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“It’s elegant, witty, tightly plotted and absolutely gripping. If Almodovar made a Hitchcock movie by way of Twin Peaks it would turn out like this.” – Empire, Damon Wise

“An extreme melodrama that queasily fuses horror, heartbreak and humour. Another quality Bong hit.”– Little White Lies, Jonathan Crocker

“The film is labyrinthine and deceptive, and not in a way we anticipate. It becomes a pleasure for the mind. Long after a conventional thriller would have its destination in plain sight, Mother is still penetrating our assumptions.” – Chicago Sun Times, Roger Ebert

“Though richly and believably drawn, Mr. Bong’s characters are often opaque and mysterious, given to sudden rages, behavioural blurts and hiccups of weird humour. But it’s this very mystery that can make them feel terribly real.” – New York Times, Manohla Dargis

Hye-ja is a single mother and her son is her world. Do-joon is 27 but has the mind of a child, he is naïve and completely dependent on his mother. When a young girl is found dead on the roof of a run down building, evidence is found that incriminates Do-joon and he is accused of the murder. An inefficient lawyer and an apathetic police force that closes Do-joon’s case too quickly inspire his mother to act on her own—to act as Mother in its purest form. Summoning all her maternal instincts and trusting no one, she sets out to find the killer and prove her son’s innocence.

Bong Joon-ho’s Mother is released (finally!) by Optimum Releasing and ICO in cinemas from Friday, 20 August.

Released by Cine Asia on DVD and Blu-ray on 20 September.

When Film Director, Hong, takes young starlet, Hyun-ah, to the countryside to discuss a new role, they stop at a farm that is renowned for its home-made chicken soup.

The owner of the farm, Pan-gon, is a recluse and social outcast with a very dark secret. Jealous of Hyun-ah’s beauty and insulted by her disdainful treatment of him, he ruthlessly strangles Hong and imprisons Hyun-ah in the basement. Does he want to torture her, use her for sex, or is his agenda even darker?

Meanwhile, Hyun-ah’s sister becomes concerned over her disappearance and contacts the police. A trail of evidence points toward the farm, but will they make it in time to save Hyun-ah from the whims of the unhinged maniac, or will Pan-gon’s vengeance be complete?
Released by Cine Asia on DVD on 30 August.

Released on DVD by Manga Entertainment

“PROBABLY THE BEST NINJA MOVIE EVER MADE.” – TONY RAYNS

Based on the legendary multi-volume manga series created by Japanese artist and essayist Sanpei Shirato in 1964, directed by Yoichi Sai (Blood And Bones; Doing Time; All Under The Moon) and scripted by Sai and Kankuro Kudo (Zebraman; Ping Pong; Go), Kamui: The Lone Ninja comes to the screen as a live-action, special effects-laden extravaganza that perfectly captures the spirit and flavour of Shirato’s original vision.

A high-spirited adventure involving deadly ninjas, fierce warrior clans, treacherous pirates and fearless shark hunters, Kamui: The Lone Ninja boasts a star-studded cast that features some of Asian cinema’s hottest talent, including Ken’ichi Matsuyama (the Death Note trilogy), Koyuki (Blood: The Last Vampire; Kitaro), Koichi Sato (Sukiyaki Western Django; Starfish Hotel), Ekin Cheng (Storm Warriors; Divergence), Yuta Kanai (Death Note: L Change The World) and Suzuka Ohgo (Memoirs Of A Geisha).

It is 17th century Japan and from a young age Kamui has been considered something of an outcast, even within his own ninja clan. Disillusioned with the laws and principles, which dictate that he must use his skills to kill others, Kamui chooses to leave his past behind him and go in search of true freedom. But for a ninja liberation comes at a price and the only way to escape the bonds of the ninja brotherhood is to die.

Now a fugitive on the run from his clan, who are determined to hunt him down and eliminate him for his betrayal, Kamui finds himself constantly fighting for his life and unable to trust anyone. He eventually finds some solace when he meets an indomitable fisherman who saves his life and invites him to settle with his family. Unexpectedly, the arrangement brings Kamui face to face with a long-forgotten nemesis of his, another renegade ninja with a deadly score to settle. Meanwhile, the ninja army hunting Kamui is setting a trap from which there can be no escape…

Remaining faithful to its source material, Kamui: The Lone Ninja is a thrilling fantasy-adventure, full of martial arts action and spectacular set-pieces that vividly bring Sanpei Shirato’s unique manga images to life in dazzling style.

Kamui: The Lone Ninja (cert. 15) will be released on DVD (£15.99) and Blu-ray (£19.99) by Manga Entertainment on 9th August 2010.

Released on DVD and Blu-ray by Icon Home Entertainment on 16th August 2010.

Delivering jaw-dropping fight scenes, white-knuckle free-running sequences, and breathtaking stunts, Invisible Target is an unstoppable action-thriller that showcases the formidable talents of the next generation of martial arts superstars.

The paths of a renegade cop (Nicholas Tse, The Promise), a rookie police officer (Jaycee Chan, son of Jackie Chan) and a veteran detective (Shawn Yue, Infernal Affairs) converge with explosive results, as they each take on their most deadly assignment to date: the arrest of Hong Kong’s most lethal mercenary gang and their ruthless leader, played by Kung Fu impresario, Wu Jing (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Kill Zone). The city becomes a battleground, as both sides break all the rules to defy each other in the ultimate fight for survival, justice and revenge!

“Loud, fast, action-packed, adrenaline pumping, and explosive (Twitch.com)”, Invisible Target is an incredible new-wave action spectacular from visionary director Benny Chan (New Police Story).

ANOTHER BEWILDERING OF BABES, BLADES AND BIZARRENESS FROM THE CREATORS OF ‘CHANBARA BEAUTY’.

Farcical comedy, madcap martial arts action and gratuitous breast baring are the orders of the day in Chanbara Striptease, a crazy, crowd-pleasing, time-travelling romp directed by Akira Hirose (Drama Tetsudo Musume: Girls Be Ambitious!) and starring two of Japan’s hottest Adult Video (that’s ‘porn’ to you) stars, Ryo Akanishi and Sasa Handa.

Following the death of her mother, twenty-year-old college girl Lili has been living with her grandmother and is about to inherit her legacy as becoming the latest in a long line of female warriors adept at the deadly martial art of Sayama Hashinryu. During an informal ceremony inducting her into the legendary ranks, Lili is mysteriously transported 300 years back in time to a small village in 18th Century Japan, where she finds herself completely naked and alone. Fortunately (for her, but not necessarily the viewers!), her dilemma doesn’t last too long and in no time at all she is fulfilling her destiny as a warrior by rescuing a young pregnant girl, Miss Yae, who is being harassed by three ninja members of the Yamishika gang. It transpires that the gang is working for the evil Lady Okinu, who is running a protection racket throughout the local villages.

After being introduced to, and falling for, Miss Yae’s brother, Hikoichi, Lili agrees to help the villagers by taking on Lady Okinu and her henchmen in a bid to free them from the tyranny under which they are being forced to live. Believing her samurai swordfighting skills – not to mention her magical, power-enhanced breasts – to be unmatched and unbeatable, Lili is confident she can overcome the despot. But Lady Okinu is not all she seems, as Lili soon finds out.

Featuring an endless parade of topless katana duelling, alfresco coupling, inappropriate choices of nightwear as battledress and plenty of sword-wielding mayhem, Chanbara Striptease is the sexiest martial arts action-comedy to come out of Japan in quite some time.

Chanbara Striptease (cert. 18) will be released on DVD (£17.99) by Manga Entertainment on 26th July 2010.

FROM THE PRODUCERS OF ‘THE GRUDGE’ AND THE DIRECTOR OF ‘CASSHERN’

Five years ago, acclaimed Japanese fashion photographer and music video director Kazuaki Kiriya made an explosive and groundbreaking assault on the movie world with his directorial debut feature, the visually stunning and hugely ambitious sci-fi epic, ‘Casshern’. Now, Kiriya returns in his own inimitable style with the equally spectacular period, fantasy action-adventure, Goemon.

Produced by Kiriya and legendary producer Takashige Ichise (The Ring; Dark Water; The Grudge; Shutter) and boasting a star-studded cast that includes Yosuke Eguchi (Shaolin Girl), Takao Osawa (Ichi; Sky High), Jun Kaname (Blood; K-20; Casshern), Tetsuji Tamayama (Norwegian Wood; Casshern) and Susumu Terajima (Casshern; Ichi The Killer), Goemon is based on the exploits of the film’s eponymous, ninja bandit hero – the Japanese folklore equivalent of Robin Hood.

The year is 1582 and the ruler of Japan, Oda Nobunaga, has been brutally murdered leaving the country in a state of political chaos. Meanwhile, a chivalrous thief known as Goemon, whose loyalties lay with Nobunaga, has risen as a hero figure amongst the populace thanks to his propensity for stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Goemon’s latest haul, stolen from one of his arch-enemies, includes a small wooden box of Western origin which he believes to be worthless and accidentally bestows upon a young street urchin. In truth, the box is a priceless artifact – a true Pandora’s box that holds a deep secret coveted and sought by Japan’s most powerful and deadly warlords.

Realising his error, Goemon seeks to regain possession of the box before it falls into the wrong hands. But its existence has also attracted the interests of a legendary swordsman, Matahachi, the legendary ninja Hattori Hanzo, and Goemon’s fearsome former friend and current rival, Saizo. With such a prize at stake, the stage is set for a series of bloody frays between Japan’s most skilled and deadly ninjas and swordsmen in a conflict that will have a profound effect on the country’s future.

A mind-blowing, eye-popping action epic that easily matches the visionary ambitions of Kiriya’s debut movie, Goemon is a fast-paced historical adventure packed with the same kind of dazzling costumes, set designs, inspired visuals and awesome special effects that made ‘Casshern’ such an original and singularly spectacular cinematic experience.

Goemon (cert. 15) is released by Momentum Pictures and will open at selected UK cinemas on 23rd July 2010.

Congratulations to our lucky three winners of Ponyo on DVD! Your copy will be in the post soon…

Thanks to all of you that entered, and for those that weren’t successful this time stay tuned for our next competition.

Currently promoting the Karate Kid remake with Will Smith’s 11-year-old son Jaden, Jackie Chan told Total Film magazine he was bullied when he was a child because he was “too scared” to stand up for himself.

“I was bullied quite a lot when I was growing up in my Peking Opera School,” he explained.

“I was bullied until I prevented a new student from being bullied. By standing up for him, I learned to stand up for myself.”

Read the full story on Stuff.co.nz »

Gosh! Has someone got it in for Disney or what? No sooner does Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo finally get a UK release, loosely based on the same Hans Christian Anderson that gave us The Little Mermaid, than a live-action version of the Chinese legend that inspired their film Mulan gets a UK release too.

(Okay, so Pixar/Disney chief John Lasseter executively produced the English version… you’re not gonna tell me he didn’t have fun with that?)

This new live-action version stars the lovely Vicky Zhao in the lead – an actress who I’m never really convinced by in period settings, but always keen to give a chance – with co-stars Jaycee Chan and Jun Hu, and directed by cinematographer turned director Jingle Ma, responsible for the highly enjoyable Tokyo Raiders and the highly rubbish follow-up Seoul Raiders.

Will it be any good? Let’s hope so… these historical dramas seem so hit-and-miss nowadays. (And we’ll let you know soon…!)

Mulan (cert. 15) will be released as a two-disc Ultimate Edition DVD  and as a single disc Ultimate Edition Blu-ray  by Cine Asia on 21June 2010.

UK in shock release of Hong Kong film really, really, really close to it’s original debut on DVD and Blu-ray. Yes, that’s right – only a couple of months since its release, Storm Warriors, the highly-anticipated sequel to Storm Riders, directed by the Pang brothers (The Eye, Bangkok Dangerous, Re-Cycle), will be released in the UK by Cine Asia.

Directed by Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs, Initial D, Confession of Pain), the original The Storm Riders marked the first major use of CGI effects in a Hong Kong film, a watermark point in cinema. (Whether those effects stand up to close scrutiny now is largely inconsequential.)

Reuniting the original stars Ekin Cheng and Aaron Kwok as Wind and Cloud, Storm Warriors promises to be a visual feast…

(..I know I can’t wait!)

Storm Warriors is released by Cine Asia on DVD and Blu-ray on 12 July.

FROM THE PRODUCERS OF ‘ONG BAK’ AND ‘RAGING PHOENIX’.

From producers Prachya Pinkaew, Panna Rittikrai and Sukanya Vongsthapat, the creative forces behind such world famous Thai action movie hits as ‘Ong Bak’, ‘Warrior King’, ‘Raging Phoenix’, ‘Born To Fight’ and ‘Chocolate’, comes Force Of Five (aka ‘Power Kids’), the directorial debut of Krissanapong Rachata.

A jaw-dropping action-adventure packed with non-stop Muay Thai martial arts mayhem, the film stars Sasisa Jimdamanee (Born To Fight) and actor, martial arts coordinator and stuntman Johnny Nguyen (Serenity; Spider-Man 1 and 2; Cradle 2 The Grave) alongside a cast of young, up-and-coming child stars whose incredible martial arts skills will blow your mind.

Despite their small size and inexperience, having grown up under the roof of a Muay Thai school two young brothers and their friends have become highly skilled, if undisciplined, martial artists. Sadly, the youngest of the gang suffers from an acute heart condition, which following a minor scuffle with some local bullies lands him in hospital and desperately in need of a life-saving transplant. Fortunately, a viable heart soon becomes available at another local hospital, but before it can be transferred the building is overtaken by rebel soldiers-turned-terrorists prepared to kill if their politically-driven demands are not met by the authorities.

With only four hours in which the surgery can be performed successfully, the young friends take it upon themselves to infiltrate the hospital and retrieve the donated organ. Armed with only their martial arts skills and the will to save their friend’s life, this small group of mini Muay Thai marvels embarks on a desperate race against time in which they will be forced to defy danger, confront an army of terrorists and make an heroic bid to overcome insurmountable odds.

Brilliantly showcasing the talents of the next generation of Thai action movie superstars, Force Of Five is a raw and relentless thrill-ride that culminates in a jaw-dropping final showdown that will have viewers shaking their heads in disbelief.

Force Of Five (cert. 15) will be released on DVD (£17.99) and Blu-ray (£24.99) by Cine Asia on 5th July 2010. Special Features include: Interview Gallery; Making of; Behind The Scenes; Original Trailer; Dolby Digital Thai 2.0 and 5.1 (DVD); DTS HD MA Thai 5.1 (Blu-ray); English Subtitles.

Over the next month the BFI Southbank celebrates Akira Kurosawa and his influence over cinema, screening not only his finest work, but also that of the filmmakers he inspired. The season includes:

» Yojimbo together with remakes A Fistful Of Dollars by Sergio Leone and the underrated Last Man Standing by Walter Hill;
» Rashomon,  Martin Ritt’s The Outrage, Zhang Yimou’s Hero and Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring;
» Seven Samurai and (of course!) The Magnificent Seven;
» Hidden Fortress (recently remade), Ikiru, Sanjuro and many more.

(Although oddly Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, which famously copied the central theme of an epic story as seen by two lowly servants, has been left off the list. Come on, BFI, don’t be so pretentious!)

Rashomon will also be screened in cinemas around the UK.

Find out more and book tickets from the BFI website »

Yes that’s right – Ponyo is released this Monday, but we have one of three copies of the wonderful Ponyo to give away, courtesy of Optimum Home Entertainment! To be in with a chance of nabbing a copy, all you have to do is fill in the form below…

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