Wednesday, July 7, 2010

NYAFF 2010 Day 8- 103 in the City

Hotter than its been in ages in New York. Actually the 103 in Central Park set a record. A couple of blocks away there was a comfortable darkness as the NYAFF continues at Lincoln Center.

Its late and I'm beat from the heat so just a few brief words about tonight's films

GALLANTS (2010)
If movies are about characters this is the top of the heap. If movies must have a perfect plot this is couple of pegs down- but still damn fine. The plot has a loser being sent to help close a real estate deal in the country. There he ends up hooked up with the people he's suppose to evict, a couple of martial artists running a tea room in their own martial arts school. They are caring for their master who has been in a coma for 30 years. Grand throw back to the martial arts films of old, but with older guys including legend Bruce Leung, doing the fighting. Its a blast. This is getting a longer review later, but for now all I have to say is this is screening one more time Thursday at about 6 and you owe it to yourself to see it. (And for the record Bruce Leung was there and he received the only standing Ovation I've seen in the 20 screenings I've seen)

GOLDEN SLUMBER
From the director of A Fish Story and A Foreign Duck, A Domestic Duck and God in a Coin Locker comes a good film (great if you haven't seen one of the earlier films), about a young man who is set up to take the fall in the murder of the Japanese Prime Minister (ala Lee Harvey Oswald). Its another one of the directors patented looping every little detail relates to every little detail in such a grand amazing way story. More straight forward than the earlier films it has no loose ends and yet is some how less compelling than the earlier films. Don't get me wrong I like this film but at the same time I could have walked out at any point and I probably could have plotted it all together on my own. If you haven't seen the previous films you'll LOVE this, if you have you'll like it.

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