Presents
At MoMA: RIGODON
At CAC: WHO'S CAMUS ANYWAY
Asian CineVision is proud to kick off the Spring 2007 line-up of the Asian Cinevisions monthly film series at the Museum of Modern Art, with films from the US/Philppines (RIGODON), China (TAKING FATHER HOME), Malaysia (RAIN DOGS) and (MONDAY MORNING GLORY), and Canada (EVE AND THE FIRE HORSE). Special discount for ACV members! Show valid membership card and pay only $6 for admission to the screenings.
RIGODON
Directors/Producers: Sari Lluch Dalena, Keith Sicat
USA | 2005 | 97 mins | Color | English, Tagalog w/ES
Cast
: Joel Torre, Chin-chin Gutierrez, Arthur Acuna
Three Filipino immigrants in New York City encounter racism and alienation during the immigration crackdowns after 9/11. Each breaks down in a different way, exposing the bleakness that awaits thousands of newcomers to the country, whose legal status or lack of it is tied to every step they take. Dante the poet has to choose between his own future and the safety of those whom he has given refuge to, by forging new identities for them. Salome prays for a blue-eyed blonde child. Amado fails his family in their time of need despite his best efforts to support them. Along with the active presences of these characters, characters who are absent also fill the frames with their unhappiness. Mohsen who has been detained by the INS while his family waits desperately for news and Lourdes who appears in Amado's yearnings for home become as real for us as for the family members who have been deprived of them.
Moving between dream, theater and reality and often mixing the three in a surreal combination of fears and hopes, RIGODON manages to be politically charged and philosophical at the same time. Each frame is composed with great care and often one is reminded of Impressionist paintings. The marvelous sensuality that imbues each moving image is at its best in the scene where Amado and Salome find themselves in each other's arms in a consummation of not just desire, but also memory.
RIGODON raises very important questions about the validity of the immigrant dream in the face of inhuman, unethical and manipulative anti-immigration policies. Equally importantly, it does this in an artistic and poetic way.
WHEN: Friday, January 12, 8.15pm (introduced by the filmmakers);
Saturday, January 13, 4pm
WHERE: Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Street.
NY, NY 10019
T: 212-708-9400
 |
WHO'S CAMUS ANYWAY?
Written and directed by Mitsuo Yanagimachi
Cast: Shuji Kashiwabara, Hideo Nakaizumi, Ai Maeda
Japan | 2005 | 115 min | Beta | Color | In Japanese with English subtitles
Yanagimachi's new film, after a 10-year break, is a brainy, playful Altmanesque portrait of the psyche of modern Japan. He follows a group of film students (many played by hot young Japanese TV stars) as they prepare to make a movie about a seemingly gratuitous murder. As it examines the students' bickering, betrayal, and sexual cruelty, the film offers a witty portrait of a younger generation so steeped in Western culture that its touchstones are film noir, Michel Houllebecq, and, of course, The Stranger . This brilliantly made film explodes with cinematic energy, from a sly opening sequence that riffs on The Player to a powerful finale that reveals depths as dark and mysterious as anything in Camus. - New York Film Festival 2005
The New York Times says the film "bristles with ferocious energy and wit." Read the review here.
When: Wednesday, January 24, 7.30pm (One night only!)
Where: Cinema Arts Centre
425 Park Avenue
Long Island, NY
Tel: 631-423-7611 |
