November 16 - December 2, 2004

It's Thanksgiving weekend and everyone was too stuffed to come up with much of a blog. Just a couple of things.

First our very own Grady Hendrix is quoted in the NY Times! And he didn't even have to get arrested to do it. An article on House of the Flying Daggers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/27/movies/MoviesFeatures/27dagg.html?oref=login

And if thats not enough he has an article in this months Film Comment on Korean horror. I knew that tiger suit would take him places someday.

There is a South Asian International Film Festival that begins on 12/1 with the US premiere of Bride and Prejudice - the semi-Bollywood take on Jane Austin and starring the imcomparable Aishwarya Rai and directed by Gurinder Chadha (Bend it with Beckham). A few other highlights are the Tamil version of Yuva (which played here earlier in the year) - it's called Ayuda Ezhuthy, a straight true crime drama (Black Friday) about terrorists who set off a number of bombs in Bombay in 1993 and a chance to see a Lollywood film! This is Pakistan's film industry and its called Yeh Dil Aapka Hua. Most of these and others are playing at the Clearview Chelsea West.



http://www.saiff.org/

Next Friday sees a wide release of Zhang Yimou's HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS. Though one of my Subway colleagues isn't entirely enthusiastic about this, I think it's quite brilliant and as lavish as HERO was - more of a traditional romantic wuxia film with stunning action scenes and a gorgeous Zhang Ziyi in close-up. Her dance in the film is a highlight.



December 17 sees the release of the stunning Korean horror movie, A TALE OF TWO SISTERS. There was a free screening last week that not many of you came to - such a shame - it is a remarkable film - perhaps the most beautiful "horror" film ever made and afterwards much of the audience hung outside and talked about it. It was my favorite film from last year.



Cinema Village
PURPLE BUTTERFLY
Opening this week is another chance to see Zhang Ziyi in what is described as an action romantic adventure that takes place in the 1920's and it opened to pretty decent reviews.

Film Forum
DAYS OF BEING WILD
This has been extended
I finally had a chance to catch this on Friday - I have seen it many times before but the newly made print is remarkable - almost like seeing it for the first time. Wong Kar-wai was still experimenting with his style when he made this his second film but his trademark portrayal of unrequited love is firmly in place.

Starring Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Andy Lau and Carina Lau.
read a review:
http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?isindex=days+of+being+wild



ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Avenues)
VEER ZAARA (India, 2004)
This is continuing till next Friday
It is one of those big overblown Bollywood love stories that completely sucks you in even if you know you should be made of tougher stuff - lots of fun and music.

Japan Society
SUSAN SONTAG ON JAPANESE FILM, PART 2
October 15 - December 17
Curated by brainiac, Susan Sontag, this series of hand-picked (like cherries and apples) Japanese classics features some stand-out films and some of the same-old same-old. The last time she did this it was successful. Will it be a winner again?

FIRES ON THE PLANE (Japan, 1959, 105 minutes)
Monday, November 29 @ 6:30PM
Kon Ichikawa directs this grueling flick about a starved and exhausted soldier in the Philippines.

WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS (Japan, 1960, 86 minutes)
Wednesday, December 1 @ 6:30PM
A childless widow works as a madam in Ginza trying to be moral while everything around her is steeped in sin.

PIGS AND BATTLESHIPS (Japan, 1961, 108 minutes)
Monday, December 6 @ 6:30PM
The great Shohei Imamura directs this black comedy about a group of gangsters that controls a town dependent on the local US military base.

HIGH AND LOW (Japan, 1963, 144 minutes)
Tuesday, December 14 @ 6:30PM
Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune together again. Kidnappers get the kid of the chauffeur not of his boss, and the boss has to make a moral choice. I just woke up. If you like BAYSIDE SHAKEDOWN you'll recognize the ending of HIGH AND LOW as the source of the final scene.


Loew's State
VEER ZAARA (India, 2004)

Village East
JU-ON
starts 11/22
Dude, can anyone kill this movie? JU-ON, the Japanese horror movie that was remade as THE GRUDGE keeps crawling onto screens all over town. It's back...again! Oddly enough, it keeps making money whenever they show it. If you haven't done so, go check it out. These guys aren't going to be satisfied until every single resident of New York has seen it at least once.
read a review (there's 46 to choose from):
http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?%5eJu-on%3a+The+Grudge+(2003)

Walter Reade Theater (at Lincoln Center)
THE NEWEST TIGER: 60 YEARS OF SOUTH KOREAN CINEMA
November 12-December 7
Lincoln Center goes for the gold with a retrospective of new and used Korean film. It's artsier than some would like, but there's a ton of flicks worth your while.
It features things like Im Kwon-Taek's latest film LOW LIFE (his 99th movie), Lee Myung-Se's NOWHERE TO HIDE (the most beautiful action movie ever made), Lee Myung-Se's FIRST LOVE (a much-loved Korean romance, and a total change of pace for the director whom Americans know as an action director), Kim Ki-Young's twisted and sick 1960 THE HOUSEMAID that's a mondo psychotronic, rarely-screened movie that's had a huge influence on Korean cinema and a ton of others. Geez, it's like Lincoln Center is on Asian steroids these days.
More info:
http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/programs/11-2004/korea04.htm