Shades of the Heart (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): A series of ambiguous episodes around one writer

Posted on April 5, 2021 by kaist455

It is a bit difficult for me to describe to you on South Korean independent film “Shades of the Heart”. When I saw this little modest film for the first time a few days ago, I was not so sure about what it exactly is about due to its many ambiguous aspects, and then I decided to give it another chance mainly because my physical condition was not so good at that time (Full disclosure: I somehow got quite drowsy more than once throughout my first viewing). After I saw it again yesterday, I am still scratching my head on its deliberately opaque narrative, but I appreciate its subtle handling of mood and emotion at least.

First, let met describe the prologue part of the film, which mainly revolves around two different young people who look like happening to encounter each other at a small cafe for no apparent reason. Probably because she was asleep for a while and still feels befuddled a bit, Mi-yeong (IU, who is also known as Lee Ji-eun) does not seem to remember why the hell she is there or why a lad is sitting across her table right now, and the lad, who turns out to be a writer, generously reminds her that they were supposed to be introduced to each other via a mutual acquaintance of theirs.

As these two characters talk more with each other, the movie makes us wonder more about what is exactly going on between them. Is the lad really who he is supposed to be? Is there any hidden reason for Mi-yeong’s inexplicably black state of mind? When he engages Mi-yeong (and us) via an impromptu tale of his, this merely looks like a small attempt to amuse her a little, but then it is followed by a revelation on who they are in fact – and what exactly he is doing with her at present.

After that, the movie gives us a little more information on the lad as he walks outside alone. His name is Chang-seok (Yeon Woo-jin), and we come to gather that he has been going through an emotionally difficult time since he came back from abroad, though the movie does not explain much on the reason behind his current emotional struggle except suggesting that it also caused the separation between him and his wife.

At least, things are not entirely bad for Chang-seok as reflected by his subsequent meeting with Yoo-jin (Yoon Hye-ri), a young female employee of his publishing company who gladly notifies him that she and her co-workers decided to publish his latest novel. While their meeting is supposed to be strictly for business, Chang-seok and Yoo-jin come to spend more time with each other as walking in a nearby park, and then, for no apparent reason, Yoo-jin confides to him on some bitter facts of her current life. As dusk falls upon them, whatever is churning beneath their phlegmatic conversation becomes more ambiguous to us, and this moment still captivates us nonetheless as the camera keeps focusing on their darkening appearance.

During the next part which is unfolded at another small cafe, Chang-seok is approached by a middle-aged photographer named Seong-ha (Kim Sang-ho), who turns out to be struggling with his own difficult personal problem behind his seemingly jovial appearance. After showing Chang-seok a small vial of lethal chemical material he has been carrying these days, Seong-ha rambles on how sad and desperate he was about that issue of his before getting a small glimpse of hope for him, but then that is subsequently revealed to be a cruel joke of fate, and Chang-seok does not know what to tell him, while taking away that small vial in question.

It is more apparent to us that Chang-seok has been suicidal due to whatever has been tormenting him for a while, but he remains introverted while not signifying much to us, and he does not tell much even when he spends some time at a local bar being tended by a young woman named Joo-eun (Lee Ju-young). As they talk a bit with each other, she says that she usually collects the memories of others because she does not have many memories of herself due to an unfortunate accident which resulted in several serious injuries of hers, and he gladly offers a piece of memory of his, though we can never be sure about whether he is really serious in his offering.

Anyway, their conversation eventually leads to Joo-eun’s impromptu moment of poetry, and the mood becomes a little soothing around them, though that does not lift Chang-seok much from his gloomy state of mind. We see him walking alone again, and then he decides to make a phone call, though it is quite possible that this little private moment of his happens only within his deeply depressed mind.

Even during the following last act, the screenplay by director Kim Jong-kwan, who previously drew my attention with his two good films “Worst Woman” (2016) and “The Table” (2016), does not clarify much what is really going on around and inside its taciturn hero, but it somehow finds an appropriate finale for what has been presented during the rest of the film. To be frank with you, I have no idea on its exact meaning, but I can tell you that it somehow feels touching nonetheless.

As your typical arthouse flick, “Shades of the Heart” will certainly require some patience from you due to its slow narrative pacing, but it is an interesting work to be admired for its deft storytelling and solid performances at least. Although I felt distant to what it is about, I observed how it is about with some curiosity and amusement, and that is enough for me for now.

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The Book of Fish (2019) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): The Book of Bromance

Posted on April 4, 2021 by kaist455

Maybe I should have expected less before watching South Korean film “The Book of Fish”, which, to my dissatisfaction, turns out to be more about its two main characters’ relationship instead of how that old but famous real-life marine biology book in question was made. In my humble opinion, the movie could be more interesting if its partially fictional drama focused more on the latter instead of giving us a predictable bromance tale between two typically different characters, and I must confess that I could not help but sense a better story somewhere inside in its rather trite narrative.

During its opening scene, the movie gives us a succinct presentation of the historical background surrounding Jeong Yak-jeon (Sol Kyung-gu) and his two younger brothers around the beginning of the 19th century. Although they were prominent government officials and brilliant scholars under King Jeongjo of the Joseon dynasty, they were arrested for their connection with Christianity shortly after King Jeongjo died in 1800, and, instead of being executed like one of his younger brothers who refused to deny his Christian belief, Yak-jeon was eventually exiled to Heuksando, a remote island located near the south coast of the Korean Peninsula.

When he arrives in Heuksando after a long journey, Yak-jeon encounters a number of island residents, who welcome him anyway despite his current status as an exile banished by the king and his government. As settling in a house which has been taken care of by a perky widow who does not mind serving him at all, he comes to pay more attention to the environment surrounding the island, and that is how he becomes interested in writing a book about fishes and other marine organisms.

Although he is a practical scholar with some scientific knowledge, Yak-jeon still needs someone to guide and teach him on marine organisms, and, fortunately for him, there is a right guy for him in the island. He is a young fisherman named Chang-dae (Byun Yo-han), and this smart lad is not so interested in helping Yak-jeon at first, but then he eventually agrees to help Yak-jeon mainly because Yak-jeon can teach him how to read those sophisticated philosophy books which may give Chang-dae a chance of upward social mobility someday.

Once Chang-dae officially becomes Yak-jeon’s pupil, Yak-jeon begins to share his considerable academic knowledge with Chang-dae, and Chang-dae shows lots of what he has learned for years as working on and around the sea day by day. Thanks to Chang-dae, Yak-jeon experiences and observes new stuffs he has never seen before, and, as learning more and more from his mentor, Chang-dae becomes more driven to attain what he has yearned since his childhood years.

Unfortunately, the screenplay by director/writer Lee Joon-ik does not delve that deep into this interesting case of knowledge exchanges. While Yak-jeon certainly has lots of things to tell his pupil, Chang-dae’s contribution to Yak-jeon’s marine biology book is flatly depicted via several short moments, though I will not deny that I was amused by a bit by the one involved with a huge specimen which Chang-dae happens to catch via an unlikely bait.

In addition, the movie often falters as trying to cover many different things within its 2-hour running time, and this weak aspect is evident especially during the last act where Yak-jeon and Chang-dae melodramatically become estranged from each other as expected. Around the end of the story, there naturally come some tears to be shed, but we observe this moment from the distance while not feeling that much of the historical importance of Yak-jeon’s book, and that is the main reason why the sentimental final scene of the film does not work as well as intended.

I also must point out that most of other characters in the film besides Yak-jeona and Chang-dae are more or less than underwritten plot elements. For instance, a subplot involved with Chang-dae and one feisty young woman in the island particularly feels too hurried and contrived, and the same thing can be said about the relationship between Yak-jeon and the widow character, who eventually becomes his lifetime partner as taking care of him a lot.

Anyway, the movie is not entirely without good elements to engage us. Lee and his crew members ably fill the screen with vivid period mood and details to be cherished, and cinematographer Lee Eui-Tae, who previously collaborated with Lee in “Sunset in My Hometown” (2018), deserves to be commended for a number of stunningly beautiful landscape shots presented on black and white film.

While they are limited by their archetype characters from time to time, Sol Kyung-gu and Byun Yo-han did a fairly good job of complementing each other on the screen, and, not so surprisingly, the movie becomes less interesting whenever they are not together on the screen. In case of the other substantial cast members in the film, Lee Jung-eun, who has been quite more prominent thanks to her unforgettable supporting turn in Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning film “Parasite” (2019), steals the show at every moment of hers in the film, and she is especially good when her character provides a no-nonsense comment on traditional gender roles at one point in the middle of the film.

Although it is competent in several technical aspects, “The Book of Fish” failed to impress me enough, and it is mildly disappointing compared to Lee’s several recent better works such as “Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet” (2015) and “Anarchist from Colony” (2018). I cannot recommend it because I still believe that the movie could have more depth and insight, but it was not a total waste of time at least, so I will let you determine whether you will watch it or not.

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Bad Trip (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): You will wince – and then chuckle

Posted on March 31, 2021 by kaist455

“Bad Trip”, which was released on Netflix in last week, will make you wince and then laugh, and there are a number of outrageous moments mainly fueled by 1) the good comic timing of its few main cast members and 2) the real reactions from bystanders who happened to be around them without any knowledge on what was actually going on in front of them, yes, and hidden cameras. While this guerilla comic approach is familiar to anyone who watched “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” (2006) or its recent sequel, the movie distinguishes itself via its own manic sense of humor and a bit of surprising sweetness, and you may find yourself smiling more as watching a number of behind-then-scene video clips during its end credits.

Right from the opening scene, the movie demonstrates how far it is willing to go for more laughs. As its hero, an African American lad named Chris Carey (Eric Andre), casually talks a bit with his latest customer at his workplace, we can see that something is going to happen sooner or later, and the movie does not disappoint us at all as Chris subsequently finds himself trying to hide his sudden embarrassing happening from a woman named Maria Li (Michaela Conlin), for whom he carried a torch during their high school period. Unlike the performers playing Chris and Maria, Chris’ customer was actually an unsuspecting bystander who did not know that the camera was rolling somewhere, and you will laugh more as observing how this guy tries to be sensible in front of that unbelievably outrageous happening.

Once the movie effectively sets the tone in the opening scene, the story moves forward to one year later. Chris is now working in a smoothie shop, and he is delighted to see Maria walking into the smoothie shop while he annoys some of his waiting customers, who incidentally suspected nothing even while noticing Chris’s pretty careless working method. When Maria, who has worked as the manager of some posh New York City gallery, finally remembers him and then invites him to the upcoming exhibition to be held at her gallery, Chris is understandably excited, and that fatefully leads to another deliberately disgusting comic moment to remember.

After giving the shameless impromptu performance of a certain well-known musical number in front of mall customers, Chris becomes quite determined to drive all the way to New York City even though he does not have a car. Fortunately, his best friend Bud Malone (Lil Rel Howery) has kept a vehicle for some time, but Bud, who is your average nerdy African American dude, is not so willing to have a road trip along with Chris because he has been afraid of his fearsome older sister, who is the owner of the car and has incidentally been in a state penitentiary for a while.

In the end, Bud is persuaded to help his friend, and he and Chris soon start their road trip toward New York City. Wherever they happen to stop by, they inadvertently got into trouble due to bad luck or Chris’ unwise behaviors. In case of one sequence unfolded at a big country bar, the mood feels a bit awkward as Bud notices that he and Chris are the only African American people in the bar, but the mood gradually gets loosened as they come to enjoy more music and alcohol, and that eventually leads to a couple of uproarious moments to make you wince and laugh alternatively.

One of the most hilarious scenes in the movie occurs at a zoo which Chris and Bud happen to visit along with a bunch of bystanders, who, yes, had absolutely no idea on what was going to happen at that time. I will not tell you more for not spoiling your entertainment, but I assure you that you will be amazed by 1) how director/co-writer/co-producer Kitao Sakurai, who wrote the screenplay with Eric Andre, Dan Curry, and Andrew Barchilon, and his crew members pull out several shocking comic surprises out of one familiar setup and 2) how much those bystanders were actually fooled at the time of the shooting despite the rather crude aspects of the setup.

Needless to say, this and many other scenes in the film surely look like nasty pranks at times, but many of those fooled bystanders are not ridiculed or humiliated on the screen at all. In fact, as reflected by what is shown during the end credits, they had no problem as subsequently amused to realize that they were totally deceived by Sakurai and his cast and crew members.

In addition, the movie is unexpectedly sweet as paying some attention to the long friendship between Chris and Bud, who are totally different from each other but turn out to be quite inseparable from each other as complementing each other. While Andre is likable as an irrepressible comic hero, Lil Rel Howery, who has been a scene-stealer since his breakout supporting turn in “Get Out” (2017), deftly holds the ground for his co-star as providing gravitas to the story, and Michaela Conlin and Tiffany Haddish, who proves here again that she is indeed a comic force of nature to reckon with, are also believable enough to fool bystanders just like Andre and Howery.

In conclusion, “Bad Trip” is often funny thanks to Sakurai’s skillful direction and the jolly comic spirit generated among its main cast members. To be frank with you, I was well aware of what I was going to get, but the movie kept catching me off guard during its 84-minute running time, and, in fact, I chuckled more than once during my viewing. In short, it is one of the funnier films of this year, and I think you should give it a chance someday.

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My Octopus Teacher (2020) ☆☆☆(3/4): One year with an octopus

Posted on March 30, 2021 by kaist455

It took some time for me to get interested in watching Netflix documentary film “My Octopus Teacher”, which somehow eluded me when it was released on Netflix in last September. Although I have often heard words of recommendation from others during last several months, I thought it was just a minor nature documentary I can watch at any time in no hurry, and I must confess here that it finally came to draw my interest a lot more than before when it got included the shortlist for Best Documentary Oscar and then eventually nominated a few weeks ago.

Having watched it in 4K UHD, I can now assure you that the documentary, directed by Ehrlich and James Reed, is certainly something you should watch in HD or 4K UHD for appreciating those gorgeous moments. As its hero, a South African filmmaker named Craig Foster, slowly swims here and there inside a big underwater kelp forest located not so far from his family residence, we cannot help but awed as beholding the majestic wonder of nature, and we are also touched at times while following his modest but sincere chronicle of small but meaningful encounters between him and a wild creature he came to know and observe during a short period of time.

In the beginning, Foster phlegmatically tells us about when he found himself mentally exhausted a lot some years ago. After deciding that he really needed to take a rest, he immediately went back to his family beach house located in a remote beach area near Cape Town, South Africa, and we hear about how his family beach house is often splashed with clashing waves whenever the weather gets windy or stormy. This may not look like an ideal place for rest, but Foster felt a lot better than before as finally having his own private time there.

As days went by, Foster began free-diving in that underwater kelp forest, and he soon came to spend hours there everyday. Although the water is pretty cold, its low temperature made his mind more acute and sensitive to the underwater environment surrounding him, and he later brought a video camera for vividly capturing its awe and beauty. As he often felt soothed by its mostly serene mood, the underwater kelp forest frequently showed him its numerous various residents living here and there, and a series of brief video footage clips reflect well how ecologically beautiful and bountiful it really is.

And then something odd drew Foster’s attention on one day. On the surface, it simply looked like a heap of shells somehow stacked together in the middle of the ground, but, what do you know, this turned out to be a clever disguise of one female common octopus, a.k.a. Octopus vulgaris. Not long after this brief encounter between them, Foster encountered this common octopus again, and he became more curious about it even though it did not look that special at all. He immediately started to study on common octopus, and he also tried to draw more attention from this common octopus after finding its little habitat located somewhere inside the underwater kelp forest.

Although it was understandably cautious to Foster’s tentative approach in the beginning, the octopus became less watchful as getting more accustomed to Foster’s presence, and Foster was certainly delighted when the octopus was casually moving around him after coming out of its habitat at last. As observing more of his new friend, Foster was marveled more about what a remarkable species common octopus is in many aspects, and his new friend constantly amazed and amused him everyday.

However, Foster was also reminded of the harsh and ruthless sides of mother nature – especially when he was watching how his new friend ate and survived day by day. To many different marine animals ranging from small fishes to crabs, common octopus is surely a predator to fear, but it is also a prey to be attacked and then eaten by pajama sharks at any point, and Foster still remembers well a horrific moment when the octopus was savagely attacked by one pajama shark. As a result, it got one of its legs eaten by that pajama shark, and Foster was deeply hurt by this dismal sight.

Fortunately, the octopus went through a peaceful recuperation period with its lost leg being regenerated bit by bit during next several days, and this was also a sort of healing process for Foster, who subsequently became more active with his life and his dear family. He tried to reconnect with his family again, and it is touching to see him showing his adolescent son what he has seen alone for many days.

The octopus surely meant a lot for Foster, but the documentary wisely does not try to delve into what it exactly felt and thought about its human friend. “Men and animals regard each other across a gulf of mutual incomprehension.”, said W.G. Sebald, and the documentary firmly stays from any cheap sentimentality when Foster bitterly observes his friend fatefully arriving at an inevitable point shortly after doing what it is genetically programmed to do right from the beginning.

Overall, “My Octopus Teacher” an appealing nature documentary mixed with heartfelt personal elements, and you may find yourself musing more on life as well as our relationships with nature, Although it feels rather plain compared to its fellow Oscar nominees including “Collective” (2019) and “Time” (2020), it is still a fairly good piece of work, and I recommend you to check it out if you have some free time for yourself.

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Over the Moon (2020) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): An forgettable family animation film from Netflix

Posted on March 30, 2021 by kaist455

Animation film “Over the Moon”, which was released on Netflix in last October, is so familiar and predictable to the core that my mind often went somewhere outside the film throughout its 100-minute running time. Although it initially draws our attention via its distinctive cultural mood and details, the film unfortunately falters more than once because of its weak plot and mediocre characterization, and it eventually comes to leave pretty hollow impressions on us on the whole.

The story of the film mainly revolves around Fei Fei (voiced by Cathy Ang), a perky 13-year-old Chinese girl who still dearly holds herself to the memories of her dead mother and an old folk tale which her mother used to tell her. Long time ago, Chang’e (voiced by Phillipa Soo), the mythical goddess of the Moon, was fallen in love with some dashing human dude, but, alas, they were eventually separated due to his death, and that certainly devastated her a lot. According to the folk tale, Chang’e is still waiting for the return of her true love in her lunar kingdom even at present, and that certainly resonates a lot with Fei Fei, who still misses her mother every day even though she and her father have moved on as managing their little moon cake shop together during last several years.

When the Moon Festival is about to begin, Fei Fei is naturally excited about another wonderful evening with the big moon in the sky, but there comes a change she does not welcome that much. Although he does not forget his dead wife at all, her father has recently become quite close to some other woman, and this woman is willing to marry and then live with him in addition to being eager to be a good stepmother for Fei Fei, but Fei Fei is understandably displeased with this unexpected change in her life – especially after encountering her future stepmother’s rather obnoxiously rambunctious son Chin (voiced by Robert G. Chiu).

Subsequently watching her future stepmother being openly accepted by her father’s colorful family members during a family dinner, Fei Fei becomes sullener and more exasperated than before, but then she comes to have one bold idea. If she goes to the Moon and then proves the existence of Chang’e to her father, he may have a second thought on his upcoming marriage, and things will probably remain same as before for her and her father.

Now this sounds very preposterous to say the least, but the screenplay by late Audrey Wells, which was subsequently augmented with the additional materials from Alice Wu and Jennifer Yee McDevitt, takes some leaps of faith as expected from its modern fantasy setting. For going to the Moon, Fei Fei promptly embarks on building a rocket, and, believe or not, everything including a spacesuit and a helmet comes pretty quick and handy to her as she builds the rocket step by step without telling anyone about that. She also needs to find something powerful enough to catapult her rocket all the way to the Moon, and, what do you know, there is a maglev train rail which has just been installed outside her town.

You will probably observe Fei Fei’s attempt with understandable skepticism like I did during my viewing, but Fei Fei manages to get her rocket launched in the end, and her rocket quickly sends her and her pet rabbit into the space, though it turns out that there are two major setbacks. She belatedly discovers that Chin sneaked into her rocket along with his pet frog, and then they get caught by two big space creatures, which promptly take them to a huge magical place located somewhere on the Moon.

Of course, this magical place turns out to belong to none other than Chang’e herself, who gives Chin and Fei Fei quite an impression via performing a big musical number in front of her audiences, who are mostly small and big colorful entities looking indistinguishable from each other except their body colors. Like these entities, the magical kingdom of Chang’e feels so flat and abstract in terms of shapes and colors that you may wonder whether the crew members of the film had some budget or creativity problem during the production period.

Anyway, Chang’e later demands a certain unspecified gift which Fei Fei is supposed to give to her, and the second half of the film follows Fei Fei’s subsequent adventure for finding and then giving whatever Chang’e wants, but director Glen Keane and his crew members fail to generate enough sense of wonder and excitement for this part. While a part involved with a trio of entities looking like big humanoid chickens feels flat and pedestrian despite lots of actions on the scene, the introduction of a supporting character voiced by Ken Jeong is more or less than an afterthought which remains woefully underdeveloped, and the same thing can be said about a few subplots including the one involved with an unexpected relationship between Fei Fei’s pet rabbit and a creature working under Chang’e. As a result, what is being at stakes for the main characters feel rather inconsequential, and we come to observe them and their story without much care and attention – even during the expected feel-good finale.

Anyway, the main cast members try their best in their fairly commendable voice acting. While Cathy Ang and Phillipa Soo wield their respective musical talents from time to time, Robert G. Chiu and Ken Jeong provide some humor to the film as required, and John Cho, Margaret Cho, and Sandra Oh dutifully fill their thankless roles.

Although it is fairly watchable at times, “Over the Moon”, which incidentally got Oscar-nominated a few weeks ago, is still dissatisfying because of its evident lack of strong character and narrative. In short, this is a passable but ultimately forgettable piece of work, and I would rather recommend to you its more distinguished fellow nominees including “Soul” (2020) and “Wolfwalkers” (2020) instead.

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Collective (2019) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A sobering Romanian documentary on massive systemic corruption

Posted on March 29, 2021 by kaist455

Romanian documentary film “Collective”, which was nominated for Best Documentary Oscar as well as Best International Film Oscar early in this month, is often sobering in its phlegmatic but angry chronicle of outrage and frustration toward alarming systemic corruption. It is very apparent to us right from the beginning that the whole system in question is deeply corrupt and incompetent to say the least, but the scale of corruption over the system is so massive and complicated that even those good people trying to do the right things are frequently frustrated and exasperated as their efforts for reform and justice are thwarted again and again.

Everything began from one big tragic incident which happened at a club named Colectiv in October 2015. During that unfortunate evening, a heavy metal rock concert was being held with hundreds of attendees in the club, and a fire suddenly broke out in the middle of the concert. As shown from a devastating video clip shot during that time, the fire swiftly engulfed the whole interior of the club within a few minutes, and this resulted in the death of 27 people and the injuries of 180 people.

When it was subsequently turned out that the club did not receive any proper safety and health inspection in addition to not having any emergency exit at all, the public protests against the corruption and incompetence of government officials followed, and people became all the more furious when 37 more victims died at hospitals during next several months. This additional tragedy clearly signified to everyone in Romania that something was really very wrong with the public medical care system of their country, and more subsequent protests in public eventually led to the resignation of the Social Democratic Party, which was the ruling party at that time, from the government.

During its first half, the documentary mainly focuses on the group efforts of a local journalist named Cătălin Tolontan and several other fellow journalists at his sports newspaper. Although they did not have much experience in investigative journalism at the beginning, Tolontan and his close colleagues including Mirela Neag were determined to get to the bottom of the deep corruption inside the public medical care system, and what they came to discover thanks to their diligent efforts as well as a number of brave informers willing to talk to them was pretty shocking to say the least. For example, most of public hospitals in the country had purchased disinfectants from a certain big local company, but these disinfectants were actually diluted to the levels way below their standards from the very beginning, and this horrific fraud had accordingly resulted in frequent bacterial infections, which can be quite lethal especially to serious burn patients.

When Tolontan and his colleagues broke this shocking news in public, the interim government, which mostly consisted of technocrats, did not do much while only occupied with saving its face as much as it could. Its officials initially denied that there were problems with these disinfectants, but then, once the public pressure became too much to handle, they belatedly recognized the problems with disinfectants, while blatantly denying whatever they said and presented to Tolontan and many other reporters before.

As the outrages over those faulty disinfectants were continued, the CEO of that disinfectant company was subsequently arrested and then investigated for a while, but then, what do you know, he died under a very questionable circumstance not long after he was eventually released. Considering that this dirty rotten scoundrel, who can be regarded as the 21st century equivalent of Orson Welles’ memorably amoral character in “The Third Man” (1949), probably could testify against numerous officials bribed by him, his sudden death felt too timely to Tolontan and many others, but there is no evidence of foul play even at present.

In the meantime, the new Minister of Health entered the picture after his two predecessors resigned within a short period of time. He is a former civil activist named Vlad Voiculescu, and the second half of the documentary follows his admirable efforts for the total reform of the public medical care system. While earnestly trying to restore the public image of the interim government, Voiculescu also embarked on fixing the system as much as he and his people could, but, not so surprisingly, they soon found themselves struggling a lot with many obstacles popping here and there. Whenever there was some progress, they were always pushed back more by the intractability of their corrupt and incompetent bureaucratic system, and they were all the more frustrated as watching how some prominent local politician and popularist newspapers eagerly exploited this deadlock for their political benefit.

The narrative of the documentary finally culminates to the following national elections, and it is not much of a spoiler to tell you that the outcomes were pretty depressing to not only Voiculescu and Tolontan but also many others around them. Even at that narrative point, director/co-writer/co-editor Alexander Nanau, who also served as the cinematographer of his documentary, maintains his calm, restrained storytelling approach as before, and the last scene, which is involved with the family of one of the dead victims, is quietly harrowing in the very last shot.

Often powerful in its clear and incisive presentation of important and urgent social issues, “Collective” will surely remind you again of why the transparency and competence in public service systems are so important to us. This is definitely one of the best documentaries of last year in addition to being another stunning work from Romanian cinema, and I wholeheartedly recommend you to see it as soon as possible.

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The Mole Agent (2020) ☆☆☆(3/4): The old mole operating at a retirement home

Posted on March 29, 2021 by kaist455

Documentary film “The Mole Agent”, which was recently nominated for Best Documentary Oscar early in this month (It was also selected as the Chilean entry for Best International Film Oscar and then included in the 15-film shortlist, by the way), is simpler than it seemed at first, and that is not a bad thing at all. While initially looking like an investigative documentary, it goes for something milder and gentler instead to our little surprise, and the result is often sweet, funny, and poignant as accompanied with some sincere musing on life and aging.

At the beginning, director/writer Maite Alberdi shows us several different interviewees who come to a private investigation agency after encountering its rather odd newspaper notice for employment. According to that newspaper notice, the agency is looking for someone aged enough to be around 80-90, and the applicants also have to be familiar with a number of modern electronic devices including smartphone.

One of these very old applicants is Sergio Chamy, who is eventually selected as a mole agent working for the agency despite his evident clumsiness in handling a smartphone given to him. Watching Chamy fumbling with the smartphone on the screen, I was somehow reminded again of my parents often asking me and my younger brother about how to use their new smartphones and those apps installed in their new smartphones, and I wondered again whether I will be in similar circumstances several decades later (If I manage to survive in spite of numerous serious matters in our world, of course).

Anyway, Chamy’s handler Romulo Aitken is ready to put Chamy into their undercover mission, whose target is a little peaceful retirement home for old people. One of those old residents in this retirement home is the mother of Aitken’s client, and his client, who is incidentally never shown in the documentary, has some concerns over whether her mother has been actually treated well. Although she can just go there for confirming on her mother’s current status, Aitken’s client wants to be absolutely sure about her mother’s well-being at the retirement home, and it is Chamy’s job to go there as its latest resident and then check on the client’s mother without causing any suspicion from others around him.

The main source of humor in the documentary comes from how Chamy continues to be quite clumsy even after the mission begins. As an old man who has yearned for any new experience, he is quite willing to do those ‘risky’ tasks given to him, and his supportive daughter has no problem with taking him to the retirement home along with Aitken, but it does not take much time for him to cause small headaches and annoyances for his handler. He dutifully carries out his daily tasks as often equipped with hidden video cameras, but he is not so good at hiding his secret activities, as shown from a series of amusing scenes shot at the retirement home by Alberdi and her crew members.

Now you will wonder about how the documentary was actually shot, and Alberdi does not hide her process at all right from the beginning. In the middle of Chamy’s interview early in the documentary, we get a brief shot directly showing us her and her several crew members shooting Chamy’s interview, and there is also a little amusing scene which slightly shows us the presence of a boom mike right above three old interviewees at the retirement home. It is quite evident to us that Alberdi and her production team were allowed into the retirement home without any problem, and, according to the IMDB trivia, they revealed to the retirement home director on what they were actually doing along with Chamy only after the shooting was completed.

While the documentary itself gradually turns out to be not an exposé at all, it slowly lets us get to know several notable residents of the retirement home as Chamy innocently snoops here and there around the retirement home. Because there are much more female residents in the retirement home, Chamy’s entrance into the retirement home leads to some excitement among several colorful old ladies, who still do not give up their hope for more spirit and excitement in their few remaining years. To our small amusement, one of them is very active in approaching to him, and we subsequently get a little sincere moment between them as he tactfully tells her about where his heart really lies.

Needless to say, all of the residents of the retirement home are facing mortality day by day without much consolation from their families, and the documentary calmly observes this rather bitter fact of life of theirs along with Chamy, who often listens to his fellow residents with subdued patience and compassion. While it is often funny to watch him sort of crossing the lines as becoming less aware of his covert mission, it is also poignant to see him bringing some comfort and companionship to his fellow residents, and his phlegmatic but emotional final report to Aitken will linger on your mind for good reasons. Yes, we are all bound to die alone in one way or another, and won’t it be a bit nicer if you have your loved ones around you before going gently into darkness in the end?

On the whole, “The Mole Agent” is a modest but playful documentary which distinguishes itself well in its smart and humorous approach to the main human subjects. Its gentle messages on life and aging are surely familiar to the core, but they are presented in fresh and entertaining ways, and I appreciate how effortlessly it pulls out genuine poignancy as maintaining its lightweight comic tone as before.

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Ayka (2018) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): The Passion of Ayka

Posted on March 28, 2021 by kaist455

“Ayka”, which was selected as the Kazakhstani entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2018, is a cold and bleak presentation of one very desperate illegal immigrant worker. Although you will not be that surprised by its phlegmatic presentation of human exhaustion and desperation if you are familiar with countless similar films out there, the movie keeps holding our attention as duly following its heroine’s ongoing plight, and it is also carried well by a strong lead performance at its center.

Samal Yeslyamova, who won the Best Actress award for her work in here in this film when it was shown at the Cannes Film Festival nearly three years ago, plays Ayka, a 25-year-old Kazakhstani woman who has just given birth to a baby who was conceived under a rather unspecified circumstance. While she is supposed to rest more and take care of her baby at a local hospital located somewhere in Moscow, Ayka promptly runs away from the hospital without paying any attention to her baby, and we soon come to gather how things are quite hard and difficult for her at present. She came to Moscow for working to earn enough money to pay off the debt caused by her innocent business ambition, and she really has to keep working as usual before those debt collectors in Kazakhstan call her again.

However, her situation turns out to be much more daunting than expected. When Ayka comes to her current workplace, she tries to work as hard as before, but, not so surprisingly, she often does not feel that well due to her weak physical condition. When she later demands her current employer that he should pay the delayed wage to her and her co-workers as soon as possible, her current employer promises that they will get paid once everything is done well, but, of course, she and her co-workers belatedly come to realize that they are not going to get their wage at all.

When Ayka comes back to a stuffy place where she has been stuck with her fellow illegal immigrant workers from Kazakhstani, the circumstance becomes gloomier than before. While she manages to get some rest within a small private spot, she receives a call from her debt collectors again, and it later turns out that these guys, who seem to be someone she should not mess with at any chance, have already reached to one of her close family members. Naturally, Ayka becomes more desperate in her search for any possible job on the very next day, but it looks like she really hits the bottom as every attempt of hers is thwarted. At one point, she goes to where she was once employed, but she is cruelly rejected because her previous position has been already occupied by some other young Kazakhstani woman.

Meanwhile, Moscow and its citizens are enduring a record-breaking snowfall in the middle of winter, and the resulting wintry atmosphere further emphasizes the harsh and uncaring environment surrounding Ayka. When she manages to get a small opportunity of employment, she subsequently looks for a certain place where she is supposed to be employed, but she soon gets lost to her frustration, and nobody passing by her is willing to help while her physical condition becomes more deteriorated than before.

After the relentless gloominess during the first half of the film, it is rather relieving for us to see its heroine receiving little bits of kindness from a few other people during its second half. As a pet hospital where she happens to enter for using its bathroom, Ayka comes across an older Kazakhstani woman working there as a janitor, and this woman generously provides Ayka a temporary shelter even though she is frequently busy with handling her own matters. She later introduces Ayka to a place where she can get some medical help and advice, and a no-nonsense woman running that illegal place clearly and compassionately discerns what Ayka needs, even though Ayka keeps lying about her physical condition.

While closely sticking to its heroine via a number of extended hand-held shots, the movie sometimes shifts its intense focus to what is going on around her. Not long after Ayka begins to work at that pet hospital instead of that older woman for a while, there comes a plain but impressive scene involved with a female dog which recently gave birth to several puppies but still needs some more treatment. We can sense how much this moment affects Ayka, even though the camera simply stares at the dog and her puppies instead of Ayka’s face.

Sadly, the screenplay by director Sergey Dvortsevoy and his co-writer Gennadiy Ostrovskiy feels too contrived as pushing its heroine further into more despair and desperation around its weak finale. Although Yeslyamova, who shined as one of the substantial supporting characters in Dvortsevoy’s charming previous work “Tulplan” (2008), still engages us as before, but the finale does not work as well as intended, and its expected ambiguousness on whatever will happen next after the very final shot of the film is too trite in my inconsequential opinion.

Overall, “Ayka”, which is somehow released in South Korean theaters in this week, mostly works as the showcase of its lead actress’ undeniable talent and presence, but I must point out that it does not break any new ground in its genre territory as merely presenting numerous typical elements ranging from dizzy camera movements to austere story and character development. I admire it to some degree, but, folks, now I am seriously considering taking a vacation in the warm and gentle humanity of “Tulpan”.

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Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): The Clash of Titans

Posted on March 26, 2021 by kaist455

“Godzilla vs. Kong” overwhelmed me more than once, and I sort of admired that. Like its predecessor “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” (2019), the movie relentlessly flaunts excessiveness and outrageousness from the beginning to the end, and I finally came to embrace this even while being well aware of its many flaws including nonsense plot and broad characters. To be frank with you, I stopped following whatever those tiny human characters in the film are actually doing, and then I simply let myself amazed and swept by the spectacular big matches between two iconic monsters on the screen, which are incidentally the whole point of the film.

During its early part, the movie quickly establishes a sudden emergency caused by the unexpected appearance of Godzilla, who, as some of you remember, saved the Earth and the humanity as beating his arch-nemesis creature in the previous film. After Godzilla attacks a certain big facility owned by some powerful global corporation and the surrounding area in Florida, people around the world come to fear Godzilla again as bracing for another possible attack, but Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown), who got closely involved with what happened at the climax of “Godzilla: King of the Monsters”, believes that there must be a reason behind Godzilla’s rather inexplicable attack. Along with her nerdy boyfriend and a goofy conspiracy theorist guy running a podcast to which she has often listened, she tries to get to the bottom of what is exactly going on, and, of course, what they come to discover is certainly not good at all.

Meanwhile, the movie also focuses on the current status of Kong, a humongous gorilla who previously appeared in “Kong: Skull Island” (2017). Although around 50 years have passed since what happened in “Kong: Skull Island”, Kong is still a powerful and aggressive entity, and he has been studied by Dr. Madison Russell (Rebecca Hall) and her associates in a secret facility specifically designed for him. Dr. Russell sincerely believes that she is doing her best for providing an alternative home to Kong, but Kong does not look that happy at all as being more aware of his captive status, and the only consolation for him comes from Dr. Russell’s deaf adopted daughter, who is not afraid of Kong at all despite being so tiny compared to Kong.

And then there comes an offer from Dr. Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård), a geologist who has studied on the existence of a big subterranean world termed “the Hollow Earth”. According to him, Kong and many other big monsters including Godzilla were born there, and he wants Kong to lead him and his expedition group to the Hollow Earth. Although she is initially reluctant, Dr. Russell agrees to cooperate with Dr. Lind, and we soon get a rather amusing moment as Kong is being peacefully sailed away to a certain hidden spot in the Antarctic under heavy military protection.

However, Dr. Russell knows too well from the beginning that there is an enormous risk in taking Kong to the world outside. According to those old prehistoric records, Kong was a big rival to Godzilla as often fighting over who would be the No.1 monster in the world, and it is not much of a spoiler to tell you that Godzilla soon appears to meet his old rival again – and that lots of things are mercilessly destroyed here and there thanks to their sheer mutual hostility.

During this intense action sequence and several subsequent ones, the movie bombards us with noises and bangs, but it never loses its sense of fun and humor at all, and director Adam Wingard, who previously directed “You’re Next” (2011) and “The Guest” (2014), and his crew members willingly go all the way for silly fun and thrill to be savored. Yes, you may find yourself concerned about the considerable collateral damages caused by the barbaric clashes between Godzilla and Kong, but the movie thankfully does not go into details on that at least, so we can be amused and thrilled more even when a certain big international city is thoroughly demolished during the climactic scene.

Again, the human characters in the film are mostly insignificant on the whole, but that does not matter much to me this time because I finally come to accept that story and human characters are more or less than secondary elements in this and other big monster movies. Sure, it may show a bit too much of Godzilla and Kong, but restraint is the last thing it needs to say the least, and it surely delivers actions and monsters as much as promised to us.

Because Godzilla and Kong are the main stars of the film, the main cast members in the film dutifully fill their small respective spots without being showy at all. While Alexander Skarsgård, Rebecca Hall, and Millie Bobby Brown act as straight as required, Brian Tyree Henry and Julian Dennison are effective as comic relief, and the special mention goes to young performer Kaylee Hottle, who holds her own place well even when sharing the screen with Kong.

In conclusion, “Godzilla vs. Kong” is a satisfying twofer which will certainly entertain you especially if you enjoyed both “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” and “Kong: Skull Island”. Yes, it is inherently very busy and noisy just like those Transformers movies, but it has much more wit, style, and energy in comparison, so I surrender to it with no condition.

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Helene (2020) ☆☆☆(3/4): How she evolved more as an artist

Posted on March 23, 2021 by kaist455

Finnish film “Helene” is about the late life and career of Helene Schjerfbeck (1862-1946), who, as far as I can observe from her several notable works shown at the end of the film, deserves to be mentioned along with more renowned Scandinavian painters such as Edvard Munch. While many of her later works look rather simple on the surface, their simplicity is indelible and sublime to say the least, and the movie did a fairly good job of presenting the personality and artistry behind these interesting works.

The movie, which is set during 1915-1923, opens with a brief prologue scene showing how Schjerfbeck (Laura Birn) was often underrated and overlooked at that time. She feels very uncomfortable as being interviewed by some newspaper reporter, and the reporter assures that he will not ask any hard question, but, what do you know, he soon reveals his gender bias on her and her works, which makes her wince silently behind her calm composure.

We subsequently see Schjerfbeck’s daily life with her old mother in their house located in some rural area. As a woman who has always disapproved of her daughter’s artistic activities, Olga (Pirkko Saisio) often grates on her daughter even she does not speak at all, but Schjerfbeck has tolerated her mother anyway, mainly because she knows well that her cranky mother will not be welcomed in her older brother’s house. Although it is hard for everyone due to the World War I, she shows some considerable to her mother nonetheless, and her mother seems to appreciate that to some degree even though she never expresses that at all.

Except the sincere support from her close feminist friend Helena Westermarck (Krista Kosonen), Schjerfbeck’s artistic career still does not look that optimistic, but there comes an unexpected change on one day. Gösta Stenman (Jarkko Lahti), who is a well-known artwork dealer, comes along with a young art critic/amateur painter named Einar Reuter (Johannes Holopainen), and they are all quite impressed by what Schjerfbeck has drawn during last several years. When Stenman offers to buy all of her paintings for exhibiting and selling them in Helsinki, she is understandably skeptical at first, but, to her surprise, he keeps his words, and her paintings do draw attentions from others as being auctioned at high prices shortly after the exhibition.

Meanwhile, Reuter begins to approach closer to Schjerfbeck as admiring more of her works, and she does not mind that at all despite the considerable age gap between her and this handsome lad. When she tries to adjust the light setting on her paintings because it does not feel light to her, he gladly gives her some help, and that leads to more relationship development between them. After she invites him to her residence for sharing her artistic process with him, he suggests that they should have a vacation together on a beach, and everything looks fine and well to her when they enjoy a little private moment together.

As their relationship becomes more serious day by day, Schjerfbeck starts to consider spending the rest of her life with Reuter, but then Reuter becomes more distant to her as he is absent for a while due to his forestry job. He promises that he will correspond with her during that period, but he also says that exchanging only one letter will be enough for them.

What occurs next is not particularly surprising, but it surely hurts Schjerfbeck a lot, and the mood accordingly becomes moodier than before. While her mother is not much of help to her as before, her close friend stands by her as usual, and her art dealer turns out to be more caring than expected when he drops by her house at one point later in the story.

Leisurely gliding us from one small moment to another, the screenplay by director/co-producer/co-writer Antti Jokinen, who adapted the novel of the same name by Rakel Liehu along with Marko Leino, thoughtfully and sensitively depicts its heroine’s emotional journey, which is often accompanied with a number of gorgeous visual moments filled with authentic period atmosphere and details. The cinematography by Rauno Ronak is often stunning in its serene poetic beauty unfolded onto the screen, and I especially admire one mesmerizing outdoor shot, which shows Schjerfbeck and Westermarck from the distance as emphasizing the vast ethereal landscape in front of them. The production design by Jaagup Roomet and the costume design by Eugen Tamberg are impeccable on the whole, and the score by Kirka Sainio is mixed well with a number of various pieces of classical music including J.S. Bach’s “Prelude in B minor BWV 855A” on the soundtrack.

The movie is also supported well by the strong performance by Laura Birn, who is constantly engaging in her nuanced acting. As she diligently carries the film with quiet passion and intensity, the other main cast members including Johannes Holopainen, Krista Kosonen, Pirkko Saisio, and Jarkko Lahti dutifully fill their respective spots as required, and I was sort of amused by Holopainen looking quite serious in contrast to his comic performance in “Heavy Trip” (2018)

On the whole, “Helene”, which was somehow released in South Korean theaters in last month, will surely require some patience from you due to its slow narrative pacing and dry storytelling approach. I must confess that I felt impatient at times during my viewing, but the movie is ultimately rewarding as providing intimate glimpses into the artistic maturation and advance of one very talented female artist to observe, and I recommend you to give it a chance someday.

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