The Korean Wave 2010-2011 - Korean Cultural Service

all getting older,” Mr. Hendrixsaid. “Our tastes are changing. And“We’reI think we have a better feel for theaudience’s taste.” They’re now willing to book slower,more serious, less categorizable movies that would havescared them off before (given that empty theaters canmean empty pockets for the volunteer programmers).But the emphasis is still on visceral, accessible entertainmentof all kinds, especially in this 10th-anniversaryyear, when, as Mr. Hendrix put it, “we’re sort ofbeing a little self-indulgent.” That means a subset ofChinese wu xia (martial arts) movies that includes fourfilms written or directed by Mr. Tsui, who will appearat screenings on July 9 through 11, and a generous,diverse selection of Korean thrillers.This year’s festival breaks down fairly evenly into filmsfrom China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan),South Korea and Japan, with single films from a fewother countries (Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines)thrown in.In “Detective Dee & the Mystery of the PhantomFlame,” Mr. Tsui’s most recent film, and “Reign ofAssassins,” directed by the up-and-comer Su Chaopinand the veteran John Woo, the festival is offeringtwo light-on-their-feet martial arts capers that standin pleasant contrast to the bloated, nationalistic epicsthat are China’s main cinematic export these days. (“Ifit’s got more than five horses in it and more than twoscenes of giant armies massing on the plain, wavingflags, we avoid it,” Mr. Hendrix said.)“Detective Dee,” starring the Hong Kong superstarAndy Lau as the title character, works its kung fu intoa reasonably credible seventh-century mystery story(with supernatural elements). Its most memorablesequence, a teasing, not-quite-nude scene in which abeautiful courtier (Li Bingbing) uses her martial artsskills to dress herself while dodging hundreds of arrows,recalls the famously sexy duel between BrigitteLin and Maggie Cheung in “Dragon Inn” (1992),which is also being shown in the festival.“Reign of Assassins” tweaks the wu xia recipe by takinga break from its story of professional killers pursuinga monk’s mummified remains to indulge in a longstretch of gentle (very gentle) romantic-domestic comedy.Michelle Yeoh and the Korean actor Jung Woosungplay an ace assassin in hiding and a naïve deliveryboy who meet cute during the Ming dynasty.A third high-profile entry from China features the martialarts star Jet Li but couldn’t be more different fromthe wu xia films. In “Ocean Heaven,” the directingdebut of the film scholar Xue Xiaolu, Mr. Li forsakesfighting entirely to play an aging, ailing aquariummaintenance worker obsessed with providing for thefuture of his autistic son (Wen Zhang). There’s enoughnoble suffering here to fill three or four movies, but Ms.Xue handles it with remarkable restraint for a Chinesedirector, and while Mr. Li’s performance suffers fromthe lack of kicking and punching, his immense likabilityis enough to carry him in the role.The array of South Korean action-suspense movies —there are eight on the schedule — offers proof of thegenre’s longevity and flexibility, half a decade after itsfirst heyday with Mr. Park’s “revenge trilogy.” In acategory known for the brutality of its violence andthe sometimes insane complexity of its plots, two ofthe festival films are exemplary.“The Unjust,” directed by Ryoo Seung-wan, is film noirat its most cynical, with a roster of characters rangingfrom prosaically corrupt to blatantly evil and a herowho lies closer to the wrong end of the scale. The story,involving a battle for survival between a dirty cop anda dirty prosecutor, is a spiral of double and triple crossesin which there is never a good option, not that thesemen would be inclined to choose it if they could.The violence in “The Unjust” is fairly ordinary andoften has a burlesque quality, but in Jang Cheol-Su’s “Bedevilled,” scythes, stones and other weaponsare wielded in shockingly vivid and graphic ways. JiSeong-Won and Seo Young-Hee (in a gripping performance)play childhood girlfriends reunited on theisland where they grew up, a place where relationshipsbetween women and the few men who stick aroundhave a dynamic straight out of “Deliverance.”The best of the festival’s Chinese and Korean films fulfillexpectations in stylish and exciting ways, but if you’relooking for surprises, they’re more easily found in theJapanese movies. One of the best examples is YoshimasaIshibashi’s four-part “Milocrorze: A Love Story,” awacked-out fantasy that recalls early Tim Burton onemoment, late Quentin Tarantino the next. A segmentinvolving an abusive, white-suited television host ispunctuated by groovy, wonderfully deadpan dancenumbers, while a sendup of samurai and yakuza storiessuddenly erupts into an elaborately choreographedand brilliantly staged six-minute sword-fight sequenceinside the tight confines of a tatami-matted brothel.Other highlights of the Japanese selectionsinclude Mr. Miike’s “Ninja Kids!!!,” a raucouscomedy with a talented cast of childactors that’s part “Naruto,” part “Harry Potter”; andthe former pornography director Noboru Iguchi’s“Karate-Robo Zaborgar,” a loving homage to Saturdaymorning cartoons whose title character is the humanhero’s brother, partner, moral compass and motorcycle.(“Zaborgar” also appears to be the only film inthis year’s festival in which female body parts becomeweapons, sometimes turning into rocket launchers andother times into carnivorous lizards.)If these films sound too grim, too bloody or too crazyfor you, here’s a final recommendation. “A Boy andHis Samurai,” directed by Yoshihiro Nakamura, is avery American-style romantic comedy, in the moldof “Enchanted” or “Kate and Leopold.” A samuraiis mysteriously transported to 21st-century Tokyo,where he befriends an overworked single mother andher son and learns to do the laundry while dispensinglessons in discipline and obedience. It’s completely predictable,a little underwritten and consistently charming.It may not merit a fancy party, but you’ll go homefeeling better than you would after a Lars von Trierclosing-night gala.The New York Asian Film Festival runs Friday through July14 at the Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street, LincolnCenter, (212) 875-5367; and Thursday through July 10 atJapan Society, 333 East 47th Street, Manhattan, (212) 715-1258, subwaycinema.com.74 Copyright © 2011 by The New York Times Co. Reprinted with permission. 75