Gifted (2017) ☆☆☆(3/4): What is the best for her?

Posted on June 9, 2018 by kaist455

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As a conventional family melodrama which clearly wants to pull your heartstrings, “Gifted” does not bring anything new to its genre territory, but it did its job better than expected. While maintaining its balance mostly well between two conflicting opinions on what is the best for its prodigy heroine, the movie works as a sincere and engaging drama to entertain and touch us, and I had a fairly good time with it even while noticing its several weak aspects including its contrived final act.

The movie begins with the first school day of Mary Adler (McKenna Grace), a young girl who has lived with her uncle Frank (Chris Evans) since she was born several years ago. As a pretty smart girl who not only has a prodigious talent in mathematics but also has learned many things from her uncle, she is not particularly interested in going to school, but Frank believes his niece must go to the school for having a normal childhood life as his sister wished before her early death. Sure, he has nurtured his niece’s academic interest for several years as shown from a number of advanced mathematics textbooks in their house, but he also does not want to see Mary letting herself and her life driven too much by her academic interest. As told to us later in the story, that was exactly what happened to Mary’s mother, who was almost close to the solution for one of the most notorious mathematical problems before her death.

Anyway, Mary instantly comes to draw attention from her classmates and her teacher Miss Stevenson (Jenny Slate) while confidently showing off her mathematical talent in the classroom. As the principal of her school later suggests to Frank during their private meeting, it may be the best for Mary to be sent to a special school for mathematical prodigies like her, but Frank remains adamant about keeping her in the school – even after one serious trouble resulted from her rather aggressive reaction to a school bully.

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However, the situation soon becomes more complicated as Frank’s estranged mother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan) enters the picture. As a former mathematician who pushed her daughter’s academic interest as much as she could, Evelyn is surely determined to make Mary follow her mother’s footsteps, and she does not hide her intention at all when she comes to see her son and her granddaughter. Through legal procedures, she is going to take Mary away from Frank, and that is certainly the last thing Mary and Frank want.

The following part of the movie is not so far from “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979) and other similar family melodrama films. As Frank’s lawyer and Evelyn’s lawyer try their best for their respective clients, the mood naturally becomes bitter as the respective flaws of Frank and Evelyn are inevitably magnified during the trial, but the movie also lets us see that both Frank and Evelyn have each own good point on what is the best for Mary. While we surely come to agree more to Frank’s argument, we also come to understand Evelyn’s sincere wish to develop further her granddaughter’s precious talent, though that wish of hers happens to be intertwined with her own academic ambition and enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, the movie also focuses on Mary’s thoughts and feelings under this difficult circumstance. When she goes to Boston along with her grandmother, she is delighted to learn more about her mother as well as her grandmother, and she is also quite excited to demonstrate her talent in front of Evelyn and her colleague, but she still wants to be with her uncle, who knows and understands her better than anyone except Roberta (Octavia Spencer), a middle-aged woman who is their close neighbor. When Mary becomes quite sad and depressed to learn that her biological father never cared about her from the beginning, Frank takes her to a certain place for making her feel a bit better, and that is the most touching moment in the film.

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During its final act, the screenplay by Tom Flynn pushes its main characters into a simplified melodramatic situation, and that is the major weak point of the film. At least, this rather flawed part is supported well by the strong emotional base established well during the first two acts, and the finale works on the whole although it is a little too artificial in my trivial opinion.

The main performers in the movie bring considerable life and personality to their respective characters. While Chris Evans shows again that he is an engaging actor who can do a lot more than Captain America, young newcomer McKenna Grace is simply wonderful as balancing herself well between innocence and precociousness, and she and Evans are effortless as ably conveying to us a strong emotional bond between their characters. In case of several notable supporting performers surrounding them, Jenny Slate utilizes well her natural charm which is previously shown well in “Obvious Child” (2014), and Octavia Spencer and Lindsay Duncan are also solid in their supporting roles.

“Gifted”, which was released as “Amazing Mary” here in South Korea, is directed by Marc Webb, who previously made “(500) Days of Summer” (2009), one of the best romantic comedy films during the 2000s. Although “Gifted” is less special in comparison, Webb handles well its story and character under his good direction, and the result is mostly satisfying with several nice moments of genuine emotions. It is a familiar stuff indeed, but it is a well-made one coupled with good performances to watch, and I am fine with that.

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Kodachrome (2017) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A predictable road movie shot on 35mm Kodak film

Posted on June 9, 2018 by kaist455

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In short, “Kodachrome” is your average road movie. Thoroughly conventional and predictable at its every key narrative point, the movie did not surprise me or touch me much. While there are several good elements to notice, they are not enough to distinguish it from many other similar road movies, and I was eventually left with a rather hollow impression when it was over.

The movie opens with its hero’s serious business situation. While he has been modestly successful as an executive of some small record label located in New York City, Matt Ryder (Jason Sudeikis) is about to get fired because a very popular musician walks away from him and his record label for the contract with a bigger record label, and he must sign any prominent musician to his record label for not getting dismissed by his boss. Fortunately, there is a chance from a famous rock band named the Spare 7’s, and Matt must succeed within 2 weeks.

And then there comes a young woman named Zooey (Elizabeth Olsen), who turns out to be the nurse/assistant of Matt’s estranged father Benjamin (Ed Harris). As a renowned professional photographer, Benjamin has been respected a lot in his field for many years, but he has been quite distant to his son since he abandoned his wife and son a long time ago, and Matt still feels angry about how much Benjamin hurt him and his mother, even though Benjamin is now a dying old man who simply wants his son to accompany him during what is going to be his last journey. Benjamin has four old Kodachrome film rolls which have not been developed yet, but there is the only one photo shop in US where Kodachrome film can be developed, and he needs to go there as soon as possible because that photoshop in question, which is located in Parsons, Kansas, will stop developing Kodachrome film in a few weeks as the Eastman Kodak company ceases to produce the developing solutions for Kodachrome film.

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Mainly thanks to the persistent urging from Zooey, Matt reluctantly agrees to visit Benjamin’s apartment for a dinner, but, of course, things do not go well once he and Benjamin sit on the dinner table along with Zooey and Benjamin’s manager Larry (Dennis Haysbert). As seeing again what a callous and insensitive guy his father is, Matt comes to walk away from the dinner table earlier than expected, but then Larry gives him an offer he cannot refuse. Through his old connections, Larry arranges a meeting with the Spare 7’s in Chicago, and all Matt has to do is dropping by Chicago in the middle of his journey with Benjamin.

Right from when Matt gets on Benjamin’s car which is alternatively driven by Zooey and Matt, we can clearly see what we are going to get, and the movie does give us exactly what we expect from it. Yes, Matt and Benjamin surely bicker with each other at times, but they eventually come to settle in a sort of equilibrated state as Zooey functions as the buffer between them, and the movie accordingly gives us a number of wide landscapes shots which are accompanied with, what do you know, sentimental pop songs. Yes, as Zooey often reminds Matt of what is wrong with him, we sense a certain mutual feeling developed between them, and we are not so surprised at all when Matt makes a little forward step toward her later in the story.

Meanwhile, the movie dutifully supplies several small episodic scenes as its three main characters roll from one spot to another, but we do not get much surprise from these nice but mostly predictable moments, and the screenplay by Jonathan Tropper is often hampered by its numerous plot contrivances. When Ben and Matt visit Ben’s brother Dean (Bruce Greenwood) along with Zooey, it looks like Ben and his brother put away those old feelings between them, but there eventually comes an uncomfortable moment when Ben blurts out an old secret in front of others, and Matt is naturally exasperated by this. When Matt finally meets the Spare 7’s in Chicago, Ben helps his son through a small piece of advice, but then the movie takes an artificial left turn, and it never recovers from that as lurching toward to its predestined arrival point.

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In case of those four Kodachrome film rolls in the film, I do not dare to reveal anything about their contents, but I bet some of you have already guessed why they are so important to Benjamin. When its contents are finally revealed during the ending of the film (is that a spoiler?), we are supposed to be touched along with Matt, but the movie does not build enough emotional base for that, and I must tell you that what is shown during the following end credits are far more memorable in comparison.

Anyway, the movie, which is incidentally shot on 35mm Kodak film, is a mildly enjoyable experience thanks to the competent direction of director Mark Raso, and his three main performers try their best with their respective roles. While Jason Sudeikis, who has shown his more serious side during recent years, ably dials down his comic persona, Ed Harris, who has been always reliable throughout his long, illustrious acting career, gives us a couple of sincere monologue scenes to be appreciated while never overlooking his character’s unpleasant aspects, and Elizabeth Olsen, who has been one of the most interesting actresses in Hollywood after her breakthrough turn in “Martha Marcy May Marlene” (2011), brings some life and spirit to her character despite being under-utilized on the whole.

“Kodachrome”, which is currently available on Netflix in US, is not entirely disappointing, and I enjoyed how Sudeikis, Harris, and Olsen enhance their characters to some degrees, but I still cannot help but be reminded of its many flaws which distracted me a lot during my viewing. I saw many road movies better than this, and I think you should look for them first, but I will not stop you if you just want to spend your free time on anything passable.

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In Between Seasons (2016) ☆☆☆(3/4): With her son’s boyfriend

Posted on June 9, 2018 by kaist455

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South Korean “In Between Seasons” is a mild but sensitive drama which respects and cares about its two main characters who have been close to each other but then suddenly come to confront an invisible gap between them. As carefully establishing an awkward human circumstance surrounding them, the movie lets us understand and emphasize with their respective emotional struggles, and it is often quietly poignant as they tentatively approach closer to each other with honesty and acceptance.

After the opening scene which shows the aftermath of a car accident which results in the comatose state of Soo-hyeon (Ji Yoon-ho), the movie shows how his close friend Yong-joon (Lee Won-geun) came into the life of Mi-kyeong (Bae Jong-ok), Soo-hyeon’s mother who has raised her son alone for years as her husband is usually absent due to his work in Philippine. When Soo-hyeon introduced Yong-joon to her four years ago, Mi-kyeong was glad to see that her lonely adolescent son came to have a friend to hang around with, and she soon found herself becoming a sort of mother figure to Yong-joon after learning of a few things about his unhappy childhood including his mother’s suicide.

After graduating from their high school several months later, Soo-hyeon and Yong-joon meet each other less frequently than before as Soo-hyeon goes to a college and Yong-joon starts his obligatory military service, but they remain as close friends nonetheless while always supported by Mi-kyeong. We see Soo-hyeon visiting Yong-joon along with his mother, and then we see Mi-kyeong visiting her son along with Yong-joon not long after Soo-hyeon begins his obligatory military service a few years later.

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And it is gradually revealed to us that Soo-hyeon and Yong-joon have been romantically involved with each other right from the beginning. While not telling anything to Mi-kyeong, they spent their own private time together from time to time, and we come to learn later that the aforementioned accident happened during their another private time.

While patiently waiting for his son to regain his consciousness at a hospital, Mi-kyeong happens to check out her son’s camera which was handed to her along with his other possessions, and then she finally comes to realize what has been going on between her son and Yong-joon. When Yong-joon, who has been recuperating in the same hospital, drops by Soo-hyeon’s hospital room, Mi-kyeong understandably does not welcome Yong-joon much, and then she comes to put more distance between her and Yong-joon. At one point, she flatly asks him not to come to see her and her son again, and she subsequently moves her son to a facility located in some remote rural area.

Now this looks like your average melodramatic setting, but the movie wisely goes for quiet intimate drama instead of resorting to sappy sentimentalism or overwrought melodrama. As both Mi-kyeong and Yong-joon try to handle each own emotional pain and confusion, the movie steadily brings more depth to their respective relationships with Soo-hyeon via a number of flashback scenes, and we get to know more about how much Soo-hyeon and Yong-joon have loved each other – and how much Soo-hyeon has meant to his mother.

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Eventually, Yong-joon comes to locate where Soo-hyeon has been taken care of by his mother, and Mi-kyeong does not block him much even though she still feels angry and confused about her son’s relationship with Yong-joon. She lets Yong-joon stay in the facility, and she becomes a little more relieved than before as Yong-joon willingly helps her taking care of her son.

Even during one particular scene where Mi-kyeong comes to let out her frustration and exasperation in front of Yong-joon, the movie keeps maintaining its low-key tone, and it continues to engage us with small nuanced moments to observe. When Yong-joon and his older brother have a private talk at one point, we come to gather that Yong-joon’s brother knows about Yong-joon’s homosexuality even though neither of them talks directly about that. In case of a few scenes between Mi-kyeong and her estranged husband, these scenes are imbued with silent but palpable bitterness, and we later get a brief amusing moment when they officially terminate their superficial marriage.

“In Between Seasons” is the first feature film by director/writer Lee Dong-eun, who subsequently made “Mothers” (2017). Through these two solid works which were incidentally released in South Korea early in this year, he demonstrates that he is a competent filmmaker who is also a good storyteller, and I think he is another promising South Korean movie director to watch. Although the movie is not entirely without weak points (a subplot involved with Yong-joon’s co-worker feels rather unnecessary, for example) and it could have felt much fresher if it had come out around 10 years ago, there are still several strong elements including the good performances of its three main cast members, and the overall result is engaging enough for me to care about its story and characters. Yes, the ending may be a bit too inconclusive, but we get to know a lot about its two main characters’ complex human relationships as watching their close but separate emotional journeys, and that is a satisfying experience in my inconsequential opinion.

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Hereditary (2018) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A creepy and insidious horror masterwork

Posted on June 8, 2018 by kaist455

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“Hereditary” is a creepy and insidious horror masterwork you have to see for yourself. Alternatively unsettling and harrowing in its unflinching depiction of an ordinary family under some eerie influence, the movie will disturb and then overwhelm you as pushing its story and characters as much as it can, and you will not easily forget its many scary moments as well as its palpable sense of dread surrounding its characters.

After its calm but unnerving opening scene, the movie slowly establishes the moody situation of its four main characters: Annie (Toni Collette), her husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne), their adolescent son Peter (Alex Wolff), and their younger daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro). Annie’s aging mother recently died, and we see them attending the funeral along with other attendees, but we cannot help but sense the awkwardness from Annie and her family. When Annie talks a bit about her deceased mother in front of her family and others, she does not look that sad, and we are not so surprised to learn later that her mother was not so friendly with not only Annie but also other family members except Charlie.

However, as we watch Annie and her family trying to go on with their life in their house located in a remote forest area, it is apparent that they all are struggling with grief in one way or another. While Annie keeps focusing on a number of elaborate dioramas which are going to be exhibited in a gallery, Peter often lets his mind drifted in marijuana haze, and Charlie, a quiet, introverted girl who has clearly been disturbed in her mind, shows some unnerving behaviors including the one involved with a dead bird. As the most sensible member of the family, Steve tries to make everything look stable and normal around his family, but the mood in the house becomes more morbid and distant despite his well-intentioned efforts, and he is quietly frustrated as not knowing what to do with his troubled family.

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Meanwhile, Annie secretly goes to a group meeting for handling her grief, but it turns out that this group meeting does not help her much when something unexpected happens. I will not go into details here, but I can tell you instead that director/writer Ari Aster and his performers did a tremendous job of conveying to us the resulting grief and grudge in Annie’s family. As sensing more tension and awkwardness being accumulated beneath the screen, we come to hold our breath while dreading what may be erupted among them, and there are several emotionally brutal moments which are as raw, intense, and, uncompromising as the works of Ingmar Bergman and John Cassavetes.

While things become more unstable and uncertain among them, the movie also dials up the level of creepiness as suggesting something far darker which may be lurking around the screen. Evoking several well-known horror films such as “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968), “The Exorcist” (1973), and “The Shining” (1980), the movie gradually unnerves us more and more through a number of truly scary scenes which value suspense over shock, and I must tell you that the highlight moments of “The Conjuring” (2013) look like child’s play compared to these masterful moments. In case of a certain scene unfolded in Peter’s bedroom, it surely terrified me a lot, and I found myself becoming quite nervous when I tried to sleep on my bed after watching the movie.

Like the climactic part of “The Shining”, the final act of the movie act leaves many uncertain aspects which make us wonder what actually happens, and this may be quite baffling and frustrating to some of you, but I think the ending is not only appropriate but also inevitable considering everything preceding it. Although it does not make sense much in some aspects, it feels like a logical arrival point for the main characters’ imploding status, and you may appreciate a dark irony shown during the very final shot of the film.

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While the movie is his first debut feature film, Aster shows here that he is a promising filmmaker with considerable talent, and I admire how deftly he and his technical crew members generate mood and tension. Cinematographer Pawel Porgorzelski deserves to be praised for smooth and precise camerawork coupled with impeccable scene composition, and I especially appreciate the skillful utilization of lights and shadows during many key scenes in the film. While the atmospheric score by Colin Stetson constantly keeps us on the edge, the sound effects of the movie are also impressive as creating unsettling ambience on the soundtrack, and that is one of the main reasons why you must watch the movie at a movie theater equipped with good multi-channel audio system.

The main performers in the movie are terrific on the whole. While Toni Collette, a versatile actress who has always been reliable since she drew our attention through “Muriel’s Wedding” (1994), gives one of her best performances, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, and Gabriel Byrne are equally convincing in their respective roles, and Ann Dowd, who has recently been more prominent thanks to her Emmy-winning supporting performance in TV series “The Handmaid’s Tale”, is also fine as a substantial supporting character in the film.

Although it is not exactly entertaining, “Hereditary” is quite commendable in many aspects including mood, performance, and storytelling, and it surely deserves to be mentioned along with “A Quiet Place” (2018), another notable family horror film of this year. Like any good horror film, the movie touches upon our dark human feelings and then mercilessly delves into them, and it will grow on you more with its creepy emotional resonance. To be frank with you, I am not sure whether I can watch it again, but, boy, this is indeed one hell of a scary movie.

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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) ☆☆(2/4): The Insipid Return to Jurassic World

Posted on June 6, 2018 by kaist455

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25 years ago, there was a film called “Jurassic Park” (1993), and I still remember how much I and other audiences were amazed by its many vivid, awe-inspiring moments of various dinosaurs roaming on the screen. Although it looks a bit dated at present and there has been lots of advance in visual effects since that point, the movie has remained as a remarkable technical milestone in the movie history which surely deserves its three Oscars including the one for Best Visual Effects, and I found myself impressed again by its ground-breaking visual achievement when I watched it again at a movie theater thanks to its re-release in 2013.

Right before watching “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”, I could not help but become nostalgic about “Jurassic Park”, but that did not last long once the screening began. While having a fair number of dinosaurs to present to its audiences, the movie is hampered a lot by its dull, uninteresting storytelling and lifeless characterization, and that is quite a disappointment considering some good potentials shown in “Jurassic World” (2015).

The first half of the movie is mainly about how Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), the former operations manager of Jurassic World, and Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), the former dinosaur trainer of Jurassic World who specialized in taming Velociraptors, come to return to Isla Nublar, a remote Costa Rican island where Jurassic World was located. After that catastrophic disaster shown in “Jurassic World”, the dinosaurs created in the park have roamed freely in the island for next three years without any human intervention, but then they are in a serious danger due to the sudden activity of a big volcano of the island, and it is quite possible that all of them will be extinct as the volcano continues to erupt more or more. Although Claire and other activists try hard to persuade the politicians of Washington D.C. for saving those dinosaurs, the US congressional committee eventually comes to decide not to do anything after hearing a crucial testimony from Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), who makes a sensible argument on why the humanity should not meddle further with a mess caused by their advanced technology. After all, dinosaurs do not belong to the human world from the beginning, so it may be better to let the nature take care of the mess once for all through this upcoming catastrophe on the island.

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However, Claire and her fellow activists still believe they must do anything for saving the dinosaurs, and there soon comes a good opportunity for them. Sir Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), the former business partner of late John Hammond (late Richard Attenborough), also wants to save the dinosaurs, so Claire is invited to Lockwood’s big manor and then meet Lockwood’s righthand guy Eli Mills (Rafe Spall) and Lockwood’s young granddaughter Maisie (Isabella Sermon), who is quite enthusiastic about dinosaurs just like many young kids. While Lockwood already prepared a shelter for the dinosaurs, he still needs some help from not only Claire but also Owen, and Claire manages to persuade Owen to come to the island with her despite his initial reluctance.

Shortly after Claire and Owen arrive in Isla Nublar along with Claire’s two colleagues, they meet a bunch of mercenaries led by Ken Wheatley (Ted Levine), who is very eager to capture a Velociraptor named Blue and does not hide much his rather vicious side in front of Claire and Owen, who was very close to Blue while taming it to some degrees. While they do not like Wheatley much, Claire and Owen cooperate with Wheatley and other mercenaries anyway because it is quite apparent that time is running out for the dinosaurs in the island hour by hour.

Now this part of the movie will probably remind you of “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” (1997), but the movie is not even as enjoyable as that flawed film while failing to generate enough tension or excitement as lurching from one uninspired moment to another. Although things become a little more exciting when all hell breaks loose with the big, catastrophic eruption of the volcano, but the resulting action sequence is not that memorable except one brief haunting shot shown around the end of this sequence.

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In case of the second half of the movie which is unfolded in some other place I will not reveal here, we see plenty of dinosaurs as expected, and there later comes a climatic action sequence as required, but the movie still does not give us much awe or surprise while becoming more predictable and boring. I like a few nice moments such as the one involved with a certain dinosaur which has a very thick skull, but the movie keeps failing to engage us due to its thin plot and bland characters, and I found myself becoming more bored and disinterested as occasionally checking my watch or noticing how an audience sitting right next to me kept fanning herself despite the fairly low temperature of the screening room.

The performers in the movie try as much as they can. While Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard feel less spirited than before, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, and Isabella Sermon merely fill their respective supporting roles, and it is really disappointing to see that notable performers like Rafe Spall, James Cromwell, Ted Lavine, Jeff Goldblum, Toby Jones, B.D. Wong, and Geraldine Chaplin are utterly under-utilized without being given any interesting thing to do.

“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” may satisfy you if you just want to see dinosaurs on the screen, but this is the lowest point of its franchise because of its many underachieving aspects, and I came out of the screening room while not remembering much from the movie. Maybe it is the time to leave the franchise and its many dinosaurs alone, but, as shown from the ending of the movie, that will probably not happen very soon, and now I become more depressed while reflecting on that fact.

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Game Night (2018) ☆☆☆(3/4): This is one nutty game night

Posted on June 4, 2018 by kaist455

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Surprise is always important in comedy, and “Game Night” surprised me as a good comedy film. Because I saw its trailer a few months ago, I had a pretty good idea on where its story was going, but then it caught me off guard several times as inducing big chuckles from me, so I recommend you not to read my review further if you want to be entertained as much as possible.

For folks who want to know more about the film for deciding whether it is worthwhile to watch, I will now describe how Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams) meet each other during its opening scene. When they happen to be playing against each other at a bar during your average game night, something soon comes to click between them, and it does not take long for them to start a romantic relationship and then get married later.

When they are going to have another game night with their friends at their cozy suburban house several years later, things look fine as before, but there are a few problems to bother them. There is a young divorced police officer who lives alone right next to their house, and this guy is a little too eager to be invited to Max and Annie’s game night while not noticing at all that they do not want to invite him for understandable reasons. For not hurting this guy’s feeling, Max and Annie have to hide their evening plan as much as they can, and we later get a small funny moment as their invited friends clumsily slip into their house one by one.

And there is Brooks (Kyle Chandler), Max’s older brother who has always been better and more successful than him since their childhood. Always feeling inferior to his older brother more than he admits, Max is not so pleased about Brooks coming to the meeting, and Brooks confirms his brother’s worst fear as making Max embarrassed and humiliated in front of Annie and others right from when he arrives with a fancy sports car.

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While this game night is about to end, Brooks suggests that they should have another game night at a nearby house rented by him, and he assures to others that they will have more fun and excitement there. Although he is understandably not very enthusiastic about this, Max goes along with others to that house a few days later, and he surely feels lousy again as they are impressed a lot by how big and fancy Brooks’ rented house looks.

Shortly after Brooks tells his guests about what kind of game they going to play this evening, somebody comes into the house. As the person in question sets the situation, Brooks’ guests come to have some expectation for fun and excitement, but then another thing suddenly happens right in front of their eyes, and the situation becomes far more violent and aggressive than expected.

Now I should be more careful about describing the plot for not spoiling your entertainment, but I guess I can tell you that Brooks’ guests soon find themselves thrown into a disorienting situation which may be a lot more real and serious than expected. It looks like Brooks dealt with some dangerous criminal, and that means Brooks’ guests must find and rescue him before it is too late.

As Max, Annie, and other characters bounce from one spot to another during their very eventful night, the screenplay by Mark Perez steadily accumulates its comic momentum through a number of inspired moments. There is a hysterically messy moment involved with a dog belonging to that police officer, and then there comes an absurd but skillful sequence unfolded inside a big mansion, and we are also served with an amusing gag associated with glass table. While constantly making us aware of what may be at stake for its main characters, directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein also maintain well a wry sense of fun throughout the film, and we willingly come to overlook its several implausible moments such as the climactic scene on a bridge.

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The cast members of the movie are effective in their respective roles. As shown from acclaimed TV sitcom “Arrested Development”, Jason Bateman can be quite funny with his everyman persona, and he is especially wonderful when Max tries to hide his envy and annoyance caused by Brooks during several earlier scenes. Rachel McAdams, who already showed us how hilarious she can be in “Mean Girls” (2004) and “Morning Glory” (2010), is impeccable in her comic timing with Batemen on the screen, and they are particularly good during one cringe-inducing moment involved with a gunshot wound.

In case of the supporting performers around Bateman and McAdams, they have each own moments to generate more laughs for us. While Kyle Chandler is suitably obnoxious, Jesse Plemons shows another side of his talent through his oddball character, Lamorne Morris and Kylie Bunbury are also solid as another couple in the story. Although he is mostly required to do or say dumb things, Billy Magnussen acquits himself well, and Sharon Horgan complements him as his no-nonsense counterpart.

Although it does not go up to the level of sheer deviousness shown in David Fincher’s “The Game” (1997), “Game Night” is still a smart, funny, and entertaining comedy film, and I enjoyed its numerous humorous elements while appreciating how they are handled deftly enough to earn laughs from its audiences. I always expect to be not only amused but also surprised whenever I watch a comedy movie, and I can assure you that the movie did its job pretty well.

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Omok Girl (2018) ☆☆☆(3/4): A little cheerful short film about playing Omok

Posted on June 3, 2018 by kaist455

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First, let me tell you the simple basic rule of a game named ‘Omok’, which is basically a simpler form of go. While you play on the same board used in go, all you have to do for your win is setting five black or white round tones in a straight row on the board as competing with your opponent, and that is certainly less challenging compared to those complex strategies used in go, which is usually called ‘Paduk’ in South Korea.

When I heard about South Korean short film “Omok Girl” for the first time, I was curious about it as remembering when I played Omok with my cousins during my childhood years, and I am glad to report that the movie is a little cheerful comedy filled with considerable amount of humor and spirit. Although it is a bit too silly at times in terms of story and character, that aspect is mostly covered by its sheer absurdity and deadpan performance to admire, and I was frequently amused throughout its short running time (57 minutes).

During its first part, the movie depicts how life has been mundane and insignificant for its young heroine. When she was very young, Ba-dook (Park Se-Wan) showed considerable potential in playing go and she was nearly invincible for a while as winning several big competitions, but, alas, there came a moment when she unfortunately became panic and disoriented during one big game, and that was the end of her seemingly promising career. At present, she works in a small, modest playing spot for go players, and she occasionally plays go with a younger girl named Yeong-nam (Lee Ji-won) just for relieving herself from the endless boredom of her uneventful working hour.

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On one day, Ba-dook suddenly finds herself in a difficult financial circumstance. Her roommate Geo-in (Lee Ji-won) happens to waste considerable amount of money on a rather silly thing just for boosting her hopeless musician career, and she and Ba-dook accordingly come to be in the need of the money to be paid as their rent for next several months. The situation is not very desperate because they may be able to manage this difficult situation while earning the extra money through a certain part-time job, but Ba-dook does not want to do that, and that is how she becomes interested in participating a local Omok competition, where she can receive no less than 500,000 won (around $450) if she wins the finals.

Because, as I told you before, Omok is much easier than go, Ba-dook is confident about her victory, but, of course, things do not go well for Ba-dook and Yeong-nam when they come to participate in that local Omok competition. Right from their first game, both of them taste that bitterness of losing, and now that part-time job looks more acceptable to Ba-dook as she feels depressed and humiliated by her unexpected defeat.

However, not so surprisingly, there comes another chance for Ba-dook. An-kyeong (An Woo-yeon), a young man who previously notified her of the local Omok competition, tells her that there will soon be a bigger competition with a bigger prize for the final winner, and he even gives her the calling card of a famous Omok master named Ssang-sam (Kim Jung-haeng). Although she initially rejects Ba-dook’s request because she has put aside her expertise for some other thing which you have to see for yourself, Ssang-sam eventually agrees to teach Ba-dook for a reason to be revealed later in the story, and we subsequently get your average training montage sequence as Ssang-sam embarks on training Ba-dook in a rather unorthodox way.

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Like any other sports movies, the movie culminates to a climatic part where Ba-dook comes to play Omok against her ultimate opponent, but it surprises us as going forward in unexpected directions. I will not go into details here for not spoiling your entertainment, but I can tell you instead about one uproarious scene where one of Ba-dook’s opponents becomes quite overzealous in front of everyone, and I must tell you that I chuckled a bit during one outrageous moment involved with Ba-dook’s ultimate opponent, who turns out to be a lot nuttier than expected to our amusement.

For generating laughs as much as possible, the performers in the movie play straight to many absurd moments in the film, and they are all fun to watch in each own way. Park Se-wan is engaging as a plucky girl who comes to learn some important life lessons through playing Omok, and Lee Ji-won is equally spirited as holding her own place beside her co-star. While An Woo-yeon is both silly and odd as required, Jang Haet-sal has a juicy showstopper moment later in the story, and Kim Jung-young plays her mentor character with gusto while looking as serious as demanded.

“Omok Girl” is written and directed by Baek Seung-hwa, who previously made “Queen of Walking” (2016). That movie was a delightfully unconventional sports comedy drama which incidentally enlightened me a lot on racewalking while also making me reflect me a bit on what to do with my life, and I later chose it as one of best South Korean films of 2016. Compared to “Queen of Walking”, “Omok Girl”, which was actually intended as a series of short episodes to be shown on an online website but then came to be shown in theaters here in South Korea, is more conventional in comparison, it has its own charm and spirit to savor and appreciate nevertheless, and I think it is another good South Korean film of this year.

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The Cakemaker (2017) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A baker and his lover’s wife

Posted on June 3, 2018 by kaist455

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Israeli-German film “The Cakemaker” is a sensitive and tentative drama which engages us via the quietly nervous and uncertain situation between its two different main characters. As watching them slowly approaching to each other step by step, we come to wonder what will eventually happen due to several serious matters between them, and the movie gives us a number of subtle but palpable emotional moments in addition to some distinctive cultural touches and lovely sights of cakes.

The movie begins with how Thomas (Tim Kalkhof), a young German baker working in a small nice cafe located in Berlin, happens to get romantically involved with Oren (Roy Miller), a married Israeli guy who visits the cafe whenever he comes to the city for his work. At first, their conversation is about how much Oren likes Thomas’ cake, but then the conversation becomes a little more private, and then we see their very intimate moment at Thomas’ apartment.

During next several months, Oren and Thomas become closer to each other as spending more time together, but, unfortunately, their happiness does not last long. Shortly after Oren flies back to Jerusalem again, Thomas calls him for a small trivial matter, but Oren does not answer his call while not even responding to his voice messages. When Thomas finally goes to a company Oren has worked with, he is told that Oren died due to a car accident in Jerusalem several days ago, and Thomas is naturally devastated by this sad news.

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The movie calmly observes what Thomas does next after that. He flies to Jerusalem, and then he locates a cafe run by Oren’s wife Anat (Sarah Adler). After dropping by her cafe, he offers his temporary service to Anat while not telling her anything about his real identity, and Anat, who does not completely recover from her loss yet, gladly accepts his offer. As her brother-in-law sharply points out, Thomas is not allowed to use the kitchen of her cafe due to a Kosher law, but Anat allows him to work in the kitchen after she sees what a good baker he is, and that certainly helps her business.

As becoming more important in Anat’s daily life, Thomas finds himself gradually settling in a world quite alien to him in many aspects. When he moves out of his temporary staying place to an apartment thanks to a little help from Anat’s brother-in-law, he is told that he must follow Kosher rules whenever he uses the kitchen of his new place, and you will probably be quite amused to see that there are separate kitchenwares for meet and diary product, respectively. Although he is technically a foreign heathen, he is often asked to join the ritual dinner on the Sabbath, and we later see him spending the Sabbath along with Anat and her young son, who is rather sullen probably because of his father’s death but subsequently becomes a bit brightened by Thomas’ benevolent presence.

Now you probably think you can see where the story is heading, but the movie does not push its two main characters into any contrived situation, and it simply continues to observe the emotional uncertainties surrounding them instead. While he may be glad to get to know more about his dead lover through Anat and her family members, Thomas keeps hiding his secret from them, and he still does not know how to deal with his circumstance as getting himself more involved in Anat’s life day by day. As spending more time with Thomas, Anat comes to have a certain feeling toward Thomas, but then she must decide whether she has to delve further into a certain thing she wants to ignore.

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While not spelling out everything in his story, director/writer Ofir Raul Grazier, who made several short films before making this first feature film of his, lets us immerse into his main characters’ emotional states though small moments to be appreciated for nuances and details. I like a brief ambiguous scene unfolded in Oren’s frequent swimming pool, and I also appreciate how deftly the movie establishes the distinctive cultural/religious atmosphere of Jerusalem on the screen through several things including the routine public announcement of the Sabbath. In case of a few sensual moments in the film, they are tastefully handled with enough intimacy and sensitivity, and they accordingly function as crucial parts of its drama.

In addition, the movie gives us several nice shots of cakes made by Thomas. Although the movie is not exactly a food porn, it is not easy to resist those sweet sights in the film, and you may want to have a piece of cake after watching the film. Besides looking believable in his cooking scenes, Tim Kalkhof is excellent in his nice nuanced performance, and he did a good job of conveying the churning emotions behind his character’s benign façade during a number of key scenes in the film.

In the opposite, Sarah Adler is commendable as a woman who is as emotionally confused and uncertain as a sudden stranger coming into her life. She is particularly good when her character gradually reveals her tender side to Thomas, and that is why that inevitable moment around the finale is quite effective. In case of other substantial performers, Zohar Strauss and Tamir Ben Yehuda are also fine in their supporting roles, and Roy Miller clicks well with Kalkhof in their few scenes in the film.

“The Cakemaker”, which was recently shown in Jeonju International Film Festival, requires some patience due to its slow narrative pacing, and some of you may complain about its rather unresolved ending, but it is rewarding experience on the whole thanks to its competent direction and good performances. To be frank with you, I like its interesting human drama more than what I had to endure while watching “Deadpool 2” (2018) and “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018), and I hope you will also appreciate this small precious gem.

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C’est la vie! (2017) ☆☆☆(3/4): One hilariously problematic wedding event

Posted on June 3, 2018 by kaist455

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French film “C’est la Vie!” is a likable comedy film about one hilariously problematic wedding event. Although the movie feels conventional with its many predictable moments for laughs, I like its breezy mood and the effortless interactions among its wonderful ensemble cast, and that is enough to compensate for its several notable weak points.

The movie is about one particularly eventful day for a seasoned wedding planner/caterer and a bunch of his employees. When we meet Max (Jean-Pierre Bacri) for the first time, he is trying to deal with a young couple who wants to cut the budget for their wedding event as much as possible, but he soon becomes frustrated with the impractical demands from this couple, and that eventually leads to the first funny moment in the film which drew lots of chuckles from the audiences around me.

Shortly after that meeting, Max goes to a 17th century chateau where his latest wedding event is going to be held, and he is accompanied with his brother-in-law Julien (Vincent Macaigne), a school teacher who looks like your average loser right from his first appearance. Max does not like his brother-in-law much, but he hires Julien as one of his waiters anyway because, well, it has been hard for him to get good help these days.

As soon as they arrive in the chateau, Max instantly faces numerous problems to be taken care of by him. His assistant Adèle (Eye Haidara) is a short-tempered woman who frequently clashes with her fellow employees, and we see her arguing with James (Gilles Lellouche), a cocky band leader who is unhappy about being a replacement for some famous DJ. As preparing for the wedding event, James often makes too much noise outside, and that certainly annoys everyone including the groom of the wedding, an anal-retentive prick who is not very pleased to see that there are some unfortunate changes in his plan.

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To his frustration, problems continue to accumulate for Max even after the wedding event finally begins. His waiters complain to him about the costumes and wigs they have to wear while they are working, and Julien and some other guy who is also hurriedly hired to fill an empty position often cause troubles thanks to their lack of professional experience. In case of his longtime photographer Guy (Jean-Paul Rouve), he cares more about tasting food than photographing the bride, the groom, and many other wedding guests, and he looks pretty redundant because everyone is ready to photograph with their smartphones.

And there is a personal problem for Max. Having been estranged from his wife for years (we never see her in the movie, by the way), he has had an affair with Josiane (Suzanne Clément), who is incidentally his another assistant. While she wants to take their relationship to the next level, Max has been hesitant, so she decides to flirt with one of his employees right in front of his eyes, and that certainly brings extra frustration to Max during this particularly stressful day which happens to be his birthday.

As things become messier and more complicated step by step, the screenplay by directors Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano diligently throws many comic situations onto the screen. Most of these scenes are served to us in predictable and blatant ways, and the movie does not particularly utilize well the comic potential inside the seemingly antagonistic interaction between Adèle and James or what is going on between Julien and the bride (They turn out to be ex-colleagues and, yes, he has carried a torch for her), but there are several good moments at least. I like the comical scene involved with a surprise show which, not so surprisingly, goes very wrong, and I also appreciate the expected feel-good finale where Max’s employees come to save the wedding event in the end (is that a spoiler?).

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As the center holding everything in the movie, Jean-Pierre Bacri is effortless in his engaging performance. I still remember well how he memorably played the incorrigibly self-absorbed writer hero of Agnès Jaoui “Look at Me” (2004), and I was delighted to see how he masterfully handles comic situations constantly thrown at his character. Ably conveying his character’s growing exasperation and frustration, Bacri also brings some seriousness to the story, and that is the main reason why the finale works even though we can clearly see through its contrived aspects.

The supporting characters surrounding Max are more or less than caricatures who look as if they came out of “National Lampoon’s French Wedding”, but they are presented as colorful figures at least, and the supporting performers bring considerable spirit to their characters. While Gilles Lellouche is the most notable one in the bunch, Jean-Paul Rouve, Vincent Macaigne, Suzanne Clément, and Eye Haidara are also solid in their respective supporting roles, and Benjamin Lavernhe deserves some praise for handling well a silly scene involved with his character’s very, very long speech.

Although it does not reach to the level of Jonathan Demme’s “Rachel Getting Married” (2008) and Robert Altman’s “A Wedding” (1978), “C’est la vie!” is an enjoyable product like Nakache and Toledano’s previous films “The Intouchables” (2011) and “Samba” (2014). The movie is sometimes a bit too silly for me, but it has enough charm and spirit to enjoy, and I guess that is enough for recommendation.

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Mercury 13 (2018) ☆☆☆(3/4): Female pilots who could have been astronauts

Posted on June 1, 2018 by kaist455

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Documentary film “Mercury 13”, which is currently available on Netflix, presents a hidden story about a group of remarkable women who could have been astronauts in the 1960s. While they demonstrated well that they were as skillful and experienced as their male counterparts, they were unfairly underestimated and then ignored due to the prevalent sexism of that era, and the documentary makes a sharp point on how things could have been different if they had been allowed to follow their dream and ambition.

After the opening scene which imagines an alternative version of that historical moment on July 20th, 1969, the documentary moves forward to the present and then shows us a meeting among three old women who were the members of Mercury 13, which refers to 13 woman who were selected as candidate astronauts for Project Mercury in April 1959. Although almost 60 years have passed since that time, these three old ladies are still full of spirit, and they and other interviewees in the documentary have each own interesting tale to tell us.

At first, these three old women, Wally Funk, Sarah Ratley, and Rhea Woltman, talk about how they respectively became passionate about aviation. Funk reminisces when she had her first flying experience at the age of 9, and Ratley and Woltman also remember well how exciting and liberating it was to fly high in the sky. Although they faced a gender bias on aviation, they and many other female aviators in US did not care much about that while looking up to their idol Jacqueline Cochran, a trailblazer whose distinguished aviation career surely set a shining example for every aspiring female aviator in the country.

After US went into the World War II in 1941, Cochran founded the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), and that was a major breakthrough moment for female aviators in the country. Although they did not fight in the war as officially having no military standing, those female pilots flied newly manufactured fighter planes to military bases, and they were all proud of doing that modest but significant job well for their country. Even after the war was eventually over, most of them were determined to go further with their career, and nothing could stop them.

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And then there came a very good opportunity around the late 1950s. As the Cold War era went on, the rivalry between US and USSR became intense in many fields including space, and then USSR surprised the world in October 1957 with its successful launch of a small communication satellite named Sputnik. Of course, the American government became more motivated to beat USSR in their ongoing space race, and NASA soon began Mercury Program in 1958.

After 8 male astronauts including John Glenn were by NASA selected after a series of physical and psychological tests, Dr. Randy Lovelace, who was the chairman of the NASA Special Advisory Committee on Life Science, came to have an idea which felt rather unconventional at that time. As a close friend of Cochran, he was well aware of how female aviators can be as good as their male counterparts, so he soon embarked on a small independent research project to see whether female aviators can also be good astronauts.

After gathering 25 women at the beginning, Dr. Lovelace began the phase I of his project, and his female subjects had to go through numerous arduous tests. At one point, the subjects got their inner ear injected with icy water just for checking whether they could endure an extreme condition of low temperature, and that was certainly not a pleasant experience at all.

Around the point where 13 women was selected for the next phase to be executed in Oklahoma, the result of the phase I impressed Lovelace more than expected. The female subjects turned out to be on a par with their male counterparts, and it also looked possible that they were actually more qualified than their male counterparts in several aspects. For example, when one of these women was put into a sensory deprivation tank, she could stay alone inside the tank for no less than 9 hours, and that was surely impressive to say the least.

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However, they soon found themselves blocked by gender bias around the time when Lovelace was ready to begin the Phase III of his study in Pensacola, Florida. As focusing more on the male astronauts of Mercury Program, NASA instructed Lovelace to abort his study, and the female subjects of his study naturally became exasperated and frustrated because of this sudden change. Some of them eventually lobbied the White House and Congress for inclusion of women in the astronaut program, and that resulted in the public hearings before a special Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics in July 1962, but, sadly, that only led to more frustration for them.

Nevertheless, the members of Mercury 13 did not give up at all as going their way as before, and they later witnessed how their struggle became the basis for their juniors including Eileen Collins, who was the first female pilot and first female commander of a Space Shuttle. When she was in front of many reporters, Collins did not forget to mention the members of Mercury 13 and their overlooked contribution, and several members of Mercury 13 were even invited to the launch of a Space Shuttle to be piloted by Collins.

Although I think directors David Sington and Heather Walsh could delve deeper into their human subjects, “Mercury 13” did its job as well as intended within its rather short running time (79 minutes), and it will surely make you reflect on how much things have changed – and why we need more of gender equality even at present. As many people say these days, girls can do anything, and we all should remove their obstacles at least for a better world to come.

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