October 11 - 18, 2007

Coming Soon
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

And on November 4 there’s a screening of SUMMER STORM, one of the last recorded performances by the founder of butoh, Tatsumi Hijikata.

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
KHADAK (2006, Mongolia, 104 minutes)
Daily @ 1:20pm, 3:30pm, 5:40pm, 7:50pm, 10:00pm
A trippy Mongolian movie about a young sheepherder who’s destined to be a shaman, fighting against an imaginary plague that’s destroying his people’s nomadic existence.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/color_of_water/?critic=all

The ImaginAsian
LAAGA CHUNARI MEIN DAAG (2007, India, 155 minutes)
Daily @ 3:30pm, 7pm, 10:30pm
It’s a Bachchan family reunion. Jaya Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan get together with Rani Mukherjee to tell the story about two sisters in a poorer family struggling to survive and to support their relatives financially.
read a review:
http://www.indicine.com/movies/bollywood/laaga-chunari-mein-daag-movie-review/

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

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. And WILD WILD ROSE is considered one of the major classics of pre-1970’s Chinese cinema and it’s all dark and slinky and noir.
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

TEN YEARS AND RUNNING: RECENT HONG KONG CINEMA
October 17 – 25
It’s an overview of the last ten years of Hong Kong cinema and so let’s run down the choices and see what they picked that’s great and where they missed the boat:
TRIANGLE – this is the re-cut version of the Tsui Hark, Johnnie To, Ringo Lam thriller that played at Cannes this year to mixed reaction. But, apparently the cutting (which Johnnie To’s people deny but everyone else says is true) has tightened it up. Plus, when’s the last time you saw a new Ringo Lam movie?
THE MISSION – Johnnie To’s classic action movie. Unmissable.
MING MING – weird, MATRIX-esque, action sci fi from Hong Kong. At worst it’s interesting. At best it’s pretty cool.
THE POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT – Ann Hui’s new movie is a gentle, domestic drama but Chow Yun-fat reminds us that he’s hella good looking and he can act.
ELECTION & TRIAD ELECTION – yes.
HAPPY TOGETHER – the last really great Wong Kar-wai film.
INFERNAL AFFAIRS – a nice choice, but couldn’t they have programmed in INFERNAL AFFAIRS 2 as well – the two movies go great together.
ONE NIGHT IN MONGKOK – Derek Yee’s amazing thriller is a must-see.
2046 – this is what passes for a Wong Kar-wai movie these days?
CONFESSION OF PAIN – Tony Leung and the INFERNAL AFFAIRS gang team up for this boring movie.
GOING HOME – the hour long cut of Peter Chan’s stunning horror short. It’s worth your time.
INITIAL D – empty pop fun from the INFERNAL AFFAIRS gang. Actually one of the best movies you’ll see about drift racing, and way better than FAST AND FURIOUS 3.
buy tickets:
http://filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/hk07/program.html