ALL ABOUT LILY CHOU-CHOU reviewed; screening at Japan Society on December 10, 2022

Japan Society
Presents

All About Lily Chou-Chou
Written and directed by Shunji Iwai
With Hayato Ichihara, Shugo Oshinari, Ayumi Ito, Yu Aoi.
Japan, 2001, 146 minutes
35 mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles

When: Saturday, December 10th, 2022 at 7:15 p.m

Where: Japan Society NY
333 East 47th Street
New York, NY 10017
Map
Tickets

All About Lily Chou Chou began as an interactive novel Iwai wrote and posted on the Internet. The film captures the absurdities of growing up in Japan’s pervasive pop/cyber culture, in which Internet chat rooms, pop-idol worship, and harrowing school bullying are just part of a teenager’s daily life. Iwai’s poetic, gorgeously shot coming-of-age tale provides a disturbing look at the violence, terror, and isolation that characterized growing up in Japan at the turn of the century.

AsianCineFest Rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars; very highly recommended

Be sure you have read and can follow Japan Society's health and safety policies before purchasing tickets to on-site events.  Review the Visitor Policies and Safety Protocols here.

Sunday's screening of All About Lily Chou Chou is part of Japan Society's film series Love Letters: Four Films by Shunji Iwai.

LOVE LETTERS: Four Films by Shunji Iwai at Japan Society starting tomorrow, Friday, December 9th

Japan Society NY
Presents

LOVE LETTERS: Four Films by Shunji Iwai
When: December 9-23, 2022
Where: Japan Society NY
333 East 47th Street

One of the most original talents to emerge from Japan in the ’90s, director Shunji Iwai tapped into the dreams and lives of Japan’s youth with his lyrical meditations on the hardships of young adulthood, capturing pivotal and unforgettable moments of life. Balancing popular entertainment with arthouse predilection, Iwai’s exhilarating takes on the youth film provided a much-needed voice for the younger generation, offering delicate portraits of adolescence, ripe with poetic yearnings of grief, friendship and young love. Iwai’s sumptuous visual style coupled with his affecting and underground appeal opened a world of new possibilities in the ’90s cinescape—marking him as one of the most accomplished and unique filmmakers of his generation.

Full info about the series can be viewed here.

IN-PERSON SCREENINGS (December 9th and 10th)
Tickets: $15 / 10 members
- Love Letter on Friday, December 9th at 7 pm
- Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom? and April Story on Saturday, December 10th at 5 pm
- All About Lily Chou-Chou on Saturday, December 10th at 7:15 pm

Series Pass: Purchase Tickets for all films in the same transaction and receive $2 off each ticket.

ONLINE SCREENINGS (December 9th—23rd)
Rentals: $10
- April Story

Members: 20% off via promo code
Not a member? Join today.

Be sure you have read and can follow Japan Society's health and safety policies before purchasing tickets to on-site events.  Review the Visitor Policies and Safety Protocols here.

Today is last day for online viewing of music doc FINDING HER BEAT

Finding Her Beat
Directed by Dawn Mikkelson and Keri Pickett
United States, 2022, 89 minutes

Laungauges: English, Japanese

Finding Her Beat is a very special music documentary feature film. Today, Sunday, November 27th is the last day that it will be available for audiences in the U.S. and U.S. territories to watch online as part of DOC NYC’s virtual screening experience.

Music is the driving beat of cultural and individualist expression for people of color around the globe – offering sanctuary in times of uncertainty and a sense of family/community, helping those to survive and often thrive. Finding Her Beat was made by a predominantly female/nonbinary, largely Asian-American and LGBTQ filmmaking team and cast, when marginalized gendered and people of color are severely underrepresented in film.

For thousands of years women have been locked out of Taiko drumming. Not any more, since thousands of groups now perform throughout North America and worldwide. In the dead of a Minnesota winter just before the world shut down for a global pandemic, Asian drumming divas from around the world met to perform and smash gender roles and redefine power on their own terms.

Finding Her Beat dives into the rhythms and struggles that lead to an electrifying historic performance that changes everything.

CONFLAGRATION reviewed; screening at Japan Society tomorrow

Japan Society NY
and
The Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan

present

Conflagration © Kadokawa Corporation.

Conflagration / Enjô

Directed by Kon Ichikawa

Starring Raizo Ichikawa, Tatsuya Nakadai, Ganjiro Nakamura

Japan, 1958, 99 minutes, 35mm, b/w

When: Monday, November 14, 2015 at 7:00 om

Where: Japan Society

333 East 47th Street, NYC

Map

Tickets

Synopsis (courtesy Japan Society):

Known as Ichikawa's favorite of his own films, Conflagration is the pinnacle of the many acclaimed literary adaptations he and his wife Natto Wada worked on together. Loosely based on true events that also inspired Yukio Mishima's novel The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, the story involves the spiritual and psychological breakdown of an introverted, troubled youth named Goichi (Raizo Ichikawa), whose desire for pure beauty leads him to Kyoto's Shukaku temple, where he becomes an apprentice to the priest. 

Haunted by the trauma of his father's death, Goichi is unable to reconcile the sacred beauty of the temple with postwar reality, and his absolutist ideals become increasingly distorted until they lead to destruction. Ichikawa's stark, poignant film is unforgettably rendered in stunning black and white by cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa (Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon and numerous other highly regarded films).

Review:

It's not difficult to understand why Ichikawa was so pleased with this film, as it's a superb piece of story-telling. And, as previously mentioned, Miyagawa's cinematography is outstanding.

Raizo Ichikawa, perhaps best known to Westerners for his portrayal of Nemuri Kyoshiro in the Sleepy Eyes of Death swordplay series, gives a superb performance as Goichi. So too does Tatsuya Nakadai as Togari, Goichi's lame and dissolute fellow student. It's a revelation seeing the two of them so early in their careers.

AsianCineFest Rating: 4 out of 4 stars, most highly recommended. In other words, it's a "must-see" if at all possible.

This screening of Conflagration is presented as part of the film series The Female Gaze: Women Filmmakers from JAPAN CUTS and Beyond. The films in the series were selected and are co-presented by the Japan Society and the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan. Conflagration is In collaboration with the National Film Archive of Japan

DREAMING OF THE MERIDIAN ARC reviewed; will screen at Japan Society tomorrow at 1:00 pm

 

 Japan Society NY
and
The Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan
Presents

Dreaming of the Meridian Arc

Directed by Kenji Nakanishi

With Kiichi Nakai, Keiko Kitagawa, and Kenichi Matsuyama.
Japan, 2022, 111 minutes

DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles

 

When: November 12, 2022 at 1:00 pm
Where: Japan Society NY
333 East 47th Street

Buy Tickets

 

Kenichi Matsuyama's contemporary/historical comedy/drama will be shown tomorrow afternoon at Japan Society NY as part of The Female Gaze: Women Filmmakers from JAPAN CUTS and Beyond.

 

Synopsis (courtesy of Japan Society):

 

A locally funded TV dramatization of cartographer Tadataka Ino, the first person to map Japan in 1821, runs into trouble when it’s discovered mid-production that Ino died three years prior to the completion of his map. Weaving between modern day and Edo-era Japan, Dreaming of the Meridian Arc reveals the surprising story of Tadataka's disciples who hid news of their beloved master’s death and risked their lives to clandestinely complete the map in his honor. Adapted for the screen by Yoshiko Morishita (Flower and Sword) from Shinosuke Tatekawa’s rakugo story, Dreaming of the Meridian Arc offers a humorous and entertaining account of the exploits that led to the completion of Ino’s revolutionary map.

 

Review:

 

Considering that it has what I would term one of the lesser time slots in the series' schedule, I was more than pleasantly surprised to find that this film -- although not a masterpiece -- is nonetheless eminently enjoyable. The movie's conceit, if you will, is its use of the same actors playing characters in  the two contemporary sections of the film which bookend the central bloc in which they play historical counterparts to their modern day characters. On the other hand, perhaps the "historical" mid-section can most appropriately be considered the speculative musings of the main character Yasuharu Ikemoto, played by Kiichi Nakai. His subtle double takes when he recognizes a resemblance between present day characters and those in the historical drama are deftly done. Both he and the entire supporting class put in super fine performances and the dialogue and characterizations merit well-deserved credit to screenwriter Yoshiko Morishits, who adapted Shinosuke Tatekawa's rakugo story.

 

AsianCineFest Rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars; very good; a highly entertaining and enjoyable film.

 

Explore the complete series lineup and buy tickets here. All films were selected by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan and Japan Society and will screen in person at Japan Society.

Subway Cinema's last SUNDAYS ON FIRE film on November 13th

 Subway Cinema

Presents 

SUNDAYS ON FIRE: : SECRET HONG KONG 35MM FEATURE
When: Sunday, November 13, 2022 at 12:00 pm
Where: Nitehawk Cinema
188 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, NY

 

Sundays on Fire started 9 movies ago in February, and now it ends with month and movie number 10 on Sunday, November 13. The series began with Michelle Yeoh starring in her second movie, and now we come full circle and end with one of the most brutal Girls with Guns pictures ever made. Shot in the ‘80s, this truly apocalyptic blast of action struts down a runway named Death, wearing big shoulder pads made of corpses, its hair full of mousse, holding a smoking hogleg pistol in each lace-gloved hand.

Hong Kong’s Girls with Guns movies were always shot fast, cheap, and barely under control, their stunts teetering on the verge of doing permanent damage to the actors, plots constantly threatening to spin off into insanity, their bloody hearts pinned to their sleeves, their leads actors turning on the afterburners to deliver level 11 intensity despite the sheer exhaustion etched into their faces by the grinding shooting schedule and the grueling stunts they had to perform.

In this movie, two hardcore action actresses go toe-to-toe in a high caliber deathmatch that features some of the most brutal beatdowns every put on the big screen, choreography courtesy of one of Hong Kong’s most famous action dynasties. The core of this movie is a pentagram of three Hong Kong bruisers, one Japanese power lifter, and one Japanese superhero going at each others’ throats, and God help any supporting character, pane of glass, fashion show, innocent bystander, or city that gets in their way. If you think girls can’t fight, allow this movie to punch you in the throat. Hard.

This is how Sundays on Fire is going out — with blood on its knuckles and glass in its hair.

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.

South Korean action thriller EMERGENCY DECLARATION coming to Digital, Blu-ray & DVD on November 29th

Well Go USA
Entertainment
Presents

 

Emergency Declaration / Bisang seoneon
Directed by HAN Jae-rim
South Korea, 2021, 141 minutes

When an unprecedented terror threat occurs inflight, a passenger jet must declare an emergency in the action-packed hostage thriller Emergency Declaration, coming to Digital, Blu-ray™ and DVD November 29th from Well Go USA Entertainment. Writer/director Han Jae-rim (Rules of Dating, The King) assembled a strong cast, including Song Kang-ho (Parasite, Snowpiecer), Lee Byung-hun (“Squid Game,” G.I. Joe: Retaliation), Jeon Do-yeon (No Blood, No Tears), Kim Nam-gil (Pandora, Public Enemy 3), Kim So-jin (Escape from Mogadishu, The Drug King), and Park Hae-joon (Believer, Bakugan: Battle Force) for his “…easy dose of disaster movie joy.” (The New York Times)

Synopsis:

While investigating a terroristic threat that goes viral online, Korean authorities discover that a suspect has recently boarded an international flight bound for the United States. When a healthy passenger on the same flight suddenly dies a gruesome death of unknown cause, panic erupts both in-flight and on the ground. With steadily decreasing fuel and international refusals to offer aid, the captain and crew will be forced to take unprecedented emergency measures in an attempt to save the lives of their passengers.

HANSAN: RISING DRAGON coming to Digital, Blu-ray, and DVD on November 15th, 2022

Well Go USA
Entertainment
Presents

Hansan: Rising Dragon / Hansan: Yongui chulhyeon
Directed by KIM Han-min
South Korea, 2022, 130 ,inutes

Writer/director Kim Han-min creates a prequel to his breakout hit The Admiral: Roaring Currents with the epic war drama Hansan: Rising Dragon, sailing onto Digital, Blu-ray™ and DVD November 15 from Well Go USA Entertainment. Based on the historical Battle of Hansando​ depicting the emergence of Korea’s legendary dragon head ships called “geobukseon,” and loaded with spectacular CGI and VFX action effects, Hansan: Rising Dragon stars Park Hae-il (Decision to Leave, War of the Arrows), Byun Yo-Han (The Book of Fish) and Ahn Sung-ki (The Divine Fury, The Hunt).

The bonus content on Hansan: Rising Dragon includes “Character Highlights,” “Secrets of Makeup,” staff commentary and an optional English dub.

Synopsis:

A prequel to The Admiral: Roaring Currents—the most-watched film in Korean cinema history—HANSAN: RISING DRAGON depicts the historical Battle of Hansando. In 1592, Admiral Yi and his fleet face off against the might of the invading Japanese navy and its formidable warships. As the Korean forces fall into crisis, the admiral resorts to using his secret weapon, the dragon head ships known as geobukseon, in order to change the tide of this epic battle at sea.

Watch the Trailer

The Female Gaze: Women Filmmakers from JAPAN CUTS and Beyond coming to Japan Society NY

 Japan Society NY
and
The Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan
Present

The Female Gaze: Women Filmmakers from JAPAN CUTS and Beyond
When: November 11-20, 2022
Where: Japan Society NY
333 East 47th Street

A survey of the growing prominence and visibility of women in film, the latest ACA Cinema Project series The Female Gaze: Women Filmmakers from JAPAN CUTS and Beyond focuses on the essential roles that female artists play from behind the camera in Japanese cinema—ranging from directing and screenwriting to production and cinematography.

All films were selected by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan and Japan Society and will screen in person at Japan Society.

Explore the lineup and buy tickets here.

RINGU screening at Japan Society NY Friday, Octobee 7th, 2022

Japan Society NY
Presents 

Ringu
Directed by Hideo Nakata

With Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Miki Nakatani
Japan, 1998, 96 minutes

DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles

When: Friday, October 7th at 7:00 pm
Where: Japan Society NY
333 East 47th Street 

Buy Tickets

 

A dirgelike procession of contorted corpses, grainy video footage and disturbing imagery, Ringu became the highest-grossing horror film in Japanese history upon its 1998 release. 

Investigating an urban myth of a cursed videotape that kills its watchers within seven days of viewing, journalist Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima) discovers a series of unnatural teenage deaths tied to a tangible, real-life tape when her niece falls victim to the curse. While tracking it down, Reiko unwittingly exposes her son to the tape, pitting her in a race against the clock to discover the secrets behind its origin. A dirgelike procession of contorted corpses, grainy video footage and disturbing imagery, Nakata’s brooding J-horror classic unleashes a barrage of nightmare fuel that feeds off of the technological anxieties of our modern era.

This screening of Ringu is part of Japan Society's Monthly Classics Series.
 

Please review Japan Society's Visitor Policies and Safety Protocols.

Subway Cinema's next SUNDAYS ON FIRE screening will be on Sunday, October 9th

Subway Cinema
Presents 

Sundays On Fire: Secret Hong Kong 35mm Feature
When: Sunday, October 9, 2022 at 12:00 pm
Where: Nitehawk Cinema
188 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, NY

 

The second Sunday of every month sees Subway Cinema take over the Nitehawk Cinema to unleash an action classic from the golden days of Hong Kong cinema but this time they're jumping to the year 2000 and going maximum Y2K by emptying a full clip of Millennial Mayhem directly into your face. The title will not be revealed until it appears onscreen because it’s more fun that way, but know that this is one of Hong Kong’s most pioneering directors delivering a modern day action classic that rewrote the rules of cinema in a movie that stands as a monument to what might have been if anyone else had been brave enough to make the same warp speed jump so many light years ahead.

If that makes it sound like a sci-fi flick, you’re not far off. Even though it’s set in contemporary Hong Kong the city is shot like an alien landscape, there is so much running up walls, across ceilings, and down the sides of buildings the rules of physics seem to be suspended, and the cast are a multi-culti, polyglot crew of miraculous mutants whose luminous faces will get burned into your brains. No one ever screens this movie anymore, so this 35mm, subtitled print is our Halloween treat to you.

Subway Cinema's next SUNDAYS ON FIRE screening will be on Sunday, September 11th

Subway Cinema
Presents 

Sundays On Fire: Secret Hong Kong 35mm Feature
When: Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 12:00 pm
Where: Nitehawk Cinema
188 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, NY

Tickets

On Sunday, September 11th, Subway Cinema will present a brand new SUNDAY ON FIRE, an amazing 35mm print of a Wong Jing movie. If you don't know Wong Jing, this is your chance to meet Hong Kong's evil genius of bad taste, the director who's been serving up slapdash, surreal, bizarre blockbusters since the '80s. Wong has his finger on the pulse of the Hong Kong audience and his movies are exuberantly over-the-top, cranked out fast, full of dumb jokes, bloody carnage, and surplus explosions, and this one's no different.

An action-packed takedown of one of the biggest action stars in the world, starring one of the biggest action stars in the world, this flick is like Die Hard turned up to 11, featuring top-notch action choreography, super-stupid slapstick, oblique in-jokes, a bunch of stars, and plenty of bisected bystanders. No child is left uncharred in this anything-goes lunatic tour of Wong Jing’s brain that feels a lot like sticking your face in a blender.

NOTE: This movie is dubbed into English because, as the wonderful folk at Subway Cinema say, it's dumber that way!

Subway Cinema's next SUNDAYS ON FIRE screening on Sunday, July 10th

Subway Cinema
Presents 

Sundays On Fire: Secret Hong Kong 35mm Feature
When: Sunday, July 10, 2022 at 12:00 pm
Where: Nitehawk Cinema
188 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, NY

Tickets

The second Sunday of every month sees Subway Cinema take over the Nitehawk to unleash an action classic from the golden days of Hong Kong movies and this month they're REALLY bringing their A-game. The title will not be revealed until it appears onscreen because it’s more fun that way but be assured it will celebrating the biggest stars of the ‘80s and ‘90s in their best movies, all presented in glorious 35mm. This is one you won’t want to miss.

In the mid-‘80s, one of Hong Kong’s biggest action stars split from his former partners and forged a new solo path that saw him deliver one stone cold classic after another. Every movie got bigger — more stunts! more brushes with death! more action! more jaw-dropping insanity! — until finally he almost died. After he recovered, he wanted to show the world he was still ready to rumble and so he made this movie which is probably his most dazzling showcase of all time. It’s not just the action that stuns in this award-winning flick, but the intricately choreographed comedy, the massive sprawling period sets, the hairpin plot twists, and the turn-on-a-dime reversals. Sometimes a filmmaker delivers a movie that’s truly a gift to an audience, so consider this one Christmas in July.

 

MOTHRA screening at Japan Society NY tomorrow, Friday, July 8th

Japan Society NY
Presents 

Mothra
Directed by Ishiro Hnda
Japan, 1961, 101 minutes

 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles

When: Friday, July 8th at 7:00 pm
Where: Japan Society NY
333 East 47th Street 

Buy Tickets

When a shipwrecked crew is rescued from a Pacific island previously used for nuclear testing, word quickly spreads of its newly discovered indigenous inhabitants. Driven by scientific curiosity, a joint expedition of Japanese and Rolisicans (a portmanteau for Russia and America) venture into the island's depths, discovering a paradise of mutated species and hidden glyphs—and, among them, a pair of tiny twin fairies (played by ’60s pop duo The Peanuts). When the expedition’s leader decides to secretly kidnap the fairies, the natives are forced to awaken their ancient deity, Mothra.

A kaiju classic from Godzilla’s Ishiro Honda, Mothra established one of Toho’s most memorable kaiju and forever ingrained the Peanuts’ “Mothra’s Song” into popular culture.

Watch the trailer here.

This screening of Mothra will be preceded by an introduction by Japanese sci-fi critic Kevin Derendorf.

Seismic Toys will host a Kaiju-themed pop-up and an exclusive limited-edition Mothra Mini-Print by Robo7 will be on-sale on-site in Japan Society's lobby!

This screening of Mothra is part of Japan Society's Monthly Classics Series.

Review Japan Society's Visitor Policies and Safety Protocols.

Subway Cinema's next SUNDAYS ON FIRE screening on Sunday, June 12th

Subway Cinema
Presents 

Sundays On Fire
When: Sunday, June 12, 2022 at 12:00 pm
Where: Nitehawk Cinema
188 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, NY

Tickets

The second Sunday of every month sees Subway Cinema take over the Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn to unleash an action classic from the golden days of Hong Kong movies. The titles are not revealed until they appear onscreen because it’s more fun that way but, believe that you'll be celebrating the biggest stars of the ‘80s and ‘90s in their best movies, all presented in glorious 35mm.

This Sunday's movie is an action-comedy with the emphasis on comedy. It’s a period parody that pairs Hong Kong’s greatest comic genius with China’s greatest dramatic actress for a double-barreled blast of satire sending up ancient Chinese dramas. Full of super-stupid slapstick action, surreal set pieces, and very weird running jokes it also features three of Hong Kong’s biggest action stars of the Seventies in supporting roles and it’s bursting with musical numbers, dumb contests, and crackerjack kung foolery. If you like your comedy on the wild side, bring your funny pants!

 

KAGEMUSHA screening at Japan Society tomorrow evening

Japan Society NY
Presents 

Kagemusha
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Japan, 1980) on 35mm

When: Friday, June 10th at 7:00 pm
Where: Japan Society NY
333 East 47th Street
Buy Tickets

When a petty thief is given another chance at life to serve as a double for an aging warlord, Akira Kurosawa’s late-period masterpiece erupts into a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions set against a backdrop of feudal Japan. In Japanese with English subtitles.

Watch the trailer here.

This screening of Kagemusha is part of Japan Society's Monthly Classics Series.

Japan Society's Visitor Policies and Safety Protocols.

BEYOND OZU: HIDDEN GEMS OF SHOCHIKU STUDIOS coming to The Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
Presents

Yoru no henrin (The Shape of Night). 1964. Japan. Directed by Noboru Nakamura. Courtesy Shochiku

Beyond Ozu: Hidden Gems of Shochiku Studios
When: June 10 - July 9, 2022
Where: The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53 Street, NYC

Founded in 1920 by a pair of peanut vendors who hoped to achieve the commercial success of Hollywood, the Shochiku film studio adopted Western methods of filmmaking (a training institute, a star system, a studio campus) and made Western techniques of storytelling (closeups, flashbacks, panning shots, dissolves, montage editing) into something distinctively Japanese.

 

Thanks to the generosity of Shochiku, together with the National Film Archive of Japan and Japan Foundation, New York, MoMA will present a centennial selection of hidden treasures, most of them in archival 35mm prints, from the studio that produced such masterpieces as Yasujirō Ozu’s Tokyo Story, Keisuke Kinoshita’s Ballad of Narayama, Nagisa Oshima’s Cruel Story of Youth, and Masaki Kobayashi’s Harakiri.

 

This exhibition goes beyond these perennial favorites to deepen appreciation of the history of Japanese cinema, featuring newfound discoveries like Hiroshi Shimizu’s Eternal Heart (1929), Kôzaburô Yoshimura’s Temptation (1948), Tai Kato’s The Ondekoza (1981), and Kôhei Oguri’s The Sting of Death (1990).

 

The exhibition opens on June 10th with the North American premiere 4K restoration of Masahiro Shinoda’s Demon Pond (1979).

Complete series information and screening schedule is available here.

Subway Cinema's next SUNDAYS ON FIRE screening this Sunday, May 8th

Subway Cinema
Presents

Sundays On Fire
When: Sunday, May 8, 2022 at 12:00 pm
Where: Nitehawk Cinema
188 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, NY

Tickets

The second Sunday of every month sees Subway Cinema take over the Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn to unleash an action classic from the golden days of Hong Kong movies. The titles are not revealed until they appear onscreen because it’s more fun that way but, believe that you'll be celebrating the biggest stars of the ‘80s and ‘90s in their best movies, all presented in glorious 35mm.

This Sunday’s movie redefines “celebrate.” Every Chinese New Year, Hong Kong’s biggest and most badass turn in their greatest movies and this is one of the most insane Chinese New Year movies ever made, a tornado of absolutely all the action stars, comedians, and stunt wizards in Hong Kong cinema rampaging through a movie from one of HK’s greatest action directors. It’s a bit of a western, a bit of an action movie, a bit of a comedy, but most of all it’s a delirious spectacle where the stunts and the fight scenes keep getting bigger…and bigger…and bigger until there isn’t a building left standing onscreen. If you ever wanted to be astonished, this is the movie that’ll astonish you until you explode.

GHOST IN THE SHELL kicks off Japan Society's new Monthy Anime series this Friday, April 15th

Japan Society NY
Presents

Ghost in the Shell / Kôkaku Kidôtai
Directed by Mamoru Oshii
With Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Otsuka, and Iemasa Kayumi
DCP, color, in Japanese with English Subtitles
Japan, 1995, 83 minutes

When: Friday, April 15 at 7:00 pm
Where: Japan Society NY
333 East 47th Street, NY, NY
Tickets: $15 / $5 members

Japan Society NY's new Monthly Anime series begins on Friday, April 15 at 7:00 pm with a screening of Mamoru Oshii's cyberpunk hit Ghost in the Shell. The series will explore the widely influential legacy of anime through in-person screenings of classic, underseen and contemporary visions from Japanese animation.

Mamoru Oshii’s groundbreaking classic conjures a startling vision of the future—a new age of global interconnectedness wherein neural pathways and information networks have become inextricably linked. Surveilling the sprawling technopolis of New Port City, Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cyborg officer specializing in cybercrime, hunts down a mysterious entity responsible for a series of ‘ghost-hackings’ that have infiltrated human hosts. Known only as the Puppet Master, the newly-surfaced threat leads Major to uncover a vast conspiracy—prompting her to question her own humanity and purpose of existence. 

Note that while the movie screens at 7:00 pm, there will be a pre-screening party at 6:00 pm with Japanese foods and snacks provided by Kikkoman. The first 10 people who take photos in costume with our supporter banner and tag Japan Society on social media will receive a dual membership to Japan Society.

For the health and safety of Japan Society staff and visitors, all audience members are asked to:

- Wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth at all times. Masks with vents/bandanas are not permitted. Respirator-style masks (N95, KN95, KF94, etc.) are encouraged.

- Bring proof of vaccination and photo ID with you. As of February 1, proof of a booster shot is required for anyone who is eligible, with a 4-week grace period after eligibility.

For more information, please review Japan Society's Visitor Policies and Safety Protocols.

THE CHERRY BUSHIDO coming to theaters Friday, March 11th

HS Productions
presents

The Cherry Bushido
Directed by Hiroshi Akabane
Japan, 2022, 125 minutes
Japanese with English Voiceover

 

The Japanese live action feature The Cherry Bushido will release theatrically in North American theaters on Friday, March 11th. Look for a review here at AsianCineFest the week of March 7th.

Synopsis:
Shizuka is a college student with a strong sense of justice and a patriotic spirit. She is looking for a job, but she is secretly wishing to take over the dojo owned by her father, Shingen. One day, Shizuka is scouted by an entertainment agency, but in fact, it was a non-profit organization which was run by a group called the "Japan Salvation Conference (JSC)." The head of JSC, Satoshi tells her about the divine revelation that Japan may face its extinction in the 21st century. Shizuka joins the JSC and after undergoing rigorous spiritual training under the guidance of Satoshi, Shizuka decides to go on a special mission to save Japan from its crisis. Shizuka and her pals leave their astral bodies and head for the spirit world to defeat the Great Demon of Hades, a demon with an aim to destroy Japan. Will they be able to save Japan?

Watch the official trailer here.

In-person screening of FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: JAILHOUSE 41 at Japan Society NY on March 4th

Japan Society NY
presents

Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41
Directed by Shunja Ito
Starring: Meiko Kaji, Fumio Watanabe, Kayoko Shiraishi
Japan, 1972, 90 minutes

When: Friday, March 4, 2022 at 7:00pm
Where: Japan Society NY
333 East 47th Street, NYC
Map
Tickets: $15 / $5 members

To mark the 50th Anniversary of this landmark Japanese film, Japan Society NY will be offering a rare 35mm presentation of it at an in-person screening this coming Friday, March 4th at 7:00pm.

 

Best recognized outside of Japan for her role as the mesmerizing, katana-wielding Lady Snowblood, Meiko Kaji’s equally definitive portrayal of the fearless convict Sasori (Scorpion) initially cemented her status as an icon of 70s exploitation.

 

Synopsis:

After a year in solitary confinement in a vicious women’s prison, Sasori has taken on a mythic stature among the prisoners. Escaping with an uncouth band of inmates, she leads the group while the prison’s sadistic guards follow in hot pursuit. The second film in Toei’s Female Prisoner Scorpion series, Shunya Ito’s fever dream sequel is recognized as the series’ best entry, bolstered by avant-garde tinged visuals, delirious violence, a fuzzy guitar score and, of course, Meiko Kaji’s fierce, steely-eyed performance of rage and vengeance.

Please review Japan Society's safety protocols at the bottom of this page.

Subway Cinema's SUNDAYS ON FIRE begins tomorrow Sunday, February 13

Subway Cinema
Presents

The very first of Subway Cinema's SUNDAYS ON FIRE will occur tomorrow, Sunday, February 13th at noon at the Nitehawk Prospect Park. It's a 35mm screening of a rare, golden age Hong Kong action classic that hasn't been seen on the big screen in decades. This one's got a female lead and you won't regret it. Future screenings in this series will be on the second Sunday of every month through June!

Get tickets here.