Asian Cinema Film Club
By Brainstew Productions
Each episode sees Elwood and Stephen highlighting a diffrent film worth discovering aswell as discussing a wide variety of topics relating from Actor / director profiles through to exploring the more random aspects of this facinating field.
Asian Cinema Film ClubMay 13, 2023
World Cinema Film Club #12 - Spirit of the Beehive
Elwood and Stephen look at the critically acclaimed "Spirit of the Beehive" widely regarded as the greatest Spanish film of the 1970's while also a key influence on Guillermo Del Toro's "The Devil's Backbone".
Taking place in the wake of the Spanish civil war in a small village were a viewing of "Frankenstein" which will forever change how six year old Ana views the world around her.
Top Asian Cinema - 200 - 250
Elwood and Stephen celebrate another 25 episodes by adding another 50 picks to their ever growing list of essential Asian Cinema
Check out the full list - Asian Cinema Film Club - Top 250
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A.C. Film Club #125 - The Vengeance Trilogy (Sympathy For Mr. Vengence / Oldboy / Lady Vengence)
Elwood and Stephen take an in-depth look at Park Chan Wook's Vengeance trilogy in this bumper length edition of the show
featuring special guest hosts
Kim Lo ( Movies and Tea / Game Warp ) on Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance
Scott K ( The Church of Tarantino ) on Oldboy
Nicholas Rehak on Lady Vengence
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World Cinema Film Club #11 - Leningrad Cowboys Go America
Stephen and Elwood look at the quirky indie comedy Leningrad Cowboys Go America.
Arriving in the states with their footlong quiffs and equally long winkle pickers the band come in search of fame and fortune. What they find instead is an opportunity to play a wedding in Mexico setting them on a unique road trip all the while being pursued by village idiot Igor.
A.C. Film Club #124 - Royal Warriors aka Police Assassins
Elwood and Stephen look at the Michelle Yeoh classic Royal Warriors which would also become the second film in the long running Line of Duty series.
Here she plays a Hong Kong Police officer who has to team up with Hiroyuki Sanada's Japanese detective and Michael Wong's air marshal to stop a terrorist group out for revenge!!
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A.C. Film Club #123 - The Housemaid (2010)
Elwood and Stephen look at the 2010 remake of The Housemaid as they find out how it compares to the critically acclaimed original.
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World Cinema Film Club #10 - Diego Maradona
Elwood and Stephen look at Asif Kapadia's documentary Diego Maradona compiled from over 500 hours of footage from Maradona's personal archive as it charts the career of the legendary football player.
Kaiju Christmas - Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah
Kaiju Christmas come to the podcast once again and bringing with it the same chaotic energy of the last day of school as Elwood and Stephen are joined by Nick Rehak (Lyrical Innuendo) and the Rev. Scott Kraushaar (The Church of Tarantino) to look at Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah.
The group also share their cultural high points as well as the low points of 2023!!
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A.C. Film Club #122 - The Housemaid (1960)
Elwood and Stephen look at The Housemaid (1960) a favourite of both Martin Scorsese aswell as a key inspiration for Bong Joon Ho's Parasite as a Housemaid hired by a piano teacher and his seamstress wife soon turns out to be more of a problem that either could imagine.
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A.C. Film Club #121 - The Legend of the Stardust Brothers
Elwood and Stephen look at the zany musical comedy The Legend of the Stardust Brothers as rival singers Kan and Shingo find themselves paired together by music producer Mimiami. But as their star rises can they hold onto the top spot especially with the arrival of a new pop sensation Kaoru.
Plus is physical media really the best for film preservation, controversial music opinions and more!!
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World Cinema Film Club #9 - The Batwoman
Elwood and Stephen look at the fantastical world of Mexican wrestling movies with The Batwoman as when wrestlers are mysteriously turning up dead it's down to The Batwoman to investigate.
A.C. Film Club #120 - King of Comedy + Killer Constable
Elwood and Stephen tackle a double feature of Stephen Chow's "King of Comedy" while listener Marcus nominates "Killer Constable" for his Listener Roulette pick
Plus - Stephen finally watches House, Elwood wraps up Asian Horror month and hint at what month is coming next plus more!!
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World Cinema Film Club #8 - Persepolis
Elwood and Stephen look at Persepolis the animated adaptation of Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel about her life in pre and post-revolutionary Iran as the film traces Satrapi's life and her own rebellion she lead against an oppressive regime.
Asian Horror Month Recap #3
Elwood goes over the week's horror viewing for Asian Horror Month including
* The Snake Girl and The Silver Haired Witch
* Horrors of Malformed Men
* Tetsuo The Iron Man
* Angel Dust
* House
* Tokyo Gore Police
* Greatful Dead
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A.C. Film Club #119 - Dark Water
Elwood and Stephen are joined once again by Rashmi Menon to look at Hideo Nakata's "Dark Water" as single mother Yoshimi struggles to deal with her divorce moves into a rundown apartment building only to find their new home suffering a leak which continues to grow as Yoshimi begins to notice strange things happening around the building.
We look at the remake, question why so many directors fail to transfer their success to Hollywood and Rashmi reveals the details of her own soon to be launched podcast plus more!!
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A.C. Film Club #118 - Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Elwood and Stephen look at Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives the first Thai film to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in which Uncle Boonmee suffering from Kidney disease and believing he is going to die soon brings his relatives together in the countryside were he is soon visited by the ghosts of the family he has lost.
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Asian Horror Month Recap #2
Elwood goes over the week's horror viewing for Asian Horror Month
* Dumplings
* Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters
* Nuigulumar Z: Gothic Lolita Battle Bear
* Digital Devil Saga: Megami Tensei
* Vampire Hunter D
* Goke Body Snatcher From Hell
Plus Stephen picks a fight, the importance of media preservation and working actors plus more!
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World Cinema Film Club #7- The Vanishing
Elwood and Stephen look at the Dutch thriller The Vanishing in which Rex and Saskia a young couple holidaying in France find their vacation taking a nightmarish twist when Saskia disappears. Now three years later Rex is contacted by a man who knows what happened to her.
We look at how the film suffered a disastrous American remake, talk about the memorable ending and why the film is still worth watching even if you know the ending.
Asian Horror Month Recap #1
Elwood takes on another 31 day challenge as this year he focuses on Horror as he sits down with Stephen to recap the good and the bad of the journey so far as they discuss
* Bloody Chainsaw Girl
* Zombie For Sale
* Mikadroid: Robokill Beneath Club Layla
* Chainsaw Man (Season #1)
* Battle Royale 2
* Devilman (OVA Trilogy)
* Calamity of Snakes
* Genocyber (OVA)
* Pulse
* Hiruko The Goblin
* #Alive
* The Boxer's Omen
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A.C. Film Club #117 - Shadow
Elwood and Stephen look at Zhang Yimou's Shadow as a brilliant general devises an intricate plan involving his wife, a look-alike, and two kings.
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A.C. Film Club #116 - Whispering Corridors
Elwood and Stephen look at the first film in the Whispering Corridors series a South Korean ghost story set in an all girls school as a series of unusual murders leads a group of girls to investigate the mysteries the school is hiding.
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World Cinema Film Club #6- The Fireman's Ball
Elwood and Stephen look at Miloš Forman's 1967 comedy following a small town's volunteer fire department attempting to put on their annual ball only for someone to start stealing the raffle prizes, the beauty contest has gone astray and no one is paying for their drinks!
A.C. Film Club #115 - Summer Wars
Elwood and Stephen look at Summer Wars in which the world has become reliant on a digital realm called Oz which maths genius Kenji unwittingly unlocks for the A.I. Love Machine which soon sets about taking over Oz and bringing humanity to it's knees.
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World Cinema Film Club #5 - Subway
Elwood and Stephen look at the Cinema Du Look movement with Luc Besson's Subway as a thief on the run from gangsters hides out in the Paris subway system only to soon discover a subterranean community living under the city streets.
A.C. Film Club #114 - Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy
Elwood and Stephen look at Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit's Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy based on 410 consecutive tweets by @marylony following Mary as she deals with her final year at school and the many problems it brings with it.
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Author Ramona Lee Soo-Jun (Agent 00)
Stephen and Elwood are joined by author Ramona Lee Soo-Jun to talk about her book Agent 00 Volume.1 ahead of it's English language release as she talks about the writing experience as well as her Asian cinema inspirations.
Ramona also brings a great listener roulette pick to the show for us to discuss.
World Cinema Film Club #4 - Volver
Elwood and Stephen head to Spain for Pedro Almodovar's quirky comedy Volver as three generations of women in the same family attempt to deal with a body, running a restaurant as well as their ghost mom as Almodovar pays tribute to the region he was born La Mancha.
A.C. Film Club #113 - Matango aka Attack of the Mushroom People
Elwood and Stephen look at the 1963 horror film Matango also known by the colourful title Attack of the Mushroom People as a group of friends find themselves shipwrecked on an island with an abundance of mushrooms, while slowly discovering the secrets the island hides.
Directed by the legendary Ishiro Honda we look at how it differs from his usual style aswell as looking at the films he directed outside of the Kaiju movies he is best known for.
We also look at one of Japan's weirdest bands Hanatrash.
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A.C. Film Club #112 - The Assassin
Elwood and Stephen look at Hou Hsiao-Hsien's wuxia movie The Assassin as they attempt to dissect the plot from the arthouse direction in this unique tale of revenge set during the last years of the Tang dynasty
Plus Godzilla '98 re-evaluated, The Independent Podcast Awards + Ran and Punk Samurai reviewed and more!!
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World Cinema Film Club #3 - The Hunt
Stephen and Elwood's world cinema travels this time take them to Denmark for Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt as kindergarten teacher Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen) finds himself at the centre of a witch hunt when one of the children claims he sexually abused her and sending the small town into a state of mass hysteria as accusations are made and rumours begin to spread.
A.C. Film Club #111 - I Saw The Devil
Elwood and Stephen look at Kim Jee-Woon's unique thriller as secret agent Kim Soo-hyeon (Lee Byung-hun) sets out to find serial killer Kyung-chul (Choi Min-sik) who killed his fiancé and soon sets about carrying out a very unique revenge.
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A.C. Film Club #110 - The Super Parental Guardians
Elwood and Stephen look at the Philippine action comedy Super Parental Guardians as a pair of mismatched guardians one a social media influencer the other a gang affiliated uncle are forced to look after the kids of their murdered friend / sister in this Netflix exclusive.
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World Cinema Film Club #2 - New Order
Elwood and Stephen head to Mexico for this 2020 thriller set in a dystopian near future were the war between the social classes erupts in violence as a high society wedding is invaded by rioters while the military plan to regain control of both the country and government. Meanwhile Bride to be Marianne finds herself caught in the midst of the terrifying power shift as various parties attempt to exploit the situation for themselves.
A.C. Film Club #109 - Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss
Elwood and Stephen look at the Stray Cat Rock series created by Nikkatsu to compete with Toei's Delinquent Boss series while initially designed as a showcase for Akiko Wada with her co-star Meiko Kaji headlining the further four films in the series combining outlaw bikers, tough girl gangs and some truly memorable chase sequences.
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A.C. Film Club #108 - Ringu
Elwood and Stephen look at Ringu not only a bonified horror classic which helped spark the J-Horror boom and respark the interest in Asian Cinema along side Battle Royale and Audition it would go on to spawn multiple remakes, sequels and spin offs which we also look at while also asking if it still holds up?
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World Cinema Film Club #1 - Aguirre The Wrath of God
Elwood and Stephen kick off a new bonus show expanding the cinematic buffet while also getting to provide an introduction to world cinema starting with Werner Herzog's Aguirre The Wrath of God as Klaus Kinski provides another memorable performance as the spanish conquistador Don Lope de Aguirre following his misguided expedition as they trek through the jungles of Peru in search of El Dorado.
A.C. Film Club #107 - Sumo Do, Sumo Don't
Elwood and Stephen look at the 1992 sport comedy Sumo Do, Sumo Don't which recently was adapted into a TV series for Disney+. The film following a rag tag band of misfits who much find a way to work together to help resurrect their school sumo club.
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A.C. Film Club #106 - The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Elwood and Stephen look at Mamoru Hosoda's 2006 anime adaptation of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time which see's a high school girl discovering that she has the ability to leap backwards through time. However while initially using this new found power for her own means, she soon discovers that such power comes at a cost.
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A.C. Film Club #105 - Decision To Leave
It's a co-host crossover special as Kim (Movies and Tea) joins Elwood and Stephen to look at the latest film from Park Chan Wook Decision to Leave which sees a detective investigating the mysterious death of an immigration officer in the mountains, only to soon find himself increasingly drawn to the dead man's mysterious wife who might also be a key suspect in the case.
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A.C. Film Club #104 - The Hidden Fortress
Elwood and Stephen look at Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress a film best known for being a key inspiration for George Lucas when he created Star Wars but how much did he actually take from the film? We find out on this episode as a pair of Peasants find themselves recruited to help to help a rogue general and a princess on the run while trying to get their share of the gold the pair are transporting.
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A.C. Film Club #103 - Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky
Scott (The Church of Tarantino) joins Elwood and Stephen to look at the deliriously bonkers slice of Kung-fu weird that is Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky which sees the superhuman fighter Ricky having to battle through a corrupt prison complete with a sadistic warden and four martial arts masters all keen to take him out in this cult favourite.
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A.C. Film Club #102 - As Tears Go By + Taboo
It's a double feature episode as Elwood and Stephen look at Wong Kai Wai's Mean Streets influenced As Tears Go By as Andy Lau plays Wah a triad enforcer who spends all his time getting his best friend and triad brother Fly (Jackie Cheung) out of trouble while finding his life only getting more complex when he fall for his cousin Ngor (Maggie Cheung).
They also play another round of listener roulette as listener Marcus has them watch Nagisa Ōshima's Taboo aka Gohatto in which an attractive young samurai Kano causes chaos within his samurai clan as various members fight for his affection.
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A.C. Film Club #101 - Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence
Elwood and Stephen go back to were it all began as they look at Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence the sequel to the legendary anime as Section 9's Batou and Togusa are assigned to investigate a string of gruesome murders when gynoids start murdering thier owners and a cryptic message points towards something much darker.
Apologies for the drop in audio quality caused by our recorder having it's own malfunction.
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Top 50 Asian Cinema - Round 4
Elwood and Stephen celebrate another 25 episodes by adding 50 more titles to their list of favourite Asian Cinema.
Check out the full list here
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A.C. Film Club #100 - Godzilla
Stephen and Elwood celebrate this milestone episode with the original Godzilla looking at the legacy and impact the film has had since it's release while also looking back at their favourite episodes on the road to #100!
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A.C. Film Club #99 - Memories of Murder
As we draw ever closer to Episode #100 Stephen has a pretty stellar pick for #99 as we look at Bong Joon Ho's Memories of Murder loosely based on the true story of Korea's first ever serial killer as two small town detectives attempt to solve a brutal murder while being assisted on the case by Seoul detective Seo Tae-yoon. But facing conflicting approaches to investigation and a police force ill equipped to deal with the case will they be able to track down the killer before he strikes again.
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A.C. Film Club #98 - Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War
Elwood and Stephen look at the "Saving Private Ryan" beater "Tae Guk Gi: Brotherhood of War" as two brothers find themselves drafted into South Korean army leaving the older brother doing everything he can to get his younger brother out....but at what cost.
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Kaiju Christmas - Godzilla Vs. Biollante
We also look at the Sight and Sound poll, reveal the films we are most looking forward to watching as well as looking at Godzilla's Heisei era plus more!!
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Kaiju Christmas - August Ragone
As an extra stocking stuffer for this years Kaiju Christmas we have dug this episode out of the MBDS Showcase archives (Elwood's original cult cinema podcast) in which Elwood sits down with Kaiju expert and author August Ragone who having spent over three decades writing about Godzilla and Kaiju movies its safe to say knows a thing or two about Godzilla.
A two time Rondo award winner as well as author of the essential "EIJI TSUBURAYA: MASTER OF MONSTERS" to chat / nerd out over all things Kaiju. From his early beginings on Bob Wilkins "Creature Features" though to his current projects which include hosting movie marathon's for Shout Factory its safe to say he has more than a few things to say about these movies, while we also touch upon the likes of Ultraman and Pacific Rim in what really is jam packed show.
A.C. Film Club #97 - Wheels On Meals
Elwood and Stephen look at the Jackie Chan classic Wheels on Meals as he once more teams up with Yuen Biao as friends operating a food fan in Barcelona only to find themselves mixed up with a profession thief Sylvia while being assisted by Sammo Hung's private detective Moby as the trio soon find themselves pitted against a ruthless gang.
We also look at the legendry showdown against Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, the incredible stunt work and fight sequences aswell as were it charts in Chan's legacy.