Subway Cinema News

2008-05-01T11:14:00.000-04:00

SUBWAY CINEMA NEWS: May 1 - 7, 2008

NOW PLAYING
Angelica Film Center
MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS (2008, Hong Kong/USA)
Daily
Wong Kar-wai’s latest movie stars Norah Jones, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and a bunch of other folks and, frankly, you should save your money. Interminable and screechy it’s one of WKW’s only true misfires. It looks good, though, but you’ve seen all these visual tics and tricks in his other movies, and done better, too.
read reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/myblueberrynights2008?q=my%20blueberry%20nights

BAM
AS TEARS GO BY (Hong Kong, 1988)
May 2 – 8
Before Wong Kar-wai was the darling of the international jet set, he was a Hong Kong screenwriter who worked hard on movies like HAUNTED COP SHOP 2. Then he was able to slowly transition to being a director, but he still had to deliver enough mainstream thrills to please local investors. His first flick, AS TEARS GO BY, is a mesmerizing blend of Wong Kar-wai romance and style with down-and-dirty Hong Kong gangster action. Savage beatings, swooning romance, Maggie Cheung in her first real role that required her to do more than be onscreen candy. It was a big hit at the Hong Kong box office (Wong’s only film to do that for almost ten years) and if you haven’t seen it but you like Wong Kar-wai then you need to see where it all began.
read a review:

IFC Center
UP THE YANGTZE (China/Canada, 2008)
Daily – with director at screenings 4/26 and 4/27
A Canadian/Chinese documentary charting the part of the country that Jia Zhangke’s STILL LIFE took place in: the Yangtze River where the Three Gorges Dam will soon flood the recently evacuated cities. The doc focuses on a tour boat that sails through these deserted, soon-to-be-submerged towns, and lots of time is given to the bizarrely trained Chinese staff (who are told never to mention Quebec Independence to Western tourists).
see trailer:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q1fFuynf-Yw
read more:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/uptheyangtze

FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON (Taiwan/France, 2008, 115 minutes)
The latest movie from Taiwan’s great auteur, Hou Hsiao-hsien, is being hailed as one of his best and most accessible movies yet. Set in Paris and starring Juliette Binoche, it’s all about single mothers trying to raise their kids and stay connected to other people in the modern world.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117933651&cs=1

THE FILMS OF KENJI MIZOGUCHI
Friday, Saturday and Sunday @ 11AM
Japan’s master director has been largely relegated to lurk in the shadow of Akira Kurosawa, but over the past five years a number of retrospectives have hauled him back into the light. He’s one of Japan’s best, most subtle and most heart-breaking directors, like the Lubitsch of tragedy: making gorgeous women’s pictures that are delicate, understated and poignantly softspoken.

STORY OF LATE CHRYSANTHEMUMS (Japan, 1939)
May 9-11
Kent Jones says it’s “One of the ten greatest films of all time,” and he’s been around. A kabuki play updated to tell the story of the son of a great kabuki actor who ditches his family in order to chase after the inappropriate love of his life. A boxing match between art and life, desire and duty.
read more:
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/05/36/story_chrysanthemums.html

UTAMARO AND HIS FIVE WOMEN (Japan, 1946)
May 16-18
A feminist manifesto by Mizoguchi that was made under the American occupation and is generally considered one of his lesser films. But still, essential if you’ve fallen under his spell.
read more:
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/03/25/utamaro.html

UGETSU (Japan, 1953)
May 23-26:
Mizoguchi’s ghost story is about as far away from THE RING as you can get. Richard Corliss says it contains one of cinema’s great tracking shots. You can bet that it’s a quiet scream of desperation.
read more:
http://www.time.com/time/2005/100movies/0,23220,ugetsu_monogatari,00.html

THE LIFE OF OHARU (Japan, 1952)
May 30-Jun 1
This is the Mizoguchi movie most fans see one time only. Oharu is a lady of the court and this film is a greased pole that sends her sliding on the fast road to hell, winding up a broken-down beggar. Every inch she falls hurts, hurts, hurts. Cinematic suffering at its most acute.
read more:
http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/22/oharu.html

SANSHO THE BAILIFF (Japan, 1954)
Jun 13-15
This is Mizoguchi’s masterpiece, and if you haven’t seen it I don’t have anything to say but, “Go!” And maybe I’ll add, “Now!” Lots of critics cite it as the movie that opened their eyes to what film is capable of, this is one of the great Japanese classic movies, based on a great Japanese classic story. Action, romance, slavery, mothers, sons, mistaken identities...if Kurosawa whispered instead of shouted he’d have made it.
read more:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19530101/EDITOR/40827002/1023

ImaginAsian
TASHAN (India, 2008, 165 minutes)
Daily @ 12:00pm, 3:15pm, 6:40pm, 10:00pm
Yash Raj Films of Bollywood makes family friendly musicals and TASHAN is their latest, one of the most anticipated films of the year in India. Starring Kareena Kapoor, Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan it’s about a gangster, a femme fatale and a call center executive on a trip across India. An action thriller, it also stars Anil Kapoor, one of Bollywood’s most charismatic actors who’s like a late-career Elvis on speed.
see the teaser trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFUBW1bv_ts
read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tashan_(film)

Japan Society
ROUGHNECK (Japan, 1969, 86 minutes)
Friday, May 2 @ 7:30pm
The last installment in the sold-out, super cool, ultra-mod Nikkatsu Action series, this flick takes it out in true yakuza style. Check out the trailer at the link below and you’ll be saying, “Dynamite!” Literally.
more info:
http://www.japansociety.org/event_detail?eid=e074498

MOMA
KIM KI-DUK RETROSPECTIVE
April 23 – May 8
It’s about time. Love him or hate him, Korea’s Kim Ki-Duk is one of the world’s most distinctive filmmakers and until D-WAR came along he was the director of the highest grossing Korean movie ever released in America. Now the Museum of Modern Art is honoring Kim with a complete, 14-film retro, and Kim himself will be attending to introduce some of the films. It’s Korea’s most controversial talent, and if you’ve never experienced one of his movies you should, if only so you can have an opinion.
complete details:
http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/film_exhibitions.php?id=8164&ref=calendar

Paris Theater (4 West 58th Street)
FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON (Taiwan/France, 2008, 115 minutes)
Daily
The latest movie from Taiwan’s great auteur, Hou Hsiao-hsien, is being hailed as one of his best and most accessible movies yet. Set in Paris and starring Juliette Binoche, it’s all about single mothers trying to raise their kids and stay connected to other people in the modern world.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117933651&cs=1

2008-04-04T10:28:00.000-04:00

SUBWAY CINEMA NEWS: March 27 – April 3, 2008
NOW PLAYING
Asia Society
TATTOOED LIFE (Japan, 1965, 82 minutes)
Thursday, April 3 @ 7pm
Part of their GANGSTERS, GAMBLERS AND OTHER ANTI-HEROES: THE JAPANESE YAKUZA MOVIE series. If you’re going to catch one film from the line-up, get this one. One of Suzuki Seijun’s most visually gob-stopping flicks! It starts out all nice and normal, keeping a story about a yakuza hitman in hiding at a mountain mine on a low simmering boil, but the finale explodes into the kind of imagery that will stay with you for the rest of your life.
more details:
http://www.asiasociety.org/events/calendar.pl?rm=detail&eventid=17052
BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR AND HUMANITY (Japan, 1973, 99 minutes)
Thursday, April 17 @ 7pm
Kinji Fukasaku’s YAKUZA PAPERS five-part series is one of the great gangster epics of all time, and BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR AND HUMANITY is the first one in the series. As a stand-alone it’s not quite as satisfying, but all the movies are out on a great DVD presentation in the US so it’s not hard to find the rest if this one piques your interest. It’s a new take on the gangster movie, featuring handheld cameras, vicious battles, low-life thugs trying to make a living all set in post-War Japan. This is THE WIRE of Japanese gangster movies, a look at how the entire, stinking system works and why it should all be destroyed.
read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_Without_Honor_and_Humanity
more info:
http://www.asiasociety.org/events/calendar.pl?rm=detail&eventid=17053
Cinema Village
TUYA’S MARRIAGE (China, 2007, 96 minutes)
Daily @ 1:00pm, 3:05pm, 5:10pm, 7:15pm, 9:20pm
Winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, TUYA’S MARRIAGE is set in China’s Mongolian grasslands and tells the tale of steel-willed Tuya, who sets out to find a new husband after her original hubby falls ill. Part comedy, part girl-power social drama, it’s a highly acclaimed film set in some of the most scenic parts of the planet.
read a review:
http://www.beyondhollywood.com/tuyas-marriage-2006-movie-review/
Columbia University
(Roone Arledge Auditorium, 115th Street & Broadway)
PU SAN (Japan, 1953)
part of
OUT OF THE ASHES: EARLY POSTWAR JAPANESE MOVIES
Tuesday, April 8 @ 6pm
This series, curated by Linda Hoaglund, is screening some ultra-rare films from Japan’s immediate postwar years. The following synopsis is cribbed from Columbia U’s website:
“Inspired by the eponymous comic strip, Pu San traces the misadventures of a hapless widower edging past his prime, trying to stay employed and out of jail, while keeping an eye on the landlord’s daughter, fittingly named Stubborn. Ichikawa manages to stir up a wicked and sardonic brew of raucous politics, rambunctious students, inflation, and corruption.”
more info:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/weai/events/OutofAshes.html
IFC Center
FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON (Taiwan/France, 2008, 115 minutes)
Daily @ 11:35am, 12:50pm, 3:00pm, 5:25pm, 6:00pm, 7:50pm, 10:10pm, 12:25am
The latest movie from Taiwan’s great auteur, Hou Hsiao-hsien, is being hailed as one of his best and most accessible movies yet. Set in Paris and starring Juliette Binoche, it’s all about single mothers trying to raise their kids and stay connected to other people in the modern world.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117933651&cs=1
ImaginAsian
NANA (Japan, 2005, 113 minutes)
Daily @ 2:00pm, 4:30pm, 7:00pm, 9:30pm
One of the most satisfying movies from Japan in recent years, NANA is based on an enormously popular manga series about two girls who share the name Nana who become roommates when they move to Tokyo. It’s all simple enough, but somehow this movie manages to feel as big as all creation. Funny, smart, cute, and sugar pop charged, this is one of the most intelligent dramas about young women that you’ll see this year. Right up there with LINDA LINDA LINDA from a few years ago.
read a review:
http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/nana.shtml
Japan Society
GLASS JOHNNY: LOOKS LIKE A BEAST (Japan, 1962, 108 minutes)
Friday, April 4 @ 7:30pm
As THE WARPED ONES was a riff on BREATHLESS this Japanese flick (part of the Nikkatsu Action retrospective that’s been packing the house up there) is a riff on Fellini’s LA STRADA. The inimitable chipmunk-cheeked Jo Shishido plays a bike track tout who wants to groom a young rider into a star racer, and he adopts a simple-minded prostitute in the process. Black and white madness like you’ve never seen before.
see the trailer and read more:
http://www.japansociety.org/event_detail?eid=34941974
Landmark Sunshine
CJ7 (Hong Kong, 2008)
Daily @ 12:15pm, 2:00pm, 4:00pm, 12:20am
Stephen Chow abandons his surreal “mo lei tau” style of anything goes comedy in this movie that sees him embracing a gentler more universal style of laffs. There are still plenty of manga-style combat scenes, poo jokes, overly-violent whacks in the head and off-the-wall plot turns in this sci-fi riff on ET about a poor father and son who find an alien toy in the local dump.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cj7/
Paris Theater (4 West 58th Street)
FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON (Taiwan/France, 2008, 115 minutes)
Daily @ 11:45am, 2:10pm, 4:50pm, 7:30pm, 9:55pm
The latest movie from Taiwan’s great auteur, Hou Hsiao-hsien, is being hailed as one of his best and most accessible movies yet. Set in Paris and starring Juliette Binoche, it’s all about single mothers trying to raise their kids and stay connected to other people in the modern world.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117933651&cs=1
Walter Reade
NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS
Taking place March 26 – April 6, New Directors/New Films is Lincoln Center and MOMA’s annual celebration of the newest directors they dig up all over the planet. This year there are six directors from Asia, including:
EPITAPH – a hallucinatory Korean horror movie that rises above genre with a creepy visual sense and a time-jumping tale that folds up in itself.
FOSTER CHILD – Brillante Mendoza is one of the best new directors from the Philippines and his rehearsed and improvised movies are some of the rawest, roughest evocations of life in modern day Manila.
MEGANE – a feel good film from the director of KAMOME DINER that’s scientifically built to warm the cockles of even the blackest heart.
SOUL CARRIAGE – a bleak, abstract movie from China (directed by a Brit) it’s a grimmer take on GOING HOME: a young construction worker tries to make some quick cash taking the dead body of his co-worker back to his hometown thousands of miles away.
WE WENT TO WONDERLAND – an elderly Chinese couple visits Europe for the first time. He can’t speak due to cancer, she’s a hardheaded pragmatist. Sly, gentle comedy ensues.
WONDERFUL TOWN – a damp, mysterious film set in Thailand, this flick is all about an architect shows up at a nearly-abandoned town and tries to hook up with a woman whose past is as mysterious as his.

2008-03-28T10:30:00.000-04:00

SUBWAY CINEMA NEWS: March 27 – April 3, 2008

COMING SOON

NOW PLAYING

Asia Society
RED PEONY GAMBLER (Japan, 1969, 98 minutes)
Thursday, March 27 @ 7pm
Part of their GANGSTERS, GAMBLERS AND OTHER ANTI-HEROES: THE JAPANESE YAKUZA MOVIE series. This installment in the wandering gambler lady movies was directed by the visually extravagant Tai Kato and it’s full of butt-kicking female empowerment.
more details:
http://www.asiasociety.org/events/calendar.pl?rm=detail&eventid=17051

TATTOOED LIFE (Japan, 1965, 82 minutes)
Thursday, April 3 @ 7pm
Part of their GANGSTERS, GAMBLERS AND OTHER ANTI-HEROES: THE JAPANESE YAKUZA MOVIE series. If you’re going to catch one film from the line-up, get this one. One of Suzuki Seijun’s most visually gob-stopping flicks! It starts out all nice and normal, keeping a story about a yakuza hitman in hiding at a mountain mine on a low simmering boil, but the finale explodes into the kind of imagery that will stay with you for the rest of your life.
more details:
http://www.asiasociety.org/events/calendar.pl?rm=detail&eventid=17052

AMC Empire 25
CJ7 (Hong Kong, 2008)
Daily @ 12:15pm, 2pm, 4pm, 5:45pm, 7:45pm, 9:40pm
Stephen Chow abandons his surreal “mo lei tau” style of anything goes comedy in this movie that sees him embracing a gentler more universal style of laffs. There are still plenty of manga-style combat scenes, poo jokes, overly-violent whacks in the head and off-the-wall plot turns in this sci-fi riff on ET about a poor father and son who find an alien toy in the local dump.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cj7/

Cinema Village
TUYA’S MARRIAGE (China, 2007, 96 minutes)
starts April 4
Winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, TUYA’S MARRIAGE is set in China’s Mongolian grasslands and tells the tale of steel-willed Tuya, who sets out to find a new husband after her original hubby falls ill. Part comedy, part girl-power social drama, it’s a highly acclaimed film set in some of the most scenic parts of the planet.
read a review:
http://www.beyondhollywood.com/tuyas-marriage-2006-movie-review/

Columbia University
(Roone Arledge Auditorium, 115th Street & Broadway)
DOCTOR’S DAY OFF (Japan, 1952)
part of
OUT OF THE ASHES: EARLY POSTWAR JAPANESE MOVIES
Monday, March 31 @ 6pm
This series, curated by Linda Hoaglund, is screening some ultra-rare films from Japan’s immediate postwar years. The following synopsis is cribbed from Columbia U’s website:
“Set in 1946, on the first anniversary of Japan’s defeat, this film chronicles the hopeless efforts of a doctor in a poor neighborhood, trying to take a day off. His attempts to nap are foiled by a colorful stream of characters scarred by postwar trauma and lawlessness. The film’s guileless heart guides this tragic comedy to a deeply affecting conclusion. (Based on the short story by Ibuse Masuji.)”
more info:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/weai/events/OutofAshes.html

ImaginAsian
RACE (India, 2008, 160 minutes)
Daily @ 2:30pm, 10pm
ends April 3
India’s Abbas-Mustan team direct high class thrillers with plots often cribbed from Hollywood flicks. But although RACE hasn’t gotten the best reviews, it would be hard to find a plot summary this awesome anywhere in the West:
“To the public eye, Ranvir (Saif Ali Khan) and Rajiv (Akshaye Khanna) may be your average horse breeders with a huge stud farm, but they are also the biggest bookies in the horse racing circuit. Rajiv, suffering from alcoholism, swears to quit drinking, if Shaina (Bipasha Basu), who is in love with Ranvir, marries him…”
Could this be any more camp-eriffic?
read a review:
http://movies.indiatimes.com/moviereview/2886604.cms

NANA (Japan, 2005, 113 minutes)
starts April 4
One of the best movies from Japan in recent history, NANA is based on an enormously popular manga series about two girls who share the name Nana who become roommates when they move to Tokyo. It’s all simple enough, but somehow this movie manages to feel as big as all creation. Funny, smart, cute, and sugar pop charged, this is one of the most intelligent dramas about young women that you’ll see this year. Right up there with LINDA LINDA LINDA from a few years ago.
read a review:
http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/nana.shtml

Japan Society
GLASS JOHNNY: LOOKS LIKE A BEAST (Japan, 1962, 108 minutes)
Friday, April 4 @ 7:30pm
As THE WARPED ONES was a riff on BREATHLESS this Japanese flick (part of the Nikkatsu Action retrospective that’s been packing the house up there) is a riff on Fellini’s LA STRADA. The inimitable chipmunk-cheeked Jo Shishido plays a bike track tout who wants to groom a young rider into a star racer, and he adopts a simple-minded prostitute in the process. Black and white madness like you’ve never seen before.
see the trailer and read more:
http://www.japansociety.org/event_detail?eid=34941974

Landmark Sunshine
CJ7 (Hong Kong, 2008)
Daily @ 12:15pm, 2pm, 4pm, 5:45pm, 7:45pm, 9:40pm
Stephen Chow abandons his surreal “mo lei tau” style of anything goes comedy in this movie that sees him embracing a gentler more universal style of laffs. There are still plenty of manga-style combat scenes, poo jokes, overly-violent whacks in the head and off-the-wall plot turns in this sci-fi riff on ET about a poor father and son who find an alien toy in the local dump.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cj7/

Walter Reade
NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS
Taking place March 26 – April 6, New Directors/New Films is Lincoln Center and MOMA’s annual celebration of the newest directors they dig up all over the planet. This year there are six directors from Asia, including:

EPITAPH – a hallucinatory Korean horror movie that rises above genre with a creepy visual sense and a time-jumping tale that folds up in itself.

FOSTER CHILD – Brillante Mendoza is one of the best new directors from the Philippines and his rehearsed and improvised movies are some of the rawest, roughest evocations of life in modern day Manila.

MEGANE – a feel good film from the director of KAMOME DINER that’s scientifically built to warm the cockles of even the blackest heart.

SOUL CARRIAGE – a bleak, abstract movie from China (directed by a Brit) it’s a grimmer take on GOING HOME: a young construction worker tries to make some quick cash taking the dead body of his co-worker back to his hometown thousands of miles away.

WE WENT TO WONDERLAND – an elderly Chinese couple visits Europe for the first time. He can’t speak due to cancer, she’s a hardheaded pragmatist. Sly, gentle comedy ensues.

WONDERFUL TOWN – a damp, mysterious film set in Thailand, this flick is all about an architect shows up at a nearly-abandoned town and tries to hook up with a woman whose past is as mysterious as his.

2008-02-22T12:18:00.002-05:00

February 21 – 29, 2008

Welcome to Subway Cinema News, your guide to Asian entertainment in NYC and beyond.

We’re running a little behind as we switch servers and revamp the Subway Cinema website and design a whole new Subway Cinema News. A new Subway Cinema News? That’s right, and if you squint at it just right and it’s sort of dark and you’re very far away it might even look professional by the time we’re done with it.

COMING SOON
March 6 – April 17 sees GAMBLERS, GANGSTERS AND OTHER ANTIHEROES: THE JAPANESE YAKUZA FILM screen at the Asia Society. It’s a very strange line-up, from rarities to common place films, some that have never screened in NYC before and some that get screened a lot. We’d send you to a webpage for more info, but they don’t have one place where all the films are written up. Whoops.

March 7th the amazing, the inimitable, the unforgettable FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT appears at the ImaginAsian and it’ll run in repertory with its director’s previous movie, A TASTE OF TEA. You will never experience joy in a theater the way you will during A TASTE OF TEA and FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT. Weird, surreal, hopeful, disjointed, bizarre...treat yourself to something different.

March 12 sees Film Forum present BLIND MOUNTAIN, Li Yang’s moving Chinese film that’s his follow-up to the harrowing BLIND SHAFT which was about coal miners running an insurance scam in China’s super-unsafe mines. This time out it’s the critically acclaimed story of a young girl who gets caught up in human trafficking in rural China. Expect to be so shocked and upset your fingernails fall off.

NOW SHOWING
Cinema Village
SUMMER PALACE (China, 2007, 140 minutes)
Daily @ 1:20pm, 6:20pm
Lou Ye’s lush flick about a young woman moving to the big city and falling in love is set against the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 earned the acclaimed director a five year ban from filmmaking. Was it worth it? See the film and decide for yourself. Lou’s previous films include the Zhang Ziyi spy film, PURPLE BUTTERFLY and the elliptical VERTIGO-esque SUZHOU RIVER.
read reviews:
http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?summer+palace

STILL LIFE (China, 2007, 108 mintues)
Daily @ 4:05pm, 9:05ppm
Jia Zhangke is not a director you can easily warm to. Chilly, distant, slow and methodical his movies often feel more like abstractions than movies and more like thesis statements than stories. But STILL LIFE has won over even the most diehard Jia Zhangke haters. Taking place in a city that’s being demolished for scrap after it was abandoned for the massive Three Gorges dam-building project, a woman arrives looking for her husband who left her. Beautiful and surreal with a slight touch of sci-fi, it’s impossible to describe this movie. Just give yourself over to it and you’ll most likely come out happy. Plus, the critics lurve it!
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/still_life/

The ImaginAsian
JODHA AKBAR (India, 2008, 215 minutes)
Daily @ 2pm, 10:45pm
Starring two of Bollywood’s brightest stars – Hrithik Roshan, the triple-thumbed, dancing stud with washboard abs and Aishwarya Rai the “Most Beautiful Woman in the World” - and directed by Oscar-nomiated Ashutosh Gowarikar (LAGAAAN) this is a lush, huge, ginormous period film that has been getting raves all over India. It opens this weekend and reportedly blow you away.
read the first look review:
http://www.indicine.com/movies/bollywood/review-jodha-akbar-movie-review/

WHITE BADGE (Korea, 1992, 122 minutes)
Thursday, February 28 @ 6:30pm
This classic Korean movie tells the story of two Korean soldiers who fought in Vietnam long after the events are over. Needless to say, they’re both pretty screwed up. This was the first Korean film to talk about Vietnam, and the soldiers are depicted more as mercenaries than Korean patriots assisting their buddies, the Americans. With a massive budget, the war scenes are terrific and its politics are so searing that Korean war veterans demanded the movie be cut.
read more:
http://www.koreafilm.org/feature/100_91.asp

more info:
http://koreanculture.org/bbs/view.php?id=event&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=161

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.

GANGSTER VIP (Japan, 1968, 93 minutes)
Friday, Feb. 22 @ 7:30pm
Tetsuya Watari from Suzuki Seijun’s eye-popping TOKYO DRIFTER stars in this downbeat, “mature” Nikkatsu Action flick. Watari plays a yakuza who comes out of prison where he’s been doing time for stabbing a guy and rather than embrace his old gang buddies he’s sick of his life of crime. His old buddies are miffed and, this being a yakuza flick, they eschew heart-to-heart conversations over steaming mugs of herbal tea and decide to settle their differences by punching each other in the face, instead. Also, long, wicked looking knives.
read details:
http://www.japansociety.org/event_detail?eid=2bcfdff3

watch the abbreviated trailer (ie, 30 seconds of it):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYnDyDQIV4A

Landmark Sunshine
LUST, CAUTION (Taiwan, 2007)
Daily @ 11:15am, 2:30pm, 5:40pm, 9:00pm
Ang Lee’s dirty movie is moody, repressed and features lots of scenes of Tony Leung naked. It’s also about 500 hours long. Still: Tony Leung naked.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lust_caution/

Walter Reade
FILM COMMENT SELECTS
February 15 – 28 at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center
Film Comment Selects is the punky little brother to the New York Film Festival and, frankly, the movies are a lot more fun. Tons of Euro-horror and other good stuff this year but the two Asian films are:

FLASH POINT (Hong Kong, 2007, 88 minutes)
Sunday, February 17 @ 9pm
Tuesday, February 19 @ 1:30pm
Friday, February 22 @ 4pm
Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen team up after their SHA PO LANG to bring you the trashiest and flashiest Hong Kong movie of the year. The ridiculous plot with all its angst and undercover cops is paper thin and super-lame, but the action is, well, the action is some of the most unique and most intense stuff ever put onscreen. There’s one or two brief flickers near the beginning and then, starting at about the one hour mark, things get fast and furious. You really shouldn’t miss seeing the final half hour throwdown on the big screen.

read a review:
http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/tiff-report-flash-point-review/

DARK MATTER (USA, 2007, 90 minutes)
Wednesday, February 27 @ 8:15pm
Thursday, February 28 @ 1pm
Aidan Quinn, Meryl Streep and Liu Ye star in this flick by opera director Chen Shi-zheng that was abandoned in distribution limbo after the University of Virginia shootings. Why? Because it tells the highly stylized tale of a Chinese PhD candidate at the University of Iowa who slowly comes unhinged and runs amock. It played Sundance and has split audiences: some folks think it’s overly-sylized and mannered while others find it intelligent and upsetting. See it yourself and then you, too, can have an opinion.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&id=2471&reviewid=VE1117932601&cs=1

2008-02-15T11:51:00.000-05:00

February 14 – 21, 2008

Welcome to Subway Cinema News, your guide to Asian entertainment in NYC and beyond.

We’re running a little behind as we switch servers and revamp the Subway Cinema website and design a whole new Subway Cinema News. A new Subway Cinema News? That’s right, and if you squint at it just right and it’s sort of dark and you’re very far away it might even look professional by the time we’re done with it.

COMING SOON
March 7th the amazing, the inimitable, the unforgettable FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT appears at the ImaginAsian and it’ll run in repertory with its director’s previous movie, A TASTE OF TEA. You will never experience joy in a theater the way you will during A TASTE OF TEA and FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT. Weird, surreal, hopeful, disjointed, bizarre...treat yourself to something different.

March 12 sees Film Forum present BLIND MOUNTAIN, Li Yang’s moving Chinese film that’s his follow-up to the harrowing BLIND SHAFT which was about coal miners running an insurance scam in China’s super-unsafe mines. This time out it’s the critically acclaimed story of a young girl who gets caught up in human trafficking in rural China. Expect to be so shocked and upset your fingernails fall off.

NOW SHOWING
Anthology Film Archives
THE FILMS OF LIN CHENG-SHENG
February 15 – 21 with the filmmaker
This Taiwanese director is considered part of the same generation as Ang Lee and Tsai Ming-liang but his moving dramas haven’t given him the same international profile as his contemporaries. Now’s your chance to see everything he’s done, with the filmmaker present to explain all the complicated bits.

A DRIFTING LIFE1996, 123 minutes, 35mm. In Mandarin with English subtitles. With Lee Kang-sheng, Vicky Wei, Grace Chen.After his wife dies during childbirth, Ku-cheng (Lee) leaves his children behind in their rural village while he finds work on a construction site in the city. He develops a relationship with a widow but despite their intimacy, he refuses to remarry. Lin’s moving, multi-generational debut feature is anchored by a strong performance from Tsai Ming-liang alter-ego Lee Kang-sheng.–Friday, February 15 at 6:30, Sunday, February 17 at 9:00, and Wednesday, February 20 at 7:00.MURMUR OF YOUTH1997, 106 minutes, 35mm. In Mandarin with English subtitles. With René Liu, Tseng Jing, Tsai Chin-hsin.Two teenage girls from opposite sides of town work together as cashiers at a movie theater. One lives with her wealthy but distant parents in a Taipei high-rise while the other lives in an older rundown house where her grandmother provides moral support. They become close friends and eventually lovers, sharing intimate details about their lives that cannot be revealed to their respective families.–Friday, February 15 at 9:15, Monday, February 18 at 7:00, and Wednesday, February 20 at 9:30.SWEET DEGENERATION1998, 118 minutes, 35mm. In Mandarin with English subtitles. With Chen Shiang-chyi, Lee Kang-sheng, Chen Shi-huang.Lee Kang-sheng stars as Chun-sheng, a directionless young man who returns from military service troubled by his deep emotional attachment to his sister. He steals money from his father and travels to Taipei where he falls in love with a prostitute who ultimately challenges the fragile relationship between the two siblings. Lin drew on his own life story in constructing the character of the wayward son who dreams of a better life as a musician.–Saturday, February 16 at 4:30 and Monday, February 18 at 9:15.MARCH OF HAPPINESS1999, 93 minutes, 35mm. In Mandarin and Japanese with English subtitles. With Hsiao Hsu-shen and Lim Giong.Set between the end of the Japanese occupation of Taiwan in 1945 and the massacre of Taiwanese natives by Nationalist Chinese forces in 1947, this film follows two lovers as they attempt to build a life together. A-Yu meets a kindred spirit in A-Jin, but they are separated when the Allied forces begin bombing Taiwan. Upon their return, the lovers, in order to avoid an arranged marriage orchestrated by A-Yu’s father, plan to elope on February 28, 1947, the very date of the Chinese massacre.–Saturday, February 16 at 7:00 and Tuesday, February 19 at 9:15.BETELNUT BEAUTY2001, 106 minutes, 35mm. In Mandarin and Hokkien with English subtitles. With Chen Chang and Angelica Lee.In Taipei, Feng and Fei-fei meet in a sudden thunderstorm. Feng, fresh out of the army, is eager to start a new life. Fei-fei has also recently turned a new page in her young life, having just run away from home. Fei-fei and her friend Yili become ‘betelnut beauties’, hawking their fare from a roadside stall of glass and neon. Betelnut, a legally sold chewing pepper that produces an effect not unlike marijuana, is a favorite among the working class men. Feng and Fei-fei quickly fall in love, two clueless souls clinging desperately to each other as they try to withstand the punishing rush of city life.–Saturday, February 16 at 9:15 and Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00.ROBINSON’S CRUSOE2002, 90 minutes, 35mm. In Mandarin with English subtitles. With Leon Dai, Chen Shiang-chyi, Yang Kuei-mei.Real estate mogul Robinson is so successful that he “could fill streets with all the places” he’s sold. His emotional life, however, is more complicated and the handsome, aloof Robinson withdraws when his loved ones start making demands on his precious time. To avoid his aging mother and clinging girlfriend Vicky, he moves into a luxury hotel with his pet fish and secretly shops for a Caribbean island on the internet. Once his escape plans start to materialize, Robinson decides to jettison his personal relationships.–Sunday, February 17 at 4:30 and Thursday, February 21 at 7:00.THE MOON ALSO RISES2005, 113 minutes, 35mm. In Hokkien, Mandarin and Japanese with English subtitles. With Lin Jia-Yu, Yang Kuei-mei.Set in the seaside town of Taidong in the early 1960s, THE MOON ALSO RISES follows the lives of a deeply religious divorcée and her schoolteacher daughter, who wishes to marry her cousin. The film was adapted from a popular story by writer Li Ang and earned actress Yang Kuei-mei a Golden Horse Award.–Sunday, February 17 at 6:30 and Thursday, February 21 at 9:00.

Cinema Village
SUMMER PALACE (China, 2007, 140 minutes)
Daily @ 3:25pm, 8:20pm
Lou Ye’s lush flick about a young woman moving to the big city and falling in love is set against the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 earned the acclaimed director a five year ban from filmmaking. Was it worth it? See the film and decide for yourself. Lou’s previous films include the Zhang Ziyi spy film, PURPLE BUTTERFLY and the elliptical VERTIGO-esque SUZHOU RIVER.
read reviews:
http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?summer+palace

STILL LIFE (China, 2007, 108 mintues)
Daily @ 3:20pm, 7:25ppm
Jia Zhangke is not a director you can easily warm to. Chilly, distant, slow and methodical his movies often feel more like abstractions than movies and more like thesis statements than stories. But STILL LIFE has won over even the most diehard Jia Zhangke haters. Taking place in a city that’s being demolished for scrap after it was abandoned for the massive Three Gorges dam-building project, a woman arrives looking for her husband who left her. Beautiful and surreal with a slight touch of sci-fi, it’s impossible to describe this movie. Just give yourself over to it and you’ll most likely come out happy. Plus, the critics lurve it!
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/still_life/

The ImaginAsian
JODHA AKBAR (India, 2008, 215 minutes)
Daily @ 2pm, 10:45pm
Starring two of Bollywood’s brightest stars – Hrithik Roshan, the triple-thumbed, dancing stud with washboard abs and Aishwarya Rai the “Most Beautiful Woman in the World” - and directed by Oscar-nomiated Ashutosh Gowarikar (LAGAAAN) this is a lush, huge, ginormous period film that has been getting raves all over India. It opens this weekend and reportedly blow you away.
read the first look review:
http://www.indicine.com/movies/bollywood/review-jodha-akbar-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.

GANGSTER VIP (Japan, 1968, 93 minutes)
Friday, Feb. 22 @ 7:30pm
Tetsuya Watari from Suzuki Seijun’s eye-popping TOKYO DRIFTER stars in this downbeat, “mature” Nikkatsu Action flick. Watari plays a yakuza who comes out of prison where he’s been doing time for stabbing a guy and rather than embrace his old gang buddies he’s sick of his life of crime. His old buddies are miffed and, this being a yakuza flick, they eschew heart-to-heart conversations over steaming mugs of herbal tea and decide to settle their differences by punching each other in the face, instead. Also, long, wicked looking knives.
read details:
http://www.japansociety.org/event_detail?eid=2bcfdff3

watch the abbreviated trailer (ie, 30 seconds of it):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYnDyDQIV4A

Korea Society
TO THE STARRY ISLAND (Japan, 1993, 101 minutes)
Thursday, February 21 @ 6:30pm
This beautiful looking film flits back and forth through time to tell the story of Kwisong Island and the events that have scarred its history as two friends return to bury the body of one of their fathers and the islanders won’t let them bring the coffin ashore.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117908914.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

more info:
http://www.koreasociety.rsvp1.com/arts/film/classic_movie_night.html?mghost=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.koreasociety.org&mgfixit=1

Landmark Sunshine
LUST, CAUTION (Taiwan, 2007)
Daily @ 11:45pm, 2:45pm, 6:00pm, 9:00pm
Ang Lee’s dirty movie is moody, repressed and features lots of scenes of Tony Leung naked. It’s also about 500 hours long. Still: Tony Leung naked.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lust_caution/

Rubin Museum of Art (150 West 17th Street)
ICHI THE KILLER (Japan, 2001)
Friday, February 15th @ 9:30pm
Part of the “Mind Over Matter” film series, Takashi Miike’s most notorious film in the West gets a nice big screen presentation for folks who need to wallow in the filthy, inspired stink of his big, humming brain once more. Starring Shinya Tsukamoto (director of TETSUO THE IRON MAN) and Tadanobu Asano (THE TASTE OF TEA) movies don’t get much better than this.
read reviews:

Walter Reade
FILM COMMENT SELECTS
February 15 – 28 at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center
Film Comment Selects is the punky little brother to the New York Film Festival and, frankly, the movies are a lot more fun. Tons of Euro-horror and other good stuff this year but the two Asian films are:

FLASH POINT (Hong Kong, 2007, 88 minutes)
Sunday, February 17 @ 9pm
Tuesday, February 19 @ 1:30pm
Friday, February 22 @ 4pm
Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen team up after their SHA PO LANG to bring you the trashiest and flashiest Hong Kong movie of the year. The ridiculous plot with all its angst and undercover cops is paper thin and super-lame, but the action is, well, the action is some of the most unique and most intense stuff ever put onscreen. There’s one or two brief flickers near the beginning and then, starting at about the one hour mark, things get fast and furious. You really shouldn’t miss seeing the final half hour throwdown on the big screen.

read a review:
http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/tiff-report-flash-point-review/

DARK MATTER (USA, 2007, 90 minutes)
Wednesday, February 27 @ 8:15pm
Thursday, February 28 @ 1pm
Aidan Quinn, Meryl Streep and Liu Ye star in this flick by opera director Chen Shi-zheng that was abandoned in distribution limbo after the University of Virginia shootings. Why? Because it tells the highly stylized tale of a Chinese PhD candidate at the University of Iowa who slowly comes unhinged and runs amock. It played Sundance and has split audiences: some folks think it’s overly-sylized and mannered while others find it intelligent and upsetting. See it yourself and then you, too, can have an opinion.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&id=2471&reviewid=VE1117932601&cs=1

2008-02-01T16:44:00.001-05:00

February 1 – 7, 2008

Welcome to Subway Cinema News 2008! Only the second update, but it comes exactly one week after the first update! We’re on time! So far so good.

COMING SOON
March 7th the amazing, the inimitable, the unforgettable FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT appears at the ImaginAsian and it’ll run in repertory with its director’s previous movie, A TASTE OF TEA. You will never experience joy in a theater the way you will during A TASTE OF TEA and FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT. Weird, surreal, hopeful, disjointed, bizarre...treat yourself to something different.

NOW SHOWING
Anthology Film Archives
OLIVIER ASSAYAS RETROSPECTIVE
February 1 - 10
Don’t miss this Olivier Assayas retrospective at the Anthology Film Archives, featuring his movie with Maggie Cheung, IRMA VEP, and his terrific documentary about Hou Hsiao-hsien, HHH: A PORTRAIT OF HOU HSIAO-HSIEN. Both are must-sees if you’re fans of either the actress or the director.
read more:
http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0805,pinkerton,78963,20.html

Cinema Village
SUMMER PALACE (China, 2007, 140 minutes)
Daily @ 1:30pm, 4:15pm, 7:10pm, 9:10pm
Lou Ye’s lush flick about a young woman moving to the big city and falling in love is set against the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 earned the acclaimed director a five year ban from filmmaking. Was it worth it? See the film and decide for yourself. Lou’s previous films include the Zhang Ziyi spy film, PURPLE BUTTERFLY and the elliptical VERTIGO-esque SUZHOU RIVER.
read reviews:
http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?summer+palace

LOST IN BEIJING (China, 2007, 112 minutes)
Daily @ 1:55pm, 4:20pm, 6:45pm, 9:10pm
This black comic duel between two married couples who are fighting over the same baby stars classic Chinese diva, Elaine Jin, Hong Kong firebrand Tony Leung Kar-fai (ELECTION) and up and coming starlette Fan Bingbing, in a movie that’s cracking AIDS jokes one minute and threatening to drop a baby out a window the next. It might be too strong for American audiences, but critics have loved it around the world, and it was a major hit in China with its bare-knuckled depiction of modern day life in Beijing. Oh, and the producer is being brought up on criminal charges and the movie has been banned in China for showing Chinese people in too negative a light.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117932766&cs=1

IFC Center
STILL LIFE (China, 2007, 108 mintues)
Daily shows every hour pretty much
Jia Zhangke is not a director you can easily warm to. Chilly, distant, slow and methodical his movies often feel more like abstractions than movies and more like thesis statements than stories. But STILL LIFE has won over even the most diehard Jia Zhangke haters. Taking place in a city that’s being demolished for scrap after it was abandoned for the massive Three Gorges dam-building project, a woman arrives looking for her husband who left her. Beautiful and surreal with a slight touch of sci-fi, it’s impossible to describe this movie. Just give yourself over to it and you’ll most likely come out happy. Plus, the critics lurve it!
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/still_life/

The ImaginAsian
SUNDAY (India, 2008, 140 minutes)
Starts Friday, January 24th
Daily shows @ 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm
Ajay Devgan (COMPANY) stars as a cop whose girlfriend wakes up next to a dead body with no memory of what happened to her the day before. A varied assortment of people want to kill her or arrest her and Ajay has to figure out if she’s innocent of murder. And – oh, by the way – it’s a comedy. With Dracula in it. And dancing.

watch the totally baffling trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBQz6Vr_z1A

official site:
http://sunday.erosentertainment.com/

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.

GANGSTER VIP (Japan, 1968, 93 minutes)
Friday, Feb. 22 @ 7:30pm
Tetsuya Watari from Suzuki Seijun’s eye-popping TOKYO DRIFTER stars in this downbeat, “mature” Nikkatsu Action flick. Watari plays a yakuza who comes out of prison where he’s been doing time for stabbing a guy and rather than embrace his old gang buddies he’s sick of his life of crime. His old buddies are miffed and, this being a yakuza flick, they eschew heart-to-heart conversations over steaming mugs of herbal tea and decide to settle their differences by punching each other in the face, instead. Also, long, wicked looking knives.
read details:
http://www.japansociety.org/event_detail?eid=2bcfdff3

watch the abbreviated trailer (ie, 30 seconds of it):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYnDyDQIV4A

Landmark Sunshine
LUST, CAUTION (Taiwan, 2007)
Daily @ 11:45pm, 2:45pm, 6:00pm, 9:00pm
Ang Lee’s dirty movie is moody, repressed and features lots of scenes of Tony Leung naked. It’s also about 500 hours long. Still: Tony Leung naked.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lust_caution/

MOMA
A whole slew of Asian films popping up at MOMA this week, including:

MY NEIGHBORS THE YAMADAS (Japan)
February 1 @ 1:30pm
Hayao Miyazaki (PRINCESS MONONOKE) produced this 2-D animated gem based on a cartoon strip about an average, middle-class family.

THE HOLE (Taiwan)
Sunday, February 3 @ 4pm
Tsai Ming-liang’s best film is a musical set in the future where it never stops raining.

2008-01-24T11:22:00.001-05:00

January 24 – 31, 2008

Welcome to Subway Cinema News 2008! Only the second update, but it comes exactly one week after the first update! We’re on time! So far so good.

COMING SOON
February 2 – 10 sees and Olivier Assayas retrospective at the Anthology Film Archives, featuring his movie with Maggie Cheung, IRMA VEP, and his terrific documentary about Hou Hsiao-hsien, HHH: A PORTRAIT OF HOU HSIAO-HSIEN.

February 29th the amazing, the inimitable, the unforgettable FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT appears at the ImaginAsian and it’ll run in repertory with its director’s previous movie, A TASTE OF TEA. You will never experience joy in a theater the way you will during A TASTE OF TEA and FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT. Weird, surreal, hopeful, disjointed, bizarre...treat yourself to something different.

NOW SHOWING
Cinema Village
SUMMER PALACE (China, 2007, 104 minutes)
Daily @ 1:40pm, 4:25pm, 7:10pm, 9:55pm
Lou Ye’s lush flick about a young woman moving to the big city and falling in love is set against the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 earned the acclaimed director a five year ban from filmmaking. Was it worth it? See the film and decide for yourself. Lou’s previous films include the Zhang Ziyi spy film, PURPLE BUTTERFLY and the elliptical VERTIGO-esque SUZHOU RIVER.
read reviews:
http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?summer+palace

LOST IN BEIJING (China, 2007, 112 minutes)
Starts Friday, January 25
This black comic duel between two married couples who are fighting over the same baby stars classic Chinese diva, Elaine Jin, Hong Kong firebrand Tony Leung Kar-fai (ELECTION) and up and coming starlette Fan Bingbing, in a movie that’s cracking AIDS jokes one minute and threatening to drop a baby out a window the next. It might be too strong for American audiences, but critics have loved it around the world, and it was a major hit in China with its bare-knuckled depiction of modern day life in Beijing. Oh, and the producer is being brought up on criminal charges and the movie has been banned in China for showing Chinese people in too negative a light.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117932766&cs=1

IFC Center
STILL LIFE (China, 2007, 108 mintues)
Daily shows every hour pretty much
Jia Zhangke is not a director you can easily warm to. Chilly, distant, slow and methodical his movies often feel more like abstractions than movies and more like thesis statements than stories. But STILL LIFE has won over even the most diehard Jia Zhangke haters. Taking place in a city that’s being demolished for scrap after it was abandoned for the massive Three Gorges dam-building project, a woman arrives looking for her husband who left her. Beautiful and surreal with a slight touch of sci-fi, it’s impossible to describe this movie. Just give yourself over to it and you’ll most likely come out happy. Plus, the critics lurve it!
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/still_life/

The ImaginAsian
GAGMAN (Korea, 1988, 118 minutes)
Thursday, January 24 @ 6:30pm
This came out of nowhere and our best guess is that it has English subtitles since the press release was in English, but you shouldn’t miss it if you get a chance. If you saw Lee Myung-Se’s NOWHERE TO HIDE or DUELIST then you’ll want to check out GAGMAN, his very first film. Starring Ahn Sung-Ki as a stand-up comic who wants to be a director, the movie follows he and his fried as they team up with an out-of-work actress to rob a few banks to “research” their roles. Incredibly innovative and a movie you most likely won’t ever see on the big screen anywhere else.

read a review:
http://www.beyondhollywood.com/gagman-1989-movie-review/

SUNDAY (India, 2008, 140 minutes)
Starts Friday, January 24th
Daily shows @ 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm
Ajay Devgan (COMPANY) stars as a cop whose girlfriend wakes up next to a dead body with no memory of what happened to her the day before. A varied assortment of people want to kill her or arrest her and Ajay has to figure out if she’s innocent of murder. And – oh, by the way – it’s a comedy. With Dracula in it. And dancing.

watch the totally baffling trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBQz6Vr_z1A

official site:
http://sunday.erosentertainment.com/

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.

GANGSTER VIP (Japan, 1968, 93 minutes)
Friday, Feb. 22 @ 7:30pm
Tetsuya Watari from Suzuki Seijun’s eye-popping TOKYO DRIFTER stars in this downbeat, “mature” Nikkatsu Action flick. Watari plays a yakuza who comes out of prison where he’s been doing time for stabbing a guy and rather than embrace his old gang buddies he’s sick of his life of crime. His old buddies are miffed and, this being a yakuza flick, they eschew heart-to-heart conversations over steaming mugs of herbal tea and decide to settle their differences by punching each other in the face, instead. Also, long, wicked looking knives.
read details:
http://www.japansociety.org/event_detail?eid=2bcfdff3

watch the abbreviated trailer (ie, 30 seconds of it):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYnDyDQIV4A

Landmark Sunshine
LUST, CAUTION (Taiwan, 2007)
Daily @ 3:30pm, 6:30pm
Ang Lee’s dirty movie is moody, repressed and features lots of scenes of Tony Leung naked. It’s also about 500 hours long. Still: Tony Leung naked.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lust_caution/

MOMA
LUXURY CAR (China, 2006, 88 minutes)
Thursday, January 24 @ 6pm
Wang Chao’s stakes out the genre conventions of film noir and then runs like hell in the opposite direction. The result is an expectation-defying, easy-going flick about people who are searching for something and slowly giving up on ever finding it. A retired teacher teams up with a retiring cop to find his son and his daughter who have gone missing in order for his dying wife to say goodbye to them. It’s compelling, and stately, and moves like molasses, but the acting is impeccable and it’s worth your time if modern Chinese cinema tickles your sweet spot.
read reviews:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxury_Car_(film)

2008-01-18T11:45:00.000-05:00

January 17 – 24, 2008

Welcome to Subway Cinema News 2008! Only the second update, but it comes exactly one week after the first update! We’re on time! So far so good.

COMING SOON
February 2 – 10 sees and Olivier Assayas retrospective at the Anthology Film Archives, featuring his movie with Maggie Cheung, IRMA VEP, and his terrific documentary about Hou Hsiao-hsien, HHH: A PORTRAIT OF HOU HSIAO-HSIEN.

February 29th the amazing, the inimitable, the unforgettable FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT appears at the ImaginAsian and it’ll run in repertory with its director’s previous movie, A TASTE OF TEA. You will never experience joy in a theater the way you will during A TASTE OF TEA and FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT. Weird, surreal, hopeful, disjointed, bizarre...treat yourself to something different.

NOW SHOWING
Anthology Film Archives
MYSTERIOUS OBJECTS: THE FILMS OF APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL
January 17 – 19
With Apichatpong Weerasethakul appearing on Friday, January 18!!!
His film SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY appeared on pretty much every single “Best of” list of 2007, he’s been treated like a criminal in Thailand where government officials banned SYNDROMES and insulted the director by claiming no one in the country wanted to watch his movies, and he’s become an essential part of the international film festival scene in only a few short years. You’d be silly not to check out SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY or TROPICAL MALADY or one of the two short programs.
read an essay about the director and the retro:
http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0802,lee,78795,20.html

Cinema Village
SUMMER PALACE (China, 2007, 104 minutes)
Starts Friday, January 18
Lou Ye’s lush flick about a young woman moving to the big city and falling in love is set against the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 earned the acclaimed director a five year ban from filmmaking. Was it worth it? See the film and decide for yourself. Lou’s previous films include the Zhang Ziyi spy film, PURPLE BUTTERFLY and the elliptical VERTIGO-esque SUZHOU RIVER.
read reviews:
http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?summer+palace

LOST IN BEIJING (China, 2007, 112 minutes)
Starts Friday, January 25
This black comic duel between two married couples who are fighting over the same baby stars classic Chinese diva, Elaine Jin, Hong Kong firebrand Tony Leung Kar-fai (ELECTION) and up and coming starlette Fan Bingbing, in a movie that’s cracking AIDS jokes one minute and threatening to drop a baby out a window the next. It might be too strong for American audiences, but critics have loved it around the world, and it was a major hit in China with its bare-knuckled depiction of modern day life in Beijing. Oh, and the producer is being brought up on criminal charges and the movie has been banned in China for showing Chinese people in too negative a light.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117932766&cs=1

Film Forum
WOMAN ON THE BEACH (Korea, 2006, 127 minutes)
Daily @ 1:15pm, 3:45pm, 6:45pm, 9:15pm
Ends January 22nd
Hong Sang-Soo is one of the most acclaimed directors in Korea, viewed as the king of the art films in his homeland. But don’t let that scare you. His movies are about relationships and they’re often funnier than they are intellectual, charting every shift in mood and feeling like a weatherman tracking a storm system. There’s no better way to promote this flick, viewed as his crowning achievement, than to send you to read just a handful of the critical hosana’s sung for Hong.
Go read them:
http://www.filmforum.org/films/womanbeach.html

The ImaginAsian
LE GRAND CHEF (Korea, 2007, 113 minutes)
Daily @ 2pm, 4:30pm, 7pm, 9:30pm
It’s too bad this Korean cooking flick doesn’t have English subtitles – I repeat: THIS MOVIE DOES NOT HAVE ENGLISH SUBTITLES – because it’s a mindless, fun way to scratch your foodie itch without hurting the grey matter too much. A shameless orgy of Korean nationalism, free verse food critiques and steaming bowls of beef stew this flick hits all the notes you think it’ll hit but does so in an unobtrusive, laid-back fashion, including some time-outs for Genuine Korean Melodrama (patent pending). Warning: if you love animals, this movie may not be for you. The director is pretty explicit about where our food comes from.
read more:
http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/01/le-grand-chef.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.

RED HANDKERCHIEF (Japan, 1964, 98 minutes)
Friday, Jan 18 @ 7:30pm
Starring Yujiro Ishihara (a star so huge that he even has a museum dedicated to him) this cop drama is one of the pivotal movies in the series and an essential title demonstrating Nikkatsu’s “mood action” style. Ishihara shoots a witness during a failed drug raid and moves to the frozen north of Japan in self-exile. Years later he returns to solve the case so expect maximum melancholy, maximum fistfights, cool music and sharp suits. In color!
read details:
http://www.japansociety.org/event_detail?eid=4517028a

watch the trailer:
http://www.japansociety.org/content.cfm/red_handkerchief_trailer

Landmark Sunshine
LUST, CAUTION (Taiwan, 2007)
Daily @ 3:30pm, 6:30pm
Ang Lee’s dirty movie is moody, repressed and features lots of scenes of Tony Leung naked. It’s also about 500 hours long. Still: Tony Leung naked.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lust_caution/

MOMA
OPERA JAWA (Indonesia, 2006, 120 minutes)
Wednesday, January 16, 6:00
Thursday, January 17, 8:00
Friday, January 18, 8:00
Saturday, January 19, 2:00
Sunday, January 20, 5:00
Monday, January 21, 4:00
Hold onto your hats, this is a musical like none you’ve ever seen before. We tried to get it for the New York Asian Film Festival last year but for some reason the distributor wasn’t having any of it. Too bad, but it’s out now and if you’re into music this is the must-see event of the month. A full-out folk opera based on the “Abduction of Sita” from India’s “Ramayana” it’s set in a small village in the modern day with the villagers playing all the parts, making convincing monsters out of sheets and baskets, with full-blown production numbers breaking out all over, and surreal art installations growing out of the sandy beach like wild weeds. Hypnotic and existing in a dimension all its own, this is one of the few movies you can truly say is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. It’s got a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, too!
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/opera_jawa/

2008-01-11T11:45:00.000-05:00

January 10 – 17, 2008

Welcome to Subway Cinema News 2008! It’s a new year but we’re still hugging and squeezing Asian cinema like nobody’s business.

COMING SOON
February 2 – 10 sees and Olivier Assayas retrospective at the Anthology Film Archives, featuring his movie with Maggie Cheung, IRMA VEP, and his terrific documentary about Hou Hsiao-hsien, HHH: A PORTRAIT OF HOU HSIAO-HSIEN.

February 29th the amazing, the inimitable FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT appears at the ImaginAsian and it’ll run in repertory with its director’s previous movie, A TASTE OF TEA. You will never experience joy in a theater the way you will during A TASTE OF TEA and FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT. Weird, surreal, hopeful, disjointed, bizarre...treat yourself to something different.

NOW SHOWING
Anthology Film Archives
MYSTERIOUS OBJECTS: THE FILMS OF APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL
January 17 – 19
With Apichatpong Weerasethakul appearing on Friday, January 18!!!
His film SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY appeared on pretty much every single “Best of” list of 2007, he’s been treated like a criminal in Thailand where government officials banned SYNDROMES and insulted the director by claiming no one in the country wanted to watch his movies, and he’s become an essential part of the international film festival scene in only a few short years. You’d be silly not to check out SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY or TROPICAL MALADY or one of the two short programs.
read an essay about the director and the retro:
http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0802,lee,78795,20.html

Cinema Village
SUMMER PALACE (China, 2007, 104 minutes)
Starts Friday, January 18
Lou Ye’s lush flick about a young woman moving to the big city and falling in love is set against the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 earned the acclaimed director a five year ban from filmmaking. Was it worth it? See the film and decide for yourself. Lou’s previous films include the Zhang Ziyi spy film, PURPLE BUTTERFLY and the elliptical VERTIGO-esque SUZHOU RIVER.
read reviews:
http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?summer+palace

LOST IN BEIJING (China, 2007, 112 minutes)
Starts Friday, January 25
This black comic duel between two married couples who are fighting over the same baby stars classic Chinese diva, Elaine Jin, Hong Kong firebrand Tony Leung Kar-fai (ELECTION) and up and coming starlette Fan Bingbing, in a movie that’s cracking AIDS jokes one minute and threatening to drop a baby out a window the next. It might be too strong for American audiences, but critics have loved it around the world, and it was a major hit in China with its bare-knuckled depiction of modern day life in Beijing. Oh, and the producer is being brought up on criminal charges and the movie has been banned in China for showing Chinese people in too negative a light.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117932766&cs=1

Film Forum
WOMAN ON THE BEACH (Korea, 2006, 127 minutes)
Daily @ 1:15pm, 3:45pm, 6:45pm, 9:15pm
Ends January 22nd
Hong Sang-Soo is one of the most acclaimed directors in Korea, viewed as the king of the art films in his homeland. But don’t let that scare you. His movies are about relationships and they’re often funnier than they are intellectual, charting every shift in mood and feeling like a weatherman tracking a storm system. There’s no better way to promote this flick, viewed as his crowning achievement, than to send you to read just a handful of the critical hosana’s sung for Hong.
Go read them:
http://www.filmforum.org/films/womanbeach.html

The ImaginAsian
A BLOODY ARIA (Korea, 2006, 114 minutes)
Daily @ 12:30pm, 9:40pm
DELIVERANCE goes Korean, this bloody film is an exercise in savagery. When an opera coach takes his prize student to a deserted river and tries to jump her things are uncomfortable enough. But they get worse when a gang of local thugs stroll by and rapidly demonstrate that they’re all total psychos. Sick, gory and a real exploitation gem.
read a review:
http://koreanfilm.org/kfilm06.html#bloodyaria

TAARE ZAMEEN PAR (India, 2007, 165 minutes)
Daily @ 3pm
A Bollywood version of DEAD POETS SOCIETY focusing on a dyslexic kid, directed by and starring the multi-talented Aamir Khan (LAGAAN). Expect to cry. A lot. It’s already been ranked as one of the best Bollywood films of 2007 by most Indian critics.
read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taare_Zameen_Par

LE GRAND CHEF (Korea, 2007, 113 minutes)
Starts January 18
this movie does not have English subtitles. Yikes! But if you’re Korean and you want to see a cooking competition flick that’s based on a hit manhwa (like manga, but Korean) with a big budget, then this is your ticket.
read more:
http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/01/le-grand-chef.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.

RED HANDKERCHIEF (Japan, 1964, 98 minutes)
Friday, Jan 18 @ 7:30pm
Starring Yujiro Ishihara (a star so huge that he even has a museum dedicated to him) this cop drama is one of the pivotal movies in the series and an essential title demonstrating Nikkatsu’s “mood action” style. Ishihara shoots a witness during a failed drug raid and moves to the frozen north of Japan in self-exile. Years later he returns to solve the case so expect maximum melancholy, maximum fistfights, cool music and sharp suits. In color!
read details:
http://www.japansociety.org/event_detail?eid=4517028a

watch the trailer:
http://www.japansociety.org/content.cfm/red_handkerchief_trailer

Landmark Sunshine
LUST, CAUTION (Taiwan, 2007)
Daily @ 11:45am, 2:45pm, 6:00pm, 9:15pm
Ang Lee’s dirty movie is moody, repressed and features lots of scenes of Tony Leung naked. It’s also about 500 hours long. Still: Tony Leung naked.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lust_caution/

MOMA
KUBRADOR aka THE BET COLLECTOR (Philippines, 2006, 98 minutes)
Thursday, January 10, 7:00 (Introduced by Jeturian, the director; cast and crew present)
Friday, January 11, 8:00
Saturday, January 12, 4:00
Sunday, January 13, 4:00
Monday, January 14, 7:00 (a Modern Mondays discussion with Jeturian, the director)
Wednesday, January 16, 8:30
One of the most acclaimed recent movies from the Philippines, THE BET COLLECTOR hits MOMA for a full run courtesy of Global Lens which has made a mission out of bringing undistributed foreign films to the US. Gina Pareño, a grand dame of the Philippino screen, plays a the matriarch of a family which has fallen on hard times. To make ends meet she works for an illegal numbers game, making her rounds to collect money owed by the game’s losers. A slice of seedy life and a great performance by an actress who’s almost unknown in North America.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117931871.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

OPERA JAWA (Indonesia, 2006, 120 minutes)
Wednesday, January 16, 6:00
Thursday, January 17, 8:00
Friday, January 18, 8:00
Saturday, January 19, 2:00
Sunday, January 20, 5:00
Monday, January 21, 4:00
Hold onto your hats, this is a musical like none you’ve ever seen before. We tried to get it for the New York Asian Film Festival last year but for some reason the distributor wasn’t having any of it. Too bad, but it’s out now and if you’re into music this is the must-see event of the month. A full-out folk opera based on the “Abduction of Sita” from India’s “Ramayana” it’s set in a small village in the modern day with the villagers playing all the parts, making convincing monsters out of sheets and baskets, with full-blown production numbers breaking out all over, and surreal art installations growing out of the sandy beach like wild weeds. Hypnotic and existing in a dimension all its own, this is one of the few movies you can truly say is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. It’s got a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, too!
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/opera_jawa/

2007-12-20T17:16:00.001-05:00

December 20 – 27, 2007

This is the last update of the year until January 2008. Goodbye! You go play in the snow now.

NOW SHOWING

The ImaginAsian
WINDS OF GOD (Japan, 2007, 100 minutes)
Daily @ 1pm
A comedy-timetraveling-reincarnation movie about kamikaze pilots during World War II, this slick production may be running in several different directions at once, but it’s a heartfelt, good-looking, well-produced movie from writer/director/star/producer Masayuki Imai. A true labor of love.
more info:
http://www.thewindsofgod.com/

HALF MOON (Iran, 2007, 114 minutes)
Daily @ 3:30pm, 6:30pm (ends December 20)
A critically-praised film about an elderly Kurdish musician living in Iran who decides to cross the border into Iraq and hold a farewell performance. Part of the New Crowned Hope series commissioned to celebrate Mozart’s 250th Anniversary, the New York Times calls it, “...Fateful and funny, haunting and magical...”
read more:
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/359008/Half-Moon/overview

TAARE ZAMEEN PAR (India, 2007, 165 minutes)
Daily shows starting December 21st
A Bollywood version of DEAD POETS SOCIETY focusing on a dyslexic kid, directed by and starring the multi-talented Aamir Khan (LAGAAN). Expect to cry. A lot.
read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taare_Zameen_Par

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.

More to come in January 2008!

2007-12-07T13:20:00.000-05:00

December 6 – 12, 2007

Don’t miss the New York Anime Festival from December 7 – 9. Movies! Anime! People dressed as their favorite characters! It’s held at the Javits Center, tickets and passes are still available, it’s huuuuge and you can learn more here:

http://www.newyorkanimefestival.com/

NOW SHOWING AT SELECT LOCATIONS

Asia Society (725 Park Ave. @ 70th Street)
SECRET SUNSHINE (2007, Korea)
Wednesday, December 19 @ 6pm
Lee Chang-Dong’s new movie is the most acclaimed Korean movie of 2006. Song Kang-Ho (THE HOST, THE SHOW MUST GO ON) and Jeon Do-Yeon (who won “Best Actress” at Cannes this year) star in this novelistic film about a woman who takes her son and moves to a small town in Korea only to find that life there is even worse than she imagined. A delicate examination of faith and loss, critics have been chewing their own lips off trying to come up with superlatives for this film.
The screening is followed by a discussion with director Lee Chang-Dong.

read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/secret_sunshine/

Ticket Info:
$10 members; students w/ID and seniors; $12 nonmembers. For tickets
call the Asia Society box office at (212) 517-ASIA or visit
http://tickets.asiasociety.org

The ImaginAsian
CASSHERN (2004, Japan, 141 minutes)
Saturday, December 8 @ 10pm
Casshern is the most amazing movie you’ll see this year. In October of 2007, Paramount released an 80 minutes version of CASSHERN on DVD. Subway Cinema is proud to be teaming up with Paramount to present the complete 141 minute cut of this cracked masterpiece. Exploding with digital beauty, this is the most unique sci-fi film to hit screens since BLADE RUNNER. Incorporating epic battles, massive cityscapes, genuine atrocity footage and shot with everything from cell animation to Super 8 cameras, CASSHERN is a digital prayer for the fate of the human race, an ass-kicking steampunk smackdown, and one of the most visually exhilarating anti-war movies ever made.

Also, the movie will be introduced by two members of the production team, military advisor Yasuhiro Koshi (BATTLE ROYALE, GODZILLA FINAL WARS) and soundtrack supervisor, Shin-Go (guitarist for J-pop duo, UNICORN TABLE).

read a review:
http://twitchfilm.net/archives/000428.html

and see the trailer:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1272266570/bclid1305523975/bctid1305465203

NOTE: Admission is free for Anime Festival attendees and we’ll be running a stand-by line for the general public. At 10pm on the dot, any available seats will be given to the civilians in the stand-by line, absolutely FREE! And with over 250 seats in the ImaginAsian we can almost guarantee that if you get there around 9:30 you’ve got a great chance of having your mind blown!

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.

LIKE A SHOOTING STAR (aka VELVET HUSTLER, 1967, Japan, 97 minutes)
Friday, December 14 @ 7:30pm
Male superstar, Watari Tetsuya, strolls along whistling the theme music, stealing cars, and knocking off thugs for money. Stranded in the sticks for a year while waiting for the heat from his last job to cool down he runs a bar that serves women and booze to sailors until he gets trapped in the crosshairs of chipmunk-cheeked Jo Shishido. “I’m a robot who kills people for money,” Mr. Shishido says, through his massive, surgically altered cheeks as he and Mr. Tetsuya exchange blows in purple and silver hotel rooms before meeting their grim fates as casually as most of us meet our friends.

read reviews:
http://www.cinematical.com/2007/10/02/fantastic-fest-nikkatsu-action-cinema-retrospective/

Museum of Modern Art
FALLEN ANGELS (1996, Hong Kong)
Sunday, Dec. 2 @ 2pm & Friday, Dec. 7 @ 8:30pm
My personal favorite Wong Kar-wai film, this spiritual successor to CHUNGKING EXPRESS is Wong at his most poetic. A hitman and his agent who loves him, a mute guy and his dad, a young woman who doesn’t want to be forgotten – from one angle it’s pretentious and pretty. From another it’s an urban anthem to life at the end of the 20th Century. And whatever you think of it, this movie features the best closing shot of any film ever made. If you haven’t seen it on the big screen, you haven’t lived.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fallen_angels_hong_kong/

HAPPY TOGETHER (1997, Hong Kong)
Sunday, Dec. 2 @ 4pm & Friday, Dec. 7 @ 6pm
It would be hard to find a movie more romantic than Wong Kar-wai’s gay love story set in Argentina and Taiwan. Tony Leung (LUST, CAUTION) and Leslie Cheung play to lovers running away from their problems, their lives and the ever-changing world. A smeary, glittering ode to the poisonous pull of romance and and instruction manual on how to have your heart broken and glue it back together again, HAPPY TOGETHER is a pitch perfect power pop song about love.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1083093-happy_together/

BEFORE WE FALL IN LOVE AGAIN (2006, Malaysia, 99 minutes)
Thursday, December 6 @ 6pm
Friday, December 7 @ 7pm
This black and white feature is from Malaysia’s hot new director, James Lee. Stark and stylish it recounts the story of two men looking for a woman who’s disappeared. One of them is married to her, the other is her lover.
read a review:
http://www.dahuangpictures.com/blogs/index.php?blog=2

Pioneer Two Boots
UNDOING (USA, 2006, 87 minutes)
Daily, December 5 – 14
Sun Kang, Kelly Hu and Russell Wong star in this Asian-American flick about an ex-gangster who returns to LA looking for revenge and redemption after the death of his best friend. The first film in 10 years from acclaimed festival filmmaker, Chris Chan Lee, who also directed YELLOW.
read a review:
http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=48982

2007-11-15T13:20:00.001-05:00

November 15 - 22, 2007

If any of you came to see HELL’S GROUND at the New York Asian Film Festival this past summer, you’ll remember that it’s the crunkiest, weirdest, most fun horror movie from Pakistan you’ve ever seen. If you want to see more movies from Pakistan, do your part to show that Americans don’t support the hideous repression going on over there right now. No matter what your politics are, we’re Americans for fuck’s sake and we cannot support a government that tortures and imprisons its citizens who are asking for open elections. We can’t support a government that declares a media blackout. We can’t support a government that doesn’t want more awesome Pakistani exploitation movies to be made.
If you want to get involved, one way to start is by signing the petition at:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5772092761

We now climb down off our soap box and return you to the exciting world of Asian movies.

NOW SHOWING ALL OVER TOWN
OM SHANTI OM (India, 2007)
Playing at:
AMC Loews Village 7
AMC Empire 25
Edgewater Multiplex Cinemas, NJ
Regal Hadley Center 16, NJ
AMC Loews Plaza 8, NJ
AMC Loews Jersey Gardens, NJ
The newest movie from choreographer-turned-director Farah Khan, OM SHANTI OM, is a giant loveletter to Bollywood movies from yesteryear and a starring vehicle for super-celebrity Shah Rukh Khan. Gorgeous, dazzling, mega-kitschy musical numbers, cameo appearances by just about every actor in Bollywood, over-the-top camp and a story about reincarnated lover, OM SHANTI OM is the most-anticipated Bollywood musical of the year.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117935361.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

See the super-trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8BtgkifQoo

LUST, CAUTION (Taiwan, 2007)
Playing at:
Landmark Sunshine
Lincoln Plaza Cinemas
Kew Gardens Cinema
Ang Lee’s dirty movie is moody, repressed and features lots of scenes of Tony Leung naked. It’s also about 500 hours long. Still: Tony Leung naked.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lust_caution/

NOW SHOWING AT SELECT LOCATIONS
Columbia University
EPITAPH (2007, Korea)
Friday, November 16 @ 8pm
Hailed as one of the best Korean movies of 2007, EPITAPH is a delicately made, intricate and moody horror flick. Both directors (it took two!) will be present for this screening at the Davis Auditorium.
For directions to Davis Auditorium (up on 116th Street and Broadway):
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cssr/davis_directions.html
Read a review:
http://www.moviexclusive.com/review/thelastbreath/thelastbreath.htm
more info:
http://calendar.columbia.edu/arts_films.html

Fontana’s Bar (105 Eldridge Street)
WE ROCK YOU LONG TIME
Friday, November 23 @ 7pm
Karaterice, the Asian punk promoters, are bringing four bands to hurt your ears.
There’s Suaka, whose super power is Indonesian metal fusion; Gelatine, a mutant mixture of punk that is super-cute and super-grotesque; the Back CC’s vs. Los Romeros Specials; and Small Mountain Path, whose abilities include psychedelic music and garage rock.
21 and over only, $8
More on the bands:
SUAKA
http://www.myspace.com/suaka
GELATINE:
http://www.myspace.com/gelatinenyc
THE BACK CC’S VS. LOS ROMEROS:
http://www.myspace.com/thebackccs
SMALL MOUNTAIN PATH:
http://www.myspace.com/smallmountainpath

The ImaginAsian
SAAWARIYA (India, 2007, 147 minutes)
Daily @ 12:45pm, 3:45pm, 7pm, 10:15pm
The latest flick from Sanjay Leela Bansali is a lush, beautiful musical based on a short story by Dostoevsky about a young man who meets the girl of his dreams who happens to be completely in love with someone else. Variety calls it, “A really small movie done up in a big, moody package...” and you can see the gorgeous trailer here:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=stmKeMVN804
buy tickets:
http://www.theimaginasian.com/nowplaying/index.php

HYPERBOLE OF YOUTH (Korea, 1956, 94 minutes)
Thursday, November 29 @ 6:30pm
A classic Korean film about two young girls, one of whom suffers from malnutrition and one of whom suffers from over-eating. Their doctor forces them to switch lives and they fall for each others’ boyfriends and wind up having a joint marriage ceremony. Yes, you read that right. With and intro by film scholar, Im Hyun-Ock.
more info:
http://www.koreanculture.org/11cine/night.htm

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.

Coming up in December...VELVET HUSTLER!!!
read reviews:
http://www.cinematical.com/2007/10/02/fantastic-fest-nikkatsu-action-cinema-retrospective/

Pioneer Two Boots
I FOR INDIA (India, 2005, 70 minutes)
Daily from November 15 - 21
In 1965, Yash Pal Suri had moved to England and was frustrated by the bad quality of international calls. So he bought a Super 8 movie camera for his parents back in India, bought a Super 8 camera for himself, and they filmed movie diaries that they exchanged. Now his daughter has edited together a documentary out of the footage.
Read the rave reviews:
http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/10006491/

MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF IRANIAN CINEMA
Tuesday, November 20 @ 6:30pm
A DVD screening of two classics of Iranian cinema: THE HOUSE IS BLACK (1964) and THE COW (1969) followed by a book signing and discussion with award-winning author and cultural critic, Hamid Dabashi.
Hamid Dabashi bio:
http://www.hamiddabashi.com/biography.html

UNDOING (USA, 2006, 87 minutes)
Daily, December 5 – 14
Sun Kang, Kelly Hu and Russell Wong star in this Asian-American flick about an ex-gangster who returns to LA looking for revenge and redemption after the death of his best friend. The first film in 10 years from acclaimed festival filmmaker, Chris Chan Lee, who also directed YELLOW.
read a review:
http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=48982

2007-11-02T16:37:00.001-04:00

November 1 - 8, 2007

Anthology Film Archives
BUTOH FILM PROGRAM
Sunday, November 4 from 2-5:30pm
Butoh movies screened at the Anthology are documentaries on two of the form’s founders and greatest practitioners, Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno, as well as screenings of surrealistic shorts like UN CHIEN ANDALOU.
Full details:
http://nybf.caveartspace.org/films.htm

Cinema Village
TOTAL DENIAL (2006, Burma, 92 minutes)
Ends November 4
A documentary about 15 Burmese villagers who brought suit against a huge international oil coporation...and won! This is the kind of movie that gets me all weepy. Time Out New York says, “Gutsy, crude and ultimately graceful...” the Village Voice says, “...intelligent and brimming with what can only be called heart.” and Variety say it, “...shuttles between outrage and justice.”
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10009087-total_denial/

The ImaginAsian
LOVE AND HONOR (Japan, 2007, 121 minutes)
Daily @ 1:30pm, 4:15pm, 7pm, 9:45pm
Yoji Yamada started his samurai trilogy with TWILIGHT SAMURAI, continued with THE HIDDEN BLADE and concludes with LOVE AND HONOR. It’s a revisionist look at Japan’s eternal pop icon, the blind samurai (see: the long-running Zatoichi series) and it’s stunner. Solid, motion picture craftsmanship that tells an actually interesting story, complete with a final blade-flashing blow-out...what more do you want? Reviews have been so-so, but then again most reviewers have had their pleasure centers destroyed by watching movies like 30 DAYS OF NIGHT. See it!
read a review:
http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/793/53/

but tickets:
http://www.theimaginasian.com/index2.php

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

2007-10-12T12:44:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-04T16:18:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-28T13:36:00.000-04:00

September 28 – October 5, 2007

Coming Soon
From October 9 – 16, as part of the New York Film Festival, there will be a Cathay retrospective at Lincoln Center. Cathay was the Hong Kong studio that was the good twin to Shaw Brothers’ evil twin: they did some action, but they mostly focused on musicals, melodramas and women and young pictures. They’ve got some great stuff in their catalogue and it’ll be interesting to see what shows up here.

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.

Now Playing

EVERYWHERE
DRAGON WARS (Korea, 2007)
At the AMC Empire 25 in Manhattan and all over Queens & Brooklyn
Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the highest-grossing Korean movie ever released in America...DRAGON WARS. A sci-fi spectacle about giant snakes and dragons starring American actors it has handily beat out Kim Ki-Duk’s previous record holder SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER...AND SPRING by earning twice the money in one weekend that S,S,F,W...AS earned in its entire run. THE HOST? SHIRI? TAE GUK GI? What’re those? Imoogi is the new king of Korean cinema in the USA. Expect apocalypse.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/d_war/

Cinema Village
MILAREPA (2006, Bhutan, 95 minutes)
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)
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/

IFC Center
THE MAKIOKA SISTERS (1983, Japan, 130 minutes)
Friday, September 28 – Sunday, September 30 @ noon
Kon Ichikawa adapts what is considered to be one of Japan’s greatest 20th Century novels, THE MAKIOKA SISTERS, and turns in a nostalgic, big budget ode to cozy, Japanese family life in the years leading up to the Pacific War. It’s been criticized for what it leaves out of the novel, but it’s also considered a masterful piece of cinema.
read a review:
http://www.timeout.com/film/newyork/reviews/72607/The_Makioka_Sisters.html

The ImaginAsian
CHAK DE INDIA (2007, India)
Daily @ 10pm
The nuttiest sports movie ever made, this flick about a women’s field hockey team from India going to the World Cup of women’s field hockey is so exciting you might just explode. It is to sports movies what Tim Burton’s PLANET OF THE APES remake is to sci fi: off-the-wall.
read a review:
http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=90708

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.
A COLT IS MY PASSPORT (1967, Japan, 84 minutes)
Friday, September 28 @ 7:30pm
Jo Shishido (the chipmunk-cheeked killer from BRANDED TO KILL) plays a hitman who pulls off a job a little too daringly and needs to grab his cash, stash his weapons and get out of town all within the next few hours. Double crosses and betrayals abound and it all winds up in one of the bleakest, starkest shoot-outs ever put on film. One part spaghetti western (with a soundtrack to match) and one part gutter level crawl through the stink of the Japanese underworld, with a title this cool, how can you miss it?
buy tickets:
http://japansociety.org/events/event_detail.cfm?id_event=1387003007&id_performance=513415271

Korean Cultural Service (460 Park Avenue, 6th floor)
PASSAGE TO BUDDHA (1993, Korea, 108 minutes)
Thursday, September 27 @ 6:30pm
Jang Sun-Woo, one of Korea’s best directors who remains mostly unknown in the West, is responsible for films like A PETAL, LIES and the amazingly mind-blowing RESURRECTION OF THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL. Here he makes a film that some consider one of his best, about a young boy on a quest to find his mother after the death of his dad. Free screening!
more info:
http://www.koreanculture.org/bbs/view.php?id=event&no=118

2007-09-20T11:27:00.000-04:00

September 20 - 27, 2007

Coming Soon
From October 9 – 16, as part of the New York Film Festival, there will be a Cathay retrospective at Lincoln Center. Cathay was the Hong Kong studio that was the good twin to Shaw Brothers’ evil twin: they did some action, but they mostly focused on musicals, melodramas and women and young pictures. They’ve got some great stuff in their catalogue and it’ll be interesting to see what shows up here.

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.

Now Playing

EVERYWHERE
DRAGON WARS (Korea, 2007)
At about five different theaters
Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the highest-grossing Korean movie ever released in America...DRAGON WARS. A sci-fi spectacle about giant snakes and dragons starring American actors it has handily beat out Kim Ki-Duk’s previous record holder SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER...AND SPRING by earning twice the money in one weekend that S,S,F,W...AS earned in its entire run. THE HOST? SHIRI? TAE GUK GI? What’re those? Imoogi is the new king of Korean cinema in the USA. Expect apocalypse.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/d_war/

Central Park (Rumsey Playing Field)
New York-Tokyo Music Festival
Saturday, September 22 @ 2pm
An outdoor concert featuring Japanese bands like the high-energy Teriyaki Boyz, the US debut of DJ Uppercut, and American performers like MF Doom and Pharoahe Monch, this concert is the best way to end your summer.
Also, Subway Cinema mailing list members get a $10 discount! Just go to:
http://www.inticketing.com/evinfo.php?eventid=17931
And enter the promo code SUGAR (all caps) to get $12 tickets (plus a $4.17 service charge). It’s a bargain!
more info:
http://www.newyork-tokyo.com/newsletter/newsletter_0907.html

Cinema Village
BEAUTY REMAINS (China, 2005, 87 minutes)
Daily @ 1:05pm, 3:05pm, 5:05pm, 7:05pm, 9:05pm
Ann Hu has again assembled a part-Western, part-Chinese crew to mount a lush, Chinese historical epic, this one taking place among the Qingdao elite as the Communists march on their fair city. Two sisters (the cutesy Zhou Xun and the sultry Vivian Wu) engage in a tussle over their father’s will and an older man who looks like a sad weasel.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1185474-beauty_remains/

MILAREPA (2006, Bhutan, 95 minutes)
Daily @ 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, 7:10pm
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 @ 3:15pm, 7:30pm, 9:40pm
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/

IFC Center
THE MAKIOKA SISTERS (1983, Japan, 130 minutes)
Friday, September 28 – Sunday, September 30 @ noon
Kon Ichikawa adapts what is considered to be one of Japan’s greatest 20th Century novels, THE MAKIOKA SISTERS, and turns in a nostalgic, big budget ode to cozy, Japanese family life in the years leading up to the Pacific War. It’s been criticized for what it leaves out of the novel, but it’s also considered a masterful piece of cinema.
read a review:
http://www.timeout.com/film/newyork/reviews/72607/The_Makioka_Sisters.html

The ImaginAsian
BEAUTY REMAINS (China, 2005, 87 minutes)
Daily @ 6pm, 8pm, 10pm
Ann Hu has again assembled a part-Western, part-Chinese crew to mount a lush, Chinese historical epic, this one taking place among the Qingdao elite as the Communists march on their fair city. Two sisters (the cutesy Zhou Xun and the sultry Vivian Wu) engage in a tussle over their father’s will and an older man who looks like a sad weasel.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1185474-beauty_remains/

VANAJA (India, 2006, 111 minutes)
Daily @ 3:30pm
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/

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.
A COLT IS MY PASSPORT (1967, Japan, 84 minutes)
Friday, September 28 @ 7:30pm
Jo Shishido (the chipmunk-cheeked killer from BRANDED TO KILL) plays a hitman who pulls off a job a little too daringly and needs to grab his cash, stash his weapons and get out of town all within the next few hours. Double crosses and betrayals abound and it all winds up in one of the bleakest, starkest shoot-outs ever put on film. One part spaghetti western (with a soundtrack to match) and one part gutter level crawl through the stink of the Japanese underworld, with a title this cool, how can you miss it?
buy tickets:
http://japansociety.org/events/event_detail.cfm?id_event=1387003007&id_performance=513415271

Korean Cultural Service (460 Park Avenue, 6th floor)
PASSAGE TO BUDDHA (1993, Korea, 108 minutes)
Thursday, September 27 @ 6:30pm
Jang Sun-Woo, one of Korea’s best directors who remains mostly unknown in the West, is responsible for films like A PETAL, LIES and the amazingly mind-blowing RESURRECTION OF THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL. Here he makes a film that some consider one of his best, about a young boy on a quest to find his mother after the death of his dad. Free screening!
more info:
http://www.koreanculture.org/bbs/view.php?id=event&no=118

2007-08-24T20:36:00.000-04:00

August 23 - 31, 2007
Coming Soon
EXILED, the latest movie from Hong Kong’s King of Superbad is hitting US screens on August 31. It came in third place in the Audience Awards for the New York Asian Film Festival after only one screening, and it’s the hardest movie about hard men making hard choices you’ll ever see. Like THE WILD BUNCH only punchier. And in Macau. And with Asian people.
WOOL 100% is one of the strangest Japanese movies of the year, about two elderly, reclusive sisters, the silent young girl who invades their home, and knitting. A tour de force of animation and camera stylistics that’s frustrating, inscrutable and like nothing else you’ll see onscreen all year long. Opening September 12 at the Pioneer Two Boots.
It’s tearing up the Korean box office, it’s been in the works for three years and it’s all about giant Korean snakes destroying Los Angeles. Yes, it’s D-WAR (known in America as DRAGON WARS) opening across the country on September 14.
If you missed the bonkers, off-the-wall, over-the-top Thai action flick DYNAMITE WARRIOR this summer then you should feel sad. But it’s not too late: there’s a one-time-only showing at the Museum of the Moving Image on September 16 @ 2pm.
From October 9 – 16, as part of the New York Film Festival, there will be a Cathay retrospective at Lincoln Center. Cathay was the Hong Kong studio that was the good twin to Shaw Brothers’ evil twin: they did some action, but they mostly focused on musicals, melodramas and women and young pictures. They’ve got some great stuff in their catalogue and it’ll be interesting to see what shows up here.
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.
Now Playing
BAM
NEW YORK KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL
Tuesday, August 21 – Sunday, September 2
Fifteen movies from Korea, including selections of shorts, an 8-film block of Korean horror flicks from Tartan, and a mini-retrospective (5 movies) of Korea’s master director, Im Kwon-Taek. Highlights include KING AND CLOWN, the majorly huge blockbuster from 2006 and 200 POUND BEAUTY, the new Korean romantic comedy about weight loss with the director present.
more info:
http://www.koreanfilmfestival.org/
THE NEW DECADE: HONG KONG FILM
August 16 – 26
An overview of post-97 Hong Kong cinema. There’s some stuff here you’ve seen before and some stuff that’s brand new to New Yorkers. Highlights include: HOUSE OF FURY, a nutty, no-holds-barred, sugary action flick that’s a hell of a lot of fun with a six pack, and a double bill of both of Johnnie To’s ELECTION films on Sunday, August 26. Also, 2 BECOME 1, the Miriam Yeung breast cancer comedy is the kind of thing you’d never see from Hollywood.
read more:
http://www.bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=148
Cinema Village
NEW YORK KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL
Thursday, August 21 – Thursday, August 30
Fifteen movies from Korea, including selections of shorts, an 8-film block of Korean horror flicks from Tartan, and a mini-retrospective (5 movies) of Korea’s master director, Im Kwon-Taek. Highlights include KING AND CLOWN, the majorly huge blockbuster from 2006 and 200 POUND BEAUTY, the new Korean romantic comedy about weight loss with the director present.
more info:
http://www.koreanfilmfestival.org/
THE LAST COMMUNIST (Malaysia, 2006, 90 minutes)
Starts August 29
Amir Muhammed’s avante-documentary musical about the exiled leader of the Communist party in Malaysia has been totally and completely banned in its home country. Which is too bad because this is an incredibly dry, ironic and experimental work that deserves and audience. Muhammed has been called one of the best living cinema essayists and this documentary is proof.
read more:
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Malaysia_bans_film_%22The_Last_Communist%22
IFC Center
NEW YORK KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL
Monday, August 27 & Tuesday, August 28
Fifteen movies from Korea, including selections of shorts, an 8-film block of Korean horror flicks from Tartan, and a mini-retrospective (5 movies) of Korea’s master director, Im Kwon-Taek. Highlights include KING AND CLOWN, the majorly huge blockbuster from 2006 and 200 POUND BEAUTY, the new Korean romantic comedy about weight loss with the director present.
more info:
http://www.koreanfilmfestival.org/
THE MAKIOKA SISTERS (1983, Japan, 130 minutes)
Friday, September 28 – Sunday, September 30 @ noon
Kon Ichikawa adapts what is considered to be one of Japan’s greatest 20th Century novels, THE MAKIOKA SISTERS, and turns in a nostalgic, big budget ode to cozy, Japanese family life in the years leading up to the Pacific War. It’s been criticized for what it leaves out of the novel, but it’s also considered a masterful piece of cinema.
read a review:
http://www.timeout.com/film/newyork/reviews/72607/The_Makioka_Sisters.html
The ImaginAsian
CHAK DE INDIA (2007, India)
Daily @ 3:15pm, 6:30pm & 9:45pm
Shah Rukh Khan in a massive, glittering Yash Chopra production. If that’s not enough for you: Shah Rukh Khan playing a down-on-his-luck field hockey coach who takes a ragtag team to the World Cup. Still not enough? It’s directed by Shimit Amin, who also edited. And who’s this guy? He’s the director of AB TAK CHHAPPAN, one of the great corrupt cop movies of all time. This flick blew audiences away at the 2006 New York Asian Film Festival and he’s assembled the same technical team to do justice to this big budget feel good movie. It’s the sports movie as a super-predator, a deranged bunch of nuttiness that hits all the cliches and adds some extra brutality while cranking the feel-good factor up way past 11.
read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chak_De_India
buy tickets:
http://www.theimaginasian.com/nowplaying/index.php?cid=900&date=20070810
read an AB TAK CHHAPPAN review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff06_atc.htm
Korean Cultural Service (460 Park Avenue, 6th floor)
WOMAN ON THE BEACH (2006, Korea, 128 minutes)
Thursday, August 23 @ 6:30pm
Hong Sang-Soo’s latest movie is a spectacular, art-minded comedy about a love triangle unraveling. An official selection of the New York Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival.
read a review:
http://twitchfilm.net/archives/007574.html
Pioneer Two Boots
PAPRIKA (2007, Japan)
August 17 @ 11pm
August 24 @ 10:30pm
August 25 @ 7pm
August 31 @ 10:30pm
If you missed Satoshi Kon’s mind-bending animated movie about dreams run amock and dreamers in danger, then here’s your chance to see it on the (relatively) big screen. There’s nothing more to say about it except that it’s one of the best movies of the year and you should really check it out.
read reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/paprika?q=paprika
more info:
http://www.twoboots.com/pioneer/
ZEBRAMAN (2003, Japan)
Wednesday, August 15 – Thursday, August 23 @ 9pm
Takashi Miike’s ode to fandom hasn’t been released yet in the United States and it’s well worth your time. Sho Aikawa stars as a loser elementary school teacher whose one good thing in life is his love of obscure Seventies TV superhero, Zebraman. And, of course, this being a Takashi Miike movie, there’s an alien invasion, serial killing crab-heads, the military gets involved and psycho schoolkids attack. See ZEBRAMAN and learn: there is nothing more pure than the love of a fan.
read a review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff07_zebraman.htm
more info:
http://www.twoboots.com/pioneer/

2007-08-13T13:22:00.000-04:00

August 14 - 21, 2007

Coming Soon
EXILED, the latest movie from Hong Kong’s King of Superbad is hitting US screens on August 31. It came in third place in the Audience Awards for the New York Asian Film Festival after only one screening, and it’s the hardest movie about hard men making hard choices you’ll ever see. Like THE WILD BUNCH only punchier. And in Macau. And with Asian people.

WOOL 100% is one of the strangest Japanese movies of the year, about two elderly, reclusive sisters, the silent young girl who invades their home, and knitting. A tour de force of animation and camera stylistics that’s frustrating, inscrutable and like nothing else you’ll see onscreen all year long. Opening September 12 at the Pioneer Two Boots.

It’s tearing up the Korean box office, it’s been in the works for three years and it’s all about giant Korean snakes destroying Los Angeles. Yes, it’s D-WAR (known in America as DRAGON WARS) opening across the country on September 14.

If you missed the bonkers, off-the-wall, over-the-top Thai action flick DYNAMITE WARRIOR this summer then you should feel sad. But it’s not too late: there’s a one-time-only showing at the Museum of the Moving Image on September 16 @ 2pm.

Now Playing

Anthology Film Archives
KOREAN CINEMA: INDEPENDENT VISIONS OF THE SHORT FILM
Saturday, August 18 @ 6:30pm & Sunday, August 19 @ 6:30pm
Everyone knows that Korea has produced some of the slickest, most crowd-pleasing blockbusters of the last 8 years, but in the shadow of this massive film industry there are still independent artists pursuing their unique visions. The Korean Cultural Service presents two programs of 7 short films that give you an idea of the other side of Korean filmmaking. Relentlessly political, fighting for social justice and change, up to their elbows in gritty realism, these fictional movies run the gamut from battles between corrupt labor unions and the widows of their workers, aging prostitutes who service American soldiers, and two female office workers who are given an extra nighttime assignment: to cook the books at their company so it will avoid taxes.

BAM
NEW YORK KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL
Tuesday, August 21 – Sunday, September 2
Fifteen movies from Korea, including selections of shorts, an 8-film block of Korean horror flicks from Tartan, and a mini-retrospective (5 movies) of Korea’s master director, Im Kwon-Taek. Highlights include KING AND CLOWN, the majorly huge blockbuster from 2006 and 200 POUND BEAUTY, the new Korean romantic comedy about weight loss with the director present.
more info:
http://www.koreanfilmfestival.org/

THE NEW DECADE: HONG KONG FILM
August 16 – 26
An overview of post-97 Hong Kong cinema. There’s some stuff here you’ve seen before and some stuff that’s brand new to New Yorkers. Highlights include: HOUSE OF FURY, a nutty, no-holds-barred, sugary action flick that’s a hell of a lot of fun with a six pack, and a double bill of both of Johnnie To’s ELECTION films on Sunday, August 26. Also, 2 BECOME 1, the Miriam Yeung breast cancer comedy is the kind of thing you’d never see from Hollywood.
read more:
http://www.bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=148

Cinema Village
NEW YORK KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL
Thursday, August 23 – Thursday, August 30
Fifteen movies from Korea, including selections of shorts, an 8-film block of Korean horror flicks from Tartan, and a mini-retrospective (5 movies) of Korea’s master director, Im Kwon-Taek. Highlights include KING AND CLOWN, the majorly huge blockbuster from 2006 and 200 POUND BEAUTY, the new Korean romantic comedy about weight loss with the director present.
more info:
http://www.koreanfilmfestival.org/

THE LAST COMMUNIST (Malaysia, 2006, 90 minutes)
Starts August 29
Amir Muhammed’s avante-documentary musical about the exiled leader of the Communist party in Malaysia has been totally and completely banned in its home country. Which is too bad because this is an incredibly dry, ironic and experimental work that deserves and audience. Muhammed has been called one of the best living cinema essayists and this documentary is proof.
read more:
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Malaysia_bans_film_%22The_Last_Communist%22

IFC Center
NEW YORK KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL
Monday, August 27 & Tuesday, August 28
Fifteen movies from Korea, including selections of shorts, an 8-film block of Korean horror flicks from Tartan, and a mini-retrospective (5 movies) of Korea’s master director, Im Kwon-Taek. Highlights include KING AND CLOWN, the majorly huge blockbuster from 2006 and 200 POUND BEAUTY, the new Korean romantic comedy about weight loss with the director present.
more info:
http://www.koreanfilmfestival.org/

LIFE OF OHARU (1952, Japan, 133 minutes)
Friday, August 17 – Sunday, August 19 @ noon
Kenji Mizoguchi’s exquisite, slow moving chronicle of a woman falling from the top of social order all the way to the bottom in 17th Century Japan is considered one of his best movies and if you want a little protein with your moviegoing this summer instead of all the empty calories at the multiplex, this is your ticket. As they say, “Nobody suffers like Oharu.”
read more:
http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/22/oharu.html

THE MAKIOKA SISTERS (1983, Japan, 130 minutes)
Friday, September 28 – Sunday, September 30 @ noon
Kon Ichikawa adapts what is considered to be one of Japan’s greatest 20th Century novels, THE MAKIOKA SISTERS, and turns in a nostalgic, big budget ode to cozy, Japanese family life in the years leading up to the Pacific War. It’s been criticized for what it leaves out of the novel, but it’s also considered a masterful piece of cinema.
read a review:
http://www.timeout.com/film/newyork/reviews/72607/The_Makioka_Sisters.html

The ImaginAsian
CHAK DE INDIA (2007, India)
Daily @ 3:15pm, 6:30pm & 9:45pm
Shah Rukh Khan in a massive, glittering Yash Chopra production. If that’s not enough for you: Shah Rukh Khan playing a down-on-his-luck field hockey coach who takes a ragtag team to the World Cup. Still not enough? It’s directed by Shimit Amin, who also edited. And who’s this guy? He’s the director of AB TAK CHHAPPAN, one of the great corrupt cop movies of all time. This flick blew audiences away at the 2006 New York Asian Film Festival and he’s assembled the same technical team to do justice to this big budget feel good movie. It’s the sports movie as a super-predator, a deranged bunch of nuttiness that hits all the cliches and adds some extra brutality while cranking the feel-good factor up way past 11.
read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chak_De_India
buy tickets:
http://www.theimaginasian.com/nowplaying/index.php?cid=900&date=20070810
read an AB TAK CHHAPPAN review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff06_atc.htm

Korean Cultural Service (460 Park Avenue, 6th floor)
WOMAN ON THE BEACH (2006, Korea, 128 minutes)
Thursday, August 23 @ 6:30pm
Hong Sang-Soo’s latest movie is a spectacular, art-minded comedy about a love triangle unraveling. An official selection of the New York Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival.
read a review:
http://twitchfilm.net/archives/007574.html

Pioneer Two Boots
PAPRIKA (2007, Japan)
August 17 @ 11pm
August 24 @ 10:30pm
August 25 @ 7pm
August 31 @ 10:30pm
If you missed Satoshi Kon’s mind-bending animated movie about dreams run amock and dreamers in danger, then here’s your chance to see it on the (relatively) big screen. There’s nothing more to say about it except that it’s one of the best movies of the year and you should really check it out.
read reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/paprika?q=paprika
more info:
http://www.twoboots.com/pioneer/

ZEBRAMAN (2003, Japan)
Wednesday, August 15 – Thursday, August 23 @ 9pm
Takashi Miike’s ode to fandom hasn’t been released yet in the United States and it’s well worth your time. Sho Aikawa stars as a loser elementary school teacher whose one good thing in life is his love of obscure Seventies TV superhero, Zebraman. And, of course, this being a Takashi Miike movie, there’s an alien invasion, serial killing crab-heads, the military gets involved and psycho schoolkids attack. See ZEBRAMAN and learn: there is nothing more pure than the love of a fan.
read a review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff07_zebraman.htm
more info:
http://www.twoboots.com/pioneer/

2007-08-09T16:43:00.000-04:00

August 9 - 16, 2007

Now Playing

THE IMAGINASIAN
CHAK DE INDIA (2007, India)
Starts Friday, playing Daily @ 3:45pm, 7pm & 10pm
Shah Rukh Khan in a massive, glittering Yash Chopra production. If that’s not enough for you: Shah Rukh Khan playing a down-on-his-luck soccer coach who takes a ragtag team to the World Cup. Still not enough? It’s directed by Shimit Amin, who also edited. And who’s this guy? He’s the director of AB TAK CHHAPPAN, one of the great corrupt cop movies of all time. This flick blew audiences away at the 2006 New York Asian Film Festival and he’s assembled the same technical team to do justice to this big budget feel good movie.
read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chak_De_India
buy tickets:
http://www.theimaginasian.com/nowplaying/index.php?cid=900&date=20070810
read an AB TAK CHHAPPAN review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff06_atc.htm

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE
DEVDAS (India, 2002, an eternal number of minutes)
Friday, August 10 @ 7:30pm
Holy cow! If there’s one film event in the city not to miss, this is it. Nothing exceeds like excess, and this slightly soul-less remake of India's national romance, DEVDAS, exceeds in a grand manner. Three of India's biggest stars (Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai) give scenery-chewing performances on sets that look like Faberge eggs the size of football fields. Somehow, though, the movie worms its way into your heart over its three and a half hour running time and manages to grow a soul by the time the end credits roll. And when's the last time you saw that happen? Truly one of the great Bollywood movies.
read a review:
http://www.kfccinema.com/reviews/drama/devdas/devdas.html

2007-06-15T10:44:00.000-04:00

June 15-21

NOW PLAYING

Angelika Film Center
PAPRIKA (Japan, 2007)
Daily
Satoishi Kon’s latest animated film is a trippy headrush that may not all add up but you get drowned by ideas and mugged by the imagery on the way to the end credits. Therapists have an experimental machine that lets them enter dreams and one gets stolen with dreams starting to seep into real life. All about career women, big fatties, genius, parades, movies and chat rooms this is one of those movies that gives you more than enough – which feels great in a summer where too many movies offer not much at all.
read reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/paprika?q=paprika

Cinema Village
AMU (2007, India)
Daily @ 1:30pm, 3:45pm & 6pm
Indian film about a young woman who returns to her home village and discovers some pretty nasty secrets about her family’s history during partition. It’s getting good reviews.
read reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/amu?q=amu

IFC Center
NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2007 (June 22 – July 8)
Ladies and gentlemen! The New York Asian Film Festival is back for year six it’s our best festival yet. Tickets are on sale soon (and if you hunt around on the Japan Society and IFC Center website some tickets are already on sale).Go to www.subwaycinema.com for the full line-up!

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)

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.

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.

The ImaginAsian
JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM (India, 2007)
Daily @ 3:30pm, 6:30pm, 9:30pm
Abhishek Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Lara Dutta and Bobby Deol in a big, flashy Yash Raj musical. Two kids at a train station waiting for their significant others to arrive start talking about how they met their partners. Musical numbers ensue.
more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jhoom_Barabar_Jhoom
tickets:
http://www.theimaginasian.com/nowplaying/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!

What are we screening?

DEATH NOTE and DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME with director Shusuke Kaneko in attendance.

EXTE, the hair extension horror freak out starring Chiaki Kuriyama (from KILL BILL and BATTLE ROYALE) with director Sion Sono in attendance.

MEMORIES OF MATSUKO – which is CITIZEN KANE meets MOULIN ROUGE.

FREESIA: BULLETS OVER TEARS – a sci fi movie about a future Japan where revenge is a licensed profession.

NIGHTMARE DETECTIVE – Shinya Tsukamoto (TETSUO: THE IRON MAN) debuts his latest movie and it’s an amazing, amazing, amazing thing to see.

GAMERA THE BRAVE – awww! It’s the latest Gamera movie. See the radioactive turtle destroy Japan!

And there’s one more very special guest who we will announce next week.

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

Pioneer Two Boots
NORIKO’S DINNER TABLE (Japan, 2005)
Daily @ 9pm
Sion Sono (SUICIDE CLUB, EXTE) is a visionary director and while his budgets don’t always live up to his concepts he hasn’t made a movie yet that isn’t worth a viewing. NORIKO’S DINNER TABLE is his most accomplished film since SUICIDE CLUB and until EXTE. It’s all about a cult, rentable family members, mass suicide and runaways.
read reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/norikosdinnertable?q=noriko's%20dinner%20table

more info:
http://www.twoboots.com/pioneer/

Walter Reade
WHITE LIGHT/BLACK RAIN (USA, 2007)
part of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival
Thursday, June 21 @ 4pm & 9pm
Friday, June 22 @ 6:30pm
A documentary about what really happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by Steve Okazaki. Interviewing survivors, Americans on the other side, and using extensive archival footage he creates an objective and panoramic view of history’s only two nuclear bombings. It’s chilling stuff and the kind of thing that fills you with resolve never to let something like this happen again.
read more: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/white_light_black_rain/

more about Human Rights Watch Film Festival:
http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/hrw07.html

2007-06-08T10:51:00.000-04:00

June 1 - 6, 2007

NOW PLAYING

Angelika Film Center
PAPRIKA (Japan, 2007)
Daily
Satoishi Kon’s latest animated film is a trippy headrush that may not all add up but you get drowned by ideas and mugged by the imagery on the way to the end credits. Therapists have an experimental machine that lets them enter dreams and one gets stolen with dreams starting to seep into real life. All about career women, big fatties, genius, parades, movies and chat rooms this is one of those movies that gives you more than enough – which feels great in a summer where too many movies offer not much at all.
read reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/paprika?q=paprika

IFC Center
NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2007 (June 22 – July 8)
Ladies and gentlemen! The New York Asian Film Festival is back for year six it’s our best festival yet. Tickets are on sale soon (and if you hunt around on the Japan Society and IFC Center website some tickets are already on sale).Go to www.subwaycinema.com for the full line-up!

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)

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.

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.

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!

What are we screening?

DEATH NOTE and DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME with director Shusuke Kaneko in attendance.

EXTE, the hair extension horror freak out starring Chiaki Kuriyama (from KILL BILL and BATTLE ROYALE) with director Sion Sono in attendance.

MEMORIES OF MATSUKO – which is CITIZEN KANE meets MOULIN ROUGE.

FREESIA: BULLETS OVER TEARS – a sci fi movie about a future Japan where revenge is a licensed profession.

NIGHTMARE DETECTIVE – Shinya Tsukamoto (TETSUO: THE IRON MAN) debuts his latest movie and it’s an amazing, amazing, amazing thing to see.

GAMERA THE BRAVE – awww! It’s the latest Gamera movie. See the radioactive turtle destroy Japan!

And there’s one more very special guest who we will announce next week.

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

Pioneer Two Boots
GHOST TRAIN (2006, Japan, 93 minutes)
Daily @ 9pm
The well-reviewed Japanese horror flick, GHOST TRAIN, is about a phantom subway that’s gobbling up high school students. Anyone who’s ever stood on the platform at 2AM waiting for the A train can identify with this primal fear of the subway system.
read a review:
http://movies2.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/movies/06ghos.html?ref=movies

2007-06-01T13:43:00.000-04:00

June 1 - 6, 2007

NOW PLAYING

Angelika Film Center
PAPRIKA (Japan, 2007)
Daily
Satoishi Kon’s latest animated film is a trippy headrush that may not all add up but you get drowned by ideas and mugged by the imagery on the way to the end credits. Therapists have an experimental machine that lets them enter dreams and one gets stolen with dreams starting to seep into real life. All about career women, big fatties, genius, parades, movies and chat rooms this is one of those movies that gives you more than enough – which feels great in a summer where too many movies offer not much at all.
read reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/paprika?q=paprika

Film Forum
THE EMPEROR’S NAKED ARMY MARCHES ON (Japan, 1987)
Monday, June 4 @ 2pm, 4:20pm, 6:40pm & 9pm
One of the best documentaries you’ve never seen, Kazuo Hara goes deep inside the fragmented mind of a Japanese war veteran, Kenzo Okuzaki, who wants to make Japan face up to the horrible crimes some of her soldiers committed in the war. Okuzaki doesn’t just confront his interview subjects, he attacks and beats them when he’s not plotting their murder. Oh, and he also tried to kill the Emperor. Riveting.
read a review:
http://www.nervepop.com/filmlounge/review/dvd/theemperorsnakedarmy/index.aspx

IFC Center
NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2007 (June 22 – July 8)
Ladies and gentlemen! The New York Asian Film Festival is back for year six it’s our best festival yet. Although we were just (as in a few days ago) left at the altar by Midway, who was our presenting sponsor until they suddenly changed their mind at the last minute for unknown reasons, people have rallied to our support and just look at what we’re showing:

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)

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.

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.

And moreThe full line-up will appear at www.subwaycinema.com on Monday, June 4.

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!

What are we screening?

DEATH NOTE and DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME with director Shusuke Kaneko in attendance.

EXTE, the hair extension horror freak out starring Chiaki Kuriyama (from KILL BILL and BATTLE ROYALE) with director Sion Sono in attendance.

MEMORIES OF MATSUKO – which is CITIZEN KANE meets MOULIN ROUGE.

FREESIA: BULLETS OVER TEARS – a sci fi movie about a future Japan where revenge is a licensed profession.

NIGHTMARE DETECTIVE – Shinya Tsukamoto (TETSUO: THE IRON MAN) debuts his latest movie and it’s an amazing, amazing, amazing thing to see.

GAMERA THE BRAVE – awww! It’s the latest Gamera movie. See the radioactive turtle destroy Japan!

And there’s one more very special guest who we will announce next week.

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

Walter Reade Theater
THE STORY OF QUI JU (China, 1992)
Tuesday, June 2 @ 7:30pm
Probably one of the best collaborations between Zhang Yimou and Gong Li, this flick was filmed almost entirely with non-actors and with hidden cameras. Qui Ju (Gong Li) stars as a peasant who demands justice when the village chief kicks her husband in the nuts and she will go all the way to the top to get it. Totally unexpected, it’s a comedy of manners from one of the great collaborations between an actress and a director.
read a review:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19930528/REVIEWS/305280303/1023

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

2007-05-11T11:20:00.000-04:00

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

2007-05-07T11:15:00.000-04:00

May 4 -10, 2007
NOW PLAYING
Cinema Village
THE HOST (Korea, 2006, 119 minutes)
Daily at 12:50pm, 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, 7:45pm, 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
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 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 http://www.subwaycinema.com/ for updates.
The ImaginAsian
TA RA RUM PUM (India, 2007, 160 minutes)
Daily at Noon, 3:30pm, 7pm, 10:30pm
The first big Bollywood blockbuster of the year, this could be TALLADEGA NIGHTS meets LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. A race car driver (cutie Saif Ali Khan) winds up losing everything and moving his family (including sexy wife Rani Mukherjee) to the slums. He tells his kids it’s a reality show. Bad idea. Heart-tugging hilarity ensues. Every Bollywood fan will be here. Shouldn’t you?
read more:
http://www.yashrajfilms.com/Movies/MovieIndividual.aspx?MovieID=f81dff38-211b-41bb-b9b7-a9b23445eb62
MEMORIES OF TOMORROW (with special guest, Ken Watanabe!)
Thursday, May 10 @ 7:30pm
Ken Watanabe (LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, THE LAST SAMURAI) appears at the ImaginAsian for one night only with his latest movie, MEMORIES OF TOMORROW. A box office hit in Japan, this film about early-onset Alzheimer’s contains one of Watanabe’s best performances and he also produced the movie. It gets a theatrical release on May 18 but Watanabe be here to do a Q&A after this screening on May 10.
tickets on sale at (they’re going fast!):
http://www.theimaginasian.com/comingsoon/index.php
read a review:
http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/222/
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
Landmark Sunshine
THE HOST (Korea, 2006, 119 minutes)
Daily shows
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/
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/

2007-04-26T09:09:00.000-04:00

April 25 - May 3, 2007
NOW PLAYING

IFC CENTER
SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY (Thailand, 2006, 105 minutes)
Daily @ 1:30pm & 9:50pm
Thailand's preeminent art film director, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, turns in this enigmatic movie about parents, and doctors and all kinds of crazy stuff. If you don't like having to focus on a film, then this ain't for you. But just about every critic in the world has sung this movie's praises. To top it all off, it's at the center of a censorship controversy in Thailand.
Read more:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/syndromes_and_a_century/

Brooklyn Heights Cinema (70 Henry Street)
Daily Shows
THE HOST (Korea, 2006, 119 minutes)
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/

Cinema Village
THE GLAMOROUS LIFE OF SACHIKO HANAI (Japan, 2006, 90 minutes)
Daily @ 1:00pm; 3:10pm; 5:20pm; 7:30pm; 9:40pm
Sure it's a porn film, but it's a POLITICAL porn film featuring the wriggling, sexy, nuke-launching finger of President George W. Bush, a hooker turned genius via a bullet in the head and lots and lots of very weird, very funny sex.
more info:
http://cinemavillage.com/chc/cv/show_movie.asp?movieid=950&displaydate=4/12/2007%201:08:51%20PM

Film Forum
ELECTION (Hong Kong, 2005, 91 minutes)
Daily @ 3:30pm

TRIAD ELECTION (aka ELECTION 2) (Hong Kong, 2006, 99 minutes)
Daily @ 1pm, 5:45pm, 7:45pm, 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

The ImaginAsian
TA RA RUM PUM (India, 2007, 160 minutes)
Daily at 3:30pm, 7pm, 10:30pm
The first big Bollywood blockbuster of the year, this could be TALLADEGA NIGHTS meets LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. A race car driver (cutie Saif Ali Khan) winds up losing everything and moving his family (including sexy wife Rani Mukherjee) to the slums. He tells his kids it's a reality show. Bad idea. Heart-tugging hilarity ensues. Every Bollywood fan will be here. Shouldn’t you?
read more:
http://www.yashrajfilms.com/Movies/MovieIndividual.aspx?MovieID=f81dff38-211b-41bb-b9b7-a9b23445eb62

Knitting Factory
SWINGING POPSICLE in concert
June 19 @ 7pm
TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
Japanese power pop band, Swinging Popsicle, 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

Landmark Sunshine
THE HOST (Korea, 2006, 119 minutes)
Daily shows
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/

MoMA
TEKKON KINKREET (Japan, 2007)
Thursday, April 25 - Monday, April 30
April 26, 27, 30 @ 8:30pm
April 28 & 29 @ 2:00pm
The new feature length animated film from Studio 4C (who last produced MINDGAME) is a bit of a bummer. A gorgeously animated version of the famous BLACK & WHITE manga it's a joy to look at but the story is somewhat disappointing. Still, it's nice to see that as far as gob-stopping visuals, far-out character design and lush animation, Studio 4C still has it.
more info:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0831888/

2007-04-12T14:16:00.000-04:00

April 12 - 19, 2007
NOW PLAYING ALL OVER TOWN
THE HOST (Korea, 2006, 119 minutes)
Now playing at the Landmark Sunshine, BAM, Chelsea Cinemas and Clearview Cinemas on 62nd and Broadway
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/
NOW PLAYING
BAM
RECENT FILMS BY HONG SANG-SOO
April 16 – 21
Not the most exciting title, but it’s the a much-needed mini-retro of one of Korea’s hottest arthouse directors. His movies regularly play the big festivals and earn almost unanimous praise from critics but they rarely come to American shores.
Not if BAM has anything to say about it.
WOMAN IS THE FUTURE OF MAN (Korea, 2004, 88 minutes)
Monday, April 16 @ 4:30pm, 6:50pm & 9:15pm
“The men’s self-immolating behavior is what’s saddest in the Hong universe, thanks largely to his duplicitous manner with narrative. You can rarely grip the shape of the entire film until past the halfway marker.”—Michael Atkinson, The Village Voice
TALE OF CINEMA (Korea, 2005, 89 minutes)
Friday, April 20 @ 2pm, 4:30pm, 6:50pm & 9:15pm
“A Tale of Cinema remains an intoxicatingly heady and emotionally rewarding delineation of the Proustian power of cinema.” – Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
WOMAN ON THE BEACH (Korea, 2006, 128 minutes)
Saturday, April 21 @ 3pm, 6pm & 9pm
“...replete with his trademark stylings: narrative diptychs (here, just as self-reflexive but more structurally lax than last year's Tale of Cinema), episodes of revelatory drunkenness, and character-exposing subtexts within run-of-the-mill dialogue.” – Aaron Hillis, Premiere Magazine
More info:
http://www.bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=125
Cinema Village
THE GLAMOROUS LIFE OF SACHIKO HANAI (Japan, 2006, 90 minutes)
Daily @ 1:00pm; 3:10pm; 5:20pm; 7:30pm; 9:40pm
Sure it’s a porn film, but it’s a POLITICAL porn film featuring the wriggling, sexy, nuke-launching finger of President George W. Bush, a hooker turned genius via a bullet in the head and lots and lots of very weird, very funny sex.
more info:
http://cinemavillage.com/chc/cv/show_movie.asp?movieid=950&displaydate=4/12/2007%201:08:51%20PM
Clearview Chelsea (23rd Street @ 8th Avenue)
THE HOST (Korea, 2006, 119 minutes)
Daily shows
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/
The ImaginAsian
DREAMING LHASA (Tibet, 2007, 90 minutes)
Daily @ 1pm, 5:30pm, 7:30pm
A Tibetan feature film from documentary directors Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam about a documentary filmmaker who travels to India to interview former political prisoners who escaped from Tibet to the Dalai Lama’s new HQ. Once there she falls for a monk and agrees to help him resolve a family obligation and becomes entangled in politics, history and sticky personal baggage.
read a review:
http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/films.php?id=16734
VOICE OF A MURDERER (Korea, 2007)
Daily @ 3pm & 10:15pm
Korea has been making better versions of ZODIAC ever since 2003’s MEMORIES OF MURDER and their latest entry is VOICE OF A MURDERER, a movie about a real-life crime that will hang around in your head for days afterwards like the stench of rotten souls. Based on a real-life kidnapping from the early 90’s, and directed by the man who worked on the definitive documentary about that crime, this movie isn’t about the voyeuristic riff raff who get off on playing Sherlock Holmes, instead it’s about the victim and his family and the emotional punch is like a hammer whacking your brain right on its softest spot. Harrowing, horrifying and truly great this is a movie for real people who can handle real feelings, not folks who need their every emotion validated by a layer critical reviews and auterist chill.
It’s also Korea’s most successful movie of 2007.
read more:
http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/009008.html
Jacob Burns Film Center (Pleasantville, NY)
Park Joon-Hoon Film Retrospective
April 11 – 17
A really unusual event: a small retrospective of one of Korea’s most versatile stars, Park Joon-Hoon. Korean superstar Ahn Sung-Ki will attend, as will directors Lee Myung-Se and Jonathan Demme as well as, of course, Park Joon-Hoon. The stand-out movies are Park’s latest, RADIO STAR, about two music industry vets who stick together as one’s career hits the skids and the other becomes a megastar; and NOWHERE TO HIDE and MY LOVE, MY BRIDE, Lee Myung-Se’s two movies with Park. One a romantic comedy, the other a vigorous, experimental action flick.
see the full schedule:
http://www.burnsfilmcenter.org/films/0704series_Joong-hoonPark.html
Landmark Sunshine
THE HOST (Korea, 2006, 119 minutes)
Daily shows
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/
Pioneer Two Boots
THAI TAKES 3: INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL
April 21 & 22
A bunch of great Thai features (and some shorts) hit the screen at the Two Boots. Dont’ miss CITIZEN DOG, the follow-up film from the director of TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER and THE DORM one of the best horror movies of the last several years about a haunted school for boys. And INVISIBLE WAVES, the second film from Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Christopher Doyle and Tadanobu Asano.
read more:
http://www.twoboots.com/pioneer/

2007-04-05T10:46:00.001-04:00

This week in Asian film.
Now Playing
THE HOST (Korea, 2006, 119 minutes) 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/
PING PONG (Japan, 2002, 114 minutes) STARTS APRIL 6 at IMAGINASIA
This was The New York Asian Film Festival’s Audience Award winner in 2003 and that says a lot in our book. The best sports movie ever made finally gets a way-too-late release from Viz. But don’t let that expiration date scare you: this flick could have been made yesterday. If you like your sports films all about Rocky slugging someone in the face until the bell rings this ain’t for you, but if you’ve ever played a sport and know all the complicated, tangled dynamics that come with that territory then you’ll feel like PING PONG is saying all the things you ever thought. An amped-up, turbo-charged movie about people who live and die for ping pong, this is the final word on putting sports on film. read a review: http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/archives/nyaff03/pingpong.htm
TIME (Korea, 2006)
One Show only at BAM – April 5th at 7pm
This latest cautionary fable from bad boy director Kim Ki-duk is a bizarre and fascinating exploration on themes of vanity, identity and time. A woman who is insecure in her relationship with her wandering eye boyfriend decides to have surgery to so completely change her appearance that he can’t recognize her. She disappears for six months, but then returns to first stalk him and then seduce him – and it only gets stranger and stranger after that with a climax so frantic and hysterical that you want to give the film a paper bag and tell it to breathe slowly.
JOONG- HOON PARK RETROSPECTIVE
Burns Film Center in Pleasantville
Hosted by Jonathan Demme
Six films will be shown from April 11th through April 17th featuring this famous Korean actor. He will be appearing with fellow legend Sung Kee-Ahn for their film RADIO STAR on April 11th. This is a real treat though I honestly have no idea where Pleasantville actually is. For more information, check the website:
http://www.burnsfilmcenter.org/films/0704series_Joong-hoonPark.html
COMING UP IN THE NEAR FUTURE:
VOICE OF A MURDERER (Korea, 2007) STARTS APRIL 13 at IMAGINASIA
Korea has been making better versions of ZODIAC ever since 2003’s MEMORIES OF MURDER and their latest entry is VOICE OF A MURDERER, a movie about a real-life crime that will hang around in your head for days afterwards like the stench of rotten souls. Based on a real-life kidnapping from the early 90’s, and directed by the man who worked on the definitive documentary about that crime, this movie isn’t about the voyeuristic riff raff who get off on playing Sherlock Holmes, instead it’s about the victim and his family and the emotional punch is like a hammer whacking your brain right on its softest spot. Harrowing, horrifying and truly great this is a movie for real people who can handle real feelings, not folks who need their every emotion validated by a layer critical reviews and auterist chill. It’s also Korea’s most successful movie of 2007. read more: http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/009008.html
THE GLAMOROUS LIFE OF SACHIKO HANAI
STARTS APRIL 13 at CINEMA VILLAGE
This is a perversely odd film that gleefully bounces back and forth between nutty political satire and frantic gratuitous sex. And lots of it. Directed by well-regarded pinku director Mitsuru Meike, the main character finds herself in possession of President Bush’s finger that can start a nuclear war – but thankfully she finds a much better use for it. What that is I will leave to your imagination. But any film that treats Bush as the idiot he is, is endorsed by Subway Cinema. For more, go to the Cinema Village website:
http://www.cinemavillage.com/chc/cv/show_movie.asp?movieid=950
TRIAD ELECTION and ELECTION
STARTS APRIL 25th at FILM FORUM
Hong Kong maestro Johnny To takes us on a lovely trip into the frightening and dangerous intestines of the Triad world – which is in many ways like Congress – except they prefer crushing a rival’s head with a rock than with a boring speech. These two films are spellbinding and electric with performances from some of Hong Kong’s best – Simon Yam, Tony Leung Kar-wai and Louis Koo. Be sure to see Election first and then it’s follow-up Triad Election (or as it was known in Hong Kong, Election 2). You really have to see these films on the big screen. They are big and brash and ballsy. For more info go to the FF website:
http://www.filmforum.org/films/triad.html
THAI TAKES 3
STARTS APRIL 13 at Museum of the Moving Image in QUEENS
The MOMI is putting on a mini-fest of some new Thai films.
THE UNSEEABLE is the latest from the director of TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER
INVISIBLE WAVES is the latest from the director of LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE
THE TIN MINE was Thailand’s entry for the Oscars
INNOCENCE is a documentary of school children in a boarding school.
There is also a series of short films.
For more information, see the website:
http://www.movingimage.us/site/screenings/pages/2007/index_thai_takes.html
THAI TAKES 3
STARTS APRIL 21 at TWO BOOTS PIONEER in Manhattan
As an adjunct to the MOMI Thai films, there are Thai films also playing here.
INVISIBLE WAVES on April 21
THE DORM on April 21 has received great word of mouth as a creepy horror film that is as much a coming of age film.
CITIZEN DOG on April 22 is the surrealistic follow up to TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER from director Wisit Sasanatieng.
MONDAY MORNING GLORY
APRIL 20 and 21 at MOMA
A Malaysian film about terrorism.
http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/film_media/2007/Asian_Cinevisions_2007.html
TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL
The Tribeca Film Festival is back again beginning on April 25 and tickets are for a mere $18! Are they made of gold or what? Getting a zillion dollars in sponsorship and public money isn’t enough for these guys – now they have to soak us as well? This has become such an elitist festival that it really annoys me. Anyway, they have a weak smattering of Asian films if you can afford them. I think there are more French films than Asian on the schedule. Here is what I could find.
Afghanistan:
Zolykha’s Secret
China:
Lost in Beijing
The Matrimony
Still Life (highly recommended)
Iraq:
Half Moon
Japan:
Brave Story (yes, 1 whole film from Japan and an anime at that!)
Pakistan:
Shame
South Korea:
A Dirty Carnival (recommended – solid gangster on the rise type of film)
Turkey:
Tavka – A Man’s Fear of God (highly recommended by a friend)
Times and Words
http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/tixSYS/2007/filmguide/title-detail.php
NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL
JUNE 22 to July 8
More info to come over the next few months but it looks like lots of fun so far!

2007-03-29T11:48:00.000-04:00

March 29 – April 5, 2007

NOW PLAYING ALL OVER TOWN

THE HOST (Korea, 2006, 119 minutes)
Now playing at the Landmark Sunshine, BAM, Chelsea Cinemas and Clearview Cinemas on 62nd and Broadway

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/

NOW PLAYING
The ImaginAsian
NAMASTEY LONDON (India, 2007, 142 minutes)
Daily @ 3:30pm, 6:30pm, 9:30pm
Akshay Kumar and Rishi Kapoor star in this flick about an Indian family in London who’s worried that their daughter is getting too Westernized. Dragging her off to India they stick her in an arranged marriage but she flees to London and declares her nuptials invalid. A romantic comedy that’s light as foam and just as substantial, but Bollywood does these things so well.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117933172.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

PING PONG (Japan, 2002, 114 minutes)
STARTS APRIL 6
The best sports movie ever made finally gets a way-too-late release from Viz. But don’t let that expiration date scare you: this flick could have been made yesterday. If you like your sports films all about Rocky slugging someone in the face until the bell rings this ain’t for you, but if you’ve ever played a sport and know all the complicated, tangled dynamics that come with that territory then you’ll feel like PING PONG is saying all the things you ever thought. An amped-up, turbo-charged movie about people who live and die for ping pong, this is the final word on putting sports on film.
read a review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/archives/nyaff03/pingpong.htm

VOICE OF A MURDERER (Korea, 2007)
STARTS APRIL 13
Korea has been making better versions of ZODIAC ever since 2003’s MEMORIES OF MURDER and their latest entry is VOICE OF A MURDERER, a movie about a real-life crime that will hang around in your head for days afterwards like the stench of rotten souls. Based on a real-life kidnapping from the early 90’s, and directed by the man who worked on the definitive documentary about that crime, this movie isn’t about the voyeuristic riff raff who get off on playing Sherlock Holmes, instead it’s about the victim and his family and the emotional punch is like a hammer whacking your brain right on its softest spot. Harrowing, horrifying and truly great this is a movie for real people who can handle real feelings, not folks who need their every emotion validated by a layer critical reviews and auterist chill.
It’s also Korea’s most successful movie of 2007.
read more:
http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/009008.html

MOMA
Walter Reade
NEW DIRECTOR/NEW FILMS
There’s only one Asian feature in NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS this year and it’s:
THE OTHER HALF (China, 2006, 111 minutes)
Saturday March 31 @ 3:15pm (Walter Reade)
Sunday April 1 @ 6:45pm (MOMA)
Director Ying Liang’s follow-up to his first film TAKING FATHER HOME, this Mainland movie is about those darn kids as a young woman working in a law firm gradually comes to realize how horrible life really is.
read more:
http://www.filmlinc.com/ndnf/program/theotherhalf.html

Museum of the Moving Image
CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER (2006, China)
Sunday, April 8 @ 2pm
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”. It’s like Bollywood doing the martial arts epic. Gooey and delicious for your eyeballs.
read more:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/curseofthegoldenflower?q=curse%20of%20the%20golden%20flower

2007-02-23T00:58:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-09T16:15:00.000-05:00

February 9 - 16, 2007

Coming Soon
A TASTE OF TEA (February 23)
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

THE WAYWARD CLOUD (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. See it!
read a review:
http://www.kaijushakedown.com/2005/09/the_wayward_clo.html

BONG JOON-HO MINI-FESTIVAL (February 26 & 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/

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, 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

THE PAINTED VEIL (2006, USA)
An adaptation of Somerset Maughm's novel, this flick was shot in China and stars Naomi Watts and Edward Norton. But come on, the real reason you want to see it is because it also features Hong Kong stalwart, Anthony Wong.
read more:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/paintedveil?q=painted%20veil

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

The ImaginAsian
TAZZA: THE HIGH ROLLERS
Starts February 2
The number 2 movie in Korea last year - beating out M:i:III, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 2, THE DA VINCI CODE - coming in just after THE HOST, was TAZZA. It's a low down, gritty Korean version of GOD OF GAMBLERS only much, much meaner, much bloodier, and extremely hardcore. A very long, very twisty movie but it's one of the more entertaining crime films to come out in a while. Opening at the ImaginAsian.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117931904.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

The Korea Society (950 Third Avenue, 8th Floor.)
CLASSIC MOVIE NIGHT
Thursday, February 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).

Museum of the Moving Image
AN AFTERNOON WITH RON VAN CLIEF
Sunday, February 18 @ 2pm
The Museum of the Moving Image celebrates Black History month with an afternoon with Ron van Clief, one of the first African-American martial arts stars who will show clips from his movies and talk about his career. Expect to see bits and pieces of BLACK DRAGON, WAY OF THE BLACK DRAGON and KUNG FU FEVEZ.
more info:
http://www.movingimage.us/site/screenings/index.html

Union Square 14
BLACK FRIDAY (India, 2005, 147 minutes)
Screening daily
There hasn't been a more exhausting or exhaustive movie made about terrorism since 2005's BLACK FRIDAY, a procedural film that examines every single detail of the Bombay Blasts in 1993 that left hundreds dead. This flick was banned until the trial concluded and is only now getting its theatrical release. It's incisive, it's devastating and you really shouldn't miss it.
read a review:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/blackfriday?q=black%20friday

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!
read more:
http://filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/fcs07.html

2007-02-02T12:36:00.000-05:00

February 2 - 9, 2007

Coming Soon
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!
read more:
http://filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/fcs07.html

AN AFTERNOON WITH RON VAN CLIEF (February 18)
The Museum of the Moving Image celebrates Black History month with an afternoon with Ron van Clief, one of the first African-American martial arts stars who will show clips from his movies and talk about his career. Expect to see bits and pieces of BLACK DRAGON, WAY OF THE BLACK DRAGON and KUNG FU FEVEZ.
more info:
http://www.movingimage.us/site/screenings/index.html

A TASTE OF TEA (February 23)
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

THE WAYWARD CLOUD (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. See it!
read a review:
http://www.kaijushakedown.com/2005/09/the_wayward_clo.html

BONG JOON-HO MINI-FESTIVAL (February 26 & 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/

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.

PING PONG (Japan, 2002, 114 minutes) (April, 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

THE PAINTED VEIL (2006, USA)
An adaptation of Somerset Maughm's novel, this flick was shot in China and stars Naomi Watts and Edward Norton. But come on, the real reason you want to see it is because it also features Hong Kong stalwart, Anthony Wong.
read more:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/paintedveil?q=painted%20veil

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

The ImaginAsian
TAZZA: THE HIGH ROLLERS
Starts February 2
The number 2 movie in Korea last year - beating out M:i:III, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 2, THE DA VINCI CODE - coming in just after THE HOST, was TAZZA. It's a low down, gritty Korean version of GOD OF GAMBLERS only much, much meaner, much bloodier, and extremely hardcore. A very long, very twisty movie but it's one of the more entertaining crime films to come out in a while. Opening at the ImaginAsian.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117931904.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

YEAR ONE IN THE NORTH (2006, Japan)
Tuesday, January 30 @ 6:30pm
The massive samurai movie from Isao Yukisada (who directed the terrific GO and the romance CRYING OUT LOVE IN THE CENTER OF THE WORLD) starring Ken Watanabe comes to the ImaginAsian courtesy of New York-Tokyo. The flick follows an exiled samurai clan as they're abandoned to a harsh winter and an attempt to live off the land in their remote natural prison.
Admission is free, just RSVP to ana@newyork-tokyo.com
read a review:
http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/year-one-in-the-north.shtml

The Korea Society (950 Third Avenue, 8th Floor.)
CLASSIC MOVIE NIGHT
On the Third Thursday of every month, the Korea Society will host video projections of classic films from Korea. January 18, 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).

2007-01-27T18:07:00.000-05:00

January 26 - February 2, 2007
Coming Soon
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!
read more:
http://filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/fcs07.html
A TASTE OF TEA (February 16)
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
THE WAYWARD CLOUD (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. See it!
read a review:
http://www.kaijushakedown.com/2005/09/the_wayward_clo.html
PING PONG (Japan, 2002, 114 minutes) (April, 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
THE PAINTED VEIL (2006, USA)An adaptation of Somerset Maughm's novel, this flick was shot in China and stars Naomi Watts and Edward Norton. But come on, the real reason you want to see it is because it also features Hong Kong stalwart, Anthony Wong.
read more:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/paintedveil?q=painted%20veil
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 ArchiveTHE OUTSIDE FROM THE INSIDE: THE FILMS OF KAZUO HARA
January 31 - February 1st
The Anthology Film Archives does a retrospective of the anti-society flicks of Kazuo Hara, a documentarian who would do anything to get the truth on film. Do not miss THE EMPEROR’S NAKED ARMY MARCHES ON, about what really happens during a war (hint: it's not pretty) or the spurned lover suicide artbombing of EXTREME PRIVATE EROS: LOVE SONG 1974.
Film Forum
TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER (2000, Thailand)
Daily
Exhumed from the Miramax vaults by the indie distributor, Magnolia, this first film from Wisit Sasanatieng is an eyeball searing blast of technicolored madness. A Thai Western, totally sincere, full of some of the most toxically beautiful colors to ever hit the screens, it's a riot. A little flat, but worth seeking out.
read reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/tearsoftheblacktiger?q=tears%20of%20the%20black%20tiger
The ImaginAsianSALAAM E ISHQ (2007, India, 215 minutes)
Daily at 1:30pm and 10:30pm
A bevy of Bollywood stars (Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra, John Abraham, Govinda) play a series of lovers whose lives and stories cross and intersect as they sing and dance and cry. It's a little bit of LOVE ACTUALLY only with a lot more musical numbers.
read a review:
http://www.moviewalah.com/reviews/movie-reviews/2007/01/25/movie-review-salaam-e-ishq
TAZZA: THE HIGH ROLLERS
Starts February 2
The number 2 movie in Korea last year - beating out M:i:III, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 2, THE DA VINCI CODE - coming in just after THE HOST, was TAZZA. It's a low down, gritty Korean version of GOD OF GAMBLERS only much, much meaner, much bloodier, and extremely hardcore. A very long, very twisty movie but it's one of the more entertaining crime films to come out in a while. Opening at the ImaginAsian.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117931904.html?categoryid=31&cs=1
YEAR ONE IN THE NORTH (2006, Japan)
Tuesday, January 30 @ 6:30pm
The massive samurai movie from Isao Yukisada (who directed the terrific GO and the romance CRYING OUT LOVE IN THE CENTER OF THE WORLD) starring Ken Watanabe comes to the ImaginAsian courtesy of New York-Tokyo. The flick follows an exiled samurai clan as they're abandoned to a harsh winter and an attempt to live off the land in their remote natural prison.
Admission is free, just RSVP to ana@newyork-tokyo.com
read a review:
http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/year-one-in-the-north.shtml
The Korea Society (950 Third Avenue, 8th Floor.)
CLASSIC MOVIE NIGHT
On the Third Thursday of every month, the Korea Society will host video projections of classic films from Korea. January 18, 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).

2007-01-19T10:41:00.000-05:00

January 19 - January 26, 2007

Coming Soon
THE OUTSIDE FROM THE INSIDE: THE FILMS OF KAZUO HARA
(January 31 - February 1st)
The Anthology Film Archives does a retrospective of the anti-society flicks of Kazuo Hara, a documentarian who would do anything to get the truth on film. Do not miss THE EMPEROR'S NAKED ARMY MARCHES ON, about what really happens during a war.

TAZZA: THE HIGH ROLLERS (February 2)
The number 2 movie in Korea last year - beating out M:i:III, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 2, THE DA VINCI CODE - coming in just after THE HOST, was TAZZA. It's a low down, gritty Korean version of GOD OF GAMBLERS only much, much meaner, much bloodier, and extremely hardcore. A very long, very twisty movie but it's one of the more entertaining crime films to come out in a while. Opening at the ImaginAsian.
read a review:
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117931904.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

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!
read more:
http://filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/fcs07.html

A TASTE OF TEA (February 16)
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". Opening at the ImaginAsian.
read a review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-tasteoftea.htm

THE WAYWARD CLOUD (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. See it!
read a review:
http://www.kaijushakedown.com/2005/09/the_wayward_clo.html

PING PONG (Japan, 2002, 114 minutes) (April, 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

THE PAINTED VEIL (2006, USA)
An adaptation of Somerset Maughm's novel, this flick was shot in China and stars Naomi Watts and Edward Norton. But come on, the real reason you want to see it is because it also features Hong Kong stalwart, Anthony Wong.
read more:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/paintedveil?q=painted%20veil

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 Archive
KOREAN AMERICAN SHORTS PROGRAM
Saturday, January 13 @ 6pm
A fistful of short films from Korea-American filmmakers, this is one of those tiny little labors of love that we only get in New York. Documentaries, music videos, narrative shorts...it's a fistful of everything thrown out there for you to debate,,hate, love and chew over.
more details:
http://www.koreanx.net/kasfny/program.html

Film Forum
TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER (2000, Thailand)
Daily
Exhumed from the Miramax vaults by the indie distributor, Magnolia, this first film from Wisit Sasanatieng is an eyeball searing blast of technicolored madness. A Thai Western, totally sincere, full of some of the most toxically beautiful colors to ever hit the screens, it's a riot. A little flat, but worth seeking out.
read reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/tearsoftheblacktiger?q=tears%20of%20the%20black%20tiger

The ImaginAsian
GURU (2007, India, 172 minutes)
Daily @ 3pm, 6:45pm, 10:30pm
The most anticipated movie out of Bollywood, this flick brings together two of Bollywood’s major stars - Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan - India's best director, Mani Ratnam, it's greatest composer - A.R. Rahman - all to tell the story of India's top manufacturer of...polyester? It's a massive hit so far, so go throw more money in the bag!
read a review:
http://www.nysun.com/article/46560

The Korea Society (950 Third Avenue, 8th Floor.)
CLASSIC MOVIE NIGHT
On the Third Thursday of every month, the Korea Society will host video projections of classic films from Korea. January 18, 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).

Landmark Sunshine
THE HIDDEN FORTRESS (1958, Japan)
Friday and Saturday at Midnight
The Landmark Sunshine dives into the dubious waters of midnight movies, screening Kurosawa's classic HIDDEN FORTRESS, from which George Lucas gleefully plundered plot points for STAR WARS. Has there been a month when NY hasn't had a Kurosawa movie screening somewhere?
read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hidden_Fortress

2006-12-23T11:24:00.000-05:00

December 21 - January 7, 2007

This is the last update between now and January 7. Have a great holiday and a non-toxic New Year!

Coming Soon

TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER (January 12)

Film Forum hosts the victory lap of Thai auteur, Wisit Sasantieng's, first movie, the eye-popping TEARS, bought by Miramax in 2001 and locked away ever since. Kudos to Magnolia for setting it free.

GURU (January 12)

Mani Ratnam's latest movie has kicked up a storm of anticipation and when it moved its release date from December to January everyone wanted to know: is it so bad they’re trying to fix it, or so good they're setting it apart? Soon we'll know the answer.

ABDUCTION: THE MEGUMI YOKOTA STORY (January 12)

A documentary about the young Japanese girl who was kidnapped by North Korea and forced to train its spies for years.

http://cinemavillage.com/chc/cv/show_movie.asp?movieid=877

A TASTE OF TEA (February 9)

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"

read a review:

http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-tasteoftea.htm

PING PONG (Japan, 2002, 114 minutes) (April, 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.

http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/archives/nyaff03/pingpong.htm

NOW PLAYING

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".

http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/curseofthegoldenflower?q=curse%20of%20the%20golden%20flower

THE PAINTED VEIL (2006, USA)

An adaptation of Somerset Maughm's novel, this flick was shot in China and stars Naomi Watts and Edward Norton. But come on, the real reason you want to see it is because it also features Hong Kong stalwart, Anthony Wong.

http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/paintedveil?q=painted%20veil

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

The ImaginAsian

BHAGAM BHAG (2006, India, 160 minutes)

Daily @ 3pm, 6:30pm, 10pm

I don't know anything about this Bollywood comedy except that part of it takes place in England and it’s about the misadventures of three actors. Reliable comedy helmer, Priyadarshan, directs.

http://www.theimaginasian.com/nowplaying/index.php

2006-12-15T11:53:00.000-05:00

December 14 - December 21, 2006
COMING SOON
CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER (December 21)
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.
TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER (January 12)
Film Forum hosts the victory lap of Thai auteur, Wisit Sasantieng's, first movie, the eye-popping TEARS, bought by Miramax in 2001 and locked away ever since. Kudos to Magnolia for setting it free.
A TASTE OF TEA (February 9)
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"
read a review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-tasteoftea.htm
NOW PLAYING
Cinema Village
YAJI AND KITA: THE MIDNIGHT PILGRIMS (Japan, 2005)
Daily at 1:05pm, 5:15pm and 9:35pm
The best gay, samurai, motorcycle road movie musical from Japan that you've never seen. If you want your mind blown, this remake of a 1958 Japanese classic is the film for you. Featuring songs like "Born to be Gay!", massive drug use, hallucinations, and more!
read a review:
http://www.kaijushakedown.com/2005/10/yaji_and_kita_t.html
IFC Center
NANA 2 (Japan, 2006, 130 minutes)
Monday, December 18 @ 7pm (film starts at 7:30)
New York Tokyo brings the premiere of NANA 2, the sequel to Japan's massive box office hit, NANA, about two young women living in Tokyo united by their shared first name...Nana. One's a rock n' roll chick and one's a pretty "Hello Kitty" princess and the films follow their lives and loves. I can't say enough good things about NANA, and NANA 2 promises more of the same.
The two stars, Mika Nakashima and Yui Ichikawa, will be in attendance and they'll be doing a Q&A after the show.
The movie is free, all you have to do is RSVP to:
nana2@newyork-tokyo.com
The ImaginAsian
KABUL EXPRESS (2006, India, 120 minutes)
Daily @ 12:00 pm, 2:30 pm, 5:00 pm, 7:45 pm and 10:30 pm
This is not your Bollywood movie. KABUL EXPRESS is a flick about a group of journalists who go to Afghanistan to interview the Taliban, and they help escort a Taliban fighter back to his homeland of Pakistan. Set in 2001, just after the first US bombing campaign ended, this flick stars Bollywood stalwart John Abraham and is produced by Bollywood's answer to Disney, Yash Raj. The filmmakers received continual threats from the Taliban during shooting, and one of their drivers was kidnapped and killed. But this is something totally different and it's worth your time.
No reviews are available at this time.
Buy a ticket:
http://www.theimaginasian.com/nowplaying/index.php
Landmark Sunshine
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA (2006, USA)
12/20 and 12/21 only
A two-day screening (it looks like) of Clint Eastwood's companion piece to FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS but this time the Battle of Iwo Jima is told from the Japanese point of view. Favorites like Ken Watanabe and Shido Nakamura star and this flick has been getting critical praise out the wazoo.
Read a review:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/lettersfromiwojima?q=letters%20from%20iwo%20jima

2006-12-08T15:28:00.000-05:00

December 7 - December 14, 2006

COMING SOON
CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER (December 25)
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.

TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER (January 12)
Film Forum hosts the victory lap of Thai auteur, Wisit Sasantieng's, first movie, the eye-popping TEARS, bought by Miramax in 2001 and locked away ever since. Kudos to Magnolia for setting it free.

A TASTE OF TEA (February 9)
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"
read a review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-tasteoftea.htm

NOW PLAYING

BAM
Cinema Village
YAJI AND KITA: THE MIDNIGHT PILGRIMS (Japan, 2005)
Starts Friday Dec. 8 and plays daily at 1:05pm, 5:15pm and 9:35pm
The best gay, samurai, motorcycle road movie musical from Japan that you've never seen. If you want your mind blown, this remake of a 1958 Japanese classic is the film for you. Featuring songs like "Born to be Gay!", massive drug use, hallucinations, and more!
read a review:
http://www.kaijushakedown.com/2005/10/yaji_and_kita_t.html

Huntington Art Center (423 Park Avenue, Huntington, NY)
A GOOD LAWYER'S WIFE (2003, Korea, 103 minutes)
Wednesday, December 13 @ 7:30pm
Introduced by Im Hyun-Ock, this Korean picture was a scandalous success about infidelity. A lawyer and his wife have put their relationship out to pasture and are both cheating on each other, but when a tragedy arises they have to make a decision: married or not. Good looking, well acted and pretty darn sexy.
read a review:
http://koreanfilm.org/kfilm03.html#baramnan

how to get there:
http://www.cinemaartscentre.org/

IFC Center
KWAIDAN (Japan, 1964, 125 minutes)
Friday, Saturday and Sunday @ Noon
The great granddaddy of Japanese horror movies is Masaki Kobayashi's KWAIDAN, a collection of ghost stories shot in a stylized visual scheme that makes them feel like paintings come to life. If you like any kind of movie you should check this film out. Essential.
read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwaidan_(film)

The ImaginAsian
DHOOM 2 (India, 2006, 160 minutes)
Last Shows Thursday, December 8 at 3pm and 10pm
This ultra-slick Bollywood hit made a zillion dollars on its opening weekend and even the New York Times sang its praises. A cartoony tale of police and thieves and impossible heists it stars the three biggest young stars in the Bollywood firmament: super-dancer hunk, Hrithik Roshan (he of the three thumbs), the "Most Beautiful Woman in the World" Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan son of the World's Best Loved Filmi Star, Amitabh Bachchan.
read a review:
http://movies2.nytimes.com/2006/11/27/movies/27dhoo.html?ref=movies

BAABUL (2006, India, 170 minutes)
Daily at 3:30pm, 7:30pm, 10:30pm
Bollywood's biggest star, Amitabh Bachchan, in this love story with Rani Mukherjee, Salman Khan and Hema Malini.
Read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baabul

MOMA
THE LAST COMMUNIST (2005, Malaysia, 90 minutes)
Friday, December 8 @ 8:30pm + Saturday, December 9 @ 4pm
Amir Muhammad's controversial documentary about the Malaysian Communist who resisted the Japanese and British in Malaysia. The documentary is an avante-pop, remixed flick that incorporates a million different mediums to tell the story and it wound up being banned in Malaysia.
read more:
http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/006310.html

2006-11-30T12:32:00.000-05:00

November 30 - December 7, 2006

COMING SOON
CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER (December 25)
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.

TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER (January 12)
Film Forum hosts the victory lap of Thai auteur, Wisit Sasantieng's, first movie, the eye-popping TEARS, bought by Miramax in 2001 and locked away ever since. Kudos to Magnolia for setting it free.

A TASTE OF TEA (February 9)
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"
read a review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-tasteoftea.htm

NOW PLAYING

BAM
HEROIC GRACE II: SHAW BROTHERS RETURN
Nov. 6 - Dec. 6
They're back. The Celestial's glorious restorations of the classic Shaw Brothers movies hit the screen at BAM. One sense-shattering eruption of martial glory after another.
Read an article on the entire series:
http://www.nysun.com/article/42951

CLANS OF INTRIGUE (1977, Hong Kong, 99 minutes)
Tuesday, December 5 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
Chor Yuen made a lot of good movies, but few are as good as CLANS where a gay blade lounges on his pimped-out pleasure barge until a grotty murder case brings him back in from the cold and he has to go up against lesbian death goddesses and transsexual ninjas. Starts happy and pretty, ends bleak and bloody.

THE BOXER FROM SHANTUNG (1972, Hong Kong)
Wednesday, December 6 @ 6:50pm, 9:30pm
A terrorist attack from Chang Cheh, marinated in machismo. This flick was Chen Kuan-tai's first movie and while it launched his career it's Shaw stalwart, David Chiang, who eats up the screen as a natty little gang boss who pauses to adjust his cigarette holder, straighten his suit, and give a little-boy grin before strolling into an ambush to meet his maker. A little slow moving at first, by the time you reach the final reel you'll have the meaning of the phrase "apocalyptic bloodbath" totally redefined.
More info:
http://www.bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=104

Cinema Village
YAJI AND KITA: THE MIDNIGHT PILGRIMS (Japan, 2005)
Starts 12/8
The best gay, samurai, motorcycle road movie musical from Japan that you've never seen. If you want your mind blown, this remake of a 1958 Japanese classic is the film for you. Featuring songs like "Born to be Gay!", massive drug use, hallucinations, and more!
read a review:
http://www.kaijushakedown.com/2005/10/yaji_and_kita_t.html

The ImaginAsian
DHOOM 2 (India, 2006, 160 minutes)
Daily at 3pm and 10pm
This ultra-slick Bollywood hit made a zillion dollars on its opening weekend and even the New York Times sang its praises. A cartoony tale of police and thieves and impossible heists it stars the three biggest young stars in the Bollywood firmament: super-dancer hunk, Hrithik Roshan (he of the three thumbs), the "Most Beautiful Woman in the World" Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan son of the World's Best Loved Film Star, Amitabh Bachchan.
read a review:
http://movies2.nytimes.com/2006/11/27/movies/27dhoo.html?ref=movies

POOCH PORTRAITS (Japan, 2006)
Wednesday, December 6 @ 7:30pm
Who doesn't like dogs? New York Tokyo presents this dog-lover's documentary about Japan's cutest and most amazing puppies and it's a night of all-out entertainment that will fry your mind. The director will be there! The first 100 guests get "gifts from Japan"! And the movie itself covers dogs who babysit cows, and religious dogs who visit shrines to heal their poor health. It's free admission, just send an email to POOCH@NEWYORK-TOKYO.COM to reserve a ticket.See a trailer at:http://wwwz.fujitv.co.jp/mezamado/wanko/wanko_trailer.html

Museum of the Moving Image
INFERNAL AFFAIRS (2002, Hong Kong, 101 minutes)
Sunday, December 3 @ 2pm
THE DEPARTED may have had powerhouse stars doing great work but the source film, INFERNAL AFFAIRS, has it beat in every department. More morally compromised, tenser and basically a lean, mean plot heavy machine you owe it to yourself to check out this thriller that busted open the box office across the Pacific.
more info:
http://www.movingimage.us/site/screenings/index.html

read a review:
http://subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff04-infernal.htm

2006-11-17T13:12:00.000-05:00

November 9 - 16, 2006
NOW PLAYING
BAM
HEROIC GRACE II: SHAW BROTHERS RETURN
Nov. 6 - Dec. 6
They're back. The Celestial's glorious restorations of the classic Shaw Brothers movies hit the screen at BAM. One sense-shattering eruption of martial glory after another:
NEW ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN (1971, 94 minutes)
Monday, Nov. 20 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
David Chiang and Chang Cheh team up to re-tell the much-told legend of the one-armed swordsman.
LEGENDARY WEAPONS OF CHINA (1982, 101 minutes)
Tue, Nov 21 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
Lau Kar-leung has a couple of master accomplishments under his belt, and this is one of them. His most fantastically fantastical flick, and a showcase for a number of fighters.
THE FIVE VENOMS (1978, 97 minutes)
Mon, Nov 27 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
Chang Cheh's masked martial movie is totally iconic and while it's not as much fun as CRIPPLED AVENGERS it's still a must-see.
DIRTY HO (1979, 100 minutes)
Tue, Nov 28 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
Lau Kar-leung's best, most well-considered movie. The drama works. The action doesn't overwhelm the story. The stakes are high.
CLANS OF INTRIGUE (1977, Hong Kong, 99 minutes)
Tuesday, December 5 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
Chor Yuen made a lot of good movies, but few are as good as CLANS where a gay blade lounges on his pimped-out pleasure barge until a grotty murder case brings him back in from the cold and he has to go up against lesbian death goddesses and transsexual ninjas. Starts happy and pretty, ends bleak and bloody.
THE BOXER FROM SHANTUNG (1972, Hong Kong)
Wednesday, December 6 @ 6:50pm, 9:30pm
A terrorist attack from Chang Cheh, marinated in machismo and simmered in blood. Chen Kuan-tai is the star of this SCARFACE riff, set in 1930's Shanghai. You know where things are going until 2/3's of the way through the bloodshed gets downright apocalyptic and this becomes a working class manifesto on bringing pain to the upper crust. And don't miss David Chiang's brilliant supporting turn as the natty, death-seeking gang boss.
More info:
http://www.bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=104
Cinema Village
YAJI AND KITA: THE MIDNIGHT PILGRIMS (Japan, 2005)
Starts 11/24
The best gay, samurai, motorcycle road movie musical from Japan that you've never seen. If you want your mind blown, this remake of a 1958 Japanese classic is the film for you. Featuring songs like "Born to be Gay!", massive drug use, hallucinations and more!
read a review:
http://www.kaijushakedown.com/2005/10/yaji_and_kita_t.html
The ImaginAsian
SHINOBI (Japan, 2005, 101 minutes)
Starts November 17! One week only!
Behold! The ninja movie to end all ninja movies. A popular flick at this year's New York Asian Film Festival, the "Romeo and Juliet" of ninja blowouts hits the big screen with all kinds of freaky weapons flying out of its fingertips.
read a review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff06_shinobi.htm
Japan Society
LOLITA IN FULL BLOOM
Nov. 10 - 19, 2006
Japanese movies about schoolgirls gone wild. There's classics like SAILOR SUIT AND MACHINE GUN as well as lower key efforts like EXCHANGE STUDENTS and THE LITTLE GIRL WHO CONQUERED TIME. It's just the kind of nutty programming that the Japan Society should be bringing over more often.
Don't miss the Friday night screening of W'S TRAGEDY, one of the most over-heated, sinfully delicious backstage dramas ever seared onto celluloid. Like SUNSET BOULEVARD, only for teenagers.
Full schedule:
http://www.japansociety.org/events/series.cfm?id_series=162864413

2006-11-10T14:11:00.000-05:00

November 9 - 16, 2006
NOW PLAYING
BAM
HEROIC GRACE II: SHAW BROTHERS RETURN
Nov.6 - Dec. 6
They're back. The Celestial's glorious restorations of the classic Shaw Brothers movies hit the screen at BAM. One sense-shattering eruption of martial glory after another:
MY YOUNG AUNTIE (1980, 114 minutes)
Monday, Nov 13 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
Lau Kar-leung directs Kara Hui in this slap and tickle fun-fest.
THE JADE TIGER (1977, 101 minutes)
Tue, Nov 14 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
Chor Yuen’s best swordplay movie. Non-stop action, thrillingly bleak ending.
NEW ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN (1971, 94 minutes)
Monday, Nov. 20 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
David Chiang and Chang Cheh team up to re-tell the much-told legend of the one-armed swordsman.
LEGENDARY WEAPONS OF CHINA (1982, 101 minutes)
Tue, Nov 21 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
Lau Kar-leung has a couple of master accomplishments under his belt, and this is one of them. His most fantastically fantastical flick, and a showcase for a number of fighters.
THE FIVE VENOMS (1978, 97 minutes)
Mon, Nov 27 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
Chang Cheh's masked martial movie is totally iconic and while it's not as much fun as CRIPPLED AVENGERS it's still a must-see.
DIRTY HO (1979, 100 minutes)
Tue, Nov 28 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
Lau Kar-leung's best, most well-considered movie. The drama works. The action doesn't overwhelm the story. The stakes are high.
More info:
http://www.bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=104
Cinema Village
YAJI AND KITA: THE MIDNIGHT PILGRIMS (Japan, 2005)
Starts 11/24
The best gay, samurai, motorcycle road movie musical from Japan that you've never seen. If you want your mind blown, this remake of a 1958 Japanese classic is the film for you. Featuring songs like "Born to be Gay!", massive drug use, hallucinations, and more!
read a review:
http://www.kaijushakedown.com/2005/10/yaji_and_kita_t.html
The ImaginAsian
UMRAO JAAN (India, 2006, 190 minutes)
Daily at noon
The new Bollywood movie features Aishwarya Rai as a 19th Century courtesan doomed to tragedy.
read a review:
http://www.apunkachoice.com/movies/mov649/umrao_jaan-review.html
LINDA LINDA LINDA (Japan, 2005, 114 minutes)
Starts November 10th! One Week Only!
The movie that swept the New York Asian Film Festival like a tornado of fun, LINDA LINDA LINDA is the film for anyone whose soul was ever saved by rock and roll. Four Japanese schoolgirls (including Bae Doo-Na of THE HOST as a Korean exchange student) form a band of the school talent show. The sweetest, savviest high school flick you've never seen.
read a review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff06_linda.htm
SHINOBI (Japan, 2005, 101 minutes)
Starts November 17! One week only!
Behold! The ninja movie to end all ninja movies. A popular flick at this year's New York Asian Film Festival, the "Romeo and Juliet" of ninja blowouts hits the big screen with all kinds of freaky weapons flying out of its fingertips.
read a review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff06_shinobi.htm
Japan Society
LOLITA IN FULL BLOOM
Nov. 10 - 19, 2006
Japanese movies about schoolgirls gone wild. There's classics like SAILOR SUIT AND MACHINE GUN as well as lower key efforts like EXCHANGE STUDENTS and THE LITTLE GIRL WHO CONQUERED TIME. It's just the kind of nutty programming that the Japan Society should be bringing over more often.
Don't miss tonight's screening of SAILOR SUIT AND MACHINE GUN at 7:30pm. The best "schoolgirl with full auto weapon" movie ever made!
Full schedule:
http://www.japansociety.org/events/series.cfm?id_series=162864413

2006-11-02T14:55:00.000-05:00

November 1 - 8, 2006
NOW PLAYING

BAM
HEROIC GRACE II: SHAW BROTHERS RETURN
Nov. 6 - Dec. 6
They're back. The Celestial's glorious restorations of the classic Shaw Brothers movies hit the screen at BAM. One sense-shattering eruption of martial glory after another:

KING BOXER (1972, 97 minutes)
Monday, Nov 6 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
The movie better known as FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH, the one that started the martial craze in America.

THE MAGIC BLADE (1976, 101 minutes)
Tue, Nov 7 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
Chor Yuen's masterpiece? Maybe. It’s a rocking fantasy swordplay film that makes modern day action movies look downright lethargic.

MY YOUNG AUNTIE (1980, 114 minutes)
Monday, Nov 13 @ 6:50pm,9:15pm
Lau Kar-leung directs Kara Hui in this slap and tickle fun-fest.

THE JADE TIGER (1977, 101 minutes)
Tue, Nov 14 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
Another one of Chor Yuen's fantasy swordplay flicks full of betrayal, shattered consciences and razor sharp blades.

NEW ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN (1971, 94 minutes)
Monday, Nov. 20 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
David Chiang and Chang Cheh team up to re-tell the much-told legend of the one-armed swordsman.

LEGENDARY WEAPONS OF CHINA (1982, 101 minutes)
Tue, Nov 21 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
Lau Kar-leung has a couple of master accomplishments under his belt, and this is one of them. His most fantastically fantastical flick, and a showcase for a number of fighters.

THE FIVE VENOMS (1978, 97 minutes)
Mon, Nov 27 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
Chang Cheh's masked martial movie is totally iconic and while it's not as much fun as CRIPPLED AVENGERS it's still a must-see.

DIRTY HO (1979, 100 minutes)
Tue, Nov 28 @ 6:50pm, 9:15pm
Lau Kar-leung's best, most well-considered movie. The drama works. The action doesn't overwhelm the story. The stakes are high.

More info:
http://www.bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=104

Cinema Village
YAJI AND KITA: THE MIDNIGHT PILGRIMS (Japan, 2005)
Starts 11/24
The best gay, samurai, motorcycle road movie musical from Japan that you've never seen. If you want your mind blown, this remake of a 1958 Japanese classic is the film for you. Featuring songs like "Born to be Gay!", massive drug use, hallucinations, and more!
read a review:
http://www.kaijushakedown.com/2005/10/yaji_and_kita_t.html

The ImaginAsian
DON (India, 2006, 171 minutes)
Daily @ 2:45pm, 6:30pm, 10pm
One of the most anticipated movies from Bollywood this Diwali, DON sees superstar Shah Rukh Khan remake Amitabh Bachchan's classic chunk of 70's magic: DON. The tale of a man so evil he kills people over the color of their shoes. DON! He is twins. DON! He sings and dances and commits crimes. DON! Are you man enough?
Read a review:
http://www.planetbollywood.com/displayReview.php?id=102106012043

LINDA LINDA LINDA (Japan, 2005, 114 minutes)
Starts November 10th! One Week Only!
The movie that swept the New York Asian Film Festival like a tornado of fun, LINDA LINDA LINDA is the film for anyone whose soul was ever saved by rock and roll. Four Japanese schoolgirls (including Bae Doo-Na of THE HOST as a Korean exchange student) form a band of the school talent show. The sweetest, savviest high school flick you've never seen.
read a review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff06_linda.htm

SHINOBI (Japan, 2005, 101 minutes)
Starts November 17! One week only!
Behold! The ninja movie to end all ninja movies. A popular flick at this year's New York Asian Film Festival, the "Romeo and Juliet" of ninja blowouts hits the big screen with all kinds of freaky weapons flying out of its fingertips.
read a review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff06_shinobi.htm

Japan Society
LOLITA IN FULL BLOOM
Nov. 10 - 19, 2006
Japanese movies about schoolgirls gone wild. There's classics like SAILOR SUIT AND MACHINE GUN as well as lower key efforts like EXCHANGE STUDENTS and THE LITTLE GIRL WHO CONQUERED TIME. It's just the kind of nutty programming that the Japan Society should be bringing over more often:
Full schedule:
http://www.japansociety.org/events/series.cfm?id_series=162864413

2006-09-01T23:33:00.000-04:00

September 2 - 7, 2006
NOW PLAYING

Anthology Film Archives, BAM, and ImaginAsian
NEW YORK KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL (August 25 - September 3)
Every year, this festival takes a core sample of what's playing in Korean cinemas and carefully brings it over to New York for your viewing pleasure. Ignoring the major films in order to give an idea of what fills the majority of Korean multiplexes, the Korean Film Festival is an eye-opening look at the current Korean cinema scene. Recommended in this year's line-up: the savage, HOLIDAY; the wildly popular word-of-mouth hit, MY SCARY GIRL; and international film festival favorite, GRAIN IN EAR. Also, make sure you don't miss the screening of Lee Man-Hee's WATERMILL (1966): a black and white Korean classic so erotic and emotionally charged that it practically moans while you watch it.
Read more:
http://www.koreanfilmfestival.org/
Read about Lee Man-Hee:
http://www.firecracker-media.com/moxie/archive/issue12/feature1203.shtml

Cinema Village
THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS
The Filipino film festival favorite about a young, transgendered kid living in the slums of Manila who falls for a hunky police officer comes to Cinema Village on September 22.
Read more:
http://cinemavillage.com/chc/cv/show_movie.asp?movieid=770

IFC Center
THE HIDDEN FORTRESS (1958, Japan, 139 minutes)
Starts September 1, Friday - Sunday at Noon
A lot has been made out of the influence Akira Kurosawa's HIDDEN FORTRESS had on George Lucas' STAR WARS and the parallels are hard to deny: two bumbling, bickering peasants escorting a princess to safety with the assistance of a gruff, no-nonsense general (Harrison Ford). All that stuff ID there, but watch it for its beautiful cinematography and for Toshiro Mifune's grand portrayal of the resourceful, slightly doomed General
More info:
http://www.ifccenter.com/film?filmid=10917

HIGH AND LOW (1963, Japan, 143 minutes)
Starts September 15, Friday - Sunday at Noon
Toshiro Mifune (again) delivers an unforgettable performance as a wealthy, self-made man who suddenly faces a choice when kidnappers targeting his son snatch his chauffeur's kid by accident: does he lose everything to help the help? One of the most influential Japanese crime movies ever made (its final twist has shown up in several other movies including BAYSIDE SHAKEDOWN) it's based on an Ed McBain book and it emphasizes ethics over action while still offering up plenty of noir grime.
More info:
http://www.ifccenter.com/film?filmid=10221

The ImaginAsian
KANK (2006, India, 210 minutes)
Daily at 2:45pm
Also known as KABHI ALVIDA NAA KEHNA, this is the monster hit that's breaking box office records all over the world. It's from India's maker of melodramas, Karan Johar, whose KABHI KUSHIE, KABHIE GHAM turned the family drama up to eleven and it's the first Bollywood movie invited to the Toronto Film Festival in 31 years. Starring all of India's major stars it's a song and dance version of CLOSER shot mostly in New York.
Read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kabhi_alvida_naa_kehna/

LAGE RAHO MUNNA BHAI (2006, India, 145 minutes)
Daily at 6:35pm and 9:45pm
The sequel to the much-loved gangster comedy (now being remade by Chris Tucker) MUNNABHAI MBBS stars Sanjay Dutt as a gangster who falls in love with the voice of a radio show host and she, in turn, mistakes him for a History professor and falls for him. It's getting good reviews and, like the first MUNNABHAI film it looks like it'll be another sleeper comedy hit.
Read a review:
http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Lage_Raho_Munnabhai-108316-1.html

Also see NEW YORK KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL entry, at top of page.

Village East
WATER (India, 2006, 114 minutes)
Daily at 3:10pm and 5:35pm
Deepa Mehta's trilogy draws to a close with this story of widows living in India. Powerful and moving, it rocked the Canadian box office and was targeted for trouble in India where the set was attacked and burned down. It's been running forever so it must be good.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005763-water/

Walter Reade
SHOLAY (1975, India, 200 minutes)
September 1 - 5, Daily @ Noon, 4pm and 8pm
The great Indian classic, this "Curry Western" stars Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra as two criminals drafted to free a village from the control of Gabbar Singh, one of the great boogeymen of Indian cinema. An enormous, rollicking epic, think of it as THE TWO SAMURAI with musical numbers.
Read more:
http://filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/sholay.html

THE NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL (September 29 - October 15)
The New York Film Festival is stuffed full of chewy goodness this year with a fistful of high-profile Asian movies. THE HOST, Korea's monster hit monster movie! TRIAD ELECTION, which is really Johnnie To's inimitable ELECTION 2! PAPRIKA, a new flick from Satoishi Kon! You can't beat these movies with a stick and you can't get tickets till September 10 - but you should be ready to hit the ground running when they go on sale.
More info:
http://filmlinc.com/nyff/nyff.htm

2006-08-24T11:31:00.000-04:00

August 24 - 31, 2006

NOW PLAYING
Anthology Film Archives, BAM and ImaginAsian
NEW YORK KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL (August 25 - September 3)
Every year, this festival takes a core sample of what's playing in Korean cinemas and carefully brings it over to New York for your viewing pleasure. Ignoring the major films in order to give an idea of what fills the majority of Korean multiplexes, the Korean Film Festival is an eye-opening look at the current Korean cinema scene. Recommended in this year's line-up: the savage, HOLIDAY; the wildly
Read more:
http://www.koreanfilmfestival.org/

IFC Center
THRONE OF BLOOD (1957, Japan, 105 minutes)
Friday - Sunday at Noon
Forget RAN. Forget DREAMS. THRONE OF BLOOD is Akira Kurosawa's best-looking movie. A savage take on MACBETH with Toshiro Mifune chewing his own lips till blood spills out in the lead role, this shimmering black and white epic is one part kabuki, one part SEVEN SAMURAI, one part Roman Polanski, and it all adds up to one of Kurosawa's least-seen movies in the West, but one of his best.
More info:
http://www.ifccenter.com/film?filmid=30417

The ImaginAsian
KANK (2006, India, 210 minutes)
Daily at 2:30pm and 9:30pm
Also known as KABHI ALVIDA NAA KEHNA, this is the monster hit that's breaking box office records all over the world. It's from India's maker of melodramas, Karan Johar, whose KABHI KUSHIE, KABHIE GHAM turned the family drama up to eleven and it's the first Bollywood movie invited to the Toronto Film Festival in 31 years. Starring all of India's major stars it's a song and dance version of CLOSER shot mostly in New York.
Read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kabhi_alvida_naa_kehna/

FULL METAL ALCHEMIST (2005, Japan)
Daily at 7pm
The anime feature film of the super-popular manga and anime television series is now playing. You're either seeing this one or you're not and there's nothing I can say about it that will change your mind.

Also see listing at top of page for NY KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL.

Village East
WATER (India, 2006, 114 minutes)
Daily at 3:10pm and 5:40pm
Deepa Mehta's trilogy draws to a close with this story of widows living in India. Powerful and moving, it rocked the Canadian box office and was targeted for trouble in India where the set was attacked and burned down. It's been running forever so it must be good.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005763-water/

Walter Reade
THE NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL (September 29 - October 15)
The New York Film Festival is stuffed full of chewy goodness this year with a fistful of high-profile Asian movies. THE HOST, Korea's monster hit monster movie! TRIAD ELECTION, which is really Johnnie To's inimitable ELECTION 2! PAPRIKA, a new flick from Satoishi Kon! You can't beat these movies with a stick. And you can't get tickets till September 10, but you should be ready to hit the ground running when they go on sale.
More info:
http://filmlinc.com/nyff/nyff.htm

2006-08-18T00:44:00.000-04:00

August 17 - 24, 2006
Welcome back to Subway Cinema News, your much-delayed guide to all the Asian movies playing in all the movie theaters in New York City.

THIS WEEK
Sunday. August 20. Museum of the Moving Image. Be there. Tony Jaa (ONG BAK) will be there. He'll be doing a martial arts demonstration at 1:30pm in the courtyard and I've seen these demonstrations. In some ways they're even harsher and more jaw-dropping than what you see onscreen. Pity his poor stunt team. Then at 2pm THE PROTECTOR (aka TOM YUM GOONG) will be playing at the Museum in a special advance screening. The story is so-so, but the action is out of sight.

And don't miss KANK! At the ImaginAsian theater, the latest film from Bollywood's blockbuster king, Karan Johar, is unspooling and it's the first Bollywood film in over 30 years to be invited to screen at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival. It's CLOSER, but with the biggest Bolly-stars (Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee) and musical numbers.

Also, Akira Kurosawa's poignant IKIRU is playing at the IFC Friday, Saturday and Sunday at noon.

And at the end of the month the New York Korean Film Festival unspools at several locations, bringing the latest movies from Korea over to NYC as well as a four-film retrospective of Korea's 60's genre workman, Lee Man-hee.

2006-07-13T19:54:00.000-04:00

June 13 - 20, 2006

First a word about our festival that ended with us bloody but still on our feet. We unfortunately didn't even come close to breaking even this year, but we still hope to be back next year. But time and our ever shrinking wallets will decide whether it is possible. But thanks very much to those who came out to support the festival - its much appreciated and we certainly hope to return for the 6th year. The sad facts are that these festivals are getting very expensive to put on and without enough sponsorship its impossible to survive on ticket sales.

Here is the press release for the three top Audience Award winners:

The New York Asian Film Festival 2006 ended last week, and we've been feverishly counting up the Audience Award ballots. And now, it's with great pleasure that we present the winner of the New York Asian Film Festival's 2006 Audience Award:

ALWAYS (Japan, 2005)
Takashi Yamazaki's sprawling nostalgic drama about the citizens of a beat-down neighborhood in Tokyo during the beginning of the economic miracle in the late 1950's that sent audiences out into the lobby smiling and crying and it now joins the ranks of MY SASSY GIRL, PING PONG, PLEASE TEACH ME ENGLISH and THE TASTE OF TEA as a winner of the New York Asian Film Festival's Audience Award.

Second and third place for the Audience Award are held by:

WELCOME TO DONGMAKOL (Korea, 2005)
Another epic film, this time it was Korea's word-of-mouth hit of 2005 about an isolated mountain village in the 1950's that has no clue the Korean War is raging just down the hill. It came in just a few clicks below ALWAYS in terms of popularity and we suspected a tie until ALWAYS poured on the steam in the final few votes and took the lead.

FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT (Japan, 2005)

This head-scratching whatzit from directors Katsuhito Ishii (whose THE TASTEOF TEA won last year's Audience Award) Hajime Ishimine and Shin'ichiro Miki started life as a Snickers ad, but mutated into a planet-shaking alien fiesta full of sticky TVs, dance numbers, animation and grumpy,armpit-sucking tennis leeches. The audience loved it, and so it arrives in third place.

NOW PLAYING

LINCOLN CENTER
LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL (July 10 - 30)

From July 10th through 30th, the Lincoln Center Festival brings extraordinary Asian performers to America. The hippest artists in Bangkok converge in New York on July 28th and 29th for Ramakien: A Rak Opera, a radical and lusty re-telling of the timeless Thai masterpiece The Ramayana. Filmmakers, visual artists, rock and pop stars, underground electronica DJs, and other assorted Thai scenesters illuminate present day Thai culture in this vibrant, fiery, and often raucous extravaganza. On July 21st and 22nd, the prolific Japanese choreographer Saburo Teshigawara fuses sculpture with dance, air, space and time in his mysterious Bones in Pages. A cult figure in Japan, this celebrated artist has achieved iconic status throughout Europe and Festival provides a unique chance to witness his rare gifts. And, from July 27th through July 30th, Singapore's Ong Keng Sen explores the secret world of the enigmatic geisha in Geisha, an enchanting tapestry of tea-house stories. This new production by Theatreworks Singapore includes traditional Kabuki dancers and performances on the three-stringed Japanese shamisen.
For tickets and information: 212.721.6500 or LincolnCenter.org

AMC LOEWS VILLAGE 7 (3rd Avenue at 11th Street)
KRRISH (India, 2006)
Daily at 2:00pm, 6:00pm, 9:55pm
The big Bollywood blockbuster about a superhero is still running as fast as it can in NYC. Hrithik stars! Ching Siu-tung (HERO) does the action! Boom go your eyes!
More info:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff06_krrish.htm

ASIA SOCIETYNEW YORK ASIAN AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
July 13 - 21
New York's oldest Asian-American film fest comes barreling out of the gate with a smattering of features (JOURNEY FROM THE FALL, TRAIN MAN) and a whole slew of docs and shorts.
Check them out at the Asia Society, Stonybrook and the Quad.
More info:
http://www.aaiff.org/

CINEMA VILLAGE
THE HIDDEN BLADE (Japan, 2006, 132 minutes)
Daily at 1pm, 7:15pm
The follow-up film to TWILIGHT SAMURAI, this offers more of the same only deeper and much, much more satisfying. A revisionist samurai film, here the topknotted sword-slingers aren't cool dudes who chop first and ask questions later but stressed-out company men who worry about their paychecks and live in the sticks. But when the poor samurai in the lead gets pushed to the wall and unleashes his legendary hidden blade technique you'll gasp as you see magic happen onscreen. Self-assured, confident, well-made movies that can still astonish you are rare creatures these days, and this one offers more than enough for everyone.

THE IMAGINASIAN
The theater will be closed for the week and opening next Friday with Motel.

PARIS
WATER (India, 2006, 114 minutes)
Daily at 11:45am, 2:10pm, 4:40pm, 7:15pm, 9:40pm
Deepa Mehta's trilogy draws to a close with this story of widows living in India. Powerful and moving, it rocked the Canadian box office and was targeted for trouble in India where the set was attacked and burned down.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005763-water/

QUAD
NEW YORK ASIAN AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
July 13 - 21
More info:
http://www.aaiff.org/

VILLAGE EAST
WATER (India, 2006, 114 minutes)
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005763-water/

WALTER READE
HEROIC GRACE: THE CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS FILMS PART 2
July 12 - 20
They're back. Beautifully restored classic martial arts from the Shaw Brothers library in all their big screen glory. Get thee up to Lincoln Center's Walter Reade theater to bask in their majesty. And if you miss DIRTY HO or LEGENDARY WEAPONS OF CHINA you don't deserve to live.
More info:
http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/heroicgrace2.html

COMING SOON
The New York Korean Film Festival is coming on August 30th.
More info:
http://www.koreanfilmfestival.org/

2006-06-22T01:32:00.000-04:00

June 22 - 29, 2006
COMING SOON
Go to the Lincoln Center Festival for Asian music, dance and theater!
From July 10th through 30th, the Lincoln Center Festival brings extraordinary Asian performers to America. The hippest artists in Bangkok converge in New York on July 28th and 29th for Ramakien: A Rak Opera, a radical and lusty re-telling of the timeless Thai masterpiece The Ramayana. Filmmakers, visual artists, rock and pop stars, underground electronica DJs, and other assorted Thai scenesters illuminate present day Thai culture in this vibrant, fiery, and often raucous extravaganza. On July 21st and 22nd, the prolific Japanese choreographer Saburo Teshigawara fuses sculpture with dance, air, space and time in his mysterious Bones in Pages. A cult figure in Japan, this celebrated artist has achieved iconic status throughout Europe and Festival provides a unique chance to witness his rare gifts. And, from July 27th through July 30th, Singapore’s Ong Keng Sen explores the secret world of the enigmatic geisha in Geisha, an enchanting tapestry of tea-house stories. This new production by Theatreworks Singapore includes traditional Kabuki dancers and performances on the three-stringed Japanese shamisen.
For tickets and information: 212.721.6500 or www.LincolnCenter.org

MOTEL
On June 28, Palm Pictures and the ImaginAsian will cooperate to release the Asian-American film, THE MOTEL. A coming-of-age story about a chubby 13 year old kid in a sleazy strip motel, it’s been getting all kinds of acclaim and is the first movie from Michael Kang.
more info:
http://www.themotel-film.com/news.html

NOW PLAYING
There isn’t anything in town for the next 10 days that can compare to the New York Asian Film Festival (June 16 - July 1) and here’s tips on what’s happening.

Screenings are selling out right and left. FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT, SHINOBI, A BITTERSWEET LIFE and THE GREAT YOKAI WAR sold out their first screenings and their second screenings are well on the way to selling out. Get your tickets now!

Tickets are still available for:
FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT - Saturday, June 24 @ 8:30pm (Anthology)
SHINOBI - Sunday, June 25 @ 6pm (Anthology)
GREAT YOKAI WAR - Sunday, June 25 @ 8:30pm
A BITTERSWEET LIFE - Tuesday, June 27 @ 6pm (ImaginAsia)

UMIZARU 2: TEST OF TRUST has sold out. We will be holding some tickets at the box office so we can sell them the day of the show, but they’ll be sold on a first come first serve basis. So I’d suggest getting to the ImaginAsian as early as possible on Thursday, June 29 to snag these hard-to-get tickets.

KRRISH will be playing Thursday, June 22 @ 6:30pm at the ImaginAsian as part of the NYAFF. Tickets are still available but they’re going fast.

Same story with the CROMARTIE HIGH SCHOOL screening on Friday, June 23 @ 8:30pm.

The four Ram Gopal Varma movies we’re showing - EK HASINA THI, AB TAK CHHAPPAN, COMPANY and the World Premiere of SHIVA - are movies that are really knocking audiences out. However, we want more people to see them - that’s why we bring the festival to NYC every year: we want you to see these movies. People aren’t buying as many tickets to these RGV shows as they should be, and we understand that he’s a director you’ve never heard of and that you may be hesitant to take a risk. So with that in mind we’ve lowered the ticket prices to all Ram Gopal Varma shows to $6. Including SHIVA! So now you don’t have an excuse. Varma is a director on the caliber of Tsui Hark and Johnnie To and you owe it to yourself to check him out.

See you at the festival!

2006-06-08T18:28:00.000-04:00

June 16 - 23, 2006

The schedule for the New York Asian Film Festival is on-line and tickets are ready for sale!!! Go to our website for info at:

http://subwaycinema.com/.

COMING SOON

Go to the Lincoln Center Festival for Asian music, dance and theater!
From July 10th through 30th, the Lincoln Center Festival brings extraordinary Asian performers to America. The hippest artists in Bangkok converge in New York on July 28th and 29th for Ramakien: A Rak Opera, a radical and lusty re-telling of the timeless Thai masterpiece The Ramayana. Filmmakers, visual artists, rock and pop stars, underground electronica DJs, and other assorted Thai scenesters illuminate present day Thai culture in this vibrant, fiery, and often raucous extravaganza. On July 21st and 22nd, the prolific Japanese choreographer Saburo Teshigawara fuses sculpture with dance, air, space and time in his mysterious Bones in Pages. A cult figure in Japan, this celebrated artist has achieved iconic status throughout Europe and Festival provides a unique chance to witness his rare gifts. And, from July 27th through July 30th, Singapore’s Ong Keng Sen explores the secret world of the enigmatic geisha in Geisha, an enchanting tapestry of tea-house stories. This new production by Theatreworks Singapore includes traditional Kabuki dancers and performances on the three-stringed Japanese shamisen.
For tickets and information: 212.721.6500 or LincolnCenter.org

NOW PLAYING

Angelika
WATER (India, 2006, 114 minutes)
Deepa Mehta's trilogy draws to a close with this story of widows living in India. Powerful and moving, it rocked the Canadian box office and was targeted for trouble in India where the set was attacked and burned down.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005763-water/

Anthology Film Archives
NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL (June 16 - July 1)
At the Anthology Film Archives and the ImaginAsian
See below for special events at the Brooklyn International Film Festival and the Japan Society.
Go to www.subwaycinema.com for more info

And don't miss our opening night extravaganza with Big Prizes! And Big Winners! And you know what that means…Big Losers! Which will you be?

FRI June 16 (at the Anthology)
6:30 Gangster
8:30 A Bittersweet Life

SAT June 17 (at the Anthology)
2:00 Ab Tak Chappan
5:00 Blood Rain
7:30 The Great Yokai War
10:00 Art of the Devil 2

SUN June 18 (at the Anthology)
3:00 Ek Hasina Thi
6:00 Cromartie High School (with Ski Jumping Pairs 2007 short)
8:30 Shinobi

MON June 19 (at the Anthology)
6:30 Oh! My Zombie Mermaid (with Ski Jumping Pairs 2007 short)
8:45 Art of the Devil 2

TUE June 20 (at the Anthology)
6:30 Ski Jumping Pairs: Road to Torino 2006
8:30 Funky Forest

WED June 21 (at the Anthology)
6:00 Gangster
8:00 Company

Cinema Village
CAVITE (Philippines, 2006)
Daily at 1:30pm, 3:30pm, 5:30pm, 7:30pm, 9:30pm
starting 6/9 Daily at 3:35pm and 7:35pm
This guerilla-style terrorism flick, shot on a shoestring in the slums of Manila, takes the best ideas from CELL PHONE and PHONE BOOTH and drops them into this indie thriller about a Philippino-American security guard who goes to the motherland only to step into a terrorist plot the second he lands.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005110-cavite/

MOMA

THE RAT TRAP (India, 1981, 141 minutes)
Saturday, June 10 @ 4pm
Thursday, June 15 @ 5:30pm
An independent Malayalam film about a family finding liberation and getting a little freaky in the process. Part of MOMA's International Festival of Film Preservation.
more info:
http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/film_media/2006/FilmPreservation.html#35

THE MAD FOX (Japan, 1962, 109 minutes)
Friday, June 16 @ 8:00pm
Saturday, June 17 @ 4:45pm
I've never even heard of this Uchida Tomu film, but the description's got me curious:
"It's a crazy tale about a court fortune teller driven mad by a murder, who ends up marrying his slain lover's dead ringer, a fox in human form (got that?), incorporates animation, kabuki and butoh, colorist experiments, collapsing sets, animal masks, revolving stages, and scroll compositions..."

Museum of the Moving Image
DEATH TRANCE (Japan, 2005, 90 minutes)
Sunday, June 18 @ 2pm
Tak Sakaguchi (VERSUS), and Kentaro Seagal (Steven Seagal's son) star in this wild Japanese samurai flick with wall-to-wall action and medieval bazookas. Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura's action director this is a bunch of dumb, high kicking fun.
more details:
http://www.movingimage.us/site/screenings/index.html

Paris Theater (58th Street and 5th Avenue)
WATER (India, 2006, 114 minutes)
Daily at 11:45am, 2:15pm, 4:45pm, 7:30pm, 9:55pm
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005763-water/

2006-06-02T10:38:00.000-04:00

June 1 - 8, 2006

COMING SOON

Go to the Lincoln Center Festival for Asian music, dance and theater!
From July 10th through 30th, the Lincoln Center Festival brings extraordinary Asian performers to America. The hippest artists in Bangkok converge in New York on July 28th and 29th for Ramakien: A Rak Opera, a radical and lusty re-telling of the timeless Thai masterpiece The Ramayana. Filmmakers, visual artists, rock and pop stars, underground electronica DJs, and other assorted Thai scenesters illuminate present day Thai culture in this vibrant, fiery, and often raucous extravaganza. On July 21st and 22nd, the prolific Japanese choreographer Saburo Teshigawara fuses sculpture with dance, air, space and time in his mysterious Bones in Pages. A cult figure in Japan, this celebrated artist has achieved iconic status throughout Europe and Festival provides a unique chance to witness his rare gifts. And, from July 27th through July 30th, Singapore's Ong Keng Sen explores the secret world of the enigmatic geisha in Geisha, an enchanting tapestry of tea-house stories. This new production by Theatreworks Singapore includes traditional Kabuki dancers and performances on the three-stringed Japanese shamisen.
For tickets and information: 212.721.6500 or LincolnCenter.org

NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL (June 16 - July 1)
At the Anthology Film Archives and the ImaginAsian

We've announced special guests (the stars of UMIZARU 2, for one) and the schedule is going up online over the weekend. Advance ticket sales should follow shortly. See below for special events at the Brooklyn International Film Festival and the Japan Society.

And of course we are giving away more free tickets this week! You have to answer both the questions below correctly and we will at random pick three winners for the pair of tickets of their choice. Could life be any better? Well, yes of course it could. E-mail Paul with your answers at paul@subwaycinema.com. The answers reside in the deep dark recesses of Grady's blurbs and you have to ask yourself if it's worth the pain of reading them for free tickets.

"Everyone has had a teacher or two that made their lives hell. But not usually with a power drill. But some lucky students come face to face with one in which film? Class, today's subject is pain. Yours."

"An actor plays three of the major roles in this film that shocked its country as it includes previous taboo subjects such as drugs, murder, rape, illegal race car driving, pimps and tacky nightclubs. And Sid Haig isn't even in it. The director will be here to tell us how he got it past the censorship board!"

Go to http://www.subwaycinema.com/ for more info

NOW PLAYING

Angelika
WATER (India, 2006, 114 minutes)
Deepa Mehta's trilogy draws to a close with this story of widows living in India. Powerful and moving, it rocked the Canadian box office and was targeted for trouble in India where the set was attacked and burned down.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005763-water/

BAM
WATER (India, 2006, 114 minutes)
Daily at 2pm, 4:30pm, 7pm, 9:30pm
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005763-water/

Brooklyn International Film Festival (Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway)
PEACOCK (China, 2005)
Sunday, June 11 @ 7pm
Subway Cinema's rowdy, crowdy New York Asian Film Festival invades the Brooklyn International Film Fest for a one-night blow-out screening of Gu Changwei's gorgeous PEACOCK. Prizes will be awarded. Rude noises will be emitted. A movie will be watched. And a tiny doggie will cry. Who will live? Who will die? The only way you can find the answers is to attend!
Full details:
http://wbff.org/events/2006/subway_cinema.asp

Cinema Village
CAVITE (Philippines, 2006)
This guerilla-style terrorism flick, shot on a shoestring in the slums of Manila, takes the best ideas from CELL PHONE and PHONE BOOTH and drops them into this indie thriller about a Philippino-American security guard who goes to the motherland only to step into a terrorist plot the second he lands.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005110-cavite/

IFC Center
THREE TIMES (Taiwan, 2005)
Hou Hsiao-hsien's latest slow-moving art film stars the luminous Shu Qi, she of the planetary lips, in three roles set in three decades.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/three_times/

ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
FANAA (2006, India, 156 minutes)
Daily at 12pm, 3:30pm, 7pm, 10:30pm
A big budget, tragic romance from Bollywood about a blind woman who turns out to be The One for a flirty, womanizing tour guide, FANAA is one of the big Bollywood movies for the summer. Starring Aamir Khan (just off RANG DE BASANTI) and heralding the return to the screen of Kajol after a long absence, it's a must see for Bolly-fans.
read more:
http://www.theimaginasian.com/nowplaying/index.php

Japan Society
ALWAYS - SUNSET ON THIRD STREET (Japan, 2005)
Wednesday, June 14 @ 7:30pm
The New York Asian Film Festival invades the Japan Society for a screening of ALWAYS - SUNSET ON THIRD STREET with director Takashi Yamazaki in attendance. A big budget film, set in the 50's and made with all the charm and craft of Hollywood at its Golden Age height, this film won 13 of 14 Japanese Academy Awards last year and deserved each one of them. This film looks back nostalgically at Japan on the brink of the economic miracle soon to come with a yearning for those simpler times. Tickets for this show have to be pruchased separately through the box office at the Japan Society. There will be a reception with booze present. Tickets are $15 for non-members and $12 for Japan Society members. Go here to buy tickets:
http://www.japansociety.org/events/event_detail.cfm?id_event=1166554751&id_performance=1900260524

Paris Theater (58th Street and 5th Avenue)
WATER (India, 2006, 114 minutes)
Daily at 11:45am, 1:25pm, 4:45pm, 7:30pm, 9:55pm
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005763-water/

Village East
LADY VENGEANCE
SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE, the third and final installment in Park Chan-Wook's vengeance trilogy (including SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE and OLDBOY) hits New York in all its impeccably styled, somewhat confusing glory.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005750-sympathy_for_lady_vengeance/

THE PROMISE
Chen Kaige's gigantic, sumptuous spectacle takes the wu xia pian and transforms it into a kitschy, colorful circus where everyone flies, the costumes are enormous, and Cecelia Cheung winds up locked in a golden birdcage.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1154356-promise/

2006-05-26T19:10:00.000-04:00

May 25 - June 1, 2006

COMING SOON

Go to the Lincoln Center Festival for Asian music, dance and theater!

From July 10th through 30th, the Lincoln Center Festival brings extraordinary Asian performers to America. The hippest artists in Bangkok converge in New York on July 28th and 29th for Ramakien: A Rak Opera, a radical and lusty re-telling of the timeless Thai masterpiece The Ramayana. Filmmakers, visual artists, rock and pop stars, underground electronica DJs, and other assorted Thai scenesters illuminate present day Thai culture in this vibrant, fiery, and often raucous extravaganza. On July 21st and 22nd, the prolific Japanese choreographer Saburo Teshigawara fuses sculpture with dance, air, space and time in his mysterious Bones in Pages. A cult figure in Japan, this celebrated artist has achieved iconic status throughout Europe and Festival provides a unique chance to witness his rare gifts. And, from July 27th through July 30th, Singapore's Ong Keng Sen explores the secret world of the enigmatic geisha in Geisha, an enchanting tapestry of tea-house stories. This new production by Theatreworks Singapore includes traditional Kabuki dancers and performances on the three-stringed Japanese shamisen.

For tickets and information: 212.721.6500 or LincolnCenter.org

NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL (June 16 - July 1)
At the Anthology Film Archives and the ImaginAsian
More funny than monkey!
More deadly than shark!
More exciting than ninja!

The New York Asian Film Festival is five years old so come celebrate by watching the latest movies from Asia that will make your head explode! We,ve just added two Japanese films: ALWAYS, the mammoth hit melodrama that won 12 of 13 Japanese Academy Awards in 2005 and A STRANGER OF MINE, a twitsy puzzle box comedy of manners that won four awards at Cannes last year and was a word-of-mouth hit in Japan, running for three months.

Oh wait a second - another film just landed on our shores. A sequel to a film we showed in 2004 that was enormous fun... UMIZARU 2!

Ticket Giveaway

Every week until our festival we will be giving away 3 pairs of tickets to some lucky winners. You just have to answer 2 easy trivia questions - we wouldn't want to tax anyone's brain at the beginning of Memorial Day weekend! Send in the correct answers and we will pick 3 emails and let you know. Then once our schedule is up you just let us know what screening you want to come to.

The questions:
In which two films is there a mix of Japanese and Korean characters and themes - in one of conflict and love, the other of female bonding and friendship.

Two films have wrestlers save the day - in one he tries to save his wife from turning into a fish, in the other he tries to save the world as we know it.

To get the answers of course you have to read the blurbs on our website, which is - of course - our sneaky way to get people to read them! Send your answers to paul@subwaycinema.com

Go to http://www.subwaycinema.com/ for more info

On Sunday, June 11 at 7pm the Brooklyn International Film Festival will hold a Subway Cinema night. We'll be there with our fancy pants on, giving out prizes and introducing a screening of Gu Changwei's moving PEACOCK.
Full details:
http://wbff.org/events/2006/subway_cinema.asp

and for the BIFF homepage:

http://www.wbff.org/

TYPHOON - the big budget Korean film is apparently opening here in theaters. Click here and follow instruction for a free screening:
http://www.asiancinevision.org/screenings.html

NOW PLAYING
Angelika
WATER (India, 2006, 114 minutes)
Deepa Mehta's trilogy draws to a close with this story of widows living in India. Powerful and moving, it rocked the Canadian box office and was targeted for trouble in India where the set was attacked and burned down.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005763-water/

BAM
WATER (India, 2006, 114 minutes)
Daily at 2pm, 4:30pm, 7pm, 9:30pm
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005763-water/

Cinema Village
CLEAN (2004, France, 111 minutes)
The Maggie Cheung-starring French film where everyone's fave Hong Kong icon plays a skanky, junkie mommy.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1156587-clean/

CAVITE (2005, Philippines)
The Philippino thriller about terrorism, shot on a shoestring and getting rave reviews.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005110-cavite/

IFC Center
THREE TIMES (Taiwan, 2005)
Hou Hsiao-hsien's latest slow-moving art film stars the luminous Shu Qi, she of the planetary lips, in three roles set in three decades.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/three_times/

SEVEN SAMURAI (Japan, 1954, 160 minutes)
Saturday and Sunday at noon
Akira Kurosawa's

ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
Fanaa (2006, India)
This is Kajol's big comeback film after a few years of retiring and having a baby. She was the biggest thing in Bollywood back then, will she still have it? Instead of her usual partner, Shahrukh Khan, she is teamed up with another Khan - Aamir. I am excited about this one and hope its good.
read reviews:
http://www.nowrunning.com/film/preview.asp?movieNo=2940&mv=Fanaa

Paris Theater (58th Street and 5th Avenue)
WATER (India, 2006, 114 minutes)
Daily at 11:45am, 1:25pm, 4:45pm, 7:3pm, 9:55pm

Village East
LADY VENGEANCE
SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE, the third and final installment in Park Chan-Wook's vengeance trilogy (including SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE and OLDBOY) hits New York in all its impeccably styled, somewhat confusing glory.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005750-sympathy_for_lady_vengeance/

THE PROMISE
Chen Kaige's gigantic, sumptuous spectacle takes the wu xia pian and transforms it into a kitschy, colorful circus where everyone flies, the costumes are enormous, and Cecelia Cheung winds up locked in a golden birdcage.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1154356-promise/

2006-05-19T15:46:00.000-04:00

May 19 - 26, 2006

COMING SOON
Go to the Lincoln Center Festival for Asian music, dance and theater!
From July 10th through 30th, the Lincoln Center Festival brings extraordinary Asian performers to America. The hippest artists in Bangkok converge in New York on July 28th and 29th for Ramakien: A Rak Opera, a radical and lusty re-telling of the timeless Thai masterpiece The Ramayana. Filmmakers, visual artists, rock and pop stars, underground electronica DJs, and other assorted Thai scenesters illuminate present day Thai culture in this vibrant, fiery, and often raucous extravaganza. On July 21st and 22nd, the prolific Japanese choreographer Saburo Teshigawara fuses sculpture with dance, air, space and time in his mysterious Bones in Pages. A cult figure in Japan, this celebrated artist has achieved iconic status throughout Europe and Festival provides a unique chance to witness his rare gifts. And, from July 27th through July 30th, Singapore's Ong Keng Sen explores the secret world of the enigmatic geisha in Geisha, an enchanting tapestry of tea-house stories. This new production by Theatreworks Singapore includes traditional Kabuki dancers and performances on the three-stringed Japanese shamisen.
For tickets and information: 212.721.6500 or LincolnCenter.org

NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL (June 16 - July 1)
At the Anthology Film Archives and the ImaginAsian
More funny than monkey!
More deadly than shark!
More exciting than ninja!

The New York Asian Film Festival is five years old so come celebrate by watching the latest movies from Asia that will make your head explode! We've just confirmed our Korean line-up which now includes: A Bittersweet Life - the best action movie of 2005; THE Magicians and A Feather In The Wind (aka: GIT) - two excellent indie movies from Song Il-Gon; Blood Rain - an intense, NAME OF THE ROSE type murder mystery with a super-IQ and added gore; and Welcome To Dongmakol - the huge hit from Korea that ran for three months, sold more tickets than KING KONG and HARRY POTTER combined, and is a tragic-comedy about the Korean War.

Go to http://www.subwaycinema.com/ for more info

GENERAL RELEASE

THE PROMISE - Chen Kaige's gigantic, sumptuous spectacle takes the wu xia pian and transforms it into a kitschy, colorful circus where everyone flies, the costumes are enormous, and Cecelia Cheung winds up locked in a golden birdcage.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1154356-promise/

NOW PLAYING

Angelika
WATER (India, 2006, 114 minutes)
Deepa Mehta's trilogy draws to a close with this story of widows living in India. Powerful and moving, it rocked the Canadian box office and was targeted for trouble in India where the set was attacked and burned down.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005763-water/

Anthology Film Archive
CHINA'S CUTTING EDGE
Daily, May 19 - May 21
This special program, curated by programmers in New York and China, brings the latest in video art, experimental filmmaking and indies from China to the Anthology Film Archives.
more info:
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/schedule/

BAM
WATER (India, 2006, 114 minutes)
Daily at 1:30pm, 4pm, 9:30pm
Deepa Mehta's trilogy draws to a close with this story of widows living in India. Powerful and moving, it rocked the Canadian box office and was targeted for trouble in India where the set was attacked and burned down.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005763-water/

China Institute
HERO (2002, China, 96 minutes)
Friday, May 19 @ 7:30pm
The tail end of the China Institute's excellent "Way of the Kick" series which featured DVD screenings DRUNKEN MASTER 2 and COME DRINK WITH ME, features a screening of Zhang Yimou's eye-popping Jet Li movie, HERO. If you missed it, now's your chance to see it. If you saw it, now's your chance to study it.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hero/

IFC Center
THREE TIMES (Taiwan, 2005)
Hou Hsiao-hsien's latest slow-moving art film stars the luminous Shu Qi, she of the planetary lips, in three roles set in three decades.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/three_times/

RASHOMON (1950, Japan, 89 minutes)
Saturday and Sunday at noon
Akira Kurosawa's RASHOMON is a classic, and it's the movie that put new Japanese filmmaking on the map. The story of an assault told from three different points of view it still holds up today and if you haven't seen it, you should.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rashomon/

ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
DRAWING RESTRAINT 9 (2006, USA)
Daily at 1:00 pm, 3:45 pm, 6:30 pm, 9:15 pm
This 135 minute art flick casts artist Matthew Barney and Icelandic elf, Bjork, as the Tracy and Hepburn of the petroleum jelly set. Set on the last working Japanese whaling ship, the movie also features the long-suffering and good-natured crew engaging in artsy activities. And it features 25 tons of Vaseline.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/drawing_restraint_9/

Landmark Sunshine
CLEAN (2004, France, 111 minutes)
The Maggie Cheung-starring French film where everyone's fave Hong Kong icon plays a skanky, junkie mommy.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1156587-clean/

Museum of Modern Art
LOST IN WU SONG (2005, China)
Friday, May 19 @ 8:30pm
A ninety minute, super-16 indie comedy from Hong Kong, LOST IN WU SONG tells the story of a low budget director trying to make a movie about the Chinese hero, Wu Song, the most macho man in the history of China. Heavy drinking, fights with the producer, uncooperative actors and a short-tempered bouncer in the lead role all conspire to turn feeling into farce.
read a review:
http://www.firecracker-media.com/moxie/archive/issue05/i_review0502.shtml

Paris Theater (58th Street and 5th Avenue)
WATER (India, 2006, 114 minutes)
Daily at 11:45am, 1:25pm, 4:45pm, 7:3pm, 9:55pm
Deepa Mehta's trilogy draws to a close with this story of widows living in India. Powerful and moving, it rocked the Canadian box office and was targeted for trouble in India where the set was attacked and burned down.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005763-water/

Village East
LADY VENGEANCE
SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE, the third and final installment in Park Chan-Wook's vengeance trilogy (including SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE and OLDBOY) hits New York in all its impeccably styled, somewhat confusing glory.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005750-sympathy_for_lady_vengeance/

2006-05-12T11:16:00.000-04:00

May 11 - 18, 2006
COMING SOON

NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL (June 16 - July 1)
At BOTH the Anthology Film Archives and the ImaginAsian

More funny than monkey!
More deadly than shark!
More exciting than ninja!

The New York Asian Film Festival is five years old so come celebrate by watching the latest movies from Asia that will make your head explode!

FIRST CONTACT: FUNKY FOREST where extra-dimensional high school girls hold dancing contests on giant space amoebas.

SHINOBI - a ninjapocalypse where super-powered ninjas steal faces, exhale poison, stretch their arms and eat your feet.

DUELIST - Korea's controversial action romance where no one kisses, they just kill.

Go to http://www.subwaycinema.com/ for more info

GENERAL RELEASE

THE PROMISE
Chen Kaige's gigantic, sumptuous spectacle takes the wu xia pian and transforms it into a kitschy, colorful circus where everyone flies, the costumes are enormous, and Cecelia Cheung winds up locked in a golden birdcage.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1154356-promise/

NOW PLAYING

Angelika
WATER (India, 2006, 114 minutes)
Deepa Mehta's trilogy draws to a close with this story of widows living in India. Powerful and moving, it rocked the Canadian box office and was targeted for trouble in India where the set was attacked and burned down.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005763-water/

BAM
WATER (India, 2006, 114 minutes)
Deepa Mehta's trilogy draws to a close with this story of widows living in India. Powerful and moving, it rocked the Canadian box office and was targeted for trouble in India where the set was attacked and burned down.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005763-water/

IFC Center
THREE TIMES (Taiwan, 2005)
Hou Hsiao-hsien's latest slow-moving art film stars the luminous Shu Qi, she of the planetary lips, in three roles set in three decades.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/three_times/

ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
NEGADON ATTACKS: THREE ANIMATED SHORTS FROM JAPAN
Daily at 12:00 pm, 9:40 pm, 11:30 pm
Three shorts centering on NEGADON, the all-CGI, homemade giant monster movie from Japan that's astonished virtually everyone who's seen it. It's a tribute to the kaiju massive attack movies of the 1960's and looks dead-on. Also playing: the trippy CAT SOUP and KAKUREMBO - HIDE AND SEEK.
read a review of NEGADON: http://www.monsterzero.us/editorials/editorials.php?catID=Art&subCatID=1&contentID=731

THREE TIMES (Taiwan, 2005)
Hou Hsiao-hsien's latest slow-moving art film stars the luminous Shu Qi, she of the planetary lips, in three roles set in three decades.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/three_times/

Landmark Sunshine
KEKEXILI: THE MOUNTAIN PATROL
Daily starting Friday
A wide release for the Chinese film about where your pashmina comes from - with AK-47's! KEKEXILI is beautiful, raw and depressing: everything you've ever wanted in a Spring movie. Absolutely recommended, and please be aware that the American distributor, National Geographic, has absolutely no idea what they're doing and have renamed it MOUNTAIN PATROL.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-kekexili.htm

CLEAN
The Maggie Cheung-starring French film where everyone's fave Hong Kong icon plays a skanky, junkie mommy.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1156587-clean/

Museum of the Moving Image
TIME AND TIDE
Sunday, May 21 @ 1:30pm
Tsui Hark's last good movie is a trippy mutation of an action film. Like something made for cable by someone with a very, very, very twisted sensibility it's two parts genius and one part junk. But those action scenes are light years ahead of anything anyone's doing these days.

Paris Theater (58th Street and 5th Avenue)
WATER (India, 2006, 114 minutes)
Deepa Mehta's trilogy draws to a close with this story of widows living in India. Powerful and moving, it rocked the Canadian box office and was targeted for trouble in India where the set was attacked and burned down.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005763-water/

Village East
LADY VENGEANCE
SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE, the third and final installment in Park Chan-Wook's vengeance trilogy (including SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE and OLDBOY) hits New York in all its impeccably styled, somewhat confusing glory.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005750-sympathy_for_lady_vengeance/

2006-04-21T18:52:00.000-04:00

April 20 - April 27, 2006

COMING SOON

The magic week of 4/28 which sees the release of:
LADY VENGEANCE
SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE, the third and final installment in Park Chan-Wook's vengeance trilogy (including SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE and OLDBOY) opens at the Angelica in all its impeccably styled, somewhat confusing glory.
read a review:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005750-sympathy_for_lady_vengeance/

CLEAN
The Maggie Cheung-starring French film where everyone's fave Hong Kong icon plays a skanky, junkie mommy.

TIME AND TIDE
Sunday, May 21 @ 1:30pm
Tsui Hark’s last good movie is a trippy mutation of an action film. Like something made for cable by someone with a very, very, very twisted sensibility it's two parts genius and one part junk. But those action scenes are light years ahead of anything anyone's doing these days.

AZUMI
(Sometime in Spring, 2006)
Everyone's favorite female samurai in a micro-mini and cape hacks n'slashes her way onto US screens this Spring.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff04-azumi.htm

NOW PLAYING

BAM
THREE TIMES
Saturday, April 22 @ 7pm
Hou Hsiao-hsien's latest slow-moving art film stars the luminous Shu Qi, she of the planetary lips, in three different roles.
read reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/three_times/

PRINCESS RACCOON
Sunday, April 23 @ 3pm, 6pm, 9pm
We showed it at the festival last year and it's gone on to become a cult item of incredible obscurity. Zhang Ziyi stars as a singing raccoon in Japanese madman Suzuki Seijun's musical fairy tale. May I have a chance to rap? Sure, if you're in PRINCESS RACCOON.
read a review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-princess.htm

IFC Center
HIGH AND LOW (1962, Japan)
Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Noon
Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune in a great kidnapping movie. A rich industrialist facing hard times has his son kidnapped and an exorbitant ransom is demanded. The only problem? They nabbed his chaufeur's son by accident. Uh, does he still have to pay?
read a review:
http://www.toxicuniverse.com/review.php?rid=10000787

ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
MONGOLIAN PING PONG
Daily @ 1pm, 3:15pm, 5:30pm, 7:45pm, 10pm
A new Chinese film about two Mongolian kids who find a ping pong ball and decide it's a heavenly pearl. Hilarity ensues. It's slow, it's pretty, it's a Chinese art film with great kid performances and a crushing final shot that's close to perfect.
read a review:
http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0616,atkinson,72926,20.html

Landmark Sunshine
KEKEXILI: THE MOUNTAIN PATROL
Daily starting Friday
A wide release for the Chinese film about where your pashmina comes from - with AK-47's! KEKEXILI is beautiful, raw and depressing: everything you've ever wanted in a Spring movie. Absolutely recommended, and please be aware that the American distributor, National Geographic, has absolutely no idea what they're doing and have renamed it MOUNTAIN PATROL.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-kekexili.htm

Makor/Steinhardt Center of the 92nd Street Y (35 West 67th St)
MILLENNIUM MAMBO
Wednesday, April 26 @ 7:30pm
Hou Hsiao-hsien's Shu Qi movie before THREE TIMES gets a one-time-only screening as part of this strange series that also includes THE DEVIL'S REJECTS. I don't get it, but there you go.
more info:
www.makor.org

Museum of the Moving Image
PEKING OPERA BLUES
Sunday, April 23 @ 1:30pm
Probably the greatest movie ever made, this is every film you've ever seen rolled into one and injected straight into your heart. Three women in Republican Era China fight the power, fall in love, kick ass, avert a war, perform onstage, escape from prison and basically rock harder than Metallica at a German metal-fest back when they still did drugs and drank beer.

Perlas Ng Silangan Restaurant (60-09 Roosevelt Ave, Woodside, Queens)
QUEENS FILIPINO FILM FESTIVAL
INA, KAPATID, ANAK (1979, Philippines)
Monday, April 24 @ 7:30pm
Huh? What? It's probably a DVD projection and you can call the restaurant for details (718-779-2991) but Lina Brocka was once a director whose films regularly played Cannes, and INA, KAPATID, ANAK (Mother, Sister, Daughter) is one of his masterpieces. Who is he now? And why is it up to a restaurant in Queens to preserve his legacy?

2006-04-13T20:56:00.000-04:00

April 13 - April 20, 2006

COMING SOON

MONGOLIAN PING PONG
(4/21)
A new Chinese film about two Mongolian kids who find a ping pong ball and decide it's a heavenly pearl. Hilarity ensues.
read more: http://www.firstrunfeatures.com/mongolian_synopsis.html

The magic week of 4/28 which sees the release of:
LADY VENGEANCE
SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE, the third and final installment in Park Chan-Wook's vengeance trilogy (including SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE and OLDBOY) opens at the Angelica in all its impeccably styled, somewhat confusing glory.
read a review:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005750-sympathy_for_lady_vengeance/

CLEAN
The Maggie Cheung-starring French film where everyone's fave Hong Kong icon plays a skanky, junkie mommy.

THREE TIMES
Hou Hsiao-hsien's latest slow-moving art film stars the luminous Shu Qi, she of the planetary lips.

AZUMI
(Sometime in Spring, 2006)
Everyone's favorite female samurai in a micro-mini and cape hacks n'slashes her way onto US screens this Spring.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff04-azumi.htm

NOW PLAYING

BAM
THE WAYWARD CLOUD (2005, Taiwan)
Saturday April 15 @ 2pm, 4:30pm, 6:50pm, 9:15pm
Taiwan's Tsai Ming-liang returns with his most provocative and possibly best movie yet. A deadpan romantic comedy shot through with musical numbers it's also an anti-pornography torpedo complete with dancing penises and a dildo kick line.
read a review:
http://www.kaijushakedown.com/2005/09/the_wayward_clo.html

MEMORIES OF MURDER (2003, Korea)
Sunday April 16 @ 3pm, 6pm, 9pm
Bong Joon-Ho's masterfully entertaining flick about the first serial killer in Korea. Two cops (including JSA's Song Kang-Ho) track a malicious killer who strikes when it rains in a small town in Korea. More than just a thriller, this is a movie as exciting, human, and philosophical as anything made by Akira Kurosawa.
read more:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10003273-memories_of_murder/

IFC Center
STRAY DOG (1949, Japan)
Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Noon
Akira Kurosawa's early crime thriller in all its crisp black and white glory. A cop has his gun stolen and has to venture into a hellish criminal underworld to get it back.
read a review:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1020312-stray_dog/

ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
SAAWAN (2006, India)
Daily at 1pm and 3:30pm
A romantic melodrama from Bollywood that has exactly one interesting thing going for it: star, Salman Khan, was just sentenced to 5 years of hard time for poaching and this is his last movie to be released since he's now in the slammer for the next 5 years.

THE BEACHHEAD: APA SHORTS MAKE THEIR LANDING
Daily at 7:30pm
The Asian-American film lab presents shorts by Asian-American filmmakers.

KEKEXILI: THE MOUNTAIN PATROL
Daily starting Friday
A wide release for the Chinese film about where your pashmina comes from - with AK-47's! KEKEXILI is beautiful, raw and depressing: everything you've ever wanted in a Spring movie. Absolutely recommended, and please be aware that the American distributor, National Geographic, has absolutely no idea what they're doing and have renamed it MOUNTAIN PATROL.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-kekexili.htm

Japan Society
AGAINST THE TIDE: REBELS AND MAVERICKS IN CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE FILM
(April 6 - 16 2006)
Movies about characters who rebel against society (not the Japan Society, just society in general). Featuring Kinji Fukasaku, Tadanobu Asano and the debut of RIKIDOZAN, the Korean film about the Korean wrestler who hid his origins and became a star in Japan.
More details:
http://www.japansociety.org/events/series.cfm?id_series=1694866756

Landmark Sunshine
KEKEXILI: THE MOUNTAIN PATROL
Daily starting Friday
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-kekexili.htm

Museum of the Moving Image
THE FILMS OF ANNA MAY WONG
(March 4 - April 16)
A retrospective of Hollywood's first Asian star.
more info:
http://www.movingimage.us/site/screenings/index.html

2006-04-04T18:41:00.000-04:00

April 6 - 12

Grady is out of town at the HK Film Festival, but here is an unorganized rundown of what is happening this week in NYC in the world of Asian film. Check out his coverage here:

http://www.kaijushakedown.com/

There isn't much new in terms of Asian films playing the commercial theaters this week, but there is some great stuff showing up at The Japan Society, BAM, Asia Society and The Museum of the Moving Image. Thank goodness we live in New York City.

The Japan Society (333 East 47th St) - they are presenting a 10 day fest titled "Against the Tide: Rebels and Mavericks in Contemporary Japanese Film". Sure it's a long title, but it needs to be to include all these gems both old and very new. It begins this Thursday night at 7:30. A few highlights.

Maison de Himiko (2005) - from the director of "Josee, The Tiger and The Fish", which played at the NYAFF last year. This one is about an aging drag queen who opens a retirement home for gay men. This is the festival kickoff and the director will be in attendance.

Canary (2004) - two people just told me the other day that we should get this for this year's NYAFF, but the Japan Society beat us to it. Damn them! It explores the world of two children - one rescued from a terrorist cult organization, the other a young girl who joins him on his odyssey to find his sister.

Rikidozan (2004) - a recounting of the true story of perhaps Japan's most famous wrestler in the 1950's. What his fans didn't know was that he was of Korean ancestry.

The Owl (2004) - this sounds tasty and with very similar overtones to the classic film Onibaba. This isn't that surprising since both are directed by Kaneto Shindo - Onibaba in 1964 and now at the age of 91 Shindo made this film. This again deals with a mother daughter combo seducing men to their deaths but plays out more as a dark comedy.

Mixed with these new films are a couple older classics - Kinji Fukasaku's "Yakuza Graveyard" and Shinya Tsukamoto's "Bullet Ballet".

http://www.japansociety.org/events/series.cfm?id_series=1694866756

BAM begins its annual "Village Voice: Best of 2005" fest in which a number of Asian gems appear. Here are the Asian titles appearing.

Bashing (Japan) 4/6
The Wayward Cloud (Taiwan) 4/15
Memories of Murder (Korea) 4/16
Café Lumiere (Taiwan) 4/21
Three Times (Taiwan) 4/22
Princess Raccoon (Japan) 4/23

Of these, Princess Raccoon is a must see for anyone who loves film and quirky musicals – and the same could be said for The Wayward Cloud which is completely outrageous.

http://www.bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=70

The Asia Society is hosting the South Asia Human Rights Film Festival this week. Showing are:

15 Park Avenue - 4/6
Sancharram, the Journey - 4/7
Communities in Conflict - 4/8
Defining Rights - 4/8
Iqbal: The Rampur Express - 4/8

http://www.asiasociety.org/arts/film06southasia.html

Later in the month they are also showing a few Chinese films.

http://www.asiasociety.org/events/calendar.pl?filter_category=3

The Museum of the Moving Image continues paying tribute to one of America's most famous early Asian actresses, Anna May Wong.

Daughter of Shanghai (1937) - 4/8 and 4/9
King of Chinatown (1939) - 4/8
Dangerous to Know (1938) - 4/9

http://www.movingimage.us/site/screenings/index.html

Here are a few other films that are playing town this week.

ImaginAsian Theater - "Sawaan (The Love Season)"

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

Film Forum - "Yan Ban XI: The Eight Model Works"

http://www.filmforum.org/

IFC Center - the classic Kurosawa film "Drunken Angel" plays at noon from 4/7 – 4/9

Two Asian related films are in town as well.

Cinema Village - "Mardi Gras: Made in China" a documentary that tracks where the Mardi Gras beads come from and contrasts the drunken revelers against the factory workers who made them.

IFC Center - "Drawing Restraint 9" is one of the oddest films I have seen of late. Made by the acclaimed video artist Matthew Barney and starring himself and Bjork (who also supplies the music), the film is almost impossible to describe - at times painfully slow and at other times a blast in your face. When he and Bjork submerge themselves in waist-high water and begin cutting off their limbs in ritual calm the guy next to me almost passed out.

And as a non-Asian note, I have to mention that Walter Reade is having a Krzysztof Kieslowski weekend containing many of his works and concluding with his Colour Trilogy on Sunday. I can never get enough of "Red" quite honestly.

2006-03-24T15:42:00.000-05:00

March 23 - March 30, 2006

COMING SOON

THE PHILADELPHIA FILM FESTIVAL
O.K. its not here in New York City, but not everything good can happen here. This year they are loaded up with some new Asian films and it's well worth a quick train trip to do an all-day viewing. I will be there Saturday to check out a few. MEATBALL MACHINE anyone?

Some Asian highlights: HANGING GARDENS which I saw already but can't wait to see it again - it's angry, bitter, surrealistic, funny and absurd - but mainly it's just brilliant. A few other highlights are WELCOME TO DONGMAKGOL (a Korean tale that is a fabulous and touching mix of Brigadoon and the Korean War), IT'S ONLY TALK (another ode to modern angst from the director of VIBRATOR), A BITTERSWEET LIFE (splashy Korean gangster flick), MIDNIGHT MY LOVE (sweet Thai romance between a lonely taxi driver and a massage worker), LADY VENGEANCE (formerly known as SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE - the ultra-stylish third part of Park Chanwook's vengeance trilogy) and plenty of others.
http://www.phillyfests.com/pff/templates/home.cfm

Which reminds me that the New York Asian Film Festival is coming out of it's slumber and waking up to the fact that we are back for the fifth year in only a few months! Yay. We sure never expected to last this long, but are kind of glad to be here again. We have a few good films lined up already but plenty more to go. Keep your eye on our site to see what is coming:
http://subwaycinema.com/

KEKEXILI: THE MOUNTAIN PATROL
(April 21)
A wide release for the Chinese film about where your pashmina comes from - with AK-47's! KEKEXILI is beautiful, raw and depressing: everything you've ever wanted in a Spring movie.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-kekexili.htm

AGAINST THE TIDE: REBELS AND MAVERICKS IN CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE FILM
(April 6 - 16 2006)
Movies about characters who rebel against society (not the Japan Society, just society in general). Featuring Kinji Fukasaku, Tadanobu Asano and the debut of RIKIDOZAN, the Korean film about the Korean wrestler who hid his origins and became a star in Japan.
More details:
http://www.japansociety.org/events/series.cfm?id_series=1694866756

LADY VENGEANCE
(May 5)
SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE, the third and final installment in Park Chan-Wook's vengeance trilogy (including SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE and OLDBOY) opens at the Angelica in all its impeccably styled, somewhat confusing glory.
read a review:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005750-sympathy_for_lady_vengeance/

AZUMI
(Sometime in Spring, 2006)
Everyone's favorite female samurai in a micro-mini and cape hacks n'slashes her way onto US screens this Spring.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff04-azumi.htm

NOW PLAYING

Anthology Film Archives
DREAM SHOW: THE FILMS OF TAKMINE GO
March 22 - 26 @ 8pm
Japan's film poet of Okinawa gets a retro at the Anthology, unleashing his singular vision on nervous audiences. Some of his movies are completely impressionistic, some are narrative films, some are a mix of the two. Also, on Saturday at 8pm Takamine Go will be in attendance along with Yoshiro Urasaki performing live. Okinawan music is the roadhouse blues of Japanese folk music and it's infectious and foot-stompingly great, so if you're up for it this is an event you shouldn't miss.
more info: http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/schedule/?festival_id=14

Cinema Arts Center (423 Park Avenue, Huntington, NY)
BEYOND OUR KEN (2004, Hong Kong, 98 minutes)
Monday, March 27 @ 7:30pm
Probably the best female bonding film from Hong Kong in 2004. A young woman is contacted by her boyfriend's ex who wants help in stealing back nude pictures of herself that the boyfriend, named Ken, is passing around to his friends. A low key comedy in the vein of IN HER SHOES only less saccharine.
And I'll be introducing the flick. So come throw tomatoes.
read a review:
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/beyond_our_ken.htm
more info:
http://www.cinemaartscentre.org/specialevents.html

IFC Center
RAN (1985, Japan, 160 minutes)
March 24 - 26 @ noon
Akira Kurosawa's final, major samurai epic, RAN is King Lear that unfolds with all the high style of kabuki, running with rivers of blood and featuring some of the most intense and beautiful battle scenes between warring, armor-clad armies you'll ever see. Plus Buddhism.
read a review:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ran/

ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
BEING CYRUS (2005, India, 90 minutes)
daily @ 1:00 pm, 3:10 pm, 5:20 pm, 7:30 pm, 9:40 pm
An example of India's parallel cinema, and art film about a romance in a Parsi community that looks fine on the surface, but is weird and (according to one review) "morbid" once you start delving into it.
read a guarded review:
http://www.indiafm.com/movies/review/12565/index.html
more info:
http://www.theimaginasian.com/nowplaying/index.php

Museum of Modern Art
NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS (March 22 – April 2)
This year's New Directors/New Films features only two Asian films, but they're both from the Philippines and they've both gotten great word of mouth. On March 25 there'll be the final screening of THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS, a slum saga about a transgendered little kid and her love for a hunky young police officer. Then on March 24 and 26 there's CAVITE, a hostage thriller that is like a grittier, more compelling version of CELLPHONE.
more info:
http://www.filmlinc.com/ndnf/ndnf.htm

Museum of the Moving Image
THE FILMS OF ANNA MAY WONG
(March 4 - April 16)
A retrospective of Hollywood's first Asian star.
more info:
http://www.movingimage.us/site/screenings/index.html

NYU (Tisch School of the Arts, 721 Broadway, room 656)
CHINESE VILLAGERS’ DV DOCUMENTARIES
March 24 from 10am - 5pm
A panel discussion and screening of works by Wu Wenguang who gave DV cameras to Chinese villagers and got them to film their lives to show how the opening of China has affected them on a daily level. This screening will be of the 95 minute feature taken from their footage, and an hour long making-of documentary.
more info:
http://www.nyu.edu/public.affairs/releases/detail/965

2006-03-16T10:48:00.000-05:00

March 16 - March 23, 2006

COMING SOON

THE FILMS OF ANNA MAY WONG
(March 4 - April 16)
A retrospective of Hollywood's first Asian star out at the Museum of the Moving Image.
more info:
http://www.movingimage.us/site/screenings/index.html

KEKEXILI: THE MOUNTAIN PATROL
(April 21)
A wide release for the Chinese film about where your pashmina comes from - with AK-47's! KEKEXILI is beautiful, raw and depressing: everything you've ever wanted in a Spring movie.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-kekexili.htm

AGAINST THE TIDE: REBELS AND MAVERICKS IN CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE FILM
(April 6 - 16 2006)
Movies about characters who rebel against society (not the Japan Society, just society in general). Featuring Kinji Fukasaku, Tadanobu Asano and the debut of RIKIDOZAN, the Korean film about the Korean wrestler who hid his origins and became a star in Japan.
More details:
http://www.japansociety.org/events/series.cfm?id_series=1694866756

LADY VENGEANCE
(May 5)
SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE, the third and final installment in Park Chan-Wook's vengeance trilogy (including SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE and OLDBOY) opens at the Angelica in all its impeccably styled, somewhat confusing glory.
read a review:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005750-sympathy_for_lady_vengeance/

AZUMI
(Sometime in Spring, 2006)
Everyone's favorite female samurai in a micro-mini and cape hacks n'slashes her way onto US screens this Spring.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff04-azumi.htm

NOW PLAYING

Anthology Film Archives
THE WORLD OF JIA ZHANGKE
Daily from March 16 - 19
The Anthology Film Archives presents a retrospective of the Chinese director Jia Zhangke who has inspired more critical drooling than any other Chinese director in recent history. From his first film, THE PICKPOCKET, to his most recent, THE WORLD, all four of his movies are here.
more info:
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/schedule/

BAM
WITHOUT MAPS: DISCOVERING HIROSHI TESHIGAHARA
(Feb 24 - March 19)
One of Japan's leading avante garde filmmakers, and the son of Japan's no. 1 Ikebana (flower-arranging) expert, Hiroshi is getting a big BAM retro with all his major films; THE FACE OF ANOTHER, WOMAN IN THE DUNES, SUMMER SOLDIERS and PITFALL.
more info:
http://www.bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=62

IFC Center
THRONE OF BLOOD (1957, Japan)
Friday, Saturday, Sunday @ noon
Akira Kurosawa's ravishing adaptation of Macbeth is one of the movies where his stylized abstractions and red-blooded emotions meet and mesh perfectly.
read a review:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/throne_of_blood/

ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
TAXI NUMBER 9211
Daily at 1:30pm
A Bollywood spin on CHANGING LANES, this flick has been getting great reviews and stars Nana Patekar who is one of Bollywood's great actors who works rarely but sets the screen on fire whenever he appears.
read a review:
http://www.indiafm.com/movies/review/12455/index.html

RANG DE BASANTI (India, 2006)
Daily at 3:45pm, 7pm
Aamir Khan won hearts and minds with his cricket-epic, LAGAAN, but in 2005 he alienated pretty much everyone with his crass, cardboard epic THE RISING. Now he returns in what must be the most-talked-about Bollywood movie to come along in a long, long time. RDB looked like a "generation comes of age" movie but when it was released it suddenly revealed that it's also a "generation kicks some ass" and "generation shoots some politicians" movie that sounds like it's two parts THE BIG CHILL to one part TAXI DRIVER.
read a review:
http://planetbollywood.com/Film/RangDeBasanti/

Loew's on 34th Street (corner of 34th and 8th Avenue)
RANG DE BASANTI (India, 2006)
Daily at 1:30pm, 5:25pm, 9:05pm
read a review:
http://planetbollywood.com/Film/RangDeBasanti/

Museum of Modern Art
BEYOND OUR KEN (2004, Hong Kong, 98 minutes)
MISSING (2004, USA, 14 minutes)
Friday March 17 @ 8pm
Saturday March 18 @ 4pm
A short artsy film about relationships is paired with one of Hong Kong's best movies from 2004, larded with celebs and slickly made. A young woman is contacted by her boyfriend's ex who wants help in stealing back nude pictures of herself that the boyfriend, named Ken, is passing around to his friends. A low key romantic comedy in the vein of IN HER SHOES only less saccharine and starring one of the The Twin's.
read a review:
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/beyond_our_ken.htm

Museum of the Moving Image
YOJIMBO (1961, Japan)
Friday March 17 @ 7:30pm
Saturday March 18 @ 6:30pm
Sunday March 19 @ 6:30pm
Akira Kurosawa's movies have been remade as THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, STAR WARS and YOJIMBO wound up becoming A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS. Toshiro Mifune is a tower of power as a wandering, unscrupulous ronin who pits two warring gangs against one another for his own amusement. Definitely deserving of big screen treatment.
read a review:
http://www.kfccinema.com/reviews/swordplay/yojimbo/yojimbo.html

2006-02-24T16:44:00.000-05:00

February 23 - March 1, 2006

COMING SOON

THE FILMS OF ANNA MAY WONG
(March 4 - April 16)
A retrospective of Hollywood's first Asian star out at the Museum of the Moving Image.
more info:
http://www.movingimage.us/site/screenings/index.html

THE WORLD OF JIA ZHANGKE
(March 16 - 19)
The Anthology Film Archives presents a retrospective of the Chinese director Jia Zhangke who has inspired more critical drooling than any other Chinese director in recent history. From his first film, THE PICKPOCKET, to his most recent, THE WORLD, all four of his movies are here.

KEKEXILI: THE MOUNTAIN PATROL
(April 21)
A wide release for the Chinese film about where your pashmina comes from - with AK-47's! KEKEXILI is beautiful, raw and depressing: everything you've ever wanted in a Spring movie.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-kekexili.htm

AGAINST THE TIDE: REBELS AND MAVERICKS IN CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE FILM
(April 6 - 16 2006)
Movies about characters who rebel against society (not the Japan Society, just society in general). Featuring Kinji Fukasaku, Tadanobu Asano and the debut of RIKIDOZAN, the Korean film about the Korean wrestler who hid his origins and became a star in Japan.
More details:
http://www.japansociety.org/events/series.cfm?id_series=1694866756

AZUMI
(Sometime in Spring, 2006)
Everyone's favorite female samurai in a micro-mini and cape hacks n'slashes her way onto US screens this Spring.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff04-azumi.htm

NOW PLAYING

BAM
WITHOUT MAPS: DISCOVERING HIROSHI TESHIGAHARA
(Feb 24 - March 19)
One of Japan's leading avante garde filmmakers, and the son of Japan's no. 1 Ikebana (flower-arranging) expert, Hiroshi is getting a big BAM retro with all his major films; THE FACE OF ANOTHER, WOMAN IN THE DUNES, SUMMER SOLDIERS and PITFALL.
more info:
http://www.bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=62

Eagle Theatre (73-07 37th Rd, Jackson Heights)
TAXI NUMBER 9211
A Bollywood spin on CHANGING LANES, this flick has been getting great reviews and stars Nana Patekar who is one of Bollywood's great actors who works rarely but sets the screen on fire whenever he appears.
read a review:
http://www.indiafm.com/movies/review/12455/index.html

ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
TAXI NUMBER 9211
Daily at Noon, 3:30pm, 7pm and 10:30pm
read a review:
http://www.indiafm.com/movies/review/12455/index.html

Loew’s on 34th Street (corner of 34th and 8th Avenue)
RANG DE BASANTI (India, 2006)
Daily at 1:30pm, 5:25pm, 9:20pm
Aamir Khan won hearts and minds with his cricket-epic, LAGAAN, but in 2005 he alienated pretty much everyone with his crass, cardboard epic THE RISING. Now he returns in what must be the most-talked-about Bollywood movie to come along in a long, long time. RDB looked like a "generation comes of age" movie but when it was released it suddenly revealed that it's also a "generation kicks some ass" and "generation shoots some politicians" movie that sounds like it's two parts THE BIG CHILL to one part TAXI DRIVER.
read a review:
http://planetbollywood.com/Film/RangDeBasanti/

Walter Reade Theater
FILM COMMENT SELECTS
(February 15 - 28)
Film Comment brings a fistful of movies to Lincoln Center every year and they're going heavy on the Asian flicks this time out. Kiyoshi Kurosawa's latest, LOFT, the new noise rock apocalypse film from Shinji Aoyama starrying Tadanobu Asano, ELI ELI LEMA SABACHTANI, all the big Asian films from the fests (BASHING, SHANGHAI DREAMS, EVERLASTING REGRET, FORSAKEN LAND) and three shorts by Shinya Tsukamoto (HAZE), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (WORLDLY DESIRES) and Song Il-Gon (Magicians).
More info here:
http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/showing/fcselects06.htm

2006-02-17T22:44:00.000-05:00

February 16 - 23, 2006

COMING SOON

THE FILMS OF ANNA MAY WONG
(March 4 - April 16)
A retrospective of Hollywood's first Asian star out at the Museum of the Moving Image.
more info:
http://www.movingimage.us/site/screenings/index.html

THE WORLD OF JIA ZHANGKE
(March 16 - 19)
The Anthology Film Archives presents a retrospective of the Chinese director Jia Zhangke who has inspired more critical drooling than any other Chinese director in recent history. From his first film, THE PICKPOCKET, to his most recent, THE WORLD, all four of his movies are here.

KEKEXILI: THE MOUNTAIN PATROL
(April 21)
A wide release for the Chinese film about where your pashmina comes from - with AK-47's! KEKEXILI is beautiful, raw and depressing: everything you've ever wanted in a Spring movie.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-kekexili.htm

AGAINST THE TIDE: REBELS AND MAVERICKS IN CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE FILM
(April 6 - 16 2006)
Movies about characters who rebel against society (not the Japan Society, just society in general). Featuring Kinji Fukasaku, Tadanobu Asano and the debut of RIKIDOZAN, the Korean film about the Korean wrestler who hid his origins and became a star in Japan.
More details:
http://www.japansociety.org/events/series.cfm?id_series=1694866756

AZUMI
(Sometime in Spring, 2006)
Everyone's favorite female samurai in a micro-mini and cape hacks n'slashes her way onto US screens this Spring.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff04-azumi.htm

NOW PLAYING

BAM
WITHOUT MAPS: DISCOVERING HIROSHI TESHIGAHARA
(Feb 24 - March 19)
One of Japan's leading avante garde filmmakers, and the son of Japan's no. 1 Ikebana (flower-arranging) expert, Hiroshi is getting a big BAM retro with all his major films; THE FACE OF ANOTHER, WOMAN IN THE DUNES, SUMMER SOLDIERS and PITFALL.
more info:
http://www.bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=62

Eagle Theatre (73-07 37th Rd, Jackson Heights)
RANG DE BASANTI (India, 2006)
Daily at 6pm
Aamir Khan won hearts and minds with his cricket-epic, LAGAAN, but in 2005 he alienated pretty much everyone with his crass, cardboard epic THE RISING. Now he returns in what must be the most-talked-about Bollywood movie to come along in a long, long time. RDB looked like a "generation comes of age" movie but when it was released it suddenly revealed that it's also a "generation kicks some ass" and "generation shoots some politicians" movie that sounds like it's two parts THE BIG CHILL to one part TAXI DRIVER.
read a review:
http://planetbollywood.com/Film/RangDeBasanti/

MERE JEEVAN SAATHI (India, 2006)
Daily at 9:30pm, Sat and Sun also has shows at 2:30pm
Akshay Kumar and Karisma Kapoor in a movie about a musician that took a very long time to be released for some reason. No one seems to like it very much.
read a review:
http://www.santabanta.com/cinema.asp?pid=9548

ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
FIGHT CLUB (India, 2006)
Daily @ 12pm, 3:30pm, 7pm, 10:30pm
Bollywood's remake of FIGHT CLUB is here and, well, let the online description speak for itself:
"Fight Club, is an exhilarating journey of four friends Vicky (Zayed Khan), Karan (Dino Morea), Somil (Ritiesh Deshmukh) and Diku (Aashish Choudhary), who in a constant endeavor to help each other, get entangled in a web of incidents; some are romantic, some are funny but all test the extremes of their friendship... the excitement takes off when Vicky stumbles upon the design of a Fight Club, a club that gives people a platform to score with their enemies in an atmosphere of fun, action and excitement."
Fun, action, excitement!

Loew's on 34th Street (corner of 34th and 8th Avenue)
RANG DE BASANTI (India, 2006)
Daily at 1:30pm, 5:25pm, 9:20pm
read a review:
http://planetbollywood.com/Film/RangDeBasanti/

Museum of the Moving Image
MARTIAL ARTS MOVIES BY INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS
Sunday, February 19 @ 2pm
A screening and discussion with moviemakers who are bringing their martial fury to the big screen on a small budget. Attendees include: Joshua Bee Alafia (The Anti-Vigilante), Conrad Oakley (Fists of Water). Kim Wang (The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful), Matt Bennet (El Guerrero), Lyndon Brown (Guild of Assassins), José Figueroa (Shadow Lords), Kamau Hunter (Unsung Heros), Ray Muhammad and Khalil Nichols (The Way), and Christopher Rogers and Taimak Guarriello (Nobody Hurts).
more info:
http://www.movingimage.us/site/screenings/index.html

Walter Reade Theater
FILM COMMENT SELECTS
(February 15 - 28)
Film Comment brings a fistful of movies to Lincoln Center every year and they're going heavy on the Asian flicks this time out. Kiyoshi Kurosawa's latest, LOFT, the new noise rock apocalypse film from Shinji Aoyama starring Tadanobu Asano, ELI ELI LEMA SABACHTANI, all the big Asian films from the fests (BASHING, SHANGHAI DREAMS, EVERLASTING REGRET, FORSAKEN LAND) and three shorts by Shinya Tsukamoto (HAZE), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (WORLDLY DESIRES) and Song Il-Gon (Magicians).
More info here:
http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/showing/fcselects06.htm

2006-02-10T20:15:00.000-05:00

February 9 - 16, 2006

COMING SOON

THE FILMS OF JOSEPHINE BAKER and ANNA MAY WONG
(February 18 - March 26, 2006)
A retrospective of two of Hollywood's first non-white stars out at the Museum of the Moving Image.

WITHOUT MAPS: DISCOVERING HIROSHI TESHIGAHARA
(Feb 24 - March 19)
One of Japan's leading avante garde filmmakers, and the son of Japan's no. 1 Ikebana (flower-arranging) expert, Hiroshi is getting a big BAM retro with all his major films; THE FACE OF ANOTHER, WOMAN IN THE DUNES, SUMMER SOLDIERS and PITFALL.

THE WORLD OF JIA ZHANGKE
(March 16 - 19)
The Anthology Film Archives presents a retrospective of the Chinese director Jia Zhangke who has inspired more critical drooling than any other Chinese director in recent history. From his first film, THE PICKPOCKET, to his most recent, THE WORLD, all four of his movies are here.

KEKEXILI: THE MOUNTAIN PATROL
(April 21)
A wide release for the Chinese film about where your pashmina comes from - with AK-47's! KEKEXILI is beautiful, raw and depressing: everything you've ever wanted in a Spring movie.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-kekexili.htm

AGAINST THE TIDE: REBELS AND MAVERICKS IN CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE FILM
(April 2006)
No details yet, but there are sure to be a kooky treasure chest full of face-scorching, mind-bending Japanese films.

AZUMI
(Sometime in Spring, 2006)
Everyone's favorite female samurai in a micro-mini and cape hacks n'slashes her way onto US screens this Spring.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff04-azumi.htm

NOW PLAYING

Eagle Theatre (73-07 37th Rd, Jackson Heights)
RANG DE BASANTI (India, 2006)
Daily at 6pm
Aamir Khan won hearts and minds with his cricket-epic, LAGAAN, but in 2005 he alienated pretty much everyone with his crass, cardboard epic THE RISING. Now he returns in what must be the most-talked-about Bollywood movie to come along in a long, long time. RDB looked like a "generation comes of age" movie but when it was released it suddenly revealed that it's also a "generation kicks some ass" and "generation shoots some politicians" movie that sounds like it's two parts THE BIG CHILL to one part TAXI DRIVER.
read a review:
http://planetbollywood.com/Film/RangDeBasanti/

MERE JEEVAN SAATHI (India, 2006)
Daily at 9:30pm, Sat and Sun also has shows at 2:30pm
Akshay Kumar and Karisma Kapoor in a movie about a musician that took a very long time to be released for some reason. No one seems to like it very much.
read a review:
http://www.santabanta.com/cinema.asp?pid=9548

ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
RANG DE BASANTI (India, 2006)
Daily at 12pm, 3:30PM, 7pm, 10:30pm
read a review:
http://planetbollywood.com/Film/RangDeBasanti/

Loew's State
Well folks, the Loew's State looks like it's no more. Sayonara, Loew's State. I enjoyed watching movies there in your giant theater. It's where I saw DEVDAS with a huge crowd of people and where I saw ROAD with absolutely no one at all besides a couple getting it on in the back row who left before the movie was finished.

Walter Reade Theater
FILM COMMENT SELECTS
(February 15 - 28)
Film Comment brings a fistful of movies to Lincoln Center every year and they're going heavy on the Asian flicks this time out. Kiyoshi Kurosawa's latest, LOFT, the new noise rock apocalypse film from Shinji Aoyama starrying Tadanobu Asano, ELI ELI LEMA SABACHTANI, all the big Asian films from the fests (BASHING, SHANGHAI DREAMS, EVERLASTING REGRET, FORSAKEN LAND) and three shorts by Shinya Tsukamoto (HAZE), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (WORLDLY DESIRES) and Song Il-Gon (Magicians).
More info here:
http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/showing/fcselects06.htm

2006-02-03T10:39:00.000-05:00

February 1 - 8, 2006

COMING SOON

FILM COMMENT SELECTS
(February 15 - 28)
Film Comment brings a fistful of movies to Lincoln Center every year and they're going heavy on the Asian flicks this time out. Kiyoshi Kurosawa's latest, LOFT (a disappointing film, if you ask me - Paul), the new noise rock apocalypse film from Shinji Aoyama starrying Tadanobu Asano, ELI ELI LEMA SABACHTANI, all the big Asian films from the fests (BASHING, SHANGHAI DREAMS, EVERLASTING REGRET, FORSAKEN LAND) and three shorts by Shinya Tsukamoto (HAZE), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (WORLDLY DESIRES) and Song Il-Gon (Magicians).

THE FILMS OF JOSEPHINE BAKER and ANNA MAY WONG
(February 18 - March 26, 2006)
A retrospective of two of Hollywood's first non-white stars out at the Museum of the Moving Image.

WITHOUT MAPS: DISCOVERING HIROSHI TESHIGAHARA
(Feb 24 - March 19)
One of Japan's leading avante garde filmmakers, and the son of Japan's no. 1 Ikebana (flower-arranging) expert, Hiroshi is getting a big BAM retro with all his major films; THE FACE OF ANOTHER, WOMAN IN THE DUNES, SUMMER SOLDIERS and PITFALL.

THE WORLD OF JIA ZHANGKE
(March 16 - 19)
The Anthology Film Archives presents a retrospective of the Chinese director Jia Zhangke who has inspired more critical drooling than any other Chinese director in recent history. From his first film, THE PICKPOCKET, to his most recent, THE WORLD, all four of his movies are here.

KEKEXILI: THE MOUNTAIN PATROL
(April 21)
A wide release for the Chinese film about where your pashmina comes from - with AK-47's! KEKEXILI is beautiful, raw and depressing: everything you've ever wanted in a Spring movie.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-kekexili.htm

AZUMI
(Sometime in Spring, 2006)
Everyone's favorite female samurai in a micro-mini and cape hacks n'slashes her way onto US screens this Spring.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff04-azumi.htm

NOW PLAYING

Fair Theater (90th Street and Astoria Blvd, in Jackson Heights)
KILLER FORCE (1976)
A FIST FULL OF YEN (???)
Sunday - Wednesday (February 5 - 8)
Double features all day long. Double features of cheesy action movies. Double features of cheesy action movies advertised with retro ads that make Carvel commercials look high-brow. This could be a grindhouse fan's favorite new destination, or - if it's the same place that I (Paul) checked out on a dare many moons ago, then it could also be a filty porn house showing 8th generation dubs of old movies on tiny monitors situated within a warren of dark, crusty video rooms. Anyone wanna take a chance and report back to us!
KILLER FORCE is a Telly Savalas/Peter Fonda crime film from the 70's, but A FIST FULL OF YEN? That was the name of the hilarious ENTER THE DRAGON spoof from KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE, but maybe the name has alsos been aplied to something else?

ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
RANG DE BASANTI (India, 2006)
Daily shows
Aamir Khan won hearts and minds with his cricket-epic, LAGAAN, but in 2005 he alienated pretty much everyone with his crass, cardboard epic THE RISING. Now he returns in what must be the most-talked-about Bollywood movie to come along in a long, long time. RDB looked like a "generation comes of age" movie but when it was released it suddenly revealed that it's also a "generation kicks some ass" and "generation shoots some politicians" movie that sounds like it's two parts THE BIG CHILL to one part TAXI DRIVER.
read a review:
http://planetbollywood.com/Film/RangDeBasanti/

Loew's State
Is the Loew's State closed? They aren't listed in the paper this week and no one answers the phone? Anyone know? We had heard rumors they were shutting their doors at some point.
What was playing last week:

BLUFFMASTER (India, 2005)
The Abhishek Bachchan comedy that many hailed as the best movie of 2005, and that others thought was old fashioned and nothing to write home about.
read a glowing review:
http://www.glamsham.com/movies/reviews/bluffmaster.asp

ZINDA (India, 2006)
Bollywood remakes the Korean hit OLDBOY. Yes, Park Chan-Wook's stylized tale of revenge and dental violence (and live octopus eating) gets the Bollywood treatment in a movie that looks like it could be a shot-for-shot remake.
read a review:
http://www.indiafm.com/movies/review/12678/

FAMILY (India, 2006)
This crime film from Bollywood was highly anticipated but has received mixed reviews. Amitabh Bachchan stars as a crime figure whose family goes to war with another family. When I say the reviews are mixed I mean that most people accuse the movie of being little more than a vehicle for the producer's son.
read one of them:
http://www.apunkachoice.com/scoop/bollywood/20060114-0.html

Madison Square Garden
RAIN - IN CONCERT!!!!Friday, February 2 @ 8:30PM
Fresh off his sold-out Asian concert tour, the Korean pop singer Rain makes his solo US debut at Madison Square Garden. For film fans, Rain is set to star in Park Chan-Wook's (OLDBOY) next movie, I'M A CYBORG (AND THAT'S OKAY). Tickets are $60 - $150 and you can get them through Ticketmaster (www.ticketmaster.com)
More info about Rain here:
http://www.jype.com/club/jyp/eng/artist/rain/rain01.html

2006-01-26T08:54:00.000-05:00

January 25 - February 1, 2006

COMING SOON

THE FILMS OF JOSEPHINE BAKER and ANNA MAY WONG
(February 18 - March 26, 2006)
A retrospective of two of Hollywood's first non-white stars out at the Museum of the Moving Image.

WITHOUT MAPS: DISCOVERING HIROSHI TESHIGAHARA
(Feb 24 - March 19)
One of Japan's leading avante garde filmmakers, and the son of Japan's no. 1 Ikebana (flower-arranging) expert, Hiroshi is getting a big BAM retro with all his major films; THE FACE OF ANOTHER, WOMAN IN THE DUNES, SUMMER SOLDIERS and PITFALL.

THE WORLD OF JIA ZHANGKE
(March 16 - 19)
The Anthology Film Archives presents a retrospective of the Chinese director Jia Zhangke who has inspired more critical drooling than any other Chinese director in recent history. From his first film, THE PICKPOCKET, to his most recent, THE WORLD, all four of his movies are here.

KEKEXILI: THE MOUNTAIN PATROL
(April 21)
A wide release for the Chinese film about where your pashmina comes from - with AK-47's! KEKEXILI is beautiful, raw and depressing: everything you've ever wanted in a Spring movie.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-kekexili.htm

AGAINST THE TIDE: REBELS AND MAVERICKS IN CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE FILM
(April 2006)
No details yet, but sure to be a kooky treasure chest full of face-scorching, mind-bending Japanese films.

AZUMI
(Sometime in Spring, 2006)
Everyone's favorite female samurai in a micro-mini and cape hacks n'slashes her way onto US screens this Spring.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff04-azumi.htm

NOW PLAYING

Cinema Village
BREAKING NEWS (Hong Kong, 2004)
Johnnie To's slamming, go-for-broke action flick starts off with the shot heard round the world: an eight minute tracking shot that sees a sleepy city street erupt in a savage shoot-out that wowed the critics when it played at Cannes. It's not the best movie from Johnnie To, but it would be the best movie from anyone else. Come for the action, and stay for the great character work from actors like Richie Jen and Lam Suet.
read a review:
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/breaking_news.htm

ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
EK AJNABEE (India, 2005)
Daily @ 4pm
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

BLUFFMASTER (India, 2005)
daily @ 7pm
The Abhishek Bachchan comedy that many hailed as the best movie of 2005, and that others thought was old fashioned and nothing to write home about.
read a glowing review:
http://www.glamsham.com/movies/reviews/bluffmaster.asp

Loew’s State
BLUFFMASTER (India, 2005)
The Abhishek Bachchan comedy that many hailed as the best movie of 2005, and that others thought was old fashioned and nothing to write home about.
read a glowing review:
http://www.glamsham.com/movies/reviews/bluffmaster.asp

ZINDA (India, 2006)
Bollywood remakes the Korean hit OLDBOY. Yes, Park Chan-Wook's stylized tale of revenge and dental violence (and live octopus eating) gets the Bollywood treatment in a movie that looks like it could be a shot-for-shot remake.
read a review:
http://www.indiafm.com/movies/review/12678/

FAMILY (India, 2006)
This crime film from Bollywood was highly anticipated but has received mixed reviews. Amitabh Bachchan stars as a crime figure whose family goes to war with another family. When I say the reviews are mixed I mean that most people accuse the movie of being little more than a vehicle for the producer's son.
read one of them:
http://www.apunkachoice.com/scoop/bollywood/20060114-0.html

Madison Square Garden
RAIN - IN CONCERT!!!!Friday, February 2 @ 8:30PM
Fresh off his sold-out Asian concert tour, the Korean pop singer Rain makes his solo US debut at Madison Square Garden. For film fans, Rain is set to star in Park Chan-Wook (OLDBOY) next movie, I'M A CYBORG (AND THAT'S OKAY). Tickets are $60 - $150 and you can get them through Ticketmaster (www.ticketmaster.com)
More info about Rain here:
http://www.jype.com/club/jyp/eng/artist/rain/rain01.html

Pioneer Two Boots
RASHOMON (Japan, 1950, 89 minutes)
Thursday, January 26 @ 7pm
SEVEN SAMURAI (Japan, 1954, 207 minutes)
Wednesday, January 29 @ 5:30pm
Akira Kurosawa's two most famous movies screen at Two Boots for those who want to sit down, relax and put themselves in the hand of a master.
more info:
http://www.twoboots.com/pioneer/

2006-01-13T16:40:00.000-05:00

January 12 - January 19, 2006

Two non-movie updates first:

NTDTV is presenting a celebration of Chinese New Year at Radio City Hall on 1/20 and 1/21 - acrobats, kung fu, ballet and music - what more could you want. Dragon Dancing you say - well they have that to. Details at this site:
http://www.gala.ntdtv.com/

And just in case you didn't know it and don't cable surf past channel 300 - ImaginAsian TV is now on Time Warner. It's way up at 560 but it's worth the ardous climb especially if you are into Chinese, Japanese and Korean TV shows - check out Bewitched in Tokyo - yes a Japanese version of our beloved Bewitched!

COMING SOON

BREAKING NEWS
(January 27)
Johnnie To's high caliber balancing act comes to the US, supposedly.

THE FILMS OF JOSEPHINE BAKER and ANNA MAY WONG
(February 18 - March 26, 2006)
A retrospective of two of Hollywood's first non-white stars out at the Museum of the Moving Image.

WITHOUT MAPS: DISCOVERING HIROSHI TESHIGAHARA
(Feb 24 - March 19)
One of Japan's leading avante garde filmmakers, and the son of Japan's no. 1 Ikebana (flower-arranging) expert, Hiroshi is getting a big BAM retro with all his major films; THE FACE OF ANOTHER, WOMAN IN THE DUNES, SUMMER SOLDIERS and PITFALL.

THE WORLD OF JIA ZHANGKE
(March 16 - 19)
The Anthology Film Archives presents a retrospective of the Chinese director Jia Zhangke who has inspired more critical drooling than any other Chinese director in recent history. From his first film, THE PICKPOCKET, to his most recent, THE WORLD, all four of his movies are here.

KEKEXILI: THE MOUNTAIN PATROL
(April 21)
A wide release for the Chinese film about where your pashmina comes from - with AK-47's! KEKEXILI is beautiful, raw and depressing: everything you've ever wanted in a Spring movie.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-kekexili.htm

AGAINST THE TIDE: REBELS AND MAVERICKS IN CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE FILM
(April 2006)
No details yet, but sure to be a kooky treasure chest full of face-scorching, mind-bending Japanese films.

AZUMI
(Sometime in Spring, 2006)
Everyone's favorite female samurai in a micro-mini and cape hacks n'slashes her way onto US screens this Spring.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff04-azumi.htm

NOW PLAYING

ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
ZINDA (India, 2006)
Daily @ 4PM, 7PM, 10PM
Bollywood remakes the Korean hit OLDBOY. Yes, Park Chan-Wook's stylized tale of revenge and dental violence (and live octopus eating) gets the Bollywood treatment in a movie that looks like it could be a shot-for-shot remake.
read a review:
http://www.indiafm.com/movies/review/12678/

Loew's State
BLUFFMASTER (India, 2005)
The Abhishek Bachchan comedy that many hailed as the best movie of 2005, and that others thought was old fashioned and nothing to write home about.
read a glowing review:
http://www.glamsham.com/movies/reviews/bluffmaster.asp

SHIKARI (India, ???)
I'm not sure what this movie is, but the only SHIKARI I could find (besides a 1962 Bolly version of KING KONG) was this one with Govinda and Karisma Kapoor. It's a crime thriller that, apparently, features a cheetah and a dog getting the axe early on (fake of course - our heroes are possibly hunters?). Apparently Govinda falls for the wife of the guy he murders?
read a review:
http://in.rediff.com/movies/2000/oct/06govin.htm

Museum of Modern Art
EARLY AUTUMN: MASTERWORKS OF JAPANESE CINEMA FROM THE NATIONAL FILM CENTER, TOKYO
September 14 - January, 2006
Full listings: http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/film_media/2005/japanese_cinema.html

2006-01-06T02:12:00.000-05:00

January 6 - January 12, 2006
COMING SOON

BREAKING NEWS
(January 27)
Johnnie To's high caliber balancing act comes to the US, supposedly.

THE FILMS OF JOSEPHINE BAKER and ANNA MAY WONG
(February 18 - March 26, 2006)
A retrospective of two of Hollywood's first non-white stars out at the Museum of the Moving Image.

WITHOUT MAPS: DISCOVERING HIROSHI TESHIGAHARA
(Feb 24 - March 19)
One of Japan's leading avante garde filmmakers, and the son of Japan's no. 1 Ikebana (flower-arranging) expert, Hiroshi is getting a big BAM retro with all his major films; THE FACE OF ANOTHER, WOMAN IN THE DUNES, SUMMER SOLDIERS and PITFALL.

THE WORLD OF JIA ZHANGKE
(March 16 - 19)
The Anthology Film Archives presents a retrospective of the Chinese director Jia Zhangke who has inspired more critical drooling than any other Chinese director in recent history. From his first film, THE PICKPOCKET, to his most recent, THE WORLD, all four of his movies are here.

AGAINST THE TIDE: REBELS AND MAVERICKS IN CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE FILM
(April 2006)
No details yet, but sure to be a kooky treasure chest full of face-scorching, mind-bending Japanese films.

AZUMI
(Sometime in Spring, 2006)
Everyone's favorite female samurai in a micro-mini and cape hacks n'slashes her way onto US screens this Spring.
read more:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff04-azumi.htm

NOW PLAYING
ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
INITIAL D (Hong Kong, 2005)
Daily at 1:10, 3:20, 5:30, 7:40 and 9:50
The smash hit, manga-based car racing flick that tore up the box office all summer all over Asia finally comes to the US. It's a summer blockbuster just in time for New Year's.
read a review:
http://www.kaijushakedown.com/2005/08/initial_d_revie.html

WOMAN DEMON HUMAN (1987, China, 115 minutes)
Thursday, January 5 @ 1PM
A modern day epic about a female Chinese opera performer.

A SOUL HAUNTED BY PAINTING (1993, China, 130 minutes)
Friday, January 6 @ 1PM
Gong Li plays a Chinese painter working in France.
read more:
http://www.theimaginasian.com/nowplaying/index.php?cid=900&date=20060106

WOMAN SESAME OIL MAKER (1993, China)
Saturday, January 7 @ 1PM
It won the Golden Bear and Film Critic's award in Berlin and, yes, it is about a woman sesame oil maker with a hard life.
read more:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002JP0LS/002-5158769-7490413?v=glance&n=130

OUTCAST (1986, China, 110 minutes)
Sunday, January 8 @ 1PM
A young girl gets totally stomped on by the Cultural Revolution.
read more:
http://www.theimaginasian.com/comingsoon/index.php

EARLY SPRING (1962, China, 110 minutes)
Monday, January 9 @ 1PM
High melodrama as a teacher falls in love with a landlord's daughter, then makes the more politically expedient choice of marrying a poor widow. This decision leads to suicide, madness... and death!
read more:
http://www.theimaginasian.com/comingsoon/index.php

Loew's State
DOSTI: FRIENDS FOREVER (India, 2005)
Starring Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Lara Dutta, and Bobby Deol in a warm-hearted tale of friendship that the reviewers are calling "mushy", "overly-sentimental" and "old fashioned".
read a review:
http://www.apunkachoice.com/movies/mov603/dosti___friends_forever-review.html

SHIKARI (India, ???)
I'm not sure what this movie is, but the only SHIKARI I could find (besides a 1962 Bolly version of KING KONG) was this one with Govinda and Karisma Kapoor. It's a crime thriller that, apparently, features a cheetah and a dog getting the axe early on (fake of course - our heroes are possibly hunters?). Apparently Govinda falls for the wife of the guy he murders?
read a review:
http://in.rediff.com/movies/2000/oct/06govin.htm

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

INCENSE (2003, China, 98 minutes)
Monday, January 9 @ 6:00 and Wednesday, January 11 @ 8:30
Part of Asian Cinevisions new monthly series at MOMA. Apparently it's a "darkly comic morality tale" about a monk trying to raise funds to replace the broken statue of Buddha in his village temple.
more details:
http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/film_media/2006/Asian_Cinevisions.html

2005-12-29T13:47:00.000-05:00

December 29 - Jan 6, 2005/2006

COMING SOON

BREAKING NEWS
(January 27)
Johnnie To's high caliber balancing act comes to the US, supposedly.

THE FILMS OF JOSEPHINE BAKER and ANNA MAY WONG
(February 18 - March 26, 2006)
A retrospective of two of Hollywood's first non-white stars out at the Museum of the Moving Image.

WITHOUT MAPS: DISCOVERING HIROSHI TESHIGAHARA
(Feb 24 - March 19)
One of Japan's leading avante garde filmmakers, and the son of Japan's no. 1 Ikebana (flower-arranging) expert, Hiroshi is getting a big BAM retro with all his major films; THE FACE OF ANOTHER, WOMAN IN THE DUNES, SUMMER SOLDIERS and PITFALL.

THE WORLD OF JIA ZHANGKE
(March 16 - 19)
The Anthology Film Archives presents a retrospective of the Chinese director Jia Zhangke who has inspired more critical drooling than any other Chinese director in recent history. From his first film, THE PICKPOCKET, to his most recent, THE WORLD, all four of his movies are here.

AGAINST THE TIDE: REBELS AND MAVERICKS IN CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE FILM
(April 2006)
No details yet, but sure to be a kooky treasure chest full of face-scorching, mind-bending Japanese films.

NOW PLAYING

ImaginAsian Theater
(239 East 59th Street, btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave)
INITIAL D (Hong Kong, 2005)
Daily at 1:10, 3:20, 5:30, 7:40 and 9:50
The smash hit, manga-based car racing flick that tore up the box office all summer all over Asia finally comes to the US. It's a summer blockbuster just in time for New Year's.
read a review:
http://www.kaijushakedown.com/2005/08/initial_d_revie.html

ELECTRIC SHADOWS
Daily at 12, 2, 4, 6, 8 ends Dec. 29
This lush, multi-generational saga from China about loving movies is a lot better than it sounds.
Read a review:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-electric.htm

Korean Cultural Service
The Korean Cultural Service presents monthly video projections of independent and mainstream movies.

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
BLUFFMASTER (India, 2005)
This much-hyped Bollywood comedy is a big budget flick starring Abhishek Bachchan and it's been getting great notices. An old school Bollywood wacky fiesta, like they used to make nonstop in the 80's
more info:
http://planetbollywood.com/Film/Bluffmaster/

DOSTI: FRIENDS FOREVER (India, 2005)
Starring Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Lara Dutta, and Bobby Deol in a warm-hearted tale of friendship that the reviewers are calling "mushy', "overly-sentimental" and "old fashioned". In other words - a Bollywood movie!
read a review:
http://www.apunkachoice.com/movies/mov603/dosti___friends_forever-review.html

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.
Full listings: http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/film_media/2005/japanese_cinema.html