so maybe i didn’t make it to any of the indie films, but i’m totally hitting some of the asian american offerings. there’s one about a kick ass cheerleader high schooler fighting demons, an anime movie, and two films starring aishwarya rai!
so i hereby present to you, (my potential film buddies), the 4 films i MOST want to see and then all the other ones i kind of want to see.
march 17, Saturday
Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior, AMC Van Ness, 12:15pm
Wendy is the popular girl in high school and has her heart set on winning the Homecoming Queen title. Her world is turned upside down when a monk from China, Shen, arrives at her front door with news that she is the latest descendant in a line of powerful female warriors. Her mission is to defeat the evil sorcerer Yan Lo, who re-emerges every 90 years with intentions of world domination. Can Wendy put her Homecoming dreams aside long enough to save the world?
amazingly, this is a Disney original movie that they’re playing at the festival. ha ha ha! it’s like my dream come true.
March 17, Saturday
Mistress of Spices, Castro, 3:30pm
From the creative team of BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM (Opening NIght, SFIAAFF ‘03) comes this magical and heart-warming adaptation of Chitra Divakaruni’s celebrated novel, THE MISTRESS OF SPICES. Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai is Tilo, a beautiful but lonely “Spice Mistress,” one of a secret group of women trained in the healing powers of herbs and roots. From her fragrant spice shop in Oakland, California, broken hearts, strained relations and runs of bad luck can all be contained within the remedying powers of fenugreek, chilies and cinnamon. Tilo is bound, however, by the rules of her craft: she may only use her powers for others, can never leave the spice shop, and must never touch another’s skin.
film #1 with Aishwarya Rai. she’s so pretty that i’m pretty much willing to see anything she’s in. though the addition of dylan mcdermott to this film does make me suspicious. and it’s setting in oakland
March 18, Sunday
Umrao Jaan, Castro, 8:30pm
Director J.P. Dutta remains largely faithful to the novel and earlier film as he retells the life saga of Ameeran, who is kidnapped from her village at age eight and sold to an upscale kotha (brothel) in Lucknow. There, in the sophisticated cultural capital of North India, Ameeran is renamed Umrao, trained in music, dance and social etiquette, and groomed to become a courtesan. Years later, and now a stunning adult, Umrao debuts with a breathtaking solo performance before a local dignitary, Nawab Sultan (Abhishek Bachchan, now Rai’s real-life husband). Against all the rules, they fall for each other. But before long, Umrao’s life takes some dramatic, unexpected turns; Sultan is forced to leave town, another dignitary pursues Umrao and the British invasion looms.
film #2 with Aishwarya Rai and in this one she’s a prostitute in period clothing! with arm bangles and the head jewelery and oh man, that’s some good shit.
March 22, Thursday
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, PFA, 7:30pm
Makoto (the niece of the original heroine) is a vivacious—if klutzy—17-year old tomboy who spends her days playing catch after school with her guy pals Kosuke and Chiaki. Her carefree summer days are literally thrown for a loop when she discovers a mysterious ability to leap back through time. Her trivial temporal maneuvers—undoing little blunders or finding out exam questions in advance—soon lead to complicated wrinkles that have an inevitable impact on those around her. And when Chiaki confesses his love for her one day, she not only finds their delicate friendship triangle crumbling, but also that there are some things time can never change—or prevent.
Hosoda is a remarkable new talent who, together with a stellar creative team including art director Nizou Yamamoto (PRINCESS MONONOKE) and character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (NEON GENESIS EVANGELION), has crafted a magical and surprisingly affecting film full of humor, warmth and the bittersweet pangs of first love.
wanna see! wanna see! eeee!
Other films I kind of want to see:
thursday, 3/15: finishing the game (comedy spoof about casting for bruce lee’s last role after he died)
friday, 3/16: big trouble in little china (on the big screen. tempting)
saturday, 3/17: shanghai kiss (oddly, it’s got the cheerleader from ‘heros’, and then kelly hu and the kareoke salesman from ‘keeping the faith’.), the end of the world as we know it (shorts, some of which look hilarious)
sunday, 3/18: american pastime (baseball in concentration camps! who doesn’t see the fun in that?), pavement butterfly (silent film from 1929), footy legends (australian rugby has-beens and a dream), king and the clown (south korean homosexuality and court jesters), Third I South Asian Shorts 2007 (mostly i’m interested in the animated scenes from the ‘Ramayama’).
wednesday, 3/21: exiled (big names from hong kong but it’s a thriller/drama about hit-men)
I’ll go see the Asian Buffy with you.
Ok, wait I just read the descriptions. I’ll go see all the first four. Awesome.
CRAP MONKEYS!!! i realized while driving home that the 17th is jason’s book launch. and marina’s going to be here the 17th and 18th. soooo, possibly i can still see wendy wu, but maybe not mistress of spices. umrao jaan and time-leaping girl are still totally on though. let me discuss saturday’s scheduling with marina.
you don’t have to babysit me the whole time i’m there that weekend. you are free to do what you want, you know.
My friend’s review of Wendy Wu
i know i don’t have to babysit you, but i want to make sure i make time to do the dress thing at some point that weekend. but as long as we can just do it sunday during the day, that’ll work fine for me.
ooh, netflix does have wendy wu and umrao jaan. now the question is whether or not it’s worth it to me to see them on a big screen for like $10 a pop.
but both films are over by like 5:30 on the 17th, right? won’t that give us plenty of time to get to jason’s thing? wait, what time is jason’s thing?
yes, to get to jason’s thing, but i was going to model bridesmaid dresses for marina and go to a bridal store with her beforehand on saturday. we’re planning on doing that sunday now though, so it’s ok.