Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower (2017) ☆☆☆(3/4): A vivid chronicle of the Umbrella Revolution

Posted on June 5, 2023 by kaist455

I could not help but feel a bit depressed as belatedly checking out Netflix documentary film “Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower”, which closely follows Joshua Wong and what he actively led along with many young people in Hong Kong during 2012-2016, When the documentary came out in 2017, there were still some hope and optimism for these admirable civil activists in Hong Kong, but, as many of you know too well, things only got worse and worse for them during next several years, and Wong is currently imprisoned just because he dared to stand up against the Chinese government for freedom and democracy during that time.

Everything began from when Wong and his several schoolmates started a little protest against the new education policy imposed on Hong Kong by the Chinese government in 2012. After getting Hong Kong back from UK in 1997, the Chinese government promised to maintain the status quo for Hong Kong and its citizens via “One Country, Two Systems principle”. but, not so surprisingly, it gradually worked on having Hong Kong and its citizens under total control during next 15 years, and that new education policy was one of the first aggressive steps toward that.

At first, Wong and his colleagues did not draw much attention, but then many members of his generation soon came to pay more attention to his political protest, shortly after when he threw hard questions to one of the leading local politicians in Hong Kong. As they became more aware of how the situation was serious for themselves and their future, many other young students came out on streets for more protests, and Wong and his fellow protesters surely attracted lots of attention when they occupied the public square in front of the Hong Kong government building.

The Hong Kong government, which has been constantly influenced by the Chinese government, simply disregarded Wong and his fellow protesters during first several days, and even Wong and other protesters became doubtful about whether they could actually succeed, especially when their schools were about to begin a new semester. However, they later received an unexpectedly big support from numerous citizens in the city, and the Chinese government stepped back a bit in the end.

Wong and his colleagues were certainly proud of how they tried hard and then eventually won their battle, but, as they worried from the beginning, their victory turned out to be the beginning of their longtime resistance against the Chinese government. When Xi Jinping became its new leader in 2013, the Chinese government began to strike back at Hong Kong and its citizens with a lot more aggression, and many of its citizens became much more alarmed than before. After a prominent college professor named Benny Tai subsequently wrote a column about the necessity of the civil disobedience against the Chinese government, lots of citizens came out on streets, and Wong and his several colleagues willingly became the central figures of the following historical civil movement, which was later called the “Umbrella Revolution” for a rather simple reason.

However, this time, the Chinese government was not so willing to step back at all, and it was quite ready to crush those dissenting citizens via the Hong Kong government, which had already become its political puppet step by step. Not long after Wong did a significant act of defiance in front of hundreds of protesters, lots of policemen quickly arrived to suppress them all, and Wong and many other protesters were certainly rattled by the very aggressive tactics of the Hong Kong Police.

Although they initially did not easily step back at all as getting more attention from the world outside, Wong and other protesters kept getting cornered in one way or another by their powerful opponent. As days went by without much progress, they naturally got more exhausted, and their civil movement accordingly came to lose momentum. That was exactly what the Chinese government expected from the beginning, and it certainly did not waste any time when Wong and several other key figures were arrested later.

At the end of the documentary, we see Wong and his colleagues trying to keep fighting with new political goals for them. They all look optimistic about their ongoing struggle against the Chinese government, and this part was supposed to give some hope and consolation for us, but what happened to them during next several years was not so hopeful to say the least. For example, Wang was subsequently sentenced to several months of imprisonment, and then his incarceration period became longer and longer as he got punished again and again by the Chinese government.

While lots of things happened in Hong Kong after it came out, “Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower”, directed by Joe Piscatella, remains fairly fresh as a vivid chronicle of the civil protests in Hong Kong during the 2010s, and Wong and his colleagues came to us as plain but undeniably brave human beings to admire. Like Greta Thunberg, they simply demanded more changes for their and next generations in the future, and they certainly reminded me that, despite my growing doubt and skepticism on the humanity, it is still worthwhile for me and others to keep fighting for a better world. After all, we all know well how utterly irresponsible and useless it is for us to succumb and wallow in despair and cynicism, don’t we?

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Confess, Fletch (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): Fletch returns…

Posted on June 5, 2023 by kaist455

Gregory Mcdonald’s “Fletch” was one of numerous pulpy stuffs I gladly devoured during my wild and crazy childhood years in the 1990s. It is too bad that any of McDonald’s following sequel novels was not translated in South Korea, but “Fletch” remains one of the more enjoyable stuffs I read during that period, especially compared to those disposable products of Sidney Sheldon and Clive Cussler (In my inconsequential opinion, both of these two popular novelists’ writings were quite juvenile even to the 10-year-old self of mine, a precocious little prick who would engulf almost everything in James Joyce’s “Ulysses” a few years later).

In case of Greg Mottola’s new film “Confess, Fletch”, which is incidentally based on the following sequel novel of “Fletch”, it does not evoke much of my little entertaining time with “Fletch”, but it did at least a marginally better job than the 1985 film based on “Fletch”, which was nothing more than a casual star vehicle for Chevy Chase. While the 1985 film did have a fair share of fun and amusement coupled with an intriguing noir plot, Chase did not seem to be on the joke along with the movie itself as being aloofly charming and smarmy as usual. As late Roger Ebert pointed out his review, Chase was the one who almost sank the film, and then he unfortunately sank deeper with “Fletch Lives” (1989).

In case of John Hamm, who plays the titular hero of Mottola’s film, he is also aloofly charming and smarmy in his own way here as he did in the acclaimed TV drama series “Mad Men”, but he did a better job than Chase at least. He wisely lets himself often upstaged by a number of variously colorful supporting performers popping here and there around him, and his acting works best whenever his laidback character is caught off guard by another unexpected plot turn or revelation.

At the beginning, the movie puts us right into a big trouble into which Fletch unwittingly gets himself. As shown from the following flashback part in Rome, Italy, Fletch was asked by his current girlfriend to handle a rather tricky personal matter of her wealthy family, and it seemed that all he had to was going to Boston, Massachusetts and then investigating a local certain artwork dealer associated with her family, but, what do you know, he comes upon a dead body not long after arriving at a house where he is supposed to stay for a while.

Although he instantly calls for the police, Fletch finds himself becoming the prime suspect of the murder case mainly because he chooses not to tell everything to two very different detectives assigned to the case. As your average seasoned cop, Sergeant Inspector Monroe (Roy Wood Jr.) instantly senses something fishy about Fletch, and so does his earnest but occasionally clumsy Junior Detective Griz (Ayden Mayeri).

While trying to evade these two detectives as much as possible, Fletch gets himself more into the situation which he still does not understand that much. It is apparent that local artwork dealer has been hiding something behind his eccentric appearance, so Fletch decides to investigate this shady dude more, and this naturally leads to a series of occasions where he casually disguises himself in one way or another for getting more clues and information.

As steadily maintaining its low-key comic tone, the screenplay by Mottola and his co-writer Zeb Borow keeps throwing one surprise plot turn after another for more amusement, and some of the supporting cast members in the film delightfully chew every moment of theirs as required. As a quirky neighbor living next to where that murder happened, Annie Mumolo, who is mainly known for co-writing the Oscar-nominated screenplay for “Bridesmaids” (2011), is simply uproarious during one wacky kitchen scene with Hamm in the middle of the story, and Kyle MacLachlan has some sly fun with his neurotic supporting role. Although she enters the movie later in the story, Marcia Gay Harden cheerfully overacts as the suspicious stepmother of Fletch’s girlfriend, and John Slattery, who previously performed along with Hamm in “Mad Men”, also has his own moments as a cranky local newspaper editor who does not like Fletch much for good reasons.

In contrast, Roy Wood Jr. and Ayden Mayeri deliberately underplay during their several key scenes with Hamm, and their supporting characters bring some common sense to the increasingly complicated story in addition to providing some extra humor in each own way. For example, Monroe initially seems to be merely slouching after Fletch along with his junior partner, but, not so surprisingly, he turns out to be more intelligent and persistent than expected, and Wood and Mayeri complement each other well throughout the film as the two amusingly contrasting figures who may deserve their own movie.

On the whole, “Confess, Fletch” is a fairly engaging comic noir flick which has enough colorfulness to keep things rolling before everything in the story is revealed and resolved in the end. Yes, its narrative is a little too convoluted while demanding some suspension of disbelief from us, but that usually comes with its genre territory, and you may appreciate more of the game efforts of Hamm and the other main cast members in the film. It is too bad that there will probably not be another Fletch flick as the movie just came and then quickly got forgotten in last year, but it is a bit of improvement over the 1985 film at least, and that is a little but nice achievement.

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Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang (2016) ☆☆☆(3/4): On his fiery artistry

Posted on June 4, 2023 by kaist455

Netflix documentary film “Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang” will engage and then amaze you even if you are not that familiar with the artistic career of renowned Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang (Full disclosure: Neither am I). Here is an exceptional artist who has steadily explored his own areas of artistry for many years, and you will be impressed a lot by not only his palpable artistic spirit but also his gentle humanity.

The title of the documentary comes from Cai Guo-Giang’s old passion project which had somehow been aborted more than once for more than 30 years. After his first attempt was unfortunately aborted in 1984, Cai made several subsequent attempts during next 30 years, but all of these attempts of his were failed due to one unexpected reason after another. Nevertheless, he does not give up at all, and the early part of the documentary shows him eagerly preparing for his latest attempt in his hometown step by step.

Besides its artistic significance, trying his passion project, which will incidentally present a huge ladder of fireworks in the sky, in his hometown means a lot to Cai. After all, he was influenced a lot by his artist father who often put art and sophistication above anything else, and that is why the Cultural Revolution in China during the 1960-70s was so painful to young Cai, though now he wryly tells his daughter about a darkly humorous personal episode involved with those hostile Red Guards.

When he grew older in the 1980s and searched for his own artistic style and personality outside his father’s artistic influence, Cai happened to be in the right time for that. Once China opened itself to the outside world after the end of the Cultural Revolution, many young Chinese people like Cai were quite willing to embrace new things, and he soon came upon unexpected artistic potentials in firework. At first, he simply utilized firework for the extra touches for his early drawings, but then he went deeper into its undiscovered artistic potentials, and that soon became the major source of his artistic inspiration.

Eventually, Cai and his wife went to Japan because he needed more artistic freedom, and then they moved to US, where he quickly drew lots of attention in public for his striking artistic style and sensibility. Besides a number of stellar works of installation art which look still quite impressive, he deftly used fireworks for more artistic expressions to be added to his art exhibitions, and those fireworks soon became his own trademark to be known in public.

And we get to know a bit about how Cai and those people working with him carefully prepare for his firework shows. Yes, they surely care a lot about the various types of fireworks to be used for the shows, but they also pay considerable attention to how the components of his firework shows are arranged in terms of space and time. This is actually possible thanks to a tiny remote electronic detonator which can be attached to each firecracker, and you will be surprised by how exact and precise this detonator can be. 

Via this and other useful technical tools, Cai and his team usually get things under his total artistic control, and the results are often amazing to say the least. At one point, the documentary simply observes the process of his latest firework performance step by step, but you will instantly admire how all those colors and smokes from numerous firecrackers serve Cai’s ambitious artistic vision.

When he was asked to participate in the preparation for the opening ceremony for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, Cai was willing to throw himself into more challenges, though he was also well aware of the undeniable political aspects of his participation. He just did his best at that time, and he is proud of the final result, but we cannot help but help sense his deep reservation while watching him visiting the Tiananmen Square at one point. He may can accept some compromise for working for his home country, but he later became quite disillusioned when he ended up virtually suppressing himself in his next subject with the Chinese government in 2014. As a big-time artist, he knows too well that he always has to balance himself between idealism and pragmatism, but this turned out to be too much for him – even when he was consoled a bit by a certain famous Chinese filmmaker who happened to work with him again after their fruitful collaboration in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. 

Anyway, this professional frustration made Cai more drawn to maintaining his artistic root and integrity, and he also came to pay more attention to accomplishing his passion project. We see him collaborating a lot with a bunch of local people in his hometown, and he is certainly very excited right before the eventual showtime, which will incidentally be watched by not only many local people but also his 100-year-old grandmother.

On the whole, “Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang” is an engaging documentary, and director Kevin Macdonald, who has been known for several acclaimed documentaries including “Touching the Void” (2003), and his crew members including cinematographers Robert Yeoman and Florian Zinke did a solid job of presenting Cai’s life and career with enough care and respect. In short, this is one of more entertaining Netflix documentaries during last several years, and you may find yourself becoming more interested in its main subject after watching it.

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Citizen Pane (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Six little satires both painfully and realistically funny

Posted on June 4, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean omnibus film “Citizen Pane” presents six little satires painfully and realistically funny in each own way. All of them surely have something to say about the current social issues of the South Korean society, and I must tell you that they are not merely laughing matters at all. They may look too absurd to some of you at times, but, believe me, they are actually reflecting the South Korean society a lot in one way or another, and I could not help but become bitter even while frequently being amused during my viewing.

The prologue part, directed by Yoon Seong-ho, sets the tone for the next five parts to follow. The camera just observes the seemingly plain conversation between an employee of some big corporation and the owner of a small company outsourced by that corporation. but then these two figures’ conversation becomes increasingly absurd as they gleefully boast about how slyly they handle their business matters, and their superficial hypocrisy, which is embodied well by Kim Kyung-il and Yang Hyun-min, is accentuated further by the frequent utilization of laugh track.

The second part, titled “Haribo”, is about a little conflict between two young ex-lovers on their pet cat named, yes, Haribo. Although Haribo was initially supposed to be handed to one of these two young people, both of these two young people turn out to have each own reason for not being able to take care of Haribo, and that naturally sparks another argument between them, while their cat is rather obvious to what is going on between its two owners. Under Kim So-hyoung’s deft direction, Kim Woo-kyum and Kim So-hyoung are effortless in their comic chemistry, and the cat which plays their characters’ cat in this part surely steals the show with its natural cuteness.

The third part, “Where You Live Becomes You”, is directed by Park Dong-hoon, and it focuses on the private conversation between a concerned father and his married daughter. The father is not so pleased because his married daughter, who is incidentally pregnant, is going back to his hometown Gwangju along with her husband, and there is an ironic aspect in how he tries to persuade his daughter to change her mind. Because of the longtime social prejudice against his hometown and its people due to their dark political history involved with the dictatorship period of South Korea, he and his family have always tried to hide their background, but now he imposes the same social prejudice on his daughter.

Of course, the daughter immediately makes a shrewd counterargument in front of her father as emphasizing how things have changed at present, but then there comes another ironic twist as expected. Jung Seung-gil and Jo Yun-seo are believable as their characters pull and push each other, and it certainly helps that they play their material absolutely straight to the end without any self-conscious sense of irony on the surface.

The fourth part, titled “Sincerity”, revolves around the heated discussion between two female company employees who must finish and then post the ‘sincere’ online public statement about one ridiculous online controversy surrounding a ‘misandronistic’ online comment made by a certain colleague of theirs in public as a part of company promotion. No matter how much they try, they are reminded again and again of how outrageous and unjust the controversy really is, and the situation soon becomes quite hysterical to our bitter amusement, because what they are coping with is not so far from our reality in South Korea. Yes, there are lots of free-range online male trolls out there in South Korea frequently accusing anything to piss them off of ‘misandry’, and I still remember well how some local corporations recently bent themselves to these loathsome pricks’ petty and superficial online protests.

Director Choi Ha-na does not mince any word at all as the situation becomes all the more ridiculous for her two main figures. Her two performers, Sin Sa-rang and Oh Kyung-hwa, are simply hilarious as their contrasting characters desperately try to handle their imminent matter, and a dog appearing along with them in this part holds its own little spot as well as that cat in “Haribo”.

The fifth part, titled “Hands in Hands”, is directed by Song Hyeon-ju, and it is more lightweight than others in comparison. Seo Byuk-joon and Yoon Gai play a young couple who is going to have the moment of culmination for their longtime relationship, but, alas, they soon come to face how much they are different from each other, and we are left with lots of doubt and skepticism just like another character in this part, who is silently but memorably played by Kim Geum-won. Sure, love can resolve lots of things, but will they really overcome?

The last part, “A New Mind”, is about a toxic workplace environment. Kim Jun-seok and Lee Tae-kyoung play a very insensitive male supervisor and a young woman working under him, and director Han In-mi skillfully handles the two situations which feel different at first but eventually end up showing what a lousy human being that male supervisor really is – no matter how much he feels regretful later.

On the whole, each of the six parts of “Citizen Pane” achieves each own small goal in one way or another as making some sharp points on their respective social issues. The movie is funny indeed, but its numerous laughs always come with the painful reminders of our reality in South Korea, and it surely deserves more audiences for more talks and discussions.

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Dream Palace (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): The price of her compromise

Posted on June 4, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean independent film “Dream Palace” is about one ordinary woman’s increasingly grim and stressful situation which is frighteningly realistic at times. As having been quite frustrated with the deeply flawed system and society, she willingly chooses to make some compromise for living a bit easily, but, unfortunately, her understandable choices lead to lots of troubles for not only herself but also several others around her.

The early part of the film gradually lets us know its heroine’s current circumstance. A few years ago, Hye-jeong (Kim Sun-young) lost her husband due to some big accident at a big factory where he worked, and she and a group of surviving family members of the other victims of that accident protested against the owner of that factory, but they have been only ignored and cornered a lot while still not knowing what really happened at that time. In the end, Hye-jeong decided to settle with the company, and she recently moved into a newly built apartment thanks to the settlement fee.

However, her apartment turns out to be quite problematic behind its supposedly cozy appearance. Right from her first day, Hye-jeong discovers that her apartment has a serious plumbing problem, so she demands the necessary repair for that, but nobody is particularly interested in helping her. While an employee of the company which built her apartment building simply tells her that she will have to wait until the company sells all the remaining apartments, her new neighbors are more concerned about maintaining the current value of their apartment buildings by any means necessary, and that makes Hye-jeong all the more frustrated than before.

At first, it looks like there is a way to solve her problem. All Hye-jeong will have to do is advertising her apartment town more for luring potential buyers to fill the empty spots in the apartment town, and that company employee even promises to her that she will get some incentive if she succeeds in that task. As a matter of fact, she even recommends her apartment town to her friend Soo-in (Lee Yoon-ji) later, who also lost her husband due to that accident and, after going through another hard time due to one little incident, eventually decided to give up and then accept the settlement just like Hye-jeong.

And she keeps looking away from those people with whom she once fought against her husband’s company, which still does not do anything at all as before. At one point, the leader of the group approaches to Hye-jeong for some desperate request, but Hye-jeong flatly refuses as remembering how much she was isolated and desperate before accepting the settlement in the end. She probably should not have accepted the settlement from the beginning, but, as she bitterly points out, nobody was willing to support or help her just because it seemed that her husband was mainly responsible for that accident at that time.

Not so surprisingly, things get worse and worse for Hye-jeong along the story. While she subsequently receives more anger and resentment from her former colleagues, she also finds herself becoming the main target of her new neighbors’ ire and spite just because of her seemingly harmless advertising activity. When the value of their apartments is seriously threatened, they decide to become more active than before, and Hye-jeong becomes all the more unwelcomed by them than before.

Meanwhile, Hye-jeong’s very stressful situation also affects her relationship with her adolescent son Tae-hoon (Choi Min-young). While initially not having much problem with his mother’s decisions, Tae-hoon becomes more and more conflicted as watching the following consequences of his mother’s actions, and that makes him a lot more estranged from his mother.

We mostly observe Hye-jeong’s ongoing plight from the distance because she virtually asked for it from the start, but we also become more emotionally involved in the consequences of her actions because we understand why she made such questionable compromises. All she wants is having a normal life again, and that seemed to come easily once she bent herself a little, but, to her despair and exasperation, the price for that turns out to be much bigger than she expected at first.

During its inevitable last act, the screenplay by director/writer Ka Sung-moon corners its heroine a bit too hard in my trivial opinion, but Kim Sun-young’s harrowing lead performance continues to hold our attention as before. You may not like Hye-jeong that much for numerous reasons, but Kim’s nuanced acting presents her character as a complex human figure to observe and understand, and we are relieved a bit when the movie eventually allows some relief to her character around the end of the story. As the two substantial supporting characters around Kim, Lee Yoon-ji and Choi Min-young are well cast in their respective roles, and Lee is particularly devastating during one particularly intense conversation scene between her and Kim.

In conclusion, “Dream Palace” is another troubling South Korean drama film powerfully and painfully illuminating the problematic aspects of the South Korean society. It is surely tough to watch to say the least, but it is worthwhile to watch thanks to its solid direction and good performance, and you will come to reflect more on its main social issues once the movie is over.

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Father of the Bride (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): A likable Cuban American remake

Posted on June 2, 2023 by kaist455

“Father of the Bride”, the third film based on the 1949 novel of the same name by Edward Streeter, is a likable remake which deserves its own little place besides the 1950 version and the 1991 version. Again, we see the comic struggles of a father who must give away his dear daughter sooner or later, but this remake version brings enough life and personality to its familiar plot and characters, and you will easily go along with that while alternatively amused and touched along the story.

In this version, the story is set in Miami, Florida, and Billy Herrera (Andy Garcia), the titular character of the film, tells us about how he has worked hard for achieving an American dream for himself as well as his family for many years. When he came into US from Cuba, he was a poor but ambitious immigrant lad quite determined to succeed, and, fortunately, he eventually became a prominent local architect while happily married to his wife Ingrid (Gloria Estefan). In addition, they came to have two lovely daughters, and they have done everything they could for their daughters as good parents.

When their older daughter Sofia (Adria Arjona), who has been a promising young lawyer in New York City, is about to return for a hometown visit, both Billy and Ingrid are certainly ready to welcome Sofia, but they actually have a big problem behind their back. Feeling a lot estranged from each other than before, Billy and Ingrid have gone to a therapist for some time, but they are only reminded more of how much they have been distant to each other during recent years, and they come to admit in the end that it will be better for them to have a divorce.

However, Billy and Ingrid soon confront an unexpected news from Sofia. It turns out that she recently met someone she really loves at her workplace, and, what do you know, she and Adan (Diego Boneta) are going to get married after a few months of engagement period. Once they get married, they will go to Mexico for working together in some non-profit organization for those poor Latino immigrants coming into US, and it certainly helps that Mexico is Adan’s home country.

While Ingrid and her other family members wholeheartedly bless Sofia’s upcoming wedding, Billy is not so pleased in contrast. After all, he and Ingrid do not know that much about Sofia’s fiancé, and, though Adan looks like an ideal groom to be welcomed by any future father-in-law, Billy does not like him that much – especially when he comes to see that Adan is not particularly interested in outdoor activities in contrast to him.

Anyway, Billy does what the father of the bride is expected to do, mainly because that is the only thing which feels like being under his control. Although Adan and Sofia want a simple intimate wedding, Billy insists that they should have a grand expensive one to remember mainly because he can afford that, though he subsequently finds himself outmatched by Adan’s parents, who turn out to have much more money and resource compared to him.

Meanwhile, a series of small comic moments happen here and there around our titular hero. Because the wedding is going to be prepared within one month, Billy reluctantly hires a wedding planner named Natalie Vance (Chloe Fineman), and she certainly provides some funny moments just like Martin Short’s supporting character did in the 1991 version. In addition, Sofia’s younger sister Cora (Isabela Merced), who is incidentally an aspiring clothes designer, later finds herself hired as her older sister’s dressmaker besides being rightfully chosen as the first bridesmaid, and she surely feels pressured even though she is really honored to be a more important part of Sofia’s wedding.

Of course, many things often go wrong even right before the eventual wedding ceremony, and our titular hero goes through several conflicts with many others around him, but director Gaz Alazraki and screenplay writer Matt Lopez keep things pleasant and lightweight from the beginning to the end. While Billy and many other main characters are more or less than broad archetypes, they are depicted with enough sense of life and humanity to hold our attention, and even Adan shows more human depth than expected when he happens to have a little private moment with Billy later in the story.

Above all, the movie is steadily buoyed by the earnest efforts from its good cast members. While he surely has to meet the standards set by Spencer Tracy in the 1950 version and Steve Martin in the 1991 version, Andy Garcia deftly balances himself between comedy and drama besides being successful in that task, and he and Gloria Estefan are believable as two persons who have somehow complemented each other despite their many differences. In case of several other main cast members in the film, Adria Arjona, Isabela Merced, and Diego Boneta adequately fill their supporting roles, and Chloe Fineman certainly has lots of fun with her neurotic wedding planner character.

On the whole, “Father of the Bride” is an enjoyable remake which distinguishes itself enough from its two predecessors, and it will be interesting to watch these three movies together for observing how fathers of brides always struggle in one way or another. After all, it is really hard and difficult for them to give away their daughters, right?

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Victim/Suspect (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Victims treated as “suspects”

Posted on May 30, 2023 by kaist455

It is often infuriating to watch Netflix documentary film “Victim/Suspect”, which was released in last week. Closely following one steady and persistent investigative reporting process, the documentary shows us how many of sexual assault survivors in US have been grossly mistreated by the system supposed to protect and then bring justice for them, and it is all the more exasperating to observe how things have not been changed that much for numerous sexual assault survivors out there.

At first, the documentary mainly revolves around a reporter named Rachel de Leon, who happened to notice one seemingly simple case of a young woman who initially reported that she was raped and then arrested for her false report to the local police. Because this young woman already confessed to the local police not long before getting arrested, it looked like there was nothing to report there, but de Leon decided to get to the bottom of the case anyway, and then she found something quite unbelievable. It turned out that the local police actually coerced the young woman to do that confession, and they did not even do any proper investigation from the very beginning.

A series of police video recording clips clearly show how systemically the local police disregarded and mistreated the young woman without believing her story at all. A detective assigned to her case kept interrogating to her for more than one hour in a small interrogation room, and he even lied to her that there was a video clip from the surveillance camera around the crime scene which would contradict whatever she said to him. Besides, he often pointed out many inconsistencies in her testimony, and that surely made her feel more confused and cornered.

If you have ever watched the acclaimed Netflix miniseries “Unbelievable”, you surely know how wrong this really is. As an expert interviewee said in the documentary, most of sexual assault victims are quite confused as trying to process and understand what really happened to them, so their testimonies can be often incorrect and inconsistent to say the least. In addition, interrogating them again and again can be also quite traumatizing for their vulnerable minds, and that is why they need some psychiatric help if they really have to give a testimony for police investigation.

The more de Leon delves into the mistreatment of sexual assault survivors by the police, the more she came to learn of how prevalent it has been throughout the whole country. There were more than 150 publicized cases of “falsely reported rape” during one year, and it is quite possible that these cases are just a tiny tip of the big problem.

In case of a young woman in Alabama who eventually committed suicide after struggling a lot with the trauma from her sexual assault incident and its aftermath, she was quite disadvantaged from the beginning mainly because the man who allegedly raped her happens to have considerable power and money. The local police already believed that she was lying, and she was intensely interrogated for a long time while that man just briefly talked with a detective assigned to the case while his lawyer sat right next to him.

Later in the documentary, a retired police detective who had considerable experiences in handling sexual assault cases is interviewed and he is willing to tell a lot about how many police detectives are often willing to close those cases as soon as possible just because the cases are usually difficult and demanding to deal with. As a matter of fact, it will be so much easier if those women reporting sexual assault “confess” that they gave false report, and the same thing can be said about many others in the system ranging from sheriffs to prosecutors. All detectives have to do is using their familiar interrogation tactics on prime suspects, and sexual assault survivors are quite susceptible to that. Most of them eventually came to “confess”, and, to make matters worse, they sometimes got arrested and sent to the court for their “false report” while their cases were publicized for more shame and humiliation.

Although most of police detectives and sheriffs approached by de Leon declined to be interviewed by her, one certain detective, who handled the case of one of the sexual assault survivors appearing in the documentary, actually agreed to talk in front of the camera. He initially looks confident as frequently emphasizing how unbiased his investigation process is, but then de Leon gives something he should have found and then considered from the very beginning when he handled that case. Needless to say, he becomes quite embarrassed as looking more into his serious negligence.

Overall, “Victim/Suspect”, directed by Nancy Schwartzman, does not surprise me much mainly because I have been quite familiar with its main subject thanks to what I have learned from many other things including “Unbelievable” since the #MeToo Movement. I wish it was more focused instead of trying to handle lots of stuffs within 90 minutes, but this plain but impactful documentary reminds me again of why we still need a lot more changes. At least, as tentatively shown around the end of the documentary, more people have become aware of how tactfully and sensitively sexual assault cases should be handled, and that is why we should be more active about supporting and helping sexual assault victims out there.

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Sprinter (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Desperate Sprinters

Posted on May 29, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean independent film “Sprinter” tells the parallel stories of three different sprinters competing for the national team selection for each own desperate reason. Although their individual stories may feel rather plain and generic, the movie juggles these three different narratives well enough to generate enough emotional/dramatic resonance to hold our attention, and we come to care about their final results even though we do not root for all of them.

The first story belongs to Hyeon-soo (Park Sung-il), a thirtysomething sprinter who still does not quit despite having been clearly away from the prime period of his athletic career. As reflected by a number of awards in his residence, there was a time when he dominated over many competitions, but he is now much older than many of his younger competitors, and he is reminded again and again of his physical disadvantages whenever he trains himself alone without much support or promotion.

At least, Hyeon-soo has a wife who understands him well as a fellow athlete who probably had her own days of glory in the past. Even though he did not ask for anything from her at all, she is quite willing to help his latest attempt for the national team selection, and Hyeon-soo eventually comes to realize how fortunate he is to have such a supportive wife like her. Once he accepts her sincere help and support, his wife, who has incidentally worked as a physical training instructor at a local health club, pushes him harder and harder day by day, and he finds himself becoming more prepared and galvanized for what may be the last shot for his increasingly dwindling athletic career.

The second story revolves around the dynamic relationship between a high school sprinter named Joon-seo (Lim Ji-ho) and his school coach. When Joon-seo’s coach notifies that his sprint team will be soon disassembled due to not showing any good result recently, Joon-seo pleads to his coach to give him the last chance to compete for the national team selection, and the coach becomes quite conflicted for an understandable reason. He has been eager to get promoted from a temporary coach to a full-time teacher, and now he finally gets the chance for that, but then he must give up his team as well as Joon-seo instead.

Nevertheless, the coach cannot possibly ignore the plea from his top sprinter, and Joon-seo soon readies himself a lot for giving his best shot for the national team selection. After all, he is not particularly interested in studying hard enough to get enrolled in some nice college later, and he really believes that going all the way for his athletic career is the only option for his future, though the coach later reminds him of harsh reality out there as a person who was once a promising professional sprinter many years ago.

To their surprise, Joon-seo comes to show a much better result than expected in the preliminary race, and that puts his coach in a more difficult position than before. He is officially not allowed to coach Joon-seo now, so he begins to overlook Joon-seo deliberately, and it does not take much time for Joon-seo to see what his coach has not told him yet. Although what happens next between them will not surprise you much, I must say it is a little touching to see how the coach chooses to do what will be probably the best for Joon-seo in the end.

If Hyeon-soo and Joon-seo respectively represent past and future in the film, Jeong-ho (Song Duk-ho) represent present as a promising twentysomething athlete who is apparently in the middle of the prime of his athletic career. When he goes through a routine training session along with several other young athletes, he looks quite confident and invincible to say the least, and he is certainly expected to be on the top of the upcoming national team selection.

However, not so surprisingly, there is something Jeong-ho has been hiding from others including his coach. We see him casually buying some steroid from a drug dealer, and he is not so daunted at all even when his longtime doping is eventually exposed to his coach, who certainly becomes quite furious but is more concerned about protecting his reputation. After all, any kind of doping scandal will invariably damage his coaching career, and he willingly covers up everything while also putting Jeong-ho on suspension for a while.

Just because he needs the first gold medal for his athletic career, Jeong-ho subsequenty asks his coach to give him another chance, and the coach does not have much problem with that. As a matter of fact, he can actually pull some strings if Jeong-ho gets caught for doping later, and that is the main reason why Jeong-ho dared to request for the second chance from his coach.

The three individual stories of the movie eventually converge on the expected finale, but director/writer Choi Seung-yeun’s screenplay wisely does not overplay as calmly doling out the final results for each of its three main characters. Park Sung-il, Lim Ji-ho, and Song Duk-ho are solid in their respective roles, and Gong Min-jung, Jeon Shin-hwan, and Choi Jun-hyuck are effective in their equally crucial parts.

On the whole, “Sprinter” is a simple but engaging mix of sports and character drama. I must point out that the third story is relatively superficial compared to the other two stories, but they are still effective together as an interesting triptych which raises some important questions about effort and result, and you may reflect on these questions for a while after it is over.

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Scream VI (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Ghostface is back… in Manhattan

Posted on May 29, 2023 by kaist455

I am rather amused by how the Scream franchise has hopped from one subject after another during last 26 years. At first, “Scream” (1996) simply made a fun of many of its genre clichés and conventions, and then the franchise has become more self-conscious in next four sequels which dealt with each own genre topic, and now “Scream VI” tries to have a wholesale fun with the entire franchise itself. Although it is occasionally tiresome to seasoned moviegoers like me, the movie delivers shock, suspense, and fun as much as expected at least, and that is a bit of achievement considering that the franchise is not much of a refreshing novelty these days.

The most distinguished aspect of the movie is its changed main background. After what happened in the previous film which came out in 2022, Samantha Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) and her younger sister Tara (Jenna Ortega) left their hometown in California and then moved to New York City for their college education as well as their safety and welfare, but they are still struggling with their traumatic past in each own way. While Samantha often has to deal with the unfair online rumors about her, Tara tries to move onto the future without looking back at their terrible past at all, and that certainly generates lots of conflict between them.

However, this personal matter of theirs is soon put aside due to another horrific murder case coming into their life. Naturally hiding behind that infamous mask and attire, somebody seems quite determined to push Samantha and Tara into another misery before, probably, killing both of them in the end, and Samantha and Tara must stick together while also supported by several supposedly helpful figures including Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and her brother Chad (Chad Meeks-Martin). Both Mindy and Chad incidentally had a fair share of terror and suffering in the previous film, and, again, Mindy provides a little lecture on the rules and conventions of horror movie franchise as your average movie nerd.

As usual, it is highly possible that somebody around Samantha and Tara is the killer in question, and the screenplay by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick gives us several possible suspects who often look as shady as required. There is a local cop who happens to be more involved into the case due to a personal reason of his own, and then there comes another figure from the previous film, who may hide something behind the seemingly forthright attitude. In addition, there is also a nice hunky lad living in the apartment building where Samantha and Tara have resided with their roommate, and it goes without saying that he sometimes seems too good to be true.

Anyway, Ghostface soon begins to strike upon Samantha and Tara and several other people associated with him, and directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who also directed the previous film, serves us a number of intense moments as Samantha and Tara desperately try to survive and clear their name. At one point, we get a terrifying scene where Samantha and Tara try to evade their opponent in an empty convenient store, and the movie later gives us a suspenseful subway scene which places many Ghostfaces around several main characters for more dread and confusion.

Meanwhile, a bunch of notable horror movies are mentioned as expected, and I was certainly tickled by when Mindy and some other main character talk a bit about their favorite horror films. They certainly mention two different Friday the 13th flicks, but they somehow miss “Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan” (1989), probably because the comparison between that film and “Scream VI” is too obvious to say the least.

Like many murderous predecessors of the previous Scream movies, the Ghostface of this movie really tries a lot to terrify and then kill the targets. At one point, it is revealed that there is even a secret lair where numerous old stuffs from the previous films are collected and stored in pristine condition, and I guess this is another self-conscious nod to be appreciated. Sure, it requires some suspension in disbelief just like the preposterous plan of the Ghostface of this movie, but it is surely a big nostalgic moment for those numerous fans of franchise out there.

Although things become less engaging when everything is eventually revealed in front of us, Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega ably anchor the film via their diligent efforts, and they are also supported well by several other cast members including Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Hayden Panettiere, and Dermot Mulroney. As the first victims to be killed during the opening scene, Samara Weaving and Tony Revolori have some little fun with their respectively brief moments, and Courteney Cox does more than providing the connection between the movie and the previous Scream movies, though it is a shame that Neve Campbell does not appear here due to that well-publicized disagreement on her fee for appearance in the film (Seriously, folks, doesn’t she really deserve more, considering how much closely the franchise has been associated with her acting career?).

In conclusion, “Scream VI” does not top the entertainment quality of the previous film, but it shows that its franchise still has some potential to amuse and entertain us. As your typical jaded moviegoer, I do not expect much about whatever may come next after “Scream VI”, but I will not complain as long as the franchise can still find and then have a fun with another new genre territory to stab and slash.

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The Little Mermaid (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Redundant but watchable anyway

Posted on May 29, 2023 by kaist455

“The Little Mermaid”, the latest case of the ongoing intellectual property regurgitation by Disney, is redundant at worst but watchable at best. I am not still sure whether this live-action version of the 1989 Disney animation film is really necessary from the beginning, but it is at least entertaining enough to compensate for its inherent redundancy mainly thanks to the good efforts from its several talented main cast members, and I decide to be a little more generous to it instead of being cranky about the apparent cynical intention of its production company. 

The biggest main reason why the movie works is the indelible presence of its charming lead actress, who may impress us more in the future. Although I am not that familiar with her musician career, but, as far as I can see from the film, Halle Bailey did a splendid job in both singing and acting here in this film, and the movie soars whenever she sings or exudes her natural charm across the screen. Believe me, she will instantly make you throw away any reservation right from when she sings “Part of Your World” with considerable sincerity and intensity, and those loathsome racist guys who said a lot of mean things about her colorblind casting should go to hell for that.

The other parts of the film are relatively less engaging in comparison, but they are often buoyed by those wonderful original songs by Alan Menken and late Howard Ashman from the 1989 Disney animation film at least. While Oscar-winning song “Under the Sea” is surely a showstopper as usual, “Kiss the Girl”, which was also Oscar-nominated at that time, is lovely to listen even though its lyric is altered a bit here for a little more gender sensitivity, and my personal guilty pleasure “Poor Unfortunate Souls” still tickles me with its deliciously malevolent touches to be appreciated.

In addition, David Magee’s screenplay did some modernization on several elements in the story including Prince Eric (Johah Hauer-King). In this version, Prince Eric is depicted more human depth, and his longing for exploring the world outside his island kingdom certainly resonates with our mermaid heroine’s irrepressible curiosity toward the human world. As a matter of fact, he even gets his own musical moment at one point, and that makes us care a bit about this inherently colorless character who is still no more than the object of our mermaid heroine’s affection.  

As she pines for her charming prince under the sea, our mermaid heroine is surrounded by several colorful marine animal characters. Under the command from her mighty father Triton (Javier Bardem, who looks soulfully regal as required), a crab named Sebastian (voiced by Daveed Diggs) tries his best to get things under control, but that does not stop our mermaid heroine at all, and she keeps exploring here and there along with a little fish named Flounder (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) and an eccentric bird named Scuttle (voiced by Awkwafina). I must point out that these supporting characters look less charming compared to their animation counterparts, but Diggs, Tremblay, and Awkwafina did a mostly competent job of bringing extra humor to the film, and Diggs and Awkwafina try their best with “The Scuttlebuck”, one of the new songs provided by Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda. This rap song itself is rather terrible in my trivial opinion, but Diggs and Awkwafina perform it with some gusto at least.

Not so surprisingly, the most fun in the film comes from Melissa McCarthy, who is clearly enjoying every moment of her villainous character. Although she looks and sounds less enjoyably campy than her animation counterpart, McCarthy delightfully chews every line as demanded, and you will have some naughty smile as listening to her insidiously entertaining rendition of “Poor Unfortunate Souls”.

Although the movie feels a bit dragged in the middle part, Bailey’s talent and presence keep things rolling, and the movie does not forget that at all. Once she makes a questionable deal with McCarthy’s villain character, our mermaid heroine is transformed into a human girl who incidentally cannot speak at all, but that does not stop her from singing inside her mind at times, and Bailey has another lovely moment of hers in the film via her heartfelt performance of “For the First Time”.

During the expected climactic part of the movie, Director Rob Marshall and his crew members including cinematographer Dion Beebe try really hard for generating some thrill and excitement, but the result only reminds me again of why live action film usually cannot surpass animation film. Instead of being just fun and exciting, it is a little too grim and intense for young audiences without much style or personality, though you may appreciate how our mermaid heroine becomes more active in this version.

To be frank with you, I really think Disney really should focus more on creating new and refreshing stuffs instead of trying to make more money from old and familiar things, but “The Little Mermaid” is fairly engaging for its several entertaining elements including its lead actress’ terrific performance, so I recommend it despite my strong preference on the 1989 Disney animation film. When I watched it along a friend of mine at a local movie theater, I often observed how young audiences around us responded well to the movie, and I can only hope that their parents will later show them the 1989 Disney animation film.

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