Festivals And Events

BABY ASSASSINS: NICE DAYS - NYAFF Still

NYAFF XXIII Review: In BABY ASSASSINS: NICE DAYS, A Killer Threequel That Thrills

8 min. read Thanks to its ubiquitous approach to action and comedy, crafted brilliantly between the artistic vision of filmmaker Yugo Sakamoto and his chosen action director, Kensuke Sonomura, the Baby Assassins movies stand to comprise one of the most fruitful franchises of modern action cinema today. To that end, you also have to credit Sakamoto’s lead casting choices with his A Janitor co-stars, Akari Takaishi and Saori Izawa, taking their pre-existing screen chemistry and applying it to the Baby Assassins universe. It is an original, and enriching world that has grown in four years, and continues to do so in a current total of now three features, the latest being Baby Assassins: Nice Days, which makes its World Premiere for the 23rd annual New York Asian Film Festival this month, ahead of a September release in Japan. Joining the franchise is a new character named Kaede (Sosuke Ikematsu). He […]

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Fantasia XXVIII Review: In CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS, Confronting Holiday Horror With A Fierce Affront!

3 min. read Here’s another rare venture into horror for this site: A trans thriller about a true crime podcaster who returns to her hometown for the first time since transitioning, only to be brought face to face with a vicious killer on the loose and a police force too incompetent to do something about it. Indeed, that’s what rising directing talent Alice Maio Mackay proffers in Carnage For Christmas, a horror fable set against a backdrop of malaise-induced Christmas jingles and decour, and a mystique surrounding just who is killing people and why. It’s all prefaced by the tale of a similarly violent revenge crime as narrated by Lola (Jeremy Moineau) whose show is a hit with more people than she realizes. This fact is made clearer as the film progresses, wherein the first hour with Lola’s long-awaited return to the town of Purdan and reunion with sister, Danielle […]

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NYAFF XXIII Review: In THREE SEASONS, A Genuine Article Blooms

3 min. read Tony Bui’s 1999 debut feature, Three Seasons, has got to be one of those titles my eyes glazed over time and again while browsing on IMDb to pass the time. The notable casting of actor Harvey Keitel would certainly lend to the film’s visibility given his screen resumé and now, the film’s Special Presentation at this year’s New York Asian Film Festival has stepped up to further protract its posterity. Directed by Bui from a script he wrote with Timothy Linh Bui, the film crosses between four intersecting lives in Saigon. Kien An (Ngọc Hiệp) is a beautiful young woman hired to help farm, pick and sell lotus flowers in the bustling streets. Rumors frame perceptions surrounding her reclusive employer, Dao (Manh Cuong Tran), while An treads carefully so as to not step on toes of the elder songstresses among the workforce. We also meet Hai (Đơn […]

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NYAFF XXIII Review: In Kazuya Shiraishi’s BUSHIDO, Death Before Dishonor

6.5 min. read The Blood Of Wolves and A Lesson In Murder helmer Kazuya Shiraishi is back with another offering to the festival masses. This time, his work comes inspired by a classic rakugo play that serves as the basis for author Masato Kato’s novel which released in March, and Shiraishi’s subsequent samurai drama which Kato also penned. Released in Japan back in May as Gobangiri (a.k.a. Goban Cut), Shiraishi’s new film gets a frontal rebrand as Bushido, which bodes as an aptly fitting title to welcome moviegoers abroad. And not for nothing either, with the story of a vagrant samurai whose longstanding peace post-service results in a slew of accusations that put his honor at stake in the worst way. Set in Yoshiwara, we meet Kakunoshin (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi), a widower, and seal maker who lives in a poor tenement house with his daughter, Okinu (Kaya Kiyohara), who makes kimonos. […]

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THE THICKET: Catch Peter Dinklage Hunt Down A Vicious Killer In The Official Trailer

The 50th Deauville American Film Festival is just months away, arriving in time for the theatrical rollout of Elliot Lester’s new Western, The Thicket. The film is a Tubi Original, written by Chris Kelly and based on Joe R. Lansdale’s 2013 novel, and stars a badass, gunslinging, shot-calling Peter Dinklage opposite a chiseled, monstrous villain iterated in awesome Juliette Lewis-fashion. When fierce bounty hunter Reginald Jones (Peter Dinklage) is recruited by a desperate man to track down a ruthless killer known only as Cutthroat Bill (Juliette Lewis), he rallies a band of unlikely heroes including a grave-digging ex-slave and a street-smart woman-for-hire.  Together they embark on a perilous quest to track down Cutthroat Bill that leads them into the deadly “no-man’s-land” known as…The Thicket. Yeah, this trailer is just badass. Dinklage kickass and Lewis is the villain to beat. The script crackles here and I think the Deauville crowd are […]

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NYAFF XXIII Review: In BREAKING AND RE-ENTERING, A Rousing Caper With Tons Of Heart

3 min. read Taiwanese director Leo Wang released two movies in the last five years, the first of which was fantasy crime thriller The 9th Precinct which I’ve been shamefully asleep on. That film is currently streaming on Netflix, as will his latest heist romp, Breaking And Re-entering, which enjoys its North American Premiere at the 23rd New York Asian Film Festival before then. An ensemble cast led by Chen Bolin, Cecilia Choi, Frederick Lee, Kent Tsai, and JC Lin, proffers an energetic caper replicating the kind of energy presented in Wang’s reportedly favorite film in the genre – at least according to the programming notes – emulates. The story starts on the night of a major bank vault heist for a four-man crack team led by Po-chun (Chen), efforting to steal millions in won from rich banker Chen Hai-Jui (Wu Kang-ren) who also has his hands in a shady […]

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BRUSH OF THE GOD

NYAFF XXIII Review: In BRUSH OF THE GOD, A Stroke Of Crowdsourced Excellence

5.5 min. read I’m not as knowledgable on kaiju cinema as, say, our own Edward Orndorff is. It’s a space of cinema with a vast history of its own and it’s one that Keizo Murase has resided in for much of his life and career, and for this, I know about as much as I can through brief reasearch and some screening I can find available to me in the course of my week. Thankfully, my latest opportune moment comes by way of Brush Of The God, another film that in a few ways brings me full circle after nearly twenty years of being a DVD collector. I watched the opening credits and saw that Yumiko Shaku and Shiro Sano were cast and the first time these actors hit my radar WAS in fact two decades ago when one of my earliest purchases from the now-defunct HKFlix online store was […]

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Roxalinda Vazquez and Ron Hall in SHADOW FIST 3 (2023)

SHADOW FIST 3 To Clinch Up SDCC’s Superhero Kung Fu Extravaganza On Thursday!

Actors and martial artists Robert Samuels (Red Wolf, Made In Chinatown) and Ron Hall (Triple Impact, Bloodsport 2) will make landfall this Thursday for the panel at the 27th Annual San Diego Comic-Con Superhero Kung Fu Extravaganza. The pair will join a round of guests to be featured on the panel hosted by film expert and author Ric Meyers, film producer and festival programmer Frank Djeng, and host of YouTube’s “The Movie Dojo,” Preston Downey. Both Samuels and Hall met in Hong Kong during their heyday, pursuing their dreams, forming a lasting friendship for over three decades. They have traversed the action film landscape in that same period, working as actors, stuntmen, fight choreographers, and filmmakers, with each commited to raising the Black profile in a genre in which they feel is both commercially viable and grossly underserved. “Black people love martial arts movies, but the African American presence in […]

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OPERATION UNDEAD

NYAFF XXIII Review: In OPERATION UNDEAD, Heroes Never Die

4 min. read The zombie genre is a little more fascinating, lately. Again, I’m not the target audience for this category, but I love good fun and spectacle where it is. That’s where I give the kind of due credit Muay Thai Chaiya director Kongkiat Komesiri so earns for his latest feat, Operation Undead. Set during Thailand’s involvement in World War II, the film immerses itself in a millieu of absolute terror that goes beyond the expectant horrors of war. Back room politics and skullduggery are at the center of it all as a Japanese scientist’s prototypical experiment gets unleashed unto a Thai battlefield, endangering nearby villages in the process. The weapon in question, Nobu (Assanai Yungyuen), a Japanese soldier infected with Fumetsu-A44 – a biological weapon that grows contagious with the host’s bite – effectively turning victims into other reanimated hosts. Such is the terror that awaits a squad […]

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FOLLOWING THE SOUND

Japan Cuts XVII Review: In FOLLOWING THE SOUND, Seeing Is Everything

3 min. read In covering festival films extensively, you eventually come across a film like Following The Sound. It is directed by Kiyoshi Sugita and it’s definitely new ground for me on a feature level. The immediate presence you’re in from the top of the film has more to do with its atmosphere and slow burn tone and pacing. The movie is experimental and optics-focused in nature, which does less for it as a narrative top-to-bottom feature. We firstly meet a woman named Haru (An Ogawa) who asks another woman sitting by herself for directions to a nearby eatery she can’t find. The woman, Yukiko (Yuko Nakamura), decides to walk with her, and when they get there, the place is closed, and Yukiko then decides to bring Haru home and share a meal then. A little later on, Haru is seen observing a man named Tsuyoshi (Hidekazu Mashima) from a […]

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THE GHOST: John Farrelly’s Trailblazing Debut Irish-Language Horror To Haunt Frightfest In August

New stills are out and about for The Ghost (a.k.a. An Taibhse), from writer/director John Farrelly. The film hails from Jackpot Films and marks a world-first in that it is the first Irish-langauge horror film to come from the region. Farelly’s The Ghost stars Tom Kerrisk (Different, A Hollow Tree) who also composed the film’s score as he did for Farrelly’s previous film. Casting further reunites Kerrisk with Livvy Hill who previously performed together in Farrelly’s 2022 Star Wars shortfilm, “The Lost Jedi,” and also includes Anthony Murphy whose select film and TV credits include Tango In D Minor, Charlie Casanova, and Irish soap “Fair City”. The Ghost is set in the bleak landscape of post-famine Ireland in 1852 where Éamon (Tom Kerrisk) and his daughter Máire (Livvy Hill) take on a tranquil caretaker role at a secluded Georgian mansion during the harsh winter months. However, what begins as a […]

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Fantasia XXVIII Review: In THE OLD MAN AND THE DEMON SWORD, Fábio Powers Has The Power!

3 min. read I’m new to Fábio Powers. His latest, The Old Man And The Demon Sword is not something I would have expected to see take a banner spot on a major festivals, but this is the case per its World Premiere listing for Fantasia Festival. Additionally, to say that it’s “different” film would almost certainly be understating its worthwhile significance. Narratively, The Old Man And The Demon Sword is just over an hour long and bodes nothing short of a bonkers, shoestring budget affair with lowbrow special effects overall student film-level production value juxtaposed to the discerning performances of its cast. What Powers holds back on for most of the way is that this is entirely intentional in its execution, particularly given what happens in the last several minutes. The first 95% percent of the film is all camp all the time as we follow the trajectory of […]

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NYAFF XXIII Review: In Han Dong-Seok’s THE SIN, A Hankering, Engrossing Horror Thriller

4 min. read I don’t dabble a lot with horror movies, so it’s always a fascinating find when I blindly stumbleupon a title like The Sin. The movie is Han Dong-seok’s feature debut getting its North American Premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival this month, and I’m honestly happy I decided to dive into this one during my pre-fest coverage. Si-young (Kim Yoon-hye) is an actress and a dancer faced with a traumatic past that afflicts her to this day. Raring to work and hired by a celebrated and ambitious filmmaker for an avant garde musical project to be shot at a remote location, it’s not long before Si-young and the crew realize the sudden danger they’re in. People are killed only to be mysterious resurrected, while survivors then find themselves trapped and either chased by the undead, or hunted by mysterious men with rifles. What remains to […]

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Fantasia XXVIII Review: In BRAVE CITIZEN, Shin Hae-Sun Takes Bullies To School!

6 min. read It’s been a while since I had my eyes on films like Only The Strong, any of The Substitute films, or 80s romps like 3 O’Clock High and Lean On Me. Those are precisely the kinds of films you watch if you’re into stories of protagonists tackling insurmountable circumstances on school campus involving students, teen bullies and other criminal elements, and even films like Donnie Yen’s Big Brother and Ryoo Seung-wan’s Veteran measure up here. Suffice it to say, this is where director Park Jin-pyo gets to test the waters with Brave Citizen, adapted for the screen and based on Kim Jung-hyun’s 2014 webtoon. The setting is at Moonyung High, billed as “an exemplary anti-bullying school” where the environment is as positive and forthright as the student body… well, at least to the unknowing public and foolhearty staff. Deep in the trenches is a version of the […]

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NYAFF XXIII Review: In WOLF HIDING, Nick Cheung And Co. Show Their Teeth With Unflinching Ferocity

4.5 min. read Actor Marc Ma’s screen filmography has popped up a few times on our radar over the years. As of late, he’s a standout on both sides of the lens with his feature debut, Wolf Hiding, open to IQIYI subscribers as of late last year and now testing international waters with a North American Premiere before audiences of the 23rd New York Asian Film Festival. It’s an action pic too, so you know I was keen on catching this one. Best of all is that it has Nick Cheung brimming with energy in this film as the discernible lead, and with actors like Taiwanese talents Ethan Juan, and Darren Wang, and also Danny Chan who sheds the more prolific Bruce Lee persona of some of his hit roles for a more entrenched role that allows him to maintain his substance. The movie also brings on board screen veteran […]

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Japan Cuts XVII Review: CHA-CHA is an Endearingly Twisted Love Story

3 min. read Cha-Cha (Ito Marika) is an illustrator who lives freely and without minding the gossip around her workplace. While on her office building’s smoking deck, she meets the aloof Raku (Nakagawa Taishi), a chef who works at the restaurant on the building’s ground level. Interested in his mysterious and quiet nature, Cha-Cha pursues a relationship with Raku, eventually settling into cohabitation. As the quirky Cha-Cha begins to fall more in love with Raku, she discovers a surprising side to him that will challenge her relationship to him in ways she never expected. Director Sakai Mai helms this fourth entry in the (not) HEROINE film series, a film project dedicated to female-centric stories with up-and-coming actors and directors. With only a handful of features under her belt, and some fairly popular writing credits of television, Sakai is poised to “break out” with this impressive not-quite romantic comedy anchored by […]

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NYAFF XXIII Review: In 12.12: THE DAY, A Fated, Cautionary Tale Of The Painfully Obvious

4.5 min. read Korean cinema is wild AF. 1997 coming-of-age crime thriller, Beat, is one of my prouder viewing experiences of the last twenty years. It was a blind buy from a Korean bookstore near Herald Square at the time, and it would inevitably put director Kim Sung-su, and actor Jung Woo-sung squarely on my radar for years to come. The two have worked together several more times since then, a pattern that continued earnestly with 12.12: The Day, which opened for South Korean audiences last Fall. The film is also available on digital in the U.S. from 815 Pictures, and also served as a Prime Pick presentation for its audience at this year’s New York Asian Film Festival. Kicking things off is an emergency bunker meeting with top officials following the assassination of South Korean President Park Chung-hee, who served 18 years in office before his death. With Choi […]

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NYAFF XXIII Review: In Herman Yau’s CUSTOMS FRONTLINE, Tse And Cheung (Mostly) Get The Job Done

TW: This review discusses self-harm, mental illness and suicide. 6.5 min. read Hong Kong filmmaker Herman Yau’s stride continues in 2024. He has a couple of titles already circulating screens in the U.S.. One of those titles is Customs Frontline which opened in Hong Kong earlier this month and is now poised to screen for audiences of the 23rd New York Asian Film Festival in time for its North American release from Well Go USA Entertainment on Friday. Set against the background of two warring East African countries, Yau’s thriller starts to bringinto focus the lead General of one of those countries whose latest deal with a weapons marketeer trading out of Thailand suddenly makes landfall in Hong Kong territory when the feeder boat carrying its engine shuts down. When the Hong Kong Customs agents set out to investigate, it leads to an additionally gruesome discovery, on top of a […]

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Shadow of Fire

Japan Cuts XVII Review: Shinya Tsukamoto’s SHADOW OF FIRE, Just Like A Prayer

4 min. read The tainted, bleak interior shots of a small pub diner are just an incremental hint of the larger setting of Fires On The Plain and Killing director Shinya Tsukamoto’s newest drama, Shadow Of Fire. When the woman who runs it (Shuri) isn’t sleeping, she’s at the beckoncall of men who pay their way for room and board, as well as her conjugal services. The work is far from pleasant – albeit an extension of the far deteriorating condition the surrounding village is in, suffering in the aftermath of World War II as people are hungry and desperate. One such person comes in the form of a young war orphan (Oga Tsukao) often dismissed as a thief by other neighbors, and a wayward soldier (Hiroki Kono) looking for a place to rest and drink. The woman and the soldier eventually strike an unwritten agreement to live together as […]

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Japan Cuts XVII Review: In Takeshi Kitano’s KUBI, A Feral Feature Of Feudal Follies

6 min. read I’ve only seen a little over a handful of Takeshi Kitano’s films in my lifetime. That includes a palpable mix of roles in a career that’s lasted more than half a century; If you told me that that guy I saw in Johnny Mnemonic when I was thirteen would have an impact on my interest in film over the years, I would’ve looked at you peculiarly. At any rate, the films I have seen have been ample at helping me gauge Kitano’s approach to violence, drama, and black comedy, even when at the service of other directors. His latest directing effort, adding to a career at the helm that has lasted more than thirty years, now comes in the form of Kubi, an adaptation of his own novel published by Kadokawa, and with decades of development dating back as far as 1993. Beginning in 1579, Kitano’s Kubi […]

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