Subway Cinema News: July 9 - 17
Welcome to Subway Cinema News – Chopping rice noodles in one blow, while expanding your mind. Newsworthy Asian events in New York City delivered every week.
THIS WEEK
At MoMA on Wednesday, July 9 at 5:30 pm, Deepa Mehta’s FIRE is heating up theatres with a romantic drama about two women caught between conservative traditions and modern freedoms. What happens when lust unfolds from once innocent minds and virginal passions? The answer: controversy, courage, and erotic synergy all around.
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Also at MoMA on Wednesday, July 9 at 8 pm and Friday, July 11 at 5:30 pm, Jia Zhangke’s HIJIE (THE WORLD) depicts the economic and social transitions transforming the modern Chinese landscape. Enter the John Water’s-esque setting within the bizarre world of the Beijing World Park and gaze upon the characters that make up this film as they take you on a visual adventure.
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On Friday, July 11 at 8:15 pm and Saturday, July 12 at 4 pm at MoMA, Olivier Assayas’ IRMA VEP features Asian superstar Maggie Cheung playing herself. Romance, drama, and comedy go hand in hand as Assayas explores and exploits the hilarious nuances of the film industry. Refreshing and odd, the film mirrors the antics of the confused and often misdirected director played by Jean-Pierre Léaud. Cheung portrays the iconic hot Asian chick in her slick latex costumes and makes you think twice about the representation of Asian women in Western films.
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At BAM Sergei Bodrov’s epic MONGOL is still thundering in all its surround sound splendor. While humanizing and glorifying Genghis Khan, the film awes its audience with heart wrenching passion and hair-raising triumphs. Cheer for the little bad boy who had to survive his tortuous childhood to become a legendary and often misunderstood hero. FYI, my son was born with a red birthmark on his head, a purported sign of the reincarnation of Genghis. We are seeing this one together for sure, with our Mongolian (Koreans are Mongolian descendants) pride on, but leaving the spears at home. This Lord of the Rings meets Asian man god thriller is even lovelier because it is told in Mongolian with English subtitles.
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Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film wraps up at Japan Society this weekend. It kicked off last weekend with a few days of co-presentations with the New York Asian Film Festival and now it comes to an end with screenings of new Japanese films like MOURNING FOREST, GUMMI CHOCOLATE PINE and SAKURAN. And don’t miss the closing film, KISARAGI, about five fans who meet after the death of their idol only to discover that one of them is responsible for her suicide. Black fanboy comedy at its best.
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The Asia Society and Asian Cinevision presents the 2008 Asian Film Festival at the Asia Society and Museum, Auditorium, 725 Park Avenue starting July 10th - July 19th. This year’s selection of Asian American filmmakers includes 13 features, 9 documentaries, and 10 shorts. Get a buffet sampling and heaping portions of the hottest directors and newbies on the Eastern film scene.
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At ImaginAsian on July 9th, and ongoing, Harry Baweja’s LOVE STORY 2050 is an action adventure love story that happens in different time zones of the present and future worlds. The story of opposites attracting gets complicated as they travel forward in time, to the land of flying cars, robot friends and pets, and height-defying sky-scrapers. Luck would have it that the soul mates get separated, leaving the brave young man to fight the villains of the future without his love by his side.
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At Lincoln Center on July 8 – July 9 at 7 pm, see the moving stories as they were seen before films with THE MAGIC LANTERN. This un-film is a super-sized lantern show performed by Tokyo’s renowned Minwa-za Company that will hold you captive with dazzling shapes, sounds, and music. A historical lecture is included.
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