The San Diego Asian Film Festival concludes this Friday. Here are some final recommendations, including a Philippine rock and roll film, "Rakenrol," and encores of "A Boy and His Samurai" and the extreme "Cold Fish." All films screen tonight and tomorrow at the UltraStar Mission Valley Theaters at Hazard Center.
Today "A Boy and His Samurai" gets an encore screening at 7pm. The audience coming out the other night was raving about the film so I feel I should alert people to its encore screening. It might be too warm and fuzzy for me but it appears to be a crowd pleaser.
Another crowd pleaser is the Philippine film about some young friends trying to start a rock and roll band in "Rakenrol." Here's the trailer.
Friday brings the close of the festival and encores of some of the more popular films such as "Shaolin" (a martial arts actioner with Andy Lau), "Norwegian Wood" (from Tran Anh Hung); and the extreme dysfunctional family drama-comedy "Cold Fish." I highly recommend "Cold Fish" if you did not catch the first screening. This is unlikely to screen any where else and it is one of the most original films you will see all year, I guarantee it!
The one new film screening is the closing night attraction, "Jiro Dreams of Sushi," about a tiny 3-star Michelin restaurant with 10 stools, no credit cards accepted and no printed menu. Filmmaker David Gelb creates a deliciously unexpected documentary about the restaurant's 85-year old master sushi chef Jiro Ono. Here's the trailer.
Once again plenty to choose from as the 12th San Diego Asian Film Festival approaches its closing night. Hope you found time to see something. Tomorrow also mark the opening of the San Diego Italian Film Festival so no rest for festival goers with a passion for unique and provocative filmmaking.
