Asian Drama

A reporter discovers the existence of a "comment unit" while reporting on online public opinion manipulation and encounters a shocking reality while covering them.

(Source: Daum)

Adapted from the novel "Daetkkeulbudae" (댓글부대) by Jang Kang Myung (장강명).

A coastal city in Brazil. Kai arrives from Taiwan for holidays with a broken heart. A broken air conditioner sends her into Fu Ang’s umbrella store. He could become a friend, but the rainy season doesn't arrive and his shop disappears. While looking for Fu Ang, Kai discovers the story of Xiaoxin and a group of Chinese workers in a posh skyscraper. Kai finds herself strangely mirrored in Xiaoxin’s tale.

Adapted from the novel "Novoland: Revival" (九州·龙悸) by Tang Que.

In the Wanli Year of the Ming Dynasty, marauders team up with spies in the imperial court to frame the family of Lord Qiu, Minister of War. However, the youngest daughter Qiu Moyan is rescued by the warrior Zhou Huai'an. Before his death, Lord Qiu hands over the Ming Dynasty's coastal defense plan to his daughter, hoping to entrust it to someone who could shoulder the important responsibility of saving the dynasty. In order to obtain the defense plan, the marauders hunt down Zhou Huai’an and Qiu Moyan. The imperial court also lists the two as the most wanted criminals. To protect the defense plan and the descendant of the Qiu family, Zhou Huai’an looks for Dragon Gate Inn’s boss Jin Xiangyu for help. For the love of her life, Jin Xiangyu hides the defense map in the inn and transforms the inn into a dragon ship that stays away from the martial world, protecting the defense map until the right time comes. Unexpectedly, Qiu Moyan accidentally falls into the hands of the marauders. At the same time, the imperial court also sends Xu Yi, a crime-solving expert, to the ship to arrest Zhou Huai’an and Qiu Moyan. With different agendas, several forces fight to the death on this strange dragon ship.

Duration: 1 hr. 13 min.

Set two years after the drama series "Nemesis," Kazama Naoki works for Nemesis Detective Agency and is regarded as a brilliant detective. He is able to solve the most difficult of cases, but he has a secret. His secret is that he is actually a lousy detective and he relies on the genius skills of his assistant Mikami Anna to solve cases. Their partnership continues.

Based on the webcomic "0.0MHz" by Jang Jak, which follows members of a club who are haunted by ghosts. They venture into a haunted abandoned house, planning to investigate and find a way to stop the paranormal happenings there but encounter something else instead.

A quiet teen's life is shaken up when she's forced to be her arrogant neighbor's slave. He loves her, but they both have a lot to learn about trust.

13-year-old Su-rin moves to a remote island with her step-father when her mother passes away. She befriends Sung-min, an orphan boy who truly understands her. One day, they venture into a cave in the forest with a group of kids...

Megumi is a hikikomori who refuses to go to school. She uses the app "Katekyo Plus", in which an avatar of a teacher teaches to study. One day, classmate Souta arrives to report the death of her friend Manami. However that same evening, Megumi receives a email from Manami, who should be dead, which triggers Megumi's avatar teacher to switch to another person.

Bling bling god. This film is based on the Chinese traditional mythology character Zhao Gongming, the god of wealth. It tells the story of Zhao Gongming when he was visiting the world and discovered that the plague god was raising the ancient monsters privately, trying to seal the monsters for the sake of the common people. A story about wanting to be slandered by the plague god, leading to being demoted in the world.

Morita Sae (Takimoto Miori) lives in the town of Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture. One day, when she visits Spa Resort Hawaiians with her family and their pet dog, Choco, she sees girls doing the hula dance and gets completely engrossed. Time passes. Sae joins Spa Resort Hawaiians. She fulfils her dream to become a hula girl and enjoys her days to the fullest. But on 11 March 2011 at 2.46 p.m. when she is taking a break back stage after the end of a show, the Great East Japan Earthquake hits. Her peaceful, regular life undergoes a sudden change. Transportation and telecommunications are disrupted due to the earthquake. At the hotel, the manager Haseda Takeshi (Ihara Tsuyoshi) issues instructions to staff to take care of guest needs as much as possible. Sae and fellow dancers, Takezawa Kasumi (Haru) and Shimano Hikari (Sasamoto Rena), wait for their families to contact them. She focuses on her family and Choco. At the Moritas at that moment, her father Zenko (Taguchi Hiromasa), mother Ayano (Nakahara Kannan) and elder sister Ami (Sato Megumi) are all safe, but a temporary evacuation warning has been issued because of a second earthquake alert. Sae finally gets hold of her family. The next morning, she rushes over to the evacuation centre where they are waiting. However, Choco is not there. Sae dissolves into tears at the memories of Choco. She had always had her family and Choco by her side. It was Choco that cheered her up each time she came back home after she joined Spa Resort Hawaiians and got yelled at by the instructor, Yoshimoto Minako (Kikuchi Momoko), for not being able to dance to her satisfaction, and whenever she had difficult moments. Forced into harsh circumstances because of the earthquake, Sae and the hula girl members grow depressed. But they also believe in resuming their dance and begin to practice with Minako’s encouragement. Meanwhile, taking Hikari’s suggestion, they pay visits to evacuation centres as well as start the Hula Girls National Kizuna Caravan to hold free performances nationwide to cheer up and bring smiles throughout Japan with the hula dance. The hula girls including Sae transform their sorrow and pain into smiles for the sake of Fukushima’s rehabilitation and Spa Resort Hawaiians’ reopening. Like the hula girls 46 years ago, they head to various parts of the country. However, adversity beyond their imagination awaits them.

It's New Year's Eve for the Hotel Avanti, and the whole place is in panic mode. There's an award ceremony and countdown party to prepare for, guests to greet, entertainment to organise, a persistent call girl to deter, an escapee duck to find, and more.

It is near impossible to sum up this film in a few neat concise paragraphs. The level of writing that has gone into this film is fantastic. Throughout, it really feels like a stage play. The viewer feels intimate with the story and characters, and there is a real warmth and closeness there that is rare to find. Perhaps it the writer's experience with the stage that allows that quality to come through, and as such it is a real strength for the film.

This intimacy really helps the viewer to involve themselves in the story, which is incredibly fast-paced and deliciously mischievous in design. The film is really funny, and represents a very full spectrum of humour, from "hmmm" funny to "hah hah", and wry to downright silly, but still manages to be quite understated. This isn't the kind of film that you will make Pepsi come out your nose, but it is really funny all the same, and and there are some hilarious cock-ups that will have you giggling gleefully.

The jokes of course wouldn't work without the film's biggest strength: the characters. They are all so enjoyable to watch, as their adventures and mishaps tangle and spiral together, gathering momentum in one huge snowball effect. Some scenes are the culmination of so many threads that it is wonderfully painful to watch it all come together. It is hard not to talk at the TV. To the writer's credit though, the film is often refreshingly unpredictable, and I was impressed to find that this comedy of errors didn't just rely on the same old gags as similarly styled comedies.

The film also carries a dramatic message, and while all of the characters are caricatures of sorts, they are much deeper than that, and live and breath to the extent that the viewer finds themselves genuinely caring about what happens to them. There are so many great characters and scenes in this film that it would be a very cynical viewer that couldn't take away something memorable from it.

The Uchoten Hotel is a delightful film, expertly written, directed and performed. Even as the film effortlessly straddles zaniness and sophistication, and its many threads entwine together, the viewer can, just as the Hotel Avanti promises, think of the place as their second home.