Goro's Asian Movies and Stuff Blog

Reaction: First Half of STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN (KOR)

I just received my latest K-Drama DVDs and it is the 2004 hit STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN starring Choi Ji-Woo.  It's a 20 episode series that encapsulates everything that people love about KDramas.

Jung-suh and Song-joo are childhood sweethearts, destined to be with each other.  When Jung-suh's mother dies, evil stepmother brings in evil stepsister Yoo-ri and kind but simpering step-brother Tae-hwa.  And there's the love-rectangle (and for anyone even remotely familiar with the KDrama formula, you know how the realtionships are going to play out).

Jung-suh and Song-joo are in middle school and are in love; they plan to study overseas together.  However, evil stepmother manages to hold Jung-suh back and Song-joo goes away, but not before they pledge their love to each other.  Fast forward four years or so.  Song-joo returns, but Jung-suh is struck by a car driven by evil Stepsister Yoo-ri.  Everyone thinks Jung-suh died when she's really just lost her memory and been put in the care of Tae-hwa and his father.

Five years later, Jung-suh and Song-joo meet again, this time as strangers...

So far, it really does hit all the emotional points and while it stays true to the formula, it does so quite well.  Of particular note are the evil stepmother and evil stepsister.  They really steal the show and are rage-inducingly awful and manipulative.  Meanwhile, alternate lover Tae-hwa is so riduculously pathetic that it's hard to take him seriously and lead man Song-joo, while very handsome, is quite wooden and boring. 

The plot goes to some nice places and is engaging.  It's a bit overlong in the beginning when the machinations of the mother/sister start, but only drags a little bit.  Episode 9 is when the show really picks up momentum.

new Lee Chang-Dong movie coming

I was over at KFCCinema and in the forums, I was led to this FireCracker interview with Lee Chang-Dong [link], a director I had just mentioned as I have just purchased his Three Movie Box Set (PEPPERMINT CANDY, OASIS, GREEN FISH).  I was bemoaning the fact that he had left movie making to take a government office.  Apparently, he didn't actually WANT to take the office, but felt it was his duty to and has now returned to filmmaking and is set to do his next movie, SECRET SUNSHINE, "about a woman living in a small regional city inf Korea."

Excellent.

New Yamada Yoji Samurai Film : ONE LINE SAMURAI

From Variety by way of Kung Fu Cinema [link]:

Veteran director Yoji Yamada is set to helm Bushi no Ichibun  (One-Line Samurai), his third samurai movie after Twilight Samurai (2002) and The Hidden Blade (2004). Takuya Timura (2046) will star as a blind samurai who fights for his honor and the wife who sacrificed herself for him. Shochiku will begin shooting in early 2006.

This is really cool news.  While I agree with most critics that said HIDDEN BLADE was too similar to TWILIGHT SAMURAI and that TWILIGHT SAMURAI was a better film, I still found HIDDEN BLADE to be watchable and enjoyable and Yamada Yoji has a certain intrinsic ability to charm.  I'm glad that he's continuing to do these chambara films because I certainly enjoy his sensibilities in one of my favorite genres. 

Of his other films, I've seen GAKKO 1 (A CLASS TO REMEMBER), the first couple of TORA-SAN movies.  I enjoyed them all and personally, I do like his touch of sentimentality, so I'll be looking forward to BUSHI NO ICHIBUN.

... ING re-released

I've heard talk of this movie and I finally got to see it a few weeks back.  Very good with a really great ending.  Stars Kim Rae-Won from MY LITTLE BRIDE and MY LOVE PATZZI.  But it's been OP for the longest time and now it has re-released on DVD.  Yay.

[link]  $29.99 at DVDAsian
[link]  $26.99 at YesAsia

My Latest Korean DVD Order

I loved AUTUMN IN MY HEART. It was my first Korean romantic melodrama and it really hit all the right notes with me. Since then, it's been spotty as I found PHOENIX and SECOND PROPOSAL kind of iffy, while absolutley loving MY LOVE PATZZI, STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN and finding HOTELIER and some of the others good and watchable but not great. So, I've been looking around recently for WINTER SONATA since it was created by the same people as AUTUMN IN MY HEART. Unfortunately, it looks like the US release (by YesAsia) has gone out of print and I haven't been able to get it. Finally, today, I went to DVDfromKorea.com and found it was (listed as) still available. We'll see. Anyway, other DVDs I order along with that: * LEE CHANG-DONG trilogy. Contains OASIS, PEPPERMINT CANDY, and GREEN FISH. All amazing films. * MEMORIES OF MURDER * LAST PRESENT * ART MUSEUM BY THE ZOO Airmail is supposedly going to take 10-14 days. *sigh* Here I wait.

I get HD via analog cable

I just made a startling discovery this weekend.  I can get OTA HD via analog cable.  I was futsing around with an indoor antenna to try to get FOX and CBS so i could watch the football games, but apparenlty my apt is in a prime location to NOT get the HD signal Over the Air.  In an accident, though, I managed to tune into a few channels via my analog cable (COX) and receive HD signals via my 50 Samsung (with ATSC tuner, natch).

FOX (76-1)
WB (76-2)
PBS (81-1)
CBS
NBC

all came in nicely.  Although they didn't look as good as at my friend's place with Digital Cable.  I wonder if the signal is compressed at all.

anyway, since i get my cable for extremely cheap (as an addon to cable internet), I'm in no hurry to upgrade to digital cable.  I only watch DVDs and football anyway...

new KUROSAWA DVD due out January

One of my favorite Kurosawa films and one that is underrepresented is THE BAD SLEEP WELL and it is now getting the Criterion release in January.

Here's the link [link]

This makes me so happy.  I was almost ready to buy the Japanese R2 (Y6000) DVD.

Now DODES'KA-DEN and I'll be happy.

THe antithesis of Goro Movie Review Site

It's a fact that we all have opinions and I'm rarely surprised to find that my opinion doesn't mesh with others.  When I write a review, though, I try to give a full breadth and depth look at the film and explain why I feel certain components work and what my particular inclinations are.  Today I found this one website with quite a few Japanese movie reviews.  It's funny and notable because in nearly every instance of movies that we've both seen, he and I view them in diametrically opposed ways. It's pretty funny, i suppose, because it's rare to be in 100% agreement with someone, but equally rare to be 0%.  Anyway, check out the reviews [link]

H2 mini review

I just finished watching the 11 episode Japanese drama series H2: Kimi to Ita Hibi and found it to be reasonably enjoyable.  H2 is a high school baseball drama, focusing primarily on two "H"s : Hiro and Hideo.  They are best friends from childhood and are now at different high schools.  While Hiro is the understated, upcoming phenom pitcher who shuns the limelight, Hideo is the star hitter, fast-tracked to the Pros and who gives newspaper interviews daily. 

Then there are the OTHER H2 : Haruko and Hikari.  As with nearly all Asian dramas, there must be two female leads to counter the two male leads (primarily so that the romantic focus can have suitably many directions in which to go).  Hikari is the strong-willed, focused girlfriend of Hideo, but she is the longtime bestfriend of Hiro, so much so that her mother looks upon Hiro as a son.  Haruko is the baseball loving, clumsy, awkward, loving love interest of Hiro.  Their relationship is mostly one-sided as Hiro is struggling with his feelings towards Hikari.

Rounding out the cast are Hiro's bizarre parents and Hikari's more stable parents, Hiro's best friend and catcher, the brash centerfielder, the two oafs, the son of the Principal, and the Coach who made the College team but who never got into a game.

Covering 3 seasons, the show has an interesting flow to it, allowing for successes and defeats, with an ending that's expected and suitable.  The actors are good, the girls are pretty, the melodrama is ... melodramatic, but best about the series is that there is a substantial focus on baseball.  While the humna interaction and drama is the emotional core, the baseball and the love of baseball plays an equal (if not bigger) role.  Practice, preparation, and game comprise the spine of the plot.  The baseball scenes are done well if somewhat cliche-ish.  Pitchers are great b/c they throw hard; hitters are great b/c they hit home runs.  Though there are some moments indicating the subtleties of the game (eg. hitting to the right side to advance the runner, hustling from 1st to 3rd on a sac-bunt, ... ) almost too much is made of Hiro just striking everyone out.  Still, games have an intrinsic charm to them and are very watchable.

Not a great series.  The melodrama is piled a bit heavy, even by JDrama metrics, and the dialogue feels awkward at times.  The primary characters are built very flat and are given little room to breathe.  THe secondary characters while having interesting features are short-shrifted.  Still, owing greatly to some very engaging actors, some solid direction and a general feeling of fun that inhabits the baseball scenes, the series is elevated to watchable and generally enjoyable.

It won't make you cry; it won't make you stand up and cheer; it might make you smile, though.  And I ended up watching all 11 45min episodes over a span of 3 days so that's a testament to the watchability.

Here's an H2 fan page at J-Fan [link]

What I know about resubtitling DVDs

I've had a few people ask me questoins about resubtitling a DVD.  So for their edification (as well as to write it down so I can remember it), i though i'd outline it here.  By the way, there are many great guides out there that i used in some fashion to help get me thru it.

GENERAL STEPS:
0.  Ripp DVD
1.  Demux DVD into video, audio, chapters (and subs if necessary)
2.  Prep subtitles
3.  Remux DVD with subtitles
4.  Fix subtitle colors.
5.  Burn

TOOLS:
0.  DVDDecrypter
1.  VOBEdit
2.  Subripper
3.  txt2sup
4.  IFOEdit
5.  DVDShrink

DETAILED STEPS:
0.  Ripp the DVD files to a HD using DVDDecrypter.  It's usually best to do this since (a) Often i am using other region DVDs that won't play on my DVD drive and (b) it's faster to ripp once and then mess with the files (up to 9GBs worth) from the HD.

1.  Demux the video and audio stream to a directory. 

*  Before running VOBEdit, you must check the ripped DVD files and know which .VOB files are the movie files.  They are usually the largest set of VOBs.  Often they are VTS_01_0.vob -> VTS_01_4.vob or so. 

*  Run VOBEdit.  Open the first VOB file of the movie sequence to load the video.  Ie.  in the example above, i would select VTS_01_0.vob and it will know that the other files follow in sequence.

*  Click the [DEMUX] button and a dialog box pops up.  Check the [] Demux all video streams and []Demux all audio streams check boxes.  Can optionally check the [] Demux all subp streams as well, but not necessary.

*  This can take a while and creates the Video and Audio streams in a demux'd directory. 

2.  Put the Chapter stream in the Demux'd directory.

*  Run IFOEdit.  Open the corresponding original ripped .ifo file (in the example, VTS_01_0.ifo). 

*  Click on menu : TOOLS - SAVE CELLTIMES TO FILE.  Save the celltimes.txt to the demux'd directory.

*  Now the chapter "stream" is available.

3.  Get subtitles.

*  Subtitles on a DVD are (strangely) a bitmap stream and not a unicode stream.  So, depending on what you want to do, you need to do some or all of the following: Grab the subtitles from the DVD, OCR to text file, modify text file, convert text file to bitmap subtitle stream.

*  Grabbing the subtitles and OCRing can be done in one step using SUBRipper.  It's straightforward.  Just use the program, open the IFO and grab the subs.  You have to "train" it; it will show you the "text" and you have to type in what character it is.  When done, convert to .SRT format; i find this works best and is most useful, in case you want to add it to an .avi or .mkv file.

*  Converting an .srt to .sup is straightforward, also.  Use txt2sup.  Open the original .IFO file so that the program knows about the colors to use for the subs.  Then open the .srt file.  Then convert it.  It'll just do it for you.

*  Subcreator is a good utility to use if you need to convert subtitles to different formats or if you need to retime the subs.  Sometimes, if you get subtitles (.srt files or even .ssa) from a website, you may need to retime them with the .vobs or .avis.  You can use Subcreator and it's pretty nice.

3.  So now the Demux'd directory has all the necessary streams in it.  All you need to do is Remux them back into a DVD.

*  Open IFOEdit

*  Select DVDAuthor.  note: it has to be the first thing you select or else it will be ghosted.  So if you already opened an IFO or something, you have to close and reopen the app.

* From here, it's self-explanatory, really.  Select the video stream.  Audio stream.  Subtitles stream.  and Scene Changes/Chapters.  Select the Audio stream and then you can choose which language it is from the combobox on the left.  Ditto Subtitles.

* Click OK and it will generate DVD files in the selected directory.

4.  It's all done almost.  Need to set the subtitle colors.  We're going to grab the subtitles colors from the original IFO and then paste them into the remux'd IFO.

*  Open IFOEdit and OPEN the original ripped IFO

*  in the upper screen, select VTS_PGCITI.  It should open up a submenu item VTS_PGC_1.  Select that.  Now click on the menu : SUBTITLE COLOR - COPY COLORS FROM THIS PGC.

*  Now OPEN the remux'd IFO.

* Select VTS_PGCITI - VTS_PGC_1 and then click on the menu : SUBTITLE COLOR - PASTE COLORS TO THIS PGC.   Click the SAVE button.

Now your DVD files are ready to burn.

5.  Use DVDShrink (or Nero or whatever).  Open the files.  Shrink and burn to DVD or .ISO. 

voila

MY SASSY GIRL DVD subtitles

MY SASSY GIRL is a really fun Korean RomCom and it really is one of my faves (and not just because Jun Ji-Hyun is in it!  *swooon*).  I bought the StarMax Director's Cut R3 DVD a while back and it pissed me off because it has really awful subtitles.  How awful?  Even worse than the CC subtitles in GHOST IN THE SHELL US R1!  It apparently uses the script directly so that each line has the speaker's name before it (eg, "GIRL: You wanna die!?") as well as sound effects (eg., "BANG.  BOOM").  Beyond irritating.

So, I finally figured out how to resubtitle a DVD.  So i ripped the DVD, demuxed it, extracted the subtitles, fixed the subs, then re-encoded the subtitles, then remuxed the DVD.

Now, I have a perfectly watchable DVD of MY SASSY GIRL with nice subtitles. 

I'm so proud of myself...

My next project is subtitling SUMO DO SUMO DON'T, BURMESE HARP, DODES-KA'DEN, and THE BAD SLEEP WELL from the R2 Japanese unsubbed DVDs.

What I know about Matroska

Not directly related to asian films/tv, but these days lots of shows are being mux'd to Matroska so it's good to know.  ANd for myself, it's good to keep this as a reminder...

AVI and MKV are both container formats, which is to say they are not video formats but contain video streams.

AVI stands for Audio-Video Interleave and so is set up to carry a video stream (say DivX) and an audio stream (say HE-AAC).  Since it's Microsoft, naturally there's no forward thinking or future proofing ("Give 'em 640K, there's no way they'll ever need more than that!")

Meanwhile, Matroska (MKV) is an open-source format that allows for (apparently) arbitrary streams to be contained within.  So video stream, audio stream, 2nd audio stream, subtitle stream, chapter stops, ...?

For AVIs to have subtitles, they need to either be burned in (ugh) or accompanied by a subtitle file.  Often the subtitle file is .srt and naming the .srt file the same as the .avi causes them to match.  It's a kludge but it works.

To watch a Matroska file, you need to get the Matroska Pack [link] and then you can watch it on WiMP; however, I prefer to get The Core Media Player (TCMP) [link] as it's much cleaner and nicer than the stupid WiMP.  Plus it provides easy access to subtitles (not sure how WiMP handles it).

The Matroska Pack should have all the codecs necessary to watch/listen to any of the .MKV files, however, I did notice that at home, i couldn't get any audio until i downloaded an AAC codec.  I found this out b/c the Matroska Pack has a really nice utility called MKVDiag which analyzes a .MKV file and tells you what codecs were used, furthermore it gives the URLs to get the appropriate codecs.

MKVToolNix [link] is another very useful utility if you want to make your own MKV files.  So if you have .AVIs + .SRTs lying around and want to clean them up, you might want to use MKVMerge from the MKVToolNix package.

For Ripping DVDs to MKV, use FlaskMPEG or XMPEG.  Make sure you install the appropriate codecs first.  I mostly use LameMP3 160kbps CBR, b/c when I use VBR, there's an AV sync problem.  I haven't yet tried the HE-AAC as I've only just now figured it out.

HE-AAC which seems quite popular is a High Efficiency mp4 audio stream and is available from NERO.  As far as I can tell, you have to convert TO HE-AAC using Nero's utility.  So ripp to an audio stream (say .WAV) and then convert to HE-AAC and then mux into .MKV

XviD is a very popular video codec and there are a couple of flavors of them.  You can get it here [link].  I use Nic's binaries [link].

SubRipper [link] is needed to rip the subtitles from a DVD.

Divx-Digest.com and Doom9.org are seemingly the best resources for all this stuff

FINAL FANTASY VII short reaction

I just got the new FINAL FANTASY VII: ADVENT CHILDREN dvd (which is unsubbed but i grabbed an .srt file) and watched much of it last nite (as I couldn't bear to keep watching the Raiders piss away another game).

It's quite an interesting film.  Visually unbelievable at times, it's the ultimate in eye candy.  But it's also striking in that while some of hte movements seem very natural (my guess is motion captured), other movements are awkward and have that cg marionette-feel to them.  When cg looks photorealistic and then moves awkwardly, it is quite jarring b/c there is a disconnect there.  WHen CG looks cartoonish, then cartoonish movements are easy to accept.

Hair (which is probably a fair well-understood algorithm by now) looks particularly impressive and the wolf in the desert near the beginning is as amazing as the eagle at the end of the SPIRITS WITHIN film.

It's a truly remarkable piece of work, though, and marks a fairly distinct milestone in CG motion picture development.  It willbe interesting to look back on this in a few years and take note of how we've progressed from here. 

My new Japanese DVD order

So now I just placed ANOTHER order for some Japanese DVDs, including:

TAMPOPO
ICHIGO KAKERA
SWING GIRLS concert
PICNIC
TONY TAKITANI
JOZEE, THE TIGER, AND THE FISH

they should be here in a week or so.

Cool TOTORO Desktop Calendar

I must have this!  That's all I have to say about that.  [link]  It's only $18 (about $325 after shipping, though :) )

I got my Japanese DVDs

Since i cleared out my to-watch shelves, I finally got to order some new Japanese DVDs.

I got them this past weekend and have watched most of them.  I keep trying to get some time together to write up some proper reviews, but ... too lazy.

Here's what I got :

MIND GAME - animated.  bizarre.  No the typical "anime style" and looks like it belongs in Liquid TV.  Lots of rotoscoping, live action video overlay/compositing, and some CG.  Visually enchanting.  Story was so-so.  Expensive, even for a Japanese dvd.

LORELEI - big budget summer stupid movie.  Interesting central idea undone by so many just ridiculous plot elements.  SOME stupidity in a film like this is acceptable (perhaps even desired), but almost everything within is at some level of ridiculousness.  Where it could have been a sci-fi-ish/supernatural DAS BOOT, it ends up being a bizarre PEARL HARBOR-esque mess.

HEAVEN'S BOOKSTORE - Beautiful elegy to love, guilt, and regret and the redemptions that one can find.  Heaven in this case looks more like Purgatory and is an interesting idea approaching that of AFTER LIFE.  Some minor characterization problems and perfunctory scenes detracted a bit, but the tenderness was palpable.

MOONLIGHT JELLYFISH - Similar to GILBERT GRAPE as a Yakuza has an autistic younger brother who he cares for.  The beautiful and forlorn nurse plays the love interest.  Overall concept and design is good, but never quite comes together quite right.  Main casting seemed off and the plot gyrations were a bit tedious.

BREATHE IN BREATHE OUT- 6 Tokyo-ites go to Okinawa to cut sugar cane.  As they work together, they grow to know each other and the stories they carry.  Very interesting in that the focus is primarly on the work they do and that much of the backstories actually goes UNTOLD and just implied.  It's beautiful and feels too short.  recommended.

MY SECRET CACHE - An earlier work from director Yagushi Shinobu of SWING GIRLS and WATERBOYS.  Comedy about a girl who knows where a $5M stash is hidden but whose efforts to find them lead her on some wild adventures.  At times surreal, at times bizarre, quite enjoyable. 

ONG BAK R1 DVD sucks (THA)

According to the forums at KFCC [link], the US DVD release of ONG BAK is a mighty disappointment, with the major flaw being that the subtitles are the GAWDAWFUL Close Captioned ones like those found in GHOST IN THE SHELL: INNOCENCE DVD.  So that there are sound effects listed such as "[MAN SINGING]" and the like.  Unbelievable.  How hard is it to just put out a decent DVD?  It's like they go out of their way to screw things up.

Criterion RAN coming 11/05 (JPN)

Criterion mentioned that RAN was coming, but it was on April 1st and noone knew if they should take it truly seriously.  Well, now they have it on their website as releasing in November [link] alongside UGETSU.  Thank Gawd.  The current version (Masterworks) is borderline mediocre with a borderline poor picture, though it is anamorphic, and boring commentary full of fairly banal information, much of which any Kurosawa fan would already know.

The new version will contain the items on the Japanese DVD as well as brand new extras and most importantly, a digitally remastered picture.  Since it's Criterion, we know they'll finally get the picture right.

UGETSU Criterion coming 11/05

Criterion is finally releasing UGETSU on DVD.  [link]  Coming in November.  I sold my Laserdisc just last year (for about $100) and so I've been waiting for this for a while.

The great Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi draws on sources from both East and West for this, his crowning achievement. Focusing on an ambitious potter haunted by a beautiful ghost and a farmer who dreams of becoming a samurai, Ugetsu offers a commentary on the delusions of lust and power and the folly of war. Renowned cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa helps Mizoguchi seamlessly interweave the supernatural with reality, creating one of the most beautiful films of all time.

New Stuff watched

HELLO BROTHER (HELLO GOODBYE LITTLE BROTHER)
A family melodrama about a 12year old boy with a brain tumor.  The story is told from the boy's 9year old younger brother, a child at once playful and fun and irritating and petulant, as 9year olds tend to be.  The strength of the movie is in the relationships between the main boys, including the two brothers, a geeky boy at school, and an optimistic cancer-stricken boy.  The film captures the essence of being a child, that is to say, the children feel quite authentic in their actions, their moods (swings), their responses, and their diction.  These aren't the Dakota Fanning/Haley Joel Osment intricate expositional children of the US and that's the charm.  The film itself takes a fairly standard route and there are few surprises; there are a few perfunctory scenes and at times it seems almost too tidy and cliche, but fortunatley those moments don't linger too long. The gentle direction and the warm acting elevate this above those slight missteps.  It's a family melodrama and it does its job very well.  At the end, there's a titlecard that says this was based on a true story.  Grade: 89 (B+)

INNOCENT STEPS
Moon Geun-Young is one of my favorite young actresses.  She's shown a nice range of emotions as well as having a stunning screen presence and she's growing up to be quite the beautiful young lady.  She's a definite superstar in the making.  And INNOCENT STEPS is an example of that.  With just about any other generic 19year old (is she that old already?!), this movie would lapse into irrelevance, but with Moon Geun-Young, it's a surprisingly watchable film.  It's a formula film that's half-SHALL WE DANSU and half-GREEN CARD.  She's an illegal immigrant from China faking a marriage so that she can stay in Korea.  Her "husband" is a former championship ballroom dancer and she wants to learn to dance so she can be a success.  There's an evil nemesis dancer, a pair of Immigration investigators, a love story, a case of mistaken identity, and a "Big Dance" competition.  You can almost visualize the movie already, I'm sure.  Dance sequences are nice if not great and the moments of Ballet are far too meager for my taste (more ballet!).  It was definitely a diverting film, but (again) mostly for the charms of Moon Geun-Young.  Grade: 78 (C+)

GREEN FISH
Lee Chang-Dong is a God.  Every film that I've seen of his has been a near Masterpiece or better.  OASIS, PEPPERMINT CANDY, and now GREEN FISH.  GREEN FISH is kind of a gangster movie, but sharply different from most others.  Han Seok-Gyu plays a 26year old just discharged from the Army and arriving home to his somewhat family, comprised of Mother, sister, sister's husband, drunken brother, drunken brother's wife, and brother with cerebral palsy.  He eventually is accepted into a gang, even though he's fundamentally goodnatured.  And then begins his slow, gradual descent.  Quite amazing and a marvelous acting job by Han Seok-Gyu.  Grade: 95 (A)