HERO (China, 2002, NY Premiere) - Zhang Yimou's (Raise the Red Lantern) molten martial arts tone poem stars Jet Li, Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung, Donnie Yen and Zhang Ziyi as assassins avenging a genocide. Eye-popping cinematography by Wong Kar-wai's collaborator, Chris Doyle, and a raging score by Tan Dun and Itzhak Perlman provide the gasoline for this flying, leaping, sword-clashing, Taoist ode to the violence that men do. [Read More]
SOLD OUT!
RUNNING ON KARMA (Hong Kong, 2003, NY Premiere) - This "whatzit" from Johnnie To (The Mission, Fulltime Killer) is a martial arts/action/comedy/horror/romance that became the sleeper hit of Hong Kong in 2003 and swept the Hong Kong Film Awards. Beautiful and like nothing you've ever seen before, it's the funniest and most profound plea for peace ever put on film. [Read More]
Showtimes: THU June 24 - 7:00pm; SUN June 27 - 8:45pm [BUY TICKETS]
INFERNAL AFFAIRS (Hong Kong, 2002) - Asia's suspense hit of 2002, this flick stars Tony Leung as an undercover cop infiltrating a gang, while he's stalked by Andy Lau, an undercover criminal who's infiltrated the cops. Slick, stylish, and with thousands of pounds of pressure per square inch, this is one of the greatest crime films ever made, in any country. [Read More]
Showtimes: SAT June 26 - 8:00pm [BUY TICKETS]
DOPPELGANGER (Japan, 2003, NY Premiere) - arthouse horror auteur, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, has been burning up the festival circuit with his latest flick. It's an entire season of The Twilight Zone packed into a black, black, black comedy about an inventor whose whole world gets wiggy when his evil twin shows up and starts "fixing" his life. [Read More]
Showtimes: SAT June 19 - 6:30pm; SAT June 26 - 10:00pm [BUY TICKETS]
UMIZARU (Japan, 2004, International Premiere) - This directorial debut of Eiichiro Hasumi (assistant director on Bayside Shakedown and second unit director on Bayside Shakedown 2) promises to do for the Japanese Coast Guard what Top Gun did for Navy pilots. Pop idols. Scuba diving. Actors performing their own stunts. A theme song by Journey. Do big budget summer blockbusters get any better than this? [Read More]
Showtimes: SUN June 20 - 6:00pm (followed by Q&A with director Eiichiro Hasumi and several of the cast members); SUN June 27 - 3:30pm [BUY TICKETS]
AZUMI (Japan, 2003, NY Premiere) - nothing stands a chance against the volcanic emotions of Ryuhei Kitamura's ( Versus ) rock n'roll samurai flick. Slathered in feedback, and awash in style, it's about a female samurai who takes on the entire population of Japan and wins. [Read More]
Showtimes: FRI June 25 - 9:00pm; SUN June 27 - 6:00pm [BUT TICKETS]
ANTENNA (Japan, 2003, US Premiere) - A little girl goes missing and her family goes to hell in a handbasket. Her mom joins a cult, her little brother thinks he's possessed by her spirit, and her older brother goes to a dominatrix for therapy. Like an emotional FEAR FACTOR, it keeps upping the intensity ante and daring you to hang on. [Read More]
Showtimes: SAT June 19 - 4:00pm; THU June 24 - 6:30pm [BUY TICKETS]
VIBRATOR (Japan, 2003) - a bulimic alcoholic chick and a lonely truck driver connect in this pop masterpiece that manages to avoid any label you might want to put on it. Accomplished and transcendent it's been hailed by critics as the best Japanese film of the year. [Read More]
Showtimes: MON June 21 - 8:30pm; SAT June 26 - 6:00pm [BUY TICKETS]
JUON: THE GRUDGE 1 (Japan, 2002) - if you thought The Ring was scary, please stay away -- this movie will make your heart explode. It's already being remade by Hollywood (starring Sarah Michelle Gellar) but you can come see the original here. [Read More]
Showtimes: SAT June 19 - 8:30pm [BUY TICKETS]
JUON: THE GRUDGE 2 (Japan, 2003, US Premiere) - a perfect antidote to the darkness and surreal madness of Juon 1 , this sequel contains some of THE most horrifying images of 2003, and pregnant women are advised to just stay away and forget they ever heard about this flick. [Read More]
Showtimes: SAT June 19 - 10:30pm; SUN June 27 - 9:00pm [BUY TICKETS]
LIKE ASURA (Japan, 2003, North American Premiere) - this prize-winning, popular hit follows the lives of four sisters in 1979 Japan whose sex lives, and emotional lives, are a lot more complicated than they think. Gentle, human and hilarious, this is everything that's good and decent about mainstream cinema. [Read More]
Showtimes: FRI June 25 - 6:30pm [BUY TICKETS]
DRIVE (Japan, 2002, US Premiere) - Director/writer/actor Sabu has made genre-defying movies that can only be described as "Sabu films". But with DRIVE he's finally crossed over. Putting the "dead" back in "deadpan", DRIVE comes at you with humor as dry as a mouthful of sand in this flick that's like David Lynch directing a Buster Keaton comedy. [Read More]
Showtimes: TUE June 22 - 6:30pm; SAT June 26 - 4:00pm [BUY TICKETS]
WHEN THE LAST SWORD IS DRAWN (Japan, 2003, US Premiere) - the Meiji Restoration is heating up and it's the twilight of the samurai. A money-grubbing country bumpkin joins an elite clan of samurai, and proves as unkillable as a cockroach. Visually lavish, emotionally epic, full of period detail and razor sharp battle scenes, this is the kind of historical drama that no one makes anymore. [Read More]
Showtimes: THU June 24 - 9:00pm [BUY TICKETS]
MARRONNIER (Japan, 2002, NY Premiere) - Shot like a cheesy karaoke video, and featuring insanely extreme cartoon gore, this flick about a guy who kills women and turns them into dolls, is a send up of Japanese horror movies. Featuring Junji Ito (the creator of Uzumaki and Tomie) as executive producer, doll designer, and cameo performer, it is truly deranged. And we don't say that lightly. [Read More]
Showtimes: FRI June 25 - 10:30pm; SUN June 27 - 2:30pm; Both screenings will be followed by Q&A with director Hideyuki Kobayashi [BUY TICKETS]
THE ROAD TAKEN (Korea, 2003, NY Premiere) - the true story of the longest prison sentence ever served. Kim Song-Myong was a North Korean soldier who wouldn't disavow his beliefs and served 45 years in a South Korean prison. He now lives in North Korea , and this hardheaded epic (which took eight years to make) stands witness to his refusal to compromise his beliefs or his humanity. [Read More]
Showtimes: SUN June 20 - 4:00pm; WED June 23 - 6:30pm [BUY TICKETS]
DANCE WITH THE WIND (Korea, 2003, North American Premiere) - every Korean comedy that matters (Attack the Gas Station, Break Out) has been written by Park Jun-Woo and this is his directorial debut. A trip into the seedy world of ballroom dancing, this comedy stars Lee Sung-Jae (Attack the Gas Station, Public Enemy) and a bevy of actors gliding, stepball-changing, twisting and twirling like Olympic finalists. [Read More]
Showtimes: FRI June 18 - 6:15pm; TUE June 22 - 8:30pm [BUY TICKETS]
LEGEND OF THE EVIL LAKE (Korea , 2003, NY Premiere) - this Korean/Chinese co-production is a throwback to the Hong Kong fantasy films that thrilled audiences in the 1990's. With action choreography by Yuen Tak, miles of billowing silk, piles of dismembered limbs, gaggles of clashing armies and a possessed commoner who likes to split people in two with her mind, Hong Kong fans will feel like they've stepped through a time warp to a happier time. [Read More]
Showtimes: FRI June 18 - 10:30pm; THU June 24 - 9:30pm [BUY TICKETS]
PLEASE TEACH ME ENGLISH (Korea, 2003, NY Premiere) - a send-up of the way English is spreading across the planet like a virus, this screwball romance runs up walls, across ceilings and explodes in your lap like a love bomb. With performances beamed in from another planet and a bizarre subplot involving teaching English to a pig, this flick produces enough manic energy to power a small city. [Read More]
Showtimes: WED June 23 - 8:30pm; SUN June 27 - 6:30pm [BUY TICKETS]
MACABRE CASE OF PROM PI RAM (Thailand, 2003, North American Premiere) - a young woman's corpse is found by the train tracks in a Thai village, and two local cops, waaaay out of their depth, set out to find her killer. Causing a controversy when it swept the Thai film awards, MACABRE CASE... is deeply disturbing and primitively powerful. [Read More]
Showtimes: MON June 21 - 6:30pm; FRI June 25 - 8:30pm [BUY TICKETS]
BAYTONG (Thailand, 2003, NY Premiere) - The director of the Thai supernatural blockbuster, Nang Nak, helms this intensely emotional film - with surprising comic elements - about how one lives in a world full of terrorism and pain. A young Buddhist monk, Tum, leaves the monastery, where he's spent all his life, to look after his niece when his sister is killed in a terrorist attack on a train. [Read More]
Showtimes: FRI June 25 - 6:00pm; SAT June 26 - 2:00pm [BUT TICKETS]
SIDEBAR:
FIGHT, ZATOICHI. FIGHT! Zatoichi is the original blind samurai bad ass (who gives a mean massage), and we're thrilled to present three of the classic ZATOICHI films. Full of sardonic humor, heart-squeezing drama and white-knuckled samurai action, these films defined the 60's anti-hero and they've endured for decades for one simple reason: they rock. [Read More] All ZATOICHI shows $5.00!
ZATOICHI 3 Showtimes: SAT June 19 - 2:00pm; SAT June 26 - 4:30pm [BUY TICKETS] ZATOICHI 4 Showtimes: SUN June 20 - 2:00pm; SAT June 26 - 6:30pm [BUY TICKETS] ZATOICHI 5 Showtimes: SAT June 26 - 8:30pm; SUN June 27 - 4:30pm [BUY TICKETS]
CLOSING NIGHT PARTY - Sunday, June 27, 9 pm-12am
at The Thirsty Scholar Tickets: $15 [more info] [BUY TICKETS] |
