The New York Asian Film Festival is over, but Asian movies are still coming to NYC. You can drown your sorrows, and treat your withdrawal, with the Korean Cultural Service’s Free movie night.

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What’s coming up?

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Series Three: TV Party
In America, Korea is famous for its movies, but in the rest of the world it’s famous for its TV. Korean drama series have scored everywhere in Asia, from China to Japan and Korean television dramas have been so popular in Malaysia that kimchi imports to that country jumped 150%. Korean TV series are even part of primetime programming in Cambodia and Iran. And so now, in this series, the KCS presents the best of Korean TV.

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TUESDAY, July 13 @ 7pm
TOKYO TAXI (2010, 76 minutes, New York Premiere)
Award-winning, arthouse darling, Kim Tae-Sik (DRIVING WITH MY WIFE’S LOVER), directed this TV movie that was so acclaimed it went on to do the film festival circuit. Ryo’s (Masashi Yamada’s) band has been invited to a play a concert in Seoul, but he’s terrified of flying. In a burst of inspiration he hails a taxi in Tokyo and demands that it honor its pledge to take him to any destination, in this case, Seoul. And so begins an epic odyssey of passenger and driver across hundreds of miles and two countries in this wry, sharply-observed comedy. One of the best and most ambitious of the made-for-TV movies, it helped launch the career of Yu Hana, who plays an Asiana stewardess, Ryo’s unobtainable object of desire.

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TUESDAY, July 27 @ 7pm
GIRL BY GIRL (2007, 80 minutes, New York Premiere)
Starting life as a student film made for cable TV, GIRL BY GIRL (SONYEO X SONYEO) became a popular hit thanks to its ferociously committed lead performance by Kwak Ji-Min, the star of Kim Ki-Duk’s SAMARITAN GIRL and one of the actors in the bawdy, over-the-top DASEPO NAUGHTY GIRLS. In GIRL BY GIRL Kwak plays a troublemaking high school student who is hell on wheels. When she and a model student both fall for the same guy, she figures that this means war, and so she manages to convince the model student that their dream man only likes bad girls, while trying to turn herself into the perfect high school girl he actually desires. It sounds contrived, and it is, but Kwak’s go-for-broke performance papers over the rough spots with its speed and commitment. She’s heartless one minute, ridiculous another and then oddly sympathetic the next, just like a real teenager.

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TUESDAY, August 10 @ 7pm
PUNCH STRIKE (2006, 81 minutes, New York Premiere)
Korean directors are almost exclusively male, and PUNCH STRIKE would be notable if for no other reason that for the fact that its director, Ryou Eun-Jung, is a woman. She worked in the trenches for years before she was able to make her short film “A Smoke-Flavored Life” which won awards at film festivals around the world. She followed it up with PUNCH STRIKE, a rambunctious flick that takes on the high school power dynamic in Korea, which makes even the most dysfunctional American high school look like paradise. Hard-working character actor, Lim Won-Hie, plays “Mad Dog” a psychotic teacher who physically abuses and sexually humiliates his students. But when he slaps Mina (Park Min-Ji) in the face in front of her secret crush he’s crossed the line and so she and her two friends begin a quiet revolution as they seek their revenge. As bouncy and rambunctious as a 16 year old texting while simultaneously talking on the phone and updating their Facebook page, it’s a movie that fell between the cracks but that deserves wider exposure for its particularly cock-eyed take on high school hell.

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TUESDAY, August 24 @ 7pm
OUR SLIGHTLY RISQUE RELATIONSHIP (2000, 110 minutes)
This TV movie is one of powerhouse broadcaster KBS’ new “Drama Specials,” 60 minute made-for-TV movies that showcase their hottest talent. OUR SLIGHTLY RISQUE RELATIONSHIP (formerly titled MY LITTLE EROTIC LOVER) is a typical meet-cute between a broadcaster and a reporter who can’t stand the sight of each other. Elevating this formulaic flick is the bawdy nature of the comedy (they meet cute when she spills hot soup on his penis, sparking a medical emergency) and the fact that it stars Lee Seon-Gyun. Lee was relegated to bit parts for years before he starred in the 2007 TV series, THE 1st SHOP OF THE COFFEE PRINCE, playing the owner of a run down coffee house. The show was a massive hit and he followed it up with the medical TV series, WHITE TOWER. Now he’s not only the biggest male actor on Korean television, but last year he won an acting award for his role in the critically acclaimed feature film PAJU.

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Comments (3) Jul 11 2010

New York Asian Film Festival 2010 ended tonight with a big bang: a sold-out show of BLADES OF BLOOD, prizes, bloodbath, drunken revelry and eventually, regret. Here are the details.

We’re proud to announce that the winner of two airplane tickets (courtesy of American Airlines, our official airline sponsor) was present in the audience tonight to celebrate his win. Congratulations to Tyrone Turner – we’ll be in touch soon with details about how to collect your prize. Have some sake on us.

We’re also happy to announce the winners of our Audience Awards:

First place: a tie between GALLANTS and CASTAWAY ON THE MOON!

(director Lee Hay-june collected his prize of a bottle of champagne onstage, sans translator)

Second place: IP MAN 2!

Third place: a three-way tie between LITTLE BIG SOLDIER, CONFESSIONS and ECHOES OF THE RAINBOW!

Fourth place: a tie between LIVE TAPE and CRAZY RACER.

Honorable mention goes to RED CLIFF, which had a great showing in the audience awards, but because it already had a U.S. release, was disqualified from winning!

Congratulations to all the winners, movies, human and otherwise. See you in 2011, maybe?

Comments (9) Jul 09 2010

The New York Asian Film Festival is drawing to a close over the next three days, so go out with us Viking funeral style and let’s burn it all down. Bring a friend, and come check out one of these amazing movies before they’re gone forever.

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GALLANTS – the number one, can’t-miss movie of the festival, this is Hong Kong filmmaking at its finest. Four foot tall rock n’roll pioneer, Teddy Robin, gives a lesson in cool. Shaw Brothers icon, Chen Kuan-tai, is older and grayer but he’s still made of hero. And pug-ugly Bruce Leung shows you how a 60-year-old martial artist takes care of business. Bonus! Bruce Leung is in the house, and at the July 8 screening, Chinese rapper MC Jin will be on stage as well. He plays the bad guy in the film and rarely has a man with this many hip hop skills been willing to look so stupid onscreen. Last screening: Thursday, July 8 @ 6pm.

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DOMAN SEMAN – you won’t see another movie like this in your life: infuriating, ecstatic, transcendent, challenging, psychedelic, hilarious, stupid, hyper-intelligent and completely unique. With wall-to-wall rock, ska and thrash music from Kyoto’s best underground bands, this occult odyssey needs an explanation, and who better to provide it than director Go Shibata and actor Monchi who will be onstage after the show to give A’s to your Q’s. Last screening: Wednesday, July 7 @ 5:45pm.

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MERANTAU – yes, the screening slot is sucky, but exploitation movies don’t cut any closer to the bone than this Indonesian martial arts meat grinder that makes a bid to achieve ONG BAK-style immortality. Fast and furious, it comes with delicious trash garnish like evil Eurotrash villains, human trafficking subplots and broken glass being plucked out of faces and used as a weapon. Only screening: Thursday, July 8 @ 3:45pm. Skip work and come get your thrill centers adjusted.

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CASTAWAY ON THE MOON – don’t judge a book by its cover. We were nervous about this film as well but it is inarguably the best romance to hit cinema screens this summer, and it puts Hollywood’s hamhanded attempts at romance to shame. At the first screening, every single member of the sold-out house stayed for the Q&A with director Lee Hey-Jun, and the audience award scores were super-high. This is the ultimate date movie, and the only believable romance we’ve seen this year. Last screening: Wednesday, July 7 @ 8:45pm.

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We’re in the home stretch now, and some of Lincoln Center is still standing. Come on up and help us out. By the time we leave, this place should be a smoking crater that smells like awesome.

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Comments (3) Jul 06 2010

Sure Sammo Hung, Simon Yam and Huang Bo were amazing guests, but there are a bunch of guests in town right now for upcoming shows and you shouldn’t miss them.

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DOMAN SEMAN – imagine A HARD DAY’S NIGHT only it’s about Aleister Crowley instead of the Beatles and you’ve got an idea of the occult intensity of Go Shibata’s new movie. Time Out New York writes, “Ladies and gentlemen, meet the 2010 fest’s candidate for MVP mind-melter. Damnations of modern society are rarely so full of free-form rage, nor this fantastically fucked up.”

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Director Go Shibata will be on hand to explain everything, and actor Mochi, who plays immortal incarnation of evil, Kato the Catwalk, will be at the screenings too.

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GALLANTS – Hong Kong’s legendary martial arts stars of the 70’s, now in their sixties and at the top of their game in this action comedy that hits you like a human tornado. Here’s the full info on the film.

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Star Bruce Leung, best known for his role as “The Beast” in Stephen Chow’s KUNG FU HUSTLE, will be at the screenings. Also, we just found out that MC Jin, the Chinese-American rapper who plays the neck-braced bad guy, will be at the July 8 screening of GALLANTS.

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ACTRESSES – one of our favorite guests, director E J-Yong, will be here with his new film, ACTRESSES. Director of the Korean version of Dangerous Liasions, UNTOLD SCANDAL, and the high school sex musical, DASEPO NAUGHTY GIRLS, he gives the best Q&A we know. ACTRESSES is screening tonight, Saturday, July 3, and Monday afternoon at 3:40pm, both times at the Walter Reade. More info on the film.

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Comments (0) Jul 03 2010

Tomorrow, Saturday, July 3, the Japan Society will shake to its very foundations underneath the onslaught of the Sushi Typhoon – an enormous storm of masterfully sliced raw fish, flying through the air at speeds of up to 55 mph.

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First….

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Alien vs Ninja @ 6pm

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Then….

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Mutant Girls Squad @ 8:30pm

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And then? And then? And then there is the Sushi Typhoon Costume Party. It’s open to the entire audience (and even if you just want to come by, we probably won’t throw you out). Free beer from our sponsors! Free food! And even better…it’s a costume party.

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Dress as a mutant:

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Or a girl:

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Or a mutant girl:

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Or an alien:

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Or a ninja:

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Directors Noboru Iguchi (ROBOGEISHA) and Yoshihiro Nishimura (MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD) will select the best costume and give that person…A Head! (no, not head. A head.) Hand picked from Nishimura’s workshop, a hideous, gruesome, artisanal head could be yours.

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So come on up to see the movies, or just show up for the Sushi Typhoon Costume Party at Japan Society (333 East 47th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenues), on Saturday, July 3 @ 10:30pm!

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The heads in question.

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We’ll be there with our party heads on. Will you?

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Comments (1) Jul 02 2010

This piece on Sammo Hung just appeared in the New York Times and in the International Herald Tribune, all about his lifetime achievement award. Thought folks might be interested.

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Here it is!
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Only one more Sammo Hung movie left to screen: the Monday, July 5 show of KUNG FU CHEFS. Skip work and come get hungry!

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Fan Siu-wong hates Sammo’s tummy!

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Sammo Hung: Butt-kicker. Sauce-maker.

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Comments (0) Jul 02 2010

While he’s in town, Kenta Maeno will be playing a couple of gigs around town. The first is:

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Kenta Maeno.

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Friday, July 2nd @ 10pm
A FREE acoutic set by Kenta Maeno & drummer POP Suzuki at Coco66 (66 Greenpoint Avenue, between Franklin and West) out in Brooklyn. For info, call 718-389-7392.

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Saturday, July 3rd @ 7pm
At the Blue Owl (196 Second Avenue @ 12th Street, downstairs). $7 at the door, more info here or call 212-505-2583. There’s also live Brazilian jazz at 6pm courtesy of Yuko Ito.

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More on LIVE TAPE, the documentary about Kenta Maeno, and some footage of him performing.

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Also performing this week, Cay Izumi from MUTANT GIRL SQUAD and ANCIENT DOGOO GIRL will be pole dancing all over NYC!
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Cay Izumi.

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Friday, July 2nd @ 2am
Trash at Webster Hall (125 E. 11th Street, btwn 3rd & 4th). $5 cover with online flyer, $10 without.

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Then she’ll also be performing on Monday, July 5 @ 9:30pm
Moco Moco (516 Third Ave, btwn 34th & 35th)
$10 cover, more info at 212-685-3663
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She’s aiming to corrupt NYC and shock the unwary. See videos of her performances and be singed.

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Comments (3) Jul 01 2010

We owe a huge apology to Jerry Ma of Epic Proportions, whose designs for our shirts have nearly become as big a draw as the films. In all the excitement of springing Angela Mao Ying on Sammo, we neglected to tell the crowd that the award incorporated Jerry’s original artwork for the shirt (see photo below).

Sammo was told backstage, once we realized our mistake, and he was clearly impressed. We love the design and value Jerry’s work highly, so we apologize and hope we can continue to work with him for many more years.

We encourage you to visit Jerry’s blog, and Epic Proportions web site, where you can get more of his great T-shirts (some of our favorites are  “Super Fly,” “Golden Arms,” and “You Have Our Gratitude”). And if you like comic books, you should also check out Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology where Jerry was one of the key creative forces.

Comments (0) Jun 30 2010

Tomorrow, the New York Asian Film Festival splits in two like some kind of hideous earthworm and continues to exist in two places at the same time!

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Like a horrible amoeba!

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One half of us will continue to wiggle away at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade theater, while the other half will be squirming around at Japan Society from July 1 – 4.

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We’ll look a little like this.

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You can find the full Japan Society schedule on the main schedule page, but here are some things you shouldn’t miss:

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- SAWAKO DECIDES (Thursday, 6:45pm) – it’s a one-time-only screening of this movie that the Twitch reviewer calls, “one of the best chick flicks I have ever seen, ever.” Later, someone seconds that emotion in the comments with “best of the fest.” And it’s true: Sawako really is something else.

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- CONFESSIONS (Thursday, July 1 @ 9pm; and Sunday, July 4 @ 2pm) – this is the movie from the director of MEMORIES OF MATSUKO that has been number one at the Japanese box office for weeks. The July 1 screening is SOLD OUT, but the July 4 screening still has some tickets left.

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Confessions

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- Sushi Typhoon Saturday - on Saturday, July 3, Sushi Typhoon is in the house! Starting with a 6pm screening of ALIEN VS NINJA, the chaos continues with the official Sushi Typhoon launch, an 8:30pm screening of the unbelievable MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD and a Sushi Typhoon Costume Party with free beer and food for all ticket holders.

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They are mutants. They are girls. They are squad.

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And throughout the entire weekend, you’ll be able to bathe in the mystical, healing waterfall in Japan Society’s lobby.

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All these screenings are co-presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Film (July 1 – 16) which is screening a “Best of the 2000’s” retrospective. You cannot miss HANGING GARDEN (Toshiaki Toyoda’s version of TOKYO SONATA that is far superior to Kurosawa’s twee, later version) and the glorious, monumental musical, MEMORIES OF MATSUKO, winner of the NYAFF Audience Award in 2007 by a country mile.

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Comments (0) Jun 30 2010

Comments (1) Jun 29 2010