NYAFF ’14 & Japan Cuts ’14: Wood Job!

Yoki Iida is a forester and he’s okay. Yuki Hirano is a forestry-trainee and he’s a mess. Trees will chopped, fish will be out of water, and lessons will be gently learned in Shinobu Yaguchi’s Wood Job! (trailer here), which screens as a joint presentation of the 2014 New York Asian Film Festival and Japan Cuts.

After failing his university entrance exams and getting dumped by his girlfriend, Hirano does what any slacker would do. He applies for a “green job.” His real motivation is the pretty girl on the cover of the forestry brochure. However, it turns out forestry involves real work—something Hirano was never any good at. Yet, just when he is primed to desert, he runs into Naoki Ishii, the forestry covergirl. Evidently, she was never a student, but she once dated one. Frankly, she is rather annoyed to see her picture still in circulation and thinks even less of scammers like Hirano, who enroll hoping to put the moves on her.

However, Ishii’s telling off has a perversely motivating effect on Hirano. He sticks out the training program and accepts a yearlong apprenticeship in her remote lumber village. Of course, Hirano still has a lot to learn about the forest. His boss, the gruff but gruff Iida is not very impressed, but the mismatched mentor and protégé slowly start to grow on each other.

Will honest, hearty country living finally win over Hirano? Will he ever win over Ishii? Do you want to see grown men wearing a thong-sash during their Burning Man forest rituals? If you answered yes to that last one, Wood Job is definitely the film for you.

Granted, writer-director Yamaguchi follows a pretty well established formula. One could consider it Japan’s teenage/early adult Northern Exposure with lumber. Nevertheless, his mastery of mood and keen visual sense elevates it well above standard Doc Hollywood terrain. While mostly grounded, there is one particularly striking excursion into magical realism Yamaguchi executes with graceful understatement. He also gives viewers very practical instructions in proper tree-chopping technique. Seriously, you will think you can actually do this stuff after seeing the film.

Shota Sometani’s Hirano is a bit of a goof and a goon, but he portrays his maturation with a fair degree of subtlety. As Ishii, Masami Nagasawa brings some healthy verve and attitude, while developing nice Fleischman-O’Connell chemistry with Hirano. In contrast, Hideaki Ito is pure mountain man as Iida.

Somehow Yamaguchi is able to convey the sensation of that crisp mountain air. He is not afraid of a little sentiment either—and why should he, anyway? It is all quite a sweet, sure-footed, ax-wielding coming of age film that gets steadily more inviting as it progresses. Recommended for fans of bittersweet romantic comedies, Wood Job! screens tomorrow (7/13) at the Japan Society, as a joint selection of this year’s NYAFF and Japan Cuts: the New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Film.

Japan Cuts ’14 & NYAFF ’14: All-Round Appraiser Q

Riko Rinda is sort of the Japanese Lovejoy, except she is far more reputable and much cuter. She can appraise anything, but she specializes in fine art and jewelry. Much to her surprise, she will be called upon to evaluate a masterpiece that should need no appraisal in Shinsuke Sato’s All-Round Appraiser Q: The Eyes of Mona Lisa (trailer here), which screens as a co-presentation of the 2014 Japan Cuts and New York Asian Film Festival.

Rinda, a.k.a. All-Round Appraiser Q, is good at her job. Struggling journalist Yuto Ogasawara is not. They both happened to be working the same gourmet reception. Rinda’s client is concerned the slicker than slick outfit renting his restaurant is too good to be true. Ogasawara’s boss thought a cooking demonstration would be the only assignment he couldn’t possibly make of hash of. He was wrong. Rinda duly foils the criminal goings on, but Ogasawara misses the photo. However, he suspects Rinda might be an even bigger story, especially when she is offered a chance to serve as a special Japanese curator on the Mona Lisa’s world tour.

After sleuthing out the real La Joconde to pass her audition, Rinda is whisked off for training with her snooty colleague, Misa Ryusenji. Yet, Rinda eventually develops some fake-spotting chemistry with her. They appear to have the makings of a real team, until Rinda falls sway to a sinister force. At this point, the eager Ogasawara takes up the case in earnest.

Yeah yeah, Dan Brown, right? In point of fact, Manbu Uda’s adaptation of Keisuke Matsuoka’s source novel rather cleverly incorporates the painting’s strange history, including handyman Vincenzo Peruggia’s unlikely theft in 1911 and the recent discover of the initials in her eyes. However, Appraiser Q is considerably more fun than a month of Da Vinci Code clones.

In large measure, this is due to the character of Rinda. While she is as brilliant and nearly as eccentric as Cumberbatch’s Sherlock, she is also warm and empathetic. Frankly, it is nice to see an endearing underdog find her niche, especially when seen shortly after the emotional angst of Yoshihiro Nakamura’s The Snow White Murder Case. Haruka Ayase’s performance is scrupulously demure, yet she lights up the screen.

Tori Matsuzaka’s Ogasawara trails after her as best he can, largely keeping the shtick in check. Asian film connoisseurs will not be shocked to hear awkward looking westerner Pierre Deladonchamps is embarrassingly clunky as Rinda’s French instructor, but Eriko Hatsune delivers some subtle surprises as Ryusenji.

Appraiser Q has several nice twists and loads of genre appropriate atmosphere. The “Monna Lisa” misspelling is a tad unfortunate, but these things happen. Ayase and company put on a great show, which is the thing to focus on. It makes you hope it is the start of a franchise. Highly recommended for those who enjoy old fashioned romantic mysteries, All-Round Appraiser Q screens tomorrow (7/13) at the Japan Society, as a joint selection of this year’s NYAFF and Japan Cuts: the New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Film.

NYAFF ’14 & Japan Cuts ’14: The Devil’s Path

Junji Sudo is a yakuza. Shuichi Fujii is a journalist. That means they are both users. Yet, each will discuss justice with earnest indignation in Kazuya Shiraishi’s The Devil’s Path (trailer here), which screens as a joint presentation of the 2014 New York Asian Film Festival and Japan Cuts.

In the opening scenes, the audiences watches Sudo kill, torture, and torment several victims, so it causes no great distress to learn he is now on death row, awaiting word on his final appeal. Before he goes, Sudo has a few things he wants the world to know. Fujii’s editor assigns him the provisional interview, expecting he will quickly dismiss Sudo’s letter as an attempt to buy time at the eleventh hour and move on to the political scandal stories she is much more interested. However, it does not work that way.

Sudo is willing to admit to three additional murders the cops know nothing about, for the sake of implicating the associate who set him up. He had always considered the man he called “Doc” (or “Sensei” depending on the translation) as a close friend and ally. During their time together, Doc was the brains behind some really nasty real estate and insurance schemes and Sudo was the brawn. Nevertheless, Doc duped the yakuza into believing his closest cronies had betrayed him. Needless to say, they all met very bad ends, for which Sudo will likely pay the highest price.

Naturally, Fujii is skeptical and Sudo’s accounts are frustratingly light on details. Considering how many horrible deeds he committed, these three just were not that memorable at the time. Yet, when Fujii starts probing, Sudo’s story holds up.

The idea of a malevolent bad guy helping an investigating-protagonist solve some sort of crime probably sounds like another pale copy of the Silence of the Lambs-Blacklist formula, but there is considerably more to Devil’s Path. For starters, Fujii’s relationship with Sudo is decidedly awkward and nearly entirely antagonistic. It is also a rather bracing look at what are typically considered white collar crimes, perpetrated in a lethal blue collar fashion.

As Sudo, Pierre Taki is a truly riveting presence, holding a vice-like grip on viewers. In contrast, Takayuki Yamada’s Fujii is rather weak and dull opposite him, which is surprising given his fierceness in the thematically related The Samurai that Night (seen at last year’s Japan Cuts). On the other hand, Lily Franky calls and raises Taki as the ruthless Doc. Usually cast in shaggy dog roles, such as the easy going father in Kore-eda’s Like Father, Like Son, Franky delivers a lightning bolt out of the blue here. Amongst the rest of the large but mostly beaten down supporting ensemble, Nozomi Muraoka stands out a bit, bringing some Runyonesque dash as Fujii’s editor.

In all honesty, Devil’s Path could have lost an entire subplot involving Fujii’s wife Yoko and her mounting frustrations caring for his mentally deteriorating mother. Yet, the grit and grime of Sudo’s story is quite distinct from any other yakuza film. Recommended for those who prefer their crime dramas dark and existential, The Devil’s Path screens tomorrow (7/12) at the Japan Society, as a joint selection of this year’s NYAFF and Japan Cuts: the New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Film.

NYAFF ’14: Korean Short Film Madness

It is not called work because it is easy. Three protagonists will struggle with their vocations, whether they properly chose them or not, in three of the selections programmed for the New York Asian Film Festival’s annual Korean Short Film Madness, which screens this year at the Asia Society.

Being a filmmaker should be a cool job, but Kim is struggling mightily with his thesis film in Han Jun-hee’s Understanding Movies. With his cast and crew growing increasingly annoyed with his dithering, the mysterious arrival of Louis Giannetti, author of the widely adopted cinema textbook Understanding Movies seems to be a godsend to Kim. Unfortunately, the fictionalized version of the real life academic clearly has a very different aesthetic sensibility. In a way, Han’s Understanding Movies is sort of like the Marshall McLuhan gag in Annie Hall, except McLuhan won’t shut up. It is all quite droll and viewers might even pick up some cinema studies insights here and there.

Of the three selected films under consideration, Kim Jin-tae’s Long Inside Angle Shot is by far the least mad. Ne’er-do-well Tae-bong would like to squander his money on his shallow mercenary girl friend, but unfortunately his billiards obsessed mother has drained his savings to buy a billiard hall. It was not her idea. The Buddhist monks who come to her in visions recommended this investment. Not really trying to make a go of it, Tae-bong challenges Mother Felsen to a winner-take-all match. How do you think that turns out? Frankly, Angle is pleasant enough, but it feels under-developed, even for a short.

Kim Hyeon-cheol’s Trunk is also something of a mixed bag, but what it does well, it does really really well. Harried Kyeong-min was supposed to pick her overbearing boss up at the airport, but she is running so late her career is in jeopardy. Nonetheless, she tries to close the trunk of her neighbor’s car when she notices the open hatch. When the darn thing just won’t close, she calls said neighbor, who does not seem very neighborly. She asks if Kyeong-min looked inside, but that does not seem like a very good idea. Marsellus Wallace’s soul might be in there.

Although it only runs an economical thirteen minutes, Trunk’s set-up and general execution are massively creepy. Kim Hyeon-cheol’s lead actress is always believable even and especially as she becomes progressively freaked out. It also features an unusually sinister voice-over performance. However, the pay-off is an over-the-top head scratcher. Still, horror movie endings are often disappointing. An intriguing premise and loads of atmosphere are a good deal more than we usually get.

This year’s Korean Short Film Madness includes four other films that also sound plenty mad. Understanding Movies and Trunk are definitely recommended for those who appreciate neurotic humor and dark, possibly uncanny thrillers, while Long Inside Angle Shot passes the time without taxing anyone terribly. They all screen tomorrow (7/11) at the Asia Society as part of this year’s NYAFF.

Japan Cuts ’14 & NYAFF ’14: The Snow White Murder Case

Nobody in their right mind would call Mao Inoue homely and the young actress playing her middle school aged self has to be one of the cutest kids ever. Yet, those caught up in the mob mentality will believe anything. Group think in its many guises, including social networking, scandal mongering journalism, and peer pressure, stands thoroughly indicted in Yoshihiro Nakamura’s The Snow White Murder Case (trailer here) , which screens as a co-presentation of the 2014 Japan Cuts and New York Asian Film Festival.

Noriko Miki was Little Ms. Perfect at her cosmetic company (makers of Snow White soap). Outwardly beautiful and gracious, she was actually manipulative and mean. She also happens to be dead, having been found stabbed repeatedly and then burned to beyond recognition. The media will chose to print the legend, led by TV news part-timer Yuji Akahosi, who sees his relationship with one of the murdered woman’s co-workers as his opportunity to hit the big time. During their interview, Risako Kano not so subtly casts suspicions on Miki Shirono, referred to in his reports as “Miss S.”

In subsequent interviews, their fellow co-workers are eager to follow Kano’s lead, especially since Shirono has conveniently disappeared. Slowly, old high school and college friends emerge to defend Shirono. As they tell their stories in flashbacks, viewers see a pattern of bullying develop in her formative years. Yet, Akahosi doubles down on his narrative, egging on the internet’s baying hounds.

Ostensibly a mystery, Snow White is really the sort of film that rips your heart out and stomps on it. All three actresses playing Shirono are just overwhelmingly endearing and vulnerable. Viewers with any sliver of sympathy will be deeply moved by her/their sensitivity and indomitable faith the future will somehow be better.

Snow White was adapted from Kinae Minato’s novel, as was Tetsuya Nakashima’s incendiary Confessions—and it is easy to see a kinship between the two, especially in the way students’ causal cruelty leads to major macro consequences. However, Nakamura’s film does not leave audiences feeling so bereft and numb.

In addition to Inoue and her fellow Sironos, Shihori Kanjiya and her younger alter ego are terrific as Miss S.’s loyal but emotionally stunted childhood friend, Yuko Tanimura. Arguably, Go Ayano is appropriately vacuous and annoying as Akahosi, in a hipster Williamsburg kind of way. Yet, it is TV actress Nanao in her first feature role as Miki, who really gives the film a disconcerting edge.

Considering how intricately plotted Snow White is, the final resolution comes surprisingly quickly and cleanly. Nevertheless, witnessing Shirono’s life is an experience that really gets into your soul. Indeed, its genre trappings are rather deceptive, dressing up an intensely personal drama that steadily expands in scope. Highly recommended, The Snow White Murder Case screens tomorrow (7/11) at the Japan Society, as a joint selection of this year’s NYAFF and Japan Cuts: the New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Film.

Japan Cuts ’14 & NYAFF ’14: The Mole Song—Undercover Agent Reiji

Yakuzas do not sing, but they should be able to tell jokes. However, theme songs are a handy way to ensure undercover cops always remember their principles. I mean obviously, right? These are about the only rules that apply during The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji (trailer here), Takashi Miike’s manic adaptation of the hit manga series, which screens as a co-programmed selection of the 2014 Japan Cuts and New York Asian Film Festival.

Reiji Kikukawa is the lowest scoring patrolmen to somehow graduate from the police academy. Basically, he is an idiot, so who would suspect him of being a deep cover narc? After trying to bust a pervy city councilman, Kikukawa is summarily fired and then wink-wink rehired to infiltrate the feared Sukiya-kai clan. Kikukawa’s ultimate target is the elusive boss Shuho Todoroki, but for reasons that would not make sense to explain, the #2, Masaya Hiura (a.k.a. Crazy Papillion) quickly takes Kikukawa under his wing.

Kikukawa also takes a shine to Hiura because of the yakuza’s unyielding stand against drug trafficking. Unfortunately, someone within the organization is not so principled. Kikukawa soon feels rather confused and abandoned. Much to his frustration, being a gangster also complicates his awkward attempts to put the moves on his cute former colleague, Junna Wakagi.

Periodically, Kikukawa experiences flashbacks of his superior officers singing “The Mole Song,” which is a crime in itself. However, that sort of shameless lunacy is right in Miike’s power alley. Mole Song makes the original Police Academy look like a Noel Coward drawing room comedy. No gag is too slapsticky and no humiliation is too unlikely to inflict on Kikukawa.

Yet, he keeps plugging away, because Mole Song also has heart. You have to hand it to Toma Ikuta’s Kikukawa—there is nothing he will not do for a laugh—starting with being strapped naked spread eagle to the hood of a speeding car. Literally, that is where Miike starts. Kenta Kurokawa and Itsei Nekozawa also make quite a strong impression as feline-themed yakuza assassins, who look like CATS chorus members on crystal meth.

Riisa Naka does her level best to provide some grounding as the decent Wakagi, but she is fighting a losing battle. However, Shinichi Tsutsumi (who also plays a bonkers yakuza in Sion Sono’s Why Don’t You Play in Hell?) largely steals the show as the indomitably hardnosed Miura.

Miike seems to be having a ball trying out nutty ideas throughout Mole Song and the fun is contagious. Frankly, it is rather impressive how many of the bits successfully land. Recommended for those who want to see a madcap cartoon with live people, Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji screens tomorrow (7/10) at the Japan Society, as the opening film of this Year’s Japan Cuts: the New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Film, co-presented by NYAFF.

NYAFF ’14 & Japan Cuts ’14: Why Don’t You Play in Hell?

Which is a greater menace to society, the Yakuza or independent filmmakers? It hardly matters, because when they join forces, there will be blood on the floor. We are talking wall-to-wall pooling here. Yes, this is a Sion Sono joint, so get your game face on when Why Don’t You Play in Hell? (trailer here) screens as a joint presentation of the 2014 New York Asian Film Festival and Japan Cuts.

Ten years ago, scruffy would be teen filmmaker Hirata Don and his two camera-operating chums first met Sasaki, their supposed martial arts star. On that fateful day, they also crossed paths with Jun Ikegami, a profusely bleeding yakuza. He was supposed to assassinate Taizo Muto, a rival clan leader, but they ran into his wife Shizue instead. Only Ikegami survives her wrath, but not before getting a severe dressing-down from her ten year old daughter, Michiko.

Michiko had been well on her way to being Japan’s sweetheart, based on her perversely catchy TV toothpaste commercial, but her mother’s murder convictions derail her career. Feeling understandably indebted to his wife, Muto promises to establish their daughter in the movies before her release. However, the now punky and petulant Michiko walked away from her legit film debut, forcing the studio to recast. With mere days left before Shizue’s parole, Muto needs to find a production for Michiko fast. You see where this is going? Eventually, Don’s dubious crew will hook up with Muto’s clan, but everyone thinks the director is Koji Hashimoto, a poor schmuck on the street Michiko roped into her madness.

With no time to write a proper script, Don opts to film Muto’s war with Ikegama verite-style. Buckle up, because there is going to be a body count. When it comes to over-the-top, outrageously gory comedic violence, Sono’s latest film stands tall, in a field all its own. The sheer level of mayhem Sono unleashes in the third act would even leave Itchy & Scratchy slack-jawed. It is impressive.

Amid all the carnage, there is also something of a valentine to filmmaking and an affectionate eulogy for old school 35mm. It also features one of the greatest and fiercest performances by a child actor, maybe ever, but it will probably be a good eight or ten years before Hara Nanoka’s parents let her see her work as young Michiko. As the older Michiko, NYAFF Rising Star Award winner Fumi Nikaido smoothly picks up the baton and proceeds to bash just about everyone with it. It is a butt-kicking star turn, but nobody can out hard-nose Jun Kunimura (Boss Tanaka in Kill Bill vol. 1, which seems so tame in comparison) as the steely but devoted Muto.

On the Sion Sono spectrum, this is more polished than Bad Film, but more ragged around the edges than Love Exposure. Regardless, whatever you think WDYPIH is, raise it to a power of ten. Highly recommended for cult film connoisseurs who have a general idea what they are getting into, Why Don’t You Play in Hell? screens tomorrow (7/10) at the Japan Society, as a joint selection of this year’s NYAFF and Japan Cuts.

NYAFF ’14: Aim High in Creation

How does this sound to you? “Sure, there were human rights abuses in Hitler’s Germany, but they produced some really entertaining propaganda films.” Absolutely unacceptable, right? Yet, Australian filmmaker Anna Broinowski essentially makes the equivalent argument for North Korea, except she never really acknowledges the Kim dynasty’s appalling oppression of its own people. Instead, she happily heads to the DPRK for pointers on how to make an anti-fracking propaganda film in Aim High in Creation, which screens during the 2014 New York Asian Film Festival.

According to Frontline, it is estimated one out every one hundred North Koreans is a political prisoner. In that Orwellian state, it is not just perceived thought criminals who are purged, but also two generations of their families, in both directions. Apparently, Broinowski has no real problem with what she euphemistically calls North Korea’s “closed society,” but “fracking” generates no end of moral indignation.

After assembling her annoying hipster cast, Broinowski jets off to North Korea to get tips from the propaganda masters. She sees all the monumental sites, hanging on her minders’ every word. Not once does she challenge anything said to her, passively accepting their charges of American war crimes. She also readily agrees her native Australia is a country of drunks.

Perhaps the idea was to simply record the state of affairs in North Korea and let the surreal images speak for themselves. However, that approach still requires Broinowski ask the blindingly obvious questions, to cue the resulting dissembling. That never happens. Instead, she obsequiously sucks up to the propaganda filmmakers, like a star-struck teenager.

Yes, it takes courage to speak truth to the apparatus of control in a “closed society.” Few will ever live up to the gold standard set by Mads Brügger in Red Chapel, but those filmmakers fortunately enough to gain access to the rogue state have to at least try. If Broinowski lost her nerve when faced with the regime’s everyday pervasiveness, she should have scrapped the film and preserved her dignity. Instead, her brown-nosing is just embarrassing.

At times, Broinowski’s own images contradict her words, as when she claims there are no advertisements to be seen in North Korean. We can see this is patently false. Pyongyang is covered in propaganda posters and murals, which are indeed advertisements selling blind obedience to the state. She simply finds their aesthetic consistency pleasing, which is what happens when the state exercises absolute control over all means of expression.

Great value seems to be placed on Broinowski’s “just folks” interactions with her propaganda colleagues, as if the audience will be shocked when they do not immediately throw the thumb screws on her, while singing the Internationale, but of course they are carefully crafting their image. These are propagandists, after all.

Not surprisingly, the resulting anti-fracking propaganda short is utterly unwatchable. However, if enough people see it, The Gardener should secure the safe and profitable production of coal seam gas for many generations to come, which is exactly the legacy Aim High deserves. To return to the original question, National Socialism boasted a stable of world renowned filmmakers that included Leni Riefenstahl and the now discredited Viet Harlan. Arguably, one could learn something from their work, whereas their North Korean counterparts are literally following the Great Leader’s formula.

Either Aim High represents a massive editing room meltdown, or it is a profound failure to document the reality of one of the most oppressive regimes in the world. In any event, it is not worthy of your ticket dollars, especially when there are so many great films still to come at this year’s NYAFF, including the bizarrely heartbreaking Miss Zombie and the deeply moving Great Passage. Both are highly recommended, but Aim High in Creation is definitely not when it screens tomorrow (7/10).

NYAFF ’14: Firestorm

Despite an innate laissez-faire attitude towards government, Hong Kong has always trusted its police. That is why there was such profound disappointment when the cops broke up recent pro-democracy demonstrations, as per their instructions from above. That might seem ironic for those raised on a steady diet of Johnnie To-John Woo rogue cop thrillers, but the general populace has always been willing to forgive a little corner-cutting to bring down the baddest baddies. However, Inspector Liu Ming-chit will take off-the-books justice to a whole new level of recklessness in Alan Yuen’s Firestorm 3D (trailer here), which screens during the 2014 New York Asian Film Festival.

Fronting as an art dealer, Mainland armed robber Cao Nan and his gang have been running circles around the police in general and the by-the-book Inspector Liu in particular. They enjoy a challenge and don’t give a toss how many bystanders are killed in the process. When Liu’s old high school judo partner To Shing-bong is released from prison, he rejoins Cao Nan’s outfit, while pretending to keep on the straight and narrow for the benefit of his loyal girlfriend, Law Yin-bing.

Liu is a cool, frosty cat, but the dead bodies start to push him towards the edge of legality. When a shocking atrocity hits home, the Inspector finally takes a running leap into the dark side. Of course, that leads to complications, culminating in a massively explosive shootout right smack in the middle of Hong Kong’s financial district that would even leave Michael Bay dazed and exhausted.

Even though there is no sex or nudity and little foul language to speak of, Firestorm is all about sheer excess. Whether it is the amped up action sequences, the over-the-top 3D effects, or the shameless emotional manipulation, writer-director Yuen has no patience for half measures. The last half hour or so is simply a jaw-dropper of an action set piece, spectacularly choreographed by Chin Kar-lok.

If you have a problem with entire city blocks blowing up than Firestorm is not for you. Nevertheless, Andy Lau’s work proves there really is such a thing as an action performance. He broods so hard you can see the steam coming out of his ears, elevating Liu to the level of classical tragedy. On the flip side, Hu Jun is magnetically steely as the uncannily unruffled Cao Nan.

Yao Chen manages to scratch a few decent scenes as the thankless Law, which is saying something, considering how testosterone-driven the film is. Unfortunately, second-lead Gordon Lam’s macho slow burn as To suffers in comparison with Lau and Hu. However, the film is peppered with terrific supporting turns, including Michael Wong hamming it up as Liu’s boss and young Jacqueline Chan demolishing viewers’ heartstrings as his disadvantaged god-daughter.

There is no room for subtlety or hand-wringing in Firestorm. It is simply too busy firing RPGs into crowded city streets. Given the magnitude of it all, you wouldn’t think this is Yuen’s first solo turn in the director’s chair, but the screenwriter comes strong and lays it down with authority. Recommended for action fans who like a movie to shake them by the lapels, Firestorm screens tomorrow (7/9) at the Walter Reade Theater, as part of this year’s NYAFF.

NYAFF ’14: Au Revoir L’été

Koji Fukada, the acclaimed Hospitalite helmer, obviously digs French titles. However, teenage Sakuko’s experiences are distinctly Japanese. She will spend her summer vacation flirting with a Fukushima evacuee and studying for her university exams (supposedly). Yet, Fukada’s themes and vibe consciously pay homage to Eric Rohmer’s beach movies. For ten days, Sakuko will slyly observe and cautiously interact with the small seaside community in Fukada’s Au Revoir L’été (trailer here), which screens during the 2014 New York Film Festival.

Sakuko’s family takes a bit of explaining, even for her. Her Aunt Mikie has the same name as her mother, because they are step-sisters. While Aunt Mikie’s full sister is off touring Europe, they will house-sit her peaceful Rohmeresque home. Thus far, Sakuko has been something of an academic underachiever, so it is presumably hoped Aunt Mikie, an accomplished ethnologist specializing in Indonesian culture, will be a good influence on her.

Smart, attractive, and single, Aunt Mikie is indeed quite the role model, who attracts ex-lovers like a magnetic. First, it is Ukichi, the former village rogue, who has settled into a responsible job at the local love hotel to pay his daughter Tatsuko’s college tuition. He has also taken in his nephew Takashi, finding him work at the hotel, despite his minor status.

Eventually, Nishida also arrives for a guest lectureship at Tatsuko’s school, solely in hopes of picking up with Aunt Mikie again. However, she has clearly grown tired of the arrogant married man. She seems to prefer Ukichi’s earthy company, while Sakuko is similarly interested in Takashi. Yet, just as in Rohmer’s A Summer’s Tale, the timing for young whatever-it-might-be is always problematic.

It is almost bizarre how much Au Revoir looks like a mid-1980s Rohmer film, right down to the TV-ish aspect ratio. It shares a similarly pedestrian look and even obsessively marks the passing of each day with retro graphics. Of course, in each case the surface gloss is immaterial. It is the gentle depiction of human messiness that drives the films.

NYAFF’s 2014 Screen International Rising Star Award winner Fumi Nikaido gives a wonderfully natural performance as Sakuko. Remarkably subtle, she ranks as a worthy successor to Amanda Langlet in Pauline at the Beach and Summer’s Tale. Nevertheless, Mayu Tsuruta’s Aunt Mikie outshines everyone, making intelligence and maturity look seductive whenever she is on-screen.

As Takashi, Taiga convinces us boys really do mature slower than girls. So does Kanji Furutachi’s Ukichi, but there some world weary heft to his oddball persona. Producer and Japanese indie star Kiki Sugino also frequently gives the film a kick with her verve and attitude as Tatsuko.

Again, like Rohmer’s films, Au Revoir is deceptively light and talky. Yet, when viewers think back on it, they will have sense memories of those ten days in the summer house. Still, Fukada gives the master’s formula enough of a contemporary Japanese spin to make it feel like its own animal. Recommended for fans of chamber dramas and understated coming of age stories, Au Revoir L’été screens tomorrow (7/8) at the Walter Reade Theater, as part of this year’s NYAFF.

NYAFF ’14: Cold Eyes

It is not the most social division of the police force, so chief detective Hwang’s ticky, standoffish new recruit should feel right at home. However, the passivity of surveillance will be an issue for her. Nevertheless, her eyes and memory will be needed to take down a master criminal and his crew in Cho Ui-seok & Kim Byung-seo’s Cold Eyes (trailer here), an inspired Korean remake of Johnnie To’s Eye in the Sky, which screens during the 2014 New York Asian Film Festival.

Ironically, during her rehearsal shadowing assignment, Detective Ha Yoon-joo and Hwang were rubbing shoulders with James, the mysterious mastermind of a gang of armed robbers. He is never personally on-the-scene, preferring to observe from a carefully selected rooftop. Their last bank heist has the force particularly rattled, so Hwang and his boss, director Lee are under pressure to produce. Scanning surveillance footage, they practice of form of police work resembling a game of Concentration. When they turn up a suspect, Ha will have her initiation by fire, trailing him through the city. Of course, the closer they get to James, the more the stakes rise.

Despite all the time Hwang sits in surveillance vans, Eyes is decidedly action-driven. Co-directors Cho and Kim truly master the near-misses and sudden disappearances involved in tailing suspects. They also have a knack for spectacular shootouts and public safety-defying car chases. Yet, it is the film’s neurotic vibe that really sets it apart from the cops-and-robbers field.

Sol Kyung-gu, this year’s NYAFF Star Asia Award recipient, powers the film with slow-burning intensity. His off-kilter wiliness and rumpled soul distinguishes Hwang from just about every other movie copper, except maybe Han Hyo-joo’s socially awkward Ha. They are quite a pair, developing some appealingly eccentric mentor-protégé chemistry. Counter-balancing her oddball colleagues, Jin Kyung adds some class and authority as Director Lee. Although largely impassive throughout, Jung Woo-sung shark-like vibe works in context for the ruthless James.

Cold Eyes is one of the few cop thrillers that genuinely values brains, but hand-to-hand combat skills still come in handy. The execution is slickly stylish, while Cho’s adapted screenplay fits all its moving pieces together quite cleverly. It should even satisfy To fanatics, especially considering an amusing cameo linking it to the original source film. Tight, lean, and unusually cerebral, Cold Eyes is highly recommended for action fans when it screens tomorrow (7/7) and Thursday (7/10) at the Walter Reade Theater, as part of the tribute to Sol Kyung-gu at this year’s NYAFF.

NYAFF ’14: The Face Reader

It is not quite fair to lump physiognomy together with phrenology, because the shrewder readers largely supplement the pseudo-scientific analysis with Sherlockian deduction. Kim Nae-gyeong happens to be one of the better ones, but it is not hard to read the ambition written all over Grand Prince Su-yang’s face. Unfortunately, Kim’s family will be engulfed in the ensuing royal power struggle during the course of Han Jae-rim’s The Face Reader (trailer here), which screens during the 2014 New York Asian Film Festival.

As the son of a disgraced nobleman, Kim prefers to lay low and eke a modest living with his bumbling brother-in-law, Paeng-heon. However, his renown as a face reader leads super-connected brothel owner Yeon-hong into tricking him into her employment. Fate shifts quickly in the Joseon era, though. A pro bono gig for the gendarmerie attracts the attention of the venerable deputy prime minister, General Kim Jong-seo, who whisks him off to work with the inspection board evaluating new officials. One of the candidates he approves happens to be his son, Jin-hyeong, who has renounced his name for the sake of a career.

Impressed by his work, the general and the king task the face reader with detecting the traitors within their midst. Obviously, the king’s brother is the leading candidate, but the king dies before Kim gets a good hard look at him. As the grand prince consolidates his hold on the military and the nobility, the face reader scrambles to protect the newly crowned twelve year old king and his guileless son.

Evidently, NYAFF’s special guest and Korean Actor in Focus, Lee Jung-jae has quite the fearsome countenance. You would not want to trifle with him in Park Hoon-jung’s wickedly entertaining gangster film New World, either (which also screens today, full review here). While there is plenty of Richard III in his ruthless usurper, Lee puts an intriguing spin on the character.

Although Face Reader is the first costume role for Snowpiercer’s Song Kang-ho, a sad clown like Kim Nae-gyeong is totally in his wheel-house. Yet, it is Jo Jeong-seok who really lowers the emotional boom, despite Paeng-heon’s deceptively rubber-faced demeanor. On the other hand, Lee Jong-seok’s Jin-hyeong has little presence throughout the film, mostly looking like he has just had his stomach pumped. Such is not the case with Baek Yun-shik, who brings all kinds of grizzled gravitas as General Kim (he has the face of a lion, by the way), while Kim Hye-soo’s courtesan functions as the smart and sophisticated witness to the tale of woe.

Face Reader acts as a corrective to many period action epics, in which a handful of motivated swordsmen can easily scythe through an imperial army. It is also unrepentantly tragic, which meant boffo box-office in South Korea, out-grossing Iron Man 3. Yet, for international audiences, the way karma ironically asserts itself during this chaotic era will be the thing that really sticks. Not surprisingly, it clocks in north of two hours, but Han helms a tight ship, with hardly any slack allowed on-screen. Highly recommended for fans of historical intrigue, The Face Reader screens tomorrow (4/7) at the Walter Reade Theater, as part of this year’s NYAFF.

NYAFF ’14: Silent Witness

Evidently, the Chinese legal system is not overly concerned with potential conflicts of interest. For instance, nobody objects to a hotshot state’s attorney prosecuting the daughter of his longtime nemesis, even though she is also the beloved pupil of his art teacher wife. His integrity may very well be above reproach, but the defense attorney will possibly cut a few ethical corners that would be spoilery to address in detail. However, it is safe to say the media-frenzy trial is never headed exactly where the opposing counsels assume in Fei Xing’s Silent Witness (trailer here), which screens during the 2014 New York Asian Film Festival.

About the only cases Tong Tao has lost were his white collar prosecutions of slippery financier Lin Tai. Despite his history with her father, Lin Mengmeng still knows him as “Uncle,” but the evidence she murdered her father’s pop idol fiancée is so overwhelming, he must prosecute her anyway. Indeed, it is all so open-and-shut her defense attorney Zhou Li passively sits on her hands, apparently resigned to defeat, until she suddenly obliterates a key prosecution witness. It seems to be more of a game-ender than a game-changer, but there are several more stunning revelations coming down the pike.

Given the title, one might assume somebody out there saw something important. However, Silent Witness is rather more complicated than that. It is a direct descendant of Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution, but it clearly depends on the “flexibility” of the Chinese legal system to revise charges on the fly. A case like this would have probably taken decades to unfold in American courts, but it feels like Fei’s characters wrap it up in about a week.

Regardless, the series of shoes he drops are invariably clever. Yet, there is real drama at the heart of the picture. Considering his work in Silent Witness, viewers are strongly advised not to play poker with Sun Honglei. Even though we can tell his Lin Tai is nursing a secret, he still successfully pulls the rug completely out from under the audiences feet. It is a wickedly subtle slow build that completely upends viewers’ responses.

Yu Nan and HK superstar Aaron Kwok nicely anchor the film as the legal eagles navigating the schemes within schemes. Deng Jiajia is also quite compelling as the emotionally stunted Mengmeng. In a smaller but critical role, Zhao Lixin perfectly sells the first reversal as the unreliable witness, Sun Wei. In fact, Silent Witness boasts an unusually deep bench of intriguing supporting players, such as NYAFF special guest Zishuo Ding, who brings verve and energy to the film as Zhou’s associate, Meizi.

Silent Witness presents a nifty series of twists and turns that take on real emotional stakes thanks to the fine work of Sun and the accomplished below-the-titles ensemble. It is such an effective thriller, it would not be surprising if Hollywood started sniffing around the remake rights. Highly recommended for fans of courtroom dramas, Silent Witness screens tomorrow night (7/6) at the Walter Reade Theater, as part of this year’s NYAFF. New Yorkers looking for a way to beat the physical heat today with some smoldering tension should also check out Jimmy Wong Yu in the taut and evocative Soul (full review here).

NYAFF ’14: Two by Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Romantic clichés require two to tango, but that is usually not a problem in the movies. Instead, rom-com tropes are dashed upon the rocks of genre cinema in a new long short and a short feature by Japanese J-horror auteur turned art-house favorite, Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Sure to have a long shelf life on the international festival circuit, Kurosawa’s Beautiful New Bay Area Project (trailer here) and Seventh Code (trailer here) played as a double bill during the 2014 New York Asian Film Festival.

Prepare yourself for a look at the seedy side of urban redevelopment in Bay Area (originally conceived as part of a themed anthology). Amano’s family has always ruled the Yokohama port and continues to do so, even though he is a mere wastrel figure-head president of the family development business. They have ambitious plans to turn transform the waterfront, but he is more interested Takako, a beautiful laborer. Evidently, he has dreamed of her, but this means nothing to her.

Frankly, it is not exactly clear who or what she is, but she takes her work as a longshoreman and her father’s name very seriously. Enraged by her rejection, Amano steals her ID tile and instructs security to forcibly remove her should she come to reclaim it. That she does—far stronger than anyone expects.

In all honesty, the story of Bay Area does not make much sense and it looks like it was filmed with the cheapest digital camera available at Wal-Mart (not to mention grossly violating the principle of Chekhov’s gun, or rather Chekhov’s norovirus), but it is an awful lot of fun when Takako starts taking care of business. Kurosawa considers this his twenty-nine minute foray into action filmmaking and he duly delivers a series of fan pleasing fight sequences. Tasuku Emoto might not be much as Amano, but Mao Mita is likely to a lot of NYAFF patrons’ new movie crush as the lovely and steely Takako.

At first blush, Akiko seems to have little in common with Takako. She is the ostensibly innocent protagonist of the hour-long Seventh Code, who has followed the mysterious Matsunaga to Vladivostok, because she was deeply taken with him during a chance meeting in Japan. Hardly knowing her, Matsunaga encourages her to return home, but when she persists, his dodgy Russian associates steal her luggage and passport, leaving her in the middle of nowhere.

However, it will take more than that to get Akiko to give up. Eventually, she will find limited work and friendship with an expatriate Japanese restauranteur and his Chinese girlfriend, Hsiao-yen, while continuing her search for Matsunaga. Yet, now and then, Kurosawa drops hints there might be more to this story than meets the eye.

In contrast to Bay Area, Code looks fantastic. Kurosawa effectively takes viewers on a walking tour of Vladivostok’s back alleys, giving the audience a vivid rough-and-tumble sense of place. He also stages another first-rate fight scene and maintains a general vibe of weirdness. While the big surprise might be easy to anticipate, Japanese pop star Atsuko Maeda turns it quite agilely as Akiko. It is a nice acting debut vehicle for her, even though Chinese television host Aissy steals a number of scenes outright as the ambiguously ambitious Hsiao-yen. Unfortunately, Kurosawa has a hard time wrapping-up Code, tacking on a number of false endings and a completely random performance from Maeda, perhaps intended to satisfy her fans.

While both films are a bit of a mixed bag, they are brimming with energy and spectacularly showcase the talents of Mita, Maeda, and Aissy. They fit well together, but represent another curve ball for cineastes familiar either with his previous genre work, like Pulse, or his more sensitive recent releases, such as REAL or Tokyo Sonata. Recommended for fans of action and espionage films with resourceful leading ladies, Beautiful New Bay Area Project and Seventh Code screened this week at NYAFF, so expect them to pop up at more fests shortly.

NYAFF ’14: Zero Pro Site—The Movable Feast

Master Fly Spirit’s food was sort of slow and reasonably local. Most of all, it was entirely traditional, making it difficult to replicate in these times. His daughter Chan Hsiao-wan is learning that the hard way. She had always planned to be an actress or a model, but she is falling back on the old family catering business after tasting the cold hard realities of showbiz in Chen Yu-hsun’s awkwardly titled Zero Pro Site: the Movable Feast (trailer here), which screens during the 2014 New York Asian Film Festival.

Chan was always better at being cute than responsible, so she would be just the type to innocently co-sign on a deadbeat boyfriend’s loan. When he takes to the wind, two loan-sharks come to collect from her. Fleeing Taipei, she eventually reconnects with her stepmother, “Puffy” Ai-feng who is also evading debt collectors. Unfortunately, “Puffy” earned her new nickname when she sacrificed her savings and her late husband’s reputation in an ill-advised showdown with his faithless apprentice. However, Chan’s sunny personality and a few long forgotten traditional dishes start attracting customers to their greasy spoon.

Not surprisingly, Chan has been a poor steward of her father’s recipes, so she seeks help from a variety of sources, including his happily addled teacher Master Tiger Nose and the itinerant “Dr. Gourmet,” a.k.a. ex-con Yeh Ju-hai. However, just as things start to develop between her and Yeh, he jumps ship to assist his teacher, the gangster caterer Master Ghost Head. Even without Yeh’s help, Chan places her future hopes in a national catering competition, duly impressing the loan-sharks into kitchen service, as could only happen in romantic comedies. Yet, to truly cook in a traditional manner, she will have to fully engage with the past.

Yes, there is a lot of food in ZPS, as metaphors, comedic props, and a way to celebrate Taiwanese cultural identity. Yet, it only serves a limited courtship function. While the film certainly has a dash of romance it is more about familial legacies and finding one’s place in the world. Like Chan’s turtle-stuffed chickens, the film is also bursting at the seams with supporting characters, so if one is too goofy and outrageous for your tastes, just wait for a more understated type to come along.

As Chan, Kimi Hsia is relentlessly silly and sweet, without getting viewers’ nerves. She forges some respectable screen chemistry with Tony Yang, even though Dr. Gourmet largely vanishes during the second and third acts. Top-billed Lin Mei-hsiu initially mugs something fierce as Puffy Ai-feng, but she reins it in to some extent as the dramedy starts to develop. Although there is a lot of colorful wackiness going on, the film draws a lot of heart from its senior cast-members, such as the recently reunited old couple, who want Chan to cater their wedding in the manner they remember from their youth.

ZPS is fun, it is endearing—it really could have been ninety some minutes. Over two hours of food and nostalgia is starting to push it. Still, Chen ties up all his subplots fairly neatly. He might have more secondary characters than Around the World in Eighty Days, but he develops a rather high percentage of them. Frothy and pleasing, it delivers some potent wistfulness along with its liberal servings of food and scrappy underdog resiliency. Recommended for fans of generation-spanning culinary cinema, Zero Pro Site—The Moveable Feast screens tomorrow (7/5) at the Walter Reade Cinema, as part of this year’s NYAFF.

NYAFF ’14: The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires

At a time when Hollywood has contracted “co-production fever” in hopes of pandering to the Chinese market, it is worth re-visiting the granddaddy of all co-productions. The fusion of the Hong Kong-based Shaw Brothers’ kung fu and mysticism with Hammer’s gothic British horror was a true Reese’s peanut butter cup of a film. It was also a flop, but it is a highly entertaining flop. As a revered media titan well into his centenarian years, Sir Run Run Shaw (1907-2014) was more accustomed to turning out hits. Still, Roy Ward Baker’s The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (co-directed by the uncredited Chang Cheh) is a distinctive and only slightly eccentric choice to screen as part of the sidebar tribute to Shaw at this year’s New York Asian Film Festival.

Prof. Van Helsing is visiting early Nineteenth Century China to research the eastern variations in vampirism, armed with knowledge of the Ping Kwei legend. According to the story, the villagers were constantly terrorized by a cult of seven vampires and their minions, until one peasant finally reaches his breaking point. Heroically, he kills one of the seven, but at the cost of his life. Everyone attending Van Helsing’s lecture assumes he is a crank, except Hsi Ching. He happens to be a descendant of the brave Ping Kwei farmer, who has come to ask Van Helsing’s help in liberating his village from the remaining six.

Showing remarkable cultural sensitivity for a British colonialist in a 1970s film, Van Helsing stresses his inexperience facing China’s undead and the specific traditions and morays that make them different from the Euro-vamps. However, he cannot refuse a plea for help. Indeed, he becomes rather anxious to get out of town when his twit of a son Leyland shows up the local triad boss when putting the moves on a Scandinavian heiress. The adventurous Vanessa Buren is also eager to fund the expedition, so she joins the party over the professor’s objections.

Of course, before they can face the undead hordes, they will have to hack their way through a small army of triads, but that will not be a problem for Hsi, his six brothers (each with a specialized weapon of choice), and his sister, Mei Kwei. However, there is another European visitor to Ping Kwei, whom Van Helsing is well acquainted with—cue ominous thunderclap.

Everyone seems to love to pick on this film, just because it is admittedly an oddball concept. Yet, it deserves considerably more love. Action director Lau Kar-leung stages some very cinematic (and surprisingly bloody) martial arts sequences, presumably in collaboration with Chang. Perhaps inspired by the Hong Kong production, Peter Cushing brought his A-game as Van Helsing, as determined and authoritative as ever, but also protective of the youngsters and smart enough to know what he doesn’t know. In fact, Cushing looks quite comfortable and collegial with Shaw Brothers leading man David Chiang, who has all the right action chops for Hsi Ching and nearly makes his phonetic English dialogue sound natural.

Shih Szu (who almost broke out during her time with the Shaws, becoming more of a cult figure instead) is also impressively steely and sensitive as Mei Kwei. Former Miss Norway and Penthouse Pet Julie Ege gives Buren a bit of an edge and a backbone too. Unfortunately, Robin Stewart’s Leyland Van Helsing comes across like Hugh Grant’s ineffectual forefather. Frankly, it is hard to believe he could live through the first act.

As if that were not enough, Golden also holds the distinction of being the only Hammer Dracula film in which Christopher Lee does not play the Count. Let’s just say he was missed. However, Cushing, Chiang, Shih, some cool fight scenes, and a full dose of Hammer atmosphere make up for his absence. Recommended for Hammer Horror and Shaw Brothers fans, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires screens this Friday (the Fourth of July) at the Walter Reade Theater, as part of the 2014 NYAFF’s tribute to Sir Run Run Shaw.