Posted: under New York Asian Film Festival.
The NYAFF 2011 website went live over the weekend and that’s the best place to go if you’re buying tickets or browsing our line-up. Each Film page has write-ups, the trailer for the film and it lists showtimes and links you to the respective ticket buying page, be it at the Walter Reade (at the Film Society of Lincoln Center) or Japan Society.
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Comments (0)
Jun 27 2011
Posted: under New York Asian Film Festival.
If you’re wondering which tickets to buy, reviews from a bunch of blogs are already hitting the internets and they’re going to keep coming all week. We’ve got a bunch from brainy Meniscus and also from VCinema and Unseen Films right now. Here they are, and keep your eyes peeled for a lot more to come:
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MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY (buy tickets)
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BKO: BANGKOK KNOCKOUT (buy tickets)
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Comments (0)
Jun 27 2011
Posted: under New York Asian Film Festival.
All of us are really excited that after trying to get this movie for years, SELL OUT! will finally screen at the New York Asian Film Festival (you can see the full trailer here). The best anti-corporate, anti-job musical ever from Malaysia, we’ll also have its director, Yeo Joon Han, and lead actor, Peter Davis, here at both screenings. Below is a clip from the movie featuring the “Money Song.” It’s a slow burner, but around the minute mark things really start to kick off and it ends on such a fist-pumping, “Kill the rich!” note that you want to run out in the streets and start throwing bricks through Office Max windows right away.
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SELL OUT! Screens:
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Friday, July 1 @ 6pm (buy tickets)
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Monday, July 4 @ 3:30pm (buy tickets)
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What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July than with a musical that takes down the basic tenets of capitalism?
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Comments (0)
Jun 27 2011
Posted: under New York Asian Film Festival, Subway Cinema News.
Hey everybody!
It’s less than two weeks until the start of this year’s New York Asian Film Festival and we’re looking for a few folks to help us out. We need people before and during the festival.
Before the festival we’ll have fliers to hand out in the city.
During the festival we need people to help with our prize giveaways, guests and general question answerin’. Both kinds of help earn free screenings (space permitting). It’s fun work and you get to see a few films on top of it. To apply for shifts or jobs that need doing, email us.
Our full screening schedule is listed here, we certainly appreciate the help and try to be accommodating but the shifts will assigned on a first come first serve basis. Take a look and mark your calendars with when you would want to and be available to help out. Then, of course, let us know!
See you at the festival!
Comments (0)
Jun 21 2011
Posted: under New York Asian Film Festival.
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MILOCRORZE!
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Up yours, Matthew Barney. The real art gallery weirdo is Yoshimasa Ishibashi, Japan’s guru of bizarre video art. A well-known video artist who claims that Walt Disney and George Lucas are his biggest inspirations, Ishibashi is responsible for Vermilion Pleasure Night. A variety comedy show that aired for only five months in 2000, VPN has had a huge influence on Japanese comedy and set the stage for movies like Funky Forest: the First Contact. Best known on the show was the recurring sketch, The Fuccon Family, about a family of mannequins who remain happy no matter how many times their son, Mikey, is dismembered or possessed by Satan. Ishibashi spun off the Fuccons into a 78-episode TV series called Oh, Mikey! in 2004, but apart from that he’s been very, very quiet. He’s used the time to focus on his truly freaky video art projects, screening his work at the Museum of Modern Art, the Tate Modern in London and modern art museums throughout Japan. His new movie, MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY, is a funky slab of surreal visuals, dance numbers, samurai battles that resemble Suzuki Seijun at his most lysergic and love, love, love. MILOCRORZE is a movie that has a passionate desire to implant Ishibashi’s deliriously trippy vision deep within your brain.
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Watch an entire subtitled episode of Vermilion Pleasure Night:
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Tak with polar bear.
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Way back in 2003, at the second New York Asian Film Festival ever, we screened a low budget movie called Versus. Shot for nickels in a stretch of abandoned forest, it was all about a guy fighting a growing army of yakuza zombies by kicking them really hard in the head. What carried the movie wasn’t its metaphorical resonance, it was the intense, explosive charisma of its star, Tak Sakaguchi. Eight years later, Tak is back with a movie he directed, wrote, starred in and action choreographed, Yakuza Weapon. Now, there are a lot of action stars in the world, and some are better fighters than Tak, some are better looking and some make slicker movies. But nobody does what Tak does. Because only Tak Sakaguchi can makes Tak Sakaguchi movies. ??What is a “Tak Sakaguchi movie?” It’s intense. Tak got his start fighting in underground street matches for money, and he brings with him the dangerous, cocky charm of a guy who can take a punch. His action choreography isn’t designed to be pretty or impress girls, it’s designed to demonstrate that the shortest distance between your head and the ground is Tak’s fist. But more than that, a Tak Sakaguchi movie is macho. They are man movies. That doesn’t mean women can’t like them – Tak’s lady fans are legion – but there’s a reason his directorial debut was called Be a Man! Samurai School. Because Tak wants to teach you about Mandom.
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Tak Sakaguchi movies are simple (kids form a baseball team to fight zombies, a family gets attacked by zombies, a yakuza gets a rocket launcher for a leg) and often the solution to the problems their characters confront are to hit things in the face until they fall down. No one talks about their feelings, no one worries about how they look, no one has second thoughts about their career. What you wind up with are movies that smell like Charles Bronson and taste like John Wayne. What you wind up with are ultra-whacked-out, ultra-violent, ultra-man movies. What you wind up with are Tak Sakaguchi movies.
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Tak with brown bear.
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If you see a Japanese movie that’s totally and completely deranged, chances are that Yudai Yamaguchi had one of his weird fingers in it. After graduating from film school he made a bunch of award-winning short films, some of them with Tak Sakaguchi. They were spotted by Ryuhei Kitamura who hired Yamaguchi and Tak to work on his new film, Versus, with Tak starring and doing the action and Yamaguchi writing the screenplay and shooting second unit. His directorial debut was the super-stupid zombie baseball flick, Battlefield Baseball, that stars Tak and that became a surprise word-of-mouth hit in Japan after winning Grand Prize at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival. He followed that up with Meatball Machine (2005) and then the live action adaptation of seminal stupid high school manga series, Cromartie High School (which premiered at the New York Asian Film Festival). A few years later he was back with 80’s horror tribute, Tamami: the Baby’s Curse and then he directed several of the fake commercials for Tokyo Gore Police.
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A scene from Yamaguchi’s
masterpiece: CROMARTIE HIGH SCHOOL.
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Director Nishimura (left) and producer Chiba (right).
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A behind-the-scenes creative talent whose work has literally changed the face of the Japanese film industry, 44-year-old producer Yoshinori Chiba began work in advertising at Gaga, but soon transitioned into production when he met director Keita Amemiya, whose Zeiram he produced in 1991. The Japanese V-cinema boom hit soon after, and Chiba found himself associated with a filmmaker whose name became virtually synonymous with the budding genre: Takashi Miike. Their Fudoh: the New Generation was one of Miike’s biggest hits overseas, and Chiba’s subsequent credits read like a “best of” list from the world of Japanese genre film: Zero Woman, Eko Eko Azerak, Battlefield Baseball, Neighbor No. 13, Death Trance, Machine Girl, Tokyo Gore Police, and Yatterman, a major studio production which became the biggest hit of Miike’s career. In 2009, he created The Sushi Typhoon which has two films, Yakuza Weapon and Karate-Robo Zaborgar in this year’s festival.
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You know the karate-uniformed guy in Love Exposure who teaches the lead character how to successfully take up-skirt photographs? Or the steely-looking yakuza door guard shooting the hell out of zombies in Helldriver? Or the evil Sigma Organization member dressed like a Native American? Or the neck-tattooed, buzz-cut government agent who fights Tak Sakaguchi at the opening of Yakuza Weapon, then replaces his arm and leg with deadly devices? All of those roles have one thing in common: they were all filled by talented, handsome Japanese action actor Arata Yamanaka. Born in Osaka, Arata began work as a regular actor, but after meeting Tak, began to study action under him for several years, joining action team Zero’s in 2008, in time to appear in Love Exposure. Following action-heavy roles in Tak’s Yoroi: Samurai Zombie and Tokyo Gore Police, Arata appeared in supporting roles in big studio films Rescue Wings and The Accidental Kidnapper, as well as several productions from genre label Sushi Typhoon. More recently, he’s popped up in Yudai Yamaguchi & Takashi Shimizu’s TV series Soil, as well as Sion Sono’s Cannes Directors Fortnight film Guilty of Romance.
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Comments (1)
Jun 19 2011
Posted: under New York Asian Film Festival.
Malaysian films are rare in our line-up. In fact, we’ve only shown two before (WHEN THE FULL MOON RISES and GANGSTER). But there’s been one movie we’ve been trying to show for years, unfortunately it’s been caught in a situation with its sales agent and distributor that’s kept it out of our hands. So, recently, when it got screened in Canada we leapt into action and we’re proud to present the best anti-capitalist, musical, suicide-reality-show Malaysian movie you’ve ever seen: SELL OUT!
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Director Yeo Joon Han and star Eric Davis are going to be at both screenings of the film on Friday, July 1 @ 6pm and on Monday, the Fourth of July @ 3:30pm.
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Born in a then-small Malaysian town called Seremban, Joon Han fell in love with literature and theatre while studying in Singapore; skived off Law classes and wrote, composed, directed and acted in a musical in London; went to Court, wrote advertising copy and finally became an impoverished filmmaker in Kuala Lumpur. In 2006, 13 years after he first came up with the idea and 5 years since he shot it with his own savings, Joon Han’s first short film “Adults Only” won the Special Mention at the Venice Film Festival. Armed with a few other obscure awards, he eventually wangled enough financing to complete his first feature in 2008. “Sell Out!” also got away with a prize from the Venice Film Festival and has travelled to over 25 festivals. It’s also the first and only Malaysian film to be commercially released in Canada.
Joon Han has been spending the last 3 years trying to convince potential investors that his next film will have no artistic merit whatsoever.
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Peter was a mixed martial arts instructor and a model when filmmaker Joon Han found him fixing his car at their apartment car park. Mistaking Peter’s honesty for modesty when he said he couldn’t “sing for shits”, Joon Han cast him as Eric Tan, the product designer who’s constantly fixing his 8-in-1 soybean machine. Since “Sell Out!”, Peter has been enjoying a thriving acting career, appearing in several feature films, telemovies, TV commercials and a lead role in a Malaysian production of Kander and Ebb’s “Cabaret”, in which he actually sang live.
He is half-English for real.
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Comments (0)
Jun 18 2011
Posted: under New York Asian Film Festival, Subway Cinema News.
No, that wasn’t a false come-on—the full film schedule is below. But first, a few notes we’d appreciate your attention to.
• UPDATE! Tickets will go are now on sale for Japan Society shows on Wednesday of this week! And the full listing of films (both co-presentations and Japan Cuts-only entries) is already available on their site.
• UPDATE! Tickets for nearly all the shows at Film Society Lincoln Center / Walter Reade are also now on sale! Check out our listings here.
• The official New York Asian Film Festival 2011 website will be going live at some point next week. Watch this space for more details, or follow us on Twitter or “like” us on Facebook to get more immediate updates.
• Ticket prices this year will be:
• Film descriptions can, for now, be found on our blog here or, for co-presented shows, at the Japan Society site.
• All guest appearances are, as always, subject to change but the information listed below is, as of today, confirmed.
And without further ado, here’s the schedule. All listings are for the Walter Reade theatre at Film Society Lincoln Center unless listed otherwise. Start making your plans….now!
6:00 SELL OUT (110) – director Yeo Joon Han & actor Peter Davis will appear
9:00 MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY (90) -
Director Yoshimasa Ishibashi & star Takayuki Yamada will appear. Yamada will receive the Star Asia Rising Star Award as part of the presentation.
12:00 HORNY HOUSE OF HORROR (75), preceded by DARK ON DARK (17)
** audiences from the 9:00 and 12:00 shows can join us for a special Opening Night Reception in the gallery space across the lobby from the Walter Reade cinema, for free beer (id required) and some snacks, starting at about 11:00 pm
12:15 BKO: BANGKOK KNOCKOUT (105)
2:30 PUNISHED (94)
4:30 13 ASSASSINS: DIRECTOR’S CUT (141) – star Takayuki Yamada will appear
7:30 SHAOLIN (131)
10:15 MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED! (84)
12:00 RAW FORCE (86)
12:30 A BOY AND HIS SAMURAI (109)
2:45 DUEL TO THE DEATH (83)
4:45 KARATE-ROBO ZABORGAR (106)
7:00 NINJA KIDS!!! (100)
9:10 BUDDHA MOUNTAIN (105)
1:00 ABRAXAS (113)
3:30 SELL OUT (110) – director Yeo Joon Han & actor Peter Davis will appear
6:30 A BOY AND HIS SAMURAI (109)
9:00 THE LAST DAYS OF THE WORLD (96)
1:30 BUDDHA MOUNTAIN (105)
3:45 THE RECIPE (107)
6:15 ABRAXAS (113)
8:45 KARATE-ROBO ZABORGAR (106)
1:00 FOXY FESTIVAL (110)
3:30 THE UNJUST (119)
6:15 HAUNTERS (114)
8:45 BEDEVILLED (115)
1:15 OCEAN HEAVEN (96)
3:30 B.T.S. BETTER THAN SEX (92) – director Su Chao-pin will appear
6:15 THE MAN FROM NOWHERE (119)
8:45 SHAOLIN (131)
Japan Society:
6:45 OSAMU TEZUKA’S BUDDHA: THE GREAT DEPARTURE (111)
9:00 RINGING IN THEIR EARS (89)
1:15 THE LAST DAYS OF THE WORLD (96)
3:30 THE CABBIE (94) – director Su Chao-pin will appear
6:45 OCEAN HEAVEN (96)
9:00 FOXY FESTIVAL (110)
12:00 RIKI-OH: THE STORY OF RICKY (91)
Japan Society:
7:00 LOVE AND LOATHING AND LULU AND AYANO (105)
9:15 BATTLE ROYALE (114)
1:30 ZU: WARRIORS FROM THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN (94) – director Tsui Hark will appear
4:00 REIGN OF ASSASSINS (117) – director Su Chao-pin will appear
7:00 THE RECIPE (107)
9:30 HAUNTERS (114)
12:00 BKO: BANGKOK KNOCKOUT (105)
Japan Society:
12:30 GANTZ (130)
3:00 GANTZ: PERFECT ANSWER (150)
** there will be a special double-feature ticket available for both GANTZ movies, for $20 / $14 students, seniors & members (only available for purchase in person or by phone); tickets to individual shows also available
6:00 NINJA KIDS!!! (100)
8:15 YAKUZA WEAPON (105) – director Yudai Yamaguchi & director / star Tak Sakaguchi will appear
** ticket price of $16 general / $12 students, seniors & members also includes admission to a Sushi Typhoon after-party with the guests, plus free food and beer!
1:00 REIGN OF ASSASSINS (117) – director Su Chao-pin will appear
4:00 DRAGON INN (109) – producer Tsui Hark will appear
7:00 BEDEVILLED (115)
9:30 PUNISHED (94)
Japan Society:
12;30 OSAMU TEZUKA’S BUDDHA: THE GREAT DEPARTURE (111)
2:45 HEAVENS STORY (278)
8:00 MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY (90) – director Yoshimasa Ishibashi will appear
1:30 RINGING IN THEIR EARS (89)
3:30 LOVE AND LOATHING AND LULU AND AYANO (105)
6:00 THE BLADE (100) – director Tsui Hark will appear
8:30 DETECTIVE DEE: THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME (122) -
Director Tsui Hark will appear & receive the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the presentation.
12:30 MISE-EN-SCENE SHORT FILM PROGRAM #1 (92)
2:30 TROUBLESHOOTER (99) – director Kwok Hyeok-jae & producer Ryoo Seung-wan will appear
5:00 VERSUS (119) – star Tak Sakaguchi & writer Yudai Yamaguchi will appear
7:45 YAKUZA WEAPON (105) – director Yudai Yamaguchi & director / star Tak Sakaguchi will appear
10:15 HORNY HOUSE OF HORROR (75), preceded by DARK ON DARK (17)
1:00 MISE-EN-SCENE SHORT FILM PROGRAM #2 (92) – short film director guest will appear
3:30 CITY OF VIOLENCE (92) – director Ryoo Seung-wan will appear
6:15 BATTLEFIELD HEROES (118) – director Lee Joon-ik will appear
9:00 THE UNJUST (119) – director Ryoo Seung-wan will appear
12:30 BATTLEFIELD HEROES (118) – director Lee Joon-ik will appear
3:15 THE CHASER (125) – director Na Hong-jin will appear
6:15 TROUBLESHOOTER (99) – director Kwok Hyeok-jae & producer Ryoo Seung-wan will appear
9:00 THE YELLOW SEA (156) – director Na Hong-jin will appear
Comments (2)
Jun 13 2011
Posted: under New York Asian Film Festival.
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Screening in this year’s festival: CITY OF VIOLENCE (encore presentation), THE UNJUST (New York Premiere)
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Ryoo Seung-Wan – he came to the NYAFF and all he
got was that lousy t-shirt.
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Korea has had a lousy century. Conquered by Japan, it suffered through World War II and then the Korean War. It was torn in half, suffered through a miliary dictatorship and remains in a constant state of alert, always worried about an invasion from the North. It’s no surprise then that most Korean directors are very suspicious of violence. Most Korean action movies end on notes of darkness and destruction, the violence unleashed taking a toll on both villain and hero. All is ashes and failure and blood and futility. For them, action always results in guilt.
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Then there’s Ryoo Seung-Wan.
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Director Ryoo Seung-Wan himself in CITY OF VIOLENCE.
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He represents the other side of Korean action movies. The kind that were hits in the 80’s, the disrespectable Korean action movies that were exploitation films, fighting female movies and Jackie Chan clones. Ryoo Seung-Wan is not interested in painting a dark and violent picture of violence, but in celebrating movement, grace, speed and action. His first movie, DIE BAD, was made when he was 27 with himself and his brother as its stars and it was nothing more than an exuberant showcase for his skills. Then came a thriller, NO BLOOD, NO TEARS, a wu xia fantasy, ARAHAN, a boxing movie with a happy ending, CRYING FIST, the exuberant balls-to-the-walls action hit, CITY OF VIOLENCE, and, finally, his send-up/homage to the cheap, anti-communist Korean thrillers of the 80’s, DACHIMAWA LEE.
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THE UNJUST
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For Ryoo, action isn’t some mournful process to cry over. It’s something that’s fun to watch and rather than be ambiguous and ambivalent, he’s super-charged and excited. Even in The Unjust which is more toned down, his characters still revel in sticking it to each other, in beating the crap out of one another and in the sheer fun of screwing each other over.
Ryoo Seung-wan is young, he’s talented and he knows what he likes: action. He likes it because it moves, because it’s fast, because it’s furious, because it transcends all boundaries, barriers and limitations. He likes it because there is nothing more amazing than the human body in motion. But most of all, he likes it because it’s fun. And that’s nothing to feel guilty about.
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THE UNJUST
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CITY OF VIOLENCE
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Screening in this year’s festival: THE CHASER (encore presentation), THE YELLOW SEA (New York Premiere)
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THE CHASER
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With only two films under his belt, there’s not a lot to say about Na Hong-Jin. Born in 1974, Na first gained attention with when he won the Best Horror/Sci-fi Short Film Award at the Mise-en-scene Short Film Festival with his 9-minute and 30-second film “The Perfect Fishplate.” Two years later, during the lowest point of the Korean film industry, he made a low budget thriller with two mid-list actors. It was called THE CHASER and it became the number three movie of the year, beating out KUNG FU PANDA, MAMMA MIA! and even IRON MAN at the box office, solely based on word-of-mouth. Na wanted to take a break after this, but he was advised by one of his seniors to keep working and so he packed up and moved to Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture for two months. It was this research that inspired and shaped his screenplay for THE YELLOW SEA, which was released in late 2010. The first Korean movie to have direct investment from a US studio (20th Century Fox) it opened at number one at the Korean box office and was invited to participate in the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
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THE YELLOW SEA
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Screening in this year’s festival: BATTLEFIELD HEROES (New York Premiere)
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In America we’re used to getting our history served up sanctimonious style, with shafts of golden sunlight and long boring speeches. Director Lee Joon-Ik serves up history with black comedy, razor-sharp satire and plenty of sex, blood and mud. His first success was the satire ONCE UPON A TIME IN A BATTLEFIELD which made sacks of cash at the box office. But then came KING & CLOWN, about a Joseon Dynasty king who falls for a young, feminine actor in his court. It doesn’t sound like much, but KING & CLOWN went off like an atom bomb and became the most successful Korean movie of all time, still holding the title as the King of the Korean Box Office. Lee went on to make RADIO STAR, a contemporary star vehicle that made good money, and then he went back in time for the swordplay film, BLADES OF BLOOD (last year’s NYAFF Official Closing Night Film). It did okay but not great. His new movie, BATTLEFIELD HERO, is his wildest swing yet, like an absurdist and deeply funny version of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT set in medieval Korea, and he vowed that if the movie flopped, he’d retire. It did okay, but not great and, true to form, Lee retired. Fresh out of filmmaking we welcome him and his best film yet to the NYAFF.
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BATTLEFIELD HEROES
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Screening in this year’s festival: TROUBLESHOOTER (New York Premiere)
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TROUBLESHOOTER
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A longtime collaborator of Ryoo Seung-Wan, director Kwon Hyeok-Jae started out as an assistant director and screenwriter. He first worked with Ryoo in 2006, assistant directing the now-classic action film, CITY OF VIOLENCE. He was next tapped to write the screenplay for director Ryoo’s long-in-gestation DACHIMAWA LEE, a send-up of Korea’s corny anti-communist action movies of the 1980’s. Released in 2008, Kwon not only co-wrote the script with Ryoo Seung-Wan but also worked as assistant director on the film. His directorial debut, TROUBLESHOOTER, is produced by Ryoo Seung-Wan and the script is written by director Kwon himself.
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TROUBLESHOOTER
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Comments (0)
Jun 07 2011
Posted: under New York Asian Film Festival.
This year the Star Asia Awards are going to two people:
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Ten years ago, in 2001, we held the first and largest Tsui Hark retrospective outside of Hong Kong. We didn’t know who would come, and then we saw an audience show up that was black, white, male, female, gay, straight, Chinese, Anglo, Japanese, Korean, French and even Canadian. We watched elderly couples push each other to the screenings in their wheelchairs. We watched parents bring their children and point out the characters on screen, telling another generation of future film fans who was who. And we realized that Tsui Hark speaks a language that everyone on this planet understands. Ten years later, we are all more proud than we should be that Tsui Hark is our guest at this year’s festival where he’ll receive the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award.
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If you know who Tsui Hark is, you’ve already bought your tickets to Detective Dee, Dragon Inn, Zu and (especially) The Blade. If you don’t know who Tsui Hark is then…well, there’s too much to say. We could go the factual route and say something like:
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Tsui Hark has made 54 films, directing 31 of them, producing blockbusters in every genre known to man, and forging most of the stars in the Hong Kong heavens (John Woo, Chow Yun-fat, Jet Li, Brigitte Lin, Charlie Young and Ching Siu-tung all owe their careers to Tsui). The genres most identified with ’80s and ’90s Hong Kong film (heroic bloodshed, fantasy swordplay, ghost romances, period martial arts) were genres he created. His Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983) created, from scratch, the modern Hong Kong special effects industry, and his A Chinese Ghost Story: The Animation (1997) built a Chinese animation industry from the ground up. He’s had a monster hit in every genre that exists (and in some that don’t) and his movies appeal to audiences from Hong Kong to Vietnam to France.
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Or we could go the impressionistic route and say something colorful like this:
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Tsui Hark skips from lowball comedy, to kinetic action flick, to dewy romance, to gooey horror in the blink of an eye. His movies are glorious pop operas, featuring strong female characters, warp-speed editing and they reawaken entertainment centers in your brain you didn’t know you had.
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But ultimately, we’re going to keep it personal, and say this:
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Have you ever been disappointed with this world, and believed that there must be a better one somewhere else? Have you ever wished, with all your heart, for a more intense world where the colors are brighter, the stories are faster and the emotions are stronger? Have you ever wished that there was a world where heroes were real, where monsters could be vanquished and where love could defeat everything, including death? We’re here to tell you: there is a better world. Tsui Hark has filmed it. It’s a world he’s built out of light, and it moves at 24 frames per second. You can’t stay there forever, but you can visit it anytime you want. All you need is a ticket.
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There are millions of young, prettyboy actors in Japan and their faces often blur into one long androgynous stream. But Takayuki Yamada, who’s been acting in movies since he was 15 years-old, is the only one of them who can really act. Even his detractors agree: Yamada is the guy to go to when you want someone who can completely disappear inside his role.
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Yamada started out in the NTV drama series, Psychometrer Eiji 2, and appeared in several series before his first movie role in 2002. He’s best-known for 2004’s Crying Out Love in the Center of the World and he cemented his reputation as the main interpreter of nerd angst in 2005’s Train Man. Although he’s appeared in over 25 TV dramas, he’s become best known as a movie actor, and more and more fans are realizing that he’s the real thing.
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Yamada in MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY.
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Capable of playing a dreamy otaku or a depressed adult with an attention to detail that is sometimes disconcerting, Yamada is already considered one of the best Japanese actors under 30. But he also grew up on a diet of Jackie Chan movies and so he’s been craving roles that let him get more physical. Takashi Miike gave him one of his first playing the wild teenaged fighter, Serizawa in 2007’s Crows Zero, and the two reunited for Miike’s massive 13 Assassins in which Yamada played the dissolute nephew to Koji Yakusho. Yamada also appeared in the existential sci fi action films, Gantz and Gantz 2: Perfect Answer, playing Shigeta, a mysterious investigator.
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Also, Yamada in MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY.
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But Yamada’s finest work comes in MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY. This is the movie that should, hands down, get him an Oscar because in it he plays every single male role (except the children), from the ultra-macho youth counselor who advises young “wimps” on how to get women, to the grim samurai in love, Tamon, all the way to the soggy hipster with the unpronounceable name, Ovreneli Vreneligare.
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Comments (0)
Jun 07 2011
Posted: under New York Asian Film Festival.
NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL
July 1 – 14
at Film Society of Lincoln Center (July 1 – 14)
Japan Society (July 7 – 10)
The New York Asian Film Festival is ten years old! And we have presents for
you! A Takashi Miike World Premiere! The long-awaited animated epic based on
Osamu Tezuka’s life of Buddha! The International Premiere of the new movie
from Johnnie To! Rare Filipino exploitation! An avalanche of retro
screenings to celebrate our tenth birthday! And special guests Tsui Hark,
Ryoo Seung-Wan, Su Chao-pin, Takayuki Yamada, Tak Sakaguchi and many more!
The New York Asian Film Festival is presented in association with the Film
Society of Lincoln Center and Japan Society’s Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary
Japanese Cinema.
We’re deeply grateful for the support of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade
Office New York, the Korean Cultural Service New York and the Taipei
Economic and Cultural Office in New York.
Official Opening Night Film
MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY (Japan, 2011, North American Premiere, 90 minutes)
Truly trippy, this bizarro musical/variety/samurai/love story from Japan is
one solid slab of psychedelia from Yoshimasa Ishibashi, the mad genius
behind the Fuccon Family.
***The movie’s director, Yoshimasa Ishibashi, and star, Takayuki Yamada,
will be at the screenings
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
Centerpiece Presentation
SHAOLIN (Hong Kong, 2011, North American Premiere, 131 minutes)
It doesn’t get any bigger than this. Superstar Andy Lau, Nic Tse and Jackie
Chan all star in this swank, blockbuster retelling of the primal martial
arts story: the destruction of Shaolin Temple, which is the birthplace of
martial arts. It’s a movie that’s been made many times (hence the alternate
title NEW SHAOLIN TEMPLE) but never before has it been this massive, this
lavish and this chock full o’action.
***The movie’s director, Benny Chan, will be at the screening
Centerpiece Presentation
NINJA KIDS!!! (Japan, 2011, World Premiere, 100 minutes) – Takashi Miike has
been impressing critics with 13 ASSASSINS and his 3D remake of HARA KIRI
that just played Cannes. Whatever. We’ve got the World Premiere of his
insane new kid’s flick about feuding ninja schools. People wonder where all
the craziness went from Miike’s two new films? He put it all in here. Your
jaw will drop like an elevator with a snapped cable. We love you, Takashi
Miike!!!
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
Official Closing Night Film
THE YELLOW SEA (Korea, 2010, New York Premiere, 156 minutes) – from the
director of THE CHASER, and fresh out of Cannes, this is the Korean action
movie in excelsis. A North Korean immigrant is sent to Seoul to perform a
hit. Soon the Chinese mafia, the Korean mafia and the cops, are after him
and hatchets are deployed, trucks are flipped and all hell breaks loose.
***The movie’s director, Na Hong-Jin will be at the screening
Star Asia Rising Star Award
Takayuki Yamada – Japan’s most versatile young actor has gone from being a
TV heartthrob to a TRAIN MAN (his breakthrough role) to one of Takashi
Miike’s 13 ASSASSINS. And in this year’s Opening Night selection,
MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY, he plays every single male part.
Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award
Tsui Hark – One of our first events was a retrospective of Hong Kong’s
veteran filmmaker and award-winning director, Tsui Hark, way back in 2001.
We figured it was time to bring him to the festival and recognize his
extraordinary, lifelong contributions to Hong Kong cinema, especially after
his latest film, DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME, was a
huge box office hit and won “Best Director” at the Hong Kong Film Awards
2011.
WU XIA: HONG KONG’S FLYING SWORDSMEN
Presented with the support of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New
York of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, this special
focus is on Hong Kong’s wu xia (literally “martial arts”) films. It’s a
genre that’s unique to Hong Kong and while it’s all about showcasing the
Chinese martial arts tradition it’s come to refer specifically to that
brain-expanding genre of Hong Kong movies that use the cutting edge of
cinematography and the best special effects of the time to paint a world
full of flying swordsmen, deadly female warriors, legendary blades and more
than a touch of fantasy.
This line-up will include:
DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME (Hong Kong, 2010, 122
minutes) – Tsui Hark’s return to greatness is a Holmes-ian fantasia about
spontaneous combustion and kung fu deer. An exiled detective is returned to
favor in the Imperial court to solve a series of mysterious deaths that
delay the inauguration of the Empress Wu, played by Carina Lau, who won
“Best Actress” at the Hong Kong Film Awards 2011 for her performance. The
movie also won top prizes in Art Direction, Costume and Make-up Design as
well as in Sound Design and Visual Effects.
***The movie’s director, Tsui Hark, will be at the screening
THE BLADE (Hong Kong, 1995, 100 minutes) – a rare screening of Tsui Hark’s
martial masterpiece, this is one of the towering achievements of Chinese
cinema.
***The movie’s director, Tsui Hark, will be at the screening
DUEL TO THE DEATH (Hong Kong, 1983, 83 minutes) – Ching Siu-tung’s
directorial debut deploys ninjas, poisoned blades and some of the world’s
most innovative choreography to create a movie that’s one part martial arts
film, one part exploitation shocker and one part ballet. Screening on a rare
35mm print!
DRAGON INN (Hong Kong, 1992, 109 minutes) – two of Hong Kong’s greatest
actresses, Maggie Cheung and Brigitte Lin, take on Donnie Yen’s bloodless
eunuch in this Tsui Hark-produced swordplay romance. Directed by Raymond
Lee, it’s a remake of King Hu’s 1967 masterpiece. A brand new print of this
classic film, struck specially for the New York Asian Film Festival.
***The movie’s producer, Tsui Hark, will be at the screening
ZU: WARRIORS FROM THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN (Hong Kong, 1983, 94 minutes) – the
movie that launched a thousand wu xia, Tsui Hark’s surreal phantasmagoria
will blow your mind. Recruiting Hollywood special effects technicians just
off Star Wars and Star Trek the Motion Picture, Tsui Hark’s film reinvented
a genre and kickstarted Hong Kong’s entire special effects industry. This is
a rare chance to see a 35mm print of this movie in all its big screen glory.
***The movie’s director, Tsui Hark, will be at the screening
Special focus:
In 2008, when the Korean film industry was at its lowest point, Na Hong-Jin
released the word-of-mouth hit, THE CHASER, launching a wave of twisty
thrillers focused on intense action and ace performances. In this special
focus, presented in association with the Korean Cultural Service New York,
we show you the best of what THE CHASER has wrought.
This line-up will include:
THE YELLOW SEA (Korea, 2010, New York Premiere, 156 minutes) – Na Hong-Jin
reunites with his stars from THE CHASER to make this big, relentless
follow-up. We’ve got it fresh from its Cannes screening as part of Un
Certain Regard
***The movie’s director, Na Hong-Jin, will be at the screening
THE UNJUST (Korea, 2010, New York Premiere, 119 minutes) – longtime festival
favorite, action director Ryoo Seung-Wan, turns in this epic, sprawling
corruption saga that recalls Sidney Lumet back in his PRINCE OF THE CITY
days.
***The movie’s director, Ryoo Seung-Wan, will be at the screening
BEDEVILLED (Korea, 2010, New York Premiere, 115 minutes) – this time, the
ladies are doing it. An all-female version of DELIVERANCE, where a city
slicker goes to an insular rural community where she’s not wanted. Possibly
the greatest women vs. men movie ever made, lead actress Seo Young-Hee took
home six “Best Actress” awards for her performance here.
THE CHASER (Korea, 2008, 125 minutes) – the thriller that saved the Korean
film industry, this mega-hit is what you’d get if you cross-bred Alfred
Hitchcock with a pit bull.
***The movie’s director, Na Hong-Jin, will be at the screening
HAUNTERS (Korea, 2010, New York Premiere, 114 minutes) – 50% superhero
movie, 50% horror movie and 100% Korean thriller, this bigtime commercial
hit is about a troubled kid who can control minds and the simple guy, immune
to his ability, who’s out to stop him.
THE MAN FROM NOWHERE (Korea, 2010, 119 minutes) – one part Batman, one part
Bourne, Korean mega-star, Won Bin, revamped his image as a hard man of
action with this movie about a spy coming out of retirement to take on a
ring of organ harvesters. The number one movie at the Korean box office in
2010 (beating INCEPTION and IRON MAN 2), it took home SIXTEEN film awards!
TROUBLESHOOTER (Korea, 2010, New York Premiere, 99 minutes) – produced by
Ryoo Seung-Wan, this is a classic “wrong man” movie, only this time the
wrong man is a hardcore ex-cop (Sol Kyung-Gu from the highly successful
PUBLIC ENEMY series) and it’s got the black, bleak sense of absurdist humor
most thrillers lack.
***The movie’s producer, Ryoo Seung-Wan, and director, Kwok Hyeok-Jae, will
be at the screening
Special focus:
In the US, we think of Taiwanese movies as an endless stream of art films.
But with the support of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York,
we are proud to bring to New York one of the few Taiwanese directors who
makes blockbuster hits that actual real live people go to see: Su Chao-pin!
This line-up will include:
REIGN OF ASSASSINS (Hong Kong/Taiwan/China, 2010, 117 minutes, New York
Premiere) – co-directed with John Woo, starring Michelle Yeoh and Korean
star Jung Woo-Sung, this massive martial arts hit gives the genre a beating,
bleeding, romantic heart.
***The movie’s director and writer, Su Chao-pin, will be at the screening
THE CABBIE (Taiwan, 2000, 94 minutes) – Su’s first movie set new trends in
Taiwan for actually being entertaining. He wrote this flick based on his
experiences driving a cab, and it’s a fast-paced black comedy about a cabbie
in love with a traffic cop.
***The movie’s writer, Su Chao-pin, will be at the screening
BTS: BETTER THAN SEX (Taiwan, 2002, 92 minutes) – one of the most
hyperactive, funniest movies about sex you’ll ever see. Pity this poor
teenage porn-addict who just wants to find a real girl. Way ahead of its
time, this movie manages to be all about sex without feeling pervy.
***The movie’s director and writer, Su Chao-pin, will be at the screening
BUDDHA MOUNTAIN (China, 2010, North American Premiere, 105 minutes) -
gobbling up festival awards around the world, Sylvia Chang stars as a
suicidal landlady who rents an apartment to three irritating young hipsters
in this transcendent drama from Li Yu (LOST IN BEIJING) one of the only
female directors working in China. Popular actress, Fan Bingbing (SHAOLIN),
stars as one of the hipsters, but it’s Sylvia Chang, the most important
woman in Chinese show business in the 70’s and 80’s, who owns this movie.
OCEAN HEAVEN (China/Hong Kong, 2010, New York Premiere, 96 minutes) -
directed by another female director, this movie sees Jet Li team up with
cinematographer Christopher Doyle and composer Joe Hisaishi to make a
restrained, heartbreaking movie about a dad (Jet Li) trying to teach his
autistic son how to live on his own. Beautifully shot, scored, acted and
observed, it’s got no action, all heartbreak.
THE BLADE (Hong Kong, 1995, 100 minutes) – part of Wu Xia focus.
***The movie’s director, Tsui Hark, will be at the screening
DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME (Hong Kong, 2010, 122
minutes) – part of Wu Xia focus.
***The movie’s director, Tsui Hark, will be at the screening
DRAGON INN (Hong Kong, 1992, 109 minutes) – part of Wu Xia focus. Brand new
print!
***The movie’s producer, Tsui Hark, will be at the screening
DUEL TO THE DEATH (Hong Kong, 1983, 83 minutes) – part of Wu Xia focus.
PUNISHED (Hong Kong, 2011, International Premiere, 94 minutes) – the latest
movie produced by Johnnie To, this is a hardcore revenge drama featuring a
powerhouse turn by Anthony Wong as a real estate billonaire whose wild child
daughter has been kidnapped. Bullet-to-the-head action the way Hong Kong
used to do it.
SHAOLIN (Hong Kong/China, 2011, North American Premiere, 131 minutes) -
Centerpiece Presentation
***The movie’s director, Benny Chan, will be at the screening
RIKI-OH: THE STORY OF RICKY (Hong Kong, 1991, 91 minutes) – the classic Hong
Kong midnight action movie about prison privatization and monsters who
strangle you with their guts. Rarely seen on the big screen, this is a
full-on, ridiculously crazy mind-melter full of crucifixion, flaying,
classic kung fu combat and prison wardens who keep breath mints in their
glass eyeballs.
ZU: WARRIORS FROM THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN (Hong Kong, 1983 94 minutes) – part of
Wu Xia focus.
***The movie’s director, Tsui Hark, will be at the screening
13 ASSASSINS: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Japan, 2010, 141 minutes, New York Premiere) -
the complete UNCUT version of Takashi Miike’s samurai masterpiece. With 17
minutes of original footage restored.
***One of the movie’s stars, Takayuki Yamada, will be at the screening
ABRAXAS (Japan, 2010, New York Premiere, 113 minutes) – straight outta
Sundance comes this movie about a punk rocker turned Buddhist monk who still
yearns to rock out.
BATTLE ROYALE (Japan, 2000, 114 minutes) – a celebratory screening of Kinji
Fukasaku’s masterpiece now that it finally – after 10 years!!!! – has a new
distributor who wants people to actually see it.
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
A BOY AND HIS SAMURAI (Japan, 2010, North American Premiere, 109 minutes) -
the director of FISH STORY and GOLDEN SLUMBER returns to the festival with
this family film about a samurai who winds up in the modern era.
Surprisingly, it then becomes an exceptional food movie! This is the
father-son movie you’ve been looking for.
DARK ON DARK (Japan, 2011, International Premiere, 17 minutes) – this short
film is the directorial debut from Makoto Ohtake, a well-known Japanese
comedian and actor since the 80’s (he’s worked extensively with Takeshi
Kitano and the popular City Boys troupe). It’s all about a two-bit talent
manager and his outrageously endowed adult video talent bringing peace into
the world via their various “gifts.” Screens with HORNY HOUSE OF HORROR.
GANTZ and GANTZ: PERFECT ANSWER (Japan, 2011, 130 minutes & 150 minutes) -
presented back-to-back it’s the uncut, subtitled, live action movies based
on Japan’s existential sci fi action manga. It’s the New York Premiere of
the subtitled GANTZ and the North American Premiere of the subtitled GANTZ:
PERFECT ANSWER.
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
HEAVENS STORY (Japan, 2010, North American Premiere, 278 minutes) – “King of
Pink Films” Takahisa Zeze spent almost two years shooting this 4 hour movie
about two random murders and the heartbreak, trauma and healing that spills
out from them over the next two decades. Monumental and strange, passionate
and philosophical, this is an epic in every sense of the word and a towering
achievement in film.
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
HORNY HOUSE OF HORROR (Japan, 2010, North American Premiere, 75 minutes)
Japan does the violent porno horror thing better than anyone else and this
oddity features butt-walls, wiener-eating and demon hookers. This is the
directorial debut from the writer of MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD, and it’s firmly in
the vein of that film and ROBO GEISHA. Only, you know, set in a horny house
that’s full of horror.
Preceded by: DARK ON DARK (see above, 17 minutes)
KARATE-ROBO ZABORGAR (Japan, 2011, New York Premiere, 106 minutes) Noboru
Iguchi (Robo Geisha) makes his best film yet. Not just that, but this is the
best-looking flick from label, Sushi Typhoon, yet. Slick, big budget and
almost family friendly, it’s based on an obscure TV show from the 70’s about
a young, bright-eyed police officer and his karate robot (who transforms
into a motorcycle) fighting crime. But in Iguchi’s version, the two split up
and have to reunite years later after middle-age has taken its toll.
THE LAST DAYS OF THE WORLD (Japan, 2011, World Premiere, 96 minutes) – a
return to the trippy, socially-engaged, blackly comic, ridiculously violent
revolutionary movies of Japan’s 60’s. A high school student has a vision
that the world is ending and so, faced with no consequences, he abducts a
fellow student and goes on a crime spree.
LOVE AND LOATHING AND LULU AND AYANO (Japan, 2010, North American Premiere,
105 minutes) – based on a book of interviews with porn film dayworkers, this
exuberant, anime-influenced movie about life on the bottom rungs of the
adult film business treats life in the porno business as a chance for some
actors to escape their humdrum, everyday existences.
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY (Japan, 2011, North American Premiere, 90 minutes)
- Opening Night Movie
***The movie’s director, Yoshimasa Ishibashi, and star, Takayuki Yamada,
will be at the screenings
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
NINJA KIDS!!! (Japan, 2011, World Premiere, 100 minutes) -
Centerpiece Presentation
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
OSAMU TEZUKA’S BUDDHA: THE GREAT DEPARTURE (Japan, 2011, North American
Premiere, 111 minutes) – the much-anticipated animated epic based on Osamu
Tezuka’s landmark life of the Buddha.
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film
RINGING IN THEIR EARS (Japan, 2011, International Premiere, 89 minutes) – Yu
Irie (8000 MILES 1 & 2) returns with this ambitious flick about an upcoming
concert by a reclusive rock group and the managers, obsessed fans, shut-ins,
single moms and kindergarten teachers who are affected by it. A true tribute
to the healing power of rock and roll.
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
VERSUS (Japan, 2000, 120 minutes) – a tenth-anniversary celebration of the
Japanese zombie action film that launched a thousand horror/splatter/action
flicks.
***Star and action choreographer, Tak Sakaguchi, and writer, Yudai
Yamaguchi, will be at the screening.
YAKUZA WEAPON (Japan, 2011, New York Premiere, 105 minutes) -
stuntman-turned-director, Tak Sakaguchi, turns in a high calibre,
action-heavy riff on Robocop all about a robot yakuza out to put his fist
through the skulls of the bad guys. From Sushi Typhoon, purveyor of movies
like Alien vs. Ninja.
***The movie’s director and star, Tak Sakaguchi, and co-director and writer,
Yudai Yamaguchi, will be at the screening
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
BATTLEFIELD HEROES (Korea, 2011, New York Premiere, 118 minutes) – an
absurdist satire about war, this movie from Lee Joon-Ik (director of KING
AND CLOWN, the highest-grossing Korean film of all time) is like a Terry
Gilliam movie gone Korean as a farmer too poor to even have a name gets
drafted into one of medieval Korea’s eternal wars.
***The movie’s director, Lee Joon-Ik, will be at the screening.
BEDEVILLED (Korea, 2010, New York Premiere, 115 minutes) – part of Sea of
Revenge focus.
THE CHASER (Korean, 2008, 125 minutes) – part of Sea of Revenge focus.
CITY OF VIOLENCE (Korea, 2006, 92 minutes) – an encore presentation of the
best all-out action film from Ryoo Seung-Wan (THE UNJUST). Like a less
ironic version of KILL BILL.
***The movie’s director, Ryoo Seung-Wan, will be at the screening
FOXY FESTIVAL (Korea, 2010, North American Premiere, 110 minutes) a
“Making Our Neighborhoods Safe & Happy” festival has the vice cops working
overtime in this multi-character comedy that’s like a Robert Altman flick
about fetishes. Love – and handcuffs, and nipple clamps – all conspire to
save the day from the forces of conformity.
HAUNTERS (Korea, 2010, New York Premiere, 114 minutes) – part of Sea of
Revenge focus.
THE MAN FROM NOWHERE (Korea, 2010, 119 minutes) – part of Sea of Revenge
focus.
MSFF SHORTS (Korea, 2010) – Korea’s best directors assemble two selections
of that country’s best short horror, action and comedy movies just for you.
THE RECIPE (Korea, 2010, New York Premiere, 107 minutes) – a serial killer
escapes from prison but is recaptured when he stops to eat a bowl of stew
that’s so good he loses track of time. What is the secret behind the stew?
Korea finally delivers its best food film with this kitchen romance.
TROUBLESHOOTER (Korea, 2010, New York Premiere, 99 minutes) – part of Sea of
Revenge focus.
***The movie’s producer, Ryoo Seung-Wan, and director, Kwok Hyeok-Jae, will
be at the screening
THE UNJUST (Korea, 2010, New York Premiere, 119 minutes) – part of Sea of
Vengeance focus.
***The movie’s director, Ryoo Seung-Wan, will be at the screening
THE YELLOW SEA (Korea, 2010, New York Premiere, 156 minutes) – Closing Night
Movie
Part of Sea of Revenge focus.
***The movie’s director, Na Hong-Jin, will be at the screening
SELL OUT! (Malaysia, 2008, New York Premiere, 110 minutes) – one of the best,
smartest and funniest movies ever made in Malaysia finally escapes from the
clutches of its evil distributor and it was worth the wait. A musical about
money, creativity and a reality show focusing on those who are about to die,
this is like nothing else in our line-up except (maybe) MILOCRORZE.
MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED (Australia, 2010, New York Premiere, 84 minutes) -
from the people who made Not Quite Hollywood, comes this definitive
documentary about the Filipino exploitation film bonanza that erupted in the
70’s and 80’s.
RAW FORCE (Philippines/USA, 1982, 86 minutes) – one of the strangest
Filipino/US co-productions from the 80’s, this rarely-screened exploitation
fever dream is better known by its other title Kung Fu Cannibals. With
zombies, ninjas, samurai, kung fu, and evil monks, this is the entire 1980’s
exploitation industry fired into your eyes via firehose.
BETTER THAN SEX (Taiwan, 2002, 92 minutes) part of Su Chao-pin focus.
***The movie’s director, Su Chao-pin, will be at the screening
THE CABBIE (Taiwan, 2000, 94 minutes) – part of Su Chao-pin focus
***The movie’s writer, Su Chao-pin, will be at the screening
REIGN OF ASSASSINS (Hong Kong/Taiwan/China, 2010, 117 minutes) part of Su
Chao-pin focus.
***The movie’s co-director and writer, Su Chao-pin, will be at the screening
BKO: BANGKOK KNOCKOUT (Thailand, 2010, New York Premiere, 105 minutes) -
Tony Jaa’s mentor, Panna Rittikrai, will school you now. This exploitation
stunt-tacular features all his best stuntmen and women unleashing muay thai,
capoeira, dirt bike fu, shovel beatdowns, fights on fire, fights in the
water, fights under trucks, fights in mid-air, and two back-to-back
climactic smackdowns that have to be seen to be believed.
Prepare yourselves for the best New York Asian Film Festival yet!!!
Comments (5)
Jun 01 2011
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