Subway Cinema and the Film Society of Lincoln Center are co-presenting the biggest Takashi Miike retrospective ever to hit NYC, culminating in the premiere of his new movie 13 ASSASSINS.

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Shinjuku Outlaw: 13 from Takashi Miike – March 16 – 20 (one weekend only!)

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Website!

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Miike himself will be here and he’ll attend the AUDITION screening on March 16 and all screenings on March 17 and 18.

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Highlights!

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THE BIRD PEOPLE IN CHINA – a 1998, magical realist movie about a salaryman who gets lost in China and winds up encountering a village of people who claim they can fly. Really astonishing entry from Miike and completely underrated.

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CROWS ZERO II – the 2009 follow-up to CROWS ZERO, Miike’s fighting high school yakuza blockbuster. The first film is summed-up and dispensed with in the opening moments of CROWS ZERO II which pretty much rocks harder than the first film.

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THE GREAT YOKAI WAR – one of the best childhood fantasy movies ever made, Miike really goes wild in this kiddie flick with a broken heart. It features a massively epic war, 100’s of bizarro yokai and one of the saddest endings of any movie ever. (read more)

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The Great Yokai War…it’s great!

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Full line-up:

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AGITATOR (2001, 150m) – not on DVD

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AUDITION (1999, 115m)

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THE BIRD PEOPLE IN CHINA (1998, 119m)

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CITY OF LOST SOULS (2000, 103m)

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CROWS ZERO II (2009, 133m) – not on DVD

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FUDOH: THE NEW GENERATION (1996, 98m)

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THE GREAT YOKAI WAR (2005, 124m)

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ICHI THE KILLER (2001, 129m)

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IZO (2004, 128m)

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LEY LINES (1999, 105m)

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SHANGRI-LA (2002, 105m) – not on DVD

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SHINJUKU TRIAD SOCIETY (1995, 100m)

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13 ASSASSINS (2010, 126m) – not on DVD

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ALSO: DEAD OR ALIVE will screen @ 7:30 pm, Tuesday, March 15th at Japan Society, as part of their series The Hardest Men in Town: Yakuza Chronicles of Sin, Sex & Violence

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Comments (7) Feb 25 2011

Korean Movie Night continues with free screenings of animated films!

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Every other Tuesday @ 7pm
Tribeca Cinemas
(54 Varick Street, on the corner of Canal Street, one block from the A, C, E and 1 train Canal Street stops)
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Price? Free.
All seating is first-come, first served. Doors
open at 6:30pm

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Series 2: Korean Animation Explodes!

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Everyone knows all about Japanese animation, but what do we know about Korean? There are stories about North Korean animation sweatshops employed to work on The Lion King and The Simpsons and there’s the fact that most television animation in the 90’s was drawn in Korea, but since 1967, South Korea has been releasing its own animated films that are almost never shown in the United States. After the glut of Korean animation in the 90’s things died down but recently there has been a new explosion of talent and experimental techniques that are once again putting Korean animation on the world stage.

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Tuesday, March 1 @ 7pm
THE STORY OF MR. SORRY (New York Premiere, 2009)
Gaining a cult reputation on the film festival circuit, THE STORY OF MR. SORRY started life as a graduation project from the Korean Academy of Film Arts and it’s one weird slab of surrealism. Animated in a simple, 70’s style, it’s a trip down the ear hole as a sad sack ear cleaner discovers a doorway to the human subconscious and is put on a path that includes political assassination, a game show called To Kill or Not to Kill and incest.

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Tuesday, March 15 @ 7pm
YOBI, THE FIVE-TAILED FOX (New York Premiere, 2007)
On the other end of the spectrum is this lush, gorgeously animated film from the director that people call “Korea’s Hayao Miyazaki,” Lee Seong-Gang. His previous film was the lush MY BEAUTIFUL GIRL MARI, and he spent years making this follow-up, a big budget animated epic. Exquisitely detailed and shimmering with eye-popping colors, it tells the tale of one of Korea’s mythical, shape-shifting five-tailed foxes and its encounter with an alien.

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Tuesday, April 5 @ 7pm
WHAT IS NOT ROMANCE (US Premiere, 2009)
A surprisingly moving animated film, WHAT IS NOT ROMANCE is all about a middle aged couple approaching their anniversary and it’s as tender, delicate and subtle as the best arthouse movie. Tensions are rising, dinner table conversation is nonexistent and all their romance seems dead. Leaping backwards in time it returns to the beginning of their marriage when they were head over heels in love with each other and traces it to the present when they barely talk and tries to see if there’s any way for a couple married for years to get back to the way things were. (watch the trailer)

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Tuesday, April 19 @ 7pm
AUDITION (North American Premiere, 2008)
What line-up of Korean animation would be complete without a glitzy, gaudy, crowd-pleasing anime-style manhwa (Korean manga) adaptation? Based on the most popular manhwa of the late 90’s, AUDITION is a teen-girl-ready romance about four dudes, all misfits, who form a rock band. All the main characters are already licensed products in Korea and this feature film version of their well-known story took 8 years to make. It’s pure pop culture cream cheese: smooth and delicious.

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Comments (1) Feb 24 2011

Arcades have long been dying like dinosaurs after a comet strike (or maybe a better analogy is that they’re slowly sinking in tar pits?) but one of the last arcades in America is in Chinatown and NYC has it. Boing Boing links to this post from Scouting New York about Chinatown’s crazy arcade, Chinatown Fair, which features stand-up versions of tons of games, including classics like Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Millipede and a whole lot more.

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Forget hipster hang-outs like Barcade. Chinatown Fair is the real thing!

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(Full post at Scouting New York)

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Comments (1) Feb 24 2011

FOREVER THE MOMENT is one of my favorite Korean movies of all time, and it’s screening tomorrow night (Tuesday, February 22 @ 7pm) for free! Courtesy of the Korean Cultural Service.

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Where? Tribeca Cinemas
(54 Varick Street, on the corner of Canal Street, one block from the A, C, E and 1 train Canal Street stops)

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Price? Free.
All seating is first-come, first served. Doors open at 6:30pm.

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Twitch just posted a glowing review, and you can read another one here. This is one of the few Korean movies with a female director, and it was a huge word-of-mouth hit in 2008. If you love movies, sports movies, or movies about women’s handball, then you don’t want to miss this heartbreaker. It’s unexpected, absolutely thrilling and probably one of the best movies about women, sports, winning and losing ever made.

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Comments (0) Feb 21 2011

China Lion, the company that brings Chinese first run films to the US with day-and-date releases is still running the Chinese New Year’s romantic comedy, WHAT WOMEN WANT, a remake of the Mel Gibson movie only this time starring Andy Lau and Gong Li, neither of whom have ever threatened their spouses or made anti-semitic statements while drunk, so it can only be an improvement!

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Or can it? The Hollywood original is a pretty bad movie, full of mugging and broad performances, and the remake is getting mixed reviews. Screen Daily says it, “…rarely rises above a genial likability, lacking sufficient comic or romantic brio.” The LA Times calls it, “Just different enough, it has neither the obsessional pull of Gus Van Sant’s loony remake of PSYCHO nor enough distinction to really feel like its own unique object.” And Variety says, “…the script rarely produces fireworks…”

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However, the same reviews go on to state that the movie, “…trumpets its relaxed, playful tone…” (Screen) and “Looking terrific at 49 and 45, respectively, Lau and Gong have the right physical chemistry…” (Variety). So it’s charming, but ultimately it doesn’t improve on its source. Directed by Chen Daming (director of ONE FOOT OFF THE GROUND, and he played a Yakuza in BEVERLY HILLS NINJA) it did very well over the New Year. (More on Chen Daming)

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(Remaining showtimes in NYC)

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Comments (0) Feb 16 2011

Kim Ji-Woon’s I SAW THE DEVIL is being co-presented by Subway Cinema and the Film Society of Lincoln Center at Film Comment Selects (Sunday, February 20 @ 1:00pm) and then from February 25 – March 2, BAM is hosting a Kim Ji-Woon retrospective, which includes his rarely screened career-best films, THE FOUL KING and A BITTERSWEET LIFE. Also, Kim Ji-Woon will be in the house!!!

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SEVERELY DAMAGED: THE CINEMA OF KIM JI-WOON

(Feb. 25 – March 2)

(complete series info & schedule)
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A BITTERSWEET LIFE (Saturday, Feb. 26 @ 6:50pm & 9:30pm)
It doesn’t get any better than this. Kim Ji-Woon’s super-stylized gangster film doubles as a Zen meditation on the transitory nature of violence and after all the jaws are broken, henchmen are crushed by cars, thugs are shot and blood is spilled, maybe it was all just a movie-addicted kid’s dream after all? Featuring Lee Byung-Hun as a Type A enforcer who moves like a shark and lives like a robot, this film has been lusted after by dozens of distributors but the rights are locked up with the never-gonna-happen remake deal, so don’t expect to see this on DVD in your lifetime. (tickets and showtimes) (read a review)

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THE FOUL KING (Tuesday, March 1 @ 4:30pm, 6:50pm, 9:15pm)
Did Darren Aronofsky rip off THE FOUL KING to make THE WRESTLER? A little? This is the movie that put Kim Ji-Woon on the map, presenting a high octane performance by Song Kang-Ho (THE HOST, SECRET SUNSHINE) as a bank teller who finds spiritual salvation as a low-budget, masked wrestler on the carnival circuit. Deploying an arsenal of character actors in their funniest performances ever, it features one of the blackest punchlines of any film in recent history and it is not available anymore on DVD. (tickets and showtimes) (read a longer write-up)
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THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD (Wednesday, March 2 @ 6pm, 9pm)
Not his best movie, but this breezy remake of Sergio Leone’s THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY is a satisfying summer blockbuster in March, full of epic train robberies, massive shoot-outs and three of Korea’s best actors: Lee Byung-Hun (A BITTERSWEET LIFE), Song Kang-Ho (THE FOUL KING) and Jung Woo-Sung (REIGN OF ASSASSINS). Slight and sunny, it’s better on the big screen. (tickets and showtimes) (read reviews)
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I SAW THE DEVIL (Friday, February 25 @ 7pm)
Kim Ji-Woon will be in the house to present his intense, chilly serial killer vs. secret agent film festival shocker. Lee Byung-Hun plays a white hat version of his scarily proficient enforcer from A BITTERSWEET LIFE and the serial killer is Korea’s great actor, Choi Min-Shik, returning to the big screen for the first time in years. Not for the weak-stomached, and not for people who can’t handle extensive scenes of gruesome violence against people who never had it coming. Still, Director Kim will be here to distribute hugs. (tickets and showtimes) (read a review)

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THE QUIET FAMILY (Monday, Feb. 28 @ 4:30pm, 6:50pm, 9:15pm)
Kim Ji-Woon’s first movie was licensed and remade as a musical by Takashi Miike who called his version HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS, but it’s hard to top the ridiculous, anything-for-a-joke QUIET FAMILY and its black-as-pitch comedy stylings. Beautifully shot, perfectly acted, it’s all about a family that bought a mountain inn to escape the urban rat race, and now that the inn is failing they realize that their road to success might be paved with dead bodies. (tickets and showtimes) (read reviews)

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A TALE OF TWO SISTERS (Sunday, Feb. 27 @ 2pm, 4:30pm, 6:50pm, 9:15pm)
Kim Ji-Woon’s beautifully art-directed horror film was a huge hit in Korea and big hit in the US, too, and for good reason. A twisty, mind-melter that leads you into a labyrinth in which everyone is responsible and no one gets away in the end, this was one of the first “nothing is as it seems” ghost movies, but it justifies its unrealiable narration with its final, heartbreaking scene of the primal crime that unleashed the spirits who haunt this film. A huge breakthrough from Kim, it was the first of his movies to feature his new, highly-polished style, and any frame grab from this movie looks like a layout in Wallpaper magazine. (tickets and showtimes) (read a review)

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Comments (0) Feb 16 2011

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Alien

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Ninja

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They fight.

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That’s all you need to know.

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For free at the Rerun Gastropub Theater (Tuesday, Friday 15 @ 10pm, full info)

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Comments (2) Feb 10 2011

David Bordwell, one of the first American academics to take Hong Kong cinema seriously, is going to be in town on Saturday, February 19 at the Museum of the Chinese in Americas @ 2:30pm. He’s here to promote the new, souped-up edition of his book, PLANET HONG KONG, the essential film studies guide to Hong Kong cinema. He’ll be doing an onstage discussion about Hong Kong and Asian cinema. Here’s full info on the book, which is a must-buy. (event details)

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Comments (1) Feb 10 2011

From February 18 – March 3 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Film Comment Presents will be showing a line-up of films from around the world that plays as an alternate, and more fun, version of the New York Film Festival. Subway Cinema is psyched to be presenting three of the movies:

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COLD FISH – Sion Sono’s first major film since the incredible LOVE EXPOSURE, this is one of the most bizarre portraits of a serial killer ever to hit the big screen. A mild-mannered fish store owner falls into the orbit of a cranky, elderly, ultra-charismatic serial killer and all-around-freak, Murata-san. By the end of this movie, everyone’s drowning in blood. Literally. (read a review) (tickets and info)

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(NOTE: we say it’s Sono’s first “major” film after LOVE EXPOSURE. He made the very worthy and moving BE SURE TO SHARE between LX and COLD FISH, and we even premiered it, but no one else seems to remember the film! Here’s a review to refresh your memory.)

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COLD FISH

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I SAW THE DEVIL – Kim Ji-Woon’s latest movie after THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE WEIRD is a locked down secret agent vs. serial killer flick. Less a horror film and more a hard-rocking thriller, it comes alive thanks to its two lead actors: Lee Byung-Hyun’s shark-ish, sleek, super-competent secret agent versus Choi Min-Shik’s savage serial killer, which marks the return to the screen for Choi after several years absence. (read a review) (tickets and info)

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I SAW THE DEVIL

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LEGEND OF THE FIST: RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN – Donnie Yen teams up with Andrew Lau (INFERNAL AFFAIRS) to make yet another Bruce Lee homage. This time it’s the 1920’s and Donnie plays Kato from the Green Hornet, beating up evil Japanese people in a costume and mask. The action kicks off in the trenches of WW I and don’t stop kicking people in the face for a really long time. (read a review) (tickets and info)

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LEGEND OF THE FIST

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Two other Asian movies we’re not co-presenting are in the line-up, too: Jia Zhangke’s I WISH I KNEW, and THE CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH a grueling movie about the rape of Nanking, from the director of KEKEXILI.

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Full Film Comment Selects line-up

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Comments (0) Feb 10 2011

The last film in the Japan Society’s Zen and Its Opposite series, SWORD OF DOOM slashes across the screen like a razor sharp blade made of pure evil. One of the great – possibly one of the greatest – samurai movies ever made, Kihachi Okamoto’s SWORD OF DOOM stars two of Japan’s biggest screen idols, Toshiro Mifune (SEVEN SAMURAI) and Tatsuya Nakadai (THE HUMAN CONDITION) who plays a master swordsman who seems to have traded his soul and become a merciless killing machine. A grim, washed-out, bleak, downright apocalyptic samurai film, it’s the kind of samurai movie Cormac McCarthy might have written.

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Screening at Japan Society, Friday, Feb. 18 @ 7:30pm. Tickets are $12/$9 for members. Complete screening info.

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Read the Criterion Collection’s essay on SWORD OF DOOM. Or, read the Onion’s AV Club review.

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Comments (2) Feb 10 2011