Vampyr is a 1932 gothic horror film directed by Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer. It was written by Dreyer and Christen Jul based on elements from Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 collection of supernatural stories In a Glass Darkly. The film was funded by Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, who also played the starring role of Allan Gray, a student of the occult who wanders into the French village of Courtempierre, which is under the curse of a vampire. Most of the other members of the cast are also non-professional actors.
Ugetsu is a 1953 Japanese period fantasy film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi starring Masayuki Mori and Machiko Kyō. It is based on the stories "The House in the Thicket" and "The Lust of the White Serpent" from Ueda Akinari's 1776 book Ugetsu Monogatari, combining elements of the jidaigeki genre with a ghost story.
Cure is a 1997 Japanese neo-noir psychological horror film written and directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, starring Kōji Yakusho, Masato Hagiwara, Tsuyoshi Ujiki, Anna Nakagawa, Yoriko Dōguchi and Yukijirō Hotaru. The story follows a detective investigating a string of gruesome murders where an X is carved into the neck of each victim, and the murderer is found near the victim of each case and remembers the crime but does not know why they did it. The film is Kurosawa and Yakusho's first collaboration.
Dragon Inn is a 1967 Taiwanese wuxia film written and directed by King Hu. The film was remade in 1992, as New Dragon Gate Inn, and again in 2011 as Flying Swords of Dragon Gate.
Memories of Murder is a 2003 South Korean neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Bong Joon-ho, from a screenplay by Bong and Shim Sung-bo, and based on the 1996 play Come to See Me by Kim Kwang-lim. It stars Song Kang-ho and Kim Sang-kyung. In the film, detectives Park Doo-man (Song) and Seo Tae-yoon (Kim) lead an investigation into a string of rapes and murders taking place in Hwaseong in the late 1980s.
Sansho the Bailiff is a 1954 Japanese period film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi based on a 1915 short story of the same name by Mori Ōgai, which in turn was based on a sekkyō-bushi appearing in written form in the 17th century. It follows two aristocratic children who are sold into slavery.
Edward Yang was a Taiwanese and American filmmaker. He rose to prominence as a pioneer in the Taiwanese New Wave of the 1980s, alongside fellow auteurs Hou Hsiao-hsien and Tsai Ming-liang. Yang was regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of Taiwanese cinema. He won the Best Director Award at Cannes for his 2000 film Yi Yi.
Bong Joon-ho is a South Korean filmmaker. The recipient of three Academy Awards, his work is characterised by emphasis on social and class themes, genre-mixing, dark comedy, and sudden tone shifts.
The Cinema of East Asia is cinema produced in East Asia or by people from this region. It is part of cinema of Asia, which in turn is part of world cinema.
Yi Yi is a 2000 Taiwanese drama film written and directed by Edward Yang. It centers on the struggles of an engineer, NJ, and three generations of his middle-class Taiwanese family in Taipei.
A Touch of Zen is a two-part wuxia film written, co-edited and directed by King Hu, originally released in 1970 and 1971. Its screenplay is based on a classic Chinese story "Xianü" in the book Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling. The film is set in the Ming dynasty under the dominance of eunuchs and explores a variety of themes including the transcendence of dichotomies, Zen Buddhism, feminism, conservative female roles, and the ghost story.
The Host is a 2006 monster film written and directed by Bong Joon-ho. It stars Song Kang-ho as vendor Park Gang-du whose daughter Hyun-seo is kidnapped by a creature dwelling around the Han River. Byun Hee-bong, Park Hae-il, and Bae Doona appear in supporting roles as Gang-du's father, brother, and sister respectively. A South Korean-Japanese co-production, the film was produced by Chungeorahm Film with Showbox and Happinet presenting.
Pitfall, a.k.a. The Pitfall and Kashi To Kodomo, is a 1962 Japanese film directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara, written by Kōbō Abe. It was Teshigahara's first feature, and the first of his four film collaborations with Abe, the others being Woman in the Dunes, The Face of Another and The Man Without a Map. Unlike the others, which are based on novels by Abe, Pitfall was originally a television play called Purgatory (Rengoku). The film has been included in The Criterion Collection. It is known for its surreal, often avant-garde storytelling structure and themes of hopelessness, exploitation, and human suffering.
Masters of Cinema is a line of DVD and Blu-ray releases published through Eureka Entertainment. Because of the uniformly branded and spine-numbered packaging and the standard inclusion of booklets and analysis by recurring film historians, the line is often perceived as the UK equivalent of The Criterion Collection.
Zigeunerweisen is a 1980 independent Japanese film directed by Seijun Suzuki and based on Hyakken Uchida's novel, Disk of Sarasate. It takes its title from a gramophone recording of Pablo de Sarasate's violin composition, Zigeunerweisen, which features prominently in the story. The film makes the first part of Suzuki's Taishō Roman Trilogy, followed by Kagero-za (1981) and Yumeji (1991), surrealistic psychological dramas and ghost stories linked by style, themes and the Taishō period (1912-1926) setting. All three were produced by Genjiro Arato.
Adrian Martin is an Australian film and arts critic. He now lives in Malgrat de Mar in Spain. He is Adjunct Associate Professor in Film Culture and Theory at Monash University. His work has appeared in many magazines, journals and newspapers around the world, and has been translated into over twenty languages and has regular columns in the Dutch De Filmkrant and in Caiman: Cuadernos de cine.
Empire of Passion is a 1978 French-Japanese film produced, written and directed by Nagisa Ōshima, based on a novel by Itoko Nakamura. The film was a co-production between Oshima Prods. and Argos Films.
The Only Son is a 1936 Japanese film directed by Yasujirō Ozu, starring Chōko Iida and Shin'ichi Himori. The film was Ozu's first sound film feature.
There Was a Father is a 1942 Japanese film directed by Yasujirō Ozu.
Parasite is a 2019 South Korean black comedy thriller film directed by Bong Joon-ho, who co-wrote the film with Han Jin-won. The film, starring Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, Jang Hye-jin, Park Myung-hoon, and Lee Jung-eun, follows a poor family who infiltrate the life of a wealthy family.
