In a year where the concept of home entertainment reached a whole new level due to the pandemic, the companies releasing Asian movies on digital media more than raised to the occasion, with a plethora of must-have editions. In this article, we have collected some of the best. Check our list below. Try not to get bankrupt
by clicking on the images, you will be redirected to the respective e-shops, by clicking on the titles, to the full reviews of the movies.
1. The Legend of Stardust Brothers Dual Format With CD Soundtrack (Third Window Films)
Third Window Films's earnest effort in bringing unknown Japanese films, both vintage and modern, to a wider audience continues and “The Legend of the Stardust Brothers” is one of the best examples of this. A film that could well have been lost in obscurity if not for their committed efforts, “The Legend of the Stardust Brothers” is a loud, bizarre, over-the-top film truly deserving of cult status, for reasons good and bad. This dual format release also includes the film's soundtrack on a separate CD. (Rhythm Zaveri)
2. Gamera: The Complete Collection (Arrow Video)
Due to the huge commercial success of the Godzilla-films, produced by rival production company Toho, Daei Film wanted to create their own monster franchise. Director Noriaki Yuasa, who was originally set to direct a film involving killer rats, whose production was on halt, went on to helm the first Gamera-movie: “Gamera, the Giant Monster”. Over the years, the giant, pre-historic turtle, much like Godzilla, became cultural icon, featured in 12 films as well as comic books, manga and video games. With the upcoming release of all Daei's entries by Arrow Video, we may take a look back at the first story involving the giant monster, a story about a vision of a world where a common cause was seen as something which would unite enemies and science could deliver that vision of harmony. (Rouven Linnarz)
Note: This release is now sold out!
3. The Bride with White Hair (Eureka Entertainment)
There is cult and then there is “The Bride with White Hair”. Ronny Yu took the 1957 wuxia novel “Baifa Monu Zhuan”, added some major elements from “Romeo and Juliet”, much sensualism, and a Siamese Twin as the major villain and ended up with a film that is epic as it is cult. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
4. The Bold The Corrupt and the Beautiful (Spectrum Films)
“The Bold, the Corrupt, and The Beautiful” is about a female family, who plays middle-man in a series of political corruption and bribes. Combining a love/hate relationship among the family members with complicated money trade, this film was the most ambitious work in Taiwanese cinema last year. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
5. Dragons Forever (88 Films)
The last time that the Three Dragons Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yeun Biao would feature together before Jackie went on to focus on his solo career, “Dragons Forever” also ends up being one of their finest outing. Lawyer Jackie enlists the help of his friends Sammo and Yeun to take down Benny Urquidez's drugs-manufacturing big bad boss but both Jackie and Sammo find themselves fighting a losing battle with love as they fall for the two women opposing the boss's operations. The perfectly executed action sequences and stunt work is interspersed with an engrossing narrative filled with humour, romance and melodrama. Highlights include a three-way fight between the Brothers, a fight on a ship which makes great use of the location and props and Jackie's henchman fight near the film's end. 88 Films's 2-disc release includes 3 cuts of the film, a brand new 4k restoration of the Hong Kong version, the full Cyclone Z version which was made for the Japanese market and a reconstructed Export version, along with a plethora of audio tracks to choose from. (Rhythm Zaveri)
6. Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Second Run)
Watching “Goodbye Dragon Inn” by director Tsai Ming-liang brought me back to my childhood Saturday afternoons, in big damp cinemas where punters smoked, noisily ate pumpkin seeds and gelatos, cruised and wandered around at any point of the film or searching for back row intimacy. Health & safety regulations and multiplex cinemas weren't in sight and when big melting holes appeared on the projected celluloid we had to shout to the projectionist to wake him up. The whole “watching a movie” experience was rich, complex and intrinsically related to the physical place. Second Run's blu-ray release is the world-first high-definition of this essential Tsai film. (Adriana Rosati)
7. My Heart is that Eternal Rose (Studio CN)
“My Heart is that Eternal Rose” is a movie that proved to be an adventure to track down. In the mid-1990's I got my first glimpse of it when the final reel was shown as the opening to the “Cinema of Vengeance” documentary that formed part of my initial education into Hong Kong cinema as an impressionable teenager. At the time, it was not easy to get hold of these movies in the UK and near enough impossible to track down a copy of this one, even imported. It was only years later that I finally got my hands on a re-released DVD copy and able to tick it off my wish list. Now out on Blu-ray, I am revisiting to see if it was still able to meet those expectations I had build up over the years. (Ben Stykuc)
8. Wrath of Silence (Spectrum Films)
A chilling and atmospheric thriller with growing tension but also a forceful exposé of the corruption and individualism that are in the connective tissue of Chinese modern society, “Wrath of Silence” is a photograph of a land whose body and morality have been violated by an incurable greed. (Adriana Rosati)
9. Kwaidan (Eureka Entertainment)
Based on four ghost stories from books of Lafcadio Hearn, Masaki Kobayashi's first effort in the genre and in color film was a huge success, netting him the Special Jury Prize at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival and an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Eureka presents the film in its uncut, 183-minute-version, in a rather impressive 2K digital restoration. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
Note: This release is now sold out, but a standard edition without the booklet and hardbox is available.
10. Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits (Criterion Collection)
One of the most coveted boxsets of a truly legendary icon. The Criterion Collection boxset contains seven discs and 5 of his films:
The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon, Enter the Dragon, Game of Death, with two further films, Enter the Dragon Theatrical Cut and Game of Death II, picking up after the death of Bruce Lee's character.
