I've caught three relatively modern films from South-East Asia over the past week and sadly, all via youtube, such is the lack of distribution for these films (2 were submitted to the oscars for foreign language film). The first I'd had described to me as "Pushing Daisies meets Tony Takitani" and seeing as I love Pushing Daisies and Tony Takitani is my favourite film from 2005 I decided to check it out, in spite of being told it wasn't very good.
I can see the comparison. This film, The Shoe Fairy, is a Taiwanese modern fairy tale about a girl who cannot walk as a child and is given a new pair of feet via an operation, which results in an obsession with shoes. The shopping obsession is where the Tony Takitani comparison fits well and it's very Pushing Daisies in terms of the art direction - the colours, the sets and the general tone of the piece. The acting is nice, there are lots of sweet moments and in the main it's a good watch. It's best in the first half, thereafter it does tend to drag a touch and get bogged down because they're trying their best to pad it out, but they do bring it back together by the end. Far too cute for most people's taste so I couldn't broadly recommend it but if you like that Pushing Daisies/Penelope-esque tone then this will be a decent enough way to spend 90 minutes.
A better paced effort was the Japanese hit Hula Girls. It's rather similar to The Full Monty in that it is about layoffs from the mine which the local community is dependent upon and the creation of "Hawaii" using girls from effected families to become Hula dancers. A professional teacher is brought in (with all her baggage) and a not unfamiliar plot unravels. It's a nice film, the comedy of the supporting characters doesn't really travel well but in general it does get more amusing the longer it goes with the occasional laugh out loud moment. The montages of the dancing are nicely done indeed, but the tone isn't entirely successfully achieved as they try to balance everything from cheese to serious moments (e.g. domestic abuse) and then the comedy. Still though it is very watchable and quite pacey, not a brilliant film but a very accessible one (I'd still recommend the original of Shall We Dance though for people interested in checking out some commercial Japanese cinema).
So from Taiwan and Japan to South Korea, with what was at the time the most commercially successful film in that country's history (it took $85m and cost less than $5m to produce). Considering the budget that they had to work with on King and the Clown the outcome is very impressive in terms of sets and costumes (even though it obviously pales in comparison to other recent films from the region in those stakes). It's a story set in the 16th century of how a pair of acrobatic street-performers work their way into the Royal household as minstrels. It's the paciest of the three (hence the acceleration of the title 
) and also the most watchable. It's quite funny in places and the numerous "plays within plays" don't become repetitive, they just advance the story. The story isn't revelatory or incredibly well acted, but it's solidly played and made and makes for a fine film. There are homosexual under/overtones which I saw draw comparison with Farewell, My Concubine, this couldn't be more different to that sweeping, epic, heartbreaking film - it's funny, it's entertaining and it flies by, but there's not much in terms of depth or emotional feeling despite the melodrama of the last reel or two.