AAVCLUB @ AFS Cinema

*$4 off with code: AAAFF$4

Applicable for additional showtimes of the films listed below as well. Check AFS Cinema schedule for most updated showtimes.

THE FRIENDS

Directed by Shinji Sômai | Japan
1994, 1h 53min, DCP, In Japanese with English subtitles.

“The name of Shinji Sômai deserves to be rediscovered today more than ever.”
—Hirokazu Kore-eda

Sep. 3, 7 | During a sweltering summer, three mischievous boys fixate on a reclusive old man, expecting to witness his lonely demise. Instead, they unravel his past and forge an unlikely bond. An exuberant and poignant story of youth and the ravages of time — from Shinji Sômai, acclaimed director of TYPHOON CLUB and P.P. RIDER.

PEKING OPERA BLUES

Directed by Tsui Hark | Hong Kong
1986, 1h 44min, DCP, In Cantonese and Mandarin with English subtitles.

“A unique blend borrowed from such diverse conventions as a 1930s screwball comedy, a Hitchcock espionage thriller, and a Peckinpah/James Woo guns and guts fest … there is never a dull, confusing, or wasted moment.”
—The Austin Chronicle

Sep. 6, 7, 10 | The setting is Beijing in 1913. The colorful, bustling Peking Opera is presented as a macrocosm of the culture at large, complete with political and romantic intrigues among the performers and audiences. Tsui Hark’s follow-up to SHANGHAI BLUES is a perfect combination of farce, romance, and political subversion.

OldBoy

Directed by Park Chan-wook | South Korea
2003, 2h 0min, DCP, In Korean with English subtitles.

“A lurid, complex, introspective beast, enacting astonishing cruelty on its protagonist like a slow-acting poison.”
—Little White Lies

“As always with Park Chan-wook, you just hold on and let him rip.”
—Rolling Stone

“A movie of such jaw-dropping violence, wild improbability, and dazzling style it overpowers all resistance.”
—The Chicago Tribune

Sep. 12, 14, 17, 18 |Drugged and held captive for fifteen years without understanding why, a man (Choi Min-sik) lives for revenge when he is finally freed. But that’s only the beginning. Winner of the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and one of the cinematic landmarks so far of this century.

LINDA LINDA LINDA

Directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita | Japan
2005, 1h 54min, DCP, In Japanese with English subtitles.

“Understated and disarmingly human … LINDA LINDA LINDA takes its title from a 1980s pop song so catchy your brain may never want to let it go.”
—The New York Times 

“Yamashita captures these girls with an austere, unhurried visual style that has been rightly compared to rock aficionado/filmmakers Aki Kaurismäki and Jim Jarmusch.”
—The Chicago Tribune 

“An extremely well-written, emotionally complex coming-of-age tale that has a John Hughesian respect for teenage angst.”
—The San Francisco Chronicle

Sep. 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, Oct. 1, 2| Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Nobuhiro Yamashita’s beloved cult classic charts a high school girl band gearing up for a school festival. Fueled by music from James Iha (The Smashing Pumpkins) and covers of songs from punk band The Blue Hearts, it stars Bae Doona (THE HOST) alongside familiar faces from BATTLE ROYALE and DEATH NOTE. Charming and infectious, this film rocks. New 4K restoration.

A BETTER TOMORROW

Directed by John Woo | Hong Kong
1986, 1h 35min, DCP, In Cantonese and Mandarin with English subtitles.

“Required viewing for anyone remotely interested in Hong Kong cinema.”
—The Austin Chronicle

Sep. 30, Oct. 4 |After kicking around the Hong Kong film industry for years without any copious success, John Woo hit the mainline with this story of brothers on opposite sides of the law, setting the tone for the next couple of decades of Hong Kong (and international) action cinema. It made Chow Yun-fat and teen idol Leslie Cheung major box office stars and positioned Woo as the director to emulate. New 4K restoration.

A BETTER TOMORROW 2

Directed by John Woo| Hong Kong
1987, 1h 45min, DCP, In Cantonese and Mandarin with English subtitles.

“​​A fun-house reflection on the original that manages to be both a satire and an homage.”
—Ric Meyers, author of Films of Fury: The Kung Fu Movie Book

Oct. 7, 11 | The main players are back in this sequel to John Woo’s breakthrough. What it may lack in plausibility, it makes up for in action, as John Woo piles on the bullet squibs and further refines his filmmaking technique with the additional budget and cred gained from A BETTER TOMORROW’s smash box office success. New 4K restoration.

THE KILLER

Directed by John Woo | Hong Kong

1989, 1h 51min, DCP, In Cantonese, Mandarin, and Japanese with English subtitles.

“Arguably the ultimate expression of Woo’s style.”
—Vulture

“The most dementedly elegiac thriller you’ve ever seen, distilling a lifetime’s enthusiasm for American and French film noir.”
—Time Out

“The violence in THE KILLER is virtually nonstop … this is a rush of a movie.”
—The Washington Post

Oct. 14, 18, 19 | John Woo’s masterpiece, inspired by Melville’s LE SAMOURAÏ, stars Chow Yun-fat as a disillusioned mob hitman who is responsible for the blinding of a nightclub singer. When his plan to make things right goes awry, he teams up with an obsessed cop to clean things up. Operatic in its scope, unapologetic in its melodramatic bromance, this is one of the top five or six action films ever made. New 4K restoration. 

BULLET IN THE HEAD

Directed by John Woo | Hong Kong
1990, 2h 16min, DCP, In Cantonese, Vietnamese, and French with English subtitles.

“Woo’s best and most personal film.”
—Vulture

“​​At his peak, Woo didn’t build set pieces — he emptied armouries, unleashed firestorms.”
—Little White Lies

Oct. 21, 25 | No Chow Yun-fat this time, but Tony Leung Chiu-wai is a pretty good consolation prize as John Woo tells the story of three petty criminals in 1967 who, fleeing a powerful mob boss, go from the frying pan into the fire as they flee to wartime Saigon. Woo considered this his APOCALYPSE NOW, and you’ll see why. New 4K restoration. 

HARD BOILED

Directed by John Woo | Hong Kong
1992, 2h 8min, DCP, In Cantonese with English subtitles.

“Woo’s violence is absolutely over the top, a jamboree of spurting arteries and blown-out kneecaps … creating mosaics of sound and action that leave you feeling exhilarated.”
—Time Magazine

“John Woo, Hong Kong’s master choreographer of cinematic violence, has blasted the action genre onto a whole new level. His shootouts are a ballet; his firebombings are poetry.”
—Newsday

Oct. 28, 30 | Not only an exciting, escapist crime movie but also a textbook of action set-pieces. Chow Yun-fat is back as a cop named Tequila who CAN play the clarinet but CAN’T play by the rules. Tony Leung Chiu-wai is his partner in ultraviolence, an undercover detective who specializes in deep-cover operations. Hong Kong Cinema icon Anthony Wong is here too as the top boss. The film is very, very violent. Like, it will revise your whole definition of what a violent film is. New 4K restoration.