The Last Day of My Internship with the Asian Film Festival of Dallas

Total Recap: Thursday July 21 2011

Movies:

Triple Tap

Keui-Mei, A Woman (1986)

Fallen Angels (1995)

Outrage: 3/5

Golden Slumber

Yesterday was a rather odd day. Instead of heading to the theater first, I had to pick up my boss from a Honda dealership, because her battery was having issues (and I totally know how that feels). However, this was the start of a very lucky morning, because I ended up having lunch with her and the French director of the film Lao Wai. He has been super nice the whole festival, and it was a little sad to see him go. When I finally got to the theater, there wasn't too much to do and I just typed in things to a computer to save time for the other board members, which kept my busy at least! It was very relaxing, and because I was so tired it was nice that I wasn't running around doing things anymore like I had been that morning.

Around 7pm I went off with Teresa to get ready for the closing party at Lumi's, which ended up being a lot of fun and a lot less hot and stuffy like the previous opening party. There was a lot of food, a lot of dancing, and the winners of all the awards were announced. I Am seemed all around to be a favorite, which makes me kinda regret not watching it at all.
The dancing was actually the best part. Some people could bust some moves, and a few guys that had seen Outrage came over to eat at Lumi's, and they seemed to have some kind of classical training in dance. They were great.
At the end, we ate at a place called Cafe Brazil and I ate some pancakes and my boyfriend showed up :) It was a good end to a very good week and internship.
I will now start going back to my regular reviews stating now :) I hope everyone who has read this will follow me and start to read all my blog posts!!! :D

Days 5 and 6 of my Internship with the Asian Film Festival of Dallas

Total Recap: Tuesday and Wednesday July 19 and 20, 2011

Movies 06/19

Love in a Puff (re-showing)

Our Neighbor (1963)

Midnight FM: 4.5/5

Shorts Block 2

Lao Wai: 3/5

The Image Threads

Movies 06/20

Amigo (re-showing)

Home Sweet Home (1970)

Shorts Block 3

Disorder

The Drunkard: 1.5/5

Tell Me Something (1999)

Yesterday morning I was so tired, I forgot to write a review of Tuesday! Lucky for me this morning I wasn't too tired to write about both days today :)

Tuesday was a pretty slow day. I was the only volunteer in the morning, which was rather boring. Being alone and in charge isn't all that fun once you get down to it. However, not too long after people showed up that I was able to talk to. Around 4pm, I went to go watch Midnight FM, and it was really quite fabulous. You don't have to tell me twice to go watch a Korean film ever. That country really knows what's up with the film business. Especially if we're talking thrillers.Midnight FM is about a radio voice whose family is being held hostage by a crazed fan on her last night hosting her show. It's sad, it's exciting, and its twisty. I would have maybe ended it differently, or made the main character a little more nice to one of the supporting, but other than that I was really excited about this movie after the credits rolled, and the only 2 other movies that have affected me that way this year were Super 8 and of course Harry Potter!

I skipped the shorts block so I could help out some more, but after that I watched Lao Wai, which had the director in attendance. I thought the film was sweet, and for his first narrative piece it had really fabulous cinematography. I think my only issue with the movie was the protagonist male seemed a little unlikable, and I know if I found my boyfriend in the position his girl found him, there would be no second chances.

At the end of the day, I met up with a friend for late dinner :) She came up from Austin to visit family, and I was so excited she called me!

Onto Wednesday! It was a really slow day yesterday. There was never more than 15 people in a theater for the first 3 movies, so I finished Dead Until Dark and watched some Harry Potter. I was told to watch the shorts block, and I did. All of them were good except the ending documentary, which I found a little boring. The producer of one of the shorts was there, which was neat. Here is a little preview of it. It was a good one. Then I stayed to watch The Drunkard, which highly reminded me of the movie In the Mood for Love, which if you appreciated that film, this one would be for you as well. The Drunkard is based of a stream of consciousness novel that is actually the same author that wrote In the Mood for Love. The audience primarily enjoyed the film and had a lot of questions for the director afterwards.

Then sadly, tragedy struck and Alicia's car wasn't starting at her apartment. However, I came in to save the day and picked her up an took her back to the theater, so she could hang out with our 2 directors and producer at this very Texan-y bar. I ended up just drinking water :). I was too tired for anything else!

Today I am not seeing any films, because I have already seen Outrage and Golden Slumber, so I will just be hanging around until the after party at Lumi's :).

Day 4 of my Internship with the Asian Film Festival of Dallas

Total Recap: Monday July 18 2011

Movies:

Shoalin (repeat showing)

Ch Medley: A Dream of Iron

Shorts 1

City Under Siege

I Am

Enemy at the Dead End: 4/5

Today I feel like I did the most, even though it was probably the most relaxing day! I got to tally up all the little surveys, and I drove the director of the short film The Good Daughter to the airport, and I simply was just a little bit more busy than prior days.

In the morning I spent my time eating, working with other volunteers, and recording those surveys I mentioned earlier. It kept me busy enough to keep my mind of the slowerness of Monday. All-in-all a good day.

The only movie I ended up catching today was the last one, which was worth staying up for. Enemy at the Dead End was a surprisingly funny Korean revenge thriller. The actor of Oldboy was the main guy in this film, and the audience follows the film through his POV. The word was that this movie is "Oldboy set in a hospital room," which is almost half right. Because of the straight up humor in this movie, though, I would say it has a very different feel of any Korean revenge movie I've ever seen. The film itself is also a tad predictable, and the twist isn't its usual twistiness as many Korean films do, but the film still is enjoyable throughout. Whenever you have the option to see it, I would very much recommend it, even for the faint of heart. This movie is not scary at all in any way, but some hilarious fun. Who doesn't want to see practically paralyzed men attempting to kill each other off with feeble attempts?? I do! :)

Anyway, today I must get to the theater at 11:30am because there are no other volunteers signed up for the first spot. Oh well, the most boring part of the day hopefully will go by fast because I am reading the first True Blood novel Dead Until Dark. Also, the Deathly Hallows Pt2 mugglecast has finally come out, and you bet I'm listening! :)

Today I'm seeing Midnight FM hopefully and Lao Wai.

Day 3 of my Internship with the Asian Film Festival of Dallas

Total Recap: Sunday July 17 2011

Movies:

From Me to You (君に届け): 4/5

Amigo

Seven Samurai (七人の侍)

Love in a Puff: 3.5/5

Bedevilled: 3.5/5

Yesterday I was very lucky to catch 2 films that were both cute and quirky. At the beginning of the day, I saw the cutesy Japanese romantic movie From me to You. This film had a really interesting plot, where the protagonist female has been avoided all her life because of her liken to the scary ghost Sadako from Ringu. She then meets a very kind transfer student who immediately forms a crush on her. In the process of their relationship budding, Sadako also meets 2 girls that become her very closest friends. It's very sweet, very heart warming, but can seem slow at times. The character development is really grand as well.

I skipped Amigo and Seven Samurai to help out a little bit with holding iPads and whatnot :p I went out to lunch at Village Burger Bar (very delicious french fries!) with Sara and another Jenny and we discussed the film festival, soccer, and dangerous pets. It was a good time :).

Then after a reception that was fed by Thairiffic, and some good little pastries from Community Coffee, I watched the Chinese film Love in a Puff. It had really brilliant dialogue and revolved around a very interesting story of people meeting over a smoking spot in Hong Kong during post the 2007 smoking act. I highly recommend seeing its second showing Tuesday at noon if you have time in the week. It's really great!

I had previously viewed Bedevilled, so I skipped it, but I was curious if some of the people read "drama" not realizing that it was ultra-violent as welll.

Today I hope to see the last film Enemy at the Dead End. It's a Korean revenge thriller, and I absolutely love those. It's on at 9:30, so you should come and see it as well! :)

Day 2 of my Internship with the Asian Film Festival of Dallas

Total Recap: Saturday July 16 2011

Movies:

Little Big Soldier

Saigon Electric: 2.5/5

Monga

Wedding Palace

The Stool Pigeon

Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City

Today was a lot more eventful that Friday because of Saturday's official weekend status. The first two films got rave reviews from everyone who went to go see it. I myself was lucky enough to catch Saigon Electric, which even though its story is a jumbled up mess (because it had story-focusing issues) it's a very pleasant film to see and the dance-off at the end was very cool to watch. I would say if you are very into dance and romance movies like Step Up, you are very much likely to enjoy this film. It will be showing again in Dallas come October.

After I kicked back and watched a movie and tallied up the audience scores, I went out to lunch with some of the people who are in charge of me :) It was quite pleasant, and I learned how to hold a fork properly whilst cutting. Something that will help me my entire life to come! And also will be a great dinner conversation topic for those awkward times.

After lunch, it was time to get back to business and I helped out with crowd control after the film Monga so that everyone could have a taste of the samples from the restaurant Mr. Wok. I too helped myself to a delicious pork sandwich that was very excellent. Then the line died down and it was time to head of the Malai Kitchen with one of my other bosses, Sara. We had to set up early for the reception for the director of the movie Wedding Palace, which went very smoothly an about 90 people showed up, which was a fantastic turn out! And after that we all headed back over to the Magnolia for midnight karaoke, which lasted until about 2am! It was loads of fun. Both directors from the features shown earlier that day showed up (from Saigon Electric and Wedding Palace) as well as a director of a short film that will be shown in the last slot of "Shorts 1" this Monday at 4:05pm. Come out and see her movie! She's a really fantastic and quirky person :). I'm sure her short The Good Daughter will be the same!

Today I plan on catching From Me to You and Love in a Puff hopefully. I hear fantastic things about Puff, so I'm very excited! On to another great day! :D

Day 1 of my Internship with the Asian Film Festival of Dallas

Total Recap: Friday July 15 2011

Movies:
Golden Slumber: 4/5

Cyrano Agency

Dance Town

Shaolin

Battle Royale: 4/5

Karate-Robo Zaborgar

Well, after a late night with Mr. Potter, I had an early start! I took my boyfriend to the Dallas Lovefield Airport, checked in at a hotel, took a little nap, and made my way over to the Asian Film Festival of Dallas (being held at the Magnolia theater!).

My day started out slow. My internship is essentially a all-the-time volunteer. I folded some t-shirts, ran around asking people questions, tallied up some score cards, and kept people company. Because it was a Friday morning and many people had work, there were only about 20 or so movie goers, mostly VIPs. However, they all seemed quite pleased with the films they were able to catch, and lucky for most people who were not able to make it, one of those films is showing again on Thursday July 21. That movie would be the ever-wonderful Golden Slumber.

I don't want to give too much away about this film because it is so twisty and turny, but it starts off with a man meeting an old friend, and immediately is framed for the Prime Minister's assasination. The plot really thickens from then on and our nervous hero takes a winding path of conspiracy. I would very much highly recommend you catch this film at its later time, for you are missing something grand and spectacular. Also, for those who like random facts, the Sendai area where this movie was filmed was really struck down hard by the earthquake this past year, so go and see this film and show your support for Japan getting back on its feet.

I also was able to catch the big screen showing of Battle Royale, which was just as fabulous as the first time I watched it. Further more, it was really neat to be sitting next to someone who had not seen it before, and her shock during the twist was very much enlightening. What was further interesting, was that I actually didn't have to read the subtitle sometimes! It's good to know that my Japanese knowledge is sticking, somewhat even after my minor classes are complete :D!
I do not know how many movie I will be able to see today, but hopefully I am able to see all the ones I am interested in for tomorrow (Love in a Puff and From Me to You)! I also hope I will be able to catch the repeat showing of Shoalin. So everyone who's anyone in Dallas or Denton should go to this festival ASAP! It's their 10th anniversary, so it's bigger than ever! :)
website: http://www.affd.org
Ticket Info:
$9 online

$7 for students at the door