Rental Family (2025) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A service business of emotion

Posted on February 28, 2026 by kaist455

“Rental Family” draws your attention first with its curious story subject and then touches you more than expected. Inspired by a rather odd type of real-life service business in the Japanese society (Werner Herzog’s 2019 film “Family Romance, LLC” already tackled this fascinating subject, by the way), the movie subtly swings between humor and drama along with its American hero, and you will find yourself alternatively amused and moved in the end.

Brendan Fraser, who recently made a big comeback thanks to his Oscar-winning turn in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale” (2022), plays Phillip Vanderploeg, a struggling American actor currently living in Tokyo. Several years ago, Phillip got a supposedly big break thanks to a fairly popular local toothpaste commercial, but his acting career in Japan has been going nowhere since that, and he cannot say no when he gets hired for a mock funeral where he has to play one of its mourners.

Phillip is later approached by a guy named Shinji (Takehiro Hira), who turns out to be the owner of a small company specializing in certain kinds of emotion service. His employees are usually hired to play stand-in friends or family members for his various clients out there, and Shinji thinks Phillip can be perfect for playing a “token white guy” for many of his potential clients.

Phillip naturally hesitates at first, but, after his rather difficult first job involved with a young lesbian woman who needs to have a fake wedding for her parents, he soon gets accustomed to whatever is required by his next roles to play. For example, he gladly plays a father for a young half-Japanese girl living with her single mother, and he also plays a journalist to visit and interview an old, retired actor whose senile mind has been fading day by day.

While clearly recognizing the inherent artificial aspects of what Phillip and his several new colleagues do for their clients, the movie gradually delves into their feelings and thoughts beneath the surface. As spending more time with that young half-Japanese girl as required, Phillip comes to care a lot more about her than expected, and it does not take much for his client to notice the growing emotional bond between him and her daughter. Because he is only supposed to be around her and her daughter for only a few weeks, she is naturally quite concerned, though she still needs more service from Phillip for helping her daughter get enrolled in some prestigious private school.

In case of Aiko (Mari Yamamoto), she often handles a very tricky kind of emotion service. Her adulterous male clients hire her as a stand-in mistress to apologize to their wives, and she sometimes must endure the anger and pain from their betrayed wives. She seems fine as long as she gets paid a bit more for her occupational hazard, but it goes without saying that she does not feel that right about what she has done for those cheating husbands.

Later in the story, our hero comes to cross the line to a serious degree just because he cares about one of his clients a bit too much, but the screenplay by director/co-producer Hikari and her co-writer Stephen Blahut steadily balances itself with calm sensitivity and non-judgmental attitude. What Phillip and his colleagues provide is basically lies, but their service of emotion feels real and authentic to their clients for a while at least, and this will make you reflect more on how we sometimes let us led by whatever our heart and mind want to believe instead of facing truth.

The movie surely depends a lot on the presence and talent of Fraser, who gives another good performance which is actually more interesting than his acclaimed acting in “The Whale”. While the latter often stumbles rather than elevating his committed performance, the former sets well the ground for the human details and nuances to be exuded from his low-key acting, and Fraser is particularly wonderful when his character must stay professional as much as possible during one somber but undeniably emotional scene later in the story.

Around Fraser, several main cast members in the film diligently hold each own place. Takehiro Hira, who has been more notable thanks to his Emmy-nominated turn in the first season of acclaimed TV drama series “Shōgun”, has his own good moment when his character is revealed to be as lonely as Phillip, and Mari Yamamoto, Shino Shinozaki, and Kimura Bun are also solid in their respective supporting parts. While Akira Emoto, a veteran actor who has appeared in a number of notable Japanese films such as Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi’s “Shin Godzilla” (2016) and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Shoplifters” (2018), is poignant as his character comes to rely much more on Fraser’s character than expected, young performer Shannon Mahina Gorman naturally steals the show with her unadorned natural performance, and she also effortlessly clicks well with Fraser during their several key scenes.

Overall, “Rental Family”, which is the second feature film from Hikari (She previously made a feature film debut with “37 Seconds” (2019), by the way), is a modest but powerful drama about human emotion and connection, and I admire the gentle and thoughtful handling of its story and characters. In my inconsequential opinion, this is one of the overlooked small gems from last year, and, considering Hikari’s considerable achievement here in this film, it will be interesting to see what may come next from her in the future.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026) ☆☆☆(3/4): It will give you more hell

Posted on February 27, 2026 by kaist455

Nia DaCosta’s new film “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple”, the sequel to “28 Years Later” (2025), is a dark and brutal horror story decorated with human evil and some raging zombies. While you will surely cringe more than once for good reasons, the movie also shows a surprising amount of personality sensibility amid a lot of gore and brutality, and you will be also impressed by a number of intense dramatic moments along the story.

The story starts at the point not long after the ending of “28 Years Later”. Its young hero, Spike (Alfie Williams), starts his own personal journey despite what he went through during the precious film, and then he encounters a group of vicious gangs lead by a psychopathic lad who calls himself Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell). The opening scene shows Spike being forced to go through the initiation ritual supervised by Sir Jimmy, and this eventually culminates to a devastating moment Spike will probably never forget for the rest of his life.

We subsequently see how Sir Jimmy drives not only Spike but also his gangs into more cruelty and brutality. He presents himself as a sort of anti-Christ to unleash more evil and violence upon the world, and his gangs, who are incidentally fashioned after the Teletubbies, are anointed as his “fingers” to follow whatever he orders. At one point, they invade a little shelter belonging to a small group of survivors, and they cruelly toy with their helpless targets a bit before eventually going all the way for a lot of pain and terror to be inflicted upon these unfortunate people.

What will be shown to us next is quite gruesome and disturbing to say the least, but this does not feel pointless or gratuitous at all as the film handles it with an aching human attitude. Although he is quite horrified and repulsed to say the least, Spike also finds himself helplessly stuck with Sir Jimmy and his gangs, and the only consolation comes from one of the gangs who turns out to be much more sensible and compassionate than others.

Spike’s gradual descent into a stark and brutal human condition is contrasted with the other main plot involved with Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), who was quite memorable when Spike finally met him during the last act of “28 Years Later”. As continuing his solitary daily life revolving around his shelter and that huge temple built from human bones, he somehow comes to befriend “Samson” (Chi Lewis-Parry) more, the imposing Alpha leader of the infected inhabiting in the surrounding area. While he often needs to shoot a tranquilizer dart at Samson first, Dr. Kelson comes to gain some trust from Samson, and this significant breakthrough leads to a series of calm and meditative moments between them. Besides becoming less raging than before thanks to Dr. Kelson, Samson also comes to show a bit of humanity, and Dr. Kelson is certainly glad to feel less lonely than before.

However, the movie still keeps throwing a lot of gore and brutality as its two main narratives gradually converge during its second half. While we are surely served with a fair share of those raging zombies, the movie does not flinch at all in the graphic depiction of remorseless violence, and this will surely remind us again of how humans can be much more dangerous and barbaric than zombies.

The screenplay by Alex Garland, who also wrote the screenplay for “28 Years Later”, takes some time before its eventual climactic part, which does not disappoint us at all with sheer intensity coupled with a little dark sense of humor. We are quite amused by its deliberately wacky aspects, but then the mood becomes very, very, very serious, and then there comes a little but precious moment of poignancy in the end.

Under DaCosta’s competent direction, the movie is packed with a considerable amount of realism and verisimilitude. As cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, who has been mainly known for Steve McQueen’s acclaimed films including “12 Years a Slave” (2013), imbues the screen with a considerable amount of gloomy but visceral qualities, the resulting grim atmosphere on the screen is further accentuated by the moody score by Hildur Guðnadóttir, who won an Oscar for Todd Phillips’ “Joker” (2019).

The main cast members are well-cast in their respective parts. While Ralph Fiennes brings a lot of gravitas to the story as required, Jack O’Connell gleefully chews his diabolical moments in the film as he recently did in Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” (2025), and Alfie Williams holds his own small place well between his two co-stars. In case of several supporting cast members in the movie, Erin Kellyman provides some little warmth to the story, and Chi Lewis-Parry also has his own moments to shine as doing much more than merely looking menacing.

In conclusion, “28 Years Later; The Bone Temple” is the interesting middle chapter for its planned trilogy. You may be disappointed to see that it does not have a lot of zombies compared to its predecessors, but it is still compelling for its uncompromising exploration of evil and humanity, and I enjoyed its mood, storytelling, and performance. Yes, zombies have not scared me much for years, but the movie held my attention to the end, and that is sort of achievement in my trivial opinion.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Ne Zha 2 (2025) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A spectacular but hollow sequel

Posted on February 25, 2026 by kaist455

Chinese animation film “Ne Zha 2”, the sequel to “Ne Zha” (2019), strives to be bigger, longer, and better, but it ends up only accomplishing its first two tasks to my dissatisfaction. Thanks to its much more production budget, it surely provides a lot of big and spectacular moments to behold, but, folks, I hardly cared about the story and characters during my viewing.

In my review on the 2019 predecessor, I admitted that I enjoyed its silly but lightweight comic moments associated with its little naughty hero, who still reminds me of that satanic kid from “The Omen” (1976). I somehow found him rather endearing nonetheless, and I cared about the conflict involved with his true identity. In fact, this is the main reason why the film held my attention for a while before resorting to a lot of loud and busy actions during its expected climactic part.

Right from its beginning, “Ne Zha 2” swiftly throws us into more actions to follow. Although they managed to save the day at the end of the first film, Ne Zha (voiced by Lü Yanting) and Au Bing (voiced by Han Mo) are technically dead as their respective bodies were consequently destroyed, and Ne Zha’s master Taiyi Zhenren (voiced by Zhang Jiaming) and Ne Zha’s parents, who are incidentally the chieftain and chieftess of their town, try their best for restoring the respective bodies of Ne Zha and Au Bing.

However, things soon become all the more serious once Au Bing’s mighty dragon father comes to learn about what happened to his dear son. He ordered Au Bing’s former master Shen Gongbao (voiced by Yang Wei) to attack Ne Zha’s town along with a heap of demons under his supervision, and he is also assisted to considerable degree by a trio of other powerful dragons, who all seem willing to help him but look quite treacherous to say the least.

Anyway, Shen, who turns out to be more sensible and compassionate than expected, soon suspends the attack once he sees what Taiyi has been trying to do for Au Bing, but there is one big problem. For completely bringing back Au Bing to life, a certain special kind of elixir must be obtained from the heaven, and Ne Zha must go through a series of challenging tasks under Taiyi’s guidance.

Needless to say, Ne Zha must hide his true nature as much as possible, and that is where Au Bing, who currently remains as a spirit in contrast to his best friend, comes handy. Despite being without his physical body at present, Au Bing can still exert his power while being inside Ne Zha’s body, besides being able to function as Ne Zha’s cover. Needless to say, he and Ne Zha must learn how to inhabit Ne Zha’s body together, and that leads to a silly moment of slapstick comedy which may take you back to Carl Reiner’s classic comedy film “All of Me” (1984).

When Ne Zha, who is now with Au Bing’s spirit who can take control of his body whenever Ne Zha is asleep, and Taiyi arrive at the palace of Heaven, the film naturally serves us with a lot of grand and beautiful moments to behold, though it occasionally shows a bit of naughtiness as Ne Zha quickly becomes your average fish-out-of-water. There is a little amusing scene involved with urination, and then there comes a deliberately gross moment when Ne Zha must go through the first test along with Au Bing inside his body.

Meanwhile, the story gradually becomes more complicated with some additional main characters including Master Wuliang (voiced by Wang Deshun), who is ready to wield his own mighty authority on behalf of his more powerful master despite his avuncular appearance. While we also get to know a bit more about Shen’s personal life, the film also pays some attention to an emerging intrigue associated with the associates of Au Bing’s dragon father, who simply wants to get back his son above all else.

However, the screenplay by director/writer Jiaozi, which is a loose adaptation of the 16th-century novel “Investiture of the Gods” by Xu Zhonglin, fails to bring more depth to the story and characters. As it hurriedly drives itself toward its expected grand finale, the story simply goes up and down along with its main characters without clarifying much of what exactly motivates them, and several plot turns during its last act are not as effective as intended. In the end, we come to watch the following visual spectacles from the distance without much care, while also being more aware of its many superficial aspects.

At least, the film is not entirely without fun and entertainment. Several humorous scenes between Ne Zha and Taiyi give us some good laughs, though they remind us more of how flatly serious the scenes between Ne Zha and Au Bing are in contrast. When Ne Zha eventually reveals his true form and power (Is this a spoiler?) during the finale, the mood becomes all the more serious and ponderous instead of being really fun and exciting, but the film diligently supplies more spectacles coupled with a bit of surprise.

On the whole, “Ne Zha” does not go further than its predecessor besides being a bit too long in its running time (144 minutes). Considering what is shown in the middle of its end credits as well as its enormous commercial success around the world (It is incidentally the highest-grossing film of last year, by the way), there will surely be another sequel sooner or later, and I can only hope that I will be more entertained in the next time.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Ne Zha (2019) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): The story of a demon boy

Posted on February 24, 2026 by kaist455

2019 Chinese animation film “Ne Zha” works best when it cheerfully bounces with a vibrant sense of fun and energy during its first half. I found its mischievous little demonic hero rather endearing even though he sometimes reminds me of that satanic kid in “The Omen” (1976). I also cared about his conflict along the story while occasionally amused by a series of goofy comic moments from a number of colorful characters around him. However, the film later becomes quite bombastic with a lot of busy actions, and that is when my level of interest was considerably decreased to my mild disappointment.

The story, which is loosely based on the 16th-century novel “Investiture of the Gods” by Xu Zhonglin (I have never read or heard of this old Chinese piece of literature, by the way), is your typical hero origin story. At the beginning, a very powerful supernatural object called the chaos pearl divided into two contrasting objects by the Primeval Lord of Heaven, and Taiyi Zhenren (voiced by Zhang Jiaming), one of the disciples under the command of the Primeval Lord of Heaven, is ordered to handle these two objects. While the Demon Orb is destined to be destroyed after 3 years, the Spirit Pearl is supposed to be reincarnated as the son of a brave and noble lord named Li Jing (voiced by Chen Hao) and his wife Lady Lin (voiced by Lü Qi), but, alas, the Demon Orb comes to take the position instead due to Shen Gongbao (voiced by Yang Wei), a nefarious colleague of Taiyi who has some other plan behind his back.

Nonetheless, despite knowing well the inherent demonic sides of their son, Lord Li and his wife try their best for raising him with love and care, though their son, Ne Zha (voiced by Lü Yanting), grows up to be your average little terror to them and many others in their peaceful town. Many people in the village have naturally hated and feared him a lot (Raise your hand if you are now reminded of a certain famous episode from classic American TV drama series “The Twilight Zone”), and he is certainly willing to give them a lot of hell just for fun and amusement.

In the end, Taiyi enters the picture again as a master willing to guide Ne Zha toward good as training him in a little special world inside a roll of painting, which one can enter only via Taiyi’s magic brush. Needless to say, Ne Zha quickly improves enough to impress his master, but to his master’s frustration, he remains unruly and naughty as before.

Because he has been told that he is destined to fight against those monsters and demons out there, Ne Zha is quite eager to prove himself, and there soon comes an opportunity. After some heroic (and very destructive) actions of his, he is again disliked by the town people due to a little misunderstanding, and that makes him all the sulkier than before.

At least, he comes across someone who can be a good friend to him. That person in question is Ao Bing (voiced by Han Mo), and Ne Zha is delighted to have someone as powerful as him, but, not so surprisingly, it soon turns out that Ao Bing has been destined to be his opponent. Shen, who has been incidentally Ao Bing’s master, and Ao Bing’s mighty dragon father have been plotting against the Primeval Lord of Heaven, and Ao Bing, who was incarnated from the Spirit Pearl, is certainly going to be the main tool of their evil plan.

Around the point where Ne Zha and Ao Bing eventually fight with each other as expected, we are surely served with a lot of loud crashes and bangs, and you can clearly see that a lot of effort and production budget was spent on this big climactic part. When his true self is finally unleashed, Ne Zha becomes a young adult just like Ao Bing, but this older self of his is rather humorless in my trivial opinion, and we come to have less fun than before despite a lot of actions and spectacles unfolded across the screen.

The more cheerful and humorous parts of the film engaged me to some degree. Yes, many of the supporting characters in the film are more or less than comic elements mostly for frequent silly physical gags throughout the story, but that is fairly acceptable in the animation background of the film, and I will not deny that I was particularly amused by an action sequence which does not even hesitate to use a fart joke at one point. In addition, the overall quality of the digital animation in the film is on a par with the average level of Hollywood blockbuster animation films, and it can be regarded as a notable forward step by the Chinese animation film industry.

As a matter of fact, the film was quite a commercial success not only in China and but also the rest of the world. It actually earned much more than its production budget (around 22 million dollars), and this impressive result eventually led to the production of its recent sequel, which incidentally earned more than 2 billion dollars around the world while also becoming the highest-grossing film of last year.     

In conclusion, “Ne Zha” is no more than a test drive for its hero as well as its director/writer Jiaozi and his crew. I watched it just for preparing a bit before watching its recent sequel, and it often felt to me more like homework than entertainment, but it shows some potential and personality from time to time at least. I will watch the sequel sooner or later, and I hope that it shows some improvement compared to its predecessor.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Arco (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): When a boy from the future meets a girl in the past

Posted on February 22, 2026 by kaist455

Animation feature film “Arco”, which was nominated for Best Animation Film Oscar in last month, is often quite engaging for its lovely cell animation style to remember. Although it is rather thin in terms of story and characters, this notable flaw is mostly compensated by a number of strong visual moments in the film, and its short running time (89 minutes) will quickly pass as you enjoy its vivid mood and gorgeous details. 

The opening part of the film is set in a world of distant future where people dwell on high towers due to some massive global climate disruption which happened many years ago. It is 2932, and time travel is not only possible but also quite accessible, but Arco (voiced by Oscar Tresanini), a 10-year-old boy living with his parents and older sister, is very frustrated because he is still not allowed to do time travel due to the strict age limit on time travel.

In the end, Arco decides to do something very risky. When his parents and older sister are sleeping inside their little residence, he steals his older sister’s cape for time travel, and then he boldly attempts to fly up in the sky for his time travel. While he manages to fly in the end, he soon finds himself in a perilous situation way over his head, and that is how he tumbles into a certain time point in the past.

Meanwhile, we also get to know Iris (voiced by Margot Ringard Oldra), a young girl living in some suburban neighborhood during that time point. It is 2075, and Iris’ daily life is filled with a lot of futuristic details including robots and holograms, and we also observe how her world is riddled with the devastating catastrophes caused by the ongoing global climate disruption.

Because her parents are often absent due to their busy work, Iris cannot help but feel lonely at her home even though she is often assisted by a robot whose main job is taking care of her infant younger brother. When she sneaks out of her school on one day, she spots something falling from the sky, and that is how she comes upon the unconscious body of Arco. Instinctively sensing that he needs some help, she takes him to her house, and Arco is certainly quite perplexed when he regains his consciousness later.

Nevertheless, it does not take much time for Arco and Iris to befriend each other. Without any doubt, she accepts and then believes him when he tells her where he is actually from, and she sincerely wants to help him as much as possible. He happened to lose a little precious object crucial for his time travel, but there may be some other option to activate his cape, and we later get an amusing scene where Iris sets up a possible condition for Arco’s time travel outside her family house.

In the meantime, the plot thickens a bit via several supporting characters in the story. That robot in Iris’ house suddenly has a serious malfunction as trying to process the existence of Arco, and that leads to some unwelcome attention from the outside world. In case of a neighborhood boy clearly interested in getting closer to Iris, he soon comes to notice Arco in her house, but he does not suspect much when she introduces Arco as a cousin to him later.

And there are also three dudes who are quite serious about tracking down Arco but often look as goofy as the Three Stooges. The story always loses its focus whenever it depicts another silly moment from these bumbling guys, so there is not much tension in the story when they seem to be going after Arco and Iris later in the story.

During the last act, the screenplay by director Ugo Bienvenu and his co-writer/co-producer Félix de Givry stumbles a bit and then loses some of its narrative momentum, but the film continues to hold our attention as doling out nice visual moments as before. Often reminiscent of those classic animation films of Hayao Miyazaki, the cell animation style of the film is pleasant and wonderful to watch on the whole, and you will often savor small and big details vividly presented on the screen.

I must point out that the main characters in the film are more or less than plot elements to roll, but the story sometimes provides genuine emotional moments along the story. While the developing friendship between Iris and Arco is illustrated with unadorned sweetness, there is an unexpectedly moving moment when Iris’ robot does much more than what it is programmed to do later in the story, and you will also be touched by the little poignancy shown from its predictable but effective ending.    

In conclusion, “Arco” is worthwhile to watch mainly for its wonderful animation style and mood, and Bienvenu, who previously made several short animations films before making a feature film debut here, demonstrates that he is another new promising animation filmmaker to watch. According to the IMDB trivia, he really tried hard along with de Givry for financing this little personal project of theirs before eventually getting fully financed thanks to their co-producer Natalie Portman, and now he certainly becomes more prominent than before thanks to his recent Oscar nomination. In my humble opinion, it will be interesting to see what he will do next after this commendable career breakthrough, and I will surely have some expectation on that.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Sisu: Road to Revenge (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): This time, it’s personal

Posted on February 21, 2026 by kaist455

Jalmari Helander’s new film “Sisu: Road to Revenge”, the sequel to his previous film “Sisu”, is a simple but very intense action movie which is actually quite amusing from time to time. Again, our taciturn hero is going to show us what a single-minded tough guy he really is (“Sisu” is Finnish concept and cultural virtue representing extraordinary determination, courage, and grit in the face of extreme adversity, by the way), and the movie alternatively excites and amuses us via a series of well-made action sequences peppered with a bit of naughty deadpan humor.    

The story is set around the border area between Finland and the Soviet Union in 1946. Not long after World War II was over, Finland ceded the territory of Karelia to the Soviet Union as a part of their peace treaty, but this does not stop Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) at all, a former Finnish Army commando who became quite legendary for his sheer bravery and perseverance during his country’s war with the Soviet Union. His wife and children, who happened to reside in Karelia during that time, are sadly dead now, and their family house is currently abandoned, but he is going to go there just for disassembling the house and then re-assembling it somewhere else in Finland. 

While passing the border turns out to be quite easy, a big problem soon comes to Korpi. Shortly after the news about Korpi crossing the border is delivered to the Soviet Army, his old opponent, Yeagor Draganov (Stephen Lang), is released from a Siberian prison for an immediate special mission for him. He is instructed to capture Korpi by any means necessary, and, as a man responsible for Korpi’s personal tragedy, he is certainly quite ready for being back in action.

Once its story setting is established, the movie immediately goes all the way for action, and what follows next is a well-executed variation of George Miller’s Mad Max movies. As driving his big truck along a remote road with a pet dog on the passenger’s seat, Korpi comes across one obstacle after another thanks to Draganov and those Soviet soldiers under his command, and he surely shows them that he is definitely not someone they can mess with from the beginning. No matter how much they attempt to attack him in one way or another, he always manages to not only survive but also throw some brutal counterattacks upon them, and he even surprises Draganov more than once.

 Just like the predecessor, the movie does not hesitate to go over the top during some of its most intense moments, and that is where it shows some wry black humor. In case of one particular action scene involved with a couple of fighter planes swooping over Korpi’s truck, its digital special effects look a bit too cheap and artificial in my humble opinion, but they are mixed fairly well into the busy actions unfolded onto the screen, and we come to go gladly along with that as having some good laughs from a number of exaggerated moments of action.

During its second half, the movie shifts itself onto a different action mode, but there is still plenty of stuffs to thrill and then amuse you. I particularly like a moment when Korpi must walk barefoot across the floor strewn with shards of glass without making any noise at all for his safety, and you will surely wince a lot while also appreciating a dark sense of humor inside this moment. 

Although he does not say that much to the end of the movie, Jorma Tommlia, who previously collaborated with Helander in several films besides “Sisu”, fills his archetype role with a lot of intensity and focus, and his committed physical performance carries the movie to the end without any misstep. Even when his character does not seem to signify anything to us, we can somehow sense more of what has constantly been driving his character, and Tommlia also does a good job of conveying to us a bit of humanity inside his character. All Korpi wants to do is honoring the memories of his dead family on his terms, and he is quite determined to accomplish this personal mission of his, no matter how much he must fight with his numerous opponents along his solitary quest.        

On the opposite, Stephen Lang, who recently played another big bad dude in James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” (2025), complements Tommlia’s stoic acting with his deliberately broad but equally strong acting. While surely having a lot of fun with showing off how villainous his character is, Lang also embodies well his character’s steely determination and ruthlessness, and he often brings extra charge to the movie whenever that is necessary. Thanks to Lang, Draganov comes to us as a truly menacing opponent for Korpi, and the movie surely does not disappoint us at all when these two tough dudes finally have a duel of fate during the finale (Is this a spoiler, folks?).

On the whole, “Sisu: Road to Revenge” is a solid sequel packed with enough fun and excitement. After he drew my attention for the first time with his first feature film “Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale” (2010), Helander disappointed me a bit with his next film “Big Game” (2014), but he eventually bounced from that mildly low point with “Sisu”, and now he demonstrates more of his considerable talent as a good action movie director here in this movie. At present, he is working on the prequel to Ted Kotcheff’s “First Blood” (1982), and I must confess that I do not have much expectation on that upcoming film for understandable reasons (Seriously, do we really need that?), but it will probably not be that boring at least considering what he impressively achieved in “Sisu: Road to Revenge”.

Posted in Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): Things change, so they change

Posted on February 20, 2026 by kaist455

I must confess that I observed British TV drama series “Downton Abbey” as frequently going back and forth between amusement and annoyance from the beginning to the end. This is basically your average British upstairs/downstairs class drama, and I could not help but notice how lofty and messy its main characters are, but I was also amused and touched by how they turn out to be more flexible and adaptable than they seem at first.

Even after its six seasons, the series was followed by two feature films which are more or less than encores for its faithful fans, and now there comes “Downtown Abbey: The Grand Finale”, which is supposed to be the real last chapter for the main characters of the series. Considering another big social upheaval to come into their world sooner or later, I am not so sure whether this is indeed the end, but the movie works as a solid send-off to satisfy its target audiences at least. 

The story, which is set in 1930, begins with Lord Crawley (Hugh Benneville) and his several family members and some of his employees enjoying a stage performance in London. Needless to say, he and his family members watch the performance from a better spot while his employers enjoy the show from a less expensive one, but we cannot help but notice how narrow the class gap between these groups is as they casually enjoy the performance along with many other audiences in the same theater.

However, this good time does not last that long. While Lord Crawley stays at his family house in London along with his family members, Harold (Paul Giamatti), the brother of his American wife Cora (Elizabeth McGovern), arrives, and he has a really bad news for the Crawley family. He somehow lost most of his and his sister’s considerable fortune due to some lousy investment, and it seems that a business associate of his, who incidentally comes along with him, can help solve this serious trouble. 

Meanwhile, the Crawley family come to have another trouble to deal with. Mary (Michelle Dockery), the eldest daughter of Lord Crawley, suddenly comes to draw a lot of public attention due to her recent divorce with her second husband, and many members of her high society are not amused to say the least. At one point, she is blatantly asked to leave by the hostess of a big party she attends along with her family members, and her parents are certainly exasperated as watching their dear daughter being ostracized in not only London but also their neighborhood.

Meanwhile, we also see how things are going fairly well in the downstairs area in the Crawley manor. After Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) retired, his position is taken by Mr. Carter (Michael Fox), and Mr. Carter and Mrs. Carson (Phyllis Logan), who is still the housekeeper even after marrying Mr. Carson, steadily maintain the status quo along with Mrs. Carter (Sophie McShera), who is now about to succeed Mrs. Mason (Lesley Nicol) as the new cook of the manor.

Nevertheless, the ongoing social change in the British society is also coming into these and other employees’ world. Thanks to Mrs. Wilton (Isobel Grey), who is the mother of Mary’s deceased first husband and is still very close to the Crawley family, Mrs. Mason and Mr. Carson join a local committee supervising an annual fair, and they certainly help Mrs. Wilton a lot when she has to deal with a certain disagreeable member of the local committee.

As deftly shuffling these several storylines, the screenplay by Julian Fellows, who has steadily handled the script for the TV drama series as well as the two previous films, adds something which can be regarded as a cherry on the top. Guy Dexter (Dominic West), a famous movie star who once stayed at the Crawley manor for shooting his movie there, later comes along with Noël Coward (Arty Froushan), and he is also accompanied by Mr. Barrow (Robert James-Collier), who once worked in the Crawley manor but is now Dexter’s personal assistant while being very, very, very close to Dexter behind their back.

Dexter and Coward surely give some big help Mary and her family later in the story, and what follows next is the poignant final act where the Crawley family come to accept more of how much they must change themselves for keeping their dear manor and its long history as long as possible. While Lord Crawley and his dear wife become more willing to change the inevitable changes to come into what may be the last chapter of their life, Mary becomes all the more confident as being in the full charge of her family’s manor and estate, and her younger sister Edith (Laura Carmichael) and Mr. Branson (Allen Leach), the husband of her deceased youngest sister, are certainly ready to give Mary more support than ever.

 As they did in the TV drama series and the following two movies, the main cast members effortlessly slip into their respective roles as letting the guest performers of the movie steal the show from time to time. Paul Giamatti is dependable as usual, Simon Russell Beale, Arty Froushan, Alessandro Nivola, and Joely Richardson are also effective in their substantial guest appearances.

On the whole, “Downton Abbey: the Grand Finale” is clearly another shot at attracting the fans of the TV drama series, but it is equipped well with the same wit and fun observed from the TV drama series and the two preceding feature films. To be frank with you, I am now curious about how these interesting people of Downton Abbey will be changed much more by another big war and the following social change during the late 20th century, and I will not mind if Fellows thinks that is interesting enough for creating the sequel TV series.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Sound of Music (1965) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Still catchy anyway…

Posted on February 20, 2026 by kaist455

Robert Wise’s 1965 film “The Sound of Music” is a likable Hollywood classic musical movie filled with a number of catchy musical moments which will never leave you alone. Although it does not reach to the level of great musical films such as Wise’s other famous musical movie “West Side Story” (1961), it has enough charm and spirit to support its rather long running time (172 minutes) at least, and you can gladly go along with that even though being occasionally distracted by those many syrupy aspects in the dire need of a spoonful of medicine for the sugar to go down.   

The movie, which is based on the 1959 Broadway musical by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Howard Lindsay, and Russel Crouse, is basically not so far from another Rodgers & Hammerstein musical adaptation “The King and I” (1956) despite their vast background differences. A pretty heroine enters an alien environment dominated by a rather stern hero, but her charm (and singing) brings brightens up his world a lot, and, yes, they surely fall in love with each other along the story.

That likable singing lady in “The Sound of Music” is Maria (Julie Andrews), a young woman who has tried to be a nun in the abbey in Salzburg, Austria in 1938. As shown from the opening musical scene whose countless variations you may encounter on the Internet in these days, she is your typical irrepressible free spirit, and that is why Mother Abbess (Peggy Wood) decides to do something about that. After discussing (and singing) with some other nuns, she sends Maria to the manor of Captain von Trapp (Christopher Plummer), a wealthy widower who needs any governess who can handle his 7 children right now.

Needless to say, the first encounter between Maria and the von Trapp family is not exactly pleasant. While the captain is your average stern taskmaster who is often cold and distant to his children, his children have each own issues besides some penchant for mischief, but Maria is not daunted by this at all as spending her first day in the von Trapp manor.

Many of you surely know what follows next. It does not take much for Maria to charm and then brighten up the von Trapp children when the captain happens to be absent for a while, and she also teaches them how to sing. Although they did not know much about singing at the beginning, the von Trapp children quickly learn how to sing under Maria’s cheerful encouragement, and, what do you know, they come to sing well enough to perform in front of a lot of audiences later in the story.

Of course, the captain is not so amused to say the least at first. However, once he sees how much his children are brightened up by Maria and singing, he soon finds himself showing his heart (and singing) to Maria and his dear children, and, yes, he also comes to regard Maria with more affection even though he is expected to marry Baroness Elsa von Schraeder (Eleanor Parker), an equally wealthy socialite who does not welcome Maria much as observing how much the captain is smitten with Maria but turns out to a mere narrative roadblock just like those Nazi scumbags during the last act of the story (You all surely remember the captain furiously ripping off a Nazi flag, right?).

As the adapted screenplay by Ernest Lehman faithfully follows the narrative of the original Broadway musical, the movie presents a series of good musical moments decorated with those catchy songs such as “My Favorite Things” and, yes, “Do-re-mi”, that (in)famous song which can cheer you up or make your skin crawl a lot for the same reason. Since I watched the movie for the first time around the 1990s, these songs have never wholly left my mind for better or worse, and that says a lot about how enduring the original Broadway musical and its movie adaptation have been for more than 60 years. Personally, I like that funny song performed by a bunch of nuns around the beginning of the story, and I found myself happily nodding along its tune and lyrics again when I watched the movie yesterday.

Above all, the movie is constantly buoyed by the undeniable singing talent and charming presence of Julie Andrews, who deservedly received another Oscar nomination not long after her Oscar-winning performance in “Mary Poppins” (1964). Just like Babra Streisand in “Funny Girl” (1968), she makes us willingly forgive all those artificial aspects of the film whenever she sings (We never get to know that much about her character besides her spirit and personality, for example), and it is certainly difficult to be grouchy about all those sweet and cheerful musical scenes of hers.    

In case of several other main cast members in the film, they are more or less than the background details surrounding Andrews. Although he has always been remembered for this movie despite a number of memorable performances including his Oscar-winning supporting turn in “Beginners” (2011), Christopher Plummer is merely required to complement his co-star with his singing dubbed by Bill Lee, and I must point out that their eventual romantic moment is rather flat and perfunctory with the most forgettable song in the soundtrack. Peggy Wood, who received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination mainly for her gentle musical scene later in the film, Eleanor Parker, and Richard Haydn dutifully fill their respective spots around the story, and those young performers playing the von Trapp children hold each own place fairly well whenever they sing together along with Andrews. 

On the whole, “The Sound of Music” is still an enjoyable piece of entertainment and it deservedly won several Oscars including the ones for Best Picture and Director. Although I must admit that I occasionally rolled my eyes for being a little too sweet and sentimental for me, we can all agree that it represents the glorious era of classic Hollywood musical films during the 1960s along with “West Side Story”, “Mary Poppins”, and “My Fair Lady” (1964), and it will certainly not go away as long as cinema remains alive and well.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Voice of Hind Rajab (2025) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A devastating docudrama to reckon with

Posted on February 19, 2026 by kaist455

Kaouther Ben Hania’s latest movie “The Voice of Hind Rajab”, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival and then received a Best International Film Oscar nomination in last month, is a devastating docudrama to reckon with. Based on a truly heartbreaking real-life incident during the ongoing war in Gaza, Palestine, the movie is often quite difficult to watch for good reasons, but your eyes will be held by the considerable emotional power felt from the screen, and this will definitely make you reflect more on the Gaza war and all those atrocities and tragedies inside that.

The setting of the film is pretty simple. During its opening part, we are introduced to several volunteers of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) including Rana Hassan Faqih (Saja Kilani) and Omar A. Alqam (Motaz Malhees), and we get some glimpses on how these dedicated volunteers go through another busy and demanding day at their modest call center located in the West Bank area of Palestine on January 29st, 2024. Their main job is sending ambulances to those injured Palestinian civilians in Gaza as quickly as possible, but, of course, that is not an easy job at all mainly due to the aggressive military tactics of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) across the area. 

Not long after being quite devastated by what just happened to a frantic woman who called for help on the phone, Alqam receives an urgent request from a guy currently staying in Germany, who is very concerned about the safety of his several family members including a 6-year-old girl named Hind Rajab. As they tried to leave Gaza by their car, Rajab and her several family members got stuck somewhere in the area, and it does not take much time for Alqam and his several colleagues to realize how grave the situation is. When he subsequently attempts to contact Rajab and her family members on the phone, it turns out that everyone except Rajab was already killed by those Israeli soldiers in the area, and she is desperately calling for help as being helplessly stuck among the dead bodies of her family in that car.

Needless to say, not only Alqam and Rana but also their supervisor Mahdi M. Aljamal (Amer Hlehel) try really hard for the rescue of this unfortunate young girl, but, not so surprisingly, they are reminded again of how often they and their colleagues are helpless and frustrated due to being frequently limited by all those rules and regulations day by day. For example, they must secure a safe route for their ambulance, but this process in question often takes a lot of time, and, above all, there are not many ambulances and paramedics available to them.

Furthermore, there are also those IDF soldiers in the area, who do not hesitate to target their ambulances and paramedics at all. At one point later in the story, the movie shows the photographs of a bunch of recently deceased paramedics, which are as sad and devastating as those numerous photographs of the unfortunate callers Alqam and his colleagues could not save. 

Firmly sticking to Alqam and his colleagues throughout the story, the movie shows some admirable restraint in how it conveys to us the harrowing horror of Rajab’s increasingly grim circumstance. As the handheld camera of cinematographer Juan Sarmiento G. steadily focuses on their emotional responses to Rajab’s desperate call, we come to sense more of whatever she experienced during that horrible time, and we become all the more devastated as there come more horror and despair along the story.

The movie actually uses the excerpts of the recordings of the real phone conversations between Rajab and PRCS. Yes, her voice appearing in the film really belongs to Rajab herself, and this may make you question on the ethics of Ben Hania’s storytelling approach. Is this in fact no more than a blatantly sensational exploitation in the name of art and politics? Or, is this really a bold and powerful storytelling approach for delivering its undeniably angry and urgent political messages to us? 

Based on what I observed from the movie, I can only tell you that it succeeds as much as Ben Hania intended. It is quite clear from the beginning that she deeply cares about Hind Rajab as well as what happened to her, and she also strikes the right balance between fiction and reality. It seems to me that the drama among Alqam and several other main characters around him is dramatized to some degree, but they come to us ordinary decent people simply trying to do their frequently demanding job, and the main cast members of the film are believable in their natural acting as their characters go through a lot of emotional upheavals along the story.     

In conclusion, “The Voice of Hind Rajab” is a modest but utterly unforgettable movie, and Ben Hania further solidifies her advancing filmmaker career. Although I did not like enough her second feature film “The Man Who Sold His Skin” (2020), which also received a Best International Film Oscar nomination, I admired the interesting mix of fiction and reality in her Oscar-nominated documentary “Four Daughters” (2023), and now she goes further with this very intense piece of work. Yes, you may still wonder whether she should have taken more time for having more insight and perspective, but you cannot deny that she really felt the need to make and then show it to us right now, and she accomplishes her challenging mission with those indelible moments of human despair and devastation which will linger on your mind for a while.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Smashing Machine (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): A mildly unconventional sports drama from Benny Safdie

Posted on February 18, 2026 by kaist455

Benny Safdie’s new film “The Smashing Machine” is mildly unconventional as often being deliberately subdued and anti-climactic in terms of narrative. This can be considerably frustrating to you at times, but it is somehow held together by the admirably committed efforts from its lead actor, who flexes a surprising amount of acting muscle here in this movie.

Dwayne Johnson, who often looks quite different here thanks to the recently Oscar-nominated makeups by Kazu Hiro, Glen Griffin and Bjoern Rehbein, plays Mark Kerr, a real-life American Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter who was very famous during the 1990-2000s. The opening part shows Kerr having one of his career moments in 1997, but then we see how things have been rather messy in his life and career. Just for staying more in his field, he has frequently depended on painkillers, and his resulting addiction brings another strain on his troubled relationship with his girlfriend Dawn Staples (Emily Blunt), who tries her best but always ends up being not so supportive to her boyfriend.

And things get only worse for Kerr when he later goes to Tokyo for an international competition he is going to participate with the assistant of his close friend/colleague Mark Coleman (Ryan Bader). During his first round, Kerr’s physical condition happens to be not very ideal because of another heavy dose of painkiller, and this eventually leads to a humiliating moment of defeat, though he saves his face to some degree thanks to a little violation of his opponent during the match.

Not long after this painful time of defeat, Kerr arrives at a certain inevitable point familiar to any addict who has ever hit the bottom and then had a real moment of recognition. With some sincere support from Coleman, Kerr comes to admit that he does have a serious problem to face and then deal with, and that is the beginning of his first step toward sobriety, though this is not so easy for him as he comes to clash more and more with Dawn.

In the end, Dawn decides to leave Kerr, and Kerr comes to focus on more sobriety as well as preparing for comeback. He sets his eyes on winning the champion title at the same competition in Tokyo in 2000, and we see him diligently going through a series of training sessions under Bas Rutten, an ex-MMA fighter who is incidentally played by himself in the movie.

Meanwhile, Coleman also begins to go back in action. As showing much better match results than expected, he is also going to participate in that Tokyo competition in question, but both he and Kerr keep supporting each other as usual, even though being well aware of the growing possibility of confronting each other in the big final match.     

However, the screenplay by Safdie, who also edited the film besides serving as one of its co-producers, curiously does not attempt to build much dramatic tension on this. As a matter of fact, several key match scenes in the film are presented in a rather perfunctory fashion instead of generating more intensity to grab our attention, and we often find ourselves observing the story and character from the distance as merely following a series of comments from the sportscasters in the movie.

This may disappoint you if you expect something as intense or propulsive as what Safdie and his older brother Josh Safdie achieved in “Good Time” (2017) and “Uncut Gems” (2019), but the movie still works as an engaging character study supported by those small but genuine emotional moments observed from Kerr and several other characters around him. Johnson, who also participated in the production of the film, really pushes himself much more than ever as immersing himself deep into the role virtually tailor-made for him considering his professional wrestling career, and he and Ryan Bader, who is also undeniably perfect for his role due to his real-life professional MMA career, are constantly believable during several key scenes between them. Right from their first scene, you can clearly sense the deep and strong sense of friendship and comradeship between their characters, and you may wish that the movie would focus more on their characters’ enduring relationship.

In contrast, the movie sadly stumbles whenever it tries to depict Kerr and Dawn’s increasingly problematic relationship. Regrettably stuck in a very thankless supporting role, Emily Blunt is seriously wasted on the whole, and the movie fails to give us any clear understanding on the apparently toxic aspects of her character’s relationship with Kerr, which only brings out the worse sides of theirs despite their supposedly sincere efforts.

In conclusion, “The Smashing Machine”, which incidentally won the Silver Lion award for Best Director when it was premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in last year, is one or two steps down from what Safdie impressively achieved along with his older brother in their previous films, but it is not wholly without entertainment mainly thanks to his competent direction and his lead actor’s diligent acting. I do not know whether he will work with his older brother again, but he demonstrates here that he can go his way fairly well just like his older brother recently did in “Marty Supreme” (2025) in the same year, and it will be interesting to see how their respective filmmaker careers will diverge or converge during next several years.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment