October 4 - 11, 2007

Coming Soon

From October 17 – 25, the Film Society of Lincoln Center will be doing a retro of the last ten years of Hong Kong film. Some stuff you’ve seen before, some surprises, and a couple of must-sees, including the premiere of the re-edited TRIANGLE by Johnnie To, Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark.

On November 2, Yoji Yamada’s box-office-busting, award-winning samurai movie to beat all samurai movies, LOVE AND HONOR, arrives for a limited engagement at the ImaginAsian. The finale of his samurai trilogy, which includes TWILIGHT SAMURAI and THE HIDDEN BLADE, is about a blind swordsman and it’s won more awards than you’ve had hot dinners.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117932744.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

Now Playing
LUST, CAUTION (2007, Taiwan)
Ang Lee’s latest features Tony Leung’s nuts, acres of naked flesh and lots of repression, self-destructive behavior and silent pining.

Cinema Village
MILAREPA (2006, Bhutan, 95 minutes)
Daily @ 3:10pm, 7:15pm, 9:10pm
From the star of THE CUP comes this life of the Buddhist saint, Milarepa. Beautiful cinematography and locations tell the story of a kid born and bred for revenge who grew up to achieve enlightenment.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/milarepa/

VANAJA (India, 2006, 111 minutes)
Daily @ 4:45pm
A story about class divisions in India, as well as a coming of age tale for a 15-year old girl, VANAJA is full of all the colors, music and dance you’d expect from India. A bit didactic, but completely satisfying.
read reviews that call it one of the best of the year:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/vanaja/

The ImaginAsian
MANORAMA: SIX FEET UNDER (2007, India)
Daily @ 4pm, 7pm & 10pm
A frustrated small town engineer who’s also the failed author of a detective novel, but who gets hired to solve a crime by a woman who may know more than she’s letting on. It’s small town Indian noir that’s stylishly shot.
read a review:
http://www.indiafm.com/movies/review/13369/index.html

Japan Society
NO BORDERS, NO LIMITS: 1960’s Nikkatsu Action Cinema
This retrospective screens a film a month from the Nikkatsu vaults and it’s not to be missed. The movies have had subtitles made by Subway Cinema’s very own Marc Walkow who will painstakingly run them BY HAND during the screening (we whipped him until he got the timing perfect). This is the genius period of Nikkatsu when they were turning out stylish, jet set, visually jaw-dropping films from directors like Suzuki Seijun (PRINCESS RACCOON) and you really shouldn’t miss this opportunity to see these flicks.

THE WARPED ONES (1960, Japan, 75 minutes)
Friday, November 9 @ 7:30pm
Not so much a crime film as a “youth gone wild and then the world ends” kind of movie, THE WARPED ONES is one of the highlights of this Nikkatsu series. From a director who went on to make family friendly safari films and an actor who went on to become a b-list character actor comes this amazing blast of mind-altering jazz and moral depravity. A response to Godard’s BREATHLESS (which was released in Japan right before this movie started shooting) it follows a juvenile delinquent who takes revenge on the reporter who sent him to prison by raping the guy’s girlfriend...and things go downhill from there. One part black comedy of manners, one part bad boy flick, one part nihilistic plunge into the abyss, it’s a movie that’s jittery and jazzy and that pumps through your veins like cocaine, electrifying your synapses and making you realize that up until now the history of film hasn’t been complete without a viewing of this masterpiece.
buy tickets:
http://www.japansociety.org/events/event_detail.cfm?id_event=1697958506&id_performance=1958222014

Korean Cultural Service (460 Park Avenue, 6th floor)
THE RESTLESS (Korea, 2007, 106 minutes)
Thursday, October 11 @ 6:30pm
A big budget, CGI-enhanced fantasy film from Korea, THE RESTLESS is a dazzling act of production design. Graceful and gorgeous it’s all about a demon hunter who goes to the land of the dead to look for his lost love.
FREE ADMISSION
read a review:
http://twitchfilm.net/archives/010300.html

Walter Reade
Over the next two weeks there are a dozen great Asian movies showing at the Walter Reade theater as part of the New York Film Festival. And we're not talking about DARJEELING LIMITED. Here's your short guide but for more info go to:
http://filmlinc.com/nyff/nyff.html

SECRET SUNSHINE
October 1 @ 6pm
October 2 @ 9:15pm
Song Kang-Ho (THE HOST) and Jeon Do-Yeon (who won "Best Actress" at Cannes this year for the role) star in this acclaimed Korean movie about grief, loss and mourning.

I JUST DIDN'T DO IT
October 9 @ 6pm
October 10 @ 8:45pm
Masayuki Suo who directed the massive hit SHALL WE DANCE returns to directing after a long absence with this courtroom thriller about a man falsely accused of sexually molesting a young woman.

USELESS
October 13 @ 3:45pm
Jia Zhangke (PLATFORM, STILL LIFE) is one of China's most revered arthouse directors and here he turns his talents to a documentary about sweat shops and where exactly in China that shirt you're wearing comes from.

CHINESE MODERN: A TRIBUTE TO CATHAY STUDIOS
October 10 - 16
In Hong Kong in the 60's and 70's Cathay Studios was the feminine to Shaw Brothers studios masculine. It was the studio that could sing and dance and fall in love compared to Shaw's kung fu and action epics. Where Shaw was stiff and stuffy and epic, Cathay was flexible and funny and light on its feet. Now there's a 7 film retro of some of its best movies and you really shouldn't miss the epic SUN MOON AND STARS (in two parts, it clocks in at close to four hours) or the insanely charming musical MAMBO GIRL.
Subway Cinema member Brian has reviews for some of the movies in the retro and you can find them below:
MAMBO GIRL
http://brns.com/pages4/drama242.html

SUN MOON AND STARS
http://brns.com/pages4/drama278.html

OUR DREAM CAR
http://brns.com/pages4/drama261.html