The legend of Sweeney Todd lives on in Asian cinema. From an Indian slum Little Red Riding Hood spin-off to an expose of a Hong Kong-based serial killer, directors all across Asia have wrestled with cutting-edge attempts at filming a subject as old as civilization itself: butchery. We've collected here some of the most notable films on the subject. Some are grimy, some are gruesome, and yet some are simply gory; the meat of the matter is though, almost all of these films wield a sharp political edge layered underneath all the bone and gristle. Take caution as you peruse this sensational list. You may never see your pork bun the same way ever again. And btw, the +1 refers to “Untold Story”, a film that is about butchering, but on a whole different level.
*You can read the full reviews of the titles in the list by clicking on their titles
1. Magnificent Butcher (Yuen Woo Pin, 1979, Hong Kong)
A film with such a title could not be missing from this list, since the main character is “Butcher” Lam Sai-wing, a student of Wong Fei-hung, and a young man who constantly gets into trouble, sometimes funny and sometimes more dangerous ones, with the latter mostly revolving around the Five Dragons School. After a number of his shenanigans, the master of that school, Ko, enters into a (literary) fight with Wong Fei-fung, but despite his unique palm technique, he loses. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
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2. Hollywood Hong Kong (Fruit Chan, 2001, Hong Kong)
In this case, we have a whole family of butchers among the main protagonists. In the colorful alleys of Tai Hom we meet the Chu family, consisting of dad, Mr Chu (Glen Chin) and his two sons, the eldest, adolescent Ming (Ho Sai Man) and the boy Tiny (Leung Sze Ping). The Chus look straight out of a freakish fairy tale; pig butchers by trade, all males, all very plump and sweaty and all seemingly happy. They live and work in the restricted space offered by the slums and – as if this wasn't enough – they share their home with a huge breeding sow called Mama who is fed (like the owners) roast pork and beer. After spending their days roasting, basting and chopping, they then sell their succulent products at a market stall. (Adriana Rosati)
3. The Night Comes for Us (Timo Tjahjanto, 2018, Indonesia)
Not exactly about butchers, but one of the most impressive scenes in the film takes place inside a butchershop. Timo Tjahjanto directs a movie that is dominated by two elements, which actually complement each other: action and violence. Regarding the first, one can only admit that the work done on the action choreography and the stunts (by Iko Uwais and his team) is more than impressive, with them keep finding new ways and “tricks” to implement, a trait that was also quite visible in “Headshot”. In that fashion, anything can be used as a weapon, from animal bones (in the scene in the butcher shop) to pool balls and even a sign that read “Caution Wet Floor”. The “normal” weapons are here of course, including guns, machetes, but most of all, all kinds of knives, which provide the most impressive scenes on the film, along with the hand-to-hand ones. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
4. Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-wai, 1995, Hong Kong)
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5. Jallikattu (Lijo Jose Pellissery, 2019, India)
It is about a remote village in Thrissur which is obsessed with buffalo meat. Every day, a buffalo is slaughtered to satisfy the lust for meat. One fine morning, the buffalo gets away from the shed in which it was about to be slaughtered. It runs amok in the village creating havoc. The butcher, his assistant and later an estranged butcher (now with a rifle) all try to catch the buffalo as the villagers join in the frenzy. What happens in the next two days may give a lot of insight into how the human animal behaves, but is also a journey into the human mind which is passionately wild, inconsistently savage and outright ruthless. (Arun Krishnan)
