Summer approacheth and more and more Asian films are bubbling up out of the ground like crude oil in Texas.

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Out at BAM they’re wrapping up “The Cruel Stories of Nagisa Oshima” (through April 14) and this blow-out retrospective of Japan’s most controversial filmmaker’s work will climax on Tuesday, April 14 with three screenings of his gay, slash and burn samurai film GOHATTO starring Takeshi Kitano and Ryuhei Matsuda.

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In big news, Film Forum has brought back Kobayashi’s three-part soul-stirring epic THE HUMAN CONDITION. They claim it’s “back by popular demand” and if that’s the case then New York City is made of smart people! Because this ten hour epic (split into three films) starring Tatsuya Nakadai about the depravities of war is one of the great achievements of cinema.

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The Japan Society is screening their second-to-the-last film in their wildly popular Tora-san series this coming Friday, April 17 @ 7:30pm. It’s HEARTS AND FLOWERS FOR TORA-SAN and it’s more of the same…which is why these movies are so good. Being dependable and pleasant is a real achievement these days, any way you slice it, and Tora-san is nothing if not 100% dependable and 150% pleasant. (More info)

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The Asia Society is doing a one night screening of Wang Chao’s LUXURY CAR on Thursday, April 16 @ 7pm. This movie about rural Chinese moving to the big city and getting lost swept through film festivals back in 2006 and it’s still a moving film. (More info – and if you pick up the Village Voice they’ve got an ad you can clip and save $4 off your ticket) (Read a review).

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TOKYO! the three-part film by Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon-Ho (THE HOST) is STILL playing at the Landmark Sunshine at all hours of the day and night. (Read a review)

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