More Adventures from the 2008 NYAFF: Weird Double Bill of 'The Shadow Spirit' and 'The Bodyguard' Pays Tribute to Hawks and Woo

Friday was the [New York Asian Film Festival]'s opening day and a good one at that. It was a perfect first volley of this year's titles, from the over-the-top to the tender. As festival co-founder Marc Walkow said in his introduction to both the first two films of the day, there's no other festival that would follow a camp-fest where a cowboy hat and bikini-clad heroine slices up zombies with a katana ([Chanbara Beauty](http://www.subwaycinema.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=80)) after a light-hearted meditation on personal relationships ([Then Summer Came](http://www.subwaycinema.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=87&Itemid=80)).

While the festival regularly does good business with campy gorefests like this year's [Tokyo Gore Police], something as delicate as Then Summer Came found its audience just as readily, greeted by a warm and audibly appreciative audience. Summer is a bit of an exception however considering that it's a new Japanese film starring superstar [Jô Odagiri](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0643885) that hasn't been released in Japan yet. Still, summer's director, [Ryo Iwamatsu](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0412537/), was greeted at last night's screening by a full house, proving that there's just as much an audience at the festival for lighter fare as fanboy delights.

A perfect example of a film that straddles that line is The Shadow Spirit (Japan, 2007), veteran director [Masato Harada]'s bizarre pop mash-up of pulp detective conventions from the '30s with supernatural overtones. Riding high on clever banter rife with nostalgia, a collective comprised of three pulp writers, two private dicks, an exorcist, a psychic detective and his assistant track down a killer that severs limbs and stuffs them in boxes.

Thanks to its witty banter, breezy double-takes and light-hearted nostalgia, The Shadow Spirit admirably juggles merges elements of [ Rampo Edogawa]-esque horror and the screwball comedies [Howard Hawks ]( http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001328/). Mad scientists obsessed with containers, wires and concrete scurry about while our heroes humor the fairer sex only to be repeatedly outdone by their resourcefulness.

Those same disparate elements are what nearly capsizes the film in its confounding conclusion. Bogged by explanations that were more garrulous than intelligible, it ends an otherwise light pastiche with a strange and convoluted explanation.

The shared experience of watching The Shadow Spirit at the festival was, as is the standard with even the festival's least attended films (yesterday's screening of The Shadow Spirit drew in about 10-15 people), was a gratifying one. Between screenings of Spirit and [The Bodyguard], I commiserated with my fellow perplexed audience members as we gathered round and collectively scratched our heads over the film's ending.

The Bodyguard (2004, Thailand) likewise was a blast to watch with a receptive, though only slightly larger, audience. Hoots and hollers greeted even the most inane jokes as comedian [Petchtai Wongkamlao] sent up [John Woo](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000247/) with a zeal and humor that rightfully left [Michael Davis'](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0205157/) insipid Woo parody [Shoot 'Em Up](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465602/).

Even with a few irritating running jokes and an uninspired Prince & The Pauper subplot, The Bodyguard is a winning comedy because of its uniquely Thai sense of humor. Featuring cameos from martial arts hero [Tony Jaa] and cultural running gags that include everything from the historic battles at [Bang Rajan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang_Rachan) to .857 Cola, it's smart, silly and has a lot of great high energy.

NEXT UP: I'll take a look at [Sasori]( http://www.subwaycinema.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75&Itemid=80), a Hong Kong/Japan coproduction that reinvents the Japanese cult heroine [Female Convict Scorpion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_Convict_Scorpion:_Grudge_Song) and [Shadows in the Palace](http://www.subwaycinema.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=95&Itemid=80), one of the few Korean titles in this year's line-up about a period murder mystery set in the royal palace during the [Joseon dynasty](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseon_dynasty).