Looking at the line up of the 2008 New York Asian Film Festival I feel like a starving man at an all you can eat buffet – I just want to gorge myself until I burst. The selection is so tempting and diverse that I don’t want to miss any of the offerings. NYAFF was launched in 2002 by Subway Cinema, a New York-based film programming, exhibition, and marketing collective dedicated to increasing exposure and appreciation of Asian pop cinema.
According to this year’s festival’s website, the economy may be shaky, mother nature may be raging, and the fighting may continue in Iraq but the “seventh annual New York Asian Film Festival explodes like a supernova, showering the barren landscape with molten movie madness.” And this is one festival that can live up to its hype. One thing that NYAFF has always had is attitude – a hip, punky, maverick attitude. It’s not looking for the next Oscar nominee or art house hit. In fact, the programmers get downright apologetic when they show something that seems a bit too refined or arty. It’s not that the films they showcase lack artistry but rather that they lack the pretentiousness that sometimes accompanies art house films.
NYAFF tends to seek out films that on some level just don’t get the respect that they deserve. Many of the films showcased never get picked up by an American distributor (all the more reason to seek this festival out and take in as many films as you can). That’s because some of these films represent the extremes of Asian Extreme Cinema or they are a little rough around the edges or they simply lack marketable names. The failure of these films to get wider distribution is more a reflection of the lack of imagination on the part of American distributors than anything else. But all the NYAFF films share one very rare quality – bold innovation. You won’t find anything here that smacks of mere formula.
The festival is run by folks who are unabashed fans of pop culture and know deep down in their bones what’s cool. Subway Cinema's Grady Hendrix programs films for NYAFF. He also writes Variety's Asian cinema blog, Kaiju Shakedown. Hendrix says “pop culture is pop culture everywhere,” and that’s the appeal of the festival.
Last year NYAFF presented 29 films. This year it’s upped the number to 43 feature films and two short film programs. Among some of the highlights is the appearance of playwright and theater director Ryo Iwamatsu who will present the world premiere of Then Summer Came on June 20. Striking a strong political note is Koji Wakamatsu’s United Red Army about Japan’s violent leftist organization.
Wakamatsu, according to the festival organizers, has been barred from entering the United States because of his political affiliations but screenwriter Masayuki Kakegawa will introduce the film and there will be a live via satellite Q&A with director Wakamatsu after the movie. Guests will also be in attendance for Action Boys, a South Korean documentary about the grueling and sometimes even lethal stunt work needed to fuel the country’s pumped up action films.
Following up on last year’s sold out screenings of Death Note and Death Note: The Last Name, this year’s NYAFF will screen the spin off of the popular films, L: Change the World. L was the young detective in both Death Notes who had to track down a killer that used a shinigami’s death notebook. L, still played by the quirkily endearing Ken'ichi Matsuyama, was the best thing in the Death Note films so it’s cool that he got his own film. Hendrix says, “The big selling point for the Death Note movies are the plot twists. In a way, it’s almost like Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes for a new generation.” L: Change the World is not as clever a battle of wits as the Death Note films and it misses out on the moral dilemmas those films posed. But L (described by programmers as “a goth Sherlock Holmes with a killer sweet tooth”) is always fun to watch.
Shinigamis or death gods make appearances in Accuracy of Death (also known as Sweet Rain). The film stars Chungking Express’ Takeshi Kaneshiro as a shinigami who comes down to earth to deal with soon to expire mortals. Sweet romance and supernatural fantasy blend nicely here.
The 2008 NYAFF serves up a pair of films from Hong Kong’s Johnnie To – Mad Detective and Sparrow. To is a brilliant and versatile filmmaker but he has yet to make a splash in the U.S. He keeps cranking out gems yet no U.S. distributor has picked up his films for wide or even serious art house release. It’s a shame because To’s films (from The Mission to Election to Exiled) are exquisitely crafted and gorgeous to see on the big screen. Mad Detective and Sparrow attest to his range. For Mad Detective, To reunites with actor Lau Ching-wan for a crime thriller that involves multiple personality disorders – sort of. It’s effortlessly manages to be funny, tense, and touching. On the other end of the spectrum is Sparrow starring Hong Kong’s debonair Simon Yam. This isn’t a musical but it feels like one because it’s so light on its feet and charmingly effervescent in spirit. These two films need to be on your must-see list.
Adrift in Tokyo is like My Dinner with Andre on the move. Both films bring together a pair of characters who essentially spend their entire time on screen pondering life. In Adrift in Tokyo, Joe Odagiri plays a broke student paid to walk around Tokyo with a middle-aged gangster (Tomokazu Miura). The two discuss life, love and the plight of pygmy hippos. It’s also a film about family and memory, and what tethers us to the world.
What: 7th Annual New York Asian Film Festival
When: June 20 through July 6, 2008
Where: IFC Center (June 20 – July 3)
323 Sixth Avenue, between 3rd and 4th Streets
and Japan Society (July 3 – July 6)
333 East 47th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenues
