NYAFF, 6/23.

Tuesday night's screening of Funky Forest: The First Contact (site) "was the start of a new religion," reports New York Asian Film Festival co-founder Grady Hendrix. "The sold-out house was laughing, cheering, and they burst into applause after a particularly good dance number... And when they came out of the theater their eyes were shining, their hair was aflame and their feet hardly touched the earth."

It screens once more, tomorrow, and Alison Willmore reviews it at the IFC Blog, along with Ski Jumping Pairs, The Road to Torino.

At Cinema Strikes Back, David Austin reviews Oh! My Zombie Mermaid: Utter Mayhem, interviews Gangster director Bade Haji Azmi and offers a general roundup on all the goings on at the fest.

Reviews at Twitch:

• Todd on Krrish and Company.

• Canfield on Blood Rain and Ski Jumping Pairs and Beetle the Horn.

Updates, 6/25: "[T]he Subway Cinema lads haven't lost their eyes," writes Time's Richard Corliss, introducing his list of recommendations. "Even their conventional choices display pinwheeling formal expertise." What's more, Grady Hendrix is "the savviest young writer on film I know, east or west."

At Twitch, Todd has admiring praise for A Stranger of Mine.

Posted by dwhudson at June 23, 2006 3:28 PM