fee's LIST / through 7/17

WEDNESDAY

NYC

* "Blasting Voice" @ The Suzanne Geiss Company / 136 Grand St. As the title sort of precludes, this group exhibition is performance-driven and features a tricked out sound system. Ashland Mines developed the stage and concept while Mevin McGarry and Isabel Venero organized some two dozen artists, each performing variations of amplified poetic concepts nightly. The talent here is great and vast, incl. Wu Tsang, Math Bass, James Ferraro, and TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone throughout the exhibition's run.

* "Painting is History" @ Winkleman Gallery / 621 W 27th St. O RLY? I ask myself at this cheeky titling. Edward Winkleman himself, along w/ Jay Grimm, curated this intriguing group show, feat. six artists who use traditional painterly techniques in representing historical events. Don't expect to be bored, though, considering Charles Browning's raw imagery and Valerie Hegarty's cheeky alterations.

* Future Islands (Baltimore) + Darlings @ Death By Audio / 49 S 2nd St, Williamsburg (L to Bedford, JM to Marcy), 8p/$10. I've been koo-koo for Brooklyn lo-fi rockers Darlings since 2007 and their pop-punk LP "Yeah I Know". Their singsong coed harmonies shine through last year's high-fivable EP "Warma". They set the stage for Future Islands and force-of-nature vocalist Samuel T. Herring.

TOKYO

* Hiroko Okada "No Dress Code" @ Mizuma Art Gallery / 2F 3-13 Ichigayatamachi, Shinjuku-ku (Yurakucho/Nanboku Lines to Ichigaya Station). Okada reinterprets the "human-painting relationship" via photorealistic renderings of…underwear! Expect a multimedia installation related to her continued pointed takedowns of hypercommodified society.

THURSDAY

NYC

* Yayoi Kusama @ Whitney Museum / 945 Madison Ave (6 to 75th St). Finally. A proper retrospective for the superlative Japanese artist, whose diverse media—paintings, video, installation, sculpture etc—defy easy categorization yet are simultaneously unmistakably HERS. Kusama's hallucinatory "infinity nets", her mirrored kinetic carpets and immersive soft-sculpture apparatuses. And pumpkins. Revel in this most prominent of Japanese contemporary artists who left a deep impression on the global art scene. Plus: don't miss Kusama's disorienting "Fireflies on the Water", a truly transporting chamber of hanging lights, mirrors, and water, installed in the museum's lobby gallery.

* "Post-Op" @ Mixed Greens / 531 W 26th St. Winner of "best summer group show title" comes this thoughtful, eye-crossing exhibition. Eight contemporary artists advancing new concepts in visual illusion, incl. Rachel Beach, Suzanne Song, Rebecca Ward, and Emilio Gomariz.

* Japan Cuts 2012 at Japan Society / 333 E 47th St (E/M to 53rd/5th Ave, 6 to 51st St). Crazy-ass contemporary Japanese cinema felt a bit lacking in this year's NYAFF? Don't you worry, friends, they're all here in the bonkers 2012 edition of Japan Cuts. Read on for my picks (just look for the Japan Cuts 2012 slug):

* Japan Cuts 2012: "Smuggler" (dir. Katsuhito Ishii, 2011) at 8:15p. Ishii's latest brings him back to his gonzo Yakuza world of "Party 7" (think "Dick Tracy" on uppers); as in, it's just as colorful and off-kilter humorous, but it's also Ishii's darkest, most brutal work, too. The ensemble cast — good guy and suffering actor Kinuta (Satoshi Tsumabuki); weathered ex?-thug Jo (Ishii regular Masatoshi Nagase); razor-sharp cute Chiharu (Hikari Mitsushima); deranged Verebrae (Masanobu Ando) — are in top form.

AUSTIN

* "Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom" (writer: Jennifer Haley) @ Blue Theatre / 916 Springdale Rd, 8p/$12-20. Like "The Twilight Zone" for the "Resident Evil" generation, feat. four teenagers trying to escape their suburban hellhole from an onslaught of zombies!

FRIDAY

NYC

* Japan Cuts 2012: "Hard Romanticker" (dir. Gu Su-yeon, 2011) at 6:30p. Shota Matsuda plays a blond-coiffed, porn-stached zainichi thug-wannabe cracking skulls and hurling insults around the local hoods in a seaside town. It's also a semi-autobiographical account of director Gu's own rough youth as a Korean delinquent in working-class Japan.

* Japan Cuts 2012: "The Atrocity Exhibition", feat. "Let's Make the Teacher Have a Miscarriage Club" (dir. Eisuke Naito, 2012), "Henge" (dir. Hajime Ohata, 2012) and "The Big Gun" (dir. Hajime Ohata, 2008) at 8:40p. Prepare for a batshit trio of zero-budget psycho shorts that blend splatterpunk and topical scenarios in one boiling cinematic nabe-pot. Naito's HD short film basically sells itself: a band of beastly junior high girls entrapping their pregnant prof. Ohata's "Henge" (lit. "Goblin" or "Changeling") is like Franz Kafka's "Metamorphosis" crossed w/ Shinya Tsukamoto's "Tetsuo", while his debut short "The Big Gun" is just that, an iron-worker conned by the mob to make guns for them, so he crafts a huge-ass one in retaliation. 

AUSTIN

* Peelander-Yellow @ Guzu Gallery / 5000 N Lamar Blvd, 8p. A high-energy, wicked-times block-print exhibition by that fantastic punk-rocker also known as Kengo Hioki, frontman for Peelander-Z. And if you see him w/ that scratched and stickered up guitar, it might be an opening reception performance! Taco, taco, taco, taco, taco say YEAH. 

* "Beasts of the Southern Wild" (dir. Benh Zeitlin, 2012) @ Alamo Drafthouse S Lamar / 1120 S Lamar. This 2012 Sundance winner sounds truly magical, the strained realities of a marooned "New Orleans" community in an uncertain near future as refracted in the gaze of a precocious little girl, who discovers paradise amid the brambles. 

* "Friday the 13th part III in 3D" (dir. Steve Miner, 1982) screening @ Alamo Drafthouse S Lamar / 1120 S Lamar, 7p. Plenty of the Drafthouse's Summer of 1982 series has caught my attention, but admittedly few films play to my priorities like this slasher classic, screened like it should be in glorious 3D.

* "The Fifth Element" (dir. Luc Besson, 1997) midnight screening @ Alamo Drafthouse Ritz / 320 E Sixth St. Sci-fi with HUMOR…what a rare concept! Park Bruce Willis (playing basically himself) behind a flying taxi, give him a huge-ass gun and a hot alien dame (Milla Jovovich as redhead), then send him off to defeat a roiling dark-matter planet of pure evil. And that ain't even the Cliffs Notes version to this awesome, sexy action romp. ALSO SAT

TOKYO

* Kazumasa Noguchi "Synthetic Garden" @ Art Front Gallery / Hillside Terrace A, 29-18 Sarugakucho, Shibuya-ku (JR Lines etc to Shibuya). Op-tastic art exposing surfaces and framework, whether on wood panels or the gallery walls themselves, reflecting Noguchi's background in architecture and his modus in approaching artwork.

* Ine Izumi @ Taimatz / 1-2-11 Higashi-Kanda, Chiyoda-ku (JR Sobu Line to Bakurocho Station, Toei-Shinjuku Line to Bakuro-Yokoyama Station). I'm totally a fan of Izumi's thoughtful, delicate ink and acrylic renderings of the mundane, ornamental, and dreamlike.

* Zombie Lolita 11th anniversary "Alice in Dead" @ Heaven's Door / 1-33-19 Sangen-jaya, Setagaya-ku (Den-en-toshi Line to Sangen-jaya Station), 7p/2800 yen. Take two things I dig: zombies and "lolita", and you get the bizarrely Japanese pop-idol group Zombie Lolita, feat. a bunch of cute girls in sailor suits and horror makeup playing thrash metal. 

SATURDAY

NYC

* Japan Cuts 2012: "Tokyo Playboy Club" (dir. Yosuke Okuda, 2011) at 3:15p. Despite the glittery name, this violent and off-kilter humorous look at Tokyo's shadowy underworld has earned serious acclaim since its Busan Film Fest premier, incl. that of young director Okuda. Think Quentin Tarentino crossed w/ Kinji Fukusaku, w/ a grinding guitar soundtrack and hardboiled dudes Nao Omori and Ken Mitsuishi (in one of his most frenetic roles yet) balanced by cutie Asami Usuda.

* Japan Cuts 2012: "Love Strikes!" (dir. Hitoshi Ohne, 2011) at 7:15p. You have to be under 25 to understand the Japanese title, "Moteki", i.e. "unexplained romantic popularity with the opposite sex". Thus is the wave that crashes over nerdish pop culture writer Yukiyo (Mirai Moriyama), who unexpectedly befriends mega-cutie Miyuki (Masami Nagasawa, who attends tonight's screening!!!). So the only natural thing happens: all these other hotties start digging him too, incl. Kumiko Aso (HELLO, where has she been??), Riisa Naka, Yoko Maki, and more. Rom-com to the max, baby.

AUSTIN
* Jamal Cyrus "Ancestor" @ AMOA-Arthouse / 700 Congress Ave, 7p. Texas Prize 2012 finalist Cyrus stages one final performance w/in his installation at the Jones Center, an audio-visual feast w/ movement in collaboration with Autumn Knight and Megan Jackson. Yeah, I'm a fan.

* Mikaylah Bowman "La Fille Qui Ment" @ Red Space Gallery / 1203 W 49th St #B. Lit. "The Girl Who Lies", Bowman's latest series of performative photography, furthering her investigation of self and memory, with a related installation.

* Peelander-Z @ Red 7 / 611 E 7th St, 9p. The color-coded Japanese art-punks are a frequent local presence, despite hailing from Planet Peelander (aka East Village NYC). Expect sing-alongs involving tacos, sunglasses, and dudes named "Mike". w/ Ghost Knife and Biters

TOKYO

* Michiko Sago + Shoko Matsumiya "Harmony" @ MA2 Gallery / 3-3-8 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku (Yamanote Line to Ebisu Station). The gallery creates a dialogue b/w two young artisans: Matsumiya's brilliant, organic glassworks and Sago's contemporary ceramic forms.

* Print Show vol 7 @ Kido Press, Inc / 6F 1-3-2 Kiyosumi, Koto-ku (Hanzomon/Toei Oedo Lines to Kiyosumi-shirakawa Station). Main draw for me in this seventh edition of the gallery's gathering of unique-edition prints is Kumi Machida, whose contemporary take on traditional "nihonga" style artwork (coupled w/ some VERY surreal imagery) is just marvelous. Plus: O Jun, Atsushi Suwa, Tokuro Sakamoto, and Wisut Ponnimit.

* "Shark Night 3D" (dir. David R. Ellis, 2011) @ TOHO Cinema Nichigeki / 2-5-1 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku (Yurakucho Line to Yurakucho Station, Tokyo Metro Marunouchi/Hibiya/Ginza Lines to Ginza Station). An absolutely fascinating and bloodthirsty film about snobbish PYTs (led by cutie Sara Paxton) attacked in creative ways by a variety of sharks controlled by those backwoods good ol' boys.

* 「ピラニアリターンズ」 (dir. John Gulager, 2012) @ HT Cinema / 7F 1-23-16 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku (JR etc to Shibuya Station, Hachiko Exit). AKA "Piranha 3DD" (what, breast-implant jokes don't translate?), which should've been as dope as the extra-gory, Alexandre Aja-directed revamp….only it's not. But hell, it's still mutated piranha wreaking havoc on plasticine women and Ken doll-looking dudes, and David Hasselhoff plays a lifeguard.

* "WET DREAM: ReBORN Special" w/ RITUALS @ Aisotope Lounge / 1F 2-12-16 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, 9p/3000 yen. Why would I send you off to a venue known for its "Banana Fridays"? Because tonight is fetish night, sporting punk-goth brand RITUALS and feat. a slinky dance-off from Nasty Cats, aka Aloe and Nancy of tokyoDOLORES! Plus the full roster of Nightmare/Torture Garden DJs, incl. ME:CA, Rinko, and Zil. Partying in Ni-Chome is fun!

SUNDAY

NYC

* Japan Cuts 2012: "Ace Attorney" (dir. Takashi Miike, 2012) at 1:30p. The video game-style hairdos transferred from Capcom's gonzo courtroom module "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney" to this Japanese box-office blockbuster. Expect caffeinated jump-cuts and frenzied dialogue as young prosecutors and holographic mediums duel to the death — nahh, not totally that, but it's still bonkers.

* Japan Cuts 2012: "Tormented" (dir. Takashi Shimizu, 2011) at 4:15p. Alice in Wonderland. Rabbit demon. Hikari Mitsushima. Everything I've seen about this film thus far, tiny measured doses of surreally creepy film clips, have freaked me the hell out…which includes scenes of Mitsushima in her absolute most distressed. While the title lacks the spirit of the Japanese original ("Rabbit Horror", in phonetic English) AND this isn't screening in blood-curdling 3D like it should, but it'll still give you plenty of nightmares.

* Japan Cuts 2012: "Chips" (dir. Yoshihiro Nakamura, 2012) at 8p. Nakamura serves up a bittersweet slice-of-life in post-tsunami Sendai, japan, revolving around the intersecting existences of a baseball player and a burglar.  

AUSTIN

* "Masters of the Universe" (dir. Gary Goddard, 1987) screening @ Alamo Drafthouse Ritz / 320 E Sixth St, 7p. As a kid of the '80s, my playtime revolved around He-Man and other toys of the Eternia universe. Imagine my delight when "they" made a He-Man film! Imagine my disappointment when that meant a spray-tanned Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and a heavily SFXed Frank Langella (like in old-lady makeup) as sworn foe Skeletor! Imagine further the inclusion of weak-ass character Gwildor who had way too big a role, plus the absurd amount of screen-time devoted to, uh, these two TEENAGERS (incl a young Courtney Cox!)…who accidentally swipe the Key to Earth b/c they mistook it for a "Japanese synthesizer"! Hell, it was the '80s then, and this bonkers flop quantifies what made that decade so special.

MONDAY

TOKYO

* "White Agenda" @ Warehouse702 / B1F 1-4-5 Azabu-Juban, Minato-ku (Toei Oedo Line to Azabu-Juban Station, Exit 7), 3p-10p/3000 yen. It's not often that I happen across mid-afternoon fetish parties, but the chilled-out nature of "White Agenda" seems something extra special. Feat. the "White Fascination Girls", aka Aloe and Nancy of Nasty Cats plus some Japan Pole Dance girls, rope performers, and White Queens (Margarette and Lady-J, both of The Ring), plus DJs (helmed by Toru Takeda) and a VIP lounge for women only.

TUESDAY

NYC

* Japan Cuts 2012: "Zombie Ass" (dir. Noboru Iguchi, 2011) at 7:30p. An epic of epic epicness, straight from the bowels of post-NOTLD cinema and thoroughly doused in Iguchi's deviant world of scat zombies, anal alien parasites…and lotsa cute girls. I loved the world premiere (at 2011 Fantastic Fest) so much that I saw the damn film twice, it's that great. 

* Best Coast @ Terminal 5 / 610 W 56th St (1/AC/BD to Columbus Circle), 7p/$25. Bethany Cosentino & crew banish much of their debut fuzzy reverb for hard-hitting (dare I say "folksy"?) melodies. But this being Best Coast, that Cali sunshine permeates everything. w/ DIIV

AUSTIN

* "Halloween III: Season of the Witch" (dir. Tommy Lee Wallace, 1982) screening @ Alamo Drafthouse Ritz / 320 E Sixth St, 10p. In this oddity to the "Halloween" franchise, who needs Michael Myers when you have Silver Shamrock jack-o'-lantern masks that nuke kids' heads? Even the signature piano melody is eschewed by an '80s-friendly synthesizer! Now it's up to Tom "Maniac Cop" Atkins to stop the evil corporation behind all this mayhem!

CURRENT SHOWS

AUSTIN

* "Greatest Hits" @ Tiny Park  / 1101 Navasota St. Tiny Park achieved some very big things in their first year as an apartment gallery, curating three thoughtful two-artist shows feat. such talent as local heroes Miguel Aragon (winner of Austin Critics' Table Outstanding Artist, who also had a major solo exhibition at Austin's Mexic-Arte Museum) and Leah Haney (solo museum exhibition at AMOA-Arthouse this past spring), plus Chicago's Deborah Stratman (2004 Whitney Biennial) and LA-based painter and printmaker Nick Brown — plus a laudable drawing annual. Now they've relocated to a high-ceilinged commercial gallery space, filling it with some of the best-of from their past exhibitions. The reconfiguring works to Tiny Park's advantage, as it's less of a "been there, seen that" than a very concrete adjustment of scale and space. Brown's massive canvases and Aragon's large-scale media aren't so squeezed for room here, though they retain their respective impacts. It's a solid group show. This fall, Tiny Park must throw caution to the wind, using the potential for experimentation to go full-bore and, trusting their instincts, leave an even deeper impression on the local gallery scene. Consider me super stoked for what is to come.

* "Manscape: Male as Subject and Object", curated by Christopher Eamon @ Lora Reynolds Gallery / 360 Nueces. There is a disclaimer on the gallery door noting that this group show "may not be suitable to all viewers". Sounds like my kind of show! But seriously, Eamon pulls off a thoughtful dissection of traditional male imagery and hierarchy in art via three young and compelling female artists (Mariah Robertson, Michele Abeles, and Adina Popescu) and tempered by a less-known male some 25 years their senior (John Massey). Photography is the focal point here: Robertson's two-pronged visual assertion of lone phalluses infringing onto optical illusion backdrops and Abeles' stealthy still-lifes (in one, she makes a compelling critical portrait of blue-drenched objectifier Yves Klein). Popescu gives her male subject a face (in her video "Jeremiah", screened earlier this year in "Blind Cut" at Marlborough Chelsea in NYC), but his voice is really her own words, a dialogue on consumption. Massey is not simply counterbalance here as the sole male artist and older figure. I wonder what the exhibition would be like without him. His contribution, a sensitive gaze into his own head and thoughts via his "Studio Projections" photographs (involving a maquette of Massey's studio and projections of images rephotographed from newspapers in the '70s), gives a vulnerability to this male artist via the admitted failures of depicted male-headed modernist activities. Back to the women: are they striving for the same sort of utopian goals in their respective truncations and takedowns of male imagery? I think when you take these works into the greater contexts of their respective oeuvres—like Robertson's darkroom experimentation and Abeles' continually groundbreaking compositional techniques—then the answer is not so clear. At the very least, I do not see these artists' progresses "destined for failure" like Massey's mining of decades' old modernism. 

CLOSING SOON

NYC

* Carl Andre/John Wesley "Serial Forms" @ Mitchell-Innes & Nash / 534 W 26th St. This ain't the first time I've encountered an intriguing pairing w/ cartoonishly idiosyncratic painter Wesley – that'd be "Jo & John", Matthew Marks' primo "dialogue" b/w Wesley and his ultra-minimalist partner Jo Baer, back in 2010. But I unabashedly love Andre's systemic sculpture and am pretty stoked to see the visual analogy posited by the gallery b/w his heavy metal and Wesley's equally flat paintings. (ENDS SAT)

* Charles Atlas "The Illusion of Democracy" @ Luhring Augustine Bushwick / 25 Knickerbocker Ave, Bushwick (L to Morgan). Bushwick has a teeming, fertile art-scene, full of creatives and creative gallery spaces. Now W. Chelsea powerhouse Luhring Augustine states its claim in a new space w/ a brilliant exhibition, the American post-punk video artist Charles Atlas, who despite participating in the upcoming Whitney Biennial hasn't shown locally in a long while. The exhibition feat. two video installations never seen before in NYC, "Painting by Numbers" (2008) and "Plato's Alley" (2009), plus a new large-scale video work created specifically for this show and space. (ENDS SUN)

Parting thoughts on 2010 NYAFF/Japan Cuts

This year's NYAFF ended Thursday, and while Japan Cuts continues for another week I've had my fill of fantastic, subversive, entertaining film. Even if everything coming out in America this summer sucks terribly, even if Christopher Nolan's Inception should let me down (though I'm hoping it's awesome), I have this cache of NYAFF/Japan Cuts to carry me through. Thank you, Subway Cinema. Thank you, Japan Society. Thank you, Pink Eiga and thank you, Sushi Typhoon. The festival gets doper every year.

With that, I rank the films I caught this year. I dug everything, all 18, but some I REALLY really dug. I caught 3 of the 4 IFC Center midnight screenings, 2 "REturn to the Old School: Hong Kong's New Martial Arts Cinema", all three Sushi Typhoon releases, one retro screening, both giant monsters, three action films, three "box office monsters", two comedies, two romances, one "one-night stand", no political films (oops!), two feat. award-winning actors, and 4 (of 5 listed) "psychedelic" films, at least according to Subway Cinema's program book. So:

Confessions (NYAFF/Japan Cuts) - Director Tetsuya Nakashima's new film blew everything else away. I still get chills thinking about that one scene, the classroom ablur w/ motion as the girl w/ the sad, knowing eyes stares over her shoulder, at the camera and into our souls. I sincerely hope this gets a full U.S. release.

Mutant Girls Squad (NYAFF/Japan Cuts) - I met two of my favorite directors at this festival, Yoshihiro Nishimura and Noboru Iguchi, plus two A+ awesome actresses, Asami and Cay Izumi, and this team-up film (also directed by action guru Tak Sakaguchi) made me so very happy, in a giddy sugar-rush way.

The Ancient Dogoo Girl: Special Movie Edition (special screening) - Surprised a Kansai-area TV program recut as a film ranks this high on my list? Considering Iguchi and Nishimura both had a hand in it, plus it stars Asami and Cay Izumi (in Nishimura's part) and the effervescent Erika Yazawa as lead in Iguchi's), it makes COMPLETE, TOTAL sense.

Actresses (NYAFF) - Six of Korea's best, brightest, most beautiful actresses playing themselves in a faux-documentary Vogue cover shoot = incredibly, addictingly fun.

Parade (Japan Cuts) - Gold star for one of the hottest young casts in the entire festival, add lots of mumblecore dialogue and a dose of dread.

Sophie's Revenge (NYAFF) - I really surprised myself w/ this one. Escapist rom-com, yes, but Zhang Ziyi is adorable (as is So Ji-Sub, in a boneheaded way) and...well, we need films like this too.

Chaw (NYAFF) - Another instance of a very smart Korean-directed film disguised as a monster movie. The fact the beastie doesn't visually appear until like 1/2-way through should clue you in that there is WAY more important things at work.

The Hanging Garden (Japan Cuts) - An incredibly bracing, family drama experience. I need to familiarize myself w/ director Toyoda's other works, but this one places him firmly at Sion Sono's level, at least in my opinion.

Ip Man 2 (NYAFF) - The perfect way to begin this year's NYAFF. The best action, w/ emotive undertones. Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung going at it produced many heart-stopping, edge-of-your-seat moments. Then the terrible, indelicate Brit barges in.

Alien Vs. Ninja (NYAFF/Japan Cuts) - I am totally sold on Sushi Typhoon. The premise of this film always sounded a bit goofy to me, but the payoff was intense: superb action sequences, actual character development, witty dialogue and banter, and a very good-looking three-actor lead.

Pink Power Strikes Back - Groper Train: School Uniform Hunter (NYAFF) - I know pink films are supposed to be more enjoyable than "smart", maybe, but Asami carries it into a whole higher domain. She's an action actress through and through, true, but her cutesy, naive routine here proves she can ACT.

Castaway on the Moon (NYAFF) - A very sweet, inventive Korean rom-com.

L.A. Streetfighters (NYAFF) - I am so pleased this mid-'80s Korean action-exploitation film is available on Netflix! The whole girlfriend licking ice cream off Tony's face (even beyond the Spikes gang leader w/ his half-shirt) must be seen to be believed.

Yatterman (NYAFF) - Silly film, but w/ Takashi Miike's signature totally deviant moments, and the actresses are gorgeous.

Doman-Seman (NYAFF) - One star for incredible effective soundtrack. One more star for the Kyoto neighborhoods setting.

Death Kappa (NYAFF) - Great, monstrous, stupid fun, w/ props to the amazing rubber-suit costume and  extra props to casting Misato Hirata as the uber-cute lead.

Symbol (NYAFF) - Bit New Age-y, but beautiful to look at.

The Storm Warriors (NYAFF) - I had no idea what was going on, but it's a visually stunning film.

(Erika Yazawa will kick your ass!! Until next year...)

Japan Cuts 2010 "Parade"

* Parade (dir. Isao Yukisada, 2009, Japan). Yukisada's new film was on my short-list of "wants" for this year's NYAFF (and, related Japan Cuts) — see it here, and though Takao Nakano's Big Tits Zombie 3D didn't make it, Parade did, w/ one of the cutest casts in the entire festival and all that. I'd referred to it back in April as having a "chatty ensemble cast w/ dark undertones", which is fairly accurate (albeit a big dramatic). Four 20-somethings in a Setagaya, Tokyo 2-LDK, Keisuke Koide (Ryosuke, a loaferish, somewhat-uncomfortable-with-girls economics student), Shihori Kanjiya (Kotomi, a sweet if opaque unemployed actress — and may I say I love this big role for her; I know her best as a Volume character from Katsuhito Ishii's Funky Forest), Karina (Mirai, a gorgeous and abrasive illustrator — her name means "future") and Tatsuya Fujiwara (Naoki, an extremely tidy, athletic film employee) stepping over one another, greeting each other and sending one another off w/ a smile, hitting the combini together or sleuthing a next-door neighbor's supposed brothel ring, or getting wasted w/ at the neighborhood gay bar (b/c Mirai is a major fag-hag, we learn). A string of violent muggings targeting young women in the neighborhood shakes them up, but only so much, and that's when we meet the fifth "roommate", Kento Hayashi (Satoru, a lean, blond hustler, rubber-limbed and wise at the mouth), who no one seems to know but everyone welcomes as one of their own, esp. the girls. Kotomi, who is usually lonely at home, takes to Satoru immediately. As does Mirai, who seems to fall hard for him, taking him out partying then spending the night w/ him (totally innocent) and spills her brutal childhood secrets to him. Ryosuke is a bit awkward and standoffish as a straight male may be next to the glowing Satoru, but he falls under his spell as well. Only Naoki, the eldest of the group (I think) is reticent, but after tailing Satoru one afternoon, perhaps thinking him the neighborhood mugger (note here: the crime element is heavy at the beginning then quickly tucked way away in the back — do NOT forget it, as it's always underlying the action), and either has pity on him or something but invites him to volunteer at his film office one day, and they go out drinking afterward. Think of Terence Stamp in Pasolini's Teorema — Satoru is something like this, but instead of sleeping w/ everyone he awakens and/or unearths something in each of them. The roommates' general pleasantries toward one another (esp. necessary in such a tiny living space) are laid bare for him, and eventually they start opening up to one another w/o him. An example is Kotomi confiding her pregnancy in Naoki (we wonder if Satoru knew as well, and if she never would have told Naoki had Satoru NOT known). The neighborhood mugger thing comes back, violently, near the end, to the point where I was sure of one thing and suddenly it's something else altogether: a smart move by the director, and it totally made sense. And yet this unstated understanding remains; life goes on. At the Q&A, director Yukisada said something about the Japanese often "reading the air", holding back comment to first judge the situation, feel it out before letting it all out, which may mean not stating the whole truth, or going about w/ a self-made mask around your housemates or coworkers or peers. I think this idea is entirely accurate for any group of coed 20-somethings living together in a small space (anybody whose had roommates, esp. of the opposite sex, can vouch) — one the one, it's problematic when this self-made mask becomes a living reality. On the other, this unconditional acceptance, artificial though it may be, is highly reassuring. It's problematic and Yukisada does a great job forcing us to confront it w/o giving any definitive answers or judgment on what is "right" or not.

NYAFF/Japan Cuts 2010: "Hanging Garden" + "Doman Seman"

* Hanging Garden (dir. Toshiaki Toyoda, 2005, Japan). I went into this screening blind, not even having seen the trailer, based solely on something I'd read that put Toyoda's film on par w/ (or surpassing) Sion Sono's Noriko's Dinner Table. Though I'm not familiar w/ Toyoda's oeuvre (I understand his background to be visually-rich gangster films), Sono's is dear to me, precisely Noriko's Dinner Table, so such a statement was enough to latch my attention and draw me in. Upon leaving the theatre, I can subjectively say Toyoda and Sono can comfortably exist together w/in the realm of the family drama, that Noriko's Dinner Table is still my favorite, but Hanging Garden drew a visceral reaction all the same. Toyoda's camerawork is lovely: the title shot, through a leaf and soaring over the garden of the Kyobashi family's terraced high-rise condo, accompanied by a piano soundtrack, sets the scene. He spins the camera in slow circles, elsewhere, or floats it in extra-long takes, to denote nostalgia, rootlessness, and family banter where you're just waiting for the hammer to drop, or the first person to leave the table, or even blood to be drawn. All the tension in the film boils down to Kyoko Koizumi (who reprises the mother's role in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Tokyo Sonata), the smiling, steel-clad matriarch Eriko, tenuously grasping at this perfect family life. If she's not watering her jungle of plants, she's lining the dinner table, possessing the only housekey of the foursome. Dad Takashi (Itsuji Itao, aka Key Man from Yoshihiro Nishimura's Tokyo Gore Police) walks on eggshells around the emotionally distant Eriko whilst having a very active, secretive sex life w/ punkish, domineering Satoko and cutie Mina, who ends up tutoring son Kou (and who Eriko mistakenly believes is sleeping w/ her son, instead of her husband). Daughter Mana is your typical teenager (rude to mom, wise to dad) whilst skipping school and hanging at the plaza of a shopping mall all day, fearing bullying at school (and perhaps showing early signs of her mom's traits). Son Kou is withdrawn but very aware of what's going on in the family. Throw in Eriko's sometimes-hospitalized mother Sacchin, a fiery powerhouse, and a terribly awkward "birthday party" for Mina (the family, it's said, doesn't celebrate one another's birthdays, only other people's), and you've got a chemical reaction. Toyoda's handling of the soundtrack, and just sound in general, is also expert. Beyond the title sequence, his choice of sound reduction and amplification, sucking out all background noise to hear just dialogue, or muffling everything expect a torrential downpour, or footsteps, or just sudden jarring silence, maintains a sharp edge to this rather fast-paced drama. The tension is growingly palpable as the tidy family structure starts busting at the seams, and even Eriko's unbreakable smile fractures (in one part, she fantasizes about stabbing her petulant coworker in face, repeatedly, with a cake-fork), and the consequences of her manufactured happy existence, cloistered far above in the posh high-rise, are strained perhaps beyond repair. I sincerely hope this film is available for a wider audience.

* Doman Seman (dir. Go Shibata, 2010, Japan). Are you familiar w/ Future Sound of London's classic Lifeforms album? From the iconic artwork to the diversely trippy tunes. Watching Shibata's new Kyoto-set film (whose Japanese title is just as beguiling, if not moreso, 堀川中立売, both a string of kanji and an intersection of bridges that has something to do w/ age-old sorcery), I felt as though I was trapped in FSOL's Lifeforms. From the moody, spacey soundtrack to the shots of urban life v. shocks of greenery, to the 1st thing we see, a young girl who seems to have conjuring abilities. At the Q&A, Shibata compared the film to Boredoms, Japan's legendary indie noise-psych-percussion quartet, and then everything clicked for me. Actually: my "aha" moment came during the film, albeit late in. As I understand it, a magical spirit comes to contemporary Kyoto as a yakuza named Abe, w/ his precocious daughter. He gets two guys — one a long-haired loser more comfortable in his undies than proper clothing, the other a dandyish, psylocibin-user who is homeless by choice — to fight the evils encroaching on society. I.e. Kyoto's pretty-boys beating up the homeless and this creepy shut-in named Terada who murdered loan sharks as a youth and now, ironically, works for a loan shark company. Abe's minions do this whilst wearing bathrobes. And the puppetmaster behind all the evil is apparently a shamanic character who runs Terada's firm and is actually a famous young juggler in drag and heavy makeup. At...least...I think that's the plot. So finally, near the end, Abe's minions meet up w/ the shaman, and the story reconfigures in a bunch of jump-cuts placing the shaman in the center of the action until she finally disappears. Their task achieved, Abe and daughter breathe a sigh of relief, and the music segues into the pounding crust-punk anthems of Tokyo's Abraham Cross.

NYAFF/Japan Cuts 2010: "Alien vs Ninja" + "Mutant Girls Squad"

* Alien v. Ninja (dir. Seiji Chiba, 2010, Japan), July 3 at 6p. The world premiere of the 1st film out of killer new label Sushi Typhoon is coked-up action at its very finest. The extremely transparent title signals the lack of a weighty plot — it really is about aliens (half-dinosaur, half-Gigeresque) versus ninjas, in an endless primeval Japanese cedar forest — but I am 100% OK w/ that when the action is this good. Director Chiba's background is in historical action-drama, and the lead badass ninja, Masanori Mimoto, while simultaneously being a hot slice of manliness, is a ridiculously adept action hero. The swordplay and acrobats were of the caliber I rarely see in films of this vein, so exhilarating that I found myself on the edge of my seat as each choreographed sequence one-upped its predecessor. This goes beyond wires and CGI. Mika Hijii as the super-cute ninja (w/ metal fists reading "the strongest", and she is a total badass) and Shuji Kashiwabara as the slightly primadonna ninja, w/ his floppy hair and sullen 'tude (though he's a badass too), alongside Mimoto, are basically all that stands in the way of several disgusting, slimy rubber-suited aliens, which made brutally quick work of the other ninjas. Watch Mimoto throw a sullen, smouldering gaze as one of his kin gets bloodily dispatched and he swears revenge and cuts up an alien. Watch Hijii and Kashiwabara kick ass, as Mimoto throws more smouldering looks before engaging in a swordfight w/ an alien, who also is wielding a sword. Slap yourself but it'll do no good: you're not dreaming, that really just happened. Yattai, Sushi Typhoon!
Next Screening: July 6, 3:45p (Walter Reade Theatre)

* Mutant Girls Squad (dirs. Noboru Iguchi, Yoshihiro Nishimura, Tak Sakaguchi, 2010, Japan). Ever since experiencing Nishimura's Tokyo Gore Police at the 2008 NYAFF (for you don't just "watch" a Nishimura film), this unique brand of extreme body horror, coupled w/ a cadre of beautiful actresses and deviant humor, has been at the core of my festival experience. Last year everything, all my anticipation, led up to Vampire Girl v. Frankenstein Girl. This year, it had to be the powerhouse team-up and Mutant Girls Squad. After joining Twitter, I added @sentoshojo and got my daily dispatch of Mutant Girls news — this occurred for months, so you talk about anticipation. And the payoff? The gory amalgamation concocted by these three leading minds is a riotous party, loads of off-kilter fun that stays firmly w/in their cherry Sno-cone blood-soaked sphere whilst excelling in the bizarre beyond their previous works. It's saying something when the 1st person who gets sawed in half (like 1.5 minutes into the film) doesn't faze me — more like a gentle comfort that "yes, I'm back with you now!" — yet seeing a girl get her face trisected vertically reminds me: they've found ANOTHER way to do that, awesome! Good news: the talent is hot. Iguchi (and I'm pinning Iguchi w/ this one) has an eye for leads, and the three here (Yumi Sugimoto as Rin, Yuko Takayama as Rei, and Suzuka Morita as Yuki) have backgrounds as gravure idols, though Takayama, the overall meanest of the lot, is also the lead in action drama Hana no Asuka-gumi NEO. More good news: perennial Iguchi/Nishimura collaborators Asami and Cay Izumi — two of the baddest-ass actresses I have the pleasure of knowing — take their action careers to new levels, w/ Asami as the retainer for the Tokyo police force (wielding two swords in what I think is called "niten-ichi-ryuu") and Cay as a Lolita-esque character w/ swords coming out her boobs. Oh I haven't mentioned the mutant girls yet: think of X-Men, only they're all young hot fashion models w/ bizarre, body-horror mutations (ass-chainsaw, the aforementioned sword-boobs) and instead of Professor X we get Tak Sakaguchi in drag (think a svelte Robert Smith). Directors Nishimura and Iguchi both cameo and die. Cay and Asami die as well, rather violently and creatively the both (I must wonder what remains in these directors' bag of tricks for creative killings, but I've no doubt they've got a LOT of surprises remaining). Kanji Tsuda (the wacked-out professor-slash-Dr. Frankenstein in Vampire Girl v. Frankenstein Girl) returns as Rin's smiley dad, but mainly as a decapitated talking head atop her floating birthday cake, in an extremely '80s-psychedelic sequence that recalls that coffee-drinking screensaverish bit on Earthbound, only w/ Tsuda's decapitated talking head atop a floating birthday cake. Another killer juxtaposition: Rin and Rei slow-dancing, inter-cut w/ Sakaguchi as this avian mutation, cackling and killing Tokyo PD, whilst Yuki fights a slashed-up, fire-throwing Sayako Nakoshi (Nishimura's omnipresent "wrist-cut girl"). I loved every minute of it.
Next Screening: July 5, 6p (Walter Reade Theatre)

NYAFF/Japan Cuts 2010: "Confessions"

* Confessions (dir. Tetsuya Nakashima, 2010, Japan). I'm knocking this out now, while the effects of Nakashima's latest film, a harrowing high-school drama, are still reverberating through me — though I've an inkling this film's resonance won't totally fade away come morning, or the weekend, or perhaps even the end of the festival. Nakashima achieves something brilliant here, in the first 20 minutes of the film, in Moriguchi-sensei's (winningly played by Takako Matsu) monologue to her JH class, amid their banter and slo-mo roughhousings. She lays it all out, the impetus for the action, her young daughter was murdered by two of her students, she knew who they were, IDs them to their surrounding classmates and exacts revenge. All this accompanied by a pervasive blue tint (gone, nearly, is Nakashima's former penchant for acid-saturated color) and a slow-burning Boris soundtrack. In the remaining 75% of the film, we get "confessions" from the murderers, from one of their mothers (played almost unrecognizably, and in that sense excellently, by Yoshino Kimura) and from the shockingly pretty "misunderstood" girl in the class, who becomes close to the other murderer. It is through these vignettes that Nakashima teases out just what Moriguchi-sensei is capable of, that revenge for her little girl's death does not end for the attention-getting demonstration around the 20-minute mark, involving supposedly tainted milk. No, no, they are left to fend for themselves in the world, think about what they did, as one fuels a growing rift with his mother while the other courts his girl classmate, all the while plotting his own explosive denouement. And w/ signature Nakashima, there are many beautiful, painterly scenes, the slo-mo cascade of raindrops, the backwards motion bubbles (repeated hauntingly at the end with that explosion), the girl staring back at the camera amid the blur of classmates' bodies. Too, Nakashima's films have always carried a weight beyond the spectacle: Memories of Matsuko, despite its cheery, gilded singalong Amelie leanings, is at its heart the protagonist's grief over her sister. And yes, Kamikaze Girls had it too: don't tell me you felt nothing when biker-chic Anna Tsuchiya finally breaks down in tears on the riverbed next to sugar-princess Kyoko Fukada. But Confessions is a far grimmer tale, with each gorgeous frame followed by an equally gorgeous, painful sequence. You could call it the rippling effects of one's actions, how it disrupts others and leads to earthquake-sized changes: they may kill someone, they may be killed. But so many are affected. Each year, the NYAFF programs this one film, amid all the others I go bonkers about and obsess over and love, that just DOES IT. Though we are only midway through a fantastic festival, Confessions quite possible is that film.
Next screening: Sun, July 4, 2p (Japan Society, and it's SOLD OUT)

A fee's LIST PSA on the 2010 NYAFF/Japan Cuts

I live and breathe film festivals. I laugh off television but I love film, especially watching them in theatres and extra-especially seeing super-indie/international/rare films back-to-back (-to-back-to-back, as the case may be) at film festivals. Dedicated subscribers to my LIST already know this. But the single NY-based film festival that gets me jonesin' more than any other is the Subway Cinema-curated New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), coupled w/ Japan Cuts, the festival of contemporary Japanese cinema held at Japan Society. To me, July 4 weekend doesn't = fireworks, it equals some really bonkers films from Japan (and Korea/Taiwan/China/Thailand etc). Plus fireworks. The festival begins June 25 at Lincoln Center (it moved uptown this year!) and bleeds into Japan Cuts on July 1, which continues through the 16th. Tickets for everything, the NYAFF at Lincoln Center, the special NYAFF midnight screenings at IFC Center, and the Japan Cuts films at Japan Society, are on sale circa this past Thursday. And you bet the hot tickets are going to sell out, as they do every year, way in advance. So instead of dropping the ball on you several LISTs from now, I figured I should get the word out NOW. Let you, friends, know what I am seeing, b/c whatever I am seeing is going to be very very dope. So with that:

* Ip Man 2 (dir. Wilson Yip, 2010, Hong Kong), June 25 at 9:30p. The opening night film that kicks off the 2010 festival. I caught Ip Man last year, and Donnie Yen's unparalleled performance as the man who taught Bruce Lee what he knows was riveting. This sequel features legendary Sammo Hung, who takes it back old school-style. Oh, and Hung will be present at the screening. Doubleplusgood!

* Death Kappa (dir. Tomoo Haraguchi, 2010, Japan), June 25 at midnight. The 1st of three (of four) midnight screenings at IFC Center. Hell, if I'm going to be watching a film that late, it had better have some rubber-suited monsters (particularly folkloric Japanese beasts) wreaking havoc on the metropolis, right?

* L.A. Streetfighters (dir. Park Woo-sang, 1985, Korea), June 26 at midnight. The 2nd of three (of four) midnight screenings at IFC Center. Hell, if I'm going to be watching a film that late, it had better be some obscure '80s exploitation flick from a Korean expat about middle-aged guys pretending to be young badass action stars, right?

* The Storm Warriors (dirs. The Pang Brothers, 2009, Hong Kong), June 27 at 12p. 1) I LOVE the trippy Pang Bros, specifically 'Oxide' Pang. Their new film is, to my understanding, like Harry Potter, only extremely violent and based on a manhua.

* Chaw (dir. Shin Jung-won, 2009, Korea), June 28 at 8:45p. This marauding outsized pig is probably more akin to Shin's countryman Bong Joon-ho's The Host than any American monster movie, meaning it won't suck.

* Sophie's Revenge (dir. Eva Jin, 2009, China), June 29, 4p. Full disclosure: I have no idea what it's about. I'm only seeing it b/c Ziyi Zhang is the star.

* Confessions (dir. Tetsuya Nakashima, 2010, Japan), July 1 at 9p. The 1st Japan Cuts film AND the centerpiece of the NYAFF. AND this is by Nakashima, whose psychedelic-tinged emotional rollercoaster Memories of Matsuko has YET to get proper distribution in the States. "Confessions" was a #1 Stunner at 2010 Cannes. Write that one down, people.

* Pink Power Strikes Back! (various dir, Japan), July 2 at midnight. The 3rd of three (of four) midnight screenings at IFC Center. Hell, if I'm going to be watching a film that late, it had better be some daisy-chained "pink eiga" (Japan-particular softcore porn).

* Alien v. Ninja (dir. Seiji Chiba, 2010, Japan), July 3 at 6p. Repeat that title to yourself several times. Think about it. This, people, is precisely why the NYAFF/Japan Cuts is so very essential.

* Mutant Girls Squad (dirs. Noboru Iguchi, Yoshihiro Nishimura, Tak Sakaguchi, 2010, Japan), July 3 at 8:30p. I just used that excuse above but THIS is precisely why the NYAFF/Japan Cuts is so very essential. Japan's three hottest splattercore directors team up for an ultra-twisted all-girl ultraviolent X-Men-type endeavor. Plus the directors are in the house and there's a majyah Sushi Typhoon bash afterward. I am crossing my fingers the actresses will be present as well!

* Symbol (dir. Hitoshi Matsumoto, 2009, Japan), July 4 at 1p. I honestly have absolutely no idea what this film is about, except the director is a phenom. I'd nearly equate it to Matthew Barney's Cremaster 4 but I'm not going to diss Matsumoto-san.

* Castaway on the Moon (dir. Lee Hey-jun, 2009, Korea), July 4 at 3p. Another totally distorted romantic comedy, as only Korea can do. Last year my pick was Lee Kyeong-mi's Crush and Blush. This year, it's a down-and-out young salaryman and an agoraphobic girl. It could be the makings of a Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children tale, if Piranha Press still existed.

* Doman Seman (dir. Go Shibata, 2010, Japan), July 7 at 5:45p. That is the actual Japanese title, and I have no idea what that means... but I believe there is a lot of psylocibin usage in this film.

* Parade (dir. Isao Yukisada, 2009, Japan), July 9 at 9p. Mix Friends w/ Cruel Intentions, only the cast is the hottest young Japanese star(let)s around and the film doesn't suck. I have been biding my time to see this beauty.

* Zero Focus (dir. Isshin Inudou, 2009, Japan), July 15 at 9p. What little I know about this supposedly Hitchcockian film is that it boasts an A-list coup of Japanese actresses (Miki Nakatani, Ryoko Hirosue, Tae Kimura) plus, ahem, Takeshi Kaga (aka "Chairman Kaga").

That's just what I've got tickets for NOW. I could always add a few... There are some shows that have conflicts w/ my schedule (Yuya Ishii's Sawako Decides, Hun Jang's Secret Reunion) that I am trying to work around. Another, Isao Yukisada's Crying Out Love, in the Center of the World, I saw on a flight from NYC to Narita Airport, Tokyo, and I highly recommend it. So browse the schedules and, if anything interests you (and it will!), I strongly advise you to book your tickets early. And stay tuned to my LIST, as I will be practically live-blogging my takes on what I am seeing (if I'm not already too blazed/overstimulated).

My Hopes and Dreams for the 2010 New York Asian Film Festival — Take One

So I've been hyped up since the 1st news of this year's NYAFF hit, courtesy of Subway Cinema. I tweeted it:
here we go!!! 1st notes on 2010 NYAFF http://subwaycinemanews.com/archives/910
2:12 PM Apr 20th via web
and have begun my ocular exercises, like watching daisy-chained Youtube clips of strange Japanese comedy shows, anything to prep myself for some heavy viewing this June.

I dig the location's move to the Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theatre. It's not the hop-skip-jump subway ride but it'll do in a pinch, and leaving the theatre at like 1a after several hrs of screenings back-to-back = not a super-dodgy neighborhood, and Bar Boulud just down the block (though, conversely, the midnight screenings at IFC are a fab addition). And the stadium theatre isn't as meat-locker-cold as IFC's. That said, I had a seating strategy at IFC's stadium theatre, plus I dug the aisles and the angle to the screen. Not quite the same w/ Walter Reade. I'll need to show up early (natch) and sit far front, I think, for the most enjoyment. And as long as the Subway Cinema guys keep the energy levels up, it's going to be a dope experience as ever.

The super-preliminary lineup, thus far, is good: Hong Kong's new martial arts cinema? Hello! Wilson Yip's "Ip Man" was a game-changer last year, and the sequel is the opening night selection for this year's festival. Excellent choice. The inclusion of "Kung Fu Chefs" (dir. Ken Yip, 2009, and starring Sammo Hung and Vanness Wu) plus "The Storm Warriors" (dir. Pang Bros, 2009) — honestly, tell me it's by the Pang Bros and I'll watch it + Subway Cinema describes it as "visually bonkers", which sounds like something I'd write — ups the dopeness factor. From the Japanese underground, "Annyong Yumika" (dir. Tetsuaki Matsue, 2009), an uh historic porn documentary, warrants my attention on conception alone. So far so good, and so early!

Now it's my turn, to express my hopes and dreams for a no doubt ace 2010 NYAFF, bigger and better than 2009's full-throttleness, full-on comedy and incredibly diverse ultraviolence. Maybe the greater powers that be will hear my aspirations and track down these directors and films and screen them for the adoring public. B/c (and this is the beauty part of the NYAFF) where else will we see them stateside?

1. A Pen-Ek Ratanaruang mini-retrospective
Pen-Ek's arthouse classic "Last Life in the Universe" (2003), starring Tadanobu Asano and gorgeous sisters Sinitta and Laila Boonyasak, remains one of the deepest, most moving films I've ever seen. The entire production is very close to perfection, in my opinion, and so emotive that I have to be in a particular state of mind to view it. I love introducing people to it, though, and watching it w/ them. But besides "Last Life in the Universe", I'll bet you few Westerners (specifically Americans) have seen ANYTHING ELSE by this Thai New Wave auteur. I'm lucky to have caught "Invisible Waves" (2006), debatably a sequel to "Last Life..." but strongly surreal to stand on its own (think the relationship b/w Haruki Murakami's "A Wild Sheep Chase" v. "Dance Dance Dance"), at a Thai film festival in the city a few years back. Guess what: "Invisible Waves" never had U.S. distribution so you can't find it! Ditto to Pen-Ek's other two full-lengths that succeeded this, "Ploy" (2007), which did well at 2007 Cannes but was heavily censored in Thailand due to its sexual nature, and "Nymph" (2009), which coincided w/ Lars von Trier's "Antichrist" as the spooky forest-set film at Cannes, only "Nymph" is sexy w/o being so grossly violent. I would LOVE to see either of these at NYAFF — both a serious, artsy twist to the norm — or better yet a stint of Pen-Ek's oeuvre, these + "Invisible Waves" and "Last Life..." (I've never seen it on the big-screen) and his earlier quirky crime drama "6ixtynin9" (1999), which I'm quite fond of for its many surprises and foreshadowing of technique in "Last Life..."

2. Apichatpong Weerasethakul's "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives" (2010). I'll continue the Thai New Wave idea for a bit. Weerasethakul's oeuvre is super trippy, in a dreamlike, nonlinear, long-take sense. Compared quickly to Taiwanese New Wave, Weerasethakul's remind me of Tsai Ming-Liang. His new film is participating in 2010 Cannes, which is a month before the NYAFF. Can it come here next?

3. "My Darling of the Mountains" and "Sorasoi" (both dir. Katsuhito Ishii, both 2008). My favorite Japanese director, no question. I love Ishii's richly considered films, whether it's unusual family drama ("Taste of Tea", 2004), unusual crime caper ("Sharkskin Man and Peach-hip Girl", 1999, and "Party 7", 2000) or like that daisy-chained Japanese Youtube clips I alluded to earlier ("Funky Forest", 2005, which has no equal is ANY other country). And while "Funky Forest" STILL resonates w/ me, I've yet to come across either of his 'new' films in the states.

4. "Mutant Girls Squad" (dirs. Yoshihiro Nishimura, Noboru Iguchi and Tak Sakaguchi, 2010). I've been wondering, since the conclusion of last year's festival, how Subway Cinema would trump the Nishimura bloodfest-as-highschool-romance "Vampire Girl v. Frankenstein Girl" (2009). I mean, the name alone is ridiculous, let alone the concept and "Kill Bill"-quality trailer. What would trump this, you ask? Team Nishimura w/ action expert Sakaguchi and otherworldly FX whiz Iguchi and voila. Essential to this year's lineup!

5. "Robogeisha" (dir. Noboru Iguchi, 2009), and speaking of Iguchi-san... sure the TRAILER for "Robogeisha" debuted at last year's festival, but not the film! It's out! Nishimura cameos! We need it!!

6. "The Big Tits Zombie 3D" (dir. Takao Nakano, 2010). Oh, I'm taking it there.

7. "Instant Numa" (dir. Satoshi Miki, 2010), long-shot since it's just coming out in Japan, but I LOVED "Adrift in Tokyo" (2007), from last year's festival, which of course has no U.S. distribution...

8. "GS Wonderland" (dir. Ryuichi Honda, 2008) — w/ Chiaki Kuriyama. I mean, have you SEEN the teaser clip???

9. "Parade" (dir. Isao Yukisada, 2010) w/ its chatty ensemble cast (incl. Tatsuya Fujiwara) and extremely dark undertones

and that's only Japan (off the top of my head) and Thailand. A boy can hope, non?