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

Posted on June 4, 2023 by kaist455

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on June 4, 2023 by kaist455

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on June 2, 2023 by kaist455

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on May 30, 2023 by kaist455

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on May 29, 2023 by kaist455

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on May 29, 2023 by kaist455

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on May 29, 2023 by kaist455

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Sisu (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): Let’s kill them all!

Posted on May 29, 2023 by kaist455

I winced and then was amused more than once as watching Jalmari Helander’s new film “Sisu”, an extremely violent but preposterously entertaining World War II film which really goes over the top along with its silent but striking hero. As stoic, lethal, and unstoppable as John Wick and John Rambo, this dude is quite determined to eliminate all those bad guys on his way for retrieving what is rightfully his, and you will appreciate how deftly the movie balances itself between sheer intensity and a sly sense of deadpan humor.

The movie is set in the Lapland area of Finland in late 1944. The country has been ravaged by the war by Russia and Nazi Germany, but that does not seem to worry its hero that much. At the beginning of the story, he is silently and steadily prospecting for gold alone at some remote spot, and he eventually succeeds in finding large chunks of gold ore in the ground. All he has to do now is taking his gold to Helsinki, though the journey to the city will be quite risky due to those Nazi soldiers in the area.

Our hero tries as much as possible for not throwing any attention, but, alas, things do not go that well for him when he subsequently happens to come across a bunch of Nazi soldiers on the road. They simply let him pass by at first, but they did that on purpose, and our hero soon finds himself pursued by them after the following incident between him and several other Nazi soldiers. After eventually pushed into what is virtually a deathtrap, he gets his gold snatched by those Nazi soldiers, and that certainly makes him quite angry to say the least.

Right from their first clash with our hero, his opponents, led by a SS officer who is certainly delighted to get an opportunity to get out of the war via our hero’s gold, belatedly come to realize that our hero is not just a plain civilian they can easily eliminate. He soon begins to eliminate his opponents one by one, and it is revealed later that our hero is a notorious former special forces member who became quite vengeful and murderous after his whole family was killed by Russian soldiers.

Although looking rather outmatched in number, our hero surely throws more fear and dread to his opponents and their leader, who is not daunted nonetheless as becoming more willing to eliminate our hero by any means necessary. After all, they have a tank besides guns and knives, and their fearful opponent is not entirely invincible as he gets wounded here and there in his body along the story.

However, our hero shows more of sheer will and determination which may even impress the lead character played by Daniel Day-Lewis in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” (2007). At one point, he gets himself hanged by his opponents due to one of his main vulnerabilities, but he somehow finds a way for not only fooling his opponents but also saving himself (Is this a spoiler?), and you will be amazed more by how he performs another emergency treatment on his body later.

Meanwhile, the movie also pays some attention to a bunch of local women held by the Nazi soldiers as prisoners to be sexually exploited. One of these women sees what is happening to their captors, and there is a wonderful little moment when she calmly but ominously tells their captors a bit about why they should not have messed with our hero from the beginning. When our hero delivers the chance for revenge to them later in the story, the ladies do not hesitate at all, and that leads to one of major payback moments in the story.

The movie feels all the more outrageous as our hero does more unbelievable things including the one reminiscent of the opening action sequence of “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” (2015), but it keeps its attitude absolutely straight even at that point, and Helander and his crew members including cinematographer Kjell Lagerroos did a commendable job of filling the screen with an ample amount of style and mood. The wide landscape shots of the film look surreal at times with the stark barren atmosphere not so far from modern western films, and this aspect is further accentuated by the aggressive score by Juri Seppä and Tuomas Wäinölä.

Like the movie, Jorma Tommila, who previously collaborated with Helander in “Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale” (2010) and “Big Game” (2014), and several other main cast members play straight to their materials. While Tommila firmly holds the ground with his strong taciturn performance, Aksel Hennie, an engaging Norwegian actor who drew my attention for the first time via his intense performance in Morten Tyldum’s “Headhunters” (2011), and Jack Doolan are effective as the two main villains of the story, and Mimosa Willamo holds her own little place well as a substantial female character in the story.

In conclusion, “Sisu” will amuse and entertain you a lot once you go along with its extreme violence and some deadpan humor behind it, and the result is certainly better than Peter Thorwarth’s recent Netflix film “Blood & Gold” (2023), another recent World War II flick which also kills lots of Nazi soldiers. As I pointed out in my 2.5-star review on “Blood & Gold”, you need much more than killing Nazi soldiers when you make a bloody and violent World War II exploitation flick, and I assure you that “Sisu” surely has more than killing all those Nazi bastards.

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Blood & Gold (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): It surely kills a bunch of Nazi soldiers (and that’s all)

Posted on May 28, 2023 by kaist455

Seriously, you need much more than killing Nazi soldiers when you make a bloody and violent World War II exploitation flick. After all, Nazi soldiers in World War II movies usually exist for getting killed in one way or another just like those rotting zombies in horror movies, so you will definitely need some extra style and substance to spice up that familiar genre ingredient to our little entertainment.

Unfortunately, German Netflix movie “Blood & Gold”, which was released a few days ago, does not have that extra style and substance to distinguish itself besides its brutal and gory violence. While it is technically competent in many aspects, the movie is sadly two or three steps below what Quentin Tarantino gloriously achieved in “Inglourious Basterds” (2009), and we come to observe its pulpy moments without much care or interest, and we only end up being numbed by its relentless serving of remorseless violence.

At the beginning, we are introduced to a young Nazi soldier named Heinrich (Robert Maaser), who is running away from a bunch of other Nazi soldiers led by a hardcore SS officer. It is April 1945, and the war is being almost over with the imminent defeat of Nazi Germany on the horizon, but this SS officer, who looks quite creepy with his partially injured face, still believes that there is a chance for winning the war, so he is not so pleased about Heinrich’s desertion. When Heinrich is eventually captured outside some rural village, he subsequently gets himself hanged under a big tree, and the SS officer and his soldiers make sure that Heinrich will slowly suffer more pain and misery before his almost certain death.

Fortunately, Heinrich is saved at the last minute not long after his former comrades left him. His accidental savior is a woman named Sonja (Jördis Triebel), and she soon takes him to a remote spot where she and her mentally disabled younger brother have resided during last several years. Not so surprisingly, she hates Nazi soldiers for a personal reason, and she is also willing to let Heinrich stay a bit longer, though Heinrich confides to her later that he actually has an urgent personal matter which was the main reason of his desertion.

However, of course, both Sonja and Heinrich soon get themselves involved with those Nazi soldiers again, who subsequently come into the village for finding the gold which seems to be hidden somewhere inside the house originally belonging to a wealthy Jewish family. Although the house has been ruined since what tragically happened to that Jewish family shortly before the war began, the SS officer instructs his soldiers to search every corner of the remains of the house, and several village people become nervous about this for good reasons. After all, everyone in the village is quite willing to forget the past and then embrace the upcoming end of the war, but now here comes a fearful reminder of whatever they committed as encouraged by the toxic influence of the Nazi party during that dark period.

When Sonja’s place is subsequently ransacked by the Nazi soldiers and then she nearly gets raped by some of them, Heinrich decides to confront and fight against his opponents, and so does Sonja, who turns out to be much more hardened and strong-willed than we expected. After their violent moment with those Nazi soldiers, they quickly leave along with Sonja’s younger brother, but then they eventually end up killing more Nazi soldiers on their way, and the SS officer and a savage sergeant who has been his right-hand guy are certainly ready to eliminate both Heinrich and Sonja as soon as possible before finding the gold at last.

Around that point, the screenplay by Stefan Barth attempts to have a more vicious and violent fun with its broad archetype characters, but the result is rather meandering on the whole. I was amused a bit by several absurd moments including the one where Sonja’s younger brother gets what is probably his first taste of violence, but most of them just fizzle without leaving much impression. In case of the mystery surrounding the gold of the Jewish family, it is not particularly interesting because we can quickly discern what is really going on, and a little plot turn during its last act does not help much in my humble opinion.

I have no problem with the thin characterization of Barth’s screenplay because that usually comes with its genre territory, but most of the main characters in the film are not engaging enough to hold our attention. While Heinrich shows some personal sides along the story, he remains a rather bland figure compared to Sonja, who could be more interesting as a woman who had to take care of herself and her younger brother alone by herself for years. In case of those Nazi characters and several other sleazy figures in the film, we do not expect much depth from them from the beginning, but they seriously lack personality except that SS officer who comes to show a little twisted romantic fascination toward Sonja later in the story, and they eventually end up being no more than banal targets to be eliminated one by one.

“Blood & Gold” is directed by Peter Thorwarth, who previously directed another Netflix film “Blood Red Sky” (2021), a flawed genre product which could be more entertaining in its supposedly intriguing mix of two very different genre elements. Despite their many flaws, both of these two movies show that Thorwarth is a competent genre film director at least, and I can only hope that his next film will be more improved in terms of story and character.

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Where’d You Go, Bernadette (2019) ☆☆(2/4): Where’d it go wrong, I wonder

Posted on May 22, 2023 by kaist455

Since he drew my attention via “School of Rock” (2003) and “Before Sunset” (2004) when I was young and wild, Richard Linklater has seldom disappointed me during next 20 years, and that is why it is really depressing to see how he somehow failed in “Where’d You Go, Bernadette”. Even though several years have passed since it came out in 2019, the movie remains one of a few misfires in Linklater’s long and illustrious filmmaking career due to several bad reasons, and you will be relieved by the fact that he soon moved onto several next projects after this unfortunate failure of his.

The movie, which is based on the novel of the same name by Maria Semple, mainly revolves around a woman named Bernadette Fox (Cate Blanchett) and her husband and their adolescent daughter. As shown from a YouTube video clip appearing in the middle of the film, there was a time when Bernadette was destined to become another great American modern architecture to be admired, but, after some very unfortunate incident, she has led a rather reclusive life along with her family in some suburban area of Seattle, Oregon. Their house looks so shabby on the outside that it occasionally feels like a distant cousin to the house of the Addams Family, but she has been mostly content with being stuck there along with her family, though her computer engineer husband Elgie (Billy Crudup) is usually busy with his work involved with Microsoft.

Anyway, their daughter Bee (Emma Nelson) has somehow grown up well under her troubled mother and frequently busy father, and she is quite eager to go to a certain spot in the Antarctica before going to some expensive dormitory prep school. While she is not so enthusiastic about the trip to the Antarctica compared to her daughter and husband Bernadette agrees to go there along with their family, and then that somehow leads to some anxiety problem to her – especially as she comes to clash more with several other mothers in her suburban neighborhood including Audrey Griffin (Kristen Wiig), who happens to live right next to Bernadette’s house.

Via her growing conflict with Audrey, we come to see more of how antisocial Bernadette really is. All she needs to do is stepping back a bit for her neighbor, but she deliberately causes a series of annoyance for Audrey and other mothers in the neighborhood. Although Bee does not care that much about this ongoing conflict, she shows some concern like any good daughter would, and so does Elgie, who has patiently tolerated Bernadette whenever he is not busy with working outside.

However, we do not care that much about what is happening on and around Bernadette because the adapted screenplay by Linklater and his co-writers Holly Gent and Vince Palmo fails to present its heroine as a believable character to draw our interest. No matter how much it emphasizes her suppressed artistic skill and talent, we never get to any sense of life or personality from Bernadette, and she just remains to be an annoyingly capricious person who really needs a private intervention session. As a matter of fact, Elgin comes to hold a private intervention session for his wife later in the story, but that does not bring anything much to the story and characters except a ridiculous subplot involved with some federal investigation.

In the end, the movie arrives at the Antarctica along with its several main characters as expected, but we still observe them from the distance without much care or attention. Sure, our troubled heroine eventually comes to find how she can get herself back in element, but the movie curiously lacks any kind of dramatic impact even at that point, and the following ending feels middling at best and lackadaisical at worst.

For Cate Blanchett, the movie now looks like a sort of warming-up exercise for her subsequent Oscar-nominated turn in Todd Field’s “Tár” (2022), where she plays a different kind of talented but deeply problematic professional. However, while she has lots of things to handle in “Tár” (2022), “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” does not provide much to her from the beginning, and the result comes to feel increasingly one-note along the story despite her diligent effort.

Around Blanchett, several notable main cast members are criminally under-utilized while being stuck with their under-developed supporting parts. While Emma Nelson has a bit more things to do besides doing the narration of the film, Billy Crudup often seems lost in his thankless role, and the same thing can be said about Kristen Wiig, who can be very funny but only ends up hitting the same note again and again here without much nuance. The movie is sometimes brightened up by the brief appearances of David Paymer, Megan Mullally, Laurence Fishburne, Steve Zahn, and Judy Greer, but they simply come and go without leaving much impression on the whole, and Fishburne is particularly wasted in his redundant single scene with Blanchett.

In conclusion, “Where’d You Go Bernadette” did not impress or entertain me much mainly because of its bland and superficial handling of story and characters, and I am now considering revisiting Linklater’s subsequent work “Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood” (2022), which has much more style, personality, and life in comparison besides being one of better works from Linklater. Believe me, you will have a much productive time with the latter, and you may thank me later for my inconsequential suggestion.

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