New York Asian Film Festival Reviews and Interviews 2023

32. Film Review: Everyphone Everywhere (2023) by Amos Why

Amos Why takes an entertaining and intimate look into our reliance on phones. However, the focus on technology acts as a means to examine human conflict. Phones are just as related to the characters’ past as they are to their present. “Everyphone Everywhere,” is about the discontent one may face when neck-deep into adulthood. While the past may provide a nostalgic comfort, a satisfactory future must be reached by overturning the mistaken ideals of one’s youth. However, one thing that remains unaltered in the face of the aging world is the protagonists’ friendship with each other. In effect, the phone becomes a symbol of interpersonal connections through which the movie teaches that, in an ever-changing world, relationships will remain for those who preserve them. (Aaron Hinojosa)

33. Film Review: The Cord of Life (2022) by Qiao Sixue

In trying to help his mother find the place of her past, Alus too has to reconnect with his roots, returning to the songs of his youth and jamming most traditionally on the climax as part of a festival. The symbolism throughout, therefore, isn’t exactly subtle, with each scene designed to further the point. His mother, seeking her past, is drawn to a traditional dress, while Alus needs electricity and modern trappings for a generation that’s moving towards the future. He has escaped, but insists his mother doesn’t roam free. His brother essentially keeping her locked up in a prison cell to help cope with her condition, Alus likewise ties them with a connecting rope to keep her in her place; and indeed the past tethered. But in keeping her close, this cord of life reconnects him with his past and cultural roots. (Andrew Thayne)

34. Short Film Review: Bugs (2023) by Gwai Lou

Gwai Lou, (nickname for a male director from Spain actually) essentially presents a cautionary tale about the aforementioned concept, highlighting how dangerous it can be, particularly for kids such as Syed, who seems to be both poor and lacking any kind of guidance from his parents, with the same actually applying to Rkasim. In such circumstances, it is easy for a kid who suddenly finds himself being popular, with thousands checking his live streams, and essentially rich, not finding a way to stop, with the filmmaker presenting the consequences in all their grotesqueness, as the boy is willing to injure himself severely to get more of both. In that fashion, his message becomes quite pointed, but at the same time, equally realistic, with the combination definitely having an impact on any viewer, both visually and contextually. The fact that as soon as Syed gets his “break” he proceeds on misbehaving towards his friend, who was willing to follow him anywhere practically, also moves in the same direction, cementing the message. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

35. Short Film Review: Handwritten (2022) by Jamie Sunwoo

Clocking in at just under nine minutes, “Handwritten” is a charming short flick that details Sunwoo’s connection to her own fickle penmanship, a curious aspect of herself that she’s never been able to fully grasp. As she meditates on the impact of handwriting in her own life, throughout history, and projected into the future, she provides the viewer with a straightforward yet effective prism into the mundane. (Olivia Popp)

36. Short Film Review: Borderline (2022) by Kong Son-hee

By the end of the film, what seems to be an allegory for perhaps trauma or mental illness turns into something very different and quite unexpected. Partway through, multicolor medication pills come tumbling from the sky, supplemented with gentle piano music, as if seeking to make the darkness disappear. This element immediately breaks the illusion of the allegory, although it also appears to confirm the narrative. Nonetheless, the filmmaker is determined to make the viewer continue wondering about the fate of the protagonist as she trudges up the steps of a tall castle tower, exhausted. (Olivia Popp)

37. Animation Short Review: Hidari (2023) by Masashi Kawamura and Iku Ogawa

According to the homepage for the feature, it was the aim of the project to “create an entertainment piece that no one has seen before, by merging the world of Japanimation and the technique of stop-motion animation”. It is truly an ambitious concept the creators have in mind, but the short feature gives an interesting impression of what could become a very entertaining and well-crafted story. The animation in combination with the stop-motion technique make for a unique approach to the samurai genre, blending fast-paced action with fantasy and also humor. The plethora of weapons the main character uses helps to establish some kind of variety, especially as the challenges the main character has to face become higher and higher.

38. Animation Short Review: The Kidnapping (Old Man Yang) (2023) by Chen Liaoyu, Liu Kuang, Gu Yang

Where the movie truly thrives, though, is in its artform. The animation by Ma KeRan is passable, with the horizontal moving of the protagonist highlighting the different settings in a way that allows a number of them to appear on screen. It is here, however, that “Old Man Yang” finds its apogee, as the quality of the backgrounds is astonishing, through an intricate maximalism that is bound to impress any viewer of the animation. The oil painting art style works excellently here with Good Gu‘s boards, Liu Kang’s art direction, and Huang Qian’s coloring resulting in a series of astonishing images, that thrive in all their aspects, but particularly in the amount of detail presented in them. The character design, with the huge heads, is also quite appealing, in an exaggeration of a common artform, which has gone to extremes here, however. The mythical creatures, the animals, the woman with the beauty mask on are well presented within the particular style, in a truly outstanding artform. (Panos Kotzathanasis)