May 10 - 17, 2007


NOW PLAYING

Cinema Village
THE HOST (Korea, 2006, 119 minutes)
Daily at 5:30pm & 10:10pm
Bong Joon-Ho’s monster mash is one of the best additions to the “Big-scary- creature-jumping-around-trying-to-eat-you” genre since ALIEN and JAWS. And for good measure he also throws in Olympic archery, brain biopsies, schoolgirl uniforms, dragon barf, military ineptitude, Agent Orange (oops, I mean “Yellow”) and then lets the whole goulash simmer down to a lovely little spoonful of quiet, family intimacy. Needless to say, if you haven’t seen it yet you really should.
read more:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/host/

Film Forum
ELECTION (Hong Kong, 2005, 91 minutes)
Daily @ 3:30pm & 7:45pm
TRIAD ELECTION (aka ELECTION 2) (Hong Kong, 2006, 99 minutes)
Daily @ 1pm, 5:45pm, 9:45pm
Lean, mean and meant to be seen, Johnnie To’s two film gangster opus has received the following raves:

“A metaphor about capitalism, men and meat that is perfect in its simplicity and barbarism.” – Manohla Dargis, NY Times

“Distinguished by intelligence, wit and violence...” – Russell Edwards, Variety

“Will make your head explode.” – Subway Cinema
read more reviews:
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/election.htm

http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/election_2.htm

IFC Center
I DON’T WANT TO SLEEP ALONE (2006, Taiwan)
Daily @ 2:10pm, 7:15pm, 9:40pm
Tsai Ming-liang’s latest film is about migrant workers, healing the sick and Mozart. It’s been winning awards and winning accolades from critics everywhere. Just look!read reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/idontwanttosleepalone?q=i%20don't%20want%20to%20sleep%20alone

NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2007 (June 22 – July 8)
Ladies and gentlemen! The New York Asian Film Festival is back for year six and this time we’ve got some money! John Woo Presents STRANGLEHOLD, the videogame sequel to HARD BOILED, starring Chow Yun-fat’s Tequila character, is the presenting sponsor of our festival and what are we doing with that cash:

- a night of Pakistani exploitation
- we’re bringing over special guests
- outdoor screening? you’ll see!
- 15th anniversary screening of HARD BOILED, the world’s most influential action flick
- more movie!
- better movies!
- a partnership with Japan Society’s JAPAN CUTS – Festival of New Japanese Film, which means our last 4 days will be taking place up at the swanky Japan Society.

What are we showing? New movies from Takashi Miike, Johnnie To, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Park Chan-Wook, Feng Xiaogang and Patrick Tam.

Just look at some of our titles:

AFTER THIS OUR EXILE - (2006, Hong Kong) Wong Kar-wai’s mentor, Patrick Tam, returned to directing after 17 years and swept the Chinese film awards with this emotional epic about a marriage that falls apart and the damage a single dad inflicts on his son. This is the closest you’ll get to an Asian Ingmar Bergman movie.

I’M A CYBORG (BUT THAT’S OKAY) – (2006, Korea) Park Chan-Wook abandons Mr. Vengeance, Lady Vengeance and his Oldboy to make a sweet, loopy romance set in a mental hospital between a girl who thinks she’s a cyborg and a kleptomaniac, thus proving that all you need is robot love.

EXILED – (2006, Hong Kong) Imagine every action movie made in the last 20 years compressed into a hyper-condensed, super heavy particle that’s shot into your eyes at 24 frames per second and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what watching Johnnie To’s latest film is like. Feel your testosterone start pumping as this spaghetti Western fills the island of Macau with enough lead to sink it.

BIG BANG LOVE: JUVENILE A – (2006, Japan) Takashi Miike’s homoerotic prison story is trying to freak you out! Modern dance, sci fi, abstract sets and a love story between two murderers are the tools in his psychedelic arsenal. You thought you’d seen it all? Think again. (Co-presented with Japan Society as part of their JAPAN CUTS – Festival of New Japanese Film)

THE BODYGUARD 1 and 2 – (2004 & 2007, Thailand) like a lost Stephen Chow comedy from the early 90’s, the two BODYGUARD flicks roar onto screens delivering a summer blockbuster’s worth of hard-hitting action (from the ONG BAK stunt team), ridiculous comedy (from Mum Jokmok) and guest appearances galore (including one from Tony Jaa) in an anarchic attack on action movies, good taste, logic and common sense.

DEATH NOTE and DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME - (2006, Japan) Japan’s massive 2006 blockbusters based on the best-selling manga, are epic horror thrillers that move so fast you’ll finish them both before you remember to breathe. A disaffected law student discovers the Devil’s notebook that gives him the power to kill anyone he wants just by writing down their name. He sets out to clean up society but winds up leading a death cult and being hunted by the strangest twist on Sherlock Holmes to ever hit the big screen: a sleepy-eyed, genius teenager constantly noshing on junk food. (Co-presented with Japan Society as part of their JAPAN CUTS – Festival of New Japanese Film)

HELL’S GROUND (aka ZIBAHKHANA) – (2007, Pakistan) A gang of teenagers heads out into the countryside to see a rock concert but their detour around a political protest takes them into giant marijuana fields where midget zombies and other, less savory, characters dwell. It’s THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE meets the Taliban.

HULA GIRLS – (2006, Japan) a coal-mining town in rural Japan falls on hard times in 1965 and the only thing they can think of to save themselves is to open a “Hawaiian Village” theme park. And that means they need hula dancers. Which means they have to import an alcoholic hula teacher and round up a gang of misfits to learn how to shake it Hawaiian style.

MEMORIES OF MATSUKO – (2006, Japan) CITIZEN KANE meets MOULIN ROUGE in this eye-popping, toe-tapping musical about one of life’s little losers, from the director of KAMIKAZE GIRLS. Matsuko is a teacher who falls on hard times and winds up virtually homeless and the movie breaks your heart – hard – as the story of her rough life is told in music, dance and candy colored sets. (Co-presented with Japan Society as part of their JAPAN CUTS – Festival of New Japanese Film)

DYNAMITE WARRIOR – (2006, Thailand) Panna Rittikrai (Tony Jaa’s teacher and mentor) does the action on this jaw-dropping hunk of kuh-razy action set in ancient Thailand. A plot to increase tractor sales by destroying all the water buffalo runs afoul of a high-kicking hero who rides wooden rockets. A wizard is hired to defeat him, then a giant enters the scene, and finally everything comes down to the magical powers of a virgin’s menstrual blood. This is the most fun you’ll have in a movie theater all summer.

HARD BOILED – (1992, Hong Kong) John Woo’s personal print of HARD BOILED is unearthed for this 15th anniversary screening of what might just be the most influential action movie ever made, starring Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung.And keep your eyes on www.subwaycinema.com for updates.

The ImaginAsian
PROVOKED (India, 2006)
Daily @ 2pm, 4:30pm, 7pm, 9:30pm
This latest Bollywood flick stars a motley crew of Aishwarya Rai, Miranda Richardson, Robbie Coltrane and LOST’s Naveen Andrews. Based on the true story of a woman who was abused for 10 years before setting her husband on fire (that would be Naveen) and was sent to prison for murder.
read a review:
http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=160831

MEMORIES OF TOMORROW (with special guest, Ken Watanabe!)
Starts Friday, May 18
Ken Watanabe (LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, THE LAST SAMURAI) produces and stars in MEMORIES OF TOMORROW. A box office hit in Japan, this film about early-onset Alzheimer’s contains one of Watanabe’s best performances and we’ve never seen it leave an audience unmoved.
read a review:
http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/222/

buy tickets:
http://www.theimaginasian.com/comingsoon/index.php

Japan Society
New York Asian Film Festival 2007 (July 5 – 8)
JAPAN CUTS – Festival of New Japanese Film (July 5 – 15)
The Japan Society is the place to be in July as they partner with the New York Asian Film Festival to bring the best in new Japanese movie madness to NYC. There will be guests! There will be movies! There will be hugs!
more info:
http://www.japansociety.org/events/category.cfm?id_category=1

Knitting Factory
SWINGING POPSICLES – in concert
June 19 @ 7pm
Japanese power pop band, Swinging Popsicles, have scheduled a show at the Knitting Factory. It’s a small show, an intimate show, and tickets are going to be all gone in a few days, so if you wanna go, get ‘em now.
buy tickets:
http://www.knittingfactory.com/

what do they sound like?
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=64964105


And don’t forget – if you want to save Hong Kong’s greatest radio station, RTHK, go sign the online petition you’ll find here:

http://www.petitiononline.com/SaveRTHK/petition.html

There’s more info here:

http://SaveRTHK.Org