New York City is well known for all sorts of cultural and art like events but there is one particular event that we had the chance to attend and that is the New York Asian Film Festival. NYAFF was put together by the crew at Subway Cinema who are dedicated to promoting Asian Cinema in New York City and North America. It was quickly evident that this was an event made by the fans for the fans, with a diversified selection of films from many countries this festival was sure to please everyone.

 

 

Baytong

We knew very little about this movie and personally I prefer to keep a vague idea of themovie I am about to watch so that I may fully enjoy the surprise of the story I am about to discover. And was I ever surprised this time around, Baytong is truly a powerful film from Thailand. The basic premise of the story is that a woman is killed in a terrorist attack and leaves her daughter whose only relative is her uncle who is a monk. The girl’s uncle leaves the monastery to care for the girl all the while making the difficult adjustment to modern life. This movie touched off on many topics of conflicting values and belief and somehow blended it in with simple everyday life. This is one movie I am happy having had the chance to see, one excellent pick which was also a last minute addition (was really worth it).

Drive


The next movie was a personal favorite of mine, it is a movie where you have odd and unexpected mix of characters that are thrown together by fate and embark on an adventure that none of them would have imagined that morning waking up. The premise to this movie is basically that this by the book salaryman gets carjacked and 3 bank robbers who are after their driver who ran off with the money. The bank robbers quickly get discouraged as they find out this salaryman follows all the highways rules to the letter. As the story progresses each bank robber finds their so called true path in life and leave the group to follow that. It’s a movie that will have you saying wow I really did not see that coming. With great plot twists and odd humor the crowd at the festival really enjoyed this one.

After seeing two movies we were starting to get an impression of the festival, we were really enjoying the ambiance. The crowd was great and you could see the staff pour heart and soul to make this event work. Grady Hendrix the fellow who was introducing the movies was great, full of energy and enthusiasm, he presented every movie and gave out tons of prizes, some of the best where and assortment of velvet paintings (a good touch of humor and taste on the part of the organizers)

Vibrator

This film was another interesting discovery, its basically about this girl who goes for a late night run to the convenience store for some vodka and wine where she meets this truck driver. Before you know it there in the back cab of the truck getting it on and that’s only the beginning. This is a very simplistic type of movie, as in there is not a whole lot going on, its basically these two characters interacting for the next few days. They each have their assorted pasts and issues yet with time they bond and share a little piece of each other. It’s really a slice of life where two people simply cross paths, as simple as all this sounds this film is still charged with a lot of emotion and concept.

Infernal Affairs


I’m sure most of your reading this are quite familiar with this movie, one of the most intense movies to come out of Hong Kong recently. I had the good fortune to have this as my first screening of this movie (as hard as that is to believe), seeing this movie on the big screen the first time around is certainly the way to go. For those unfamiliar with the movie the basic story premise is that a organized crime group puts an agent in the police and the police have an undercover officer in the crime group. After a botched bust both sides are aware of the traitors in their midst and then the slow game of chess begins. This movie is jam packed with intense moments and I don’t know why but HK gangster movies just seem to work better than north American ones. This movie was another winner at this festival.

After 4 movies back to back and the only source of sustenance being pocky sticks we had to call it quits. We had another long day ahead of us tomorrow so we needed to get some rest.

Marrionier


We started our day with a Japanese horror involving porcelain dolls in fancy dresses. Now what really sold us to this movie was the following quote from the festival guide : “ You’ll never be able to look at a Japanese horror movie with a straight face again after witnessing the head-splitting frenzy of MARONNIER. It deeply upset audiences at the San Francisco Film Festival but, as we all know, people in San Francisco are sissies who don’t eat meat. “. Come on, after reading a line like that we absolutely could not pass up watching this movie. The story is more or less is about that genius doll maker who goes nuts and women start to disappear and strangely enough the new dolls look a lot like the missing girls and things get a whole lot weirder but I won’t ruin the surprise. In terms or horror and fear factor this movie does not really work but it’s still an interesting piece of work that is oddly humorous. In Addition we had the director Hideyuki Kobayashi introduce the movie and host a short Q&A session after movie. He seemed very pleased by the positive feedback from the crowd.

 

Azumi


A great samurai chick movie with a whole lot of action and short shorts. Basically the premise of the movie is a group of 12 children who are trained to become the best sword fighters in the country, their mission to kill any lord that may bring war to the country. Sounds like a good premise for a whole lot of action? You bet, and the blood does not stop spraying till the end credits, with a colorful cast of both heroes and villains there is nothing but a smooth flow of entertainment. Special mention to the last villain in white, this is probably the best live action adaptation of those very evil and sadistic and arrogant/narcissist villains from rpgs (like final fantasy). This one was seriously a crowd pleasure.

Running on Karma


At first glance this movie did not exactly inspire my imagination, there is just something about Andy Lau in a huge muscle suit that seems odd. I was happily disappointed with my initial expectation and this movie turned out quite entertaining and held an interesting bit a philosophy on top of it. The story is basically about this ex monk who lives in Hong Kong and works as a male stripper, this monk has the particular ability to see peoples karma. After a police he gets mixed up with a police officer who is destined to die to make up for past evil deeds. At the same time the people have to deal with an Indian martial artist / contortionist of an incredible ability that none capture expect for this monk. Sounds like quite an odd mixture, and yes it does work well, the only tricky part is the ending that may be a little difficult to digest as its full of philosophy.

All the all NYAFF 2004 was one rock on event, a great line up of films and good vibes all around. This festival was a labor of love where the organizers were pretty paying for it from their own pockets and were a little worried that they might not have sold enough tickets but they were happy to announce that the turn out was better than expected and that will would be another edition of NYAFF next year. If your in the New York City area next year I strongly suggest checking out NYAFF, it is a festival not to be missed. Our only regret in all this was only attending the last two days of the festival and missing out on the post festival part at the thirsty scholar pub. We hope to see another edition of the New York Asian Film Festival next year as this is one events that fans can truly enjoy.

We'd like to thank Daniel Craft and the crew at Subway Cinema for inviting us to attend the festival. In addition we'd like to thank the organizers and staff at NYAFF for making us feel welcomed.

Official NYAFF Site

Subway Cinema Site

Film Promo photos provided courtesy of Subway Cinema / New York Asian Film Festival

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Peter Zsurka
Jean-Francois Bertrand
07/12/2004