There’re a bunch of special movies and events coming up in October and here’s just a fistful of them to whet your appetite:

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IP MAN hits Cinema Village on October 1

On October 1st, Well Go is unleashing Donnie Yen’s martial arts masterpiece, IP MAN, at Cinema Village for a limited theatrical run. Want to go see him crack joints and realign spines on the big screen? Now’s your chance. (read a review & watch the trailer)

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Ip Man is carrying a big stick!

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ENTHIRAN opens on October 1

The greatest Bollywood movie of the year is unleashed at Big Cinemas Manhattan. See the most expensive Indian movie ever made with action by Yuen Wo-Ping, special effects by Stan Winston and ILM and totally awesome punching power by Superstar Rajinikanth.

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Rajinikanth is a ROBOT!!!

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Jpop Rocks NYC on October 10

Japan’s favorite Jpop group, Puffy AmiYumi, will be playing a show at Irving Plaza, along with Boom Boom Satellites and Zazen Boys. (more info & tickets)

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Free Screening of heart-stopping documentary GRANDMOTHER’S FLOWER on October 12

It’s one of the free Korean movies screening down at the Tribeca Cinemas and you should not miss it. Seriously. This documentary is about a family torn apart by the anti-communist violence in Korea in the 20th Century and it features everything from self-mutilation, to uncovered murders to the director having his life threatened on camera. Heartbreaking, intense and raw, if you thought your family had problems… (more info)

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KURONEKO at Film Forum (Oct. 22 – 28)

Holy cats! From the director of ONIBABA comes this intense 1968 B&W masterpiece and I don’t use that word lightly. In fact, I’d take KURONEKO over ONIBABA any day. Intensely violent, beautifully directed, eerily staged – there is nothing wrong and everything’s right in this otherworldy horror film about two cat spirits taking revenge on the human world. As one review says:

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As the victims pile up, the seduction and destruction is edited down to an ultimately extraordinary compression of flying figures, jump cuts and half-glimpsed facial close-ups that can’t help but look like a template for later works by Hong Kong director Tsui Hark…it also draws on the traditions of both Noh and Kabuki theatre, vampire cinema of various nations, and a fair number of earlier Japanese film works…A must for aficionados of Japanese cinema, it’s also a chillingly effective, intelligently staged and sometimes supremely creepy tale of the supernatural that no truly discerning horror fan can afford to miss.”

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A new print will be playing at Film Forum. (more info)

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KURONEKO is spooky!

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South Asian International Film Festival (October 27 – November 2)

This year’s fest features a bunch of World Premieres including one of the freakiest movies you’ll ever see: GANDU (The Loser). Check out the trailer and be prepared to get your hip hop rig on. (Festival website)

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GANDU is dirty!

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Free Halloween afternoon screening of GHOST (aka BE WITH ME)

Sunday, October 31 @ 4pm sees a free screening at Tribeca Cinemas of this summer’s best Korean horror movie, an omnibus film about lonely ghosts and high school kids that actually manages to be a cut above your standard Korean horror fare. And it still gives you plenty of time to go trick or treating afterwards. (more info)

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Comments (1) Sep 27 2010

If you love Jpop (Japanese pop music) then Sunday, October 10 is the day when your dreams come true. As part of the New York Anime Festival (which is part of New York ComicCon – wheels within wheels…) at Irving Plaza there’s going to be a mega-concert featuring Puffy AmiYumi, Boom Boom Satellites and Zazen Boys. Tickets are only $22 in advance!!!! Folks, if you love these bands (and if you don’t love Puffy AmiYumi then there might be something wrong with you) then this is a show you cannot miss without feeling part of your soul die.

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Puffy!!!!!

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BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE!

Comments (2) Sep 27 2010

There’s a lot going on. How did this happen? And even more is coming up in October!

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This weekend is the Friars Club Comedy Film Festival (Thursday 9/23 – Friday 10/1) and they’ve got one Asian film left in the schedule, the brand new Japanese comedy, CAST ME IF YOU CAN, which is screening on Saturday night at Japan Society with the director present. (tickets and schedule)

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Prepare yourself for the annual Korean film festival, now with a new even longer name:

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Yeonghwa: Korean Film Today, a Weeklong Exhibition of Innovative New Korean Cinema (Sept. 22 – 30) also at the Museum of Modern Art

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There’s the full website here, but the most recommended title left is yet another NYC screening of FROZEN FLOWER (always a fun movie, with lots of sex and violence) and there’re also a screening of WOCHI and GOOD MORNING, MR. PRESIDENT coming up. (more info)

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Dance of Time

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On Tuesday, Sept. 28 at 7pm there’s a free screening of the documentary DANCE OF TIME, down at Tribeca Cinemas. Seating is first-come, first-served and the doors open around 6:30pm. This is a technically accomplished and music-packed documentary about the Korean community in Cuba, directed by Song Il-Gon, director of THE MAGICIANS and FEATHER IN THE WIND. (more info)

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IFC Center continues its Ozu retrospective with TOKYO TWILIGHT, a rarely screened movie from the master of melancholy. (more info)

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Big Cinemas Manhattan is screening the Bollywood action movie DABANNG, a blockbuster action movie and a huge grosser, as well as the Bollywood remake of Julia Roberts/Susan Sarandon starrer, STEPMOM, which is called WE ARE FAMILY. (showtimes and tickets)

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DABANNG!!!!

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The New York Film Festival starts today and has a few Asian films in the line-up. One is Cannes Palm D’Or winner UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Inexplicably, it’s getting a Saturday matinee showing and a second screening at 9pm on Sunday night. Lee Chang-Dong (SECRET SUNSHINE) is having his film POETRY screened this weekend as well. And next Thursday will see a screening of Hong Sang-Soo’s OKI’S MOVIE. (full line-up)

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Also part of the NYFF is a retrospective of Masahiro Shinoda, the Japanese New Wave director best known for his film DOUBLE SUICIDE. (full info)

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Double Suicide

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Comments (0) Sep 24 2010

This coming weekend heralds the opening of the Friars Club Comedy Film Festival (Thursday 9/23 – Friday 10/1). Why should you care? Because there are two big Asian films in the line-up and we’re giving away lots of tickets for them.

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The opening night movie is TERE BIN LADEN (2010, 95 minutes) from India about a reporter in Pakistan who wants to be famous and get to America and so he finds an Osama bin Laden look-a-like and starts shooting “exclusive interviews” with him. Complications ensue. (official website) (tickets and schedule)

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It’s the opening night film of the FCCFF this Thursday, Sept. 23 @ 8pm at the massive, jumbo-sized Zeigfeld Theater (141 West 54th Street) and director Abhishek Sharma will be at the screening. We’ve got 50 free pairs of tickets to the event and all you have to do to get one reserved in your name and the name of a friend is email the FCCFF at the following address – filmfestival at friarsclub.com – and they’ll confirm directly with you. DON’T EMAIL US! We will just lose your email!

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Cast Me if You Can

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Then, on Saturday night will be CAST ME IF YOU CAN, a new Japanese comedy (not yet out in Japan) about a bit part actor who gets his chance at stardom appearing in the Japanese adaptation of a Woody Allen movie (let’s just hope it’s not MELINDA AND MELINDA). The film will screen on Saturday, September 25 at Japan Society at 7pm with the director in the house, and we’ve got some free tickets for that too, being given out on a first-come, first-served basis. To get a pair for yourself and a buddy, email the FCCFF at the following address – filmfestival at friarsclub.com – and they’ll confirm directly with you. (watch the trailer) (buy a ticket)

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Also, if you’d like a 50% discount on a weekend pass or even a full week pass to the entire festival, just go to their website and purchase one using our amazing, super-special discount code (code: “subway”). The more of you who take advantage of all this stuff, the more likely it is we’ll be able to offer more free tickets in the future, so go hog wild!

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Comments (0) Sep 21 2010

Prepare yourself for the longest title of a film series in the world:

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Yeonghwa: Korean Film Today, a Weeklong Exhibition of Innovative New Korean Cinema (Sept. 22 – 30) also at the Museum of Modern Art

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A collection of various somewhat recent Korean feature films, this is a grab bag assortment of movies. Not all of them very good. But some aren’t bad.

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THE HOUSEMAID (2010)
There are three well-regarded movies in this line-up, the rest being either okay or having gotten mixed reviews. THE HOUSEMAID, from Im Sang-Soo (THE PRESIDENT’S LAST BANG) is a remake of Kim Ki-Young’s landmark 1960 film of the same name, and it is a great movie that goes completely off the rails in a gloriously-over-the-top manner in the last 15 minutes. Posh, sexy, funny and then insane, it’s worth your time. (read a review) (see the trailer)

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The Housemaid does some light

cleaning.

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GOOD MORNING, MR. PRESIDENT (2009)
Another of the best three movies in the bunch, this flick about the Korean presidency stars Jang Dong-Gun who played the young cop in NOWHERE TO HIDE, went on to kick butt in TAE GUK GI and then stopped making movies in 2005. This is his first film in 5 years, and the fact that it’s directed by WELCOME TO DONGMAKGOL’s Jang Jin helps. (read a review)

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FROZEN FLOWER (2008)
The second-best movie in this line-up (although it has played a few times in NYC and isn’t the premiere the series material claims it is) this b-list, super-bloody, super-sexy Saturday afternoon matinee of a historical drama is lots of fun. (read a review)

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WOOCHI (2009)
Pretty-boy Gang Dong-Won (SECRET REUNION) plays a time traveling wizard. Reviews have been mixed, but audiences really liked this fantasy comedy time travel flick. Also, however, not a NY Premiere as the materials claim. Not a bad way to spend an evening. (read a review)

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SISTERS ON THE ROAD (2008)
Kong Hyo-Jin and Shin Min-A star in this flick directed by lady director Boo Ji-Young (who will be at the screening) about two half-sisters fighting and bonding. (read a review)

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EIGHTEEN (2010)
A teen romance, it’s gotten good reviews. (read one of them)

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Eighteen and emo

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BEST SELLER (2010)
Another Korean horror movie, this one from first time director Lee Jeong-Ho. A writer is accused of plagiarism, rents a house in the country and a “mysterious figure” tells her “spooky stories” and she turns them into her next book. Already bought for a Hollywood remake. (watch the trailer) (read a review)

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LAND OF SCARECROWS (2008)
Arthouse film by Roh Gyeon-Tae, Meniscus Magazine calls it, “a true masterpiece,” while the Hollywood Reporter says it’s a “tired and tiring identity drama that’s been done better elsewhere.” You be the judge.

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Indeed, this is a Land of Scarecrows

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Tickets and showtimes on the official site

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Comments (1) Sep 06 2010

Contemporary short films, but Asian, too. So: ContemporASIAN. See what they did there? Good thing it’s not being sponsored by ImaginAsian or SensAsian.

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Running September 10 – 15 this program appears like magic at the Museum of Modern Art at the following times:

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Friday, September 10, 8:00

Saturday, September 11, 7:30

Sunday, September 12, 5:00

Monday, September 13, 7:00

Wednesday, September 14, 4:00

Thursday, September 15, 8:00

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And what are they?

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A LETTER TO UNCLE BOONMEE (2009, Thailand, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Before his UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES won the Palme D’Or at Cannes, Thailand’s critical darling directed this 17 minute short that sort of uses the same characters.

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MADAME BUTTERFLY (2008, Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang)
Part of the international Twenty Puccini Project, one of the grumpiest but most adored arthouse directors in Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang, made this improvised, 36 minute flick with Madame Butterfly in the Kuala Lumpur bus terminal.

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CRY ME A RIVER (2007, China, Jia Zhangke)
Everyone loves China’s latest arthouse hero, Jia Zhangke, and the MOMA press notes pantingly call this 19 minute short he shot in Suzhou a “perfect gem.” It’s a tribute to the much-loved Chinese film, SPRINGTIME IN A SMALL TOWN.

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LOST IN THE MOUNTAINS (2009, Korea, Hong Sang-Soo)
Korea’s comedian of the art film makes a 30 minute movie about a writer visiting an ex. Humiliation and brutal humor ensues. I love Hong’s movies, but isn’t this the plot of pretty much all of them?

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The official site with trailers and pictures!

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Comments (0) Sep 06 2010