Brevity tonight, I think, I hope.
The New York Asian Film Festival is in full swing.After two days in the trenches I’m sitting things out until next weekend, such is the joys of seeing a huge amount of films before hand.
It’s been a crazy couple of weeks getting to this point as I and my cohorts have tried to get you word on the films so you could make some choices as to what you might want to see. (Please feel free to let me know what you’re watching and liking or hating)
I need to state a mea culpa or two. The crazed dash to see films has made me a tad insane. Too much to do in too little time. Add to that a few unexpected and unwanted (oh crap variety) twists in the real world life and I’ve been not quite myself (nor quite Bunny Wigglesworth either- but that another Zorro movie). My apologies to anyone who I've misspoken to or been a little too loud and boisterous and know it all like. I'm not that bad, just very tired and very excited, as someone reminded me, this is my favorite film festival.
I hope the pieces you’ve been reading have been helpful. Seeing so many movies in such a concentrated time has made me unsure if I’m really being fair to many of the films. Having seen a large number of the films on DVD I’ve come to realize that if I’m going to see and review a large number of films I prefer to do it in the theater since there is a break between films. I went through several of the older titles In marathon screenings pausing between films only to write them up. I’m not sure I completely digested some of them before moving on to the next thing. (the most obvious piece was my piece on Saadiq Bale where I added an addendum)
I know it could, and should be argued that maybe perhaps we shouldn’t have run as many as we have, but at the same time it is my personal feeling that someone somewhere needs to make a record of the films that run at a film festival. I know that when I attend a festival I want to see what other people think about a film either to help me make a decision as to whether or not get a ticket or just to see if what I felt about a film matches what other people think. The reason I try and run as many reviews from festivals such as NYAFF, Tribeca or NYFF as I do is to make some record of the films because frequently the record is silent on many of the films. Too often I go looking for something on a film thats played a major festival only to find nothing on them. Unseen’s mandate is to record films that aren’t being noticed, and with festivals we try to notice as many as we can, good bad or indifferent.
For the record, as of right now it appears that we at Unseen will be covering all but three films at NYAFF. The missing films being Atrocity Exhibition. Secret Love and Red Vacance Black Wedding (I think we’re going to review at least 24of the Japan Cuts titles, but that’s still up in the air). If you want some ideas to how the films are this is the place to be. You know us so you can use what we say as guide.
From this point on all the NYAFF will be from the theater so I don’t think I’ll be over whelmed (though writing up a days events at midnight is really tough).
While I’m taking a break from the festival madness, my cohorts are not, so expect continued coverage of whats happening at the Walter Reade.
I suspect that many of you are feeling over whelmed by all of the Asian film reviews over the past nine days so from this point on I’m going to be counter-programming the site with other things. Beginning tomorrow it’s a week of mysteries from the Warner Achieve Collection. The week after there will be some horror films.
I also want to say that because of my schedule I’m not going to give you nightcaps for the next couple of weeks, but I think I may have found someone to fill the slots…after much discussion and the promise of waffles, it appears that Bully has agreed to take over the Sunday Nightcaps for the next two weeks. I’ve given him carte blanche and he’s said he’s going to come up with something special and not make the same mistakes as the Milady de Winter.
Okay, time for bed.
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