Asia Noir 4: Last Rites[2004]

C(r)ook(de)

A killer for the Russian Mafia in Vienna wants to retire and write a book about his passion - cooking. The mafia godfather suspects treason.

The Invisible Man(en)

Working in Dr. Cranley's laboratory, scientist Jack Griffin was always given the latitude to conduct some of his own experiments. His sudden departure, however, has Cranley's daughter Flora worried about him. Griffin has taken a room at the nearby Lion's Head Inn, hoping to reverse an experiment he conducted on himself that made him invisible. But the experimental drug has also warped his mind, making him aggressive and dangerous. He's prepared to do whatever it takes to restore his appearance.

The Chess Players(hi)

In the year 1856, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah is the King of Awadh, one of the last independent kingdoms of India. The British intend to control this rich land and send General Outram to clear way for an annexation. Pressure is mounting amidst intrigue and political maneuvers, but the Nawab whiles away his time in pursuit of pleasure and religious practice. The court is of no help either — noblemen Mir and Mirza ignore all duties and spend their days playing endless games of chess. Based on Munshi Premchand's short story of the same name. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 2010.

Happening(fr)

France, 1963. Anne is a bright young student with a promising future ahead of her. But when she falls pregnant, she sees the opportunity to finish her studies and escape the constraints of her social background disappearing. With her final exams fast approaching and her belly growing, Anne resolves to act, even if she has to confront shame and pain, even if she must risk prison to do so.

Equinox Flower(ja)

Wataru Hirayama's outwardly liberal views on marriage are severely tested when his daughter declares that she is in love with a musician and is adamant to live life her own way, instead of agreeing to an arranged marriage. Outwitted by his female relatives, Hirayama stubbornly refuses to admit defeat.

Lola(fr)

A bored young man meets with his former girlfriend, now a cabaret dancer and single mother, and soon finds himself falling back in love with her.

Out of the Past(en)

Jeff Bailey seems to be a mundane gas station owner in remote Bridgeport, California. He is dating local girl Ann Miller and lives a quiet life. But Jeff has a secret past, and when a mysterious stranger arrives in town, Jeff is forced to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.

Mrs. Miniver(en)

Middle-class housewife Kay Miniver deals with petty problems. She and her husband Clem watch her Oxford-educated son Vin court Carol Beldon, the charming granddaughter of the local nobility as represented by Lady Beldon. Then the war comes and Vin joins the RAF.

River of No Return(en)

An itinerant farmer and his young son help a heart-of-gold saloon singer search for her estranged husband.

The Navigator(en)

The wealthy and impulsive Rollo Treadway decides to propose to his beautiful socialite neighbor, Betsy O'Brien. Although Betsy turns Rollo down, he still opts to go on the cruise that he intended as their honeymoon. When circumstances find both Rollo and Betsy on the wrong ship, they end up having adventures on the high seas.

Box(fr)

The Shop Around the Corner(en)

Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realising that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.

Senso(it)

A troubled and neurotic Italian Countess betrays her entire country for a self-destructive love affair with an Austrian Lieutenant.

Liverleaf(ja)

The story follows Nozaki Haruka, a middle school student who transfers to a new school in a small town because of her father's work. Unfortunately, she becomes a victim of horrific bullying, but since the school will be closing in 2 months after graduation, no one is willing to help her.

The Roaring Twenties(en)

After World War I, Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.

The Great War(it)

Italy, 1916. Oreste Jacovacci and Giovanni Busacca are called, as all the Italian youths, to serve the army in the WWI. They both try in every way to avoid serving the army.

Hunters(en)

As John T. Wrecker continues his task of protecting a group of refugees from a virus, the threat of something new and even more dangerous grows ever closer in the form of monstrous mutants.

Jamaica Inn(en)

In coastal Cornwall, England, during the early 19th Century, a young woman who's come there to visit her aunt, discovers that she's married an innkeeper who's a member of a gang of criminals who arrange shipwrecking and murder for profit.

Diary of a Fleeting Affair(fr)

A single mother and a married man enter into an affair with the understanding that their relationship is purely sexual. Though they agree the relationship has no future, they find themselves increasingly drawn into each other's company.

Aavesham(ml)

Three college freshmen befriend a gangster to get revenge on their seniors. After months of drinking and partying, their choices come back to bite them.

Boogie Nights(en)

Set in 1977, back when sex was safe, pleasure was a business and business was booming, idealistic porn producer Jack Horner aspires to elevate his craft to an art form. Horner discovers Eddie Adams, a hot young talent working as a busboy in a nightclub, and welcomes him into the extended family of movie-makers, misfits and hangers-on that are always around. Adams' rise from nobody to a celebrity adult entertainer is meteoric, and soon the whole world seems to know his porn alter ego, "Dirk Diggler". Now, when disco and drugs are in vogue, fashion is in flux and the party never seems to stop, Adams' dreams of turning sex into stardom are about to collide with cold, hard reality.

The White Masai(de)

A girl, Carola, whose vacation in Kenya takes an interesting turn when she becomes infatuated with a Masai. Carola decides to leave her boyfriend to stay with her lover. There, she has to adapt to the Masai's way of life and get used to their food which includes milk mixed with blood. She also has to face her husband's attitude towards women and what he expects from a wife. Nonetheless, Carola is welcomed warmly into the tribe she has chosen to join.

Miami Vice(en)

A case involving drug lords and murder in South Florida takes a personal turn for undercover detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs. Unorthodox Crockett gets involved romantically with the Chinese-Cuban wife of a trafficker of arms and drugs, while Tubbs deals with an assault on those he loves.

Kim Ji-young, Born 1982(ko)

Kim Ji-young, an ordinary woman in her 30s, suddenly shows signs of being inhabited by other women from her life, past and present.

Stay the Night(en)

A failed work opportunity prompts chronically single Grace to pursue a one night stand with a stranger. Turns out he's an on-the-outs professional athlete in town with a problem of his own. Maybe they can help each other.

Hole-in-law 2(ko)

Sang-min's girlfriend Eun-jeong, is a nude model and takes photos with a stranger in a motel naked. Sang-min who doesn't believe in free-spirited Eun-jeong, after drinking in three groups with her close friend Jae-hoon,, comes home. Sang-min, who noticed that Eun-jeong is quietly flirting with Jae-hoon, asks if he wants to do with Jae-hoon while having sex with Eun-jeong. When Eun-jeong actively responded, he made Jae-hoon go into the room where Eun-jeong was sleeping.

Maximum Thrust(en)

A down and out all girl race team, Maximum Thrust, hires a sexy newbie street racer, Bekka (Beverly Lynne), in hopes of saving a failing business and salvaging street creds and respect. The action is fast and furious on and off the track when Bekka is seduced by a rival racer, Junior Sloan. When it is discovered Junior intends on destroying Maximum Thrust, even if it means killing the driver, Bekka reunites with the team. With friends and lovers helping, the women of Maximum Thrust build an awesome street racing machine and lay it all on the line when they challenge Junior to a race at "Street Wars." It is a high octane battle where Bekka blows by Junior and stops him on the track. Using intimate information, Bekka and the team have Junior arrested and the team reigns as the Street Wars champions.

So Much To Do- So little Time(en)

The story of four young people, ShinAe Ahn who is transgender, and three others, pan-sexual, gay, and lesbian respectively, who are fed up with the oppressive and authoritarian conservative government and its influence on the country. ShinAe Ahn decides to run for the office of prime minister, with the help of her friends and supporters. She meets a lot of caring people, and also a lot of haters. The current Prime Minister is not at all tolerant of the LGBTQIA+ community and is trying his hardest to stop any party that does not follow the orders of the conservative government from running without any logical reason to do so. That creates a political divide within the country, as politicians will attack anyone who is and/or who acts differently, or who stands up for people/themselves who they personally don't like. This story however is being told after the fact, a few years after the election, when ShinAe won as prime minister.

Amos' Bride(en)

Born and raised in the cult of the Chosen Colony, 16-year old Rebecca desperately wants to see the outside world. She plans an escape with the prophet Amos’ son, her lover, but is incidentally selected to be Amos’ new bride. Faced with the added pressure of the situation, the two attempt to commence their plan when they run into a new obstacle: Amos’ power to possess.

Sex, Love, Misery: New New York(en)

Swiping. Dating. Ghosting. Have you wondered what was really going on in your date's head? "Sex, Love, Misery" reveals candid thoughts and encounters between diverse singles looking to mingle or marry, from initial texts to hook ups and beyond.

Ruthful(en)

When a Chinese-Canadian college student returns home to Toronto, she visits a Hong Kong cafe she frequented during her childhood. Through eating the food, she is suddenly able to relive suppressed memories of her deceased grandmother. Now she must confront their multifaceted relationship and her own identity to find her peace.

Questa notte è ancora nostra(it)

When a producer refuses to cut Massimo and his band a record unless they hire an "ethnic" singer to spice up the act, he tries to seduce Jing, a Chinese girl with a beautiful voice disinterested in both him and rock, to get her on board. She pretends to cave in in order to escape an arranged marriage, but in the weeks preceding the concert the two begin to grow closer, complicating the secretly fake nature of their relationship.

Piccadilly(en)

A young Chinese woman, working in the kitchen at a London dance club, is given the chance to become the club's main act.

Black Snake Will Destroy You!(ja)

Interracial erotic-drama distributed by Nikkatsu for home video.

The Matrimony(zh)

A woman finds the key to a room in the attic that her husband forbids her from entering. When she opens the door, she is confronted with the haunting existence of the woman her husband refuses to forget.

Someday I Will Become a Rock(en)

We see a rock. It transcends languages and cultures. It traverses time and space. Perhaps it has its own nature and memories.

The Expendables 2(en)

Mr. Church reunites the Expendables for what should be an easy paycheck, but when one of their men is murdered on the job, their quest for revenge puts them deep in enemy territory and up against an unexpected threat.

Emanuelle in the Country(it)

When Selenia arrives in the small Italian village heads start turning and eyes start popping. All males in the town are falling all over themselves trying to get a look -- or a feel -- of the new doctor.

Sex: The Annabel Chong Story(en)

The documentary follows Annabel Chong, former record holder for the world's largest gang bang, which she set in 1995 by having sex with 70 men. It focuses on her reasons for working in porn, and her relationship with friends and family.

I Am Not Big Bird(tl)

Luis Carpio, a 30-something virgin who, dejected after his girlfriend turns down his marriage proposal, heads off on holiday to Thailand with a bunch of friends. Once there, a peculiar chain of events ensues when Luis is mistaken for a famous Thai porn star, the “Big Bird” of the title.