Great Asian cinematographers, editors, artistic directors and music composers?

[James Logan]

Was just curious about your favorite Asian craftsmen... :)

[James Logan]

Oh yeah, I like those too. :p

[SAI]

^ Smartass

The only person I've seen enough work by to really admire is DP Peter Pau, he shot The Killer and works with Ronny Yu a lot

[James Logan]

Yes, Pau I do indeed like too. The man actually did most of the charm of CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON for me -- and many other people I'm sure. Wing-Hung Wong is also one I appreciate, not a huge artist but he's worked on THE KILLER too and on a few Jackie Chan movies (THE ACCIDENTAL SPY and DOUBLE DRAGON among others).

When it comes to music, the only composer from Asia I'm familiar with is Dun Tan. He's gotten an Oscar for CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON if I remember well, and he did the music for HERO too. I'm becoming a great fan.

Editors...I really like Kurosawa's work as an editor on his own movies. Call me crazy, but the sliding edits from SEVEN SAMURAI (like those in SW), THE HIDDEN FORTRESS, RAN...I dunno, those films had editing style. :)

That's about all I got. Hope it'll inspire some. :)

[The 8 Ball]

Zhang Yimou and Wong Kar-wai make great artisitic films. They are amazing people.

My favorite cinematoagher is Chris Doyle who has done work for all of WKW's films, Hero, Infernal Affairs The Quiet American and Rabbit Proof Fence.

my favorite composers are Zhao Jiping, who did work for Farewell My Concubine, The Emperor and The Assassin, Ju Dou, Raise The Red Lantern, and To Live. And the team who has worked for most of Wong Kar-wai films: Frankie Chan & Roel A Garcia. They make very moody, jazzy, nerotic music.

[LondonBoy]

Asian...that would include Indian ...try Satyajit Ray, a Bengali director who was regarded by many as the best director to come out of India. Akira Kurasawa, Sir Richard Attenborough, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese etc...were all fans.

Do me a favour and watch his first movie, Pather Panchali (part of the Apu Trilogy). You will not be disappointed.

[Neesh]

aside from the obvious choices that we all know and love.... lately I've been really impressed by Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung (not sure which one of those is his first name....).
He has two movies (that I know of) that you can get in the US: The Scent of Green Papaya, and Vertical Ray of the Sun. They both look stunning. Not sure who the DP was on those, but he deserves props as well.

[JCPhoenix]

hands down best asian composer in my opinion is Joe Hisaishi who has done all of the Hayao Miyazaki movies (Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky, Totoro, Princess Mononoke, etc).

He writes incredible film scores that are so majestic...i love his stuff. Castle in the Sky is my favorite of all of his scores (every theme is amazing in the movie...the main theme, the sad piano theme, the trumpet theme...there are at least 10 recognizable themes in this movie, and they're all excellent...).

He generally uses piano like Philip Glass does - underscoring it with other string instruments, etc, though his sound is wholly different from that of Glass's. Other great pieces he's done - Eve from the Japanese movie Parasite Eve is a premier example of a typical Hisaishi piece - piano at the front, string in the background. My favorite Hisaishi piece without question is Rain from Kikujiro's Summer. A beautiful piece that uses piano, violin, and cello to create a very relaxing and moving piece. Find it on Kazaa or something if you can, it's around 5 or 6 minutes long. (Summer from Kikujiro's Summer is good too, but they're basically the same theme done in different ways. In my opinion, Rain is vastly superior.)

[James Logan]

Well, I never thought this thread would pick up. :)

Nice picks there folks...nice picks.

[pat00139]

I can add two people, and reiterate the rest.

I can second Peter Pau and Christopher Doyle and Tan Dun. I think they're amazing. The Pang Brothers, I find do a terrific job editing the movies they work on (Danny worked on Infernal Affairs). I also really like Raymond Wong's music, especially when he does a Johnnie To score (I actually love all of the music coming out of Johnnie To's movies, come to think of it, regardless of the composer). The 2 Running Out of Time scores are just awesome. He also scored Shaolin Soccer and The Blade.

The other person I can add is Andrew Lau (or Lau Wai-Keung, whichever you prefer). He shot OUATIC 3 and sometimes acts as his own DP when he directs something (The Storm Riders and Infernal Affairs, for example). He also one a HK award for shooting Chungking Express (with Mr. Doyle). I think his work is very good.

I actually think Christopher Doyle is the single best DP alive today. How Jon Favreau got him to do Made, I'll never know, but he made with for it with The Quiet American.

In any case, those are the people I can think of for now.

[Grim H.]

As for asian directors, I'm gonna be the mainstream asshole who doesn't know shit about foreign films and say...Akira Kurosawa. Seven Samurai was badass, simple as that.

[The 8 Ball]

Well, I'm not arguing with that. Akira Kurosawa is one of the best directors ever PERIOD, but he definitely isn't the only great Asian director

[fransisca]

My favorite Asian Director by far is the Japanese Takeshi Kitano.
He is a fantastic director, actor, writer and editor.

[SAI]

I'm just getting into asian film but these people are among the best in their fields:

Director: Takashi Miike, John Woo

Coreographer/Acton Director: Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Lam Ching Ying (all of them worked on The Prodigal Son)

Stunt Performer: Jackie Chan, Mars

[Asokan]

Well, since the best Japanese and Hongkong craftsmen have been named, I will go to India:

Directors:
Mira Nair, whose MONSOON WEDDING (2001) touched me more than I expected after the crap that was KAMA SUTRA (1996).
Manirathnam, the best director of Kollywood cinema, who has been responsible for the beautiful love stories BOMBAY (1994) and ALAIPAYUTHEY (2000)
K.S. Ravikumar, who excelled with Rajinikanth-starrer MUTHU (1994) and the underrated MUTHU KULIKKA VAREENGALAA (1996).
P. Vasu, whose CHINNA THAMBI (1991) is a classic to this day.
Ashutosh Gowariker, whose LAGAAN (2001) was a blast - I hope it wasn't a fluke.

Composers:
Ilaiyarajah, the living legend of Kollywood cinema, who has more credits to his name than I can think of. Outstanding work: NAYAGAN (1987), CHINNA THAMBI (1991), MUTHAL MARIYATHAI (1984) etc..
A.R. Rahman, the most inspired Kollywood composer of our time, who dazzled everyone in the 90s, but now is found a bit lacking. Best work: LAGAAN (2001), ALAI PAYUTHEY (2000) etc.

Cameraman:
Anyone who worked with Manirathnam and Jeeva (RUN, 2002).


Still desperate to see my first Satyajit Ray flick, though.