February 3 - February 10, 2005

COMING SOON

2/11 BRIDE AND PREJUDICE
The director of BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM directs a Bollywood version of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice."

2/11 ONG BAK: MUAY THAI WARRIOR
The title's too long, but who cares? The Thai action flick that you're dying to see. Trust us: it's worth it.

2/18 SKY BLUE
Theatrical release for the animated Korean sci fi epic.

2/18 BAD GUY
A Kim Ki-Duk feature from last year, at Cinema Village. In Disturb-o-Rama.

2/25 BEAUTIFUL BOXER
The hit Thai movie about real-life transsexual kickboxing champion.

3/3 SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE
A three day screening of Park Chan-Wook's sophomore film at BAM.

3/18 KUNG FU HUSTLE
The latest from Hong Kong comedian Stephen Chow...more of an action flick than a comedy, but something of a marvel of modern-day filmmaking.

3/18 STEAMBOY
From the director of AKIRA comes this steampunk adventure flick.

3/28 OLD BOY
Cannes Grand Prix winner and critical darling gets a US release.

4/20 SAVE THE GREEN PLANET
The cracked Korean masterpiece at Film Forum. The most violent anti-violence movie ever made!

4/29 3-IRON
Kim Ki-Duk's latest festival favorite gets a NY/LA release, followed by a national roll-out.


IN GENERAL RELEASE

HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS (2004, China, 119 minutes)
Read reviews:
http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?isindex=house+of+flying+daggers


NOW PLAYING
American Museum of the Moving Image
MAYA (India, 2001, 108 minutes)
Friday, February 4 @ 7:30PM
Women get a raw deal, again, in this Indian film about a 12-year-old girl offered up for a ritual rape that's part of a coming-of-age ceremony in rural India.


Anthology Film Archive
HOU HSIAO-HSIEN RETROSPECTIVE
February 4 - 13
The king of Taiwanese cinema gets a full retro at the Anthology. Includes A CITY OF SADNESS and FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI (both with Tony Leung Chiu-wai of IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE and INFERNAL AFFAIRS), and MILLENNIUM MAMBO (his 2001 film with Shu Qi).

A TIME TO LIVE AND A TIME TO DIE (Taiwan, 1985, 145 minutes)
Friday, February 4 @ 7:00 & Tuesday, February 8 @ 9:30.

DUST IN THE WIND (Taiwan, 1987, 110 minutes)
Friday, February 4 @ 10:00 & Tuesday, February 8 @ 7:00.

THE GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME (Taiwan, 1982, 92 minutes)
Saturday, February 5 @ 2:30 & Monday, February 7 @ 7:00.
in 16mm.

THE BOYS FROM FENGKUEI (Taiwan, 1983, 98 minutes)
Saturday, February 5 @ 4:30 & Monday, February 7 @ 9:00.
in 16 mm

DAUGHTER OF THE NILE (Taiwan, 1987, 90 minutes)
Saturday, February 5 @ 7:00, Friday, February 11 @ 7:00 & Sunday, February 13 @ 4:30.

A CITY OF SADNESS (Taiwan, 1989, 157 minutes)
Saturday, February 5 @ 9:00 & Friday, February 11 @ 9:00.

THE PUPPETMASTER
Sunday, February 6 @ 3:30 & Saturday, February 12 @ 6:30.
His best film!

GOOD MEN, GOOD WOMEN (Taiwan, 1995, 108 minutes)
Sunday, February 6 @ 7:00 & Saturday, February 12 @ 4:00.

GOODBYE SOUTH, GOODBYE (Taiwan, 1996, 112 minutes)
Sunday, February 6 @ 9:15 & Saturday, February 12 @ 9:30.
His fun-est film!

FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI (Taiwan, 1988, 113 minutes)
Wednesday, February 9 @ 7:00 & 9:30 & Sunday, February 13 @ 6:30.

MILLENNIUM MAMBO ((Taiwan, 2001, 105 minutes)
Thursday, February 10 @ 7:00 & 9:15 & Sunday, February 13 @ 9:00.


China Institute
HITCHCOCK WITH A CHINESE FACE
Friday, February 11 @ 6:30PM
A discussion of three outstanding films that demonstrate the ironic borrowing of Western cinematic culture to critique the impact of foreign values entering the Chinese moral sphere. Fun for the whole family!
Followed by a screening of Yim Ho's 1994 THE DAY THE SUN TURNED COLD.


Film Forum
BORN INTO BROTHELS (USA, 2004)
Daily @ 2:50PM and 8:20PM
A documentary about kids growing up in the Calcutta brothels, this film is saved from a myriad of sins by the fact that the director gave cameras to the kids and let them shoot photos of their own lives. Sure - they'd probably be better off with full tuition to a boarding school, but apparently they love it and some of them are even ace photographers.
read reviews:
http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?isindex=born+into+brothels


ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Avenues)
ARAKIMENTARI (2004, USA, 85 minutes)
Nobuyoshi Araki is not only one of the world's most published photographers (350 books and counting), but he's a big ol' pervert. His photos of naked Japanese women are the kind of things that the people who go to Suicide Girls collect. If you're too hip to be caught with pornography, you buy his books. Now he's got a documentary about his life and work. Great for making out.

BLACK (2005, India, 125 minutes)
Starts February 11 @ 12:20, 5:15, 9:45
Sanjay Leela Bansali directed HUM DIL DE CHUKE SANAM and DEVDAS, two of Bollywood's best movies. Now he's back, and it's hard to tell. Will it be good? Will it stink? Only time will tell.

STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL (2003, Mongolia, 87 minutes)
Starts February 11 @ 3PM and 7:45PM daily (one week only)
The much loved story of camel herders who have to reunite a rejected camel with its mother. So they have to hire a musician to give a ritual performance that will unite the mother with her baby. Awww...
read a review:
http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?isindex=story+of+the+weeping+camel+


Korean Cultural Service
The KCS will be hosting a series of DVD projections of Korean films each month, hosted by Im Hyun-Ock who is one of the producers of NOWHERE TO HIDE, Lee Myung-Se's incredible cop film.

MY MOTHER, THE MERMAID (Korean, 115 minutes)
Thursday, February 10 @ 6:30PM
Read a (very biased) review:
http://aznfilms.com/product_info.php/products_id/1392

SPIDER FOREST (2004, Korea, 113 minutes)
Thursday, February 24 @ 6:30PM
Last year's festival hit, this creepy film is a moody, good-looking thriller about brain damage.
Read a review:
http://www.dvdmaniacs.net/forums/showthread.php?t=10677

THREE...EXTREMES (2004, Korea/Hong Kong/Japan, 118 minutes)
Hong Kong's Fruit Chan (DURIAN, DURIAN), Korea's Park Chan-Wook (JSA, OLD BOY), and Takashi Miike (AUDITION, ICHI THE KILLER) team up to make a three part horror flick. Miike's is a moody, slow-paced story about a pair of contortionists. Fruit Chan's is a body horror epic about eating dumplings made of fetuses in order to stay young, and Park Chan-Wook's is a tight, real-time thriller about a film director and a disgruntled extra.
Read a review:
http://www.heroic-cinema.com/review.php?ID=3extreme

REWIND (2002, Korea, 100 minutes)
A melancholy romance.
Read a review:
oops, couldn't find one


Landmark Sunshine
NOBODY KNOWS (Japan, 2004, 141 minutes)
Director Hirokazu Kore-eda (AFTER LIFE) returns to top form with this uncomfortably intimate story about four kids abandoned by their mom who must try to survive in their increasingly dirty apartment. If grubby kids make you shiver...avoid. Otherwise, it's great! Go home afterwards and give your kids a big hug. If you don't have any - give yourself a big hug.
read a review:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/nobodyknows


Lincoln Plaza
NOBODY KNOWS (Japan, 2004, 141 minutes)


Loew's State
KISNA (2004, India)
Subhash Ghai, the director of the inimitable TAAL, returns with a big, epic, nonsensical Bollywood feast starring Vivek Oberoi (COMPANY) as an anti-English rebel leading his Anglo lady love to safety during Independence. They have an epic trek ahead of them, lots of folks out to kill them, and music by A.R. Rahman to spur them on. Also features an appearance by the much-missed Amrish Puri.

PADMASHREE LALOO PRASAD (India, 2004)
A comedy about love, bank robbery and a bunch of other Bollywood stuff. Supposedly, it stinks.
read a review:
http://www.bollywoodmantra.com/website/reviews-201.html


Museum of Modern Art
JU DOU (China, 1990)
Saturday, February 5 @ 8:15PM & February 16 @ 8PM
Zhang Yimou's second film is gorgeous, brutal, and sexually frank. Banned in China!
read a review:
http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?isindex=ju+dou


Quad
TRAVELLERS AND MAGICIANS (Bhutan, 2003, 108 minutes)
Bhutan, stuck between India and China, is really pretty. Just how pretty you'll see in this flick that pulls a "Canterbury Tales" and tells the story of a bunch of travelers hiking to the capital and the noir-esque story a monk tells them to pass the time. This much-loved flick is from the director of THE CUP.
read a review:
http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?isindex=travellers+and+magicians


Village East
APPLESEED (2004, Japan)
Adapted from Masume Shirow's popular manga, APPLESEED is the latest theatrical anime release to hit the US. Utopias that aren't what they seem, tank mecha, snipers in ruined cities...it's all here. It's a 2-D looking movie that was all created on the computer.
Read a review:
http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?%5EAppurush%eedo+(2004)


Walter Reade Theater (at Lincoln Center)

The annual Film Comment Selects series has an envy-inducing selection of Asian films this year.

OLD BOY (Korea, 2003, 120 minutes)
Wednesday, February 9 @ 4PM & 9PM
Park Chan-Wook (SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE, JSA) straddles the line between the out-and-out horror of SYMPATHY and the box office friendly tragedy ofJSA in OLD BOY, winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes and accolades and awards all over the place. I don't think it's the world's greatest (it falls apart a bit at the end) but it's so deeply filmic and well-made that you'll be half way through it before you remember to take a breath.

SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE (Korea, 2002, 129 minutes)
Sunday, February 13 @ 7PM Friday, February 18 @ 8:30PM
Hard to watch, upsetting, painful, and likely to induce stomach pains, this is Park Chan-Wook's best movie. The plot sounds like a soap opera (a deaf-mute factory worker kidnaps his boss' daughter to pay for his sister's kidney transplant) but that doesn't matter. Insanely well-shot it's the kind of movie you have to see on the big screen.

MEMORIES OF MURDER (Korea, 2003, 130 minutes)
Monday, February 21st @ 7PM Wednesday, February 23 @ 1PM and 9PM
One of the biggest movies of 2003, this is the second film from BongJoon-Ho, one of Korea's best directors who gave us all BARKING DOGS NEVER BITE a few years ago. Based on the real life investigation of a serial killer who stalked a rural township in the early 80's this movie should have been on everyone's "Best of" lists in 2003.

VITAL (Japan, 2004, 86 minutes)
Thursday, February 10 @ 6:15PM Saturday, February 12 @ 6:45PM
Shinya Tsukamoto (TETSUO: IRON FIST, BULLET BALLET, GEMINI) is one ofJapan's most distinctive voices. Here he gives us an atypical story of the love between an amnesiac medical student and his dead girlfriend's corpse that he's dissecting in class.

IZO (Japan, 2004, 128 minutes)
Sunday, February 20 @ 1:30PM
Takashi Miike leaves behind his audience-friendly movies like GOZU and ZEBRAMAN for the insane, over-the-top, pretentious fury of IZO. An act of gruesome violence in medieval Japan creates a demon, Izo, who's going after the architects of the universe while he tumbles through time killing people again, and again, and again, and again. Maddening, repetitive, hilarious, and weird, featuring some of the most bizarre stylized dialogue ever put on film. As they say in IZO, "Let your testicles fill with carnal desire!"