Author Archives: kaist455

No Other Land (2024) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): “We have no other land”

Documentary film “No Other Land”, which won the two awards including the one for Best Documentary at the Berlin International Film Festival early in last year and then won a Best Documentary Oscar in last week, calmly and thoughtfully follows … Continue reading

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Porcelain War (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): Artists in the middle of the ongoing war in Ukraine

Documentary film “Porcelain War”, which won the U.S. Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival early in last year and then was recently nominated for Best Documentary Oscar, looks at the activities of several Ukrainian artists in … Continue reading

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It’s Okay! (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): You will like this girl in the end

South Korean film “It’s Okay!” amused and then touched me with its plucky young heroine. You may wince from time to time as watching how irrepressibly spirited and optimistic she really is, but you will come to root for her … Continue reading

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Starlet (2012) ☆☆☆(3/4): Between two very different people

Sean Baker’s 2012 film “Starlet”, which happens to be available in South Korea via a local streaming service, is about the unlikely relationship between two very different people. Although their first encounters are rather awkward to say the least, they … Continue reading

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The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Anderson’s early dollhouse play

Revisiting Wes Anderson’s 2001 film “The Royal Tenenbaums”, I was reminded again of how consistent Anderson has been during last several decades. While this movie and many subsequent works of his are basically his own little dollhouse plays, they are … Continue reading

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Take Out (2004) ☆☆☆(3/4): One day of a Chinese delivery guy

Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou’s 2004 film “Take Out”, which was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Criterion in US a few years ago, is a modest but engaging immigrant drama which gradually draws you into its plain hero’s one … Continue reading

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My Prediction on the 97th Academy Awards

I have often grumbled a bit about how the Oscar season has been predictable during the last two decades. Especially after the season got shorter and tighter around 20 years ago, it has been much easier to detect whether there … Continue reading

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Mickey 17 (2025) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): More than one Pattinson presented by Bong Joon-ho

Bong Joo-ho’s films always have his own offbeat sensibility to be cherished. Even his phenomenal Oscar-winning film “Parasite” (2019), which is incidentally the most mainstream work in his career, shows that odd and interesting quality at times behind its almost … Continue reading

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Nickel Boys (2024) ☆☆☆1/2: A singular African American film to admire

My late mentor/friend Roger Ebert said that the movies are like a machine that generates empathy, and that is quite true in case of RaMell Ross’ latest work “Nickel Boys”, which was recently Oscar-nominated for Best Picture. Quite closely sticking … Continue reading

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Lucca’s World (2025) ☆☆(2/4): She’s simply trying her best for her son…

Netflix film “Lucca’s World”, which was released in last month, is unabashedly sincere and sentimental without much honesty or human depth for becoming something more than “the disability of the week” movie. The movie is certainly pleasant and appealing to … Continue reading

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