Honey Sweet (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A familiar taste

Posted on August 15, 2023 by kaist455

I did not laugh much as watching South Korean romantic comedy film “Honey Sweet” because it turned out to be not as sweet or funny as its story and characters could be. While it works to some degree mainly thanks to its two lead performers’ diligent efforts, the movie unfortunately stumbles more than once in case of developing their awkward romantic situation or several supporting characters around them, and I found myself more distant to the story and characters instead of rooting for them more.

During its early part, the movie shows us how inflexibly repetitive its socially inept hero’s daily life is. Whenever his mind is not occupied with making better snack products at his workplace, Chi-ho (Yoo Hae-jin) flatly and precisely goes through every scheduled daily routine of his, and he does not feel particularly lonely even though he is mostly alone in his house in addition to becoming fortysomething now. His solitude is occasionally interrupted by his ex-con older brother Seok-ho (Cha In-pyo), but Chi-ho does not mind giving some money to his problematic older brother whenever Seok-ho happens to need it due to his frequent gambling, and Seok-ho has no qualms on exploiting his younger brother’s innocent kindness.

On one day, Seok-ho happens to have a little problem with paying off his latest loan. Again, Chi-ho has no choice but to take care of this problem of his older brother’s, and that is how he comes to meet a loan company employee named Il-yeong (Kim Hee-sun). Although their Meet Cute moment is rather embarrassing, Il-yeong quickly becomes determined to get closer to Chi-ho as a single mother who has been looking for any suitable guy who may be a solution to her difficult financial circumstance, and Chi-ho also soon finds himself more attracted to Il-yeong even while quite flabbergasted by this sudden change in his stably monotonous daily life.

However, besides the frequent awkwardness in their interactions, there are some other troubles surrounding the burgeoning romance between Chi-ho and Il-yeong. While Seok-ho does not welcome much Il-yeong from the very beginning, Il-yeong’s college student daughter does not approve of Chi-ho much either mainly because 1) she still remembers well how much Il-yeong suffered due to her ex-husband in the past and 2) she also happens to have a little relationship problem of hers. In addition, Chi-ho’s employer becomes quite concerned when they come to learn that Il-yeong is persuading Chi-ho to quit his job for some serious health reason, and they naturally embark on a secret plan for sabotaging Chi-ho and Il-yeong’s romance.

Now this setup looks like an ideal recipe for good comedy, but the movie somehow fails to muster enough comic energy and momentum to hold our attention. Sure, it does deliver one supposedly comic moment after another as expected, but most of them are no more than shallow gags and jokes which do not add up much to the story or the characters on the whole.

Furthermore, the movie even misses a potentially big opportunity of manic screwball comedy at one point where Chi-ho and Il-yeong happen to be followed by no less than three different supporting characters with each own mean goal. We expect for any kind of big laugh at this point, but then this initially promising moment unfortunately fizzles within a few minutes as if the movie were afraid of pushing its comic limits, and that is a big letdown to say the least.

The movie is also quite deficient in case of characterization. We are supposed to accept that Chi-ho is a sort of confectionary genius, but we never get to know anything at all about his considerable talent, and even the movie seems to forget that. As far as I can see, he also shows a number of notable signs of autistic spectrum, but this aspect of his is casually ignored while one traumatic accident in the past is thoughtlessly blamed for his social ineptitude. Moreover, Il-yeong is solely defined by her plucky pursuit of Mr. Right for her without showing much human depth, and, to make matters worse, many of other substantial characters in the film do not go beyond the level of caricature while not even utilized that well for intended comic effects.

Anyway, I must admit that Yoo Hae-jin, who has been one of the most dependable character actors in South Korean cinema for many years, does not look strained at all as the lead actor of the film. Okay, he may not be one of the most dashing movie actors in South Korea at present, but he brings some amiable qualities to his character, and you can easily see why Il-yeong comes to like and care about Chi-ho a lot more than expected. On the opposite, Kim Hee-sun ably complements Yoo throughout the film, and, like several notable cast members including Cha In-pyo, Jin Sun-kyu, and Han Sunhwa, they certainly deserve a better film in my trivial opinion.

“Honey Sweet” is directed by Lee Han, who previously directed “Punch” (2011) and “Elegant Lies” (2014). Unlike these two previous films of his, I did not respond that well to “Honey Sweet” mainly because its handling of story and characters was not funny enough for me, and I became more disappointed around its last act, which is a bit too long and scattershot as lurching toward its expected ending. At least, it is not a total waste of time, and, considering what I observed from several audiences around me while watching it early in this morning, I have a feeling that you may enjoy it more than me, so I will just let you decide to check it out someday.

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Queer My Friends (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Following her gay friend’s struggle

Posted on August 14, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean documentary film “Queer My Friends” follows the personal struggle of one young South Korean gay man who simply wants to be alive and true to himself. Although his story is presented mainly via the rather distant viewpoint of his close female friend who is incidentally the director of the documentary, it often feels sad and poignant for good reasons, and it will surely make you reflect more on how harsh and indifferent the South Korean society has been to many LGBTQ+ people like him for many years.

At first, director/writer Seo Ah-hyun tells us how she and Gang-won came to know each other during their early years. They and their Christian parents happened to go to the same church in their neighborhood in Seoul, so they became quite close to each other as often spending time together, and that was the main reason why Ah-hyun was quite surprised when Gang-won suddenly revealed his homosexuality to her shortly after having his 26th birthday.

While his parents still supported him as usual (I really envy him because my parents are still in denial while also pushing me toward heterosexual marriage as before), Gang-won eventually made a big decision when he was about to serve in the South Korean Army for at least 2 years just like many other able-bodied lads in South Korea. Knowing well how homophobic the South Korean Army really is, he gave up his South Korean citizenship in 2014, and then he went to US, where he subsequently got enlisted in the US Army.

Because the US Army has been more tolerant of LGBTQ+ people in these days, Gang-won did not have much problem with serving in the US Army, but, ironically, he was deployed to Seoul in the end, and he did not mind that much either. After all, he still felt more comfortable in South Korea, and there were also Ah-hyun and some other friends willing to accept his sexual identity. In addition, he began a little romantic relationship, so it seemed that he could actually settle in South Korea later even though he was not technically a South Korean citizen anymore.

However, sadly, the circumstance did not go that well for Gang-won during next several years. Not long after he was deployed to Germany later, Gang-won decided to leave the US Army due to some anxiety/depression problem, and then he stayed in New York City for a while as wondering what to do for the next chapter of his life. As a dude who has always been enthusiastic about theater performance, he takes some dance and singing lessons, and he seems to feel a bit better during these little cheerful moments, though that still does not alleviate his anxiety on the growing uncertainty of his future.

In the end, Gang-won returned to Seoul, and he was certainly welcomed by his boyfriend, Ah-hyun, and some other friends, but he still did not feel that well for understandable reasons. Because of giving up his South Korean citizenship and then evading that mandatory military service, it was difficult for him to get any decent job, and there is a little bitter moment when he reveals a bit about his current medicated status (I came to empathize more with him after learning that one of his two prescribed drugs happens to be the one I have had for more than 10 years, by the way).

As observing her friend’s ongoing struggle, Ah-hyun comes to reflect a lot on several things including her own life. Although she has aspired to be a documentary filmmaker since her college graduation, she mostly remains stuck with recording Gang-won’s story on her camera, and her parents often suggest that she should consider some other options for her life such as marrying some suitable guy.

In addition, Ah-hyun becomes more aware of the considerable social prejudice against LGBTQ+ people in the South Korean society. At one point, we see her and Gang-won attending the annual queer parade held in the middle of Seoul, and they and many other participants are happy to be there as enjoying themselves, but there are always a big bunch of hateful right-wing Christians verbally insulting and attacking at them. These loathsome people frequently emphasize their faith and Jesus in public, but, seriously, I do not think their cruel actions of hate and bigotry will be ever approved by Jesus himself.

Gang-won tries to be brave and truthful as before, but, sadly, there comes a moment equivalent to the breaking point when he and Ah-hyun come to have a painful private conversation with his boyfriend silently sitting beside them. Sure, they still care about each other as close friends, but Gang-won has felt a lot more burdened than before as Ah-hyun keeps following him with her camera, and that naturally makes Ah-hyun question whether she has actually put her project above their long friendship.

In my humble opinion, “Queer My Friends” could delve more into its main human subject, but it respects and cares too much about its main human subject to do that, and I appreciate how Seo handles her dear friend’s personal story with enough consideration and sensitivity. Although the ending is as bittersweet as expected, there are also some hope and optimism at least, and I can only wish the best for both Seo and Gang-won as a South Korean gay man who has had his own fair share of struggle for being true to myself besides being alive in the South Korean society during last several years. Yes, things have look pretty daunting to many of us these days, but things do change in the end as long as we keep struggling to live, don’t they?

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Speak No Evil (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): Their disturbing hosts

Posted on August 12, 2023 by kaist455

“Speak No Evil” warns us right from the very beginning that something bad will happen sooner or later, and that turns out to be quite disturbing to say the least. Starting from one sunny and pleasant environment, the movie eventually puts us through a series of increasingly dark and uncomfortable moments, and we find ourselves held tighter by its chillingly ruthless descent into darkness even when we clearly come to see its inevitable conclusion.
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At first, we are introduced to Bjørn (Morten Burian) and Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch), an ordinary middle-class Danish couple who is currently having a little summer vacation along with their little daughter in Italy. While they are going through another pleasant and relaxing day, they happen to come across a Dutch couple who arrived a few days ago along with their little silent son, and it does not take much time for them to befriend this Dutch couple, Patrick (Fedja van Huêt) and Karin (Karina Smulders), during next several days.

Not long after they return to their residence in Denmark, Bjørn and Louise receive a postcard from Patrick and Karin, who seem to have had a real good time along with Bjørn and Louise. As a matter of fact, they cordially suggest that t Bjørn and Louise should come to their home in Holland someday, and Bjørn and Louise eventually decide that they will spend a weekend in Patrick and Karin’s residence, though, as they admit at one point, they do not know that much about Patrick or Karin.

Of course, things already do not look good to us even at that point. As Bjørn and Louise travel to Patrick and Karin’s house along with their daughter, the ominous score by Sune “Køter” Kølst frequently fills the screen with an aura of grave danger, and we are all the more unnerved as observing how isolated Patrick and Karin’s house looks in the middle of some remote rural spot – how their son still remains silent without saying any word.

While Patrick and Karin are eager to welcome Bjørn and Louise into their house, it does not take much time for us to discern how they often make Bjørn and Louise uncomfortable in one indirect way or another. For example, Patrick offers a piece of cooked meat to Louise even though he knows well that she is a vegetarian, and that is just the beginning of many small things which disturb or annoy Louise. No matter how much she tries to be nice and polite on the surface, Patrick and Karin gradually get on her nerve with more rudeness, and we are not so surprised when she eventually decides that enough is enough at one point later in the story.

In comparison, Bjørn seems less oblivious to how impolite Patrick and Karin are at times. As your average meek middle-class guy who has a fair share of frustration and suffocation behind his gentle appearance, he cannot help but envy Patrick’s casually masculine attitude, and he certainly feels good when he has a little moment of emotional ventilation along with Patrick at one abandoned site not so far from Patrick and Karin’s house.

In the meantime, more bad signs for Bjørn and Louise (and us) pop out one by one. There is a little disquieting moment associated with Patrick and Karin’s son. There is also a tense moment when Louise finds her private moment almost violated by Patrick. Above all, Bjørn and Louise feel more disturbed about how Patrick and Karin are often callous to their son right in front of Bjørn and Louise, and then there comes a point when both of Bjørn and Louise cannot possibly tolerate Patrick and Karin anymore.

Around that narrative point, the screenplay by director Christian Tafdrup, who won the Best Director award when the movie was shown at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in last year, and his brother/co-writer Mads Tafdrup shifts the story from a vicious black comedy of manners to something much darker than that. Yes, Patrick and Karin are not merely rude hosts at all as implied from the very beginning, but we are still chilled as observing how Bjørn and Louise get stuck more with Patrick and Karin along the story despite some opportunities and chances given to them. In short, this is a devious inversion of home invasion movies such as “The Strangers” (2008), and this aspect is more evident to us during its brutally nihilistic finale, which will make you wince more than once for good reasons.

While I give it three stars for its solid mood, storytelling, and performance, I am wondering whether I can really recommend “Speak No Evil” to everyone. A few days ago, a Filipino friend of mine, who is living with his wife and their two kids in Australia at present, once told me that he cannot revisit “The Exorcist” (1973) for an understandable personal reason, and I am certain that “Speak No Evil” is too grim for him for the same reason.

Anyway, “Speak No Evil” will leave you quite a striking impression if you are ready for something really dark and intense. If so, you should check it out as soon as possible considering that its American version is being produced by Blumhouse Productions at present. Although I still feel rather ambivalent about “Speak No Evil” even at present, I also want the American version not to screw up anything, and I guess that says a lot about its overall effectiveness as a horror thriller film.

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Concrete Utopia (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): An apartment building which survives

Posted on August 9, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean film “Concrete Utopia” is a dark but compelling apocalyptic thriller coupled with some biting social satire to be savored. While it feels conventional on the surface at times, the movie efficiently handles its story and characters in addition to establishing well its mood and background on the screen, and the result is one of more entertaining mainstream South Korean films during the summer season of this year.

After the amusing opening montage scene showing the long history of apartment complex development in Seoul during last several decades, the movie immediately puts us right into a sudden grim situation surrounding Min-seong (Park Seo-joon) and his wife Myeong-hwa (Park Bo-young) and many neighbors of their old apartment building. For some unspecified reason, Seoul is struck by a massive earthquake on one cold winter day, and this huge catastrophe seems to destroy all the buildings in the city except Min-seong and Myeong-hwa’s apartment building.

While everyone in the apartment building tries to recover from shock and awe during the following aftermath, they are consoled a bit by their incredible good luck. As mentioned at one point early in the story, their apartment was not so valuable compared to many of neighboring apartment buildings, but now their apartment becomes a priceless shelter, and they are certainly willing to protect it at any cost. As the survivors from the outside keep coming to the apartment building, they eventually decide to get rid of all of those outsiders at once, and Yeong-tak (Lee Byung-hun), who happens to be recently elected as the new representative of the apartment building residents, is ready to do anything for their common interest and survival.

After its several main characters are established one by one, the screenplay by director Um Tae-hwa and his co-writer Lee Sin-ji, which is based on Kim Sung-nik’s webtoon “Pleasant Bullying”, steadily follows their gradual descent into selfishness and cruelty while occasionally wielding its dark sense of humor. We are chilled by how much people can go low in the name of safety and survival, but we are also amused by the sheer human absurdity observed from that. So insulated from whatever is going on in the outside world, many residents of the apartment building let themselves driven by their worse sides under Yeong-tak’s increasingly questionable leadership, and, not so surprisingly, their hostility is eventually directed toward some residents who simply choose to be more decent and compassionate unlike many others around them.

Myeong-hwa is one of such conscientious persons in the apartment building, so she naturally comes to conflict a lot with her husband, who, in contrast, is willing to do anything for their survival. He and many others often go outside along with Yeong-tak for finding for anything to eat, and, as Myeong-hwa has worried from the beginning, he soon comes to face how he can easily cross lines for his survival and benefit.

During its second half, the movie generates more tension as a certain supporting character enters the picture. I will not describe in detail, but I can tell you instead that this supporting character in question later reveals something very important to Myeong-hwa. As a matter of fact, you may be able to guess it in advance while musing a bit on how many apartment building residents are usually distant and ignorant about each other in reality. Come to think of it, I am now reminded that I do not know or remember anything about any of those neighbors in my one-room apartment building, although I have lived here for more than 3 years now.

As deftly mixing satiric elements into the thriller narrative of his film, Um also pays a lot of attention to the mood and details of its apocalyptic background, and his crew members including cinematographer Joe Hyung-rae did a terrific job on the whole. The special effects in the film look relatively modest compared to many Hollywood blockbuster films out there, but they are utilized well to create a believable background to engage us, and many of those minor supporting characters in the film are credible as people you may come across in your average South Korean apartment complex.

Lee Byung-hun is the most prominent performer in the bunch, but he and several other main cast members are mostly effective together in their good ensemble performance. While Lee surely has several showy moments as required by his role, Park Seo-joon, Park Bo-young, Kim Sun-young, Park Ji-hu, and Kim Do-yoon also have each own moment to shine, and Park Seo-joon and Park Bo-young convey well to us their respective characters’ growing inner conflict along the story.

Overall, “Concrete Utopia” is worthwhile to watch for a number of good reasons, and Um, who previously made “Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned” (2016), successfully moves up to the next step of his promising filmmaking career. Along it arrives rather late after several other big South Korean films were released during last two weeks, the movie is actually the best in the group, and I appreciate how it deftly brings some distinctive atmosphere and personality to its familiar genre elements.

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Spoiler Alert (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): Their real-life love story

Posted on August 7, 2023 by kaist455

“Spoiler Alert” is a familiar love story which turns out to be more enjoyable and poignant than expected. Mainly revolving around the ups and downs of one ordinary gay couple, the movie swings back and forth between comedy and drama as gradually building up the life and personality of its two main characters along the story, and that is why its expected finale is really sad and touching instead of feeling kitschy or schmaltzy at all.

The early part of the film shows how Michael Ausiello (Jim Parsons) happened to encounter a handsome guy named Kit Cowan (Ben Aldridge). Mostly content with how his life in New York City has been going with a job he is really passionate about, Michael is not particularly interested in getting hooked up with any dude at present, but then he goes to a local gay bar as urged by one of his close friends, and that is where he comes across Kit, who happens to be enjoying his own time along with his best heterosexual female friend.

As interacting more with Kit, Michael cannot help but feel awkward mainly because Kit is quite opposite to Michael in many aspects. While Michael is usually shy and insecure mostly due to being a chubby overweight kid in the past, Kit is very direct and confident to say the least although he is not exactly openly gay unlike Michael. Michael soon finds himself attracted more to Kit despite his initial reluctance, and he eventually gives Kit his calling card later, which becomes the starting point of their relationship. As they keep meeting each other during next several months, they get closer and closer to each other, and then Michael decides to let Kit enter his little private world for showing more of himself, which catches Kit off guard for a hilarious reason.

While they subsequently become more serious about their relationship, Michael and Kit come to face a little private matter involved with Kit’s parents, who incidentally do not know yet that their son is gay. When Kit happens to spend some time a hospital due to one serious health problem, his parents immediately come without hesitation, and they naturally come to wonder why Michael constantly hangs around their son even though he is just a “friend”. It is not much of a spoiler to tell you that there soon comes a rather difficult moment of confession, but you may appreciate how this predictable moment is handled fairly well with enough sensitivity and tactfulness.

During next several years, Michael and Kit become happier than before. They eventually move together into a new apartment, and they show more love and understanding to each other, but then they also come to struggle with serious relationship issues. Because they still love each other despite that, they do try a lot for solving these issues of theirs, but they later come to decide that it is the best for both of them to put some distance between them.

And then another big problem suddenly occurs. On one day, Kit turns out to be suffering a serious case of cancer which quickly gets worse than expected, and Michael is certainly willing to stand by Kit as much as possible. Despite lots of care and treatment, Kit’s medical condition only gets worsened more than before, and both Kit’s parents and Michael become more saddened as preparing themselves for what will happen sooner or later to Kit.

Around that point, you will be definitely reminded of a bunch of other films ranging from “Love story” (1970) to “Terms of Endearment” (1983), but the screenplay by David Marshall Grant and Dan Savage, which is based on Ausiello’s memoir “Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies”, imbues the story with a considerable amount of wit, personality, and, above all, emotion. While a number of comic scenes which present Michael’s life as a TV sitcom series feel like a distracting overkill, the other parts of the film are handled with enough care and realism at least, and we actually get to know more about both Michael and Kit as touched more by how sincerely and desperately they stick together more in front of Kit’s impending death.

Above all, the movie works mainly thanks to the good chemistry between its two lead actors. Although he has been mainly known for his Emmy-winning comic performance in TV sitcom series “The Big Bang Theory”, Jim Parsons can be quite serious as already shown from Netflix film “The Boys in the Band” (2020), and he ably dials down his comic intensity while occasionally wielding some sense of humor as required. On the opposite, Ben Aldridge, a British actor who recently appeared in “Knock at the Cabin” (2023), complements his co-star well as they lovingly establish their characters’ personal relationship along the story, and they are also supported well by Sally Field and Bill Irwin, who provide some extra poignancy as Kit’s caring parents.

Considering that he previously directed “The Big Sick” (2017), which is partially based on the real-life love story between its two writers Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, “Spoiler Alert” is not exactly a new territory for director Michael Showalter, but the overall result is relatively more satisfying than his recent previous film “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” (2021), which is a little too flawed but garnered an overdue Oscar for its lead actress Jessica Chastain anyway. The movie exactly accomplishes what it intends to do via its solid heartfelt moments tinged with genuine emotions, and that is more than enough for compensating for its small weak points in my inconsequential opinion.

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The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): A tale of one infected mattress

Posted on August 6, 2023 by kaist455

My head goes blank for a while as mulling over how the hell I can describe or explain to you on South Korean film “The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra”, which is, in my inconsequential opinion, one of the most singular films from South Korean cinema during last several years. As far as I remember, I have never watched anything quite like this, and, to be frank with you, I am still scratching my head a little on what it is about or how it is about. Therefore, I will just simply scribble on whatever I thought and felt during its rather short running time (65 minutes) here in this trivial review, and then you will decide for yourself whether you are going to try it or not if you ever get an opportunity to watch this opaque but undeniably compelling cinematic experiment. 

The movie opens with the extreme close-up shot of a shabby mattress to be delivered to a little one-room apartment where a young couple has just moved on one winter day of 2000. While her boyfriend is virtually doing nothing at all, the girl moves their stuffs including that mattress one by one, and we are not so surprised when their relationship eventually becomes quite estranged during next several months.

However, the movie subsequently focuses more on a little strange happening inside the mattress. As indirectly announced to us at the very beginning, the mattress happens to be infected with a mysterious kind of fungus, and this fungus keeps growing inside the mattress while the couple somehow overlooks the hygienic condition of the mattress. Around the time when the couple inevitably comes to have a painful moment of separation, the fungus somehow comes to acquire a sort of intelligent consciousness, which incidentally happens to be influenced a lot by the girl’s angry and bitter feelings on the separation.   

After that, the movie dryly observes what this mysterious organism does as its little habitat is moved around here and there along the story. Whenever somebody happens to be very close to the mattress, it quickly snatches a vertebra from its unfortunate human target, and we accordingly wince a bit as getting some grisly moments of flesh and blood involved with how it gradually grows further via its snatched vertebrae. I am sure that this will instantly remind you a lot of those disturbing horror films of David Cronenberg – and a bit of Clive Barker’s “Hellrasier” (1987) for good reasons.

In addition, the movie can be compared with Jonathan’s Glazer’s underrated SF horror film “Under the Skin” (2013) to some degree. As its mysterious fungus character is developed more and more in terms of mind and body, the movie often throws striking visual moments which feel weirder with its atmospheric synthesizer score, and these bizarre scenes alternatively baffle and fascinate us – even though we are not so certain about what they actually mean or represent in the context of the film.

Nevertheless, director/writer Park Sye-yong, who also edited the film in addition to handling the cinematography and sound effects of the film, keeps holding our attention under his skillful direction. As we continue to follow its fungus character’s seemingly aimless journey amidst different locations and various human interactions, we also come to sense a sort of emotional growth behind that, and that accordingly functions as the main narrative line onto which we can hold to the end.   

At one point later in the story, the mattress happens to be put on the bed of a dying woman at a hospice, and that is the most poignant part in the film. The dying woman turns out to have a little personal wish, and that seems to touch the fungus character, which has already grown into a humanoid form around that point. It comes to show some compassion to the dying woman before she eventually dies, but, unfortunately, it does not succeed in fulfilling the dying woman’s wish due to some bad luck. 

Meanwhile, the mattress keeps getting moved from one spot to another spot just like that self-conscious plastic bag in Ramin Bahrani’s sublime short film “Plastic Bag” (2009). In the end, the mattress and its inhabitant find themselves abandoned at a remote spot in the middle of some wilderness, and then there comes a surprisingly moving moment which takes me back to all those wondrous moments of life in a little documentary film called “The Fantastic Fungi” (2018). Again, I cannot tell you on how to process and interpret this curious moment exactly, but I can say at least that I admire a lot how Park is willing to go further for his visual ideas.

In conclusion, “The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra”, which has steadily drawn attention since it was premiered at the Bucheon International Film Festival in last year, is one of more interesting South Korean films of this year, and Park surely demonstrates here that he is another new talented filmmaker to watch. In addition to already directing several short films, he has also distinguished himself a lot in photography and fashion promotional films, and these notable aspects of his considerable talent are quite evident from his dexterous handling of mood and style in the film. Yes, he certainly wants to present something quite new and different to audiences, and the result will leave indelible impressions on your mind regardless of whether you like it or not.

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Greenhouse (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): She has desperate issues…

Posted on August 6, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean film “Greenhouse” is mainly about one deeply troubled woman’s misery and despair – and how she comes to resort to some serious criminal measures because of that. While it is rather typical in terms of story and character, the movie is alternatively harrowing and disturbing as patiently building up its main character and the tension around her, and it is also anchored well by one of the most notable South Korean movie performances of this year.

At first, the movie dryly establishes how things have often been desperate and frustrating for Moon-jeong (Kim Seo-hyung), a middle-aged woman who has earned her meager living as a part-time caregiver. Due to some financial problem, she has been living alone in an abandoned greenhouse, and she can only hope that things will get a bitter in the end, once her adolescent son is released from a youth detention center and then she gets enough money for a small but fairly good apartment for them.

However, there are several matters Moon-jeong has to deal with in one way or another. While her son is not so particularly willing to live with her, she also has to pay some attention to her mother-in-law, who has been in a facility for old people due to her ongoing dementia. In addition, it turns out that Moon-jeong has a serious mental problem, and she sometime cannot help but slap or hit herself for no apparent reason.

Because she cannot afford to go to any good psychiatrist, Moon-jeong chooses to go to a support group where she can let out her feelings and thoughts a bit in front of others who are not so different from her as coping with each own mental issue. After listening to a young mentally troubled woman named Soon-nam (Ahn So-yo), Moon-jeong comes to befriend Soon-nam, but their counselor later warns to her about how unstable Soon-name can be at times.

Meanwhile, we get to know about Moon-jeong’s current main source of income. She has been hired to take care of an old blind man named Tae-kang (Yang Jae-sung) and his increasingly senile wife, and Tae-kang is actually willing to help Moon-jeong buy that apartment because he sincerely appreciates her patience and understanding in taking care of his wife. His wife is often quite hostile to Moon-jeong, but, probably because she had a fair share of difficulties as taking care of her mother-in-law, Moon-jeong keeps working without any complaint while becoming more like a family member in Tae-kang’s house day by day.

And then two very serious things occur. Tae-kang comes to learn on one day that he is actually going through the early onset of dementia, and, as a husband who still cares about her wife, he feels quite conflicted about what to do next. It goes without saying that both he and his wife will eventually be sent to a facility for old people someday, and that is the last thing he wants for both of them.

In the meantime, Moon-jeong inadvertently gets herself into a big trouble involved with Tae-kang’s wife. She naturally considers calling the police at first, but then she instantly changes her mind when her son calls her to tell her that he changes his mind and is willing to live with her now, and what follows next is a little act of deception for maintaining the status quo in her daily life as well as Tae-kang’s house.

Around that narrative point, the movie accordingly shifts onto thriller mode, and director/writer Lee Sol-hui, who won three minor awards when the movie was shown at the Busan International Film Festival in last year, provides a series of small suspenseful moments. While Tae-kang remains quite oblivious to her situation, Moon-jeong goes further with more lies and deception, and we come to wonder more what may eventually happen, even though we often observe her wrong choices and actions from the distance.

Lee’s screenplay does not give much detail on its heroine’s past, but it lets us understand her accumulating despair and frustration more, and Kim Seo-hyung is simply terrific in her nuanced performance. As steadily maintaining her detached façade without any excuse or compromise, Kim deftly embodies her character’s gradual implosion along the story, and that is the main reason why the inevitable finale works with utterly devastating dramatic effects.

Around Kim, Lee assembles several good performers to notice. As the most decent character in the story, Yang Jae-sung has a number of good scenes including the crucial one later in the film where his character comes to question what is really going on around him, and Shin Yun-sook is equally effective as Tae-kang’s senile wife. In case of Ahn So-yo, she is tasked with a rather tricky supporting role, but she did a commendable job of bringing some spirit and vulnerability to her part, and her character eventually comes to us another very desperate character in the movie.

Like many of recent South Korean independent drama films, “Greenhouse” is quite moody and despairing in its austere depiction of harsh reality, but it is still worthwhile to watch for its competent direction and good performances at least. This is certainly not something you can casually watch on Sunday afternoon, but you will not forget it that easily, and I also sincerely hope that the movie will be a major breakthrough point for the respective careers of its director and lead performer.

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The Moon (2023) ☆☆(2/4): A middling space drama with lots of squeezed tears

Posted on August 3, 2023 by kaist455

My mind instantly went back to several different space drama films as watching South Korean film “The Moon”, which is incidentally not a remake of Duncan Jones’ acclaimed 2009 SF drama film of the same name. While its first act reminds me a lot of Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity” (2013), its middle act sometimes feels like the lunar version of Ridley Scott’s “The Martian” (2015) peppered with bits of Ron Howard’s “Apollo 13” (1995), and its last act attempts to squeeze tears much more than Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” (2014). However, there is nothing in the film which surpasses or reaches to the considerable achievement levels of all these wonderful movies mentioned above, and this sheer mediocrity is unfortunately exacerbated more by its awful screenplay and middling performances.

At the beginning, the movie, which is probably set in the late 21st century, quickly summarizes how the South Korean government has tried to advance its little but ambitious space program. Although the first manned mission to the moon was quite disastrously devastating to say the least, those folks at the South Korean space center try again 5 years later, and things seem to be going pretty well during the first several days after the successful rocket launch.

However, due to an unexpected big solar flare, the spaceship comes to have a serious mechanical problem, and that leads to another big problem which consequently kills two astronauts of this mission. To make matters worse, the only surviving astronaut, Hwang Sun-woo (Doh Kyung-soo), does not know much about how to control the spaceship, and that makes those folks at the space center all the more nervous. At least, the spaceship is on the autopilot mode, but there can be any unexpected problem during the rest of the mission period, and everyone begins to fear for the worst.

In the end, the head of the South Korean space center hurriedly seeks for help from Kim Jae-guk, who was incidentally his predecessor before that disastrous incident. As one of the chief engineers behind the development of the spaceship, Jae-guk surely knows a lot about how the spaceship is operated, and he reluctantly agrees to provide some help and advice even though he is still haunted by what happened five years ago.

And it soon turns out that there is some past between Jae-guk and Sun-woo, who is revealed to be the son of one of Jae-guk’s close colleagues. Because of their personal connection, Jae-guk becomes more determined to find any possible way to guarantee Sun-woo’s safety and eventual return to the Earth, and Sun-woo is surely ready to go for any chance for survival.

However, there subsequently come small and big troubles along Sun-woo’s increasingly perilous course around the Moon. At one point, he decides to go down to the Moon as scheduled before, but, of course, the situation becomes much more dangerous than expected, and we accordingly get a big action sequence as he desperately tries to survive at least for now.

Meanwhile, Jae-guk often finds his attempts blocked in one way or another. There is an incompetent science and technology minister who seems to have nothing to do except shouting or behaving like a jerk, and there is also some bureaucratic blocking by NASA. Although Jae-guk’s ex-wife Moon-yong (Kim Hee-ae), who is currently the general director of the NASA space station, tries to help him as much as she can despite their estranged relationship, but then she is also blocked by a couple of unsympathetic NASA bureaucrats (The movie will certainly not be welcomed that much by NASA just like Peter Hyams’ “Capricorn One” (1978)).

Around that point, we are supposed to care more about its several main character’s tenacious efforts along the story, but the movie frequently falters as resorting to lots of plot contrivance and heavy-handed melodrama. While none of its main characters are particularly developed well, most of dialogues in the film are not so good even at my rather low standard, and, above all, its many shameless attempts to squeeze tears from us are often on the verge of parody instead of ringing true to us.

It is apparent that the main cast members of the film struggle a lot with their deficient dialogues, and the movie will surely not be the best moment in their respective acting careers. Sol Kyung-gu broods, shouts, and cries a lot over many key scenes in the film, but the result remains monotonous to our boredom, and the same thing can be said about Doh Kyung-soo, who reminds me again that he always needs some strong direction for giving an engaging performance to watch. Besides merely looking convincing amid lots of CGIs on the screen, he is rather stiff or bland even during those blatant tear-jerking moments in the film, and he eventually get wasted just like Sol and several other main cast members including Kim Hee-ae, Park Byung-eun, and Hong Seung-hee.

Overall, “The Moon” underwhelms me for many bad reasons, and I can only appreciate the considerable technical efforts from its director/writer/co-producer Kim Yong-hwa, who previously directed “Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds” (2017) and “Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days” (2018), and his crew members. Sure, the movie shows that they can make a technically competent space drama flick, but, alas, Kim overlooks what really matters most in those films mentioned at the beginning of this review, and I am already having an urge to revisit any of them.

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Ransomed (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A risky unofficial operation in Beirut

Posted on August 3, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean film “Ransomed” is a disappointment in more than one aspect. As a thriller, it is not particularly tense or engaging in my humble opinion, and I only came to discern more of many fictional embellishments on a real-life story behind the film. As a drama, it is often shallow and mediocre in terms of story and character, and I became more distant to it instead of really caring about its two main characters’ urgent situation.

The movie is mainly set in Beirut, Lebanon in 1987. Due to the ongoing civil war, the city became a dangerous war zone during that time, and even foreign diplomats were not so safe just like many people living in the city. As shown in the opening scene of the film, a South Korean diplomat was really kidnapped under broad daylight on one day of 1986, and he was actually gone missing for more than one year after that.

Here in this film, we get the fictional version of how this kidnapped diplomat was eventually found and then saved (Is this a spoiler?). He somehow called to the ministry of foreign affairs in the South Korean government, and his desperate coded message happens to be received by a young diplomat named Min-joon (Ha Jung-woo). Once Min-joon reports to his superiors, his superiors immediately try to find any possible way to get back the kidnapped diplomat, and they eventually conclude that they must authorize a little unofficial operation for saving him as soon as possible.

Thanks to a foreign broker introduced by a CIA agent working in South Korea, all they will have to do is 1) securing enough money for the ransom and 2) delivering the ransom to whoever is holding the kidnapped diplomat at present, but both of these two tasks turn out to be not so easy to say the least. In case of the ransom money, they need to get the permission from President Chun Doo-hwan and his right-hand guy, who has been a crucial figure in the president’s ongoing dictatorship as the chief of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. Incidentally, the president and his government are more occupied with preparing for the upcoming presidential election and the Summer Olympics in the next year, and any unnecessary diplomatic trouble in public is the last thing they want right now.

Anyway, the ransom money is finally secured after some persuasion, but somebody must step forward for delivering it to Beirut, and that is how Min-joon enters the picture again. Just because he has been hoping to work in US instead of some other less important countries, he volunteers to deliver the ransom alone by himself for impressing his superiors, who agree to give him a position in US if he successfully accomplishes his mission.

Of course, right from when he arrives at the airport in Beirut, Min-joon realizes that he may come into a circumstance way over his head. Although he manages to evade the watchful eyes of the airport guards who are as treacherous as many militia soldiers and criminals out there, he soon finds himself in the middle of a sheer chaos shortly after managing to get out of the airport, and that is how he comes across a South Korean expatriate name Pan-soo (Ju Ji-Hoon), who has incidentally worked as a taxi driver.

After saving Min-joon at the last minute, Pan-soo naturally gets more involved with Min-joon’s unofficial operation along the story. He does not want to get himself into any kind of trouble, but he agrees to help Min-joon more after promised that he will get some reward for that later. Although it does not take much time for Min-joon to see how untrustworthy Pan-soo can be, Min-joon has no choice but to depend more on Pan-soo because, well, Pan-soo is probably the only one he can really trust right now.

The middle act of the film focuses more on their shaky alliance, but the screenplay by Kim Jung-yeon and Yeo Mi-jung often fails to develop Min-joon and Pan-soo into engaging figures onto whom we can hold till the eventual finale. Despite the solid efforts from Ha Jun-woo and Ju Ji-hoon, both Min-joon and Pan-soo do not have much human depth or personality beyond their contrasting appearance, and many of supporting characters in the film including Pan-soo’s local girlfriend are more or less than under-developed plot elements. Even in case of the kidnapped diplomat, the movie does not seem to know what to do with this unfortunate dude, and he simply remains in the background even during the climactic part, just like numerous local militia soldiers and criminals hunting for him as well as Min-joon and Pan-soo.

Anyway, the movie does not disappoint us in case of several action sequences, director Kim Sung-hoon did a fairly competent job on the whole. Although it does not reach to the level of what is intensely achieved in Ryu Seung-wan’s “Escape from Mogadishu” (2021), the climactic part is handled with enough skill and craft at least, and I wish the rest of the film were as good as this part at least.

In conclusion, “Ransomed” is not entirely without any strong point, but these few strong points in the film do not compensate much for its weak story and thin characterization, and the result is one or two steps down from Kim’s previous two films “A Hard Day” (2014) and “Tunnel” (2016). At least, it is relatively a little better than another recent South Korean hostage thriller drama “The Point Men” (2023), but that is the only good thing I can say for now, and I would rather recommend you “Escape from Mogadishu” instead.

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The Blackening (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): Which one is more, uh, black?

Posted on July 31, 2023 by kaist455

As a South Korean audience who does not know that much about the African American culture, I may not be an ideal one for “The Blackening”, but it amused and entertained me enough as a humorously self-conscious genre exercise. Although I am not that sure about whether I get all the jokes and satiric jabs in the film, I still can appreciate it as a silly but entertaining mix of familiar genre elements and some acerbic sociocultural satire, and I actually got tickled more than once as observing some of the most outrageous moments in the film.

The main background of the movie is a cabin located in the middle of some remote forest area, which surely spells a trouble to you right from the start if you are quite familiar with many slasher horror films out there. An African American couple arrive there first before their friends come, and nothing looks troubling on the surface, but of course, they soon find themselves targeted by some insidious figure once they come across a little old board game in the basement game room of the cabin.

After this unfortunate couple is promptly dispatched for not playing that board game that well, the movie quickly moves onto the next part of the story as introducing their arriving friends one by one. Everyone is eager to have a good time together in that cabin, and, to our little amusement, one of them is not bothered at all even when she happens to encounter a very suspicious figure while stopping by an old store in the surrounding area of the cabin. Sure, “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (1974) is naturally mentioned, but everything seems to be going fine and well once they are all inside the cabin while ready for fun and games during the evening.

However, the mood becomes quite disturbing when they subsequently go inside that basement game room and then find that old board game in question, which is incidentally named, yes, “The Blackening”. Once they open and then touch the board game, they soon find themselves trapped inside the cabin by that mysterious figure behind the board game, who has a diabolical plan on everyone in the cabin. This unknown figure is going to force all of them to play the board game which will spring up one deadly question after another to answer, and their survival mainly depends on how knowledgeable they are about the African American culture as well as being a black.

Coming to realize how perilous their situation really is, the main characters of the movie desperately try to survive as much as possible, and that is where many of laughs in the film come from. It soon turns out that most of them are not, uh, black enough for answering all those lethal questions thrown at them step by step, and the movie cheerfully makes a fun of their increasingly absurd situation while also showing the considerable influence from a bunch of notable genre flicks such as “Scream” (1996) and, yes, “Get Out” (2017).

The movie is basically a one-joke comedy, but the screenplay by Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins, which is based on the 2018 short film of the same name by the comedy troupe 3Peat, keeps things rolling as often throwing self-conscious jokes and gags associated with its genre clichés and conventions. Because nearly every main character in the film is black, any of them can be quickly eliminated as required by those genre rules, and there is even a tense but amusingly preposterous scene later in the film where several main characters must decide who is the “most black” in the bunch for avoiding not getting killed together in the end.

Around the narrative point where the identity of the menace surrounding its main characters is eventually revealed, the movie comes to lose some of its comic momentum as expected, but it continues to provide good laughs under the competent direction of director Tim Story. While you will be amused a bit when someone unwisely says “I’ll be right back”, you may also have some good laugh from a very typical but undeniably hysterical case of talking villain syndrome during the finale, and I must tell you that I particularly like a nice punchline moment at the end of the movie, which incidentally involves with why many African American people are usually reluctant to call the police.

The main cast members of the film play their archetype characters as straight as possible for enhancing their many comic moments throughout the film. While Jermaine Fowler and X Mayo are relatively showier as required by their exaggerated supporting roles, Grace Byers, Melvin Gregg, Dewayne Perkins, Antoinette Robertson, and Sinqua Walls are also effective in their respective parts, and Jay Pharoah and Yvonne Orji have a little fun during their brief appearance at the beginning of the film.

Overall, “The Blackening” is often funny for its smart and engaging juxtaposition of its genre elements and the African American cultural elements, and it surely deserves to be mentioned along with “Get Out” and many other recent African American genre exercises including “Sorry to Bother You” (2017) and “They Cloned Tyrone” (2023). Although it does not surpass the devious comic precision of “Get Out” or the no-holds-barred satire of “Sorry to Bother You”, it is still entertaining enough to recommend, and it is certainly something you cannot miss if you are looking for something different.

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