ACF 508: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance - free screening in New York tomorrow night!

SHIN Ha-Kyun (left) and BAE Doona (right)

Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance
Directed by Park Chan-Wook
South Korea, 2002, 129 min

Just this quick reminder:

Sympathy For Mr Vengeance, the first film in Director Park's "Vengeance Trilogy," is the next film to be shown in Korean Cultural Service's Korean Movie Night Series 2: The Remakes, which focuses on recent Korean films set to be remade by Hollywood.

It'll be shown tomorrow, Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 at Tribeca Cinema, 54 Varick Street on Canal, New York, NY. Admission is free and on a first-come, first-serve policy. Theater doors will open at 6:30 PM and showtimes will be at 7:00.

[Note: The other films in the trilogy are Oldboy (2003) and Lady Vengeance (2005).You can read a recent review of the 8-disc DVD box set release of the trilogy at HK and Cult Film News. But just because it's out on DVD doesn't give you Asian film fans in New York City an excuse not to turn out and see it --for free! -- at this screening. I'll be there. You should be there, too.]

ACF 480: Air Doll at Film Comment Selects

Bae Du-na (left) and Arata (right) in Air Doll

The annual Film Comment Selects series at The Film Society of Lincoln Center's Walter Reade theater began yesterday. (Sorry I didn't have the opportunity to get up a post about it earlier, but that's just how it goes sometimes.) It features quite few Asian films.

The one I'm most interested is Director Hirokazu Kore-eda's Air Doll (2009). It stars Korean actress Bae Du-na (Linda, Linda, Linda and The Host) as a sex doll that comes to life. I'm thinking a cross of Lars and the Real Girl (which is really about a caring community more than a sex-doll) and the delightful manga Video Girl Ai by Masakazu Katsura, in which a VHS video girl materializes out of a TV set.

Here's a description of Air Doll from the Film Society of Lincoln Center website:

Deceptively airy, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Air Doll makes us reflect on our sexual assumptions and the depths of loneliness often endured by the inhabitants of large cities. Korean star Bae Du-na plays Nozomi, an inflatable sex doll belonging to a lonesome Tokyo salaryman who comes alive and wanders the city by day. Like a child with a fresh pair of eyes, she learns about life and love through observation—but how long can her journey of discovery last?

Air Doll will be shown twice: Tuesday, February 23rd at 6:15 PM and Saturday, February 27th at 1:30 PM. For the specific Air Doll page, which includes a trailer, click here.

For descriptions of all films to be shown and to buy tickets, click here.