I could easily have picked double this number, but here are some insider tips:
Pale Cocoon
Region 2
Released: 18/01/2006
Full Frame 1.33:1
An underspoken sci-fi about a man making surprising discoveries whilst searching through computer archives to establish what has happened in the past. Beautifully animated short film. This release also comes with the additional short film
Aquatic Language, which shows interactions between people in a coffee house.
In China They Eat Dogs
All Regions
Released: 19/04/2005
Anamorphic 1.85:1
Save the Green Planet!
Region 3
Released: 1/08/2003
Anamorphic 1.85:1
Both of the above are dramatic dark comedies. The comedy comes in the form of violence in many cases for both.
In China They Eat Dogs is available in the original Danish with English subtitles on the U.S. release. I've got the South Korean release of
Save the Green Planet, but it's available in the UK.
In
In China They Eat Dogs a main foils a bank robbery, but seeing the flow-on effects from that, convinces his criminal brother to help him make ammends.
In
Save the Green Planet, a man kidnaps a CEO, believing him to be an alien and part of some massive conspiracy. He then proceeds to torture the CEO for information, whilst trying to avoid being caught by the police.
The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello
All Regions
Released: 15/03/2006
Anamorphic 1.85:1
A short film mimicking (and then expanding upon) the silhouette animation style, which really suites the steampunk storyline.
Aragami
Region 4
Released: 6/09/2006
Anamorphic 1.85:1
A slow-paced movie about a wounded soldier who is healed at an isolated temple, and then asked to battle with the "man" there, who claims to be a demon. The director (Ryuhei Kitamura) has a wonderful eye for visuals. It switches several times between slow, pseudo-philosophical conversations to ecclectic, high-speed battles. It was originally shot as part of a challenge set to this and one other director: To make a film mostly set in a single room with only two main characters. There's even one awesome scene (that
has to be watched with the lights out) where the two main characters have a swordfight in the dark... but the sparks off the swords provide enough light for the audience to watch what has to be one of the most unique battles ever committed to celluloid.
Quo Vadis
All Regions
Released: 2/09/2009
Full Frame 1.33:1
Sword & sandal flick about Nero. The Blu-ray really shows up the colours brilliantly, and can be purchased quite cheaply. My favourite film in the genre. Peter Ustinov is completely believable as the mad Nero.
Red Cliff
All Regions
Released: 10/09/2008
Widescreen 2.35:1
Red Cliff II
All Regions
Released: 27/03/2009
Widescreen 2.35:1
John Woo's absolutely epic battles and sweeping storyline are amazing. Different regions of China go to war against one another, with huge battles. A
definite for Blu-ray, it looks amazing. There are two versions... this one (4hrs 46mins across the two parts) and then condensed version which clocks in at less than half of that (and I've heard gets confusing as so much has been excised). If you've got a 7.x surround system, the HK release has
7.1 soundtracks in LPCM, DTS HD-MA and Dolby TrueHD. The other releases apparently still sound great, but most have 5.1 encodes.
Screenshots (courtesy of
Asian Blu-ray Guide):
Part IPart II