ACF 1254: South Korean animation double feature coming to MAD

Aachi and Ssipak + A Coffee Vending Machine and Its Sword

When: Friday, December 2, 2011 at 7:00 pm

Where: The Museum of Arts and Design

2 Columbus Circle, NYC

$10 general / $7 members and students

Purchase tickets here, or call 1.800.838.3006

Aachi and Ssipak

Directed by Jo Beom-jin

With the voices of Yeong Hyeon, Gyu-hwa Lee and Gyu-hyeong Lee

South Korea, 2006, 90 minutes, Digital Projection

Synopsis: In the future, life is literally a pile of feces. With Earth’s resources completely depleted, only human waste is left as a fuel source. Diaper gangs and black markets vie for control of “Juicybars,” highly addictive fruit bars given as compensation for defecation. In this new landscape of limited resources, the anti-heros of Aachi and Ssipak battle against the Diaper Gangs for control over the “Juicybar” supply. Highlighting the originality in story and technical ability found in Korean animation, "Aachi and Ssipak" presents a fresh and original take on the animated feature.

ACF note: Aachi and Ssipak was my personal number one pic as the most extreme, most outrageous Asian film of all time in the special 15th anniversary issue of Asian Cult Cinema magazine (Number 57, First Quarter 2008). It garners a 4 out of 4 star rating, my highest recommendation. Don't miss this screening!

Aachi and Ssipak will be shown with:

A Coffee Vending Machine and Its Sword

2007, Dir. Hyung-Yun Chang

South Korea, 2007, 30 minutes, Digital Projection

Synopsis: After being slain in battle, Jin Yeong-yeong, a swordsman who was called Murimjeilgeom (Best Martial Sword), finds himself reincarnated. This time it's as a coffee vending machine.   After the new steel warrior experiences love-at-first-sight with Hye-mi, a sympathetic girl who enjoys drinking wine. Jin Yeong-yeong must discover his place in the new world he inhabits.

ACF 1229: LOVE EXPOSURE to close out Sion Sono retrospective

Love Exposure / Ai no mukidashi
Directed by Sion Sono
With Takahiro Nishijima, Hikari Mitsushima and Sakura Andô
Japan, 2008, 237 minutes, Digital Projection

When: Friday, November 11, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Where: The Museum of Arts and Design ("MAD")
2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019
Admission: $10 general / $7 members and students 

The Museum of Arts and Design's eight film retrospective Sion Sono: The New Poet will conclude tomorrow night with this riveting epic.

Synopsis: A diversion from Sono's widely recognized horror films, Love Exposure offers both an in-depth and hilarious discourse on sin and lust, as well as a complex study of the loss of identity. Centering around an unusual love triangle made up of characters that defy societal norms, "Love Exposure" is critically acclaimed as Sono's masterpiece.

Winner of numerous international film awards including the Asian Film Awards Best Director award for Sono and the Berlin International Film Festival Caligari Film Award, Love Exposure is a tour de force on repression, cults, Catholicism, and of course, love.

To purchase tickets, click here or call 1.800.838.3006.

ACF 1213: World premiere of "Here Now" by WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance Company at MAD

 "Here Now"

WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance Company

When: Friday, November 4 and Saturday, November 5
7:00 PM both evenings

Where: The Theater at MAD
Museum of Arts and Design (MAD)
Jerome and Simona CHazen Building
2 Columbus Circle, NYC

$25 general / $15 MAD members and students

Exploring the turbulence of human emotions, Brooklyn based WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance Company will present the world premiere of "Here Now." In collaboration with composer Marco Cappelli and filmmaker Anna Kiraly, Young Soon Kim choreographed the work by weaving together panoramic video images of wild rivers and Manhattan streets, original music performed on guitars and fluid dramatic movement. In this way, she and her collaborators showcase the ability of multidisciplinary dance to convey the complexities of human experience.

Click here to purchase tickets, or call 1.800.838.3006
For more information, visit MAD’s Web site.

ACF 1204: Museum of Arts and Design presents EXTE: HAIR EXTENSIONS at 7:00 PM this Friday night

  Exte: Hair Extensions / Ekusute
Directed by Sion Sono
With Chiaki Kuriyama, Miku Sato, Megumi Sato
Japan, 2007, 108 minutes, Digital Projection
When: Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Where: The Museum of Arts and Design ("MAD")
2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019
Admission: $10 general / $7 members and students 

The Museum of Arts and Design's film program Sion Sono: The New Poet continues this Friday, October 27th with Exte: Hair Extensions.

Synopsis: In this horrific, comedic, and mesmerizing film, director Sion Sono explores the dark undercurrents in the superficial world of beauty. Starring Chiaki Kuriyama (who made her international debut in Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol. 1 as Lucy Liu's bodyguard/yakuza schoolgirl, Gogo Yubari), Exte: Hair Extensions starts with the mysterious delivery of human hair along with a dead girl with a shaved head to a beauty salon. Her corpse miraculously starts growing hair, which is then sold as hair extensions to young women—who are then found murdered. A truly unique horror tale as only Sono could tell it.

Tickets here or call 1.800.838.3006.

Recently yours truly became a co-host on the VCinema Podcast. I suggested Exte as the film to be reviewed on my first show. It's Episode 035 and you can access it here. Our discussion of the film begins at around the 47:08 minute mark.

I've seen Exte three times to date and have really enjoyed it each time. I give it a minimum ACF Rating of 3.5 out of 4 stars, very highly recommended.

For those of you who can't make it to Friday's screening, despair not. Exte under the title Hair Extensions, is available in a fine double disc DVD set from Media Blasters. It can be purchased at Amazon.com and elsewhere.

And in a final related news item, director Sion Sono (who will be 50 on December 18th) and 30 year old actress Megumi Kagurazaka are reportedly going to marry before the end of this year. Megumi has been in three of Sono's films, the first being 2010's Cold Fish. Read more about the planned nuptials at Tokyograph.com by clicking here.

ACF 1197: Sion Sono's STRANGE CIRCUS at MAD tomorrow night

Strange Circus / Kimyo na Sakasu 
Directed by Sion Sono 

With Masumi Miyazaki, Issei Ishida and Rie Kuwana
Japan, 2005, 108 minutes, Digital Projection
When: Friday, October 21, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Where: The Museum of Arts and Design ("MAD")
2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019
Admission: $10 general / $7 members and students 

The Museum of Arts and Design's film program Sion Sono: The New Poet continues tomorrow, Friday, October 21th with Strange Circus.

Synopsis: The film is Sono's exploration of the constraints of reality—through the eyes of a disabled erotic novelist. Novelist Taeko writes stories of incest, murder, and abuse. As her own life and relationships are revealed, Taeko leads her assistant Yuji and the audience through an exploration of the confines of both her fictional stories and her own understanding of what is real. Thought-provoking and visually stunning, Strange Circus won the Berlin International Film Festival’s Reader Jury of the “Berliner Zeitung” in 2006.

Click here to purchase tickets, or call 1.800.838.3006.

ACF 1185: Sion Sono's NORIKO'S DINNER TABLE at MAD on Friday

Noriko's Dinner Table / Noriko No Shokutaku

Directed by Sion Sono

With Kazue Fukiishi, Tsugumi and Yuriko Yoshitaka
Japan, 2005, 159 minutes, Digital Projection

When: Friday, October 14, 2011 - 7:00 pm

Where: The Museum of Arts and Design ("MAD")

2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019

Admission: $10 general / $7 members and students 

The Museum of Arts and Design's film program Sion Sono: The New Poet continues this Friday with Noriko's Dinner Table.

Synopsis: Both prequel and sequel to Sono's Suicide Club, this narrative takes up both before and after the events depicted in Suicide Club, by focusing on a family that is profoundly affected by the mass suicides portrayed in the film.  A young girl seeks emotional connection through a website that provides her with a manufactured family that fulfills her immediate desire for love. As the story unfolds, the girls' new life turns morbid and dark as mass-suicides begin infiltrating the Japanese populace. This film should not be seen as merely an addition to Suicide Club but instead as a stand-alone cinematic narrative following contemporary family dynamics and commentary on society.

Click here to purchase tickets, or call 1.800.838.3006.

ACF 1176: Sion Sono eight film retrospective begins tonight at Museum of Arts and Design

Sion Sono: The New Poet

When: October 7th - November 11th, 2011

Where: Museum of Arts and Design (MAD)

2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 1001

Bicycle Sighs / Jitensha Toiki (1991)

This exciting retrospective of eight films by Sion Sono begins tonight at 7:00 PM with Bicycle Sighs. Featuring Sono and Masahiro Sugiyama. 93 minutes.

Synopsis: Sono's first 16mm feature film tells the story of two young newspaper couriers and their unrealized dreams as filmmakers. A provocative coming-of-age drama as well as a study of nostalgia, hopes, dreams, and reality, Bicycle Sighs brought Sono to the attention of critics and viewers alike.

Order tickets for Bicycle Sighs here. 

Suicide Club / Jisatsu Sakuru (2002)

Tomorrow, Saturday, October 8th, Sono's cult hit Suicide Club will be shown at 3:00 PM. With Ryo Ishibashi, Masatoshi Nagase and Mai Hosho. 99 minutes

Synopsis: Fifty-four Japanese schoolgirls simultaneously jump in front of an oncoming train and subsequently a wave of suicides starts to spread countrywide. The investigation of these deaths leads the police to some unexpected suspects: an all-girl pop group, a website of suicide predictions, and a stitched-together circle made of a most unsettling material. Winner of Fant-Asia Film Festival Jury Prize for Most Groundbreaking Film, “Suicide Club” would launch Sono onto the international spotlight.

Order tickets for Suicide Club here.

Full information about the Sion Sono: The New Poet film series, including descriptions of each film, the complete schedule, and to order tickets, is available here.