NYAFF 2007 CAPSULE REVIEWS RETRIBUTION, DEATH NOTE, DEATH NOTE THE LAST NAME, NIGHTMARE DETECTIVE.
The one unfailingly bright spot in all my preparations for Cornerstone Festival is getting screeners from the NYAFF folks. This is the second year in a row they've hooked me up and so far everything I've thrown in the player has been great. Since the fest gears up soon I wanted to throw yet another reminder out there. We cover this event at ScreenAnarchy because we love it to death. The people involved are wonderful and the lineup is invariably stellar. If you can get to New York then get there. Is there ever a reason not to see Hardboiled on the big screen in a room full of rabid fans? The festival runs June 22-July 8 and is simply put one of the finest if not the very finest festivals focussing on Asian film here stateside.
If you haven't seen Kiyoshi Kurosawas Retribution I envy you. Like all of his supernatural output this one reeks of atmosphere and emotional resonance. Definitely a title to challenge those who feel the Asian ghost story is played out. There's a visual poetry here that marks the best of Kurosawa's movies, a tacit embrace of the supernatural as an actuality and not just as a cinematic device. If you are cynical about such things prepare to be shaken up. As a series of small earthquakes rock Tokyo a stressed out cop starts wondering whether he himself might be the prime suspect in a series of killings. But more important than the mystery of who is killing who is the unshakeable sense the film offers of a world that lies beyond our own. The film stars Kurosawa regular Koji Yakusho.
Death Note and Death Note: The Last Name are an absolute blast. I haven't seen the anime or read the manga they are based on but as live action features they are simply must-see for no other reason than they are so enjoyable. Combining great characters and CGI work with cat and mouse plotting and a tongue in cheek sensibility these two movies enter cult status with the sure footedness associated with instant classics like Buckaroo Banzai. You will not soon forget characters like Ryuk, Light or L.
Both films concern Light, a disillusioned law student who comes into possession of a notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it. It also comes with a constant companion, namely the particular God of Death to whom the notebook ultimately belongs. Transformed by his new power Light begins living a secret double life in which he is also known as Kira- scourge of the criminal world dispensing brutal instant justice and leaving the masses arguing over whether he should be helped or stopped. Intent on stopping this vigilante justice the authorities turn to a hyper intelligent sweets obsessed teenager who calls himself only L. Soon L. and Light/Kira are locked in a deadly battle of wits made even more complicated by the fact that Light is the Investigating Officer's son! Director Shusuke Kaneko will make a special appearance at the festival.
Nightmare Detective was a big surprise and not at all what I expected. A combination ride through the connection between dreams and reality decorated with trappings both funhouse and slaughter house. A female officer eager to gain field experience is instead given the dubious assignment of following up on a lesser lead that involves psychic phenomena. Soon she finds herself hot on the trail of a self mutilating psychic vampire with only an unwilling and decidedly odd helper in tow. He is able to enter other folks nightmares but there is always the danger he will become unable to reenter the real world. The viewer is left to ask who needs help more, the killer, his victims or this unlikely crime fighting team.
Other films in the massive seventeen day fest include Dog Bite Dog, a special free screening of Gamera the Brave sponsored by the Japan Society as part of the Japan Cuts Festival of New Japanese Films, Chan Wook Park's I'm A Cyborg and That's Okay, Pakistans first gore film Hell's Ground with appearance by director Omar Khan, and the ravishingly romantic Memories of Matsuko.
Other appearances include E. J-Yong director of Dasepo Naughty Girls and curator of Mise-en-scene's Genres Film Festival, HAN Jae-rim -- director of The Show Must Go On,
Sion Sono -- director of Exte, Pete Tombs and Andy Starke: producers of Hell's Ground and kings of the Mondo Macabro DVD label and Lee Sang-geun -- director of the award-winning short film Do You Wanna Baby?
