SWEET BEAN opens Friday, March 18th in NYC; national roll out to follow

A Kino Lorber Release

Kyara Uchida (left), Kirin Kiki (center), and Masatoshi Nagase

Sweet Bean / An

Written and Directed by Naomi Kawase

Starring Kirin Kiki, Masatoshi Nagase and Kyara Uchida 

Japan, 2015, 113 minutes

Official Selection: 2015 Cannes Film Festival, Un Certain Regard

Official Selection: 2015 Toronto International Film Festival

Sweet Bean, a food-themed drama from writer-director Naomi Kawase, is scheduled to open in New York on Friday, March 18 at Lincoln Plaza Cinema followed by national roll out.

In Ms. Kawase’s graceful tale adapted from the novel by Durian Sukegawa, introverted loner Sentaro (Masatoshi Nagase, Mystery Train) runs a tiny “dorayaki” (pancakes filled with an, a sweet red bean paste) stand in the suburbs of Tokyo. When 76-year-old Tokue (veteran actress Kirin Kiki, Still Walking, Chronicle of My Mother), persistently asks Sentaro to work in the shop’s kitchen, he reluctantly accepts. It soon turns out that in addition to having uncanny culinary skills (her an is much more delicious than Sentaro’s) and a mysterious communion with nature, Tokue has the ability to transform those around her, including Wakana (newcomer Kyara Uchida, real-life granddaughter of Kirin Kiki), a shy teenage schoolgirl who’s a regular at the shop. Thanks to Tokue’s sweet bean recipe, the little business soon flourishes, and with time, Sentaro and Tokue open their hearts to reveal old wounds and painful secrets.

Sweet Bean writer-director Naomi Kawase

Born and raised in Nara, Japan, writer-director Naomi Kawase has been a fixture at the Cannes Film Festival since 1997 when she became the youngest director to win the Camera d’Or (Best First Film Award) for her debut feature Suzaku. With her fourth feature, The Mourning Forest, she received the 2007 Cannes Grand Prix, and became, in 2013, the first Japanese director to serve on the Cannes competition jury. Known for her introspective and poetic fiction works focusing on family and the characters’ connection to nature, she also directed two autobiographical documentaries, Embracing and Sky, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, in which she examined the loss of being abandoned by her parents as a child.

SONGS FROM THE NORTH opens September 18 in New York City

Kino Lorber

presents

Songs from the North

Written and directed by Soon-Mi Yoo

Produced by Soon-Mi Yoo and Harvard Film Archive's Haden Guest

South Korea, 2014, 72 minutes

In Korean with English subtitles

South Korea born Soon-Mi Yoo's Songs from the North, which won the Golden Leopard for Best First Feature at the 2014 Locarno Film Festival, will open on September 18th at New York's Anthology Film Archives.

Songs from the North is an essay film which offers an unique look at the enigma of North Korea, a country typically seen through the distorted lens of jingoistic propaganda and derisive satire.

Interweaving footage from director Soon-Mi Yoo’s three visits to North Korea together with songs, spectacle, popular cinema and archival footage, Songs from the North tries to understand, the psychology and popular imagery of the North Korean people.

To look closely and objectively at North Korea, a country that challenges our most fundamental assumptions about the human condition is ultimately to question the meaning of freedom, love and patriotism.

A HARD DAY opens in NYC today

Kino Lorber

presents

A Hard Day / Kkeut-kka-ji-gan-da

Written & Directed by Kim Seong-hun

Starring: Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Jin-woong, Jeong Man-sik,

Shin Jung-keun and Jang In-sub

South Korea, 2014, 111 minutes 

Language: Korean (with English Subtitles)

A Hard Day, a crime caper/comedy combo from South Korea, opens today, Friday, July 17, 2015 in New York City at the Village East Cinemas with a national release to follow. (Info on other cities, venues and opening dates is available here.)

Things aren't going well for homicide detective Go Geon-soo, played by actor LEE Sun-kyun. (Note: in subtitles at the press screening I attended, the character's name was spelled Ko Gun-su; in some press materials it's spelled Go Gun-soo. Take your pick.)

One night while driving to the funeral home where his deceased mother is awaiting burial the following day, the divorced cop hits and kills a male pedestrian. Panic stricken, he decides to hide the victim in the trunk of his vehicle. Meanwhile, investigators from I.A.D. (Internal Affairs Division) have shown up at his office and uncovered incriminating evidence of embezzlement by him and his coworkers. After narrowly avoiding detection and arrest by police at a road stop to detect drunk drivers, the increasingly desperate Go reluctantly decides to place the corpse in his mother's casket.

But things continue to go badly for Detective Go. It seems that someone is fully aware of the hit-and-run and demands -- for some unknown reason -- that Go provide him with the deceased's body. Meanwhile, one of GO's coworkers is seeking a criminal who is wanted for at least two murders and is uncovering leads that might tie Go to the fatal accident.

A Hard Day is the sophomore directing effort by Kim, who also wrote the screenplay. It's a brilliant blend of black comedy and thrilling suspense. It's sharp, smart and extremely well-paced, one of the best films I've seen in quite awhile, and a definite "must-see" as far as I'm concerned.

AsianCineFest Rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars, very highly recommended.

A HARD DAY opens July 17 in NYC with a national release to follow

Kino Lorber

presents

A Hard Day / Kkeut-kka-ji-gan-da

Written & Directed by Kim Seong-hun

Starring: Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Jin-woong, Jeong Man-sik,

Shin Jung-keun and Jang In-sub

South Korea, 2014, 111 minutes 

Language: Korean (With English Subtitles)

Part crime caper, part black comedy, A Hard Day will be opening on Friday, July 17, 2015 in New York City at the Village East Cinemas with a national release to follow. I recently attended a press screening here in New York and was blown away by this film. I'll be posting a full review next week. In the meanwhile, let's just say you better hope it's playing at a theater in your vicinity. This is one film you won't want to miss!

Synopsis:

Homicide detective Geon-soo Go is having a hard day: in less than 24 hours, he receives a divorce notice from his wife, his mother passes away, and along with his coworkers, he becomes the focus of a police investigation over alleged embezzlement.

Making things worse, on his way to his mother's funeral, Geon-soo commits a fatal hit and run and then, desperately tries to hide the accident by hiding the man's corpse in his deceased mother's coffin. But when Geon-soo gets a mysterious call from a person claiming to be the sole witness of the crime, he realizes that someone has been watching him all along.

ACF 1618: Kino Lorber to release HEADSHOT theatrically & on disc

Kino Lorber will be releasing Thai filmmaker Pen-ek Ratanaruang's HEADSHOT. (Sorry but I can't type an upside down "A" to be fully faithful to the way the film's title appears in the poster.) The film will open theatrically on Sept. 28th at Cinema Village in NYC and at the Grand Illusion Cinema in Seattle. It will be available on Blu-ray and DVD on October 2nd. Ratanaruang is the director of 6IXTYNIN9 (1999), Last Life in the Universe (2003) and Ploy (2007). (Click here for my May, 2011 review of Ploy.) HEADSHOT marks his return to the crime genre.

HEADSHOT premiered at this year's Tribeca Film Festival and was selected as one of the Top 10 Festival entries by Time Out NY. It tells the story of a straight-laced cop, Tul, who is blackmailed by a local, powerful politician and is framed for a crime he didn't commit. Embittered and vengeful, Tul becomes a hitman for a group that aims to take down those who consider themselves above the law. However, Tul gets shot in the head during an assignment, and awakes from a three-month coma to find that his world has been turned upside down - literally. The shot to his head has flipped his vision, and Tul is unsure if it is simply a medical condition or some sort of karmic retribution.

AsianCineFest expects to carry a review of HEADSHOT prior to its theatrical opening at the end of the month, so be sure to check back here.