Over on Salon, Andrew O’Hehir not only sums up the depressing state of Asian movie distribution in America but he also recommends seven films from this year’s NYAFF:
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1) WRITTEN BY – “…a delirious supernatural melodrama with overtones of Charlie Kaufman-style meta-ness.” (No more screenings)
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2) LOVE EXPOSURE – “I really cannot explain to you how silly and great LOVE EXPOSURE is; one of the year’s biggest discoveries.” (The July 3rd screening is sold out! There is one more screening on Tuesday, July 7 @ 6:30pm at the Japan Society) (Buy tickets)
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3) FISH STORY – “A terrifically generous and enjoyable movie.” (Last screening: Thursday, July 2 @ 6:15pm at the Japan Society) (Buy tickets)
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4) DREAM – “Prolific Korean director Kim Ki-Duk defies all easy classification, and this combination of haunted, art-house love story with fatalistic, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET high concept captures that perfectly.” (Last screening: Wednesday, July 1 @ 7:30pm at the IFC Center) (Buy tickets)
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5) EXODUS – “If I tell you this is a Hong Kong movie about a secret plot by women to kill all men, it’s going to sound like over-the-top exploitation. Instead, Pang Ho-cheung’s film is a cool, modernist noir that depicts one of Asia’s most crowded cities as an emotionally drained and empty landscape, straight out of Antonioni or George Lucas’ THX 1138.” (No screenings left)
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6) BREATHLESS – “Hard to sit through, this masterfully directed and marvelously acted picture is impossible to forget.” (Last screening: Thursday, July 2 @ 2pm at the IFC Center) (Buy tickets)
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7) IP MAN – “I don’t think it’s literally true that Ip kicked the Imperial Japanese Army’s entire ass single-handed, but what the hell. It makes for a well-paced and satisfying piece of Chinese-nationalist pulp.” (No screenings left)
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I went to see Children of the Dark last night. I must say I am not of the weak hearted or a very sensitive person on the exterior but this movie left me with a knot in my chest even this morning when I woke up. The description and warning for this movie is 100% correct. Some of the scenes will be burnt into my mind forever.
After I left the movie and drove home I had to pull over because my eyes were filled with tears. There was a part in the movie where a young girl was crawling on the ground in pain which made me feel like my heart was ripped out of my chest and given to me to taste. I wanted to jump into the screen and pick her up in my arms and tell her it will be ok now.
I will never be the same after viewing this movie and will appreciate the life I have with much more gratitude and love. I was deeply hurt emotionally by this movie and commend the director for his excellance.
I would like to see this movie again and would take a few of my friends to see it so they would understand my feelings because I went by myself to see it. I wish another screening would be scheduled.
Ip Man should have had more screenings.
To be honest, I’m kind of disappointed with the film selections this time around — I love action films and crazy arthouse as much as the next film dork, but that seems to be really dominating. I wanted to see more genres represented.
Written By has moments but I wouldn’t put it at the top of a list of recommended films
I agree with recommending to various degrees IP Man, Exodus and Dream (the others I’m seeing in the next few days and I’m hopeful)
Erika:
What films would you have rather seen us program?
Besides “The Forbidden Door” and “House”, there was a lot lacking from the Horror/Thriller department that I thought would have been easy to fill from asia.
Unfortunately, we watched a TON of movies and these 50 represent what we really thought were the best. There were one or two titles (WAY OF THE SNOWSTORM from China, YANGGAW from the Philippines) that we all liked a lot but didn’t get around to programming for various reasons, and there were other movies like Korea’s BEAUTIFUL that almost made it but didn’t quite. We try not to feel like we MUST screen a certain number of films from any one country or that we have to screen films from every genre. Trust us, if there was a year where the best movies were romances, we’d screen all romances!