Sharper (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Predictable step by step

Posted on April 20, 2023 by kaist455

“Sharper”, which was released on Apple TV+ a few months ago, assumes that its audiences have not seen many thriller flicks, and that is not a very sharp assumption to say the least. If you saw its trailer or its promotional poster, I am sure that you already have a pretty good idea about how it will handle its story and characters, and I can only tell you that it does not have much surprise in that.

Because the movie is driven by a lot of deceptions and manipulations among its several main characters, I may unintentionally reveal some of its sudden plot turns in the following paragraphs of this review, so I strongly advise to you that you should not read further if you are already determined to check out the movie and want to get entertained as much as you can. To be frank with you, when I was watching the film during last evening, my mind kept working on how to write about its story and characters as less as possible, and I must tell you that was more stimulating that the movie itself.

Anyway, let’s start with the seemingly innocuous opening part of the film, which revolves around Tom (Justice Smith), a shy and quiet lad who has worked alone in a little bookstore located somewhere in the middle of New York City. On one day, a pretty young woman named Sandra (Brianna Middleton) enters Tom’s bookstore, and it does not take much time for Tom to be attracted to this young woman as they interact with each other for a while. When he shows a little generosity to her, she shows some appreciation in response later, and they come to spend more time with each other.

Yes, this looks like your average Meet Cute situation, and we are served with some nice romantic moments between Tom and Sandra, but, of course, things soon become very serious. After seeing how much Sandra struggles with a certain big personal problem of hers, Tom is willing to help her just because she really brightens up his melancholic life. After losing his mother some years ago, he has been quite lonely and depressed, and he has not interacted much with his father Richard (John Lithgow), who has been more estranged from his son since he recently married some other woman.

Now, if you are still with me, you may easily guess what will happen next. Yes, Sandra and Tom’s romantic relationship is not accidental at all from the very beginning. Yes, there is an insidious plot against Tom because he happens to be standing on the way for certain criminal figures behind the plot. Yes, these people are certainly quite untrustworthy in one way or another, and we accordingly should keep guessing whatever they are respectively holding behind their backs before the movie arrives at its ending.

We are supposed to have lots of fun and thrill with that, but we can instantly see through the plot mechanism of the screenplay by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka because it gives itself away too much in my humble opinion. For instance, it has Julianne Moore at the very center of its promotional poster, so you will promptly discern that her character will be a definite crucial part of the story, even before her character eventually appears in the middle of the movie. I will not go into details on the relationship between her character and another substantial character in the story played by Sebastian Stan, but it will take less than one minute for you to guess who they actually are as well as what they are planning to do.

At least, Moore, who also participated in the production of the film, and Stan are clearly enjoying a number of juicy moments assigned to them. Because their characters often cannot wholly trust each other, there is always considerable tension between them on the screen, and Moore and Stan deftly handle several key scenes where their characters supposedly show more of their feelings to each other in private.

The rest of the main cast members are more or less than mere plot elements, though some of them acquit themselves fairly well on the whole. Briana Middleton, a young promising actress who previously appeared in George Clooney’s “The Tender Bar” (2021), holds her own place well among her more well-known cast members, and she is particularly good when she has to convey to us her character’s conflicted status later in the story. On the opposite, Justice Smith, an equally promising actor who has been steadily advancing since his notable supporting turn in “Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom” (2018), clicks well with Middleton during the early part of the film, and he surely has more things to do than compared to John Lithgow, who, to my big disappointment, does not have much to do in contrast while stuck in his thankless supporting role.

Overall, “Sharper”, which is directed by Benjamin Caron (He has been mostly known for directing several acclaimed British TV drama series such as “The Crown”, by the way), is a competent genre product, but it is just mildly entertaining without leaving much impression on me. As a matter of fact, I can name several other similar genre films much more compelling and interesting right now, and I particularly recommend you “House of Games” (1987) and “The Grifters” (1990). Both of these great movies are much, shall we say, shaper in comparison, and, believe me, you will have a more productive time with either of them.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Ghost World (2001) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A quirky girl and her unexpected friend

Posted on April 17, 2023 by kaist455

I am fascinated with how Terry Zwigoff’s “Ghost World” has grown on me since I watched it for the first time around 15 years ago. At that time, I was a graduate student who was socially awkward but had been mostly happy and content with being surrounded by books and movies instead of people, and I was just mildly amused by its dry sense of offbeat humor as casually observing its lonely adolescent heroine’s angst from safe distance. When I revisited the film in this year, I recently passed 40 while still being alone after several disastrous attempts on serious relationship, and I came to recognize more loneliness from her and her unlikely friend.

For many adolescent kids out there, high school graduation is surely something to celebrate with joy and excitement before moving onto whatever will come next for them, but that is not the case for Enid (Thora Birch) and her best friend Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson). For both of these two teenage girls, their high school graduation is another boring chapter of their mundane suburban life in California, and Enid cannot help but make a barbed comment, when one of their schoolmates who is giving a supposedly inspirational speech in the middle of their graduation ceremony (“I liked her so much better when she was an alcoholic crack addict – She gets in one car wreck and all of a sudden she’s Little Miss Perfect and everyone loves her.”).

Although they have been eager to get out of their high school, Enid and Rebecca actually do not have much plan about the next chapter of their life. Sure, they promised to themselves that they will get a job and then live together after their graduation, but neither of them has never thought beyond that, and they usually occupy themselves with observing their plain and dull surrounding environment with ironic detachment and a bit of naughtiness. One of their usual entertainments comes from a dorky lad named Josh (Brad Renfro), and this poor lad always becomes a schmuck to tease for Enid and Rebecca whenever they come to a local convenient store where he works as a part-time employee.

On one day, there comes another opportunity for naughty fun to Enid and Rebecca when they happen to spot one rather pathetic personal advertisement on a local newspaper. They decide to do a mean prank on the figure behind that personal advertisement, and that is how they come to encounter Seymour (Steve Buscemi). Right from when he enters a local restaurant where they are waiting for his appearance, this guy exudes that unmistakable aura of misery and loneliness, but Enid unexpectedly finds herself becoming quite interested in him in contrast to her best friend, who simply disregards Seymour as another loser to watch from the distance.

We can easily discern why Enid is so fascinated with Seymour. After all, as a girl of specific cultural taste with her own cynical sense of humor, she often feels alienated even when she hangs around with her best friend. In fact, we gradually gather that, despite their long friendship, Rebecca has stuck around Enid as a mere fellow outsider even though they do not share much between them besides their annoyance and frustration with their surrounding environment. Furthermore, Rebecca is actually ready to move forward on her own way, and we naturally come to sense more of the growing gap between her and Enid, who still fails to get stably employed unlike Rebecca.

From Seymour, Enid finds someone who can be a better alternative for friendship because, well, he is much lonelier than she is in many aspects. Whenever he is not working as an assistant manager in some local fast food restaurant chain company, he usually occupies himself with a vast collection of old LP records and some other old stuffs in his residence, and there is an amusing scene where Enid and Rebecca are completely at a loss while attending Seymour’s small private party full of his fellow LP record collectors. Unless you are a serious LP record collector, you will not totally understand what the hell these nerdy folks are talking about (Don’t worry – I don’t either, to be frank with you, though I would love to hear their opinions on how LP records become popular again these days).

Because Seymour has not had much luck or success in case of romantic relationship, Enid impulsively decides to help her new friend a bit. To their little surprise, that leads to a fairly successful dating for Seymour, but then, needless to say, both Enid and Seymour subsequently find themselves in a tricky emotional circumstance later in the story. What eventually occurs between them is not exactly surprising for us, but the movie never lets their complex relationship simply defined by mere mutual sexual attraction, and we come to empathize more with the aching need and confusion inside them.

“Ghost World” was Zwigoff’s first feature film after his two documentary films “Louie Bluie” (1985) and “Crumb” (1994), which is the vivid and fascinating presentation of the life, personality, and career of legendary American cartoonist Robert Crumb. As a filmmaker who did not hesitate to delve into his old friend Crumb’s personal demons while also struggling a lot with his own personal demons (He told Roger Ebert that he was so agonized by his back pain during that time that he actually slept with a gun under his pillow for killing himself at any point if that seemed necessary to him), he was surely the right director for the dark wit and melancholic sensibility of “Ghost World”, and he and his co-writer Daniel Clowes, who made the comic book series of the same name on which the movie is based, provide a number of sharp dialogue scenes which bring more depth and humanity to its main characters. While many of main characters in the film including Enid are not very likable to say the least, their palpable personalities linger on us a lot more than expected as occasionally enlivening their drab and mediocre suburban world, and even Enid’s hopelessly boring father leaves a bit of impression on us despite his sheer suburban banality.

The main performers of the film are pitch-perfect in their respective roles. As the center of the film, Thora Birch effortlessly embodies the angst and loneliness churning behind her character’s defiantly sardonic attitude, and her co-star Scarlett Johansson dutifully stands by Birch although she automatically draws our attention because of her current status as a major Hollywood actress. While late Brad Renfro is solid as a lad a bit too slow for Enid and Rebecca, Illeana Douglas is hilarious as Enid’s summer art class teacher who unwisely puts the freedom of artistic expression above political correctness when Enid presents one of Seymour’s old stuffs which is quite controversial to say the least, Bob Balaban, Teri Garr, Dave Sheridan, Pat Healy, and David Cross are also enjoyable in their small but colorful supporting parts.

The best performance in the film comes from Steve Buscemi, who should have been Oscar-nominated at that time (He received several major critics awards besides a Golden Globe nomination at least). While he can be a smart, ruthless gangster as shown from HBO TV series “Boardwalk Empire”, this ever-dependable character actor is born to play losers and loners because of his natural weary presence, and he is alternatively funny and poignant as fearlessly diving into the deep pathos behind his character’s meek appearance. He and Birth click with each other well with precise low-key comic timing whenever they are on the screen together, and you will not believe that he actually wanted to shed his character as soon as possible whenever the shooting was over.

On the whole, “Ghost World” can be an acquired taste to some of you, but it is still worthwhile to watch for its excellent handling of story, mood, and character. I will not go into details on the finale for not spoiling your little fun at all, but I can tell you instead that I appreciate the sublime poetic quality of a brief but important moment of epiphany for Enid – and how that beautifully leads to the tentative hopefulness of the following epilogue scene. Regardless of how her last shot in the film can be interpreted, you may sense that things might get better for not only her but also Seymour. Sure, they are still not that social or pleasant even in the end, but you will still care about what may be next for their respective lives, and that is surely an achievement.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

On the Sand House (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Now she is stuck with her family business…

Posted on April 16, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean independent film “On the Sand House” is a modest but sensitive character drama about one deeply frustrated young woman. It is clear that she has yearned to get out of her world for restarting her life as soon as possible, but, alas, she only finds herself stuck with a messy family situation instead, and the movie gradually conveys to us her deepening exasperation and frustration along the story.

The early part of the movie succinctly establishes the loveless domestic environment surrounding Jin-yeong (Lee Seol). She is currently living with her parents, but there is not much interaction or communication between her and her parents because they are mostly occupied with each own business. While Jin-yeong is mostly devoted to the preparation for getting employed in Canada someday, her father, who has run a factory for many years, does not do anything at his home except eating and watching TV, and her mother is usually busy with handling various business matters involved with the factory instead of her husband.

And then there comes an unexpected incident not long after another domestic quarrel between Jin-yeong’s parents. Becoming more exasperated and frustrated than before, Jin-yeong’s mother decides to go somewhere for getting some peace of mind, and Jin-yeong does not pay much attention to that when her mother is leaving, but she is subsequently notified of her mother’s sudden death (The movie does not specify much on how she died, by the way).

Quite devastated by her mother’s death, Jin-yeong soon comes to face an important issue involved with the family business. Due to her mother’s death, somebody else should fill her mother’s spot, and, mainly because her older sister is busy with taking care of her own family, Jin-yeong has no choice but to fill the spot for a while as a dutiful daughter. Although she does not know that much about how to handle all those suppliers and buyers associated with the factory, she gets some help from her mother’s assistant at least, though the assistant will leave a few weeks later.

Anyway, Jin-yeong manages to handle her tasks fairly well, but it does not take much for her to realize that the factory has not been doing that well in its business for years. In addition, she also comes to see that her father is the main problem of this difficult situation. Without his wife’s sensible management, Jin-yeong’s father often gets himself driven by his greed and stubbornness, and we can see a big trouble coming from the distance when he later attempts some big and ambitious business plan along with a newly hired employee of his.

Because she knows too well that her father will not listen to her opinion or thought at all, Jin-yeong just keeps concentrating on whatever she is expected to do, while also continuing to prepare for her oversea employment plan. For going to Canada several weeks later, she certainly needs some cash for that, but her father is not so willing to help her, and Jin-yeong naturally becomes all the more frustrated as her time for going to Canada is approaching.

What happens later in the story will not surprise you much, but the screenplay by director/writer Kim Hyun-jung keeps us engaged as carefully developing its main characters bit by bit via small details. We come to know more about what makes Jin-yeong’s father tick, and then we also come to learn more about Jin-yeong’s rather estranged relationship with her older sister, who turns out to be more generous and caring than she seemed at first. When they visit their mother’s grave at one point later in the story, Jin-yeong and her older sister become a bit softer to each other, but there remains some distance between them nonetheless – even when Jin-yeong’s sister shows a little sincere concern to Jin-yeong.

As the emotional center of the story, Lee Seol, a promising South Korean actress who previously drew my attention via her substantial supporting performances in “Herstory” (2017) and “My Punch-drunk Boxer” (2018), diligently carries the film to the end while seldom showing off her character’s conflicted emotional state. Thanks to Lee’s solid performance, we are always aware of what has been churning behind Jin-yeong’s detached façade, and that is the main reason why a certain two key scenes in the last act are emotionally effective.

In case of several crucial main cast members in the film, they dutifully fill their respective spots around Lee. As Jin-yeong’s deeply flawed father, Park Ji-il never makes any excuse on his character, but we come to understand his character to some degree while also recognizing how pathetic his character really is. Although she only appears briefly in the early part of the movie, Ahn Min-young leaves some lasting impression as Jin-yeong’s long-suffering mother, and Kang Jin-ah and Lee Han-ju are also well-cast in their substantial supporting roles.

Overall, “On the Sand House” distinguishes itself fairly well thanks to its good storytelling and characterization, and Kim Hyun-jung, who previously made several short films before making a feature film debut here, shows that she is another promising South Korean female filmmaker to watch. Considering how the future of South Korean Cinema has been rather grim and uncertain as it is going down from the historic success of Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” (2019), we need to support more new talented female filmmakers like Kim, and I sincerely hope that she will impress us more during next several years.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Archaeology of Love (2022) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Recovering from a toxic relationship

Posted on April 16, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean independent film “Archaeology of Love” is a haunting character drama revolving around one toxic relationship and its aftermath. As dryly but sensitively observing its ordinary heroine’s emotional struggle along the story, the movie lets us understand and empathize more with her via a series of restrained but powerful personal moments, and that is why it is touching to see how she eventually finds some strength for moving forward more for herself.

At the beginning, we are introduced to a young archaeologist named Yeong-sil (Ok Ja-yeon), and then we watch her doing a little presentation about her profession in front of a bunch of disinterested high school students. She is not particularly enthusiastic about doing the presentation, but this is how she earns her meager living for now before another opportunity for her career comes. While watching her phlegmatically going through her another day in a little residence of hers, we come to gather that something is holding her, but she does not reveal much in her rather detached appearance, and we naturally come to wonder more about this unspecified matter of hers.

After it patiently and gradually establishes its heroine’s current status during its first act, the movie goes back to when Yeong-sil met a guy named In-sik (Giyoon) 8 years ago by a small coincidence. When she was working on her latest excavation project with her colleagues in some rural region, Yeong-sil happened to be approached by In-sik, who came for doing some job at a nearby museum as a recording technician. Although they were total strangers from the beginning, Yeong-sil soon found herself attracted to this lad, and it seemed that In-sik was also quite interested in getting closer to her.

As they later come to spend more time together, In-sik looks more like someone Yeong-sil can be serious about, and In-sik comes to show more of himself in response. He has run a little recording studio of his own, and Yeong-sil appreciates his skills a lot as another kind of professional. In the end, she decides to break up with her current boyfriend who has been more like a burdensome roommate, and then she begins to live more with In-sik during next several months.

However, there are some bad signs about which Yeong-sil should have been alarmed from the very beginning. Blatantly emphasizing how disadvantaged he is as becoming 40, In-sik wants Yeong-sil to be really serious about their relationship, and she agrees to follow his rather petty demands without much hesitation, but then she only finds herself verbally bullied and humiliated because of her ‘promiscuous’ past. He often asks about whom she slept with before him, and he becomes pretty nasty when he comes to learn about her little mistake with some guys in the past at one point.

You may think any sensible woman would quickly decide that enough is enough around that point, but Yeong-sil only finds herself stuck more with her toxic boyfriend as virtually gaslighted by him. Even when one of her colleagues points out that to her with sincere concern, she still hesitates about breaking up with In-sik, and her growing conflict consequently affects both her life and her career to considerable degree.

After enduring In-sik for no less than 8 years, Yeong-sil eventually decided to leave, but, already shown to us around the end of the first act of the movie, she is not totally free from In-sik yet. Although they are supposedly finished with each other as lovers, In-sik keeps meddling with her life in one way or another, and Yeong-sil unwisely lets that happen – until she finally becomes more aware of the toxic aspects of her relationship with In-sik.

Steadily maintaining its leisurely narrative pacing throughout its rather long running time (163 minutes), the movie slowly shows some signs of hope and healing as Yeong-sil continues to struggle and wander without much direction for herself. When she happens to encounter some nice and good-looking lad, she is naturally interested in him, but then she understandably hesitates as still reeling from her unhealthy relationship with In-sik. At least, she manages to restart her professional career bit by bit, and she also gets some therapeutic help and support, though that still does not make her feel much better than before.

Everything in the film depends a lot on Ok Ja-yeon’s quite but undeniably unforgettable lead performance, which does not often signify much on the surface but conveys to us a lot about her character’s complicated thoughts and feelings. As Ok’s terrific performance ably carries the movie, a number of good performers come and go as deftly supporting her, and Giyoon is particularly effective as a textbook case of toxic boyfriend.

“Archaeology of Love”, which was premiered at the Jeonju International Film Festival in last year but belatedly released here in South Korean theaters a few days ago, is the second feature film of director/writer Lee Wan-min, who previously made a feature film debut in “Jamsil” (2016). Like “Jamsil”, “Archaeology of Love” will require some patience from you during its first hour, but it will be quite a rewarding experience on the whole once you accept how it is about, and Lee demonstrates here that she is indeed one of more interesting South Korean filmmakers at present. Although she made only two feature films now, she is a talented filmmaker who really knows how to engage us via good mood and storytelling, and I will certainly look forward to watching whatever may come next from her.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

In Water (2023) ☆1/2(1.5/4): In Blur (or Bullsh*t, perhaps)

Posted on April 15, 2023 by kaist455

When my late mentor/friend Roger Ebert was going to review Ingmar Bergman’s great film “Persona” (1966) not long after he became the film critic of Chicago Sun-Times, he did not know what to write first, but then he simply began to write about what he observed and felt during his viewing, and then the rest quickly followed as a result. I tried to follow his example while watching Hong Sang-soo’s new film “In Water”, but I am so sure about how I and other audiences around me were supposed to respond when we watched it at last night. Is this supposed to be a practical joke for his admirers? Or, is this just a deliberate affront to all audiences who paid to see it? Although I fortunately did not pay anything for this exasperating piece of bullsh*t, I was pretty pissed off about wasting my precious 61 minutes without being rewarded much on the whole.

The main reason of my anger and frustration toward this movie mainly comes from its inexplicable visual strategy. Except a few key scenes, many other scenes in the film are blurred on the screen as being deliberately out of focus, and we cannot possibly detect any particular detail and nuance from that. Even those few key scenes do not have much lighting from the start, so we can barely see the main performers’ face in their rather dim environment, and it is often hard for us to sense whatever is exchanged among them beneath the surface.

I must really tell you that I do not mind out-of-focus shots at all. In case of one little but extraordinary Finnish film “The Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic” (2021), many of its key shots are frequently out-of-focus for emphasizing its disabled hero’s visually impaired viewpoint, and that wonderfully works because, above all, it still does not lose any focus on its hero’s face and the thoughts and expressions felt from his face. In case of Hong’s film, it does not have any focus on anything on the screen from the start to the end, so we can only observe its story and characters from the distance without much care or attention.

Come to think of it, I doubt whether there is any substantial story or character in the film from the beginning, because the movie feels like the tepidly extended version of a short film already deficient in terms of story and characters. At the beginning, we are introduced to two lads and a young woman who are working together for a little short film project of theirs in Jeju Island, but we do not know what the hell they are really making, because they still do not have any clear idea on what they are making at present.

Is this a self-deprecating reflection of how Hong usually makes his films? I heard that he often completes his screenplay right before handing it to his performers on the set, and that says a lot about how his movies usually depend a lot on quick improvisation and spontaneity couple with some necessary professionalism. Although many of his films look pretty plain and simple without much editing or camera movement (He has done all the editing and shooting for himself, by the way), they never look visibly bad or lousy, and I must say that they look better than what I shot with my current smartphone.

However, “In Water” surpasses the awfulness of many of my impromptu smartphone videos in many aspects. Besides its utterly unidentifiable main characters, even those locations in the film look so blurred that I doubt whether you can recognize them even if you have ever been to Jeju Island. Sure, the main characters do talk a bit about Jeju Island, but, in my humble opinion, Hong could get away with shooting the film somewhere else for saving a bit of his tiny production budget.

Therefore, we have no choice but to listen to the dialogue and the soundtrack for processing the film, but, again, we are frustrated a lot for good reasons. Although Hong demonstrates again that he is good at writing natural conversations scenes, the conversation scenes in the film only reveal the basic information about the main characters without delving much into their thoughts or feelings. We manage to gather that one of them, who has worked as an actor before deciding to try a bit of filmmaking, wants some change for his life and career, but that is all we can know about him. In case of the two other main characters, they are even less developed in comparison, and, as a matter of fact, the brief voice cameo by one certain well-known South Korean actress associated with Hong has much more presence than all of the characters of the film. Along with the brief music provided by Hong, this actress sings a bit on the phone later in the film, and this little moment of saving grace made me wish more that she will be able to work in other films besides Hong’s works.

In contrast, the three main performers of the film, Shin Seok-ho, Ha Seong-guk, and Kim Seung-yun, are thoroughly wasted as their supposedly diligent efforts are already blocked from us from the beginning, and that reminds me of late film critic Gene Siskel’s famous question: “Is this film more interesting than a documentary of the same actors having lunch?” Regardless of whether they knew the technical impediment they were going to face right from when they agreed to appear in the film, the performers try their best with their sheer thankless task, and they should not be blamed at any chance.

In conclusion, “In Water” is the worst film in Hong’s long and consistent career, and I feel rather sorry for whoever will work on its Blu-ray or DVD edition, if that is actually planned later. No matter how much those technicians will try, their efforts will be impeded by Hong’s misguided visual approach in one way or another, and I think they will be a lot happier with working on my anoscopy video shot in 2009. Believe me, my anoscopy looks sharper and more detailed besides being in focus as required, and I assure you that this will be much more entertaining than “In Water”.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

I Leave Home (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): An unexpected journey of two different losers

Posted on April 9, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean independent film “I Leave Home” is about an unexpected journey of two different losers who are utterly pathetic in each own way. They are not exactly interesting enough to draw our attention, and the movie also occasionally suffers from its weak narrative and thin characterization, but this mildly amiable road movie will not disappoint you if you just want to get relaxed while enjoying a series of nice landscapes unfolded on the screen.

At the beginning, we are introduced to Jin-woo (Na Hyun-joon), a struggling filmmaker who has currently earned his meager living via working as a part-time motel employee. Although it looks like there is a chance to boost his filmmaking career, that chance seems to be out of his reach no matter how much he tries, and he is not even willing to be with his wife and her family just because of his wounded pride.

Meanwhile, one of his close friends is about to walk away from his current life to become a Buddhist monk, so Jin-woo later has a little evening drinking party along with his friend before his friend heads to some rural Buddhist temple in the next morning. Although Seong-min (Yang Heung-joo) does not say much about his religious motive, but he really seems to be serious about devoting the rest of his life to Buddhism, and we come to gather that he has been frustrated a lot with how his life has been going nowhere.

Anyway, Seong-min is ready to enter that Buddhist temple in question when he arrives there along with Jin-woo in the next morning, but then there comes an unforeseen problem. It belatedly turns out that Seong-min is actually a bit too old to be accepted into the temple, and Seong-min and Jin-woo have no choice but to go to some other Buddhist temple where Seong-min can be accepted.

Of course, things keep going wrong for both Seong-min and Jin-woo, and the movie accordingly goes from one humorous moment to another as they keep finding themselves on the road with no definite end in sight. Despite quite befuddled about his ongoing procedure problem, Seong-min still wants to become a Buddhist monk nonetheless, and Jin-woo has to accompany his friend because he cannot just walk away from his friend. Besides, he has nothing else to do except going back to that motel job, which is the last thing he wants to do right now.

As the movie follows their journey, we see more of how pathetic Seong-min and Jin-woo are. Seong-min is running away from all those personal issues of his life because he does not know what to do with them, and Jin-woo is hopelessly stuck in his current state of life while not seeing any hope or possibility from that at all. His situation becomes more miserable when he is later notified that he lost that possible big chance for his filmmaking career, and he only comes to show more pettiness just because of that.

It would take some efforts for us to observe and care about these two miserable losers’ aimless journey, but the movie thankfully places several colorful figures here and there around their journey. At one point early in the story, Seong-min and Ji-woo receive some unexpected hospitality from a small local restaurant owner, and the mood becomes a bit more cheerful than before as they casually drink and talk together like the characters of Hong Sang-soo films. In case of the part unfolded at a little beach house belonging to an artist friend of Seong-min and Jin-woo, that artist friend and her several colleagues lighten up Seong-min and Jin-woo a little via their artistic activities, and Seong-min and Jin-woo accordingly become more relaxed than before.

However, the screenplay by Park Jin-soo often stumbles in building up its two main characters along the story. While we do not get to know much about Jin-woo except his misery and pettiness, Seong-min is mainly defined by his passive appearance, and we still do not get much glimpse into his life or personality even when his wife and daughter appear later in the story. Your interest may be increased a little when Seong-min reveals something about his daughter’s sexual identity, but Seong-min’s daughter remains rather underdeveloped just like many other supporting characters in the film, and the same thing can be said about a certain figure from Seong-min’s past.

While Na Hyun-joon is relatively showier in comparison, Yang Heung-joo steadily holds the ground as dutifully complementing his co-star, and we can easily sense a long history between their characters via their smooth interactions throughout the film. In case of the supporting performers who come and then go around Na and Yang, they are fairly believable as plain ordinary characters you may come across in real life, but the movie could add more depth and personality to their supporting characters in my inconsequential opinion, and that is the main reason why I think they are rather under-utilized on the whole.

In conclusion, “I Leave Home” is not satisfying enough to recommend, but director Kim Sung-hwan, who started his filmmaking careers with two documentary films before making a feature film debut here, shows here at least that he is a filmmaker with considerable talent and potential. Yes, this is a rather imperfect journey, but the movie is not entirely without good moments to enjoy at least. To be frank with you, I sincerely hope that I will be more entertained and impressed by whatever will come next from Kim.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Talent Show (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Performing for their lost children

Posted on April 9, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean documentary film “The Talent Show” follows the story of several mothers who happen to try a bit on acting as a part of their personal process of dealing with immense loss and heartbreak. While that shocking tragedy involved with their lost children is not mentioned that much throughout the documentary, a sense of loss and devastation among them becomes more palpable as we get to know them more and more along the story, and it is touching to see how they find some strength to go on with their lives while also remembering their lost children as usual.

That tragedy in question happened on the morning of April 16th, 2014. A ferry named MV Sewol was suddenly sunken in the middle of its routine sail from Inchon to Jeju Island, and many of its passengers including 250 students of Danwon High School of Ansan city, who happened to be on a field trip at that time, died as a consequence. This terrible incident came to expose more of how incompetent President Park Geun-hye and her government really was in many aspects, and that eventually led to her imprisonment followed by several years of imprisonment, but, to the anger and frustration of the families of the victims and survivors, we still do not know what exactly happened on that dreadful day.

The documentary focuses on a group of mothers who later came to found a small independent acting troupe for the remembrance for their lost children, and the opening scene shows one stage performance where they play high school student characters not so different from their lost children. Their routine original play is called “The Talent Show”, and the play is mainly about how its high school student characters joyfully and passionately prepare for the talent show to be held in the middle of their field trip period.

The reason why these mothers came to act in this stage performance is simple and poignant. Besides remembering their lost children again, they also want to console their spirits as well as themselves via their stage performance, and they willingly talk to us about their respective thoughts and feelings about that. At first, it was just a casual way of theirs for reconnecting with the world after barely recovering from that devastating incident, but they came to see some value and meaning from their amateurish acting, and many of them became more passionate about acting under the thoughtful guidance of their director, who was the only professional in the group during its first several years.

Of course, these mothers have each own story about that terrible day. They all remember when they were initially relieved to hear that everyone on that ship was rescued – and how much they were devastated to learn that many of its passengers were actually not rescued at all. At one point, one of the mothers recollects her last phone call with her dear daughter, and you can feel how painful that memory is to her, even though she remains rather phlegmatic in her recollection.

As the mothers banded together for their performance, the troupe came to draw more attention from the public and the media, and the mothers soon found themselves performing here and there in South Korea. Although their acting may look clumsy at times, that weak aspect is compensated a lot by their sincerity and passion, and they certainly appreciate many positive reactions from their audiences.

Nevertheless, the troupe members sometime clashed with each other over a number of small matters, and the documentary does not hide this at all while showing more of the complex human relationships among them. At one point, a certain troupe member comes to draw more attention, and she even receives an offer to act in some other troupe, but that unintentionally draws envy and jealousy from some of her colleagues. Not so surprisingly, some of the original members eventually leave the troupe later, and that causes some bitterness among the remaining members.

However, the most challenging moment for the troupe is when they are asked to perform at Danwon High school. Because their performance is supposed to be held on April 16th, many of the troupe members show understandable concern as wondering whether they are really ready for doing this performance, and it is quite clear to us that they are still reeling from their devastating personal loss. Many of them frequently go to psychiatry clinics, and the documentary lets us observe one of them seriously consulting with her psychiatrist about her current mental condition.

Director Lee So-hyun wisely and thoughtfully focuses more on the vivid humanity of the troupe members, and that prevents her documentary from becoming a superficial presentation of sadness and devastation. When their time to perform at Danwon High school comes at last, the troupe members certainly try their best even when they cannot help but emotionally overwhelmed by being in their lost children’s school again, and their sincere performance is wholeheartedly welcomed and embraced by many young students in the school.

In conclusion, “The Talent Show” gives us a modest but poignant human portrayal from the aftermath of the Sinking of MV Sewol. To be frank with you, I wish it showed more about its unforgettable human subjects, but the documentary did its job as well as intended, and it will surely remind you of why we should remember this horrible incident with more care and compassion.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Rebound (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Rebounding from the bottom

Posted on April 9, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean film “Rebound” follows its conventional genre playbook fairly well while making some unexpected moves at times. As your average underdog sports drama incidentally inspired by a dramatic real-life story, it will not surprise you that much if you are a seasoned moviegoer who has already watched numerous similar basketball movies ranging from “Hoosiers” (1986) to “Coach Carter” (2004), but it gradually engages us at least as ably handing its genre clichés and conventions on the whole.

At the beginning, the movie, which is set in the early 2010s (How that period feels quite distant to us now because of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, even though it is just around 10 years ago!) quickly establishes the rather dismal status of the basketball team of Jungang High School in Busan. There was a time when this basketball team was quite prominent, but it is now on the verge of becoming defunct at any point, and, to make matters worse, nobody is particularly willing to join the team at present.

In the end, the school manages to hire a new coach for the team, but the prospect is still not very bright to say the least. As an alumnus of the school who once had a promising basketball career in the past, Coach Kang Yang-hyeon (Ahn Jae-hong) is determined to try his best, but he soon finds himself daunted a lot by the poor conditions of his team. Besides its shabby training environment, the team has only four players, and two of them quickly leave right from his very first day with the team.

Nevertheless, Coach Kang does not easily give up mainly because there is not any other option for his life and career, and he soon embarks on recruiting several more players for his team. In case of Ki-beom (Lee Shin-young), this lad is understandably reluctant at first, but he eventually decides to join the team once Coach Kang manages to recruit a certain star player into his team, though he is not so pleased to see that one of the new team members is someone he has resented for some personal reason.

Anyway, Coach Kang keeps trying to get things under control, but then he comes to make a number of errors and mistakes instead. For example, he tries too hard to show his will and determination, and he stubbornly sticks to his game strategy even when one of his players points out its main weakness. When that game strategy of his is irrevocably ruined by one unexpected change during their first game, he comes to go a bit too far in the middle of the game, and that consequently leads to a big moment of shame and disgrace for him.

Around that narrative point, you can clearly see where the story and characters are going. Yes, Coach Kang comes to have lots of regret and reflection, so he desperately reaches for the second chance even though it looks like there is not much chance for him. Yes, he manages to persuade not only his team but also the school, and there is a little funny scene where he persistently pleads to the principal of the school until the principal eventually relents at him. Yes, we surely get your typical training sequence as Coach Kang and his players stick together again, and it is not much of a spoiler to tell you that Ki-beom and his rival come to resolve their personal issue as they train along with the other team members.

During it second half, the movie naturally gives us a series of competent basketball game sequences as Coach Kang and his team participate in the National Championship. Even though you do not know much about basketball (Full disclosure: I am one of such persons), you can follow what is happening here and there in the field while the movie occasionally provides some explanation for us, and you will enjoy how the movie builds up its narrative momentum as deftly moving from one expected moment to another. Sure, we eventually get a big dramatic speech from Coach Kang in the middle of the finale, but then the movie arrives at the ending in a succinctly effective way, and the following epilogue part has considerable emotional resonance as a result.

As the main center of the movie, Ahn Jae-hong, who has steadily advanced since his likable breakthrough turn in “The King of Jokgu” (2013), did a commendable job of balancing his character well between comedy and drama, and his solid lead performance is supported by several younger performers who hold each own place well around Ahn besides looking convincing in the basketball game sequences in the film. While Lee Shin-young and Jeong Jin-woon are the most prominent ones in the bunch, Jung Gun-joo, Ahn Ji-ho, Kim Taek, and Kim Min are also fine as the other team members, and Kim Min is particularly good when his supporting character must be much more confident about himself despite his lack of field experience.

Directed by Jang Hang-jun (He previously directed several feature films including “Forgotten” (2017) besides also working as a screenplay writer/editor, by the way), “Rebound” does not bring anything particularly new to its genre territory, but it plays clichés and conventions well within its genre territory at least. I must point out that it is less impressive than Japanese animation film “The First Slam Dunk” (2022) or recent American basketball drama “Air” (2022), but it is still entertaining enough to overcome its rather predictable story and characters, and I will not grumble for now.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2022) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): John Wick Vs. the World (Continued)

Posted on April 8, 2023 by kaist455

“John Wick: Chapter 4” aims for being bigger, faster, and louder with more style, vision, and excitement than its predecessors, and I appreciate and enjoy that a lot. Sure, the movie is mostly all about style and entertainment without much depth in terms of story and characters, but there are a series of tense, stupefying, and exhilarating action sequences to remember, and you will definitely admire how its franchise has steadily and creatively advanced during last several years since the rather modest first film came out in early 2015.

First, let me summarize what happened during the first three movies. In “John Wick” (2014), our titular hero played by Keanu Reeves was a retired professional hitman and assassin, but, not long after losing his dear wife, he came to be back in action for his personal revenge for a dog left by his dead wife. As a result, he was drawn back into the secret underworld society filled with various criminal figures in “John Wick: Chapter 2” (2017), and then he came to break a certain cardinal rule of his old criminal world. As a consequence, he came to fight against a lot of guys sent by a very, very, very powerful organization named the High Table in “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” (2019), and then, at the last minute, he was betrayed by Winston Scott (Ian McShane), who was supposed to be one of his few main allies.

Anyway, as shown at the end of the third film, Wick managed to survive, and he prepares to continue his brutal lonely fight against the High Table under the protection of the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne), a local underground crime boss who is also quite angry about the High Table just like Wick. Once he gets sort of fully charged, Wick quickly goes all the way to a certain figure ruling over the High Table, and the movie gives us a little nice nod to that famous jump cut moment in David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia (1962).

Donnie Yen as Caine in John Wick: Chapter 4. Photo Credit: Murray Close

However, those folks of the High Table still do not quit at all mainly because of those old but firm rules and principles to which everyone including them and Wick stick without any question. In their viewpoint, Wick must be eliminated as soon as possible for maintaining their own law and order, so there comes Marquis Vincent de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård), a prominent member of the High Table who takes the full control for killing Wick by any means necessary. Besides raising the amount of the bounty on Wick, the Marquis also hires a blind but lethal assassin named Caine (Donnie Yen), and Caine cannot say no to the Marquis for good reasons, even though he was one of Wick’s old friends in the past.

As Caine and those numerous goons sent by the High Table go after Wick along the story, we surely get plenty of actions unfolded on the screen as expected, and director/co-producer Chad Stahelski and his crew members including cinematographer Dan Lausten, who was recently Oscar-nominated for Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” (2017) and “Nightmare Alley” (2021), pull all the stops for maximum cinematic effect. For example, one main action sequence set in Tokyo is as stylish and energetic as that famous action sequence in Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill – Volume 1” (2003), and that is just the appetizer for what will follow next along the story. I like the surreal qualities of the busy action sequence unfolded inside a big nightclub in Berlin, and I assure you that the expected climactic part set in Paris will not disappoint you at all with a wonderful homage to Walter Hill’s “Warriors” (1979).

I must also point out that you may cringe and wince a lot during some of the most violent moments in the film. However, these brutal moments are deftly executed with a considerable amount of style and technique at least, and there is also some dry sense of absurd humor around the movie. After all, the members of the High Table are committing one of the most idiotic wastes of human resource in the action movie history just because they want to eliminate only one man, aren’t they?

Keanu Reeves as John Wick in John Wick 4. Photo Credit: Murray Close

Amid all the sound and the fury in the film, Reeves diligently carries the film as he did before in the previous three films. He may have limits as an actor, but his understated acting style constantly anchors the film from the beginning to the end, and his overall efforts in the John Wick series surely demonstrate how he has become more interesting during last two decades since the Wachowskis’ “Matrix” (1999).

Around Reeves, the movie has a number of colorful cast members to complement Reeves’ stoic presence. While Donnie Yen and Bill Skarsgård certainly have a lot of juicy moments as Wick’s two main opponents, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rina Sawayama, Shamier Anderson, Scott Adkins, Clancy Brown, and Ian McShane have each own fun with their respective supporting parts, and the special mention goes to Lance Reddick, a dependable character actor who sadly died a few weeks ago but gets his own small moment to shine early in this film at least.

On the whole, “John Wick – Chapter 4” is the best entry in its franchise thanks to its skillful handling of mood and action. Despite its long running time, which is no less than 169 minutes, the movie seldom lags while never boring us at all, and I wanted to applaud its striking style and grand ambition even though I was often overwhelmed and exhausted by its relentless intensity throughout my viewing. In short, this is one of the most exciting action films of this year, and you should really check it out especially if you enjoyed the first three films.

Laurence Fishburne as Bowery King, Keanu Reeves as John Wick, and Ian McShane as Winston in John Wick 4. Photo Credit: Murray Close
Posted in Movies | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Air (2023) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Betting all on Michael Jordan

Posted on April 6, 2023 by kaist455

Ben Affleck’s new film “Air” jumps high from one spot to another for our amusement and entertainment, and I am happy to report to you here that it succeeds magnificently. Inspired by a real-life story about how one notable sportswear company came to have its biggest breakthrough moment via a certain promising rookie basketball player, the movie has lots of fun with how its main characters work together for their common goal step by step, and the result is one of more entertaining movies of this year.

Mainly set in 1984, the movie quickly establishes the rather dismal status of Nike during that time. Having been struggling behind two other major sportswear companies, Adidas and Converse, for years, the company surely needs something big enough to boost its status, and that is why Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon), a basketball talent scout hired by Nike, is looking for any promising rookie player to sign up for the company. From the beginning, the basketball division of the company is not so big besides not having much budget, but Vaccaro believes that he will eventually find the right one for the company, and then he begins to notice the possible right one on one day.

That rookie player in question is named, surprise, Michael Jordan, and Vaccaro instinctively senses the considerable potential of greatness as watching how Jordan led his college team to an unexpected win at the last moment. All he will have to do next is persuading Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman), the head of the marketing division in Nike, and their CEO Phil Knight (Ben Affleck), but both Strasser and Knight are understandably reluctant for good reasons. While they cannot give Vaccaro a lot for luring Jordan, they are also against recruiting only Jordan instead of three rookie players as planned.

Besides, Jordan has already been approached by both Converse and Adidas, both of which have each own nice offer for him. Knowing well how much Nike is disadvantaged compared to its two main competitors, Vaccaro must find a way to approach and then convince Jordan, and he gets an idea from Howard White (Chris Tucker), a close colleague of his who was also once a promising basketball rookie player before getting seriously injured. White told him that the best way for approaching to African American athletes is talking with their mothers, so Vaccaro decides to break the rules a bit. Instead of talking to Jordan’s aggressive agent David Falk (Chris Messina), he goes straight to Jordan’s family home in North Carolina, and then he comes to have a little private talk with Jordan’s mother Deloris (Viola Davis), who turns out to be a lot shrewder than Vaccaro expected. Like him, she also believes a lot in her son’s potential for greatness, but she may consider accepting the offer from Nike only if Nike looks like a more ideal business partner for her son than Converse or Adidas.

It is not much of a spoiler to tell you that Vaccaro eventually gets the full support from not only Strasser and Knight but also a nerdy shoe designer named Peter Moore (Matthew Maher, a veteran character actor who should need to be known more considering how he steals every moment of his scenes), but the movie keeps us engaged and excited as these professional figures try to do their best for persuading Jordan and his parents to sign up for them. Because their budget is still limited even though they bet all on Jordan, so they are really going to need a new basketball shoe model to impress Jordan and his parents, and that eventually leads to the creation of that famous basketball shoe which has always been associated with Jordan.

While the screenplay by Alex Convery often delights us with a number of sharply written scenes shining with wit and humor, Affleck and his crew members including cinematographer Robert Richardson and editor William Goldenberg did a fantastic job of filling the screen with enough narrative momentum as well as an ample amount of vivid period atmosphere. Right from the opening scene consisting of various archival footage clips from the 1980s, the movie is brimming with boisterous mood, and that is further accentuated by the soundtrack packed with numerous stuffs from the 1980s (I was particularly amused by when Pino Donaggio’s score for Brian De Palma’s “Body Double” (1984) is briefly used later in the film).

Above all, the movie is supported by its fabulous ensemble led by Matt Damon, who gives one of his best performances here in this film. Ably balancing his performance well between comedy and drama, Damon’s seemingly earnest performance becomes more compelling along the story, and Affleck, who has been Damon’s best friend since they grew up together in Boston, Massachusetts, gives Damon a big moment to shine when Vaccaro gives an impromptu personal speech in the middle of a certain key scene, which is powerfully intercut with the archival footage clips of real Jordan.

By the way, Jordan is not shown much on the screen as the movie is more about the figures pushing and pulling each other over Jordan, and Affleck assembles a bunch of colorful performers around Damon. While Affleck himself gives a wonderful deadpan performance as the CEO of Nike, Jason Bateman and Chris Messina provide some of the funniest moments in the film in each own way, and Messina is quite uproarious in his hilariously angry phone conversation scene with Damon. Viola Davis, a great American actress who recently joined the prestigious list of EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) winners, brings a considerable amount of gravitas to the story, and Chris Tucker and Marlon Wayans are as funny as expected in their small but substantial roles.

In conclusion, “Air” is quite enjoyable thanks to Affleck’s skillful direction and his terrific cast members, and Affleck demonstrates here that he is still a competent filmmaker who gave us “Gone Baby Gone” (2007), “The Town” (2010), and “Argo” (2012), which incidentally garnered him the Best Picture Oscar. To be frank with you, I am not interested much in basketball or shoes while also vaguely knowing about Jordan’s legendary professional basketball career, but the movie impressed and entertained me a lot, and that is certainly an achievement in my inconsequential opinion.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | 1 Comment