NOW PLAYING

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SHINJUKU ECSTASY: INDEPENDENT FILMS FROM THE ART THEATER GUILD OF JAPAN
February 18 – March 1
An astounding retrospective that highlights the cream of the Art Theater Guild of Japan. Despite the clunky name, this distributor turned production company was one of the most psychedelic, crazy, insane filmmaking collectives ever to hit the planet Earth. Starting in 1967 they produced films by the likes of Nagisa Oshima, and turned Japanese moviemaking on its ear with flicks like the gay Oedipus happening, FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES, and terrorist porn flick, ECSTASY OF ANGELS by Koji Wakamatsu (UNITED RED ARMY). If you miss the 60’s, or if you just need a heady blast of sexual trangression, freak-a-delic imagery and black-and-white celluloid dreams, then get over here.

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These movies aren’t playing for long, and they’re super-rare. This weekend the essential viewing consists of FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES (Friday, Feb. 20 @ 7:30pm) a version of OEDIPUS set in 1969’s gay scene in Tokyo and it’s a tornado of eye shadow, clumped mascara and garage rock. Then there’s Nagisa Oshima’s absurdist docu-drama DEATH BY HANGING (Saturday, Feb. 21 @ 3pm) which is ATG’s first production and is about a convict sentenced to death who refuses to die no matter how many times they hang him by the neck.

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(Trailers for the films are available on their individual pages – check ‘em out)

(Buy tickets)

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Walter Reade Theater
Film Comment Selects
THE CHASER (2008, Korea, 125 minutes)
Saturday, February 21 @ 6pm
Saturday, February 28 @ 1:30pm
The sleeper hit of 2008 (in Korea), THE CHASER is a taut thriller about an ex-cop turned pimp looking for one of his “girls” who has been abducted by a serial killer. Sure it sounds lurid, and it is, but it’s also an incredibly accomplished film that feels like something a South Korea David Fincher would come up with: a realistic, unnerving, occasionally gruesome thriller where the ticking clock whips its characters into extreme states of distress.

(Read a review)

(More info, including showtimes and tickets)

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Angelika Film Center
SERBIS (Philippines, 2008)
Screening daily (Showtimes)
Brillante Mendoza’s scuzzy, funny, pretty, ugly, fascinating portrait of the ecosystem of a family-run porn theater in Manila is compulsive viewing and it’s been running forever at the Angelika. It’s a feature film, but it shoots a day in the life of the family in fly-on-the-bathroom-wall style and feels like a slice of reality served up fresh and nasty.

(read review)

Comments (0) Feb 20 2009

NOW PLAYING

Angelika Film Center

SERBIS (Philippines, 2008)

Screening daily (Showtimes)

Brillante Mendoza’s scuzzy, funny, pretty, ugly, fascinating portrait of the ecosystem of a family-run porn theater in Manila is compulsive viewing. It’s a feature film, but it shoots a day in the life of the family in fly-on-the-bathroom-wall style and feels like a slice of reality served up fresh and nasty.

(read review)

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Japan Society

TORA-SAN’S DEAR OLD HOME (Japan, 1972)

Friday, February 13 @ 7:30pm

Japan Society’s screenings of the classic Tora-san films continue with this 1972 installment from Tora-san director extraordinaire, Yoji Yamada (TWILIGHT SAMURAI), in which Japan’s long-running rogue falls in with three pretty young things in Shimabata.

(Watch the trailer)

(Buy tickets)

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SHINJUKU ECSTASY: INDEPENDENT FILMS FROM THE ART THEATER GUILD OF JAPAN

February 18 – March 1

An astounding retrospective that highlights the cream of the Art Theater Guild of Japan. Despite the clunky name, this distributor turned production company was one of the most psychedelic, crazy, insane filmmaking collectives ever to hit the planet Earth. Starting in 1967 they produced films by the likes of Nagisa Oshima, and turned Japanese moviemaking on its ear with flicks like the gay Oedipus happening, FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES, and terrorist porn flick, ECSTASY OF ANGELS by Koji Wakamatsu (UNITED RED ARMY). If you miss the 60’s, or if you just need a heady blast of sexual trangression, freak-a-delic imagery and black-and-white celluloid dreams, then get over here.

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(Trailers for the films are available on their individual pages – check ‘em out)

(Buy tickets)

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Korea Society

MULBERRY (Korea, 1986)

Thursday, February 19 @ 6:30pm

The description for this classic Korean film is simple. It’s about, “…a neglected wife who seeks fulfillment from other women’s husbands.” Actress Lee Mi-Sook won “Best Actress” at the Asia Pacific Film Festival for her role as the man eater-upper in this down n’dirty period film.

(More info)

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Comments (0) Feb 12 2009

The New York Comic Con is running this weekend over at the Javits Center and we’re in it up to our earlobes. The big event is, of course, Takashi Miike and Sho Sakurai presenting the World Premiere of Miike’s new movie, YATTERMAN. His assistant director (who’s traveling with him) says it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before. We haven’t watched the film yet, but the bits and pieces we’ve heard about it sound insanely fun. Full information on all the YATTERMAN events can be found here.

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But that’s not all! Magnolia is presenting DAI NIPPONJIN (aka BIG MAN JAPAN) at Comic Con. If you saw it at the New York Asian Film Festival you know that’s it’s GODZILLA meets THIS IS SPINAL TAP and you feel a strange warmth in your heart, and in your pants, whenever you hear its name. It’ll be playing at Comic Con on Friday, February 6 @ 3:15PM, in room 1A04.

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And there’s more! Magnolia is also using New York Comic Con to present CHOCOLATE, the butt-kicking Thai action film starring fighting femme, Jeeja! The premise: an autistic girl has total muscle memory and is addicted to chocolate and martial arts movies (plus she lives next door to a muay thai academy). To get money for her mom’s operation she takes a book with names of people who owe her mom (once a gangster’s girlfriend) outstanding debts and she begins knocking heads to get them to cough up the cash. This is the best Thai action film since ONG BAK, BORN TO FIGHT and DYNAMITE WARRIOR and Magnolia will be screening it Midnights at the Landmark Sunshine, starting Friday February 6th. (Watch the trailer)

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Comments (0) Feb 05 2009

We apologize for all the changes to the world premiere of Takashi Miike’s YATTERMAN. We’re coordinating the event with four different groups, each of which has its own needs and so we’ve had to make some adjustments. But this here is the final word on all the events for Takashi Miike and Sho Sakurai while they’re in NYC for the YATTERMAN premiere.

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Friday, February 6, 2009

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Meet YATTERMAN Star…Sho Sakurai!!!!
2:45 PM, Friday, February 6 at the Nikkatsu Booth (#1315)
Star of YATTERMAN and Japan’s top pop star Sho Sakurai makes a rare personal appearance for his fans, many of whom have come from very far away to see him. Please note that Sakurai’s time will be limited and that his appearance is subject to change or cancellation for security reasons. (All photography and video recording of Sakurai is strictly prohibited, and he is unable to sign autographs at this time.)

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YATTERMAN/Nikkatsu Booth
Booth 1315 (Jacob Javits Center)
Get a glimpse of YATTERMAN all weekend long at the Nikkatsu booth on the New York Comic Con show floor. Additionally, on Friday, February 6, tickets for the World Premiere screening of Yatterman will be distributed free to fans beginning at 3:00 on Friday — ask a booth staff member for your ticket. (Ticket numbers are limited and do not guarantee movie admission.)

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YATTERMAN Panel
4:00 – 5:00 PM, Friday, February 6, IGN Theater (Jacob Javits Center)
Fans have been waiting for Takashi Miike to create a giant robot movie for years, and finally it’s here! Takashi Miike will premiere the first nine minutes of Yatterman for the first time anywhere in the world at NYCC’s Yatterman panel and then speak about the film and take questions from fans in a panel moderated by Subway Cinema.

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YATTERMAN Signing

4:00PM, Friday, February 6, IGN Theater (Jacob Javits Center)

Following the YATTERMAN panel, director Takashi Miike will be signing autographs for fans for a limited time. Sho Sakurai will not be signing autographs at NYCC.

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YATTERMAN World Premiere
8:00 PM, Friday, February 6

Directors Guild Theater (110 West 57th Street)
This is it! The first time the brand-new, live-action, Japanese feature film YATTERMAN is screened anywhere in the world, and New York Comic Con, Subway Cinema, and Nikkatsu are all thrilled to open this event to fans.  Free tickets to the Yatterman premiere will be distributed to fans on Friday, February 6 at the Nikkatsu booth, starting at 3:00 pm. (Tickets will also be available via the Subway Cinema mailing list — sign up for Subway Cinema News at subwaycinema.com.)  Takashi Miike and Sho Sakurai will both be present at this special event.  Please note, though, that Sakurai’s appearance is subject to change or cancellation for security reasons. Tickets are subject to limited availability and access to the cinema is on a strictly first-come, first-served basis; arrive early to guarantee your seat. Note that no cameras or recording devices will be allowed inside the DGA Theater.

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(Also, please note: we want as many of you as possible to see YATTERMAN. While Comic Con attendees, and giveaway winners, will receive priority seating, we will be holding a certain number of tickets for the general public to be given away on a first-come-first-served basis right before the screening begins. So come on down! We can’t make any promises but you know us…we’ll do our best to get as many people as humanly possible into the film)

(Also, also please note: if you just want to show your support for Sho Sakurai and Takashi Miike, they will be walking the red carpet before the screening and there will be news crews from the US, Japan and China there to capture the fan reaction. So come on out, dress up like Yatter-wan and cheer!)

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Saturday, February 7

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From Gore to Westerns: An Incisive Afternoon with Director Takashi Miike

2pm, Saturday, February 7 at the Japan Society (333 East 47th Street)

Director Takashi Miike will be talking about his career and his films in this onstage conversation, moderated by Subway Cinema. He’ll be speaking Japanese, but we’ll have a translator working overtime for the English-only speakers. He’ll also be taking questions from the audience. This is a one-of-a-kind event, since Miike rarely does this kind of thing and tickets are going fast.

Tickets$11/$7 Japan Society members, seniors & students

(Get more info, and buy tickets)

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Comments (10) Feb 03 2009