Reviews

Amazing!

I initially did not want to watch a movie that contained so much fighting and battle scenes. I prefer dramatic romance or comedic romance but I was drawn to it because I am a big fan of the Leading Male actor, Jo in Sung. I am so happy I did. What an amazing group of actors and story line. The heroics of several of the characters brought tears to my eyes and it is a movie that I will probably never forget. The second Male lead, Nam Joo-hyuk was also terrific. I just finished watching him in another movie, "Remembrance", which is also outstanding. All in all, a terrific job by all the actors, writers and entire movie crew.

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Absurd, twisted and deliciously dark family saga.

The gap between the poor and the rich is depicted with sharp humor, unexpected twists and a lot of darkness in Bong Joon-ho's Parasite. It's a lovely black comedy about the most twisted household since Dogtooth.

Despite unemployment and poverty, Ki-taek and his family manage to keep their spirits up. Mom, dad and two soon-to-be-grown children are crammed into a shabby basement in a run-down alley, constantly looking for odd jobs and free wifi. The family doesn't have much, but they have a nice cohesion, cordial jargon and ambitions for a better life.

When the son Ki-woo receives a tip about a job with a rich family, the possibilities for an extra income open up. With a forged university diploma, he gets a job as an English teacher for the Park family's teenage daughter. Also living in the luxurious villa is a businessman, his housewife, a quiet guy who mostly expresses himself through drawings, and the housekeeper who keeps everyone in order.

Ki-woo soon seizes the chance to arrange a job for his sister, Ki-jung, as the boy's "art therapist". He advises Mrs. Park of "a talented acquaintance," who is "probably very busy," but he will do his best to arrange a meeting. On false credentials and with made-up names, both siblings have soon tricked themselves into employment with the wealthy family.

How long can they keep up the lies, and how far can the charade go? This is just the beginning of a twisted scenario that Bong Joon-ho (Snowpiercer, Okja) has so masterfully directed. Here is the DNA of both the Sune family and the absurd Greek Dogtooth (2009) from Yorgos Lanthimos. While Parasite feels completely original, never predictable, and impossible to put into a single genre box.

Comedy and tragedy go hand in hand through Bong's twisty corridors, and you never know what awaits around the next corner. Parasite is a film that is best experienced without knowing anything in advance. It's an entertaining story that grabs me early on with its delightful humor, and then just tightens its grip more and more as the film goes on.

Not entirely unsurprisingly, the director also talks about the gaps between those who have money and those who have none. You can see the film as a commentary on a society where the poor take desperate measures to climb out of their misery, and where the rich turn a blind eye to what is happening in the outside world. Bong Joon-ho has made one of the best movies of 2019, and I'm loving every second of it!

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Lots of action but messy script.

When Squid Games Lee Jungjae takes the director's chair to give his version of what the machinations of the South Korean security police in the 80s might have looked like, there is no shortage of impressive action scenes. Lee Jungjae and Jung Woosung in the lead roles make up a charismatic duo, but on the whole, Hunt is unfortunately a fairly messy film experience...

The year is 1983, 4 years after the fall of dictator Park Chunghee. But the new president is also a dictator, which provokes protests from the South Korean immigrant population in the United States before his visit. “Drive him out,” they shout, and when the South Korean officials wonder why they can't just drive the protesters away, Park Pyongho (Lee Jungjae), the head of the foreign affairs unit of Korea's Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA), patiently replies that they can't in the US (and gets the somewhat sarcastic answer that the protesters have very strong opinions about the homeland after abandoning it…).
 
The introduction shows the difference between the free country in the West, and the censorship and corruption back home. Because soon Park Pyungho is back in South Korea, where protesters are beaten and tortured, where corruption is high, and where you don't know who you can trust. Especially not as it is revealed that there is a North Korean spy within the KCIA, someone who goes by the code name "Donglim".
 
Park Pyungho is tasked with identifying the spy, but the same task is also assigned to Kim Jungdo (Jung Woo-sung) of the KCIA's domestic unit, which gives rise to an intense power struggle. Park Pyungho is a veteran of the agency while Kim Jungdo is a newcomer from the Korean Army. Park Pyungho comes across as the more sympathetic and righteous of the two men, especially as he condemns Kim Jungdo's use of torture in his interrogation methods. It turns out that he has his own experiences with these as Kim Jungdo previously interrogated him, which left him with permanent nerve damage in his hand.
 
Lee Jungjae is a lovely anti-hero (for sure, there are male melodrama ingredients here, the reluctant legal fighter who suffers the heavy injustices of life, and selflessly risks his life, accompanied by melancholic music). A tough guy who installs a corrupt leader within the unit, and protects the young and beautiful but secretive college student Yoojung (Go Younjung). He seems to have taken to her since her father was killed, but their actual relationship remains unclear for most of the film. Here we get some sort of explanation at the end, but everything else leaves us with question marks.
 
Because the spectacularly well-choreographed action sequences aren't always narratively supported enough to justify them. Much of the violence is unprovoked, and serves no narrative function. You almost get a little sense of what a German crime drama would look like if it was accidentally mixed with splatter. A traditional film adaptation cut together here and there, with interspersed violence from ear files to mass shootings and car chases and everything in between. The plot becomes difficult to follow.
 
This makes the movie experience a bit frustrating after a while. Spectacular action sequences and close-ups of the charismatic Lee Jungjae are not enough to fully sustain interest throughout the film's 2 hours and 11 minutes. Crime dramas and spy films work best with methodically planted clues that, while surprising, move the story forward - A story you can follow and understand.
 
Hunt carries too many secrets, too much unprovoked violence, and too dark motives. The characters may be moving in a time of psychological terror, where everyone around them is a potential enemy, but the script that conveys this must still be the audience's friend.

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I love Yoongi so much and seem to forget sometimes how amazing he is and this documentary just reminded me of that fact again. Just like Hobi's "J-Hope in the Box", this documentary felt like an amazing insight into the process of creation and music making. Yoongi is always hard working and critical, but his music is always on point and perfect. His hard work and sleepless nights and frustration when something doesn't work out the way he wants really paid off; "D-Day" is an amazing album from start to finish! Seeing the cameos of his celeb friends like Steve Aoki and Halsey was really cool too because it's always nice to see when BTS and its members gets appreciated for who they are rather than just their brand. So, to see that they seem to have some genuine friendships in the western music market is great! I also loved seeing Jimin's two seconds of screen time, that guy is always there to support his members, i love him so much :(. My favorite part of the documentary had to be toward the end with Sakamoto Ryuichi. You could really see and feel that Yoongi was talking to an artist he deeply respected and to see him be appreciated and praised by said artist was very heartwarming; the song they worked on together ("Snooze") is one of my faves on the album anyway, so this bit made it even better. The live performances of some select songs made the documentary a little more dynamic (Hobi had clips of the festival to show, but Yoongi hadn't gone on tour yet), and I just generally love seeing this dude perform. Overall, great documentary, great artist, great music<3

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Is there any like it?

No there isn't! Such a sweet and heartfelt drama that has me in tears each time I rewatch. Out of all the romance I've read or watched, this is probably my favorite of all time. It shows how you don't need much to love someone, and how affection doesn't always need to be shown with hugs, kisses or just skin-ship in general, even so, you can still tell how much Taiyu cared for Zhenxin. Seeing feelings develop here and there through a comfortable relationship where two share the same braincell is just so cute and refreshing, it has its own uniqueness in a way, not needing many words or contact exchanged to absolutely melt our hearts and have us absolutely sweating from our eyes. (Crying)

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Junji Ito's manga Uzumaki was a masterpiece... the movie not so much.

I have and read multiple times the original Uzumaki manga by Junji ito. I love Junji Ito's works and Uzumaki is a good story. The movie was a hard watch.

I started watching it with high expectations, and that's probably where I went wrong. They left out alot of the story, but thankfully kept some of my favorites parts. I personally dont think Shuichi's actor fits the character but that's not to much of a problem.

By no means is this a perfect adaptation. I encourage you to watch it yourself and see what you think. I hope you find it much more enjoyable than I did.

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"A mother who has no right to share the glory of her children"

Love and Duty featured another Ruan Ling Yu tragic character who suffered for making a wrong choice. Old films are not forgiving of women who stray so you know going into this story to buckle up and be prepared for a boat load of pain and at two-and-a-half hours, Ruan's character was on a sinking ship of misery.

The film covered over two decades in the life of Yang Nei Fan (Ruan Ling Yu) starting when she was a school girl. She and a boy named Li Zu Yi (Jin Yan) begin to have feelings for each other, but before anything can get started her father declares she is to be married to a rich young man in a month. With no say in her own life, she is ignored when she begs her father to not force her to marry at such a young age. The marriage ends up being filled with awkward silences, though intimate enough they have two children. When her son falls into a pond and is rescued by Li the two are excitedly reunited. She invites him to meet her husband which he agrees to. While her husband, Huang Ta Jen, is out with his mistress the two begin to connect emotionally, all being witnessed by the troublesome servant Fox. They begin to spend more and more time together until Li gives her an ultimatum. Either she runs away with him or he kills himself. Because she doesn't have grounds for divorce, she would be abandoning her family illegally. When the time comes for her to leave, Li tells her she can't bring the children which she finds to be devastating.

The affair is covered in all the papers and though the lovers take on new identities it's not long before they are discovered and Li has trouble holding down a job. Meanwhile, Nei Fan becomes pregnant. Tragedy strikes leaving her in an even more precarious position. As time passes the younger generation fatefully becomes entwined leading Nei Fan to make a drastic decision.

Love and Duty was a film thought lost for many decades. A copy of it was discovered in Uruguay in the 1990's and was given to Taiwan and is currently stored at the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute. The copy I watched had one, sometimes two running clocks on the screen as well as the TFAI stamp on the screen. The film is being shared not only for entertainment purposes but also for research and teaching purposes. There was no music accompanying the version I watched.

The performances were for the most part strong, but the acting style felt dated. There was more overacting than I've seen with quality silent films from this era. Ruan Ling Yu was a special actress who sadly took her life at the age of 24. She was quite young here but still conveyed a wide range of emotions first as an effervescent student and then a tired older woman. She also played her grown daughter with Huang.

With some older silent films, the tragic life of a female lead serves as an indictment on society's treatment of women. This story came across as a cautionary tale of what happens when a woman does not do her duty. The audience is repeatedly told that Nei Fan is unforgivable and a sinner with no path to redemption. She is only worthy of heartache, poverty, shame, and pain. "A mother who has no right to share the glory of her children." The film felt longer than 2 ½ hours and could have been trimmed without losing anything important. It was difficult to watch this woman being ostracized throughout much of the film for making a bad life choice. Her husband who spent much of his time with his mistress suffered no ill effects.

Despite it's unforgiving tone, Love and Duty was an interesting historical piece of entertainment and a peek into the troubling moral code of the day regarding women. Ruan Ling Yu didn't star in many films during her short life and many of those have been lost to time. Though not as strong as other films of hers I have seen it was a gift to be able to watch this talented actress in this rescued film.


5/24/23

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Always looking on the bright side of life

UNPOPULAR OPINION

As far as I can understand, I am supposed to love this movie because it was made by deaf cast and crew. And, while I do admire them for the effort, I do not like the movie: it is as full of righteous feelings as it is boring and uninteresting. Though maybe, I should not say that since it is a true story.

The movie is apparently based on the director's life. It tells the story about two girls in love. When the first one comes out to her parents, she is rejected so her girlfriend takes he to LGBTQetc. deaf support group where they all take turns in sharing their life stories in the second half of the movie. They all seem to be in a world devoid of hearing people.

The whole concept of this movie is rather original since is almost entirely silent: only one character speaks while all the others sign. But everything else did not rise up to the occasion. the cinematography is bland and pale and sad. The acting is bad though it is obvious everyone tried their best but it is still not good enough. The music is awful: a sort of hypnotic, sad, repetitive, monotonal piano piece: there were like 5 notes played repeatedly, non stop. I actually fell asleep a couple of times and had to rewind it in order not to miss out on the plot.

You have to admire though, the bravery of these people who do not let their handicap be impediment to their happiness. Ultimately it is a very optimistic movie.

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Not really what I expected

It was supposedly a cute movie about love and marriage but I can't stand the message.

So the male lead's almost-an-affair is nothing to be revealed? And it's considered as a normal behavior? I thought it would cause a scene between the main couple.

This man is such a jerk to me, for being over-jealous towards for no clear reason, just him being so childish and possessive, and for taking her as a bad inspiration to write poems, for ignoring her, and worst, for letting his jerks aka so-called friends embarass her and not protecting her.

I really don't think the ending is a happy ending for the female lead. She deserves so much better.

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Really pull you in...

I'm going to be brief. Most of "time travel" related dramas are mess but this was pretty ok. Ok. Not perfect. It had few holes and the end was meh(=the last 2 minutes)

The acting was brilliant. I was sometimes scared how good it was. It felt too real watching jong-seo, thumbs up for both FL<3

Start was slower but it was bearable and i was nervously bitting my nails through the last 50 minutes,not gonna lie. The thrill was real. Definitely worth watch for people who like thrillers and psychology etc. but sometimes it's better to switch your brain off and just watch.

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For people who watched the prequel

So basically it tells us James' story, a boy that came from a wealthy family and were pressured by his mom to study harder and harder, as he pretend to be exactly what she wanted he was, in reality, sinking and drugs and starting to engage in prostitution.
In this one, we can see how James turns out, probably in a couple of years of difference. As someone who watched Bittersweet Chocolate, I knew not to expect a clear movie.
The actors are not bad, not bad at all. BTW cheers to the little boy in chains he made an amazing job performing torture and fear is not easy.
The only thing I didn't like tho was how explicit was the sex scenes, that weird-looking childish ladyboy, whose only scream time was to be fingered, really shocked me off. But clearly, the whole intention of this movie is to be shocking.
So no, I don't think this movie is that bad for people used to cult cinema but do have A LOT of flaws.

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A picture is worth a thousand words, or is it?

If you are not old enough to remember rolls of film, one of the commonly used rolls had 36 shots on it. This film was told in 36 segments based largely on camera shots or the memories from those shots as if labeling a picture or a memory. The film leisurely and gently explored the relevancy between photos and memories and the malleability and impermanence of both.

Sai is a film location scout and Oom is the art director. They meet scouting out an abandoned love hotel from the Vietnam War era that Sai has memories of being in her old neighborhood. Sai uses a digital camera, taking many pictures that she will later store and keep. Oom still uses a film camera and often takes pictures of people when they aren't looking even though he refuses to have his picture taken. Though he says he will send them a copy, he rarely does. The two spend a lot of time discovering the nooks and crannies of the possible set and also negotiate with the landlady over room prices for the cast and crew. Oom takes a picture of Gita, the landlady's 12-year-old daughter that later may prove important. Afterwards, Sai and Oom enjoy an evening breeze from the roof and take their picture with her camera in front of the beautiful sky. Soon the "end credits" appear after the 11th shot.

The film jumps into the future 2 years. Sai and Oom have gone their separate ways. When the director she is currently working for discovers the building he built his new script around has been leveled, Sai mentions the other building. She attempts to recover the photos but even after a friend works to restore them, only a few survived and not the one of her and Oom on the rooftop. She returns to the building and talks to the landlady. It turns out Gita died and the landlady would love to have the picture Oom took of her. During the process of trying to find Oom and restore the pictures, she realizes her feelings for him were stronger than she had known. As the film closes in on the 36th segment, Oom looks at the picture of them on the roof faraway on his computer (unknown to her he had copied her images from the shoot long ago), Sai smiles as she remembers the special moment they shared.

36 was shot in an artful way that could also distance the viewer from the characters. Oom is never seen face on, and often shots of other characters were in profile or from behind or even half hidden by architecture. I liked the labeled 36 bits of the story, like looking at a picture album where the photo had been annotated and saved. The OST was also lovely, I especially enjoyed the piano music.

Just as film cameras have mostly transitioned over to digital cameras so are most movies now shot with digital film. The danger of digital film was also addressed in that backups are necessary, because once a disk or other device has been damaged the pictures are likely lost for good. Her friend Kai mentioned how many people brought hard drives to be fixed saying they needed them immediately, but instead never returned for them. A drawerful of memories lay untouched. For one reluctant woman who came to pick hers up, he offered to erase those memories.

Which is more important? To see a bird or to take a picture of it? To experience the person you are with, or only the relative engagement of photos? The argument is made for both the value of the human experience and memory as well as the memories that are brought back by glancing at a photo. For the director whose childhood building was destroyed a picture is all that is left of it and his memories. Ironically, at the end of the movie, Oom who always valued the human experience more is found looking at Sai's picture and reminiscing. Conversely, Sai goes back to the place they shared and the memory floods her mind as she gazes fondly to where they had been together. Memory is a fragile, fading construct of the mind, subject to change. While memories are important, photos help to shore up the time and events. Buildings crumble, people die, digital photos can be erased, photos fade and relationships shatter, 36 touched on the concept of impermanence as well. There comes a time when no one remembers the people or places in the pictures.

While I enjoyed this film, it also failed to emotionally capture me with the relationships involved. The ending was meaningful to the arguments of photo or memory, but it left a hole in the picture I had hoped to find. I was hoping for a 37th epilogue image or a new roll of film to begin. This is a very slow, artful movie, more philosophical than touching. Yet for its shortcomings I did find it engaging. If this genre is of interest to you, it would be well worth trying.

5/23/23

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