1. NAMELESS GANGSTER (South Korea)
![nameless-gangster-headshot1](http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i400/mondocurry/nameless-gangster-headshot1.jpg)
2. MONSTERS CLUB (Japan)
![monsters-club-headshot1](http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i400/mondocurry/unseen%20films/monsters-club-headshot1.jpg)
This film crept up from nowhere and haunted me at an advanced screening. Followed by weeks of various other features, I wondered if it would in fact hold up to my early impressions. But sure enough, all it took was the discovery of a clip of quietly brooding music from the movie to bring those strange, enchanting feelings right back. It is a unique blend of striking images, controversial political messages, and internal struggle. Though abstract in its telling, there is a powerful story about finding one’s way amid powerful and difficult to understand influences bursting at its seams.
3. KING OF PIGS (South Korea)
![king-of-pigsheadshot1](http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i400/mondocurry/king-of-pigsheadshot1.jpg)
Having watched this film quite a few times to familiarize myself with its proceedings (to prepare for an interview with its director that I am still sorting through), it almost eluded the list having become something of an academic text. Entertaining, it is not. At least not without some serious psychic damage along with it. A fluid animation with a muted color palette that still manages to pop, it’s a bleak tale of two down on their luck men looking back on junior high school days filled with systematic oppression and resulting tragedy. The choice of animating this tale allows for some tripped out elaborations on its dark themes: humans transform into dogs and swines to represent their status, cats and corpses taunt the living and their powerlessness in the face of more well-off bullies, and Chul, a boy for whom violence is inseparable from his everyday existence, warps into monstrous forms to show his increasingly hate-filled state of mind. This film truly challenges a way of life in a way that is both beautiful and painful to look at.
4. BLOODY FIGHT IN IRON ROCK VALLEY (South Korea)
![bloody-fightheadshot1](http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i400/mondocurry/unseen%20films/bloody-fightheadshot1.jpg)
With a slight now you see it now you don’t presence on the festival’s schedule, I can’t help but try to draw some attention to it. That and I am a mark for some straightforward, yet very well done pulpy action. This film manages to do a whole lot with just a little, and that sense of economy is one of the things about it that won me over. Adorning characters with little more than regular apparel and making great use of a sleepy backwoods town and seemingly abandoned spaces, it tells a tale of revenge against convincingly portrayed heartless men who do very bad things, wrought by a steely eyed loner whose blackened heart allows him to do equally bad things in turn. Along the way, the pursuit of vengeance runs across a corrupt conspiracy and a truly dazzling damsel in distress. It’s minimally packaged into a neat little nail biter of a thriller from a director I am definitely eager to see more from.
5. SCABBARD SAMURAI (Japan)
![sayazamuraiheadshot1](http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i400/mondocurry/unseen%20films/sayazamuraiheadshot1.jpg)
Picking the final slot was a challenge because at least two other films vied for a position on this list. But alas, no ties allowed, a 5th place film must be named. I chose Scabbard Samurai because it is such an amazingly pure and heartfelt gesture. Watched again, the trials of its reluctant samurai, Kanjuro, work on another level, saying something about entertaining the masses while still carrying the burden of an unfulfilled soul. It speaks of the paralyzing effects of loss, as both Kanjuro and the prince who he has been charged with entertaining both mourn the deaths of those they held dearest to a plague brought into the story through mention only. Kanjuro’s grand gesture to his daughter, passed along in an impassioned performance by a half speaking half singing monk, has the sort of deep significance that could only come through sacrifice. Considering the director’s more trifling early ventures makes this film an even stronger statement.
As the 5th spot was difficult to determine, here are some honors for two other truly remarkable films:
HONEY PUPU (Taiwan) - a densely coded, brilliantly colored blast of alien logic on the impermanence of all things (including us), told about and perhaps for a generation longing for nostalgia but totally fluent in virtual technologies. Abstracted beyond any followable logic, if that bothers you, you’re not likely to enjoy it. If you can let go and enjoy the ride, then strap yourself in and prepare for take off.
VULGARIA (Hong Kong) - a whip smart, low brow assault on good taste, with both inside cultural and universal humor a plenty, that takes shots at the film industry, yet at the same time works as a sincere tribute to those that put everything on the line to make movie magic.
Thank you to everyone on the New York Asian Film Festival team for making this magic happen!
And thanks to friends, new and old, who made the festival an especially good time to be had!!
Me on twitter = @mondocurry
Nice list of movies that I'm happy to say that I've seen except Honey Pupu. Got to catch up with that one and a few romantic comedies that others have been raving about. I've dwindled down to my top 5 as well but have yet put it in words.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to seeing it, as it's been an interesting mix this year. You got to see more of the Japanese movies in the theater, which is cool. Honey Pupu you might enjoy or feel yourself pulled into a snooze of psychedelic daydreams. I feel like it was calling your name when I saw it, but great if you do check it out!
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