You haven’t seen WILD ZERO? Then you aren’t truly amongst the living. WILD ZERO is the zombie, rock n’roll, all-you-need-is-love, guitar madness 2000 movie from Japan starring Guitar Wolf, the real life ultimate noise band. If you think you have ever encountered the concept of cool but have not seen WILD ZERO then you are lying to yourself. This is ground zero for the coolness.

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The screening will take place at the Littlefield in Gowanus, on Wednesday, November 4 @ 7pm and will feature the film, free popcorn, happy hour until 8pm, and performances by the bands Ghost, Ghost and Worst Case Ontario. Tickets are $5. (WILD ZERO review) (Tickets and details)

Comments (0) Oct 29 2009

Welcome to this week’s Subway Cinema News.

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The big news this week? Celebrate Halloween with a special screening of the Japanese cult classic HOUSE on Halloween, October 31 at 2pm, 4:30pm, 6:50pm and 9:15pm. This flick had two sold-out screenings to two crazed audiences at this summer’s New York Asian Film Festival and it will blow your mind. Read all about it here. Then go to the BAM site and buy tickets here.

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This HOUSE is made of bonkers.

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Also, this week the South Asian International Film Festival is running. Movies of note are:

- THE LAST THAKUR: not the most pulse-pounding western you’ll ever see but it’s a pretty fascinating film noir western set in Bangladesh.

- RED ALERT: a thrashing flick about a farmer drafted into the modern-day Maoist revolutionary Draxalite movement. Lots of guns, lots of shouting, lots of Maoist theory.

- BUBONIC FILMS GONZO TRAILER EXTRAVAGANZA – if you’ve never been treated to Omar “Hell’s Ground” Khan’s package of freaked-out Pakistani exploitation film clips and trailers then you haven’t lived. A can’t miss screening.

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One dude. Two lions. Two knives.

Stabbing their brains. Pakistani

exploitation FTW!!!!

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More info on the festival can be found here.

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Thursday, October 29th, the best film in the Korean Cultural Service’s “Sisterly Ties” series will be playing, SISTERS ON THE ROAD, starring Shin Min-Ah (from GO GO 70’s, BITTERSWEET LIFE and VOLCANO HIGH) and Kong Hyo-Jin (recipient of the first ever NYAFF Rising Star of Asia award). (More info on the film) (More info on the series)

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Sistahs on the Road!

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On Sunday, November 1 at 3pm and 7pm, BAM is screening Hou Hsiao-hsien’s masterpiece (well, I prefer THE PUPPETMASTER, but there you go) CITY OF SADNESS starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai. (More info)

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ONG BAK 2, Tony Jaa’s monster-sized crazy epic of punching and kicking is still screening only at the Village East Cinemas. (See showtimes) (Read a review)

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ONG BAK 2 will hurt your face.

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And don’t miss the last day (Thursday!) of Hong Sang-Soo’s NIGHT & DAY at the Anthology Film Archives. It’s a great film from one of Korea’s greatest directors, set in France. Plus, the Anthology deserves your support. (More info)

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Comments (0) Oct 28 2009

Just in case anyone cares, here’s a review of ONG BAK 2 written for Slate by Subway Cinema’s very own Grady Hendrix.

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Enjoy!

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Comments (0) Oct 23 2009

Halloweeeeen is coming. Which means…I don’t know what it means, actually. Candy? Razor blades in apples? Druids? Unsure. What I do know is that right now, right this minute, Asian films are playing in NYC and you need to watch them.

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Korean director and critical catnip, Hong Sang-Soo, is unreeling his new movie NIGHT & DAY over at the Anthology Film Archive (on the corner of Second Avenue and Second Street. The Village Voice has a rave from Scott Foundas and all you need to know is that most folks consider him Korea’s best working arthouse director. On top of that, it’s screening at the Anthology and that’s one of the theaters in NYC that deserves all our support. (more info + showtimes)

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And hitting screens at the Village East theater (Second Avenue and 12th Street) this Friday is ONG BAK 2, Tony Jaa’s crazed, insane action picture. One note: I’m not the biggest fan of the action in this movie, but it is a helluva movie. A fever dream of jungle madness it’s like HEART OF DARKNESS filtered through a B-action flick and it’s totally bonkers. Plus: seeing it on the big screen is ESSENTIAL. This movie features some of the most beautiful widescreen compositions and camerawork, especially for an action film, and a small screen won’t do them justice. (read a great review)

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This Friday, October 23, ICHI THE KILLER is playing at the 92nd Street Y. I suspect it’s a video projection but have no confirmation of that. Tickets are $12.00. (buy tickets)

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This Thursday, October 22 @ 7pm, the Korean Cultural Service’s series “Sisterly Ties” will be screening two short films: “Becoming an Actress in New York” and “Turtle Sisters.” (more info)

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And next Wednesday, October 28th at 7:30pm the South Asian International Film Festival kicks off with ALADIN, starring Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan and loaded with special effects. (buy tickets and get more info)

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Comments (0) Oct 22 2009

This Sunday, October 18th, Kinokuniya Bookstore is holding an all-day Tezuka day celebration. That’s right, the god of Japanese manga is being feted with events running all afternoon.

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Astro Boy Screening – 12 PM
Spend an hour with the original Astro Boy cartoon courtesy of Right Stuf!
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Vertical, Inc. 1 PM
Vertical publishes Black Jack, Dororo, and a whole world of Tezuka manga. Learn firsthand about how to find Tezuka manga in America!
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The Art of Osamu Tezuka 2 PM
Abrams Books is publishing the definitive look at Osamu Tezuka’s career The Art of Osamu Tezuka by Author Helen McCarthy. See it here first!
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Samurai Beat Radio 3 PM
Samurai Beat Radio broadcasts from NYC to Japan, and they’re coming to talk with fans about Astro Boy featuring celebrity guest Miho Hatori (formerly from the band Cibo Matto) as well as Tezuka World in Japan with friends at Continental Airlines and JTB.
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Raffle 4:30 PM
Enter all day at Kinokuniya, and be here at 4:30 PM for your chance to win a selection of Tezuka anime and manga!

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Kinokuniya Bookstore is at 1073 Ave of The Americas (6th Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets).

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(More on Osamu Tezuka)

Comments (0) Oct 16 2009

There are Asian movies in NYC this week, but they are loitering in random locations, mumbling to themselves.

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The Korean Cultural Service’s “Sisterly Ties” series will be screening TREELESS MOUNTAIN (Thursday, October 15 @ 7pm) up at the ImaginAsian Theater. Director Kim So-Young will be in the house. (read reviews) (more info on “Sisterly Ties”)

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The new, long-awaited Hong Kong computer animated film version of ASTRO BOY, Osamu Tezuka’s immortal character, will be having two special preview screenings at the IFC Center on Saturday and Sunday (Octobers 17 & 18) at 11AM. (buy tickets) (watch the trailer) (more info on the film)

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And then, out of the blue, it looks like the slick, new Bollywood thriller, ACID FACTORY (starring no one major) is screening not only out at the Big Cinemas Bombay Theater in Flushing but also at the old ImaginAsian, now known as the Big Cinemas ImaginAsian, but don’t quote us on that because the theater’s website is down.

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Comments (0) Oct 14 2009

This week sees the start of the Korean Cultural Service’s SISTERLY TIES (October 15 – November 22) which will bring five female filmmakers and their films to NYC. Each Thursday, at 7pm at the ImaginAsian theater (239 East 59th Street) they’ll be screening the following films:

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TREELESS MOUNTAIN (Thursday, October 15 @ 7pm) – director So Young Kim will be present to discuss her film about two neglected little girls. It’s a powerful, moving verite’ feature that manages to depress and liberate at the same time. (read a review)

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TWO SHORTS (Thursday, October 22 @ 7pm) – director Yun-ah Hong will discuss her film “Becoming an Actress in New York” (32 minutes, 2000) a blackly comic tale of three Korean-American women pursuing their dreams of being actresses in NYC. Then the Feminist Video Activism WOM will present their “Turtle Sisters” (45 minutes, 2002) about handicapped women struggling to achieve representation.

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SISTERS ON THE ROAD (Thursday, October 29 @ 7pm) – the New York Premiere of this 2008 film from female director Boo Ji-Young. Starring NYAFF Rising Star Award winner Kong Hyo-Jin and Korean star Shin Min-Ah. (read a glowing review)

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THE GRACE LEE PROJECT (Thursday, November 12 @ 7pm) – the famous GRACE LEE PROJECT appears, sending up the documentary form, identity and identity politics. If you haven’t seen it before you need to see it now! (read a review)

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Comments (0) Oct 13 2009

The awe-inspiring CineFamily in Los Angeles are hosting a TOKYO GORE NIGHT this Tuesday, October 13 at 8pm.

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(Full details and tickets here – plus the trailer for VAMPIRE GIRL VS. FRANKESTEIN GIRL).

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What is TOKYO GORE NIGHT? It’s a juicy screening of Nishimura’s gore-a-licious high school sex/action comedy film, VAMPIRE GIRL VS. FRANKENSTEIN GIRL, and then – even better – a bunch of short films and parody commercials made by Nishimura, Noboru Iguchi (MACHINE GIRL) and a lot of other lunatics, all set in the MACHINE GIRL and TOKYO GORE POLICE universes. We did an evening just like this at this year’s NYAFF and it was big fun. Plus, these shorts are downright incredible – some of the best and most surreal filmmaking you’ll see all year.

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(TOKYO GORE NIGHT write-up from NYAFF)

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(VAMPIRE GIRL VS. FRANKENSTEIN GIRL write-up)

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(Tickets to LA TOKYO GORE NIGHT)

Comments (0) Oct 12 2009

In the Subway Cinema newsletter that just went out we call the Mo Brothers, who directed MACABRE, “Filipino.” Sorry – that’s a result of typing late at night. They’re Indonesian and we should know better.

Comments (0) Oct 08 2009

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It’s barely Asian, but it’s a fun Halloween hayride anyways (and no, we’re not getting paid to plug this). The Walter Reade’s hosting “Scary Movies” from October 12 – 22 and it’s [insert campy Elvira-cism here].

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The only Asian film in the line-up is the must-see (before you miss it forever) MACABRE (Monday, Oct. 12 @ 9:30pm; Tuesday Oct. 13 @ 4pm). From the Indonesian Mo Brothers, it’s a feature-length version of their black comedy short from the recent Stuart Gordon-produced anthology film from Indonesia. The lead actress is as unnerving and memorable as the female lead in AUDITION, and the gore flows like a river. Plus, it looks as posh and pretty as a prom date.
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Macabre!

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But the rest of the line-up is nothing to sneeze at. Here’s our picks:
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THE STEPFATHER (1987) – some fool referred to this as a “cheesy 80’s movie” to me recently. I buried him in a shallow grave. LOST’S Locke, Terry O’Quinn, gives an exploitation movie performance as monumental as Faye Dunaway’s in MOMMIE DEAREST. Based on a real-life criminal (now behind bars – thanks, America’s Most Wanted!) who built perfect families, while leading a double life with another perfect family, and then slaughtered one family and slid seamlessly into his other life, it’s NOSFERATU of American horror. (Sunday, Oct. 18 @ 9:15pm & Monday, Oct. 19 @ 4:30pm)
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The Stepfather?

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WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? (Friday, Oct. 16 @ 2pm & Sunday, Oct. 18 @ 7pm) – If THE STEPFATHER is the new NOSFERATU of American horror, then WCKAC is the SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER. Intensely, aggressively transgressive it’s about a nice couple who go honeymooning on a sunny Greek island where the children have gleefully gone mad and murdered all the adult. It almost never screens, so this is like the Ark of the Covenant getting brought out — super-rare and it’ll melt your face.

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Who can kill a child? Me! Me!

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AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON with John Landis! (Wednesday, Oct. 14 @ 1:30pm & Thursday, Oct. 15 @ 8pm) – come on. John Landis will be there. What else do you need?
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Also, Eric Red will be there with his two movies, THE HITCHER (the awesome original, not the lame remake) and 100 FEET with Famke Janssen as a wife under house arrest for murdering her husband, and his ghost is trying to eat her soul.
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Is it THE BROOD or is it FARGO?

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There’ll also be screenings of Cronenberg’s answer to KRAMER VS KRAMER, his mutant masterpiece THE BROOD. When Animals Attack Aussie-style, THE LONG WEEKEND! Weird Brit concoction, THE SHOUT! Pre-Hobbit Peter Jackson’s DEAD-ALIVE! And a bunch of Hammer Horror, including Oliver Reed as a werewolf in THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF!

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Oh, Oliver, you’re sexy, too.

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If you want to see more genre-friendly programming from Lincoln Center, then it is your duty to buy a couple of tickets to this toe-in-the-pool retro.

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(Read the full schedule and get tickets)

Comments (1) Oct 07 2009