Monthly Archives: June 2017

NYAFF 2017 Review: Bad Genius (Thailand 2017)

Posted on June 30, 2017 by David

Bad Genius makes me feel like the Thai film industry just leveled up. I’ve watched a lot of Thai movies. There’s a ton of great action even beyond the filmography of Tony Jaa (stuff like Dynamite Warriors and Power Kids), … Continue reading →

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NYAFF 2017 Review:  Saving Sally (Phillippines 2016)

Posted on June 30, 2017 by David

I really enjoyed Saving Sally, the passion project of director Avid Liongoren and screenwriter Charlene Sawit.  The film is bursting with creativity, the leads are sweet and likable, and the film has a lovely “Blues Clues meets Liquid Television” aesthetic … Continue reading →

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NYAFF 2017: Interview with Executive Director Samuel Jamier

Posted on June 29, 2017 by David

Subway Cinema’s New York Asian Film Festival enters its 16th year in 2017, still going strong at Lincoln Center. The festival starts tomorrow night (June 30) with one of the strongest Thai films I’ve seen in years, the school thriller … Continue reading →

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Review: Belladonna of Sadness (Japan 1973)

Posted on June 22, 2017 by David

Wow, that was one hell of an acid trip of a movie. A remaster and re-release of an early animated film produced by Osamu Tezuka, this film is completely unique, the closest comparison being the more outré works of Ralph … Continue reading →

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Review: Joe (USA 1970)

Posted on June 20, 2017 by David

Joe has a weird, outsized reputation that contrasts with its relative obscurity – it is a film more talked about than watched. And Joe is a truly odd duck, a Cannon-produced hippie-sploitation movie that points an accusing finger at the … Continue reading →

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Review: Lost in Paris aka Paris pieds nus (France/Belgium 2016)

Posted on June 15, 2017 by David

God, I love when a movie really knows how to use color.  Most films nowadays experiment with monochrome or tints, but Lost in Paris is full of old school technicolor, Jacques Demy-flavor colors – luminescent greens, candy reds, blues and … Continue reading →

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Review: Tatara Samurai (Japan 2017)

Posted on June 8, 2017 by David

Tatara Samurai is a modern, big budgeted jidaigeki (period film) following a peasant blacksmith who attempts to reject his traditional role and small town life in order to become a samurai, set against the backdrop of Oda Nobunaga’s rise to … Continue reading →

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Review: The Neon Demon (France/Denmark/USA 2016)

Posted on June 6, 2017 by David

Nicholas Winding Refn’s fable-like dissection of the feminine beauty standard is a truly odd duck. Visually gorgeous, and cold as ice, this story of a young model’s attempts to make it in Los Angeles often zags when you expect it … Continue reading →

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Review: Twin Dragons aka Brother vs. Brother (Hong Kong 1992)

Posted on June 4, 2017 by David

Twin Dragons is simultaneously very stupid and very fun.  The tale of two brothers, separated at birth and both played by Jackie Chan, is both a cross-cultural fish-out-of-water tale and a rollicking action flick.  It’s not one of the better … Continue reading →

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Review: Seoul Station aka 서울역 (South Korea 2016)

Posted on June 1, 2017 by David

Seoul Station is an animated prequel to one of my favorite genre films of last year, the chaotic zombie thriller Train to Busan (reviewed here).  I say prequel, but as a practical matter, Seoul Station is less a prequel than another … Continue reading →

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