Firebird (2021) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Their forbidden romance during that grim period

Posted on May 2, 2022 by kaist455

“Firebird” is an old-fashioned tale of two gay lovers limited and suffocated by the grim oppression of their society. While it does not bring anything particular new to its genre territory unlike many notable predecessors such as “Brokeback Mountain” (2005), the first half of the movie works to some degree mainly thanks to the engaging romantic tension between its two main characters who are trapped inside their small isolated environment drenched in good old machismo, and it is a shame that the movie subsequently begins to fizzle as expanding its scope during its second half.

The story, which is based on Sergey Fetisov’s memoir “The Story of Roman”, is initially unfolded via the viewpoint of young Sergey (Tom Prior), who was going through his mandatory military service at a Soviet Air Force base located in the border area of Estonia in 1977. As many of you know, the Cold War era was reaching to another peak during that time, and the early part of the film shows us how Sergey and many other privates always have to be ready for any possible real emergency in addition to enduring lots of mistreatments from their direct superior. Like many others around him, Sergey has been pretty tired of his ongoing military service, and that is the main reason why he refuses a recent good offer which may start a promising military career for him.

Whenever he is free, Sergey often hangs around a fellow private named Volodja (Jake Thomas Henderson) and a young woman named Luisa (Diana Pozharskaya), who has worked as the secretary of the base commander. While Volodja is clearly interested in getting closer to Luisa, Luisa is actually more interested in Sergey, but, as reflected by a brief scene where Sergey’s camera comes to focus more on Volodja than Luisa, Sergey is a gay, and he is certainly discreet about his sexuality because homosexuality has been considered as a serious crime in the Soviet military.

And then an unexpected change comes on one day via Roman (Oleg Zagorodnii), a hotshot pilot who is recently transferred to the base. Not long after Sergey is assigned to Roman as his driver, Roman shows some interest in Sergey as recognizing Sergey’s sensitive sides, and they soon become quite close to each other as Roman gladly encourages Sergey’s artistic talent. Besides providing Sergey a private spot where they can develop films together, Roman also takes Sergey to a local theater in the nearby city for showing the rehearsal for the ballet performance of Igor Stravinsky’s “Firebird”, and Sergey is certainly grateful about that.

Eventually, there comes a fateful moment when Sergey and Roman recognize their mutual attraction and then let themselves swept by that strong emotion between them, but they also know too well that they must be very careful even when they are helplessly driven by their developing love. There are always ears and eyes spying around them, and things soon become quite serious when Roman happens to draw the attention of a KGB officer at the base, who instantly senses something fishy from Roman when he throws a few questions to Roman during their private meeting.

This increasingly risky circumstance comes to dampen the relationship between Sergey and Roman, but, not so surprisingly, their emotional bond turns out to be stronger than they thought. When his military service period is finally over, Sergey applies for some prestigious drama school in Moscow as suggested by Roman, and he is certainly happy when he is eventually accepted and starts to study there, but then Roman comes into his life again with more complications. Still feeling attracted to Roman, Sergey lets Roman to be around him again, but, of course, they are reminded again of how much they are trapped in their world with no bright future for them.

What follows next in the story is predictably melodramatic to say the least, and that is where the movie falters more than once. While we get to know more about how much Sergey has been suppressed by his homophobic society for years since a certain traumatic incident which is not so far from what has painfully haunted Heath Ledger’s character in “Brokeback Mountain”, Roman remains to be a rather distant character, and several key scenes between him and his family feel merely perfunctory without much depth.

As a result, the second half of the film often feels like an extended epilogue, but the movie is still carried well by the solid efforts from two lead performers even during that part. While Tom Prior, who also adapted Fetisov’s memoir along with director Peeter Rebane, is full of youthful sensitivity as required, Oleg Zagorodnii effectively complements his co-star with his more reserved appearance, and they are also supported well by a number of supporting performers including Jake Thomas Henderson, Margus Prangel, Nicholas Woodeson, and Diana Pozharskaya, who did a good job of bringing some spirit and personality to her rather thankless role.

If it were made around, say, 20 years ago, “Firebird” would probably draw much more attention for its main subjects. Sure, this is a well-made romance period drama which has some good things to enjoy besides its two engaging lead performers, but, in my humble opinion, it does not distinguish itself enough compared to many other recent gay drama films, so I will let you decide on whether you should check it out or not.

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

I Want to Know Your Parents (2022) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Parents worse than their kids

Posted on April 28, 2022 by kaist455

I came to have some reservation as watching South Korean film “I Want to Know Your Parents”, which is finally released here in South Korean theaters after being suspended for several years due to the allegations of sexual harassment on one of its main cast members. The movie is a competent piece of work on the whole, but I observed its story and characters from the distance with growing uneasiness and disgust during my viewing, and it also did not surprise or shock me much even when things got more complicated later in the story.

The movie opens with one terrible incident which will shake up the lives of its main characters in one way or another. At a lake not so far from some prestigious middle school, the unconscious body of one of its male students is found, and he is quickly taken to a hospital, but he remains unconscious during next several days. The headmaster of the school quickly holds a private meeting in his office, but he only invites the parents of four other students instead of that student’s widow mother, and there is a good reason for that. It turns out that student left a suicide note to his temporary class teacher, and his suicide note reveals that those four students have been bullying him for months.

While the teacher, played by Chun Woo-hee, sincerely wants some justice for that poor student, others at the meeting have a very different idea. The headmaster prefers to handle the situation as quietly as possible, and the parents of those four students are quite willing to cover up everything for their very selfish reason. Regardless of how much they actually care about their kids, the parents all want their kids’ supposedly promising future not to be tarnished by this unfortunate incident at any chance, and they actually have enough power and influence to do that.

And we see how the parents attempt to cover up the incident with some assistant from the headmaster, who promptly takes away that suicide note from that teacher. In case of a divorced lawyer played Sul Kyung-goo, he surely knows a lot about the criminal laws, and he begins to check out whether there will be anything which may lead their kids to any possible legal trouble. In case of a doctor played by Oh Dal-soo (This actor is the one accused of sexual harassment, by the way), he happens to be the head chief of some big hospital, so he arranges the transfer of that unfortunate student to his hospital. In case of a grandparent played by Kim Hong-pa, he happens to be ex-police commissioner, so he has some strings to be pulled behind his back. In case of a teacher played Ko Chang-seok, he and that teacher work in the same school, so he naturally begins to watch on her just in case.

As these rotten parents systemically work together, the movie, which is based on the Japanese play of the same name by Seigo Hitzawa, gives us a number of very uncomfortable scenes. It is not much of a spoiler to tell you that their kids bullied that poor student a lot just because of being different from them, but several disturbing flashback scenes will show you how cruel and nasty kids can be, and you will be chilled or disgusted by that. Watching how heartlessly their parents cover up the incident by any means necessary, you will see that these horrible kids are indeed the apples not falling that far from their trees, and you will be more repulsed as watching how their parents casually disregard the emotional devastation of that student’s poor mother.

In the end, not so surprisingly, Chun’s teacher character comes to disclose everything in public, and the movie subsequently enters the areas of courtroom drama after more police investigation on the incident. As delving more into what really happened around the time of that student’s suicide attempt, Sul’s lawyer character comes to see that there were some complex aspects behind the incident, and that surely reminds him again that what a lousy father he has been to his apparently problematic son.

What is eventually revealed during the last act will not surprise you much, especially if you are a seasoned moviegoer like me. Furthermore, the movie has become so cynical and pessimistic around that narrative point that its overtly melodramatic finale does not work as well as intended, and we are only reminded again of how those four students’ parents are no better, if not worse, than their kids.

The main cast members of the film are effective in their respective parts. Although his character is quite disgusting to say the least, Sul Kyung-gu provides some gravitas to the story, and Chun Woo-hee, who incidentally worked again with Sul in “Idol” (2019) after this movie, functions well as the voice of conscience in the story. Oh Dal-soo, Ko Chang-seok, and Kim Hong-pa are effectively deplorable as required by their despicable characters, and Moon So-ri is rather limited by her thankless supporting part.

In conclusion, “I Want to Know Your Parents” works to some degree because of director Kim Ji-woon’s good direction and the solid efforts from its main cast members, but many of its main characters are just banal and unpleasant people without much human interest or insight, and I do not know whether it is worthwhile to endure their superficial wickedness for around 2 hours. I do not mind feeling bad, but the movie merely made me feel bad without much entertainment or enlightenment, and that is all, folks.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

December Spring (2021) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): At his father’s funeral

Posted on April 27, 2022 by kaist455

In my inconsequential opinion, South Korean film “December Spring” is a bit too generous to its rather unlikable hero. While it is often amusing to observe how awkward he looks under a very serious family situation during its first two acts, the movie unfortunately stumbles more than once as clumsily trying to draw pity and sympathy from us during its last act, and that is a shame considering the fairly good efforts from its lead actor and several supporting performers surrounding him,

During the opening scene, the movie succinctly establishes the ongoing circumstance of Ho-seong (Son Hyun-joo) and his several family members. His father recently passed away, and Ho-seong’s mother and his younger brother Jong-seong (Park Hyuk-kwon) have certainly been grieving over his father’s death, but he does not care much about that as still feeling quite bitter about his father. When he was sent to a prison 8 years ago due to his longtime involvement with a local gang organization, Ho-seong and his father became more distant to each other, and he presides over the funeral along with Jong-seong just because that is what he is expected to do as his father’s older son.

As he and other family members handle those visitors who come and then go, we get to know more about how Ho-seong has been estranged from his two children, who dutifully assist Ho-seong and Jong-seong without much complaint even though they do not care that much about their father. While Ho-seong’s son is an aspiring young actor, Ho-seong does not understand his son’s hope and ambition much, and Ho-seong’s son has been accustomed to that. In case of Ho-seong’s daughter, she is soon going to get married, but she does not feel that comfortable when her fiancé comes for showing condolence to her family. After all, having a criminal father is something one cannot be that proud of, isn’t it?

Anyway, it looks like there will not be much problem or annoyance at the funeral except Ho-seong’s alcoholic childhood friend who has already drunken a lot, but we sense a trouble when a certain type of guys begin to appear one by one. Most of them turn out to be Ho-seong’s old criminal associates, and they are all supposed to behave well just like any other visitors, but Ho-seong’s family members cannot help but feel nervous as these criminal figures often gather here and there inside and outside the funeral building. Ho-seong emphasizes to his concerned mother that nothing serious will happen because of them, but it turns out that, as reflected by one brief moment, he is also worried behind his sullen façade.

While he is a bit pleased to get some attention from many of his criminal associates, Ho-seong is also reminded of a certain hard fact about his current status. While he was in the prison, many of his criminal associates moved on without looking back at him at all, and they are not so willing to help his return to their mean streets. Above all, he is no longer that tough guy feared by a lot of thugs years ago, and it goes without saying that he will probably end up being poor and alone during the rest of his life.

And then there comes to Ho-seong a little good idea when he checks all those money envelopes given to him and his family by many visitors to the funeral. I will not go into details for not spoiling your entertainment, but I can tell you instead that I enjoyed how Ho-seong’s following scheme is smoothly developed and then executed step by step.

Of course, not so surprisingly, things eventually go beyond Ho-seong’s control later, and that is where the movie becomes less engaging than before. While we come to learn of the personal motive behind his dirty scheme, Ho-seong remains to be your average petty sullen thug, and we still observe him from the distance even when he becomes a little more expressive later in the story. In addition, the movie sometimes tries too hard for generating laughs from us, and that distracting aspect is exemplified well by Ho-seong’s childhood friend, who is more or less than a buffoon to do one silly thing after another.

Nevertheless, the movie is held together to some degree by Son Hyun-joo, a South Korean character actor who has steadily worked for more than 30 years. Unlike the movie itself, Son depicts many human flaws of his character without any excuse, and that is why the overlong epilogue scene has a bit of poignancy, though his solid performance still deserves something edgier and more uncompromising.

In case of several other performers surrounding Son, they did their best for filling their stereotype roles as much as they can. While Park Hyuk-kwon complements Son well during a number of key scenes between them, Jung Suk-yong is unfortunately stuck in overacting modes as demanded by his clownish role, and Park Sojin, Jung Ji-hwan, and Son Sook are well-cast in their respective supporting parts.

In conclusion, “December Spring”, which is directed by Lee Don-ku, is not wholly successful mainly because of its weak storytelling, and I wish Son and several cast members of the film were allowed to delve more into their characters. To be frank with you, the movie is thankfully less boring than many funerals I had to attend, but I still think it could be more entertaining, and I will let you decide on whether my assessment on the film is correct or not.

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

You Are Not My Mother (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): Is she really her mother?

Posted on April 26, 2022 by kaist455

“You Are Not My Mother” is a small creepy horror film swirling around one serious family problem. Although it becomes less interesting when its dark family secret is eventually revealed during its last act as expected, it still holds our attention on what is being at stake for its main characters at least, and I enjoyed a number of quiet but disturbing moments in the movie.

After the unnerving prologue scene featuring a baby in one possibly serious danger, the movie gradually establishes the mundane and melancholic suburban daily life of an Irish teenage girl named Char (Hazel Doupe). While she is frequently ostracized at her high school as your typical loner, she does not get much affection or support at her family home, and the early scenes of the film show how much she is distant from her mother as well as her grandmother. Although she cares a lot about Char, Char’s grandmother usually maintains her reserved attitude, and we later come to learn that Char’s mother has struggled a lot with her mental illness.

On one day, something strange suddenly happens to Char and her family. Her mother is gone missing for no apparent reason, and both Char and her grandmother become quite concerned to say the least, but then, what do you know, Char’s mother soon returns with no explanation at all on what really happened to her. On the surface, she seems fairly fine, and it looks like she just needs some extra medication for treating her current mental illness, but Char’s grandmother is not relaxed at all – even when Char’s mother gladly prepares a dinner for her family.

In case of Char, she also often cannot help but feel that there is something wrong about her mother. While they remain distant to each other as before, her mother begins to act rather weirdly as days go by, and there is a chilly scene where Char happens to witness something very disturbing from her mother at one night. It is clear that Char’s grandmother knows what is really happening, and she is still not so willing to tell that all to her granddaughter, and Char naturally becomes more frustrated in addition to feeling more trapped and isolated inside her house than before.

Because of its very title as well as other similar horror flicks such as “The Hole in the Ground” (2019), you will probably not be surprised that much by what is explained later in the story, but the movie engages us more via its increasingly ominous mood surrounding Char and other few main characters around her. After another serious incident happens, the interior of her house comes to feel more insidious along with more strange behaviors from her mother, and the story eventually culminates to its expected climactic point when Halloween evening is started outside.

Although its main characters are no more than simple and broad archetypes, the screenplay by director/writer Kate Dolan, who previously made several short films before making a feature film debut here, did a succinct job of imbuing her main characters with enough details and nuances to be observed. For example, we are just mildly annoyed when Char’s grandmother made a little mistake in the kitchen, but we later come to gather that was not a mistake at all. Although the movie does not show or tell much about Char’s relationship with her mother in the past, their awkward interactions speak volumes to us about that, and we also come to understand how that eventually drives our heroine to one desperate action during the finale.

Once it shows us every card held behind its back, the movie comes to lose its unnerving ambiguity, but Dolan and her crew members including cinematographer Narayan Van Maele continue to deliver effective moments of terror as before. Although a subplot involved with Char’s several nasty schoolmates is rather contrived in my trivial opinion, that sets the ground for an intense moment of confrontation for our heroine, and this moment works better than expected despite its modest setting.

Like any good horror flicks, the movie depends a lot on the talent and presence of its three main performers, who are all excellent as subtly suggesting the darkness underneath the screen via their low-key acting. While Hazel Doupe earnestly holds the ground as an adolescent girl who must cope with many different issues inside and outside her home, Carolyn Bracken deftly balances her character between two dark possibilities, and Ingrid Craigie, a veteran Irish actress who was incidentally one of supporting characters in John Huston’s last film “The Dead” (1987), is equally solid as the other crucial part of the story.

On the whole, “You Are Not My Mother” does not break any new ground in its genre territory, but it chilled and entertained me enough at least, and some of its key moments incidentally took me back to a certain preposterous childhood memory of mine. Due to my rather complicated relationship with my mother, I often imagined that my mother was actually an old fox with nine tails which eats human liver to live more, and, to be frank with you, I was actually afraid whenever my father was absent at night. In the other words, “You Are Not My Mother” is something not so far from what I would concoct during that wild time, and I am sure that it would be appreciated a lot by my younger self.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

You Won’t Be Alone (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): The tale of a shapeshifting witch

Posted on April 26, 2022 by kaist455

“You Won’t Be Alone” is a little strange film mainly revolving around one woman who happens to become an entity equipped with one certain supernatural power. Although it is rather elusive in terms of story and characters, the movie often gives us mesmerizing moments while phlegmatically following its heroine’s bumpy journey, and it earns a little genuine poignancy when it eventually arrives at the finale along with her.

At the beginning, the movie, which is set in some rural mountain area of the 19th century Macedonia, shows how its heroine, named Nevena (Sara Klimoska) happened to be marked by an old witch named Maria (Anamaria Marinca) when she was just a little baby. While Nevena’s mother was going through another usual day with her daughter in their little village, Maria suddenly appeared in front of them for taking away Nevena, and her mother desperately plead with the witch for some mercy. Maria accepted her plea, but she is going to take away Nevena anyway once she becomes 16, so Nevena’s mother consequently attempted to fool the witch via hiding her little daughter in a nearby cave.

When she eventually grows up to be 16, Nevena is eager to experience the world outside while still stuck in that cave, but her mother is more concerned than before. Of course, she and Nevena are soon found by Maria, and Maria is certainly ready to keep her dark promise on Nevena. After killing Nevena’s mother, she assumes the appearance of Nevena’s mother, and Nevena has no choice but to accept Maria as her new mother.

While Nevena stays around Maria, we come to gather that Maria has wanted to have her own daughter. Once Nevena also becomes a shapeshifter just like her, Maria shows and teaches Nevena a lot of things including how to change her appearance, which is not so pleasant to say the least. After killing an animal or a human being, all she will have to do is putting some flesh and blood into the opened cavity inside her body, and then she can be transformed into the very entity she has just killed.

However, as time goes by, Nevena and Maria come to conflict a lot with each other mainly because Nevena wants to experience the world more while Maria does not approve of that at all. After Maria eventually abandons Nevena, Nevena goes to a nearby village, and that is the beginning of her journey. She quickly assumes the appearance of a young peasant woman she happens to encounter and then kill, and, as she clumsily tries to live as that woman in the village, the movie makes some pointed observation on how things were usually hard and difficult for women in the past due to their patriarchal system.

While experiencing the hardships of being a woman, Nevena naturally becomes curious about man, and she takes the next logical step when she encounters a young man not long after discarding that peasant woman’s appearance. Not so surprisingly, she often finds herself limited by what men are expected to do, and others around her are so disturbed by her odd behaviors that they even perform a sort of exorcism upon her male body at one point.

Meanwhile, Maria continues to hover around the story, and the movie brings some human complexity to her via an old folk tale about her. As a woman who has been denied of many things including her own happiness, Maria cannot help but feel more bitterness and jealousy as Nevena is experiencing and enjoying human life via one human identity after another, and she is not so pleased at all especially when Nevena comes upon what may be a real happiness for herself later in the story.

Although it is often driven by its heroine’ internal monologue, the movie sticks to its distant attitude to the story and characters in a way not so far from the works of Terrence Malick, and director/writer Goran Stolevski, who made a feature film debut here after making several short films, and his cinematographer Matthew Chuang give us a number of lyrical visual moments which are seemingly random but then come to generate a solid narrative flow onto which we can hold. Besides Nevena and Maria, many of other characters in the film are no more than mere plot elements, but they look convincing as the parts of the period background at least, and Stolevski and his crew members did a splendid job of establishing their realistic period atmosphere on the screen.

In case of the main cast members of the film, they are all believable in their respective parts. While Sara Klimoska functions well as the center of the film, Noomi Rapace, Carloto Cotta, and Alice Englert are seamlessly connected with Klimoska as required by the story, and Anamaria Marinca, who was unforgettable in Cristian Mungiu’s great film “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” (2007), has some vicious fun with her witch character as looking quite unrecognizable due to lots of make-up.

Although it may frustrate you to some degree due to its dry and austere storytelling approach, “You Won’t Be Alone” will eventually interest and fascinate you if you are ready for something quite different. Yes, this is another your typical arthouse which will require some patience from the very beginning, but I assure you that it will linger on your mind much longer than what we usually watch at local multiplex theaters these days.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Are You Lonesome Tonight? (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): A humid noir set in Guangzhou, China

Posted on April 25, 2022 by kaist455

Chinese film “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” will haunt you with its gritty noir tale drenched in lots of palpable summer heat and humidity. I must tell you that you may often get quite confused due to its rather convoluted plot which does not explain much to us even in the end, but, as many of you know well, that comes with its genre territory, and you can just simply go along with its distinctive mood and style to be savored and appreciated.

After the odd opening scene featuring one big cow, the movie goes straight into its plain hero’s unexpected big problem. During one hot summer night in Guangzhou, China, Wang Xueming (Eddie Peng), a poor young man working as an air conditioner repair guy, is driving his shabby van for a movie date with his girlfriend, but then his van happens to hit something on the road shortly after he is distracted by that big cow. It looks like Wang unintentionally ran over some guy, and, because this guy in question seems to be dead and nobody happens to be around them at the spot, Wang hurriedly disposes of this guy’s body and then quickly leaves the scene.

However, as days go by, Wang finds himself bothered more by his growing guilt and regret, and then he subsequently comes across that dead man’s wife, Mrs. Liang (Sylvia Chang), by coincidence. While fixing the air conditioner of her little apartment as requested by her, he comes to care sincerely about Mrs. Liang, and he becomes all the more conflicted when Mrs. Liang is in a serious trouble because of her husband. It turns out that her husband was involved with some nasty local criminals, and now they demand that she should pay her husband’s debt as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the situation surrounding Wang and Mrs. Liang turns out to be much more complicated than it seemed at first. Once the body of Mrs. Liang’s husband is found, the police investigation naturally follows, and a local detective assigned to the case instinctively senses that there is something suspicious about it. In addition, Wang comes upon a certain small item while looking around the spot where the body was eventually discovered, and this item may help Mrs. Liang getting out of her current problem, but Wang soon finds himself in a serious danger as trying to fix the problem for her.

As Wang struggles more and more along the story, the screenplay by director Shipei Wen and his three co-writers often catches us off guard while shifting from one viewpoint to another. In case of one particular sequence later in the story, the movie seems to go in one direction along with Wang at first, but then it suddenly changes its course as presenting the circumstance again via some other main character’s perspective, and we become more aware of how murky the situation is for everyone involved with it in one way another.

This is pretty confusing for us at times, and I must confess that I am not that sure about whether I really understand everything in the story (Please don’t ask me about how one certain bag comes to arrive at its ultimate destination, for example), but I did not mind at all during my viewing at least. After all, chaos and confusion have always been time-honored genre elements of noir films, and many solid noir films can actually get away with a lot of chaos and confusion – as long as they keep floating with style and mood.

And I assure you that “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” is equipped with plenty of style and mood right from the beginning. While its daytime scenes are constantly drenched in the tangible sense of heat and humidity, its nocturnal scenes are often gritty and striking with its dexterous utilization of lights and shadows, and Wen and his several cinematographers did a commendable job of immersing us into the vivid and realistic atmosphere of their movie. In my humble opinion, their overall result is as impressive as Diao Yinan’s “The Wild Goose Lake” (2019), and Wen, who previously debuted with his short film “A Short Film About Nothing” (2017), surely demonstrates here that he is another new talented Chinese filmmaker to watch.

The main cast members of the movie are convincing as human figures really inhabiting inside their shabby world. While Eddie Peng earnestly holds the center as your typical flawed noir film hero driven by fear and guilt, Sylvia Chang, whom I recently watched in Edward Yang’s “That Day, on the Beach” (1983), is somberly graceful in her unadorned natural performance, and these two very different performers deftly handle those tentative moments between them without any misstep. Peng and Chang are also surrounded by several good performers to notice; Wang Yanhui holds his own small place well as the aforementioned local detective in the story, and Zhang Yu has a small showstopper moment when his supporting character performs a well-known American classic pop song from which the English title of the movie comes.

In conclusion, “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” may require you some patience due to its slow narrative pacing as well as its adamantly murky plot, but it is still worthwhile to watch as a competent genre piece which has enough mood and style to engage us during its 95-minute running time. Although I am not totally enthusiastic about it, this is a solid feature debut for Wen nonetheless, and I guess I can have some expectation on whatever will come next from him.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Slug (2020) ☆☆☆(3/4): You will certainly cheer for her

Posted on April 24, 2022 by kaist455

You may really want to hug the heroine of South Korean independent film “The Slug”, which is much more intimate and heartfelt than its rather slimy title suggests. While life remains hard and uncertain for her even at the end of the movie, she comes to find some unexpected comfort and support in addition to feeling a bit better about her life than before, and you may find yourself cheering a lot for her as watching her being optimistically ready for the next chapter of her life.

The early part of the film quickly establishes its heroine’s life background. In the late 1990s, young Choon-hee (Park Hye-jin) happens to become an orphan due to her parents’ sudden accidental death, and she has no choice but to stay at her mother’s family house where Choon-he’s uncle and his family are living with her grandmother. Although Choon-he’s uncle and his family are not bad people at all, they eventually decide to have her live in the attic room for a rather selfish reason, and this small and stuffy room consequently becomes her little private place.

Because her uncle and his family are often occupied with several private problems including his problematic older son, young Choon-hee is frequently neglected and disregarded at her new home unless she received some care and attention from her grandmother, and she is also ostracized by many of her schoolmates due to hyperhidrosis, which often makes her perspire a lot in her hands and feet. As a matter of fact, she sometimes leaves wet footprints on the floor because of this, and there is a little tender private moment of identification as she is simply regarding a small slug for a while.

Even when she becomes a grown-up, Choon-hee, who is played by Kang Jin-ah now, remains as lonely and isolated as before. She is now the only one currently occupying her family house, and it later becomes apparent to us that her uncle’s older son, who already moved out some time ago, is considering selling the house sooner or later regardless of how she feels about that. While she tries to continue to live there as usual, she makes a meager living by peeling garlics day by day, and she hopes that she will save enough money for the medical treatment for her hyperhidrosis someday.

And then there come two little unexpected changes into her shabby daily life. During one evening full of lightnings on the sky, Choon-hee is unfortunately struck by a lightning when she is returning to home, and she manages to regain her consciousness not long after that, but then something baffling happens when she comes back to her residence. Probably because she has often thought about her unhappy past, she begins to see her younger self hanging around her, and she is certainly perplexed by this inexplicable happening.

Meanwhile, she comes across a lad named Joo-hwang (Hong Sang-pyo), and she soon finds herself joining a little self-help group meeting along with him and several other persons. Although she does not get that much from this self-help group meeting, she is glad to spend some time with Joo-hwang, and it looks like Joo-hwang is also interested in getting a little closer to her mainly because she does not mind his stuttering problem at all. When she later tells him about how often she sees her younger self these days, he accepts this little issue of hers without any bias, and we are not so surprised when she lets him into her residence later.

As comforted by a bit by her younger self as well as Joo-hwang, Choon-hee becomes a bit relaxed about her life, but the situation remains desperate for her as before. Her uncle’s older son curtly reminds her that she will soon have to find a new place to live because he finally sold the house, and we get an emotionally intense moment as she angrily tells him about how much the house has meant to her for many years. In addition, both Choon-hee and Joo-hwang subsequently find themselves facing a serious financial trouble, and that certainly affects the growing relationship between them.

Nevertheless, the movie still maintains its gentle attitude as usual while thoughtfully handling its story and characters. Choon-hee’s uncle and his family members are depicted with some human complexity to be appreciated, and the movie also shows affection to Joo-hwang and a certain substantial supporting character whom Choon-hee happens to befriend along the story. In case of a number of key scenes between Choon-hee and her younger self, these scenes are balanced well between seriousness and playfulness, and it is moving to see how these scenes lead Choon-hee to little hope and optimism in the end.

Director/writer Choi Jin-young, who made several short films before making a feature film debut here, draws solid performances from her main cast members. Kang Jin-ah’s earnest but plucky performance holds our attention throughout the film, and she and young performer Park Hye-jin click well with each other during their substantial moments in the movie. While Hong Sang-pyo is likable as Choon-hee’s possible boyfriend, Lim Ho-jun, who was also good in another recent South Korean independent film “Awoke” (2020), is well-cast in his supporting role, and Hwang Mi-young simply steals every second of her brief but impressive appearance.

Overall, “The Slug”, which was mainly shot in my hometown Jeonju, is a modest but charming work which alternatively amused and touches us with its bittersweet qualities, and you will come to like and care about its heroine a lot more than expected. In short, this is another interesting South Korean film of this year, and I think you should check it out if you ever come across it.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Novelist’s Film (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): How they come to make a film

Posted on April 24, 2022 by kaist455

As I said many times before, my history with Hong Sang-soo’s films has been rather complicated. During the time when I became a bit more serious about films, “Tale of Cinema” (2005) and “Woman on the Beach” (2006) felt like an acquired taste to me, but I became more enthusiastic around the time of “Hahaha” (2010) and “Oki’s Movie” (2010), and then I simply took his works for granted around the late 2010s while he kept giving us one or two films per a year.

In the meantime, Hong gradually entered unexplored territories around the point when he made “On the Beach at Night Alone” (2017), and then there came a series of interesting works such as “Hotel by the River” (2018), “The Woman Who Ran” (2020), and “In Front of Your Face” (2021). After making so many films about your average petty South Korean heroes struggling with their relationships with women, he finally left his usual territory and then started to focus more on female characters, and that is a curiously welcoming change in my inconsequential opinion.

In case of “The Novelist’s Film”, which incidentally garnered Hong the fourth Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize when it was shown at the Berlin International Film Festival early in this year, it is another typical work from Hong, but it shows us its mind and heart more directly compared to his previous works. As following its heroine’s several accidental encounters, the movie provides some forthright moments reflecting Hong’s filmmaking philosophy as well as a bit of his private life, and they are handled with enough wit and insight even while casually presented in plain sight.

Lee Hye-youn, who previously collaborated with Hong as the lead actress of “In Front of Your Face”, plays Joon-hee, a middle-aged female Seoul novelist who happens to come to Hanam (It is one of those satellite cities surrounding Seoul, by the way) on one day. During the opening scene, we see Joon-hee coming into a small local bookstore, but it turns out that something serious is happening between the owner, who happens to be her old friend, and her young female employee, so Joon-hee, whose entrance is not luckily noticed by either of them yet, decides to wait for her friend outside for a while instead.

While Joon-hee is waiting in front of the bookstore, she is soon greeted by that young female employee, who, to our little amusement, behaves as if nothing serious had happened between her and her employer. Her friend also comes out not long after that, but, to our small bafflement, she does not say anything about what really happened between her and her employee, and Joon-hee does not ask about that at all as talking with her friend more about how long it has been since they met each other for the last time.

When Joon-hee subsequently goes to a local observatory tower alone, she happens to encounter a middle-aged filmmaker and his wife, who are incidentally her close acquaintances. After having a conversation among them for a while, they eventually come to take some walk outside, and that is how they come across Gil-soo (Kim Min-hee), a well-known movie actress who has been rather dormant during recent years.

As the camera patiently looks at these four main characters, the movie gradually develops a humorous situation among them. When the filmmaker makes a rather rude comment on the current status of Gil-soo’s acting career, Joon-hee promptly and harshly criticizes that, and we are more amused as how the mood becomes quite awkward among everyone at the spot, while also coming to reflect a bit on how Kim Min-hee’s career has been jeopardized to some degree by her ongoing real-life extramarital affair with Hong.

Anyway, Joon-hee and Gil-soo come to have more time together as the filmmaker and his wife eventually leave the scene, and then they meet Gil-soo’s nephew-in-law, who is incidentally a film school student. As they talk more with each other, Joon-hee comes to have an idea on starting her own little movie project, and both Gil-soo and her nephew-in-law are quite interested in collaborating with her.

Because of the very title of the movie, we already know we will eventually see Joon-hee’s little cinematic creation in the end, but the movie still has some delight and surprise for us. In case of one certain sequence later in the story, we are initially tickled by how our heroine’s journey makes a sort of full circle in the end, and then there comes a long conversation coupled with lots of Korean rice wine instead of soju (If you are familiar with Hong’s works, you will know what I mean). The last chapter of the film, which virtually functions as its epilogue, is unfolded at a certain real movie theater, and you will be quite amused if you happen to watch the film there.

Like many of Hong’s films, the movie depends a lot on the spontaneous interactions among his small cast members, and they are constantly engaging in their effortless interactions on the screen. While Lee Hye-young diligently holds the center, Kim Min-hee, who also participated in the production of the film, Seo-yeong Hwa, Kwon Hae-hyo, and Ki Joo-bong dutifully fill their respective spots around Lee, and Ki is simply delightful to watch during his brief appearance as your typical middle-aged South Korean male poet.

In conclusion, “The Novelist’s Film” is another amusing work from Hong, and I am impressed again by how consistent and productive he has been while modestly changing his direction here and there during last two decades. I am still regarding his works with some reservation in contrast many other local critics who will certainly choose this film as the best South Korean film of 2022, but it is surely one of more interesting South Korean films of this year, and I am glad to see that he keeps going as usual.

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

The Lost City (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): A novelist’s unexpected adventure

Posted on April 23, 2022 by kaist455

“The Lost City” gives us as much as we expected from its trailer. Clearly influenced by Robert Zemeckis’ “Romancing the Stone” (1984), the movie tries a little comic adventure tale while playing a bit with its genre conventions, and the resulting entertainment is mostly enough for compensating for its many predictable aspects.

After the opening scene not so different from the similar one of “Romancing the Stone”, we are introduced to Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock), the author of a series of pulpy but very popular adventure romance novels. Although she has been rather tired of what she has written for years, she manages to finish the latest entry to her ongoing series, and then she reluctantly agrees to go through a book tour as requested by her hard-working agent Beth Hatten (Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who steals the show despite her rather thankless supporting role).

One of the main reasons why Loretta is not so enthusiastic about her book tour is Alan Caprison (Channing Tatum), a hunky lad who has been the model for the front covers of her novels. Although he is a lot different from the popular adventurer hero of her novels in many aspects, those numerous fans of her novels find him pretty sexy thanks to his good-looking face and body, and, to Loretta’s annoyance, they are all quite eager to see him taking off his shirts as usual when he is on the stage along with her.

However, that turns out to be a minor problem compared to what happens to her not long after that. When she decides to leave earlier than expected, Loretta is suddenly taken away to somewhere against her will, and that is how she comes to meet a wealthy British dude named Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe). He has been quite obsessed with finding a certain important ancient treasure at some Atlantic tropical island, and it turns out that, as the wife and colleague of a famous archaeologist who passed away several years ago, Loretta may interpret one cryptic ancient message recently acquired by Fairfax, which will probably lead him to where that valuable item is hidden once she does the job as demanded. Loretta is certainly not so willing to help Fairfax, but Fairfax promptly takes her to that island, and she has no choice but to try to interpret what is given to her.

Meanwhlie, after watching Loretta getting kidnapped, Alan tries to locate and then rescue her. When it turns out that he and Beth cannot get any immediate help from the police despite knowing where she is thanks to her smartwatch, he decides to hire someone with a particular set of skills, and he luckily happens to know such a person. Although he does not have to go to that island for himself, Alan insists that he should go there mainly because he sincerely cares about Loretta’s safety, and we get some small good laughs as he clumsily tries to follow after that professional in question, who is drolly played by Brad Pitt.

It is not much of a spoiler to tell you that Alan eventually finds himself getting involved in Loretta’s situation much more than expected. While he bumbles more than once as he and Loretta subsequently attempt to evade the pursuit of Fairfax and his menacing goons, he really tries to help and support her as much as possible, and there is an amusing scene where he comes to think of a sensible way for motivating her enough to climb along a stiff cliff along with him.

As they bounce from one risky moment to another along the story, the movie provides extra depth to its two lead characters. While we get to know more about how much Loretta is still coping with the loss of her husband, we also come to see that Alan is actually a decent guy who is well aware of his limits, and we are not so surprised when the movie takes a little romantic break along with them at one point in the middle of the story.

Of course, things eventually become a little more tense and serious when Loretta and Alan are thrown into another peril thanks to Fairfax, but the movie keeps floating with enough wit and humor at least. I must point out that Daniel Radcliffe, who has admirably tried other things besides Harry Potter, often looks rather strained as trying to look bad and nasty, but he looks like having a ball with his petty villain role nonetheless, and his overacting somehow works as a part of comedy in the film.

In case of Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, they are certainly ready to go for solid laughs from the beginning, and they have a good comic chemistry between them throughout the film. While Bullock balances her character well between humor and gravitas, Tatum, who can be sincerely hilarious as shown from several recent comedy films including “21 Jump Street” (2012), does not hesitate to throw himself into several uproarious comic scenes, and I will not deny that I was quite amused by a certain scene where his character must be almost naked in front of Bullock’s character for an understandable reason.

In conclusion, “The Lost City” does not bring anything new to its genre territory, but directors Adam and Aaron Nee, who also wrote the screenplay with Oren Uziel, Dana Fox, and Seth Gordon, competently serve us clichés and conventions, and I came to feel less tired while watching it at a local theater at last night. To be frank with you, I am already doubting whether it will be fondly remembered for a long time like “Romancing the Stone”, but it did its study fairly well, so I recommend it mildly for now.

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

The Anchor (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): An anchor in crisis

Posted on April 23, 2022 by kaist455

South Korean film “The Anchor” is another typical woman-in-crisis flick, but it did the job a bit better than expected. Although the story becomes a little too contrived during its last act in my humble opinion, the movie mostly works on the whole thanks to not only its competent handling of mood and tension but also the strong performance from its lead performer, who is incidentally one of the best South Korean actresses at present.

Chun Woo-hee, who has been more prominent thanks to her unforgettable breakthrough performance in “Han Gong-ju” (2013), plays Se-ra, a young woman working as a prominent TV news anchor of some major broadcast company. During the early part of the film, we see how much she is dedicated to her profession, and we also observe how lonely she also is. While there are not many people close to her at her workplace, her fund manager husband is frequently absent at their supposedly luxurious apartment, and her mother So-jeong (Lee Hye-young) seems to be the only person constantly around her in her private life, though she does not bring much comfort to her daughter as often talking about how Se-ra must work harder for her career advance.

On one day, something odd happens when Se-ra is preparing for her latest TV broadcast as usual. A woman calls and then demands that she should talk with Se-ra on the phone, and Se-ra reluctantly agrees to talk a bit with this strange woman. While this strange woman tells everything about who she is and where she is living with her young daughter, she seems rather unhinged to Se-ra, so Se-ra simply disregards her even though this woman says she is terrorized by someone who tried to break into her residence.

Although she thought it was just a prank call, Se-ra does not feel that right about that caller, so she decides to check out where that caller supposedly resides, and it soon turns out that caller was really desperate at that time. While horrified by what she has just discovered, Se-ra also sees an opportunity to boost her career further, and she certainly does not disappoint herself and others at her workplace as diligently reporting this tragic incident.

However, as she delves more into this incident for reporting anything good enough to draw more viewers out there, Se-ra finds herself increasingly disturbed by what she saw at that caller’s residence, which seems to awake something hidden somewhere inside her mind. She begins to experience a series of disturbing hallucinations for no apparent reason, and that naturally influences not only her work but also her relationships with her husband and mother. While he is mostly occupied with his work as usual, her husband is not so pleased about how much they have been estranged from each other, and her mother, who has clearly lived for her daughter’s success, strongly advises as usual that she must put her career above anything else.

And then there comes a questionable psychiatrist one of whose patients was incidentally that caller in question. After their first encounter under a rather suspicious circumstance, Se-ra begins to suspect this psychiatrist, and it seems that there is something shady about this psychiatrist. For example, one of his other patients died under a mysterious situation around 10 years ago, and Se-ra becomes more convinced that he is hiding something from her after she approaches to him again for more information.

And that is where we become more aware of how unreliable our heroine’s viewpoint is. As Se-ra becomes more disturbed by those seemingly inexplicable hallucinations, her boss decides to replace her with some younger anchor, and that naturally gives her more anxiety and stress. For getting to know what the hell is going around her, she eventually decides to let herself go through a hypnosis session under that psychiatrist, but that only makes her more confused and agitated than before for some unknown reason.

You can easily guess the answer to her mystery if you are a seasoned moviegoer like me, but the movie keeps things rolling as before, and you may forgive how the screenplay by director/writer Jung Ji-yeon cheats us a bit during its finale. Although the climactic part feels overlong, it is still held well together by its emotional intensity, and the movie also makes some good point on sexism and discrimination.

Above all, Chun Woo-hee’s believable performance steadily carries the film to the end, and she is also supported well by two good performers revolving around her. While Shin Ha-kyun looks suitably untrustworthy in his substantial supporting role, Lee Hye-young is as coldly demanding as required by her part, and she is particularly effective when her character shows more of how much she clings onto her daughter’s success for many years.

Overall, “The Anchor” will not surprise you that much if you are familiar with its genre territory, but it is a still solid thriller film with enough enjoyable elements besides another commendable performance from its lead actress, and Jung Ji-yeon, who previously made several short films, made a nice feature film debut here. I saw through it from the beginning, but I was entertained at least, so I will not grumble for now.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment