FC Sukhavati (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): The story of FC Anyang Supporters RED

Posted on May 26, 2026 by kaist455

South Korean independent documentary film “FC Sukhavati” presents a dramatic real-life story about the hardcore supporters of a minor football club. Although their football club has not always been satisfying during last two decades, they have diligently and sincerely supported their football club as much as possible because they actually earned their football club via lots of efforts and struggles, and the documentary is often touching as closely observing their deeply personal passion and enthusiasm.

At the beginning, the documentary shows and tells how Anyang, one of those numerous satellite cities surrounding Seoul, happened to have its own professional football club in 1996. As the South Korean society continued its rapid social/economic development during the 1980s, the South Korean government, which was under the dictatorship of President Chun Doo-hwan at that time, blatantly promoted sports industry as a way to distract its citizens from more demand for democratization, and this led to a considerable growth and advance in South Korean sports industry during the next decade.

At first, not many people were enthusiastic when Anyang LG Cheetahs moved from Seoul, but, what do you know, it gradually drew more fans and supporters during next few years. Around the early 2000s when the South Korean society was swept by the excitement surrounding the 2002 FIFA World Cup to be held in both Japan and South Korea, Anyang LG Cheetahs became one of the most prominent professional football clubs in the South Korean football league, and its supporter group were also known a lot for how passionately they rooted for their team.

Directors Baru Na and Shin Ho-bin interview several key members of the supporter group, and each of them has each own interesting story to tell. Although the time when they were young and wild is gone now, they are all proud of being a part of something far bigger than themselves, and they all eagerly talk about how much they cheered for their team in one way or another. At some point, they and others began to use a special type of gunpowder to generate red flare for cheering for their team more, and this eventually became a sort of trademark for their group.

However, their good time did not go that long. Not long after the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Anyang LG Cheetahs suddenly moved back to Seoul and then became FC Seoul. Needless to say, many members of its supporters were quite exasperated and devastated to say the least, but they were reminded again and again that there was nothing they could do for stopping this irreversible change.

During next several years, some of the hardcore supporters desperately tried to keep their group intact at least, but, of course, their group slowly crumbled as many of the members quit and then supported some other local professional football club instead. Every member in the documentary bitterly remembers this dark period of theirs, and some of them also look back on when they boldly committed some radical acts of demonstration in the middle of big football games.  

Eventually, the supporters stuck together under one particular cause around the early 2010s. They demanded to the city government that their city should have its own professional football club again, and the mayor was actually willing to support the cause as much as he could, but, not so surprisingly, he and the supporters soon faced a number of political obstacles. For example, there were a considerable number of city council members against having a professional football club again, and this certainly frustrated the supporters more than once.

Fortunately, thanks to the diligent efforts from them as well as the mayor, the supporters finally came to have a new professional football club. Now the name of their group was changed to FC Anyang Supporters RED, and they usually wear purple uniforms, but they still use that red flare as before because, well, there was not any better alternative for that.

During its second half, the documentary emphasizes the remarkably strong bond between FC Anyang and its supporter group. Knowing well how hard they tried and fought for getting their own professional football club, the members of FC Anyang Supporters RED never say any bad word to those FC Anyang players while always showing full support and respect, though they can be quite aggressive just like any other football support group out there. When their team happened to have a big game with FC Seoul on one day, they gave FC Seoul a lot of hell with one huge group act, and that was certainly something to be remembered by everyone at the spot.   

The mood later becomes a little dramatically tense as the documentary focuses on one particularly important game for FC Anyang and its supporters, but it still takes time for observing the achingly human moments observed from its main subject. Yes, these supporters in the documentary may look silly and ridiculous at times, but it is difficult not to be amused and then touched by how they and many others got emotionally connected together for their precious football team. Just like life, being a football club supporter can be hard and frustrating at times, but there also sometimes come some moments to be savored and cherished by them, and you will understand that well if you have anything you are privately passionate about (In case of me…. well, do I really have to tell you?)

In conclusion, “FC Sukhavati”, whose title incidentally comes from a Sanskrit word associated with the name of the city in the documentary, deserves to be labeled as a “feel-good documentary” for its crowd-pleasing moments, and you will certainly smile a bit as observing the universal aspects of countless soccer fans around the world. I still observe them from the distance, but I come to have some understanding and empathy in the end, and that is what a good documentary can do in my inconsequential opinion.

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Don’t Go Back (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): A series of little improvised moments

Posted on May 26, 2026 by kaist455

South Korean independent film “Don’t Go Back”, which I happened to miss when it was released in local theaters around the end of last year, is a small but interesting test run to watch. Although the result is rather modest on the whole, there are enough substance and spontaneity to support its little two-act comedy drama, and you can clearly sense the considerable potential from its first-time director, who happened to do a lot of things besides directing and co-writing the film.

First, let me give you some background information on the accidental production of the film. When director/co-writer/co-producer Ryu Hyun-kyun worked with her co-star/co-writer Kim Choong-gil during the shooting a little independent film directed by a saxophonist named KimOki, Ryu came to have a little idea for her movie, and she shot what would be the first part of her movie along with Kim while getting some assistance from KimOki and his several cast and crew members. To be frank with you, I really have no idea on how much Kim and Ryu are actually overlapped with their respective fictionalized versions in the film, but I can tell you instead at least that they are instantly spontaneous as clicking well with each other right from the very beginning. Starting from Ryu’s simple story settling, she and Kim improvised in one way or another during their first scene in the film, and their result is fairly fluid on the whole except a few moments of sudden editing.

Anyway, what happens during their scene is gradually amusing for us. As the shooting was wrapped, everyone becomes a bit relaxed, and that is when Kim confesses his growing attraction toward Ryu. While understandably being caught off guard by his confession, Ryu naturally tries to handle their awkward situation as tactfully as possible, but, to her frustration, Ryu remains persistent in his yearning toward her. As they push and pull each other during next several minutes, the movie slowly and deftly builds up its comic momentum, and its two lead performers do not make any misstep at all to the end.

After this effectively humorous setup, the story goes a bit further for extra amusement. Both Ryu and Kim respectively talk about the growing awkwardness between them to several others around them, and this leads to several humorous moments including the one where Kim is surprised to find that there is actually someone really drawn to him from the beginning. Needless to say, the mood becomes awkward between them, and then we get some little laugh as observing how these two characters come to lean on each other as sharing more of their respective romantic frustration.

And then the movie moves forward to several months later. After getting more frustrated with how his acting career has been going nowhere, Kim eventually decides to quit acting, and then he goes down to Busan for getting a job at some local clothing shop. Although he is willing to experience and learn more about business, he only comes to show how awkward he is as a salesman, and his employer decides to let him go in the end.

Meanwhile, Ryu also comes to Busan for her own reason. She is asked to do a little private lecture in front of the cast members of a little independent film made by one of her old colleagues, and she is initially willing to answer anything, but the situation becomes quite embarrassing for her as most of the cast members turns out to be pretty rude or inattentive. At least, one of them shows some respect and manner to her, and this figure generously invites her to a little jazz performance to be held in the following evening.

It is not much of a spoiler to tell you that Ryu and Kim eventually come across each other at that evening performance, but the movie does not hurry itself and its two main characters at all. We see them wandering around the beach area of Busan, but they somehow do not encounter each other without noticing anything at all, and they are genuinely surprised when they come to spot each other in the middle of the performance.

The story subsequently culminates to another private conversation between them. Mainly because there is not any regret or bitterness between them now, Kim and Ryu become more comfortable with each other than before, and they are all the more amused when there turns out to be something common between them. The movie remains open and uncertain about whatever will happen next between them, but now we sense some real connection between them, and that touchingly resonates with a song performed around the end of the evening concert. Again, Ryu and Kim ably complement each other with their distinctive personalities, and they are also supported well by several main cast members including Kim Mu-geon, Shin Min-jae, and KimOki, who also participated in the production of the film besides handling one of the substantial supporting roles in the film.

In conclusion, “Don’t Go Back” is a solid directorial debut for Ryu, who has been mainly known for appearing a number of notable South Korean movies and TV dramas for many years. I must confess that I have not paid much attention to her, but the movie shows that she is an engaging actress as well as a competent filmmaker, and I will surely see more of her considering how she keeps going even at this point. In fact, she also founded a distribution company for herself just for distributing her movie, and it will be really interesting to see the next steps in her multi-faceted career.

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Marty, Life Is Short (2026) ☆☆☆(3/4): He’s still ready to make us laugh more

Posted on May 25, 2026 by kaist455

Netflix documentary film “Marty, Life Is Short”, which was released a few weeks ago, looks around the life and career of Martin Short, a prominent Canadian entertainer who has steadily advanced for our laugh and entertainment during last several decades. Although the overall result is as mild as you can expect from your average Netflix celebrity documentary, it is still fairly fun and engaging to watch Short and a bunch of well-known interviewees gladly talking about his life and career, and you will come to admire his talent and spirit a bit more than before.

At first, the documentary gives us a brief overview on Short’s early life, and Short willingly talks about how much he was supported and encouraged by his parents and siblings as the youngest member of the family. He already showed his potential as a natural comedian even when he was very young, and his family, who all had a fair share of sense of humor, was always there for him as often playing along with him.

Not long after he got enrolled in a local university in Ontario, Canada, Short decided to go to Toronto along with his best friend Eugene Levy for pursuing their acting career, and they eventually got cast for a new production of a Broadway hit musical named “Godspell”. Among many other cast members, there was an actress named Gilda Radner, and she and Short came to have an on-and-off relationship between them for a while, but then he eventually began a long-term relationship with Radner’s understudy Nancy Dolman, who subsequently married him in 1980.

Meanwhile, Short’s career gradually gained momentum. When Chicago’s Second City improv comedy theatre established a sister company in Toronto, Levy and many of his colleagues immediately joined that sister company, Short hesistated at first, but, after several years of struggle and frustration, he eventually joined them, and there came a big career breakthrough for him when the Toronto Second City group produced a show named “Second City Television” (SCTV). Right from his first SCTV appearance, Short drew a lot of attention as effortlessly shining with his irrepressible comic energy, and that is quite evident from a number of archival video clips from that time. While he often played very broad caricatures, he illustrated them with considerable personality and spirit, and that certainly left indelible impressions on his audiences.

Thanks to his growing popularity via SCTV, Short subsequently joined the cast of “Saturday Night Lives” in 1984. Although he soon found his work environment rather demanding at first, Short kept going for a while, and then he got a chance to appear along with Steve Martin and Chevy Chase in a little comedy film named “Three Amigo” (1986). Although the movie sadly turned out to be a big critical/commercial failure, it led to the beginning of a longtime friendship between Short and Martin at least, who have recently been enjoying together the big success of their delightful Hulu comedy series “Only Murders in the Building”.

Although he did not make much success in cast of movies except a few shining spots including “Innerspace” (1987) and “The Father of the Bride” (1991), Short made a considerable success here and there at least. He demonstrated the other wonderful sides of his talent via several successful Broadway musicals during the 1990-2000s, and he actually won a Tony for one of them. In addition, he also showed that he is quite capable of drama performance as shown from his Emmy-nominated turn in TV drama series “Damages”, and I particularly have a soft spot on his humorous but ultimately poignant supporting turn in 1998 TV miniseries “Merlin”.

Eventually, the documentary comes to revolve around the routine private meetings for not only Short and his family but also his and his wife’s close friends. They usually gathered at the summerhouse for Short’s family, and you will be amazed a bit by the casual appearance of some of the biggest figures working in Hollywood. Thanks to Short’s amiable charm and energy and his wife’s equally strong personality to complement to him, the guests were never bored at all, and we later get a little amusing video clip of Short and Tom Hanks parodying a certain famous scene from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969), which was incidentally shot by none other than Steven Spielberg.

The documentary also focuses on several moments of sadness in Short’s life. While one of his brothers died early in his life, he lost both of his parents before he became 20, and both of these personal losses certainly devastated him a lot. In 2010, his wife died not long after being diagnosed to have a terminal cancer, and one of his three adopted children sadly committed suicide early in this year (The documentary is dedicated to her and Catherine O’Hara, who was one of Short and his wife’s close friends and was naturally interviewed for the documentary not long before she unfortunately passed away early in this year). Nevertheless, Short kept focusing on work, and that helped him a lot in processing his immense personal grief.

On the whole, “Marty, Life Is Short” may not be that revealing, but it is supported well by the strong presence and personality of Short, and director/co-producer Lawrence Kasdan, who has been less prominent during last 20 years compared to his peak period in the 1980s, did an admirable job of presenting Short’s life and career with enough care and respect. As another close friend of Short, he was probably not able to be totally objective to his main subject from the beginning, but the documentary may be his best work since “Grand Canyon” (1991), and that is surely something nice to watch.

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Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): Their little goofy time travel

Posted on May 23, 2026 by kaist455

“Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie” is a little goofy comedy film which turns out to have a bit more wit and heart than I expected. Because my physical condition was not exactly ideal when I watched the film yesterday, I am not sure whether I got all the jokes and gags in the movie, but I was more amused and tickled as following its wacky comic narrative, and that is more than enough for recommendation in my humble opinion.

The movie is based on director Matt Johnson and his co-writer/co-star Jay McCarrol’s 2007–2009 web series “Nirvana the Band the Show” and its following 2017-2019 television adaptation of the same name. I must confess that I do not have any background knowledge on the web series or its television adaptation, but all I can tell you instead that Johnson and McCarrol have a lot of fun with playing the fictionalized version of themselves here in the film besides effortlessly clicking well with each other along the story. Right from the beginning, they instantly establish the longtime relationship between their roles, and it is often fun to see how their contrasting personalities complement each other in one way or another, though I have no idea on how much Johnson and McCarrol in real life are actually overlapped with their fictionalized version of themselves in the movie.

Anyway, they are presented in the film as a struggling musical duo named, yes, “Nirvana the Band”, and their story is presented in a mockumentary style as the camera constantly follows them throughout the movie. During the opening scene, we see their clumsy attempt to book a gig at a certain famous restaurant bar in Toronto, Canada in 2008, and Johnson is quite confident that they will finally get a breakthrough once they succeed in their attempt, but, alas, they are still going nowhere even in 2025, while also not being able to perform at that restaurant bar as before.

Nevertheless, Johnson is not deterred at all and then goes for another ludicrous plan for their longtime goal, which is involved with a very risky public stunt involved with the CN Tower. While quite reluctant as usual, McCarrol goes along with his friend’s outrageous plan just because of being a close friend, and that leads to an amusing comic sequence unfolded at the CN Tower, which incidentally held the record for the world’s tallest free-standing structure from 1975 until 2007 due to its considerable height (553 meters, which is equivalent to around 1,815 feet). Although Johnson and his few crew members roughly shot this sequence at the CN Tower without getting any permission, the result is fairly realistic enough to make you feel a bit queasy at times if you watch the movie from a big movie theater screen, and you will surely gasp and then laugh around the end of this suspensefully hilarious moment.

After this plan of his is eventually failed, Johnson comes upon another loony plan for him and McCarrol. This time, he is going to make a time machine, and he will go back to 2008 for helping their younger selves succeed in booking a gig at that restaurant. Needless to say, McCarrol does not believe any of this goofy plan of his friend at all, and he has also gotten quite tired of how he has been stuck with Johnson for many years. As a matter of fact, he seriously considers going his own way, though he does not tell his friend anything about that because he is afraid of hurting his friend’s feelings.

Of course, things do not go that well for McCarrol when he sneaks out of their residence and then leaves by their old recreational vehicle in the next early morning. During the previous night, Johnson went into that recreational vehicle and then made a crude version of that time machine device from Robert Zemeckis’ classic SF movie “Back to the Future” (1985), and he somehow succeeded in making it work after a little accident involved with a certain kind of commercial beverage.

As a result, he and McCarrol soon find themselves back in 2008, and we get a series of absurd comic circumstances as they try to find a way to get back to 2025. At one point in the middle of the story, they must sneak into their old residence for getting that commercial beverage necessary for their time travel, and the movie has a lot of spontaneous fun with how they manage to evade being noticed by their younger selves.

And that is just the beginning of more absurdities to be doled out along the story. I will not go into details for not spoiling any of fun for you, but I can tell you instead that 1) I enjoyed how the movie often works as a cheerfully irreverent homage to “Back to the Future” and 2) I was all the more impressed by how it generates a bit of sweet poignancy amid its sheer goofiness. Yes, the two main character of the movie certainly come to have some conflict along their increasingly complicated time travel route, but they are eventually reminded again of how important their longtime friendship is to both of them (Is this a spoiler?), and we are touched a bit by their respective crucial choices around the end of the story.

Overall, “Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie” is a solid genre film packed with a considerable amount of amusement and entertainment for us, and it is another solid success after Johnson’s previous film “BlackBerry” (2023). Now I am considering revisiting it sooner or later for appreciating more of its zany wit and charm, and I will probably chuckle more than before.

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The Longest Night: Namtaeryeong (2026) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): The solidarity on that night

Posted on May 23, 2026 by kaist455

South Korean documentary film “The Longest Night: Namtaeryeong” focuses on that unlikely moment of democratic solidarity on the one day of December 2024. On that day, thousands of various South Korean citizens showed up to support and then defend a group of rural farmers protesting against President Yoon Suk-yeol and his vile coup d’état attempt, and the documentary often touches us as giving as a vividly personal look into that important incident to remember.     

I must tell you that what happened on the night of December 3rd, 2024 is still disturbing the South Korean society even at this point. President Yoon, who will be remembered as one of the most despicable politicians in the South Korean democracy history, suddenly declared the martial law on TV just because he and his far-right wing government got cornered more and more by the opposition parties due to his and his cronies’ incompetence and corruption, and that was surely a shock to the system for many of us at that time. To be frank with you, I slept a bit too early on that day, and I was certainly baffled and confused a lot when I checked the morning news on the very next day.

Fortunately, thanks to many brave citizens and politicians willing to stand their ground against President Yoon on that day, his coup d’état attempt was eventually thwarted within several hours, but we had to endure and fight more during next several months for getting this detestable prick impeached and then arrested. Due to the interference from his equally loathsome governing party, it took several more weeks for the South Korean Parliament to get him suspended, and most of us were quite more angered and frustrated to say the least. However, he eventually got impeached on April 4th, 2025 and then went through several trials on his considerable charges, though we witnessed more of how much our society was divided thanks to numerous hateful far-right wing nuts not so far from those vile people supporting that orange-faced prick in the White House.

Nevertheless, we also saw how many of us were ready to defend our democracy during this very dark time. Many ordinary citizens came outside for protesting more against President Yoon and his governing party in Seoul and many other major cities in South Korea, and a various number of groups ranging from labor unions to LGBTQ+ groups also stepped forward for showing their support and defiance. I must confess that I could not help but feel skeptical about President Yoon’s impeachment at that time mainly because of the deep corruption inside the South Korean Justice Department under his firm control, but I came to feel more hope and optimism as watching these various citizens’ efforts from the news reports, and I was certainly relieved and then excited when he finally got what he truly deserved from the very beginning.

One of these many civil demonstrations happened on December 21st, 2024, and the documentary closely follows how this demonstration got much bigger than its initiators expected. At first, it was just simply a big association of farmers coming to Seoul by their tractors for their own demonstration in the city, but they were unjustly blocked by the police at a certain spot in the city, which is called, yes, Namtaeryeong. Once the news was spread out on the Internet via Twitter and several other online social media networks, a lot of citizens gradually came to Namtaeryeong for supporting the cause of the farmers, and they found themselves sticking together much longer than expected despite the increasingly cold weather of the following winter solstice night.

As shown from a heap of raw video footage clips and online social media records, what happened on that night was quite remarkable to say the least. No matter how much the police oppressed them in one way or another, the demonstrators showed more defiance and solidarity, and more and more people joined them at Namtaeryeong as the demonstration received a considerable amount of support from here and there on the Internet. Once it was reported that the demonstrators got hungry and cold, many people willingly donated money, food, and many other stuffs necessary for enduring that cold night. As a matter of fact, a number of South Korean people outside their country quickly gathered some money together for renting and then sending several buses equipped with heater, and this certainly helped the demonstrators a lot.  

As the demonstration went on, its participants singed or danced together for maintaining their spirited defiance to the end, and some of them actively came forward for delivering their personal statements for not only South Korean democracy but also themselves. It is notable that many of the demonstrators were young women and members of LGBTQ+ groups, and they did not hesitate to present themselves as who they are at all, while also galvanizing their fellow demonstrators a lot with their passionate speeches.

In the end, the police allowed the farmers to go to the downtown area of Seoul for their planned demonstration, but this was not the end of the story at all, and the documentary becomes all the more powerful as showing how this unlikely solidarity of that night influenced many of its participants. As learning more of the value of solidarity, many LGBTQ+ participants came to show more solidarity to a number of social causes, and one of the most touching moments in the documentary is several labor union members gladly and openly marching along with LGBTQ+ people during the 2025 Queer Parade in Seoul.    

Overall, “The Longest Night: Namtaeryeong”, directed by Kim Hyun-ji, is often revealing as powerfully presenting a big picture on its main subject, and I particularly admire how democratic it is as simply observing and listening to various figures one by one. They are surely all different from each other in one way or another, but they firmly stuck together during that very cold night, and that was a small but significant beginning for understanding, compassion, and empathy among them. Although I frequently feel pessimistic about where our society is going right now, I am also often reminded of how valuable hope and solidarity really are especially right now, and I am glad to report that the documentary is one of such cases.

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Colony (2026) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A colony of zombies in the building

Posted on May 21, 2026 by kaist455

Yeon Sang-ho’s latest film “Colony”, which was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival before being released in South Korean theaters today, is another typical zombie movie which does not surprise me a lot. While it is fairly competent and entertaining on the whole, the movie does not go further than Yeon’s previous zombie movies “Train to Busan” (2016) and “Peninsula” (2020), and that is a bit disappointing in my humble opinion.

While “Train to Busan” puts zombies onto a speedy train, “Colony” puts them into a big building located in the downtown area of Seoul. Thanks to a very twisted lad who is also quite a skillful biotechnology scientist, a lot of people inside the building are quickly turned into zombies not long after the first infection of his very contagious fungus occurs, and then the building is swiftly quarantined by the police, who incidentally received a call from that crazy dude in advance.

As a result, a few survivors are helplessly trapped inside the building along with a detective who came for arresting that crazy dude right before the zombie outbreak was started inside the building. One of these survivors is Se-jeong (Jun Ji-hyun), a biotechnology professor who happened to come to a big conference held inside the building along with her colleague/ex-husband Gyu-seong (Go Soo). Thanks to her professional knowledge, it does not take much time for her to understand what is going on around her and several other survivors, and they manage to find a temporary shelter where they can be safe at least for a while.

Because the police are understandably reluctant to go inside the building for rescuing them, Se-jeong and the other survivors must find any possible way out for themselves, and it turns out that there is actually a small chance for them. That twisted lad responsible for the zombie outbreak is still alive and well somewhere inside the building, and he must be captured alive as soon as possible because he notified to the police that he was injected with a vaccine for that dangerous fungus.

Therefore, all they will have to do is locating and then taking him to the very top of the building where the police are ready for rescue, but, of course, this turns out to be much more difficult and dangerous than expected. While he does not seem to mind being handcuffed at all when he is finally found by Se-jeong and the other survivors, it is soon revealed that Yeong-cheol (Koo Kyo-hwan) has a few lethal tricks up his sleeve, and Se-jong and the other survivors consequently find themselves cornered more and more by not only Yeong-cheol and those countless zombies ready to attack and then infect them at any moment.

While they are as fast, bloody, and violent as you can expect, the zombies in the movie turn out to be a little less mindless than expected. As Se-jeong shrewdly observes, their infected minds are connected with each other in a sort of hive intelligence, and they are even capable of learning via their collective mind network, though this always requires a brief stationary moment equivalent to software upgrading.

Needless to say, there subsequently come a series of conflicts among the survivors, and that is where the screenplay by Yeon and his co-writer Choi Gyu-seok stumbles more than once. Because many of the main characters in the story are more or less than bland targets for those zombies, several melodramatic moments in the middle of the story are quite blatant and artificial to say the least, and we only come to observe the story and characters from the distance without much care.

In addition, the story comes to lose some of its narrative tension as occasionally paying attention to what is happening outside the building. It turns out that one of the scientists brought to the scene, Seol-hee (Shin Hyun-bin), has a personal connection with both Se-jeong and her ex-husband, and she becomes all the more determined to rescue the survivors once she finds a possible solution for the ongoing emergency. However, she only finds herself blocked more than once by those government officials not so willing to make any risky decision for them.

Anyway, the movie eventually unleashes more zombies onto the screen during its climactic part, and there is some nasty fun from how it utilizes some of those zombies for more thrill and excitement. You may enjoy a bunch of zombie soldiers wildly shooting at their opponents, and you will also probably like how the zombies get suddenly manipulated to our heroine’s advantage during the expected payoff moment.

Despite their thin characters, some of the main cast members in the film manage to overcome their thankless tasks. While Jun Ji-hyun gradually takes the center with her strong performance, Go Soo, Shin Hyun-been, Ji Chang-wook, and Kim Shin-rok dutifully fill their respective spot as much as required, and Koo Kyo-hwan is effectively loathsome and disturbing as the main villain of the story.

In conclusion, “Colony” is a well-made zombie flick, but it is less impressive compared to Danny Boyle’s recent zombie film “28 Years Later” (2025) and its recent sequel directed by Nia DaCosta. While these two good movies really try to break some new ground in their familiar genre territory, “Colony” simply stays inside its genre conventions and clichés to the end instead, and maybe you should watch the other two movies or “Train to Busan” instead.

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Merely Known as Something Else (2024) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Deliberately distant and elusive

Posted on May 21, 2026 by kaist455

South Korean independent film “Merely Known as Something Else” is deliberately distant and elusive. As freely juggling several different characters on its non-linear narrative gradually revolving around a certain vague figure, the movie frequently confuses and baffles us from the beginning to the end, and you may often feel quite frustrated about what is about even though admiring how it is about.

As far as I can see, the movie is about three different women and their lingering feelings about a male artist in their life. This man is currently in a relationship with Soo-jin (Gong Min-jung), but he has recently been out of reach for a while to her bafflement, and she subsequently has an affair with a male writer introduced to her via his publication company. One of her artworks is going to be used for the front cover design of his latest book, and he and Soo-jin later come to have a little private conversation on her art, which becomes a bit more serious than expected.

In case of In-joo (Jung Bo-ram), she is also an artist, and we come to gather that she has a crush on Soo-jin’s boyfriend. As she is preparing for the upcoming exhibition of her latest artworks, In-joo is notified that she has a rather serious medical problem in her ovary, and that leads to a rather amusing moment when she happens to lie to others that she does not have much time to live. Although she has several chances to tell the truth, she chooses not to tell instead, and that results in more misunderstanding among her friends.

The third woman in the story is Yoo-jeong (Jung Hoe-rin), an aspiring actress who once had a relationship with Soo-jin’s boyfriend. We see her going through a little performance along with several performers in front of a group of people, and then we observe how things are not so good between her and her current boyfriend. It is clear that they do not communicate well with each other, and that makes Yoo-jeong think more about her ex-boyfriend, though she still loves and cares about her current boyfriend despite some small flaws of his.

As these three women’s story are intercut with each other on the non-linear narrative of the movie, there come several recurring elements to notice. There is a black dog which somehow appears here and there throughout the story for no apparent reason. And there is also the studio of a male artist who may be the one involved with all of these three women. In-joo and several other colleagues of his often spend some time together in this dude’s studio, and they talk a lot with each other, but he simply remains quiet in the background instead of joining their conversation.

Because its overall mood is quite dry and mundane, the movie surely requires a lot of patience from you, and I must confess that I felt impatient more than once while struggling to follow its frequently baffling plot and distant characters during its first hour. As the camera usually observes the characters from the distance, we never get to know that much about them, and they remain more or less than plot elements to be juggled in one way or another.

At least, the screenplay by director/writer Jo Hee-young, who previously made a feature film debut with “The Continuing Land” (2022), begins to reveal more of its big picture of confusion and elusiveness during its second half, and we get a number of little interesting moments to observe. When Soo-jin happens to learn about what that writer has been doing behind his back, she naturally becomes quite angry, and this eventually leads to a painfully comic moment of embarrassment not so far from the works of Hong Sang-soo. As she prepares more on her upcoming exhibition, In-joo gets some unexpected artistic inspiration, and you may get amused by one of her artworks shown at the very end of the film. While she finds herself occasionally haunted by the memories of her ex-boyfriend, Yoo-jeong keeps going as usual, and there comes a small sign of hope when she receives a sincere text message from her current boyfriend around the end of the story.

Around the narrative point where it shows a bit more about Soo-jin’s boyfriend, the movie baffles us more than before, and we come to reflect more on the rest of the story, but, again, the film adamantly refuses to give any clear answer at all. All we can know is that Soo-jin and the other two women in the story will probably go on with their respective lives – and that Soo-jin’s boyfriend will remain as a distant figure to all of them as before.

I appreciate the good efforts from the three principal actresses of the movie. Gong Min-jung, Jung Bo-ram, and Jung Hoe-rin ably bring some life and personality to their respective roles, and their solid performances hold the film together even when it seems to be going nowhere at times. They are also supported well by several other main cast members including Ryu Se-il, Yu Eui-tae, Kim Hee-sang, Lee Jin-ha, Yang Eui-jin, and Ahn Ah-reum, and the special mention goes to Kam Dong-hwan, whose mostly silent appearance often speaks volumes without drawing too much attention from us.

Overall, “Merely Known as Something Else” did not engage me enough, but I admire its mood, storytelling, and performance to some degree at least. Although I have not watched “The Continuing Land” yet, I can tell you instead that Jo demonstrates here that she is a promising filmmaker with a distinctive artistic voice of her own, and she may interest me more with whatever she will make next.

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Little Trouble Girls (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): The sexual awakening of a Catholic girl

Posted on May 20, 2026 by kaist455

“Little Trouble Girls”, which was the official submission of Slovenia to Best International Film Oscar in last year, follows the gradual sexual awakening of one introverted adolescent Catholic girl. It is apparent from the beginning that she does not know that much about her burgeoning sexuality, but her mind and body cannot help but feel more of whatever they begin to desire, and we come to observe her rather bumpy emotional journey with more interest.

She is a 16-year-old Catholic school girl named Lucija (Jara Sofija Ostan), and the movie directly conveys to us her ongoing sexual awakening right from its opening part. When she joins the all-girls choir of the school, she cannot help but look at a girl named Ana Maria (Mina Švajger), who looks a lot more open and confident compared to Lucija’s rather shy attitude. When they later befriend each other a bit, Ana Maria suggests that Lucija should put some cosmetics on her face, and Lucija has no problem with following Ana Maria’s suggestion

However, this is not approved by Lucija’s mother at all, who is your average strict conservative Catholic mother. Although she is not a bad mother at least, it is clear that Lucija’s mother has exerted considerable repressive influence on Lucija, and Lucija’s father, who seems to be a total loser, is pretty useless and absent as shown from his brief appearance early in the film.

Anyway, Lucija and the other members of her choir subsequently have a retreat at a countryside convent along with their male conductor, who still expects them to hone their singing skill more in this quietly isolated place. However, there are several male workers doing some repair on the convent building, and one of them particularly draws the attention of Lucija and several other girls including Ana Maria just because, well, he looks handsome and virile enough to stimulate their sexual interest.

What follows next is how fluid and amorphous our heroine’s sexuality is. As spending more time with Ana Maria, Lucija finds herself more attracted to her, and her agitated state of mind is occasionally reflected by a series of forthright images. At the same time, she also becomes more interested in that worker in question, and she even commits a little prank on him along with Ana Maria.

Needless to say, her ongoing emotional turmoil comes to influence her singing, and the conductor soon begins to notice that. At one point later in the story, Lucija confesses a bit about her emotional struggle to the conductor, but he does not provide her much support or help, and this makes her all the more agitated than before.

As its heroine goes through one moment of sexual confusion after another along the story, the screenplay by director Urška Djukić and her co-writer Maria Bohr sticks to its non-judgmental attitude while illustrating its heroine’s gradual emotional maturation with considerable sensitivity and thoughtfulness. While we later get apparently symbolic moments including the ones respectively involved with sour and sweet grapes, they are mixed well with more subtle moments such as a brief conversation scene between the mother superior and Ana Maria and Lucija. As the mother superior casually talks about her supposedly deep love and devotion toward her god, Lucija comes to learn a bit about another possible way for her sexuality, and that is dramatically presented around the end of the story, though we are not so sure about whether this is real or imagined by Lucija’s feverish mind.

Everything in the film depends a lot on the expressive natural performance of newcomer Jara Sofija Ostan, who never had movie acting experience before but did an impressive job of carrying the film to the end. There are a number of crucial scenes where cinematographer Lev Predan Kowarski’s camera solely focuses on Ostan’s performances, and Ostan never makes any misstep while ably embodying her character’s dynamic inner struggle along the story. Eventually, we observe how much Lucija is changed after the end of her difficult emotional journey, and Osten is utterly convincing even though she does not seem to signify much on the surface.

Around Ostan, several main cast members of the film hold each own place well without overshadowing her at all. Mina Švajger is as charismatic as required by her role, and we can clearly understand Lucija’s attraction toward Ana Maria right from their first scene in the movie. As Lucija’s strict conservative mother, Nataša Burger has a small but revealing moment when her character comes to have a little mother and daughter time with Lucija, and we come to get a little insight on how much she has influenced Lucija in one way or another. Saša Tabaković is also effective as the choir conductor, and he deftly supports Ostan during one particularly tense key scene later in the movie.

On the whole, “Little Trouble Girls”, whose original Slovene title “Kaj ti je deklica” means “What’s wrong, girl?”, is a hauntingly sensitive coming-of-age drama to be appreciated for a number of interesting elements, and Djukić makes a solid feature debut here after making several short films. It is a shame that it went straight to a local streaming service in South Korea instead of getting released in movie theaters, but it is still worthwhile to watch nonetheless, and I recommend you to give it a chance someday.

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Come Closer (2024) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): This deeply troubled young woman

Posted on May 18, 2026 by kaist455

Israeli film “Come Closer” is about the serious emotional confusion of one deeply troubled young woman who is also often quite unpleasant for her toxic self-absorbed behaviors. Although the movie is rather dissatisfying as stumbling more than once during its last act, you may not easily forget many human flaws of this disagreeable but fascinating character mainly thanks to the strong performance of its lead actress.

At first, the movie, which is mainly set in Tel Aviv, Israel, follows a lad named Nati (Ida Tako), who is going to have a private time with somebody on his 17th birthday but then is taken to somewhere else by his friends and his older sister Eden (Lia Elalouf) instead. After having a wild evening along with them, he eventually sneaks out from the spot for meeting that figure in question, but, alas, he subsequently gets himself hit by a car, and then he eventually dies to the devastation of Eden and his parents.

While Eden struggles to process her immense grief, her parents try to console her as much as possible, but they have some other issue to handle. When Eden and Nati were very young, their parents had a bitter divorce, but they agreed to sell their family house once both Nati and Eden become independent adults. While the father is already willing to sell the house right now, the mother is adamantly against it, and Eden does not give much damn about their conflict over the house.

And then she comes to learn about something hidden from her for a while. It turns out that Nati had been in a romantic relationship with a girl named Maya (Darya Rosenn), and Eden becomes quite interested in getting to know this girl in question. Although their first encounter is not that pleasant to say the least, Eden and Maya gradually befriend each other as sharing the memories of Nati between them, and then there comes a point when they begin to sense something else being developed between them.

As Eden struggles to deal with her increasingly confused emotional status along the story, the movie gives us a vivid and realistic slice of youthful night life enjoyed by her and many other young people in the city. As spending more time with Eden, Maya naturally becomes more attracted to Eden’s carefree lifestyle, and we later get a rather awkward moment when Eden and Maya happen to come across a certain man who has been Eden’s occasional sex partner despite being currently married.

Meanwhile, we also come to notice more of the toxic behaviors shown by Eden as she becomes more self-absorbed in her grief on Nati’s death. She and Maya eventually decide to go along with their mutual feeling later in the story, but Nati’s death remains as an inconvenient fact between them, and Eden often seems to care more about him instead of paying more attention to Maya. As a result, Maya becomes all the more frustrated with Eden’s frequently inconsiderate behaviors, and we are not so surprised when she finally lets out all the frustration and confusion of hers to Eden in the middle of their little private time outside the city.

Around that point, the screenplay by director/writer Tom Nesher, which is inspired to some degree by her and her family’s real-life experience as reflected by what is shown during the end credits, enters a very disturbing area of grief and attachment. However, the movie unfortunately does not handle well the consequence, and the following ending is quite contrived as resolving the conflict between its two main characters too easily. 

Most of all, we remain distant to its very problematic heroine as before. While we understand her grieving status to some degree, Eden looks so disturbed at times that you may often want to send her to any good therapist as soon as possible instead of getting to know her more. At one point early in the story, she wears not only Nati’s clothes but also his underwear, and that is certainly a serious sign of mental disturbance in my humble opinion. 

Nevertheless, the movie is fairly watchable because of the raw emotional intensity observed from Lia Elalouf’s uncompromising performance. Never making any excuse on her character’s unwise and frequently toxic behaviors at all, Elalouf did a commendable job of conveying to us the emotional turmoil behind her character’s brash attitude, and her performance is effective as a sort of morbid case study for us to observe.

In contrast, several main cast members in the film function as mere counterpoints for Elalouf’s strong acting, and that is another weak aspect of the movie. While Ido Tako leaves some impression early in the story, Darya Rosenn holds her own place well during her several key scenes with Elalouf, and Netta Garti and Yaakov Zada-Daniel fill their rather under-developed roles as much as possible.

Overall, “Come Closer”, which was incidentally selected as the Israeli submission to Best International Film Oscar in 2024. is a bit too flawed for recommendation, but it is not wholly without interesting things to be appreciated. Nesher, who is the daughter of prominent Israeli filmmaker Avi Nesher, did a fairly competent feature film debut here after making several short films, and I can only hope that I will be more impressed by whatever may come next from her.

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The Little Sister (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): A young Muslim lesbian woman during several seasons

Posted on May 17, 2026 by kaist455

“The Little Sister”, which won the Queer Palm award when it was shown at the Cannes Film Festival early in last year, is a sensitive coming-of-age queer drama about one plain Muslim lesbian woman. As observing how much she struggles to balance herself between her sexuality and the other parts of her identity, the movie makes us have more understanding and empathy on her inner struggle, and we are touched by how she makes some little but significant forward steps around the end of the film.

At the beginning, the movie quickly and succinctly establishes the personal background of its young heroine. Fatima (Nadia Melliti) is a 17-year-old girl living with her Algerian immigrant family, and the opening scene shows her going through her routine morning prayer as a devoted Muslim. She and her parents and two older sisters are mostly happy together, and her parents do not seem to mind that she is less girly compared to their other two daughters. 

In her high school, Fatima is one of the more promising students in her class. She and many of her classmates are soon going to take an exam for getting their high school diploma, and she is expected to move onto college for higher learning. As a matter of fact, she has aspired to become a writer someday, though her family often expects her to meet and then marry any nice guy sooner or later. 

However, Fatima has been hiding her homosexuality from not only her family but also many others around her. Whenever she is free, she looks for any opportunity for quick sexual encounter via an online application, and there is a little amusing scene where she meets a much more experienced lady who gladly tells her all about lesbian sex.

 And then there comes an unexpected chance for romance on one day. Due to her chronic asthma, Fatima attends a medical session along with several other asthma patients, and she cannot help but notice a female nurse who turns out to be using the same online application. Not long after this brief encounter, she begins to meet this nurse, and it seems that this can be the first step toward real romantic relationship for her.

Meanwhile, things change in her world bit by bit. Once she passes that examination, Fatima officially graduates from her high school, and we soon see her studying at a local college. Her mother cannot possibly be prouder of her, and she naturally comes to have more of a certain expectation on her, but Fatima still cannot tell anything about her homosexuality to her mother or any other family member of hers.

Nevertheless, she also cannot help but follow whatever her heart desires. After her first romance is suddenly aborted due to some personal reason of her girlfriend, Fatima becomes more emboldened to explore her growing sexual urge more than before, and she does not hesitate at all when she comes across a chance to do something she has never imagined before. As the camera is phlegmatically observing her little sexual experiment, the movie brings a lot of sensitivity and sensuality to this intimate moment, which comes to function as another part of her emotional growth along the story. 

 In the meantime, Fatima also remains devoted to her religion as before, and this brings more inner conflict for her. At one point in the middle of the story, she tries again on heterosexuality via her ex-boyfriend, but that only reminds her more of her homosexuality instead. When she manages to talk indirectly about herself in front of a local Muslim priest, she only receives a disapproving response from him, and that makes her all the more reluctant about confiding her homosexuality to her family.

Nevertheless, we also observe some little progress here and there in her personal life. When she comes to have another chance for romance later in the story, Fatima naturally hesitates at first, but she cannot deny what her heart has yearned for a while. When she happens to have a private conversation with her mother, she still cannot reveal herself more to her mother, but we sense a bit of mutual understanding between them when her mother gives her a little special present for her upcoming birthday.  

 Everything in the film depends a lot on the impressive performance of newcomer Nadia Melliti, who deservedly received the Best Actress award for this movie at Cannes Film Festival. Even when her character does not seem to signify much on the surface, Melliti, who also won the Best Female Revelation award at the César Awards early in this year, deftly illustrates the complex feelings and thoughts inside her character, and she also generate enough romantic vibe with Park Ji-min, a South Korean actress who was unforgettable in Davy Chou’s “Return to Seoul” (2022). 

On the whole, “The Little Sister”, which is based on French writer Fatima Daas’s 2020 autofiction novel “The Last One”, is a solid work to be admired for its strong lead performance and the competent direction of director/writer Hafsia Herzi, who has been mainly known for her memorable debut performance in Abdellatif Kechiche’s “The Secret of the Grain” (2007) and made a feature film debut in “Good Mother” (2021) a few years ago. As far as I can see from “The Little Sister”, she is a talented filmmaker to watch, and it will be interesting to see what may come next from her.

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