To make up for it, I've posted a handful of photographs taken at the 28th Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival. Anyone can browse my photographs and leave comments. I plan to post more photographs soon. I still have tons of memory cards to look through. 

To see my images click here. 

Or copy and paste this URL:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31610811@N02/

By the way, if you didn't have a chance to read my Q&As with the filmmakers, don't worry. 

Chris Hall of LVHIFF made it easy for you. Click here. 

Or copy and paste this URL:

http://www.hiff.org/filmmakers/interviews-2008.php

I'd like to send a huge mahalo to everyone who made the 28th Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival such a success. I especially want to thank everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to chat with Arthouse Monster and LVHIFF News. I can't thank you enough! Until we meet again!

Judging by the rousing applause and cheers during the Hawaii premiere of THE MACHINE GIRL at the HIFF Spring Showcase 2008, there is no question that fans of Japanese splatter and body horror films will worship the blood-spurting violence, the inconceivable depravity and the sexual weirdness of TOKYO GORE POLICE.

What else would you expect from the creative team behind TGP? Director Yoshihiro Nishimura was the special effects master behind the berserk splatterfest that is THE MACHINE GIRL. He has also worked with Sion Sono on several horror and ero guro (erotic grotesque nonsense) hits including SUICIDE CLUB, STRANGE CIRCUS and EXTE: HAIR EXTENSIONS. 

Now factor in the writer of TGP, Kengo Kaji, who co-wrote the mind-bending horror film UZUMAKI. And Tak Sakaguchi, the star of VERSUS and DEATH TRANCE, who handled the film’s fight choreography.

The lead character of TGP is played by Eihi Shiina, who is internationally known for her role as the twisted Asami Yamazaki in Takashi Miike’s AUDITION. Shiina plays Ruka, a beautiful and beguiling police officer bent on exterminating a host of freaky mutants genetically engineered by a mad scientist known only as “The Key Man.” The sexy but extremely deadly Ruka is determined to avenge the death of a family member. And she’ll have to cut a bloody swath through a freaky crew of monsters and misfits!

Factor in a few gimp masks, sera-fuku (sailor suit uniforms), and hot mutant chicks with tentacle eyes (including one with a certain male appendage for a nose) and things are bound to get pretty weird. We don’t want to ruin the fun for you. Suffice it to say, the film’s cartoonish violence and grotesqueries could only come from the darkest corners of Yoshihiro Nishimura’s psyche. HIFF is proud to present TOKYO GORE POLICE, one of the goriest, craziest and whacked-out films to ever come out of Japan!

Jee-woon Kim’s THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD is what happens when the Wild West collides with Korean wave cinema! It has thrilled audiences since its premiere at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. This eccentric film is set in the 1930s, a time when the Korean Peninsula was under Japanese colonial rule. During that time, many Koreans fled to the wilderness of Manchuria to seek refuge. Some became gunslinging outlaws and train robbers. Others followed the path of justice. This film follows the adventures of three such men — The Good, The Bad and The Weird!

The Weird, played by leading South Korean actor Song Kang-Ho (THE HOST, LVHIFF 2006), has just robbed a Japanese train and made off with a priceless treasure map. However, The Bad, a vicious gang leader (played by South Korean superstar Lee Byung-hun whose film BITTERSWEET LIFE was nominated for the First Hawaiian Bank Golden Maile Award at LVHIFF 2005), also wants the map and he’ll kill anyone to get a hold of it. Luckily, THE GOOD (Jung Woo-sung), is a bounty hunter who also happens to be on the train, and his mission is to capture THE BAD. What should be a simple take down is complicated when the Japanese army, Korean independence fighters and Chinese bandits get involved in the fight over the treasure map. Who will prevail? The Good, The Bad or The Ugly?

The Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival is pleased to present the Hawaii premiere of DANCE OF THE DRAGON. Produced and filmed entirely inSingapore, this is a cross-cultural tale of love, obsession, bravery and hope. Tae (Korean heartthrob Jang Hyuk) has always fantasized about becoming a famous ballroom dancer. Since he could not attend a dance school, he taught himself by watching dance videos. He has trained himself well, but eventually he realizes there’s only one way to take his dancing to the next level — he has to leave Korea.

His lifelong dream takes him to Singapore where begins taking lessons from Emi Lim (Fann Wong, one of Singapore’s hottest and most bankable stars), a former ballroom dancing champion who can no longer compete due to a career-ending injury. Emi, however, is highly renowned for her ability to take dancers to great heights. Before long, Tae falls deeplyin love with Emi. The circumstances just aren’t right for romance. Emi is focused on training all her students for the upcoming national ballroom dancing championships. What’s more, Emi’s boyfriend Cheng (Hawaii’s very own Jason Scott Lee) is the crazy-eyed jealous type, and a former martial arts champion. 

As Tae and Emi become closer, Cheng becomes more possessive and will stop at nothing to quash their budding romance ...

Café Isobe is a Japanese comedy about Yujiro, a dim-witted tradesman, who, after inheriting a small fortune, quits his job and imprudently decides to open his very own cafe. His teenage daughter Sakiko, who has been caring for the poor schlub since her mother left the picture, is mortified by the idea of her well-meaning but clueless father trying to set up a trendy café.

While Sakiko protests in vain, Yujiro gleefully renovates an old shop space, splurges on garish décor, installs a karaoke machine and forces his waitresses — including his own daughter — to wear ridiculously tarty uniforms. In the days following the café’s dismal grand opening, Yujiro can’t seem to understand why his café business isn’t booming. His only customers are senior citizens, perverts and other weirdos.

   

Things turn around the day he hires and instantly falls in love with an alluring but air headed part-time worker named Motoko. Could a new romance be the key to Café Isobe’s success? Perhaps, but this strange state of affairs worries Sakiko, who has no choice but to keep dear dad out of trouble!