No, not all Asians love math — but I think we can all agree that everyone loves the SF Int’l Asian-American Film Fest! The festival’s starting up at the Kabuki and the Castro in two weeks, and tickets are on sale now — but to whet your appetite, we’ve put together this handy-dandy, math-based guide to some of the festival highlights.
Colma the Musical – Colma X [L.A. Renigan (who played Marisol in Colma)]2 = Fruit Fly. I am so excited for Fruit Fly, I can’t even stand it! H.P Mendoza, the evil musical genius behind Colma the Musical, directs his first film, about a newcomer to San Francisco trying to figure out where she fits in. Bonus: there are gays! This one’s the SFIAAF Centerpiece screening and it’s going to be one to watch.
Fell In Love With A Girl + The Host + someone we’ve never heard of but have high hopes for given the others in his company = Tokyo!. The movie comes with the exclamation point, it’s not just me being overenthusiastic — but still, it certainly seems like the ! is warranted — trippy Michel Gondry of Bjork and Eternal Sunshine fame, the director of South Korea’s acclaimed environmental-horror film The Host and a guy named Leos Carax who I must admit I don’t actually know, direct three short films about surreal adventures in Tokyo. This one’s for all you auteurs.
[Slumdog Millionaire / the British exploitation of Indian cinema] X [
America’s Best Dance Crew + the Nutty Professor] = Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. Bollywood! Yes, it’s two and a half hours long on a Sunday night, but who doesn’t want to bhangra dance all evening to a movie about a man who accidentally makes his true love fall in love with his outgoing, rug-cutting alter ego, and who will probably end up in a dance-off with himself?
and…. Death of a Salesman / a horror movie director + the Cannes Film Festival = Tokyo Sonata. As part of their Kiyoshi Kurasawa film festival, the SFIAAFF will be screening the Cannes film festival prize-winning Tokyo Sonata, about a family’s struggles after the patriarch loses his job. Kiyoshi Kurosawa (who is not related to the samurai movie guy Akira Kurasawa, incidentally), made his name in horror movies and black comedy mobster movies, which the SFIAAFF will also be screening. One of these sounds like Ruthless People and another was remade into a mediocre US movie with the girl who starred in Veronica Mars, and all of them look good. Kurosawa will be in attendance at the screenings.
