NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL, July 12–28, 2024

[Chris Knipp]

A BALLOON'S LANDING (Angel Teng 2024)

As a queer romance this is just one long tease, but what a swoony non-couple the two leads make, and what a sweet, poetic load of silliness the frame story is! This is the international premiere.

A Balloon's Landing 我在這裡等你 ("I'll Be Here Waiting for You"), 100 min. Screened for this review as part of the 2024 NYAFF.
SCHEDULE:
Sunday July 14, 4:15pm
LOOK Cinemas W57

[Chris Knipp]

THJE TIME OF HUAN NAN (Leading Lee 2023)

A time-travel tale where a young man goes 30 years back to 1991 when his father was young and becomes part of a quartet of pals surrounding a famous food market, Huan Nan. Features a lot of gay eye candy of pretty young men. From Taiwan.

The Time of Huan Nan 環南時候,139 min., debuted in the Kaohsiung Film Festival Oct. 8, 2023, and opened in Taiwan May 31, 2024. Screened for this review as part of the 2024 NYAFF (Jul. 12-28).
SCHEDULE:
Saturday July 13, 6:00pm
LOOK Cinemas W57

[Chris Knipp]

A LONG SHOT (Gao Peng 2023)

Impressive debut about China in chaos on the brink, set at a rusting, chaotic metals factory in the Northeast in the eighties. One of the best of the fest.

A Long Shot老枪 ("Old Gun," also "Old Timer"), 117 mins., debuted at Tokyo, also showing at Mykolaichuk (Ukraine) Jun. 16, 2924. Screened for this review as part of the2024 NYAFF (Jul. 12-28).
SCHEDULE:
Friday July 19, 9:00pm
Film at Lincoln Center
Intro and Q&A with director Gao Peng

[Chris Knipp]

SUPPOSED (Thanakorn Pongsuwan 2023)

Portrait of a dating app romance shows the elusiveness of such unions: the man never has a hold on the beautiful young woman he's found or knows who she is. The director fails to stick the ending but must be forgiven because it is the last film he made before he died at 46 of lymphoma.

Supposed, 100 mins., opened in Thailand Dec. 5, 2023, debuting at the Osaka Asian Film Festival Mar. 4, 2024. It was screened for this review as part of the 2024 NYAFF (Jul. 12-28).
SCHEDULE:
Sunday July 14, 3:30pm
Film at Lincoln Center
Intro with cast members Ananda Everingham & Chayanit Chansangavej

[Chris Knipp]

SNOW LEOPARD (Pema Tseden 2023)

Posthumous film by the pioneer of Tibetan cinema who sadly died at 53. A TV film crew, an angry rancher, a local official, and police come together where a magnificent snow leopard has run amuck, mauling nine rams. But it is the young 'snow leopard' monk who has the deep connection to the noble, dangerous, endangered, mysterious creature whose grace and power are beyond human understanding. Debuted at Venice, and winner of the Grand Prize at the Tokyo Film Festival.

Snow Leopard. 雪豹 | གངས་གཟིག 109 min., debuted out of competition at Venice, presented as an official selection at Toronto and won the Grand Prix in Nov. 2023 at Tokyo; also shown at Warsaw, Paris, Lyon and Moscow. Screened for this review as part of the 2024 NYAFF (Jul. 12-28).
SCHEDULE:
Sunday July 21, 6:00pm
Film at Lincoln Center

[Chris Knipp]

TROUBLE GIRL (Chin Chia-hua 2023)

This debut from Taiwan about a 12-year-old girl with ADHD and the struggling, sometimes irresponsible adults around her is "prickly" and "paradoxical" as the enthusiastic festival blurb states, but fails to jell into a meaningful statement about neurodivergence or family disfunction as promised. An unusual Golden Horse best actor award for Audrey Lin, who plays the girl, however.

Trouble Girl 小曉 ("Xiao Xiao"), 103 mins., Debuted at Taipei Golden Horse Festival Nov. 2023, opened theatrically in Taiwan and Hong Kong Dec. and Jan.; showed at Udine and Taipei Apr. and Jun. 2024. It was screened for this review as part of the 2024 NYAFF (Ju. 12-28).
SCHEDULE:
Saturday July 27, 3:30pm
SVA Theatre
Intro and Q&A with director Chin Chia-Hua

[Chris Knipp]

TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN ( Soi Cheung 2024)

Set primarily in the eighties when the Kowloon Walled City existed , a gritty, cluttered enclave rife with crime, where an undocumented man with exceptional fighting skills arrives seeking a home and an identity. A feast of mise-en-scene and marshal arts-combat pyrotechnics. Reviewers find the plot line tedious, but catnip for devotees of genre.

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In 九龍城寨·圍城 ("Kowloon Walled City Beseiged City"), 125 mins., opened in China and Hong Kong May 1, 2024; other releases, and inclded at Cannes, Buncheon, Montreal. Screened for this review as part of the 2024 NYAFF.
Sunday July 28, 7:00pm
SOLD OUT

[Chris Knipp]

TWILIGHTOF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN

Now Opens Sept.13,2024 at Metrograph Theater NYC.

PUB.:

Soi Cheang's Cannes Midnight Neo-Noir Breakout, an Action-Packed Martial Arts Romp & Hong Kong Box Office Sensation

Watch The Trailer

Festivals:
Cannes Film Festival
New York Asian Film Festival
Fantasia International Film Festival
Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival