Reviews

Merry Christmas

Unattainability. No other word so clearly defines Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. Unattainable pursuits for perfection, connection and forgiveness. An affecting and hauntingly beautiful experience about finding common ground even in the most hellish of circumstances, an undercurrent of revolutionary discourse in masculinity subversion bubbles furiously throughout the film deepening its already poignant lamentations about war's humanity-stripping effect and the self-imposed prisons that are obsession, honour and shame. Cultural divide and human nature encapsulate Nagisa Ōshima's film and one that he directs with the utmost care and attention, every shot is purposeful and framed with an immaculate beauty. It's relentlessly grim, constantly off-balance, periodically moving and continually striking thanks to Tōichirō Narushima's enchanting photography. There's a certain mystical quality to the performances of Bowie and Sakamoto both as arresting as each other, most likely a causality of their star power as musicians. However, it's the all-too-human reflections of Kitano and Conti that make this a true tearjerker with the duo sharing the film's final and most powerful moment, sometimes all it takes is a "Merry Christmas" to get the tears flowing. The real kicker for many is the film's utterly intoxicating musical score by Sakamoto; it stays with you long after viewing, conjuring up an atmosphere of regret, lost love and repressed heartbreak that we see in Yonoi's unrequited love for Celliers bloom. One of the most powerful pleas for tolerance ever committed to celluloid, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence is one of the most captivating and mournful looks at the atrocities man commits to himself, so much is said without words, sometimes just emotions are enough. One that acquires depth and emotional scope the more you dwell on it, I should know, I've been thinking about this film since I first watched it two years ago and it's every bit a masterpiece now as it was back then.

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Don't Shy Away From Being Yourself ❤️

Life becomes a little easy - when you find people who accept and love you for who you truly are. This message is exceptionally narrated in this movie through the main leads who are deemed "different" by society but manage to hold on to each other and fight through prejudices/biases of society, friends, family and their own self to eventually loving and accepting themselves for who they truly are.

From the moment we're born, society judges us for our looks, height, skin color, skills, sexual orientation, behavior, and more. Biases and prejudices are ingrained in people’s minds upon first meeting us, and while some may change with understanding, many remain. Despite progress, there’s still a long way to go to eliminate these judgments in today's world. "Love in the Big City (2024)" is a commendable step in the right direction, and I applaud the cast, crew, and original novel creators for this remarkable film.

The movie powerfully portrays the challenges of "being different" through a heartfelt narrative that evokes a range of emotions—smiles, tears, and everything in between. The female lead is someone I've admired for a long time, but this was my first time seeing Steven Noh in action. Known from "Pachinko," his portrayal, even within a limited emotional range as his character demanded, showcased his immense talent. The main leads bond together on the common ground of being labelled outcasts and the movie progresses from their 20s to early 30s showing us how they fight the societal prejudices, missed chances at love, inner fear of showing their true self, facing their family, overcoming failed relationships to ultimately accepting their own true self, and being proud of it.

The line "How can being yourself be a weakness?" resonates as the film’s strongest message. Personally, as someone who has faced various judgments from young age from strangers/close relations alike movies like this offer a solace of sorts - a feel-good factor that reinforces the importance of learning to love your true self, before seeking it elsewhere.

The film does not come across as preachy - but rather resonates with me (and am sure others) because it does not shy away from showing the good/bad and ugly side of journey towards self-acceptance. Profound, Powerful, Engaging - from start to finish, would highly recommend it as a must watch ❤️

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As a stand-alone, pretty good. As a continuation, empty.

If this movie stood on its own as a second-chance romance tale, I might've rated it higher. While the main characters were consistent to the drama prequel versions of themselves, they were perhaps too consistent. It felt as if they didn't really learn and grow from those events. Xavier especially easily fell back into his old cycle of giving up his own happiness for other's expectations. Which, yes, 1000% happens. But was was the point in the webseries then?

It was also too tropey for my liking. Not necessarily because of how many there were or even how they came in quick succession of each other... But because they didn't really DO anything. As one reviewer wrote, it was "like empty calories."

The movie ultimately felt like a waste of time. We didn't learn or see anything new from these characters. Nor did we even get any fluff of them being a couple. We cycled back into the same angst as the webseries, and ended in much the same place as the webseries too actually.

I will say though, JC (Milo)'s performance was quite spectacular. When he broke down in front of Xavier and asked for him to stop messing with his head... it was so real. I felt that.

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Visually pleasing and great film

Watched it because of the FL and what a great film it was.
FL, is great as a person who dreams about killing peoples, and can not understand why and who they are that she is killing in her dreams. She is suffering from self harm and it’s been getting worse. She lives with her aunt who wants to desperately help her. Aunt and her Sharman friend trying to help her to overcome her nightmares. A mystical film, that was so good I had to watch it straight again, in case I have missed anything from the storyline. The acting of the FL and the ML were very convincing. Visually the film was pleasing with at time dreamlike state. The OST was very nice as I think the ML and the FL sang it, but I might be wrong. Would recommend and would watch again .

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I didn't "enjoy" this movie

You know how there are things in our life that we don't necessarily want to do, but you do because they are important? Watching this movie was like that for me. I didn't enjoy it per se, but I was totally able to see the importance of watching it. It was very difficult to watch, seeing corruption and the toll it took on the students, demonstrators, and the townspeople of Gwangju.

I was especially impressed by the transition of the taxi driver from the beginning to the end of the movie. At the beginning he's just pitiful and can't catch a break. He then goes through a cowardice phase (but I couldn't fault him, with a young daughter at home), then ultimately by seeing this tragedy with his own eyes, decides to do the right things. Song Kang Ho was wonderful.

I was concerned about the part of the German reporter in this movie. Of the K-dramas that I've seen, whenever they have non-Koreans, the acting is really bad. The actor was great.

Was there music? I have no idea. As far as re-watch value, it was hard enough the first time! Would I recommend it? Absolutely, with the caveat that it isn't an easy watch.

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A journey to find yourself

Watched Mr. Zhang Zhehan's first documentary as director and actor "August", which is a warm and healing documentary about Zhang Zhehan riding thousands of miles to Tibet. The film has a rich plot and records the stories of ordinary people, which makes people feel warm and touching. The shots are smooth and natural, and the narration is warm and deep, which makes people feel the waves and growth of the director's heart while enjoying the beautiful scenery. In the film, director Zhang Zhehan used his own lens to capture the magnificent scenery from Shangri-La to Lhasa, and also recorded the moment of warm communication with strangers. These pictures not only show the natural beauty of Tibet, but also express the director's yearning and pursuit of truth, kindness and a better life. In the process of watching the film, people feel as if they are in it and have experienced a spiritual baptism with the director. With his talent and experience, Zhang Zhehan presents us with a warm and healing work, which makes people think in the moving, grow in the thinking, get the soul washing, and find themselves.

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Raw cinema

First off, I need to confess that I really like period drama. I'm a real nut when it comes to period drama so I'll watch even the most boring period drama/movie to the very end (I think I've only ever dropped one - some forgettable pained movie with lots of over-acting that was made in 1983).

This wasn't the most boring period drama I've seen but it was tedious - but that was (in my opinion) entirely the point of the movie. It was meant to depict the rawness of life during that time and especially the war, without any of the gloss that you've normally come to see in the recent movies/dramas that are filled with idol actors meant to pretty up the show, or breath-taking cinematic scenes comprising stirring music, beautiful costumes and makeup, glorious scenery, or perfectly choreographed fight scenes. Rather, it paints a realistic (notice I didn't say accurate because this is not based on historical events, just based OFF historical events) depiction of life back then. Lots of blood and gore, plain underwhelming costumes and even brutality and barbarity.

I'm in it for Kang Dong Won and Cha Seung Won and they didn't disappoint. Not something I'd re-watch in a hurry was it was just ab emotionally exhausting albeit fulfilling (and somewhat long) ride.

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Interesting themes

This could have been a great movie. the premise is great - a second chance to interact with your deceased loved ones in an AI generated world. However, because it's in an anthology format, just as each character is developing, it's disrupted to move on to another story as it chops and changes between stories.

In comparison, Yonder had the same premise but executed it much better as they focused on deeply exploring the experience for one family, and surrounding context. Even with Yonder, I felt more could have been done but perhaps that showed a lot of understanding (or more accurately, dreaming) of the underlying tech and how it affects society.

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behind every action are story. try to analyze before conclusion

A great movie, it was a bit hard to watch.
The movie reflects the full reality of today's world... there are very few adequate people with common sense. Those who have not yet forgotten how to think and just help.
There is always a story and a motive behind every crime. It is very difficult to restrain yourself from mistakenly accusing the wrong person. Not every criminal is a criminal just as not every victim is a victim in the full sense of the word. No matter how morality or the law sometimes try to deny it. There is always a beginning of something that entails certain consequences. Unfortunately, there are more stupid people, and this movie completely conveyed what is happening in today's world, what was a couple of years ago.
Many people want justice for themselves but do not want to be fair to others who are the "true victim". Only by putting themselves in their shoes do they begin to understand what it is like to feel the same thing that another person once experienced who asked you for help and you didn’t even take him seriously. I want to hope that the meaning of this film will reach those who often ignored the rights of other people.

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As a Remake, it was mid at best

As someone who have watched the original trilogy when I was a kid, there was a lot of expectation and mystery-loss for me. This remake though hardly offer more substantial plot or fundamentally tangible compared to the original.

For someone who haven't watched the original might find this movie effective for them as it covered mostly all the basics of the original and delivered a satisfying ending. But in the end, it did not exceed or even reach the standard of the 1997 film.

For one, it was very dragging. 20 minutes in and there's hardly anything tangible happening. For a setting of mostly similar walls of cubes, they took their time showcasing dead air and blank space. They could fit a lot of things in it and it should be a dead give away that themovie offers less than the original one, which it proved. There's less rooms, they copied most of the concept and even make it less complex than the original one.

The casting at first look made me question if they were casted well or they just get in through a connection. But apparently it was a writing issue. They were only given little and they made most of it which in the end made sense, but still lacking when you currently watch it.

The writing was lacking. It was self serving at most and I think there's more potential if they picked better characters, and made them well. The characters actions feels off sometimes and the lines were a little bit lacking.

Cinematography wise, it was good in the eye. The effects were decent, though they're pretty basic too. There were some weird shots and camera sequences, sometimes the change of color hurts the eye---I'm still waiting for its relevance though---but mostly with the limited space, they were able to give good cinematography

The sound directory was nothing phenomenal and sometimes they give way more spoilers to the story. There were also times where it overpowered the scene but it only happened a couple of times.

Plotwise, it was mid and bearable. It satisfied me but mostly because I was watching it in 2x speed.

It could have been better but at least it was not terrible.

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Not everything is about ourselves

Dramas which have the looping theme always caught my attention. When I started watching this movie and realized it was a festive one, I regretted it so badly for missing the perfect opportunity of watching it on new year's eve haha but still, I kept going. I didn't expect that much from the movie when I read the synopsis, but then everything changed.

Toy, our ML, is so so so annoying at first, but that idea literally gets to our mind only on the first 3 minutes, I'd say. When he realizes that he's really stuck on this looping thing and that a new year is never coming for him (and everyone else obviously), he just wants to get out of it so badly (it's funny that he tries everything that we can't even think about) and, one day trying to escape from this scenario, he happens to meet our FL, Vee, who's also stuck on this day.

(I may need to add something before talking specifically about Vee. June's acting was amazing here and she didn't look like herself, I mean, I watched OMG (Oh My Girl!) last year and she's completely different. I really did loved it)

Vee is a strong FL and since the first scene, we can see that she's a strong-minded person, she knows everything she must do accordingly to the plans and patterns she notices throughout the story, but she also has a sensitive side and part of her wants to be loved and not alone on this world.

Both leads have their own reasons and things they wanna fix on this day so they can pass through it (that's what lead them into the perfect things they notice), but the most important thing is related to their family members. I loved the contrast between their personalities - they're literally opposites, but also have similar feelings when it's about family matters -, Toy is so outgoing , talkative, shameless and do whatever he thinks it's right to him while Vee thinks about how her actions will affect other people around her.

As I was watching, I felt the same emotions they had and I really got happy that they both got mature till the end of the movie. As they got mature and could deal with the problems which revolved around them and kept them from going to another day, it's noticeable what the movie's message the director wanted to show us: yup, we need to be selfish sometimes, but we also need to be responsible and understand that our actions will lead to some consequences. We must have the balance that both leads had on their journey and I think that's amazing.

I highly recommend it if you want a romantic comedy that surely will bring you joy and reflect about some personal matters, but you'll also laugh and cry. It's a perfect movie for every emotion. I hope that in the end though, you can remember: not everything is about ourselves in this world.

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