March 2009: Doronjo/Janet, briefly after watching Yatterman
At last! The New York Asian Film Festival is upon us again and this time it’s moved uptown to the Walter Reade Theatre at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The NYAFF is one of my top three New York filmfests. I usually try to catch as much as I can, but for a change this year I actually studied the schedule and bought tickets in advance!
I favored weirder fare + some kung fu, steered clear of stuff that sounded ‘serious’ or 'respectable’ (these can be a mixed bag), but also took a pass on stuff that sounded like the kind of stupid or weird that I’d regret later, as well as some that I probably would fail to enjoy due to kung fu fatigue. Anyway, here’s the movies I’m laying my bets on. With links!
1. Ip Man 2 (just one of many live Sammo Hung appearances during the festival)
3. 8000 Miles
5. Symbol (Will I regret this one?)
6. Mutant Girls Squad (gotta include a Tak Sakaguchi)
7. Golden Slumber (this is the only movie I immediately felt the need to see when I saw it in the lineup: from the director of last year’s amazing Fish Story)
8. Doman Seman (this evening I have no recollection what this one is supposed to be about)
9. Castaway on the Moon (ditto, what is this about)
10. Blades of Blood
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I haven’t had time to inspect the Japan Cuts lineup, but this morning I bought
11. Confessions (some promising early buzz behind this one)
12. Sawako Decides
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Last year Subway Cinema had a special screening of Takashi Miike’s ’Yatterman’ (13), which is also part of this year’s NYAFF lineup. This is a fun and hilarious movie! I am short on $$ so I don’t intend to watch it again, but it deserves a place on my list of picks. It’s worth more than a dozen Transformers movies, none of which will include the announcemenet of 'Titty missiles!’ in subtitling
(the photo above is of my friend Janet striking a Doronjo pose shortly after we saw the movie)
Have some strong recommendations for stuff I haven’t committed to seeing? Send me a message through here or on twitter please! @handelsaurus thanks!