Welcome back to our Where To Start With series. Previous blogs have suggested entry-point titles to boutique labels like Radiance, Eureka! and Criterion, as well as suggested titles if you want to get into anime.
Today, though, we are suggesting starter-off-ers from the purveyors of the finest and funnest in Asian cinema: Third Window Films.
Striving to represent a wide variety of film genres, from dramas to comedies, from political satires to action, and anything else in between! In the Third Window Films catalogue, you can expect everything from the unknown and cult to the off-beat and even the occasional mainstream masterpiece!
We are going to start you off today with some of our favourite Third Window titles that showcase the breadth of their library, and finish up with some further watches that are great films to watch next if you have enjoyed our suggestions.
Let's *cracks knuckles* get started…
You may have heard of this one. Shinichiro Ueda’s side-splitting meta zombie comedy One Cut of the Dead blew the roofs off of film festivals all over the world and even bagged a French remake AND a Hollywood semi-remake!
Starting off with a non-stop, one-take 37-minute shot, then completely switching direction and turning the zombie genre completely upside down into a charming, audience-friendly comedy with an ending you won’t see coming!
A non-linear ode to the magic of coming together to make a film, One Cut of the Dead is a very funny, very gory, stand-up-cheering crowd-pleaser.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Another title that may sound familiar, due to the anime adaptation of the same source novel, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a gorgeous, sad and uplifting all-at-once heart-warmer from the director of Hausu (Nobuhiko Obayashi).
Kazuko Yoshiyama (Tomoyo Harada) is a high-school student who, one day, is tasked with cleaning the chemistry lab and faints after one of the beakers containing a strange liquid falls to the ground and breaks. When her classmates, Kazuo (Ryoichi Takanayagi) and Goro (Toshinori Omi), find her, they accompany her home to recover. From then on she starts to notice strange occurrences in her surroundings, with some events seemingly repeating themselves or her having some notion of what could happen next.
The Third Window Films Blu-ray also contains the following extras: an archival interview with Nobuhiko Obayashi, ‘Tomoyo Harada Story’: the star’s audition and behind the scenes, the music video for the film’s credits song and the original trailer.
Pretty much a live-action anime that sees two girls from opposing sub-cultures, Lolita and rocker, team up for a madcap road movie that you will never forget, or get unscorched from your retinas.
Starring Ring 2’s Kyoko Fukada, Kamikaze Girls is a frenetic roller-coaster ride brimming with day-glo visuals and wild hilarity that has to be seen to be believed!
Director Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo: The Iron Man) stars as Tsuda, a salaryman whose unfulfilled wife falls for his physically fit and mentally manipulative brother Kojima. Enraged, Tsuda joins a boxing gym to train to wreak his revenge on Kojima with his fists.
Beautifully shot, brutally violent and an indictment of a generation of drone-like office workers, Tokyo Fist is Japanese Fight Club.
If you are a giallo fan, you will love Door. An East Asian spin on the stalk-and-slash horror subgenre, Door sees a woman trapped inside her own apartment with only the front door between her and a psychopathic killer outside!
A stylish Argento-esque thriller that EXPLODES in the last twenty minutes, the Third Window Blu-ray of Door comes with an audio commentary from Japanese genre film expert Jasper Sharp, an interview with the director Banmei Takahashi, and even the film’s sequel Door 2!
Further watching:
If you dig One Cut of the Dead, then Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes is a must-see. It’s another high-concept comedy, but with time travel instead of zombies! Likewise, if you loved Tokyo Fist, you have to check out Bullet Ballet. It’s from the same director and again deals with the pressures of modern life and masculinity, but with the boxing swapped out for guns!
If you love far-out comedy like I Think You Should Leave and also enjoyed Hausu (from the director of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time), then the brilliant and bonkers Funky Forest: The First Contact and The Warped Forest will definitely be up your alley. And if you’re a Tarantino fan, then you’ll love the Funky Forest director's first film, Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl.
Let us know if you check out any of our recommendations and what you thought. Plus, if you ever want any other film suggestions, just ask us on socials.