Justice League (2017) ☆☆☆(3/4): DCEU on recovery (sort of)

Posted on November 16, 2017 by kaist455

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While it is basically a 2-hour teaser, “Justice League” is a little better than expected. Although there are several glaring flaws due to its problematic storytelling, it is thankfully not as ponderous and joyless as that bloated mess called “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016), and it actually has enough entertaining elements to engage us while showing considerable potential for whatever will come after this.

As many of you know, “Justice League” is a part of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), which started with “Man of Steel” (2013) and has been continued with “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”, “Suicide Squad” (2016), and “Wonder Woman” (2017). While it is drenched in a gray moody tone not so far from that of “Man of Steel” and “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”, “Justice League” attempts to bring some humor and personality to its story and character, and the attempt is mostly successful. Sure, it spends more than an hour in establishing its superhero characters as occasionally feeling overstuffed and overlong, but it eventually manages to find a right way to juggle them well after several narrative hiccups, and it remains effective even when it tumbles into your average overblown CGI climax sequence.

The story starts not long after what happened in that mindlessly overblown climax of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”. After Clark Kent/Superman (Henry Cavill) nobly sacrificed himself for saving the Earth and the humanity, the global community has been in a long mourning period, and, as blatantly shown in the opening sequence accompanied with Leonard Cohen’s song “Everybody Knows”, the world becomes gloomier than before with more violence and injustice. Along with Superman, hope symbolized by him seems to be gone forever, and that makes the humanity quite vulnerable to an approaching unknown menace implied at the end of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”.

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While feeling guilty about Superman’s death, Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) comes to decide that he must do something for not only saving the humanity but also honoring Superman’s ideal. He is going to assemble a team of superheroes, so he approaches to Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) first, who has been his colleague since their fateful encounter in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”. As already shown from that film and “Wonder Woman”, Gadot is captivating as effortlessly exuding her character’s glorious sexiness, admirable compassion, and, above all, strong sense of unadulterated justice, and we are treated with an awesome sequence when she swiftly overpowers a bunch of fanatic terrorists, who threaten London with a big bomb equipped with, surprise, a timer with red digital readout.

Based on the pieces of secret information he previous obtained in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”, Wayne tracks down three other superheroes: Barry Allen/The Flash (Ezra Miller), Victor Stone/Cyborg (Ray Fisher), and Arthur Curry/Aquaman (Jason Momoa). Although not all of them are eager to join the team at first, it soon becomes apparent to everyone that there is indeed a big menace on the horizon, so Wayne, Prince, and their new colleagues come to band together while, of course, trying to get along well with each other like those superheroes of “The Avengers” (2012) did.

The screenplay by director Zach Snyder and his co-writers Chris Terrio, and Joss Weadon, who took care of the production after Snyder understandably stepped down due to his recent personal tragedy, frequently fumbles during its first half, but it does not lose its sense of fun at least while maintaining its serious attitude as required, and the main performers have a good group chemistry among them as holding each own place well. While Gal Gadot remains the best part of the movie, Ben Affleck is adequate as functioning as the neutral ground for his co-performers, and Ezra Miller is constantly delightful in his nerdy performance. In case of Ray Fisher and Jason Momoa, their characters are relatively less developed, they are effective in their respective roles nonetheless, and Momoa has a small humorous scene when his gruff character happens to be a little more frank than usual.

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Compared to our righteous superheroes, the villain of the movie, who is played by Ciarán Hinds via motion capture performance, is far less colorful, and he is indubitably the weakest part of the movie. Like many numerous villains of recent superhero movies, he is a humorless dude merely driven to cause death and destruction in massive scale, and his big plan for that is not especially interesting either. Fortunately, our superheroes are engaging enough to make us care about what is at stake during the typically massive CGI action sequence in the third act, and I found myself willingly enjoying its expected deux ex machina moment.

In case of the other notable supporting performers in the film, they fill their respective small spaces as required. While Amy Adams and Diane Lane bring considerable sensitivity to their certain crucial scene later in the movie, Jeremy Irons looks like enjoying his unflappable role a bit more than before, and J.K. Simmons, Connie Nielsen, Billy Crudup, Amber Heard, and Joe Morton do as much as they can do with their rather thankless roles.

Compared to the refreshing drama of “Logan” (2017) and “Wonder Woman” or the jolly entertainment of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2” (2017) and “Thor: Ragnarok” (2017), “Justice League” is one or two steps below them, but it shows that the DCEU franchise is on a sort of recovery as trying to balance itself between fun and seriousness, so I guess I can recommend it to you with some reservation. This is not a total success at all, but it made me have little expectation on next Justice League movie, and I hope I and others will be more entertained in the future.

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The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography (2016) ☆☆☆(3/4): Her ‘B-photos’

Posted on November 13, 2017 by kaist455

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As watching Errol Morris’ latest documentary film “The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography”, which is currently available on Netflix, I came to reflect on the fact that I have never used Polaroid or any other instant camera before. Sure, I knew about those instant cameras, but, thanks to the rapid advance of digital photography, they were becoming obsolete when I began to be a bit more interested in photography during the 2000s, and now they nearly belong to the past. While occasionally feeling elegiac as recognizing the end of an era, the documentary mostly feels lightweight thanks to its bright human center, and the result is a modest but engaging work to watch on the whole.

The center of the documentary is Elsa Dorfman, a professional portrait photographer who devoted herself to her profession for many years. In the beginning, we see her in her small workshop/archive, and the documentary spends most of its running time there as watching and listening to this interesting old lady, who surely has many things to tell as looking over her old photography works.

During the 1960s, young Dorfman left her hometown Cambridge, Massachusetts for working in New York City, and she came to be employed in Grove Press, which published the works from some of notable Beat Generation writers including Allen Ginsberg. As her interest in photography was developed, she got plenty of opportunities to meet various celebrity figures ranging from Bob Dylan to Jorge Luis Borges, and we see some of their black and white photographs shot by her during that period.

After several years, Dorfman got tired of the carefree urban lifestyle surrounding her, so she returned to Cambridge and then became a school teacher, but then she became more interested in photography after one coincidental moment. As shooting more photographs, she also sold her works for herself, and she tells us a funny episode about how she got into a little trouble when she tried to sell her photographs in front of a local supermarket.

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When Polaroid 20X24 camera came out, she went for it without any hesitation, and that big instant camera soon became the center of her aesthetics. While many other photographers are interested in whatever is behind images, she mostly cares about how her subjects look on the surface in her big photographs, and that simplicity is sometimes mixed with spontaneity as shown from many of her photographs presented in the documentary. She frequently photographed not only herself but also her husband and their son, and some of those photographs look particularly interesting as we notice the presence of an electric wire between her and her Polaroid camera, which somehow brings some personality to them.

While most of notable public figures shot by her are merely glimpsed in the documentary, Morris delves a bit into Dorfman’s friendship with Ginsberg, and she talks about how close they were to each other as friends for many years. When she happened to photograph him, they decided to go further than usual, and we later see an amusing photograph which shows naked Ginsberg standing in front of the other photograph showing him fully clothed. As Dorfman is looking over her dear friend’s photograph, an old telephone message from Ginsberg during his final days is played on the soundtrack, and that makes this scene quite poignant.

The documentary also looks around numerous photographs which are ‘less special’ in comparison. Neither the documentary nor Dorfman provides any additional information or context on these photographs, but we cannot help but curious about many different people shown in these photographs, and then there comes a brief but wonderful moment showing heaps of photographs stacked together in group.

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However, they and many other photographs in Dorfman’s archive may not last that long as she frankly admits. Some of her Polaroid photographs begin to show their age despite her preservation effort, and she also points out how vulnerable Polaroid prints are in many aspects. In addition, the circumstance has become more difficult for her since Polaroid Corporation declared bankruptcy in 2001, and its eventual decision to stop production was one of the main reasons why she recently decided to retire.

While understandably feeling bitter about her era coming to the end, Dorfman remains optimistic nonetheless, and Morris thoughtfully presents her on the screen while indirectly showing affection and respect at times. Although he seems to try a little too hard as reflected by the frequent utilization of skewed camera angles, Dorfman’s colorful personality steadily carries the documentary even when it looks like aimlessly flowing from one point to another, and she is certainly someone to whom you can listen for hours.

Compared to Morris’ notable works including “Gates of Heaven” (1978), “The Thin Blue Line” (1988), “Fast, Cheap & Out of Control” (1997), “The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara” (2003), and “The Unknown Known” (2013), “The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography” feels like a minor work, but it is an admirable work at least. Although I often felt impatient during my viewing, it provides enough good moments during its short running time (75 minutes), and I certainly enjoyed watching Dorfman at work. Her time is being over indeed, but she has surely been happy with her work, hasn’t she?

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The Seeds of Violence (2017) ☆☆☆(3/4): A soldier’s hard day

Posted on November 12, 2017 by kaist455

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Unlike many South Korean lads, I did not have to go through two years of mandatory military service. Because I was a graduate student studying in Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), all I had to do during late 2007 was spending 4 weeks in a training camp, and I and other KAIST graduate students were rather treated well by our generous instructors during those four weeks. Thanks to them, we could finish our training course without much problem, and I am sometimes amused by all those silly moments I endured during that period.

However, I also remember a few unpleasant incidents which showed me how harsh and brutal the South Korean military can be to young individuals put into its oppressive system. In case of a certain high-ranking prick who always made life miserable for us as well as our instructors, he was nothing but an arrogant, sadistic bully in my opinion, and I still remember well when that hateful bastard threatened us with disciplinary punishment just because of one recruit’s minor mistake. Because of that, I was thrown into total panic attack throughout that day, and it was fortunate that I and others did not get punished in the end.

And that is why I reacted strongly to a number of emotionally brutal scenes in South Korean independent film “The Seeds of Violence”, which coldly observes systemic violence not only from the South Korean military but also the South Korean society. While it is disturbing to watch how commonly physical/emotional violence is committed among young soldiers, it is also chilling to see how equally violent the outside world is in fact, and the movie eventually leaves us with a gloomy moment of reflection on this incorrigible social matter which seems to have no end in sight.

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In the beginning, we are introduced to two young soldiers: Joo-yong (Lee Ga-seop) and Pil-rip (Jung Jae-yun). Compared to Joo-yong, Pil-rip is still a rookie, and the opening scene shows Pil-rip going through a silly test as ordered by their several senior soldiers. He must take off his military shoes and socks within half a minute, and we see him doing the job as quickly as demanded.

They are all allowed to spend a day outside their base, so the mood seems to be jolly on the surface, but there is apparent awkwardness among them as they later drink together outside the base. Because Pil-rip is older than his seniors, he is allowed to talk casually with them, but they are virtually bullying him as a matter of fact, and that is surely one of the most cringe-inducing moments in the film.

Meanwhile, it is gradually revealed to us that there is a big problem among these guys. Somebody sent a report on the physical abuse committed by one of the senior soldiers, and that senior soldier in question is not so pleased about this mainly because he is about to embark on his professional military career. He and other seniors are determined to find the culprit, and, at least in their view, there are only two possible suspects: Pil-rip and Joo-yong.

When they are about to face one of their seniors because of that, Pil-rip desperately requests Joo-yong to do something about this grave situation in which they will be punished in one way or another. Pil-rip adamantly claims his innocence, but there is nothing Joo-yong can do about that, even if he is the one who sent that report.

In a motel room, they are cruelly punished by that senior, who even forces Joo-yong to slap Pil-rip hard for not injecting enough discipline into him. In the end, Pil-rip is savagely beaten down by that senior as Joo-yong helplessly watches it all, and that is when a trouble occurs. One of Pil-rip’s teeth happens to be broken, and that serious injury must be covered up as soon as possible for avoiding more troubles.

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Fortunately, Joo-yong can get help quickly because his sister Joo-ah (Kim Soy), who lives in a city near the base, is married to a dentist, but the situation becomes more frustrating for him and others as time goes by. While she is supposed to come to the base for meeting her brother, she does not even answer his phone call for some reason, so Joo-yong has no choice but to take Pil-rip to the city although they are technically not allowed to go that far. Shortly after they arrive in the city, they face another problem, and that surely frustrates Joo-yong a lot, who eventually becomes quite harsh and hostile to Pil-rip at one point.

After they manage to arrive at a dental clinic belonging to Joo-ah’s husband, Joo-young comes to notice something odd between his sister and her husband, and that ultimately leads to another moment of anger and frustration for Joo-young. As watching that moment, I was reminded of how casually violence and misogyny are allowed in the South Korean society, which has been filled with violent, unpleasant males invariably influenced by that toxic concept of masculinity during their military service years.

“The Seeds of Violence” is the first feature film by director Lim Taegue, and he did a commendable job on the whole. Reminiscent of the works of the Dardenne brothers, the movie steadily and patiently follows its conflicted hero via its handheld camera, and Lim also draws solid natural performances from his performers. Although it often feels limited by its low budget, the overall result clearly shows that Lim is a talented filmmaker, and I guess we can have some expectation on what will come next from him.

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Loving Vincent (2017) ☆☆☆(3/4): An impressionistic animation film a la Van Gogh

Posted on November 12, 2017 by kaist455

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Animation feature film “Loving Vincent” gave me one of the most colorful experiences of this year. Vividly and authentically recreating that recognizable oil painting style of Vincent van Gogh, the film puts us right into its stylish world filled with numerous striking visual moments to remember, and I certainly relished its every frame even though I often noticed its rather thin story and characterization.

The film revolves around Van Gogh’s tragic death and its aftermath. As many of you know, Van Goug suffered from his mental illness during his last years, and he eventually died on July 29th, 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise, France shortly after his botched suicide attempt. While he did not receive much recognition during his life, his artistic genius was belatedly recognized after his death, and he has been regarded as one of the early pioneers of modern art since that.

The story begins with one night in Arles, France, where Van Gogh lived before he moved to Auvers-sur-Oise for treating his mental illness. We see the night sky based on “The Starry Night”, and then we are introduced to a young man named Armand Roulin (voiced by Douglas Booth), who is going through another drunken night in a local cafe whose appearance is apparently based on “The Night Café”, which is one of many notable paintings drawn by Van Gogh during his stay in Arles.

Armand is the son of Joseph Roulin (voiced by Chris O’Dowd), a local postman who was very close to Van Gogh (voiced by Robert Gulaczyk). In fact, he and his family members were the models for Van Gogh’s several portraits, and you will be surprised when you later see how faithful the film is to the style and texture of those impressive portraits. Armand and Joseph in the film really look like figures coming right out of those paintings, and so do many other characters in the film, who are also based on Van Gogh’s other notable portrait figures.

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As Joseph recollects one of Van Gogh’s worst days, we get a black-and-white flashback scene showing how Van Gogh’s friendship with his fellow painter Paul Gauguin came to a tumultuous end. When Gaugin came to Arles, everything looked fine at first, but then they did not get along with each other well in the end, and Gauguin eventually left to Van Gogh’s devastation. That led to that infamous incident involved with one of his ears, and, as more isolated and alienated from others as a consequence, Van Gogh came to leave Arles for the treatment of his mental illness.

It turns out that Joseph has Van Gogh’s last letter to Theo van Gogh, Van Gogh’s younger brother who had been his older brother’s main supporter for many years. Although it has been a year since Van Gogh died, Joshep requests Armand to deliver that letter to Theo, and Armand agrees to do that even though he did not like van Gogh a lot. To him, Van Gogh was a mere mad artist, and he could not understand what his father saw from Van Gogh.

Armand goes to Paris for meeting Theo, but he only comes to learn that Theo died not long after devastated by his older brother’s death. Julien “Père” Tanguy (voiced by John Sessions), an art supply shop owner who was one of few admirers of Van Gogh’s artistry and was memorably drawn in “Portrait of Père Tanguy”, tells Armand about how much Van Gogh struggled a lot before deciding to try painting – and how quickly he developed his own style and technique as hanging around various prominent artists in Paris including Monet and de Toulouse-Lautrec. Once he established his own style and technique, he never stopped after that, and he produced over 800 paintings over 8 years even while constantly struggling with poverty and mental illness.

After meeting Tanguy, Armand goes to Auvers-sur-Oise for meeting Dr. Gachet (voiced by Jerome Flynn), who was another person close to Van Gogh and was the model of “Portrait of Dr. Gachet”, which is incidentally one of the most valuable ones among Van Gogh’s works. While he cannot meet Dr. Gachet immediately, Armand meets several people who knew Van Gogh, and they give contradictory accounts on Van Gogh. To Dr. Gachet’s frigid housekeeper Louise Chevalier (voiced by Helen McCrory), Van Gogh was annoying nuisance to say the least, and she is rather glad that he is no longer with her employer. To Adeline Ravoux (voiced by Eleanor Tomlinson), the daughter of a local innkeeper, he was a nice gentle guy in contrast, and a local boatman (voiced by Aidan Turner) agrees to that while implying that there was something going on between him and Marguerite Gachet (voiced by Saoirse Ronan), the young daughter of Dr. Gachet.

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As getting to know more about Van Gogh and the questionable circumstance surrounding his suicide attempt, Armand cannot help but wonder whether Van Gogh really tried to kill himself. As a matter of fact, Van Gogh said in his letter sent to Joseph shortly before his death that he felt better than before, and it seems possible to Armand that there was a foul play at that time.

Now you may get more intrigued, but I must tell you that the ‘mystery’ in the film is more or less than a plot device to hold our attention during its 94-minute running time, and you may be disappointed as it eventually comes to its anti-climactic arrival point. When Armand later comes to meet Dr. Gachet, he does give Armand an answer, but it is not so far from what most of us know about Van Gough, and we are only reminded again of what a great (and tortured) artist Van Gogh was.

Overall, “Loving Vincent” does not provide anything illuminating to you especially if you have the basic knowledge about Van Gogh’s life and career, but it is still an interesting visual experience, and I really admire what is achieved on the screen by a team of more than 100 painters under the direction of Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. According to the IMDB trivia, each of the film’s 65,000 frames is an oil painting on canvas, and their enormous efforts are surely evident on the screen. While it is a little dissatisfying in terms of story and characters, the film is a special piece of work to be appreciated nonetheless, and I think it is worthwhile to watch it on a big screen.

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Gaga: Five Foot Two (2017) ☆☆☆(3/4): Gaga the entertainer

Posted on November 11, 2017 by kaist455

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Although I do not know much about Lady Gaga, I found that Netflix documentary film “Gaga: Five Foot Two” is an interesting behind-the-scenes documentary about one of the most popular entertainers in the world at present. Although I was a bit disappointed that it does not delve deep much into its subject, there are some nice moments of admirable frankness, and I did come to appreciate Lady Gaga’s undeniable talent and her radiating star quality.

The documentary begins with Gaga beginning another day at her big house in California, where she resides along with her entourage. It is around 2016, and we soon see her going to a recording studio and then working on her fifth album “Joanne” along with others including her producer Mark Ronson. While taking a break, she has some frank conversation with one of technicians working in the studio, and we get an amusing moment when she expresses some bitterness toward Madonna, who does not appreciate her much although they are similar to each other in many aspects. Besides being very talented, both of them are known well for being bold and daring in public, and it can be said that Gaga is the rightful successor to Madonna considering that.

Gaga comes to us as a gentle woman of unadorned frankness and forthright attitude, and there is a notable moment when she talks with a couple of creative directors beside the swimming pool of her Californian residence. Because she wants to be a little more comfortable, she takes off her swimsuit while talking with them, and she does not seem to mind at all even when her bare breasts happen to be captured by the camera. Nothing feels particularly awkward on the screen, and she and others keep discussing about what new direction she will have to take for her ongoing career.

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Like many other American pop artists, Gaga has tried acting during recent years, and we see her working on the set of “American Horror Story: Roanoke”, the sixth season of TV series “American Horror Story”. I watched her previously appearing in “American Horror Story: Hotel”, and all I can tell you is that, though she is not exactly a great actress, she does have charisma to draw our attention. In fact, I sincerely wish that precious quality of hers will be utilized well in her upcoming film with Bradley Cooper, which is another remake of “A Star is Born” (1937).

We also meet Gaga’s family when they gather together for a family event, and we get a little more information about her family when she later visits her grandmother. We come to learn that one of the songs included in “Joanne” is inspired by Gaga’s aunt who struggled with illness during her short life, and the moment when Gaga plays the song to her grandmother is the most heartfelt moment in the film.

The documentary also pays considerable attention to Gaga’s chronic pain caused by fibromyalgia. She often needs to be massaged by her therapist before beginning her daily routine, and we see how much difficult it is for her to deal with this frequent physical pain. At one point, she cannot even get up from her couch while becoming quite moody, and that took me back to when I suffered from a sudden acute pain in my hip for a few days early in this year. I felt lots of pain whenever I moved, so I preferred to stay in my bed, and that certainly affected my mood a lot until the pain eventually went away.

Meanwhile, her status as a celebrity entertainer keeps demanding a lot from her as usual. Whenever she goes out, there is always a big bunch of paparazzi and her fans, and the documentary gives us a series of dizzy moments to reflect that swirling frenzy surrounding her fame. While it is surely difficult for her to maintain her integrity under such a condition like that, Gaga always moves forward with confidence, and she is also very nice to many of her eager fans out there.

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And, above all, she does her best whenever it is time to perform. At a party celebrating Tony Bennett’s 90th birthday, she gives a sincere performance for Bennett, and I was reminded of how awesome she was when she performed her Oscar-nominated song “Til It Happens to You” at the Academy Awards ceremony early in last year. When “Joanne” is released shortly after a rather unlucky incident, she gives a nice public performance for her fans, and the album turns out to be another success in her growing career.

The last part of the documentary is devoted to her Super Bowl LI halftime performance early in this year, and we get some glimpses into her preparation process. We observe her discussing with others on her costumes and choreography, and then we watch her doing some practice along with dancers. After their last full rehearsal, there eventually comes that big day in question, and she does not disappoint her audiences at all.

“Gaga: Five Foot Two” is directed by Chris Moukarbel, who did a competent job of presenting his subject well on the screen. Although I wish the documentary could have been more focused in its narrative, Gaga, who is incidentally one of the producers of the documentary, always holds our attention even during her most casual moments, and she is indeed an interesting entertainer to observe, though I had an impression that she does not show all about herself in this documentary. I guess that is the job of other documentaries to come in the future, and I recommend this documentary with some reservation.

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Bad Genius (2017) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A smart, exhilarating heist film from Thailand

Posted on November 5, 2017 by kaist455

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Thailand film “Bad Genius” surprised me a lot. Bringing some fresh air into its genre conventions via its seemingly mundane story material, this smart, exhilarating heist film is constantly electrifying as serving us a number of memorable moments to amuse and thrill us. It instantly grabbed my attention right from the beginning, it relentlessly dazzled me with its first-rate storytelling, and it totally satisfied me to the end.

The story begins with its adolescent heroine Lynn (Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying) during her interview with the headmistress of some prestigious high school in Bangkok. As a model student who is also a math prodigy, Lynn is surely someone who will be welcomed into this high school, and she certainly takes a full advantage of that. Instantly calculating how much her father has to pay every semester, she makes a good point on why she may not come to the school, and the headmistress eventually agrees to provide the full scholarship for her.

Not long after she begins her first year in the school, Lynn happens to befriend a classmate named Grace (Eisaya Hosuwan), and their friendship leads to what is probably the first serious transgression in Lynn’s life. When she comes to realize that their latest math examination is not as fair as it seems, Lynn decides to do an exam-cheating for her friend, and she has quite a brilliant idea for how to give all the answers to her friend during the examination. Thanks to precise editing and palpable sound effects, this scene is pretty intense to say the least, and we come to brace ourselves as watching how cleverly Lynn gets away with her transgression as the clock is literally ticking on the screen.

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After this exam-cheating, Lynn soon finds herself helping not only Grace but also other students. Grace’s boyfriend Pat (Teeradon Supapunpinyo), who is your average spoiled rich kid, offers Lyn a considerable amount of money for more exam-cheating, and he also connects her to his several classmates, each of whom is willing to pay Lynn enough for her service. As the number of her ‘clients’ is growing, Lynn comes to devise another clever scheme based on something very simple, and how she and others execute that during their examinations is another superb moment to savor.

Now I have to be more careful about describing the plot for not spoiling your fun. All I can tell you is that the screenplay by director Vasudhorn Piyaromna and his co-writers Nattawut Poonpiriya and Tanida Hantaweewatana keeps raising what is being at stake for Lynn and her accomplices. At one point, Grace and Pat find themselves facing the consequence of their exam-cheating, but they decide to go further, so they request that Lynn should help them again. Lynn is reluctant, but she cannot resist the possibility of getting a lot more money than before.

For the success of her new scheme, Lynn needs another accomplice who is as smart as her, and that is Bank (Chanon Santinatornkul), a poor kid whose dream of going to a university in Singapore is dashed due to a recent unfortunate incident. Bank is not so eager to participate in the scheme at first, but he eventually agrees to join the group, and we see him and others preparing for their scheme step by step.

As approaching to the expected climactic part, the movie seems to be on a predictable course, but then it keeps surprising us while diligently dialing up its level of tension. During the climactic part, there are several moments which will make your body tightened for their sheer suspense, and everything eventually culminates to a superlative sequence to admire for its effortless tautness.

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I also like how deftly the final scene of the movie is handled. On the surface, it is merely the conversation between Lynn and the other main character, but it is clear to us that Lynn has to make an important choice for her future, and watching her hesitating between two options is as suspenseful as many other key scenes in the film.

The main cast members of the film are uniformly good in their unadorned natural performance. Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying, who makes a debut here as a movie actress, is excellent in her lead role, and she and her co-performer Chanon Santinatornkul have a good chemistry between them. In case of Eisaya Hosuwan and Teeradon Supapunpinyo, they function well as comic relief whenever that is necessary, and the movie often makes a sharp point on the social gap between their characters and Lynn.

Although this is only the second feature film in his career, Piyaromna did an impressive job on the whole, and his technical crew members surely deserve to be commended. While the cinematography by Phaklao Jiraungkoonkun is slick and fluid, the editing by Chonlasit Upanigki is flawless in its brisk pacing, and this is further fueled by the music by Hualampong Riddim, which is effectively mixed with several familiar pieces of classic music on the soundtrack.

Overall, “Bad Genius” is one of the most notable surprises of this year, and I was entertained a lot by the top-notch execution of its smart story idea. If you appreciate good thriller movies driven by story and character, you should not miss this hidden gem, and I guarantee that you will not regret at all once you watch it.

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Heart Blackened (2017) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Flawed but not without entertainment

Posted on November 4, 2017 by kaist455

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South Korean film “Heart Blackened” starts as a typical courtroom mystery tale but then later becomes something more serious than expected. As its plot often trudges around a number of predictable narrative turns, I frequently felt impatient during my viewing, but it is not entirely without entertainment thanks to its several good elements to appreciate, so you may enjoy it if you can overlook its notable weak points.

During the opening scene, we meet Im Tae-san (Choi Min-sik), the CEO of some powerful conglomerate in South Korea. He is going to formally introduce his young fiancée Yoo-na (Lee Honey) to his daughter Mi-ra (Lee Soo-kyung), but it is apparent that Mi-ra does not welcome Yoo-na at all, and we soon get a tense, awkward moment among these three characters when they gather together in a restaurant. Yoo-na, who is incidentally a famous entertainer, tries to be nice to Mi-ra, but Mi-ra remains angry about her father getting the second wife, and there is nothing Tae-san and Yoo-na can do about that.

After one year, the relationship between Tae-san and Yoo-na looks more intimate than before as they are soon going to marry, but then something happens at one night. While she is pretty drunk at a nightclub meeting with her friends, Mi-ra watches a salacious video clip associated with Yoo-na, and she immediately sends a message to Yoo-na. Several hours after they meet, Yoo-na is found at the parking lot of her apartment building while seriously injured, and she eventually died shortly after being taken to a hospital.

Everything in this serious situation points to Mi-ra, who cannot prove her innocence because she was so drunken that she cannot remember what exactly happened at that night in question. Although he does not have any crucial evidence, Dong Seong-sik (Park Hae-joon), the prosecutor assigned to her case, is ready to do everything he can do for proving her guilt, and this righteous guy is not swayed at all even when Tae-san personally approached to him at one point with a tempting offer for his legal career.

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Meanwhile, Tae-san hires a plain lawyer named Choi Hee-jeong (Park Shin-hye) for his daughter’s upcoming trial. While naturally surprised to know that he chooses her instead of many lawyers more prominent than her, Hee-jeong does as much as she can. She becomes close to Mi-ra after their first meeting at a prison where Mi-ra is currently incarcerated, and she begins to search for any possibility to prove her client’s innocence.

Around that point, you may expect Hee-jeong to lead the story, but then the movie attempts to detour around genre conventions as focusing on not only her but also Tae-san. Clearly agonized over what happened to his fiancée as well as his daughter, Tae-san is determined to do whatever is necessary, and that leads him to a rather unpleasant encounter with a creepy lad who may have an important piece of evidence for the trial. As a guy with unhealthy obsession on Yoo-na, that lad in question certainly wants something in exchange for that evidence, and there accordingly comes a vile, uncomfortable scene unfolded at Yoo-na’s apartment.

Meanwhile, Hee-jeong also comes closer to the chance of getting that evidence as tracking down that lad. Not long after checking out his surveillance equipment shop, she happens to obtain a bag containing several computer hard drives, and her roommate gladly searches those computer hard drives for finding anything to be submitted at the court.

After eventually proceeding to the courtroom, the movie dials up its level of tension as expected, and the screenplay by director Jeong Ji-woo, which is based on Chinese film “Silent Witness” (2013), provides some good scenes for its main cast members, but the result somehow feels mediocre on the whole. Maybe because I am too familiar with its genre conventions, I could clearly see through its narrative turns, so I was not so surprised at all by what is revealed around its overlong melodramatic finale, which could have been shortened a bit without any serious change.

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Above all, most of the main characters in the film are not engaging enough to draw my attention. I guess we are supposed to care about Tae-san and Hee-jeong, but they are more or less than flat archetypes, and the same thing can be said about other characters around them. The movie tries to bring some personality to Hee-jong during her few scenes with her roommate, but these scenes only remain perfunctory in the end, and that is another disappointment in the film.

Anyway, the main cast members in the movie try to fill their roles as much as they can, and they mostly acquit themselves well as holding our interest to some degrees. While Choi Min-sik is reliable as usual, Park Shin-hye is effective as our surrogate heroine, and she and Park Hae-joon are convincing in their courtroom scenes. Although she only appears briefly, Lee Honey leaves considerable impression, and Lee Soo-kyung holds her own place well as her troubled character swings from one emotional moment to another.

Because I have not seen “Silent Witness” yet, I don’t know whether “Heart Blackened” is better than its original version, though I heard that the original version is also not without flaws. I was not that bored, but I was left with disappointment when the movie was over, and my mind soon shifted its focus to whatever would come next.

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A Perfect Day (2015) ☆☆☆(3/4): The trouble with a well

Posted on October 30, 2017 by kaist455

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Leisurely alternating between comedy and drama, “A Perfect Day” works as an absurd farce about war and its tragic mess. While its story and background are specific, those human absurdities of war depicted in the film feel universal in many aspects, and we come to admire its main characters’ dogged determination to get their simple job done – even when we cannot help but amused by a number of loony situations which block them and frustrate them a lot.

They are aid workers who are the members of a nongovernmental organization called Aid Across Borders, and the movie begins with their latest matter to be handled in some rural area in the Balkans, 1995. A corpse was purposefully dropped into a well important for many residents in that area, so Mambrú (Benicio Del Toro), who is from Puerto Rico as mentioned in the film, is trying to lift the body out of the well before it seriously contaminates the well, but, alas, the job turns out to be more difficult than expected. Because of the considerable weight of that body, the rope connected to that body is cut off during the process, and there is no other rope around the well.

Not long after this annoying failure, Mambrú’s quirky colleague, nicknamed “B” (Tim Robbins) arrives with a young doctor named Sophie (Mélanie Thierry), who are not so amused by several unpleasant things as your typical rookie character. Although the conflict which has ravaged the Balkans is approaching to the end after cease-fire, there are still many possibilities of danger around the region, and that aspect is exemplified well by when B and Sophie happen to encounter the carcass of a dead animal while going to the well by their vehicle. Because it is quite possible that a mine is buried somewhere around the carcass, they may have to make a detour, but then B comes to execute a rather simple solution to their situation, and that is one of the most amusing moments in the film.

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Along with a local translator named Damir (Fedja Stukan), B looks around here and there for finding any rope long and strong enough for the body, but they only find themselves repeatedly blocked by absurd situations. Local people are uncooperative as they are wary of getting themselves into any trouble, and the UN army does not help much either while adamantly sticking to rules and regulations. When Mambrú and Sophie comes to a UN army base, they soon become more frustrated as they are instructed not to do anything about the well, and we are not so surprised when Sophie comes to attempt to do something about that frustrating circumstance.

Meanwhile, Mambrú has to deal with Katya (Olga Kurylenko), with whom he had an affair not so long ago. Although she comes mainly for evaluating the ongoing situation in the Balkans, it is evident from their interaction that there are still some feelings left between them, and they have to deal with their feelings as they come to spend considerable time along with Sophie, B, and Damir.

And there is a little local boy named Nikola (Eldar Residovic), who accidently encountered Mambrú and Sophie when they were going to the UN base. Because he can speak English quite well, Nikola later tells Mambrú and others that there is a place where they can find a rope good enough for them, but, of course, that rope turns out to be not so easy to obtain for a good reason, and we get another absurd moment to tickle us.

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While naturally reminiscent of “MASH” (1970) and other similar war movies, the movie does not overlook the horror and tragedy of war as shown from its several dark moments. At one point, it looks around a ruinous place which was once a nice family home, and then there comes an understated but gut-wrenching moment to strike us. When Mambrú and his colleagues come across a makeshift military checkpoint, they see a group of captured people, but there is nothing they can do about that – and they know it too well.

The main performers in the movie are convincing in their respective roles while imbuing their characters with life and personality. Effortlessly embodying his character’s world-weary attitude right from his first scene, Benicio Del Toro gives another engaging performance to watch, and I like how he humbly conveys the quiet sincerity behind his character’s seasoned appearance. Although he looks a little too goofy at first, Tim Robbins is gradually endearing in his whimsical performance, and he effectively complements Del Toro’s phlegmatic acting. While her role is rather thankless in comparison, Olga Kurylenko, who has steadily shown more of her talent since “Quantum of Solace” (2008), also gives a solid performance, and Mélanie Thierry brings considerable spirit to her character. In case of Fedja Stukan and Eldar Residovic, they hold their own places well among their more prominent co-performers, and I appreciate how the movie handles their characters and other local supporting characters with care and respect.

“A Perfect Day” is based on Paula Farias’ novel “Dejarse Llover”. Although I did not read the novel, I can tell you instead that director Fernando León de Aranoa, who adapted the novel for his film, did an adequate job on the whole. The plot often meanders, and it could have been sharper in its satire, but the movie does not lose its comic momentum thanks to its competent direction and good performance, and it will eventually arrive at a poetic finale more satisfying than expected. It is surely another frustrating day for them, but they keep trying, don’t they?

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1922 (2017) ☆☆(2/4): The year when he killed his wife

Posted on October 29, 2017 by kaist455

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Since the considerable success of “Carrie” (1976), many of Stephen King’s novels and short stories were adapted into movies during last 41 years, but 2017 is quite an interesting year because we have no less than four feature films based on his fictions. First, there came “The Dark Tower” (2017), and then it was followed by “It” (2017), and then there came “Gerald’s Game” (2017), which was released via Netflix around the end of this September.

“1922”, which was released via Netflix in last week, is the latest film based on Stephen King’s fiction, and it is based on the novella of the same name included in “Full Dark, No Stars”, which I read several years ago. While the novella is not exactly my favorite one among the four novellas in that book (my favorite one is “Fair Extension”, which is the only one not adapted into a movie yet), I was entertained by its dark, chilling psychological horror which overwhelms its unreliable protagonist to the extreme, and it surely exemplifies King’s undeniable storytelling skill.

However, although it is mostly faithful to its source, the movie feels rather mediocre in comparsion. Besides lacking that gloomy sense of horror and suspense in the novella, the movie is considerably flat and bland in terms of story and characterization. While there are some well-made scary moments, they are not enough to hold our attention, and we only come to watch its protagonist’s predictable downward spiral without caring much about that.

Thomas Jane plays Wilfred James, a grumpy corn farmer living in a remote rural area of Nebraska, 1922. Proud of his farming work, he wants to keep his corn field for passing it down to his adolescent sone Henry (Dylan Schmid), but his wife Arlette (Molly Parker) has a different thought. Recently inheriting a considerable size of land from her dead father, she wants to sell it along with her husband’s land to some big company and then move to Omaha for a new life, but that is certainly the last thing her husband wants.

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Because there is no way to prevent Arlette from selling what legally belongs to her, a certain dark temptation gradually grows in Wilfred’s mind. He decides that she must be eliminated by any means necessary, and that seems to be quite easy once he succeeds in persuading his son to join in his murderous plan. Although understandably reluctant at first, Henry agrees to help his father mainly because he does not want to be separated from his girlfriend who is the daughter of a neighbor farmer, and he becomes more willing to do that especially after he is harshly treated by Arlette at one point.

After setting an ideal situation in one evening, Wilfred and Henry eventually kill Arlette together, and everything seems to go as well as planned after that. After burying her body in a certain spot in their farm and then cleaning up the house, they lie to others that she left behind them. Although the sheriff and a lawyer representing the company are suspicious of a foul play, there is no way to prove that, and Wilfred is glad that he can still keep the land as before.

Of course, there eventually comes a sort of karmic justice as some of you have already guessed. While Wilfred tries to live as usual, he cannot help but be haunted by his crime, and there are several cringe-inducing moments involved with a bunch of rats, which keep appearing here and there after he happens to see his wife’s body covered with them. They may not be real, but Wilfred becomes agitated more and more as time goes by, and then he later finds himself facing a couple of ironic twists of life which will lead him to more misery.

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This is not much of a spoiler because the movie occasionally shows Wilfred writing his confession letter alone in a hotel room several years later, and I can tell you that the second half of the movie is stark and despairing as he is pushed further into his glum desolation and madness. He surely comes to regret what he did, but he already passed the point of no return, and there is nothing he can do except going down and down to the bottom waiting for him.

This could be darkly compelling, but the movie frequently suffers from its thin characterization and weak storytelling. Not only its unlikable protagonist but also other characters surround him remain artificial archetypes, and the movie does not generate enough narrative momentum as lazily trudging down its plot. It becomes more tedious especially during its finale, and the finale seriously lacks a dramatic punch while merely disturbing us a little.

The main cast members of the movie are unfortunately stuck with their cardboard characters. Thomas Jane mostly acquits himself well, but he often goes a bit too far with his rural accent, and that can be distracting for some of you. While Molly Parker and Dylan Shmid are wasted in their respective thankless roles, Neal McDonough and Brian d’Arcy James do not have many things to do except appearing on the screen from time to time, and neither does Kaitlyn Bernard, who looks suitably fetching as Henry’s girlfriend.

Compared to what was achieved in “It” and “Gerald’s Game”, “1922” disappointing in many aspects, and it reminds me again that not every film adaptation based on King’s fiction is worthwhile to watch. It is not that awful at least, so you may watch it if you just want to kill your free time via Netflix, but I recommend you “Gerald’s Game” instead.

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Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold (2017) ☆☆☆1/2 (3.5/4): Meet Joan Didion

Posted on October 28, 2017 by kaist455

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I value good documentary films presenting interesting subjects unfamiliar to me, and Netflix documentary film “Joan Didion: The Centre Will Not Hold” is one of such documentaries. Here is a smart, intelligent woman who has been leading a long, fascinating life and career, and the documentary does a commendable job of giving us an intimate and insightful glimpse into its human subject.

Her name is Joan Didion, and she has been one of the most prominent writers in US since her acclaimed essay book “Slouching Towards Bethlehem” was published in 1968. While she is soon going to be 83 this year and we cannot help but notice how fragile she looks during her interview in the documentary, she is still full of spirit as recollecting many interesting moments in her past, and we are amused as she often makes some big gestures in front of the camera.

Along with her, the documentary examines her life from the beginning. She was born to a family living in Sacramento, California in 1934, and we are told about a rather amusing piece of family history involved with the Donner Party. Her grandparents were the members of the Donner Party, but they decided to separate from the group at a crucial point during that arduous journey to California, and that decision luckily saved them from what would eventually happen to the Donner Party during that terrible winter of 1846-7.

Growing up well under her caring parents, Didion began to show considerable writing talent. When her mother showed her a copy of Vogue magazine, she spotted a section on the annual essay contest sponsored by Vogue, and she quickly set her goal. She later won the first place in that contest when she was studying in University of California, Berkeley, and that led to the beginning of her writing career in New York City.

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After seven years at Vogue, Didion published her first book “Run River” in 1963, and then there came another important moment in her life. After becoming close to a fellow writer named John Gregory Dunne, she eventually married him in 1964, and they subsequently moved back to California, which was then the emblem of a cultural change the whole nation went through during the 1960s. As encountering many various cultural figures including Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison, Didion acutely observed the approaching end of the era, and then she wrote an article titled “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”, which was the basis of her famous essay book of the same title.

As she correctly judged, the end of the era did come, accompanied with a notorious incident which happened August 9th, 1969. Sharon Tate, who was Roman Polanski’s wife, and her four friends were brutally murdered by members of the Manson Family, and not only California but also the whole nation were certainly shocked by this horrific murder case. Didion still remembers when she received the news from Natalie Wood, and she was certainly chilled to learn later that those murderers actually passed by her house at that night.

During the 1970s, Didion and her husband kept moving on with more accomplishments. While Dunne wrote several books including “Vegas”, Didion wrote “Play It As It Lays” and “A Book of Common Prayer”, and she even wrote several screenplays. After reading James Mills’ novel “The Panic in Needle Park”, she decided to adapt the novel along with her husband, and that led to the 1971 film of the same name, which incidentally features the first notable lead performance by a young promising NYC actor named Al Pacino. In the next year, she adapted “Play It As It Lays” for Frank Perry’s 1972 film, but, as shown from an archival interview clip, she was not that satisfied with the final product.

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As the nation swung back to conservatism along with Ronald Reagan, Didion decided to do something new for her career. She and her husband went to El Salvador in 1983, and that led to “Salvador”, another impressive essay in her career. While observing how much willing the US government was to do anything for its geopolitical interest, Didion particularly noticed a high-ranking official named Dick Cheney, and many negative things she observed from him turned out to be pretty right as he later became the US vice president.

After leaving California, Didion and Dunne spent their later life in New York City, but a couple of sad incidents happened in 2003. Shortly before Christmas, their adopted daughter Quintana was taken to a hospital due to her sudden serious illness, and then Dunne unexpectedly died several days later. In next August, Quintana also passed away, and that further devastated Didion. While trying to process her immense grief, she wrote “The Year of Magical Thinking” and then “Blue Nights”, and the former was subsequently adapted into a Broadway play starring Vanessa Redgrave, who gives us a poignant moment as she and Didion talk about their dead daughters who left too early from them.

“Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold” is directed by Griffin Dunne, who is one of Didion’s nephews and is also known well for his acting/directing career. While appearing in front of the camera at times, he handles the subject of his documentary with affection and respect as expected, and the result is a warm, entertaining, and informative on the whole. I must confess that I did not know much about Didion before reading an article on the documentary a few days ago, but I came to learn many things during my viewing, and I am now willing to check some of her notable books.

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