October 27 - November 3, 2005

COMING SOON

PULSE (Nov. 9) Coming out in the fall, this is Kiyoshi Kurosawa's most accessible flick, and one of the best Japanese horror movies ever made. If you're tired of dead wet girls with long black hair then this one's for you.
read a review:
http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/kairo.shtml

HIROSHI SUGIMOTO FILM SERIES (Nov. 11 - Dec. 11)
Japanese visual artist Hiroshi Sugimoto lands at the Japan Society and programs any old thing that grabs his fancy. But what grabs his fancy are visually dazzling flicks like Suzuki Seijun's TOKYO DRIFTER, the S&M-esque odyssey BLIND BEAST, and Kenji Mizoguchi's silent THE WATER MAGICIAN.
more info:
http://www.japansociety.org/events/category.cfm?id_category=1

EK AJNABEE (Dec. 9)
One of Bollywood's last big movies of the year looks like a doozy: starring Amitabh Bachchan in a riff on MAN ON FIRE (burnt-out bodyguard kills thousands while protecting the innocence of a little girl), shot in Bangkok and with action by Seng, a Thai stunt choreographer who did the tuk tuk chase in ONG BAK and did stunts in BORN TO FIGHT, the eye popping action flick from Panna Ritthikria, Tony Jaa's mentor.
See the trailer:
http://www.ekajnabee.com/flash.htm

NOW PLAYING
BAM
KENJI MIZOGUCHI RETROSPECTIVE (Oct. 31 - Nov. 22)
Japan's often-unseen master gets a full retro (well, pretty full) out at BAM. More introspective than Kurosawa, less static than Naruse, Mizoguchi is a great director to test yourself against: can you appreciate his movies, or do you fall asleep? Try the grim and grueling SANSHO THE BAILIFF or the go-go tragedy of STREET OF SHAME for starters.
more info:
http://www.bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=38

Cinema Village
THE PRESIDENT'S LAST BANG (2005, Korea)
Noon, daily
Kino trots out this super-controversial Korean flick about the assassination of President Park back in the early 80's - starring the always-incredible Han Suk-Gyu and Baek Yoon-Sik (the CEO in SAVE THE GREEN PLANET). Totally scatological, funnier than a film about presidential assassination has any right to be, and so well-made and intense that it puts American political thrillers to shame.
read a review:
http://www.koreanfilm.org/kfilm05.html#lastbang

2046 (2005, Hong Kong)
Daily at 4:20PM and 9:20PM
Wong Kar-wai's latest features Tony Leung Chiu-wai flirting with and seducing Faye Wong, Gong Li, Maggie Cheung, Carina Lau and, most memorably, Zhang Ziyi. A spiritual successor to IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, this WKW movie represents the end of the road for the DAYS OF BEING WILD crowd.
read reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/2046

Film Forum
Naruse: THE UNKNOWN JAPANESE MASTER
October 21 - November 17
The director fired from Shochiku when the owner of the studio said, "The last thing I need is two Ozus," Mikio Naruse is practically unknown all over the world, and mostly unseen. Now, in a massive gamble, Film Forum is bringing a large retrospective of his movies to town and hoping enough people want to see this most restrained, delicate and heartbreaking of Japanese directors to make it worthwhile. Do your thing, and give them some love.
More info:
http://www.filmforum.org/films/naruse.html
A great essay on Naruse:
http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0542,stephens,68959,20.html

ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
GARAM MASALA
Starts November 3
Akshay Kumar stars in the kind of bubbling, musical comedy that Bollywood specializes in.
more info:
http://www.apunkachoice.com/movies/mov587/

THE WAR WITHIN (2005, USA)
Starts Friday, October 28
The best American movie to hit American screens about terrorism has been largely dismissed out of hand by film critics who feel threatened by a movie that tries to portray suicide bombers without judging them. With a great cast of South Asian actors from the US and Bollywood, shot on digital video, and set in NYC this is a movie that's engaging, painful, and worth seeing.
read reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/warwithin

2046 (2005, Hong Kong)
read reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/2046

Korean Cultural Service
The Korean Cultural Service presents monthly video projections of independent and mainstream movies.

THE BOW (2005, Korea)
Thursday, November 10 @ 6:30PM
Kim Ki-Duk's latest movie which played at this year's Cannes.
read a review:
http://www.koreanfilm.org/kfilm05.html#bow

A BITTERSWEET LIFE (2005, Korea)
Thursday, November 30 @ 6:30PM
Kim Ji-Won's first movie since A TALE OF TWO SISTERS is a hardboiled, eyeball ravaging flick about gangsters with problems.
read a review:
http://www.koreanfilm.org/kfilm05.html#bittersweet

INNOCENT STEPS (2005, Korea)
Thursday, December 15 @ 6:30pm
A Chinese-Korean ballet dancer with no experience competes in Seoul!
more info:
http://us.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/pid-1004031708/code-k/section-videos/

A TALE OF CINEMA (2005, Korea)
Thursday, December 29 @ 6:30PM
Hong Sang-Soo's art film has gotten good reviews all over the place. If you're a fan, you'll be there.
Read a review:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/reviews/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001221699

Landmark Sunshine
2046 (2005, Hong Kong)
read reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/2046

Loew's Jersey Theater (54 Journal Square, across from PATH center) Jersey City, NJ
KING KONG VS. GODZILLA (1964, Japan, 91 minutes)
GODZILLA (1954, Japan, 98 minutes)
Saturday, October 29 starting at 3:30PM
The original, restored GODZILLA, in Japanese with English subtitles, and the little-seen KING KONG VS. GODZILLA (guess who wins?) screening as a double feature give you all the excuse you need to make a field trip out to Jersey.

Museum of Modern Art
Early Autumn: Masterworks of Japanese Cinema from the National Film Center, Tokyo
September 14 - January, 2006
Japan's National Film Center opens its archives and releases 53 prints of some of Japan's classic must-see films.
For the historically-minded, there's rare, early classics on hand like MR. THANK YOU, RICKSHAW MAN, WHERE CHIMNEYS ARE SEEN and INO AND MON.
If you're looking for early work by major directors, there's Mizoguchi's SISTERS OF THE GION and Kurosawa's SUGATA SANSHIRO.
And if you like your movies pulpy, don't miss MATANGO (ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE), GHOST STORY OF YOTSUYA and the first ZATOICHI movie, here called: THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF MASSEUR ICHI.
Full listings: http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/film_media/2005/japanese_cinema.html

Museum of the Moving Image
OLDBOY (2003, Korea, 120 minutes)
Friday, October 28 @ 7:30PM
Park Chan-Wook's most purely cinematic, chewably pulp, comic book movie. It's got more brains and more nasty secrets and satanic perversions than your average comic book inspired flick, but its cliffhanger plot and hypnotic style are the kind of thing SPIDERMAN 3 wishes it could have a little more of. Oh Dae-Su is an ordinary schlub, abducted and imprisoned for 15 years and suddenly released with a rage-induced hard-on to mess up the guy who locked him up. Then things get really twisted.
read a review:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/oldboy

Pioneer Two Boots
ICHI THE KILLER (2001, Japan)
Sunday, October 30 @ 7PM
The most holy part of Takashi Miike's canon, this movie is full of sights and smells you've never seen before, and never knew you wanted to. Starring Tadanobu Asano as a masochist (and parttime sadist) yakuza pretty boy in the role that firmly imprinted him on the soft gray matter of the West.
(This is part of a double feature with Ray Dennis Steckler's cheap and nutty 1964, THE THRILL KILLERS)
read a review of ICHI:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/archives/nyaff03/ichi.htm
read reviews of THE THRILL KILLERS:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/thrill_killers/

Quad Cinema
THREE...EXTREMES (2004, Hong Kong)
Starts Friday, October 28
Takashi Miike, Park Chan-Wook and Fruit Chan each contributed a short film to Peter Chan's second horror omnibus, and while wildly uneven, this flick has got something for every sicko. People seem split on which is the best, but you've got three flavors: pretty creepshow; brainy Tales from the Crypt episode; and gross-out. totally disgusting abortion eating.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-threeextremes.htm
read reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/threeextremes

Walter Reade
A CENTENARY OF CHINESE CINEMA (Oct. 21 - Nov. 10)
A huge (well, 32 movie) retrospective celebrating the 100 years of film in China. It includes modern classics like YELLOW EARTH (where the Fifth Generation got their start - sort of); China's biggest diva, Ruan Lingyu (played by Maggie Cheung in CENTRE STAGE) in GODDESS ; PLATFORM; both versions of SPRINGTIME IN A SMALL TOWN (the 2002 remake and the 1948 original); and Ruan Lingyu's last movie, NEW WOMAN, released just a few weeks before she killed herself.