firetree65, since you have a DVD player, I recommend "The Flowers of Shanghai" Hong King DVD.  It's currently the only Hou Hsiao Hsein film that out on DVD.  The Chinese and English subtitles appear concurrently, and are non-removeable, but the transfer is very good, and the film itself is exquisite, delicate, and other wordly.

Some of the other hidden Asian film gems to watch out for on DVD, in addition to Tsai's "The Hole", is "Vive l'Amour, also from Tsai.  I agree with funkyduck though, "The Hole" is a better introduction to Tsai's work.  Edward Yang's "Yi Yi" is being released on 5/8 (personally, I thought that this should have been the Taiwanese entry at the Academy Awards instead of CTHD).  There are also Chen Kaige's films ("The Emperor and the Assassin" and "Farewell my Concubine") but Chen is fairly well known internationally.

On the Hong Kong DVD side, there is Stanley Kwan's "Center Stage"; WKW's "Chyngking Express", "Ashes of Time" (better transfer than the Region 1 release), "Fallen Angels"  and "In the Mood for Love"; Nagisa Oshima's "Gohatto"; Anh Dung Tran's "Xich lo" (or "Cyclo", from the director of "The Scent of Green Papaya").

On the VHS side, I highly recommend Tian Zhuangzhuang's "The Horse Thief" and "The Blue Kite" on Kino VHS.

acquarello
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