There's something amusing about the fact that "Ditto" was released the same year as Toby Emmerich and Gregory Hoblit's "Frequency" (2000) and shares a similar premise about a magic ham radio.
But where "Frequency's" tale of a man living in 1969 connecting with his adult son in the future in a joint effort to solve cold case murders made for an adventure worth investing in (and used its gimmick to the fullest extent), "Ditto" chooses instead to wallow in melodrama of lost romances and broken hearts. It takes what could be a fairly interesting premise about a relationship disconnected by time, and squanders it entirely.
Time travel romances are a dime-a-dozen in K-Dramas. You'll find them more often than you will here in the states, yet there are more misses than hits. Overall, the ham radio barely figures into the story in any meaningful way. What could've been a cool gimmick like the mailbox in "Ill Mare" (or its counterpart, "The Lake House") is wasted.
Just watch "Frequency" instead of this.
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Somehow, Benny Chan's "Connected", a remake of 2004's "Cellular", manages to make the David R. Ellis directed film look like a grounded and restrained action thriller. It certainly gave me a new appreciation of Chris Morgan's screenwriting (particularly his pacing and sense of humor).
As a remake it had every opportunity to really nail a more modern (for 2008) interpretation of an early 2000s film. Instead it goes with a more outlandish interpretation of the villains (that errs on the edge of trying to emulate the aesthetics of "The Matrix"), and even whacker car action. The story just didn't seem to get what made the corrupt cops remotely threatening the 2004 film (it was their mundanity).
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This review may contain spoilers
When a Movie Works, it Works
[Written/Watched 28 Aug, 2019 for Letterboxd. Expanded 1/21/2021]There was a part of me that was apprehensive about "On Your Wedding Day". Romances in K-Dramas, for the most part, tend to sour on me. I end up not liking how the dynamic is set up between the romantic pair. To some degree the story becomes about why the male protagonist deserves the heroine (and sometimes, why he's the only chance she has left at love), so I expected this film to follow that pattern to a fault.
But the film surprised me. "On Your Wedding Day" is bold enough to reject the idea that Hwang Woo-yeon (Kim Young-kwang) is somehow entitled to Hwan Seung-hee (Park Bo-young) because he pursues her aggressively, and doesn't give up until she decides to date him.
They start a romantic relationship on a high, fluffy and montage-y. He commits to doing things in her name he would've otherwise never done without her as a motivator. They come out of the end of the relationship that crumbles in a moment of despair, friends after time apart. They respect each other's choices, still trust each other enough to confide in each other.
They're not fated to be together because he saved her from a building sign that almost her killed her. There's no big scene where Woo-yeon crashes the wedding and asks Hwan Seung-hee not to marry her intended because he's the better choice.
The movie ends on a bittersweet note (as far as he is concerned), but Hwan Seung-hee steps forward toward the future she worked for and the meaning behind the film's name becomes extremely poignant. I loved the heck out of this film.
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A Frustrating Experience
[Watched/Reviewed on Letterboxd 5/16/2021]So far, outside of "Chungking Express", Wong Kar-wai's filmography has been fairly aggravating to watch. Clearly, the guy's modus operandi is the interior lives of unhappy people, but with the way people talked about his films, I was hoping for something with a little more substance than folks who clearly need to learn how to communicate with each other.
It's just been Tony Leung portraying sorry men in even sorrier relationships featuring actors I've only come to like (Leslie Cheung) and already love (Zhang Ziyi, Maggie Chung, Gong Li, and Faye Wong). It's a kind of director/actor dynamic that's proven to be less than stellar, and certainly not entertaining.
Of all his films, I was really expecting to like "In The Mood For Love", if only for my girl Maggie Cheung. The establishing period of the film is really good, I like the way the film sets the characters up as neighbors. It's kind've amusing that we're never allowed to see the faces of their beau's, only hear them speaking (clearly, someone watched "Charlie Brown").
But as the film goes on, it just feels aimless as it languishes in the growing loneliness of the characters. I struggled to remain awake just to see the two interact, but it got to a point that I didn't care anymore. I rolled over and went to sleep wishing they'd divorce their spouses so they can be "[Un]happy Together".
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