The Taste of Things (2023) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A gourmet and his cook

Posted on June 22, 2024 by kaist455

 Trần Anh Hùng’s latest film “The Taste of Things”, which was submitted as the French submission to Best International Film Oscar in last year instead of Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” (2023), is as lovely and tasty as you can possibly expect. Mainly driven by its two different main characters’ longtime relationship based on their shared passion on food and cooking, the film often delights us with not only those delicious moments of cooking but also quiet but poignant emotional moments to cherish, and the result is surely one of more memorable movie experiences of this year.

Set in the late 19th century France, the movie opens with how a middle-aged woman named Eugénie (Juliette Binoche) prepares for another good meal for her employer Dodin Bouffant (Benoît Magimel) and his several fellow gourmets. As he helps her to some degree at her kitchen before eventually waiting along with his friends at his dining hall, we come to sense that he and Eugénie have been quite close to each other for years, and we are not so surprised to see them spending the following evening together as if they were a married couple.

As a matter of fact, Dodin has proposed to Eugénie more than once as he has come to respect and care about her a lot during all those years between them, though she is not so willing to accept his proposal simply because she prefers to maintain their current status as longtime companions. Sometimes he comes to her bedroom at night under her permission, but Eugénie is too independent to become a housewife, and Dodin understands that too well.

Nevertheless, both of them are still happy and content as sharing their passion on food and cooking as usual. While Dobin makes sure that Eugénie can get all the excellent ingredients for the meals to be served to him and his friends, Eugénie busily work on one dish after another, and this will remind you that it is always interesting to see experts doing their best on the screen. As cinematographer Jonathan Ricquebourg’s camera fluidly sticks and moves around Eugénie and a maid working under her, the movie vividly captures the small and big details on Eugénie’s cooking process, and the resulting verisimilitude is more than enough for you to get hungry within a few minutes. In fact, Pierre Gagnaire, a French chef who is quite famous for his high-class restaurant in Paris, served as the culinary director for the film, and he certainly deserves to be commended for his considerable contribution to many delicious moments in the film.

It surely helps that the two lead performers look quite natural and comfortable with all those culinary details on the screen in addition to embodying the shared past between their respective characters. Juliette Binoche, who has been one of the most luminous movie actresses in our time for nearly 40 years, does an impeccable job of filling her character with lots of life and charm, and we can clearly see what has attracted Dodin to Eugénie for years besides her top-notch cooking. She is your average free spirit who can sometimes baffle her admirer a bit, and Binoche dexterously fills her role with earthy elegance and tranquil dignity.

On the opposite, Benoît Magimel, who once had a romantic relationship with Binoche some time ago, effectively complements his co-star as palpably conveying to us his character’s deep affection and admiration toward Eugénie. At one point, Dodin becomes all the more determined to persuade her to accept his latest proposal, and Magimel looks quite committed as Dodin really tries his best for attaining his goal via cooking for his lover. Again, the camera closely focuses on every detail, and the result is electrifying to say the least – especially when one small but significant aural detail has us sense more of Dodin’s sincerity and dedication on his very special cooking.

 Hùng’s screenplay, which is loosely inspired by Swiss author Marcel Rouff’s 1924 novel “La Vie et la passion de Dodin-Bouffant, gourmet (The Passionate Epicure)”, also pays some attention to several other main characters besides Dodin and Eugénie. While Dodin’s fellow gourmets occasionally provide little humorous moments, the maid working under Eugénie and her little niece become more prominent later in the story, and there is a funny and touching moment when Dodin teaches the maid’s little niece on how to appreciate good dishes like he has for many years. 

  On the whole, “The Taste of Things”, whose original French title is incidentally “The Passion of Dodin Bouffant”, is a superlative human drama to be savored for many reasons besides all those terrific cooking scenes in the film, and Hùng, who received the Best Director Prize when the movie was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival early in last year, makes a glorious comeback here. Although I do not think I will ever forget how much I was annoyed and bored as watching his previous film “I Came with the Rain” (2009), I also fondly remember how much I was enchanted by his Oscar-nominated feature debut film “The Scent of Green Papaya” (1993), and “The Taste of Things” surely shows Hùng back in his good old element.

By the way, I must confess that my condition was not exactly ideal when I watched “The Taste of Things” at a local movie theater yesterday. I was rather depressed and tired before the movie began, but, what do you know, I soon found myself soothed and then energized by what is so gracefully shown on the screen, and I even did not mind several middle-aged ladies, who happened to sit right behind me, often talking a bit too loudly about whatever was being cooked on the screen. That is what a good movie usually can do, isn’t it?

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Sanctuary (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): A sanctuary for wildlife animals

Posted on June 17, 2024 by kaist455

South Korean documentary film “Sanctuary” focuses on the activists of a bunch of people dedicated to providing a sanctuary for wildlife animals in South Korea. While they care a lot about saving and taking care of those unfortunate animals out there, they are also well aware of the limits of their diligent efforts, and it is touching to see how they keep going despite the frequent moments of considerable emotional toil during their work.

The documentary mainly revolves around Cheongju Zoo, which has been one of a very few wildlife animal sanctuaries in South Korea thanks to a lot of longtime efforts from its staff members including Kim Jeong-ho, who has worked there as one of its chief veterinarians. While they take care of a number of different animals in the zoo, they also handle numerous wildlife animals rescued for various reasons, and a small portion of these rescued animals are allowed to stay in the zoo because it was decided that they cannot possibly be released back into their wildlife.

We also see how several activists and experts work here and there in South Korea. The opening scene of the documentary shows the rescue of three water deer who happen to be stuck in a ditch of which they cannot get out for themselves, and, not so surprisingly, it turns out to be quite difficult to corner and then catch them all. At least, all of these water deer are eventually captured, and we later see them released into a safer place.

Via an activist named Choi Tae-goo, the documentary shows some grim moments you will not easily forget. As some of you know, there have been numerous bear farms in South Korea mainly for their gall which has incidentally been known as a precious oriental medicine, and I remember well when I saw a shocking TV news report on the mistreatment on those poor bears a long time ago. Sadly, this alarming trend has been continued even at this point, and we see a shabby shack where a couple of bears have miserably lived inside their dirty cages. It is really relieving for us to see that these two bears are eventually sent to the Cheongjoo Zoo for their protection and welfare, and they soon get much better than before thanks to the good care from its staff members.

And the documentary continues to show how vulnerable those wildlife animals often are due to human beings. At one point, the activists go to a wild field where they collect a heap of dead birds, and we come to learn later that this resulted from the deliberate poisoning by some mean dude. In addition, there is also a big vulture which becomes quite sick after eating some of these poisoned birds, and you will be saddened as watching this big bird going through a very difficult time before its eventual recovery.

And we see many other heartbreaking cases. In case of one eagle owl, its left wing is seriously damaged, and it is subsequently euthanized because it cannot be recovered and then released back to wildlife. We also see a heron who also gets severely injured in one of its wings due to some wire trap, and its rescuers have no choice but to end its immense pain as soon as possible.

Knowing well that they cannot possibly keep or save all those animals rescued by them, the staff members of the Cheongjoo Zoo try to be really considerate about making the important decisions of life and death on those rescued animals, and their decision-making process is always tricky for all of them. As treating those rescued animals for years, they cannot help but feel emotionally attached to them, so it is sometime difficult to be objective in making their decisions, and it goes without saying that some of their difficult decisions emotionally affect them from time to time. At one point, Dr. Kim flatly says in front of the camera that he has tried to stop caring as much as possible, but it only becomes more evident to us that he does care a lot nonetheless.

At least, things are not always depressing and demanding for him and others in the zoo because of the animals who have been lucky under their sincere care. In case of a female raccoon dog named Clara, it is particularly friendly to one of its staff members, and you may smile a bit as watching this little raccoon dog behaving like your average pet dog. When the zoo is opened for visitors, the mood becomes more cheerful than before, and we see Dr. Kim humorously introducing one of the Siberian tigers under his care.

We also see a little shrine dedicated to a number of animals who eventually passed away in the zoo. Regardless of how these animals felt about their lives in the zoo, it is clear that they did mean a lot to the staff members of the zoo. Yes, W.G. Sebald once said “Men and animals regard each other across a gulf of mutual incomprehension”, but it is still poignant to see the names of these deceased animals in the shrine nonetheless.

Overall, “Sanctuary” is an engaging documentary which handles its main subject with enough care and respect, and director Wang Min-cheol did a commendable job of presenting its sincere moments without any cheap sentimentality. To be frank with you, I do not like going to zoo much, but the documentary makes me appreciate some of its valuable aspects in the end, and I will certainly think of the documentary again if I ever happen to visit a zoo someday.

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Under Paris (2024) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): The Shark in Paris (no kidding)

Posted on June 13, 2024 by kaist455

French Netflix film “Under Paris” attempts to have and eat its cake, and that is sort of amusing to me. On one hand, it wants to be a serious shark flick like Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” (1975), whose greatness still makes nearly all of subsequent shark flicks totally unnecessary to say the least. On the other hand, it also wants to be as preposterous as “Sharknado” (2013), and it is a bit shame that it does not go further with its utterly outrageous story premise during its second half.

The opening part of the film establishes the lasting personal trauma of its marine biologist heroine. When she is studying a certain big shark along with several colleagues including her husband in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Sophia (Bérénice Bejo) does not worry that much despite some alarming signs just because she cares more about her research. Of course, this eventually leads to a devastating incident which kills nearly all of her colleagues including her husband, and she is still reeling from her immense trauma when she is working in Paris three years later.

On one day, Sophia is approached by a little underground environment protection organization which has been tracking down and monitoring that big shark in question during last several years. To her disbelief, the shark is actually somewhere inside the Seine River of Paris, and it seems to adapt itself somehow to the freshwater environment of the river, while quite ready for any prey to enter the river.

After confirming its existence in Paris, Sophia naturally approaches to the local police, but, not so surprisingly, nobody believes her words at first. As a matter of fact, they are more occupied with preparing for a big sports competition which will soon be held on the river, because this big public event may boost the chance for Paris to be selected for the upcoming Summer Olympics as its mayor has eagerly hoped.

At least, after some investigation into the river, Adil (Nassim Lyes) and his police colleagues come to realize that there is indeed the shark in the river. They and their boss naturally try to warn the mayor along with Sophia, but, of course, the mayor does not listen at all, while quite insistent about having the big day for her and her citizens as scheduled. As a result, Sophia and Adil must find any possible way to prevent a catastrophe to be caused by that big shark, which turns out to be more formidable than expected with some hidden surprises.

As Sophia and several other main characters look for where the shark is exactly hiding somewhere inside the Seine River, the movie becomes more preposterous while maintaining its serious attitude as before. At one point later in the film, we get a tense sequence unfolded in the middle of some old underground space below Paris, and director/co-writer Xavier Gens and his crew members generate enough amount of tension for us to suspend our accumulating disbelief about the plot for a while at least (How the hell such a big shark like that can swim freely along those narrow underwater tunnels?).

Like “Jaws”, the movie knows well that it is usually better to show its shark as little as possible. After the opening part, the shark is just briefly glimpsed here and there during a number of following key scenes, but that is fairly enough to keep us on the edge, and the frequently turbid quality of the Seine River brings more fear and anxiety to these scenes (How can possibly the shark overcome this heavily polluted environment?).

In addition, the movie gives a few characters we can care about. After getting to know more about Sophia and her trauma and guilt, Adil becomes more sympathetic to her as a guy who turns out to have his own trauma and guilt from the past, and they become a bit closer to each other as working together more for stopping the shark. Bérénice Bejo, who has been more prominent since her Oscar-nominated turn in Michel Hazanavicius’s “The Artist” (2011), provides some emotional gravitas to not only her character but also the story, and Nassim Lyes dutifully supports her as filling his archetype role with enough presence.

When it eventually goes all the way for shark attack, the movie does not disappoint us. I will not go into details on what is unexpectedly revealed during the last act, but I assure you that you will be quite amused by its outrageous aspects as well as the deliberate unrealistic qualities of its visual effects. Although the ending is a bit too anticlimactic compared to what has been so wildly presented right before that, it shows the possibility of a sequel, and the possible sequel may provide us more preposterous fun if it is really produced later.

Overall, “Under Paris” is not good enough for recommendation, but you will probably admire how it competently handles its outrageous story promise. According to my inconsequential 4-star rating standard, “Jaws” gets 4 stars, and a few fairly enjoyable shark flicks like “Deep Blue Sea” (1999) receive 3 stars at least while many others are placed way below them. Because “Under Paris” is somewhere between being these two groups, I give it 2.5 stars, but I will not deny that I had some fun and amusement at last night, so I will let you decide whether you will watch it or not during the upcoming weekend.

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Inside Out 2 (2024) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): More emotions to come

Posted on June 13, 2024 by kaist455

Pixar animation film “Inside Out 2”, which is the sequel to Oscar-winning animation film “Inside Out” (2015), shows us that Pixar still has it. While it is another fantasy adventure into the state of mind just like its predecessor, the film presents it well with enough charm, spirit, and imagination to be savored, and the result is alternatively funny and touching to the end.

The story begins with how things have been going fairly well since that little adventure of the five basic emotions inside the mind of a young girl in “Inside Out”, who is now 13 years old and naturally about to enter her adolescent period. As Riley (voiced by Kensington Tallman) and her two best female friends are excited about entering their high school period, Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler) and her fellow basic emotions, Sadness (voiced by Phyllis Smith), Anger (voiced by Lewis Black), Fear (voiced by Tony Hale), and Disgust (voiced by Liza Lparia), are certainly ready for more things to do inside Riley’s mind, but, alas, there come two unexpected problems. First, Riley belatedly comes to learn that her two best friends will go to some other high school, and she is quite disappointed about that. Second, not long after Riley goes through her first day of her adolescent physical/mental changes, the control center of Joy and her fellow basic emotions is drastically changed while a number of new emotions suddenly appear in front of them.

One of these new emotions is Anxiety (voiced by Maya Hawke), who instantly takes over the control room as Riley becomes more and more anxious about herself. She and her two close friends, who are all incidentally hockey players, are going to attend a three-day hockey training camp, and Riley is more conscious about herself when she comes across a popular senior hockey player to whom she has been looking up. She really wants to play hockey along with that senior player, and her following actions naturally make her distant to her close friends, who are certainly not so pleased about the change in their relationship with her.

As Riley lets herself driven more by Anxiety and other new feelings such as Envy (voiced by Ayo Edebiri) and Embarrassment (voiced by Paul Walter Hauser), Joy and her fellow basic emotions are sent away from the control center to somewhere quite far from it. Again, Joy sees that she and her fellow basic emotions must take care of this emergency as soon as possible, but things are changed a lot in the fantasy landscapes inside Riley’s mind, and even Joy finds herself feeling like being against the wall more than once.

While Joy and her fellow basic emotions go up and down along the story, the screenplay by Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein provides a series of humorously imaginative moments which will remind you again that human mind is still a wondrous and interesting realm to explore and observe. You will be delighted again to see that vast labyrinth of various stored memories, and I particularly like a big stream which will be appreciated by anyone who has ever read the works of Virginia Woolf and James Joyce.

And these and other fantasy moments often resonate with what is going on outside Riley’s mind. Feeling quite more anxious than ever, Riley eventually tumbles down into the gloomy status of low self-esteem, which only exacerbates the troubled circumstance inside her mind. As a matter of fact, even Anxiety gets driven more and more by herself, and we eventually get an apt visual depiction of panic attack later in the story. Believe me, anyone who ever had a panic attack in adolescent years will instantly recognize that frenzied mental condition, and you will feel sorrier for Anxiety, who is as well-intentioned as Joy and other emotions but makes wrong judgments just like Joy did more than once.

What eventually follows next may not surprise you much, but you will admire how the people of Pixar Studios are still good at pulling our heartstrings. The lesson for Joy and the other emotions at the end of their adventure is not so different from what “Inside Out” movingly conveys to us, but that familiar lesson is delivered well with enough sincerity and sensitivity, and that was enough for me to become less cranky than usual and reflect more on how to be more honest with my emotions.

Again, Amy Poehler and Phyllis Smith hold the center well as surrounded by a number of notable performers who bring some colorful personality to their supporting characters. While Lewis Black, Kensington Tallman, Tony Hale, and Liza Lapria are effective in their respective roles, Maya Hawke is certainly a standout as her character often steals the show as expected, and my only complaint is that the film does not provide enough space for its other notable cast members including Ayo Edebiri, Paul Walter Hauser (He did a more impressive voice performance in recent Netflix animation film “Orion and the Dark” (2023), by the way), June Squibb, and Adèle Exarchopoulos, who is unfortunately stuck with her rather thankless role (But who could have imagined that she would perform in a Pixar animation film?).

In conclusion, “Inside Out 2”, directed by Kelsey Mann, does not go beyond what was awesomely achieved by its predecessor, which is still one of the best Pixar animations films during last two decades (and it also gives us a certain catchy commercial jingle which will be always around somewhere in our mind). Although its future is quite uncertain at present thanks to some unpleasant changes in Disney, Pixar has not lose its touch at least, and that is a comforting news for now.

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Dicks: The Musical (2023) ☆☆1/2 (2.5/4): A wacky musical of deliberate bad taste

Posted on June 12, 2024 by kaist455

I guess I am not an ideal audience for “Dicks: The Musical”. As shown from a series of footage clips during its end credits, the people behind and in front of the camera go all the way for making a wacky musical of deliberate bad taste, and its anarchically trashy sense of humor will be surely appreciated by the admirers of John Waters movies. However, this is basically one-joke musical comedy film which feels rather thin despite its running time (86 minutes), and I only got more impatient as rolling my eyes a lot for good reasons.

Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp, who also made a little off-Broadway musical adapted by them (Its name is not something I can willingly type here, by the way), play Craig and Trevor, two hot-shot salesmen in New York City who are your average alpha white heterosexual male jerks. Their deliberately obnoxious opening number blatantly emphasizes their cocky attitude from the beginning to the end, and you may be a bit amused by the homosexual undertone of this unabashedly flamboyant musical scene.

Anyway, Craig and Trevor subsequently find themselves working in the same office due to a sudden company merger, and they instantly compete with each other for being the real top dog salesman of the office (Please don’t ask me what the hell they actually sell). Despite the growing competition between them, they become a bit closer to each other after discerning how much they look similar to each other, and, what do you know, they soon come to realize that they are actually identical twins who happened to be separated from each other not long after their birth (Jackson and Sharp actually looking quite different on the screen is another inside joke for us, by the way).

Quite delighted by this discovery of theirs, Trevor and Craig decide to make their respective single parents reunite with each other just like those two twin girls in “The Parent Trap” (1998). Of course, they quickly come to see how challenging this personal mission really is, because their parents, Harrison (Nathan Lane) and Evelyn (Megan Mullally), are not so interested in reuniting with each other from the beginning.

These two very, very, very eccentric people turn out to have each own issue which will seriously jeopardize Craig and Trevor’s plan. Harrison is revealed to be a gay or bisexual more inclined to men, and he is also mostly occupied with taking care of a couple of certain little hideous creatures which are clearly moving puppets. In case of Evelyn, she has had a serious problem with her certain body part, which looks like something we may see if David Cronenberg ever tries to make a children’s program with no interference at all.

Nevertheless, our two goofy heroes do not give up at all. They deliberately make their parents meet each other at a posh restaurant, and, of course, Harrison and Evelyn come to see that they still have some feeling toward each other despite the sexual obstacles between them. Nathan Lane, whom I still fondly remember for seeing him on the stage of the St. James Theatre in New York City when he performed in Mel Brooks’ acclaimed hit musical “The Producers” along with Matthew Broderick in early 2004, does not hesitate to rise below bad taste during the following song and dance scene, and Megan Mullally, who has been known well for her own distinctive comic talent, complements Lane well as his equal comic match.

While Lane and Mullally constantly steal the show from them, Sharp and Jackson are relatively less colorful in comparison, but nobody can possibly deny that they have enough zeal and spirit for frequently going over the top throughout the film. Whenever they are not singing or dancing, they always throw themselves into the Overacting with a capital “O”, and you may appreciate their cheerfully no-hold-barred efforts even when you observe their relentless shticks from the distance with more annoyance.

Under the direction of director/co-producer Larry Charles, who is no stranger to shocking us with deliberate bad taste for laughs considering his previous works such as “Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” (2006) and “Brüno” (2009), the movie keeps going for more tasteless comic moments, and I must confess that it often tested my own limits even though I think I am mostly open for almost anything in case of comedy. I will not deny that I was tickled a lot as watching Megan Thee Stallion, who plays Craig and Trevor’s domineering boss, giving a showstopper musical scene to remember, but I winced more than once as observing how the movie later tries something truly scandalous in the name of love. I will not go into details here for not spoiling any naughty fun for you, but I can tell you at least that Bowen Yang, who has been known for his funny comic sketches during the recent seasons of “Saturday Night Live”, is having some irreverent fun with playing, surprise, God.

On the whole, “Dicks: The Musical” is not totally without fun and amusement, but I did not enjoy it enough for recommendation because of often feeling rather distant or annoyed during my viewing. In my humble opinion, its many wacky materials work better on stage than screen, and I will be interested to considerable degree if I come upon an opportunity to see the revival of Jackson and Sharp’s original musical on the stage. As far as I can see, they do have some talent and potential, and I can only hope that they will soon move onto better things to come in the future.

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Hit Man (2023) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): The story of a fake hit man

Posted on June 11, 2024 by kaist455

Richard Linklater’s latest film “Hit Man”, which was released on Netflix in last week, is a delightful black comedy packed with lots of wit, humor, and personality to be appreciated. What we get here is often typical to the core, but its offbeat comic spirit is charming and infectious to say the least, and we gladly go along with that even when things become a little more serious than expected later in the story.

The story, which is loosely based on the real-life story of the 2001 Texas Monthly magazine article of the same name by Skip Hollandsworth (He previously collaborated with Linklater in “Bernie” (2011), by the way), mainly revolves around Gary Johnson (Glen Powell), who is your average nerdy college professor but actually has a more exciting job to do behind his back. He has closely worked with the local police in New Orleans, Louisiana as a tech guy mainly because of his considerable skill and knowledge on those electronic stuffs, and this has surely brought some fun and excitement into his rather mundane bachelor life.

However, there comes a little change for this unofficial part-time job of his on one day. Because an undercover cop supposed to disguise himself as a professional hit man for one particular sting operation gets himself suspended for a while due to some serious misdemeanor, Gary is asked to do the job instead of operating inside a van as usual, and, what do you know, he does the job much better than anyone expected. Sure, he is a bit nervous at first, but he turns out to be pretty convincing in his performance, and that is the beginning of another fun and excitement for him.

As its hero subsequently tries many different things for a series of other similar sting operations, the movie has a lot fun with how he easily and confidently fools his targets in one way or another. After all, most people do not know that much about how those professional hit men actually look or behave (I do not know either, by the way), so Gary can freely change his appearance among various disguises created by himself, and he feels all the more liberating in addition to being quite proud of helping the police more. As a matter of fact, his new job makes him a lot more enthusiastic about his college lectures on psychology and philosophy, mainly because he can observe real bits of human nature as having the close encounters with various persons eager to eliminate their respective troubles by any means necessary (A lesson: any kind of human service can be a valuable conduit to the knowledge on human nature).

And then he happens to encounter a woman named Madison Figueroa Masters (Adria Arjona), who incidentally wants him to kill her mean husband simply for her freedom. As listening to her, Gary finds himself getting quite sympathetic to her, so he ends up persuading her not to hire him instead of getting her caught on the spot, but then he accidentally gets involved more with her later. No matter how much he tries to stay on the line between him and her, the romantic heat becomes more evident to both of them, and that naturally leads to some big trouble for them.

After that narrative point, the movie becomes relatively darker than before as approaching to the areas of film noir thriller, but it never stops its comic dance even during this part. As things get quite more complicated along the story, our hero must try to outsmart a few figures who can jeopardize the circumstance at any point, and there eventually comes a point where he becomes a bit more serious about his supposedly fake persona, but we keep getting amused more as his story takes one absurd plot turn after another.

The movie surely depends a lot on the talent and presence of Glen Powell, who also wrote the screenplay along with Linklater besides serving as one of its producers. As already shown from his breakout notable turn in Linklater’s previous film “Everybody Wants Some!” (2016), Powell can be effortlessly smart, funny, and charismatic just like Matthew McConaughey, and he gives us several priceless moments of hilarity in addition to generating the palpable chemistry between him and Adria Arjona during several key scenes. Right from their first moment in the film, he and Arjona instantly click well with each other, and their comic interactions throughout the film is another source for amusement for us.

Besides Powell and Arjona, the movie also has a bunch of equally colorful supporting performers to enjoy. As three different police figures around Gary, Retta, Austin Amelio, and Sanjay Rao have each own comic moment to shine, and the special mention goes to a number of different minor supporting performers playing those various persons targeted by Gary and his police colleagues, who all contribute much to the local background and atmosphere of the movie.

Overall, “Hit Man” is another witty and engaging work from Linklater, who has seldom disappointed me since I watched “Before Sunrise” (1995) and then “Before Sunset” (2004) around 20 years ago. While it does not reach to the greatness of the Before Trilogy and “Boyhood” (2014), the movie is on par with many of his better works such as “Waking Life” (2001) and “School of Rock” (2003), and it is certainly nice to see Linklater bouncing back from the disappointment of “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” (2019). In short, this is one of more enjoyable offerings from Netflix during this year, and you will be definitely surer about its lead actor’s rising stardom than before.

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Shooting Stars (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): The Best Years of Their Lives

Posted on June 11, 2024 by kaist455

“Shooting Stars”, which is currently available on Netflix in South Korea, is a standard biographical sports drama film which plays and then delivers as much as expected. While any good sports drama film needs to do more than that in my inconsequential opinion, the movie is not boring at all mainly thanks to the genuine sense of friendship and camaraderie among its main characters, and it is a shame that the movie is content with simply playing within its genre conventions instead of being driven by more spirit and personality to distinguish itself.

The movie, which is based on the name of the same memoir written by LeBron James with some assistance from Pulitzer-winning writer Buzz Bissinger, is about how much James and his three close friends/colleagues distinguished themselves during their early years in Akron, Ohio. Even when they were no more than 10 years old, they all were quite determined to pursue their future basketball career, and they are surely expected to go together to one certain well-known local high school when they are about to start their first high school year several years later.

However, Dru Joyce III (Caleb McLaughlin) has a different opinion. Mainly because of his rather short height, he is not going to be allowed to play with James (Mookie Cook) and their friends Willie McGee (Avery Wills) and Sian Cotton (Khalil Everage) in the same group, and that naturally makes him look for the other option. When he comes to learn that a certain famous university basketball coach becomes the new basketball team coach of some other high school in their neighborhood, Joyce boldly approaches to this coach for showing his considerable potential and talent, and he also succeeds in convincing James and the others to go to that other high school instead.

It is indeed a bold gamble, but it is succeeded much better than anyone expected. Once they prove their worth as a dream team to be excited about, James and his friends begin to excel themselves game by game even during their first year, and it certainly looks like the sky is the only limit for them, especially as James draws a lot of public attention as a very promising player who can be as famous as, say, Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant.

Of course, we all know what will eventually happen around the end of the story, and the screenplay by Frank E. Flowers, Tony Rettenmaier, and Juel Taylor thankfully does not waste any time as steadily rolling its main characters from one expected point to another. While there surely come some moments of conflicts and doubts later in the story, the movie does not put too much emphasis on these more serious moments, and it continues to jump and bounce along the story as its main characters go all the way for more athletic accomplishment on their way.

In case of basketball game scenes in the film, director Chris Robinson and his crew members including cinematographer Karsten Gopinath and editor Jo Francis do not disappoint us at all. Even if you do not know that much about basketball (Full Disclosure: I am one of such persons), you can easily and instantly follow the flow of those basketball games in the movie without much confusion, and you may gladly go along with a number of deliberately stylized shots during the basketball game scenes in the film.

However, the movie often stumbles in case of bringing more life and personality to its main characters. While Mookie Cook, Calebe McLaughlin, Avery Wills, and Khalil Everage generate effortless chemistry together on the screen in addition to being quite convincing in those basketball game scenes, it takes some time for us to get accustomed to their roles because their characters are a bit too flatly streamlined to engage us more. As a matter of fact, James in the movie is actually the least interesting member in the bunch despite his future fame and success to come, and I must confess that he sometimes feels to me like the exact opposite of what my late mentor/friend Roger Ebert wrote at the beginning of his 1968 review on William Wyler’s “Funny Girl” (1968): “The trouble with “Funny Girl” is almost everything except Barbra Streisand.”

Fortunately, the movie at least does not forget that its dramatic power lies in the longtime friendship among James and his fellow team members, and the earnest youthful energy from these four performers playing James and his three friends lifts up the movie at times. In addition, several other main cast members mostly acquit themselves well despite their functional supporting parts. While Scoot Henderson manages to leave some impression as another key player who comes to join James and his friends as the fifth member of the group, Wood Harris, Algee Smith, Natalie Paul, and Dermot Mulroney are effectively cast as the crucial adult figures in the story, and both Mulroney and Harris surely deliver their respective big speech scenes as well as you can expect from your average basketball drama movie.

On the whole, “Shooting Stars” is rather deficient compared to its numerous seniors including, yes, “Hoosiers” (1986), but it is fairly watchable thanks to its competent aspects including the diligent efforts from its main cast members. I wish the movie delved deeper into its main characters and then dug up more spirit and personality to observe and remember, but I was entertained to some degree during my viewing, so I will not stop you at all if you want something causal for killing your spare time.

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Star of Ulsan (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): Her gloomy daily life in Ulsan

Posted on June 10, 2024 by kaist455

South Korean independent film “Star of Ulsan” is a tough stuff to watch for good reasons. As following the gloomy daily life of one strong-willed woman and several others around her, the movie presents a daunting slice of life to observe, and you will admire how it avoids any cheap pity or sentimentality before eventually earning a little but precious sign of hope and endurance at the end of its grim but undeniably powerful human drama.

At the beginning, the story, which is set in a South Korean industrial port city named Ulsan, introduces its several main characters one by one. First, we are introduced to a middle-aged woman named Yoon-hwa (Kim Geun-soon), and then we see her getting suddenly injured on her hand while working at a local shipyard as usual. Although she may have to get some rest for recovering a bit from her serious physical injury, she tries to keep working as before, but then she is notified that she will be laid off sooner or later. Mainly because she has diligently worked there instead of her dead husband for around 20 years, Yoon-hwa naturally becomes quite exasperated, but it looks like there is really nothing she can do about that, even though it is possible that the company is very unfair to her from the beginning.

Yoon-hwa has endured a lot for providing a better lite to her two children, but neither of her two children does not appreciate her sacrifice that much, and they see no future in their increasingly hopeless hometown. While he managed to graduate as a college student, Se-jin (Choi Woo-bin) does not seem to be trying more for getting employed, and he has actually been more occupied with earning a lot via Bitcoin. In case of Kyeong-hee (Jang Min-young), she is not interested in going to college at all, and we see how she attempts to pursue the career of a makeup artist even though she does not get much attention despite her frequent online promotion.

We are also introduced to several family members of Yoon-hwa’s dead husband. Her dead husband’s uncle and aunt happen to need a considerable amount of cash for their loser son who recently got divorced, and they are going to persuade Yoon-hwa to agree on selling a certain piece of family real estate which has belonged to her for many years, though they know too well that Yoon-hwa will instantly object to that.

However, the situation surrounding that real estate asset turns out to be quite complicated. When it seems that she really needs to bribe her direct supervisor for not getting laid off, Yoon-hwa naturally checks whether she can draw a quick loan from that real estate asset, but she only comes to learn instead that her son has been making a much bigger mess than she thought at first. Needless to say, her son soon finds himself getting cornered in more than one way as expected, and it seems that there is not any easy way out for him at all.

What happens next among Yoon-hwa and her several family members is not so pleasant to say the least. When they all eventually gather at Yoon-hwa’s residence, the tension among them is palpable to us even though they do not tell everything to each other, and we come to brace ourselves more as things get gloomier for them along the story.

And we also get to know more about how much each of them is pressured under more despair and hopelessness. No matter how much she fights and protests against the unfair treatments at her workplace, Yoon-hwa only gets herself cornered more and more, and that consequently makes her rather hostile to some of her close colleagues. While Se-jin turns out to have a really desperate motive behind his very unwise Bitcoin speculation, Kyeong-hee becomes more willing to get out of the city as soon as possible, and one of a few tender moments in the film comes from how she bonds with a schoolmate of hers via their shared wish. In case of Yoon-hwa’s in-laws, they are not bad people at all, and they also are as despaired as Yoon-hwa and her two children, while still feeling quite conflicted about their precious family asset.

This is surely depressing to watch at times, but the movie keeps us engaged via its solid storytelling and vivid characterization, and the main cast members are believable in their respective roles. Kim Geum-soon, who recently drew my attention more for her stellar performance in Jeong Ji-hye’s notable debut feature film “Jeong-sun” (2002), firmly holds the center with her uncompromising performance, and she willingly embodies warts and all for bringing more life and personality to her unforgettable character. Choi Woo-bin and Jang Min-young hold well each own place around Kim as having each own moment to shine, and Do Jung-hwan, Im Hyeong-tae, Byun Joon-hee, and Lim Jung-min are also solid in their crucial supporting roles.

Overall, “Star of Ulsan”, which is incidentally the first feature film of director Jung Ki-hyuk, is definitely not something you can casually watch on Sunday afternoon, but it is worthwhile to watch for several good reasons including its strong lead performance. Although nothing is certain for everyone including Yoon-hwa even at the end of the story, they somehow find more will and strength for enduring a bit more at least, and you may sincerely hope that they will somehow prevail in the end.

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A Lonely Island in the Distant Sea (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): As his life goes on…

Posted on June 10, 2024 by kaist455

South Korean independent film “A Lonely Island in the Distant Sea”, which I belatedly watched only after it unexpectedly won the Grand Prize at the Wildflower Film Awards in South Korea, simply and leisurely rolls along with its plain hero’s life. As he goes through a series of small ups and downs along the story, the movie patiently engages us via a subtle balance between humor and drama coupled with some sincere moments of self-reflection, and it is alternatively amusing and touching to observe for us how things change for him and several others around him in one way or another.

At the beginning, we get to know its hero’s current life status. While he was once a promising young sculptor many years ago, Yoon-cheol (Park Jong-hwan) has been stuck with making simple sculptures to be used for science museums, and he has been fine with that just because 1) that has supported his living day by day and 2) he has no particularly interest in rebooting his old artistic career. While her adolescent daughter Ji-na (Lee Yeon) shows some artistic potential just like he did, they have been distant to each other for some time since his divorce, and they do not talk that much with each other when he comes to her high school for a small trouble of hers.

Meanwhile, Yoon-cheol later encounters Yeong-ji (Kang Kyung-hun), a female college lecturer who instantly becomes interested in Yoon-cheol after their first meeting even though there is nothing particularly attractive about him. She eventually lets him stay more round her, and it looks like they can be a bit more serious about their developing relationship.

However, not so surprisingly, things do not go as well as he hopes. When Yoon-cheol lets himself become rather distant from Yeong-ji due to doing some work outside South Korea, she eventually decides to break up with him, and Yoon-cheol belatedly realizes how much he really needs her. He naturally pleads her not to leave him, but she remains adamant nonetheless, while also sharply pointing out his faults on their relationship.

And there comes another unexpected happening to Yoon-cheol. After wandering more and more since deciding not to pursue her artistic aspiration, Ji-na eventually decides to become a Buddhist monk, and she promptly embarks on her preparation period after shaving her head. Naturally perplexed by his daughter’s decision, Yoon-cheol keeps asking her whether she is really serious about that, but she remains unflappable in her decision, while also totally being in piece with herself in contrast to her wild time in the past.

While the movie calmly moves from one episodic moment to another, we observe a number of subsequent changes in Yoon-cheol’s life. After he later comes upon the dead end of his current status, he decides to stay more around her daughter, and he soon finds himself working as a handyman for Ji-na, who is now called “Do-maeng”, and her female mentor. In addition, he also comes to open a little noodle shop at a nearby town, which gradually becomes profitable enough to support him despite its uneventful first days.

Getting more settled than before, Yoon-cheol starts to take care of several problems in his life. Although he and his daughter are now more like an employee and an employer, they find themselves opening themselves more to each other than before, and that is why it is poignant for us to see when Ji-na becomes more affectionate to her father later in the story. When Yoon-cheol meets Yeong-ji again, he shows more care to his ex-girlfriend for a good reason, and Yeong-ji surely appreciates this considerate gesture of his.

These and many other little personal moments in the film are presented well with unadorned poetic sensitivity under the dexterous direction of director/writer Kim Mi-yeong, who previously made a feature film debut with “Upstanding Man” (2016). For example, the key moments in the movie are thoughtfully composed on the wide screen of 2.35:1 ratio without drawing too much attention at all, and we accordingly get more immersed into its reflective mood as coming to care more about the story and characters.

Furthermore, Kim draws solid performances from her main cast members. Park Jong-hwan, who recently played a small but crucial supporting role in Eom Tae-hwa’s “Concrete Utopia” (2023), steadily carries the film as subtly conveying to us the slow but gradual inner changes of his character, and his effective performance comes to function as the stable ground for his fellow main cast members. While Lee Yeon, who previously drew my attention for her supporting turn in Byun Sung-hyun’s Netflix film “Kill Boksoon” (2023), is convincing in her character’s dramatic change along the story, Kang Kyung-hun is also wonderful in her supporting part, and the special mention goes to Park Hyun-sook, who always steals the show as Ji-na’s no-nonsense mentor.

In conclusion, “A Lonely Island in the Distant Island” is one of more interesting South Korean films of last year, and Kim shows here considerable potential as another talented South Korean filmmaker to watch. Although I have not watched “Upstanding Man” yet, “A Lonely Island in the Distant Island” impressed me enough on the whole, and I will certainly have some expectation on whatever will come next from her.

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Her 5th Room (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): She simply needs to have her own private space…

Posted on June 7, 2024 by kaist455

South Korean documentary film “Her 5th Room” is a small but intimate personal story about one middle-aged woman who simply needs to have her own private space. As closely and sensitively observing her struggle for privacy and independence, the documentary often gives us aching emotional moments to remember, and we are eventually touched by when she finally decides to step forward more for what she has yearned for many years.

She is the mother of director/co-producer Jeon Chan-young, and the documentary opens with Jeon moving from Busan to her family residence in Daegu. For around 30 years, Jeon’s mother has lived with her husband and parents-in-laws in a two-story house, and Jeon tells us how her mother’s status has been upgraded a bit during last several years. When they married many years ago, Jeon’s mother and her husband were allowed to occupy a small room together while the big main bedroom belonged to her parents-ln-laws. After her father-in-law died and then she became the breadwinner of the family after her husband lost his job, Jeon’s mother was allowed to have the main bedroom. However, she subsequently decides to move up the room on the second floor, mainly because she really needs a place where she can work without any interruption from her other family members including her husband.

Jeon’s mother has worked as a qualified freelance counselor, and we see how she works here and there when she is not working in her family residence. At one point early in the documentary, she gives a little lecture to a group of people who come with their respective foreign spouses, and it is apparent that she is really proud and passionate about her current profession.

However, Jeon’s mother is still not that happy as often feeling like an outsider who has just been stuck with others in the house for years. When she was a young country girl who got fallen in love with her future husband, everything seemed to be going well for both of them, but they found themselves depending a lot on his parents in many ways after their wedding, and she was expected to take care of a lot things in the house for many years just because she was the wife of the only son of her parents-in-laws.

Moreover, her husband has not been much help to her for many years. Right from his first scene in the documentary, it is apparent that he is a useless old bum who has taken everything for granted, and we later get to know more about his worse sides. For example, he often drinks a lot whenever he gets a chance, and then he frequently annoys and interrupts his wife even though she has a lot of works to do besides those usual domestic stuffs to handle.

And then there comes an eventual breaking point for Jeon’s mother later in the documentary. Her mother-in-law suddenly makes an unexpected decision involved with the ownership of the family residence, and this hurts her feeling for good reasons. As the camera calmly observes their conversation from a static position, Jeon’s mother cannot help but show more and more of her anger and frustration while arguing with her mother-in-law, and this moment is often painful to watch for us.

In addition, her husband’s drinking habit gets worse day by day. At the funeral of one of her close family members, he happens to clash with some of her family members while getting quite drunk, and this surely exasperates his wife more than ever. In the end, Jeon’s mother and her children come to have a sort of intervention meeting between them and her husband, and we come to learn more about how much she and her children have endured and dealt with her husband’s alcoholism and occasional domestic violence.

While rightfully siding with her mother, Jeon also tries to give a fair chance to her father at least even though she comes to dislike her father more than before. Later in the documentary, she shows him several key moments in the documentary, but he just casually recognizes that he is indeed the villain of her documentary, and he does not even feel much regret or repentance on that. You may come to feel some pity to this incorrigible old man who still does not grasp at all how much he has hurt his family members for many years, and then you will become more disgusted when he drinks a lot again to cause another annoyance for his wife.

After that, Jeon’s mother finally decides that enough is enough, and what she does next is quite sensible to say the least. Now she feels more hopeful and optimistic than ever, and that makes a big contrast with her husband’s more pathetic status. While she is ready to move onto the next chapter of her life, he does not seem to know what to do next, and that will probably be continued to the end of his life.

On the whole, “The 5th Room” works as a sincere and touching family story, and Jeon presents her family members with enough care and respect despite her complex feelings about some of them. Although it could show us more in my humble opinion, the documentary is fairly solid and impactful within its rather short running time (81 minutes), and the result is one of more engaging South Korean documentaries of this year.

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