November 10 - 17, 2005
HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK
TOKYO KID at the Japan Society (Nov. 11)
This very rare screening of this classic film is a real bit of exciting news. It stars Hibari Misora in one of her early roles at the age of thirteen. For those not in the know, Hibari is often referred to as "Japan's Greatest Entertainer of the 20th Century". Here in post-WWII Japan she plays a young girl on her own who dances and sings her way into the hearts of the audience. Similarly to Shirley Temple who raised the spirits of people in the depression era, Hibari did the same for Japan in the aftermath of the war. She is crooked-tooth adorable here but has a grown-up singing voice that sounds like she had been listening to Piaf singing under a streetlight all her life.
COMING SOON
HARDBOILED AND IN THE MOOD: TONY LEUNG RETROSPECTIVE
December 1 - 18 at BAM
Little Tony (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) gets a retro in Brooklyn of all places. The line-up is pretty extensive, from his artsy movies (CITY OF SADNESS, FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI and CYCLO) to his rarities (MAGIC CRANE, TOKYO RAIDERS) and the stuff that made him a super-stud like HARDBOILED, and a Wong Kar-wai triple feature with HAPPY TOGETHER, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE and 2046 all in one day).
SO CLOSE (Dec. 2)
Hong Kong's female action movie in excelsis comes to the Museum of the Moving Image for one night only.
read a review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/archives/nyaff03/soclose.htm
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 innocence of 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.
Here’s the full schedule:
Osaka Elegy (1936) 74min
Mon, Nov 7 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm
The Life of Oharu (1952) 137min
Tue, Nov 8 at 6, 9pm
Sisters of the Gion (1936) 70min
Mon, Nov 14 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm
Sansho the Bailiff (1954) 120min
Tue, Nov 15 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:30pm
Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (1939) 144min
Mon, Nov 21 at 6, 9pm
Street of Shame (1956) 87min
Tue, Nov 22 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm
more info:
http://www.bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=38
Cinema Village
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
Columbia University
TWILIGHT SAMURAI - 304 Barnard Hall, Barnard College
Thursday, November 17 @ 6PM
Yoji Yamada's great samurai flick screened just for you to enjoy.
THE AESTHETICS OF KAWAII - 403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
Monday, November 28 @ 4PM
What is cute? Why does it matter? Prof of Film and Media Studies from Meiji Gakuin University, Inuhiko Yomota, explains it all to you.
LIGHT NOVELS, GAMES AND OTAKU IMAGINATION - 403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
Tuesday, November 29 @ 6PM
Hiroki Azuma lays out the future of entertainment for you.
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
IFC Center
PULSE (2001, Japan)
Starts November 9
This is Kiyoshi Kurosawa's most accessible flick, and my personal favorite horror movie of his. It also happens to be 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. It's all about how using the internet is exactly the wrong thing to do if you're worried about accidentally opening up a hole into hell and letting all the ghosts of lonely dead people out to invade the world of the living and spark an apocalyptic wave of mass suicides.
read a review:
http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/kairo.shtml
ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
GARAM MASALA
Daily at 4PM and 9:30PM
Akshay Kumar stars in the kind of bubbling, musical comedy that Bollywood specializes in.
more info:
http://www.bollyvista.com/article/a/29/5785
KYON KI (India, 2005)
Daily at 1PM and 6:30PM
Salman Khan, he of the ripped abs and the flying fists, in a romance with mega-talented Kareena Kapoor in Bollywood movie that takes on...medical ethics?
Read a review:
http://www.bollyvista.com/article/a/29/5788
HIP HOP ODYSSEY
It's an Asian hip hop film festival. Huh? What? Check out the details:
http://www.theimaginasian.com/nowplaying/index.php
Japan Society
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
This week:
TOKYO KID (1950, Japan, 81 minutes)
Friday, November 11 @ 7:30PM
A B&W musical melodrama about musicians and artists scraping out a living in Occupation Japan, among the ruins of Tokyo.
more info:
http://www.japansociety.org/events/event_detail.cfm?id_event=140625701&id_performance=302772892
TOKYO DRIFTER (1966, Japan, 82 minutes)
Sunday, November 13 @ 2PM
Saturday, November 19 @ 3:45PM
Suzuki Seijun (PRINCESS RACCOON) dropped an impeccable style bomb on the yakuza film with this flick about a sensitive soul who has to rely on his fists to get along in a world of violence. All-white night-clubs, shoot-outs sinking in a swamp of enormous abstract objects, a theme song that never dies, shaving cream sprayed on a sailor's face from under a hooker's skirt. This one's worth it.
more info:
http://www.japansociety.org/events/event_detail.cfm?id_event=623433425&id_performance=1567939712
THE FACE OF ANOTHER (1966, Japan, 124 minutes)
Sunday, November 13 @ 3:45PM
Sunday, November 20 @ 2PM
Designed, scored and written by some of Japan's avante artistes of the 1960's this flick is about a guy who is given not only another man's face, but his life as well, courtesy of a freaky psychologist.
more info:
http://www.japansociety.org/events/event_detail.cfm?id_event=623433425&id_performance=1567939712
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
Loew's State
GARAM MASALA
Akshay Kumar stars in the kind of bubbling, musical comedy that Bollywood specializes in.
more info:
http://www.bollyvista.com/article/a/29/5785
KYON KI (India, 2005)
Salman Khan, he of the ripped abs and the flying fists, in a romance with mega-talented Kareena Kapoor in Bollywood movie that takes on...medical ethics?
Read a review:
http://www.bollyvista.com/article/a/29/5788
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
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 (and they've got a buy one ticket get another ticket to GODDESS for free deal good for this Friday night only: just show your print-out for one ticket at the box office and get the other for free); 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.
more info:
HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK
TOKYO KID at the Japan Society (Nov. 11)
This very rare screening of this classic film is a real bit of exciting news. It stars Hibari Misora in one of her early roles at the age of thirteen. For those not in the know, Hibari is often referred to as "Japan's Greatest Entertainer of the 20th Century". Here in post-WWII Japan she plays a young girl on her own who dances and sings her way into the hearts of the audience. Similarly to Shirley Temple who raised the spirits of people in the depression era, Hibari did the same for Japan in the aftermath of the war. She is crooked-tooth adorable here but has a grown-up singing voice that sounds like she had been listening to Piaf singing under a streetlight all her life.
COMING SOON
HARDBOILED AND IN THE MOOD: TONY LEUNG RETROSPECTIVE
December 1 - 18 at BAM
Little Tony (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) gets a retro in Brooklyn of all places. The line-up is pretty extensive, from his artsy movies (CITY OF SADNESS, FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI and CYCLO) to his rarities (MAGIC CRANE, TOKYO RAIDERS) and the stuff that made him a super-stud like HARDBOILED, and a Wong Kar-wai triple feature with HAPPY TOGETHER, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE and 2046 all in one day).
SO CLOSE (Dec. 2)
Hong Kong's female action movie in excelsis comes to the Museum of the Moving Image for one night only.
read a review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/archives/nyaff03/soclose.htm
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 innocence of 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.
Here’s the full schedule:
Osaka Elegy (1936) 74min
Mon, Nov 7 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm
The Life of Oharu (1952) 137min
Tue, Nov 8 at 6, 9pm
Sisters of the Gion (1936) 70min
Mon, Nov 14 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm
Sansho the Bailiff (1954) 120min
Tue, Nov 15 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:30pm
Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (1939) 144min
Mon, Nov 21 at 6, 9pm
Street of Shame (1956) 87min
Tue, Nov 22 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm
more info:
http://www.bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=38
Cinema Village
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
Columbia University
TWILIGHT SAMURAI - 304 Barnard Hall, Barnard College
Thursday, November 17 @ 6PM
Yoji Yamada's great samurai flick screened just for you to enjoy.
THE AESTHETICS OF KAWAII - 403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
Monday, November 28 @ 4PM
What is cute? Why does it matter? Prof of Film and Media Studies from Meiji Gakuin University, Inuhiko Yomota, explains it all to you.
LIGHT NOVELS, GAMES AND OTAKU IMAGINATION - 403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
Tuesday, November 29 @ 6PM
Hiroki Azuma lays out the future of entertainment for you.
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
IFC Center
PULSE (2001, Japan)
Starts November 9
This is Kiyoshi Kurosawa's most accessible flick, and my personal favorite horror movie of his. It also happens to be 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. It's all about how using the internet is exactly the wrong thing to do if you're worried about accidentally opening up a hole into hell and letting all the ghosts of lonely dead people out to invade the world of the living and spark an apocalyptic wave of mass suicides.
read a review:
http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/kairo.shtml
ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
GARAM MASALA
Daily at 4PM and 9:30PM
Akshay Kumar stars in the kind of bubbling, musical comedy that Bollywood specializes in.
more info:
http://www.bollyvista.com/article/a/29/5785
KYON KI (India, 2005)
Daily at 1PM and 6:30PM
Salman Khan, he of the ripped abs and the flying fists, in a romance with mega-talented Kareena Kapoor in Bollywood movie that takes on...medical ethics?
Read a review:
http://www.bollyvista.com/article/a/29/5788
HIP HOP ODYSSEY
It's an Asian hip hop film festival. Huh? What? Check out the details:
http://www.theimaginasian.com/nowplaying/index.php
Japan Society
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
This week:
TOKYO KID (1950, Japan, 81 minutes)
Friday, November 11 @ 7:30PM
A B&W musical melodrama about musicians and artists scraping out a living in Occupation Japan, among the ruins of Tokyo.
more info:
http://www.japansociety.org/events/event_detail.cfm?id_event=140625701&id_performance=302772892
TOKYO DRIFTER (1966, Japan, 82 minutes)
Sunday, November 13 @ 2PM
Saturday, November 19 @ 3:45PM
Suzuki Seijun (PRINCESS RACCOON) dropped an impeccable style bomb on the yakuza film with this flick about a sensitive soul who has to rely on his fists to get along in a world of violence. All-white night-clubs, shoot-outs sinking in a swamp of enormous abstract objects, a theme song that never dies, shaving cream sprayed on a sailor's face from under a hooker's skirt. This one's worth it.
more info:
http://www.japansociety.org/events/event_detail.cfm?id_event=623433425&id_performance=1567939712
THE FACE OF ANOTHER (1966, Japan, 124 minutes)
Sunday, November 13 @ 3:45PM
Sunday, November 20 @ 2PM
Designed, scored and written by some of Japan's avante artistes of the 1960's this flick is about a guy who is given not only another man's face, but his life as well, courtesy of a freaky psychologist.
more info:
http://www.japansociety.org/events/event_detail.cfm?id_event=623433425&id_performance=1567939712
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
Loew's State
GARAM MASALA
Akshay Kumar stars in the kind of bubbling, musical comedy that Bollywood specializes in.
more info:
http://www.bollyvista.com/article/a/29/5785
KYON KI (India, 2005)
Salman Khan, he of the ripped abs and the flying fists, in a romance with mega-talented Kareena Kapoor in Bollywood movie that takes on...medical ethics?
Read a review:
http://www.bollyvista.com/article/a/29/5788
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
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 (and they've got a buy one ticket get another ticket to GODDESS for free deal good for this Friday night only: just show your print-out for one ticket at the box office and get the other for free); 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.
more info:
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