264. A day off (1968)

Country: South Korea

Directed by Lee Man-hee

One more jewel of the unknown South Korean cinema of 60's, 'A day off' depicts the bleak reality of the era (of every era?) when young people struggled to live, love and bloom under heavy financial hardships, to end up defeated and broken, without dreams and hopes, present or future. Lee Man-hee chooses to narrate a heartbreaking love story as a social commentary, not as a personal drama. The unhappiness here is not existential: poverty is clearly blamed. Moreover the misery is not attractive, shinny and almost glorified as we see often in other films. The despair here is naked and the feeling of hopelessness devastating

You can watch the full movie here: https://youtu.be/2f6eLMTooaM

263. Pale flower (1964)

 

Country: Japan

Directed by Masahiro Shinoda

 

As I watched the Pale flower for second time after some years, I admired it even more as one of the finest products of the Japanese new wave cinema of 60's, a film with zero weaknesses that aging perfectly as the time pass. An exemplary noir/yakuza film, call it as you want, dark and nihilistic to the core, with beautiful black and white photography and an amazing dreamy avant garde music score by the genius of Toru Takemitsu, it captures perfectly the pessimistic post war spirit of a westernized traumatized Japan that was trying to keep up with the radical changes and to find a new identity.

 

262. Rebels of the neon god (1992)

 

Country: Taiwan

Directed by Tsai Ming-liang

Slow with very few dialogues, almost without a story to narrate, 'Rebels of the neon god' somehow manages to be one of the most attractive films of Ming-Liang, and probably the one that we can identify ourselves at its characters with the most ease, especially if we had troubled teenage years in past. The frustration of the youth, the alienation with the elders, the existential loneliness, the sex that is rather a burden than a joy, the lack of realistic dreams, the need to get free from the rules, the awe in front of the meaningless: this was the life for many of us living in the hostile environment of the modern big cities, in a dystopic soulless world made of metal and glass.

261. Don't burn (2009)

 

Country: Vietnam

Directed by Dang Nhat Minh

'Don't burn' is one of these movies that you love, even if you think it's simplistic and you can't find any element of it impressive if you look at them separately. Directing, acting, storytelling seem mediocre at best, however the message of the film, the way that it relates to every one of us, is so powerful and direct given that you end up deeply touched by it, full of intense bittersweet emotions.  The real story of an American soldier who gets haunted by the diary of a killed Vietkong young woman who finds in the battlefield, a writing full of compassion, hope, dedication and longing for her home and her loved ones, it's a vehicle for a classic anti war film that highlights in a very universal way the terror of war, the beauty of life and all these things that connect us as human beings.  

You can watch the full movie here with subs:
 https://youtu.be/K2adJUbQAj8

      

260. A better tomorrow (1986)

Country: Hong Kong

Directed by John Woo

The movie that made Chow Yun-fat a star and opened a wide path to action films with stylized violence both in Hong Kong and Hollywood, 'A better tomorrow" may it's not the most impressive work of John Woo, as he was still trying to figure out his style and also he has a quite low budget to use, but still it's highly enjoyable to watch and it contains all the elements that made his cinema fascinating

259. Panic in the high school (1978)

 

Country: Japan

Directed by Sogo Ishii and Yukihiro Sawada

The first movie of the cult director Sogo Ishii, who made a name in the underground art scene of Japan as a pioneer of the cyberpunk film movement, Panic in the high school is not just an action movie with a lot of fake blood and screaming teenagers who are gunned down. Nor it's a work of pretentious  condemnation of a system that oppress the youth : in contrary, with a quiet, allusive way, it really succeeds to capture the vulnerability of teenagers who are trapped in a world designed by adults, full of norms and expectations, where the good reputation and to climb high in the social rankings are presented as the highest values. With a lot of freshness, simplicity and originality it evokes feelings and memories of this exact vulnerability even to people who didn't grow up in the strict environment of the Japanese society

You can watch the full movie here:

https://youtu.be/wW6bmJiOPUM

258. Batch 81 (1982)

 

Country: Philippines

Directed by Mike De Leon

One of my favorite Filippino movies of 80's, Batch 81 uses a story related with the violence of university fraternities, an issue that was a hot topic of conversation in that era, to explore and expose the deeper nature of fascism, to show the mechanics behind the construction of a fascist via a well calculated process that transforms individuals to members of a herd: giving away their dignity, having blind trust to the leaders, rather oppressed, insignificant, common folks are easy targets to become tools for the tyrrans, as they fulfill their dream to be part of a dominant group that offers to them (at least this is what they think), power, privilages and impunity. A powerful alegory for the years of martial law under Ferdinando Marcos, 'Butch 81' is one of the best studies of fascism ever made for the big screen in terms of analysis but also is, in any sense of the expression, an impressive film. Although its budget is very low, every scene has high standards, attention to details, a great inner rythm and everyone gives his best self from the actors who deliver great performances to the composer who wrote the music score.