this is kind of late notice, but the festival starts this weekend. yey!
so i bring you my top 3 most want to sees and hope that someone might want to see them too.
Friday, 3/14, 4:00pm, Kabuki
From slacker comedies like No One’s Ark (SFIAAFF ’03) to the hit schoolgirl rock band film Linda Linda Linda (SFIAAFF ’06), Nobuhiro Yamashita has demonstrated a knack for offbeat humor and for finding poetry in the mundane. With his seventh feature, A Gentle Breeze in the Village, Yamashita turns his perceptive eye to the emotional world of a teenage girl living in the bucolic countryside of Japan.
Adapting Fusako Kuramochi’s popular manga series Tennen Kokekko, Yamashita tells the story of Soyo, the oldest of six students in a combined elementary and middle school, and the only student in eighth grade—until Osawa, a handsome city-boy, transfers from Tokyo. His arrival sets off tremors in Soyo’s halcyon life, and soon she must ponder the difference between a kiss and a handshake, and learn to listen to the growing feeling in her heart the same way she listens to the whispers of the surrounding mountains.
This is a film not of dramatic fireworks, but of finely observed details in the world of an adolescent girl, where the smallest of gestures and revelations can carry the weight of the universe. Those details take on a warm, magical glimmer as Yamashita effortlessly evokes the gentle rhythms of rural life. The resulting portrait of a simpler life—whether seen as pastoral fantasy or nostalgia for a disappearing era—is sure to leave the most refreshing and blissful aftertaste of any film this year.
NOTE: I LOVED ‘linda, linda, linda’, so i’m pretty excited about this.
Sunday, 3/16, 9:45pm, Kabuki
Steeped in traditional Thai folklore and with an eerie period setting, Wisit Sasanatieng’s (Citizen Dog, SFIAAFF ‘06) new feature takes a departure from his earlier flamboyant, distinctly modern films to serve up an elegant classic ghost story. Set in 1930’s Siam, the story centers on a young pregnant woman named Nualjan who travels to Bangkok in search of her missing husband. On the way, she takes refuge in a dilapidated mansion whose odd inhabitants include an elderly woman who stalks the grounds at night, the talkative and superstitious boarder Choy, and the severe house manager Miss Somjit, who treats Nualjan to a cold welcome and warns her against snooping. Most mysterious of all is the reclusive Madame Run Juan, the beautiful mistress of the house, who never leaves her second floor lair and is said to pine for a lost love. As Nualjan’s curiosity about the mansion’s secrets grows, she is drawn deeper into the ghostly world of this sinister place, and the mysteries of its lonely inhabitants.
The Unseeable unfolds like the most chilling of folktales, made all the more gripping by Sasanatieng’s skillful use of sound effects, camera work and ominous lighting. Inspired by the pulp illustrations of Thai artist Hem Vejakorn, the film’s lush landscape and gorgeous period details create a haunting world where the supernatural lurks around every corner. Using no digital special effects and instead relying on traditional filmmaking techniques to create suspense, The Unseeable is a stunning homage to classic Hollywood thrillers like The Haunting and Rebecca.
NOTE: those of you who saw ‘citizen dog’ with me in 2006 (gene and christine) will hopefully be as excited about this one by the same director.
Thursday, 3/20, 7:30pm, Kabuki
Korean b-boy culture gets a vibrant look in talented new filmmaker John Kwon’s debut feature, Always Be Boyz. Employing a cast of real-life breakdancers to enact a narrative inspired by a true story, Kwon has crafted a stylish hip hop dance musical brimming with visual flair and youthful heart.
For Seven, b-boying is not a hobby, but a lifestyle. With his father unable to return from North Korea and his older brother in mandatory military service, the restless Seven reads Socrates and Plato, yearning to make sense of the world through art. The one real and tangible goal for him and his crew is the Battle of the Year tournament, where they can pit their skills against the best and earn respect. But as injuries and defection deplete his team, and Seven struggles to secure corporate sponsorship for his crew, he finds artistic inspiration in ballet—and a budding romance with a ballerina. And with his own military service looming, Seven must decide what his life will stand for.
Always Be Boyz fits comfortably into the familiar genre of underdog dancer films, but here the cast of non-professional actors deliver surprisingly natural and heartfelt performances, lending what is at times a documentary-like persuasiveness to this portrait of b-boy culture. Yet every shot is completely malleable in Kwon’s hands, as he stops, slows, speeds up and refracts the images like a DJ into a thoroughly stylized presentation. The film marks the arrival of a fresh and promising new voice.
NOTE: it’s a Korean ‘save the last dance’!! I can’t pass that up!