NYAFF 2011: Top Movies to Check Out

Summer is upon us and I know you want to head outdoors and enjoy the sun and the grass but starting next month you may want to head indoors to see some awesome Asian flicks courtesy of the New York Asian Film Festival.

They've just released their schedule and it's packed full of choice flicks from love stories to horror flicks to plain old crazy WTF films. Check out the full schedule. Also head over to the official site for more info.

I've perused the list and here are the top flicks that you really need to check out. I haven't seen them all but I've been itching to see the one's below. There are plenty of other flicks on the schedule, so be sure to check out all of them.

Ticket prices this year will be:

• $13 general / $9 students & seniors / $8 members for Lincoln Center
• $12 general / $9 members, students & seniors for Japan Society
• Japan Society will be running a special “buy 5, save $2 off each ticket” deal (in-person or telephone purchases only).
• Lincoln Center will again offer their Ten Film Pass for $99 general / $79 students & seniors / $69 members.

CHINA

BUDDHA MOUNTAIN (China, 2010, North American Premiere, 105 minutes) - gobbling up festival awards around the world, Sylvia Chang stars as a suicidal landlady who rents an apartment to three irritating young hipsters in this transcendent drama from Li Yu (LOST IN BEIJING) one of the only female directors working in China. Popular actress, Fan Bingbing (SHAOLIN), stars as one of the hipsters, but it¹s Sylvia Chang, the most important woman in Chinese show business in the 70¹s and 80¹s, who owns this movie.

PUNISHED (Hong Kong, 2011, International Premiere, 94 minutes) - the latest movie produced by Johnnie To, this is a hardcore revenge drama featuring a powerhouse turn by Anthony Wong as a real estate billonaire whose wild child daughter has been kidnapped. Bullet-to-the-head action the way Hong Kong used to do it.

RIKI-OH: THE STORY OF RICKY (Hong Kong, 1991, 91 minutes) - the classic HongKong midnight action movie about prison privatization and monsters who strangle you with their guts. Rarely seen on the big screen, this is a full-on, ridiculously crazy mind-melter full of crucifixion, flaying, classic kung fu combat and prison wardens who keep breath mints in their glass eyeballs.

JAPAN

13 ASSASSINS: DIRECTOR'S CUT (Japan, 2010, 141 minutes, New York Premiere) -
the complete UNCUT version of Takashi Miike¹s samurai masterpiece. With 17 minutes of original footage restored.
***One of the movie¹s stars, Takayuki Yamada, will be at the screening

BATTLE ROYALE (Japan, 2000, 114 minutes) - a celebratory screening of Kinji Fukasaku¹s masterpiece now that it finally - after 10 years!!!! - has a new distributor who wants people to actually see it. Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema

KARATE-ROBO ZABORGAR (Japan, 2011, New York Premiere, 106 minutes) ­ Noboru
Iguchi (Robo Geisha) makes his best film yet. Not just that, but this is the best-looking flick from label, Sushi Typhoon, yet. Slick, big budget and almost family friendly, it¹s based on an obscure TV show from the 70¹s about a young, bright-eyed police officer and his karate robot (who transforms into a motorcycle) fighting crime. But in Iguchi¹s version, the two split up and have to reunite years later after middle-age has taken its toll.

NINJA KIDS!!! (Japan, 2011, World Premiere, 100 minutes) -
Centerpiece Presentation. Takashi Miike's latest flick.

Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema

VERSUS (Japan, 2000, 120 minutes) - a tenth-anniversary celebration of the Japanese zombie action film that launched a thousand horror/splatter/action flicks.
***Star and action choreographer, Tak Sakaguchi, and writer, Yudai
Yamaguchi, will be at the screening.

YAKUZA WEAPON (Japan, 2011, New York Premiere, 105 minutes) - stuntman-turned-director, Tak Sakaguchi, turns in a high calibre, action-heavy riff on Robocop all about a robot yakuza out to put his fist through the skulls of the bad guys. From Sushi Typhoon, purveyor of movies like Alien vs. Ninja.
***The movie¹s director and star, Tak Sakaguchi, and co-director and writer,
Yudai Yamaguchi, will be at the screening

Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema

KOREA

BEDEVILLED (Korea, 2010, New York Premiere, 115 minutes) - part of Sea of
Revenge focus.

PHILIPPINES

MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED (Australia, 2010, New York Premiere, 84 minutes) -
from the people who made Not Quite Hollywood, comes this definitive documentary about the Filipino exploitation film bonanza that erupted in the 70s and 80s.

CHECK OUT THE JADED VIEWER'S REVIEW OF MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED!

THAILAND

BKO: BANGKOK KNOCKOUT (Thailand, 2010, New York Premiere, 105 minutes) -
Tony Jaa¹s mentor, Panna Rittikrai, will school you now. This exploitation stunt-tacular features all his best stuntmen and women unleashing muay thai, capoeira, dirt bike fu, shovel beatdowns, fights on fire, fights in the water, fights under trucks, fights in mid-air, and two back-to-back
climactic smackdowns that have to be seen to be believed.

CHECK OUT THE JADED VIEWER'S REVIEW OF BKO: BANGKOK KNOCKOUT!

***********************************************

Ninja Kids and Machete Maidens Unleashed are my top priority. Once I check em out, you'll see my reviews here starting next week.

Are you psyched yet?

Then check out the trailer.

The NYC Horror Film Festival (11/10-11/14)

The NYC Horror Film Festival kicked off yesterday. It runs from 11/10-11/14 and is at Tribeca Cinemas (54 Varick Street @ Canal St).

**TANGENT ALERT!**

It seems I couldn't get a press pass for this but was given a mild discount. It goes to show you the horror blogosphere which I'm proud to be a part of is not taken seriously as I thought. Would you rather have a blurb on Bloody Disgusting or Dread Central or a couple of in depth posts detailing the experience to the horror community? I'm not sure if I'll go to any of the programs because of this. I'm a NYC horror blogger trying to cover a NYC horror film festival. I think I qualify at press at this point. But I digress.

I think bloggers are just as important as horror journalists but in the eyes of a film festival such as this, they don't think so. But again I digress.

**END TANGENT ALERT!**

THE GUESTS

The guests this year are top notch I'll admit. Robert Englund, Michael Wright, Michael Gingold, Bill Lustig, Joe Mauceri and Tony Todd will hold a panel discussion on Saturday.

THE FEATURE FILMS

I've added trailers to the list of feature films screening at this year's event. Each program will have one feature, a couple of shorts. A couple of films that were on my radar are Yellow Brick Road, Won Ton Baby! and The Pack. I've seen Ticked off Trannies with Knives which was kooky interesting to say the least.

Check out the list of films below with TRAILERS!

Bereavement (11/11 @7pm)

Yellow Brick Road (11/12 @7:30pm)




Don't Go in the Woods (11/12 @9pm)





The Pack (11/13 @ 2pm)




Outcast (11/13 @ 4:30pm)




Ticked off Trannies with Knives (11/13 @ 7:30pm)






Kiss the Abyss (11/14 @ 4:30pm)




Won Ton Baby! (11/14 @ 7:30 pm)





Also on 11/13, Robert England will receive a Lifetime Achievemant Award and there will also be a screening of a Nightmare on Elm Street. A panel discussion on 11/14 will also be held and moderated.

A few solid flicks in this year's festival. If you're in the NYC area and a horror fan, you should check out one of the programs on tap. Tickets for each Program are $16 while an entire All Access Pass is $160.

Head over to the official site for more info.

Prayer to a Vengeful God (Review)

Prayer to a Vengeful God

Prayer to a Vengeful God (2010)

Directed by Dan Eberle

New York City has always had two sides of its personality. The glitz and glamour that the tourists love and the residual grime of the world unseen.

The latter is Dan Eberle's playground. With The Local, he showed us the underbelly of NYC and it shined. I loved the film praising it has a Charles Bukowski poem come to life. With Eberle's next film, Prayer to a Vengeful God I have to admit I was a little skeptical. Why? Because the movie would attempt to tell a story WITHOUT DIALOGUE.

Would I enjoy a movie void of conversation from the actors? How could anything be conveyed appropriately without talking? These and other questions entered my head and though the trailer showed me glimpses of a love story turned vengeance quest, I had my doubts.

Well I've been proven wrong.

Prayer to a Vengeful God is simply a stunning, visual symphony of a soon to be independent classic. The world Dan Eberle creates is filled with drug addicts, criminals, low lives and vagrants. They all participate in a cinematic ballet where our main character John Krause seeks his vengeance served cold. The performances by the entire cast are spectacular in the fact they must convey the story without saying a thing. And they do this perfectly.

It's not just a gimmick, but a tool to push the envelope of how we, the audience process a story. The plot is backround noise here. What the film seems to do is show you images that are warm or cold and make you feel that type of positive or negative emotion. When the characters are angry, you become mad as well.

After the movie is over, you will have been through a roller coaster of emoticons. And you will be left speechless...something that seems fitting.

Boring Plot-O-Matic

After the tragic murder of his wife, and mortal wounding at the hands of her murderer, John Krause wakes up from a four-month dream, to a waking nightmare of pain, addiction, violation, loss, and finally, all-consuming vengeance.

PRAYER TO A VENGEFUL GOD is the story of one man’s journey from successful, upper-class citizen, to debilitated mental case, to battle-hardened street killer. All to kill a man he’s never met, to commemorate a wife he never really knew.

Told in a lyrical cinematic style, entirely without dialogue, PRAYER TO A VENGEFUL GOD is a silent study of how the lust for revenge twists and rends, and despite its carnal satisfactions, can never change the past.

Awesome Review-O-Matic

John Krause is our protagonist. His journey is going to be hard to watch. His wife murdered, he wakes up from a coma to rebuild his life. But soon he discovers his wife has a past that he didn't know but soon will. It's a path filled with bigger than life characters who, in their own way help or hinder John's quest of vengeance and redemption.

We first meet Jennifer, his wife who soon becomes a ghostly image that guides him. Later, we encounter "Urchin", a girl who helps him in a critical moment. As we trudge along John meets Gabby, a friend of Jennifer who explains his wife's "other activities" (a spiral towards tricks for drugs). John who had been a common office worker than proceeds to metamorphisize into a junkie turned Travis Bickle. With the help of a Transient (who performs some Mr. Miyagi lessons) he seeks out the men and women responsible for his wife's demise. "Bearer" and "Miscreant" are on his list as well as an unseen man who his the mastermind of this drug den operation.

I emphasize the movie is without dialogue. It's important to note because we have to watch closely to understand what's going on. At times, I got lost on exactly what was happening as the transitions to flashbacks wasn't entirely clear. But like riding a bike, you become use to the fact nobody is talking. What you begin to focus on are the character's actions and I began to fill in the gaps of what might have been said.

There are scenes where the characters "want" to talk but you don't hear a word. Screenplays start writing themselves in your head and even a few times I got slightly irritated. But I focused on what I felt the characters were feeling and that's how it should be watched.

Eberle's performance is fantastic. His face wreaks of emotion. You see pain and anguish. You see despair and hopelessness. And later you see anger and blood lust. It's very gripping and jam packed with so many highs and lows, you feel what he feels.

Paul James Vasquez as the Transient is superb as well. In a few scenes, John and the Transient have a Morpheus/Neo training and it breaks the tension with some hilarity. But that's soon gone as the mission is foremost on John's list.

You may think the movie will be one big montage without dialogue. It does have that montagy feel at times. But whenever you see a montage in a film, typically you tend to pay more attention to what's going on. And that's how Prayer plays out.

Again like The Local, the visuals and photography are shot to NYC perfection. Brooklyn (see Richmond Hill), Queens and Manhattan become more lively and a character in itself. The typical NYC background is replaced with a more mom and pop neighborhood feel. It's what I like about Dan Eberle's movies. I feel like I'm watching where people actually live.

Like I said, the movie gives you warmth or coldness depending on the scene. After losing his wife, John despairs into suicide. The brightness goes slowly into dark and by the end we are engulfed into complete blackness. There are continuous takes that peer into each of the characters but as John goes all Kill Bill, the movie rapidly encounters an edited frenzy. The action scenes are brutal and hardcore. John now fully trained becomes a masterful madman. In one scene, a tied and beaten up drug dealer sits in a fully lit room with playful paintings of a dog and cat. I noticed this shift of insanity and I hope others do to.

By the end, we are as frigid as Antarctica and it's all going to Oldboy at this point. How we perceive John is entirely up to us. From a typical office drone, to a junkie and finally to a Robin Hood machete wielding vengeance machine. Some will be happy of the outcome, others will shrug.

I sincerely believe dialogue wouldn't have hurt the film but I'm glad Eberle went without it. There are times the movie falls into cliche land but that's going to happen when you delve into this genre.

Prayer is not a typical revenge movie but a tale of misery meets morality. The world is not always the happy face we think it is.

When something bad happens, we pray for things to get better. Usually those prayers are said silently.

It's probably exactly how Dan Eberle imagined it.

Gore-ipedia

Gunshot wounds
Metal pipe bashing
Machete trauma

Nude-ipedia

Nada

WTF moment

The entire film is without dialogue.. I did mention this right?

The Jaded Viewer's Final Prognosis

Check out the Facebook page for more info. The movie will make its world premiere on October 8th in Brooklyn at IndieScreen (http://www.indiescreen.us/) which is located at 285 Kent Avenue at S. 2nd St. For more info, check out the official site as well.

Rating:
Check out the trailer below!

The Local (Review)

The Local

The Local (2008)

Directed by Dan Eberle

"You begin saving the world by saving one person at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics."

-Charles Bukowski

As a born and raised New Yorker, I've become accustomed to the feel and real of the city. When you walk these streets and live and work in the canyon of skyscrapers, you can easily separate the tourists from the tried and true.

Somehow, Dan Eberle has pulled off the impossible. He's made an indie film that takes the seedy side of the glamour of the city and actually makes it glamourous. What does that actually mean?

With The Local, Eberle tells the story of the commoner, the people who don't visit the city for a week but who live here, work here and have to survive here when they have nothing. There are alot of people who fit this description in NYC. The average joes, the joey bronx, the johnny brooklyns and the nonames. It's fitting that Eberle plays the character Noname. You just feel like you know a guy like him, his troubles, the shit he's been through and that's why The Local works.

Boring Plot-O-Matic

The Local follows Noname, an enigmatic man running from a tortured past. He is trapped in a violent Brooklyn underworld as the lowly drug runner for a gang of crazed veterans. There, Noname is approached by a wealthy out-of-towner who offers him a large sum of money to "rescue" the man's heroin-addicted daughter from his employer's drug lair. Noname soon realizes that saving the girl is more than a payday. It will grant him a way out of his purgatory after a lifetime of wrongdoing, and open a path toward personal redemption.

Awesome Review-O-Matic

Dan Eberle who stars as Noname also wrote and directed The Local. Originally written as a novel after Eberle read The Post Office by Charles Bukowski, it has many of the Bukowski-isms but also has some notable differences. You can see the similarities of a Hank Chinaski in Noname but whereas Chinaski barflies, Noname is clean.

I love Bukowski's novels, poems and writings. So The Local naturally felt right. It was like watching Factotum or a Bukowski poem in filmatic motion. The movie is indeed a slow burn even for its 90 min runtime. Most of the early scenes are Noname GTA-ing on a variety of drug dealing missions, meeting his clients and getting his ass kicked by the local kingpins of the Brooklyn underground.

What makes The Local a step above the indie film is its docu-style of NYC. Whereas big budget productions would "clean up" NYC, The Local keeps it gritty, uncouth and real. Walks through cinematic wastelands, subway rides on above and below ground trains and safehouse drug dens that would make Claude from GTA 3 squeamish.

I can't help but smile when I see a movie that is shot in this way. The streets of Brooklyn are almost a character in itself and it's like your watching a different world from the one you've seen via Hollywood.

The Local is unsanitized cinema, full of brutal hard truths learned one punch in the face at a time.

Noname (Eberle), who looks like a cross between Mickey Rourke and John "You can't see me" Cena is classically the anti-hero who you can't help but sympathize with. The circle he rolls with are very colorful. From a hipster turned dealer Blueboy (Beau Allulli) to the king of kingpins Big Black (Paul Bowen) and his lieutenants, they are there to either help our Johnny Local or beat the living crap out of him.

The movie can't help that the first 30-40 min is following downtrodden Noname as he lives his very fucked up life. Some will say its a slow burn, boring to a point. But I've been accustomed to that as a Bukowski fan. You need walk in those metaphorical shoes and seeing Noname stumble and crumble gets your empathy gene jacked up. Ironically, Noname is not a local, but somehow becomes one over the course of the movie.

Later, Noname is approached with a deal of a lifetime. Rescue the damsel drugged up daughter (Maya Ferrara) in distress from Big Black and get $5 Gs. The tension and suspense is built up and you really get the feeling all is hopeless as we head down to the last 15 min. Maybe revenge served cold? Guns a blazing? Hmmm. The payoff that's executed is less than stellar but somehow works when the redemption message plays out.

I really liked the film in that I'm a big fan of the works of the Bukowskis and the John Fantes. It's not going to be to everybodys liking but as far as indie crime and grime dramas go, it's pretty solid. Think Taxi Driver lite.

Dan Eberle is a filmmaker to watch out for. Here's hoping he stays true to the scene and themes he created for The Local. Let me leave you with one final Bukowski quote:

“There will always be something to ruin our lives, it all depends on what or which finds us first. We are always ripe and ready to be taken.”


Rating:

Related Linkage:
Official Site
Buy it now at Amazon.com

Check out the trailer.