THE YELLOW SEA + final comments: NYAFF – day 14
July 16th, 2011 by Mr. C
The 10th annual NY Asian Film Festival came in whimpering to the theme of love & being horny on the 1st day of screenings to going out with a bang on the Yellow Sea of revenge by the 14th night! Mucho thanks to the guys & gals at Subway Cinema for organizing such a fun event!
THE YELLOW SEA directed by Na Hong-Jin, part of the korean sea of vengeance themed programming was the last screening on this fortnight of NYAFF bliss! Let me highlight a few things from this festive night that made the finale quite unique before going off on a tangent with an abbreviated mr. c monarch note of the film. Trouble would lurk in the projection booth at Walter Reade Theater before the Yellow Sea screening. There were technical difficulties with projecting the subtitles and/or they didn’t have the right format of the film for the showing. The movie seemed to be of the digital projection variety as opposed to traditional film with no subtitles burned onto the image. The director, Na Hong Jin had to use power point with the english text translations on each slide to translate the dialogue for all the scenes in the movie while he tapped on the computer to forward each slide in morse code like rhythm to be in sync with the conversations in real time! The power point slide would be projected onto the digital print of the movie on the bottom of the screen where traditional burned in translations would be! Na Hong Jin did a great job with the subtitles as his timing was impeccable! There were a few instances when the subs were a millisecond or two ahead of the dialogue but better early than late, I suppose! The director told us that he had only one hour to prepare for this debacle! Kudos to Na Hong Jin for rolling with the punches to allow us to watch this film! The 2nd highlight or more accurately, lowlight of the night was the Q&A session after the screening. Some of the questions that were asked by the audience to the director were totally ridiculous & quite embarrassing in my opinion. It definitely made the Q&A awkward & sort of weirded out the night to an otherwise enthusiastic crowd for the screening! The translator also looked confused. Maybe she botched up the translations so we didn’t look as bad?! The 1st question/comment posed to Na Hong-Jin from the audience was: I screened this film in china a few months ago & I liked that version better. Do you think an alliance or collaboration with east asia is important? *WHAT?*
The 2nd question was: How many cars did you smash up on the set? Another bright question: How pertinent was north korea in relation to the film? *WHAT?* The film had nothing to do with North Korea. It was all about south korea, china, & the ethnic koreans living in china. You should of seen the look on the director & translators face! One south asian film student asked: Do you think about the edited portion of the scene before you actually shoot the footage? *WHAT*
The one question that took the golden trophy was (not in the exact words): What is going on with Korea & the epidemic of recent thriller-killer-violent films like the Yellow Sea, I saw the Devil, The Chaser, and so on! What does that say about korean society? *STEREOTYPE* It’s called entertainment, buddy!
To be honest, I had mixed feelings about THE YELLOW SEA. The movie had big budget aesthetics written all over it and it seemed to be expertly filmed minus a little bit too much of the shaking camera syndrome & closeup shots to show intensity when under the duress of a life or death action sequence. For fans of ultra violence & blood splatter induced by a hatchet in a thriller setting which crosses over to the horror umbrella, you might find this of interest! For you realism fans, you might start out believing in the dream like Martin Luther King Jr said, but after a few twists & turns here and there, you might start questioning the script. The story starts out great, real grim, dark, & bleak! The setting of the movie takes place in Yanbian, China, a city that is not too far from the borders of north korea. Yanbian would be heavily populated by ethnic koreans otherwise known as joseonjok who live/work there in hopes for a better opportunity outside of Korea. Our main character, Ku-nam is a cabbie, living day to day with a mah jong gambling habit. He suspects that his wife is cheating on him as she disappears into the arms of south korea while the grandma takes care of their child. Temptations would soon grab a hold of our furry ethnic korean friend when a proposal from a raggamuffin gangster type who is very proficient with a hatchet wants to hire him as a hitman to eliminate someone in Seoul. With a big debt on his hand, a runaway wife, and a kid to support, our joseonjok man takes up the offer of murdering the professor. The only caveat is that he must complete this mission under a strict time limit or else his mother & daughter will be in harms way. The games would soon begin as a rocky boat ride of immigrants from yanbian china to south korea proves to be lethal for some. Things don’t go as planned as Ku-nam entangles with another mafioso when going for the hit. Things from here on out will get the movie realists to shake their heads. Car chases, evading police, eating dog meat off the bone, hatchet hacking, running…lots of running, & some south korean, benny hill style law enforcement will all be a part of this dark thriller-horror-comedy?! The prospects of finding his wife and/or the lover will add fuel to the fire! The crazy hatchet master that hired Ku-Nam will eventually come out from yanbian-china to play in south korea! Both of these characters will have more than 9 lives each as death seems to elude them! Realizing that he has been framed, ku-nam tries to unearth the story as survival & the search for his wife will make a heavy heart. This movie will be a real hit or miss for some. The story takes a bit to build up, but when it does, it gets real suspenseful offering up lots of violence to boot. The instrumental soundtrack to this film is very eery and puts you on edge when the characters start fleeing for their lives or while they are breaking down human parts for portability reasons! The movie is over 2.5 hours long & even with the unbelievable plot, I have to say that I was still engrossed in all the melee! I was completely fascinated by the ethnic Koreans aka joseonjok’s that are living in Yanbian, China! I hope to see more movies on this subject!
Tags: na hong jin, new york asian film festival, nyaff, the yellow sea
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Raekwon, Smif-N-Wessun, Joell Ortiz, Large Professor, Neek The Exotic and Skyzoo played Prospect Park
July 15th, 2011 by chocko
Raekwon The Chef
Smif-N-Wessun
Joell Ortiz
Large Professor and Neek The Exotic
Skyzoo
The annual Celebrate Brooklyn! shows at Prospect Park featured a hip hop lineup last weekend courtesy of Lyricist Lounge. The performance area was packed and the crowd was eager to hear some real hip hop. Skyzoo started off the night with songs from his new mixtape that just dropped titled “The Great Debater.” Skyzoo got the crowd hyped, however he rarely performed to the audience on the left side. It was pretty weird and cats around me were noticing. He worked the middle and stage left but left the rest of us out in the cold. He closed with the bass in your face “Speakers On Blast” from his second release with Duck Down Records titled “Live From The Tape Deck.”
Large Professor and Neek The Exotic performed next. Just a quick recap in case your memory’s a little foggy, but Large Pro was a member of the trailblazing hip hop group Main Source and is a legendary producer who’s worked with Nas on Illmatic, A Tribe Called Quest, and Kool G. Rap…just to name a few. Neek is a NYC native who was on the Main Source track, “Fakin The Funk” and has worked with Large Professor during the recording of his independent releases, “Exotic’s Raw” and “Exotic Species.” They both tag-teamed for a new album which came out earlier in the year titled “Still On The Hustle.” They performed a no-nonsense set of dope rhymes and the show was definitely picking up. The crowd was receptive and it was nice to hear the new stuff sprinkled in with the old hits and familiar songs. Get their new album now!
The Brooklyn MC, Joell Ortiz got a huge response from the the crowd. Ortiz came with the goods and performed the most energetic, crowd pleasing set of the night. Ever since his involvement with the hip hop super group, Slaughterhouse, Ortiz has been more popular than ever. Ortiz is not to be messed with lyrically and his freestyle skills are one of the best. The hometown crowd ate up the the back to back performances of “Brooklyn” and “Brooklyn Bullshit.”
Smif-N-Wessun entered the stage, first Steele and then probably the most off the wall entrance I’ve seen a while….Tek comes out running with a baby stroller! Park Slope represent! The baby in the stroller making the grand entrance was Shaun Price, Sean Price’s little daughter. Sean Price was on hand and joined the Duck Down crew along with Buckshot and Rock (aka Tha Rockness Monstah) from Heltah Skeltah. These guys were no joke and performed a solid set with lots of hits going way back to the early 90’s. Hearing “Bucktown” live never gets old. Be sure to pick up the new Smif-N-Wessun album titled “Monumental” with all tracks produced by Pete Rock!
Raekwon The Chef of Wu-Tang Clan headlined the evening and stepped on stage with a man-purse…the soccer mom swagger seemed to be the running theme of the night. After the unsightly murse was placed down, The Chef got cooking and provided us with the food we needed in the form of hip hop classics. Or rather, pieces of hip hop classics…you were lucky if you heard 2 verses of a song. The norm was one verse and then a chorus, an explosion sound effect, some banter then on to the next song. Why perform a snippet of a song…I just don’t get it. If Springsteen performed only half of “Thunder Road” or cut “Born To Run” short in concert, the crowd would riot in the parking lot. Besides the shortened version of songs such as “C.R.E.A.M”, “Incarcerated Scarfaces”, “Ice Cream” and Wu bangers “Da Mystery of Chessboxin”, and “Triumph” it was a fun, solid hour of showmanship complete with plenty of audience participation. The Ol’ Dirty Bastard tribute performance of “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” was definitely a highlight with the crowd rapping along to Raekwon’s take on the classic ODB track. Check out the videos below of Raekwon’s performance of “C.R.E.A.M.” and Smif-N-Wessun along with Sean Price doing “That’s Hard.”
Tags: brooklyn, celebrate, concert, hip hop, rap, rapper, show
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The City of Violence + The Unjust : NYAFF – Day 13
July 14th, 2011 by Mr. C
Day 13 of the NYAFF would feature the films of Ryoo Seung Wan and Lee Joon-Ik which was part of the Korean inspired sea of vengeance theme! The films on the Walter Reade chalkboard on day 13 seemed to be a nice 3 course meal of contrast representing the work of these multifaceted directors. THE CITY OF VIOLENCE, BATTLEFIELD HEROES, & THE UNJUST would anchor the Ryoo Seung Wan & Lee Joon-Ik boat ride! Action, dark comedy, & a crime drama would be the cine-cuisine special of the day! I was only able to set sail with the City of Violence and The Unjust, though.
It took me quite a bit of time to decompress & settle my chi after watching the ultra uber-violent piece of art on film known as The City of Violence! To me, this movie is a slice of heaven in my favorite genre of film! Thanks to mondo curry-san for reminding me of this gem last year which I overlooked since 2006! This movie has a non cerebral vengeance plot with some of the most energized martial arts action & raw stunts reminiscent of the 1980-1990’s HK action films! Director, Ryoo Seung Wan & actor, Doo-hong Jung most DEFINITELY displayed the korean art of Tae Kwan Do to its highest form as the ballet like flow of spinning kicks performed with killer instinct & fury was a sight to behold! The story evolved from 5 childhood friends growing up together in a small city with all the friendship dynamics you would expect, to eventually grow up & out while finding their own paths in life. Four of the friends (3 are brothers) remain in the city they grew up in still ruling the roost with original ganster mentality except the older, weaker brother while the 5th friend, Tae-Su is a cop in big city pimpin’ Seoul. One of the five friends would let greed & power get the best of him as he tries to turn the small, quaint city that he grew up in into a money making tourist machine as per the brass of asses from Seoul! “By Any means neccessary” would be a great phrase for this antagonist as nothing will stand in his way, not even lifelong friends! You get a feeling that this character is subconsciously striking back at his old crew from past experiences as a child, now that he has the authority to lash back in different ways to finally achieve the power & fame that he ultimately wanted! The two fight sequences in the movie that will create orgasmic spasms while under the watchful eye include the street fight scene & the finale martial art rendezvous that had the flow of Bruce Lee going through the levels of the pagoda like in the game of death! The street fight scene has got to be on my top 10 list of all time best action skirmishes in a movie! I mean, that sequence totally blew me out of the galaxy! You had the rhythm of the jackie chan like action, battling characters that looked like they could be from THE WARRIORS who teamed up with the korean hip hop/b-boy dance troupe while adding reinforcements from the BMX team & cute korean school girls?! Director Ryoo Seung Wan summed it up perfectly! His state of mind when filming THE CITY OF VIOLENCE incorporated the mindset of a typical 1970’s like crime action drama with Jackie Chan acting, Martin Scorcese directing, Sam Peckinpah editing the film, & Sergio Leone scoring the soundtrack! To me, City of Violence inherited all of those traits & then some! The birds eye-view/overhead camera shots of the fight scenes truly complimented the beautiful art of Tae Kwan Do as they twist & turned 360 degrees while demolishing their opponents! Ryoo Seung Wan would also mention that Tsui Hark’s THE BLADE, John Boorman’s POINT BLANK, & John Woo’s slow motion, big city pimpin’ style really influenced his personality in the direction of the film! Another awesome tidbit of information from the Q&A session with the director after the screening was the question: who was the costume designer? The designer was the same person that worked on OLD BOY & LADY VENGEANCE! Ryoo Seung Wan requested that the costume design have the same look & elegance reminiscent to the old Shaw Brother films!
I couldn’t help but cream in my pants when I watched this film, y’all! It’s a fun movie to behold with plenty of action that will make you say…oh..ah..oh my god..what da! The soundtrack of The City of Violence is off the charts as well! Spaghetti western, korean hip hop along with some bad ass funk is a win, win for me! Get a copy of the DRAGON DYNASTY released version of THE CITY OF VIOLENCE, y’all! You’ll thank me later!
I’m not sure if I have enough words to give THE UNJUST a proper hype-up that it deserves! My 2nd screening of the day directed by Ryoo Seung Wan with the korean sea of vengeance theme in mind from the NYAFF was a by-product of deception in the justice system & the politics that are involved in the internal fight! The aftermath of watching The City of Violence was of the energy zapping sorts & it absorbed all my midi-chlorians (star wars reference)! I might need some tag team help from fellow writers, Mondo Curry & DB with an assist for THE UNJUST bon bon trail to go along with my abbreviated cliff notes! First of all, the movie was filmed with dazzling aesthetics in mind with a suspenseful like artisan precision leaving you to jump around in your seat not knowing what to expect! The cityscape camera shots that would eventually innovate monster like acts manifested by these characters in the so called noble like professions of crime & justice would be stunning to the eye! The Unjust was basically a chess match of corruption involving the south korean crime fighting force of various departments including a prosecutor that was played by the real life brother of Ryoo Seung Yan, & an internal affairs unit. A massive hunt & the pressures of trying to crack the case of a serial killer on the loose that has an affinity for school girls is at large. The local crime unit seemed to have a lead to the real serial killer but unfortunately the team killed him with no substantial evidence that would of clearly convicted him. So goes the massive coverup of trying to frame an innocent somebody X for these killings. The bad cop, bad prosecutor, & bad justice team in general, keep digging themselves deeper and deeper until the truth is unearthed. The dirty cop is one ruthless & selfish son of a bitch willing to do anything including beating up & instilling fear into anyone standing in his way. I would definitely think twice before stealing this dudes lunch money! The prosecutor is no angel, either with his manipulative ways! The ping pong match of covering deceit on top of deceit was fascinating! The action is few & far in between but when something does kick off, someone is getting a deep thrashing of a beatdown! The last 30 minutes of the film will have you jumping around like HOUSE OF PAIN!
Tags: city of violence, new york asian film festival, nyaff, ryoo seung wan, the city of violence, the unjust
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spotlight: film fan depot
July 13th, 2011 by Mr. C
We had a chance to speak with Dolores, a big fan of asian films for quite some time now. I met her at last years NY Asian Film Festival at one of the Sammo Hung screenings and bumped into her again at the SELL OUT screening at the NYAFF this year. She was also one of the winners of the SELL OUT soundtrack that night! I was so jealous! Dolores has an extensive knowledgebase of asian films including chinese, korean, and japanese films as well as classic american films. What sparked my conversation with her was her familiarity with the old chinese movie theatres in chinatown-NYC including the Pagoda (11 E. Broadway), The Music Palace (91-93 Bowery), Sun Sing Theatre (75–85 East. Broadway), & the Rosemary Theatre (133 Canal Street). All of these movie theatres in chinatown have been defunct & torn down for quite some time now. The Music Palace was the last to be demolished in 2000. What a shame! I had a chance to ask Dolores a few questions after the screening of DRAGON INN at the NYAFF.
PC: How many years have you been attending the NY Asian Film Festival?
DN: I’ve been attending the NYAFF for 8 years now. Some of the 1st venues for the NYAFF include the Anthology Archives on 2nd ave as well as the IFC on 6th ave. I’m surprised that Anthology Archives is still in business. Everytime I attend a screening there, it’s usually empty. Besides, Anthology usually plays film-noir and art house films which I’m not a big fan of.
PC: What are some of your favorite and least favorite films of the NYAFF so far?
DN: Ocean Heaven (a drama film with Jet Li) & A Boy and a Samarai are some of my favorites so far. SHAOLIN was very disappointing & too long. NINJA KIDS was cute but very distracting with all the schools involved.
PC: Are you enjoying Tsui Hark’s discussions and Q&A with Grady Hendrix?
DN: yes, very much so. Tsui Hark speaks very fluent english and is very knowledgeable in his craft. I’m very impressed.
PC: What are some of your favorite theatres in Chinatown?
DN: The Pagoda on East Broadway & The Rosemary Theatre by the manhattan bridge was one of my favorites. The Sun Sing Theatre underneath the Manhattan bridge on East broadway was horrible. It was messy, smelly, with rats running around. Really filthy.
PC: Who were some of your favorite chinese actors?
DN: I really liked Ti Lung, he was very handsome. I also liked David Chiang, Chen Kuan Tai (Chan Koon Tai), & Fu Sheng . Did you know that Fu Sheng died in a car accident? That was such a shame. It looked like he was well on his way to international stardom.
PC: Yes, it was very tragic when Fu Sheng died. He seemed to have that star charisma that probably would of crossed over to US films.
PC: What genre of films do you enjoy the most?
DN: I really like period piece films such as the Dowager empress type movies. I’m also a big fan of Japanese cinema with films from Kurosawa & Yasujiro Ozu. Nagisa Oshima films are a bit too eccentric for me.
PC: Are you a fan of Bruce Lee films?
DN: Yes, I like Bruce Lee films. I didn’t think he was a great actor, but he had a great film presence. I actually visited Bruce Lee’s grave in 1977 when I was in Seattle attending a King Tut Exhibition. I thought I was weird when I asked the cemetary caretakers where Bruce Lee’s grave was but the staff said no they have had many many visitors asking about his gravesite.
PC: Do you have any favorite american actors/actresses?
DN: Some of my favorites are Robert Mitchum, Burt Lancaster, Betty Davis, Claudette Colbert, Marlon Brando, & Montgomery Clift. Some of my favorite performances include Marlon Brando in ON THE WATERFRONT and Peter O’toole in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.
PC: Do you have any comments on some of our contemporary actors?
DN: I can’t stand Tom Cruise. I think he is overrated. I also don’t think too much about Sean Penn. He gets too hysterical. Dennis Hopper is another crazy actor. Who can believe that THE REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE actor would live to be 74. I thought he was destined to a tragic death similiar to James Dean.
PC: What’s your next NYAFF screening?
DN: I’m attending the Korean film, BATTLEFIELD HEROES.
PC: It was a pleasure speaking to you Dolores! See you at the NYAFF!
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Love & Loathing and Lulu & Ayano + The Blade : screening at NYAFF – Day 11
July 12th, 2011 by Mr. C
Day 11 of the NYAFF started with my master plan of attending 3 screenings including Love and Loathing & Lulu and Ayana, & Tsui Hark’s THE BLADE and DETECTIVE DEE. My batting average ended up being .666 for the day but luckily Chocko took over the controls of the spaceship by attending THE BLADE & DETECTIVE DEE while I crashed & burned.
With Love and Loathing & Lulu and Ayana, I was expecting a cute, lighthearted reality check *hehehehe*, tits and ass tale of two porno stars from Japan with a hello kitty personality, but this story would prove to be much deeper, darker, & more mind blowing than that. L&L and L&A is an eye opening, but sad, social commentary on an issue in Japan that is more widespread than we think. In a nutshell without spoiling the film, Lulu is a beautiful, young lady that has been mentally neglected, oppressed, & verbally abused while growing up which would naturally lead to low self esteem & confidence. Pressures from a single parent to succeed in japanese society without their child ever developing their own individuality proves to be a train wreck in disguise. Void of any positive role models, filial support, or confidants to lay a shoulder on for advice, one can easily sway over to the dark side especially if that side is a smooth talking, conniving, hustling son of a pimp that promises fame & fortune in the cough..cough…ACTING business (porn). Lulu totally engrosses herself in an anime character while performing which gives her a personality and voice that she has never known being harbored & sheltered throughout the majority of her life. As strange as this may sound, this provided solace to her soul, giving her a place to go to escape the negativity of her family life. Ayana would be the other more experienced young lady of the business that had already walked the path of no return that Lulu is about to embark on. They both go through the struggles of coming to grips with reality until a few major events would change the ballgame. I definitely recommend giving this movie a look-see. Just a fair warning to potential viewers of L&L though, blood splatter, TnA, hi def nipples (via wanderingasian), and a rollicking bush amongst anime inspired *hehehehe* moans & groans are all on the menu!
The screening of THE BLADE couldn’t have been more different than LOVE AND LOATHING & LULU AND AYANA. However, they both were bound together as by-products of “action” porn in their own sense! It was an honor to watch the rare 35mm print of The Blade at the NYAFF because of how closely guarded the film reels seem to be while under the possession of warner brothers’ slimey paws.
It’s been over a decade since we last saw The Blade and the story itself was still as confusing as the 1st viewing. Perhaps the movie had too many entanglements concerning other relationships added to the mix or maybe the english subs were not the greatest. This film was based on the one armed swordsman character made famous by the shaw brothers’ chang cheh but Hark’s version would be muscled up on steroids with a more complex story. The main gist of the plot involves ON, the main character who works in a sword factory forging blades, discovering that this barbaric man & his entourage that terrorizes the village is also the same man that killed his father. Soon thereafter, this innocent man will lose his arm to a whole host of indigenous scavengers ravaging his community. Sexual innuendos, revenge, & bandits galore will take stage on this ancient & remote village. Meanwhile, the one armed man takes refuge with rage on his mind, plotting his vengeance which prompts the birth of the unique one armed swordsman techniques which he learns from a book with a stunted blade left by his father. Some real astonishing stunted sword techniques involved the action of spinning like a tornado with the blade in a 360+ circle which added continuous deadly flow to the spinning wheel of death. Another technique would embrace the stunted sword attached to a rope in order to use the slashing movements in an extended deadly fashion. The rabbid movement of the camera along with the closeups, & multiple angles involving 3 cameras, enhanced the stunning visual image! Tsui Hark who was present after the screening for a brief discussion with Grady Hendrix mentioned that he was one of the three cameramen on the dolly! Tsui Hark also harped that The Blade relied very little on wirework with the fighting and action being filmed old school style with new school filming techniques! The ancient village movie set was also a studio that was owned by Tsui Hark in the new territories area in Hong Kong which was disbanded by the Hong Kong government shortly thereafter. THE BLADE was certainly raw, dark, & vicious! You know this film has got to be the bomb if the director of Battlefield Heroes: Lee Joon-ik, director of City of Violence: Ryoo Seung-wan , & Milocrorze director: Ishibashi Yoshimasa were all in the house for the screening!
Tags: love and loathing, lulu ayano, new york asian film festival, nyaff, the blade
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REIGN OF ASSASSINS screening at the NYAFF – day 10
July 11th, 2011 by Mr. C
director of the film, Su Chao Pin after the screening!
Drizzle my nizzle, my kung fu sizzle chest brethrens! The REIGN OF ASSASSINS screening at the NY Asian Film festival would rain martial arts heaven in all its wu xia glory! I was shocked that this 1pm screening was not even close to being at full capacity. Perhaps, the showing of Heaven’s Story at the Japan Society at 2:45 pm stole the show? Reign of Assassins would slowly strip tease itself as a revenge-love story combo punch that would cast Michelle Yeoh as the character of “Drizzle”, an assassin that would be knee deep in tofu, busy slaughtering, laundering, & scheming about with the dark stone gang. One of Drizzle’s main projects was to find then hide the centuries old remains of a great buddhist monk which is said to provide immortality & eternal life for someone possessing the corpse because of the high level of karma that this monk had achieved before his passing! Deception, love, & vengeance would all come into play when Drizzle decides to leave her past behind with the dark stone chain gang and live a normal life! Michelle Yeoh’s character wields an unflappable, bendable, & unbreakable double edge sword with an advanced technique called water shedding which basically shreds her opponents with precise ginsu cuts! It’s tough for Drizzle because she needs to hide her past & that includes public display of her martial mastery! Only a man like John Woo, Nicholas Cage, or John Travolta would understand her situation! Drizzle’s new found husband is also a bumbling idiot that can double as Mr. Magoo or can he? He is a man who is passionate about his noodles including having first hand knowledge of tortoise powder! The end game would reveal who the real eunuch is & the motives for the endless slashings by the chinese lord sith! Love will be the final say as I wiped a tear or two away in the finale! The director Su Chao Pin was on hand after the screening for a brief discussion with Grady Hendrix! (see the Q & A video below). The director explains that Reign of Assassins is loosely based on an old martial arts novel that he tweaked & twisted with a non-traditional ending! So far, I have screened about 15 films at the NYAFF and Reign of Assassins is my favorite to date at the festival! I usually don’t fall for love stories but vengeance fueled the fire with lots of martial arts eye candy as support, but the relationships in this film do poke away at you in the heart! I’m sure this movie will get a release in movie theatres near you sometime soon!
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ZU: WARRIORS FROM MAGIC MOUNTAIN – NY Asian Film Festival – day 9
July 10th, 2011 by Mr. C
Tsui Hark thinking deep thoughts after the screening!
Tsui Hark was on hand for a brief discussion with Grady Hendrix of Subway Cinema at the Walter Reade Theatre with some fancy wireworks on his mind after the screening of ZU: Warriors from Magic Mountain! It was a trip and a half seeing Zu again decades later with my last viewing being on a VHS bootleg copy, Planet Chocko style thanks to Tower Books & Video rental on 4th & Lafayette! ZU is still a kung fu laser light extravaganza to behold with first rate wu xia dancing, prancing, & flying about! The story is a bit convoluted & wacky with the fantasy plot of centuries old jockeying of the evil underworld & demonic sect with their obsession to defeat the GOOD in attempts to take over the martial art world for eternal existence and power! What do you expect when the ZU story is based on a very long martial arts novel which is then crammed into 90 minutes or so of Tsui Hark’s pink floyd interpretation of it on film? I must admit that Zu is definitely not one of my favorite movies in the wu xia fantasy genre but the special effects, wirework, & martial arts are first rate especially when names like Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, & Adam Cheng are some of the major players in the movie! Zu was a breakthrough film of its time as Tsui Hark set a new standard in relaying the chinese fantasy stories adding western technology to enhance the wu xia experience. The soundtrack to the film was also created by the same person who did the music to Star Wars as well! When Zu Warriors from Magic Mountain was released in the early 1980’s, Sammo Hung & Yuen Biao were already flexing their kung fu muscles doing their raw hong kong modern comedy-action with Jackie Chan in films such as Project A, Wheels on meals, & Winners and Sinners! Adam Cheng is worthy of the lead swordsman role with his peking opera background and proficiency with the double edge sword! Cheng is a legend in the Hong Kong film industry with an extensive filmography to prove it as well as being known for his wu xia soap opera dramas on the Hong Kong TVB channel! Did I also tell you that Adam Cheng is a very popular canto-pop singer as well?! Despite the crazy story of Zu: Warriors from Magic Mountain, this is a must see chinese fantasy film if you consider yourself a fan & historian of the genre! This movie showed that you can add new school technology to enhance the story telling process! Check out our video coverage of the Q&A session below with Tsui Hark & Grady Hendrix after the screening of ZU: Warriors from Magic Mountain!
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BATTLE ROYALE + THE STORY OF RICKY at the NYAFF – Day 8 – Doubleheader of destruction!
July 10th, 2011 by Mr. C
The doubleheader of destruction on day 8 – July 8th of the NY Asian Film Festival with BATTLE ROYALE batting leadoff at the sold out 9:15pm screening at the Japan Society and THE STORY OF RICKY: RIKI OH stepped in as the Carl Lewis actuator of the midnight show at the Walter Reade Theatre was a complete success! We transversed from one side of manhattan by the east river to the other side of manhatty by the hudson river with one big home alone park acting as the geographical mediator.
Watching Battle Royale for the 2nd time almost a decade later yielded the same type of what the fuck reaction as select 10th graders were called upon to take part in the kill or be killed scenerio on a remote island. I couldn’’t help but to be a little bit desensitized with the murders on the 2nd viewing all around, however you can still smell death as the tears for fears of life would populate the mind upon the announcement of the BR act from the teacher of destruction! Takeshi Kitano will once again provide the moxy of being insane in the membrane as his obsession over one of his students will soon garner a few laughs among the bloodshed. In the end, it was not a complete surprise to see who the last person or persons standing were. Having the chance to see a released version of this movie in the theatre especially at the Japan Society was a treat!
The midnight screening of the Story of Ricky satisfied my appetitite for destruction as well as provide a whole host of chuckles on a depressing and dreary night especially after a movie of teenagers descending on a mission of mass murder! The english dub of this movie provided a fresh new look on the superpower techniques of chi gung & kung fu from the venerable Ricky as he works through the prison ranks in the name of survival and vengeance! Cameos in the film from one of the 5 deadly venoms, Kuo Chui (Philip Kwok), Suet Lam, & Japanese legend Tetsuro Tanba (subway cinema staff fave) provided a kick in the ass for this manga inspired movie as I cheered my ragged ass off when they appeared on the screen! I felt like I was drunk but I wasn’t drinking?!!! I noticed a few add ons to some scenes in this 35mm dubbed print besides the funny english translations such as the reddening of the image when Ricky’s fist broke through flesh to reveal internal organs which was plenty in the movie. I thought it might of been a technique to add this tint to signify blood like some directors of the shaw brothers clan would use, but a mondo friend pointed out that it could of been for censorship & rating purposes which made sense. Another new thing I noticed was when one of the bald inmates finished taking a crap or maybe lack thereof, he was singing to the Rolling Stones’ Satisfaction. “I can’t get no satisfaction”. I thought that was hilarious! It was definitely a great movie to watch on the big screen, sharing laughter and funny comments among the audience with fanboys & girls such as ourselves! If you martians have NOT seen The Story of Ricky yet, then you must get off that rocker and secure a copy of this funny train wreck!
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BTS: Better Than Sex (2002)
July 9th, 2011 by chocko
BTS: Better Than Sex, the 2002 hit from Taiwan got its U.S. debut screening this week at the 10th New York Asian Film Festival with director, Su Chao-Pin in attendance. The movie is a fast paced teen-sex comedy with a butt-load of characters. The main character in the movie is a porn-addicted teenager named Lin who just can’t seem to figure out his role in life. Lin, blessed with a gigantic kielbasa, masturbates his days away but his search for true love begins after his mentor and porn shop owner, Boss Cheng dies. Another character is Tam, a schoolgirl, who is madly in love with the clueless Lin. Tam turns into a punk rock badass when she feels rejected by her object of desire. The movie also feature 3 goofy, motorbike riding thugs who cream their collective jeans when they discover a magical sword which they use to terrorize the city with while running from the police. There’s also a Japanese camera crew led by Ken, a heart broken ex-Yakuza. Their attempt to document delinquent teens on the streets of Taipei add to the already humorous story.
The directing is inspired by Su Chao-Pin’s love of manga which is evident in the high energy pace of the film and overall look. There are also scenes that seem out of place. For instance, a Taiwanese rap group (featuring MC Hotdog) just appears on screen at one point, rapping and dancing. It looked like something out of Video Music Box. The movie was tame and not as raunchy as I expected, but there is at least one topless scene, lots of sexual themes and a hilarious scene featuring a police officer, tofu jelly and a bag of poop.
BTS was funny, entertaining and impressive for Su Chao-Pin’s first shot at directing movies. The director of the movie offered some insight into the film and answered questions from the audience at the NYAFF screening. 4 lucky viewers got a special giveaway which was a mini book of porn. Do check out Su Chao-Pin’s other projects featured in NYAFF 2011 including Cabbie which he wrote and Reign of Assassins which he co-directed with John Woo.
Su Chao-Pin tagging up a poster in the lobby.
Tags: lincoln center, movie, new york asian film festival, new york city, nyaff, nyc, review, subway cinema
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Bangkok Knockout : screening at the NY Asian Film Festival – Day 2
July 7th, 2011 by Mr. C
Yes, you’ve seen it! Those other well known Thai action movies like Born to Fight & Ong Bak! Remember those jaw dropping, raw thai boxing fight scenes consisting of flying knees and elbow strikes that would of taken down an adult camel?! And what about all those body crunching stunts in Ong Bak that were reminiscent of the original Police Story by Jackie Chan? Well, Panna Rittikrai was responsible for most of the action in those films (not Police Story) and he returns as the director of BANGKOK KNOCKOUT! The 1st screening of BKO for the NYAFF showed itself on the 2nd day of the festival on July 2nd at Walter Reade Theater! I was definitely jazzed up anticipating to get knocked around with adrenaline as I absorbed the energy from all the extracurricular martial art moves and stunts of BKO! For the most part, the action & fight scenes overcame the cheese of the acting, story, & dialogue. Now, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t expecting to walk in looking for a dramatical performance of a lifetime, nor was I looking for a story that would best “The Best of the Best” or be so bad which would of made it so good such as “L.A. Streetfighters”. As a matter of fact, both of those films had better acting performances by Phillip Rhee & Jon Chung, sad to say. In my opinion, the acting and storyboard from BKO reeked of flying fish sauce. The first 20-30 minutes of the film were ‘run amuck’ with the stunt team getting drugged up by some transvestite looking food catering staff including a vagabond cross dressing violin player in some remote village location. The bartender also reminded me of Lam Ching Ying on geritol from all of those Mr. Vampire movies from HK. I’m not even going to mention that all of the male actors in this film played the role of stuntmen to perfection. That’s good, you say? Maybe, but they are stuntmen in real life for a reason. They are some of the ugliest ‘mofos’ on screen that I have ever seen which screams NO screen time for you, buddy! Just jump off that 2 story building, and “Roll ’em…CUT!” I’m no Don Ho either, but I’m also not in film! The lead protagonist looked like Hanson meets Lou Diamond Phillips. And that high roller bunch? What a set of international goof balls! Arsenio Hall and John Leguizamo would of been more interesting characters if they wanted to go that route.
Now for the good?! After the prerequisite nonsense of the stunt team competition to finally realizing that the rival teams are fighting for their lives in a fight club-street fighter video game like scenerio, the story or lack thereof gets better! The kidnapping of one of the girls adds a sense of urgency & vengeance to the emotional fire! Suddenly, the go-go action button was pressed as they turn it over to some non-stop fight sequences that we ALL were waiting for! The aerial scene where both teams were trying to jump over to the other steel beam about 30 ft high to greet each other for combat, led to jump kicks meeting flesh in the air as bodies dropped to the ground like a sack of galangal! This scene would introduce us to this life & death competition that would proceed before us as well as an OTB like simulcast in a fancy trailer with a live video feed of the underground fight game so that bets can be wagered to the high brows in a lap of luxury! A buffet of martial art styles were all represented as tae kwan do kicks met the acrobatic-aerial-unorthodox jungle style of capoeira (Brazilian) infused with a bit of monkey style kung fu! The flying thai iced tea full of deadly knees from muay thai would also show thyselves as would the likes of the coiling aspect and redirection of energy which is a specialty of tai chi! The sharp & flowing moves of northern shaolin long fist kung fu would also have a presence! The Bangkok Knockout character that looked like Jason from Friday the 13th had the ‘no pain, you can’t hurt me’ style that resembled Jackie Chan in Drunken Master 2 when he drank that gasoline in the end fight with Ken Lo! The asian looking vampire guy that I mentioned before had some no joke, straight-line kung fu style that resembled wing chun or bak mei pai (white eyebrow system) kung fu! Mr. Vampire had footwork that was real subtle with the hand strikes and defense that teetered towards the sticky hand techniques of wing chun! My favorite fighters from the movie included the character that had the motions of a lizard who always hovered the ground before climbing & moving about like a gecko! He seemed to be using the style of capoeira from brazil mixed in with a hybrid style of monkey kung fu! My other favorite was the kung fu stylist as his outrageous kicks blended in well with the flowing strikes and parries native to the system! The main character had some sweet moves from the korean art of tae kwan do! Some awesome stunts included the motocross cycle sequences, the mad max car running people over, and the fight amongst friends underneath a moving truck! The general bouncing around from prop to prop & building to building using the acrobatic street art of PARKOUR was a sight to behold as well! Parkour is an athletic discipline of navigating urban landscapes while hopping, bouncing, jumping, rolling, vaulting, scaling walls, and the likes! This urban scaling street art sort of reminded me of the early stunts that Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, & their other classmates from the peking opera school would execute! Yes, even Sammo!
I know I threw the movie under the bus in the 1st part of this review, but the fighting choreography, action sequences, stuntwork, & the overall flow of the moving parts of this film sure made up for the rest of the limburger cheese! My final say is that if you appreciate the art of stuntwork and the meshing of intricate fighting arts in a well coordinated manner then its worth your time! Sundance peeps, here’s your chance to jump ship!
Tags: bangkok knockout, new york asian film festival, nyaff, panna rittikrai
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Rainbow City by FriendsWithYou
July 5th, 2011 by chocko
Here are some photos of the inflatable sculpture installation by Friends With You, a two man art collective from Miami. Rainbow City is located by the newly opened section of the High Line on 30th St. and 10th Ave. near the food trucks and beer stands. The 16,000 square-foot park for kids and adults even features a giant mushroom that you can bounce around in. It’s a fun and magical place that one should visit, but hurry today is the last day to view the Rainbow City in all its colorful glory. If you missed out, you can check out more art work by Friends With You at an exhibit titled “:)” at The Hole until August 6. The Hole is located on the Lower East Side: 312 Bowery, NYC. Hours: Tue – Sat, 12pm to 6pm.
Tags: artists, friendswithyou, fwy, high line, nyc
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Sell Out (2008) : NY Asian Film Festival – Day 4
July 4th, 2011 by Mr. C
Director Yeo Joon Han(L) – Actor Peter Davis(R)
The SELL OUT screening on day 4 of the NYAFF on July 4th was one of the highlights of the festival so far for me. It was a day to celebrate malaysian cinema as comedy, satire, & cynicism reigned supreme in this musical tour de force! Director, Yeo Joon Han and actor, Peter Davis were on hand before & after the screening to add some silly malay spice to this boiling hot pot of a potential sing along karaoke movie!
The story of the film would set off non telegraphic stinging jabs at corporate greed and the followers that would heed that type of philosophy in their day to day lifestyle. I imagine the theme of corporate selfishness is universal and crosses over to all nations and racial barriers which is why everyone seemed to relate as balls of laughter would steadily stream in during the screening when the over the top silliness would slap us in the face! A sprinkle of sarcasm that was brought to light in the film which seemed to be racially charged that was malay or far east asian specific was about the relationships and discriminations against pan-asian/eurasian or in plain terms, mixed races of asians with european genes. Some pure blood asians feel that asians mixed with caucasians are perceived to be prettier and more accepted by western society which creates an inferiority complex among some. It almost has that racist thinking of being too black is wack and being light is alright which is a ludicrous statement but unfortunately some still hold this to be the truth.
Rafflesia Pong, one of the main characters in the film is a host of a TV program in maylasia that is owned by a corporate conglomerate headed by two selfish & uptight stiffs ready to discard you to the trash if you don’t follow their greedy formula for success. Rafflesia seems to be a staunch believer of the phrase “By any means neccessary” as she aims to do just that to stay afloat in the doggy dog world which includes firing back at a fellow co-worker who is a pan-asian beauty that uses her strengths to the fullest! In between all of this, another employee of this evil corporate entity who is an idealist & good hearted in general played by Peter Davis is getting the run around for being too honest and earnest with creating a reliable ‘8 in 1’ soy bean machine! That, while being Eurasian and having a true english accent instead of a malaysian inspired one, leaves room for our two corporate antagonists to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee as they do their best verbal abuse versions of laurel and hardy on our European-asian hybrid, Eric Tan! There are some really outrageous scenes scattered throughout the film that will have you chuckling and cackling about! Some funny sets would include documenting death to the very last breath on a reality tv show, a scene involving an exorcism, and one skit that would take place chasing someone down like a mall rat! Memorable musical performances from the cast include our Malcolm X inspired TV Host – Rafflesia singing about relationships, our Eurasian idealist singing the truth about money, & our two asian office space monsters that would make “Bill Lumbergh” from INITECH (Office Space) look like an excellent vice president! The music soundtrack to this film is a must have and in fact, one of our cinephile friends Earl, the wandering asian who also attended the screening won a CD soundtrack to the movie with the raffle giveway at the end of the show! We were able to take a few video snippets of the Q&A session with the director and our favorite 8 in 1 soy bean machine inventor, Peter Davis with Marc from subway cinema acting as the moderator! DB from Unseen Films was also in da house and made his presence known by having a question for the director about the film during the Q&A session! Stay tuned below with videos from the Q&A!
Sell Out was a very entertaining film and we recommend watching it wholeheartedly! A few laughs might actually bring down that high blood pressure of yours and from the film, it seems like adapting a malaysian lifestyle might increase your life expectancy! The movie was subtitled in english but there seemed to be no need for the translation because they were all speaking english! All be it, some of them were speaking half english. (joke from the movie!) It was also very amusing to hear some of the cantonese (chinese) tones like “la” & “ma” added to the end of the ‘engrish’ dialogue by some of the malay characters most notably from Rafflesia and her videographer.. Of course, I normally would hear the “la” & “ma’s” coming from a cantonese conversation but hearing it with manglish was a trip! Go check this film out, y’all! I’m not sure how accessible Sell Out will be but CELESTIAL seems to have rights to this film which is a good thing for distribution!
Introduction before the screening with the Director, Yeo Joon Han and actor, Peter Davis.
Q & A session after the film (1 of 2).
Q & A session after the film (2 of 2).
Tags: malaysian movie, new york asian film festival, nyaff, Peter Davis, sell out, Yeo Joon Han
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