Snakehead (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): A little crime thriller flick set in Chinatown

Posted on November 26, 2021 by kaist455

“Snakehead” is a little crime thriller flick which did its job better than expected within its genre conventions. As delving into the seedy sides of the Chinatown area of New York City along with its feisty criminal heroine, the movie gradually engages us via its vivid mood and details, and we come to have some understanding and empathy on her even though we often observe her shady struggle for survival from the distance.

At the beginning, the movie succinctly establishes its heroine’s past and current status. Around 8 years ago in Taiwan, she was separated from her young daughter as being arrested and then incarcerated for some crime, and now she is determined to reunite with her daughter by any means necessary, who was sent to US for being adopted at that time. Along with many other illegal immigrants from China, she gets herself shipped to New York City by a local human smuggling organization in the city, and we see how she manages to arrive in the city along with some of those illegal immigrants despite an unexpected raid on their ship.

Because she has to pay off the debt which is more than fifty thousand dollar, she is soon sent to some stuffy brothel somewhere in the Chinatown area of the city along with several other women. Although she is ready to do anything as reflected by a brief moment with her first customer, she attacks some other customer when this dude attempts to hit one of her fellow workers for a minor trouble, and that consequently leads to a very serious situation for her.

However, when she subsequently rises to the challenge as showing that she is definitely not the one to mess with, she draws the attention of Dai Mah (Jade Wu), the owner of the brothel who is also the boss of that local human smuggling organization. Although their first encounter is not exactly pleasant, Dai Mah instantly senses how tough and strong-willed her new girl is, and then she gives an offer our heroine cannot easily refuse. If she shows more of her worth, she will be sort of promoted, and she does soon gets transferred from one job to another as she works harder as demanded.

Eventually, Dai Mah trusts her enough to assign her to collecting debts in their area, and our heroine, who is now often called Sister Tse by others around her, gradually becomes her boss’ trustworthy right-hand figure as getting to learn more and more from her criminal mentor who has built and maintained her small criminal empire for many years. Even though she is well aware that she and her criminal organization have passed their peak period with dwindling profit, Dai Mah still has lots of influence and connections in her area, and she is determined to go on as much as possible.

Meanwhile, we get to know Mai Dah’s main human weakness, and that is Rambo (Sung Kang). He is one of his sons, and she is willing to tolerate his hot temper and stupidity because, as revealed later in the story, she has felt like owing a lot to this troublemaker son. In case of Rambo, he is certainly grateful to his mother’s care and protection, but, as your average macho dude, he tries to earn money for himself as a man, and he is not so pleased to see our heroine getting earning more trust from his mother.

After gaining more trust from her boss after one unexpected incident, our heroine is tasked with handling one big human smuggling operation as a new “snakehead”, and the movie accordingly widens its view a bit as she hops among several different locations around the world. At one point, we get a tense scene where she and her accomplices must outwit their opponents for transporting those illegal immigrants across the border, and director/writer/co-producer/co-editor Evan Jackson Leong, who incidentally made a feature film debut here in this film, skillfully dials the level of tension up and down as required.

As often chilling us with how harsh and ruthless the small criminal world surrounding its heroine can be, the movie also has some softer moments for conveying to us the human sides of her and a few other characters in the story. While the subplot involved with her lost daughter is rather perfunctory and contrived in my humble opinion, its eventual resolution is a bit poignant, and so is our heroine’s accident friendship with an African immigrant dude who wants to have his own dumpling shop someday.

Most of all, the movie depends a lot on the dynamic relationship development between its heroine and her boss along the story, and its two main cast members are convincing as their respective characters are heading to the inevitable point we have been expecting from the start. While Shuya Chang brings considerable gritty hardcore resilience to her character, Jade Wu effortlessly exudes her character’s long history as well as her cold-blooded sides, and they are supported well by several other main cast members including Catherine Jiang, Richie Eng, Yacine Djoumbaye, and Sung Kang, who often chews his scenes as demanded by his showy supporting role.

Overall, “Snakehead” will not surprise you much if you are a seasoned moviegoer familiar with its genre, but it distinguishes itself fairly well via mood, details, and two strong performances at its center. Yes, I instantly knew what and how it is about during its first few minutes, but I did not mind going along with that, and I am satisfied enough for now.

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Nothing Serious (2021) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): No string attached, right?

Posted on November 25, 2021 by kaist455

As your average seasoned moviegoer, I usually find myself getting bored while watching romantic comedy films. Unless they are equipped with enough charm and appeal to hold my attention, many of romantic comedy films do not engage me that much as duly following their predictable plot and then arriving at the eventual happy ending, and most of such cases are quickly forgotten as I quickly move onto whatever I am going to watch next.

In case of South Korean romantic comedy film “Nothing Serious”, I was thankfully not that bored during my viewing, but I was also constantly aware of its plot mechanism and clichés throughout its 95-miunte running time. While it is supposed to be a cool contemporary genre piece for our digital age, the movie itself has nothing new or refreshing in my trivial opinion, and that is a shame considering the fairly enjoyable performances from its two appealing lead performers.

At first, the movie shows how things have been going nowhere for Ja-yeong (Jeon Jong-seo). She recently applied for the government grant to finance her independent podcast which may be a big breakthrough for her independent professional career, but she is not so sure about whether she will succeed or not, and she has also been quite depressed since she broke up with her ex-boyfriend several months ago. Although she is often consoled by her widower father as well as several close friends of hers, she cannot help but feel lonely as facing her increasing sexual need day by day during last several months.

That is why she begins to use a certain digital application for casual sexual encounter, but, so far, she has not been able to get any suitable man for her. Sincerely concerned about their friend, Ja-yeong’s friends suggest that she should aim lower a bit in addition to motivating her a lot, and, what do you know, she is subsequently approached by someone suitable for her on one day.

That person in question is Woo-ri (Son Sukku), and he and Ja-yeong soon come to have sex together shortly after their Meet Cute moment, but, as already shown to us from the beginning, Woo-ri has a hidden motive behind him. As one of the staff writers of some fancy magazine, he is assigned to write a series of columns about casual sexual encounters via that digital application, and, despite his initial reluctance as well as the lack of his experience, he agrees to write several columns as demanded by his forceful editor-in-chief.

Now you will have a pretty good idea on what will happen next, and the movie does not exceed your expectation at all. Yes, Woo-ri and Ja-yeong come to feel much better than before as they meet each other for sex again and again. Yes, even though they make it pretty clear to each other from the beginning that their meetings are simply for sexual pleasure, they eventually come to open themselves more to each other anyway. Yes, Woo-ri’s subsequent columns surely draw lots of clicks after published on the Internet, and he certainly comes to feel conflicted more when he has to keep meeting Ja-yeong for more columns to write.

In the meantime, the movie gives us a number of humorous scenes to enjoy. I like several casual moments of camaraderie among Ja-yeong and her close friends, and I also enjoyed an unexpected comic moment involved with the evening wedding ceremony of Ja-yeong’s ex-boyfriend. In addition, the movie provides a few good chuckles from the brash attitude from Woo-ri’s editor-in-chief, and I was disappointed to see that the movie does not utilize this supporting character further for more laughs for us.

Like many of other romantic comedy films out there, the movie comes to lose its cheerful mood after a certain inevitable moment which you could already see coming from the distance, and we are served with a series of genre conventions including, yes, a musical interlude for conveying to us some passage of time. I was relieved to see that the movie does not dwell too much on this part, but, unfortunately, the following ending feels unsatisfying for being too abrupt and convenient, and that was another disappointment for me.

Anyway, the movie is supported fairly well by its two lead performers, who deserve better considering the good comic chemistry between them. Jeon Jong-seo, who has quickly advanced during last several years thanks to her good performance in “Burning” (2018) and “The Call” (2020), demonstrates another side of her undeniable talent here, and she is especially funny whenever her character freely and unapologetically follows her sexual need and desire. On the opposite, Son Sukku’s low-key acting complements his co-star’s spirited performance well during several key scenes between them, and several other cast members including Gong Min-jung and Kim Jae-hwa have each own little juicy moment around Jeon and Son.

On the whole, “Nothing Serious” is merely passable while not bringing anything particularly new or fresh to its genre, but it is not a total dud at all due to director/co-writer Jeong Ka-young’s competent direction and his two lead performers’ engaging presence. I would rather recommend another recent South Korean romantic comedy film “Perhaps Love” (2021) because it is more humorous and entertaining in comparison, but I did not feel like wasting my time despite my lingering dissatisfaction with “Nothing Serious”, and you will probably enjoy the film more than I did.

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Encanto (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): Her and her family’s certain domestic problem

Posted on November 25, 2021 by kaist455

Disney animation feature film “Encanto” is quite predictable to the core, but it is fairly colorful enough to delight us. While it is not particularly fresh in terms of story and characters, this weakness is fortunately compensated by not only its distinctive cultural aspects but also a number of entertaining moments to be savored, and I assure you that its 99-minute running time will smoothly pass by during your viewing.

The story mainly revolves around Mirabel Madrigal (voiced by Stephanie Beatriz), a plucky lass who has often been overshadowed by her very special family. Many years ago, her grandmother Alma (voiced by María Cecilia Botero), who is usually called “Abuela” (It means grandmother in Spanish, by the way). ran away from her hometown along with many other people including her husband when her hometown was attacked by a bunch of bad guys, but then they were unfortunately ambushed by those bad guys following after them, and that was when something unbelievable happened. When her husband courageously sacrificed himself for protecting her and others, a sort of miracle suddenly happened as a result, and that gave her and others a new place to live safely and peacefully during many following years.

In addition, through a candle imbued with some magical power at that point, Alma’s three children got each own special power later, and so did her grandchildren except Mirabel. As watching how her special family protected and helped many town people, young Mirabel certainly aspired to have her own special power during the upcoming ritual for her, but, alas, she somehow failed to get any special power to everyone’s disappointment, and she still feels rather inadequate as the only ordinary member in her family besides her younger cousin Antonio (voiced by Ravi-Cabot Conyers).

Nevertheless, as reflected by the first musical scene of the film, Mirabel still loves her family members besides being very proud of them, and their life is never boring as living together in a big house which is also full of magic power. In this magical house, Mirabel’s family members have each own special private place according to each own special power, and we later get a wonderful visual moment when Antonio comes to get his own private place shortly after acquiring his own special power on the day of his ritual.

While everyone around her is delighted by Antonio’s special power and private place, Mirabel feels sad and depressed for being the sole ordinary person in the family again, but then something strange happens to her. She sees a vision which disturbingly suggests a serious crisis for her family in the near future, but nobody listens to her growing concern, and that eventually prompts her to take care of this possibly serious matter for herself.

As investigating why a certain family member was vanished for no apparent reason, Mirabel goes through several precarious moments, and I was particularly amused by one certain scene where she has to go along a very tricky route to some dark cavernous spot once belonging to that certain family member. In addition, we also get some big musical moments from some of her family members who turn out to be not so perfect as they seem to be on the surface, and the songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is having one hell of productive year as involved in several notable films of this year besides his directorial debut work “tick, tick… BOOM!” (2021), are performed well with considerable energy and enthusiasm.

I must point out that the story is rather thin in addition to being rather artificial during its last act, but this thankfully remains as a minor problem because directors/co-writers Byron Howard and Jared Bush, who previously made “Zootopia” (2016) together, keep things rolling as constantly filling the screen with vivid cultural mood and ample personality. Although the overall result is relatively less impressive than “Coco” (2017), the film is buoyed by its own Latino American atmosphere and cultural details, and it also brings some life and personality to its many different main characters, who are basically more or less than broad stereotypes but are also depicted with each own individuality.

The voice cast members of the film are solid while having a fun with their respective parts. If you remember well her amusingly terse supporting turn in TV sitcom series “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”, you will be surprised by how Stephanie Beatriz can be quite perky and charming here in this film, and she also handles several key musical scenes well. In case of the other cast members, María Cecilia Botero functions as a good counterpoint to Beatriz’s lively voice acting, and Ravi-Cabot Conyers, Diane Guerrero, Jessica Darrow, and John Leguizamo are well-cast in their substantial supporting roles.

In conclusion, “Encanto” is a conventional product which simply did its job within its genre territory, and I enjoyed its good moments even though, instead of fully engaged in its story and characters, my mind was often distracted by the occasional thoughts on what I was going to write in this review. In short, this is another fine Disney animation film of this year along with “Raya and the Last Dragon” (2021) and “Luca” (2021), and its target audiences will surely appreciate its considerable mood, spirit, and energy.

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tick, tick… BOOM! (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): How he came to write “Rent”

Posted on November 23, 2021 by kaist455

“tick, tick… BOOM!”, which was released on Netflix on last Friday after released in movie theaters in the previous week, is a solid musical movie packed with enough goodies to entertain you. Based on the semi-autobiographical musical of the same name written by late Jonathan Larson, the movie exuberantly bounces from one enjoyable musical moment to another, and it also works as a sincere and respectful tribute to Larson’s tragically short career, which could have gone further if he had not suddenly died right before the opening night of the 1996 Broadway stage production of his Tony and Pulitzer-winning musical “Rent”.

The movie begins with Larson, played by Andrew Garfield, performing at New York Theater Workshop along several singers and musicians in 1992, and then it goes back to his struggling time in New York City, 1990 as “30/90” is performed on the soundtrack. While quite determined to reach for any artistic breakthrough, Larson has been quite depressed by the fact that he has not achieved anything significant during last several years, and the only consolation for him comes from his caring girlfriend Susan (Alexandra Shipp) and his reliable best friend Michael (Robin de Jesús), who has generously provided Larson a fairly acceptable apartment to stay as his landlord.

Anyway, it finally looks like Larson will get a long-awaited opportunity for his career advance. Thanks to Ira Weitzman (Jonathan Marc Sherman), who is the head of Musical Theatre at Playwrights Horizons, he is soon going to have the workshop on an ambitious musical on which he has worked for no less than 8 years, and it seems that things will go well for him if he can only write a very good song which, as his legendary mentor Stephen Sondheim (Bradley Whitford) already pointed out, is absolutely necessary for enhancing the flawed Act 2 of the musical.

However, of course, a stroke of inspiration Larson needs right now does not come easily to him from the beginning. Although he is initially confident that he will write the song before the workshop begins several days later, he soon finds himself on a sort of composer’s block, and his mind only gets distracted more and more as he struggles with a number of other problems. For example, he must pay those accumulating bills for electricity and heating as soon as possible, and he also must make up his mind on his current relationship with Susan, who has supported him a lot during all those years between them but is recently considering accepting a new job outside New York City.

With Larson’s musical performance in 1992 functioning as its narrative framework, the movie doles out a series of effective musical numbers under director/co-producer Lin-Manuel Miranda’s efficient direction. In case of one wonderful musical sequence unfolded at a local diner where Larson has worked, it is skillfully presented with enough spirit and energy before eventually culminating to a big climax, and some of you may enjoy the brief appearance of a bunch of well-known Broadway performers. In case of “Therapy”, the movie effortlessly alternates between humor and bitterness as Larson and his girlfriend come to face the harsh truth about their increasingly strained relationship, and that is surely another highlight in the film.

Meanwhile, the movie gradually generates more gravitas during its second half as Larson subsequently comes to realize where his artistic talent and passion should really go. As becoming more aware of many people around him devastated by the ongoing AIDS epidemic, Larson eventually decides to write something inspired by what he has seen from their struggles and tragedies, and, as shown to us around the end of the film, that led to the creation of “Rent”.

As the center of the film, Garfield gives a terrific performance which surprises us with another side of his considerable talent. Although he was not a trained singer from the beginning, he prepared himself a lot before the shooting began, and the result is surprisingly good to say the least. Besides dexterously delivering a number of key musical moments, Garfield steadily holds the movie from the beginning to the end with his natural charm and charisma, and I will not be surprised if he receives an Oscar nomination in next year.

In case of the other main cast members in the film, they mostly come and go around Garfield while bringing some extra personality to the film. While Joshua Henry and Vanessa Hudgens support Garfield well during several musical scenes, Alexandra Shipp, Jonathan Marc Sherman, Judith Light, Bradley Whitford, and Robin de Jesús fill their respective supporting roles well, and de Jesús, who previously drew my attention for the first time via his flamboyant supporting turn in Netflix film “The Boys in the Band” (2020), is particularly impressive when his character reveals his own personal struggle to Larson later in the story.

In conclusion, “tick, tick… BOOM!” is a well-made musical film thanks to the commendable efforts from Miranda and his cast and crew members, and Miranda, who incidentally became determined to pursue his artistic passion more after watching the Broadway stage production of “Rent” in 1996, makes a fine feature film debut here in addition to paying enough respect and admiration to Larson’s artistic career and achievement. In short, this is another notable musical film of this year after the recent movie adaptation of Miranda’s first musical “In the Heights”, and I am only regretful about not being able to watch it on big movie theater screen.

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Passing (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): A reserved racial drama by Rebecca Hall

Posted on November 23, 2021 by kaist455

Netflix film “Passing”, which was released several weeks ago, somberly trembles below the surface as examining its two contrasting African American main characters and their racial issues. While it sometimes feels a bit too reserved for you if you expect something like, say, Douglas Sirk’s classic melodramatic “Imitation of Life” (1959), this graceful black and white period drama film still works as a dry but thoughtful character study thanks to its good direction and effective performances, and its main subject certainly feels relevant considering how much the racial prejudice against African Americans matters even in the 21st century.

The story, which is set in New York City in the 1920s, begins with the ongoing racial disguise of a young woman named Irene “Reenie” Redfield (Tessa Thompson). Although she is biologically an African American, Irene can “pass” as a Caucasian due to her notably lighter skin color, and you will be amused a bit by how deftly she deceives Caucasian people around her as enjoying some white privilege during one afternoon. While we can clearly discern her obvious racial features on the screen, she disguises herself fairly well with her appropriate attire and attitude besides some confidence, and nobody looks at her twice as she enters some fancy hotel for having a little tea time for herself.

However, as Irene is idly looking around her surrounding space, somebody looks at her with considerable attention. That person in question is Clare Bellew (Ruth Negga), and it soon turns out that she is an old friend of Irene. While both of them seem to be delighted to meet again, they are still careful because Clare is also passing as a Caucasian, and she has actually immersed herself in disguise much more than Irene. Since she left their Harlem neighborhood a long time ago, she has adapted herself to her fake racial identity, and her Caucasian husband John (Alexander Skarsgård), who is your typical racist as shown from the following scene, does not know anything about that at all.

Feeling quite uncomfortable during her time with Clare and her deplorable husband, Irene is relieved to return to her residence in Harlem, where she has led a fairly good life with her doctor husband Brian (André Holland) and their two kids. When Clare later sends a rather emotional letter, Irene is not particularly interested in getting in touch with Clare more, but then Clare eventually comes to Irene’s residence. Although she has enjoyed lots of white privileges, Clare apparently misses those good old time in Harlem, and Irene comes to let Clare accompany her and Brian when they go to a local dance party during one evening.

As watching her old friend showing more of her spirited side while being an African American for a while, Irene cannot help but envy how easily her friend goes back and forth between two different worlds without much trouble, and things become more complicated as Clare keeps coming into Irene’s life. Irene understands well how Clare often feels lonely, anxious, and conflicted as constantly maintaining her racial disguise, but she also finds herself jealous of her friend’s plucky personality and graceful sense of class, and she is not so pleased when she later discerns what is going on between Clare and Brian.

While there are considerable melodramatic aspects in the story itself, the screenplay by director/co-producer Rebecca Hall, which is based on Nella Larsen’s acclaimed 1929 novel of the same name, still sticks to its reserved attitude as before as gradually conveying to us the emotional stakes for its two main characters. Even when the story later arrives at a certain key moment as expected, the movie steadily maintains its low-key tone while slowly increasing tension behind the screen, and that is why the following finale feels quite devastating despite some ambiguity on what exactly happens around that point.

Making this movie was a passion project for Hall for a long time because of her hidden family background (Her opera singer mother Maria Ewing was actually an African American), and Hall demonstrates here that she is a competent filmmaker who knows how to engage the audiences via mood and details. The cinematography by Eduard Grau, which is done in black and white film of 1.33:1 ratio, often gives us gorgeous visual moments to be savored, and the restrained score by Devonte Hynes subtly suggests the emotional undercurrents swirling around the two heroines of the film.

Under Hall’s skillful direction, Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga are engaging in the tentative interactions between their characters. While Thompson ably holds the ground for her co-star, Negga effortlessly glides into the screen every time, and we become more aware of their characters’ many differences along the story. In case of several other notable main cast members in the movie, André Holland and Alexander Skarsgård hold each own spot well around Thompson and Negga, and the special mention goes to Bill Camp, who has a few juicy moments as a sardonic Caucasian writer who often observes Harlem and its African American people with detached anthropological interest.

In conclusion, “Passing” is a solid feature film debut by Hall, who recently impressed us again with her excellent lead performance in “The Night House” (2020) in this year. While the overall result is rather modest, it has enough admirable elements besides another fabulous acting turn from Thompson and Negga, and it will be interesting to see what Hall will make next after this interesting drama film.

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Casting JonBenet (2017) ☆☆☆(3/4): Casting performers to play her and others

Posted on November 22, 2021 by kaist455

Netflix documentary film “Casting JonBenet” takes an unorthodox approach to an infamous unsolved murder case at its center. Because I am not familiar with that notorious case which happened almost 25 years ago, I was a bit disappointed to see that the documentary does not give much information except some basic details, but I was instead intrigued by its conventional approach, and that certainly distinguishes the documentary a lot from those countless run-of-the-mill true crime documentary flicks.

First, let me tell you a bit about the death of JonBenet Ramsey, who was only 6 years old when she was murdered in Denver, Colorado on the day after Christmas in 1996. At first, it seemed like she was kidnapped by somebody considering a ransom note found right after her disappearance, but then her body was found by her father in one of the basement spaces in the house, and the police as well as the media came to suspect her parents more once it became quite clear that she was hit in her head by a blunt instrument and then cruelly strangulated to the death.

Instead of interviewing Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey or any other people associated with the case, director/co-producer Kitty Green takes a different route for re-examining the case. She held the auditions for performers to JonBenet, her parents, and several other figures associated with the case, and we observe a number of auditionees, who are mostly from Colorado, trying their best in front of the camera. I do not know how much these auditionees were aware of Green’s plan, but they all look serious as trying to get their roles, and they also come to reveal themselves more while talking a little about why they were interested in the audition.

As listening to these people, we get to know a bit more about the case. As one auditionee pointed out, there was something quite fishy about that ransom note from the beginning, and the subsequent discovery of JonBenet’s body at her house strongly suggests that her parents were involved in her death, but there was not any strong evidence to incriminate them. To make matters worse, the Denver police made lots of mistakes in handling the case and the growing attention of the media, and a former Chicago cop, who incidentally auditions for the police chief of Denver, muses a little on how that case became a sort of good lesson to him and his fellow cops in Chicago at that time.

Meanwhile, the casting of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey turns out to be rather tricky as the auditionees have each own opinion and interpretation on Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey. While some of them think Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey are guilty as suspected, others do not think so in contrast, and they all have different opinions on whether Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey and their kids were actually happy or not. Was Mr. Ramsey, who was a wealthy and respectable man on the surface, actually a pretty horrible father and husband to his family? Was Mrs. Ramsey, who was evidently narcissistic as shown from her eager attempt to push JonBenet into following her footsteps via child beauty pageant, really an abusive mother with some personality issue?

The key moment in the documentary comes from when several pairs of auditionees try to play Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey giving a public statement. As preparing themselves, the auditionees talk about how Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey looked strained and awkward at that time, and the documentary lets us to reflect more on these personal observations for a while instead of showing us real Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey delivering their public statement. I guess they probably looked really awkward, but was it really the sign of their guilt? Or, were they just too devastated and overwhelmed to act and behave as, uh, properly as expected by many others and the media at that time?

As the investigation was going nowhere, a number of rather wild and unbelievable speculations on the case naturally followed, and we hear about some of them. While it was possible that JonBenet was merely killed by an unknown intruder, one of the auditionees in the documentary claims that she was killed by someone involved with a hidden child prostitution organization, and some other auditionee even suggests that JonBenet’s father might have prostituted his own daughter.

There is also a creepy part involved with the casting for an actor to play some crazy dude who claimed that he killed JonBenet but then was eventually released not long after his arrest. One of the actors chosen to play this crazy dude looks fairly well-cast in my inconsequential opinion, and he surely exudes enough eerie vibe as doing some good acting in front of the camera, though I guess he is a nice guy in real life.

Even in the end, “Casting JonBenet” keeps revolving around the fringe of its main subject as before, and that will probably frustrate you a lot if you expect a conventional true crime documentary, but I think that is the point of the documentary. The truth will probably remain beyond our reach forever, and we will be still drawn to many baffling aspects of the case without any satisfactory answer just like many other infamous unsolved criminal cases out there. As directing her camera toward many different human feelings and thoughts over the case, Green gives us one interesting documentary experiment to watch, and its sublime finishing touch, which you must see for yourself, will linger on you for a while after it is over.

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Operation Hyacinth (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): A grim but compelling Polish police noir drama

Posted on November 22, 2021 by kaist455

Polish film “Operation Hyacinth”, which was released on Netflix in last month, looks into its moody period background via a typical noir tale of obsession, confusion, and corruption. As steadily following a supposedly clean-cut young hero who becomes quite obsessed with solving one mysterious criminal case, the movie observes not only his growing personal conflict but also the oppressive system willing to crush the weak without any hesitation, and we are more chilled as the hero desperately struggles inside the system where he must pay the price in one way or another in the end.

The title of the movie comes from a secret mass operation of the Polish communist police during 1985-1987. The purpose of this operation was to create the national database of all the homosexuals and their associates in Poland, and one early scene in the film gives us a brief glimpse of how this operation was done day by day during that time. Because homosexuality was not only a taboo but also a crime, cops could arrest anyone suspected of a homosexual, and those arrested homosexuals were often mistreated by cops, while also facing the grim possibility of getting their lives and careers ruined forever.

Like many other detectives around him, Robert Mrozowski (Tomasz Ziętek) does not have much sympathy or compassion toward those arrested homosexuals, and this young detective is not so pleased when he and his older partner happen to be assigned to the case of the brutal murder of some rich gay dude shortly after closing their latest case. Although this case does not seem to help his promising career that much, Robert has no choice because his direct boss is adamant about him handling the case, and so is his father, who happens to be a very influential high-ranking official in the system.

As investigating the case more along with his partner, Robert begins to delve into a small community of gay people in the city. At first, they spy on a certain public place where those gay people often seek their clandestine pleasure at night, and then Robert decides to get closer for getting anyone who can function as an informer for him. Fortunately, he happens to come across a college lad named Arek (Hubert Milkowski), and it does not take much time for him to gain Arek’s trust after they run away together from another usual police raid.

Meanwhile, the case is suddenly closed shortly after Robert and his partner arrest a possible suspect, and Robert cannot help but wonder more about many unexplained aspects of the case. Although the case may be a part of some bigger case, it seems that his direct boss as well as his father is willing to look away, and Robert certainly feels more pressured as going deeper in the case even though he is officially off the case.

As he continues his investigation in private, Robert also gets to know Arek and other gay people more. At one point, he is invited a little private party of theirs, and, though he is rather hesitant a bit at first, but he soon finds himself swept by the (no pun intended) gay mood surrounding them, and then he feels quite conflicted while coming to care about Arek more than before. It is apparent that Arek is attracted to Robert, but Robert does not know what to do about this situation as gradually getting attracted to Arek, and it does not take much time for his fiancée, who also works in the police, to notice Robert’s growing inner conflict.

Now this will probably remind you of what Al Pacino’s character went through in William Friedkin’s notorious queer thriller film “Cruising” (1980), but, while it pays considerable attention to Robert’s sexual confusion, the movie also has other fish to fry. Constantly shrouded in stark gray ambience with lots of darkness here and there, the movie has us feel more of the oppressive social mood surrounding our hero and many other characters in the film, and the presence of the evil hidden inside the system feels more palpable to us as our hero goes further into his lonely investigation. Although he becomes more determined to get to the bottom of the case, there are people not so pleased with him snooping around here and there, and, of course, they do have the power to silence him once for all if necessary.

The screenplay by Marcin Ciaston eventually culminates to an intense climatic scene where its hero must make a big choice to affect not only himself but also several other characters around him, and director Piotr Domalewski keeps holding our attention as usual. I think the movie ends rather abruptly in the very last shot, but what is told to us next resonates a lot with what we have observed via its hero, and we are chilled as reminded of how oppressive system usually feeds on the weak for maintaining its status quo by any means necessary.

Tomasz Ziętek, who previously appeared in Jan Komasa’s Oscar-nominated film “Corpus Christi” (2019), gives a solid lead performance as the center of the story, and several other main cast members of the movie bring some extra shades to the film. While Hubert Milkowski complements Ziętek well during their several crucial scenes, Marek Kalita is unnervingly unflappable as Robert’s stern father, and Adrianna Chlebicka brings some warmth to the story as Robert’s fiancée.

On the whole, “Operation Hyacinth” is a grim but compelling genre piece to be appreciated for mood, storytelling, and performance, and it is certainly one of the better films from Netflix during this year. Yes, this is basically a standard stuff for seasoned mystery fans like me, but it did its jobs as well as intended while vividly illuminating the dark sides of the Polish society in the 1980s, and I think it will linger on my mind for a long time.

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New Order (2020) ☆☆(2/4): A messy exercise of chaos and brutality

Posted on November 21, 2021 by kaist455

Sometimes, I come across hollow artsy flicks hopelessly stuck in their supposedly interesting but ultimately flimsy ideas, and Mexican film “New Order” is one of such depressing cases. Sure, I understand that it intends to be an edgy political allegory about class and several relevant social subjects, and it works to some degree during its first half hour thanks to its competent filmmaking. However, as only being turned into a barebone ideological mess with some very nasty and unpleasant aspects, it did not impress me much on the whole, and I came out of the screening room only with considerable annoyance and disappointment.

The early part of the movie, which is its highpoint in my humble opinion, looks promising as reminiscent of the devastating final act of Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning film “Parasite” (2019). At a big modern house belonging to some rich businessman in Mexico City, lots of affluent people gather together for the upcoming wedding ceremony of that businessman’s daughter, and the movie looks around a number of key figures including the bride and her family for a while as they and many other guests casually kill some time before the expected arrival of the judge for the wedding ceremony.

However, the judge is unexpectedly getting late due to big riots spread here and there in the city. Although the movie does not explain to us in details, it seems that those millions of poor people in the city finally become very, very, very angry about the growing social and economic inequality, and the city is accordingly thrown into sheer chaos and violence at present, but that does not worry those rich people at the wedding just because, so far, they have been safely insulated from whatever is happening outside in the city.

And there comes an old man who once worked for the rich businessman and his family. As already shown to us during the opening scene, this old man’s wife has been kicked out of a local hospital despite having been quite ill, and now he needs a considerable amount of cash right now for taking his sick wife to some private clinic where she can be admitted and then have a necessary surgery. Due to his understandably poor economic condition, he comes to ask for the emergency loan from his former employer, but, not so surprisingly, he only finds himself getting ignored again and again no matter how much he pleads to his former employer’s family members one by one. Sure, they all say they are sorry for him, but then they all casually disregard him as their minds are mostly occupied with the wedding ceremony, and that certainly makes a big and obvious point on how crass and selfish they are.

In the end, the situation is suddenly turned upside down when those rioters finally break into the house one by one. As many of wedding guests are accordingly thrown into a very grim situation, the movie delivers a series of strikingly brutal and cold-blooded moments of violence, but we observe them from the distance without much care. Yes, these rich guests may deserve to be punished, but those rioters in the film are presented as nothing but merely vicious thugs to repulse us more than once, and you may come to wonder what kind of political point the movie exactly wants to make in its supposedly neutral attitude.

Anyway, things get quite worse in the city once the military enters the picture and then goes all the way for seizing the control of the whole country. Now numerous citizens are suddenly taken away for no apparent reason, and one of them happens to be the bride of the wedding ceremony. Feeling guilty about how that old man was disregarded by her family, she decided to do the right thing for him on that day, but her following action only leads to a dire consequence for not only her but also several others in the story, and we subsequently get a number of barbaric moments of military brutality later in the film.

On the surface, these horrific scenes are effective enough to chill and disgust us, but they only feel sensational and gratuitous without any substantial narrative ground to support them due to the glaringly superficial screenplay by director/co-producer/co-editor Micheal Franco. While the bride and a few other main characters in the story are mildly sympathetic to us, they are not particularly developed well just like many other characters in the film, and that is why the finale feels rather empty and insipid despite another dose of horror and violence for us.

The cast members of the film look believable at least as they are thrown into one ordeal after another, but they are all inherently limited by their cardboard characters from the start, and I can only hope that Mónica Del Carmen, who plays the bride in the movie, and several other extra performers in those horrific scenes in the film were treated well on the set before being demanded to look really terrorized and degraded in front of the camera. They surely put 100% of themselves into these utterly unpleasant scenes, and it is a shame that their dedicated efforts do not help the movie itself much.

Overall, “New Order”, which somehow garnered the Grand Prize Jury when it was shown at the Venice International Film Festival in last year, surely has some barbed messages for our increasingly turbulent time, but it only comes to spin its wheels in the end while failing to make anything coherent enough for me to reflect on, except, probably, that the rich will always be on the top of us as usual no matter what happens in the world. After all, they are the ones with power and money, aren’t they?

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Love Affair(s) (2020) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): The things they say – and the things they do

Posted on November 21, 2021 by kaist455

French film “Love Affair(s)” is a funny and intelligent comedy about that complicated thing called love. As a bunch of supposedly smart and sensible characters trying to handle their unexpected romances and the accompanying personal complications, the movie busily and hilariously goes up and down along with their unpredictable and inconvenient romantic feelings, and we come to reflect more on how we all can be quite confused and conflicted in front of that irresistible human emotion.

At the beginning, we are introduced to Daphné (Camelia Jordana) and Maxime (Niels Schneider), who happen to meet each other for the first time via Daphné’s husband François (Vincent Macaigne), who is Maxime’s cousin. Because François is going to be absent for several days due to the sudden unexpected complication at his workplace, Daphné, who has incidentally been pregnant for 3 months, will have to stay alone at their rural retreat during that short period, and she is certainly delighted when Maxime comes to stay with her. Although they do not know each other much, it does not take much for them to befriend each other while they go here and there in the surrounding area, and Maxime finds himself quite comfortable as freely talking with Daphné about several things including love.

Not so surprisingly, it soon turns out that Maxime has a little painful personal story about love even though he is very reluctant to tell it to Daphné, who certainly becomes quite curious and naturally encourages him to confide everything to her. Maxime initially hesitates, but he subsequently finds himself telling her a lot more than expected as Daphné also turns out to have a rather embarrassing romantic tale of her own, and the movie accordingly swings back and forth between these two different tales.

In Maxime’s story, everything begins from his casual romantic relationship with a married woman. He does not expect much from her because she makes it pretty clear to him that she wants him mainly for carnal pleasure, but then, what do you know, he finds himself becoming quite smitten with her younger sister Sandra (Julia Piaton) when she is later introduced to him and his close friend Gaspard (Guillaume Gouix). As getting to know Sandra more, Maxime becomes more convinced about his attraction toward her, but, alas, Sandra comes to begin a serious relationship with Gaspard instead, even though they do not agree with each other that much on sex and love from the very beginning.

Now it seems that all Maxime can do is simply stepping away for respecting his friendship with Gaspard, but things become quite complicated as Sandra and Gaspard sincerely suggest that he should stay along with them at least for a while. Due to his remaining feeling toward Sandra, Maxime accepts the suggestion without much hesitation, and, of course, he consequently finds himself in a very tricky position between Sandra and Gaspard – especially when Sandra and Gaspard respectively consider ending their relationship due to their increasingly evident personal differences.

In case of Daphné, her story is less complicated in comparison, though her pursuit of love and happiness is equally eventful to say the least. While diligently working on the latest documentary of some prominent male filmmaker as his editor, she finds herself fallen in love with that filmmaker, and she is certainly excited when the filmmaker invites her to a dinner with him for something important to discuss with her in private, but, unfortunately, it turns out that she has misread the director’s attitude to her from the very start.

At least, the dinner is not a total disaster because Daphné comes across François when she is about to leave. Although he is also a married guy besides being a total stranger, Daphné cannot help but attracted to him as he earnestly approaches to her, and they soon embark on their little affair. Although it seems that their affair will last only for a short period, François finds himself becoming quite serious about his feelings toward Daphné, and both of them consequently become very conflicted because ruining his supposedly happy married life is the last thing they want at present.

As intriguing and amusing us more and more, the screenplay by Emmanuel Mouret skillfully balances these two different narratives, and then it surprises us more via some other narratives subsequently added to the whole picture. I will not go into details here for not spoiling any of your entertainment, but I can tell you that you will appreciate a lot how it deftly wields its naughty sense of humor. Like many of those classic French comedies, the movie delights in maneuvering its main characters into more human conflicts and complications to popped here and there along the story, and, to more of our amusement, the movie firmly sticks to its deadpan attitude while somberly playing a number of familiar classic pieces on the soundtrack to nice dramatic effect.

Without showing any distracting moment of self-consciousness, the main cast members play their respective roles straight as much as possible. While Camelia Jordana and Niels Schneider dutifully occupy the center, Vincent Macaigne, Jenna Thiam, Guillaume Gouix, and Émilie Dequenne come and go as required, and Dequenne virtually steals her every moment on the screen as a sort of wild card in the bunch.

On the whole, “Love Affair(s)”, whose original French title is “Les Choses qu’on dit, les choses qu’on fait” (It means “The things we say, the things we do”, by the way), is funny and entertaining with many witty and insightful human moments I am willing to revisit for savoring them more. Yes, love can be very touching, but it is also quite a funny thing, and you may find yourself reflecting on that more after having lots of laughs and chuckles from this little naughty but charming piece of work.

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The Power of the Dog (2021) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A tense western drama by Jane Campion

Posted on November 18, 2021 by kaist455

Jane Campion’s new film “The Power of the Dog”, which was recently released in theaters in US and South Korea before released on Netflix early in next month, is a subtly tense and captivating mix of western drama and character study. As phlegmatically observing the nervous emotional undercurrents swirling between its edgy antisocial hero and several other characters who happen to be around him, the movie slowly grabs our attention scene by scene, and then it strikes us hard with the inevitable outcome of what has been developed so carefully and organically along the story.

Mainly set in a big ranch located somewhere in the middle of Montana, 1925, the movie initially focuses on the uneasy but mostly convenient relationship between two different brothers who have ran this ranch together for many years. While Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch) is usually the one who handles those ranch employees, his younger brother Geroge (Jesse Plemons) is the one mostly tasked with assisting Phil or handling those small and big business matters of their ranch outside, and it is quite apparent to us from the beginning that Phil has dominated over his younger brother and the ranch employees as your average tough alpha male.

So far, George has not had any problem with living alone with his older brother in their big but mostly empty ranch house, but then he unexpectedly makes a sudden impulsive decision to Phil’s displeasure. When George has a meal along with Phil and their ranch employees at a nearby inn on one day, Phil happens to make a rather cruel remark on the sensitive young son of the owner of the inn, and the owner of the inn, a young widow named Rose Gordon (Kirsten Dunst) understandably feels hurt about that. As consoling her a bit later, George becomes fallen in love with Rose, and then they come to marry without telling anything to Phil in advance.

After selling her inn and then sending her son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) to a college where he is going to study medicine and surgery, Rose happily enters the ranch house along with George, but it does not take much time for her to realize that she might have made a big mistake. Although George does love and care about Rose, he is often absent as handling those business matters of the ranch, and there is no one else in the ranch house except Phil and two housemaids. As the lady of the house, Rose often feels awkward when she tries to interact more friendly with these two housemaids, and she feels all the more uncomfortable because of Phil’s unspoken but palpable hostility toward her.

The middle act of the movie is often painful to watch as Rose gradually gets driven to more anxiety and desperation. At one point, she is virtually demanded to be the ideal hostess for a small social evening meeting, and she tries her best for satisfying her husband and several other guests including her parents-in-law, but, alas, she only finds herself quite humiliated in front of them to Phil’s twisted satisfaction.

Meanwhile, Peter returns from the school for spending some summer days in the ranch, and that somehow leads to more tension beneath the surface as Phil regards Peter with equal disdain and disregard. Due to his rather mild appearance and introverted attitude, Peter is often ridiculed by Phil as well as those ranch employees, and he surely feels quite miserable while also quietly angry about his mother’s continuing domestic predicament.

And then something quite unexpected is revealed around the midpoint of the story. I do not dare to go into details here, but I can tell you instead that you will come to reflect more on what the screenplay by Campion, which is adapted from Thomas Savage’s novel of the same name, has masterfully suggested and implied via small nuances and details. Although it does not spell out everything loud to us, Campion’s screenplay trusts in us to gather one subtle element after another along the narrative, and we accordingly come to understand its main characters more than expected, while also wondering more about what may happen among them in the end.

The movie quite commendable in its technical aspects. While the editing by Peter Sciberras is terse but effective with the slow but gradual accumulation of narrative momentum on the screen, cinematographer Ari Wegner serves us a number of strikingly unnerving landscape shots (The movie was actually shot in New Zealand, by the way), and their nervous ambience is further accentuated by the stark restrained score by Jonny Greenwood, who will probably be Oscar-nominated along with Sciberras and Wegner in next year.

Campion draws the strong performances from her main cast members. While Benedict Cumberbatch, who is incidentally no stranger to playing antisocial heroes, functions as the compelling dark human center of the film, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Jesse Plemons are equally terrific in their respective roles, and Keith Carradine, Frances Conroy, Adam Beach, Genevieve Lemon, and Thomasin McKenzie are also well-cast in their small supporting parts.

In conclusion, “The Power of the Dog”, which won the Silver Lion for Best direction when it had the premiere at the Venice International Film Festival two months ago, may require some patience from you at the beginning, but it is an ultimately rewarding experience on the whole. In short, this is Campion’s another marvelous work which deserves to be mentioned along with “An Angel at My Table” (1990) and “The Piano” (1993), and I think you should watch it on big theater screen instead watching it at your home.

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