{"id":10319,"date":"2018-07-01T08:57:06","date_gmt":"2018-07-01T12:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/?p=10319"},"modified":"2019-06-08T18:31:51","modified_gmt":"2019-06-08T22:31:51","slug":"nyaff-2018-article-gregg-w-morris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/nyaff-2018-article-gregg-w-morris\/","title":{"rendered":"Lots of Information …"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sponsored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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From vicious, life-destroying phone scams to balletic battles between equally corrupt cops and yakuza, NYAFF offers films that reflect on contemporary society while offering extreme genre pleasures. There are self-referential takes on cinematic zombies, existential date nights, and teens finding their own corners of the world despite familial and societal expectations. After last year\u2019s Sweet Sixteen, this year\u2019s program is dubbed the Savage Seventeenth edition with four world premieres, three international premieres, 21 North American premieres, three U.S. premieres, and twelve New York premieres, showcasing the most exciting comedies, dramas, thrillers, romances, horrors and art house films from East Asia.<\/p>\n

Savage Seventeen:<\/h3>\n

The festival has a rich history of presenting films that deal with the social issue of teenage bullying. Many have proven to be launching pads for some of Asia\u2019s biggest stars, and the subject is at the root of such modern classics as All About Lily Chou-Chou, Whispering Corridors and Confessions.<\/p>\n

In a year when youths in the U.S. are standing their ground and demanding political change, NYAFF presents the North American premieres of three films about teenagers who just won\u2019t take it anymore:<\/p>\n

Kim Ui-seok\u2019s After My Death,\u00a0Ogata Takaomi\u2019s The Hungry Lion, and Naito Eisuke\u2019s competition title Liverleaf. More than ever, the festival aims to show that Asia is a beacon of cinematic excitement, its films as rich in provocative artistry and as emotionally compelling as those of its Western counterpart. In the age of algorithm-dictated curation and Eurocentrism, NYAFF holds two convictions: that taste\u00a0in films cannot be deduced or reduced to one\u2019s browser history and that the best in new cinema is rising from the East.<\/p>\n

Opening Night<\/strong>
\nThe North American premiere of Tominaga Masanori\u2019s Dynamite Graffiti, an unorthodox and sprightly drama based on the life and times of Japanese porn magazine king Suei Akira, who cultivated future artists such as Araki Nobuyoshi and Moriyama Daido. This spirited tale of sexual exploitation is an ode to free expression, proving that the so-called \u201csmut\u201d of today might very well become the art of tomorrow. The film is a metaphor for the humble origins of the festival as a Chinatown-born grindhouse showcase introducing the works of Johnnie To and several of the modern masters of Korean cinema.<\/p>\n

Closing Night<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Scene from Buy Bust. Courtesy of NYAAFF<\/p><\/div>\n

The world premiere of Erik Matti’s Buy Bust from the Philippines. On the surface, it is structured like an action film in the vein of The Raid, with superstar Anne Curtis and MMA world champion Brandon Vera as narcs taking down a drug kingpin against insurmountable odds over one unrelenting rainy night. The film employed 309 stuntmen and features a wildly ambitious three-minute, one-cut action scene. As a Matti film, it also offers a searing perspective on the ongoing drug war and broader issues of political corruption. The director and stars will attend the screening.<\/p>\n

The Centerpiece<\/strong>
\nThe world premiere of Sunny Chan\u2019s Men on the Dragon,starring Francis Ng and Jennifer Yu. Always central to the festival\u2019s DNA, Hong Kong cinema demonstrates the resiliency of an industry whose identity is easily blurred with Mainland China, but on which it also exerts a considerable influence and provides storytelling expertise and craftsmanship. The film is a quintessential underdog story about a group of blue-collar workers who reluctantly join their company\u2019s dragon boat team. A directorial debut of a veteran Hong Kong screenwriter, Chan\u2019s film is being presented one year after NYAFF had a special focus on first-time directors from the territory. Chan and actress Jennifer Yu will be among the attending guests.<\/p>\n

Seven films will battle in the second edition of the festival’s re-launched\u00a0Main Competition now dubbed \u00a0the Tiger Uncaged Award for Best Feature Film: Shiraishi Kazuya\u2019s Blood of Wolves (Japan), Nam Ron’s Crossroads: One Two Jaga (Malaysia), Naito Eisuke’s Liverleaf (Japan), Dong Yue’s The Looming Storm (China), Sunny Chan\u2019s Men on the Dragon (Hong Kong), Jeon Go-woon’s Microhabitat (South Korea), and Treb Monteras’s Respeto (Philippines). Six of the seven films are receiving their North American premieres at NYAFF, with one world premiere. Four of the competition titles are debut films, reflecting the festival\u2019s ongoing support for new directors.<\/p>\n

The festival honors its tradition of presenting awards to recognize outstanding talent and filmmakers from Asia that are still under the radar in the West.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong’s Dante Lam has been at the creative forefront of the action genre for 10 years, when his psycho-thriller Beast Stalker became an instant modern classic. The festival celebrates his career by awarding him the Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema and a special 10th anniversary screening of Beast Stalker on 35mm, together with his MMA drama Unbeatable and his latest film, Operation Red Sea.<\/p>\n

The latter made over half a billion dollars in China to become the second highest-grossing Chinese-language film of all time, and Asia\u2019s biggest hit of 2018. Lam attends our opening weekend to discuss his films with long-term producer Candy Leung.<\/p>\n

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Scene from Wrath of Silence. Jiang Wu as Chang Wannian. Picture courtesy of NYAAFF<\/p><\/div>\n

This year, the festival presents two Star Asia Awards:<\/strong><\/p>\n

South Korea’s Kim Yun-seok is best known to North American audiences for his role as the grizzled ex-cop in 2008 serial killer thriller, The Chaser.<\/p>\n

A decade on, he stands firmly in the top tier of his country\u2019s leading men. Like his contemporaries Song Kang-ho and Choi Min-shik, he came late to movies after a background in theater. Jang Joon-hwan\u2019s powerful drama 1987: When the Day Comes screens, in which Kim plays the frightening head of South Korea\u2019s anti-communist bureau, hellbent on holding\u00a0back the country\u2019s democracy movement.<\/p>\n

Chinese filmmaker Jiang Wu’s career has bridged independent cinema and mainstream success for 25 years. Two decades ago, he was at the forefront of a new populist independent cinema about big city life that transformed modern Chinese cinema with Zhang Yang’s\u00a0Shower. He has worked with Zhang Yimou \u00a0(To Live), Jiang Wen (Let the Bullets Fly), Jia Zhangke (A Touch of Sin), and Herman Yau (Shock Wave).<\/p>\n

Xin Yukun’s part noir, part western Wrath of Silence will screen in tribute, in which his terrifying nouveau riche mining magnate falls into a trap of his own design.<\/p>\n

The Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Japan\u2019s Harada Masato, a former United States-based film critic. He is most recognizable to Western viewers for his role as the villain Mr. Omura opposite Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai. Since his debut in 1979, he has positioned himself as one of Japan\u2019s most unique and important directors.<\/p>\n

While he has worked in nearly every genre, he is best known for tackling societal issues such as teenage prostitution, illegal immigrants, and the role of the media. Screening in the festival are his dark classic gem Kamikaze Taxi on 35mm, the recent Kakekomi (2016), a period piece about female empowerment, and his most recent historical epic Sekigahara, about the one-day battle in 1600 that defined modern Japan.<\/p>\n

The Screen International Rising Star Asia Award recipient will be announced at a later date.<\/p>\n

The Hong Kong Panorama, backbone of the festival\u2019s programming, returns with nine features, including two world premieres: Sunny Chan\u2019s debut Men of the Dragon and Antony Chan\u2019s comeback House of the Rising Sons. Antony Chan is an original member of The Wynners, the popular teen-idol band of the 1970s that launched the careers of mega-stars Alan Tam and Kenny Bee. Chan, the band\u2019s drummer, returns to the director\u2019s chair after 26 years to present a vibrant biopic that\u00a0avoids hagiography.<\/p>\n