Caught two more films in the NYAFF over the weekend. First was a Korean flick called A Feather in The Wind. While the write-ups billed it as a romantic comedy, it really didn’t have all that much in the way of humor, but it still worked pretty well as a drama, especially one that was produced for only $60K. Admittedly, not a whole lot happens in the movie, but by the end you do feel like you’ve been through a lot with the characters. The premise of the story is also kind of intriguing- young lovers on vacation a long time ago make a promise to each other that no matter what happens, they will meet back up in the exact same hotel exactly 10 years to the day. So the guy, a struggling writer, checks into the hotel and waits for her to show up, which she never does. The whole movie goes along slowly, with nobody else on the island except for the hotel owner and his neice. The developing attraction between the screenwriter and the neice twelve years his junior was totally reminiscent of the unspoken sexual tension between Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation. Overall, it was a surprisingly decent film for a slow moving story where nothing much actually happens.

Next up was Umizaru 2, the biggest box office hit in Japan this year. I hadn’t seen the first Umizaru, but since this was basically a big Hollywood-style action movie, it really wasn’t necessary. The movie is about the elite diving corps of the Japan Coast Guard, focusing on the hero of the film, Daisuke Senzaki saving the world (well saving the passengers on a giant ship anyway) all while battling his inner demons and relationship issues with his fiancee. I don’t think I’d ever seen such a westernized big budget action flick coming out of Japan before. It was indeed a ton of fun, even the super cheesy romantic bits- imagine the hero, about to make one final attempt to save himself and 3 others before the ship sinks, but stopping to make a five minute profession of his love by cell phone to his fiancee; a call which is broadcast on open channels so everyone in the command center and in the harbor can hear and get all teary eyed. hahahaha, yes, so dumb and unintentionally funny, but still so fun to watch. Speaking of unintentional humor, big props to McDonalds for being one of the sponsors of the film festival, but unfortunately I think it was probably a mistake to be pitching their new Asian salad to a room ful of Asians. I think most everyone in there, both Asian and not, was saying to themselves “you’ve gotta be kidding”. In any event Umizaru 2 was fun and so action packed it actually left me exhausted after watching it. I really hope they make a Umizaru 3.