quiet, modest, and unassuming, but behind his averted eyes lies an unforgettable story. At his students’ urging, he recalls his surreal first love during the chaotic 1980s. As a college student, Su Young (Jung Kyung Ho) falls in love with spunky wild child Pippi (Kim Min Sun), only to see her commit suicide in front of his eyes. Strangely enough, she mysteriously reappears soon after. Adding to his confusion, Su Young finds himself increasingly drawn to and frightened by Su Ji (Cha Soo Yeon), a quirky high school girl that he is tutoring.

Battle Of Witts (2006)

IMDb Link………………: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0485863/

Genre………………….: Action / Drama / War
Year……………………: 2006
Country………………..: (China) / Japan / South Korea / Hong Kong
Director………………..: Chi Leung ‘Jacob’ Cheung

In 370 B.C, China was separated as seven nations and several other small tribes, one of these being the city state of Liang. The nation of Zhao is led by the terrifying prime commander Xiang Yangzhong who orders his troops to launch an attack on Liang in a bid to conquer the small city. Leaping to the defense of the cowed people of Liang is a warrior who goes by the name of ‘Ge Li’ from the Mo-Tsu tribe, renowned for its defensive skills. He is their last hope as the terrors of Yangzhong’s troops are unleashed. The future of Liang now hangs in the balance, with all their hopes pinned on the mysterious Mo-Tsu warrior Ge Li.

Wonderful Days (Sky Blue 2003)

IMDb Link……: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0353014/

Genre…………: Anime
Distributor……: Bitwin
Year………….: 2003
Country……….: Korea
Director………: Moon-saeng Kim

Civilization has been destroyed by war and pollution, but the survivors have built the last city of Ecoban. As most natural resources have been exhausted, Ecoban is powered by pollution. The citizens of Ecoban need to continue creating this pollution leading them into conflict with the inhabitants of Marr while one man just wants to clear away the clouds and see the sky.

Soo (2006)

Link………….: http://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Soo.php

Genre…………: Action / Drama
Distributor……: Cinema Service
Year………….: 2006
Country……….: Korea
Director………: Choi Yang-il

Soo is in the business of solving problems. When his brother Tae-jin is killed by a gang, he takes his brother’s identity to seek revenge.

Shinobi – Heart Under Blade (2005)

IMDb Link……: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475723/

Genre…………: Action / Drama / Fantasy
Distributor……:
Year………….: 2005
Country……….: Japan
Director………: Ten Shimoyama

Not the ninja movie you’d expect, SHINOBI is more like, “What If the X-MEN teamed up with BATMAN and took on the Justice League who were led by SPIDER-MAN, and the whole thing was directed by Michael Bay who had just gotten a total blood transfusion from Tim Burton and the script was written by Stan Lee?” It’s a nuclear popcorn movie with a Romeo and Juliet core where ninjas don’t leap and kill but shoot their fingers out, stretch, run faster than the Flash, steal your face, shoot lethal eye beams, and breathe poison clouds.

In the early Tokugawa era, ninjas are super-bad weapons of mass destruction and the two coolest ninja clans have been exiled to two remote mountain villages where they won’t be able to fly around in public and freak everyone out. Gennosuke (screen idol, Jo Odagiri) lives in the Koga Clan’s ninja village and their mortal enemies, the Iga Clan, live on the other side of the mountain. One day Gennosuke bumps into Iga gal, Oboro (Nakama Yukie) and they fall for each other. But their forbidden love comes to an abrupt halt when the Shogun, a paranoid recluse, becomes convinced that idle ninjas are the devil’s playground and he vows to have a ninja-free kingdom ASAP. So he pits Iga against Koga and sits back to watch these troublesome killers wipe each other out. And wipe each other out they do. Each gifted with a different super-power, and trained from birth to hate each other for no good reason except it keeps them weak and divided, the ninjas are only too happy to shred each other into CGI blood mist, dancing on the Shogun’s strings.

A major critical and commercial hit when it was released in Japan last year, SHINOBI is being prepped for a US release and one wonders if this heady brew of high melodrama, bizarre visuals and hyperactive action infused with a strong pop sensibility is a cocktail too strong for the Western stomach. As the manufactured war between ninja clans whips itself into a kill crazed frenzy, this flick darkens into real tragedy and its final scenes are like something from some lost EC comic book banned before it could corrupt innocent children. Truly, this is the ninjapocalypse.

Hwang Jin-yi (2007)

IMDb Link……: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1059200/

Genre…………: Drama / History / Romance
Distributor……: Art Service
Year………….: 2007
Country……….: Korea
Director………: Yoon-Hyun Chang

Based on the novel by North Korean writer Hong Suk Joong, Hwang Jin Yi tells the story of a 16th-century geisha with the mindset of a modern 21st-century woman. Raised as an aristocrat in an era when class status dictated one’s destiny, Jin Yi (Song Hye Kyo) discovers a shocking secret about her birth: she was born in the lower class. After much thought, she gives up her aristocratic status and becomes a geisha. She spends her first night with a man named Nom Yi (Yoo Ji Tae, Old Boy), and gradually falls for him. Though she is constantly surrounded by an entourage of aristocratic men showering her with gifts and admiration, Jin Yi lives a solitary life of tragic isolation. She finds herself traveling a bumpy road, faced with a dilemma that will alter her destiny forever. There have been various screen interpretations of Hwang Jin Yi’s life, including Bae Chang Ho’s 1986 film and the 2006 KBS drama starring Ha Ji Won, but this version by Jang Yoon Hyun (The Contact) strikes a more sobering tone – focusing more on the character’s internal struggles. There is no arguing that Song Hye Kyo is loved by many fans around the world, and she takes a huge leap in her career to play a femme fatale that departs greatly from her previous image. Having clearly come into her own as an actress, she successfully captures the character in her inimitable style. Beyond Song Hye Kyo’s impeccable beauty, the film is accentuated by a variety of beautiful Joseon era costumes and the picturesque surroundings of the Geumgang Mountains, situated in North Korea.

Sword In The Moon (2003)

IMDb Link……: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0370402/
http://www.kungfucinema.com/reviews/swordinthemoon_020705.htm

Genre…………: Action / Swordplay
Distributor……: Spectrum DVD
Year………….: 2003
Country……….: Korea
Director………: Ui-seok Kim

Mysterious murders are plaguing the royal court in 17th century Korea. Yun (Jo Jae-Hyeon) is in charge of security and captures one of the assassins, a woman named Shi-Yeong (Kim Bo-Gyeong). Yun isn’t interested in playing good cop/bad cop with his prisoner, so he tortures Shi-Yeong until her boss, Choi Ji-Hwan (Choi Min-Su), comes to the rescue. Turns out Choi is an old army comrade of Yun’s … and is also responsible for killing the officials.

The Promise (Wu Ji 2005)

IMDb Link……: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417976/

Genre…………: Action / Drama / Fantasy
Distributor……: Deltamac
Year………….: 2005
Country……….: China
Director………: Kaige Chen

An orphaned girl, driven by poverty at such a young age, makes a promise with an enchantress. In return for beauty and the admiration of every man, she will never be with the man she loves. This spell cannot be broken unless the impossible happens: snow falling in spring and the dead coming back to life. Now a grown and beautiful princess, she regrets her promise, for all of the men she’s loved has always been met with tragedy. In love again with a man behind a red armor and a golden mask who rescues her from death, she is tormented by their inevitable parting. Meanwhile, Kunlun, the slave of a great general, is searching for the lost memories of a family he once had. Soon the fate of these two intertwine when the princess believes the general to be her hero, thus pulling him into this web of fate. What end will befallen our three characters? Are their fates already sealed by a higher power, or can they still choose a life they want? 2006 Golden Globe Nomination – Best Foreign Language Film Official Entry (China) for the 2006 Academy Award – Best Foreign Language Film

Dororo (2007)

IMDb Link……: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780503/
Homepage…….: http://www.dororo.jp/ (Japanese)

Genre…………: Action / Fantasy
Distributor……: Toho Company
Year………….: 2007
Country……….: Japan
Director………: Akihiko Shiota

A female warrior (Shibasaki) who was raised as a man joins a young samurai’s quest to recover his body parts from demons and restore his dad’s natural form.

Kagemusha (1980)

IMDb Link……: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080979/

Genre…………: Drama /History / War
Distributor……: Criterion Co.
Year………….: 1980
Country……….: Japan
Director………: Akira Kurosawa

In 1572, there is a civil war in Japan, and three powerful clans, leaded by the lords Shingen Takeda (Tatsuya Nakadai), Nobunaga Oda (Daisuke Ryu) and Ieyasu Tokugawa (Masayuki Yui), dispute the conquest of Kyoto. When Shingen is mortally wounded, the Takeda clan hides the incident and uses a poor thief to be the double of the strategist Shingen and keep the respect of their enemies. Along the years, Kagemusha incorporates the spirit of the warrior of the dead warlord.