The Rip (2026) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): The trouble with the rip

Posted on January 18, 2026 by kaist455

Netflix film “The Rip”, which was released on this Friday, is a typical crime action thriller film which will not surprise you much if you are familiar with its genre clichés and conventions. While it is relatively more competent than many of average Netflix products, the movie does not bring anything particularly new or fresh to its genre territory, and it is a bit disappointing to see a number of prominent performers merely filling their respective roles as much as they can.

The movie opens with what we have seen from countless police movies out there. Captain Jackie Valez (Lina Esco), the key member of the Miami-Dade Police Department, is murdered when she is investigating on something quite serious, and the members of her specialized unit are immediately investigated by FBI right after that. Needless to say, everyone in the unit including Valez’s second-in-command Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Matt Damon) becomes a possible suspect, and even their chief, Major Thom Vallejo (Néstor Carbonell), is not so willing to help or support them.

Meanwhile, Dumars suddenly brings another task to handle despite this tricky situation of theirs. According to him, he recently received a tip on a certain drug house located in some neighborhood of Hialeah, and his four fellow detectives, JD Byrne (Ben Affleck), Miko Ro (Steven Yeun), Numa Baptiste (Teyana Taylor), and Lolo Salazar (Catalina Sandino Moreno), go along with him to that place despite their reluctance.

Of course, it soon turns out that Dumars and his fellow detectives get themselves into a very serious situation. When they knock on the front of the door of that place, a young woman named Desiree “Desi” Molina (Sasha Calle) comes out, and it is apparent to them that this young lady seems to be hiding something behind back. After thoroughly searching here and there inside Molina’s house, they eventually discover a hidden space, and, what do you know, there is a lot of drug money inside this secret space.

As they check on how much the money actually is, Dumars comes to look more untrustworthy to everyone around him. For example, he still does not tell the others more about how he received that tip in question, though we already had a pretty good idea even before the movie reveals that early in the story. In addition, he told each member of his a different figure when asked about how much money they would find, and that makes him look all the more suspicious.

Anyway, Ro, Baptiste, and Salazar just follow Dumars’ instructions as expected, but Byrne comes to regard Dumars with more reservation and suspicion. Mainly because he was quite close and loyal to Captain Velez, Bryne has been determined to find whoever is responsible for her death, and it looks increasingly possible to him that Dumars is the one he is looking for.

Meanwhile, the situation expectedly becomes more complicated than before, and the movie did a good job of dialing up the level of tension on the screen. It seems that not only Dumars but also several other main characters in the story are not so reliable, and Dumars and his fellow detectives feel more pressured and cornered after it turns out that there is also someone else targeting on the money they are checking on.

Around that narrative point, you may easily guess the real villain if you are familiar with the law of Law of the Character Economy, though the movie does a fairly good job of distracting us from that. Around Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, the movie assembles a bunch of notable performers such as Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Sasha Calle, Scott Adkins, Kyle Chanlder, Lina Esco, and Néstor Carbonell, so it is a bit difficult for you to get the answer at first, but then you will see that the answer is pretty obvious right from one of these main cast members appears on the screen for the first time.

Nevertheless, director/screenplay writer Joe Carnahan, who wrote the story with Michael McGrale, keeps thing rolling before the movie eventually arrives at the expected finale where everything is fully explained as required. Steadily maintaining its level of suspense during its second half, the movie serves us with a couple of intense action sequences, and Carnahan, who previously gave us “Narc” (2002) and “The Grey” (2011), demonstrates that he is a dependable action movie director as usual.

In case of Damon and Affleck, who also serve as the producers of the film, they ably carry the film together as clicking with each other as well as they once did in their Oscar-winning film “Good Will Hunting” (1997), and their solid chemistry compensates for the clichéd aspects of the story from time to time. In contrast, many of the main cast members in the film are sadly under-utilized, but Taylor, Calle, and Moreno manage to hold each own small place well despite their thankless supporting roles.  

Overall, “The Rip”, whose title incidentally comes from a slang meaning police seizure, is a passable genre product with some entertaining moments thanks to the diligent professional efforts from its overqualified cast and crew members. To be frank with you, I do not think I will remember it much around the end of the year, but I will not stop you from spending your spare time on it.

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Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): Through a child’s viewpoint

Posted on January 16, 2026 by kaist455

Animation feature film “Little Amélie or the Character of Rain”, which recently won the Best Animation Film Award from the LA Film Critics Association, is colorfully charming as steadily sticking to its little heroine’s viewpoint. As she tries to process and understand the world surrounding her, we are often amused by some whimsical details popping around here and there, and we also come to sense more of whatever is beyond her limited sight.

The opening part of the film is inspired by an old Japanese belief. The Japanese believe that children are born as gods before eventually becoming humans at the age of 3, and the opening sequence shows us how Amélie (voiced by Loïse Charpentier and Emmylou Homs) becomes conscious of her existence even when she is still in her mother’s womb. To our little amusement, she regards herself as a god, and we see how she decidedly stays inside her own little world even after she is born later.

Needless to say, her Belgian parents, who have lived in Japan for years because of Amélie’s father’s diplomatic job, are rather worried at first, but they have been already quite busy with taking care of Amélie’s two elder siblings, so Amélie are mostly left in her “vegetative” state during next two years before something eventually happens. A little earthquake occurs on one day, and this somehow bursts Amélie’s little world. As a result, she becomes much more active and communicative than before to her parents’ delight, but she soon turns into a little terror to them due to her hyperactive behaviors.

Fortunately, there comes some help from two unexpected figures. One is Amélie’s grandmother who has just come from Belgium for visiting her son and his family, and she instinctively knows how to calm down her little dear granddaughter. The other one is a local nanny recommended by the landlady of the house where Amélie and her family reside, and she instantly befriends Amélie right from their first encounter and then becomes someone to lean on for Amélie when Amélie’s grandmother eventually returns to Belgium later.

Leisurely moving from one episodic moment to another along with its heroine, the film doles out a series of lovely visual moments worthwhile to watch from big screen. As she grows up day by day, Amélie becomes more conscious of the world surrounding her, and she often explores more of whatever exists in the surrounding environment of her family house. The film cheerfully wields a lot of stylish touches to be savored, and we come to feel more of her daily joy and excitement.

In the meantime, more serious story elements come to linger around the main narrative. At one point, Amélie sees her father becoming quite emotional, and that is how she comes to know a bit about a certain inevitable part of life. We also come to sense that Amélie’s nanny has some painful past behind her gentle appearance, and we are not so surprised when she reveals that to Amélie later in the story, though Amélie cannot fully grasp how much her nanny still feels hurt because of that. In case of the landlady, she seems quite harsh and frigid at first, but then she turns out to have her own deep sadness behind her back.

Simply letting us gather whatever is going on at the fringe of the story, the film continues to focus more on the gradual emotional maturation inside Amélie’s unadorned state of mind. When she comes to learn that there will soon be a big change for her as well as her family, she certainly resists, but, of course, there is nothing she can do about that, and this leads to a big emotional turmoil for her in the end.

The screenplay by directors Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han and their co-writers Aude Py and Eddine Noël, which is based on Belgian novelist Amélie Nothomb’s autobiographical novel “The Character of Rain” (The meaning of the title is explained by one key scene in the film, by the way), is sometimes a bit too thin in terms of plot and characterization, but this weak aspect are mostly compensated by a lot of mood and details generated from its charming animation style. Although the animation style of the film initially looks quite simple and broad, it often dazzles our eyes with the deft utilization of vibrant colors, and that is particularly evident in case of the amusingly grotesque presentation of Japanese carps during one particular scene. While we can clearly see how much our little heroine is repulsed by them gobbling up their feed, we can also appreciate the stunning technical aspects of this striking scene, and you will admire more of the efforts of Vallade and Han and their crew. Although this is their first feature animation film, you can clearly recognize their considerable skill and talent, and it will be interesting to see what may come next from these two promising animation film directors.

In conclusion, “Little Amélie or the Character of Rain” lightly passed by my eyes during its rather short running time (77 minutes) at first, but its distinctive style and mood grow on me after that. While many of Hollywood animation films were not particularly new or fresh during last year except, perhaps, “KPop Demon Hunters” (2025), there were fortunately a number of good animation films outside Hollywood such as “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” (2025) and “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle” (2025), and I can assure you that “Little Amélie or the Character of Rain” is one of such enjoyable works from last year.

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The Square (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): A star-crossed romance in North Korea

Posted on January 15, 2026 by kaist455

South Korean independent animation film “The Square” is an earnest melodrama about two very different people who cannot help but love each other despite an oppressive society surrounding them. While it is another typical tale of star-crossed lovers, the film draws our attention with its interesting specific background first, and then we come to care more about the couple at the center of the story as observing more of their desperate love.

At first, we get to know Isaac Bori (voiced by Lee Chan-yong), a young Swedish diplomat who has worked in the Swedish embassy in Pyeongyang, North Korea for a fairly long time. Because his grandmother is a Korean immigrant, Bori speaks Korean mostly well, but his foreign appearance still stands out whenever he goes outside, and that is the main reason why he has to be very careful about meeting Bok-joo (voiced by Lee Ga-yeong), a pretty young traffic officer he has been secretly dating for some time.

Not long after another clandestine date with Bok-joo, Bori requests the extension of his stay in the embassy, just because he simply wants to be with Bok-joo as long as possible. After all, most of his fellow young diplomats are not particularly willing to work in North Korea, so it seems that he can continue to occupy his position in the embassy as before.

However, his request is unexpectedly denied, and now Bori has to leave North Korean within a few days. Naturally, he protests, but there is nothing he can do about this changed circumstance. Besides, marrying Bok-joo or taking her out of the country is impossible to say the least, and Bok-joo, who has been more clear-eyed on their romance, is willing to accept their upcoming separation even though it will be very painful for both of them.

Meanwhile, not so surprisingly, their relationship is closely monitored by Myeong-joon (voiced by Jeong Woon-jong), who works as a local translator at the embassy. Having been around Bori for a long time, Myeong-joon knows a lot about what Bori and Bok-joo have been doing in private, and he also comes to care about Bori a lot behind his flatly phlegmatic attitude. Nevertheless, he must routinely report to his direct superior about whatever is going on between Bori and Bok-joo, and he becomes all the more conflicted when his direct superior considers investigating more on Bok-joo.

Although there is not much surprise for us as the story becomes expectedly melodramatic, the movie keeps engaging us via its modest but haunting presentation of Pyeongyang on icy winter days. The streets and alleys of the city often feel barren and oppressive with all those drab buildings and aggressive slogans, and the resulting stark atmosphere is often accentuated by the occasional electricity shortage in the city.

In such a cold and bleak world like that, Bori and Bok-joo’s romance comes to feel more desperate and poignant to us. Although he is unbelievably naïve in handling his increasingly problematic circumstance, it is touching to observe how Bori keeps trying just for his love, and the movie does earn its weepy finale along with him. The finale is rather contrived at first, but it still works due to the earnest emotions beneath it, and we are moved more by the following last scene, which feels somber and restrained but will linger on your mind for a while.

This is the first animation feature film by director/writer Kim Bo-sol, who demonstrates here that she is a good animation director with considerable talent and potential. Although the story and characters are pretty simple to say the least, the film is filled with enough mood and personality on the whole, and it does not waste any second of its rather short running time (73 minutes). In case of one intense chase sequence unfolded inside a subway station, Kim and her crew did a commendable job of generating some thrill and suspense on the screen, and I particularly enjoyed how this compelling sequence evokes the similar scene in William Friedkin’s “The French Connection” (1971).

The main voice cast members of the film are solid, though I must point out that it is a bit awkward for me to see both of the Swedish and North Korean characters in the film speaking in Korean. While Lee Chan-yong and Lee Ga-yeong generate a little but precious chemistry between their lead characters, Jeon Woon-jong holds his own small place as his character comes to show more heart and conscience along the story, and Lee Yoo-joon is also effective as Myeong-joon’s direct superior.

In conclusion, “The Square” is a promising start for its director’s burgeoning career, and it also reminds me of how South Korean animation made a small but significant leap during last year via a number of notable works. Although I did not like “Exorcism Chronicles: The Beginning” (2024) and “Mr. Robot” (2024) enough for recommendation, their technical qualities impressed me to a considerable degree nonetheless, and then there came “Your Letter” (2025), which is the best in the bunch in my humble opinion. Just like these three recent South Korean animation films, “The Square” gives another good sign of the ongoing progress in South Korean animation, and I sincerely hope that they will lead to the production of more local animation feature films to come in the future.

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The Passengers of the Night (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): As she starts over

Posted on January 15, 2026 by kaist455

Mikhaël Hers’ 2022 film “The Passengers of the Night”, which was belatedly released in South Korea around the end of the last year, is a mild but engaging drama mainly driven by mood and emotion. Simply rolling with its several main characters along its rather loose narrative, the movie generates a series of small but touching human moments, and we get more involved in their emotional journeys along the story.

The movie, which is set in Paris during the 1980s, begins with the prologue set in 1981, and then we see how things become difficult for a plain ordinary woman named Élisabeth (Charlotte Gainsbourg) in 1984, She recently divorced after her husband left her and her two adolescent kids for some unspecified reason, and now she has to find any job to support her and her two children. Because she has been a housewife for many years, she understandably feels uncertain and confused, and she becomes daunted as she fails more than once in her attempt to get employed.

Nevertheless, the situation is not that bad for Élisabeth. Her ex-husband, who is incidentally never shown in the film, allows her to stay with their two children in their apartment technically belonging to him, though he does not pay his alimony that well. In addition, her daughter Judith (Megan Northam) will soon leave for her college education, so Élisabeth can pay more attention to her younger son Matthias (Quito Rayon-Richter), who still seems indecisive about his future while getting more interested in poetry.

Above all, Élisabeth finally gets stably employed. She applies for a rather menial job in some night radio program, and she is instantly hired after her brief interview with Vanda Dorval (Emmanuelle Béart), the host of that night radio program. She is not so sure about whether she can do the job well at first, but all she has to do is tactfully handling those numerous callers for her boss, and she soon gets accustomed to that, though she also has to work as a librarian during daytime for earning more for supporting herself and her son.

Vanda sometimes invites a random guest to be interviewed for her night radio program. On one day, a young woman named Talulah (Noée Abita) comes to the studio of the night radio program, and Élisabeth comes to care about her as Talulah talks a bit about how she became homeless after having a lot of difficulty due to her parents. In the end, Élisabeth approaches to Talulah later, and she suggests that Talulah should stay in her apartment for a while at least. After all, there is a spare room in Élisabeth’s apartment, and Talulah does not mind accepting the kindness of a stranger.

While Matthias also does not mind this sudden change at all, we gradually sense that he becomes interested in getting closer to Talulah. He comes to spend more time with her, and we are not so surprised when they eventually get quite intimate with each other at one point, but then she makes a sudden decision to his bafflement on the very next day.

And then the movie moves forward to four years later. While she still has to do two jobs, Élisabeth’s daily life has been more stable than before, and she even comes to have another chance for love via a handsome guy who has often visited her library just because of her. In addition, she has become the more crucial part of that night radio program, and we observe how confident she is now compared to her first days at the studio.

When Talulah comes back into her life, Élisabeth is naturally surprised, but she lets Talulah stay in the apartment again, though her ex-husband is now going to sell it sooner or later. Not so surprisingly, Matthias, who has struggled to start his artistic career for a while, finds himself drawn to Talulah again, but we come to sense that she prefers to remain as a friend to him.

Instead of pushing its main characters into unnecessary conflicts, the screenplay by Hers and his co-writers Maude Aeline and Mariette Désert lets them follow common sense and decency. When Talulah turns out to be more troubled than she seemed at first, Élisabeth shows more concern and compassion to her, and that leads to one of the most moving moments in the film. After that, Talulah becomes more decisive about what should be done about her rather complicated relationship with Matthias, who understands and respects her decision without any bad feeling at all.

I personally wish the movie delved a bit deeper into the story and characters, but I also enjoyed its casual mood and free-flowing narrative at least, and I also appreciated its solid main cast members. As showing a lighter side of her acting talents compared to her intense performances in several works of Lars von Trier such as “Antichrist” (2009), Charlotte Gainsbourg duly holds the center as required, and several other cast members including Quito Rayon-Richter, Noée Abita, Megan Northam, Thibault Vinçon, and Emmanuelle Béart have each own moment to shine around her.

Overall, “The Passengers of the Night” compensates for its rather thin narrative via its enjoyable mood, storytelling, and performance. You may feel a bit impatient with its leisurely narrative pacing at first, but it will be a fairly rewarding experience on the whole once you give it a chance, and you will come to care about its main characters more than expected.

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Leaving Las Vegas (1995) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A harrowing alcoholic love story in Las Vegas

Posted on January 14, 2026 by kaist455

Mike Figgis’ 1995 film “Leaving Las Vegas”, which was recently released in selected South Korean theaters, is still superlative for many good reasons. At first, its two lead characters seem to be more or less than familiar archetypes, but the movie elevates them as depicting their love story with a lot of human qualities to engage and then move us. In the end, you will not forget them at all after they eventually reach the inevitable ending of their love story.

At the beginning, the movie shows us how serious the alcoholic condition of its hero really is. Ben Sanderson (Nicholas Cage) once had a fairly successful screenplay writer working in Hollywood, but both of his life and career have crumbled a lot as he tumbles down toward the bottom of his alcoholism. In the end, he gets fired, and he soon goes to Las Vegas simply for drinking to death as quickly as possible.

The movie does not explain much about what has actually made him driven to alcoholism and those frequent self-destructive behaviors associated with it, but that does not matter much to us as we observe more of his worsening alcoholism. As he recognizes in a self-deprecating manner at one point early in the film, he has been so deeply mired in his alcoholism that he does not seem to know or remember whether his alcoholism came before losing his dear family or vice versa.

Around the point where Ben arrives in Las Vegas, the movie shifts its focus toward Sera (Elisabeth Shue), a young female prostitute who has worked in Las Vegas for years. Not long after she and Ben come across each other, they happen to meet each other again, and Ben manages to convince her to spend some night with him besides having a sexual encounter in his motel room.

While Ben looks like a creep to her at first, Sera does not say no when they are in his motel room. Although she has sometimes been pretty miserable as working under a Latvian pimp who is thankfully gone later in the story, she is a seasoned professional expert who knows what and how she will do before getting paid. There is a scene where she talks about how deftly she handles those seedy clients of hers as a well-experienced sex worker. She is willing to be whatever her clients desire in exchange for money, but she is not so eager to get emotionally involved with them more.

However, Ben surprises Sera, because she comes to care more about him than expected. She senses something sad about Ben, and then she lets him stay inside her residence. While not being persuaded to stop his suicidal plan at all, Ben asks her to let him stuck with bottles as before, and Sera does not mind this despairing request of his.

Not so surprisingly, both Ben and Sera come to love and care about each other a lot more than they can admit. Getting more and more frustrated with Ben’s worsening alcoholism, Sera cannot help but try to persuade him to get any good chance for recovery, but Ben does not listen to her at all while always thinking about another glass of drink – and what should be done for her before he eventually becomes too burdensome for her.

Although often being well-aware of his incorrigible alcoholic condition, Ben cannot help but follow his alcoholic impulses just like many other alcoholics out there. As many people say, one cannot love others without loving oneself first, and Ben cannot possibly be liberated from deep self-loathing, which comes with the territory in case of alcoholism. In the end, he comes to hurt Sera’s feelings a lot, and that accordingly leads him to another bottom to hit.

As the harrowing soul of the film, Nicholas Cage, who deservedly received a Best Actor Oscar for this movie, gives one of the best performances in his rather bumpy career. While he can be pretty bad if he is seriously miscast, Cage has usually showed considerable professional commitment during last several decades, and that is why he is often fantastic in demanding roles requiring a lot of efforts. As a part of his preparation, he studied Albert Finney’s Oscar-nominated alcoholic performance in John Huston’s “Under the Volcano” (1984), and, just like Finney, he gives a compelling performance both subtle and intense. While there are several striking moments emphasizing Ben’s worsening alcoholism, Cage aptly handles these scenes with human nuances to notice and observe, and we come to have more understanding of what Sera sees from Ben as they genuinely fall in love with each other.

On the opposite, Elizabeth Shue, who was also Oscar-nominated, functions as the precious heart of the movie. As the story advances, we get to know more about Sera’s feelings and thoughts during several personal scenes of hers where she reflects on her relationship with Ben. As Sera struggles to process her experience with Ben along the story, she comes to us as an engaging human figure to care about as much as Ben, and Shue, whose career has not sadly been boosted as much as Cage’s after this movie, is simply unforgettable when her character says something quite simple but very poignant at the end of the story.

On the whole, “Leaving Las Vegas”, which is based on the semi-autobiographical novel of John O’Brien (He killed himself shortly before the shooting of the movie began, by the way), is a powerful human drama about not only alcoholism but also love and compassion. This is surely one of the best works in Figgis’ filmmaking career, and I am glad that South Korean audiences can get a chance to see this little masterwork again in movie theaters.

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Stranger Than Paradise (1984) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): The early breakthrough work in Jim Jarmusch’s career

Posted on January 12, 2026 by kaist455

Jim Jarmusch’s 1984 film “Stranger Than Paradise”, which happens to be shown in selected South Korean theaters along with several other works of his as his latest film “Father Mother Sister Brother” (2025) arrives here, is quite dry to say the least. On the surface, nothing much seems to be happening among its main characters, and the movie simply seems to be leisurely rolling along with its deliberately shabby minimalistic mood, but it is also somehow funny and poignant thanks to its offbeat low-key humor and sensitivity.

The story consists of three acts, and the first act establishes its three main characters one by one. Bella “Willie” Molnar (John Lurie) is a small-time Hungarian gambler who has lived in a Brooklyn neighborhood of New York City, and the first scene shows him being rather annoyed by a sudden news. His cousin Eva (Eszter Balint) will soon come from Hungary for visiting their old aunt living in Cleveland, Ohio, but their aunt has to be in a hospital due to some illness during next several days, so he has to let Eva stay in his little shabby apartment before she will eventually go to Cleveland later.

The main source of humor during the first act comes from the strained relationship development between Willie and Eva. Right from her first day in his apartment, Willie is not very friendly to Eva, and we observe some friction between them during their first several days. Nevertheless, he gradually becomes a bit protective as he comes to spend more time with her, and he also introduces her to his close friend Eddie (Richard Edson), who wholeheartedly welcomes her from the beginning.

Doling out one dryly humorous moment after another along its slow narrative flow, the movie gradually engages us via its own style and sensibility. While it was shot in grainy black and white film, the resulting shabby visual qualities fit well with the deadpan attitude of the movie. Although its three main characters are more or less than broad archetypes, they have each own personality to distinguish in one way or another, and we are all the amused as observing some low-key comic moments generated among them (My favorite moment is the one involved with a vacuum cleaner, by the way).

 Around its middle point, the story moves to Cleveland. Not long after Eva goes to Cleveland to see and then stay with their aunt, Willie decides to go to Cleveland along with Eddie just because they happen to get enough money for going there. Although they are initially welcomed by Eva and Aunt Lotte (Cecillia Stark), it becomes apparent that Aunt Lotte does not like Willie much, and we get tickled a bit whenever she grumbles in Hungarian. I do not know how authentic her Hungarian speaking actually is compared to the AI-corrected Hungarian speaking in Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” (2024), but I can tell you instead at least that that Stark’s colorful supporting performance effortlessly steals the show from the beginning to the end.

Anyway, it turns out that Eva has been pretty bored and frustrated with living in Cleveland, and that eventually prompts Willie and Eddie to take her to Florida later in the story. Not so surprisingly, there comes a big trouble not long before they arrive in Miami, and the movie accordingly becomes a bit more tense and serious than before.   

Nevertheless, the movie does not lose any of its humor and sensitivity even at that point. There is a melancholic but lovely moment when Eva and Willie simply spend some time along with Eddie at a nearby beach, and we come to sense more of the relationship development between them even though they do not signify much on the surface. Around the end of the story, we are caught off guard by a little unexpected plot turn, and this rather jarring plot turn eventually leads the story and characters to the haunting finale to remember.

Although the movie is Jarmusch’s second feature film after “Permanent Vacation” (1980), it clearly shows that Jarmusch already established and then developed his own idiosyncratic style and mood even at that point. Every scene in the film was shot in single long takes with no standard coverage, and their beginnings and ends are always punctuated by blackouts or chapter titles. This storytelling approach may look quite simple and plain to you at first, but Jarmusch’s confident direction is evident from how he subtly builds up mood and humor on the screen, and he also draws good comic performances from his main cast members, who are often as amusingly deadpan as the performers of Wes Anderson movies. John Lurie, who also wrote the screenplay a bit with Jarmusch besides composing the score for the movie, and Eszter Balint complement well each other throughout the film, and they and Richard Edson ably generate genuine comic chemistry among them whenever they are together on the screen.

Overall, “Stranger Than Fiction” remains one of the highpoints in Jarmusch’s long and illustrious filmmaking career, and I must tell you that I enjoyed it more than when I watched it for the first time around 20 years ago. At that time, many works of his works were a sort of acquired taste to me, but then he interested and then impressed me more with his several subsequent acclaimed works such as “Broken Flowers” (2005) and “Patterson” (2016), and his latest film “Father Mother Sister Brother” demonstrates again that he is still one of the most interesting filmmakers in our time. Sure, you may be initially baffled by “Stranger Than Paradise” and many of his dryly idiosyncratic works out there, but they will probably grow on you more, and you may come to want to savor their distinctive nuances and details more.

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Baka’s Identity (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): Three lads struggling in a criminal underworld

Posted on January 12, 2026 by kaist455

Japanese film “Baka’s Identity” is a grim but engaging crime drama about three different lads struggling in their criminal underworld in one way or another. As smoothly moving from one perspective from another one along its non-linear narrative, the movie gradually reveals more of how harsh and ruthless their criminal underworld can be, and we come to understand and care about them more than before.

The story, which consists of three acts, initially focuses on how Takuya Matsumoto (Takumi Kitamura) and Mamoru (Yuta Hayashi) operate in the criminal underworld in Tokyo. Working under some big criminal organization, they often lure men with their fake female online identities. With some help from their young female associate, they later trick these unfortunate targets into selling their identity papers, which will then be resold at a much higher price to whoever seeking a new identity for a new life.

So far, things have been fairly good for both Takuya and Mamoru, but we begin to sense trouble when they meet their direct boss at one point. When Takuya happens to be absent for a while, their direct boss instructs Mamoru not to contact Takuya at any chance on the next day, but he does not tell Mamoru the reason for that at all. Though quite baffled about this odd instruction, Mamoru subsequently comes to witness something suspicious from Takuya, but he still does not tell anything – even to Kenshi Kajitani (Go Ayano), another member of the criminal organization who has been like a big brother to both Mamoru and Takuya.

Needless to say, the situation soon becomes quite dangerous for both Takuya and Mamoru, but then the screenplay by Kosuke Mukai, which is based on the novel by Jun Nishio, steps back and then fleshes out the relationships among its three main characters more. We see how Takuya generously took Mamoru under his wing not long after their accidental first encounter, and this touchingly resonates with how much Kenshi comes to care about Takuya more later in the story. At one point, Kenshi must make a choice as getting involved with Takuya more than he wanted at first, and their circumstance certainly becomes all the trickier as a consequence.

While thankfully sticking to its calm, restrained attitude as before, the movie unnerves us with several chilling moments of brutal violence. Although initially looking pretty jolly on the surface, Takuya and Mamoru’s direct boss is not certainly a nice man at all, and neither is a dude at the top of their criminal organization. Besides that illegal trading of identity papers, their criminal organization turns out to be involved with several other nasty criminal businesses, and the casual attitude of these two very unpleasant figures to their deplorable criminal activities will chill or disgust you at times.

While quite uncompromising in the depiction of the gloomy despair and horror surrounding its main characters, the movie still holds our attention as an effective crime noir thriller. It is gradually revealed that Takuya gets himself involved in a very risky criminal scheme involved with a lot of dirty money to steal, and the movie trusts us enough to let us gather what is going on around Takuya and several other main characters. Even when it eventually arrives at the expected finale, the movie does not hurry itself at all, and it manages to pull out a little bit of hope and optimism even though many things remain quite uncertain for its three main characters.

The three main cast members of the film are solid as the human centers of the story. Right from the beginning, Takumi Kitamura and Yuta Hayashi click well with each other as two lads who have depended on each other a lot as close friends and colleagues, and Kitamura is particularly good when Takuya must not hint or reveal anything to Mamoru at all for Mamoru’s safety. As another important part of the story, Go Ayano is convincing as a man who turns out to have more compassion and conscience than his meek and shabby appearance suggests, and we do not need any explanation at all when his character decides to take a lot of risk for himself as well as Takuya.

In case of several substantial supporting performers in the film, their characters are rather broad on the whole, but they are well-cast in their respective roles at least. Kazuya Tanabe and Goichi Mine are as menacing and despicable as expected from their villainous characters, and they surely bring extra tension whenever their characters appear on the screen. Although their supporting roles are mostly under-developed, Mizuki Yamashita and Yuma Yamoto hold each own small spot well around the fringe of the story, and they also contribute a bit of sensitivity to the movie.

In conclusion, “Baka’s Identity”, which was released as “Who Is a Fool?” in South Korea on last Wednesday (“Baka” is a rather strong Japanese pejorative meaning “Fool”, by the way), did a fairly good job of mixing familiar genre elements into its dark social drama under the competent direction of director Koto Nagata, who previously directed “Little DJ” (2007). When I walked into the screening room during this afternoon, I did not have much knowledge or expectation on what or how it is about, so the movie surprised me as engaging and then touching me more than expected, and now I recommend you to give it a chance someday.

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Breathless (1960) ☆☆☆☆(4/4): Still bold and spirited

Posted on January 10, 2026 by kaist455

For many years, watching Jean-Luc Godard’s ground-breaking film “Breathless” has felt like homework for me. To be frank with you, I usually prefer François Truffaut’s movies to Godard’s, and I usually find many of Godard’s films rather cold, haughty, and distant, though I admire some of his early works including “Vivre sa vie” (1962) and “Band of Outsiders” (1964).

However, my impression on “Breathless” is changed a bit now, probably because I recently watched Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague” (2025), which is a lightweight dramatization of the making of “Breathless”. As watching “Nouvelle Vague”, I came to have more understanding on what Godard boldly attempted to do at that time, and that makes me appreciate more of that precious lightning captured inside “Breathless”.

Even before “Nouvelle Vague” came out, the story behind the making of “Breathless” has been known well to many of us for many years. Godard wrote the screenplay from the story conceived by Truffaut, but he and his cast and crew members frequently depended on instant improvisation, as he tried to break all the conventions and rules for making something different just like many of his fellow critics of Cahiers du Cinéma who became the leading figures of the French New Wave during the 1960s. 

As amusingly shown in “Nouvelle Vague”, even Godard seemed not to know what exactly he was trying to make with his cast and crew, but his audacious cinematic gamble led to one of the most important breakthroughs in the movie history. Yes, he and the movie changed the vocabulary of cinema forever via the bold and unconventional utilization of jump cut, and its frequent jump cuts still catch our attention with the sheer audacity actually coming from practical reasons (He needed to shorten the movie to a considerable degree during the post-production period, you know). At the same time, we are drawn more to the raw energy and excitement generated by its defiantly free-flowing narrative and its two broad but undeniably compelling lead characters, and you may come to understand more of whatever Godard has attempted since this remarkable first feature film of his.

One of the two lead characters in the film is Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a young small-time car thief who is a textbook case of “style-but-no-substance”. Whenever he is not doing anything criminal, he often tries to imitate those gangster characters of the Hollywood movies from the 1940-50s, and this aspect is particularly evident when he looks into the photograph of Humphrey Bogart for a while at one point in the middle of the story.   

At the beginning of the story, Michel gets himself into a very serious trouble. Not long after stealing another nice big car, he finds himself pursued by a couple of police officers, and he inadvertently killed one of them. Needless to say, he becomes quite desperate as looking for any chance to grab some money to help his getaway, but then he gets irresistibly attracted to Patricia Franchini (Jean Seberg), a young and beautiful American who has aspired to be a newspaper journalist while also being about to enroll in Sorbonne University in Paris.

Most of the movie focuses on the offbeat romantic interactions between these two different figures. Even though the time keeps running out for him, Michel wants to spend more time with Patricia, but Patricia remains rather distant to him even though it is apparent that she is intrigued by his vapid but amusing panache. Their romantic tension eventually culminates to an assured long-take scene unfolded inside Patricia’s little residence, but, again, Patricia keeps her counsel to herself as much as Michael Corleone. While both of them just began their respective movie acting careers before appearing together in the film, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg effortlessly complement each other as fully embodying their respective archetype roles, and their iconic characters certainly opened the door for many other similar movie couples such as, yes, the titular characters of Arthur Penn’s equally great breakthrough film “Bonny and Clyde” (1967).  

Meanwhile, the movie cheerfully bounces from one narrative point to another as occasionally adding a series of self-conscious touches to amuse you. You will smile a bit when Cahiers du Cinéma briefly appears early in the film, and Michel’s occasional alias, Laszlo Kovacs, is the name of Belmondo’s character in Claude Chabrol’s 1959 film “Web of Passion” in addition to being the name of a well-known Hungarian cinematographer. While cinematographer Raoul Coutard brings a lot of realism and verisimilitude to the screen via several unorthodox shooting methods used by him and Godard (He even shot one certain scene while hiding inside a rather small wooden box, for example), the care-free attitude of the movie is often accentuated by the jazzy score by Martial Solal.

In the end, like many other criminal movie couples, Michel and Patricia come to face the inevitable end of their deviant fun and excitement, and that is where the movie becomes a bit elusive. In what can be regarded as a pretty self-serving act, Patricia comes to betray Michel, and Michel leaves a little gesture along the very bitter final word at the end of his casual but undeniably striking death scene. While Coutard’s camera looks into Patricia’s face at the very end of the film, Patricia remains elusive as before, and we keep wondering where her heart really lies.

On the whole, “Breathless” still feels young and spirited just like many other great films such as Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane” (1941), and it will surely take you back to the time when Godard was really cool and interesting. I still have reservation on most of his later films including “Goodbye to Language” (2014), but he did contribute a lot to cinema at least when he was young and wild, and we can still appreciate that.

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My Sunshine (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): A coming-of-age drama on ice 

Posted on January 9, 2026 by kaist455

Japanese filmmaker Hiroshi Okuyama’s latest film “My Sunshine” is a modest but engaging coming-of-age drama to be appreciated for several good reasons. While the story and characters are quite familiar to say the least, the movie patiently builds up its mood and story as doling out little human moments to observe, and the overall result is another interesting work from its talented director.

The movie mainly revolves around three main characters, and the opening scene introduces us to one of them, who is a young boy named Takuya (Keitatsu Koshiyama). Besides stuttering at times, Takuya does not get along that well with his schoolmates, and that is more evident to us when he plays ice hockey along with them during one cold winter day. He merely participates in the game as the goalkeeper without much enthusiasm, and, not so surprisingly, many of his schoolmates complain about his lack of effort after the game is over.

Anyway, Takuya continues to practice hockey along with them during next several days, and then something begins to draw his attention on one day. He and his schoolmates happen to practice on the same rink where several female figure skaters around his age are also doing some practice together, and, what do you know, he cannot help but become mesmerized by all the graceful movements of figure skating. Soon, he begins his own practicing alone on the rink, and that happens to draw the attention of Arakawa (Sosuke Ikematsu), a figure skating coach who has been teaching several young female figure skaters after he returned to his hometown.

Probably because he saw his younger self from Takuya, Arakawa eventually starts to help and then teach Takuya. Although it takes some time for getting himself more accustomed to figure skating at first, Takuya comes to show more potential along with more enthusiasm, and Arakawa later decides to pair Takuya with Sakura (Kiara Nakanishi), who is one of those young female figure skaters under his coaching.

Now the story looks more like an icy winter version of Stephen Daldry’s Oscar-nominated coming-of-age drama film “Bilie Elliot” (2000), but the movie sticks to its dry and restrained attitude as leisurely rolling its story and character from one narrative point to another. Yes, Sakura, who is evidently interested in getting closer to her handsome male coach, is certainly not so pleased at all when she has to train along with Takuya, but she goes along with Arakawa’s decision anyway, and she turns out to be a fairly good partner for Takuya. Yes, Takuya surely shows more improvement in response, and that brings extra joy and excitement to his mundane middle-class daily life. Neither his parents nor his older brother is particularly supportive, but they do not mind him practicing figure skating instead of ice hockey at all, and he comes to dedicate himself more to that under Arakawa’s steady guidance.

Meanwhile, the screenplay written by Okuyama, who also served as the editor and cinematographer of the movie, gradually reveals a bit about Arakawa’s inner life. As reflected by a bunch of old stuffs belonging to him, he was once a very famous figure skater, and he cannot help but become a bit wistful even though knowing well that his days of glory were way behind him now. In addition, it is revealed that he has something he has mostly kept to himself, and, not so surprisingly, that leads to a little conflict when Sakura happens to discover that later in the story.

It goes without saying that the story eventually arrives at what is supposed to be a big moment for its three main characters. However, the movie sidesteps expected genre clichés a bit to our little surprise, and there comes a somber moment of personal self-reflection for Arakawa, who comes to muse more on what he really wants from the rest of his life. The following finale is a bit too restrained in my humble opinion, but you may appreciate how the movie pulls out small signs of optimism from each of its three characters at least. 

The movie relies a lot on the effortless interactions between its three main cast members, who all give good performances under Okuyama’s competent direction. While Keitatsu Koshiyama humbly holds the center with his unadorned earnest acting, Kiara Nakanishi ably fills her role with enough presence and personality, and Sosuke Ikematsu has his own moments to stand out while diligently supporting his two younger co-stars as required. In case of several figure skating scenes in the film, these scenes are skillfully handled with enough realism, and both Koshiyama and Nakanishi look convincing on the rink while occasionally brightening up the mood. 

In conclusion, “My Sunshine”, which belatedly came to South Korean theaters in this week although it was premiered at the Un Certain Regard section of the 2024 Cannes Films Festival and then was shown in the Busan International Film Festival in the same year, is relatively drier than “Billie Elliot” and many other similar coming-of-age drama films out there, but it distinguishes itself enough mainly thanks to its sensitive mood and storytelling. Although it is one or two steps down from his impressive first feature film “Jesus” (2018), Okuyama confirms to us again that he is another promising Japanese filmmaker to watch, and I will certainly keep watching on his advancing filmmaking career.

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Poppoya (1999) ☆☆☆(3/4): The life of a station master

Posted on January 9, 2026 by kaist455

Japanese filmmaker Yasuo Furuhata’s 1999 film “Poppoya” is the story of one dedicated railway station master. While he has simply devoted himself to his menial occupation for more than 20 years without much complaint at all, he has also kept a lot of personal feelings to himself just for doing his professional duty day by day, and the movie is often poignant as gradually revealing his humanity along the story.

The early part of the film quickly establishes its hero’s early years. During the 1950s, Otomatsu Satō (Ken Takakura) was a diligent lad who worked as a train operator in some rural region of Hokkaido. Around the 1970s, his train company eventually promoted him a bit, and that is how he became the railway station master of one small coal mine village.

However, things have been recently not so good for Satō. After the coal mine was shut down several years ago, the village becomes far less populated than before, and then the train company decides to shut down the line. His close colleague suggests that he should move onto some other job just like him after his upcoming retirement, but Satō does not care much about that at all, while mostly being occupied with his daily job at the station as he has always been.

And we get to know more about his plain private life. He and his wife, who unfortunately died a few years ago, once had a daughter after many years of attempting to have a child between them, but, alas, their precious daughter died due to a sudden illness even before having her first birthday. Nevertheless, Satō kept focusing on doing his professional duty as usual, and this certainly hurt his wife’s feelings a lot, though she still loved and understood her husband.

While he has surely been lonelier since his wife’s death, Satō remains surrounded by his close colleague and several others who really care about him. Although he is not a very social person compared to his close colleague, many of his colleagues in the company regard him with a lot of respect and admiration because of his longtime professional dedication. In case of a sweet old lady who has ran a little restaurant in the village for many years, she has been pretty much like another family member to Satō, and there are a couple of moving flashback scenes showing how she came to take care of a little boy along with Satō and his wife after that boy happened to lose his single father due to an unfortunate mine accident.

While the weather gets a lot colder and snowier during what turns out to be his last winter season at the station, Satō continues to work as if nothing changed much, but there soon comes a number of small events unfolded around him. His close colleague visits him just for having a little drinking night along with him, and they naturally become a bit wistfully nostalgic about their shared past. In addition, Satō is visited by three different girls one by one when he is working alone by himself, and, though they are supposed to be the granddaughters of one of his village neighbors, he cannot help but become protective about them as being moved a bit by something special about them.

Steadily building up its story and characters bit by bit, the screenplay by Yoshiki Iwama, which is based on the novel by Jirō Asada, gives us more glimpse into its taciturn hero’s quietly beating heart. Just because of his unflappable sense of duty and pride, Satō has always restrained himself throughout his whole life, and the recurring memories of his wife and daughter lead him to more sadness and regret. Sure, he could have done better for them, but he and his wife also had some little happiness together in their married life, and there is a touching scene when he comes to have an unexpected moment of consolation later in the story.

Needless to say, everything in the film depends a lot on the subtle but engaging lead performance by Ken Takakura, whom you may recognize for his notable supporting turns in several American films such as Ridley Scott’s “Black Rain” (1989). While looking quite dry and restrained in his low-key appearance, Takakura deftly conveys to us his character’s inner feelings without overstepping at all, and that is why several key moments in the film are so dramatically effective. Whenever Satō cannot help but show his emotions a bit, Takakura’s minimalistic acting shines with small human touches to observe, and we come to care more about his character than before.

Around Takakura, several other main cast members in the film come and go as functioning as livelier counterparts to his low-key acting. While Nenji Kobayashi provides some comic relief as Satō’s close colleague, Shinobu Otake brings a bit of precious human warmth to the story as Satō’s loving but fragile wife, and Yoshiko Tanaka, Ryōko Hirosue, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Masanobu Ando, and Ken Shimura have each own moment to shine along the story.

On the whole, “Poppoya”, which means “railroad worker” (鉄道員) in Japanese, is basically your typical sentimental melodrama, but it is tastefully handled via good mood and storytelling in addition to being supported well by the commendable efforts from its main cast members. Right from the beginning, you will clearly see where it is going, but you will be touched to some tears when it eventually arrives at its destination point.

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