The big news this week is that on Tuesday, February 9 @ 7pm the Korean Cultural Service will be holding a free screening of the intense Korean thriller, BEAUTIFUL, with its director, Jun Jai-Hong, in attendance. The movie is based on a script by Kim Ki-Duk (THE ISLE) and Jun is one of his assistant directors making his directorial debut with this story of a beautiful woman who is sick of being hassled by guys because she’s good looking. Her solution? Destroy her own beauty by any means necessary – and it all ends very, very, very badly. Sexual politics tinged with plenty of body horror, it’s intense psychological horror like you’ve never seen. (read a review) To attend the screening, just rsvp to the Korean Cultural Service: rsvp underscore cine at koreanculture dot org. It’ll be held at the Tribeca Cinemas (down on the corner of Varick and Canal).

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Also opening this weekend on Feb. 5 is the new Jackie Chan movie, THE SHINJUKU INCIDENT. A so-so thriller, it’s a visually rich morality tale about the rise and fall of a Chinese gangster (Chan) in Japan. No stunts, and the action is of the big brawl variety, it’s a tamped-down, very reserved performance for Chan and it’s playing in Manhattan at the Loews Village Seven on the corner of Third Avenue and 11th Street. (read a review) (showtimes)

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Incredibly, HOUSE, the 1977 psychedelic masterpiece from Japan, is still playing at the IFC Center. It’s a runaway hit that came from nowhere and is making big bank. (read a review) (tickets and showtimes)

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3 IDIOTS is still the biggest Bollywood box office hit of all time and it’s still playing all over the five boroughs. (showtimes)

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Ram Gopal Varma’s news media thriller, RANN, is still playing in the city. (showtimes)

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Up at the ImaginAsian the Bollywood film ISHQIYA is playing. This romance/thriller flick is getting rave reviews (you can read one of them here, and another of them here) and being called “…explosively raw, ribald, gritty, grimy, and, most of all, real.” (tickets and showtimes)

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Film Forum’s 100th birthday party for Akira Kurosawa wraps up this week with a run of Kurosawa’s last acknowledged masterpiece, RAN. (showtimes and tickets)

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