The 2007 New York Asian Film Festival presented by Subway Cinema will be taking place from June 22 through July 8, and this year, they're switching venues, starting out the fest at the IFC Center (323 Sixth Avenue, between 3rd and 4th Streets) then moving to the Japan Society (333 East 47th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenues) from July 5 - 8.
Some of the hilights include the New York premieres of the Zhang Ziyi action epic The Banquet and Park Chanwook's I'm a Cyborg, but That's Okay (shown in conjuction with Mise-en-scene's Genres Film Festival) and a Pakistani "exploitation extravaganza" called "From Lahore With Gore" featuring Pakistan's first spatter film Hell's Ground. You can read the full line-up at the link below and look for our coverage in the next month. More information and ticket sales can be found at Subway Cinema.
The Line-Up
AACHI & SSIPAK (Korea, 2006) - 8 years in the making, this sci fi animated
action extravaganza about a totalitarian future where the government
controls its citizens' bowel movements is refreshingly obscene and totally
offensive.
AFTER THIS OUR EXILE (Hong Kong, 2006) - Wong Kar-wai's mentor, Patrick Tam,
returns to directing after 17 years and delivers an astounding,
award-winning, father and son film that's a popcorn muncher for those who
love to watch other peoples' families fall apart.
THE BANQUET (China, 2006) - starring Zhang Ziyi and with the team that made
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon behind the camera (Tan Dun on music, Yuen
Wo-ping on action, Tim Yip on design) this Chinese adaptation of Hamlet is
highbrow brain candy.
BIG BANG LOVE, JUVENILE A (Japan, 2006) - Takeshi Miike's aggressively
experimental tale of two convicts falling in love is as beautiful as Jean
Genet and as bloody as you'd expect from Miike. Oh, and there's a rocket
ship and an Aztec pyramid, too.
(Co-presented with JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film)
THE BODYGUARD 1 & 2 (Thailand, 2004 & 2006) - Mum Jokmok, Thailand's
favorite comedian (and the co-star of Ong Bak and The Protector) directs and
stars in these action-loaded spoofs of action movies, with special
appearances by Tony Jaa. Like huffing glue: addictive and bad for your
brain, but fun while you're doing it.
CITY OF VIOLENCE (Korean, 2006) - festival fave, Ryu Seung-Wan (Arahan, City
of Violence), directed and co-stars in this pulpy, two-fisted noir flick
with Korea's greatest stuntman and action choreographer, Jeong Du-Hong. It's
a shout-out to Hong Kong action cinema of the 80's and features death by
breakdancer.
CRUEL WINTER BLUES (Korean, 2006) - a rabid gangster heads to a small town
to wait for the man who killed his best friend to show up so he can stab him
to death. A three-way acting showcase that is exhilarating in its emotional
intensity.
DASEPO NAUGHTY GIRLS (Korea, 2006) - E. J-Yong's musical about a high school
full of perverted students is a cleansing blast of surreal smut that mixes
Bollywood musical conventions with, well, porn.
DEATH NOTE & DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME (Japan, 2006) - Japan's box office
one-two punch of 2006, these goth dramas are twisty cat n'mouse thrillers
that feel like a net-savvy teenager has taken an Agatha Christie novel and
forcibly cross-bred it with an Edgar Allan Poe short story.
(Co-presented with JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film)
DOG BITE DOG (Hong Kong, 2006) - Soi Cheang's insanely intense hitman flick
is caked with grime and unfolds over the course of one bloody day and night.
Welcome to the action movie as nature documentary.
DYNAMITE WARRIOR (Thailand, 2006) - the craziest martial arts flick you'll
ever see, this unhinged movie stars Tony Jaa's teacher, Panna Rittikrai, as
a scabby wizard and Dan Chupong from Born to Fight as a rocket-riding, 19th
Century Thai bandit in a film that's one long, exhilarating action scene.
EXILED (Hong Kong, 2006) - Johnnie To's latest movie is a magnificent
spaghetti western with a cast of Hong Kong's best character actors filling
the island of Macau with enough hot lead to sink it beneath the waves.
FREESIA: BULLETS OVER TEARS (Japan, 2007) - another festival fave returns!
Director Kazuyoshi Kumakiri (Antenna) turns in the ice-cold story of a near
future Japan where revenge has become a licensed business, with professional
hitmen committing murders that come with forms to fill out in triplicate.
Chilling.
(Co-presented with JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film)
GAMERA THE BRAVE (Japan, 2006) - this kaiju for kids movie stars the Rocky
Balboa of the giant monster world, Gamera, trampling major cities in his
battle with an evil dino-lizard.
(Co-presented with JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film)
GETTING HOME (China, 2007) - the latest movie from Zhang Yang (Shower,
Quitting) is a black comedy about a broke construction worker trying to take
the corpse of his friend thousands of miles home so it can be properly
buried. His method of transportation? Public bus.
HARD BOILED (Hong Kong, 1992) - a 15th Anniversary screening of John Woo's
action classic celebrates the release of Midway's "John Woo Presents
Stranglehold" the sequel to the movie in video game form. Travel back in
time 15 years to an era when no one shook the camera around, Chow Yun-fat
was a god, Tony Leung was a young punk and John Woo was the most amazing
action director the world had ever seen.
HELL'S GROUND (Pakistan, 2006) - Pakistan's first gore movie is The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre meets the Taliban, featuring a mace-swinging killer.
HULA GIRLS (Japan, 2006) - a laser-guided crowd-pleaser that rocked the
Japanese box office and swept the Japanese Academy Awards. 1965. Hula
dancing. A gang of losers overcoming incredible odds. You know you want to
see it.
I'M A CYBORG, BUT THAT'S OK (Korea, 2006) - the latest from Park Chan-Wook
(Oldboy, JSA) is a fairy tale love story between a kleptomaniac and a girl
who thinks she's a cyborg, set in a mental institution.
MEMORIES OF MATSUKO (Japan, 2006) - Moulin Rouge meets Citizen Kane in the
latest movie from the director of Kamikaze Girls. Check your cynicism at the
door and prepare to have your heart jump started.
(Co-presented with JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film)
NEVER BELONGS TO ME (Korea, 2006) - from the director of Teenage Hooker
Becomes Killing Machine in Daehakroh this advanced art object is
inscrutable, bizarre and head-scratchingly hilarious. Featuring a mutant
offspring of a union between lady and tiger, a penis machine gun, ballet
dancer fetishism and a robo-hooker built by Dr. Hell.
NIGHTMARE DETECTIVE (Japan, 2006) - the world's favorite arthouse
provocateur, Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo the Iron Man, Vital), makes a
mainstream crowd-pleaser in this flick about a man who can crawl inside
dreams and a self-mutilating psychic vampire who's addicted to suicide.
(Co-presented with JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film)
RETRIBUTION (Japan, 2006) - a downbeat horror film that reunites director
Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse, Doppelganger) and his favorite leading man,
Koji Yakusho (Cure, Shall We Dance).
THE SHOW MUST GO ON (Korea, 2007) - fresh outta Cannes comes this Korean hit
that stars Song Kang-Ho (The Host) in a bravura performance as a low level
gangster trying to manage his family and his failing criminal career.
TRACES OF LOVE (Korea, 2006) - the opening film from 2006's Pusan Film
Festival is a beautiful, wrenching melodrama about a man longing for his
lover who died in the real-life Sampoong Department Store collapse in 1995.
