nyaff 2022

NYAFF 2022 Review: SHIN ULTRAMAN Delivers A Kaiju-Sized Good Time for Fans and Newcomers

In the wide world of tokusatsu, there exist a small handful of properties who’s history and influence on the sub-genre, and pop culture, are undeniable. Of these films, few in Japan rise to the prominence of the sub-genre’s giants, and in the case of Ultraman, this is meant literally. A supremely important piece of media to Japanese pop culture , Ultraman brought together the scale of popular kaiju-based films with the episodic storytelling of a weekly show like Kamen Rider, to massive success. It’s my belief that Shin Ultraman represents this format in a way that will feel familiar to fans, while still an exciting and fairly easy to digest experience for people who might not be familiar with the Giant of Light. Shin Ultraman is a re-imagining of the original 1966 TV series penned by what might be the best known fan of the series, Hideaki Anno (Neon Genesis […]

NYAFF 2022 Review: Park Ri-Woong’s THE GIRL ON A BULLDOZER Piles On The Odds With Partial Catharsis

Lee B. Golden III

This year’s twentieth New York Asian Film Festival saw quite a few things happening, including for a few of its special guests this year – one of them them being actress Kim Hye-yoon, who has been on television for years leading up to her 2017 theatrical debut, Won Shin-yeon’s Memoir Of A Murderer. Her latest role in Park Ri-woong’s new drama, The Girl On A Bulldozer, has since earned her the Screen International Rising Star Asia Award for its premiere this summer at NYAFF following its world premiere at Busan last year, and its theatrical release in South Korea this past July. Directed from a script also by Park, the film introduces audiendes to Gu Hye-yoon (Kim Hye-yoon), a tough-as-nails 19 year-old who bares a distinguishable dragon tattoo on her arm, which she covers with a sleeve. She also lives with her much younger brother, Hye-jeok (Park Si-woo) and father […]

NYAFF 2022 Review: Kim Han-Min’s HANSAN: RISING DRAGON, Epic Period War Strategy Well-Played

Lee B. Golden III

Hansan: Rising Dragon screens on Thursday, July 28 as part of this year’s festivities at the New York Asian Film Festival. The film will release theatrically on July 29 from Well Go USA Entertainment. Setting the stage for future events, Kim Han-min’s Roaring Currents prequel, Hansan: Rising Dragon, brings us to the year 1592, during the Imjin War in which the naval fleets of Admiral Yi Sun-shin (Park Hae-il), and Japan’s Wakizaka (Byun Yo-han), engage in battles of warships and wits near the shores of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. The latest standstill sees the Japanese army strategizing around Yi’s latest implementation of turtle warships with dragonheads affixed at the bow that can shoot cannons. Wakizaka, slow-brewing his plans of attack, is quietly eager to seize momentum now that he is in the Lord Chancellor’s favor after two successful incursions with Japan’s army, with an eye to pave a way […]

NYAFF 2022 Review: Shinji Higuchi’s SHIN ULTRAMAN Is One Of The Biggest, Most Deserving Fanfilms Ever Made

Lee B. Golden III

There’s a huge, extensive legacy to consider with the Ultraman franchise as it dates back to 1966, and the question of whether or not a studio can remake a classic property. As a Westerner, I can certainly speak for Hollywood’s intake of IPs whether homegrown or born abroad, and it’s been a rocky ride. With a film like Shin Ultraman, however, I can only ascertain its general success from its current box office reception following its theatrical Japan release back in May, and so to that end, I can only dive into this review as someone relatively new-ish to the franchise apart from my past consumption of Ameritoku and learning of its Super Sentai Origins and other Showa-era materials. Alas, we get Shin Ultraman, the latest reteam from Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi following their pairing on Anno’s Evangelion projects among others. For both Anno and Higuchi, Shin Ultraman stands […]

NYAFF 2022 Review: Eiji Uchida’s OFFBEAT COPS, Practice, Practice, Practice!

Lee B. Golden III

Offbeat Cops is an original story written and directed by Eiji Uchida for his fourteenth film to date. It stars Hiroshi Abe as Tsukasa Naruse, a divorcee and hard-boiled detective on the verge of catching the elusive leader of a phishing ring that targets elderly people, violently invades them at home and robs them of any money or personal belongings before leaving their victims for dead. When the film starts, he’s so close to getting his man that he can taste it, and will go to just about any lengths necessary to catch the culprit, even if it means abusing his authority with suspects. His maverick style of investigation, however, has also cost him his image as the three decades he’s spent being a detective has transformed him into an incorrigible colleague at the station, shoving his weight around and being insubordinate towards his seniors, intolerant of meetings and by-the-book […]

NYAFF 2022 Review: PREMAN: SILENT FURY, Audibly Thrilling Crime Drama That Sometimes Gets Trippy

Lee B. Golden III

Originally published July 19: Falling somewhere between cerebral crime drama and reductionist martial arts thriller is writer/director Randolph Zaini’s feature debut, Preman: Silent Fury. The film tells of Sandi (Khiva Iskak), a gangster whose organization, led by Guru (Kiki Narendra), is currently on a violent campaign to force villagers out of their homes at the will of a sinister politician named Hanoeng (David Saragih). When Guru’s attempt to cudjole the village keeper, Haji (Egi Fedly), into selling his property turns violent, Sandi’s own son, Pandu (Muzakki Ramdhan), falls witness to the incident, making him a target and forcing Sandi to protect his son in a race against time, hired killers, and a narrowing chance to redeem himself. The film definitely takes some whimsical turns in its recurring flashbacks of Sandi’s childhood, which is enough to pair against the film’s more gritty and gruesome imagery per the action and drama. Key […]

NYAFF 2022 Review: MAMA BOY, A Visually Poetic Tale About Growing Pains

Lee B. Golden III

U.S.-born filmmaker Arvin Chen’s third feature is a profile in coming-of-age hardship amid family drama in Mama Boy, fresh out of Taiwan and currently circulating festivals abroad with its latest movement now at this year’s New York Asian Film Festival. Distribution Workshop is representing the film internationally per its announcement last year with a cast led by Tiny Times franchise actor Kai Ko, and actress Vivian Hsu following their last shared screen credit, Jeff Chang’s 2013 comedy, Machi Action. We meet Xiao Hong (Kai Ko), who’s a bit of a basketcase. He lives with his overprotective and intrusive mother, Meiling (Sara Yu), who insists on coordinating just about every aspect of his life in hopes of securing his future, including his romantic interests. There is just one problem: Xiao has just turned 29. He’s never had a girlfriend, and everytime she sets him up on a date, it ends in […]

NYAFF 2022 Review: ONE AND FOUR Evens The Odds With Solid Direction

Lee B. Golden III

Anyone out here in the West looking to familiarize themselves with actor and poet Jinpa can do so with a few possible selections, including leading Tibetan auteur Pema Tseden’s sixth feature, Jinpa, as well as Zhang Yang’s 2016 adventure drama, Soul On A String. Otherwise, audiences are currently welcome to embrace the actor’s latest role in a searing new Chinese-Tibetan western noir from Tseden’s son, debut filmmaker Jigme Trinley in the form of One And Four, a film that squarely reunites the star with Tseden who produced the pic for its local release last year. The wintery Western noir is set in the late 1990s in the mountains where we meet Sanggye (Jinpa), a rural forest ranger whose desolate worklife is nothing short of dilapidated, he can’t sleep, and he’s currently wrestling with a hangover despite it being against the rules for him to drink on the job. The latter […]

NYAFF 2022 Review: LEGENDARY IN ACTION!, An Uplifting, Timely Ode To The Enduring Spirit Of Hong Kong Cinema

Lee B. Golden III

Films about filmmaking are always a welcome feat for consumers and festival audiences, both narrative features and documentaries alike. Screwball comedies like Bowfinger and Tropic Thunder, Jarod Crooks’ martial arts romp, Indie Guys, and even Soushi Matsumoto’s It’s A Summer Film! are among those that come to mind. Leave it now to co-helmers Li Ho and actor Justin Cheung as they make headway for their own outing with Legendary In Action!, serving as a humble profile of wuxia and Hong Kong cinema following the city’s sociopolitical unrest from 2019 and onward. Joining Cheung on screen are actresses Wiyona Yeung, Harriet Yeung and Buber Mak, and actors Jiro Lee and Lam Yiu-sing who each play a role in the events that arise in this newest artful drama from the far East now making the festival rounds globally. Tiger (Justin Cheung) is a filmmaker whose love for the craft is born from […]

NYAFF 2022 Review: Jun Robles Lana’s BIG NIGHT, A Timely, Upbeat Satire Told Through A Grim, Gutpunch Lens

Lee B. Golden III

If there was ever a point of inspiration in world history for Filipino cinema, it’s definitely the era of former President Rodrigo Duterte whose tenure saw one of the most controversial and deadly anti-drug policies take effect. Such is the setting we are immersed in with award-winning filmmaker Jun Robles Lana’s newest release out of last year, Big Night, with a story that’s as equally delightful as it is terrifying given the backdrop. Our story is set in the district of Barangay where a new anti-drug campaign is in effect using a “watch list” program targeting suspected junkies. We meet Dharna (Christian Bables), a barber and stylist whose common everyday life sits as far away from illegal drugs in any context as other people just living day-to-day and struggling to get by. It also happens to be All Souls’ Day, which is a day of memberance for the dead – […]

SHIN ULTRAMAN, THE KILLER, FULL STRIKE And More New And Classic Titles Heading Up The In-Person 2022 Edition Of The New York Asian Film Festival

Lee B. Golden III

The 20th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival is in full swing next month as a fully in-person event launching this July, after going virtual in 2020 and taking a hybrid route last year. The first wave of the festival’s full line-up is also now online with over 60 new and classic titles, including some exciting features that have arrived this year as well. “We’re thrilled to be back fully in person after two years, the best and only way to really have a festival, in my view,” said Samuel Jamier, Executive Director of NYAFF and President of the New York Asian Film Foundation. “We’ve been really impressed with the quality and diversity of films made during the trying times of the pandemic, and we’re especially excited that we can once again welcome guests from all over Asia to the stage at FLC, giving them the spotlight they […]

Thai Romantic Comedy FAST & FEEL LOVE To Kick Off The 20th Anniversary Of The New York Asian Film Festival Next Month

Lee B. Golden III

Screen International broke the news during the Cannes market and as of Wednesday, Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit’s Fast & Feel Love has been confirmed as the official opener for the 20th New York Asian Film Festival launching next month. The film’s premiere will also have Thamrongrattanarit in attendance alongside the film’s star, Thai/Norwegian actress and Screen International Rising Star award honoree, Urassaya “Yaya” Sperbund (Witthaya Thongyooyong’s Brother of the Year). “This is the perfect film for an opening that marks a true return to theaters as well as NYAFF’s 20th anniversary,” said Samuel Jamier, Executive Director of NYAFF and President of the New York Asian Film Foundation. “Nearly as fast-moving as its sport-stacking protagonist, it hits all the right notes, from broad humor to poignant drama, and gives every character a show-stopping moment or two — as well as hilarious and clever cinephile moments. As the film says, sport stacking is genderless, […]