“We’ve been called a niche festival,” Asian Film Festival of Dallas co-founder Steve Carlton said before Sunday night’s centerpiece film Ip Man 2. “And, you know, it’s true. But we’re proud of that.” Whether they’re niche or not, AFFD has lasted for an impressive nine years in the festival business, and the first three days of this year’s program proved that they know what they are doing, and they do it well. Here’s a recap:

Friday

Best day of the festival so far. The festival’s opening night film was the romantic comedy Au Revoir Taipei, which was sold out and well-loved, but the first screening earlier that day was a Hong Kong drama called Sparrow. Directed by Johnnie To, this is a small, beautifully filmed tale about a group of pickpockets, each bewitched by the same woman. It was by turns hilarious, weird, and touching. Its 10-minute umbrella scene was one of the most original and thrilling sequences I’ve seen in a while. Unfortunately, it won’t be shown again during the festival.

It is, understandably, difficult to fill the seats for a mid-afternoon weekday screening of a Malaysian family drama, but Friday’s Talentime was one of the highlights of the festival so far. It has apparently been called Malaysia’s High School Musical, but that’s preposterous. The store does follow a group of high school students as they try to put on a talent show, but that is only deep background for the conflicts at the heart of the story. It is an exquisitely acted drama with a wide cast of characters who demonstrate the extreme diversity within Malaysian culture. While it was sloppily edited, and while some scenes and characters might easily have been cut, the acting by the teens in this film displays emotional honesty. There were audible sobs from around the theater by the time it was over. This one repeats Tuesday at 7:20 pm at the Magnolia. Catch it.

Friday’s biggest audience was for the midnight showing of Robogeisha, which is the funniest movie I have seen all year. AFFD held a costume contest before the show. A man in a box with the word “Awesome-o” written on it won first prize, and pumped up the already jazzed crowd. The instant cult film delivers on every level — humor, action, camp. It’s even a little bit heartwarming. Don’t go looking to be moved, however. Go for the robot-geishas, the obscenely hilarious deaths, the outrageous dialogue, the buildings that literally bleed, and the robot doing “the robot.” This one repeats Wednesday at 10 pm. See it, if you know what’s good for you.

Saturday

Saturday’s matinee offerings were weaker. The Thai documentary Agrarian Utopia was the highlight. A gorgeous piece of cinematography, it followed two farmers struggling to survive in Thailand’s new capitalistic society. It was slow, like a Terrence Malick opening that never ended, but shots of water buffalo in a storm and a beehive high on a temple wall are memorable pieces of photography.

Utopia was followed by A Tale of Ululu’s Wonderful Forest, an insufferable Japanese family movie about a wolf-dog. Then Kung Fu Dunk, which included some impressive jumps, but was not as coherent or funny as its obvious inspiration, Shaolin Soccer, and diverged randomly into sentimentality at the end. Also, it’s never good when a character says, “Oh yeah, I forgot I knew kung fu.” At night, Breathless, Symbol, and Phobia 2 were all well liked, although I had to miss them. The art film Symbol (which includes some of the most intriguing imagery I’ve seen in the trailers) repeats on Thursday at 10 pm, and horror film Phobia 2 plays tonight at 9:45 at the Angelika.

Sunday

Although Toad’s Oil was an audience favorite on Sunday afternoon, the highlights of the day were the back-to-back martial arts films Ip Man 2 and Clash. Check out Peter’s review of Ip Man 2, but let me say that watching the film with a sold-out house was thrilling. The Vietnamese Clash was best during its brutal, gritty action scenes, and worst when it fell into predictable melodrama.

Nevertheless, its action scenes rivaled Ip Man’s for clarity and inventiveness, all the more impressive because of its low budget. After the restraint and formula of the Hong Kong blockbuster before it, it was refreshing to see a movie with morally ambiguous protagonists.

It looks like a great line-up today, with the Hong Kong thriller Accident and South Korean drama At the End of Daybreak, but here are two to catch today:

Mao’s Last Dancer – Bruce Beresford, director of Driving Miss Daisy, Tender Mercies, and Breaker Morant, hasn’t made very many good films since the 80s, but early reviews are saying that Mao’s Last Dancer is a return to form. Based on real-life Chinese dancer Li Cunxin, the film is enough of a Hollywood drama to mean it will probably be released in Dallas again in the future, but why not catch it now? (Magnolia, 6:30 pm).

Kamui – Since the beginning of the festival, AFFD volunteers have been pushing the Japanese action-fantasy Kamui. Apparently, the film is just awesome: a fugitive ninja battles pirates, sharks, and other ninjas. “Kamui is for fans of swords and grievous personal hells,” the program states, pretty much summing up every Asian action movie I’ve seen at the festival so far. (Magnolia, 9:30 pm).

(Main image: Aya Kiguchi in Robogeisha)