Little Brother (2026) ☆☆☆(3/4): The trouble with his “brother”

Posted on June 29, 2026 by kaist455

I must confess that it took some time for me to recognize the considerable talent of John Cena. Around the time when he appeared in “12 Rounds” (2009), he looked to me like just another popular American professional wrestler trying to follow the footsteps of, say, Dwayne Johnson, but he gradually demonstrated his distinctive talent in a number of different works such as “Trainwreck” (2015) and “The Suicide Squad” (2021) during next several years. As recently shown from his wryly hilarious guest appearance in Apple TV+ series “Pluribus”, he is smart enough to know exactly what and how he can act, and that will certainly help his ongoing career more.

As far as I observed from his performances, Cena is usually effective as a straight counterpart to silly or absurd comic situation (I would love to see him doing deadpan comedy for Wes Anderson someday), and that valuable talent of his is effectively utilized in Netflix comedy film “Little Brother”, which was released in last week. While showing good comic timing along with his fellow main cast members, he also keeps his acting as straight as possible, and this actually makes a number of loony moments in the film all the more amusing for us.

Here in this film, Cena plays Rudd Landy (John Cena), who is a fairly successful real estate businessman in New York City but still wants to distinguish him a lot more due to his longtime inferiority complex associated with his older brother Josh (Christopher Meloni). Since their early years, Josh has always looked cooler and more successful compared to his younger brother, and Rudd feels like being overshadowed again by Josh when Josh, who is incidentally a very wealthy hedge fund manager, contributed much more money than Rudd to a charity event held by Rudd’s wife Deirdre (Michelle Monaghan).

Anyway, Rudd has been recently trying to go for more prominence and success via some big reality TV show, but the situation does not look that rosy for him from the very beginning. To the producers of the reality TV show, he is just another candidate to come and then go, and that certainly makes him all the more insecure and neurotic than before, while also making him a lot more distant to his wife and their two adolescent sons.

And then there comes an unexpected change on one day. Rudd and his wife happen to be brought in front of a guy named Marcus Pinchel (Eric André), and Rudd does not recognize Marcus at first before eventually remembering an old connection between him and Marcus. More than 25 years ago, young Rudd got himself associated with young Marcus via a “Big Brother-Little Brother program”, and this brief relationship between them has meant a lot to Marcus even though Rudd never contacted him since then.

It soon turns out that Marcus’s longtime assistant Mia (Sherry Cola) has corresponded with Marcus for a while via Rudd’s email account without Rudd’s knowledge. Believing that Rudd still cares a lot about him, Marcus decided to go to see Rudd in New York City, so he got out from a mental hospital where he had temporarily stayed for no particular reason.

Needless to say, Rudd’s daily life and schedule are immediately disrupted in one way or another thanks to Marcus, who is your average messy troublemaker. As his “brother” keeps causing more troubles, Rudd becomes more exasperated and frustrated, but he is also quite perplexed as Marcus is somehow accepted well by not only his family and assistant but also the producers of the reality show, who instantly sense considerable potential from Marcus right from the start.

 As Cena steadily holds the ground with the growing exasperation inside his character, the movie diligently throws one wacky comic moment after another, and Eric André willingly throws himself into sheer silliness and absurdities without any sense of condescension. While his goofy appearance makes a good contrast with his co-star’s straightforward attitude, André somehow strikes the right balance between sincerity and zaniness, and he also did a good job of imbuing his character with some little but precious pathos. Yes, we can clearly see how much his character annoys Rudd with his irrepressible goofiness, but we also perceive Marcus’s sincere and amiable aspects just like Rudd’s wife, who gladly shows more heart to him and then receives some valuable lesson to spice up her marriage a bit.

While it becomes pretty predictable and less fun during its last act, the movie keeps holding our attention thanks to its two co-stars’ good efforts, and they are also supported well by several main cast members, who have each own comic moment to shine along the story. While Michelle Monaghan, who has been one of the most underrated actresses working in Hollywood at present, surprises us as not flinching at all from some of the raunchiest moments in the film, Christopher Meloni somehow brings some interesting human details to his supposedly broad supporting character, and the special mention goes to Sherry Cola, who ably overcomes her rather thankless supporting part.  

  In conclusion, “Little Brother” does not surpass my expectation, but it handles its comic materials a bit better than expected, so I give it mild recommendation. Yes, it is sometimes too silly for my taste, but I did chuckle more than once during my viewing, and now I must remind myself again of what my late mentor Roger Ebert often quoted: “A man goes to the movies. A critic must be honest enough to admit that he is that man.”

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Voicemails for Isabelle (2026) ☆☆☆(3/4): A typical Netflix romantic comedy with some enjoyable things

Posted on June 29, 2026 by kaist455

Netflix film “Voicemails for Isabelle”, which was released a few weeks ago, is quite typical to the bone. Even before its Meet Cute moment, you will already have a pretty good idea on how the story will go after that narrative point, and it will not surprise you much on the whole. Nevertheless, its many conventional aspects are thankfully compensated by a number of enjoyable things including the undeniable likable presence of its lead actress, who is certainly the best element in the film.

Zoey Deutch, who has been more prominent during last several years thanks to her good performances in several notable films such as Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague” (2025), plays Jill Shaw, a struggling young female baker working in San Francisco, California. During the opening part, we see how close Jill and her younger sister Isabelle (Ciara Bravo) were to each other as they grew up together, and the movie handles this crucial part with enough humor and poignancy. Although Isabelle had been struggling with cystic fibrosis since her birth and was not expected to live that long, Jill always stood by her along with their loving parents, and Isabelle certainly appreciated her older sister’s care and affection.

Although Jill subsequently left their home in Austin, Texas for her baking career, she and Isabelle keep corresponding with each other day by day. When Isabelle tells Jill on one day that her current medical condition has been getting worse than before, Jill is not particularly worried at first, but then her younger sister suddenly dies not long after that, and Jill is certainly quite devastated by this sudden loss.

After going through another unsatisfying day not long after Isabelle’s death, Jill leaves a voicemail to Isabelle’s phone number as usual, but it turns out that Isabelle’s phone number is now for a new smartphone belonging to Wes (Nick Robinson), a hunky lad incidentally working as a real estate broker in Austin. While he is quite perplexed by the continuing stream of voicemails from Jill, Wes gets to know more about her and Isabelle via her voice mails, and he eventually decides to go to San Francisco for meeting her.

Because he knows where she usually sends her voicemail to him, it is not difficult for Wes to meet Jill at that spot in question. Although he still does not talk anything about receiving her voicemails, Ned comes to like Jill more as getting to know her more during next several days, and Jill is pleased to spend more time with Wes, who seems to be much better than several crummy dudes she met before him.

Yes, this surely feels quite conventional already, and the screenplay by director/writer Leah McKendrick is certainly well aware of that. At one point in the middle of the story, Wes confides everything to his two best friends who are about to marry, and they immediately point out that his situation is not so far from Tom Hanks’s character in “You’ve Got Mail” (1998) – and how unfair he is to Jill just like Hanks’s character to Meg Ryan’s in that movie. In addition, a number of romance films such as “The Faults in Our Star” (2014) are mentioned throughout the movie, and it is a shame that “Vertigo” (1958), which is, in my humble opinion, one of the most desperate (and morbid) romance films in the movie history, is not mentioned at all even though the Golden Gate Bridge is frequently shown in the film.

McKendrick’s screenplay mostly sticks to its numerous genre conventions, but it mixes them with a substantial amount of wit and humor, and the result is often buoyed by her two engaging lead performers. Deutch frequently exudes her natural charm as her character bounces from one narrative point to another along with her co-star, and she also demonstrates well her considerable comic talent during several key scenes associated with her abusive boss and rather unsympathetic colleagues. While having some good laughs from that, we come to care more about Jill than before, and Deutch diligently carries her character and the movie to the end even though the story lags more than once during the last act.

On the opposite, Nick Robinson, who has mostly been known for his several notable films including “Love, Simon” (2018), is relatively bland compared to his co-star. Nevertheless, he is well-cast as an effective counterpoint for Deutch, and he has his own moment when his character valiantly attempts to amuse and entertain Jill and several others riding a local tour bus along with them. We can clearly sense more of the growing affection between them, and that certainly makes him more hesitant about revealing everything to her than before.

In case of several supporting performers in the film, they simply fill their functional roles as much as possible. As Jill’s sick younger sister, Ciara Bravo clicks well with Deutch during the early part of the story, and Gil Bellows and Tanis Dolman provide some warmth as Jill and Isabelle’s caring parents. Harry Shum Jr. and Megan Danso have some fun with their broad supporting roles, and Nick Offerman gleefully chews his several scenes as Jill’s abusive boss.

Overall, “Voicemails for Isabelle” does not break any new ground in its genre territory, but it works mainly thanks to the solid chemistry between Deutch and Robinson. Even though I found their movie a bit too predictable, I still rooted for their characters nonetheless, and that is what a good romantic comedy film can do, isn’t it?

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Summer’s Camera (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): A little sensitive queer adolescent drama

Posted on June 28, 2026 by kaist455

South Korean independent film “Summer’s Camera” is a little queer adolescent drama to be admired for its somber but sensitive moments. Calmly following the uncertain emotional journey of its queer adolescent heroine, the movie subtly illustrates her personal loss and grief beneath the surface, and it is also interesting to observe the story thoughtfully handling what is going to be her very first romance.

At the beginning, Yeo-reum (Kim Si-a) frankly tells us about her life with her father, who worked as a photographer before his sudden death. He gladly shared his professional passion with his daughter whenever they spent time together, and he even gave her some of his old film cameras for encouraging her interest in photography more. 

Some time after her father’s death, Yeo-reum, whose name incidentally means “summer” in Korean, remains stuck with the last film camera given to her by him. While still wondering what she really wants to shoot on the last few films of an old film roll inside the camera, Yeo-reum accidentally encounters Yeon-woo (Yu Ga-eun), one of the soccer players in her female high school. Right from when their eyes are met, something clicks inside Yeo-reum, and she eventually uses those last few films for shooting Yeon-woo practicing on the school field.

When she subsequently gets the film roll developed, Yeo-reum discovers something quite unexpected. The film roll also contains a bunch of old photographs shot by her father during his high school years, and she notices that he shot a lot of some other boy around his age. Fortunately, there is the name of this boy in one of these old photographs, and then she locates him at a spot not so far from her neighborhood.

His name is Ma-roo (Kwak Min-gyu), and, as he frankly reveals later, Yeo-reum’s father was his boyfriend before breaking up with him and then marrying Yeo-reum’s mother. He and Yeo-reum soon spend more time together, and he gradually becomes someone to whom she can talk about anything including her growing romantic feelings toward Yeon-woo.   

However, it does not take much time for Yeo-reum to take her first forward step toward Yeon-woo, who, to Yeo-reum’s surprise, turns out to have been quite attracted to Yeo-reum since their first encounter. When Yeo-reum later reveals more of this romantic situation of hers to her best friend Min-jeong (Lee Eun-sol), Min-jeong does not mind this at all, and it seems that all Yeo-reum will have to do is confiding everything to her mother, who is mostly absent as busily working for supporting herself and her daughter.

It is not much of a spoiler to tell you that there will be an inevitable moment of heartbreak for Yeo-reum, but the movie does not hurry itself at all while wisely avoiding unnecessary melodrama. With some more support from Min-jeong, Yeo-reum and Yeon-woo show more affection to each other without hiding their romantic relationship much from others around them, and that surely reminds us of how South Korean queer cinema has become a lot more open and honest than before. Around 20 years ago, many of South Korean queer films were far from mainstream, but South Korean queer cinema were boosted a lot by a number of critically acclaimed works ranging from “The Handmaiden” (2016) to “3670” (2025) during the last two decades, and it is certainly refreshing to see an adolescent queer character who is totally fine with being herself while more concerned about those universal matters of romance familiar to all of us.        

As leisurely rolling its story and characters, the screenplay by director/writer Divine Sung, who incidentally made a feature film debut here in this film, gets us more engaged in Yeo-reum’s slow but steady emotional journey. Several intimate personal moments between Yeo-reum and Yeon-woo are shown with soft and sunny warmness, and that is why it is devastating to see Yeo-reum belatedly realizing an overlooked problem in their supposedly strong relationship. As Ma-roo tells Yeo-reum more about her father, her mind sometimes drifts around imagined moments, and these imagined moments eventually lead to a poignant moment of acceptance for her later in the story. 

Sung also draws engaging performances from her main cast members. Kim Si-a, who previously played a substantial supporting character in “Kill Boksoon” (2023), earnestly holds the emotional center of the story, and she is also supported well by several other cast members including Kwak Min-gyu, Yu Ga-eun, and Lee Eun-sol. Kwak’s understated acting complements well Kim’s forthright attitude during several key scenes of theirs, and Yu and Lee hold each own place around Kim besides bringing enough life and personality to their respective supporting roles. 

Overall, “Summer’s Camera” is worthwhile to watch for several good reasons including its delicate mood, thoughtful storytelling, and good performances. This is surely another notable feature debut film from South Korean cinema during this year, and it will be interesting to see what may come next from Sung after this commendable starting point. I think she is a fairly promising filmmaker, and I sincerely hope that she will advance further with more artistic achievement to impress us.

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Manok (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): A lesbian lady back in her rural hometown

Posted on June 28, 2026 by kaist455

South Korean independent film “Manok” is a likable queer comedy drama boldly waving its rainbow spirit across the screen. While its cheerful mix between humor and drama often feels rather uneven especially during its second half, the movie has a lot of spirited fun with how its brash lesbian heroine goes all the way for her modest but significant goal without hiding herself at all, and this surely tickled me and other audiences around me more than once.   

At the beginning, we are introduced to Man-ok (Yang Mal-bok), a middle-aged lesbian woman who has run a little lesbian bar at the Itaewon-dong neighborhood of Seoul for around 20 years. When she belatedly realizes that her bar has not actually been that popular among her fellow lesbians including her longtime companion Geum-ja (Kim Jung-young), she cannot help but lash out at several others including Geum-ja, and she eventually decides to shut down her business not long after being informed that her estranged mother died and then left their old family house to her.

Although she knows well that she will not be welcomed much due to her checkered past, Man-ok returns to her rural hometown for staying at her family house at least for a while. Needless to say, this instantly raises the eyebrows of everyone in the village including her ex-husband Cheol-joo (Park Wan-kyu), who married a local hairdresser not long after their divorce and has also incidentally been the village chief during last several years. 

All Man-ok wants is living quietly without drawing much attention from the others in the village, and several village people are actually nice to her without asking too much, but she soon finds herself blocked by Cheol-joo’s petty personal resentment in one way or another. After getting encouraged a bit by some other villagers who have been quite discontent with Cheol-joo’s leadership, she eventually decides to challenge him in the upcoming election for the village chief, and Cheol-joo is certainly not so amused at all.

Because neither Man-ok nor her several supporters do not have any particular election campaign experience, they soon find themselves stumbling more than once, but they finally find a right campaign strategy for appealing more to those voters out there. It turns out that many of the villagers are not so pleased with how Cheol-joo has been running their village, and Man-ok eventually succeeds in presenting herself as a possible good alternative.

However, Man-ok remains not so open about her homosexuality to the villagers, and she becomes all the more conflicted due to Jae-yeon (Sung Jae-yun), a local queer teenager who is actually the only daughter of Cheol-joo and his current wife. After seeing how Jae-yeon, who is apparently more comfortable with being a boy, has kept his sexual identity to himself in a little private place which once belonged to her, Man-ok is willing to come closer to Jae-yeon as a possible mentor figure to lean on, but she also hesitates at times due to her ongoing election campaign.

And things become a bit more complicated as Geum-ja and her and Man-ok’s female transgender friend Seon-ah (Saek Ja) come to the village later in the story. Both Geum-ja and Seon-ah certainly draw a lot of attention from the villagers not long after their arrival in the village, and this naturally generates more inner conflict for Man-ok, though she is still happy to see them again. 

Yes, the story eventually arrives at the inevitable moment when Man-ok’s homosexuality is fully disclosed to the villagers (Is this a spoiler?), and the mood accordingly becomes more serious, but the movie keeps its spirit high as frequently swinging back and forth between comedy and drama. Although the subplot involved with the conflict between Jae-yeon and Cheol-joo is a bit too dark, the movie thankfully bounces from that with more spirit, and you may come to overlook some artificial aspects of its predictably uplifting finale. Yes, considering how conservative your average South Korean rural town can be, it may feel too unrealistic, but you will not easily look away from a lot of hope and optimism exuded from this genuine feel-good moment.    

Furthermore, the movie is fully supported by the strong presence and talent of its charismatic lead actress. Yang Mal-bok, who was alternatively terrifying and electrifying as an unabashedly lousy but undeniably strong-willed mother in “The Apartment with Two Women” (2021), grabs our attention right from her very first moment in the film, and she demonstrates again that she is one of the best actresses in South Korean cinema at present. Ably balancing her character between determination and vulnerability, she gives us another vivid and complex heroine to remember, and her solid performance holds everything in the film together even when it falters a bit.

Around Yang, director/writer/co-producer Lee Yu-jin, who incidentally made a feature film debut here after making several short films, assembles colorful supporting performers. Sung Jae-yun, Park Wan-kyu, Kim Jung-young, and Saek Ja all did a good job of bringing enough life and personality to their respective roles, and Kim and Yang have a couple of sweet moments which show us more of their enduring romantic relationship.

Along with many other recent South Korean queer films such as “3670” (2025), “Manok” shows how much the South Korean society has been changed for its LGBTQ+ citizens – and how far it still will have to go for more inclusion and acceptance. Although I have some doubt and skepticism as a seasoned gay dude, the movie amusingly and touchingly reminds me of the importance of keeping going with more hope and optimism, and I sincerely hope that the movie will not only empower its target audiences but also enlighten many other audiences out there.

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Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros (2023) ☆☆☆☆(4/4): How a French restaurant works

Posted on June 28, 2026 by kaist455

Frederick Wiseman’s last work “Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros” is another extraordinary documentary to admire and cherish. Just like Wiseman’s many other works, the documentary simply observes and listens without any interview or music or narration, but we somehow sense and understand its big, interesting picture bit by bit, and the result is an utterly ample full-course meal for our eyes and mind.

The main subject of the documentary is the Troisgros family’s Michelin 3-star restaurant “Le Bois sans feuilles” (It means “The Woods Without Leaves” in French, by the way), which is located in some rural town of France. At the beginning, we see several people from the restaurant purchasing some vegetables and herbs early in the morning, and this will certainly remind you again of that undeniable importance of good and fresh ingredients in fine cooking.

And then we see the patriarch of the Troisgros family, Michel Troisgros, and his two sons, César and Léo, discussing on their business at one of the two other restaurants belonging to them. At one point, they discuss a lot on how to make a certain dish on their menu, and you will listen to their serious discussion more even if you do not know anything about cooking (FULL DISCLOSURE: I don’t, except making fried/boiled eggs or instant noodle).

The documentary becomes more interesting as observing how things get started at Le Bois sans feuilles. As Michel tells one of his customers around the end of the documentary, the restaurant was actually moved to a new location outside the town several years ago, and the documentary often emphasizes the pastorally tranquil rural atmosphere, which makes an interesting contrast with the slick modern interior design of the restaurant.

The kitchen of the restaurant is an impressively wide and open space. As often led or guided by Michel and César, a bunch of chefs busily prepare for cooking all those dishes to be served to a bunch of various customers, and it is certainly fascinating to see how they carefully prepare each of those cooking ingredients step by step. I was particularly amused a bit by when lamb brains are prepared, and it is a bit shame that the documentary does not show much of how frogs are prepared and then cooked, though frog dishes are frequently ordered throughout the documentary.

Meanwhile, the waiting staff members of the restaurant also prepare a lot before their customers arrive. We see an employee carefully and meticulously setting each table at the restaurant. We see the head of the staff giving all the necessary information about their customers, such as food preference or allergy problems. And we soon see how each of the waiting staff members deftly handling many orders from the customers, who all expect to have a finest dining experience in one way or another.

Of course, the mood becomes all the busier in the kitchen as more orders come, but everything is mostly under control under the confident leadership of Michel and César. We never see them raising their voice at all, and it is clear that they have a lot of trust on their dependable kitchen staff members. Yes, there sometimes come a few big mistakes, but Michel regards them as opportunities for learning more, and there is a little funny moment when he has one of the kitchen staff members check on two old but reliable cookbooks after this young man makes a minor mistake in handling lamb’s brains.

After showing a lot about how the restaurant works during its first half, the documentary expands its view a bit during the second half. For the quality control of their cooking ingredients, Michel and his two sons certainly pay a lot of attention to a number of various farms which have been their main providers for a long time, and we often watch them attentively listening to their providers explaining or showing how the quality of their commodities has been maintained as well as possible. As a result, we get to know more about how important various cooking ingredients ranging from cheese to wine really are for first-class fine dining, and I especially enjoyed the scene showing a big facility where many different kinds of cheese are stored and then fermented for days or months. As its manager enthusiastically explains more, I observed the process in the facility with more interest, and I was amused a bit when the documentary later went back to the restaurant and showed a cart full of various kinds of cheese again.

While mostly remaining objective and unobtrusive, the documentary also sometimes focuses on the small but revealing human moments observed from Michel and his restaurant staff members. While being a very respectable master chef at the top of his game, Michel often enjoys having a casual conversation with some of his customers, who are all delighted to spend some time with him. He and his wife and children are all dedicated to their family business with a lot of genuine affection and pride, and his two sons are already ready to go each own way – especially after he handed his leadership to César.

Overall, “Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros” is quite a pleasure to watch despite its 4-hour running time, and this is surely a splendid finishing touch to the long and illustrious career of Wiseman, who sadly passed away early in this year at the age of 96. Although it is a shame that there will not be another work from him, this legendary documentary filmmaker left us a heap of memorable works ranging from “Titicut Follies” (1967) to “City Hall” (2020), and they and “Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros” will continue to impress and fascinate us as long as cinema is alive and well.

Sidenote: The French term “menus-plaisirs” literally means “minor pleasures”. and also puns on “menu”.

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Supergirl (2026) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Superman’s messy cousin

Posted on June 25, 2026 by kaist455

“Supergirl”, another product from the DC Universe (DCU) after “Superman” (2025), has a number of right elements, but it somehow left me rather unimpressed on the whole. Probably because, like many of you, I have seen too many superhero flicks during last two decades, I simply followed the story and characters without much enthusiasm, even when I enjoyed several good things including its lead actress’s considerable presence and talent.

Yes, as shown from that brief moment shown at the end of “Superman”, Milly Alcock is well-cast as Kara Zor-El / Supergirl, who is a cousin of Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman (David Corenswet, who briefly appears from time to time here in the film as expected) and, yes, another survivor from their destroyed alien planet. You may be a bit disappointed to see that she does not wear her recognizable attire that often here in the film, but Alcock has enough spirit and charisma for the role, and her diligent efforts duly support the film to the end.

Anyway, the early part of the film quickly establishes how messy Supergirl’s daily life in the universe has been. Unlike her cousin, she does not adjust herself well to the Earth as coping with her survivor’s guilt, so she has usually spent her time on an alien planet where she can be drunk and hurt without any superpower because of its red sun different from our yellow one.

On one day when she is going through another drinking day as usual, Supergirl encounters a young plucky girl named Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley, who is incidentally not related to Daisy Ridley). Ruthye recently lost her whole family due to a bunch of barbarous pirates and human traffickers led by a dude named Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts), and she needs someone to track down these rather elusive bad guys for having her revenge on Krem. Although she is not particularly interested in getting associated with this little girl, Supergirl soon comes to accompany Ruthye because, besides a sudden desperate personal reason for her, she knows too well how painful it is to lose family, as reflected by the flashback sequence shown later in the film,

Thanks to a little piece of information, Supergirl and Ruthye go to a seedy and barren planet where many people are frequently terrorized by Krem’s clan but also many different dangerous figures. One of such figures is an alien mercenary and bounty hunter named Lobo (Jason Momoa), and he has also searched for Krem’s clan for getting the bounty on one of its main members. His first encounter with Supergirl and Ruthye is not exactly pleasant, but he eventually becomes a sort of ally for them even though he does not seem to give a damn about their goal.

So, what we get here is a very typical mix of SF, western, and a bit of comedy, and that is not so far from co-producer James Gunn’s Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) flick “Guardians of the Galaxy” (2014) and two following sequels. As the story and characters hop from one stark alien background from another, we are served with a heap of various alien figures, and the movie occasionally shows some wry sense of humor as utilizing several recognizable pop songs throughout the story.

While this is entertaining to watch for a while, I must say that this is not particularly new or refreshing compared to what we already saw many times before. After all, we had not only “Guardians of the Galaxy” and its two sequels but also recent Star Wars movies (and several TV drama series associated with them), and the film often looks like a mere imitator in terms of background and detail. In addition, it even tries a bit of George Miller’s “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015) during its last act, but, again, it ends up just playing notes instead of music. Director Craig Gillespie does a competent job of handling a number of big action scenes in the film, but these action scenes do not have enough sense of fun or excitement, and I became more aware of all those CGIs put upon the screen in the end.

At least, I cared more about the inner struggle of Supergirl as getting to know a bit more about her, and Alcock ably balances her role between humor and gravitas. She and Eve Ridley are believable in the rocky relationship development between their characters along the story, and this may take you back to Henry Hathaway’s “True Grit” (1969) and its 2010 remake version from the Coen Brothers. Although this is actually her first feature film, Ridley holds her own place well around Alcock, and she may soon advance further after this solid debut of hers.

As another crucial part of the story, Jason Momoa, who incidentally played Arthur Curry / Aquaman in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), gleefully chews the scene as required, but it is a bit dissatisfying that his character remains to be more or less than a plot element to come and then go. As the main villain of the story, Matthias Schoenaerts is as vile and nasty as required, but his villain character is not particularly memorable, and that is another disappointing aspect of the film.

In conclusion, “Supergirl” is not good enough for recommendation for me, but like “Superman”, it shows some potential for better things to come besides being much better than the 1984 film of the same name, which may be a bit entertaining for you if you are looking for something embarrassingly campy. It is not bad at all, but, considering how much our time has been saturated with countless superhero flicks during last 20 years, it should have tried more for distinguishing itself in my humble opinion.

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I Am Frankelda (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): An enchanting Mexican animation film

Posted on June 23, 2026 by kaist455

Mexican animation film “I Am Frankelda”, which is currently available on Netflix in South Korea, is quite enchanting for its distinctive mood, texture, and detail. As a stop-motion animation film, the film gives us a series of lovely visual moments to be savored and then appreciated for their top-notch technical qualities, and it also touches us as a fantasy story of one young female storyteller struggling to follow her aspiration.

The film is actually a prequel to directors/writer/producers Arthuro and Roy Ambriz’s Cartoon Network Latin America TV animation series “Frankelda’s Book of Spooks”. I must confess that I never heard about that animation series before encountering the film itself, but, as far as I can see from the film itself, the directors are clearly talented animation filmmakers, and it is no surprise that the production of their film was helped a bit by Guillermo del Toro.

Anyway, the story, which is set in 1866, mainly revolves around a young woman named Francisca Imelda (voiced by Mireya Mendoza). Since she was very young, she has always wanted to be a writer, and her writings have helped her a lot on coping with the sadness from her artist mother’s early death. Despite the stern disapproval of her strict grandmother, she keeps going in her writing even when she grows up to be a young woman, and her favorite story subject is a fantastic realm called the Topus Terrenus and its various magical entities.

What do you know, it turns out that the Topus Terrenus is actually real in some parallel dimension outside the human world. The existence of this fantasy kingdom incidentally depends on the fears and nightmares from the human world, but, due to the ongoing modernization of the human world, there have been less fears and nightmares in the human world, and this certainly troubles the king and queen of the kingdom.

As watching his parents deeply concerned about the possible demise of their kingdom, Prince Herneval (voiced by Arturo Mercado Jr.) becomes quite determined to find any possible solution. He believes that they need a new storyteller who can write nightmares better than their royal adviser and “nightmare-teller” Procustes (voiced by Luis Leonardo Suárez), so he eventually approaches to Francisca on one day when she is daunted by another painful rejection of her stories mainly due to sexism

Prince Herneval subsequently takes Francisca to the Topus Terrenus, and Francisca is certainly delighted to see the manifestation of everything she has imagined. Although she is technically not allowed to come to the Topus Terrnus, she is welcomed by Prince Herneval’s parents anyway, and it looks like she will finally get a chance to shine as a storyteller.

Needless to say, Procustes, whose spider-like appearance and ingratiating attitude somehow remind of the villain character of Disney animation film “The Little Mermaid” (1989), is not so amused by this change represented by Fransisca. Besides deliberately discouraging her with his “advices”, he also plans to depose Prince Herneval’s parents along with several clan leaders supposed to serve under them, and the story naturally becomes darker and more tense as Procustes and his cohorts embark on their coup d’état.

Nevertheless, the film often takes its time for immersing us into its wondrous fantasy world, and you will certainly appreciate the painstaking efforts felt from the screen. As shown from a video clip presented in the middle of the end credits, the directors and their crew members really spent a lot of time for shooting each scene in the film, and their result is often remarkable for meticulous details to observe.

And we come to care more about our young heroine and her unlikely friend. As they struggle to save the kingdom along the story, Francisca gradually finds her inner strength and creativity again, and it is touching to see when she eventually takes the first significant forward step as a female storyteller not so far from, yes, Mary Shelley. In case of Prince Herneval, he also has his own drama along the story, and the story becomes poignant when he does a lot more than expected for not only his kingdom but also his dear human friend.

I must tell you that the story stumbles a bit during the final act, and it takes some time for me to follow what is going on during the expected climactic part. Besides, the story often feels limited as a prequel, and it inevitably looks like a mere opening which just leaves us with a promise on more stuffs to come via that TV animation series.

Although the half of this year has not passed yet, we already got several enjoyable animation films such as “Hoppers” (2026) and “Toy Story 5” (2026), and “I Am Frankelda” is certainly a nice addition to the list in my trivial opinion. Yes, it has some weak aspects to notice, but that is compensated a lot by its enchanting visual elements and engaging storytelling at least, and its directors demonstrate well their considerable potential and talent here in this film. It will be interesting to see what they will do next after this admirable achievement, and I will certainly look forward to that.

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GOAT (2026) ☆☆☆(3/4): A young goat following his dream

Posted on June 23, 2026 by kaist455

Animation feature film “GOAT” is typical and familiar to the bone. With a fantasy background full of anthropomorphic animal characters not so from “Zootopia” (2016) and its recent sequel, the film presents your average underdog sports drama story, and you will easily be able to predict how the story goes here and there. Nevertheless, it works a little better than expected thanks to its vibrant animation style and an ample amount of wit and humor, and I enjoyed that even though I do not know anything about basketball, which is incidentally called “roarball” here.

The hero of the story is Will Harris (voiced by Caleb McLaughlin), a teenage American Pygmy goat who has aspired to become a professional roarball player since he was young. He is relatively tiny compared to all those big roarball players out there, but he does not give up his dream at all, while hoping for any chance for recognition.

And then there comes such a chance to him on one day. When a very popular roar player named Mane Attraction (voiced by Aaron Pierre) comes to his neighborhood, Will willingly challenges Mane without any hesitation, and, what do you know, he surprises others a lot with his considerable athletic skill, though he is eventually beaten by Mane. However, a video clip of their basketball duel goes viral on the Internet later, and that draws attention of Florence “Flo” Everson (voiced by Jenifer Lewis), a sleazy warthog who is incidentally the owner of the Vineland Thorns, a prominent local roarball team which Will has dreamed of joining someday. 

The Vineland Thorns have mainly been known for Jett Fillmore (voiced by Gabrielle Union), a black panther who has been its main star player for many years but has seriously considered retirement due to her age. Nevertheless, she does not want to quit right now because her team has not won all season yet, so she demanded a new player to assist her and then galvanize the team, and that is how Will gets chosen.

Needless to say, Will is overjoyed about this unbelievable chance, but it does not take much time for him to see that he is not particularly welcomed by Jett and the other team members. While Jett is not so pleased about being stuck with a rookie she never heard about, the other team members do not give a damn about Will as mostly being occupied with each own issues, and Will soon finds himself mostly stuck on the bench as another roarball season begins.

It is not much of a spoiler to tell you that Will eventually gets an opportunity to prove himself to others including Jett, but the film keeps us engaged with a lot of spirit unleashed upon the screen. A number of roarball sequences in the film are fun and exciting to watch as decorated with enough mood and details to savor, and you will get some extra amusement from how those various animal characters play roarball, which often looks like a mix between unisex basketball and a bit of violence from American football.

Will and Jett’s respective dramatic arcs are very predictable, but their dramas are fortunately equipped with enough gravitas to make us care more about them. As reluctantly recognizing Will’s talent and aspiration, Jett is reminded again of the undeniable importance of teamwork, and she certainly comes to prove her worth more than before. While he surely gets some moments of disappointment and disillusionment later, Will still remembers what has been important to him, and that certainly energizes not only him but also others around him.

The film is still not that fresh as often reminding us of what we already saw from “Zootopia” and its sequel, but that is compensated to some degree by its distinctive style and details. While the animal characters in the film are broadly drawn, they are filled with colorful personality, their fantasy background is illustrated with a lot vivid details. In other words, this is basically a newly packaged version of “Zootopia”, but it is decorated with enough style and substance to distinguish itself at least.

The voice cast members of the film are solid on the whole. Caleb McLaughlin, who has been mainly known as one of the main cast members in Netflix drama series “Stranger Things”, dutifully holds the center with his earnest voice acting, and he is supported well by a bunch of performers including Gabrielle Union, Aaron Pierre, Nicola Coughlan, David Harbour, Nick Kroll, Stephen Curry (He also served as a co-producer of the film, by the way), Jenifer Lewis, Patton Oswalt, and Jennifer Hudson. While Union clicks well with McLaughlin during several key scenes of theirs in the film, Pierre is hilariously vain as demonstrating an unexpected side of his considerable talent, and Oswalt brings some extra fun as the team coach who becomes more active than before thanks to Will.

Overall, “GOAT”, whose very title comes from a certain term familiar to many basketball fans, did not surprise me, but it entertained me for a lot of wit, style, and mood nonetheless. Director Tyree Dillihay, who incidentally makes a feature film debut here, did a competent job, and I appreciate the game efforts from McLaughlin and several other voice cast members in the film. Yes, I knew exactly what I was going to get, and the film does not exceed that much, but I will not deny that I had some fun and excitement during my viewing.

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The Piano Teacher (2001) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Can she really play him like piano?

Posted on June 22, 2026 by kaist455

Michael Hanake’s 2001 film “The Piano Teacher”, which was released in South Korean theaters in last week, is a truly disturbing observation of one very, very, very twisted lady. While we never really fully understand her even at the very end of the story, the movie still works as a cold but undeniably compelling character study driven by its skillful direction as well as its two brave lead performances to admire.

The story, which is based on the novel of the same name by Austrian Nobel Prize winner Elfriede Jelinek, mainly revolves around Erika Kohut (Isabelle Huppert), a fortysomething woman who works as a piano professor at the Vienna Music Conservatory. She lives with her old mother in a small apartment, and the opening part shows the apparently toxic relationship between them. Her mother, played by Annie Girardot, is quite domineering and possessive to say the least, and Erika certainly hates her mother for that, but she remains stuck with her mother even after clashing with her mother a lot over a rather petty matter.     

In contrast to this troubling aspect of her private life, Erika has been known as a frigidly strict teacher who always demands perfection from her students. We observe how strictly she handles some of her students, and she does not show any sympathy or compassion at all when one of them struggles to meet her high standards. 

On one day, Erika encounters a young college student named Walter Klemmer (Benoît Magimel). While his major is engineering, he is also fairly good at playing piano, and he is really eager to study under Erika. Although she is not so interested at first, Erika gradually finds herself attracted to Walter as he eventually begins to study under her, and Walter is apparently well aware of that even though she does not signify much on the surface.

As things get more tense between them, the movie shows more of how morbid Erika’s sexual desire and taste are. Probably because of the sexually repressive influence from her mother, she often does some weird and disturbing behaviors just for her private sexual pleasure, and we naturally become more uncomfortable as observing more of her twisted sides. For example, she sometimes visits a local pornography shop for a certain kind of sexual activity which will unnerve many of you for a good reason. Later in the story, she goes to a drive-in theater during one evening for a certain sexual purpose, and the following voyeuristic act of hers is another moment of shock and repulsion for us.

While adamantly refusing to explain its heroine, the movie gives us some hints from Erika’s very unhealthy relationship with her mother. Having lived together for so many years, they often look like a bickering couple, and they even sleep together on the same bed. Nevertheless, they always present themselves as respectable figures in front of others, and it is clear that Haneke has some nasty fun with their hypocrisy.

As Walter keeps trying to approach closer to her, Erika eventually decides to take a chance with him, but, not so surprisingly, she is soon painfully reminded that everything can always be under her control. So far, she has controlled her loony sexual desire on her own deranged but strict terms just like she strictly handles the piano performance of her students, but now she needs to be less controlling and more opened for this desirable young man – and, unfortunately, that is something she is nearly incapable of.

While its heroine struggles with getting her sexual desire under her control again, the movie serves us a number of nasty and disconcerting moments. We gasp when Erika commits an utterly cruel thing to one of her students just because Walter seems to get a bit closer to this student, and then we are all the more unnerved when Erika tries to go further with Walter.  

Around that narrative point, the movie becomes more uncompromising in the examination of its heroine’s sexual struggle, and Isabelle Huppert, who has always been a peerless master of twisted humanity during last several decades, gives a fearless performance to remember. Willingly throwing herself into all the baffling abnormalities and contradictions inside her character without any hesitation, Huppert is constantly captivating throughout the film, and we become more fascinated with Erika even while observing her from the distance without much care or sympathy.

On the opposite, Benoît Magimel, who won the Best Actor award for this movie at the Cannes Film Festival (The movie also won the Best Actress award for Huppert and the Grand Prix for Haneke, by the way), did more than complementing his co-star. While being relatively more opened than Huppert, Magimel also shows considerable commitment as their characters push or pull each other along the story, and he is particularly effective when Walter comes to show much more nastiness and cruelty than expected due to his accumulating anger and frustration caused by Erika. In the end, both Walter and Erika come to have a hurtful lesson associated with that famous phrase: “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.”

 In conclusion, “The Piano Teacher” is one of the notable achievements in Haneke’s interesting filmmaking career. Although I still loath “Funny Games” (1997) and its 2007 American remake, he also gave us several great films such as “Caché” (2005), “The White Ribbon” (2009), and “Amour” (2012) at least, and it is a shame that he has been not so active since “Happy End” (2017). Considering the misanthropy observed from many of his works, he does not seem to like people that much, but he expresses that with a lot of skill and artistry, and that is sort of admirable in my humble opinion.

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Soar (2026) ☆☆☆(3/4): She simply wants to escape…

Posted on June 21, 2026 by kaist455

South Korean independent film “Soar” is an earnest coming-of-age tale about one desperate adolescent girl who wants to escape from her very unhappy environment. Calmly and sensitively observing how much she struggles to hold onto a rather unlikely opportunity for love and stability, the movie lets us have more understanding and empathy on her, and then we are moved by a bit of hope and optimism shown at the end of her emotional journey.

The early part of the film succinctly establishes the troubling daily life of its adolescent heroine. Hyeon-jae (Hwang Bo-un) lives in an apartment along with her parents and her younger brother, and the movie opens with her sleeping along with her mother and younger brother in one room after another domestic violence from her abusive father. Mainly because of her financial dependence on her husband, Hyeon-jae’s mother simply tolerates his abusive behaviors as usual, and Hyeon-jae certainly does not like this at all.

While she seriously considers escaping from her home someday, Hyeon-jae happens to encounter a lady named Hae-in (Chae Jung-an), who has been looking for her little daughter since she went missing ten years ago. Sincerely feeling sorry for this woman, Hyeon-jae shows some compassion to her, and Hae-in also comes to show a bit of concern when she notices a sign of domestic abuse from Hyeon-jae. When Hyeon-jae and her family later suffer another incident of domestic abuse, Hyeon-jae gets some help from Hae-in, and Hae-in willingly lets Hyeon-jae into her house.

As staying in Hae-in’s house, Hyeon-jae surely feels a lot safer and more comfortable than before. Hae-in has incidentally worked as a horticulturist, and her house is filled with many different flowers and trees, which certainly bring some soothing atmosphere to her house. As days go by, Hyeon-jae and Hae-in become more accustomed to each other, and it seems possible that Hyeon-jae will be a surrogate daughter for Hae-in.

However, Hae-in still cannot forget her lost daughter. She keeps looking for her as before, and Hyeon-jae willingly helps Hae-in, though she cannot help but want to get more attention from Hae-in. As her mother suggests that she should return to their home, Hyeon-jae becomes more anxious about her future, and this naturally leads to a growing conflict between her and Hae-in later in the story.

Needless to say, the screenplay by director/writer Kim Da-som subsequently becomes quite melodramatic as the conflict between Hyeon-jae and her benevolent guardian gets more intense. We see more anger and desperation from Hyeon-jae, and then we also sense more of how Hae-in still does not totally recover from that old emotional wound despite her longtime efforts.

Everything in the story eventually culminates to a crucial scene where Hyeon-jae and Hae-in go together to a certain place for a small possibility of closure for Hae-in. I will not go into detail here, but what follows next is emotionally harrowing to say the least, and then we get a little touching moment which speaks volumes in its delicate silence.

The movie certainly depends on the solid performances from its two main cast members, who did a commendable job of filling their respective roles with considerable human details to be appreciated. Hwang Bo-un, who was memorable in “Nobody’s Lover” (2021), is compelling even when her conflicted character does not signify much on the surface, and she is particularly good when Hyeon-jae finally lets out all of her desperation at one point later in the story. On the opposite, Chae Jung-an’s more restrained acting functions well as a stable counterpart for her co-star, and she also has her own moments as her character shows some gentle sides of hers along the story.

Around these two good actresses, several other main cast members in the film hold each own small place well on the whole. As Hyeno-jae’s long-suffering mother, Min Hyo-kyong has a heartbreaking scene where her character comes to face more of her difficult situation, and Bae Min-soo is also effective as a close friend of Hyeon-jae. In case of young performer Kim Geon-u, he provides a bit of cheeriness to the story as Hyeon-jae’s brother, who is mostly innocent but knows how bad things are in their home.

Overall, “Soar” is rather modest in terms of story and characters, and it could have explored more of its character details including Hyeon-jae’s choir activity, but it is still engaging thanks to Kim’s competent direction. She incidentally makes a feature film debut here after making several short films, and, as far as I can see from her result, she is another promising new South Korean female filmmaker to watch.

By the way, her achievement here in this film reminds me more of how much the future of South Korean cinema really depends on the considerable talent of many wonderful female filmmakers out there. Since the remarkable achievement of Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning film “Parasite” (2019), South Korean cinema has mostly gone downhill during last several years, but there is still some possibility of rejuvenation considering the recent significant efforts of a bunch of notable South Korean female filmmakers such as Yoon Ga-eun, and I can only hope that they will advance further for South Korean cinema as well as me and many other South Korean audiences.

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