Sura: A Love Song (2022) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Save tidal flat

Posted on July 2, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean documentary “Sura: A Love Song” vividly and powerfully reminds me of how precious and beautiful nature can really be. Closely following the longtime civilian efforts for recording and saving the natural environment of the tidal flats of the Saemangeum area on the west coast of the Korean Peninsula, the documentary makes a very strong case on the devastating environmental damages caused by the Saemangeum Seawall Project at present, and I assure you that you will come to reflect more on its urgent environmental issues as its end credits roll.

I thought I was well aware of the environmental issues surrounding the Saemangeum Seawall Project, but the documentary shows me that the environmental damages from that utterly useless development project have been much more serious than I ever thought. Planned and then authorized in the late 1980s, the Saemangeum Seawall Project was supposed to provide new lands for more industrial development via building an extensive seawall across its coastal area. The South Korean government claimed that this ambitious long-term development project would stimulate the local economy in addition to bringing considerable benefits to the local residents in the end, but it eventually turned out that this project only caused lots of harm to local nature and residents instead of benefiting either of them in any possible way. For example, numerous fishing folks came to lose their main source of income to their despair and frustration, and I must tell you that it is really painful to see how their lives and villages became quite barren and miserable during next three decades.

In addition, the Saemangeum Seawall Project was bound to cause a considerable environmental change to the wide tidal flat areas to be blocked by its extensive seawall. These tidal flat areas were natural habitats for millions of many different animals and plants, and they were particularly important for various kinds of migratory birds as places where these birds can rest and eat for a while in the middle of their seasonal migrations.

We hear about how the South Korean government has willfully neglected the environmental importance of the tidal flat areas from the very beginning of the Saemangeum Seawall Project. For instance, its official preliminary report on the ecology of the tidal flat areas grossly omitted a bunch of endangered species inhabiting in the tidal flat areas just for getting the project authorized as soon as possible, and the following lawsuit by the local civilian groups was casually dismissed even at the Supreme Court.

Thousands of local fishing folks and civil activists really tried hard to stop the project during the 1990s ~ 2000s, but their desperate protests were ignored by the South Korean government as before, and it kept pushing the project without any kind of consideration or moderation. The seawall was eventually completed in 2006, and the tidal flat areas blocked by the seawall soon began to show considerable environmental damages within a short period of time. First, the areas became much drier than before, and that consequently led to the death of not only millions of various marine animals but also thousands of many different birds above them in the food chain system of the tidal flat areas.

Director Hwang Yoon closely recorded the situation surrounding the tidal flat areas for a while during that period, but then she came to quit her filmmaking process due to understandable persona reasons. Several years later, she and her family happened to move to a local city associated with the project, and that was how she resumed her connection with the Citizen’s Survey Group on Saemangeum, which has focused more on recording the environmental changes of the tidal flat areas since that period.

The documentary closely follows the ongoing personal project of several members of the organization including a middle-aged man named Oh Dong-pil. Having always been passionate about the environment of the tidal flat areas, Oh has been focusing mainly on monitoring and recording the wild life of the tidal flat areas. He is especially interested in many different bird species inhabiting in the tidal flat areas, and he gladly shows us their considerable diversity, which will definitely marvel you in many ways. I especially like a certain local bird species whose male members change the color of their head during the mating season, and I must tell you that the documentary presents this and many other bird species of the tidal flat areas as vividly as National Geographic documentaries.

And these bird species and many other different animal and plant species of the tidal flat areas gave some hope and motivation to the organization. Sure, the seawall is still blocking and damaging the tidal flat areas even at this point, but the tidal flat areas still have the possibility of restoration and preservation at least, and that was indubitably proven when the South Korean government eventually allowed the occasional opening of the seawall. As a result, much more fresh sea water was flown into the tidal flat areas, and Oh and his colleagues were delighted to see several crucial signs of environmental recoveries, though they still have lots of things to do for protecting and preserving the tidal flat areas.

In conclusion, “Sura: A Love Song”, whose title incidentally comes from the name of one of the tidal flat areas, is memorable for not only its strong environmental message for us but also its deep affection toward to its main subject and several good people associated with that, and its haunting poetic beauty generated from its main subject still lingers on my mind even at this point. Yes, we often ruin nature a lot, but we can also restore it if we really try, and the documentary touchingly reminds that to me.

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Extreme Festival (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): One messy festival day

Posted on July 2, 2023 by kaist455

I was mildly amused by the comically messy circumstance among the main characters of South Korean film “Extreme Festival”. No matter how much its heroine and several other characters try their best for saving their little local event, things keep going wrong thanks to not only the incompetence of theirs and others but also some bad luck, and we wonder more about whether they can actually make it to the end of their festival day.

At first, we get to know how the situation has been very stressful for Hye-soo (Kim Jae-hwa), the representative of a small event management company who has to handle a small cultural event in her rural county on one day. She is not particularly willing to do this job because things have been quite problematic even during the preparation period, but she has no choice because she agrees to do this job in exchange of handling some bigger (and more lucrative) local festival later.

Anyway, she assembles several employees of hers and some other part-time employees for the local festival, but they are not that cooperative to say the least. While her business partner Sang-min (Jo Min-jae) is more occupied with clinging onto the fading fame from his writing career, Rae-oh (Park Kang-sub) is rather sulky mainly because he gets employed again after being let go some time ago, and Eun-chae (Jang Se-rim), a young woman eager to grab any opportunity to get out of the town, is the only member who shows more enthusiasm, mainly because she has been just employed as a part-time employee.

Now I have to tell you a bit about how absurd that local festival in question really is. As shown from the opening part of the film, it was initially intended for promoting the historical significance of the county associated with King Jeongjong, the second king of the Joseon Dynasty. Besides sandwiched between King Taejo and King Taejong, who are much more famous in addition to being his father and his younger brother, King Jeongjong does not have anything historically notable (He was on the throne only for a few years, by the way), and that is why it was decided at the last minute that the local festival should change its historical subject.

However, the alternative is not particularly ideal either, except being quite notorious to say the least. To be frank with you, any South Korean person who did not sleep during history school class will tell you that King Yeonsan-gun was an infamous tyrant who did lots of bad and idiotic things before eventually getting himself deposed, though he has surely been a good story material for many local movies and TV drama series (Just watch Lee Joon-ik’s “The King and the Clown” (2005), and you will see what I mean).

Nevertheless, Hye-soo keeps trying for getting things roll during the festival, though that soon turns out to be quite more challenging than expected. For example, Sang-min and Rae-oh do not help her much while casually believing that everything will be all right in the end, and that certainly exasperates Hye-soo again and again. While Eun-chae is willing to do a lot more than expected, she also has her own condition to demand, and that surely brings another headache to Hye-soo.

Meanwhile, there are also two other problems Hye-soo has to cope with right now. The chief of the county, to whom Hye-soo has to obey for her and her company’s benefit, has been rather fastidious about the festival, and this person suddenly makes a demand on some changes to be incorporated into a little comic historical play to be held at the end of the festival day. Naturally, a group of performers are not so amused at all, and that consequently leads to a little strike of theirs.

The movie continues to throw more elements into its fairly busy comic mix. There is a subplot involved with a certain Japanese celebrity recognized by Sang-min and Rae-oh, and then we get another subplot involved with Eun-chae and her best friend. In addition, there is also a young couple who simply seem to be enjoying how messy the festival can be, and they can be regarded as a sort of surrogates for us.

However, these and many other elements in the story somehow do not build up enough comic momentum to engage us, and the movie eventually becomes quite predictable without much surprise for us. Yes, there comes an inevitable moment of emotional meltdown for Hye-soo, who understandably becomes mad as hell and cannot take it anymore later in the story. Yes, there subsequently comes the last-minute solution for Hye-soo and her employees, and we see how they give their best shot. Yes, there naturally comes the feel-good ending where everyone in the story prepares themselves for whatever will be next for their respective lives, and we are supposed to be warmed and touched by that.

At least, the movie has several good main cast members who do more than required by their broad archetype roles. While Kim Jae-hwa dutifully holds the center as required, Jo Min-jae, Park Kang-sub, and Jang Se-rim are convincing in their respective supporting roles, and the special mention goes to Kim Jong-goo, a veteran actor who ably balances his seasoned performer character between humor and gravitas.

On the whole, “Extreme Festival”, directed by Kim Hong-ki, does not entertain me enough for recommendation, but it has some good laughs mainly thanks to the commendable efforts from its several main cast members. It is rather flawed just like the local festival in the film, but it is occasionally amusing at least, so I will let you decide whether you will check it out or not.

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206: Unearthed (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): Unearthing the tragedies of the Korean War

Posted on July 1, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean documentary film “206: Unearthed” illuminates one tragic fact of the Korean War, which I and other South Koreans should remember as long as possible. During that dark and dangerous period, millions of innocent civilians were massacred around the country just because of being labeled as communists or collaborators, and there are actually more than 100 spots in South Korea where the bodies of those massacred people were buried for many years.

The documentary follows the efforts of a small organization of civilians and volunteers willing to do some hard work for locating and then excavating the remains of those massacred people. Although too many years have passed since the end of the Korean War, the members of the organization are ready to do their best for bringing some solace to not only those massacred people but also their family members, and the documentary often closely observes how the members of the organization work at their numerous excavation sites. Sometimes they do not get much result in the end, but they are not daunted at all, and they keep going for wherever they can possibly excavate another tragedy of the Korean War.

As shown in the middle of the documentary, there were actually considerable efforts for finding the remains of those massacred people during the early 1960s, though that did not last that long to the sadness and frustration of their family members. Once President Syngman Rhee, who was one of several figures chiefly responsible for the civilian massacres during the Korean War, was ousted thanks to the April Revolution in 1960, the South Korean government belatedly began to look into the civilian massacres during the Korean War, but, alas, the following efforts were soon blocked due to the military coup in 1961, and nobody dared to talk about that during next three decades.

When the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established by the South Korean government in 2005, there was some hope for the family members of those massacred people, but, again, their hope was dashed only 5 years later as the commission was disassembled. Nevertheless, activists and bereaved families decided to keep trying to locate and excavate the remains of those massacred people, and their efforts mean a lot to director Huh Chul-nyoung because his grandmother, who passed away several years ago, also had her own sad personal story involved with the civilian massacres during the Korean War. Her husband was one of those massacred people, but then she had to be silent about that just like many other people out there, and she had to keep lots of grief and pain to herself till her death without knowing anything about the whereabouts of her husband’s body.

The documentary occasionally interviews the family members of several massacred people, and they all have each own sad story to tell. In case of one old man, he cannot help but become quite emotional as remembering how his father was taken away from the family in the middle of the war, and we are saddened as he still cannot find his father’s remains despite his active participation in the aforementioned organization.

We also meet several activists and professional experts leading the excavation missions of the organization. They all deeply care about their joint work, and their words remind us of why it is always important for us to remember the past. Yes, we always have to move toward future, but that is only possible when we face and recognize past, and that is why they have been diligently trying to bring more public awareness to their noble cause.

Sometimes they and other organization members come upon a spot with lots of buried remains, and it is both chilling and saddening to observe what they excavate step by step. Besides lots of skulls and bones, there are also heaps of personal stuffs such as shoes and buttons, and I particularly remember a scene where we see a little rusty lighter. On that lighter, a certain name was scratched, and it is quite possible that that is the name of its owner, who was likely one of many people killed on the spot and probably scratched the name on that lighter at the last minute.

We later see how the results of that excavation are systemically sorted out at a special facility. We see lots of many different bones categorized in one group or another, and the documentary tells us how difficult it is to sort out those bones for identifying one massacred person after another. After all, a human body contains no less than 206 bones, and we can only imagine how much time and effort are put into this demanding identification process.

In the end, the remains of each identified massacred person are put into individual boxes to be stored, and then we see the joint funeral service for all of these massacred people. Although many of them remain anonymous, they finally get the closure for themselves at least, and, above all, they will be surely remembered as a part of the history.

Although it feels a bit too plain at times, “206: Unearthed”, which received the Mecenat award when it was shown at the Busan International Film Festival in 2021, handles its important historical issue with considerable care and respect, and I became more interested in its main subject as observing many haunting moments to remember. It could show and tell more in my humble opinion, but it is still a fairly solid documentary on the whole, and I certainly recommend you to check it out if you want to know more about those numerous tragedies of the Korean War.

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Small, Slow but Steady (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): The daily life of a deaf female boxer

Posted on July 1, 2023 by kaist455

Japanese film “Small, Slow but Steady” is a restrained but intimate drama revolving around the daily life of one hearing-impaired female boxer. While slowly but steadily observing how its heroine tries to go on one plain day after another, the movie subtly lets us get to know her bit by bit, and you will come to admire its dry but thoughtful storytelling more as observing a little sign of hope and optimism in the end.

At first, the movie simply depicts how things have been mostly okay for Keiko Ogawa (Yukino Kishii). As the movie informs us around the beginning of the story, she has actually been a professional boxer during last two years, and she is certainly proud of that even though she is not quite talented as the president of her boxing club frankly admits later in the story.

Nevertheless, Keiko keeps training everyday for her next match to come – unless she is not doing her main occupation outside. She works as a cleaning staff member in some local hotel, and we observe how she works well along with several other employees including a young woman who is also hearing-impaired just like her.

At her home, Keiko has been living with a musician brother in one small apartment. Both her mother and her brother sincerely support her athletic aspiration, and they certainly attend her latest match, but Keiko’s mother cannot help but worry about her daughter for understandable reasons. After all, there is always the possibility of serious injury whenever Keiko enters the ring, but she does not worry much because she is mostly confident about her athletic talent and skill.

However, she is also well aware of how she is often quite disadvantaged in the ring mainly due to her hearing impairment. Because she cannot hear at all, her eyes must be more watchful about any unexpected punch from her opponent, and her coaches usually have to give her signs instead of shouting at her during her match. In addition, she has several notable physical weaknesses and disadvantages, and that is the main reason why she needs to train and push herself harder.

Anyway, her latest match is ended with a little but significant victory for her, but there comes a big problem. Her boxing club, which looks quite old-fashioned with numerous shabby stuffs which vividly reflect its long history to us, has been not doing that well in its business, and it is also struck quite hard by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As many of its members quit one after another, the president of the boxing club begins to consider closing down his boxing club, and the situation gets worse when he is notified later that his body has been showing the signs of some serious health problem.

Despite these problems of his, the president of the boxing club tries as much as possible for maintaining it as usual, and he shows more attention to Keiko than before because he genuinely cares about her. He gives her some support during her routine morning training, and, when he eventually decides to close down his boxing club, he has one of her coaches search for any other possible boxing club where she can continue training.

Meanwhile, Keiko tries to keep going even after learning about the impending end of her dear boxing club, but she mostly keeps her doubt and frustration to herself even in front of her brother, who instantly senses her inner conflict but sensibly does not ask too much about that. Besides, there will be another match for her, and she must prepare for that as much as possible.

Rather than following those familiar sports drama genre conventions, the screenplay by Shô Miyake and his co-writer Masaaki Sakai, which is based on the 2011 memoir written by Keiko Ogasawara (She is the first hearing-impaired female professional boxer in Japan, by the way), focuses more on small but substantial details for building up its heroine more along the story. Although she does not express much about herself or her athletic aspiration, we come to sense that boxing is a way of communication for Keiko, and that is why her training scenes become more important than a few boxing match scenes in the film. Whenever she trains, she feels not only just excited but also quite spirited, and we come to discern why she cannot give up boxing at all despite her growing doubts on the future of her professional athletic career.

It certainly helps that the movie is supported well by the engaging performance by Yukino Kishii, who is terrific as ably handling subtle emotional nuances to be appreciated. Around Kishii, Miyake assembles a number of good performers who have each own small moment to shine, and Tomokazu Miura is particularly good in his several key scenes with Kishii. Although their characters do not say much about their relationship, we can clearly sense a long history between them, and that is why one crucial scene involved with Keiko’s diary feels quite poignant.

On the whole, “Small, Slow but Steady” surely requires some patience from you due to its decidedly low-key approach to the story and characters, but it will engage you more than expected once you give it a chance. Although I have not seen Miyake’s previous works including “And Your Bird Can Sing” (2018), “Small, Slow but Steady” shows that he is another interesting Japanese filmmaker to watch, and I will certainly be curious about whatever will come next from him.

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The Shining (1980) ☆☆☆☆(4/4): A Madness Odyssey

Posted on June 30, 2023 by kaist455

Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”, whose 4k remastered version was recently released by a local movie theater chain in South Korea, is utterly eerie for its baroque uncertainty. As its three main characters are hopelessly isolated inside its vast and ominous background, the movie constantly unnerves us with the increasing unreliability of their respective viewpoints, and the result is alternatively baffling and terrifying to the very end.

Noticing again how cold and distant the movie is to the madness and confusion of its main characters, I could not help but think of the last act of Kubrick’s another great film “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968). In that part, the astronaut hero finds himself isolated inside a coldly decorated room after his fantastic journey across space and time, and his following transformation process in that room looks like being observed by something beyond his (and our) perception. In case of “The Shining”, its three main characters are stuck inside a big hotel located in some remote mountainous area of Colorado, and they sometimes feel like mere test subjects ready to be manipulated by whatever is hovering over the hotel.

Kubrick does not hide his intention at all right from the opening scene. Shrouded in palpable insidiousness with the synthesizer performance of “Dies irea” on the soundtrack, this spooky opening scene steadily looks over a small car driving toward the hotel. It is followed by a dryly banal meeting between the hotel manager and Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), a writer who happens to be hired as the caretaker of the hotel during its upcoming closing period. The hotel manager tentatively warns to Jack that the hotel can be completely isolated from the outside world during snowy winter days, and he even mentions a terrible incident involved with a former caretaker of the hotel. Jack assures to the hotel manager that he and his family will be all right: “And as far as my wife is concerned, I’m sure she’ll be absolutely fascinated when l tell her. She’s a confirmed ghost story and horror film addict.”

Meanwhile, we also get to know about Jack’s wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and their young son Danny (Danny Lloyd). Danny happens to have a sort of psychic power, and his imaginary friend shows him a series of disturbing moments implying what may happen in the hotel. During her following conversation with a doctor who checks on Danny, Wendy casually reveals Jack’s alcoholism – and how this serious human flaw of his led to one traumatic incident for both her and Danny some time ago.

Once Jack and his family come into the hotel, the movie frequently emphasizes how big and wide the hotel looks inside – especially when they are the only people inside the hotel after its closing day. As the camera steadily follows its main characters moving around here and there in the hotel, their surrounding environment often feels as vast as the space background of “2001: A Space Odyssey”. In fact, there seems to be no possible way out for them at times, as reflected by when the camera ominously looks down upon Wendy and Danny wandering inside a big hedge maze right next to the hotel building.

Around that point, Jack is already tumbling down toward madness, so we come to depend more on Danny and Wendy’s viewpoint, but neither of them is very reliable because they become psychologically isolated in each own way just like Jack. After experiencing something scary in a certain room in the hotel, Danny’s mind is much more unsettled than before, and those horrific visions of his soon come quite true to his petrified horror. In case of Wendy, she desperately tries to get things under her meager control, but there inevitably comes a point where she finds herself swept into her own terror and confusion.

Kubrick keeps everything cold and distant just like he did in many of his films, and that makes the movie all the more terrifying. While its three main characters are basically broad caricatures, their descent into madness and confusion is still quite arresting because of the overwhelming sense of claustrophobia surrounding them. Seemingly trapped forever in their isolated status, they come to lose more human qualities along the story, and that was probably why Kubrick deliberately had his two lead performers go over the top in their forthright acting. While Jack Nicholson dials up his familiar manic mode as much as demanded, Shelley Duvall amplifies her own neurotic quality to the extreme, and I must say that her strenuous efforts here in this film deserve to be appreciated more, considering how she was harshly treated by Kubrick during the shooting.

In the meantime, we are also baffled by the ambiguity surrounding the main characters’ feverishly warped viewpoints. Are there actually some supernatural entities in the hotel? Or, are Jack and his family merely experiencing a series of hallucinations fueled by Danny’s psychic power? A key scene later in the story, which is incidentally unfolded inside a storage room, strongly suggests that there are indeed ghosts in the hotel. However, the movie remains ambiguous about their actual existence to the end, with its very last shot raising more doubts and questions.

The movie actually provides a bit of objective viewpoint via Dick Halloran (Scatman Crothers), the chief chef of the hotel who happens to have the same psychic ability Danny has. During his conversation with Danny early in the film, he indirectly recognizes that there is something not so good inside the hotel, and he later comes to the rescue after receiving a psychic SOS from Danny. However, to put it mildly, the movie does not let him clarify the ongoing situation surrounding Danny and his parents.

I forgot to mention that “The Shining” is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King, who disliked the movie for understandable reasons. To King’s dismay, Kubrick erased most of human depth in the original story while adapting it along with his co-writer Diane Johnson. Instead, he distilled the claustrophobic qualities of King’s story for his single-minded artistic vision, and his achievement has considerably influenced a bunch of subsequent arthouse horror films such as Ari Astor’s debut feature film “Hereditary” (2017), which definitely owes a lot to Kubrick’s movie in more than one way.

By the way, King later attempted to distance his novel further from Kubrick’s film via writing its sequel novel “Doctor Sleep”. However, to our little amusement, the following movie adaptation directed by Mike Flanagan was not free from Kubrick’s film at all – even when it is faithful to King’s sequel novel. That says a lot about the inescapable cinematic power of Kubrick’s film, isn’t it?

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World’s Best (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): A little but likable Disney rap musical

Posted on June 30, 2023 by kaist455

“World’s Best”, which is released on Disney+ in last week, is a little but likable Disney rap musical about a smart middle school kid who boldly takes a chance with rap music. Although its story and characters are actually pretty conventional to say the least, the movie is often buoyed by enough personality and spirit at least, and we come to root for its little hero a lot while occasionally amused and touched by his innocent exploration of rap music.

The movie opens with the amusing dream sequence where its little hero excels himself with his natural intellectual talent. Although he is just a 7th grade student, Prem Patel (Manny Magnus) has distinguished himself a lot as your average mathematical wiz kid, and he is even good enough to take some high school mathematical classes along with one of the fellow mathematical wiz kids in his middle school. His mother Priya (Puman Patel), who has raised Prem alone since her husband died several years ago, is certainly proud of him, and she is always ready to support him whenever she is not busy with her hospital work.

On one day, Prem becomes more interested in his late father when he is assigned to write an essay about himself. Because his mother has rarely talked about his late father, Prem does not know or remember that much about his late father except his late father’s untimely death. When he later asks his mother about his late father, Priya tells him that his late father, Suresh (Utkarsh Ambudkar), was a pretty popular rap musician who often performed in a local bar before encountering her by accident and then marrying her, and that makes Prem all the more curious about his late father.

In the end, Prem decides to delve into a box containing a number of old stuffs belonging to his father. Incidentally, one of these old stuffs is a certain recognizable digital music player from the 2000s, and that will surely make you feel old if you lived through the 2000s like I did, though that is nothing compared to much older stuffs such as, say, cassette tapes and VHS tapes from the late 20th century.

Anyway, Prem is excited to discover an old notebook where his late father wrote a series of different rap lyrics, and that is where Suresh enters the picture as a sort of his imaginary friend. Although his character is basically a story device, Utkarsh Ambudkar, who also co-wrote the screenplay in addition to participating in the production of the film, effortlessly grabs our attention right from the start with his natural charm and charisma, and he and young newcomer Manny Magnus click well together during a number of comic moments besides several imaginary musical scenes in the film.

With his late father’s support and encouragement thrown into his mind, Prem decides to give himself a shot via the upcoming talent show at his middle school. Although he does not know that much about rap music, he is willing to absorb and learn as much as possible, and, fortunately, he gets some help from two older kids he happens to befriend at the high school where he often studies.

However, there is also a local mathematics competition soon to be held at that high school, and Priya certainly expects a lot from her son, so Prem becomes more conflicted as driven more by his growing interest in rap music. Furthermore, he must cope with some bullying from certain two schoolmates of his, and he certainly feels hurt when a boy who is supposed to his best friend/colleague begins to hang around those two mean kids just because he wants to be cool.

What follows next will not surprise you much, but the movie keeps holding our attention as showing more wit and care along the story. Yes, Prem and his mother eventually come to conflict with each other over their personal issues, but they come to understand each other more than before, especially when Priya becomes more honest about herself and her dear late husband later in the story. Yes, Prem surely comes to learn some painful truth about his late father, and the following moment of disillusionment and disappointment is followed by a touching moment of acceptance and emotional maturation.

Above all, the movie is fairly solid in case of music. Although nothing goes beyond PG-rating as you can expect from your typical wholesome Disney family movie, the original songs in the film, written by Ambudkar and his several co-writers, are effectively utilized on the soundtrack, and they often energize the story and characters to our little amusement and entertainment. While Magnus ably holds the center with the good support work from Ambudkar, several other substantial cast members including Punam Patel, Max Malas, Jake Choi, Dorian Giordano, Piper Wallace, Kayla Njeri, and Christopher Jackson provide little extra life and personality to the film, and I particularly enjoyed the colorful supporting performances from Njeri and Wallace, who are engaging as two different young girls who have each own dream and talent.

In conclusion, “World’s Best” is a predictable but enjoyable Disney product, and director Roshan Sethi, who previously made a feature directorial debut with “7 Days” (2021), did a competent job on the whole. To be frank with you, I am not interested that much in rap music, but the movie got me engaged a bit more than expected, and that is enough for recommendation in my inconsequential opinion.

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Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): The lackluster closing chapter for Dr. Jones

Posted on June 29, 2023 by kaist455

Although I did not watch any of the first three Indiana Jones movies at movie theater, I remember well how I felt both entertained and nostalgic as watching that rather passable fourth film in 2008. Sure, it did not surpass the level of fun and excitement I had when I watched any of the first three films on TV during my childhood years, but it was fairly engaging mainly because Steven Spielberg and his cast and crew had some old fun with that. As a matter of fact, I have never regretted giving it 3 stars while giving “Iron Man” (2008) 2.5 stars, and I will likely stand by my preference for the rest of my life.

In case of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”, it certainly made me feel nostalgic again as expected, but I am sad to report here that there is not much fun and excitement for you here. It surely tries its best for following the footsteps of its three predecessors besides attempting several new things, but the result is often lackluster without generating enough interest and thrill to hold our attention, and that is a shame considering some game efforts from some of its notable cast and crew members.

The story is mainly set in 1969, and the early part of the film shows us how things have been quite depressing for Professor Henry Jones Jr. (Harrison Ford), who is also known as, yes, Indiana Jones. He has been separated from his wife since their certain personal loss, and now he is living alone in a shabby apartment in New York City while trying to continue to teach despite the apparent lack of enthusiasm from his students.

And then he is approached by a young British woman named Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), who is incidentally Jones’ goddaughter. As shown in the prologue set around the end of the World War II, Jones once worked along with Helena’s father Basil (Toby Jones) while trying to retrieve those valuable artifacts stolen by Nazi soldiers, and Helena is particularly interested in a certain special artifact invented by a well-known Greek scientist around two thousand years ago. Although he seems disinterested at first, Jones eventually comes to show Helena that he actually has a little secret behind his back, and that is how he inadvertently gets himself into her problematic current situation.

Helena has actually been chased by Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), an evil former Nazi scientist who has been involved with the US government for its space program. He has also been quite interested in obtaining that special artifact, and he and his several nasty henchmen are certainly ready to do anything for their final goal to be fulfilled via that special artifact.

Naturally, Jones and Helena try to get ahead of Voller and his Nazi cronies as much as possible, and we see them hopping from one spot to another around the world while sometimes assisted by several associates of theirs. While Jones have Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) and Renaldo (Antonio Banderas), Helena has a street-smart urchin named Teddy Kumar (Ethann Isidore), which surely reminds you of Ke Huy Quan’s similar supporting character in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (1984).

In the meantime, the movie expectedly serves us a number of big action sequences along the story, but, despite the fairly competent efforts form director/co-writer James Mangold and his crew members including cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, these action sequences do not impress us that much on the whole. They are certainly fast and quick on the surface, but they also somehow feel rather pedestrian without having any sense of unadulterated fun we had from the previous four films. To be frank with you, even John Williams’ score seems less spirited and exciting this time, though, as usual, he reminds us again that we are very lucky considering he is still working despite being over 90 at present.

In case of Harrison Ford, he is surely glad to play one of his famous roles again just like he was in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” (2015) and “Blade Runner 2049” (2017). Although he is going to have his 81st birthday in this year, he still shows his undeniable presence which has endured for more than 45 years, and he mostly looks believable in those key action sequences in the film, though he is indubitably aided by lots of CGI and stunt men due to his age and safety.

The supporting cast members in the film are rather wasted in contrast. While Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, and Toby Jones simply come and then go, Mads Mikkelsen is unfortunately limited by his villain role which looks much less colorful than those memorable Nazi villains in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981), and young performer Ethann Isidore sadly struggles with his mediocre supporting part. At least, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who has been known for her acclaimed TV comedy series “Fleebag”, often brings some spirit and energy into the screen, and she is certainly the best part of the film besides Williams’ excellent score.

Overall, “Indiana Hones and the Dial of Destiny” is not as terrible as I and others feared, but I observed its story, character, and action from the distance throughout its overlong running time (154 minutes), and that was a dissatisfying experience to say the least. While its last scene is a bit poignant for good sentimental reasons, that comes too late in my humble opinion, and now I am hoping to see any of the first three Indiana Jones films at movie theater.

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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Expanded with more style and substance

Posted on June 22, 2023 by kaist455

Animation film “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”, the sequel to its Oscar-winning predecessor “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”, is a busily rich experience I am willing to revisit for more fun and appreciation. Yes, as many of you already know, this is essentially a 140-minute warmup process for whatever we will get in the next year, but it is steadily pulsating with a tremendous amount of style and substance from the beginning to the end. Around the time when it eventually arrives at its expected cliffhanger ending, you will come to have some expectation after having so much fun and excitement, though you may also wonder how the next film can possibly top all the wonder and energy presented during more than 2 hours.

After the extended opening part set in the world of Gwen Stacy / Spider-Woman (voiced by Haileee Steinfeld), the film shows how things have been rather complicated in the world of Miles Morale / Spider-Man (voiced by Shameik Moore). Because his parents still do not know about his secret identity, there has been some conflict between him and his parents, and he even considers revealing his secret to them, though that is not easy at all considering that his policeman father will soon get promoted in his precinct.

Meanwhile, there comes another problem in his city via Dr. Jonathan Ohnn / The Spot (voiced by Jason Schwartzman), who may look ridiculous but turns out to be more dangerous than expected. Because of what happened during the climax of the previous film, this guy comes to have the power to create holes in the dimension of time and space, and we accordingly get a frantic but undeniably entertaining scene where Miles tries to stop and catch this guy.

Anyway, this latest trouble of Miles leads to the unexpected return of Gwen, who is now a part of the team operating over numerous alternative worlds out there. Under the command of Miguel O’Hara / Spider-Man 2099 (voiced by Oscar Isaac), she has worked with a number of different versions of Spider-Man, and I will let you behold one by one for yourself without spoiling anything, though I must say that several notable voice cast members of the film are having a juicy fun with their respective parts.

Along with these new characters, the film freely expands its fantasy background with more imagination and creativity, and the result has much more surprise and entertainment than most of those superhero flicks during last several years. As an animation film, it can afford to have a lot more style and atmosphere than live-action films, and you will savor its various visual details even when it briskly hops from one moment to another like flipping through comic book pages. For instance, I particularly like an unabashedly exotic version of New York City associated with one certain version of Spider-Man, and I was also amused by another unexpected version of Spider-Man who is as anti-establishment as he looks.

While so frantically juggling lots of stuffs in the air, the screenplay by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Dave Callaham also generates enough depth and gravitas to hold us amidst its swirling mix of mood, style, and humor. While the conflict between Gwen and her policeman father turns out to be more than a mere subplot, Miles’ increasingly strained relationship with his parents also functions as a crucial part of the story, and the film occasionally becomes poignant as paying some attention to how Miles and Gwen tentatively respond to their mutual feelings as two loners who really know and understand each other.

Above all, the main plot of the film is compelling as working as a sort of meta-critique on the current status of its genre. While occasionally peppering the screen with bits of intellectual properties, the film throws an interesting question involved with the very existence of its main background, and that eventually becomes a serious issue of conflict between Miles and Spider-Man 2099, who is quite determined to correct any problem in the vast network of the Spider-Verse by any means necessary. I will not go into details about their dynamic conflict here, but I can tell you instead that what the film achieves through this definitely surpasses whatever “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” (2022) or “The Flash” (2023) attempted to do.

In addition, the voice cast members of the film are simply fantastic. While Shameik Moore ably balances humor and drama as you can expect from a Spider-Man, Hailee Steinfeld holds her own place well as her character comes to show more of her spirit and vulnerability along the story, and Jake Johnson, who reprises his role in the previous film, is solid in his droll voice performance. In case of several other substantial voice members, Oscar Issac, Jason Schwartzman, Issa Rae, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Vélez, Shea Whigham, Karan Soni, and Daniel Kaluuya are terrific in their colorful voice acting, and it will be interesting to see how the next film will utilize more of this various bunch of talented performers.

On the whole, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”, directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, frequently surpasses its predecessor’s achievement level as jumping and leaping as high as possible, but I still give it 3.5 stars instead of 4 stars due to my inconsequential reservation. It is surely ambitious besides wildly entertaining to say the least, but will the next film meet or exceed our expectations from that? Well, we will see.

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Missing (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): Gone Father

Posted on June 20, 2023 by kaist455

It is rather difficult to describe the plot of “Missing”, a dark and disturbing Japanese mystery thriller film which pulls some surprises for us as unexpectedly shifting from one narrative point to another. I will be discreet here as much as possible, but I recommend you to stop reading this inconsequential review of mine and then check out the movie first, especially if you fully enjoy how deftly it manipulates your expectation as phlegmatically doling out a number of surprising things for you.

At the beginning, the movie succinctly establishes the relationship between its two main characters: a shabby loser dude named Santoshi Harada (Jirô Satô) and his adolescent daughter Kaeda (Aoi Itô). Since his wife died some time ago, Santoshi has been quite depressed in addition to having a serious financial problem, but he usually procrastinates or drinks whenever he is doing menial jobs, and he certainly frustrates Kaeda a lot when he causes another trouble to be handled by her.

On one day, Kaeda is baffled to find her father unexpectedly gone early in the morning without any explanation, and she becomes more worried as not being able to locate her father during next several days. At one point, she manages to locate where he has recently worked, but “Santoshi Harada” she meets at that spot is someone else, and then there comes a text message which suggests that her father abandoned her and then ran away to somewhere.

While understandably quite confused and exasperated, Kaeda comes to pay more attention to what her father told her not long before his inexplicable disappearance. He said he spotted a certain figure wanted by the police for a shocking serial killing case, and, what do you know, this wanted figure, Terumi Yamauchi (Hiroya Shimizu), turns out to be the very person she met at her father’s recent workplace. It is quite possible that her father attempted to track down this wanted figure for the considerable promised reward, and Kaeda naturally begins to wonder whether this guy is responsible for her father’s disappearance.

Kaeda eventually decides to delve more into the matter, but then the situation becomes trickier than expected when she subsequently confronts Terumi, who turns out to be quite nearer to her than she thought at first. It seems that Terumi does know something about her father’s disappearance, but he still does not reveal anything while cruelly teasing Kaeda, though she manages to get a few clues for her private investigation. It later turns out Terumi was in a nearby island for some reason, and Kaeda is certainly willing to go there for getting any more clue about her father’s whereabouts.

Around that narrative point, the screenplay by director Shinzô Katayama and his co-writers Kazuhisa Kotera and Ryô Takada takes several plot turns mainly for showing more of how twisted Terumi really is. He usually finds his targets via his several anonymous Twitter accounts, and his targets, who incidentally have each own death wish, are willing to be killed by him, though many of them only come to exemplify that old saying: “Be careful of what you wish – you might get it”.

I will let you to see for yourself how this part is connected with Kaeda’s narrative a lot more than expected, but I can tell you instead that I admire how the screenplay dexterously plays with our expectation with some morbid sense of black humor. In case of a scene between Terumi and one minor supporting character who turns out to be quite naughty in his own way, the movie decidedly makes us more uncomfortable as Terumi is reminded of what really makes him tick, and this depravity of his makes a big contrast with his banal appearance on the surface.

However, the movie eventually comes to pay more attention to Kaeda and her relationship with her father, which eventually becomes the emotional center of the story. In case of a little poignantly bittersweet moment involved with a seemingly simple ping pong match, you may scratch your head a bit about what is exactly happening on the screen, but this moment feels devastating nonetheless with an indelible impression on us.

The three main cast members of the film are solid in their respective parts. While Aoi Itô holds the center as the most sympathetic character in the bunch, Jirô Satô effortlessly clicks well with Itô during several key scenes in the film, and we can instantly sense a long history between their characters even though their characters do not tell that much about their shared past. As another crucial part of the story, Hiroya Shimizu did a good job of embodying his character’s diabolical sides without showing them off at all, and the movie thankfully does not overplay his character’s vile and nihilistic depravity even during its most unnerving moments.

On the whole, “Missing” is another recent notable Japanese film to watch, and I appreciated its skillful handling of plot and characters even though I became rather distant to it at times. Although it may be a little too dark and disturbing for you, it will engage and then surprise you more than expected, and it is certainly nice to see that Japanese cinema still can provide something other than the works of Hirokazu Kore-eda and Ryusuke Hamaguchi.

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Chevalier (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): The story of a black musician in the 18th century France

Posted on June 19, 2023 by kaist455

“Chevalier”, which is currently available on Disney+ in South Korea, is the story about one fascinating real-life black musician who deserves to be known more for good reasons. Although it is basically a conventional period drama, the movie still engages us via its solid storytelling, and it is also often galvanized by the energetic presence of its talented lead actor.

Kelvin Harrison Jr., who has steadily advanced since I noticed him for the first time via his good supporting turn in Trey Edward Shults’s “It Comes at Night” (2017), plays Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799), a French-Caribbean musician who was the illegitimate son of a wealthy plantation owner and his African slave mistress. Because of his exceptional musical talent, young Joseph was sent to a prestigious boarding school in France by his father after being separated from his mother, and he was certainly discriminated a lot due to his racial background right from his first day, but he subsequently distinguishes himself in not only music but also many other things including poetry and swordsmanship. After winning in one big fencing match held in front of many noblemen and noblewomen besides the king and queen of France, he deservedly becomes a man of noble title, and that certainly boosts his considerable reputation in public.

As becoming one of notable figures favored by Queen Marie Antoinette (Lucy Boynton), Bologne surely feels like being at the top of the world, but then there comes a big reminder of his race background. After he is notified of his father’s death, his African mother, who is now officially free after his father’s death, comes to Paris, but she is not so impressed by her son’s affluent lifestyle full of hedonistic extravagance, and Bologne is not so comfortable to be around his mother either.

Meanwhile, there comes another big chance to elevate Bologne’s social status further. The Paris Opera happens to need a new principal conductor, and it looks like Bologne can step into that prestigious position via his undeniable talent and popularity as well as his close connection with the queen, though there is a prominent Austrian composer who emerges as his main competitor (No, he is not Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who incidentally appears in the opening scene). Bologne and his competitor are ordered to compose and produce each own original opera production, and the board of the Paris Opera will then decide who is the winner and then will become its new conductor.

Naturally quite confident about this competition, Bologne instantly works on his opera production, and he has already decided who will be his lead female performer. He previously noticed the considerable singing talent of Marie-Josephine de Montalembert (Samara Weaving), and, thanks to a close associate of his, he soon visits the manor belonging to her and her powerful nobleman husband. Right from when they meet, something sparks between them, and Marie-Josephine is quite willing to join his opera production even though her rather possessive husband does not approve of that at all.

Anyway, Marie-Josephine and Bologne soon work together while her husband is conveniently absent, and that inevitably leads to a risky liaison between them. Even while knowing well that there is not any future for their romantic relationship, Bologne comes to love Marie-Josephine than expected, but he is also often reminded of the wide gap between them in terms of class and race. In case of Marie-Josephine, she surely appreciates him for bringing more fun and freedom to her boring daily life, but she has to be quite discreet as often being limited a lot by her social position.

In the meantime, things gradually get volatile in the outside world as the French Revolution is about to be started. After reminded again that he will be never fully accepted by the world he has tried to enter for years, Bologne decides to become truer to his racial identity as reflected by one musical scene where he joins his fellow Caribbean people along with his mother. Sincerely supported by a progressive nobleman friend of his, he also prepares himself for doing something bold and defiant in public, and, not so surprisingly, the queen is not amused by this.

The screenplay by Stefani Robinson, who also participated in the production of the film, stumbles more than once during its last act, but the story is still held together well thanks to Harrison’s intense performance. Besides looking believable in several musical performance scenes, he fills his character with a considerable amount of life and personality, and it certainly helps that he and Samara Weaving generate enough romantic heat during their several key scenes. In case of several other main cast members, Lucy Boynton, Marton Csokas, Alex Fitzalan, Sian Clifford, and Minnie Driver are well-cast in their respective supporting parts, and the special mention goes to Ronke Adekoluejo, who holds her own small place well around Harrison as Bologne’s mother.

In conclusion, “Chevalier” is an earnest but engaging period drama to be appreciated for several good things including Harrison’s solid performance, and director Stephen Williams, who won an Emmy for acclaimed HBO TV miniseries “Watchmen”, did a competent job on the whole. I think the movie could delve more into Bologne’s life and career, but the overall result is fairly satisfying at least, so I will not grumble for now.

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