February 9 - 16, 2007

Coming Soon
PIMPS, PROSTITUTES AND PIGS: SHOHEI IMAMURA’S JAPAN (March 2 – 29)
BAM brings over a retro of one of Japan’s greatest directors, the bawdy, burly, dirty Shoehei Imamura. Some of his movies get too wiggy for comfort (THE PORNOGRAPHERS, I’m looking at you), but his early films like STOLEN DESIRE and ENDLESS DESIRE are downright perfect.

NY CHILDREN'S INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (March 2-18): Several Asian movies in this annual line-up of kiddie flicks, but the unmissable title is THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME, which is one of the best movies from last year, and certainly the best animated film. It was a sleeper hit in Japan, proving far more popular than the big animated event movies, TALES FROM EARTHSEA and BRAVE STORY.
Sat. March 3 @ 6:30pm (Cantor Center)THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME(Japan, 2006, Animated, U.S. Premiere, in Japanese w/English subs )Sat. March 10 @ 12:30 (IFC)BELLY FULL OF DREAMS (India, 2005, U.S. Premiere, in Telugu w/English subs) Sat. March 10 @ 3pm (Cantor)STORY OF XIAOYAN (China, 2004, in Mandarin w/English subs)
Festival info:
http://www.gkids.com/

PING PONG (Japan, 2002, 114 minutes) (April 6, 2007)
New York Asian Film Festival Audience Award winner, PING PONG may be the greatest sports movie ever made. It’s certainly the deepest. And it’s about the manly man sport of...ping pong? Darn tootin’. It gets a very limited theatrical release in 07.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/archives/nyaff03/pingpong.htm


NOW PLAYING ALL OVER TOWN

CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER (2006, China)
Zhang Yimou’s epic wraps Chow Yun-fat and Gong Li in miles of crackling gold decor and sets them at each others’ throat as the world’s most dysfunctional Imperial family. The reviews are mixed, but the cleveage is plentiful, as evidenced by the fact that Chinese audiences have dubbed it “Curse of the Golden Corset”.
read more:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/curseofthegoldenflower?q=curse%20of%20the%20golden%20flower

LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA (2006, USA)
Now screening all over town, it’s part two of Clint Eastwood’s World War II Iwo Jima pics, this time concentrating on the Japanese side of the battle. Starring Ken Watanabe (MEMORIES OF TOMORROW) and Shido Nakamura (PING PONG, FEARLESS) it’s already earning critical raves out the ears.
read reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/lettersfromiwojima?q=letters%20from%20iwo%20jima


NOW PLAYING

Anthology Film Archives
THE WAYWARD CLOUD
Starts Friday, February 23
Tsai Ming-liang’s porn opus is a great movie and it ends with a shot that make THE BROWN BUNNY look positively genteel. Critics are carping that he’s done something different that doesn’t make them feel warm and fuzzy inside. Critics also didn’t like PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 2. See it!
read a review:
http://www.kaijushakedown.com/2005/09/the_wayward_clo.html

The ImaginAsian
A TASTE OF TEA (February 23)
Daily @ 4pm and 7pm
2005’s landslide winner of the New York Asian Film Festival’s Audience Award hits the ImaginAsian and it’s about time. This amazing movie will blow your mind and electrify your heart with its tale of a family in rural Japan. Trains emerge from heads, a poo ghost appears, 50ft doppelgangers skulk and stare and a sunflower eats the world in a movie Time Out New York calls “a masterpiece”. And look for BABEL’s Rinko Kikuchi in a small role. Opening at the ImaginAsian.
read a review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-tasteoftea.htm

IFC Center
BONG JOON-HO MINI-FESTIVAL
Monday February 26 – Tuesday February 27
The IFC Center and the Korea Society bring Korea’s most successful director’s complete filmography to NYC: his short films, the transcendent BARKING DOGS NEVER BITE and MEMORIES OF MURDER, and a screening of his monster blockbuster THE HOST, with the director in attendance.
more info:
http://www.koreasociety.org/content/view/308/62/
or buy tickets:
http://www.ifccenter.com/seriesh?seriesid=601

The Korea Society (950 Third Avenue, 8th Floor.)
CLASSIC MOVIE NIGHT
Thursday, March 15
On the Third Thursday of every month, the Korea Society will host video projections of classic films from Korea, February 15 and March 15 are the dates in question and here’s a line-up of what’s showing:

The Hand of Destiny (1954)
Director: Han Hyeong-Mo
Casting: Park Am, Kim Jeong-Rim, Yang Mi-Hee, Lee Min

Madame Freedom (1956)
Director: Han Hyeong-Mo
Casting: Park Am, Kim Jeong-Rim, Yang Mi-Hee, Lee Min

Flower in Hell (1958)
Director: Shin Sang-Ok
Casting: Kim Hak, Choi Eun-Hee, Cho Hae-Won

Sam-Ryong the Mute (1964)
Director: Shin Sang-Ok
Casting: Kim Jin-Gyu, Choi Eun-Hee, Park No-Shik

A Seashore Village (1965)
Director: Shin Sang-Ok
Casting: Kim Jin-Gyu, Choi Eun-Hee, Park No-Shik

A Road to Return (1967)
Director: Lee Man-Hee
Casting: Kim Jin-Gyu, Mun Jeong-Suk, Jeon Gye-Hyeon

Ticket price is $5(members) & $10(non-members) and refreshments will be served. If you want to register all six month programs in advance, we can offer discount $25 (members) & $35 (non-members).

Walter Reade
FILM COMMENT SELECTS (February 14 – 27)
This year’s festival brings over Johnnie To’s EXILED, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s RETRIBUTION and Luo Ye’s SUMMER PALACE. Yay! Most of the Asian movies have finished their runs but there’s one left:

TACHIGUI: THE AMAZING LIVES OF THE FAST FOOD GRIFTERS (Japan, 2006, 104 minutes)
Friday, February 23 @ 8:30pm and Sunday, February 25 @ 1pm
Mamoru Oshii (GHOST IN THE SHELL) is one of Japan’s greatest living animators and his latest movie is surrealist riff on fast food, con men and post-War Japanese history. It’s been dropping jaws for its sheer head-bending weirdness around the world and you won’t be seeing it in theaters any time soon so check it out here.
read more:
http://filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/fcs07.html