Karaoke

Year: 2009
Director: Chris Chong Chan Fui
Cast: Zahiril Adzim, Amerul Affendi,Hariry Jalil, Mislina Mustapha, Nadiya Nissa

Set in a village estate of a Malaysian oil palm plantation … Betik returns home.

During the day, Betik helps shoot karaoke videos, while at night, he lends a hand to his reluctant mother at the family’s karaoke joint. This is the place where he falls for Anisah. A job, a love and a family. His return home comes together quickly.

But life isn’t so innocent. Everybody wants something. Subtle manipulations driven by self interest and personal desires seep through yet the songs continue to be sung. Unwavering.

The home has changed. The oil palm trees have grown in endless symmetry. The landscape rusts and the nostalgia turns.

Hoedown Showdown

AKA: Monpleng Luktung F.M.
Year: 2002
Director: Bhandit Thongdee
Cast: Roong Suriya, Looknok Suphaporn, Koong Suthirath, Yodrak Salakjai, Sunaree Rachseema, Dao Mayuri, Chiya Mitchai, Apaporn Nakornsawan

"Over-the-top Thai musical featuring an all-star Luktung (Thai country music) cast. The plot is as conventional as they come, but fluffy performances and the ironic tone of the film make the experience enjoyable. Along with Molam and Thai-pop, Luktung (literally "music from up-country") is one of Thailand's most popular music genres. It's been influenced by pop, rock, electronica and obviously foreign music. But, one of the reasons of its success is that it always keeps a link to the past. Hoedown Showdown marks something new for Thai Cinema, as it's the first film completely dedicated to the Luktung industry, and features many of the biggest stars of the genre like Roong Suriya, Looknok Suphaporn, and Sunaree Rachseema." (from LoveHKFilm.com review)

Check It Out, Yo!

Japanese: Chekeraccho!
Year: 2006
Director: Rieko Miyamoto
Cast: Hayato Ichihara, Tasuku Emoto, Yuta Hiraoka, Mao Inoue, Ayumi Ito, Konishiki

Three high school kids try to form their own hip hop band with hilarious results in this intensely likeable, feel good teen comedy from director Rieko Miyamoto.

Sleepwalking Through The Mekong

Year: 2007
Director: John Pirozzi
Cast: Dengue Fever (Chhom Nimol, Zac Holtzman, Ethan Holtzman, Senon Williams, David Ralicke, Paul Smith

This is the trailer for Sleepwalking Through The Mekong, the documentary film featuring Dengue Fever. The two disc set, including the DVD of the film and the film's soundtrack, will be released on April 14, 2009 in the US. The film chronicles the journey taken by Los Angeles based Khmer rock band Dengue Fever to lead singer Chhom Nimols native Cambodia during the 2005 Water Festival. The bands performances there marked the first time a Western band had performed classic 1960s and 70s Cambodian rock n roll in the country where it was created and nearly erased from existence by the brutal Pol Pot regime.

Beijing Rocks

Chinese: 北京樂與路
Year: 2001
Director: Mabel Cheung Yuen-Ting
Cast: Shu Qi, Daniel Wu, Geng Le, Richard Ng Yiu-Hon, Yu Feihong


"Reading some reviews, I thought this film wanted to explore the underground rock world in beautiful Beijing and failed, but it's simultaneously more and less than that. There is an attempt to explore Beijing's rock 'n roll culture, but it's only used to introduce a more conventional, albeit quite charming love triangle as well as an analysis in general of what it means to be Chinese in and out of the Mainland." (from LoveHKFilm.com review)

Cape No. 7

Chinese: 海角七號
Year: 2008
Director: Wei Te-Sheng
Cast: Van, Chie Tanaka, Kousuke Atari, Rachel Liang Wen-Yin, Min-Hsiung, Mai Tzu, Ma Nien-Hsien, Ying Wei-Min, Shino Lin, Johnny C.J. Lin, Ma Ju-Lung, Bjanav Zenror, Pei Hsiao-Lan, Chang Kuei, Lee Pei-Chen, Chang Chin-Yen, Yukihiko Kageyama

"Taking place in the seaside town of Hengchun, the story concerns an upcoming concert from Japanese pop crooner Kousuke Atari. The organizers want to provide a local act to warm up the crowd, but they lack a band worthy of opening for the star. The town representative (Ma Ju-Lung) refuses to outsource, though. Thanks to his determination and exceptional skill at loudly berating others, the town holds an open audition to find its own representative band. Among the disparate locals who join up are traffic cop and ex-SDU member Rauma (Min-Hsiung), his father Olalan (Bjanav Zenror), teen church pianist Dada (Mai Tzu), and dorky mechanic Frog (Ying Wei-Min). The nominal leader is Aga (singer Van), the town representative's stepson and a former rocker who's bitter from his failure to make it on the Taipei music scene. He's supposed to handle lead vocals plus write the band's signature song, but his surly manner and obvious rebelliousness are issues." (from LoveHKFilm.com review)

Together

Year: 2002 Director: Chen Kaige
Cast: Liu Peiqi, Chen Hong, Wang Zhiwen, Chen Kaige, Tang Yun

"At the urging of his working class father, a young violin prodigy enters Beijing's hyper-competitive music scene in a bid for fame and fortune. But what he finds in the process turns out to be far more important than mere celebrity. Together amounts to a solid, if unspectacular, film from director Chen Kaige." (from LoveHKFilm.com review)

All About Lily Chou Chou

Japanese: リリイ・シュシュのすべて
Year: 2001
Director: Shunji Iwai
Cast: Hayato Ichihara, Shugo Oshinari, Ayumi Ito, Takao Osawa, Miwako Ichikawa, Izumi Inamori, Yu Aoi

"Iwai Shunji's haunting and emotionally charged social drama paints a dark and
sometimes bleak picture of Japanese youth culture. While the film's hard look at the issues of apathy, teen aggression, obsession and nihilism are indeed compelling, the powerful performances from Iwai's talented and youthful cast make this film an absolute must-see." (from LoveHKFilm.com review)

Linda Linda Linda

Year: 2005
Director: Nobuhiro Yamashita
Cast: Bae Doo-Na, Yu Kashii, Aki Maeda, Shiori Sekine, Takayo Mimura, Shioni Yukawa, Kenichi Matsuyama

"With time running out, a newly-formed all-girl rock band must learn a few new songs before their big debut in Linda Linda Linda, a remarkably understated "feel-good" movie like no other. The film's iffy pacing and less obviously commercial sensibilities may confuse viewers expecting a more conventional underdog story, but ultimately, Linda Linda Linda packs quite a few surprises, including a great performance by Korean actress by Bae Doo-Na and undeniably rousing climax." (from LoveHKFilm.com review)

Go Go 70s

Korean: 고고70
Year: 2008
Director: Choi Ho
Cast: Cho Seung-Woo, Sin Min-Ah, Cha Seung-Woo, Song Kyung-Ho, Choi Min-Chul, Kim Min-Goo, Hong Kwang-Ho, Lee Sung-Min, Kim Soo-Jeong, Yoon Chae-Yeon, Lim Yeong-Sik

"Credit should be given to Korean writer-director Choi Ho for trying not to make the same film twice. From the modern drug-addled young adults of Bye, June to the gangster drama of A Bloody Tie, Choi has clearly made an effort to try new topics with every film. His fourth film, Go Go 70s, is his attempt at a Korean version of a music biopic. Based on a true story, Go Go 70s follows the trials and tribulations of The Devils, a soul band from an army town who go to Seoul and end up leading the so-called "Go Go" movement of the mid-70s. " (from LoveHKFilm.com review)

ASA Summer Meeting- Tues. July 14

Our next meeting (probably our only one during the summer!) is next Tuesday, July 14, from 2-4pm. We'll meet up in front of the Goldsmiths Library, and either walk over to the Graduate School (if a room is free) or stay in the library. Topics to be discussed: ASA autumn film series (music as a theme), ASA conference to take place next Feb./March, with a similar theme, maybe contemporary arts in a globalized Asia?, and a reading list for the Fall term.

After the meeting, we can all head over to the MA Visual Arts: Transnational Arts' Graduation Show at Camberwell College of Arts (University of the Arts London) in support of ASA member, Gerard Choy. The Private View is from 5-8pm at House Gallery (70 Camberwell Church Street, SE5 8QZ) and from 6-9pm at Wilson road (Camberwell College of the Arts, Wilson Road, SE5 8LU). More info: www.transnational.org.uk

Tentative Schedule

Feb. 25 Chinese Film
Readings:
1) Stephen Teo "Promise and perhaps love: Pan-Asian production and the Hong Kong-China interrelationship" Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2008, p.341-358
2) Chris Berry and Mary Farquhar "The National in the Transnational" from China On Screen: Cinema and Nation, NY: Columbia University, 2006, p.195-222 (Goldsmith Library: 791.430951 BER)
-inviting Chris Berry to speak to us (or at a later date?)
Film Screening: Peter Chan's "Perhaps Love" (2005) 107 min.

March 4
Readings:
1) Re-visit John Hutnyk's "Culture" + another Hutnyk text. John will (hopefully) be joining us for questions
2) Allen Chun "The Postcolonial Alien in Us All: Identity in the Global Division of Intellectual Labor" positions: east asia cultures critique, Vol. 16, No. 3, Winter 2008, p.689-710 (link)

March 11 Japanese in Film
Readings:
1) Koichi Iwabuchi "Lost in TransNation: Tokyo and the urban imaginary in the era of globalization" Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Vol. 9, No. 4, 2008, p.543-556
2) David Morley- either a chapter from Spaces of Identity or something more recent
-inviting David Morley to speak to us (or at a later date?)
Film Screening: Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation" (2003) 102 min. + "Lost on Location: Behind the Scenes of 'Lost in Translation'" (2004) 30 min. / OR "Memoirs of a Geisha" (2005) 145 min.

March 18 Self-Orientalism in Music
Readings:
1) Tony Mitchell "Self-Orientalism, Reverse Orientalism and Pan-Asian Pop Cultural Flows in Dick Lee's Transit Lounge" from Rogue Flows: Trans-Asian Cultural Traffic, ed. Koichi Iwabuchi, Stephan Muecke, Mandy Thomas, Hong Kong University Press, 2004, p. 95-118 (Goldsmiths Library- 306.4095 ROG)
2) TBD
Music: Dick Lee's "Transit Lounge", Lee-Hom Wang's "Shangri-la"

March 25 TBA

Spring Break (March 27-April 27) Frankfurt School
Virtual dialogue through blog and Skype conference (Time: Montreal 8am, London 1pm, Tokyo 10pm)
Readings:
1) Adorno Culture Industry
2) Benjamin The Age of Mechanical Reproduction
3) Gramsci Prison Notes
4) Negri Empire + review of Empire (photocopy hand-out)

Other topics of interest: 'samuraisation', 'occidentalism'
* We've got a reading pack with most of the selected texts, so let us know if you can't access articles online