Word has finally come down from the folks at Subway cinema about the official, carved in stone, swear on a stack of bibles line-up for the 7th annual New York Asian Film Festival. As we reported before there is a strong representation of Japanese films on the bill, but don’t take my word for it. Here are the listings from the official press release:
SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO (2007, Japan) - We unleash the beast a full month before it hits movie theaters: Takashi Miike's berserk, bloody, out-of-control English-language spaghetti western, guest-starring Quentin Tarantino. Full of female gunfighters, clockwork wheelchairs, razor sharp samurai swords and tiny fetuses growing inside blooming flowers this is the Takashi Miike movie Variety calls "one of his wildest ideas yet." And they're right. (A co-presentation with Japan Society's Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film).
L: CHANGE THE WORLD (2008, Japan) - The prequel to last year's hit DEATH NOTE movies, this is another pop gothic popcorn muncher and this time it's directed by Hideo Nakata of THE RING and DARK WATER fame. (A co-presentation with Japan Society's Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film).
DAINIPPONJIN (2007, Japan) - Ever wondered what happens when giant monsters are in heat? Us too. Which is why we've programmed Hitosi Matumoto's DAINIPPONJIN (literally "Big Man Japan") the giant monster mockumentary that puts the "dead" back in "deadpan." All about a superhero who fights giant monsters, this flick mixes uncomfortably humiliating slice of life footage with bizarro giant monster battles to serve up a culty cocktail that'll leave your head spinning. (A co-presentation with Japan Society's Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film).
ALWAYS 1 & 2 (2005 & 2007, Japan) - These two massively budgeted feel-good Japanese blockbusters about a Tokyo neighborhood rebuilding itself after World War II have won 14 Japanese Academy Awards between them and sold millions of tickets. ALWAYS 1 sold-out the NYAFF in 2006, and this year we're bringing it back with its enormously satisfying sequel. (ALWAYS 2 is a co-presentation with Japan Society's Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film).
ACCURACY OF DEATH (2006, Japan) - Takeshi Kaneshiro (FALLEN ANGELS, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS) rules as the sexiest angel of death ever seen in this pitch perfect remake of "Death Takes a Holiday." It's a romantic comedy that manages the neat trick of being both genuinely funny and genuinely romantic. (A co-presentation with Japan Society's Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film).
SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO (2007, Japan) - We unleash the beast a full month before it hits movie theaters: Takashi Miike's berserk, bloody, out-of-control English-language spaghetti western, guest-starring Quentin Tarantino. Full of female gunfighters, clockwork wheelchairs, razor sharp samurai swords and tiny fetuses growing inside blooming flowers this is the Takashi Miike movie Variety calls "one of his wildest ideas yet." And they're right. (A co-presentation with Japan Society's Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film).
L: CHANGE THE WORLD (2008, Japan) - The prequel to last year's hit DEATH NOTE movies, this is another pop gothic popcorn muncher and this time it's directed by Hideo Nakata of THE RING and DARK WATER fame. (A co-presentation with Japan Society's Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film).
DAINIPPONJIN (2007, Japan) - Ever wondered what happens when giant monsters are in heat? Us too. Which is why we've programmed Hitosi Matumoto's DAINIPPONJIN (literally "Big Man Japan") the giant monster mockumentary that puts the "dead" back in "deadpan." All about a superhero who fights giant monsters, this flick mixes uncomfortably humiliating slice of life footage with bizarro giant monster battles to serve up a culty cocktail that'll leave your head spinning. (A co-presentation with Japan Society's Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film).
ALWAYS 1 & 2 (2005 & 2007, Japan) - These two massively budgeted feel-good Japanese blockbusters about a Tokyo neighborhood rebuilding itself after World War II have won 14 Japanese Academy Awards between them and sold millions of tickets. ALWAYS 1 sold-out the NYAFF in 2006, and this year we're bringing it back with its enormously satisfying sequel. (ALWAYS 2 is a co-presentation with Japan Society's Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film).
ACCURACY OF DEATH (2006, Japan) - Takeshi Kaneshiro (FALLEN ANGELS, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS) rules as the sexiest angel of death ever seen in this pitch perfect remake of "Death Takes a Holiday." It's a romantic comedy that manages the neat trick of being both genuinely funny and genuinely romantic. (A co-presentation with Japan Society's Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film).
YASUKUNI (China/Japan, 2008) - this documentary about Japan’s Yasukuni shrine to its war dead has become a cultural flashpoint in Japan, with several cinema chains refusing to screen it and elected officials calling for a boycott of the film, while right wingers are threatening to fire bomb screenings. A sprawling documentary about the protestors, right wing nationalists, thugs, patriots and misguided Americans who use the Yasukuni shrine as their stage, this documentary pits war against peace and national pride against xenophobic jingoism. The result will make all audiences deeply uncomfortable. (Co-presented with JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film).
SAD VACATION (Japan, 2007) - Shinji Aoyama (EUREKA, ELI ELI LEMA SABACHTANI)is one of Japan’s best kept secrets. This is part three of his unofficial “Kita Kyushu” trilogy which started with his first film, HELPLESS, continued with EUREKA and concludes with SAD VACATION (named after the Johnny Thunders song). No familiarity with the previous films is necessary. Instead, all you need to know is that Tadanobu Asano plays a guy who was abandoned early on by his mother and, after taking in a Chinese orphan left over from a human trafficking job gone wrong, he suddenly comes across her again as an adult. He’s determined that vengeance will be his, but he finds out that blood is so much thicker than water it’ll drown us all. (Co-presented with JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film).
DOG IN A SIDECAR (Japan, 2007) - it’s easy to slam a coming of age movie because there’re just too many of them and they usually follow the exact same set of dramatic beats. But DOG IN A SIDECAR sidesteps that problem and breathes new life into what has become a tired genre. It also marks the comeback film for actress Yuko Takeuchi (THE RING) who won six “Best Actress” awards for this film, playing the lazy, uncouth girlfriend of a single parent. Gentle and unambitious, this is a golden example of the small, well-made film that proves good things come in small packages.
SAD VACATION (Japan, 2007) - Shinji Aoyama (EUREKA, ELI ELI LEMA SABACHTANI)is one of Japan’s best kept secrets. This is part three of his unofficial “Kita Kyushu” trilogy which started with his first film, HELPLESS, continued with EUREKA and concludes with SAD VACATION (named after the Johnny Thunders song). No familiarity with the previous films is necessary. Instead, all you need to know is that Tadanobu Asano plays a guy who was abandoned early on by his mother and, after taking in a Chinese orphan left over from a human trafficking job gone wrong, he suddenly comes across her again as an adult. He’s determined that vengeance will be his, but he finds out that blood is so much thicker than water it’ll drown us all. (Co-presented with JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film).
DOG IN A SIDECAR (Japan, 2007) - it’s easy to slam a coming of age movie because there’re just too many of them and they usually follow the exact same set of dramatic beats. But DOG IN A SIDECAR sidesteps that problem and breathes new life into what has become a tired genre. It also marks the comeback film for actress Yuko Takeuchi (THE RING) who won six “Best Actress” awards for this film, playing the lazy, uncouth girlfriend of a single parent. Gentle and unambitious, this is a golden example of the small, well-made film that proves good things come in small packages.
FINE, TOTALLY FINE (Japan, 2007) - a spiritual successor to previous NYAFF hit, THE TASTE OF TEA, this flick is almost impossible to describe. On the surface it charts a lazy love triangle between three losers who are hitting 30 and haven’t gone anywhere in life. But that leaves out the ghost, the quest to create the world’s best haunted house, how not to open a box of Kleenex, the worst way to sell a porno magazine, the joys of used bookstores and the world’s biggest, child-killing chewing gum bubble. (Co-presented with JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film)
UNITED RED ARMY (Japan, 2007) - Koji Wakamatsu, Japan’s most controversial filmmaker, wraps up 45 years of moviemaking with this 3-hour, insanely researched epic about Japan’s United Red Army faction, one of the world’s most notorious terrorist groups. Director Wakamatsu is barred from entering the United States due to his political affiliations, but we will be conducting a live, satellite Q&A with him after the screening on July 5, and the screenwriter, Masayuki Kakegawa, will be attending the festival and is available for interviews. Koji Wakamatsu is available for email and phone interviews. (Co-presented with JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film).
Along with the Japanese contingent films by Feng Xiaogang, Johnnie To and Lee Myung-Se will also be screened. The fest runs from June 20th to July 6th at the IFC Center and The Japan Society in New York. Check out the official site here.
Along with the Japanese contingent films by Feng Xiaogang, Johnnie To and Lee Myung-Se will also be screened. The fest runs from June 20th to July 6th at the IFC Center and The Japan Society in New York. Check out the official site here.
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