Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) ☆☆☆(3/4): A clash of styles

Posted on December 22, 2024 by kaist455

Nagisa Ōshima’s 1983 film “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence”, whose 4k restoration version was recently released in South Korean theaters several weeks ago, is a fascinatingly odd war film which attempts to present two very different human relationships at the center of the story but somehow feels rather unbalanced on the whole. While it remains adamantly distant about one of these two human relationships, it is also often reluctant to delve into the other one which is actually more poignant and interesting in my inconsequential opinion, and I came to have some reservation even though I observed its story and characters with enough interest.

At the beginning, the movie, which is based on Sir Laurens van der Post’s 1963 autobiographical novel “The Seed and The Sower”, feels like your typical prisoner-of-war movie. Its main background is a Japanese prisoner camp located somewhere in the Java Island of Indonesia, and the story, which is set around late 1942, opens with the latest matter to be handled by John Lawrence (Tom Conti), a Lieutenant Colonel of the British Army who has functioned as a liaison officer between his fellow British soldiers and those Japanese soldiers led by Captain Yonoi (Ryuichi Sakamoto) mainly because he is the only one who can speak Japanese in his group. His job is certainly quite thankless to say the least, but Lawrence tries to do his best for his fellow British soldiers despite that, and he has mostly been on good terms with Sergeant Hara (Takeshi Kitano) even though there is always a considerable distance between them.

Meanwhile, a new prisoner is sent to the camp. He is Major Jack “Strafer” Celliers (David Bowie), and he recently surrendered himself to the Japanese Army after his latest military operation was failed, but he remains defiant as unflappably sticking to his pride and dignity. This stubborn attitude of his comes to attract the attention of Yonoi, who becomes gradually obsessed with this dashing British dude for a reason which is probably elusive even to himself.

The homosexual undertone between Celliers and Yonoi is unmistakable to say the least, but the screenplay by Ōshima and his co-writer Paul Mayersberg only comes to tantalize us with suggestions and possibilities without much resolution. Is Celliers actually aware of whatever is going on between him and Yonoi? And is Yonoi really conflicted a lot about whatever he feels and thinks behind his stiffly tense appearance? Although there eventually comes an emotional highlight between them, these two vastly contrasting characters still do not click well with each other, and we are only left with rather hollow impressions even after the movie goes a bit into what makes Celliers tick.

This baffling problem is probably due to how Ōshima deliberately generated the clash of acting style between his Western and Eastern cast members. While he encouraged his Japanese performers toward more acting details, he simply let his Wester performers act as casually as possible in contrast, and the result is particularly evident from the vast difference between David Bowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto. While Sakamoto frequently tries for more acting across the screen, Bowie sticks to his usual cool appearance, and this contrast in style is often fascinating to watch at least for a while.

However, the movie never gets deeper into the strained relationship between Celliers and Yonoi, and, most of all, it also fails to generate enough chemistry between Bowie and Sakamoto. Often reminiscent of Peter O’Toole in “Lawrence of Arabia” (1961) throughout the film, Bowie simply coasts along his own uncanny presence, but he is not supported that well by Sakamoto, who unfortunately gives us a prime example of Overacting 101 here in this film. As later shown again in “The Last Emperor” (1987), Sakamoto is not a very good actor at all, but his rather weak performance can be forgiven to some degree thanks to his memorable score which incidentally won a BAFTA award (It was also his first movie score, by the way).

On the other hand, another main narrative in the story, which is associated with the equally strained relationship between Lawrence and Hara, is more effective in comparison. Although they are not exactly friendly to each other, Lawrence and Hara somehow come to recognize and respect each other more as they push and pull each other throughout the film, and that is why the last moment between them is more touching than expected.

Again, the clash in acting style is evident in this case, but Tom Conti and Takeshi Kitano are more successful compared to Bowie and Sakamoto. Although he had to memorize his Japanese lines phonetically, Conti, who recently appeared briefly in Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning film “Oppenheimer” (2023), clicks well with Kitano during several key scenes of theirs, and Kitano, who looks relatively more expressive here compared to that usual static screen persona shown in his subsequent movies, manages to bring some personality and humanity to his bluntly callous character.

In conclusion, “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” is a flawed but engaging result from Ōshima, who has been mainly known from his highly controversial film “In the Realm of the Senses” (1976). Compared to that shocking work, the movie feels rather mild in addition to being hampered by some glaring weak elements, but it is still a curious mixed bag to admire and remember, and I recommend you to give it a chance someday.

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The Fall (2006) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A glorious folly of striking images

Posted on December 22, 2024 by kaist455

Tarsem’s 2006 film “The Fall”, whose 4K remastered version will be released in South Korean theaters on Christmas, is a glorious folly of striking images to behold. Loosely based on the screenplay of the 1981 Bulgarian film “Yo Ho Ho”, the film bets almost everything on impressing us more and more with its sheer visual power, and that is definitely something you should watch it on big screen, regardless of whether you like it or not in the end.

The narrative ground of the movie is fairly simple. After the striking opening sequence shown in black and white film, we are introduced to a young Romanian immigrant girl named Alexandria (Catinca Untaru), who has been recovering from her serious arm injury at a hospital located somewhere in California around the 1920s. Just like any curious kid, she moves around here and there in the hospital, and that is how she encounters Roy Walker (Lee Pace), a Hollywood stuntman who has also been recovering from some serious accident. As befriending Alexandria during next several days, he tells her a rather rudimentary fairy tale concocted by himself, and she eagerly listens to his story with growing enthusiasm.

The movie shows us whatever Alexandria imagines in her mind while listening to Roy’s story, and we often get amused by how her innocent mind processes those colorful elements of Roy’s story. When he introduces an “Indian” character into his story early in the film, Roy actually means an American Native character, but Alexandria imagines this figure as a literally Indian guy just because, as shown later in the film, she knows an Indian immigrant guy hired at a local orange orchard where she and her family work. Likewise, many of other figures in Roy’s story are imagined as a number of various people Alexandria previously encountered, and it is particularly funny to observe how a bunch of armored soldiers in Roy’s story are imagined in Alexandria’s mind at one point.

Anyway, Roy’s story is quite familiar to the core. Around one valiant masked hero, who naturally looks identical to Roy, several different figures including that Indian figure are gathered, and all of them are quite willing to have their revenge on their common enemy who is incidentally quite rich and powerful to say the least. For example, this bad guy entrapped the wife of that Indian figure in a maze full of stairs and corridors once after coming to discern that he could not have her at any chance, and her husband still does not get over the devastation caused by her eventual death.

This huge maze scene looks quite real on the screen just like many other scenes in the film, because, well, Tarsem and his crew members including cinematographer Colin Watkinson actually shot the film bit by bit around the numerous real locations around the world for no less than 4 years instead of using CGI. As a matter of fact, Tarsem financed the production of the film for himself, though he subsequently struggled more for its theatrical distribution before it eventually got released in US in 2008.

Sadly, Tarsem’s admirable efforts here in the film were not praised that much at first. The following box office result was pretty unsuccessful (It only earned 3.7 million dollar while its total production budget was no less than 30 million dollar), and many of critics and audiences were not particularly enthusiastic about the film at that time. At least, it was admired a lot by a few notable critics including my late friend/mentor Roger Ebert, who not only gave it a 4-star review but also willingly introduced it at the 2009 Ebertfest.

Impressed by the mesmerizing visual power of “The Fall” as much as Ebert was at that time, I gladly wrote my 3.5-star Korean review around the end of 2008, and I still stand by my initial feelings and thoughts on the film. Yes, the story itself feels quite contrived and superficial especially in case of its numerous fantasy scenes, but these fantasy scenes remain grounded well by the human poignancy observed from the budding friendship between Roy and Alexandria. Still very heartbroken by a painful personal matter of his, Roy attempts to manipulate Alexandria via his fairy tale for attaining a certain hidden goal, but he comes to care about her a lot more than expected, and, what do you know, she eventually functions as an unexpected savior in not only his fairy tale but also his real life.

Everything depends a lot on the effortless chemistry between the two lead performers of the movie, who are certainly the heart and soul of the story. Besides looking as dashing as required during the fantasy scenes of the film, Lee Pace did a good job of embodying his character’s despair and anguish, and he is also complemented well by the genuine sincerity of young performer Catinca Untaru, who is instantly engaging from the very beginning with her unadorned natural performance.

On the whole, “The Fall” still has the power to astound and impress us thanks to its many striking visual moments, while remaining to be the best work in Tarsem’s rather uneven filmography. After making a promising feature film debut with “The Cell” (2000), he seemed to advance further with this precious personal project of his, but, alas, his subsequent works including “Immortals” (2011) were not so successful in many aspects compared to his first two feature films. Nevertheless, he gave us “The Fall” at least, and we will continue to remember it as one of the most daring and interesting cinematic gambles during last several decades.

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Time to Be Strong (2024) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Their aimless little trip in Jeju Island

Posted on December 22, 2024 by kaist455

South Korean independent film “Time to Be Strong”, which is incidentally the 15th movie project of the National Human Rights Commission in South Korea, is a somber but haunting character drama about three young people feeling lost and desperate in one way or another. While a considerable part of their youth has already been gone, there is only a lot of uncertainty about their future, and the movie observes their loss and confusion with deep understanding and empathy.

At the beginning, we meet the three main characters of the story: Soo-min (Choi Sung-eun), Sa-rang (Ha Seo-yoon), and Tae-hee (Kang Chae-yun). We gather that they were once pretty popular as adolescent K-pop stars but they are all retired now, and the main purpose of their trip to Jeju Island is pretty simple: they want to have a private trip which may compensate for their lost high school days.

However, things do not go that well for them from the beginning. Sa-rang happens to get her suitcase lost before arriving at the place where they will stay during next several days, and she also inadvertently causes a serious trouble which costs all the money they have. As a consequence, they have to move to a little camping car, and they also must do some part-time job at a nearby tangerine orchard.

And we get to know more about how things have been quite bad for them. While Sa-rang has clearly been struggling with some mental problem, Soo-min has been suffering anorexia, and we are not so surprised when it is later revealed that their former K-Pop group was disassembled after some infamous incident which happened to one of their colleagues. In case of Tae-hee, he is still officially bound by his contract in addition to having the debt of less than 30 million won, and, as shown from a brief amusing scene early in the film, he still misses when he was quite famous.

Steadily building up its main characters along the story, the screenplay by director/writer Namkoong Sun, who previously made a commendable feature film debut with “Ten Months” (2020), subtly conveys to us how much its main characters have been exploited and damaged by their entertainment industry. Now becoming way over 20, they are not that youthful enough anymore, and, after spending so much time on doing whatever they were demanded to do, they are all at loss now while wondering about any possible way to deal with their loss and confusion.

However, the situation is not entirely bad for them as they come to receive the kindness of the strangers they happen to encounter. The owner of that tangerine orchard turns out to be more generous than expected, and there is a little touching moment when he provides some medical help to Soo-min at one point in the story. In case of a young woman who comes to befriend Soo-min and her friends by coincidence, she is eager to get to know them more, and she surely brightens up the mood a bit for all them during one evening.

However, there is still the harsh reality to deal with for Soo-min and her friends. While both Sa-rang and Soo-min remain haunted by that horrible incident, Tae-hee still does not know how to handle his serious financial problem, and all of them must recognize more that most of their youth is gone forever. Even at the end of the story, nothing much is certain, and they are all reminded more that they only have each other for now.

Nevertheless, the movie also ably pulls out some little moments of hope and optimism among its main characters in the end, and it also shows a bit of humor and warmth at times. In case of an unexpected dramatic moment during the last act, this becomes quite poignant as one of the main characters says something meaningful for all of them, and we also chuckle a bit as observing the absurd aspect of their circumstance.

Like any good character drama films, the movie benefits a lot from its solid cast members, who are all believable in their respective roles. Choi Sung-eun, who previously collaborated with Namkoong in “Ten Months”, gives another strong performance to remember, and she is also supported well by her two co-stars. Although her character often feels rather elusive, Ha Seo-yoon makes her character more understandable than expected, and Hyeon Woo-seok holds his own place well between Ha and Choi. As two crucial supporting characters in the story, Hong Sang-pyo and Kang Chae-yoon have each own moment to shine, and Kang steals the show a bit when her character sincerely tries to cheer up Soo-min and her two friends later in the story.

Overall, “Time to Be Strong” is the impressive second work from Namkoong, who surely confirms to us here that she is indeed a talented filmmaker who may impress us more during next several years. To be frank with you, I am not interested much in K-Pop, and I do not even know a lot about whatever has been happening inside the K-Pop industry, but the movie successfully delivers its important message on human rights via the story and characters to remember for a long time. In short, this is a first-rate public service in addition to being one of the best South Korean films of this year, and you should check it out as soon as possible.

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Carry-On (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): An efficient genre variation inside the airport

Posted on December 20, 2024 by kaist455

Netflix film “Carry-On”, which was released in last week, is a familiar but efficient genre variation to enjoy. Yes, this is surely influenced by many other thriller films ranging from “Die Hard 2” (1990) to “Nick of Time” (1995), but the story and characters are skillfully handled with enough thrill and suspense, and you will gladly go along with that even while occasionally noticing its plot holes and contrivances during your viewing.

After the opening scene which effectively sets the tone, we are introduced to a lad named Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton), who has worked as a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer at LA International Airport. Because it is Christmas Eve, Kopek and his girlfriend, who also works at the airport, will soon go through one of the busiest days at their big workplace, and the movie succinctly establishes their close relationship as they are going together to the airport early in the morning.

Because his girlfriend recently turned out to be pregnant, Kopek comes to feel the need to be more responsible about where his life and career are going, so he decides to be more active about getting promoted. After managing to persuade his direct supervisor, he comes to replace a colleague who is incidentally also his best friend, and we see him scanning the luggage of the incoming passengers instead of that colleague.

However, there soon comes a big problem not long after Kopek begins scanning those incoming suitcases one by one. It turns out that there is someone very dangerous inside the airport, and this guy, who approaches Kopek via a remote earphone sent to him, demands Kopek to do one supposedly insignificant thing. All Kopek will have to do is ignoring the scanning result on the baggage of a certain passenger, and this guy threatens to kill Kopek’s girlfriend if Kopek refuses to follow his instruction.

Naturally, Kopek becomes quite nervous to say the least. He attempts to find any possible way to alert this serious threat to anyone around him, but, not so surprisingly, his opponent keeps cornering him in one way or another, and he chillingly demonstrates at one point that he is definitely not someone Kopek can easily mess with at any chance.

Steadily rolling the story and characters with more tension, the screenplay by T.J. Fixman also brings some more character details to the plot. As Kopek and his opponent push or pull each other throughout the story, we get to know more about why Kopek has been reluctant to do more for his life and career, and it is rather ironic to see how he becomes all the more active than before as trying to save himself as well as many others including her girlfriend. Although he is still one or two steps behind his opponent, he comes to show much more grit and cleverness than he has ever possibly imagined, and we surely come to root for him more as constantly reminded of what is being at stake for him and others.

Under the competent direction of director Jaume Collet-Serra, who made a number of enjoyable genre flicks such as “Orphan” (2009), “Run All Night” (2015), and “The Shallows” (2016), the movie provides a series of solid suspenseful moments to keep us on the edge to the end. There is an unnerving scene where our hero finally encounters what he is supposed to ignore, and that is just the beginning of how things become a bit more complicated for him and several other characters including his opponent. At one point, he must stay calm and careful in handling the content of that certain baggage in question, and you may also be a bit amused by the presence of a time-honored genre cliché which was incidentally disliked a lot by my late mentor/friend Roger Ebert. 

The movie certainly depends much on the talent and presence of its lead performer for vividly conveying us to the amounting tension and pressure on its hero, and Taron Egerton, a promising British actor who has been moving onto better things since “Kingsman: The Secret Service” (2014), dutifully holds the film together as required. Even when his character does not seem to signify much on the surface, Egerton ably illustrates his character’s growing panic and desperation along the story, and his strong performance keeps driving the film even when it stumbles a bit more than once later in the story.

The movie also assembles a bunch of good supporting performers around Egerton. Despite her rather thankless role, Sofia Carson brings some warmth to her scene with Egerton early in the film, and Tonatiuh, Theo Rossi, Logan Marshall-Green, Sinqua Walls, Curtiss Cook, Joe Williamson, and Dean Norris are also well-cast in their respective parts. Although her supporting character is more or less than a plot device, Danielle Deadwyler provides a bit of extra intensity to the story, and Jason Bateman is alternatively smarmy and menacing in his villainous role.

 Overall, “Carry-On” works fairly well while doing exactly what it is expected to, and the result is one of more enjoyable offerings from Netflix during this year. It is surely a by-the-book thriller flick from the beginning to the end, but it is certainly better than Collet-Serra’s recent films “Jungle Cruise” (2021) and “Black Adam” (2022), and that is enough for recommendation in my trivial opinion.

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Mufasa: The Lion King (2024) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Before he became the king

Posted on December 20, 2024 by kaist455

Barry Jenkins’ new film “Mufasa: The Lion King” is something bound to happen sooner or later. After winning two Oscars via “Nomadland” (2020), Chloé Zhao moved on to making a Marvel Cinematic Universe flick called “Eternals” (2021). After getting a Best Director Oscar nomination thanks to “Minari” (2020), Lee Isaac Chung moves on to giving us a Hollywood blockbuster film named “Twisters” (2022) several months ago. Most of all were rather surprised (or dismayed) to hear that Jenkins was going to direct the prequel to “The Lion King” (2019), but that looks now sort of inevitable considering that interesting current trend observed from many of rising American independent filmmakers.

The 2019 film is a competent but unnecessary live action version of the 1994 animation film, which incidentally remains on the top of the bunch. As I have said many times before, live action film usually cannot surpass animation film in many aspects, and that was quite evident to me when I eventually watched the 2019 film a few days ago as sort of a homework to do before watching “Mufasa: The Lion King”. While it is not that bad, it inarguably feels inferior to the 1994 film despite some strong points, and, above all, many of animal characters in the film look rather bland or shabby (I felt the constant urge to send all of the lion characters in the film to a local laundry, by the way).

In case of “Mufasa: The Lion King”, everything in the film is visually improved to considerable degree, and I was glad to see it at the Dolby Cinema screening room of a local theater. While its animal characters look more expressive in addition to feeling realistic as much as possible, several different backgrounds in the film are often filled with enough details to engage our eyes, and the overall result is surely an improvement over its predecessor.

The movie begins with showing how things have been pretty good since what happened at the end of the 2019 film. While her parents Simba (voiced by Donald Glover) and Nala (voiced by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter) are absent due to some personal business, a young female lion cub named Kiara (voiced by Blue Ivy Carter, who is Knowles-Carter’s daughter) happens to be under the care of a wise-cranking meerkat named Timon (voiced by Billy Eichner) and a jolly warthog named Pumbaa (voiced by Seth Rogen), and you may get amused (or annoyed) as Timon and Pumbaa attempt to cheer up Kiara with an exaggerated tale on their adventure in the previous film.

Anyway, there soon comes an old but wise mandrill named Rafiki (voiced by John Kani), who willingly tells a story about Kiara’s legendary grandfather. When he was just a lion cub, young Mufasa (voiced by Braelyn and Brielle Rankin) and his parents were going through a long and arduous journey to a certain place which might be a haven for not only them but also many other animals, but then he happened to get separated from his parents when he got himself swept away by the big current of water caused by a sudden downpour. Not long after he finds himself in some distant region, young Mufasa is rescued by a lion cub named Taka (voiced by Theo Somolu), who happens to be the son of Eshe (voiced by Thandiwe Newton) and Obasi (voiced by Lennie James). As the current leader of his clan, Obasi does not welcome young Mufasa much, but Eshe willingly takes care of young Mufasa, and young Mufasa and Taka soon become more like brothers as time goes by.

Several years later, Mufasa, who is now voiced by Aaron Pierre, and Taka, who is now voiced by Kelvin Harris Jr., find themselves facing a serious problem due to Kiros (voiced by Mads Mikkelsen), an evil and ruthless white lion who has led a bunch of vicious lions willing to kill anyone standing on his way to more power. Mikkelsen, who has been mainly known for his chilling performance in American TV drama series “Hannibal”, surely knows how to exude menace and malice, and he even has a diabolical musical moment which may take you back to how Jeremy Irons delighted us in the 1994 animation film (This and several songs in the film are written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, though I do not think any of them will be as popular as his notable songs in “Moana” (2016) or “Encanto” (2021)).

Eventually becoming totally left alone by themselves due to Kiros and his merciless clan, Mufasa and Taka must look for a new place to live besides evading their enemies, and they are soon joined by young Rafiki (voiced by Kagiso Lediga during this part) and a young lioness named Sarabi (voiced by Tiffany Boone). As these four main characters go together through a long journey to what Mufasa’s parents were searching for at that time, the movie expectedly provides a series of lovely landscape shots as required, and Jenkins and his cinematographer James Laxton, who was Oscar-nominated for Jenkins’ great film “Moonlight” (2016), make sure that we can behold and appreciate numerous background details, whenever the movie is not driven by busy actions unfolded across the screen.

Around the narrative point where Mufasa must come forward for not only himself and his companions but also many other animals, the story naturally becomes more predictable, and we often cannot help but reflect more on some inherent contradiction inside the story. Mufasa surely proves himself as a noble and righteous leader for every animal around him, but you may also observe that he and his clan will kill and then eat some of other animals for their survival in the end just like any other predator on the top of the food chain. No, I do not expect at all the movie to be realistic as your average nature documentary, and but that harsh fact of nature kept remaining in my mind during my viewing.

In conclusion, “Mufasa: The Lion King” is not entirely without good elements to enjoy mainly thanks to Jenkins’ sensitive touches and the game efforts from his voice cast members, but it is relatively passable compared to what Jenkins has achieved during last 16 years since his remarkable first feature film “Medicine for Melancholy” (2008). Now I remember what film critic Justin Chang said about “Eternals”: “You walk out in the depressing realization that you’ve just seen one of the more interesting movies Marvel will ever make, and hopefully the least interesting one Chloé Zhao will ever make.”. In my humble opinion, a similar thing can be said about Jenkins and “Mufasa: The Lion King”, and I am sure that he will move onto better things to come just like Zhao.

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The Lion King (2019) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): An unnecessary live action version

Posted on December 18, 2024 by kaist455

2019 film “The Lion King” is a product not so necessary in many aspects just like many of other live action versions of Disney animation films during last several years. When I watched its trailer in 2019, I was not so willing to watch it as clearly observing its limits, and it turns out that I made a right choice, when I finally watched it via Disney+ yesterday.

As many of you know, the 1994 animation film version has been one of the more well-known Disney animation films. Although this is not exactly one of my favorite Disney films (This is probably because I knew too well about the African wildlife even when I was very young), I enjoyed it nonetheless when I watched it along with my younger brother at a local movie theater in 1994, and, yes, its soundtrack, which incidentally won two Oscars, is one of the better ones from Disney animation films.

The 2019 film surely tries to emulate a lot of things which were successful in the 1994 animation films, but, alas, the result is not even as interesting as director/co-producer Jon Favreau’s previous film “The Jungle Book” (2016), which is also the live action version of a classic Disney animation film. While “The Jungle Book” has enough fun and wonder to justify its existence as well as winning its Special Effects Oscar, the 2019 version of “The Lion King” is less impressive in terms of visual qualities even compared to “The Jungle Book”, and it certainly looks and feels underwhelming compared to whatever we saw from the 1994 animation film version.

Oh, the animal characters of the 2019 film surely look quite realistic thanks to the competent efforts of Favreau and the crew members including Oscar-nominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, but their fairly good efforts here in this film only remind us again and again that live action film usually cannot surpass animation film. Many of the animal characters in the 2019 version look far less colorful than their respective counterparts in the 1994 version, and their world also feels less impressive in comparison.

Furthermore, the lion characters in the 2019 film looks as shabby as you can expect from African wildlife animals without much personality. Sure, Mufasa, the charismatic father of the young lion hero in the story, sounds as authoritative as required because it is voiced by James Earl Jones as it was in the 1994 animation film version, but he does not look that charismatic in my inconsequential opinion, and I must confess that I felt the constant urge to send him and many other lion characters to a local laundry.

And there is Scar, Mufasa’s nasty brother who is voiced by Chiwetel Ejiofor here in the 2019 film. In the 1994 animation film version, this villainous character was memorably performed by Jeremy Irons, and his sardonic voice performance was one of the key factors in the success of the 1994 animation film. Although he cannot sing that well as many people pointed out at that time, Irons delivers his own musical moment (“Be Prepared”) with delicious malice and gusto, and that is certainly one of the highlights in the 1994 animation film.

However, compared to Irons’ juicy villain performance, Ejiofor is too subdued in his mostly passable voice performance, and that only emphasizes what a weak villain Scar is in the 2019 film. Rather than looking evil and cunning, Scar in the 2019 version looks so sour and pitiful that the movie feels ponderous whenever he appears on the screen, though those giggling hyenas lighten up the mood to some degree.

If you are willing to overlook all those glaring flaws in the 2019 film, you will likely get satisfied as getting exactly what you expect to get. There are several good action scenes, and they are boosted well by the effective score by Hans Zimmer, who won his first Oscar for the 1994 animation film. I must point out that several new songs in the film are not so memorable compared to the old ones from the 1994 version including Oscar-winning song “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” and two fellow Oscar nominee songs “Circle of Life” and “Hakuna Matata”, but they are not that bad either at least.

The voice cast members of the film did as much as possible on the whole. Donald Glover, who voiced Simba, is rather colorless compared to JD McCrary’s perky voice acting early in the film, but his voice performance still functions as a sort of blank background for the relatively more colorful ones from a bunch of notable performers including Alfre Woodard, John Oliver, John Kani, Seth Rogan, Billy Eichner, Eric André, Florence Kasumba, Keegan Michael Key, and Beyoncé Knowles Carter. While Woodard manages to bring some pride and dignity to her thankless supporting role, Oliver, Rogan, and Eichner have a number of funny moments as expected, and Kani, whom you may remember for his supporting role in “Black Panther” (2018), provides some extra gravitas to the story.

In conclusion, “The Lion King” is not so horrible as I feared, but it is pretty forgettable besides being quite redundant. To be frank with you, I only watched it as a sort of homework before watching Barry Jenkins’ upcoming film “Mufasa: The Lion King” (2024), and I can only hope that that movie will be more enjoyable, even though it looks like a rather low point compared to many of Jenkins’ acclaimed works including, yes, “Moonlight” (2016). I am keeping my expectation low, but who knows?

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Small Things Like These (2024) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): He can’t possibly ignore what he saw…

Posted on December 15, 2024 by kaist455

“Small Things Like These” presents a somber but intense drama about one ordinary person who happens to face a very difficult moment of choice. He can simply look away from an ongoing injustice in his little town, but he also cannot possibly ignore what he saw, and the movie did a commendable job of engaging us more in his growing personal conflict along the story.

Cillian Murphy, who also participated in the production of the film, plays Bill Furlong, a coal merchant living with his dear family in a small rural town of Ireland in the middle of the 1980s. As Christmas week is coming, Bill certainly becomes busier than before, and the early part of the film shows us how diligently he works day by day around the town.

On one day, Bill happens to see something rather disturbing. When he does some delivery at a local Catholic convent early in the morning, he witnesses a young woman taken into the convent against her will, and this happening continues to haunt his mind even after he returns to his cozy residence. As shown from a series of following flashback scenes, his mother was unmarried when he was born, and she also could have been taken to the convent if it had not been for the generosity of her wealthy female employer.

If you have ever seen Peter Mullan’s “The Magdalene Sisters” (2002) or Stephen Frears’ “Philomena” (2013), you surely know what is going on inside the convent. As mentioned at the end of the film, thousands of unmarried pregnant women were confined in those “Magdalene asylums” in Ireland from the 18th to the late 20th centuries, and these “fallen” women had to endure a lot of abuse and labor exploitation in addition to being separated from their babies forever.

The movie quietly illustrates how many people around Bill are willing to look away from this ongoing injustice in their town. Bill later tells his wife about what he witnessed, but she does not care that much because she does not want her husband to disrupt their fairy comfortable daily life at all. As subtly implied to us in one way or another throughout the film, the church has exerted considerable influence over the town and its residents just like many other places in Ireland during that time, and Bill and his family can be stigmatized and then ostracized by many of their neighbors if he ever steps outside the line to which everyone else in the town faithfully sticks under the church.

Nevertheless, Bill cannot help but care more, especially after he witnesses a bit more of what is going on inside the church. Reminded more of how his mother would have been without her kind employer, he certainly becomes all the more conflicted, but the oppressive power of the church, which is sternly represented by the Mother Superior of the convent, always hovers around him even when he is alone.

The screenplay by Enda Walsh, which is adapted from the novel of the same name by Claire Keegan (Her other novel “The Quiet Girl” was recently adapted into an Oscar-nominated movie, by the way), takes its time building the tension surrounding its plain hero, and it eventually leads us to a particularly intense scene where Bill comes to have a little private meeting with the Mother Superior of the convent. Their conversation sounds seemingly plain at first, but we come to sense more of what is being exactly exchanged between them below the surface, and this surely unnerves us more.

Murphy, whose career was recently boosted further thanks to his Oscar-winning performance in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” (2023), gives us a masterclass of restraint and subtlety. He initially does not seem to be signifying that much on the outside, but his mostly taciturn appearance in the film ably suggests whatever is churning inside his character’s increasingly conflicted mind, and we come to have more empathy and understanding on what is being at stake for his character. When his character eventually makes a small but important decision around the end of the story, Murphy is utterly captivating to watch, and the movie presents this with considerable dramatic effect even though it firmly sticks to its restrained mood as before.

Around Murphy, several other cast members hold each own place well. Young performer Louis Kirwan is poignant as young Bill during several flashback scenes, and he is supported well by Michelle Fairley and Agnes O’Casey, who play Bill’s mother and her generous employer, respectively. While Eileen Walsh is effective as Bill’s concerned wife, Helen Behan and Zara Devlin are also solid in their small but crucial supporting roles, and Emily Watson is often chilling as deftly conveying to us the heartless sides of her character.

On the whole, “Small Things Like These”, which is directed by Tim Mielants, is a modest but undeniably powerful movie to be appreciated for its palpably realistic presentation of the story and characters, and it will remind you of how difficult it is sometime for many of us to do the right thing. As nervously implied during the end credits of the movie, what finally happens at the end of the story may not amount to that much, and the church will surely continue to dominate over the town and its people as usual. Nevertheless, there is also some small light at the end of the dark emotional journey in the movie, and that will make you reflect more on the importance of individual conscience and compassion.

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Tokyo Godfathers (2003) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Three homeless people and a baby

Posted on December 13, 2024 by kaist455

It did not take much time for me to get engaged and then entertained more in Satoshi Kon’s animation feature film “Tokyo Godfathers”, which is still a charmingly quirky holiday genre mix even after more than 20 years. Mainly revolving around the three differently colorful homeless figures, the film freely and cheerfully swings back and forth between comedy and melodrama, and the result is alternatively funny and poignant from the beginning to the end.

As reflected by the very title of the movie, the story premise is clearly influenced by John Ford’s classic western film “3 Godfathers” (1948). On one cold Christmas Day in Tokyo, the three different homeless figures, who have lived together as a sort of alternative family in their little makeshift place, come upon an abandoned baby while rummaging a pile of trash. They decide to take care of this little baby for themselves for a while, but they eventually try to search for whoever abandoned the baby, though this task turns out to be more difficult than expected despite several discovered items which may lead them to the mother of the baby.

As these three main figures go through their little bumpy journey along with the baby, the screenplay by Kon and his co-writer Keiko Nobumoto deftly balances itself between comedy and melodrama. While the unpleasant odor of its three homeless characters often functions as a sort or running gag, the story gradually brings some depth and pathos to each of them as they come to reveal more of their past and humanity, and we come to care about them as well as the baby, who fortunately does not seem to be aware that much of what is going on even in the end.

Of these three homeless characters, Hana (voiced by Yoshiaki Umegaki) is certainly the most memorable as your average aging gay drag queen. While she surely cannot help but neurotic and self-pitying at times, she is also a proud lady not ashamed at all of who she is, and there is an uproarious flashback scene where she becomes very, very, very angry due to a certain rude dude at a drag queen bar where she once worked.

In case of Gin (voiced by Tooru Emori), this gruff middle-aged guy turns out to have a shameful past he is still not totally honest about even in front of the two people who have been pretty much like a family to him for years. As taking care of the baby, he is reminded more of what a crummy man he was to both of his wife and daughter, and his anger and guilt are more intensified when he and his two fellow homeless figures happen to encounter someone responsible for his downfall in the past at one point early in the story.

As the third member of the group, Miyuki (voiced by Aya Okamoto) does not tell much about her background, but this young woman also has been running away from a painful past as shown from the brief but violent flashback scene involved with her father. During one scene where she happens to receive the unexpected kindness of a stranger, she comes to miss her home more than ever, but it looks like there is no possible way of going back for her to her bitter sadness.

While never overlooking the respective sadness and despair of its three main characters, the film, which was incidentally introduced to South Korean audiences as “The Chance of Encountering a Miracle on Christmas”, is often filled with a cold but lovely holiday atmosphere while occasionally throwing unbelievable moments of luck and coincidence along the story. There are actually more than one chance encounters in the story, and there is a particularly poignant moment when Gin makes some peace with the past via one of these chance encounters.

In case of the mystery surrounding the baby, the film keeps us more intrigued as our three homeless figures get to know more about a certain person who abandoned the baby. This person in question later turns out to be quite unhappy and desperate just like our three homeless figures, and that eventually leads to a wild chase sequence which culminates to what can be regarded as a Christmas season miracle.

The film was the third animation feature films of Kon, who made a feature film debut with “Perfect Blue” (1997) and then made “Millennium Actress” (2001). Although I merely admire “Millennium Actress” because I still think it is no more than an exercise in style, that animation film and “Perfect Blue” successfully established Gon as another prominent Japanese animation film director to come after Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, and he could have been known more to us just like Makoto Shinkai or Mamoru Hosoda, if he had not died too early not long after his fourth animation feature film “Paprika” (2006).

In conclusion, “Tokyo Godfathers”, whose recent 4k remastered version happens to be released in selected South Korean theaters on this Wednesday, is still a lovely piece of work to be admired and appreciated for its mood, style, and storytelling, and I must tell you that its deft and stylish mix of 2D and 3D animation feels much more vivid and striking than whatever I saw from many of recent Hollywood blockbuster animation films. While digital animation surely has its own advantages, they still cannot surpass cell animation much in my inconsequential opinion, and you will see that I am right, once you watch “Tokyo Godfathers”.

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Hidden Face (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): A twisted erotic triangle

Posted on December 12, 2024 by kaist455

South Korean film “Hidden Face”, which is the remake of the 2011 Colombian film “The Hidden Face”, an erotic mystery thriller which turns out to be naughtier than it seems at first. Like many thriller films, the movie surely depends a lot on a number of surprises and twists along the story, so I recommend you not to read more of my review, especially if you do not know anything about the movie or the original version.

The movie opens with a sudden breakup between Seong-jin (Song Seung-heon) and his fiancée Soo-yeon (Cho Yeo-jeong), who is suddenly gone after only leaving a video message for him on one day. Because he is incidentally the principal conductor of some prestigious orchestra owned by Soo-yeon’s wealthy mother, Seong-jin is naturally nervous about what may happen to his promising career due to this sudden breakup, but Soo-yeon’s mother assures to him that everything will be the same as before between them, because it seems to her that her rather spoiled daughter will probably return sooner or later.

However, Soo-yeon still does not return after several days, and that causes a headache for both Seong-jin and the orchestra manager. After all, Soo-yeon has been one of the principal players of the orchestra, so they must consider hiring a replacement at least for a while, and there soon comes a suitable candidate for that. That person in question is a woman named Mi-joo (Park Ji-hyun), and she is also an old friend of Soo-yeon, though Seong-jin does not know that much about this young lady.

Anyway, Mi-joo turns out to be a fairly competent substitute player, and, what do you know, Seong-jin soon finds himself attracted to her. When he later approaches to her a bit closer, Mi-joo does not mind this at all to his surprise, and they eventually find themselves spending some private time together in a house into which Seong-jin and Soo-yeon recently moved shortly after returning to South Korean a few months ago.

Meanwhile, Soo-yeon remains vanished as before, and this surely makes both Seong-jin and her mother all the more nervous. It looks quite possible now that something bad happened to Soo-yeon, and it goes without saying that her mother comes to have some suspicion on her future son-in-law even though she does not signify anything on the surface.

Around that narrative point, the movie begins to reveal what it is actually about via a series of flashback scenes. One of these flashback scenes shows how Seong-jin and Soo-yeon became quite estranged from each other since they moved into their new residence, which is incidentally where she and her old friend once studied music together under their private teacher. In addition, it subsequently turns out that Mi-joo was not totally honest to Seong-jin from the very beginning, though you may not be that surprised by what she is actually hiding behind her back.

Now, this looks like a familiar setup for more thrill and suspense, and the movie does not disappoint us while providing a couple of supposedly erotic moments as expected, but then it surprises with its cheerfully naughty aspects. I will not go into details here, but I can tell you instead that I was frequently quite amused even while observing the story and characters from the distance during my viewing. Although its main characters are rather unlikable in one way or another, the movie still makes us curious about whatever may happen next along the story, and we keep getting tickled by its wryly dark sense of humor.

Under the competent direction of director Kim Dae-woo, who has been mainly known for his first two feature films “Forbidden Quest” (2006) and “The Servant” (2010), the movie steadily rolls its story and characters to the expected finale, and its three principal cast members keep holding everything together even though the story stumbles a bit more than once during its last act. There are several plot holes here and there, but the movie compensates for this weakness via its enough supply of tension and intrigue, and you may appreciate how the movie viciously and humorously implies more horror and madness to come after its very last shot.

While Song Seung-heon’s neutral acting dutifully holds the ground as required, Cho Yeo-jeong and Park Ji-hyun are relatively more engaging in each own way. Cho, who has been known more to the audiences outside South Korea thanks to her excellent performance in Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning film “Parasite” (2019), has a lot of juicy fun with her superficially self-absorbed character, and she is particularly good when we later come to learn more of how her character can be much more unpleasant. On the opposite, Park, who has been more notable since “Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum” (2018), is equally effective as casually illustrating her character’s darker sides along the story, and she and Cho surely make an interesting contrast throughout the film.

On the whole, “Hidden Face” is a fairly solid genre product to be appreciated for its dark thrill and amusement. Because I have not watched the original version yet, I cannot tell you whether this is better or not, but I enjoyed it more than expected as having some morbid amusement, and that is enough for recommendation in my humble opinion.

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Exhibiting Forgiveness (2024) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Facing his old trauma and abuser again

Posted on December 9, 2024 by kaist455

“Exhibiting Forgiveness” looks into the deep trauma of a man still haunted and tormented by his abused childhood. When that painful past of his suddenly returns to him, he has no choice but to face and deal with those old emotional issues with his abuser, and the movie lets us empathize more with his inner struggles as handling his intimate family drama with a lot of sensitivity and thoughtfulness.

The early part of the film succinctly establishes how Tarrell (André Holland) has had a fairly good life on the whole. While he has made a considerable professional success as a rising African American artist, he and his musician wife Aisha (Andra Day) have lived pretty well with their little son, and his mother Joyce (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) will soon move to a better neighborhood from her old one, though she is rather reluctant about that.

And then there comes an unexpected thing when Tarrell visits his mother’s neighborhood along with his family for helping her a bit before her upcoming moving day. His drug addict father La’Ron (John Earl Jelks) returned some time ago, and he seems really changed in this time after hitting another bottom of his misery as shown from the opening scene. Still reeling from all those painful memories associated with his father, Tarrell understandably does not want to see his father again at all, but Joyce insists nonetheless that he should try to talk with his father at least, and he eventually decides to do that as advised by his concerned wife.

Of course, things do not go that well between Tarrell and his father when they later meet and then begin a little private conversation between them. While La’Ron sincerely wants to be forgiven by his son, he is often inclined to evade what he did to his son during that grim period, and this only exacerbates Tarrell’s old pain and anger, no matter how much he tries to understand and forgive his father. As already shown to us early in the story, his mind still violently reacts to his old childhood trauma, and this certainly scares both his wife and their son.

Around its middle act, the movie delves more into Tarrell’s childhood trauma via a series of flashback scenes. We see how much La’Ron cruelly abused young Tarrell (Ian Foreman) just like his father did to him a long time ago, and it is really heartbreaking to observe how much this abuse of his damaged his son’s heart and soul. As a guy still remembering well a number of hurtful moments of physical/emotional punishment committed by my parents and several other adults around me during my childhood and adolescent years, I understand Tarrell’s resulting trauma to some degree, and I must tell you that I often distance myself from my parents no matter how much they emphasize these days that they really love me.

Meanwhile, the screenplay by director/writer/co-producer Titus Kaphar, who has been mostly known for his acclaimed artworks before making a feature film debut here in this movie, shows some care to Tarrell’s family members. In case of a crucial scene between La’Ron and Joyce early in the film, we come to sense a long history of pain and love between them behind their casual conversation, and it becomes more apparent that Joyce still does not forget his worst moments in the past even while actively pushing her ex-husband toward their son. When Tarrell and Joyce become more honest about their respective feelings about La’Ronlater in the film, they are only reminded more of how differently they feel about him, and that leads to another conflict in the story.

While the story eventually arrives at a moment of closure for everyone in the story, the movie wisely avoids getting too sentimental as powerfully reminding us that some emotional scars cannot possibly be erased or healed at all. During the last scene of the film, we get a rather symbolic moment showing how our hero finds a way to make some peace with his childhood trauma at last, but the following small glimpse of hope and optimism is accompanied with a lingering sense of bitterness.

As the center of the story, André Holland, who has been one of the most dependable actors working in Hollywood since his memorable supporting performance in Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winning film “Moonlight” (2016), gives an engaging performance filled with vivid human nuances and details. While mostly looking calm, gentle, and sensitive throughout the film, Holland is also very convincing in how Tarrell’s mind often gets triggered by his childhood trauma beyond his control, and we come to understand more of how difficult it really is for him to confront his father.

Around Holland, several main cast members have each own moment. While Andra Day does much more than performing the original song for the film, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor is poignant during her key scene with Holland later in the film, and John Earl Jelks is also excellent as a broken man still struggling to recognize and repent for what he did to his ex-wife and their son. In case of young performer Ian Foreman, he holds his own small place well during his several scenes with Jelks, and his good performance is also connected well with Holland’s without any awkwardness.

In conclusion, “Exhibiting Forgiveness” is a modest but poignant drama about the personal struggles with childhood trauma, and I admire a lot its mood, storytelling, and performance. This is surely a promising start for Kaphar’s filmmaking career, and it will be interesting to see what may come next from him after this commendable debut work.

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