Annie Hall (1977) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Keaton still shines despite that

Posted on October 15, 2025 by kaist455

Several years ago, one South Korean critic said that it is a shame that we cannot enjoy Woody Allen’s 1977 film “Annie Hall” like we did for many years. Sure, the movie itself is still very witty, funny, and touching in addition to being one of the definite New Yorker comedy films from Allen, but now his iconic public image is not welcomed much in these days because we come to pay more attention to what has always been there in many of his notable works. After the #MeToo movement, I and many others became much more aware of what he allegedly committed behind his back in the past, and most of us consequently have stayed away from his works as much as possible while noticing their indubitable sexual aspects.

However, it is undeniable that Allen gave many of his actresses some of the best moments in their acting career. Yes, regardless of whether she likes it or not, it is really difficult to talk about Mia Farrow’s career without mentioning a number of Allen’s films she appeared, and one of the main pleasures of his films is how a bunch of many different talented actresses ranging from Diane Wiest to Cate Blanchett excel themselves in one way or another.

Some of these wonderful actresses deservedly won an Oscar for their significant contribution to Allen’s films, and one of such cases is Diane Keaton in “Annie Hall” (The movie also won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, by the way). Right from her very first scene in the film, Keaton, who sadly passed away a few days ago, instantly draws our attention with her natural charm and spirited presence, and her iconic performance remains as the best thing in the film even at present.   

As cheerfully bouncing along its non-linear narrative, the movie follows how Alvy Singer, played by Allen, struggles to process his thoughts and feelings on his relationship with his former girlfriend Annie Hall, played by Keaton. As wondering how their relationship was ended, Alvy’s mind naturally goes here and there among the memories of his past as well as his relationship, and it is still amusing to watch several absurd moments from Alvy’s childhood.

Throughout the film, Allen frequently talks directly to us in front of the camera, and I cannot help but observe how that becomes less funny than before. We were once amused a lot by how humorously he wields his neurotic comic persona on the screen, but now he often reminds more of all those allegations against him, and his character’s confusion and anxiety about those colorful young women in the film understandably look rather creepy at times.

However, Keaton constantly brings a lot of life and personality to her character besides that famously quirky attire of hers in the film, and her character comes to us a smart and independent young lady who knows a bit better about the matters of heart compared to her boyfriend. As revisiting the movie at last night, I noticed how much Keaton’s character was depicted through the viewpoint of Allen’s character, but Keaton’s charming performance easily jumps over that inherent storytelling limit, and her character eventually becomes the other half of the story.

Above all, she and Allen effortlessly click well with each other during their several comic key scenes to be savored and appreciated. During one certain scene, the movie suddenly uses subtitles to show what Alvy and Annie respectively think as talking with each other more and more. This may look like a mere attempt for a bit more laugh, but it is enhanced to a considerable degree by the good comic timing between Allen and Keaton, and that is why it is one of the most memorable moments in the film.

I must point out that several other comic moments in the movie including one particular animation scene are rather dated compared to what is wonderfully transpired between Keaton and Allen. These moments belong more to those early comedy films of Allen such as “Take the Money and Run” (1969) and “Bananas” (1971), which are fairly amusing but often feel a bit too thin as mainly driven by gags and jokes instead of story and character. After getting more recognition and praise thanks to “Annie Hall”, Allen wisely moved onto more sophisticated areas, and that led to not only a series of solid comedy films but also several surprisingly serious drama films such as “Interiors” (1978) and “Another Woman” (1986).

Around Allen and Keaton, several notable performers including Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, Shelley Duvall, and Collen Dewhurst come and go as providing some extra amusement to the movie. Christopher Walken, who would advance further with his Oscar-winning supporting turn in Michael Cimino’s “Dear Hunter” (1978), gives a brief but hilariously uncanny moment as Annie’s rather disturbed brother, and you may also notice Jeff Goldblum and Sigourney Weaver when they respectively appeared for a few seconds later in the film.  

In conclusion, “Annie Hall” is still a definite career high point for both Allen and Keaton even though its reputation has been irreversibly tarnished to some degree by the allegations against Allen during last several years. Although she sided with Allen even after the #MeToo movement, it is inarguable that Keaton was one of the greatest American actresses of our time, and I am glad to see that she still shines in “Annie Hall” as before.

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Reds (1981) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): An epic left-wing period drama by Warren Beatty

Posted on October 14, 2025 by kaist455

While revisiting Warren Beatty’s 1981 film “Reds” at last night, I observed how it stays focused on ideas and emotions behind its grand and ambitious attempt to illustrate the life and career of its real-life left-wing American journalist hero. Yes, there are a number of epic moments to reflect the big historical changes surrounding him, but the movie is ultimately about his complicated relationship with a smart and interesting woman who tried to understand and deal with his left-wing idealism, and it handles their rather messy love story with a lot of care, intelligence, and sensitivity.

The hero of the movie is John Silas “Jack” Reed (1887 ~ 1920), who is incidentally played by Beatty himself. Although he was quite famous for his 1919 book “Ten Days That Shook the World” during his time, he was mostly forgotten when Beatty became interested in making a movie about him in the late 1960s, and it is really amazing that Beatty managed to get the production of this passion project of his green-lighted inside Hollywood around 10 years later, especially considering how the American society came to take a big right turn with the election of President Ronald Reagan in 1980.

The first act of the film establishes Reed’s relationship with Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton), who was quite a progressive liberal lady despite being married to some boring dentist in Oregon, Portland in 1915. At the beginning, Bryant simply encounters Reed as a writer/journalist interested in writing about him and his left-wing ideology, but, what do you know, they click so well with each other as they talk and talk with each other during next several hours. Eventually, Bryant agrees to go to New York City along with Reed, though she makes it quite clear to him from the beginning that she will not be a mere lover to elope with.

Once they come to New York City, Bryant soon finds herself often overwhelmed by the wild and passionate political mood among Reed’s artist and activist friends including Emma Goldman (Maureen Stapleton). In addition, despite being a caring lover, Reed is frequently absent due to his constant journalistic assignments here and there in the country, and that makes her all the more frustrated about their relationship. Even after they eventually move to a quieter place outside the city, Reed cannot help but driven more by his work and left-wing idealism, and this consequently leads to Bryant’s affair with Eugene O’Neill (Jack Nicholson), a legendary playwright who is a close friend of Reed but has been smitten with Bryant right from when he sees her for the first time.

In the end, Bryant decides to go for her own journalist career for herself without Reed’s help or support, but then they meet each other again in 1917 when they are reporting on the final chapter of World War I. When Reed suggests that they should go to Russia for reporting on the ongoing Bolshevik Revolution, Bryant hesitates at first, but she eventually accompanies him, and they come to have the most productive time in their relationship as enthusiastically reporting on one of the biggest historical moments in the early 20th century.

Around that narrative point, the movie immerses us more into the story of Reed and Bryant, and Beatty and his crew members including cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, who deservedly won his second Oscar for this film, throws a series of big and impressive moments which surely take you back to David Lean’s classic film “Doctor Zhivago” (1965). Never losing its personal perspectives, the movie vividly and dramatically conveys to us how the Bolshevik Revolution intrigued and excited many left-wing American figures like Reed during that time, and it also does not overlook the following frustration and disillusionment experienced by Reed and several other figures around him.

Meanwhile, the story is often intercut with the interview clips of a bunch of real-life figures who are simply presented as “the Witnesses”. As the people who knew Reed and Bryant during that time, they all surely have something to tell, and what they willingly tell provides extra insight on Reed, Bryant, and that interesting period surrounding them, while also bringing genuine human poignancy to the story.

Although the screenplay Beatty and his co-writer Trevor Griffiths trudges a bit during its last act, the movie continues to engage us up to its somber but powerful final scene under the excellent direction of Beatty, who won a Best Director Oscar for his movie (The movie received the total 12 nominations at that time, though it lost the Best Picture award to Hugh Hudson’s “Chariots of Fire” (1981)). The movie is certainly one of the high points in his legendary movie career, and it is a bit shame that he did not direct many movies after this remarkable achievement.

Beatty also gives an effective lead performance as the center of the story, and he is complemented well by the equally interesting performance by Diane Keaton, who sadly passed away a few days ago. From the beginning to the end, Beatty and Keaton are convincing as their characters pull or push each other along the story, and their good chemistry on the screen is one of the main reasons why the movie keeps engaging us despite its long running time (195 minutes).

Around himself and Keaton, Beatty assembles a bunch of notable performers to enjoy. Jack Nicholson, who ably dialed down himself here a lot right after his full-throttle manic performance in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” (1980), has several sensitive moments with Keaton, and that led to another Oscar nomination for him. Although her appearance in the film is rather short. Maureen Stapleton quietly and effortlessly steals every moment of hers, and she rightfully garnered a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for that. While Gene Hackman briefly appeared early in the story, several recognizable performers including Edward Herrmann and Paul Sorvino are well-cast in their respective supporting parts.

On the whole, “Reds” may require a bit of patience from you as taking its time for developing its main characters and building up the big historical picture surrounding them, but it is still worthwhile to watch for its many top-notch aspects to be admired and appreciated. It may not be a great film, but it is an epic work to remember, and it deserves some more attention in my humble opinion.

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Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): A lot of actions in the middle of infinity

Posted on October 13, 2025 by kaist455

Japanese animation feature film “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle”, which is still being shown in South Korean theaters despite being released in two months ago, keeps things rolling during its rather long running time (155 minutes), and I enjoyed that even though I often struggled to understand the story and characters during its first half. Just like another recent Japanese animation film “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Rese Arc” (2025), it simply tries to entertain its main target audiences, but you may be entertained by its vivid style and striking action even if you have no background knowledge in advance like me.

The film is a direct sequel to the fourth season of the anime TV series “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba”, which is based on the manga series of the same name by Koyoharu Gotouge. Thanks to the huge popularity of the anime TV series, there also came several feature films such as “Mugen Train (2020)”, “To the Swordsmith Village” (2023), and “To the Hashira Training” (2024) during last several years, and “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle” is actually the first chapter of the ambitious trilogy project to be completed.

The opening part of the film hurriedly establishes what happens not long after the end of the fourth season of the anime TV series. Thanks to a very, very, very powerful demonic figure who is the leader of many different demons against which they have been battling, a bunch of demon slayers are thrown into a dangerous area called the Infinity Castle, which is a seemingly infinite and constantly dynamic third-dimension labyrinth of castles and halls.

As these demon slayers, who happen to be divided into several groups as they are separately hurled into the Infinity Castle, try to find a way out in addition to slaying one demon after another, the film busily juggles several narrative lines before eventually focusing on the three different conflicts. The first one is associated with a smiling but fearsome demon, and his opposing female demon slayer certainly comes to test her limit to the end, while not only fighting against this demon but also dealing with some personal issues inside her mind. As their dynamic fight is continued, the film often tells and shows us whatever is going on in their respective minds within a few seconds, and that may allow you to catch some breath amid a series of busy actions rapidly unfolded between these two opposing figures.

The second conflict is set between two dudes who were brothers but now come to fight with each other as a demon slayer and a demon, and the mood surely becomes melodramatic as these two brothers come to confront their complicated past of love and hate. Although one seems more disadvantaged compared to the other, their fighting skills turn out to be more equal than expected, and it is not much of a spoiler to tell you that this part eventually culminates to when one of them discovers a way to overpower the other at the last minute.

In case of the third conflict, two certain demon slayers confront one of the most powerful demonic figures in the Infinity Castle, who seems to be quite invincible for a good reason. No matter how much these two demon slayers try to defeat him, this mighty dude can always evade or suppress their attacks in advance, and it does not take much time for one of the demon slayers to realize more of how mighty their opponent really is.

Around the point where their desperate fight against their seemingly unbeatable opponent expectedly reaches to a dramatic point, the story becomes surprisingly melodramatic with some genuine poignancy via a series of flashback scenes. I will not go into details for not spoiling any of your entertainment, but I can tell you instead that you may feel a bit sorry for that powerful demonic figure as observing how he let himself fallen into evil and darkness as understandably driven by anger and hate many decades ago.

Because I am a relatively less knowledgeable audience, it was often difficult for me to process and understand its every part, but the film kept holding my attention with a considerable amount of visual power and action nonetheless. Your eyes will be marveled whenever the film looks over the endlessly vast scale of the Infinity Castle, and it also adds some extra intrigue to the story as a trio of young little but very special girls are busily working on drawing the intricate maps of the Infinity Castle for helping those demon slayers trapped inside it. The action scenes in the film are presented with a lot of style and spirit to dazzle you from the beginning, and they are certainly more than enough for exciting you and then leaving you some expectation around the time when it arrives at its predictable cliffhanger ending.

In conclusion, “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle”, directed by Haruo Sotozaki (He previously directed the anime TV series version as well as “Mugen Train”, by the way), feels inherently incomplete as the opening chapter for its trilogy, but it is fairly entertaining enough to compensate for its several weak aspects including the overlong running time. Thanks to not only this film but also “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Rese Arc”, Netflix animation film “KPop Demon Hunters” (2025), and South Korean animation film “Exorcism Chronicles: The Beginning” (2024), I and many other South Korean audiences got served with a lot of demon slaying during this year, and I can only hope that we will be entertained again by whatever will come after “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle”.

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A House of Dynamite (2025) ☆☆☆1/2 (3.5/4): Nobody can possibly be prepared for this

Posted on October 10, 2025 by kaist455

Kathryn Bigelow’s new film “A House of Dynamite”, which is being shown in South Korean theaters before being released on Netflix two weeks later, is quite tense and disturbing to say the least. Closely and vividly following how its many different characters respond to an unthinkable crisis for which nobody can possibly be prepared, the movie makes a very chilling point on its fearful main subject without any compromise, and the overall result is both riveting and thought-provoking from the beginning to the end.

Consisting of the three chapters, the movie begins with a sudden unexpected emergency for US. When everyone is going through another usual day at a military base in Alaska, an unidentified Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is suddenly detected in the air, and everyone is quite baffled at first. So far, they have not received any warning or notice about this happening, and the mood becomes more tense once it becomes quite apparent that this unidentified ICBM is heading toward somewhere in US.

Needless to say, this happening has already been reported to the White House Situation Room, and that is followed by an emergency zoom meeting among a number of top-ranking military generals and government officials. While it is quite possible that the missile was launched by one of those enemy countries such as Russia or China, they have no idea on why this is happening, let alone how they should respond right now. When it turns out that the missile is going to strike one of the big major cities in US, they naturally become all the more pressured than before, and time keeps running out for them second by second as before.

In the end, everything depends on the final decision from the US president, but he is also as confused and conflicted as many others serving under him. As some of those top-ranking generals suggest, he may have to authorize an immediate retaliation via those nuclear missiles ready to be launched at any second, but he is also well aware of how tricky the ongoing situation is for his government and country. First, they still do not know anything about which country is really behind this shocking attack, so he must be really careful about the scale of the retaliation, but there is not much time for him and others around him right now, while it only becomes clearer to everyone that he is stuck between two very impossible choices with no possible way out.

Occasionally filling its main characters with some little human details to observe, the movie keeps focusing on how they struggle to do their best for avoiding the worst outcome of their rapidly developing crisis. As some of them bitterly admit, no one has ever imagined such a circumstance like this before, and their reactions and responses may remind you of the chaos and confusion in the US government and its country right after the 9/11 incident in 2001.

And the situation only gets grimmer despite their frantic efforts for getting their situation under control. Their defense system unfortunately fails to stop the incoming missile, and it becomes quite undeniable that their country cannot possibly avoid an unprecedented scale of disaster. Once notified about this, the people at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) instantly follow their protocol as expected, but they are also woefully unprepared just like others, and that adds more confusion and chaos to the ongoing circumstance.

Gradually fleshing out the narrative via its multiple viewpoints, the screenplay by writer/co-producer Noah Oppenheim completes its big sobering picture step by step, and Bigelow, who is no stranger to tension and pressure at all as shown from her Oscar-winning film “The Hurt Locker” (2008), and her crew members including cinematographer Barry Ackroyd and editor Kirk Baxter did a splendid job of generating more suspense and verisimilitude along the story. As Ackroyd’s handheld camera steadily focuses on the amounting suspense and pressure on everyone in the story, Baxter’s taut and efficient editing never allows us to get lost and confused amid the multiple plot lines in the film, and the score by Volker Bertelmann adds extra tension to the screen at times.

Furthermore, Bigelow assembles a bunch of talented performers who can instantly fill their respective roles with detail and nuance. A number of more notable performers such as Rebecca Ferguson, Jares Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, Gabriel Basso, Greta Lee, Jason Clarke, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Kaitlyn Dever will surely draw some attention from us right from the start, but they all come to function as the plain but crucial parts of the ensemble in one way or another, and Iris Elba, who incidentally played the British Prime minister in recent Amazon Prime movie “Heads of State” (2025) a few months ago, eventually takes the center as the US president while the story is approaching to its inevitable arrival point.

In conclusion, “A House of Dynamite” is an effective thriller film which can unnerve and then chill us a lot as sharply and devastatingly reminding us of how our world is still stuck inside what can be regarded as, yes, a house of dynamite which can be detonated at any chance even at this point. After watching how even fairly competent professionals and politicians can quickly become quite helplessly confused and pressured under such as a grim and terrifying circumstance like that, you will have a lot of understandable concern considering how our global world has been very unstable and volatile thanks to those evil or incompetent politicians during last several years, and I can only tell you that you are not alone at all.

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Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): A middle chapter packed with enough style and action

Posted on October 9, 2025 by kaist455

I must confess that I am not a main target audience of Japanese animation feature film “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc”, which happened to be released in South Korean theaters in last month. In fact, right before watching the film itself, I only knew that it is the direct sequel to the first season of the anime television series “Chainsaw Man”, which is based on Tatsuki Fujimoto’s popular manga series of the same name.

Although I do not think I wholly understand everything presented during the rather short running time (100 minutes), the film still engaged me nonetheless thanks to its colorfully vibrant mix of style and action. Sure, it took some time for me to absorb and then process the background information of the main characters of the story, and I must point out that the movie seems to spin its wheels at times during the first half. However, there come a series of spectacularly electrifying action sequences to behold during the second half, and that is more than enough to compensate for several notable shortcomings including its rather thin characterization.

The center of the story is a 16-year-old boy named Denji (voiced by Kikunosuke Toya), who has worked as one of the demon hunters under the special branch of the National Police Agency in Japan. As revealed later in the story, Denji is actually a hybrid entity between human and demon, and his heads and limbs can be transformed into chainsaws whenever he has to confront those demonic entities out there.

Anyway, the story begins not long after the end of the first season of the TV series (Please don’t ask me anything, because I have not watched that yet). Denji’s witch supervisor Makima (voiced by Tomori Kusunoki) decides to separate Denji from his demon partner Power (voiced by Fairouz Ai) for a while because Power needs to decrease her power fueled by an excessive amount of blood right now, and Denji is not so amused about being assigned to a shark demon named Beam (voiced by Natsuki Hanae) because, well, his new partner is too eager to accompany and assist him all the time.

When Makima also seems very interested in getting closer to Denji despite officially being his supervisor, Denji cannot possibly say no because he has been smitten with her for some time. During his movie marathon date with Makima, Denji is surprised to discover that his demon heart can actually feel something, and that certainly makes him feel a little better about his peculiar existence at present.

However, he also finds himself quite attracted to a pretty young girl suddenly coming into his life. Her name is Reze (voiced by Reina Ueda), and it seems that she is really interested in getting to know him right from their first encounter at her little workplace. While still liking Makima as before, Denji also cannot help but drawn more to Reze, and we later get a silly but intimate scene where they happen to spend their little private time at the swimming pool of a nearby high school. As a boy who has never had a normal life throughout his whole lifetime, Denji finds some solace and comfort from Reze, and it seems Reze is quite ready to respond more to his growing affection toward her.

Meanwhile, the story also focuses on whatever is going on between that special branch for demon hunting and those powerful and dangerous demons out there. Aki Hayakawa (voiced by Shogo Sakata), who is another close colleague of Denji besides Power and is as gruff and stoic as Keanu Reeves’ character in “Constantine” (2005), happens to be assigned with an entity named Angel Devil (voiced by Maaya Uchida), and they do not get along that well with each other right from the start. Despite her considerable power and ability, Angel Devil is usually aloof and uncooperative without much care or attention, and this certainly exasperates Aki more than once.

These two main plots eventually converge upon the climactic part driven by heaps of chaotic action unfolded across the screen, and that is where the film pulls all the stops simply for captivating and then exhilarating us. I especially like a certain lethal female figure with a deliberately grotesque head which will instantly remind you of “Alien” (1979), and the movie does not disappoint its main target audiences at all once its hero finally reveals his freakish qualities hidden behind his boyish appearance. Some of you may think the finale is a bit too excessive, but the resulting excess of style and action gives us a number of stupefying moments of visual and sound to remember, and I admire how flexible the animation style of the film is during this part. Like Oscar-winning animation film “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (2018), it is quite willing to embrace its busy and chaotic energy to the end, and it also shows some little poignancy as arriving at the ending which expectedly opens the door for the upcoming season of the TV series (Please stay until its end credits is over, by the way).

On the whole, “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc”, directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara, will require you to have some background knowledge before watching it, but it is another entertaining animation film of this year besides Netflix animation film “KPop Demon Hunters” (2025), which is also incidentally about demons and some mighty hunters coming after them. I wish it took more time for more depth to engage us in terms of story and characters, but I was constantly impressed by its stylish mood and striking visual moments from throughout its running time, and that is enough for recommendation in my inconsequential opinion.

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People and Meat (2025) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Three naughty old people

Posted on October 9, 2025 by kaist455

South Korean film “People and Meat” works best whenever it is buoyed by the solid chemistry among its three main cast members. These old but wonderful performers embody their respective roles so well that it is disappointing that the movie does not trust them enough while only resorting to blatant melodrama and cheap plot contrivance in the end.

The early part of the film illustrates how its three main characters come across each other on one day. Hyeong-joon (Park Geun-hyung) and Woo-sik (Jang Yong) are two old and poor senior citizens who have earned their meager solitary living via collecting and then selling paper trashes, and they happen to clash with each other due to their territory conflict before they are eventually stopped by Hwa-jin (Ye Soo-jung), an old lady who has supported herself and her only grandson via selling vegetables on street for years.

Anyway, Hyeong-joon later suggests that Woo-sik should have a cup of coffee along with him at his house, and Woo-sik reluctantly agrees. As talking more with each other, these two old dudes decide to have a little lunch together, and then they consider having a bowl of meat and radish soup, though neither of them knows anything about how to cook that. While Woo-sik is a lifelong bachelor, Hyeong-joon only remembers how nice it was to taste a bowl of meat and radish soup cooked by his currently diseased wife. In the end, they seek some help from Hwa-jin, who surely shows them how to cook meat and radish soup well.

After having a nice meal together in Hyeong-joon’s house, Woo-sik suggests that they should go to a meat restaurant. Needless to say, all of them do not have enough money to pay for what they are going to eat at a local meat restaurant, but Woo-sik turns out to have one naughty idea. Once they finish eating meat, they are all going to sneak out of the meat restaurant while no one is paying attention to them, and, what do you know, this turns out to be much easier than Hyeong-joon and Hwa-jin worried at first.

The mood surely becomes a bit more cheerful as these three old people commit their little crime here and there in the city. Needless to say, they never visit the same meat restaurant twice, and they always select very successful targets for feeling less guilty about their criminal activity. While still concerned about getting caught at any chance, Hyeong-joon and Hwa-jin cannot help but feel more alive than before, and that is why they cannot often say no whenever Woo-sik suggests another criminal dinner of theirs.

However, they are still reminded of how things are usually sad and depressing for them and many other old people around their age. At one point, Hyeong-joon goes to an old friend of his after receiving a call from him, and it soon turns out that this friend of his, who has also lived alone by himself just like Hyeong-joon, is preparing to die after feeling so miserable and frustrated with his declining life condition. At the following funeral of this poor old dude, Hyeong-joon and his two friends come to reflect more on how things have been hard and difficult for them mainly due to their ongoing aging, and the movie later becomes quite sentimental as they come to talk more about their respective pasts in the middle of their latest criminal dinner.

Around that narrative point, the screenplay by Lim Na-moo begins to falter more than once as clumsily swinging back and forth between comedy and melodrama. While it is not much of a spoiler to tell you that its three old main characters eventually get caught later in the story, the movie throws unnecessary melodrama after this inevitable moment, and it also feels quite heavy-handed and indecisive when it attempts to make some points on the prejudice against many aging people out there. Yes, its three old main characters deserve some understanding and sympathy just like thousands of marginalized old people in the South Korean society, but the movie makes too much excuse on their undeniably criminal activity in my humble opinion.

In addition, the story also stumbles a lot in case of a subplot involved with Hwa-jin’s grandson. At first, he looks like your average ungrateful kid, but then his attitude toward his grandmother becomes quite different for no apparent reason after the aforementioned melodramatic moment, and we never get to know much about what this lad really thinks and feels about his grandmother even at the end of the story.

At least, the three main cast members of the movie diligently carry the story and their characters to the end. While Park Geun-hyung, who recently gave a good supporting performance in “Picnic” (2023), steadily holds the ground as required, Jang Yong and Ye Soo-jung bring some life and personality to their respective characters, and Ye, who was unforgettable in “An Old Lady” (2019), demonstrates again that she is indeed one of the best senior actresses working in South Korean cinema at present.

On the whole, “People and Meat”, which was somehow shown at the Tribeca Festival early in this year, is not satisfying enough for recommendation, but it is enjoyable to some degree thanks to its three main cast members, and I must point out that It is much better than director Yang Jong-hyeon’s previous film “Kill Me” (2009), which was incidentally one of the worst films I watched during 2009. I would rather recommend “Picnic” and “An Old Lady” instead, but, considering the active reactions from an old couple sitting behind me, the movie may appeal a lot to its target audiences, and I would love to know how my aging parents will respond to it.

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Maru (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): Circle, Circle, Circle…

Posted on October 9, 2025 by kaist455

I still remember when I visited the contemporary art section in the Art Institute of Chicago during one day of April 2010. I must confess that most of those exhibited artworks were a bit too plain and simple to my eyes, and I wondered whether they were profoundly simple or simply profound, though it goes without saying that they were all valued pieces of art.

That interesting experience of mine always comes to my mind whenever I watch any good film about the creation or evaluation of art, and Japanese comedy film “Maru” is one of the recent cases. As leisurely rolling its absurd story promise, the movie has some dry fun with its artist hero’s quirky creative struggles along the story, and I enjoyed that enough even though I struggled to grasp what and how it is about at first. 

At first, we are introduced to a young struggling artist named Sawada (Tsuyoshi Domoto), who has been virtually exploited by some prominent male artist along with several other young artists. Without teaching or helping them at all, that artist dude simply uses the labor of Sawada and the other employees for the production of more artworks from his studio, and, not so surprisingly, he takes all the credits for these manufactured artworks.     

While some of his colleagues naturally express some discontent and exasperation about this impertinent labor exploitation, Sawada does not seem to mind at all. When he happens to get his right arm injured due to a little bicycle accident, he is promptly fired, but he is not so angry or miserable about that, and then he gets employed as a part-time worker in a local convenience store because, well, he needs to earn his meager living as usual.

Sawada lives alone in a small shabby apartment, and we observe how he languidly goes through one day after another when he is not working. Paying attention to his little pet animal from time to time, he mumbles several supposedly meaningful excerpts from some Buddhist books, and that is sometimes disrupted by the sudden loud noises caused by whoever is living right next to his little apartment.

Because his financial status is still difficult despite working at that convenient store, Sawada often sells a number of trivial stuffs inside his apartment, but then he comes to try something different. On one day, he happens to have sort of artistic inspiration via a very tiny happening, and, what do you know, he soon begins to draw a number of very simple paintings, all of which just have only one big black circle drawn on white paper (The title of the movie means “circle” in Japanese, by the way). When he sells these paintings under his name, he does not expect a lot, but, surprise, they are regarded as the profound pieces of (don’t laugh) minimalist Buddhist art once they draw the attention of some prominent art dealer.

As the value of him and his paintings is subsequently skyrocketing in both Japan and the whole global world, Sawada is naturally perplexed. While he does not mind doing whatever his dealer suggests, he still does not know what is exactly happening to him and his life, let alone what really motivated him to draw those very simple paintings. 

While its hero wanders with more doubt and confusion, the movie provides a series of amusing moments to tickle you in one way or another. At one point, Sawada finally befriends his noisy neighbor who is also a struggling artist just like he once was, and his neighbor certainly envies how Sawada attains his ongoing success so easily and quickly. At one point, they have a lunch together in a local restaurant, and it is rather hilarious to see how Sawada’s new friend cannot help but express his petty envy and inferiority complex as Sawada simply listens to him without saying that much.

In his rather passively docile attitude, Sawada usually looks rather distant to us, but we gradually understand and then empathize with his growing artistic struggle, even when we cannot help but amused by his constant bafflement. However, when he finally comes to realize why those simple drawings of his feel so special to many others, the movie becomes a bit more serious along with its hero than before, and what follows next, which incidentally evokes the action painting of Jackson Pollock, makes me realize one really important thing about art. Regardless of whether it is simple or complex or whatever, art is always based on human emotion and spirit, and that is the main reason why those numerous instant artworks by artificial intelligence feel instantly phony and vulgar to many of us. In my humble opinion, there always should be the human agony and ecstasy of creation to be communicated between creators and us (Is this the ultimate purpose of art, isn’t it?), and artificial intelligence will probably never be able to reach to that point unless it truly understands and then experiences our everlasting matters of heart.

On the whole, “Maru”, which is directed/written by Naoko Ogigami, requires a bit of patient at first, but it will gradually intrigue and amuse you while also leading you to some musing on art and creation. In short, this is another solid work from Ogigami after “Riverside Mukolitta” (2021) and “Ripples” (2023), and I will certainly look forward to whatever will come next from this interesting Japanese filmmaker.

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Tron: Ares (2025) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Spectacular to watch but rather superficial to feel

Posted on October 8, 2025 by kaist455

“Tron: Ares” is definitely one of the most spectacular eye candies of this year – and that is all. Right from the beginning, the movie dazzles and overpowers us with a series of terrific visual moments worthwhile to watch in big screening room, and I often admired its technical qualities even as observing the story and characters from the distance without much interest or care. Yes, I understand well that both of its predecessors, “Tron” (1982) and “Tron: Legacy” (2010), are also basically superficial eye candies, but the movie does not go further than either of them in terms of style and idea, and that is a bit too disappointing to be compensated by those epic visual moments in the film.

In my trivial opinion, its main inherent flaw is that the movie does not try anything fresh and different compared to its 1982 predecessor. Sure, the 1982 film looks quite dated at present, but you can also sense the adventurous spirit of the people who made it with real care and enthusiasm, and that is why it has occupied its own distinctive place in the movie special effects history. In case of “Tron: Legacy”, this redundant sequel is also inherently flawed in terms of story and characters just like the 1982 film, but it has some sense of fun and amusement mainly thanks to the presence of Jeff Bridges, who rendered a bit of personality to both of these two films as simply enjoying himself in the middle of their digital fantasy world.

The story of the movie is set in 15 years after what happened at the end of “Tron Legacy”, and the opening part hurriedly summarizes what happened to a big digital technology company founded by Bridges’ character. Once it was taken by Eve Kim (Greta Lee) and her younger sister, the company rose further as remaining on the top of its field, but it also had to compete a lot with its main opponent company, which is incidentally run by the grandson of late David Warner’s character in the 1982 film. Both Eve and her main competitor have been trying to bring those digital entities into the human world, but there is a serious setback because those digital entities somehow cannot last that long in the human world.

Before dying due to her unfortunate terminal illness, Eve’s sister believed that there is actually a solution hidden somewhere inside the old digital archive belonging to Bridges’ character. When the movie shows Eve visiting her sister’s little private place located somewhere in Alaska, you may become a little nostalgic if, like me, you are old enough to remember those big floppy disks whose storage limit was only around 2 megabytes.

Anyway, the solution turns out to be a short but crucial computer code, and Eve promptly goes back to LA with that computer code hidden in her little memory stick, but, of course, there soon comes the interference from Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), the aforementioned grandson of Warner’s characters. He promptly brings the artificial intelligence (AI) security program of the main server of his company into the human world, and Ares (Jared Leto) and several other AI programs are certainly ready to do anything under Julian’s order.

However, around the point when Eve is eventually captured and then transferred into the main server of Dillinger’s company, things get a bit complicated. As experiencing more of the human world, Ares comes to have a sort of glitch which can only be interpreted as curiosity and confusion, so he decides to save Eve at the last minute, and both Dillinger and Ares’ deputy figure, Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith), are not so amused to say the least.

As the situation surrounding Eve and Ares becomes much more serious than before, the film expectedly throws a number of big action sequences, and they are often quite impressive for their top-notch qualities. Thanks to Oscar-nominated cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth and editor Tyler Nelson, these action sequences and the other key scenes feel slick and smooth with many striking visual moments to behold, and the movie often lets itself driven by the aggressively propulsive electronic score by Nine Inch Nails, whose two main members incidentally make a brief cameo appearance later in the film just like Daft Punk did in “Tron: Legacy”.

However, the movie remains thin and hollow in terms of story and character, and many of its main cast members are simply required to fill their respective spots in the film. While it is really nice to him being far more subdued compared to many of his embarrassingly distracting over-the-top performances such as Razzie-winning supporting turn in “House of Gucci” (2021), Jared Leto, who also serves as one of the producers of the film, sometimes seems to be not so committed to his role, and his relatively bland lead performance is frequently overshadowed by several other main cast members. While Greta Lee, who has steadily advanced since her breakthrough performance in Oscar-nominated film “Past Lives” (2023), manages to inject a bit of human warmth to the story despite the lack of chemistry between her and her co-star, Evan Peters willingly chews every moment of his in the film as the main villain of the story, Jodie Turner-Smith did a good job of generating some single-minded intensity to hold our attention. Sadly, Gillian Anderson, who plays Julian’s disapproving mother, simply comes and goes as demanded by her thankless supporting role, while Bridges has another good time again during his expected brief appearance later in the movie.

On the whole, “Tron: Ares”, directed by Joachim Rønning, is not as boring as I worried at first, but it does not surpass either of its two predecessors despite the considerable technical efforts presented on the screen. I am sort of glad that I watched it at a big local IMAX theater, and its strong visual moments may linger on my mind for a while at least, but, folks, this is more or less than what I experienced before with more interest and satisfaction.

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The Lost Bus (2025) ☆☆☆(3/4): It works whenever it is on fire

Posted on October 8, 2025 by kaist455

Paul Greengrass’ latest film “The Lost Bus”, which was released on Apple TV+ on last Friday, works whenever it is on fire. Based on one real-life story associated with the 2018 Camp Fire in California, the movie is as clichéd as you can expect from your average disaster survival drama film, but many scenes of fire in the film are filled with considerable intensity and verisimilitude, and that is more than enough for compensating for its several weak points.

At first, the movie mainly revolves around Kevin McKay (Matthew McConaughey), a school bus driver working in Paradise, California. The early part of the film establishes how messy McKay’s life has been, and things seem to be getting only worse for him on that particular day of November 2018. While he becomes more distant from the only child from his failed marriage, he cannot earn enough money for him to support his child and his ailing mother, and his school bus also needs to be repaired as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the movie shows how the fire was started and then developed at a spot not far from Paradise early in the morning. Although it is spotted and then reported during its early stage, the fire is quickly spread around the surrounding regions due to the extremely dry weather and the strong wind at that time, and those firemen of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), led by Ray Martinez (Yul Vazquez), soon begin to realize that they are facing what will be one of the biggest wildfire disasters in the Californian history.

As the fire is being spread toward Paradise, the evacuation is ordered upon the citizens of Paradise, and the whole city is consequently thrown into a lot of chaos and panic. Although he certainly worries about the safety of his family, McKay cannot say no when his dispatcher hurriedly requests him to take a bunch of elementary school students to a safer place right now, and he soon arrives at that elementary school. Under the calm guidance of a teacher named Mary Ludwig (America Ferrera), all the remaining kids in that elementary school quickly get on the bus, and it seems that they are safe at least for now.

However, of course, it does not take much time for both McKay and Ludwig to realize how dangerous the situation is for them and those kids in the bus as well as many others out there. As the fire keeps getting spread over the surrounding regions of the city, the sky becomes quite dark and fiery to say the least, but many of the roads in the city are already saturated with vehicles, while time keeps running out no matter how much McKay tries here and there for getting his job done as soon as possible.

Alternating between McKay and Ludwig’s increasingly desperate situation and the strenuous efforts of the firemen of CAL FIRE against the Camp Fire, the movie, which is based on Lizzie Johnson’s nonfiction book “Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire”, keeps things rolling even though its road is strewn with one cliché after another. As they stick together more for themselves as well as those school kids in the bus, McKay and Ludwig come to show a bit of themselves to each other, and we naturally get an expected scene where they come to talk about their respective lives when all seems to be lost for them and the school kids at one point later in the story. In case of the scenes involved with Martinez and his people of CAL FIRE, we surely get a series of typical moments as they get frustrated again and again along the story, and the movie does not pull much punch on a certain big local energy company which could have responded more quickly to the disaster from the very beginning. 

In the end, everything eventually culminates to the point where McKay and everyone else in the bus must face the grave and immense possibility of danger and death, and Greengrass, who wrote the screenplay with co-producer Brad Ingelsby, and his crew members including cinematographer Pål Ulvik Rokseth did a heck of job of putting us right into the middle of the peril experienced by McKay and the others in the bus. Although I am sure that those fire scenes in the film depend on a considerable amount of CGI, they look quite vivid and scary on the screen, and it is a shame that I and many others can only see the movie via the streaming service at present (The movie was briefly released in American theaters in last month, by the way).

In case of the two notable performers of the film, they ably handle the clichéd aspects of their characters as diligently carrying the movie to the end. Matthew McConaughey, who has curiously been less active during last several years, demonstrates that he has not lost any of his talent and charisma yet, and America Ferrera has several moments to shine as steadily holding her spot beside McConaughey. Yul Vazquez and Ashlie Atkinson are effective in their small but crucial supporting parts, and those child performers in the film are also convincing in their natural acting.  

In conclusion, “The Lost Bus” may burn a bit too much of clichés and conventions for starting its engine, but it ably drives along its fiery plot course under the skillful direction of Greengrass, who previously directed several very intense drama films such as “United 93” (2006) and “Captain Phillips” (2013). I still think it could be improved more with less clichés, but it engaged me enough during viewing, so I will not complain for now.

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Steve (2025) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): One particularly difficult day for teachers and boys

Posted on October 6, 2025 by kaist455

 Netflix film “Steve”, which was released on the streaming service a few days ago after having a limited theatrical release in UK and US a few weeks ago, follows one particularly difficult day for the teachers and boys at one shabby boarding school. While the teachers try really hard to get things under control, the boys keep struggling with each own emotional issues in one way or another, and both of these groups are alternatively exasperated and frustrated all the time without making much connection between them.

The main background of the story, which is mainly set on one day of 1996, is one seriously under-funded boarding school for boys with societal and behavioral difficulties, and the movie opens with its deeply caring headteacher Steve (Cillian Murphy) beginning another busy day at the school. Right before arriving in the school, he spots one of the boys smoking a piece of marijuana, but he does not scold or punish this boy at all mainly because he sincerely understands how problematic this boy’s life has been.

Incidentally, it happens to be the day when the school is visited by a TV reporter and her crew, so Steve and his staff members are quite nervous to say the least. While they are willing to present themselves and their school and students as honestly as possible, they also care a lot about the public image of the school because, after all, the school has been supported by some private foundation as well as a bit of government funding. 

However, as this TV reporter and her crew do their job here and there inside the school, things do not go as well as Steve and his staff members hoped at first. Besides those unruly behaviors of his deeply troubled students, Steve and many of his staff members turn to have each own issues behind their weary appearances, and they cannot help but tell a lot about that when they are respectively interviewed in front of the camera.

And then things get only worse and worse for them. When Steve and a few staff members later have a meeting with the two people associated with the aforementioned private foundation, they are notified that the school will be closed after no less than six months, and this surely exasperates them a lot even though there is really nothing they can do about that. In addition, their students continue to clash with each other as usual just because they cannot help but annoy each other, and this certainly drains Steve and his staff more and more as the day goes by. 

Nevertheless, Steve and his staff members keep trying their best even though the time is running out for them as well as the students. Steve especially cares a lot about the aforementioned boy, and we get to know more about his seriously troubled status, but there is not much progress for this boy even after another session of his with a patient counselor. 

At least, the boy is not stupid at all, and we get a rather amusing moment when the school is later visited by a prominent politician who simply visits there for improving his public image a bit. When he makes some pretentious speech in front of several staff members and students as well as the camera of the TV crew, it does not take much time for everyone else to see through his bullsh*t, and you may chuckle a bit when the boy gives a very honest and straightforward respond to the politician’s speech.

After building up a considerable amount of realism on the screen during its first half, the movie unfortunately begins to falter as getting more melodramatic along with its several main characters during the second half. While his school is cornered much more than before, Steve cannot help but become more unnerved and rattled than before, and Cillian Murphy, who also participated in the production of the film as one of its co-producers, did a splendid job of conveying to us his character’s accumulating weariness and frustration. As Steve struggles more and more along the story, we come to see more of a decent man quite exhausted as always trying to do the right things for his boys, and you may be relieved to see later in the story that he has someone to lean one in his private life at least. 

However, the screenplay by Max Porter, which is based on his 2023 novella “Shy”, does not develop enough Steve and several other main characters in the story. Although director Tim Mielants, who previously collaborated with Murphy in “Small Things Like These” (2024), and cinematographer Robrecht Heyvaert did a commendable job of establishing the vividly realistic atmosphere around the main characters in the film on the screen, Porter’s screenplay often stumbles in fleshing them out more along the story, and that is the main reason why several main cast members besides Murphy feel rather under-utilized in comparison. For instance, Tracey Ullman and Emily Watson are simply required to fill their respective spots around Murphy, while Jay Lycurgo manages to bring some human nuance to his rather thankless supporting role.

On the whole, “Steve” is two or three steps from what Mielants and Murphy powerfully achieved in “Small Things Like These”, an overlooked gem I wholeheartedly recommend you to check out as soon as possible. Although it did not engage me enough during my viewing, the movie has some good elements to admire at least, so I let you decide whether you will check it out or not.

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