The Meddler (2015) ☆☆☆(3/4): What’s next for her life?

Posted on September 1, 2023 by kaist455

Lorene Scafaria’s “The Meddler”, which is currently available on Netflix in South Korea, is a likable comedy drama about one middle-aged lady trying to figure out what is next for her life. As she interacts with a number of people around her along the story, the movie cheerfully goes back and forth between comedy and drama, and it is often energized by the enduring presence and talent of its lead actress.

Susan Sarandon, who gives one of her best performances during last 20 years in this film, is Marnie Minervini, a middle-aged widow who recently moved from New York City to LA after her rich husband’s death mainly because her daughter Lori (Rose Byrne) is living there. As your average wealthy widow with so much money but so little to do for now, Marnie usually pays lots of attention to Lori, but Lori does not welcome this much as mostly occupied with her current personal/professional struggle.

In addition, Marnie also gets herself involved with the lives of some other people because, well, she really cares about them and wants to help them as much as she can. When one of Lori’s friends happens to have a baby shower party, she attends the party instead of her daughter. When a lesbian friend of Kori’s friends laments about not having a big wedding ceremony with her wife, Marnie does not hesitate to plan and finance the wedding ceremony for her and her wife simply because she can afford to do that. In case of a young black guy she happens to befriend at an Apple store where he works, she gives him lots of support and encouragement in exchange for helping her bit on handling her new iPhone, and he eventually decides to be more active about what he is going to do with his life.

However, Marine’s relationship with Lori remains rather strained as usual. She just wants to help and support Lori more, but she is only reminded of how she often does not understand her daughter much. For example, she suggests that her daughter should try to start again with her ex-boyfriend, but that is the last thing Lori wants for now, and she also becomes more occupied with the story development of the pilot episode of a possible TV series.

Marnie even goes to Lori’s therapist for understanding her daughter more, but, of course, the therapist does not tell anything about whatever was exchanged between her and Lori. Instead, she asks Marnie about her feelings about her recent personal loss from her husband’s death, and it is apparent that there is something not entirely resolved yet for her even though she feels ready to move forward.

When her daughter later goes to New York City due to the shooting of that TV pilot episode, Marnie becomes more occupied with paying attention to others around her. While she keeps preparing the upcoming wedding ceremony for the aforementioned lesbian couple, she also takes care of a sick old lady at a local hospital where she works as a volunteer, and she also often takes that young black man to a college where he begins to study.

And then there comes an unexpected opportunity of new romance via Randall Zipper (J.K. Simmons), a retired police officer she happens to encounter not long after she accidentally gets hired as an extra on a movie set. When they meet again, something seems to click between them although she is not exactly in good condition for an understandable reason, and he willingly shows her more of himself and his life, but she wonders whether she is really ready for the second romance in her life.

Without leaning too much toward drama or comedy, Scafaria’s screenplay bounces from one episodic moment to another for more character development, and not only Marnie but also several other characters around her come to us real human characters to observe. While Marnie is basically your typical rich white lady, we come to like her more than expected as she shows more heart and common sense along the story, and the movie also imbues its several supporting characters with enough life and personality, though a subplot involved with that young black man feels rather under-developed (At least, you may enjoy watching Jerrod Carmichael when he was less prominent than now).

Above all, Sarandon keeps holding the center of the film even when it seems to meander from time to time. Although her prime period mainly represented by five Oscar nominations and one Oscar win has passed, Sarandon is still a wonderful actress as recently shown from her Emmy-nominated performance in TV miniseries “Feud”, and she ably balances her character between humor and poignancy without any cheap laugh or sentimentality. Around her, Rose Byrne and J.K. Simmons, who has been one of ever-dependable character actors in Hollywood during last 20 years, have each own moment to shine, and Byrne is especially good during a funny and touching scene between her and Sarandon later in the film.

On the whole, “The Meddler” is a little gem too good to be forgotten in obscurity mainly due to Sarandon’s funny and charming performance. To be frank with you, I saw a lot of my own mother from her character, and now I wonder whether I will get much more calls from her if she happens to be widowed someday. She still denies my homosexuality, but she cares about me nonetheless, and maybe I should be a bit more considerate later.

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Her Hobby (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): How they bond together

Posted on August 31, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean film “Her Hobby” is a little country noir thriller revolving around one unlikely solidarity between two very different women. As one gets empowered thanks to some help and encouragement from the other, the movie gradually reveals the seedy and deplorable sides of their country village neighbors around them, and we get chilled at times as observing how these two women come to drastic measures for taking care of some personal matters.

At first, the story is unfolded mainly via the viewpoint of Jeong-in (Jung Yi-seo), a young divorce woman who came to her little rural hometown village some time ago. She has lived in her grandmother’s house, but her grandmother, who feebly but wholeheartedly welcomed her granddaughter into her house, recently passed away, and now she is the only one living in the house. While quite feeling alone, she is frequently annoyed by those busybody neighbors in the village who often willfully come into the house without any notice in advance, but she has to tolerate them because 1) she has to work for them for earning her meager living day by day and 2) she has nowhere else to go above all.

As Jeong-in is working as usual on another summer day, there comes a little change in the village. Some young woman from Seoul moves into a big house right above Jeong-in’s house, and everyone in the village is naturally curious about who this new neighbor is. All they can know about her is that she is pretty affluent as reflected by her clothes and some other expensive stuffs belonging to her, and they are not so pleased when she turns out to be quite haughty and confident without being not so friendly.

As this mysterious woman’s neighbor, Jeong-in also cannot help but curious about her, and, of course, they eventually come across each other under a rather awkward situation. To Jeong-in’s little surprise, Hye-jeong (Kim Hye-na) shows some generous care and consideration to Jeong-in, and, what do you know, Jeong-in gradually finds herself interacting more with Hye-jeong. Despite being often elusive as usual, Hye-jeong gladly shows more of herself to Jeong-in, and Jeong-in surely appreciates that because nobody in village has been that nice to her except the young South Asian wife of one of her neighbors.

Meanwhile, we see more of the ugly and deplorable sides from many of those village people. There is a despicable young delivery guy who turns out to be more problematic but has been tolerated by many of village people just because he is, well, one of them. There is also a middle-aged man who has been very mean and rude to Jeong-in, and we are not so surprised to learn that this detestable dude is the main reason why Jeong-in always sleeps with a certain sharp object right next to her at every night. When it is later revealed that Jeong-in’s grandmother saved a considerable amount of money for her granddaughter, many of village people attempt to meddle more with Jeong-in for utterly selfish reasons, and this consequently leads to the realization of her worst fear.

Now I should be more discreet about detailing how the screenplay by Lee Yong-yeong, which is based on the short story of the same name by Seo Mi-ae, unfolds its darkness step by step. As Hye-jeong advises her that she should consider herself and her life above all else, Jeong-in slowly becomes more motivated to confront her increasingly tricky circumstance, and that results in some deadly consequences as expected.

Watching Jeong-in’s disturbing inner transformation along the story, I was reminded of “Bedevilled” (2010), another disturbing South Korean film about the loathsome human evil inside a remote rural town and the following wrathful retribution from a woman who has been abused and exploited for years. Although “Her Hobby” is less violent and more restrained in comparison, it has a fair share of vengeful anger under the surface, and that is evident when Jeong-in shows cold rage and contempt to a certain figure later in the story. While not admitting anything at all, she indirectly conveys to that figure in question what she did for her belated revenge, and that figure certainly gets what she implies between her phlegmatic but undeniably spiteful words.

The movie depends a lot on the quiet but palpable intensity emanating from Jung Yi-seo, who has been more notable since her brief appearance in Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning film “Parasite” (2019). Even when she does not say at all, we can feel Jeong-in’s suppressed torment and anger behind her weary detachment, and that is the main reason why the last act of the film works with considerable dramatic catharsis around the screen. On the opposite, Kim Hye-na ably complements her co-star in addition to filling her relatively less developed role with enough presence and allure, and she is fun to watch whenever her character subtly encourages Jeong-in to be more, uh, active in taking care of her impending troubles.

Overall, “Her Hobby”, directed by Ha Myeong-mi, is engaging mainly thanks to the fascinating relationship development between its two main characters as well as the solid duo performance behind it, and that is more enough for compensating for several notable weaknesses including the rather slow narrative pacing during its first half. Although it is one or two steps behind the harrowingly bloody aria of vengeance in “Bedevilled”, the movie serves its own dishes of revenge fairly well on the whole, so I will not grumble for now.

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Captain Volkonogov Escaped (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): Escaping for redemption

Posted on August 29, 2023 by kaist455

“Captain Vokonogov Escaped” sounds like your typical war thriller flick, but it reaches for something else instead, and that is interesting in my humble opinion. Following its plain military officer hero’s desperate attempt toward redemption and some peace, the movie dryly but sharply conveys to us the sheer horror and absurdity surrounding him and many other people, and it keeps us engaged even when its story is arriving at its inevitable end point along with its conflicted hero.

Although the movie does not directly specify its period background, it does not take much time for us to gather that the story is set in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s, a historically notorious period known for “the Great Terror” in Russia. During this grim and dangerous period, there were several political purges during which thousands of innocent people were promptly executed just because of being labeled as the enemies of the state, and that certainly added more infamy to Joseph Stalin’s ruthless dictatorship during that time.

Captain Volkonogov (Yuri Borisov), a young NKVD (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs) officer, has simply followed any order along with his colleagues without any question, but now he becomes quite nervous as the ongoing purge begins to affect even his department of the NKVD. When not only he and his colleagues but also the head of their department are on the verge of being purged, the head of their department commits suicide, and that seems to be the only option for Volkonogov and many of his colleagues besides getting “re-evaluated” before eventually being executed.

As trembling more before the growing possibility of his imminent death, Volkonogov attempts to escape, and he soon finds himself chased by a bunch of NKVD agents lead by a weary officer named Major Golovnya (Timofey Tribuntsev). Although he has been quite ill and may not have many years to live, getting executed just like many others is the last thing Golovnya wants right now, and he is certainly ready to catch Volkonogov as soon as possible by any means necessary. At one point, he brutally tortures a close colleague of Volkonogov for getting any useful information, and we are more chilled as several brief flashback scenes show how Volkonogov and his colleagues casually “interrogate” those people unjustly labeled as the enemies of the state.

As he reflects more on how cruel and barbaric he and his colleagues have been to those unfortunate people, Volkonogov’s mind experiences a bit of hallucination at one point when he and several other homeless people happen to be forced to do one atrocious job by NKVD agents, and he becomes convinced that he must do one right thing at least regardless of whether he can escape or not in the end. He happens to have a folder full of government files on some of those executed people, and now he is going to visit their surviving members for getting any kind of forgiveness via telling them what exactly happened to their loved ones.

Of course, many of those surviving members of those documented victims do not welcome Volkonogov or the bad news brought by him. In case of a young female doctor who lost her father, the news of her father’s death is just another depressing thing to be added to her ongoing daily misery, so she accepts the news with phlegmatic detachment. In case of one old man, he turns out to be quite paranoid behind his meek appearance, and we are not so surprised by what he does next right after receiving the news of his son’s death from Volkonogov.

Despite all those negative responses filled with anger, sorrow, and devastation, Volkonogov still does not give up his increasingly despairing quest at all. Really believing that he really needs to be forgiven for his deplorable sin before it is too late, he becomes more willing to take more risk, but he also cannot help but wonder whether his attempt for redemption is futile from the beginning – especially when a certain supporting character flatly reminds him at one point later in the story that nothing will change anyway no matter how much he tries.

Gradually increasing the level of tension around its hero, the movie deftly swings back and forth between stark comedy and absurd horror under the competent direction of directors/co-writers Natalya Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov. For example, there is a strikingly morbid scene where an experienced executioner demonstrates his particular sets of skills in front of Volkonogov and his colleagues, and we are horrified by the executioner’s remorselessly deadpan attitude toward those people to be killed by him one by one.

As the center of the film, Yuri Borisov brings considerable emotional intensity to the screen even when his character does not signal much to us, and he is complemented well by the sardonic weariness of Timofey Tribuntsev. Behind his unflappable determination, Golovnya turns out to have his own fear and conflict, and we understand why Golovnya shows a bit of mercy to Volkonogov around the end of the story.

In conclusion, “Captain Volkonogov Escaped” is a rather tough stuff to watch, but it is still worthwhile to watch for its solid mood, storytelling, and performance. As a sort of horror film, this may actually be scarier than any horror film to come out during the rest of this year, and that says a lot about its considerable effectiveness.

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Riverside Mukolitta (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): He and his quirky neighbors

Posted on August 29, 2023 by kaist455

Japanese film “Riverside Mukolitta” is a little whimsical human drama about life and death. Although it does take some time for us to get accustomed to the rather artificial aspect of the story and characters, the movie gradually immerses us into the laid-back summer background inhabited by the main characters, and it earns some genuine poignancy in the end.

The movie begins with the arrival of a seemingly plain young man named Takeshi (Kenichi Matsuyama) at a small seaside village in the Hokuriku region. Shortly after his arrival, Takeshi gets hired as a small local factory manufacturing salty fermented squid, and then, thanks to the generous owner of the factory, he comes to reside in at a shabby one-story apartment building owned by a young widow named Shiori (Hikari Mitsushima). Although he does not particularly like this place or his new job, it seems that there is no alternative for him, and he simply goes through one day after another alone without much enthusiasm as summer leisurely continues as before.

However, there come two little changes in Takeshi’s solitary daily life. When Kozo (Tsuyoshi Muro), a jolly guy living right next to Takeshi’s apartment, drops by Takeshi’s apartment for a little favor, Takeshi does not pay much attention to him, but, what do you know, Kozo subsequently comes into Takeshi’s domestic environment much more than expected. At first, it is simply taking a bath in the bathroom of Takeshi’s apartment, but then, what do you know, Takeshi eventually finds himself sharing a meal with Kozo, and Kozo also has Takeshi help a bit on his little garden full of several different vegetables.

In the meantime, Takeshi receives an unexpected news involved with his father, who left him and his mother a long time ago. His father was recently found dead in his little apartment where he had lived alone, and, as the only surviving family member of his father, Takeshi is expected to take his father’s ashes and some other personal stuffs after the cremation. However, Takeshi is not so willing to do this because he has been cut off from his father for many years since his father left, and it is only after Kozo’s hearty persuasion that he eventually goes to collect his father’s remains.

Once his father’s remains, now contained in a China jar, is put in a corner of the living room of his apartment, Takeshi thinks that is all he can do for now, but, not so surprisingly, he cannot help but feel conflicted about what to do with his father’s remains next. Maybe he can just throw them away, but he does not feel that comfortable with that solution, so the jar containing his father’s remains simply stays there as before.

Fortunately, one of Takeshi’s neighbors turns out to be associated with funeral business, and there is a running gag involved with how this neighbor and his little son try to sell their products from one house to another in the village. Naturally, nobody is particularly willing to prepare for their death in the future right now, and we get some small laugh when this salesman neighbor finally finds a customer willing to pay a lot for what he is going to provide.

As watching this comic subplot, I could not help but think of Yōjirō Takita’s Oscar-winning film “Departures” (2008), which revolves around a guy who accidentally gets himself into a little funeral service business he comes to respect and appreciate a lot more than expected. Like that moving film, “Riverside Mukolitta”, whose title is explained a bit at the beginning of the film, has a lot to talk about life and death, and their common area is evident when Takeshi and his several neighbors enjoy some freshly cooked meat together thanks to the latest sales success of the aforementioned neighbor.

However, while I had no problem with embracing the humanity of the main characters of “Departures”, I must confess that it was a bit difficult for me to regard the main characters of “Riverside Mukolitta” as human figures instead of broad caricature. Sure, there are a number of small good moments which bring some depth and personality to some of its main characters, but director/writer Naoko Ogigami’s screenplay also often goes for more whimsical touches. As the movie frequently shows a local junkyard which looks as cute and ordered as Wes Anderson films in its stable and precise scene composition, we become more aware of its artificial aspects, and we also feel rather distant to its main characters including Takeshi, who mostly functions as a passive blank canvass for more colorful figures revolving around him.

Anyway, Ogigami, who previously directed “Close-Knit” (2017) and recently made “Hamon” (2023), draws engaging performances from her small cast members. While Kenichi Matsuyama humbly occupies the center, several other cast members including Tsuyoshi Muro, Hikari Mitsushima, and Hidetaka Yoshioka have each own little moment to savor, and Muro’s natural vivacity ably complements Matsuyama’s low-key appearance.

In conclusion, “Riverside Mukolitta” is mildly amusing rather than truly touching my heart like “Departures”, but it does everything you can expect from your average intimate Japanese character drama. I have not watched “Close-Knit” or “Hamon” yet, but Ogigami shows here that she is another interesting Japanese filmmaker to watch, and maybe I should check out her other works someday.

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Alice, Darling (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): Away from her toxic relationship

Posted on August 21, 2023 by kaist455

“Alice, Darling” is a little but increasingly tense psychological drama about a young woman struggling with her toxic relationship with her abusive boyfriend. She desperately wants to look away from what she has suffered, but her mind and body do not lie, and that becomes more evident to not only herself but also a few figures around her when she happens to get a chance to get away from her boyfriend for a while.

At first, the movie shows us how Alice (Anne Kendrick) has tried to maintain her relationship with her boyfriend Simon (Charlie Carrick). They have lived in the Manhattan borough of New York City, and Simon has been a new prominent young artist to watch, but it gradually dawns upon us that Alice is not as happy or fine as she pretends on the surface. For example, she often has to tolerate her boyfriend’s narcissistic ego, but he only shows more of his mentally abusive sides while also emphasizing how much he loves her.

Frequently finding herself on the edge due to her boyfriend’s abuse and manipulation, Alice eventually decides to tell a little lie to him on one day. She was recently invited to a cottage at a remote forest lake area where she can have a private rest along with her two close friends, and she lies to her boyfriend that she will be absent for a while due to her “business trip”.

After she arrives at the cottage along with her two close friends Tess (Kaniehtiio Horn) and Sophie (Wunmi Mosaku), Alice seems to feel a better than before, but, not so surprisingly, she still trembles inside due to her boyfriend’s toxic influence. She cannot help but think of how he may react if he ever happens to learn of her little lie, and that makes her all the more nervous. She accordingly shows more alarming signs of emotional anxiety, and it does not take much time for both Tess and Sophie to discern that something is not so right with Alice.

Nevertheless, without asking too much, Tess and Sophie try to make Alice feel comfortable as much as possible, and we get a series of little relaxing moments as Alice allows herself to enjoy herself a bit along with her two friends. Although the recent incident of a local missing girl sometimes disturbs her mind for understandable reasons, Alice and her friends join the volunteer search for that missing girl when there is not much else to do, and that seems to make her reflect more on how her life is going at present.

However, Alice’s mind is still stuck with her boyfriend, whose imagined presence in her mind becomes more frightening along the story. His cruel words often make her mind feel bad or guilty, and she comes to show more of emotional stress no matter how much she tries to pretend in front of her friends that everything is fine and okay.

In the end, there comes a point where Alice’s friends cannot possibly ignore whatever their friend is struggling with. At one point later in the story, Alice becomes quite panic when she happens to lose a gift from her boyfriend, and that makes Tess and Sophie more convinced that their friend really needs help right now. While letting her stay more at the cottage, they have her slowly open herself more to them, and they surely show some sympathy and support after eventually learning about what she has suffered due to her toxic boyfriend.

Thanks to some good influence from Tess and Sophie, Alice shows a little progress toward the possible recovery, but Anna Kendrick, who demonstrates well a more serious side of her talent here, constantly conveys to us the growing tension inside her character’s traumatized mind. While she finally comes to realize that what she has felt bad about her boyfriend is not wrong at all, her mind remains a captive of his toxic influence to some degree, and, thanks to Kendrick’s believable performance, you will come to have more understanding on how people often cannot easily get away from their toxic relationship.

What the hell, I must confess here that I had my own experience with toxic relationship early in this year, and I really understand Alice’s tricky emotional struggle along the story. As a matter of fact, her increasingly agitated state of mind later in the film triggered a traumatic personal memory of how much I trembled and conflicted when I was finally about to declare the end of the relationship to a guy who, to put it mildly, mistreated me a lot for five months even though he was supposed to be my boyfriend.

The movie also reminds that it is always helpful to have some good friends in your private life, who may help and support you a lot as you struggle with a toxic relationship. As Alice’s two close friends, Kaniehtiio Horn and Wunmi Mosku provide the stable ground for Alice’s anxiety and her following gradual recovery, and they and Kendrick are effective enough to overcome some artificial aspects of the finale. On the opposite, Charlie Carrick is insidiously threatening even though his character mostly hovers over the film, and the mood certainly becomes more tense when his character enters the screen as expected during the last act.

In conclusion, “Alice, Darling” is worthwhile to watch thanks to director Mary Nighy’s competent direction, screenplay writer Alanna Francis’s sensitive and thoughtful writing, and Kendrick and several few other main cast members’ solid acting. While it should be introduced with a trigger warning to anyone who has ever suffered toxic relationship, the movie makes us have more understanding and compassion to unfortunate people like Alice, and that is what good psychological drama films can do in my inconsequential opinion.

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Finding Yingying (2020) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Yingying Zhang is missing

Posted on August 20, 2023 by kaist455

Documentary film “Finding Yingying” focuses on the undeniably heartbreaking human aspects of one real-life missing case. Yingying Zhang, a graduate student at University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois who was only 26 at the time of her missing, is a plain but smart and spirited young woman full of hope and possibility, and her sudden disappearance on one day of June 2017 surely devastated a lot her family and others close to her.

The case came quite close to director/co-producer/co-cinematographer Jiayan “Jenny” Shi Shilin, a Chinese documentary filmmaker who was incidentally also studying at University of Illinois during that time. Shortly after when the missing of Yingying Zhang was reported, Shilin and many other students actively participated in the search for Yingying during next several weeks, and Shilin subsequently followed the desperate efforts of Yingying’s family members and friends.

The early part of the documentary focuses on how hopeful Yingying was about her academic career in the future. After graduating from Peking University in China just like Shilin, Yingying went to US for more study, and that was how she came to University of Illinois. Although she could not help but feel lonely or depressed due to being alone in the middle of a world very alien to her in more than one aspect, she still did not lose any hope and optimism of hers at all, and it is often poignant to observe that via the occasional reading of her personal diary in the documentary.

On that fateful day of June 2017, nothing seemed to be particularly wrong for Yingying and her several fellow Chinese students. Once she had a brief meeting with her landlord in the afternoon for signing a lease for her current residence, she was supposed to join her friends after that, but, to her friends’ befuddlement, she did not appear even in the evening, and they accordingly became quite concerned about whatever might have happened to her.

As the subsequent search for Yingying was continued without much progress, Yingying’s friends came to fear for the worst, and so did her family. Her father soon came from China along with her aunt and her boyfriend (Her mother happened to be not so well at that time, by the way), and the whole university kept trying to search for Yingying, but there was still not any helpful clue to her whereabouts.

In the meantime, the local police also tried as much as possible for finding Yingying, and then there eventually came a breakthrough, though that was not a good news for Yingying’s family and friends at all. Considering what was captured on several surveillance cameras during that day, it was quite possible that Yingying was taken away to somewhere by an unidentified person, and it was also very likely that she was already dead if she was not being kept by that person in question.

Now this sounds like your average true-crime documentary, but, instead of resorting to any kind of cheap sensationalism, the documentary keeps focusing on not only the emotional pain and devastation of Yingying’s family and friends but also Yingying’s life and personality. She was a good daughter to make her parents proud. She was a wonderful girlfriend to her boyfriend. She was a dependable big sister to her younger brother. Above all, she was a promising young woman who could achieve and fulfill a lot after graduating with her doctoral degree.

And that is why the big hole left by her sudden disappearance feels so hurtful to her family and others close to her. At one point, we come to see how much Yingying’s parents have put up with each other a lot for years for supporting their dear daughter, and there is a very painful scene where they clash with each other due to Yingying’s growing absence in their life. In case of Yingying’s boyfriend, he is relatively calmer on the surface, but he is also clearly devastated by her disappearance, and that is why he kept standing by her suffering family to the end.

In the meantime, the investigation on Yingying’s disappearance gradually gained momentum after the local police finally came to find the prime suspect. I will not go into details here, but I can tell you instead that what followed next during next two years was quite frustrating for everyone who cared about Yingying’s disappearance. Although Yingying’s family got the closure at least after suffering so much, that big question hovering over the case remains unanswered to some degree even at this point, and that causes more pain and sorrow for them.

On the whole, “Finding Yingying” is a documentary of haunting qualities to linger on your mind for a long time. Shilin, who received the Special Jury Award when the documentary was shown at the SXSW Film Festival early in 2020, handles her main human subjects with enough care and respect, and Yingying comes to us as a vivid human being to remember even though she is mainly presented via her words and a number of video clips and photographs. In short, this little but intimate documentary is one of most powerful ones I encountered during last several years, and I assure you that you will not easily forget Yingying after watching it.

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Red, White & Royal Blue (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): A little private affair between two young public figures 

Posted on August 18, 2023 by kaist455

“Red, White & Royal Blue”, which was released on Amazon Prime in last week, is a lightweight romantic comedy film which decorates its very familiar genre formula with some interesting story elements. Sure, homosexual romance has become quite a mainstream story subject even in romantic comedy movies these days as shown from “Bros” (2022) and “Spoiler Alert” (2022), but the movie distinguishes itself to some degree as having a fun with the specific aspects of its two contrasting main characters, and we are also actually touched as they come to show more of their feelings to each other along the story despite the considerable obstacles in front of their little private affair.

Like many other contrasting couples in romantic comedy films, the two main characters of the movie are not so cordial to each other from the very beginning. While he is attending a royal wedding party held in London, Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez), who is the son of the current President of the United States, happens to clash with Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) for petty reasons, and their mutual contempt to each other eventually culminates to a big public embarrassment, which is quickly developed into a hot media topic around the world. As a part of the following damage control, Alex and Prince Henry now have to look friendly together in public, and that surely annoys both of them in one way or another.

However, as spending more time together, Alex and Prince Henry come to realize that they are not so different from each other despite lots of differences between their respective social backgrounds. Sure, Prince Henry has much more privileges than Alex as the younger brother of the current Crown Prince, but Alex also have to have a fair share of burden for being a public figure just like Prince Henry, and they eventually come to interact more with each other after Alex goes back to US.

In the end, there comes a point where Prince Henry begins to show his growing feelings toward Alex, and, what do you know, Alex turns out to be quite attracted to Prince Henry although he is not totally gay like Prince Henry. After that point, they continue to meet each other while keeping their burgeoning romance in secret from many others except a few figures they can trust, and, as an R-rated romantic comedy, the movie does not hesitate to delve into some carnal aspects of their romance including, yes, that common act of sexual intercourse I do not dare to mention here in this review for, uh, public decency.

As things get more serious between them, both Alex and Prince Henry become more conflicted about whether they can really go further with their romantic passion. While Alex is concerned about whether his romance with Prince Henry can damage his mother’s ongoing presidential campaign, Prince Henry wonders more about whether he can be brave enough to break away from those old traditions represented by his royal family. Maybe he should put away his feelings instead, but then he cannot help himself about his feelings – especially when Alex opens himself more to him later in the story.

Even before that point, we already know quite well where the story is going, but the screenplay by director Matthew Lopez, who has been mainly known for his Tony-winning play “The Inheritance”, and his co-writer Ted Malawer, which is based on the novel of the same name by Casey McQuiston, keeps us engaged as sensitively and thoughtfully building up the progress of Alex and Prince Henry’s intimate relationship. While it is often amusing to watch how they try to keep their romance in secret, the movie also provides some little poignant moments between them, and there is an achingly sincere scene where Prince Henry shows Alex a little private place where he can be just a plain person for a while instead of a famous public figure.

Above all, the movie is supported well by the good chemistry between its two lead actors. Taylor Zakhar Perez, who recently appeared in Netflix films “The Kissing Booth 2” (2020) and “The Kissing Booth” (2021), brings enough wit and charm to his character, and he is also convincing when his character tries to do much more than merely being the son of the US president later in the story. Compared to his co-star, Nicholas Galitzine, whom we will see again in Emma Seligman’s “Bottoms” (2023), is more reserved as required by his role, and that is why it is moving to see when his character eventually makes an important choice for himself and Alex.

Around Perez and Galitzine, the movie places a number of various performers who has each own small moment to shine. As Alex’s US President mother, Uma Thurman is a bit strained with an exaggerated Texan accent, but she is matched well by the down-to-earth quality of Clifton Collins Jr., who plays Alex’s US Senator father. While Sarah Shahi often steals the show with her snappy supporting performance, Rachel Hilson, Ellie Bamber, and Aneesh Sheth are solid in their respective parts, and you will be also delighted by the cameo appearance by a well-known British actor around the end of the film, who plays his royal character with humorous aplomb.

In conclusion, “Red, White & Royal Blue” is a pretty conventional product to say the least, but it is equipped with good storytelling and engaging performances at least. Sure, the movie simply does as much as intended, but the overall result is fairly enjoyable and appealing in my inconsequential opinion, so I will not grumble for now.

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Hail to Hell (2022) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): This is surely not what they expected…

Posted on August 18, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean independent film “Hail to Hell” surprised me more than once for good reasons. As following two young outcasts’ silly attempt of personal revenge, the movie generates a number of sharply humorous moments for us, and then it goes further than expected before somehow pulling off some genuine hope and optimism for both of them around the end of their bumpy journey.

After the opening scene which dryly but painfully shows one very cruel incident of school bullying, the movie subsequently establishes how things have been quite miserable for Na-mi (Oh Woo-ri) and Seon-woo (Bang Hyo-rin), two female high school students living in a local city outside Seoul. So sick and tired of being bullied and ignored all the time, both of them decide to kill themselves together, but then, right before they try to kill themselves, Seon-woo tells Na-mi that Chae-rin (Jung Yi-ju), a mean girl mainly responsible for their ongoing misery, seems to be living pretty well after moving to Seoul some time ago. Quite furious about this, Na-mi changes her mind at the last minute, and she and Seon-woo soon leave for Seoul for having their revenge on Chae-rin before eventually committing suicide.

Not long after arriving in Seoul, Na-mi and Seon-woo luckily locate where Chae-rin is currently living, but they are caught off guard by how much Chae-rin seems different than before. As a member of some small Christian community, Chae-rin has devoted herself to the Christian faith along with several other members, and she is actually happy to see Na-mi and Seon-woo again because she needs their forgiveness for her, uh, spiritual salvation.

Naturally, both Na-mi and Seon-woo are all the more flabbergasted by this unbelievable change of Chae-rin. Sure, they are still willing to make Chae-rin miserable as much as possible, but Chae-rin looks very eager to accept anything from them in the name of forgiveness, and Na-mi and Seon-woo become more confused about what to do next, while also finding themselves stuck more with Chae-rin’s Christian community during next several days.

In the meantime, as many of you have probably guessed already, the situation gradually turns out to be more serious than both Na-mi and Seon-woo expected at first. While they are cordially accepted as guests by Chae-rin and her fellow Christian community members, Na-min and Seon-woo come to see more of how weird and disturbing this Christian community looks. As your average agnostic atheist, I do not know much about Christians in South Korea, but I have heard about some loony Christian communities out there, and what is shown in the film is not so far from what I heard about.

Maybe Na-mi and Seon-woo can just choose to give up and then leave, but, to our little amusement, they keep hesitating while not so sure about what is going on around them – and whether Chae-rin is really changed as she often claims in front of them and others. At one point, Na-mi tries to corner Chae-rin more, but Chae-rin does not seem to be perturbed at all even at this point, and that accordingly makes Na-mi less willing to execute the revenge than before. After all, what is the point of revenge if the figure in question is quite ready to be punished?

Around the narrative point where Na-mi and Seon-woo come upon some secret hidden behind Chae-rin’s Christian community (Is this a spoiler?), director/writer Lim Oh-jeong’s screenplay shifts itself onto horror/thriller mode, but the movie still does not lose any of its dark sense of humor while bringing more human complexity to its main characters. As their situation becomes quite tricky, Na-mi and Seon-woo also come to conflict a lot with each other, and we come to learn that their relationship is a bit more complicated than expected behind their common hate toward Chae-rin, who subsequently turns out to have a fair share of desperation behind her seemingly gentle and peaceful façade.

Na-mi and Seon-woo are often pathetic to say the least as they clumsily reach for their vengeance, but they are illustrated with an ample amount of life and personality. While they have just stuck together under their shared misery, Na-mi and Seon-woo come to find solace and solidarity from each other as going through their quest for revenge, and that is the main reason why the final act of the movie works splendidly in addition to being balanced well between comedy and thriller.

The wonderful comic performances from the two lead performers of the film flawlessly complement each other throughout the film. While Oh Woo-ri is relatively more direct and forthright, Bang Hyo-rin quietly but ably holds the ground for her co-star’s showier acting, and we surely get lots of small but solid laughs as observing how their characters push and pull each other along the story. As another crucial part of the story, Jung Yi-ju is equally terrific in the constant ambiguity of her character, and Park Sung-hoon, Lee Joo-woon, and Lee Sun-hee are also effective in their respective supporting parts.

On the whole, “Hail to Hell” is another highlight in South Korean independent cinema during this year, and Lim, who previously made several acclaimed short films before making a feature film debut her, shows that she is another interesting South Korean filmmaker to watch. While Na-mi and Seon-woo are not exactly likable even at the end of the story, I found myself rooting for them more than expected as observing how they feel a bit better about themselves and their life in a way to be appreciated by Friedrich Nietzsche, and that is quite an achievement to say the least.

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Oppenheimer (2023) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): American Prometheus

Posted on August 16, 2023 by kaist455

Christopher Nolan’s latest film “Oppenheimer”, which was finally released in South Korean yesterday, is overwhelming to say the least. If you do not have much knowledge about its real-life hero’s life and career, you may get confused more than once as it busily and briskly juggles its multiple storylines and numerous figures around its real-life hero from the beginning to the end, but you will be also captivated by its sheer cinematic craft fueled by Nolan’s undeniably intense artistic vision and talent during its 3-hour running time.

Nolan’s adapted screenplay, which is based on Pulitzer-winning biography book “American Prometheus” by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, shuffles among three main narratives for looking into the life and career of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), who has been known as “Father of the Atomic Bomb”. On one side, we see Oppenheimer enduring the security hearing by the Atomic Energy Committee (AEC) in 1953 due to being associated with some questionable left-wing figures. On the other hand, we see Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), the chief orchestrator of Oppenheimer’s eventual humiliating downfall in public, going through Senate confirmation hearing for Secretary of Commerce several years later. Between these two contrasting main narratives, the movie vividly illustrates Oppenheimer’s dramatic rise and fall during the 1920-50s step by step.

Although he was not so promising mainly due to his clumsy handing of laboratory experiments, Oppenheimer was a troubled but brilliant student passionately drawn to the exciting academic possibilities of studying quantum mechanics, and he happened to be at the right time and the right place. After meeting Danish Nobel-winner physicist Nelis Bohr (Kenneth Branagh) while having some hard time in England, he immediately moved to Germany for studying under many pioneers in his academic field during the 1920-30s, and he certainly became more excited and passionate about his ongoing study.

However, not long after he returned to US for teaching quantum mechanics in University of California, Berkeley, things got quite serious for him and many others around the world, and then the World War II eventually began in 1939. Before the war, Oppenheimer and his colleagues learned about the amazing but disturbing discovery on nuclear fission in Germany, and, as the war was continued, they and many other physicists in US including Albert Einstein (Tom Conti) naturally came to worry about one dreadful possibility: what if Hitler got the powerful weapon based on that awesome scientific discovery first?

Eventually, the US government commenced the Manhattan Project, and Oppenheimer was subsequently selected as the director of this ambitious military project. When General Leslie Groves Jr. (Matt Damon) approaches to him in private, he is surely well aware of what General Groves wants, and General Groves knows quite well about Oppenheimer’s questionable association with some suspicious left-wing figures such as his longtime mistress Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh), though he does not care much because 1) Oppenheimer is on the top of his candidate list and 2) he sees as Oppenheimer’s political vulnerability as a little leverage to be used later for his advantage.

Under Oppenheimer’s confident guidance and leadership, the Manhattan Project gets accelerated further thanks to many different scientists ranging from Isidor Isaac Rabi (David Krumholtz) to Edward Teller (Benny Safdie), and their massive joint efforts finally culminate to that historical atomic bomb test in July 1945. As many of you know, there has been lots of hoopla about how Nolan and his crew members made this terrifying but captivating moment without using much CGI, and I can only tell you that their final result is worthwhile to watch on big theater screen.

Nevertheless, the movie does not lose the human dimensions of the story even at that point, and it keeps us focused on that via its superlative concoction of visual and sound. While Nolan’s adapted screenplay sometimes feels a bit too talky, the movie rapidly but succinctly moves around its multiple narrative lines thanks to the precise and efficient editing by Jennifer Lane, and its pulsating narrative momentum is further accentuated by the deliberately overpowering score by Ludwig Göransson. Above all, cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema’s camera often focuses closely on the faces of the performers in the film, who all did a marvelous job in their understated ensemble acting as reminding me of what Ingmar Bergman once said: “For me, the human face is the most important subject of the cinema.”

As the distant but undeniably compelling human center of the film, Cillian Murphy, who already collaborated with Nolan no less than five times, diligently holds the center via his subdued but intense presence, and he is particularly terrific as Oppenheimer is trembled a lot by the growing guilt and regret from his involvement in the development of the atomic bomb later in the story. In addition, Nolan assembles many various notable performers around Murphy. While Robert Downey Jr. is a definite standout as Oppenheimer’s petty and spiteful political enemy, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Conti, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Benny Safdie, Michael Angarano, Rami Malek, Dane DeHaan, David Krumholtz, Alden Ehrenreich, Jason Clarke, Macon Blair, Matthew Modine, Gary Oldman, Alex Wolff, Casey Affleck, Jack Quaid, Gustaf Skarsgård, Matthias Schweighöfer, David Dastmalchian, Tony Goldwyn, Olivia Thirlby, James Remar, and Emily Bunt come and go as required, and Blunt and Pugh manage to bring some life and personality to their respective crucial but rather underwritten female supporting roles.

On the whole, “Oppenheimer” shows Nolan back in his element after the relative disappointment of “Tenet” (2020), which left me rather cold due to its very murky time travel plot despite some stunning visual moments to admire. Although this is your typical Nolan flick in many ways, it is one of his better works nonetheless, and it is surely one of the highlights of this summer season.

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A Man of Reason (2022) ☆1/2(1.5/4): A Man of Boredom

Posted on August 15, 2023 by kaist455

To be frank with you, I did not expect a lot from the beginning, but South Korean film “A Man of Reason” tremendously bored me from the beginning to the end. While there is nothing particularly new or refreshing in the overall result of this miserably mediocre dreck, it is so ponderously boring and unexciting in many aspects that I actually did not feel like missing anything at all even though I got quite drowsy more than once when I watched it at a local movie theater early in this morning.

The story mainly revolves around one very, very, very laconic ex-con named Soo-hyeok (Jung Woo-sung), who has just been released after 10 years of incarceration at the beginning of the film. He is an ex-member of some powerful criminal organization, and we gradually come to gather that he was sent to the prison due to whatever he did for the current boss of that criminal organization at that time.

After receiving a little generous present from the boss, Soo-hyeok visits the boss for showing some gratitude. When Soo-hyeok says that he will just lead a plain ordinary life instead of rejoining the criminal organization, the boss sardonically ridicules Soo-hyeok’s decision, and, though he lets Soo-hyeok go in the end, he soon instructs his right-had guy to watch on Soo-hyeok for a while at least.

Not so surprisingly, this right-hand guy turns out to have some other idea on how to deal with their current problem with Soo-hyeok. Probably because of being envious of how the boss trusts Soo-hyeok more than him, he subsequently hires a psychotic professional killer couple, and this murderous couple is certainly eager to go for their next target which seems to be an easy job just like their previous target.

Meanwhile, Soo-hyeok approaches to an old girlfriend of his, who has led a quiet normal life along with her cute little daughter since she got pregnant not long after his incarceration. It goes without saying that Soo-hyeok is the biological father of her daughter, but she is not so willing to let him enter her life again for understandable reasons. She is quite concerned about her daughter’s future due to her terminal illness, and Soo-hyeok may be the one who will take care of her daughter instead once she passes away, but she also remembers too well what kind of man he once was.

It is not much of a spoiler to tell you that 1) the daughter of Soo-hyeok’s ex-girlfriend is eventually kidnapped and 2) Soo-hyeok is the only one who can possibly save this young girl as a man with a particular set of skills. As clashing with that crazy professional killer couple, Soo-hyeok causes a lot of troubles for that criminal organization, and the boss certainly wants his right-hand guy to take care of this increasing messy situation as soon as possible.

Now you will be reminded of countless action thriller films ranging from “Taken” (2008) to “John Wick” (2014), and “A Man of Reason”, which is incidentally released as “The Protector” in South Korean theaters today, surely serves us several gritty physical action scenes, but none of these scenes shows enough style or substance to hold our attention. While they are mostly competent in technical aspects, they do not propel the story or the characters much on the whole, and we become all the more aware of how superficial the movie is in terms of story and character. Its attitude is certainly solemn and serious to say the least, but it sadly forgets to fill its rudimentary storyline and broad characters with details and nuances, and the result is one of the most joylessly hollow experiences I have ever had at a movie theater.

As the director and the lead actor of the film, Jung Woo-sung definitely tries as much as behind and in front of the camera. He is not a bad filmmaker as far as I can observe from his result, but his direction and performance are frequently limited by the barebone screenplay by written by him and his co-writer Jung Hae-sin. No matter how much Jung struggles to bring some human depth to his character, Soo-hyeok remains to be a bland and uninteresting walking stiff mainly defined by his fighting skill, and we become less and less interested in whatever is being at stake for Soo-hyeok.

The screenplay is also quite lousy in case of handling several substantial supporting characters in the story, some of whom are very distracting while often looking like belonging to a very different movie. As a matter of fact, I felt sorry for Kim Nam-gil, Park Sung-woon, Kim Jun-han, and Park Yoo-na because they usually resort to overacting without much clear direction for their acting, through Park occasionally shows a bit of dark sense of humor despite her thankless supporting role.

In conclusion, “A Man of Reason” is one of the most disappointing South Korean films of this year, and it actually made me wonder whether I was too harsh to another South Korean action thriller film “The Man from Nowhere” (2010). Unlike many other reviewers and critics, I did not like “The Man from Nowhere” much due to its shallow story and mediocre characters, but that movie has much more skill and energy compared to “A Man of Reason” at least, and maybe I should revisit it someday for checking out whether it is actually better than I thought at that time.

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