Escape (2024) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): An old-fashioned South Korean thriller

Posted on July 16, 2024 by kaist455

South Korean film “Escape” is something I might enjoy more around, say, 30 years ago. During that time, I was an avid consumer of those grim horror stories about North Korea, and I must say that the movie is curiously not so far from them in terms of mood, story, and characters. As our hero desperately tries to escape from one of the worst countries in the world, the movie throws lots of exaggerated villainy into the story, and we are supposed to root for him more as he gets closer and closer to the demarcation line between South and North Korea despite lots of risky obstacles in front of him.

At first, we get to know how a young North Korean soldier named Gyu-nam (Lee Je-hoon) has prepared for escape for some time. He has been in a military base not so far from the demarcation line, and he sneaks out of the base every night for checking out the location of numerous mines in the zone preceding the demarcation line. Now he is almost near the final stage of his plan, and all he will have to do is finding the right time for his escape to South Korea.

However, of course, there comes an unexpected trouble via Dong-hyuk (Hong Xa-bin), one of the soldiers in the base who also wants to escape to South Korea. As Dong-hyuk subsequently tries to escape, Gyu-nam finds himself in a very risky situation where he can be executed along with Dong-hyuk, and then things become more complicated when an officer from the National Security Department suddenly comes down to the base to everyone’s surprise.

This officer in question is Hyun-sang (Koo Kyo-hwan), and it gradually turns out that he has a hidden personal motive behind his back. Besides saving Gyu-nam from his current trouble, Hyun-sang will have Gyu-nam closer to him for their old time’s sake while also making him into a hero to be decorated, and that is certainly not something Guy-name wants. 

Although it spends almost the half of its running time (96 minutes) for establishing the story and characters, the movie quickly moves onto a series of intense moments of action and suspense as Gyu-nam tries to escape again (Is this a spoiler?). Hyun-sang and his cronies frantically and ruthlessly pursue Gyu-nam, but, to my little amusement, they always underestimate Gyu-nam in one way or another. For instance, there is a certain key moment where Hyun-sang can instantly kill Gyu-nam right now, but then he hesitates for a few seconds, and then, what do you know, Gyu-nam quickly takes advantage of that and then keeps running away from his opponents. 

Around that narrative point, we are supposed to care more about Gyu-nam’s attempt to escape, but the movie fails to present him as an engaging human character to observe and care about. While there is a brief flashback scene showing his family background, that feels rather perfunctory in my inconsequential opinion, and he consequently feels as broad and bland as many other characters in the story, who are more or less than your average totalitarian stock figures.

Despite his rather thin character, Lee Je-hoon, who has steadily advance since his two memorable performances in “Bleak Night” (2010) and “The Front Line” (2011), looks as committed as required on the screen, and that may be enough for you to hold your disbelief during several nearly unbelievable scenes in the film including the one where he runs fast across the mine field without any caution at all. As a fellow soldier who happens to be involved with Gyu-nam, Hong Xa-bin has a lot more stuffs to do compared to his previous film “Hopeless” (2023), and his earnest acting comes to earn more pity and sympathy from us.

However, these two actors’ efforts are often eclipsed by the neurotic villain performance by Koo Kyo-hwan, who is constantly on the verge of going over the top but never loses his focused attitude at all even during the expectedly melodramatic finale. As the movie shows more of Hyun-Sang along the story, we get to know more of the growing anxiety and frustration behind his dapper appearance, and you may be also amused by some kind of emotional undercurrent between him and a certain minor character. As the main villain of the story, he is hateful in every aspect except having a mustache to twirl, but we come to understand more of what makes him tick at least, and that certainly makes him the most interesting figure in the story.    

 The movie is directed by Lee Jong-pil, who previously directed “Samjin Company English Class” (2020). Compared to that lightweight female comedy film, “Escape” feels quite different as an intense male thriller film, and you can clearly discern that Lee tries something different here, though the result is not entirely successful. He and his crew members including cinematographer Kim Sung-an and editor Lee Kang-hee surely put considerable efforts on the screen, but their efforts still cannot compensate enough for the weak aspects of the screenplay by Kwon Seong-hwi and Kim Woo-geun including the overtly sentimental epilogue scene, which feels rather jarring compared to the rest of the film.

In conclusion, “Escape” works to some degree, but I got often distracted by its glaring flaws during my viewing. Considering that it is a fairly competent genre product, you may not mind its weak points if you ever happen to come across it via cable TV or streaming service on one boring Sunday afternoon, and I will not stop you from watching it.

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

Fancy Dance (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): A family matter

Posted on July 15, 2024 by kaist455

“Fancy Dance”, which was released on Apple TV+ in last month, is a little family drama revolving around one flawed Native American woman’s struggle over her urgent family matter. While occasionally reminiscent of many other similar American independent films such as Debra Granik’s “Winter’s Bone” (2010), the movie has its own specific character details to be observed and appreciated, and the result is a small but intimate film which deserves more attention in my trivial opinion.

The early part of the film gradually establishes how things have been rather desperate for Jax (Lily Gladstone), a young Native American woman who has taken care of her young niece Roki (Isabel DeRov-Olson) for a while instead of her sister, who suddenly disappeared for no apparent reason around two weeks ago. While telling anything about her sister’s disappearance to Roki at all, Jax has been trying to locate her sister’s whereabouts, but both the reservation police and FBI are not so interested in doing their jobs just because her sister is another usual case of a Native American women gone missing, and that surely makes Jax all the more frustrated.

At least, she and Roki are happy to be together, though Jax still does tell the truth to her niece. Because Roki is looking forward to attending the upcoming traditional dance festival held in a nearby city along with her mother, Jax must really find any clue to wherever her sister is, and the situation becomes more urgent when she and Roki are visited by a social worker assigned to Roki after her sister disappeared. Due to Jax’s considerable criminal record, the social worker subsequently concludes that Roki must be sent to her white grandfather and his second wife, and it seems that there is nothing Jax can do under this circumstance.

However, knowing well how much her niece wants to go to that traditional dance festival, Jax eventually decides to do something quite risky. Not long after Roki is sent to her grandfather’s house, she sneaks into the house for taking away her niece, and Roki has no problem with that, though she knows that she and her aunt will probably get into a serious trouble because of that. Not so surprisingly, the local police begin to look for them once Roki’s grandfather reports the incident to the local police, and there is a bitter irony in how they and FBI instantly respond to the incident compared to their rather lazy handling of the case of Jax’s missing sister.

Meanwhile, Jax keeps trying to delve into that case even as hiding from the police search. Thanks to her stripper girlfriend and a reservation police officer who is incidentally Jax’s brother, she comes to get a bit of information, and then she goes to a certain criminal figure who may know something about her sister’s disappearance. While this criminal figure in question is not eager to share any information with her, Jax tries as much as possible, and she eventually get a little clue which may actually help the investigation.

As it becomes more apparent that something quite bad happened to her sister, it also becomes more difficult for Jax to hide the fact from her niece. While mostly following her aunt without any question, Roki starts to sense that her aunt is not telling everything to her, and we are not so surprised by what she impulsively decides to do something unwise when she is supposed to steal a car key at one point in the middle of the story.

What eventually happens along the story is rather predictable, but the screenplay by director Erica Tremblay and her co-writer Miciana Alise keeps focusing on its characters as before. Although it stumbles a bit during its last act, it still cares about the drama unfolded between its two main characters, and then it touchingly reaches to the expected dramatic finale with enough emotion to hold our attention.

Above all, the movie is supported well by the two good performances at its center. Lily Gladstone, who had a fabulous year thanks to her two excellent performances in Morrisa Maltz’s little independent film “The Unknown Country” (2022) and Martin Scorsese’s another knockout work “Killers of the Flower Moon” (2023), did a terrific job of embodying her flawed but complex human character, and she and her young co-star Isabel DeRoy-Olson are flawless in their frequent interactions throughout the film. As reflected by the amusing opening scene where they commit a criminal act together for earning their meager living, Jax may not be a good role model for her niece, but she loves and cares a lot about her niece nonetheless, and Gladstone and DeRoy-Olson are often touching as ably conveying to us their characters’ strong relationship.

Around Gladstone and DeRoy-Olson, Tremblay places several solid supporting performers to notice. Ryan Begay, Crystle Lightning, Tamara Podemski, and Audrey Wasilewski are well-cast in their respective parts, and Shea Whigham, who plays Jax’s estranged white father, is particularly good in one particular scene between him and Gladstone.

Overall, “Fancy Dance” is a modest but engaging human drama to admire for its sensitive storytelling and commendable performances, and Tremblay, who previously made a couple of documentaries while also writing and directing several episodes of the acclaimed TV drama series “Reservation Dogs”, makes a promising feature film debut here. This is surely another interesting work to be added to the growing list of notable Native American films during last several years, and I recommend you to check it out someday.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Unknown Country (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): Across the country

Posted on July 15, 2024 by kaist455

Lily Gladstone is one of those rare performers who can convey a lot to audiences even when she does not seem to signify much on the surface. With her own tranquil charisma and presence, she effortlessly interests and then engages us, and that is how she becomes the quiet but undeniably resonant soul of Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” (2003), for which she deservedly received a Best Actress Oscar nomination (She is also the first Native American Best Actress Oscar nominee, by the way).

In case of Morrisa Maltz’s little independent film “The Unknown Country”, which came out not long before “Killers of the Flower Moon” came out in last year, Gladstone does another subtle but mesmerizing acting which steadily carries the film from Minnesota to Texas without any misstep. While the movie simply follows her character’s journey without revealing that much about her character, we feel like getting to know her character more as observing more of her long journey, and that is why the movie earns its hauntingly poetic finale reminiscent of the works of Terrence Malick.

At the beginning, the movie opens with Gladstone’s character leaving her residence in Minneapolis, Minnesota in one early winter morning. As gradually revealed later in the story, she recently lost a family member who was quite dear and important to her, and her solitary grief is more palpable to us whenever she is driving alone or trying to sleep alone in a motel at late night.

In the middle of her personal journey across the American continent, she visits a female cousin of hers who happens to be about to marry her longtime boyfriend. Although they were quite young when they happened to be fallen in love with each other, they have diligently and sincerely maintained their relationship during next several years besides having several kids between them, and now they are going to have a wedding at last.

They and their oldest daughter are played by Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux, Devin Shangreaux, and Jasmine Shangreaux, respectively. I have no idea on how much they play themselves in front of the camera (Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux actually participated in writing the screenplay along with Maltz and Gladstone, by the way), but they look quite natural in their unadorned acting, and they and Gladstone instantly lets us feel the close human relationship between her character and theirs. While holding the center as usual, Gladstone steps aside a bit for her fellow cast members to shine, and Jasmine Shangreaux, who will appear along with Gladstone in Maltz’s next film “Jazzy” (2024), always brings some plucky spirit to the screen whenever she appears on the screen.

After the wedding ceremony, the mood becomes more introspective as Gladstone’s character visits an old relative of hers, who is wonderfully played by Richard Ray Whitman. As they remember more of her recently lost family member, she cannot help but become more sorrowful, but she is also comforted by how much she and other family members will remember their lost family member for the rest of their life, and that is one of small but touching moments in the film.

While Gladstone’s character keeps driving along the road to Texas, Maltz and her cinematographer Andrew Haiek gives us a series of wide and beautiful landscape shots which will take you back to the similar moments in Chloé Zhao’s Oscar-winning film “Nomadland” (2020). Just like the landscapes are dramatically changed along the road, the sociopolitical mood is notably changed as reflected by the shifting tones of those local radio programs on the soundtrack, and you may feel a little more nervous when the movie is eventually entering Texas along with its heroine.

In addition, the movie also sharply recognizes how vulnerable its heroine can be as a minority female figure traveling alone by herself. At one point early in the film, she cannot help but feel disturbed by one suspicious stranger she happens to encounter at a local gas station, and that is soon followed by an unnerving moment of possible danger. In case of some other scene later in the story, she happens to be approached by two white dudes at a local winter festival, and she feels very uncomfortable for an understandable reason.

However, the movie does not lose its humane view at all as occasionally focusing on a number of different strangers encountered by its heroine, and these strangers have each own human story to tell directly to us. Again, I do not know whether these performers in the film are professional or not, but they did a terrific job in each own way, and the result is so authentic that you may wonder whether the film is actually a documentary.

On the whole, “The Unknown Country”, which is incidentally Maltz’s first feature film, is recommendable for its calm and sensitive handling of mood, story, and character, and it is surely another highlight in the advancing acting career of Gladstone, who received the Best Lead Performer Award for this film at the Gotham Independent Film Awards in last year. Despite a brief downturn after her haunting breakout turn in Kelly Reichardt’s “Certain Women” (2016), she now becomes all the more prominent mainly thanks to all the acclaims she received for “Killers of the Flower Moon”, and I am sure that she will keep impressing us more during next several years.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Frybread Face and Me (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): That summer in the reservation

Posted on July 13, 2024 by kaist455

“Frybread Face and Me”, which was released on Netflix in US around the end of last year, is a little but likable coming-of-age drama about one summer of a little Native American boy who becomes more aware of himself and the world surrounding him. Yes, this is another bittersweet tale about growth and nostalgia, but it is handled well with enough sensitivity and specific details to be appreciated, and you may actually wish that it could show more of those several colorful characters around its little hero.

In the beginning, we get to know about how Benny (Keir Tallman) happens to be sent to the Native American reservation region of Arizona. As the narration of adult Benny dryly tells us, his parents were pretty dysfunctional as a couple when they and Benny lived together in San Diego, California in 1991, and then he was suddenly notified that he was going to spend the upcoming summer with his maternal grandmother in Arizona. Although he is not so pleased about this decision, there is nothing he can do about that, and, as revealed later in the story, he knows well why his parents decided to send him to Arizona.

Anyway, he eventually travels to Arizona along with his paternal grandmother, and then he is picked up by one of his relatives right after his arrival. While wholeheartedly welcoming Benny, Aunt Lucy (Kahara Hodges) simply takes him to her mother’s residence and then goes away for her own business, and Benny comes to dread more of how much he will be bored as staying with Grandma (Sarah H. Natani) and Uncle Marvin (Martin Sensmeier). While Grandma cannot speak English at all, Uncle Marvin is mostly occupied with his professional rodeo career, and, as your typical tough guy, he also does not like much how Benny often plays with his little dolls (The movie does a subtle job of conveying to us its hero’s emerging homosexuality, by the way).

At least, there soon comes another person to stay in Grandma’s residence. That person in question is an older female cousin nicknamed Frybread Face (Charley Hogan), and she does not like much Benny at first while he is not so friendly to her either, but they eventually befriend each other because, well, there is really nothing much else to do for them except doing some work for their grandmother’s little sheep farm. She may look a bit childish as frequently taking a shabby handmade doll along with her, but Frybread Face turns out to have her own childhood pain and frustration behind her detached attitude, and it does not take much time for her and Benny to get a bit friendlier to each other.

Once its few main characters are established, the screenplay by director/writer Billy Luther, who also serves as the narrator of the film, leisurely rolls its story and characters from one episodic moment to another. There is an amusing scene where Benny happens to have a little honor of making a baby cousin laugh for the first time, and then we also get a touching moment as he gets to know more about Grandma’s traditional craftsmanship. As spending more time with her, Benny comes to respect and care about Grandma more than before, and he also becomes able to speak her Navajo language to some degree.

Above all, Benny comes to express himself more than before thanks to his growing relationship with Frybread Face, who has no problem at all with his more sensitive sides. While he gladly shares his enthusiasm on a certain popular pop music band, Frybread Face shares her longtime crush on the lead actor of John Carpenter’s little charming SF film “Starman” (1984), which they watch together from time to time.

In my inconsequential opinion, the movie could be improved with more details in terms of story and characters, but this considerable weak aspect is compensated by the enough realism and sensitivity felt from the screen. While there are a few moments of conflict, the movie still sticks to its calm and thoughtful attitude, and Luther and his crew members including cinematographer Peter Simonite did a commendable job of immersing us more into the small background inhabited by its few main characters.

Luther also drew solid performances from his main cast members, who are all believable as effortlessly embodying their respective parts. As the unadorned center of the film, Keir Tallman is engaging in his character’s gradual maturation along the story, and he and Charley Hogan click well with each other during a number of key scenes of theirs. In case of several adult performers surrounding them, Sarah H. Natani is an inarguable standout, and Martin Sensmeier and Kahara Hodges fill their relatively under-developed supporting roles with enough life and personality.

On the whole, “Frybread Face and Me” may require some patience from you mainly due to its slow narrative pacing, but it is still a rewarding experience because of not only its dry but affectionate storytelling but also its distinctive main characters. Although I have no idea on how much it is actually personal for him, Luther, who made several documentaries and short films before making a feature film debut here, gives us an intimate drama film which deserves to be mentioned along with a number of recent notable Native American drama films such as “Fancy Dance” (2023), and it is certainly worthwhile to check it out if you admired those movies.

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

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): A vampire girl and her suicidal human boyfriend

Posted on July 11, 2024 by kaist455

“Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person”, a Canadian French language film which was released as “I’ll Be a Very Creative Humanist Vampire” in South Korea a few weeks ago, is as amusing as suggested by its absurd title while also being surprisingly sweet at times. Mainly revolving around one young vampire girl’s personal struggle and following accidental romance, the movie dryly swings back and forth between humor and sincerity, and you will not probably mind several dark obligatory moments of sucking some human blood.

The early part of the film establishes how its heroine became a bit more sensitive than her vampire family members. Probably because of the personal trauma from what happened at her private birthday party many years ago, Sasha (Sara Montpetit) is not so willing to kill people for blood in contrast to her vampire families, and that naturally makes her into a big burden for them during next several decades. Despite hungry for blood as usual, she still refuses to kill even after growing old enough for trying to suck blood for herself, and that surely causes more headache for her parents.

However, Sasha comes to find a possible solution at one night not long after her cousin tries to push her more toward killing and then sucking blood. She comes across a notice on the support group for the depressed or suicidal, and she instantly goes to their meeting because she may feel less guilty about killing someone already inclined to kill oneself.

And that is where she comes across Paul (Félix-Antoine Bénard), a high school boy who previously encountered Sasha when he tried to commit suicide a few days ago. As frequently bullied by his schoolmates, Paul sees no reason to go on even though he has a caring mother who is unfortunately unavailable at times due to her busy hospital work, and he is not so afraid at all even when Sasha later tells more about her and her plan to kill him for blood.

Ironically, Sasha only comes to care more about Paul as he gets to know her. He remains suicidal as usual, but her vampire fangs still cannot come out due to her growing affection and compassion toward him, so she ends up spending more time with him as helping him feel a bit better. He wants to have some payback moments before his planned death, and she gladly assists him while still feeling conflicted about whether she can actually kill him in the end.

What follows next is a series of humorous scenes where Sasha and Paul come to bond more with each other via their little nocturnal adventure. As getting his revenge on several people who harassed him in one way or another, Paul finds himself becoming a bit livelier than before, and he and Sasha come to recognize more of how lonely they are. While Paul remains ready for getting bitten by her, Sasha hesitates more than before, and that surely makes their situation more complicated.

Of course, this is quite familiar to anyone who watched a number of vampire romance films including those Twilight flicks or more sophisticated ones such as “Let the Right One In” (2008) or “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” (2014), but the screenplay by director Ariane Louis-Seize and her co-writer Christine Doyon does its own things while taking its time for more humor and character development. Despite her inherent dark nature, Sasha’s private space is filled with a number of colorful stuffs, and there is a lovely scene where the camera simply observes how she connects more with Paul as showing more of herself to him. At one point, she even tries a bit of music for expressing more of her feelings in front of him, and that is one of the sweetest moments in the film.

It surely helps that the two lead performers of the film carry their movie with nice low-key chemistry. Sara Montpetit and Félix-Antoine Bénard ably complement each other via their characters’ contrasting personalities, and Montpetit does a solid job of balancing her vampire character well around comedy, horror, and pathos. On the opposite, Bénard is equally engaging as filling his role with enough sympathy and sensitivity, and we come to care more about him just like his accidental vampire girlfriend.

The movie could take more time on developing several supporting characters around the story, but the supporting performers fill their rather thin roles with enough personality at least. As Sasha’s more active cousin, Noémie O’Farrell has some fun with her character’s ruthless aspects, and that is why it is a bit surprising to see when her character shows some compassion to Sasha later in the story. As several other family members of Sasha, Steve Laplante, Sophie Cadieux, and Marie Brassard are also effective, and their characters come to us as rather likable persons despite their unspeakable nature. Yes, these vampires do kill people for blood, but they are also fairly nice and decent in addition to being very principled about their vampirism at least.

On the whole, “Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person”, which is also known as “Humanist Vampire Too Sensitive to Kill”, is a little but charming genre piece to cherish, and Louis-Seize makes a commendable feature film debut here after making several short films. Although this is essentially one-joke comedy movie, it has enough mood, style, and personality to justify its rather short running time (91 minutes), and it will be interesting to see what may come next from its director in the future.

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

The Imaginary (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): The adventure of one imaginary boy

Posted on July 9, 2024 by kaist455

Japanese animation film “The Imaginary”, which was released on Netflix in last week, will delight anyone who has enjoyed and admired those fabulous animation films from Studio Ghibli. While it does not surpass the better works of Studio Ghibli, the film is still filled with visual goodies to charm and impress you, and you will gladly go along with that while occasionally touched by its earnest storytelling.

At first, we get to know the relationship between a young girl named Amanda (voiced by Rio Suzuki) and her imaginary friend Rudger (voiced by Kokoro Terada), who is well aware of his existence as a piece of his dear friend’s boundless imagination. As Amanda imagines one thing after another in their little fantasy world, she and Rudger have one adventure after another, and it looks like nothing can possibly separate them, though Rudger knows well that their time will not last forever as Amanda grows up day by day.

Amanda is willing to share her imaginary friend with her recently widowed mother Lizzy (voiced by Sakura Ando), but Lizzy’s attention is mostly drawn to how to begin again after her husband’s death. Just like many adults, Lizzy does not believe much in imaginary friend although she did once have such an entity a long time ago as her mother tells her at one point. Nevertheless, she lets her daughter keep playing with her imaginary friend at least, while expecting that she will grow out of that someday.

Meanwhile, something unexpected occurs. Amanda and Lizzy are visited by a stranger who introduces himself as “Mr. Bunting” (voiced by Issey Ogata), and Amanda and Ludger are instantly alarmed because they see a shady ghost figure accompanying Mr. Bunting. It soon turns out that Mr. Bunting has a horrible purpose behind his back, and Amanda and Ludger consequently find themselves in a very dangerous situation.

Around that narrative point, the screenplay by writer/producer Yoshiaki Nishimura, which is based on the children’s book of the same name by A.F. Harrold, takes a sudden plot turn to our little surprise. After getting separated from Amanda due to an unfortunate incident, Ludger comes across a mysterious cat, and Jinzan (voiced by Takayuki Yamada) leads him to a secret place for numerous imaginary figures, which incidentally turns out to be a big public library. Led by a plucky girl figure named Emily (voiced by Riisa Naka), they happily exist and play together whenever they can, and they are certainly looking for any chance to be a temporary imaginary friend to any of those imaginative kids out there.

Needless to say, the film fills the screen with a heap of colorfully wondrous stuffs and details as Ludger gets to know more about his new world and its rules via Emily and his other new friends including a big pink hippopotamus named Snowflake (voiced by Mitsuaki Kanuka). Whenever the library is silent and empty at night, Emily and her fellow imaginary figures make a little fantasy town of their own, and it looks like nothing bad can happen as long as they stay together in this little haven of theirs. 

However, Ludger still misses Amanda, and he becomes all the determined to reunite with her even though their time is limited as before. As he goes out to the world outside, he is soon noticed by Mr. Bunting and his ghost associate, and the situation becomes more dangerous as Ludger and his fellow imaginary friends confront the dark imaginary power of Mr. Bunting.

Although the story becomes a bit shaky during its last act, the film continues to engage us with not only its lovely hand-drawn animation style but also the genuine emotions coming from its main characters. While there is undeniable poignancy in Ludger’s attempt to meet Amanda again, we are also moved as getting to know about how Amanda came to have Ludger after her dear father’s death, and there is a modest but powerfully emotional moment when her mother comes to understand her daughter’s grief more while also dealing with her own grief. When the story eventually reaches to the climax part, a lot of things are busily unfolded across the screen, but we still stay focused on the main characters and their drama, and the film also shows some sense of humor to brighten up the mood a bit, as shown from when Ludger comes into the imagination of a friend of Amanda at one point later in the film.   

The Japanese voice cast members are solid in their respective parts (Netflix has the other options including the American dubbing, of course). While Kokoro Terada and Rio Suzuki function well as the heart and soul of the story, they are supported well by several other voice cast members including Sakura Ando, Riisa Naka, Takayuki Yamada, Mitsuaki Kanuka, and Issey Ogata, who has a lot of naughty fun with his diabolical villain character.

“The Imaginary” is directed by Yoshiyuki Momose, who also previously worked in several works of Studio Ghibli just like his producer/writer. While it sometimes emulates the works of Studio Ghibli a bit too much, it has its heart in in the right place as doing its own things, and I sincerely hope that more animations films like this will come to remind us that the legacy of Studio Ghibli will continue to live even after its closing time.

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

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): Eddie Murphy still has it

Posted on July 8, 2024 by kaist455

Netflix film “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F”, which was released in last week, shows that Eddie Murphy still has it, and I am glad about that. As the belated third sequel to “Beverly Hills Cop” (1984), the movie feels redundant to some degree, but it is actually better than the two preceding sequels in addition to simply letting Murphy demonstrate more of his enduring star quality, and the overall result is one of more entertaining Netflix products during last several months.

The screenplay by Will Beall, which is developed from the story by Beal and his co-writers Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten, mostly sticks to the story formula already established in the 1984 film. Not long after getting into another big messy incident in his hometown Detroit, Michigan, Murphy’s street-smart police character, Axel Foley, is notified that his estranged daughter Jane (Taylour Paige), who has worked as a successful lawyer in LA, is in a serious trouble due to her latest case, which is involved with some powerful Mexican drug cartel. In addition, his old friend Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), who has worked as a private detective since leaving LAPD some time ago, is also involved in this situation, so Axel quickly comes to LA for some help, and then things turn out to be a bit more complicated than he thought at first.

Right from when he arrives in LA, Axel is not so welcomed by the local police or his daughter, who still remembers well how problematic their relationship was when they lived in Detroit. Because her current client must be proven innocent of the murder of a corrupt police officer who was delivering some drug with him at that time, she has no choice but to let her father help her a bit, and, what do you know, they turn out to work pretty well together as shown from one humorous scene where they must slip into a highly exclusive place for getting more information.

Meanwhile, the local police, which is now headed by Billy’s old partner John Taggart (John Ashton), is not so willing to delve more into the case, though Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a young detective who was once very close to Jane, begins to sense something fishy as a number of suspicious things come out thanks to Axel. He is willing to know more from Axel, but Axel is not so sure about Abbott because he comes to find that there are a bunch of corrupt cops behind the case.

It is not much of a spoiler to tell you who the main villain of the story is, because it is so transparent to us right from when Kevin Bacon enters the screen. As virtually doing everything except having a mustache to twirl during his first scene, Bacon chews every juicy moment of his with gusto, and that surely brings some extra personality to the film.

Once it establishes Axel’s main opponents, the movie provides a series of well-made action sequences peppered with some sense of humor. There is an intense shootout scene where Axel surely shows that he is still not too old for his sh*t, and then there is a thrilling action sequence where Axel must depend on Abbott’s certain particular set of skills for getting away from those bad guys together.

Frequently predictable in terms of story and characters, the movie does not have much surprise for us, especially during the last act where lots of bangs and crashes happen occur across the screen. Nonetheless, it is constantly buoyed by Murphy’s considerable personality and talent. Because he recently had the 63rd birthday, you may wonder whether he is a bit too aged to play such a hyper-active cop like Axel, but your doubt will be instantly disappeared right from his very first scene in the film, and you will come to root for his character more even if you cannot help but think of all those collateral damages caused by Axel (How the hell did he manage not to lose his job despite causing so many troubles throughout all those years, I wonder?).

Several other main cast members in the film dutifully fill their respective spots around Murphy. Joseph Gordon-Levitt imbues his supposedly thankless supporting role with some wit and intelligence, and he also did a good job of functioning as a sensible counterpart to Murphy’s character. Although her character feels under-written in comparison, Taylour Paige, who has been more prominent thanks to her breakout performance in “Zola” (2020), is also solid, and she and Murphy ably convey well to us the long history of estrangement between their characters. In case of Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser, and Bronson Pinchot, they gladly fill their respective familiar roles, and the movie certainly doles out a bit of nostalgia for its target audiences whenever their characters happen to be on the screen with Murphy.

In conclusion, “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” may be a little too late in its arrival, but it did its job fairly well under the competent direction of director Mark Molloy, who incidentally made a feature film debut here after making several commercials. I must tell you that another Netflix movie “Dolemite Is My Name” (2019) utilizes Murphy’s presence and talent more effectively, but “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” is still one of more enjoyable films in his rather uneven acting career, and it is certainly nice to see that he still can energize the screen as much as he did 40 years ago.

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

Typhoon Club (1985) ☆☆☆(3/4): As a storm is coming

Posted on July 7, 2024 by kaist455

Shinji Sōmai’s 1985 film “Typhoon Club”, which happened to come out around the time when John Hughes’ “The Breakfast Club” (1985), is an adolescent drama which turns out to be darker and more disturbing than expected. Watching some of its main adolescent characters being stuck inside their school later in the story, you may be reminded a bit of “The Breakfast Club”, but the movie goes for something far less cheery, and its haunting moments of anxiety and frustrations will linger on your mind for a while.

Mainly set in some rural town outside Tokyo, the movie opens with a group of middle school girls trying to have a little fun nighttime at the swimming pool of their school. As they freely dance together around the swimming pool, it soon turns out that there is a boy in the swimming pool, and the girls’ following thoughtless prank on this boy leads to an unfortunate incident which actually could kill him.

As the next day begins, we get to know more about the girls, the boy, and his two male classmates. It is clear to us that one of the girls, Rie (Youki Kudoh), likes one of the boy’s two friends, but Mikami (Yuichi Mikami) is not particularly interested in being more than a close friend to Rie, mainly because he is more occupied with studying more for going to a good high school later.

However, Mikami does not know what to do with his life except doing whatever he is expected to do by his parents, and his two male friends have no idea either as being more aware of being hopelessly stuck in their town just like many others in the school. At one point, we see one of them showing a rather disturbing behavior when he enters his shabby family home, and we later come to have a fairly good idea on what has been going on between him and his father, who is clearly your typical alcoholic loser.

Meanwhile, the girls turn out to be as anxious and frustrated as the boys. They try some transgression to distance themselves from their growing daily ennui, and we are not so surprised when two of them try a bit on their burgeoning curiosity on sexuality. In case of Rie, we observe more of how much she is troubled behind her perky façade, but Mikami remains oblivious to that as usual while being mired in his own ennui, and that eventually prompts her to do something quite drastic later in the story.

As these main adolescent characters aimlessly sway in one way or another, we become more aware of the absence of any good adult to guide or support them. We seldom see their parents throughout the film, and their schoolteachers are not particularly interested in them except shepherding them to the next level of their education process. In case of their mathematical teacher, we get an absurd scene where his students come to learn more about how pathetic he really is, and they surely come to respect him much less than before.

While leisurely doling out one episodic moment after another along the narrative, Yuji Kato’s screenplay slowly dials up the level of emotional tension with a big typhoon approaching to the town hour by hour. Around the point where the eventual storm warning is announced, things get a lot more intense, and then there comes a very disconcerting sequence where one of the girls is terrorized and then physically violated to some degree by one of the boys.

Even at that point, the movie firmly maintains its phlegmatically sobering attitude while refusing to allow any easy way out for its adolescent main characters. When Mikami and his several classmates get themselves trapped inside the school as the typhoon is raging more and more outside, they feel more frustrated than ever, but their following attempts for any emotional ventilation do not give them much catharsis at all, and their drab reality is about to return on the very next day.

Their desperate emotional struggles are not so pleasant to watch to say the least, but they are handled with enough care and sensitivity under Sōmai’s skillful direction, and the same thing can be said about the subplot involved with Rie’s misadventure outside the town. There is an uncomfortable indoor scene between her and one adult guy, but it is presented with considerable tactfulness at least while unnerving us a lot for good reasons. I also appreciate how Sōmai and his crew members including cinematographer Akihiro Itô shows some restraint in case of a striking scene involved featuring full frontal nudity and lots of rains, and you will be relieved to know that they really took some caution in advance for shooting this highly risky scene.

Overall, “Typhoon Club” will catch you off guard as a sort of antithesis to “The Breakfast Club”, so you probably should know in advance what and how it is about. I must confess that I felt a bit impatient during my viewing, but I eventually came to accept its thoughtful approach to story and characters, and I become more interested in checking out several other works of Sōmai, who surely deserves more attention considering how he has been cited as a major influence to many different current Japanese filmmakers such as Hamaguchi Ryûsuke and Kuorsawa Kiyoshi. It does feel like an acquired taste, but the movie is still worthwhile to watch for its mood and storytelling, and it will certainly surprise you especially if you are looking for something different.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Marguerite’s Theorem (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): A young mathematician rising from the bottom.

Posted on July 7, 2024 by kaist455

“Marguerite’s Theorem” engaged me more than expected even though I did not know that much about Goldbach’s conjecture, which has been one of the most challenging mathematical matters for more than 250 years. As closely and intimately sticking to its brilliant but vulnerable heroine’s state of mind, the movie lets us understand and emphasize more with what makes her tick, and we accordingly care more about her and her immensely demanding academic project.

 At the beginning, the movie observes its math prodigy heroine, Marguerite Hoffmann (Ella Rumpf), preparing for what may be a big breakthrough for her academic career, and she is alternatively confident and anxious about what she has been strenuously working on during last several years under her thesis director’s guidance. While she is almost sure about the success of her upcoming thesis presentation on Goldbach’s conjecture, she is also well aware of any possibility of error, but then she hesitates to get some help from Lucas (Julien Frison), a hunky male student who recently moves to her graduate school for studying under her thesis director.

When her thesis presentation eventually begins, Marguerite tries her best for presenting the result of her mathematical study, but, alas, it soon turns out that there is a big error she should have noticed from the very beginning. Quite overwhelmed by this glaring error of hers, Marguerite walks away from her academic audiences, and then she decides to quit her study and then leave her graduate school after her thesis director, who is clearly not so pleased about her academic breakdown, recommends her to study under some other professor in the department instead.   

Although she does not know what to do next for her future, Marguerite gradually comes to find a way to climb up from the bottom for now. First, she gets a cheap place to stay thanks to Noa (Sonia Bonny), a young dancer she happens to befriend later. Second, she becomes quite interested in a Chinese poker game named Mahjong via the Chinese landlord of her current staying place, and, what do you know, she soon discovers that she is pretty good enough to earn some cash as playing Mahjong on behalf of her Chinese landlord. 

Not so surprisingly, as her brain is frequently working on the probabilities associated with Mahjong games, Marguerite slowly finds her mathematical groover back. Once she gets a small but compelling idea on proving Goldbach’s conjecture in the middle of one Mahjong game, her mind is instantly driven by the tantalizing possibilities coming from that idea, and she is all the more motivated when she comes to learn later about what her former thesis director and Lucas have been working on at present.

Meanwhile, just like many other smart but socially awkward people, Marguerite comes to learn more about how to interact more with others around her, who remind her in one way or another that there is more to life than mathematics. Noa gladly shows Marguerite how to have more fun outside whenever she is not working on her new academic project, and there is a little amusing scene where Marguerite comes to have her first moment of sexual orgasm via the impulsive encounter with a total stranger. After having a moment of reconciliation with Lucas, Marguerite suggests that he should join her ongoing academic project, and she surely comes to learn the value of academic collaboration while working with him more and more.

Now you probably have a good idea on where its story and characters are going, but the screenplay by director Anna Novion and her co-writers Mathieu Robin, Marie-Stéphane Imbert, and Agnès Feuvre does not hurry itself as leisurely adding more details to its story and characters. Later in the story, we get to know more about Marguerite’s rather strained relationship with her mother Suzanne (Clotilde Courau), and it is poignant to see how they come to find a way to reconnect with each other later in the story. In case of Marguerite’s former thesis director, he was inarguably not so considerate to her when she hit the bottom at that time, but he still respects her academic talent and passion at least, and he simply steps aside when Lucas needs more time for working with Marguerite. 

Although the finale is a bit too convenient in my humble opinion, it still works under Novion’s competent direction. Unless you studied mathematics at university or graduate school, you will probably do not understand much of whatever our heroine is passionately writing on several big blackboards, but you will come to pay more attention to the joy and excitement felt by her, and Ella Rumpf, who previously appeared in Swiss film “The Divine Order” (2017), is believable in her character’s intense academic process unfolded across those big blackboards. As a matter of fact, Novion consulted with French mathematician Ariane Mézard for the more realistic depiction of mathematical works in the film, and Mézard actually made some real academic progress on Goldbach’s conjecture while collaborating with Novion. 

In conclusion, “Marguerite’s Theorem” is a modest but touching human drama which balances itself well between the matters of heart and mind, and you may get some understanding on why those challenging mathematical problems such as Goldbach’s conjecture have always fascinated and excited those smart and intelligent people like its heroine. While these problems may not be solved all even at the end of the human civilization, they will keep trying to the end as many others did before, won’t they?

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Ultraman Rising (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): Bringing up baby

Posted on July 6, 2024 by kaist455

Netflix animation film “Ultraman Rising”, which was released a few weeks ago, is as silly and serious as it can be. Based on a famous Japanese superhero franchise, the film tries a cheerful mix of comedy, action, and drama, and the result is engaging enough for us to get amused and then care about the unexpected relationship at the center of the story.

 At first, the movie establishes its hero’s rather demanding circumstance. On the surface, Kenji Sato (voiced by Christopher Sean) is just a popular baseball player who suddenly decides to move back to Tokyo, Japan despite his promising Major League career in US, but he has a little secret personal reason behind his back. His aging father, Professor Sato (voiced by Gedde Watanabe), wanted Kenji to succeed him as the next Ultraman, and, in spite of a long time of estrangement between them, Kenji agrees to come to Tokyo and defend the city from those big monsters just like his father did for many years.

 It seems that he can easily go back and forth between his two occupations without much difficulty, but then there comes another unexpected work for him. Not long after he fights with the latest monster coming upon Tokyo, Kenji happens to acquire an egg belonging to that monster, and, what do you know, a little cute baby monster soon comes out that egg. Mainly because of its hyper-cuteness, Kenji has no choice but to bring this baby monster to his secret lair, and, after discussing with his AI assistant, he decides to take care of the baby monster for a while at least. 

What follows next is a series of comic moments involved with Kenji’s clumsy attempt to raise the baby monster while keeping going with his two big jobs. Despite the considerable help and support from Mina, it is often quite exhausting for Kenji to handle the baby monster day by day, and I am sure that my younger brother and his wife, who recently had a baby girl, will sympathize with Kenji a lot for good reasons. Just like my little niece, the baby monster frequently needs lots of care everyday (My favorite part is involved with its gooey excrement, by the way), and raising this little monster is surely a more daunting task for Kenji compared to playing baseball or fighting against those big monsters.

Meanwhile, it is gradually revealed that the baby monster is in a serious danger. The local military organization led by a vengeful doctor is looking for the baby monster because it can lead them to a certain hidden spot where those big monsters inhabit, so Kenji must protect the baby monster more than ever, though, like any babies, the baby monster becomes more difficult to handle as it grows day by day. Although it is pretty much smaller than its mother, it soon becomes able to fly for itself, and it also begins to show its natural abilities including sputtering a destructive ray.

As he tries his best as the baby monster’s surrogate parent, Kenji, who has been your average cocky lad, comes to learn more about being a real adult, and that eventually makes him reconnect with his father, who is willing to help his son as much as possible despite his weakening physical condition. Furthermore, Kenji comes to befriend a young female sports journalist who is incidentally a single mother who has tried to raise her little adorable daughter (This little girl is a big fan of Ultraman, by the way), and they come to make some connection between them as he gets more advice from her, though he cannot possibly tell her anything about what he has been struggling to do as Ultraman.

Around the third act, the screenplay by director Shannon Tindle, who previously adapted William Joyce’s “Ollie’s Odyssey” into Netflix animation miniseries “Lost Ollie”, and Marc Haimes, goes for more action as expected. While apparently influenced by several recent monster movies such as “Pacific Rim” (2013) and “Godzilla vs. Kong” (2021), the action sequences in “Ultraman Rising” are also colorfully stylish in addition to being intense and exciting enough for us, and it does not even hesitate to use a bit of comic book style for more dramatic impact.

Nevertheless, the film stays focused on its story and characters as usual. How Kenji’s ongoing daddy issues are eventually resolved is rather predictable, but it is handled well with enough sincerity at least, and the same thing can be said about his relationship with the baby monster. Besides brightening up the mood whenever it appears on the screen, the baby monster becomes more endearing to us along the story, and we can see how much Kenji grows up as trying to raise this big baby. In case of the main villain of the story, this character turns out to be driven by an understandable personal motive, and you may come to feel a bit sorry around the end of the story.  

 Although it is more or less than your typical superhero origin story on the whole as reflected by what is briefly shown during its end credits, “Ultraman Rising” is a fairly good one at least. I must confess that I am vaguely familiar with that Japanese superhero franchise, but I was entertained enough thanks to its competent handling of style, action, and story, and I also appreciated the good efforts from its main voice cast members including Christopher Sean and Gedde Watanabe. In short, this is one of the more enjoyable offerings from Netflix during this year, and I am willing to watch whatever may come next after this solid beginning.

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