Carter (2022) ☆☆(2/4): An intensely hollow action flick

Posted on August 14, 2022 by kaist455

South Korean Netflix film “Carter”, which was released early in this month, is an intensely hollow action flick which did not impress me much for many bad reasons. Its frantic and relentless presentation of stylish action sequences may grab your attention for a while, but these action sequences ultimately feel quite empty and superficial without any solid story element to support them, and you may find yourself wishing to see instead a documentary about how they were actually prepared and then shot.

The story promise of the movie is quite familiar to the core. When its hero, played Joo Won, wakes up, he cannot remember who he really is or how the hell he ended up being in a shabby motel room, and he is all the more flabbergasted when he is promptly ambushed by a bunch of CIA agents demanding the information involved with a certain prominent North Korean doctor. As shown from the prologue scene, this North Korean doctor seems to succeed in developing the cure for a certain dangerous virus threatening not only North Korea but also South Korea, and it looks like CIA is trying to snatch the cure as well as the doctor for some murky reason.

Anyway, though he is baffled and confused, our hero soon comes to show that he is as lethal as Jason Bourne, and we accordingly get the first of many action sequences in the film which all are incidentally presented in one long and continuous shot. As our hero fiercely fight against many opponents of his, the camera smoothly and frantically moves around him and others for capturing every physical movement of theirs, and it steadily follows our hero even when he jumps from a window and then crashes into a building right next to the motel, which also functions as the space for another action sequence to be unfolded.

While I watched the movie along with my younger brother and his fiancée in last evening, my younger brother said that it was pretty much like watching a video game being played by someone else, and I could not possibly agree more with him. Our hero is more or less than a video game figure, and the movie simply moves from one stage to another along with him as he kills and maims a heap of figures ready to defeat him by any necessary. As a matter of fact, he is also constantly instructed and assisted by a female figure who communicates with him via a device planted inside his head, and that surely accentuated what I and my two fellow audiences felt from the movie.

As our hero bounces from one spot to another, his mysterious helper gives him bits of information about his identity, though we cannot entirely be sure about whether they are true or not. According to her, he is an ex-CIA agent who defected to North Korea several years ago, and it seems that he volunteered to do a certain mission involved with both North and South Korea, though he had to erase all of his memories for some unknown purpose.

That mission in question is rescuing the daughter of that North Korean doctor, who happens to hold the key to the cure developed by her father. When our hero goes inside a place where she is being held by CIA agents, she is not so sure about whether she should trust this sudden rescuer of hers, but she has no choice but to trust him because, well, she really wants to go back to her dear father.

All our hero has to do is taking back this girl back to a secret facility in North Korea where her father is waiting, but, not so surprisingly, things continue to get more complicated than before. After surviving another intense action sequence, our hero manages to bring the girl to the people ready to fly her back to North Korea, but, of course, it soon turns out that there is another conspiracy, and we are accordingly served with more actions. At one point, our hero desperately clings onto a flying airplane, and that will probably take you back to the similar scene in “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” (2015).

Around the narrative point where our hero gets to know more about what is really going around him, we are supposed to care more about him and a few other characters around him, but the screenplay by director Jung Byung-gil and his co-writer/co-producer Jung Byeong-sik often stumbles in case of storytelling and characterization. Because the plot is quite convoluted with many twists, we are often confused a lot while not caring that much about whatever may happen next, and the main characters are so bland and superficial that they are even overshadowed by zombie-like figures appearing later in the film.

As a result, the main cast members of the film are mostly under-utilized or thoroughly wasted on the whole. While he is an adequate action movie hero, Joo Won does not demonstrate much beyond his physical commitment during those action sequences in the film, and several substantial supporting performers including Lee Sung-jae and Jeong So-ri merely fill their respective spots without many things to do besides that.

In conclusion, “Carter” is another disappointment from Jung, who previously gave us “The Villainess”. Like that film, “Carter” can be admired for its considerable technical efforts, but its weak story and characters are too distracting to ignore, and I observe its action sequences without much fun and excitement. Considering its very last moment, we will probably get a sequel which will reveal more about its hero, but, to be frank with you, I do not give a damn about that at least for now.

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Hunt (2022) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A tense but convoluted spy hunt movie  

Posted on August 11, 2022 by kaist455

South Korean film “Hunt” tries really hard, but I observed it from the distance even while admiring a number of good moments in the movie. It wants to be not only a serious spy drama movie but also an intense action thriller flick, and it succeeds to some degree, but it was often hard and difficult for me to care about what was happening on the screen, mainly because of its frequently convoluted narrative as well as its rather broad and superficial characterization.

I am also wondering whether I was too distracted by how fictional the story is in many aspects while clearly inspired by several real-life incidents during the 1980s. Born in 1983, I was too young to remember anything during that period, but I know enough about these real-life incidents thanks to many anti-communist kid magazines I eagerly devoured during the early 1990s, so my mind constantly kept drawing the line between history and fiction instead of really enjoying the film itself.

The story mainly revolves around two high-ranking members of KCIA: Park Pyong-ho (Lee Jung-jae) and Kim Jung-do (Jung Woo-sung). Although they are supposed to work together for the safety of their country and its current president as two of the most prominent figures in KCIA, it turns out that there is some bad history between them, and Park is not so pleased when Kim later attempts to be a bit more friendly to him via their little private meeting.

Anyway, things have been quite problematic in KCIA after what unexpectedly occureed during the president’s visit to Washington D.C. It seems that North Korea is trying to assassinate the president before attacking South Korea again, and there comes another surprise for KCIA when a certain important North Korean figure approaches to KCIA for his defection. According to this figure, there is a mole at the center of KCIA, and his information soon turns out to be quite accurate as the latest covert operation of KCIA in North Korea is disastrously failed.

Naturally, both Park and Kim are ordered to flush out this mole by any means necessary, and that leads to the growing uneasiness inside KCIA. At one point, those low-ranking KCIA officials in charge of documents and records become very nervous about how to balance themselves between Park and Kim, because even a small wrong decision may lead to dire consequences for them. Everyone knows too well how brutal and merciless KCIA can be to anyone deemed as the enemy of the state, and we surely get glimpses into many atrocities committed inside the torture chambers of KCIA during that period.

As delving more into their common matter, Park and Kim come to conflict with each other more than before as regarding each other with more doubt and suspicion. Park is clearly having some objection to how his organization works for serving the president who killed and maimed lots of people for usurping the country, and he has also been involved with a young female college student whom he has often helped for some personal reason. In case of Kim, he seems to be associated with several suspicious figures, and he is certainly not so pleased when he learns that his rival is digging into that.

Meanwhile, the situation becomes more complicated as the president is ready to go abroad again for a series of diplomatic meetings. The president’s schedule must be prepared and then secured without any trouble, but then the mole inside KCIA becomes active again, and Park and Kim become all the more desperate as relentlessly going after each other.

I will not go more into details for not spoiling your entertainment, but I can tell you instead that the screenplay by first-time director Lee Jung-jae and his co-writer Jo Seung-hee keeps things rolling as adding one plot turn after another, and the movie also serves us several skillful action sequences which are often tense and visceral thanks to Lee’s first-rate crew members including cinematographer Lee Mo-gae and editor Kim Sang-bum. When the movie eventually arrives at the expected climactic part which is loosely based on a certain shocking real-life incident in 1983, Lee and his crew members go all the way for throwing more thrill and excitement, and Lee, who has been much more prominent thanks to his Emmy-nominated performance in South Korean Netflix TV series “Squid Game”, shows here that he is a good action director who really knows how to present action scenes well on the screen.

However, as so busy with its numerous narrative turns, the movie fails to bring enough depth and personality to its characters, who are more or less than mere cogs in its efficient but ultimately colorless plot mechanism. Although Lee and his co-star Jung Woo-sung, who is also soon going to release his first directorial work, are surely good actors, they just look stoically tense and elusive throughout the film, and many of other main cast members simply come and go as required by their respective thankless roles, though Go Yoon-jung and Jeon Hye-jin manage to distinguish themselves as two of a few substantial female characters in the story.

Overall, “Hunt” does not impress me enough for recommendation, but I do appreciate its considerable technical efforts, and I think you may enjoy it more than I did at last night. Anyway, we can all agree that Lee is a promising filmmaker, and it will be interesting to see what he will give us next after this fairly competent debut work.

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DC League of Super-Pets (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): Superman’s best friend – and his animal friends

Posted on August 11, 2022 by kaist455

Animation feature film “DC League of Super-Pets” is a delightful product which brings some lightweight spirit to its local genre territory. Unlike many of recent products from the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), the film simply tries to have lots of fun and excitement with its numerous superhero characters from the DC Comics, and, above all, it will surely amuse and appeal to any caring pet owner a lot for good reasons.

In the beginning, the film quickly establishes its amusing story promise, which puts a little variation on the origin story of Superman/Clark Kent (voiced by John Krasinski). As many of you know, Superman was sent to the Earth when he was just a little baby, but he happened to be accompanied with his little pet dog at the last minute, and this pet dog, named Krypto (voiced by Dwayne Johnson), eventually becomes Superman’s trusted sidekick because he has superpowers just like Superman.

As they often work together for catching bad guys or saving the citizens of Metropolis, Krypto has been quite emotionally attached to Superman, and Superman does care about his canine sidekick, but then there comes a little issue into their private life. After having been quite close to a plucky TV news reporter named Lois Lane (voiced by Olivia Wilde) for years, Superman decides to go further in their developing romantic relationship, and Krypto is not so pleased about that – especially when Superman attempts to bring Krypto to a local animal shelter where Krypto may have some social experience via several pet animals living there.

While Krypto becomes more troubled about the future of his relationship with Superman, something unexpected happens. When Superman’s longtime arch-nemesis Lex Luthor (voiced by Marc Maron) attempts to capture a certain asteroid which may benefit him at lot, Superman and a bunch of other DC Comics superhero characters instantly come upon the scene and then stops Luthor in the end, but there is one little problem. A tiny piece of that asteroid happens to be acquired by a certain power-mad pet animal in that animal shelter, who has been quite determined to impress and then be recognized by Luthor because of their old relationship in the past. Once getting considerable superpower via that asteroid piece, this animal character soon goes all the way for capturing not only Superman but also all the superhero colleagues of his, and, despite their mighty efforts, Superman and his superhero colleagues are subsequently captured and then trapped somewhere in the city.

Krypto certainly tries to rescue them all, but, alas, his superpowers happen to be neutralized as planned by that animal villain character in advance. Fortunately, he comes across several animal pet characters who happen to acquire each own superpower via that asteroid piece, and he manages to persuade them to help his search and rescue operation, though it soon turns out that these animals need some coaching as struggling to control and adjust themselves to their respective superpowers.

While Krypto and his animal colleagues clumsily bounce from one narrative point from another, the film throws lots of silly gags and self-referential jokes to draw some chuckles from us. Although your degree of amusement may depend on how much you are familiar with those DC Comics superhero characters, the film diligently amuses us at least, and I particularly like the scene involved with a cute little kitten which turns out to be much more dangerous than expected.

In the end, everything in the story culminates to the climactic action sequence which surely serves us lots of bangs and crashes just like any other recent superhero movies, but this climactic part is still driven by its main characters and their personalities at least, and it reminds me again of why animation is relatively more suitable for superhero stories than live action movies. Besides having much more freedom in terms of style and movement, animation usually has inherent lightweight qualities, and that is the main reason why lots of mass destruction during the climactic part of the film is far less bothersome compared to those bombastically destructive action sequences of live action superhero movies.

The voice cast members of the film bring a substantial amount of humor and cheerfulness. While Dwayne Johnson deftly goes back and forth between humor and drama, Kevin Hart, Vanessa Bayer, Natasha Lyonne, and Diego Luna are well-cast in their supporting roles, and Kate McKinnon is terrific as gleefully demonstrating that superhero movies can only be as good as their villains. In case of several prominent cast members in the film including John Krasinski, Jameela Jamil, Marc Maron, Jemaine Clement, Daveed Diggs, and Thomas Middleditch, they have each own small fun at the fringe of the story, and Keanu Reeves is particularly hilarious in his deadpan voice performance.

Although it does not exceed its genre conventions, “DC League of Super-Pets” succeeds as much as intended, and I was entertained enough even though I was well aware of what I was going to get from it. I must point out that it is rather modest compared to “The Incredibles” (2004) and “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (2018), but it is better than “Justice League” (2017) and several other ponderous DCEU products at least, and I am willing to watch whatever will come next in the future.

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Prey (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): Her big game

Posted on August 7, 2022 by kaist455

“Prey”, the fifth installment of the Predator franchise which was released on Disney+ two days ago, is a wonderful surprise for this summer. This is another variation of the story formula established in “Predator” (1987), but it has enough style and personality to distinguish itself well on the whole, and it is really a shame that this solidly entertaining flick somehow went straight to streaming service instead of released in theaters.

In contrast to its predecessors which are set in a contemporary or near-future background, the movie is set in the Great Northern Plain of North America in 1719, and its opening part quickly introduces and then establishes its young Native American heroine. She is Naru (Amber Midthunder), and this plucky Comanche lass has aspired to be recognized as a hunter just like her older brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers) and other male tribe members, but, to her frustration, she is usually expected to do what most of female tribal members are expected. She does try a lot, but she still has lots of things to learn and experience for attaining her goal, and even her brother has some reservation on whether she can actually succeed.

Anyway, Naru follows after her brother and several other young tribal members when they go into a nearby forest for tracking down a mountain lion which took away one of their tribe members. She is naturally not welcomed much, but Tabbe allows her to join the group mainly because she can be useful as a tracker in addition to being able to provide some medical help.

It seems that they will soon accomplish their task, but Naru comes to notice something strange at one point. What she discovers suggests that there is something more dangerous lurking somewhere in the forest area, and she suspects that this is connected with a certain strange happening in the sky she previously witnessed. Not so surprisingly, her brother and his male colleagues do not pay much attention to her discovery or what she says, because they are mostly occupied with tracking down that mountain lion and then rescuing that poor dude.

Of course, Naru’s instinctive inference turns out to be right, and we are soon served with what we expect from the very beginning. A member of that infamous alien tribe already came into the area for its hunting time, and, as frequently covering itself with that familiar invisible shield, it commits gruesome savagery on any animal which looks threatening enough to be hunted and then killed, At one point, it surreptitiously watches upon a wolf which happens to be preying upon a little cute rabbit, and then it swiftly strikes upon that wolf with no mercy while probably enjoying the nasty pleasure for showing who is the boss.

Meanwhile, Taabe and his colleagues eventually accomplish their task, but Naru is still fixated on her odd discovery, so she decides to take care of the matter for herself. Without telling anyone, she leaves along with her dog for tracking down for whatever is lurking out there, and she soon comes to face a number of challenges in the wilderness which surely test how brave and resourceful she can really be.

It is not much of a spoiler to tell you that our heroine eventually comes to behold that vicious alien hunter, but the screenplay by Patrick Aison has a few nice surprises for us while steadily accumulating tension and suspense along the narrative. At one point, the situation unexpectedly becomes more complicated as Naru happens to be stuck between the alien hunter and a bunch of unpleasant figures introduced later in the story, and we surely get some morbidly ironic fun from that.

Nevertheless, the movie still focuses on how its heroine comes to show more shrewdness and toughness along the story. She does not seem to have much chance in defeating the alien hunter in many aspects, but she comes to discern several things which she can use for her advantage, and she is certainly willing to take a chance for proving herself in addition to surviving her perilous circumstance in the end.

During its last act, the movie goes for a full-action mode as expected, and director Dan Trachtenberg, who previously drew our attention for his solid debut feature film “10 Cloverfield Lane” (2016), skillfully handles the following action scenes. These action scenes are packed with considerable visceral thrill and excitement, and the movie does not disappoint us at all when it finally arrives at the rousing climax where our heroine goes all the way for defeating her mighty opponent.

As the center of the film, Amber Midthunder gives a strong lead performance, and she is also supported well by her fellow Native American cast members including Dakota Beavers and Michelle Thrush, who provides some wordless gentleness as Naru’s concerned mother. For bringing extra authenticity to the film, Trachtenberg also prepared the Comanche version in addition to the English version, and it will be interesting to see how this version, which is also available on Disney+, feels different compared to the English version.

In conclusion, “Prey” provides us more than gory and violent entertainment, and I enjoyed its efficient handling of mood, story, and characters. I must confess that I only watched “Predator”, but that did not prevent me from being entertained by a number of effective moments in “Prey”, and that surely says a lot about its considerable accomplishment.

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Thirteen Lives (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): A redundant but solid docudrama from Ron Howard

Posted on August 7, 2022 by kaist455

Ron Howard’s new film “Thirteen Lives”, which is now available on Amazon Prime, attempts to give us a close look into the events of the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue, and it succeeds to some degree despite its several inherent weak aspects. Although most of us know well the eventual outcome of that dramatic rescue operation, the movie did a fairly good job of presenting its real-life story with some attention and care besides generating enough tension and suspense for us, and that compensates for its rather redundant existence in my inconsequential opinion.

At the beginning, the movie shows us what happened on June 23rd, 2018 in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand. After doing some afternoon practice on that day, 12 boys of a local junior association football team and their coach decide to spend some free time in the cave before going to the upcoming birthday party of one of these 12 members, and they are not so worried because the monsoon season has not begun yet, but, alas, it begins to rain earlier than expected not long after they entered the cave together. Several hours later, the parents of the boys are naturally worried as the boys do not return, and then they belatedly discover that the boys and the coach are inside the cave, which is already overflown with lots of rainwater.

Naturally, a rescue team mainly consisting of Royal Thai Navy SEAL soldiers are immediately assembled under the supervision of the local governor, but the situation looks pretty grim from the beginning. They do not know the exact location of the boys and the coach inside the cave, and, as one foreign expert shrewdly points out, the underwater passage of the cave is not so easy to go through due to a number of very challenging aspects besides the rapidly increasing level of water in the cave.

Around that point, the movie introduces us to Richard Stanton (Viggo Mortensen) and John Volanthen (Colin Farrell), two British civilian cave divers who instantly come to the scene after hearing about this urgent circumstance. They are not so welcomed at first, but Stanton and Volanthen soon come to show others on the scene that they are really ready for this very daunting rescue operation as experienced experts, and they eventually come to play a crucial part in locating where the boys and the coach has been in the cave during last several days.

Everyone is certainly relieved and delighted that the boys and their coach are all alive for now, but both Stanton and Volanthen know too well that there will be much more challenges to come in the next step of the rescue operation. Because the oxygen level in the temporal refuge spot of the boys and the coach inside the cave is dangerously low, they must be rescued as soon as possible, but, due to their inexperience as well as the very tricky underwater passage of the cave, they cannot possibly go all the way through the cave even if they are accompanied with professional divers.

In the end, Stanton comes to have one possible idea which can be done but is also quite risky to say the least, and that is where his Australian colleague Richard Harris (Joel Edgerton) comes into the picture. As a professional anesthetist, Harris can concoct a plan for steadily making the boys and the coach sedated and unconscious during several hours for their transportation along the underwater passage of the cave, but he understandably hesitates because so many things can go wrong even if they prepare and try as much as possible.

It goes without saying that the movie often cannot help but focus more on Stanton and his colleagues because they happen to be played by well-known actors like Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, and Joel Edgerton, but the screenplay by William Nicholson occasionally pays some attention to the considerable efforts of a bunch of local people willing to help the rescue operation as much as they can. For stopping the rainwater from flowing into the cave, they quickly build makeshift dams and waterways, and local farmers do not object to this at all although this will inevitably ruin their rice paddies. In case of the governor and other local officials, they understandably worry about the worst while also quite concerned about how much their public image can be damaged, but they give full support to their rescue teams as well as Stanton and his colleagues nonetheless, because everyone is well aware that time is running out for the boys and the coach minute by minute.

During the eventual climactic part, the mood naturally becomes more intense than before, but the movie thankfully shows some restraint, and Howard and his crew members including cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom did a splendid job of conveying to us the claustrophobic suspense surrounding the characters in the film. I must point out that those recreated moments of Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s acclaimed documentary film “The Rescue” (2021) are relatively more vivid and impressive in comparison, but what is presented on the screen is mostly competent on the whole, and the performers look believable as their characters take enormous risks for what should be done right now.

Overall, “Thirteen Lives” is a rather plain docudrama which does not show us anything particularly new or revealing beyond what is so compellingly presented in “The Rescue”, but it is at least better than Howard’s disappointing previous film “Hillbilly Elegy” (2020). I recommend it for that reason only, but I will not urge you to watch it if you already watched “The Rescue”, so I will just let you decide on whether you will give the movie a chance or not.

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Ali & Ava (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): A little romance in the middle of their life

Posted on August 7, 2022 by kaist455

“Ali & Ava” is a little intimate drama about one accidental romantic relationship between two different people. While it is rather predictable in terms of story and characters, the movie gradually engages us as observing how they tentatively approach to each other as two lonely persons, and it is also supported well by the unadorned realistic acting of its two lead performers.

During the first act, the movie looks into its two main characters’ respective daily lives in a town in Yorkshire, England. While Ava (Claire Rushbrook) is an Irish assistant teacher in a local elementary school, Ali (Adeel Akhtar) is a married South Asian Muslim guy who has also been the friendly landlord of a house where one Hungarian immigrant family lives, and he and Ava come across each other on one day when he comes to her workplace for picking up the little daughter of that family, who happens to be under Ava’s charge. He kindly suggests to her that she should get on his car along with that little girl mainly because they all live in the same neighborhood, and she gladly accepts his generous offer.

As they talk with each other for a while in his car, Ali and Ava come to see how much they are different from each other besides their cultural/racial difference. While Ava loves country and folk music, Ali is a passionate fan of techno and trance music as a guy who once worked as a DJ before marrying his wife, and we are not so surprised when the movie later shows his private place full of numerous albums in addition to a recording equipment for composing his rap songs.

Nevertheless, Ava and Ali cannot help but attracted to each other when they come across each other again, and Ali eventually decides to visit Ava’s house for himself later. As spending their little private time together, they willingly share each other’s favorite music genres, and that leads to a small but sweet intimate moment between them, though that is unfortunately interrupted by the sudden appearance of Ava’s volatile son Callum (Shaun Thomas)

While more attracted to each other, Ali and Ava soon come to face each own difficulties in front of them. Although they remain married while living together in the same house, Ali and his wife Runa (Ellora Torchia) have actually been separated from each other, and his wife is already considering leaving him as soon as possible, though they are still hiding their ongoing separation from his family, who has no idea on what is going on between them when they are invited to another family dinner. In case of Ava, she is still haunted by what her second husband, who was not a very nice person according to her, did to her and her eldest daughter from the previous marriage before she eventually decided to leave him along with her children, and she certainly feels hurt whenever she sees how much Callum still misses his father without knowing the awful truth about his father at all.

Nevertheless, both Ava and Ali keep meeting each other as ‘friends’, and it looks like they can step forward a bit toward each other. Ali does not hide at all that he is still technically married, and that makes Ava rather unsure about their developing relationship, but she still likes him anyway, and she does not say no when they eventually move onto the next step of their relationship.

Although it is often conventional, the screenplay by director/writer Clio Barnard pays attentions to the specific details of the lives of its two main characters, and that contributes considerable realism to the story. Through a number of ethnic characters surrounding Ali, we observe how much the world of the British working class has been changed during last several decades, and the same thing can be said about the school class handled by Ava, which is filled with various kids from different racial backgrounds.

Above all, the movie moves us with a number of small poignant personal moments showing its two main characters’ aching loneliness. Still struggling to accept the fact that his wife does not love him as much as before, Ali often lets out his conflicted feelings whenever he is alone in the middle of a misty morning field, and his emotional pain is evident even when the camera observes him from the distance. Although she still does not know that much about Ali, Ava decides to take a chance with him, but her decision causes an unintentional conflict between her and Callum, who cannot accept that well that his mother simply wants to have a boyfriend.

The last act of the movie feels a bit too hurried, but Adeel Akhtar and Claire Rushbrook still hold our attention as before. While Akhtar, who has been more notable as appearing in several recent films including “Four Lions” (2010) and “Enola Holmes” (2020), subtly conveys to us his character’s complicated human feelings without exaggerating them, Rushbrook, who played Brenda Blethyn’s feisty daughter in “Secrets & Lies” (1996), ably generates gentle warmth behind her plain appearance, and they are also supported well by several other main cast members including Ellora Torchia, Shaun Thomas, Natalie Gavin, and Mona Goodwin.

On the whole, “Ali & Ava” is worthwhile to watch thanks to not only Akhtar and Rushbrook’s praiseworthy efforts but also Barnard’s sensitive handling of story and characters, and I am also impressed by how it effectively utilizes several songs for effective dramatic moments. To be frank with you, I am not so interested in folk or techno, but the movie made me appreciate a bit more of a certain famous Bob Dylan song as well as one techno song prominently featured in the film, and I guess that is a sort of achievement.

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Boiling Point (2021) ☆☆☆1/2 (3.5/4): One tense evening at a restaurant

Posted on August 6, 2022 by kaist455

I often braced myself while watching “Boiling Point”, a tense and electrifying drama continuously unfolded in one upmarket restaurant located somewhere in London. Mainly revolving around a very troubled head chef and a bunch of other people working in that posh restaurant, the movie gradually raises the level of emotional tension along its fluid and dexterous narrative, and it surely strikes us hard as not only its flawed hero but also several other characters around him come to reach to each own, yes, boiling point.

At first, we are introduced to Andy Jones (Stephen Graham), and we slowly come to gather some personal details of his as he is hurriedly going to his restaurant. Besides his recent divorce, his life has been quite a mess due to several reasons to be revealed later in the story, but another evening at his restaurant is about to begin right now, and he must ready himself well before the opening hour just like those employees working there.

However, the situation does not look particularly good when he enters the restaurant, which happens to be going through a routine health and safety inspection. The inspector assigned to the restaurant has already noticed a number of significant problems in the kitchen, and he accordingly comes to downgrade its rating from 5 stars to 3 stars with a tactful warning. Andy naturally becomes quite exasperated, but he has to admit that he is partially responsible for this serious professional humiliation as he has been quite distracted by his problems during last two months.

At least, it seems that he and his employees will go through their another evening fairly well. Everyone will surely be quite busy because it happens to be a Friday night before Christmas, and there is also some serious food shortage problem to deal with, but everything may turn out to be okay as long as Jones keeps things under control along with Carly (Vinette Robinson), who has been his second-in-command. As observing their interactions, we come to gather that Carly has been an invaluable coordinator for Andy and others at the restaurant, and we are not so surprised when she demands to him salary raise later in the story. After all, it is apparent to us that she has taken care of many big and small troubles for her boss, and she does not feel like being appreciated by her boss for that at all.

Anyway, the situation becomes a bit more stressful than expected due to several unwelcomed factors. There is a very unpleasant customer who is not so nice to waiters and chefs right from when he orders wines, and he also gives them a big headache as complaining about a lamb dish served to him later. In case of three rude Americans suddenly coming into the restaurant, they promptly demand something not on the menu, and Andy and his employees have to tolerate them because these superficial dudes happen to have a very popular Instagram account.

Above all, Andy is belatedly notified that an old colleague of his, who has been very popular thanks to his successful TV show, is going to have a dinner at the restaurant. When this guy finally comes, he comes along with a certain well-known figure in the local restaurant business field, and that makes Andy and his employees more nervous. If they do not do their best during this evening, their restaurant may suffer something worse than their recently downgraded health and safety rating.

All these and many other things in the story are seamlessly presented on the screen via one impressive continuous take, and director/co-writer/co-executive producer Philip Barantini, who adapted his 2019 short film of the same name along with his co-writer James Cummings, and his crew members including cinematographer Matthew Lewis did a superb job of immersing us into the main characters’ increasingly tense circumstance. While it may look modest compared to more ambitious films such as Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” (2014) or Sam Mendes’ “1917” (2019), the movie distinguishes itself well via its skillful camerawork coupled with effortless verisimilitude, and it is really amazing that Barantini and his cast and crew members did only four takes during their shooting (They actually planned to do eight takes at first, but they later decided to cut down to four takes because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic).

The main cast members are believable in their respective roles, and their good ensemble performance is one of the main reasons why the movie engages us from the beginning to the end. While Stephen Graham, who has been one of the most interesting British actors since he drew my attention for his memorable supporting turn in Shane Meadows’ “This Is England” (2006), deservedly received a BAFTA nomination for his intense performance here in this film early in this year, the other main cast members have each own moment to shine, and Vinette Robinson is wonderful especially during one particular scene where she has to convey us a lot of her character’s emotional conflict.

In conclusion, “Boiling Point” is impressive for not only its commendable technical aspects but also a series of engaging human moments observed from its numerous main characters, and you may come to reflect a bit on how difficult it really is to run a restaurant. Unless what we are going to eat is really terrible or harmful to us, we should show some appreciation to those hard-working people, shouldn’t we?

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How to Please a Woman (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): Cleaning and sex

Posted on August 5, 2022 by kaist455

“How to Please a Woman” is a little Australian comedy film which cheerfully handles female sexual desire and yearning without any pretension. Although it could delve more into its interesting main subjects in my humble opinion, the movie often amuses and delights us via a series of humorous moments to be savored, and it is also supported well by the earnest performance from its engaging lead actress.

Sally Phillips plays Gina, a married middle-aged woman who has not been that happy in her mundane middle-class life. While her and her lawyer husband have lived fairly well together for years, there has not been much romantic feeling between them, and her husband does not seem to be particularly interested in her while often busy with his work. At least, she has worked in a local liquidation agency instead being stuck in her house, but she is usually disregarded by her boss, who does not appreciate her much while constantly demanding her to do one thing after another.

Anyway, Gina usually gets some comfort and cheerfulness from her several friends in a local female swimming club, and one of them gives her a little surprise on her birthday. A young man named Tom (Alexander England) suddenly comes to her house, and it soon turns out that he works as a male stripper, though he is not that good despite his basic professionalism.

Feeling rather embarrassed about this little surprise, Gina simply instructs Tom to do some cleaning instead during their next two hours, and then she gets a little interesting idea. As Tom does some cleaning in his shirtless appearance, she cannot help but feel the sexual need inside her, and she eventually decides to start a little service business which provides not only house cleaning but also sexual pleasure to women like her. Incidentally, she knows a little local moving service company on the verge of being shut down and then liquidated, so she takes over the company without hesitation while re-hiring its several male employees including Tom, who actually also works there for earning some support money for the baby of his ex-girlfriend.

Of course, the first several days of Gina’s little service business are not so easy to say the least, and some of the most hilarious moments in the film come from how she and her employees try to make their first step. While many of Gina’s friends are quite interested, most of them want much more than mere cleaning service, so Gina reluctantly agrees to go along with their desire, but her employees are not prepared enough to say the least. Tom has no problem with providing whatever his clients want, but he still needs some advices on how to provide a satisfying cleaning service. In case of one of his fellow employees, this dude is confident about his, uh, certain body part, but it soon turns out that he really needs some education on how to give his clients a real sexual pleasure.

Although it keeps everything as mild and pleasant as possible without being too explicit and raunchy, the movie freely explores female sexual desire with considerable honesty. In case of one friend/client of Gina, she wants to test the range of her sexuality, and that leads to an amusing scene between her and some other friend of Gina, who willingly fills the spot not eligible for Gina’s male employees.

In the meantime, Gina also becomes more aware of how she has sexually been discontent for years. She actually tries to ignite some romantic spark between her and her husband, but her husband only comes to let down her a lot, and she subsequently finds herself attracted to Steve (Erik Thomson), a middle-aged guy who ran the moving service company before she acquired it. He has no problem with working under her while providing her some extra help, and she surely appreciates that, but they also become more aware of their mutual attraction – especially after their rather silly moment involved with a little certain object given to her.

Of course, the situation becomes a little more serious later in the story, but the screenplay by writer/director Renée Webster does not lose any of its sense of humor, and neither does Phillips’ good performance. While steadily maintaining her character’s unflappable appearance, Phillips ably conveys to us Gina’s gradual sexual liberation along the story, and we certainly root for Gina when she comes to her feelings more than before.

Around Phillips, several supporting performers in the film have each own fun with their respective roles. While Erik Thompson subtly clicks well with Philips during their several key scenes, Hayley McElhinney, Caroline Brazier, and Tasma Walton are entertaining as Gina’s colorful friends, and Alexander England, Ryan Johnson, and Josh Thomson are also funny as their characters try to adjust themselves to their new job.

Although it arrives at its ending in a little too convenient way, “How to Please a Woman” provides breezy fun and pleasure as much as we can expect from its naughty story promise, and it will probably make a nice double feature show with “Good Luck to You, Rio Grande” (2022), another recent comedy film which also honestly and humorously deals with female sexual desire. As many of you know, we still need more female films these days, and this is certainly another good one to watch.

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Emergency Declaration (2021) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A predictable crisis in the air

Posted on August 4, 2022 by kaist455

As your average seasoned moviegoer, I saw lots of disaster flicks, and that is probably the main reason why I was rather unimpressed by South Korean film “Emergency Declaration”. While reminding me of many other movies ranging from “Airport” (1970) to “Airplane!” (1980), the movie flies fairly well during its first half thanks to its taut and efficient setup process, but then it takes a flight course riddled with bland clichés and sappy melodrama during the rest, and I simply observed its eventual landing (Is this a spoiler?) without much care or excitement.

Right from the beginning, the movie introduces us to the villain of the story, who is a creepy and unpleasant young man ready to execute his diabolical plan. At an international airport which is filled with lots of people as usual, this lad is looking for any airplane suitable for his plan, and he eventually chooses one particular airplane after one accidental encounter with a young girl who happens to notice something suspicious about him.

That young girl is accompanied with her single father, and both of them become understandably nervous when they later notice that odd lad gets on the airplane. In addition, the girl’s father, who later turns out to be a former commercial airline pilot, has a serious mental issue with being on airplane due to some incident in the past, and, what do you know, the co-pilot of the airplane turns out to be someone associated with that incident.

In the meantime, the movie also pays attention to what is happening on the ground. We are introduced to a detective who had to give up his summer vacation because of some unexpected big case, and he is certainly not so pleased when he is requested to handle another case involved with someone who announced on the Internet that he will soon commit an act of terror. Although it looks rather insignificant on the surface, the detective decides to delve a bit more into this case, and what do you know, he ends up entering a shabby apartment belonging to that creepy young dude and then discovering very terrible things.

Unfortunately, that creepy young dude has already embarked on executing his atrocious plan. Not long after the airplane takes off from the airport and then flies toward its destination, he secretly spreads a highly virulent pathogen at one certain spot within the airplane, and the situation gets worse and worse as many of the passengers in the airplane get infected one by one within a short period of time.

At least, once his plan is belatedly revealed, many government officials and experts quickly gather together for handling this unprecedented case of bioterror, but there is nothing much they can do except trying to find any cure for that dangerous pathogen and secure a safe landing spot for the airplane as soon as possible. After the whole situation is reported on the media, the airplane is regarded as a flying hot zone unwelcomed by other countries including US, and even South Korean citizens are understandably not so eager to get the airplane back in South Korea.

Up to that narrative point, the movie did a good job of accumulating enough amount of tension and suspense on the screen. Although its main characters are no more than broad stereotypes, the movie skillfully juggles them as their storylines gradually converge together, and the main cast members dutifully fill their respective spots as require. While Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung-hun, and Jeon Do-yeon are more prominent as expected, Kim Ham-gil, Han So-jin, and Park Hae-joon hold each own place well on the whole, and Im Si-wan is particularly effective in his villainous role.

However, the movie begins to stumble more than once during its second part, where it tries too hard for squeezing more emotions from us in addition to doing many predictable things. Yes, we all know that the ex-pilot character in the story will eventually come to the cockpit and then must overcome his longtime anxiety for keeping the airplane in the air. Yes, those passengers in the airplane are naturally thrown into panic and desperation, and we certainly get several moments of conflict among them while also reminded of our current situation outside the film. Yes, there comes a climactic moment as one certain main character tries something quite daring for saving those passengers, and I do not have to tell you anything about the eventual outcome of this desperate act.

And there are several things which are not so necessary in my humble opinion. The frequently shaky camera of cinematographers Lee Mo-Gae and Park Jong-Chul is clearly influenced by Paul Greengrass’ “United 93” (2006) and “The Bourne Ultimatum” (2007), but the result is merely showy, and the same thing can be said about a sudden action sequence in the middle of the film. In case of the climactic part, it is too mellow and overwrought as burdening the movie with more melodrama, and this only makes us more aware of how contrived the finale is in many aspects.

Overall, “Emergency Declaration”, whose theatrical release in South Korea was postponed for more than one year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, is a mostly competent genre piece, but it does not have enough fun or thrill compared to its numerous seniors. To be frank with you, I would rather watch “Airplane!” or “Airport” again, but I will not stop you from spending your precious two hours on the movie.

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Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): Good luck on your viewing

Posted on August 1, 2022 by kaist455

Romanian film “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn”, which won the Golden Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival early in last year, is quite bold and naughty to the core. Right from its deliberately salacious opening scene, the movie will catch you off guard, and that is just the beginning of how it frequently challenges us from the beginning to the end as handling many different subjects besides the main issue of its very unfortunate heroine.

The movie consists of three parts, and the first part gradually establishes the ongoing plight of a young schoolteacher named Emi (Katia Pascariu). As shown during the opening scene, she and her husband shot a sex video just for their private fun, but, alas, their sex video file was somehow leaked on the Internet not long after that, and now she will have to confront the parents of her students during the upcoming evening meeting.

While it does not delve much into how her sex video happened to be exposed on the Internet, the movie does not hide at all the content of that sex video from us. As far as I can see from the film, it looks like the two performers on the screen really went through a series of explicit sexual acts, and I can only admire how willing director/writer Radu Jude and his two performers were to go all the way for pushing boundaries. Yes, the result is basically your average porn clip, and I still wonder whether this is really necessary due to its inherent voyeuristic quality, but it surely shocks and embarrasses us as much as intended while somehow generating some gaudy sense of humor.

Once it grabs our attention via the opening part, the movie becomes far less sensational as leisurely rolling from one tangential moment to another along with its troubled heroine. When she drops by a flower shop, she is approached by some male stranger who seems to be interested in getting closer to her, but we wonder whether he knows her via that leaked sex tape. When she later drops by the residence of her direct boss who is sympathetic to her, the movie pays some attention to what is going on among the family members of her direct boss, and we get a little amusing moment as our heroine listens to one of these family members for a while.

In case of several outdoor scenes, they almost feel like the clips from a documentary film as cinematographer Marius Panduru’s camera calmly looks around streets and people. I have no idea on how much of these moments were actually planned in advance, but their considerable verisimilitude is impressive on the whole, and we come to get several small slices of life from the Romanian society going through the current COVID-19 pandemic era. Many people on streets do wear a mask, but I could not help but notice that some of them do not wear their masks that properly, and that made me wince more than once during my viewing.

The second part of the film is a forthright video essay which presents various subjects ranging from history to sex. I must confess that I do not entirely understand the whole picture of this part, but I was often amused by how the movie cheerfully presents these subjects one by one in alphabetical order like a little encyclopedia. The movie is surely determined to encompass all these things presented during its second part, and you may come to admire its ambitious attempt more.

As entering its third part, the movie eventually goes back to its heroine’s ongoing circumstance, and that is where many of subjects presented in its second part come to resonate via the accumulating absurdity around her. After flatly presenting herself in front of the parents of her students, she tries to make some points on her privacy and rights, but many of them are already determined to judge and then persecute her, and some of them are quite rude while never hiding their prejudice and bigotry at all. I guess these very unpleasant characters represent a number of negative aspects of the Romanian society, and they will probably make you think twice about visiting Romania.

As our heroine and those parents pull and push each other during next 30 minutes, the movie skillfully dials up the level of its comic tension, and then it catches us off guard again. I will not go into details here for not spoiling any of your entertainment, but I can tell you instead that I chuckled a lot as watching the very last shot of the film, which is another social satiric jab to be appreciated.

By the way, I must tell you that the movie has two different versions. Compared to the original version, the “censored” version prepared by the director himself covers up all those sexually explicit elements in the film, and that is the one which is being currently shown in South Korean theaters. I watched both of these two versions, and I assure to you that you will be less shocked and embarrassed in case of the “censored” version, but I also must point out that the overall dramatic impact of the film is naturally decreased in comparison – especially in case of what is so uproarously shown at the very end of its third act.

In conclusion, “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn”, which was incidentally selected as the Romanian entry for Best International Feature Film Oscar in last year, is definitely not for everyone, but I recommend you to watch it if you are looking for something daring and different. I am not sure whether it succeeds as well as its director wishes, but it is quite unforgettable to say the least, and I guess that is a sort of achievement.

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