Power (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): A Power Called Police

Posted on May 24, 2024 by kaist455

Netflix documentary film “Power”, which was released on last Friday, examines the American history of police brutality and oppression during last several decades. If you are familiar with its main subject like me, you may not be that surprised by what it pointedly presents, but the documentary is still worthwhile to watch for its calm but sobering argument for the necessary social reforms for the American society, and you will probably come to reflect more on its main subject after it is over.

Mainly driven by the words from a bunch of various interviewees, the documentary initially focuses on the dark origin of the American Police. As some of you know, the American Police actually functioned as the patrol for monitoring or punishing African slaves during the 17~19th century, and this is the one of the main reasons for the long and deep mistrust against the police in many of African Americans communities. In addition, the American Police was also a major force behind the oppression on Indigenous people during that period, and that was certainly another shameful history of the American Police.

And this racist aspect of the American Police was naturally extended to some other ethnic groups during the 19th century. When many different European people emigrated into US, most of them were instantly labeled as non-whites just like African Americans. Although their social status was a bit better than that of African Americans, these low-class European people including Irish and Italian immigrants were often oppressed by the police in one way or another, and we see a series of archival records showing the blatant racism against them during that period.

Not so surprisingly, the main purpose of all these acts of oppression and brutality by the American Police was maintaining the status quo for the White Powers That Be, who did not hesitate to use that familiar strategy of “divide and conquer” from the very beginning. Just like they deliberately separated white servants and black slaves during the period of slavery, they intentionally drew the line between the African Americans and the European immigrants, and many of those poor European immigrants did not hesitate to become the parts of the oppressive police system mainly because they got some social reward for that (Have you ever wondered why many of American policemen are of Italian or Irish heritage?).

This alarming tendency of the American Police was continued into the 20th century, while only getting more and more increased along the passage of time. Often showing more of their racist aspects, the American police also oppressed many of labor strikes in the name of the law and order, and the American government and its numerous capitalist backers had no problem with that at all. As a matter of fact, they became all the more supportive when Russia quickly rose with its communist ideology during the late 1950s, and those powerful white guys including J. Edgar Hoover regarded many of those civil rights activists as communist subversives to be eliminated by any means necessary.

As more oppressed than before during that time, the oppressed often became quite radicalized as shown from the rise of those hardcore radical figures such as Huey P. Newton, and there were also more race riots and demonstrations around the country. In the end, the US government tried to analyze the roots of these social problems in the late 1960s, and that led to an influential government report which drew lots of public attention at that time, but. alas, the US government only came to focus more on giving more power and support to the police while not recognizing the real problems at all.

As shown from one montage scene in the documentary, this alarming trend has been maintained for next several decades by both of the two major political parties in the American society, and the consequences have been severe to say the least. The discrimination and oppression against the colored people in US by the American Police keep getting intensified, and there have been many unfortunate victims including George Floyd during last several years, but things still do not change much despite lots of public demand for more social reform.

On the opposite of many different scholars and experts, the documentary puts an active black police officer working in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is evidently a good cop who really wants to protect and serve citizens, and he sincerely tries to make some change via his diligent work, but he also comes to show some skepticism and frustration. While determined to work as long as possible, he phlegmatically recognizes the toil from trying to do the right things, and that surely tells us a lot about how the system has been deeply flawed from the bottom.

In conclusion, “Power” makes a fairly solid presentation on the very troubling aspects of the American Police even though it occasionally feels uneven and scattershot as trying to show and tell too many things within its rather short running time (89 minutes). Compared to director/co-producer/co-writer Yance Ford’s previous Netflix documentary “Strong Island” (2017), this is relatively less satisfying in comparison, but it did its job mostly well in my humble opinion, and I think you should give check it out if you want to know a bit more about its main subject.

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Drive-Away Dolls (2024) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A whimsical crime comedy from Ethan Coen

Posted on May 24, 2024 by kaist455

In my inconsequential opinion, Joel and Ethan Coen have often swung back and forth between two extreme ends during last several decades. On one end, they can give us extremely wacky comedy films such as “Raising Arizona” (1987), “The Hudsucker Proxy” (1994), “The Ladykillers” (2004), and “Hail, Caesar!” (2016). On the other end, they can serve us adamantly dry comedy films such as “Blood Simple” (1984), “Barton Fink” (1991), “The Man Who Wasn’t There” (2001), and “Inside Llewyn Davis” (2013). Or, they can also do both of these two very different things together as shown in “The Big Lebowski” (1998), “A Serious Man” (2009), and “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” (2018).

After “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”, the Coen brothers decided to make movies individually for a while, and their separate filmmaking results are rather interesting to observe. While Joel was totally serious in “The Tragedy of Macbeth” (2021), Ethan goes all the way for wackiness here in “Drive-Away Dolls”, and the question on whether you will like “Drive-Away Dolls” or not depends a lot on how much you can enjoy, or tolerate, the wackiest aspects of their comedy films.

After the exaggeratedly violent opening scene featuring a brief but hilarious cameo appearance by Pedro Pascal, the movie, which is incidentally set in 1999, quickly establishes a complicated relationship between two contrasting young lesbian ladies: Jamie (Margaret Qualley) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan). While Marian is your average nerdy girl who loves reading the works of Henry James, Jamie is your typical free spirit who usually acts first before having any thought on action and consequence, and she does not mind at all having a wild sexual fun with her ex-girlfriend Sukie (Beanie Feldstein) even though she is going to be kicked out from Sukie’s residence due to her frequent infidelity.

When Marian is about to visit an aunt of hers in Tallahassee, Florida, Jamie impulsively decides to go along with her. They subsequently go to a local drive-away service center where they may get a car to be driven to Tallahassee, and then there comes a little misunderstanding between them and the manager of the drive-away service center, who happens to mistake Jamie and Marian for the two other figures supposed to take a certain car. Not long after Jamie and Marian take that car and then leave for Tallahassee, those two figures in question eventually come, and it does not take much time for them and their criminal boss come to discern that they have a big trouble to be taken care of as soon as possible.

Having no idea on whatever is being hidden inside the car, Marian and Jamie drive it to the south, and Jamie is already ready to have some more fun along with Marian. Although she simply prefers to finish reading a novel by Henry James, Marian cannot say no when she and Jamie happen to encounter a bunch of young (and horny) schoolgirls at one point, who gladly invite both of them into a little private moment of fun and games.

Meanwhile, those criminal figures continue to chase after Jamie and Marian, and we surely get some laughs as they clumsily try to locate where the hell the girls are now. It gradually turns out that they are working on behalf of a certain prominent public figure in Florida, and one of the biggest laughs in the film comes from when the movie eventually reveals what they try to retrieve.

While its main characters bounce along the story in one way or another, the screenplay by Ethan Coen and his wife Tricia Cooke, who also serves as her husband’s co-writer/co-producer/editor, often catches us off guard with its blatant wackiness. As your average R-rated lesbian comedies, the movie cheerfully features a lot of sex and nudity, and there are also occasional moments of psychedelic style, which do not seem to make much sense on the surface but turns out to be more crucial than expected.

Just like some of the Coen brothers’ comedy films, the movie does a sort of twisted comic puppet play via a bunch of exaggerated comic caricatures, so it is sometimes difficult for us to care about whatever is going in the story. Nevertheless, you may appreciate how its main cast members willingly throw themselves into their broad comic roles. While Margaret Qualley, who has steadily rose to more prominence during last several years, shows more of her comic talent as she previously did in “Sanctuary” (2022) and “Poor Things” (2023), Geraldine Viswanathan is effective as her co-star’s low-key comic foil, and their good comic chemistry throughout the film is one of the main reasons why it works to some degree. In case of several other notable cast members in the movie, Beanie Feldstein effortlessly steals the show whenever she enters, and Bill Camp, Joey Slotnick, C.J. Wilson, Colman Domingo, and Matt Damon are also well-cast in their respective supporting parts.

On the whole, “Drive-Away Dolls” is less satisfying than many of those notable comedy films Ethan Coen made with his older brother, but it is not entirely without fun and entertainment thanks to the game efforts from a bunch of good performers assembled here for the film. I do not know whether the Coen brothers will resume working together later, but both of them demonstrate that they can work separately without much difficulty, and it will be interesting to see how much they can diverge from each other during next several years.

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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): George Miller back in action

Posted on May 23, 2024 by kaist455

George Miller’s latest film “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”, which a prequel to “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015), is another entertaining entry in its memorable series which was started 45 years ago. Although it does not surpass the greatness of its predecessor, the movie is still awesome and compelling thanks to its confident handling of story, mood, and character, and, above all, action, and we naturally come to stick to the end even though we already know where it will eventually arrive.

Consisting of the five chapters, the movie begins with the childhood years of its titular heroine, who was unforgettably played by Charlize Theron in “Mad Max: Fury Road”. Young Furiosa, played by Alyla Browne here in this film, once lived with her mother in a peaceful community hidden somewhere in the middle of the vast post-apocalyptic wasteland, but then she happened to be kidnapped by a bunch of intruders. For her daughter as well as their community, Furiosa’s mother tracks down these bad guys alone by herself, and the first chapter of the film is quietly intense as observing how she gets close and closer to young Furiosa and her kidnappers.

However, despite the valiant efforts of young Furiosa’s mother, young Furiosa eventually finds herself enslaved by a cruel and loony warlord leader named Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) in addition to experiencing a traumatic incident which will haunt her forever. While things remain quite hopeless for her during next several years, she remains very determined for survival and revenge as before, and she does not hesitate at all when she later comes across an opportunity via one of the key figures in “Mad Max: Fury Road”.

As young Furiosa keeps trying, the movie shows us more of its stark post-apocalyptic world established so well in its predecessor, and Miller and his crew members including cinematographer Simon Duggan did a first-rate job on that. While there are many familiar elements from “Mad Max: Fury Road”, they are presented vividly on the screen with old and new details to observe, and production designer Colin Gibson and costume designer Jenny Beavan, who respectively won an Oscar for “Mad Max: Fury Road”, have another field day as enthusiastically supporting Miller’s distinctive style and vision.

You may lose your patience a bit due to its rather slow narrative pacing, but the movie eventually becomes quite ready to shift its gear for more action when Furiosa later becomes a mostly silent but intense young female warrior who has learned a lot from some tough dude not so far from Tom Hardy’s character in “Mad Max: Fury Road”. Just like Hardy’s character, this dude looks weary and detached in his hardened appearance, but he shows Furiosa some kindness as discerning her considerable potential, and Furiosa, who is now played by Anya Taylor-Joy, finds herself caring more about this unexpected mentor figure than expected, even though both of them know too well that they and many others cannot easily afford affection and compassion in their harsh world.

As Furiosa and her mentor later get themselves involved with a big conflict between Dementus and their current boss, the movie serves us a series of impressive action sequences to behold. While it may be a bit disappointing for you to see that these sequences do not reach to the sheer intensity and ambition of the action scenes in “Mad Max: Fury Road”, they are still gritty and intense enough to hold our attention, and the overall result shows again that Miller is still a master filmmaker who really knows how to thrill and then engage us with action as well as storytelling. The screenplay written by Miller and his co-writer Nico Lathouris is occasionally a little sprawling, but it is succinctly efficient in terms of narrative and characterization, and the movie is quite engaging even when it is not on action mode.

It goes without saying that the movie is constantly driven by the presence and charisma of its heroine. Young performer Alyla Browne, who previously played a small role in Miller’s previous film “Three Thousand Years of Longing” (2022), has enough pluck and spirit to carry the early part of the film, and her solid performance is seamlessly connected with Anya Taylor-Joy, who has kept impressing us during last several years since her breakout turn in Robert Eggers’ “The Witch” (2015). Just like Charlize Theron in “Mad Max: Fury Road”, Taylor-Joy is quite convincing as a strong and resilient woman of action, and we certainly root for her character more as she shows more grit and determination along the story.

Around Browne and Taylor-Joy, several cast members have each own moment to shine. As one of the main villains in the story, Chris Hemsworth gleefully chews every scene of his in the film as required, and you will be certainly satisfied with how Furiosa eventually gets a very juicy payback she will definitely savor for the rest of her life. Tom Burke is somber but somehow touching as Furiosa’s mentor who cares much more than he admits, and the special mention goes to Charlee Fraser, who leaves a brief but striking impression as Furiosa’s strong-willed mother.

While it does not surpass its predecessor, “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” is one of the better action films of this year nonetheless, and it is really fortunate for us that Miller is still working even though he is approaching to 80 at present. He is surely one of the great movie directors of our time, and, though I do not know whether he has another good idea for his monumental series, I will gladly watch whatever will come from him next.

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Silent Night (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A mute revenge action flick by John Woo

Posted on May 20, 2024 by kaist455

“Silent Night” tries to put an unconventional spin on its very familiar genre elements. While this is your average revenge drama action flick, the movie has itself driven mostly by actions instead of words from the beginning to the end, and this storytelling choice makes it interesting to some degree, though its overall result still dutifully follows the footsteps of many of its senior vigilante films such as “Death Wish” (1974).

After opening with a striking action sequence, the movie gradually establishes the devastated status of Brian Godlock (Joel Kinnaman), a plain family guy who was suddenly struck by a very shocking tragedy. While he and his wife Saya (Catalina Sandino Moreno) were spending a wholesome time with their little son at their residence, they were unfortunately caught in the crossfire of a drive-in shooting between the two local drug organization, and their son was killed as a consequence. Quite shocked and enraged, Brian ran after these bad guys, but he only got himself seriously injured in his neck, and that sadly led to his loss of voice.

After eventually released from a hospital, Brian tries to recover along with his wife, but he cannot help but become angrier over their irreversible loss. Moreover, those criminals responsible for his son’s death are not caught by the local police yet, and, to his exasperation and frustration, he comes to discern that he will not get much help from them, though there is one detective who is clearly sympathetic to his case.

In the end, Brian decides to take care of the matter for himself. First, he gets some basic information about a bunch of criminals including the one who shot him in the neck at that time, and then he begins to gather more information about them in private. In addition, he also focuses on training himself a lot for acquiring a particular set of skills necessary for what he is planning to do.

As Brian accordingly comes to spend more time alone in the garage of his house, he naturally becomes more estranged from his wife than before. While quite more concerned about him than before, Saya also becomes more frustrated to realize that there is really nothing she can do about their increasingly distant relationship, and we are not so surprised by her subsequent choice. Although her role feels thankless at first, Catalina Sandino Moreno, a wonderful Colombian actress who has steadily established her solid acting career since her Oscar-nominated breakthrough turn in “Maria Full of Grace” (2004), fills her character with enough human warmth and sensitivity, and she is particularly good when she and her co-star wordlessly convey to us the growing estrangement between their characters.

The movie continues to take more time as its hero prepares more and more during next several months. While still haunted by the memories of his dead son, Brian becomes all the more determined to eliminate all of those criminals associated with his son’s death, and he is fully prepared to say the least when his scheduled D-Day eventually comes.

Even around that point, the movie sticks to its taciturn attitude along with its hero, who surely does not need to explain or justify anything as driven more by his urge for justice and vengeance. Looking as stoic as Charles Bronson in “Death Wish”, Joel Kinnaman ably embodies his character’s quiet anger and steely determination without any unnecessary exaggeration, and his intense performance is certainly crucial in holding our attention to the end.

Once it goes for more action and intensity during its second half, the movie does not disappoint us at all with a series of gritty action sequences, and director John Woo, an influential Hong Kong filmmaker who has been mainly known for his classic Hong Kong action noir films such as “A Better Tomorrow” (1986), pulls all the stops when his movie eventually reaches to the climactic part along with its hero. His crew members including cinematographer Sharone Meir and editor Zach Staenberg did a skillful job of imbuing the screen with enough style and tension, and the score by Marco Beltrami mostly restrains itself while bringing some extra intensity to the film from time to time.

The main weakness of the screenplay by Robert Archer Lynn lies in its rather thin characters besides Brian and Saya. While Harold Torres is menacing enough as the final boss of the story, his character is no more than a cardboard figure to be shot down just like many other criminals targeted by our vengeful hero, and that is the main reason why the finale lacks some dramatic impact compared to the other key scenes in the film. In case of Kid Cudi, he manages to leave some impression as that sympathetic cop character, but his character remains to be no more than a plot element despite his earnest efforts.

In conclusion, “Silent Night” is not wholly satisfying enough for recommendation, but I must say that it is really nice to see Woo still continuing his filmmaking career as before (This is his first American film since “Paycheck” (2003), by the way). He seemed to be losing his distinctive individual touch especially during last two decades, but he demonstrates here that he is still a good action movie director even though his prime period has passed for many years, and I can only hope that he will go up more after this flawed but fascinating genre experiment.

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Abigail (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): A little nasty hostage

Posted on May 20, 2024 by kaist455

“Abigail” is one bloody naughty horror film about a bunch of criminals stuck with their one little nasty hostage. While its trailer already revealed too much of its major surprise, you may enjoy the movie more if you do not have much idea on what it is about, so I sincerely suggest to you that you should stop reading this review right now, especially if you are already interested enough to check out the film.

At first, the movie presents itself as your average hostage thriller drama. We are introduced to a group of various figures hired to kidnap the young daughter of a certain powerful figure, and we see how quickly they get their unpleasant job done shortly after she returns to her home. Once they have this little girl, they go to a big manor located at some remote spot, and their employer instructs them to keep her for next 24 hours before her father pays the ransom for her.

Of course, it does not take much time for the group to sense something fishy about their job. For example, they do not know that much about each other from the beginning, and they are also not even permitted to reveal anything about themselves to each other while required to use each own alias all the time. In addition, their employer does not tell anything about who the father of that little girl is, though they are promised that they all will get paid handsomely for their seemingly simple job.

That little girl, Abigail (Alisha Weir), naturally seems frightened and disturbed once discerning what is going on around her, and Joey (Melissa Barrera) feels a bit sympathetic to her due to a little personal matter of hers. While still hiding a lot about herself from Abigail, Joey promises to Abigail that everything will be all right in the end, but then she comes to suspect more when Abigail gives her a small indirect warning before she leaves.

It is not much of a spoiler to tell you that Joey and her fellow criminals soon come to learn that they happen to mess with someone very powerful and dangerous. To make matters worse, they suddenly find themselves trapped inside the house, and then there comes a real big shock and awe for them when Abigail finally reveals her true identity in front of them. Well, this seemingly helpless girl turns out to be a blood-craving vampire, and Joey and her accomplices belatedly come to realize that their real job is being delivered to this little nasty bloodsucker as the latest preys to play with.

The main entertainment of the movie is how Joey and her criminal partners are cornered in one way or another by Abigail, just like the characters of a certain famous Agatha Christie mystery novel which appears briefly in the middle of the story. While they do have some advantages in addition to the necessary knowledge on vampire, they are expectedly eliminated one by one along the story, and the movie surely has some naughty fun with each of these horrifying moments filled with lots of blood and violence.

For directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, this is a familiar stuff for them. After all, their previous film “Ready or Not” (2019) is a cheerfully violent horror comedy film about one young woman who must fight against her murderous in-laws after suddenly trapped inside their big house during her wedding night, and they do not restrain themselves at all as “Abigail” gets bloodier and bloodier along with its titular character. While she is your typical little terror, Abigail is a striking horror movie character to remember, and the movie certainly goes all the way for more twisted fun whenever she strikes upon her opponents as gleefully as, say, that little sadistic prick in “Home Alone” (1990).

Needless to say, young performer Alisha Weir is having a ball with playing an uncompromisingly nasty monster who is also somehow likable to some degree. While looking innocent with her pretty white ballet attire, Weir plays a number of juicy moments of grace, horror, and blood with sheer gusto, and the result is as diabolical as Patty McCormack’s memorable Oscar-nominated performance in “The Bad Seed” (1956). Yes, Abigail is indeed a horrible creature, but she simply follows her very unpleasant nature, and you may cheer a bit for her as occasionally amused by how she is very determined to have a lot of fun besides satiating her bloody urge.

The rest of the main cast simply fill their respective archetype roles while often supporting Weir as much as possible. While Melissa Barrera, who previously collaborated with Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillet in two recent Scream flicks, and Dan Stevens, who is no stranger to the genre considering his wryly chilling performance in “The Guest” (2014), are the most prominent ones in the bunch, Will Catlett, Kathryn Newton, Kevin Durand, Angus Cloud (He unfortunately died not long before the movie was released in US, by the way), and Giancarlo Esposito did an effective job of filling each own spot in the story, and you may also appreciate the brief appearance by a certain recognizable actor around the end of the film.

On the whole, “Abigail” is another solid genre product from Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillet, and it has enough enjoyable stuffs for you even if you already know a lot about its story premise. Just like its titular character, the movie simply intends to have a fun within its genre conventions, and that is entertaining enough in my inconsequential opinion.

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The Shawshank Redemption (1994) ☆☆☆☆(4/4): More than a prison break

Posted on May 16, 2024 by kaist455

It has been nearly 30 years since I watched Frank Darabont’s “The Shawshank Redemption” for the first time. As far as I remember, I watched it at least three times, and I saw it again a local movie theater yesterday thanks to the 30th anniversary re-release in South Korea, but the movie remains a powerful human drama about hope and redemption. Although I remember quite well most of its key moments, they still engaged and then touched me as before, and I marveled about how the movie organically flows along these moments before eventually arriving at its expected ending.

The main interest of the movie, which is based on Stephen King’s novella “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”, lies on how Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) succeeds in getting away from where he was imprisoned for almost 20 years. He was once a successful young banker in the late 1940s, but then he was wrongfully accused of killing his wife and her lover, and that consequently led to being sentenced to life in prison mainly because there is no evidence to prove his innocence.

When Andy is subsequently sent to the Shawshank Prison, he happens to draw the attention of Ellis Boy “Red” Redding (Morgan Freeman), an old-timer who has operated as a contraband smuggler in the prison. Andy’s story is mainly told through Red’s seasoned viewpoint, and, just like us, he also cannot help but fascinated with Andy, who is usually calm, reserved, and elusive regardless of whatever he is thinking or feeling inside his mind.

Just like many other prison movies, the movie surrounds Andy’s story with a bunch of various stock characters you can expect from your average prison drama flick. Under the firm and brutal supervision of the warden and his guards, all of the prisoners have to endure in one way or another everyday, and Red and many of his several close friends, who are naturally colorful in each own way, have been accustomed to their confined status. In case of Brooks Hatlen (James Whitmore), this old prisoner has spent so many years inside the prison that he becomes quite panic when he is notified that he is finally going to be released on parole, and that leads to one of the most heartbreaking moments in the film.

Quite well aware of how much he is stuck with his prison life, Red has simply given up the possibility of hope and freedom as shown from his recurring scenes with the parole board, but then he finds himself affected a lot by his unexpected friendship with Andy. At first, Andy simply approaches to him for some little help, but it does not take much time for them to befriend more each other while Andy becomes a crucial figure for the warden and those prison guards thanks to his vast knowledge on financial and tax business. As a result, Andy can be a lot safer in the prison while also getting some more benefit, and Red gladly goes along with that.

Of course, we gradually come to sense that Andy is planning something behind his back, and Darabont’s screenplay wisely lets us keep guessing as leisurely taking its time in building its story and characters more. Steadily engaging us with his low-key charm, Tim Robbins ably conveys to us his character’s considerable will and intelligence, and he is particularly good when his character gives a little but important moment for his fellow inmates via one of the famous opera works from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Andy surely knows the consequence of his rather impulsive action from the beginning, and we can clearly see that he believes it is really worthwhile to do for him as well as other prisoners out there.  

When it eventually reaches the dramatic climax part along with Andy during its final act, the movie does not disappoint us at all, and its technical aspects are top-notch to say the least. Cinematographer Roger Dickens, who incidentally received his first Oscar nomination for this movie, gives us a number of effective visual moments as filling the screen with the subtle tone of confinement and oppression, and that is further enhanced by the score by Thomas Newman, who also received his first Oscar nomination for the film (How many more nominations will he have to endure before finally winning an Oscar, I wonder?).   

On the opposite, Morgan Freeman, who received a well-deserved Oscar nomination for his performance here in this film (The movie received seven Oscar nominations including the one for Best Picture, by the way), does much more than holding the ground for Robbins. As he would do again in “Se7en” (1995) and “Million Dollar Baby” (2004), he sets the tone and attitude of the movie with his own voice and presence from the beginning, and he comes to function as the heart of the film as his character is gradually changed and transformed by the positive influence from his accidental friend along the story. Around the finale, Freeman gives a rather brief but powerfully human moment when Red is brought to the parole board again, and we are not so surprised at all by what happens next, while also impressed by how poignantly Freeman handles this introspective moment.

 In conclusion, “The Shawshank Redemption”, which has been the number 1 movie in the IMDB movie ranking during last several years, distinguishes itself from other similar prison drama movies via its sublime humane qualities. I have admired it more and more as observing how it has gradually been embraced as a classic movie by many other audiences, and I am glad to report to you that it is as timeless as many other great films in addition to being on the top of its genre field.

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Where Evil Lurks (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Driven into an evil chaos

Posted on May 13, 2024 by kaist455

“Where Evil Lurks”, which was incidentally one of many different movies shown at the Jeonju International Film Festival early in this month, is a grimly captivating horror film which willingly pushes its evil chaos to the end, and I appreciate that despite some reservation. As its rather unwise character frantically struggles under one scary and confusing situation which turns out to be way over his head, the movie steadily doles out a series of gruesome moments to chill and disturb us a lot, and we naturally come to dread more whatever will happen at its eventual arrival point.

At the beginning, the movie throws us right into what is going on around Pedro (Ezequiel Rodríguez) and his brother Jimi (Demián Salomon). Since Pedro divorced his wife several years ago, he and Jimi have lived together in Jimi’s house located at some remote spot outside their rural town, and they become quite watchful when they suddenly hear a gunshot from somewhere outside their house in the middle of one night. On the next day, they go outside to check out whatever happened, and, what do you know, they soon come across something very disturbing to say the least. 

Baffled a lot over what they have just found, Pedro and Jimi begin to wonder whether this is connected with a certain poor family living near to their residence. When they subsequently go to a small shabby shack where that poor family live, their suspicion turns out to be right, but what they discover there is much more disturbing than what they previously encountered. I will not go into details here, but you will instantly get a fairly good idea on what is exactly going on, and the movie will not disappoint you at all as giving more bad signs to be noticed by any seasoned moviegoer.

Quite frightened by what they witnessed, Pedro and Jimi naturally go to the local police, but the local police do not seem that eager to handle the ongoing circumstance. Eventually, Pedro and Jimi decide to take care of this situation along with a local landowner who is also very disturbed by what Pedro and Jimi saw, but these guys do not listen much to that poor family who seem to know a lot about what is actually going on, and, of course, they soon come to face the consequence of their thoughtless action.

Once it is ready for its full-blown horror after setting up the ground during its first act, the movie never looks back as relentlessly driving its hero into more terror and chaos. After belatedly coming to realize that some insidious force is about to be unleashed upon not only him and his brother but also the whole town, Pedro frantically attempts to have his ex-wife and children leave the town as soon as possible, but his frantic behaviors only cause more confusion and panic for him as well as others despite his good intentions. To make matters worse, he also makes more mistakes which lead to some dire outcomes (Note to everyone: Pay more attention to your hygiene if you happen to contact with anything looking evil and infectious).

Around the middle point, the screenplay by director/writer Demián Rugna, who has made several genre flicks since his debut feature film “The Last Getaway” (2007), provides some respite for us as Pedro and his brother manage to find a shelter via some friend of his brother, who turns out to be quite knowledgeable about whatever is to be unleashed upon the town. This supporting character conveniently explains a bit on some very important rules which should be broken at any chance, and it goes without saying that our hero only ends up not heeding those rules that much.        

I must tell you that it can often be quite frustrating for you to observe how most of its main characters can be so unwise under a lot of fear and disturbance, but Rugna and his crew members including cinematographer Mariano Suárez keep holding our attention even during the most maddening moments in the film. Although it is sometime limited by its modest production budget, the movie is packed with enough mood and tension to engage and then unnerve us, and it also did a good job of delivering several horrific moments of bloody horror with substantial dramatic impact. As a result, what finally happens during its climactic part is accompanied with an overwhelming sense of inevitability, and we are all the more chilled while reflecting more on how all fatefully come to fall down on its hero in the end.

Rugna also draws the good performances from his small cast. While Ezequiel Rodríguez is convincing in his character’s growing panic and desperation along the story, Demián Salomon and Silvina Sabater are also effective in their respective supporting parts, and the special mention goes to a number of young performers who play a very spooky part during the finale.

On the whole, “Where Evil Lurks” does not hesitate to dive into sheer terror and chaos just like many other recent well-made horror films such as Na Hong-jin’s “The Wailing” (2016) or Ari Astor’s “Hereditary” (2018). Its starkly grim presentation of evil and darkness may not be a cup of tea for you, but I admire its commendable technical aspects at least even though I doubt whether I will revisit it soon. If you are open to any good horror flick, you may take a chance with it, and I sincerely advice you to brace for yourself in advance.

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The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft (2022) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Herzog’s tribute to the Kraffts

Posted on May 12, 2024 by kaist455

Werner Herzog’s documentary film “The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft” is another prime example showing how Herzog has always been fascinated with a certain type of human figures. Many of his movies and documentaries are about fascinating people who are willing to go to the extreme for whatever they cannot help but pursue with all their heart, and Katia and Maurice Kraffts are no exception at all.

As many of you know, their life and career were already presented well in Sara Dosa’s recent Oscar-nominated documentary film “Fire of Love” (2022), which is currently available on Disney+. Considering that both of them mainly consist of numerous archival footage clips from the Kraffts, “Fire of Love” and Herzog’s documentary naturally overlap a lot with each other, but the latter is equally engaging for also having a fair share of awe-inspiring images to watch just like the former, and Herzog’s narration surely brings some touch of class as it did before in many of his acclaimed documentaries including “Grizzly Man” (2005).

While “Fire of Love” is a bit more drawn to the human personality of the Kraffts, Herzog’s documentary is a little more drawn to their professional dedication. Since they met and then married in 1970, Maurice and Katia Krafft, who happened to be born in the same rural region of France, frequently went here and there for observing many different volcanic eruptions around the world, and Herzog cannot help but show some admiration on how this couple advanced more and more as filmmakers during next several years. At first, Katia and Maurice simply recorded their scientific research works with their movie cameras, and their initial outputs look rather amateurish, but then they gradually showed more visual finesse as focusing more and more on closely capturing that terrifying wonder of volcanic eruptions on their cameras.

Starting with a huge volcanic eruption in Japan which tragically led to Maurice and Katia’s demise in 1991, Herzog looks around some of their archival footage clips one by one, and each of them is quite compelling and stunning to say the least. In case of the volcanic eruption which occurred on one small island of Indonesia in the early 1980s, Katia and Maurice quickly went to that island shortly after the first eruption, and then they vividly recorded its devastating aftermath before they hurriedly left because another big eruption was about to happen within a few minutes.

While initially throwing a dryly humorous or reflective comment here and there as expected, Herzog wisely steps aside more, mainly because those epic images boldly captured by the Kraffts speak enough for themselves on the screen. As a number of various classic pieces are played on the soundtrack, the documentary simply throws one archival footage of volcanic eruption after another, but you will find yourself often overwhelmed a lot by the immense visual beauty of these amazing moments, which will remind you more of how we all look inconsequential compared to many grand wonders of our big planet.

However, our big planet can also be quite harsh and ruthless to its living inhabitants, and the Kraffts came to focus more on the devastating catastrophes from volcanic eruptions especially after they directly witnessed the Armero tragedy in Colombia, 1985. Although the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz stratovolcano was not that big compared to many other notable volcanic eruptions in the 1980s such as the eruption of Mount St. Helens of US in 1980, it was more than enough to melt a huge amount of glaciers on the top of the volcano, and this resulted in several enormous mudslides which quickly wiped out the surrounding area in addition to killing thousands of people living a small town named Armero. What the Kraffts closely recorded on their camera during that time was simply beyond words to say the least, and they naturally came to care more about how such catastrophes like that can be prevented.

Nevertheless, volcanic eruption is still an elusive and unpredictable subject even at this point, and that was one of the main reasons for the Kraffts’ endless fascination with volcanoes. When they went to that Japanese volcano in 1991, they were surely well aware of the possible risk and danger just like several others around them, but they still could not resist another good chance of capturing a volcano eruption on their camera.

As the documentary eventually focuses on several archival footage clips from the last several days of the Kraffts, Herzog sticks to his phlegmatic attitude as before while showing more respect and admiration toward their professional dedication. Yes, they could have avoided their death if they had been a bit more cautious, but they died while doing what they had been so passionate about for many years, and they also gave us something we can always behold with awe and wonder. Herzog has often said that our civilization has starved for new images, and we all can agree that the Kraffts thankfully nourish us with heaps of awesome visual stuffs we never saw before.

In conclusion, “The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft” is another terrific work from Herzog in addition to functioning as a sort of sibling piece to “Fire of Love”, which will certainly satisfy you if you want to know more about the Kraffts as human beings. I cannot decide now on which one is a better documentary, but I can tell you that both of them are very mesmerizing for their shared reasons, and I assure you that you will not waste your time at all if you decide to watch both of them.

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Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America (2021) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A passionate lecture on the American history of racism

Posted on May 12, 2024 by kaist455

Documentary film “Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America” is basically a two-hour lecture on the American history of racism, but it is a passionate and enlightening one to recommend. Yes, whenever I think I have learned a lot about the American history of racism via books, movies, and documentaries during last few decades, there always comes something to enlighten me more, and this is one of such excellent documentaries.

The center of the documentary is Jeffery Robinson, an African American lawyer who also produced the documentary with directors Emily and Sarah Kunstler. At the beginning of the documentary, he is about to give a lecture on the long history of American racism in front of many audiences, and the documentary alternates between his lecture and his visits to a number of historical sites connected with the main subject of his lecture.

Needless to say, what Robinson and the documentary are going to present is not so pretty to say the least. At one point early in the documentary, he approaches to some white dude proudly holding the Confederate flag at a public spot, and then he starts a brief argument on the Civil War with this white dude, who keeps insisting that slavery was not the main cause of the Civil War even though he gets cornered by Robinson’s arguments bit by bit.

In contrast, the audiences of Robinson’s lecture are much more open-minded as he makes a series of effective presentations based on a bunch of various historical documents and records. Since the first African slaves were sent to America in the early 17th century, racism began to slip more and more into the American society via its inhuman slavery system, and Robinson certainly points out that many of those founding fathers of the US government were actually slave owners and had no particular conflict about that.

Around the late 19th century, a number of Southern states benefited a lot from their growing plantation industry mainly driven by slavery, and the documentary and Robinson show us how the American slavery system heartlessly crushed the humanity of millions of African slaves before the Civil War. We see a Southern historical site which was once a market for slave trade, and then we see an old building in New York City where many local businessmen earned a lot from slave trade and cotton business in the 19th century. As a matter of fact, even the mayor of New York city during that time openly considered staying neutral between the Union and the Confederate just because of that.

Anyway, the eventual abolition of slavery around the end of the Civil War finally seemed to open the way to freedom for those many emancipated African slaves, but, as many of you know, there soon came a backlash once the US government unwisely withdrew the troops from those Southern states, which were surely ready to oppress African American by any means necessary. Besides that unfair suppression on African American voters which is insidiously being continued even at this point, there were lots of racial violence against African Americans during next several decades, and many white people did not have any problem with that at all. For example, D.W. Griffith’s infamously racist silent film “The Birth of a Nation” (1915) was wholeheartedly embraced by the white population of the American society in addition to contributing a lot to the rise of that notorious racist organization, and it was even openly praised by President Woodrow Wilson at that time.

One of the most tragic incidents of American racism during the early 20th century is the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921, which belatedly drew more attention during last several years (Full disclosure: I came to learn about it only after watching the HBO TV miniseries “Watchmen”). Just because of one very trivial incident between a young African American man and some white lady, an economically flourishing African American neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma was completely wiped out along with most of its residents by those angry white mobs, and, not so surprisingly, none of the white perpetrators were arrested or punished.

Around the time when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and many other civil rights activists came forward for more freedom and equality during the 1950-60s, things looked more hopeful as more people demanded racial justice. However, even King himself admitted later that he and others should be more skeptical and realistic about their long fight against racism, and their righteous movement quickly came to lose its momentum after he was assassinated at a motel of Memphis, Tennessee in 1969.

What was logically followed after that was another backlash against racial equality, and the American society has surely suffered a series of consequences for that. Besides the ever-constant poverty and crime rate in the African American population, we have seen more and more cases of police brutality driven by racism and white supremacy, and the documentary surely mentions some of the recent notable victims including Eric Garner.

Although it understandably feels bitter and skeptical at times, “Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America” ends its lecture with some hope and optimism at least. Again, the American society is going through another social turbulence right now just like it did during the 1960s, and there have been some possibility for real social change despite that traumatic political rise of that orange-faced prick in 2016. I must confess that I am rather skeptical as your average cautious skeptic, but I sincerely hope that things will really get better for the American society and its people in the end.

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Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): The ups and downs in her life

Posted on May 12, 2024 by kaist455

Documentary film “Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg” attempts to delve into the dramatic life story of Anita Pallenberg, a German-Italian model/actress who has mostly been known for her complicated personal relationship with the Rolling Stones. It is often fascinating for providing a close look into her tumultuous past mainly via her own words, but the documentary seems more interested in all those scandalous stuffs during her wild days than who she really was, and that is a shame in my humble opinion.

Mostly driven by the excerpts from Pallenberg’s unpublished memoir, which are narrated by Scarlett Johansson, the documentary tries to show us that Pallenberg was much more than the muse of the two key members of the Rolling Stones. Shortly after she was born into a sophisticated artist family in Italy, 1942, young Pallenberg went through a very hard time along with her family as the country and its people were frequently ravaged by the World War II, and that probably contributed to her wild temper and personality. As she admitted in her memoir, she was a frequent troublemaker during her childhood and adolescent years, and one of her old schoolmates gladly reminisces about their wild and reckless experiences during that period.

When she was only 19, Pallenberg decided to go to US for becoming an actress even though her parents were against her aspiration from the very beginning. Although she hardly could speak English, it did not take much time for her to draw more attention as a promising new European model to watch in New York City, and then she eventually appeared in several major films including “Barbarella” (1968), where she made a striking contrast with her co-star Jane Fonda.

Meanwhile, Pallenberg also got herself romantically involved with Brian Jones, who was one of the key members of the Rolling Stones during that time. While they seemed to click well with each other during next several years, things became quite troubling as they frequently abused alcohol and drugs just like the other members of the Rolling Stones. While they all simply wanted to have some fun and artistic inspiration, their substance abuse eventually became a very negative factor for all of them, and this surely affected Pallenberg’s relationship with Jones. As his substance abuse got worse and worse, Jones became quite estranged from not only Pallenberg but also his colleagues, and that consequently led to Pallenberg leaving him for one of his colleagues: Keith Richards.

In case of Richards, he looked like a more stable and suitable match for Pallenberg, but it turned out that he was just a little better than Jones, who subsequently died a few years later as continuing to struggle with his substance abuse problem. Along with Richards, Pallenberg kept going as before with their wild hedonistic lifestyle, and their substance abuse problem became worse and worse even as they came to have several kids between them.

Their eldest child Marlon Richards, who also serves as one of the executive producers of the documentary, willingly tells us about all those wild days of their parents during that time. Thanks to the immense success of the Rolling Stones, he and his younger sister Angela grew up in a fairly affluent environment where they could get whatever they wanted, but their parents were often not there for them as frequently being busy with their own matters including Richard’s band activities, and both of them naturally feel bitter about that even though they regard their parents with more understanding at present.

In the end, there eventually came a devastating personal incident which ultimately ended Pallenberg’s relationship with Richards and then drove her into more substance abuse during next several years. While it does not pull any punch at all in showing us how grim and gloomy her following downward spiral was, the documentary sadly does not show that much about how much she subsequently struggled to climb up from the bottom of her addiction problem. It just briefly shows how she eventually became much happier as getting more control on her own life, and this feels like a perfunctory footnote instead of illuminating her more as a survivor who deserves more interest and attention from us.

Needless to say, directors/producers Alexis Bloom and Sveltlana Zill clearly respect their human subject, and they did a fairly good job of mixing various archival elements along with a number of interview clips and Pallenberg’s words, but their result still cannot help but drawn more to how much she suffered than how she endured and prevailed in the end. As a result, we do not get to know Pallenberg that much as a person, and the documentary only ends up looking more like another typical cautionary entertainment business tale.

Overall, “Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg” enlightened me to some degree about what has been rather unfamiliar to me, but I wish the documentary showed more of why Pallenberg was too distinctive and talented to be merely remembered as a woman who just happened to be involved with one of the most famous bands in the 20th century. No, the documentary is not entirely pointless at least as revealing a lot about her personal involvement with the Rolling Stones, and you may have to check it out if you do not know much about Pallenberg like I did before watching it, but I still believe that there is a more insightful one somewhere in the documentary.

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