Seongyong's Private Place

The Silenced (2015) ☆☆☆ (3/4) : A new girl comes to their school…

Posted on June 22, 2015 by kaist455

South Korean film “The Silenced”, which was released in South Korea as “Gyeongseong School: The Lost Girls” in last weekend, looks like a typical genre piece at first. Its main background is a girl’s dormitory school, its story revolves around a sick, beautiful girl who has to adjust herself to this strict, isolated environment, and, not so surprisingly, there is a sinister mystery hovering around every dark corner of this seemingly ordinary place. These are indeed familiar stuffs reminiscent of many other similar horror films, but the movie establishes mood and suspense well in its stylish period setting, and it also has some surprises for you although it stumbles a bit during its third act.

Mainly because of her illness, Joo-ran (Park Bo-yeong) is taken to some exclusive girl’s dormitory school located in the middle of a remote forest area somewhere outside Gyeongseong (it is the old name of Seoul, by the way). While the Headmaster (Eom Ji-won) assures her new student that she will like this place, Joo-ran soon experiences a harsh treatment from the supervisor teacher (Park Seong-yeon) on her very first day at the school, and she is not welcomed much by many of her new schoolmates. For them, Joo-ran is just the new girl to fill the place originally belonging to a girl who recently left from them for a reason they do not know well.

Because the time is in the middle of the Japanese occupation era, the main purpose of the school is educating its girls as model Japanese citizens while improving their health. Every girl in the school has each own Japanese name while Japanese is frequently spoken in the classroom, and we also see the girls working on a big white sheet with the figure of the Korean peninsula filled with cherry blossoms. The Headmaster is about to pick two best students who will be sent to Tokyo for their better future, and Yeon-deok (Park So-dam) and Yuka (Kong Ye-ji) have been the front runners in the competition.

While Yuka is not very friendly to Joo-ran, Yeon-deok kindly approaches to Joo-ran, and they quickly become close friends. While there is a small, quiet lake where they can have some rest from their strict environment, there is also a dingy abandoned basement in the school where Yeon-deok used to spend time along with the girl who left the school before Joo-ran came. We see their friendship grow day by day, and it sometimes looks like they are a little more than mere friend to each other.

In the meantime, we also see considerable improvement in Joo-ran’s health. While getting the same medical treatments along with others, Joo-ran gets an unspecified additional treatment from time to time, and it seems to work with significantly good effects on her. She does not cough up blood any more, she looks a lot more sanguine compared to her initial pale appearance, and she also discovers the huge improvement of her physical ability during the physical education class on the playground. Everyone including her is amazed and surprised by this sudden change, and it is surely not a very good news for Yuka, who may lose her opportunity of going to Tokyo because of Joo-ran.

But, as expected from the very beginning, there is something wrong about the school. Two more girls are suddenly gone, but the Headmaster assures the students that everything is all right as usual. Becoming more suspicious about what is going on around her, Joo-ran begins to experience the disturbing hallucinations associated with two disappeared girls, and it becomes more possible that the Headmaster is hiding something from her students behind her sassy benevolent attitude. What really happened to those missing girl? Is it possibly associated with Joo-ran’s improved health? And why does a military officer come to the school?

The director Lee Hye-yeong, who previously directed a delightful coming-of-age/transgender comedy drama “Like a Virgin” (2006), steadily builds tension on the screen along with considerable attention to visuals. The color scheme in the film is often accentuated by the appearance of red color, and the drab interior environment of the school makes a striking visual contrast with the Headmaster’s sumptuous office which looks like a production designer’s wet dream. The relationship development between Joo-ran and Yeon-deok is convincingly depicted with tender sensitivity, and it eventually becomes the emotional anchor to hold for us even when the story takes an unexpected turn later.

Regardless of whether you like that plot turn in question or not (I do not dare to reveal it to you, by the way), it cannot be denied that the movie gives a nice opportunity for its lead actress Park Bo-yeong, who is believable in her character’s gradual transformation along the story. Park is also supported well by good supporting performers including Park so-dam, Kong Ye-ji, Joo Bo-bi, Park Seong-yeon, and Eom Ji-won, who certainly has a ball with her juicy shady character.

Clearly influenced from notable South Korean horror films such as “Whispering Corridors” (1998) and “A Tale of Two Sisters” (2003), “The Silenced” tries to do something else within its familiar ground, though its attempts are not always successful. Many elements in the story do not make sense well together when you look back at them in the whole picture, and its third act is not very satisfying in my opinion. Despite such weak points, the movie is still an interesting horror film depending on atmosphere and character we can hold onto, and I think that is a good news, considering that we have not often come across a solid South Korean horror movie during recent years.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Dormitory, Horror, School, South Korean Film, Thriller | 1 Comment

Miss Julie (2014) ☆☆☆(3/4) : A class breakdown on Midsummer Night’s Eve

Posted on June 22, 2015 by kaist455

Although it feels stagy and stuffy at times, “Miss Julie” churns and then boils in its psychological conflict of sex and class. You know where it is going, and you will not be surprised by where it ultimately arrives, but it is compelling to watch none the less thanks to the nervous dynamics generated between its three talented performers on the screen.

Based on the late 19th century play with the same name written by Swedish playwright August Strindberg, “Miss July” is mostly faithful to its source while changing the background from Sweden to Ireland. It is Midsummer Day’s Eve in 1890, and John (Colin Farrell), a valet who works in some manor in Ireland, has just returned to the house after accompanying his master to a nearby train station. While talking with his fiancée Kathleen (Samantha Morton) at the kitchen where she works as the cook, John tells her about a strange recent behavior of Miss Julie (Jessica Chastain), the daughter of his master. We hear from John that Miss Julie attempted to hang around with her servants including John during the barn dance, and he is still baffled by that rather peculiar behavior of hers.

When Miss Julie enters the kitchen, you can instantly see that this haughty but neurotic young woman is a walking trouble behind her aloof appearance. While she wants the abortion on her puppy which was recently impregnated by a dog of lesser breed, she blatantly flirts with the possibility of a breakaway from the class customs defining her world. Enjoying her privilege in front of John and Kathleen, she has some interest in a handsome valet ready to serve her, and John is not oblivious to that as following her instructions.

Although he is not so pleased by how he is treated by his mistress, it seems John also has certain feelings toward Miss Julie (his relationship with Kathleen is not that serious although they are technically engaged). As a self-educated man who went around many places before, John has his own hope and ambition. He wants to go up while she amuses herself with the potential of going down, and they soon come to sense more of mutual attraction between them when they get a chance to spend a brief time together outside the manor. He tells Miss Julie that he has had a fancy on her since he was young, and then she eventually finds herself crossing the line with John as a result.

It is clear that both characters are eager to break away from the environment in which they have been confined, and the director Liv Ullmann, who also adapted Strindberg’s screenplay for herself, constantly emphasizes the claustrophobic mood surrounding the characters in the film. Except a few outdoor scenes, the movie keeps itself mostly inside the house, and its isolated space seems to be occupied only by its three characters. Although frequently mentioned throughout the film, Miss Julie’s father never appears in the film, and we do not see any of other people in or around the house (In case of one moment when an excited bunch of people happen to gather outside the house, they are depicted only through sound effects).

Realizing the possible consequence of what they have done, Miss Julie and John try to deal with their difficult situation, but they only face their respective weakness. Once Miss Julie looks less special to him than before, John becomes very cruel and heartless to her as she gets herself tumbled down to a spot far lower than she has ever imagined. As painfully experiencing how helpless she is without the social power she has lost, Miss Julie continues to suffer her humiliating downfall, and then there comes an utterly despairing moment when she does not have many choices for getting out of her overwhelming circumstance which will surely destroy her in one way or another.

This is indeed uncomfortable to watch, and some of you will probably cringe at a number of emotionally brutal moments between its unlikable characters, but the performances keep holding our attention. Jessica Chastain, who has been as one of the most interesting American actresses since her sudden breakout in 2011, willingly hurls herself into high-strung melodramatic moments tricky to handle for any good performer, and she is crucial in making these moments genuinely hurtful and devastating. Miss Julie is not a very likable woman, but, thanks to Chastian’s splendid performance, we come to feel sorry for her downfall which is as tragic and pitiful as Blanche DuBois’.

On the opposite, Colin Farrell feels a little strained, but he ably goes between many different modes in his performance. While letting himself manipulated by his mistress, John has no qualms about being nasty and intimidating as fueled by his envy and ambition, and Farrell is gritty and aggressive as required in his emotionally violent scenes with Chastain. Samantha Morton looks wasted at first, but she gradually becomes another important part of the story, and she has her own moment with her cold, stern stare during a key scene around the finale. The hierarchy among the characters feels completely reversed in the resulting mess, and Morton is commanding as Kathleen solemnly and icily reminds of the other two characters of what they violated – and the price they will definitely pay for that.

Mostly known for her memorable performances in Ingmar Bergman’s films, Liv Ullman directed several films including “Faithless” (2000), which was made from Bergman’s screenplay. I lost some of my patience during the first hour of “Miss Julie” due to her plain but static direction, but Ullman knows how to draw effective performances from her small cast, and she mostly succeeds in capturing their performances well on the screen. The overall result is not entirely satisfying, but the movie is worthwhile to watch just for its cast members who did a good job of carrying their film well during 2 hours.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Class, Play | Leave a comment

A Midsummer’s Fantasia (2014) ☆☆☆1/2 (3.5/4) : Two soothing summer tales in Gojo

Posted on June 14, 2015 by kaist455

In its calm, delicate pace, “A Midsummer’s Fantasia” slowly and subtly draws us into the sunny and soothing summer days in a rural Japanese city. During its first part, it leisurely looks around the city with meditative curiosity, and we look and listen close to various people who tell us a bit about their lives in front of the camera. And then the movie shifts itself onto a different mode during its second part, and it becomes more playful and poignant as wandering around with two different characters who are possibly inspired by the journey shown during the first part.

Shot in black and white film, the first part of the film revolves around a field inquiry in Gojo, a small city located in Nara Prefecture, Japan. We meet South Korean director Tae-hoon (Im Hyeong-gook) and his translator Mi-jeong (Kim Sae-beok), and we see them meeting Yusuke (Ryo Iwase), a city hall employee who will accompany them during their first day in the city.

While getting to know more about Gojo through him, Tae-hoon and Mi-jeong become interested in how Yusuke came to live in Gojo. He studied literature at first, but then he tried to be an actor, and then, after realizing that he was not a good actor, he eventually found himself settling in this quiet place as a public servant. Sometimes life leads you to where you have never expected, and the same thing can be said about one aging couple, who quietly reminisces about how they hopped around different businesses during many years of their long married life.

The movie continues to look closer to the people of Gojo and their past like that. The opening scene shows the warm, cozy environment of a local restaurant, and the old faces of the customers suggest years of life and experience behind them as the camera attentively observes these people for a while. Tae-hoon and Mi-jeong later meet a local middle-aged guy who will be their guide instead of Yusuke, and it turns out that man also has an interesting life story of his own. While they spend time together at some cafe, a usual customer at the cafe talks about how long he and the mistress of cafe have known each other, and we come to listen to him as the camera looks at him with quiet interest.

Tae-hoon and Mi-jeong also go to a rural town mostly occupied by old people, and they meet an old lady who has lived her whole life in her hometown. The town has become emptier than before due to the absence of youths in the town, but she is content with her remaining life, and her town is shown with serene beauty as the camera looks around houses and forest trees. After the brief visit to an empty elementary school near the town, Tae-hoon begins to get an idea for his film, as the night begins with the fireworks in the sky.

The director/writer/co-producer/co-editor Jang Kun-jae made his film as a project commissioned by the Nara International Film Festival through Naomi Kawase, who produced the film with Jang. Like what is shown during its first part, he spent some time in Gojo for writing his screenplay, and I heard that many of the actors in the film are local non-professionals and some of them actually tell about themselves during their scenes. The movie is also humorous at times, and the main source of its low-key humor is the bilingual communication between South Korean and Japanese characters, which is usually mediated by Mi-jeong’s bilateral translation.

After establishing the vivid sense of place and people so well through this documentary-like approach, the movie instantly moves to its second part. Shot in color film in contrast to the first part, the second part is about a tentative romance tale between a South Korean tourist named Hye-jeong (Kim Sae-beok) and a young local farmer she meets in Gojo. Before going back to South Korea, Hye-jeong decides to spend her last two days in Gojo, and she encounters Yusuke (Ryo Iwase) when she is looking for any interesting sight to see in the city. As they walk around the city together, it is apparent through their interaction that they enjoy each other’s company, and Hye-jeong agrees to spend more time with him on the next day.

Because many things shown or mentioned during the first part appear again along with the same main performers, you will naturally begin to wonder whether this is a story imagined by Tae-hoon. Hye-jeong may be a character inspired by an anecdote told to Tae-hoon and Mi-jeong at one point during the first part, and Yusuke in the second part can be a more localized version of Yusuke we saw from the first part.

Regardless of that possibility and others implied in the second part, its summer romance between two strangers is engaging to watch thanks to the natural rapport between its lead performers. Deftly going back and forth between two languages, Kim Sae-beok is charming and graceful in her two different roles, and her co-actor Ryo Iwase is equally wonderful in his likable dual performance. During a longtake scene where the camera patiently observes them talking and walking with each other along the street, their tantalizing chemistry is clearly visible on the screen, and that may take you back to Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy in Richard Linklator’s “Before Sunrise” (1995).

“A Midsummer’s Fantasia” is the third work directed by Jang Kun-jae. He previously directed “Sleepless Night” (2012), and I was very impressed by his restrained but confident presentation of a very intimate character drama about a young couple who may soon have to make an important decision for their life. As he did in his previous film, Jang lets his story and characters flow by themselves under his effortless direction, and many feelings and thoughts felt below the surface are effectively conveyed to us through subtle and elegant touches. This is a small but fabulous work full of charm and mood to savor, and you will want to revisit this relaxing movie on any summer day.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Director, Romance, South Korean Film | 1 Comment

Jurassic World (2015) ☆☆1/2 (2.5/4): Dinosaurs are back again…..

Posted on June 14, 2015 by kaist455

Understandably lacking the awe and wonder of “Jurassic Park” (1993), “Jurassic World” is a well-made blockbuster ride with many dinosaurs to watch. While the advance of digital special effects during last 22 years makes the dinosaurs roaming on the screen look far more mundane than before, the movie is a little better than expected at least, and I sometimes enjoyed its good parts as feeling nostalgic about the 1993 film directed by Steven Spielberg, who participated in the production of “Jurassic World” as an executive producer.

The movie brings us back to Isla Nublar, a remote Costa Rican Island which was the main background of “Jurassic Park”. Despite what happened there a long time ago, more dinosaurs have been brought to life through the advance of biological technology (do people ever learn?), and these dinosaurs have been the main attractions of Jurassic World, a big theme park which can accommodate more than 20,000 visitors every day. While many visitors enjoy watching dinosaurs during their tour, living dinosaurs now become less wondrous than before, so Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan), the current owner of Jurassic World, wants a new attraction to draw more visitors (and more money) to the park.

Thanks to Dr. Henry Wu (B.D. Wong, who reprises his role in “Jurassic Park”) and his technicians, Jurassic World is about to introduce a newly created dinosaur species: Indominus rex. While being a sort of cousin to Tyrannosaurus rex, this dinosaur also has several genetic elements from other species in its genomic design, and Dr. Wu’s ‘scientific’ explanation of his creation will probably draw lots of guffaws from my former lab colleagues studying on DNA biochemistry.

For getting some consultation on the security measures on Indominus rex, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), the supervisor of Jurassic World, goes to Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), a Velociraptor expert who has been trying to train a quartet of Velociraptors for his small project. Being close to those reptiles with big, sharp claws is one of the last things I want to do, but our tough hero shows no qualms about his highly risky work while always being cautious and tactful. He may form a relationship bond between him and his reptiles, but they are still wild, dangerous animals as shown during one tense scene where he must risk his life in front of them. W.G. Sebald once said: “Men and animals regard each other across a gulf of mutual incomprehension.”

Meanwhile, Claire’s two young nephews, Zach (Nick Robinson) and Gray (Ty Sympkins), visit the park. As their aunt is going through one busy day, the boys eventually go around the park for themselves, and that turns out to be not a very wise choice – especially after Owen and others belatedly realize that their new dinosaur is nastier and cleverer than they have ever imagined. There is also a nefarious plan by Vic Hoskins (Vincent D’Onoffrio), the shady and sneering head of security, and that does not help the situation much, of course.

As the park is being swept into terror and chaos as a consequence, the movie provides a number of big action sequences. There is a terrifying sequence a la “The Birds” (1963) where a flock of Pteranodons and Dimorphodons swoop upon terrified visitors with no mercy in the ensuing pandemonium, and we also get a good chase sequence involved with Velociraptors tenaciously running after a vehicle on the road. Although this is his first trial of blockbuster film, the director/co-writer Colin Trevorrow, who previously directed a small but witty SF comedy film “Safety Not Guaranteed” (2012), did a smooth job of handling actions on the screen, and we seldom get lost even when the movie becomes loud and busy.

The movie also allows us to be amused by small moments between its spectacles. Besides a goofy tourist guide video featuring Jimmy Fallon, I like how numerous recognizable elements from “Jurassic Park” are nicely incorporated into the story, and Michael Giacchino’s score pays enough respect to John Williams’ famous theme, which makes a grand appearance when the movie shows us Jurassic World in full view around its beginning.

In case of the special effects in the film, they are flawless and the dinosaurs on the screen certainly look and move better than before, but they also feel rather plain compared to what amazed and astounded us in “Jurassic Park”, which still remains as the groundbreaking point in the history of movie special effects even when it looks relatively dated at present. The movie indirectly recognizes its predictable attempt to be bigger and louder as throwing some self-conscious humor at itself, but that does not change its overall impression much, and it begins to lose its steam around the climax part accompanied with lots of CGI actions which I observed with mounting weariness. They are not bad at all, but, like many other run-of-the-mill CGI actions, they are not very exciting either.

In addition, the story and characterization in the film are riddled with flat characterization and questionable choices, and good actors in the film are often hampered by this problem. Chris Pratt is dependable as usual with his likable screen presence while showing again here that he is a capable action movie actor, but he does not have much to do with his colorless archetype character. Bryce Dallas Howard gets a more thankless job of playing an uptight female character, and some of you may be uncomfortable with how her character is negatively depicted as a career woman too busy with her work to care about the boys she was supposed to take care of – but, thank to Howard’s feisty performance, you may admire how her character manages to run and do some tough actions while wearing her high heels all the time. The other actors respectively fill their thin stereotype roles as demanded, and I can assure you that it will not take much time for you to guess who will be on the menu in the end.

On the whole, “Jurassic World” is improvement over the unsuccessful sequels preceding it, and it gives us a fair share of thrill and excitement, though it is not as memorable as “Jurassic Park” and feels bland at times. To be frank with you, I am not so sure about whether it is necessary or not (there may be another sequel following it, by the way), but it mostly succeeds in evoking, if not recreating, the fond memories of a film which entertained me and others a lot a long time ago, and maybe I should not complain even though I cannot wholeheartedly recommend it.

Sidenote: I saw it in 2D. I do not think you have to pay extra money for 3D.

Posted in Movies | Tagged action, Biological technology, Dinosaur, Disaster, Monster, SF | 2 Comments

The Trip to Italy (2014) ☆☆☆(3/4) : Food, Scenery, and Talk – again

Posted on June 13, 2015 by kaist455

“The Trip to Italy”, which is the sequel to “The Trip” (2010), is pretty much same as before except a few things. While its two stars happen to have another restaurant trip coupled with a number of nice hotels and restaurants, they go to Italy in this time, and, yes, they talk a lot with each other during this leisurely trip decorated with food and scenery.

At the beginning, Steve Coogan gets a phone call from his old friend Rob Brydon, who has just accepted a commission from the Observer to write the article about a restaurant tour in Italy. Brydon suggests that he and Coogan should go together as they did in “The Trip”, and Coogan accepts his friend’s invitation although their previous restaurant trip was not exactly a fantastic experience for both of them.

I have no idea about how much real Coogan and Brydon resemble their fictional versions in the film, but these two talented British comedians are engaging actors to watch, and the director Michael Winterbottom wisely lets his actors loose during their restaurant scenes as serving us with those obligatory kitchen shots from time to time. While going through their full course meal step by step, Coogan and Brydon always find something to keep their table conversation rolling as frequently throwing acerbic banters at each other, and I bet they would go on and on even if they had to wait for their dessert for the rest of the day. Even when they reprise one of the most amusing moments from the previous film, this funny comic duo goes a bit further to tickle us more, and it is still funny to see them doing the imitations of Michael Caine’s voice.

And we gradually come to see their private concerns on age and other things in their life. The rivalry between them is evident as usual, and Brydon wants to be more famous like Coogan, who has been enjoying more success outside UK through his appearances in several recent Hollywood films. At one point, Brydon is asked to do an audition for a supporting role in some big major Hollywood film, and he cannot possibly be more excited about this although he is not sure about whether he can really pull it off well. Coogan feels envy about this, but he helps his friend anyway when Brydon tries to shoot his audition video.

Meanwhile, their trip continues with more nice dishes and beautiful landscapes which will surely induce your desire for your own trip to Italy. While “Im Abendrot” from “Vier letzte Lieder” by Richard Strauss is gloriously played on the soundtrack, they enjoy a brief but refreshing yacht sail to a wonderful beach restaurant, and Brydon later finds himself having made a mistake not long after being attracted to one of young yacht crew members. They go around the famous places associated with Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, and the private life of these famous British Romantic poets naturally becomes a target for humor during their conversation. They also visit the ruins of Pompeii, and Brydon has a small humorous moment when he attempts to be funny using one of those mummified bodies in exhibition, much to Coogan’s annoyance.

Later in the movie, Coogan’s son Joe (Timothy Leach) comes to meet his dad along with Coogan’s assistant Emma (Claire Keelan). Coogan and his son have not been very close to each other despite their constant correspondence, but they are glad to spend time together after having a good meal with Emma and Brydon at some restaurant in Capri. As a guy who becomes more conscious of his age just like his friend, Coogan comes to feel the need of being closer to his son, though many things still remain uncertain between father and son.

Like the previous film, “The Trip to Italy” was edited from six 30-minute episodes, which were broadcast on BBC Two in UK around the time when the movie version was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in early 2014. As far as I could see, there is not any visible awkward transition in the movie version, and I am considering watching the TV version just for enjoying more of its lighthearted atmosphere and entertaining banters exchanged between Coogan and Brydon.

While I noticed Coogan for the first time as the lead actor of silly comedy adventure film “Around the World in 80 Days” (2004), it took some time for me to notice Brydon in comparison. He and Coogan were quite hilarious in Winterbottom’s quirky comedy film “Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story” (2005), and their many absurd moments in the film almost made me convinced that Laurence Sterne’s infamously ‘unflimable’ novel was one of the fictional jokes in the film. I later learned the novel does exist, and, after reading it, I was more amused by what I remembered from the film, which revolves around the problematic production of a movie adapted from Sterne’s novel (nobody in the film actually read it except one supporting character, for instance).

On the whole, “The Trip to Italy” is a minor excursion in Winterbottom’s long, illustrious career. After “The Trip”, he attempted an Indian variation of Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the d’Urbervilles” in “Trishna” (2011), and then it was followed by a small intimate family drama “Everyone” (2012), which, in my humble opinion, deserves more attention for its interesting filmmaking experiment similar to Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood” (2014). While “The Trip to Italy” mostly stays in its comfort zone, the movie is constantly enjoyable thanks to the good chemistry between Coogan and Brydon, and we will probably meet them again in another restaurant trip later. They are fun, smart, and interesting guys, and they may have their own version of “My Dinner with Andre” (1981) someday.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Father and son, Friends, Restaurant, Tourism | 1 Comment

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) ☆☆☆(3/4): The Vampire Wears Chador

Posted on June 7, 2015 by kaist455

While injecting some fresh blood into its genre conventions, “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” wanders around its strange and familiar world filled with bleak beauty and ominous aura. As an eerie and melancholic vampire tale set in some Iranian City, this small independent film attempts an interesting variation of horror genre, and it shines darkly with its own distinctive mood and personality while evoking the barren feeling of despair and loneliness surrounding its characters.

They live in a city called Bad City, and they sometimes look like only denizens of their city when they are walking around its deserted streets and alleys. Arash (Arash Marandi), a young man whose attire and hair style are clearly influenced by James Dean and other young American movie rebels from the 1950s, is living with his junkie father Hossein (Marshall Manesh), and he recently has a trouble with a local drug dealer named Saeed (Dominic Rains). Saeed demands Arash to pay off Hossein’s debt, and he eventually takes away Arash’s precious Ford Thunderbird instead of money.

Saeed also works as a pimp, and we see his cruel treatment of Atti (Mozhan Marnò), an aging prostitute who has already passed her prime but still tries to earn money on the streets. While Saeed forces her to do a usual service on him in his newly acquired car, it turns out that there is someone watching this from the distance, and that mysterious figure is quickly disappeared as soon as Saeed happens to notice it.

While she does not reveal much about herself except her dark nature, we see more of how The Girl (Sheila Vand, who previously played a small but crucial supporting character in “Argo” (2012)) spends her nights. Usually wearing a black chador, she drifts around night streets without getting noticed much by others, and, whenever she comes across a man bad or mean enough for her bloodsucking, she is ready to reveal her sharp fangs behind her enigmatic but attractive face. When she suddenly appears behind his back, Saeed thinks she is an easy prey, but the table are soon turned when he tries to seduce and dominate her at his luxurious house.

Considering the social repression on women often glimpsed from the movie, it can be interpreted that she is an avenging angel of darkness for that injustice we usually observe from male-dominant societies. That intriguing aspect is subtly implied through not only her brief private conversation with Atti but also her creepy admonition on a young boy who will probably never forget her stern words even after entering adulthood. There is also a memorable moment when she rides a skateboard along the empty night street, and you will notice how her chador flutters as if it were her wings.

And then she finds herself attracted to Arash, who happens to come across her after his dizzy party night involved with alcohol and drug. Because it was a costume party, he dressed himself up as Count Dracula, and we cannot help but amused by a funny irony when he introduces himself as a vampire to her while still feeling confused in his intoxicated state. There is the possibility of romance between them, and that leads to a quiet but lovely moment when she invites Arash to her home. While they do not talk much, the mood is slowly built up with a pop song played from her LP player and a disco ball reflecting lights above them. As the camera calmly observes them in static position, they slowly approach to each other, and they feel good to be close to each other – even when Arash’s bare neck is right in front of her.

The director/writer Ana Lily Amirpour did a commendable job of presenting a stylized world envisioned by her (this is her first feature film, by the way). While the movie was actually shot around a small town in California, her actors, who are mostly expatriate Iranians, deliver their lines in Persian, and we sort of accept their characters’ world thanks to the good use of locations under Amirpour’s confident direction.

Gorgeously shot in black and white film by the cinematographer Lyle Vincent, the movie is dripping with moody and languid ambience in its every shot, and it is instantly compared with Jim Jarmusch’s recent film “Only Lovers Left Alive” (2013), which is also a vampire tale with heavy emphasis on style and atmosphere. Consisting of a number of Iranian pop songs and other kinds of pop music, the eclectic soundtrack of the film works as an effective accompaniment to several key scenes, and its rumbling industrial sound effects further emphasize the feeling of alienation along with the frequent shots of factories and oil pumps.

The characters in the movie are simple and broad, but they are vivid caricatures while some of them are as memorable as its vampire heroine. Dominic Rains gives a colorful supporting performance covered with many different tattoos as a despicable guy who richly deserves what he gets in the end, and Mozhan Marnò and Marshall Manesh are also excellent as pitiful characters at the bottom of each own despair.

As an elusive vampire girl capable of both ruthlessness and compassion, Sheila Vand is the ambiguous but compelling center of the film, and she and her co-actor Arash Marandi have a nice low-key chemistry between them. They are fabulous in another intimate scene where their characters confirm their mutual affection to each other, and then there is a poignant wordless scene later in the story when everything is very clear to both characters even though nothing is directly exchanged between them (The special mention must go to a cat named Masuka, who steals the show whenever he appears).

As a film relying more on atmosphere than narrative, “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” requires a certain degree of patience due to its slow pace and sparse plot, but the movie is an impressive exercise in style and mood with new interesting elements for its genre. We were once quite depressed by those toothless Twilight films, but then there have been several good vampire movies like this to our delight, and I guess we can be relieved for now.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Horror, Romance, Vampire | 2 Comments

The Voices (2014) ☆☆☆(3/4) : A whimsical comedy about madness and murder

Posted on June 7, 2015 by kaist455

Alternating between whimsical comedy and disturbing horror, “The Voices” is an uneven but amusing black comedy about one very nice guy who simply cannot himself as driven by his murderous compulsion. Even when he is well aware of how problematic his deranged state of mind is, he finds himself helplessly falling further into that dark pit of madness like Norman Bates, and he clings more desperately onto his delusion to get out of his misery. This does not sound like a good comedy material, but the movie makes several good moments of dark laughs out of the absurd situation of its pathetic troubled hero, while never overlooking his grim reality of madness and murder.

On the surface, Jerry Hickfang (Ryan Reynolds) seems to be a plain normal guy who merely looks a little too pleasant and optimistic. Working at a bathtub factory located in a small town named Milton, he is regarded well as a diligent model employee by his boss, but he is not particular close to others at his workplace. His daily life outside the factory is usually confined in his small residence placed above abandoned bowling alleys, and the only friends in his lonely life are his dog named Bosco and his cat named Mr. Whiskers, with whom he talks whenever he comes back to his home.

Now you can see that he has a very serious mental problem. Since being released from a mental institution not so long time ago, Jerry has been trying to adjust himself to the world outside with the help of Dr. Warren (Jacki Weaver), but he does not follow his psychiatrist’s advice well recently. He does not take his prescribed drugs at times just because he can feel fine and happy without them, despite the voices he frequently hears from Bosco and Mr. Whiskers. Both Bosco and Mr. Whiskers are voiced by Reynolds himself, and that is certainly an appropriate choice considering the schizophrenic nature of his character.

On one day, Jerry comes across one of the employees from the accounting department of his factory. While she is not particularly attracted to Jerry, Fiona (Gemma Arterton) lets him more interested in her, and that leads to a miserable moment for Jerry when she casually stands him up and then has a fun karaoke evening with her colleagues. When her car is broken later during that night, she comes across Jerry by chance. Jerry is not angry about her, so they decide to have some time together, but, alas, their night ends not very well for both of them.

Feeling guilty and confused, Jerry tries to take care of the mess he inadvertently caused, and it is both funny and cringe-inducing to watch him doing unspeakable things to cover up his big trouble. Although Bosco functions as his calm voice of reason, Jerry cannot help but be urged by the evil, snarky voice of Mr. Whiskers, and there is a chilling moment indirectly showing Jerry’s gruesome handling of Fiona’s dead body. From his warped view, everything looks neat and composed with bright light and colors, but then we are slapped with a striking moment which presents to us the full horror of the dreadful reality Jerry tries to avoid at all cost.

Meanwhile, Jerry finds another chance of romance from Lisa (Anna Kendrick), one of Fiona’s co-workers. Something clicks between them as they spend more time with each other, and Jerry even shows her his old family house which still vividly reminds him of his deeply traumatic childhood past. They spend one night together at her home, and they are willing to go further in their relationship, but there is still his horrible secret along with Fiona’s head, who will not mind being with more talking heads in Jerry’s cozy refrigerator.

The story becomes darker and darker during its latter part, but the director Marjane Satrapi, who previously co-directed Oscar-nominated film “Persepolis” (2007) and then directed her first live action film “Chicken with Plum” (2011), maintains the quirky tone of her film while throwing more bizarre or whimsical moments which are sometime too offbeat for some of you. As the screenplay by Michael R. Perry eventually arrives at the expected point around its finale, the movie begins to lose its fragile balance between comedy and horror, and its epilogue musical sequence feels rather awkward although the main cast members surely have a little fun together during this intentionally silly sequence.

As the insane comic center of the film, Ryan Reynolds gives his best performance since his memorable one-man show in “Buried” (2010). It is always nice to see an actor trying something different, and Reynolds, who has been often criticized for his bland screen presence, shows here the other side of his acting talent we have never seen before. While becoming more monstrous as struggling with his mental illness and its bloody consequences, Jerry still tries to be a nice and sensible guy as looking away from his guilt, and Reynolds did a wonderful job of balancing his likable but homicidal character between absurdity and pathos. He also has lots of fun with providing the voices for talking animals in his character’s hallucinations, and his wry voice performances are another enjoyable factor in the film.

The supporting characters in the movie are relatively underdeveloped in comprison, but that flaw is mostly compensated by good actors who can imbue their characters with personalities. Gemma Arterton is sassy and amusing even when we are horrified about what happened to her character, Anna Kendrick is lively and charming as a girl we come to worry a lot about, and Jacki Weaver has her own moment later in the film although the movie could have utilized this colorful Australian actress more.

Compared to Satrapi’s previous works, “The Voices” is a less successful work. There were several points where I felt distracted by its incoherent mix of laugh and violence, but the overall result is more amusing than expected in spite of its dark, unsavory subject. It is probably not for everyone, but it comes with distinctive style and humor while supported well by its engaging lead performance to watch, and you may appreciate how it makes its unpleasant story work to some degrees.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Mental Illness, Murder, Romance | Leave a comment

San Andreas (2015) ☆☆1/2 (2.5/4) : Earth trembles – but the Rock abides

Posted on June 6, 2015 by kaist455

Earth trembles, cities are destroyed, and various characters struggle to survive in front of a catastrophe about to swallow them all – and I have seen such sights like them many times before. This does not always mean a bad thing, but “San Andreas” is not entertaining enough for me to fully enjoy its many corny and preposterous moments. This is a well-made disaster film, but nothing particularly stuck to my mind after the screening, and I only observed from the distance how it earnestly sticks to many of its genre clichés and conventions from the beginning to the end.

Like many other disaster flicks, the movie has an obligatory character whose main function is warning others of a very bad thing which does happen later. Dr. Lawence Hayes (Paul Giamatti) has made a breakthrough in his research project on the development of an advanced earthquake prediction technique, but then there comes a situation which will demand a lot of his expertise. A sudden big earthquake happens during his field research at the Hoover Dam in Nevada, and it turns out that this is just the prelude for a far bigger disaster. Not long after Dr. Hayes returns to his seismology laboratory in Caltech while still shocked by what happened at the Hoover Dam, the San Andreas Fault, which has been the main factor behind all the major earthquake incidents in California as told during his lecture scene, begins to relish its massive amount of shock and awe as he and other scientists have feared.

Fortunately, Dr. Hayes and other people including the visiting TV reporter Serena Johnson (Archie Panjabi) are in a relatively safe area, and they try as much as they can for notifying people of this worsening situation before it is too late. Although his role is basically a storytelling device, Giamatti puts the convincing air of urgency and seriousness into his mandatory scenes, and we do not have any doubt about his character’s fear and concern on what is going to happen (“It’ll be soon over here, but pray for the people of San Francisco.”)

Anyway, the hero of the movie is Raymond ‘Ray’ Gaines (Dwayne Johnson), a brave, resourceful rescue-chopper pilot working at the LA Fire Department. As you will see from the opening scene involved with a very risky rescue operation in the San Fernando Valley, Ray is a man dedicated to his profession. He is also a good dad to his young daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario), but he has been estranged from his wife Emma (Carla Gugino), who decided to leave him after their relationship was deteriorated by a family tragedy they have not quite recovered from yet. Their divorce is about to be finalized, and now she is planning to marry her rich boyfriend Daniel Riddick (Ioan Gruffud), who surely does not look like a dependable guy compared to Ray right from his first appearance.

Ray is supposed to go to San Francisco with daughter, but he has to break his promise because the LA Fire Department goes into alert mode after the earthquake in Nevada, so Blake goes with Daniel instead. Daniel’s company is building a big skyscraper in the downtown area of San Francisco, and it will not take even 10 seconds for you to see that his ambitious pet project is going to meet a fate a lot worse than that ill-fated building in “The Towering Inferno” (1974).

It will be not much of a spoiler to tell you that Daniel eventually shows how lousy he is as Emma’s future husband when San Francisco gets the next blow after LA is nearly demolished. Blake finds herself abandoned by Daniel under a perilous situation, but she is fortunately rescued in time by two British brothers Ben (Hugo Johnstone-Brut) and Ollie (Art Parkinson), with whom she had a chance encounter before the earthquake happened. As Ray and Emma try to go to San Francisco for finding their daughter by any means necessary, Blake and her new friends stick together for survival in the middle of chaos and panic around the city, and it goes without saying that Ben and Blake become closer to each other while Ben’s little plucky brother cannot possibly more pleased about that.

The movie keeps serving us with more disaster scenes. Buildings and bridges are shaken or collapsed by the continuing series of seismic shockwave generated along the Sand Andreas Fault, and there is also another big moment around the climax when Ray makes a daring attempt in front of a virtually unstoppable force of nature ready to strike San Francisco very hard. Dwayne Johnson carries the film well with his formidable presence, and this likable action movie actor abides as the solid rock base for this shaky film while the other actors do as much as they can do with their mostly thankless roles. The director Brad Peyton, who previously collaborated with Johnson in “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” (2012) and gave us an unforgettably silly moment associated with Johnson’s certain muscle tissues, makes it sure that we get the full view of massive destruction scenes in his film. I do not believe big buildings can be easily collapsed like that, but scientific/technological accuracy is usually one of the last things you can expect from disaster films (I am sure that any good seismologist will have many laughs while watching the movie).

While those CGI spectacles in the film look good in technical aspects, they did not make much impression on me probably because I have already watched many CGI spectacles during recent years. Yes, I was very sarcastic in my Korean 2.5-star review on that bloated disaster movie called “2012” (2009), but I also admitted that I was often amused by its cheerfully excessive presentation of various CGI disasters on the screen, and I must point out that what is shown in “San Andreas” looks pale and mediocre in comparison.

Although it is indeed less fun and amusing than “2012” in several aspects, “San Andreas” is a lean and efficient product at least while being less ponderous and tedious than “Earthquake” (1974), another earthquake movie shaking up California. The movie is not as awful as I feared, but it is pretty forgettable on the whole, and it has already started to slip away from my mind in spite of all those rumbles and crashes during its 2 hours.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Disaster, Earthquake, Family, Father and daughter, Husband and Wife, Scientist | Leave a comment

Tomorrowland (2015) ☆☆1/2 (2.5/4) : Ambitious, charming, but ultimately flawed

Posted on May 31, 2015 by kaist455

“Tommorowland” can be admired for what it tries hard to reach for. While being an overcrowding mix of a wondrous fantasy tale, intriguing science fiction ideas, and exciting action scenes, the movie is also equipped with innocent charm and earnest messages on hope and optimism toward, yes, the future of the mankind. There are lovely visual moments in the film I observed with wonder and curiosity, but the movie eventually staggers and fumbles during its last act, and the ending is dissatisfying although it keeps its bright, hopeful statement mostly intact in the end.

After we are told about how a young kid named Frank Walker (Thomas Robinson) came across the world he had never imagined at the New York World’s Fair in 1964, the movie moves straight forward to the present. Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) is a smart high school girl living in Cape Canaveral, Florida with her NASA engineer father Eddie (Tim McGraw) and young brother Nate (Pierce Gagnon), and she is a lot more enthusiastic than her classmates and teachers about science and what it can do for the humanity. Although the future to come looks pretty dire to almost everyone around her due to continuing global conflicts and global climate disruption, she is not daunted at all by that gloomy prospect shared among others because she firmly believes there is still hope.

On one day, something strange happens, and that is the beginning of her journey. After getting herself arrested by the police during her another attempt to interrupt the ongoing dismantlement process of a NASA launch pad which is no longer used, she finds a badge as she retrieves her personal items during her release. When she touches this object she has never seen before, she sees a big futuristic city beyond the wide field, but this phenomenon only happens to her, not others – and she should be very careful because her body is still in her world technically as she looks and moves around this brave new unknown world.

Like any bright and curious teenagers, Casey becomes more intrigued about this mysterious badge, and we get a wonderful sequence when Casey gets a chance to fully experience the awesome sights of the city which looks like the delightful extension of how people in the 1960-70s imagined their future. Everything looks slick, bright, and, above all, optimistic with various amazing technological developments we can only dream about, and, like those memorable cities we have seen from many SF movies, the city in the movie is terrific to behold for its many interesting details shown here and there around its areas.

Casey wants to know where the badge came from, so she starts her own search. After getting some information from the Internet, she meets two quirky owners of a collectible item shop in Texas, who are played by Kathryn Hahn and Keegan-Michael Key with the right balance between goofiness and creepiness. She also meets an android robot named Athena (Raffey Cassidy), and Athena, who still looks like a plucky little girl as she did in 1964 while also being as unstoppable as Terminator (I am not kidding), becomes her protector as they are being chased by the evil robot minions sent from Governor Nix (Hugh Laurie).

Through Athena, Casey goes to the reclusive residence of older Frank Walker (George Clooney). While he still can invent many wonderful equipments and gadgets as before (“Home Alone” (1990) has nothing on Frank’s well-guarded house), he now becomes far less hopeful about the future than he once was, for the world originally meant for the better future has recently been turned into something alarming thanks to one of his greatest inventions in the past. Frank does not want to get involved in anything, but he eventually joins Athena and Casey after seeing that there is still a tiny but precious possibility of hope for them and others on the Earth.

The director Brad Bird, who also wrote the screenplay with his co-producer Damon Lindelof, keeps the balls rolling while presenting several impressive moments worthy of your ticket price. The sequence involved with the Eiffel Tower in Paris is both thrilling and awe-inspiring for its deft execution, and I also like that ominous sight of a giant sphere machine hovering over the city. What that machine can do is not much of a surprise (have you heard of tachyon?), but the sequence unfolded inside that machine is something you should see on the big screen like the Eiffel Tower sequence.

But I sensed that the movie was reaching too high beyond its abilities, even when I was constantly entertained by its visuals. Although it did a steady job of building its narrative momentum, it never reaches to the blast-off level despite its interesting ideas including a sly jab on the recent popularity of disaster/post-apocalypse movies. Besides, the movie makes an exit too easy through its frantic action climax, and I was left with several plot holes and questions bugging me while not having enough satisfaction.

The main actors carry the film well with their good performances. While Geroge Clooney brings some gruffness to his engaging screen presence, Britt Robertson imbues an irrepressible spirit into her character, and Hugh Laurie plays his villain character as a reasonable but misguided man who is far more cynical than Frank (you may wonder whether a certain moment in the film is a joke on his famous character in the TV series “House”, by the way). Young actress Raffey Cassidy ably holds her place well among her older co-stars, and I find her character more poignant as reflecting on the nature of her character.

While I cannot fully recommend it, “Tomorrowland” is not a bad movie at all, and you may give it a chance if you have ever had been entertained by what our future will possibly look like. When I visited the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago a few years ago, I felt like being rejuvenated while awed again by more possible advance through science and technology in the future. As remembering that moment, I understand well what the movie wants to say to me and other audiences. It is not perfect as it admits at the beginning, but that does not mean that we can completely disregard this sincere and ambitious blockbuster film, which is quite a rare thing in these days.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Fantasy, SF | 1 Comment

The Shameless (2015) ☆☆(2/4) : Plodding around gloom and wretchedness

Posted on May 31, 2015 by kaist455

South Korean film “The Shameless” has a few good things to mention amid its many failures. As a gray crime melodrama about two different people who come across each other in their seedy underworld, it is shrouded in dark, moody atmosphere even during its day scenes, and it also has another engaging performance from one of the best actresses in South Korea. Sadly, its murky story meanders a lot while merely depressing and unpleasant all the time, and I became more confused and frustrated as being reminded that there are other films which did better than this tepid film.

It all begins with one murder case which Detective Jeong Jae-gon (Kim Nam-gil) happens to be assigned to. A guy is killed due to some vague matter, and the killer is already identified even before Jae-gon arrives at the crime scene. The suspect’s name is Park Joon-gil (Park Seong-woong), and Jae-gon and other cops instantly focus on Kim Hye-kyeong (Jeon Do-yeon), Joon-gil’s long-suffering girlfriend who left Joon-gil’s former boss for love and then has lived with Joon-gil for years.

Joon-gil’s former boss, who is only mentioned and never appears in the film, was rather generous to Hye-kyeong. She and Joon-gil were allowed to leave together without any punishment for their transgression, but she was later tumbled to the bottom with lots of debts, and she still has to work hard as a local room salon hostess for paying off her debts. In such a difficult life like that, the recent trouble of her boyfriend looks like just another trouble to deal with. She is not that shocked when she learns of what he has done, and she does what she should do for him while he is on the run.

For Jae-gon, it is not merely a simple matter of arresting the murder suspect. Joon-gil’s former criminal associates want Joon-gil to get punished for the trouble he caused, and they soon approach to Jae-gon. Jae-gon is not so pleased about that, but he sees that he has no choice in his situation. While he may be relatively clean compared to his colleagues including Gi-beom (Kwak Do-won), Jae-gon has some shady guy above him, and his ‘sponsor’ demands that Jae-gon should do the favor as asked by Yeong-gil (Kim Min-jae), a despicable middle boss who once worked under Joon-gil.

Jae-gon attempts to catch Joon-gil alone, but his target turns out to be not an easy match to catch. Because Joon-gil is still depending on Hye-kyeong, Jae-gon decides to hang around her for another chance to catch her boyfriend. He introduces himself to her as Joon-gil’s former prison mate, but Hye-kyeong is not fooled by him at all. She quickly recognizes that Jae-gon is not whom he claims to be, but he does not try to avoid her suspicion although he keeps hiding his true identity and motive.

Anyway, Hye-kyeong lets Jae-gon be around her as her new employee who will do some ‘management’ jobs for her (I guess a good enforcer is hard to get in these days). As Jae-gon spends more time around her, Hye-kyeong becomes a little opened toward him, and Jeon Do-yeon did a good job of conveying to us the thoughts and feelings behind Hye-kyeong’s guarded attitude. Although she is still devoted to Joon-gil, Hye-kyeong also finds herself drawn to a man she cannot trust easily, and Jeon always looks convincing as her character is saddled with more conflict later in the story.

However, many things in the movie are not on a par with Jeon’s performance, and, unfortunately, the movie becomes boring and sluggish even before its first hour. The director/writer Oh Seung-wook, who previous wrote the screenplay for “Christmas in August” (1998), did a nice job of establishing appropriate atmosphere and background for his film, but his screenplay fails to engage us mainly because of its flat characterization and plodding narrative. The plot is dragged and uneven, and what is supposed to be its climax feels flaccid to say the least while being devoid of any intended emotional effects. To make the matters worse, the final sequence is abrupt and clumsy in its execution, and it feels utterly hollow and pointless as we think more about it.

Jeon Do-yeon and other actors in the film do try, but most of them are stuck in this bad screenplay from the start, and there is not much they can do about it. Kim Nam-gil is forced to look sullen and brooding throughout the whole film, so we do not get much sense of what his stiff, uninteresting character thinks and feels, and we do not believe much in what happens between his one-note character and Jeon’s character, either. The other actors are also wasted in their one-dimensional supporting roles, and I must confess that I struggled at times to follow the story because the screenplay did not give any clear understanding on characters and motives.

More and more disappointed with “The Shameless”, my mind came back to Chinese film “Black Coal, Thin Ice” (2014). While having a similar premise, that somber but haunting crime film has more engaging story and characters. I found myself being slowly absorbed into its story, I came to care about its characters more than expected, and I also believed in what is exchanged between its reticent main characters who usually hold their feelings inside them.

In comparison, “The Shameless”, which was shown at the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival in this year, looks bland and lifeless, and I dislike it more as musing on its serious flaws. I did not care much about the characters or what would happen to them, I became more distant to the story as frequently checking my watch during the screening, and I only felt as lousy as its wretched characters in the end. There is another recent South Korean crime film called “Coin Locker Girl” (2014) in this year, and I recommend you to watch that film instead of this dismal failure. That film really did something new and interesting for its genre; this one does not do anything at all.