Posted: under Events, Film.
From Nov. 10 – 14, NYC will be home to the (deep breath) Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival. Yes, it’s a festival with a long boring title that’s sure to sell tickets, and speaking of which the tickets are awfully expensive. But it’s got a ton of amazing guests who they say are confirmed and coming to the city for the fest. Here’s their website (it’s taking place at the SVA theater on West 23rd street between 8th and 9th Avenues), and here are the highlights:
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RAAVANAN – if you missed it when it played Manhattan over the summer, this is your chance to see Mani Ratnam himself presenting his latest film. One of India’s greatest directors, he’ll be here with his movie as will, so they promise, A.R. Rahman – India’s greatest film composer.
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That tag line makes no sense!
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LAHORE – I don’t know much about this one, but here’s the first sentence of the write-up: “A kick-boxing champion from India is torn between the ideals of his sport, and a raging desire for vengeance as he steps into a ring against a Pakistani fighter whom he holds responsible for his brother’s death.” Holy crap! It’s an Indian martial arts film! And it’s all about the rough scenes of bloody, in-the-ring fighting, if the press materials can be believed. The director, Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan, will be here to present his film.
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COOKING WITH STELLA – the always wonderful Seema Biswas stars in the closing night film, an ode to the cuisine of Southern India. I’m a sucker for food movies, and this looks like a delicious one.
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Full info, line-up, schedule and ticket buying power.
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Oct 28 2010
Posted: under Events, Film.
As part of its giant focus on Zen, the Japan Society is screening a ton of movies over the next few months that are nothing more nor less than complete, flat-out horror movies. They already screeen KWAIDAN and next up is claustrophobic horror classic ONIBABA (Friday, Nov. 12 @ 7:30pm).
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Jigoku.
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Then comes Kon Ichikawa’s brutal war movie, FIRES ON THE PLAIN (Friday, Dec. 10 @ 7:30pm) and then the can’t-miss screening of freaky, psychedelic trip to Buddhist Hell, JIGOKU (Friday, Jan. 21 @ 7:30pm). And, finally, the bleakest, grimmest, most bloodthirsty samurai movie ever made, SWORD OF DOOM (Friday, Feb. 18 @ 7:30pm).
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JIGOKU!
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Full line-up, trailers and details on the series.
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And read a top ten of Japanese horror movies featuring several of these titles.
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JIGOKUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!
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Oct 28 2010
Posted: under Events, Film.
From November 5 – December 10, the Asia Society is delivering some truly funky Japanese cinema from the 1960’s in their Japanese Cinema 1960’s retrospective. And it’s FREE!!!!!!! Head on over to their website to check out the trailers for the films and to register for free tickets. These tend to go fast with Asia Society events, so don’t delay.
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Amongst the highlights are AGE OF ASSASSINS (read a review) a surreal secret agent send-up that’s been called “wildly hilarious, and sadly overlooked,” FORT OF DEATH which has been called “raucously entertaining” and THREE OUTLAW SAMURAI (read a review). There’s info on how to get your free tickets, the full screening schedule and trailer and write-ups of the films over at the Asia Society website.
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Oct 28 2010
Posted: under Events, Film.
Ping Chong, the avant theater maxi-stylist, is bringing Akira Kurosawa’s THRONE OF BLOOD to BAM’s stages from Nov. 10 – 13 (nightly at 7:30pm). It played a few places around the country to rave reviews (like this one, which has additional photos) and it’s hailed as a dazzling take on Macbeth. (Tickets and showtimes)
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A shot from Ping Chong’s THRONE OF BLOOD.
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BAM is celebrating this play by screening a retrospective of Akira Kurosawa’s samurai films from Oct. 29 – Nov. 21. The good news is that it’s pretty comprehensive, showing everything from the standards like SEVEN SAMURAI and YOJIMBO to the less-frequently-screened KAGEMUSHA and…wait a minute. They’re all shown frequently. And that’s the bummer – Kurosawa is on NYC screens just about every other weekend and we can’t help wishing that BAM would dedicate its considerable resources to showing movies that don’t play at least every other month in NYC. But still, plenty of people haven’t seen these movies and here’s their chance. (full details)
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Oct 28 2010
Posted: under Events, Film.
The World Cinema Foundation is celebrating itself at BAM from Nov. 10 – 23 by screening a massive slice of its pristine restorations of what it has determined are masterpieces of filmmaking. They may be right and they may be wrong, but there’s no arguing that A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY is probably one of the 2 or 3 greatest Taiwanese movies ever made. It’s a massive film from the late, great Edward Yang, a nearly 4-hour film about life in the 60’s and it is ground zero for modern Taiwanese cinema: almost every great actor, technician and director in Taiwan got their start working on this film. Truly amazing stuff (Friday, Nov. 19 @ 7pm) (more info) (read more about the film)
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The series also includes a screening of Kim Ki-Young’s THE HOUSEMAID, his psychosexual, perv-o-scope flick about class warfare waged with genitals and murder. (Tuesday, Nov. 23 @ 7pm) (more info)
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And there’s this oddity, REVENGE, a Kazakh/Russian/Korean collaboration from 1989, set in Korea. (Monday, Nov. 22 @ 7pm) (more info)
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Oct 28 2010
Posted: under Uncategorized.
So I just learned the news! Rajinikanth’s ENDHIRAN (aka ROBOT) is screening in Manhattan at a theater that’s NOT infested with bedbugs. It’s up at the ImaginAsian on East 59th Street. (showtimes and tickets) (note: it’s a Hindi dub) (more on Rajinikanth)
Oct 15 2010