American Symphony (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): A slice of his art and life

Posted on December 2, 2023 by kaist455

Netflix documentary film “American Symphony”, which came out a few days ago, simply presents a slice of life and art from John Batiste, who has been one of the most prominent American musicians during last several years. Although the documentary does not tell or show a lot about his life and career, Batiste still comes to us as an interesting human being and artist to observe and appreciate, and it is also sometimes touching to watch how he sincerely tries to balance himself between his career and his private life.

The documentary closely follows one particularly eventful period in Batiste’s life. In September 2021, he received no less than 11 Grammy nominations including the one for the Best Album, and he was surely expected to win more than one award at least several months later, but he was also going through a difficult time in his private life. His writer girlfriend Suleika Jaouad happened to suffer another bout of leukemia, and, ironically, her chemotherapy was started on the very day when he received those Grammy nominations.

At least, both Jaouad and Batiste tried to be optimistic about what would happen next in their life. Because of her previous experience with leukemia, Jaouad was well aware of how risky her following therapy period could be, and Batiste was ready to stand by her as usual. While she became more fragile due to her chemotherapy, he was usually around her for cheering and supporting her more, and they eventually married some time later as reminded of how short her life could be at any point.

Meanwhile, Batiste had to deal with many things in his advancing career. After winning an Oscar for Pixar animation film “Soul” (2020), he became a lot more prominent than before, and he was about to reach to another highlight via his new ambitious project. He was composing a work titled “American Symphony”, and the documentary pays some attention to how he prepared for its upcoming premiere performance at Carnegie Hall in September 2022. We see him collaborating with a bunch of various musicians for imbuing his work with many different cultural elements, and the mood is pretty joyous as they try one thing after another during their creative process.

Not so surprisingly, Batiste cannot help but feel pressured and concerned as facing one of the most important points in his career. He does not seem to care that much about some criticism against him while going his way as before, but several quiet private moments of his suggest some anxiety and insecurity inside him, though he does not reveal a lot in front of the camera. When he talks with his therapist on the phone, he is mostly frank and articulate, but he still seems to keep a lot of things to himself, and we can only guess whatever is churning behind his carefree attitude.

At least, Batiste understandably looks more opened whenever he is with Jaouad, and their several intimate moments come to function as the main emotional center of the documentary. While it does not show that much of their difficult time with Jaouad’s illness, the documentary instead focuses on how they handled their situation in each own artistic way, and there is a little poignant moment as Jaouad tries to express her feelings and thoughts more via drawing several sketches. We also see Batiste giving a brief but striking performance dedicated to Jaouad at a concert hall, and that is certainly another moving moment to remember.

In April 2022, things got a bit better for Batiste and Jaouad. The treatment for Jaouad’s leukemia was finally over, and she was later taken back to their residence. Because she was still too weak to go along with Batiste to the 2022 Grammy Awards ceremony, she watched it on TV instead, and she was certainly excited when he eventually won the Top Album award around the end of the ceremony after already winning four other awards.

However, they were reminded again of how short her life can be. At one point later in the documentary, Jaouad’s doctor explains to her and Batiste about how they should be cautiously optimistic about her recovery, and that makes them more determined to live as fully as possible in addition to devoting themselves more to their respective artistic activities. Art has been always important for both of them, and you can clearly see how much they have been close to each other through not only love but also artistic passion.

As expected, the narrative of the documentary culminates to the premier performance of “American Symphony” at Carnegie Hall. Although I wish the documentary showed more of this excellent performance, it did a fairly good job of presenting this emotionally climactic part, and you will admire Batiste’s talent more after observing how he deftly handles one supposedly accident moment in the middle of the performance.

Overall, “American Symphony”, which is directed by Matthew Heineman, thankfully avoids becoming one of those run-of-the-mill celebrity documentaries as emphasizing the humanity and personality of its human subjects. To be frank with you, I am not that familiar with Batiste’s career, but, as far as I could see from the documentary, he seems to have all the right stuffs for advancing further in his life and career, and I can only wish well to him as well as his spouse.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Stamped from the Beginning (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): A searing essay on American racism

Posted on December 2, 2023 by kaist455

Netflix documentary film “Stamped from the Beginning”, which was released on Netflix a few weeks ago, is utterly direct and forthright about the long and troubling history of American racism. If you are familiar with its main subject, you may not be enlightened that much, but it still holds our attention as a searing essay on American racism, and it is certainly worthwhile to watch considering how the American society has been deep in this infuriating social trouble for a very long time.

At first, the documentary delves into how slavery played a big important part in the racism on African people. Even before the western European countries reached to the African continent during the 14th century, slavery was pretty common in Europe as it had been in numerous areas for many centuries, and African people looked like a suitable alternative just because, well, they looked different. As a matter of fact, there was even a very popular book which emphasized on how African people were inferior compared to Europeans, and its vile propaganda naturally justified the flourishing slave trade business in Africa.

This detestable racist belief was spread to America as more and more African slaves were taken to America during the 18~19th century, and the documentary does not pull any punch at all on how many of its founding fathers looked away from slavery from the very beginning. After all, President George Washington and several following US presidents were involved in slavery in one way or another, and President Thomas Jefferson was actually quite problematic for his glaring hypocrisy on slavery. While he was against slavery on the surface, he had a bunch of slaves in his big rural farm, and he also sexually exploited a young black slave woman, who gave birth to a number of illegitimate children of his as a consequence.

Of course, the change eventually came via the American Civil War in the 19th century, but the documentary sharply points out how many of Northern white abolitionists often showed their own racism, which was no better than the more blatant racism of those Southern slave owners and traders. While President Abraham Lincoln indeed led the country away from slavery, he also showed rather racist opinions on black slaves from time to time, and the documentary reminds us that his efforts against slavery were actually motivated more by political/economic reasons than his moral belief.

Despite being your average white savior, President Lincoln opened his ears and eyes at least to some of prominent black abolitionists such as Frederick Douglas, who convinced him to push more for the end of slavery as well as winning the war. Shortly after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, many black people were allowed to join the US Army, and they certainly played an important part in the eventual end of the war as fighting hard for their freedom.

After the war was over, things surely got much better for millions of black people in the American society, but, sadly, there inevitably came a huge racist backlash upon this rapid social change. Lynching black people became quite common throughout the country during next several decades, and this deplorable atrocity was thoroughly chronicled by a young female black activist/journalist named Ida B. Wells. She passionately investigated and recorded numerous lynching cases which happened throughout the country during a short period of time, and her written words surely convey to us her strong feelings and thoughts on these horrendous incidents.

The documentary explains a bit on how many white people have let themselves driven by racism for many centuries. Believe or not, there was actually a time where white servants and black slaves joined together for their big rebellion against those rich and powerful white dudes, but they were subsequently divided by deliberately racist policies from the power that be, and the documentary regards this as the origin of the prevalent racism among many poor white people in the American society.

Around the early 20th century, racism slipped more into the consciousness of the American society and people in more insidious ways, and we get a number of examples on how American movies could be quite racist in one way or another during last several decades. While G.W. Griffith’s deeply troubling epic silent film “The Birth of a Nation” (1915) comes as a prime example for its blatantly racist elements, there are also many other works perpetuating the stereotype images of black people, and the documentary makes a strong arguement in case of the culturally stereotyped images of black women. While black men have often been depicted as criminal predators in media as well as TV and movies, black women have frequently been sexually objectified in contrast, and the documentary reminds us that we should have believed more the words of many black female survivors of sexual violence such as, yes, Anita Hill.

While it feels a bit hurried at times because it attempts to pack lots of stuffs into its rather short running time (91 minutes), “Stamped from the Beginning”, which is incidentally based on the book of the same name written by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, deliver its points well to its audiences, and director Roger Ross Williams, who recently made his first feature film “Cassandro” (2023), did a competent job of on the whole. Although it is not that new or revealing to me probably because I have watched a fair share of good movies and documentaries on racism (No, not you, “Green Book” (2018).), the documentary engaged me enough at least for its strong presentation of its main subject, and I am certainly willing to recommend it to others around me.

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

The Holdovers (2023) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Stuck together during one Christmas season

Posted on December 2, 2023 by kaist455

Alexnader Payne’s latest film “The Holdovers”, which will simply be released in South Korea as “Barton Academy”, is a dry but humorous character drama which will grow on you a lot for its excellent mood, performance, and storytelling. While it is often amusing as a sort of comic antithesis to Peter Weir’s “Dead Poets Society” (1989), the movie also shows some genuine care and affection toward its three different main characters who happen to be stuck together during one Christmas season, and it is funny and touching to observe how much they have changed around the end of the story.

As reflected by its deliberately old-fashioned movie studio logos, the story of the movie is set in 1970, and its main background is the Barton Academy, a prestigious private boarding school located in the New England region. The Christmas holiday season is coming with lots of snow, and many of its students and teachers are ready for enjoying the upcoming holiday week, but that is not much of a concern to Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), a strict and sardonic curmudgeon who has taught history at the school for many years. He is not so generous to many of his students just because they simply fail to reach to his high standard, and he does not step back at all even when the principal, who was incidentally one of his pupils in the past, chides him for giving a very low grade to the son of some prominent politician.

When he is later forced to supervise a few students who will remain in the school during the holiday season, Hunham does not give a damn about that at all. After all, just like most of those students to be chaperoned by him, he has nowhere else to go, and, above all, the Barton Academy has virtually been his whole world since he began to teach there. We observe how lonely and isolated he is in his little residence, but he does not care much about that as long as he works or reads books.

One of those few students to be supervised by Hunham is Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), who comes to dislike Hunham more as Hunham punishes him and his fellow classmates for his insolent attitude. Tully was actually supposed to spend the holiday outside US along with his newly married mother and her second husband, but, alas, his mother changes the plan at the last minute, and he surely feels quite miserable while being stuck with a few other students under Hunham’s supervision inside the infirmary building of the school.

And then things get all the worse for Tully. A few days later, there comes a good chance for him and other students to leave for some ski resort thanks to the father of one of the students, but, sadly, Tully cannot leave as he cannot contact his parents, who are too busy with enjoying themselves outside US. As a result, he comes to spend more time with Hunham, and he certainly feels more frustrated and exasperated to be with his least favorite teacher.

It goes without saying that these two contrasting main characters slowly gets closer to each other along the story, but the screenplay by David Hemingon takes time for more character development. As we get to know more about both Hunham and Tully, we come to sense how much they have been victimized by their unfair system of class and privilege in each own way, which is the main reason why they come to form an unlikely bond between them. While Tully is actually a very smart kid who is often angry, troubled, and frustrated just like the adolescent hero of J.D. Salinger’s classic novel “The Catcher in the Rye”, Hunham turns out to have a fair share of bitterness and disillusionment behind his rigid and stubborn attitude, and he comes to see a lot of himself from Tully despite many differences between them.

Meanwhile, they also become more aware of the social turmoil of the outside world via Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), a black woman who has worked as the head cook in the school. She lived and worked for her only son who eventually studied in the Barton Academy thanks to her efforts, but, alas, her son later got drafted to the US Army and then died in the ongoing Vietnam War. As they come to hang around with her later in the story, Tully and Hunham see more of her immense grief behind her seemingly unflappable attitude, and there is a brief but heartbreaking moment where she cannot help but become quite emotional about her son’s death.

The emotional journeys of these three main characters are handled with a somber but sharp sense of humor and thoughtful sensitivity under Payne’s steady direction, and he also draws wonderful performances from his three main cast members. Paul Giamatti, who collaborated with Payne in “Sideways” (2004) many years ago, reminds us again that he is always good at embodying the aching human flaws of his characters just like late Philip Seymour Hoffman, and he did a skillful job of conveying to us Hunham’s softer sides while never compromising his edgier aspects at all. On the opposite, newcomer Dominic Sessa is an effective acting match for Giamatti during their several key scenes, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, whom I still fondly remember for her scene-stealing supporting turn in Craig Brewer’s overlooked Netflix movie “Dolemite Is My Name” (2019), is simply terrific as bringing a considerable amount of humor and pathos to what could be a pretty thankless role.

On the whole, “The Holdovers” is highly recommendable for many good reasons including the authentic period atmosphere evoking a number of notable American films of the 1970s such as Hal Ashby’s “The Last Detail” (1973), and it is surely much better than Payne’s utterly disappointing previous film “Downsizing” (2017). In short, this is one of major delights around the end of this year besides being one of better works from Payne, and I am certainly glad to report to you that he is back in element now.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Anatomy of a Fall (2023) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A rivetingly ambiguous courtroom drama

Posted on December 2, 2023 by kaist455

French film “Anatomy of a Fall”, which won the Palme d’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival early in this year, is a compelling courtroom drama film which keeps us guessing for good reasons. Mainly revolving around one seemingly simple case which turns out to be much more complicated, the movie constantly and dexterously sways our assessment on the case in one way or another, and its riveting ambiguity will linger on your mind for a long time after it is over.

During the opening part unfolded on one winter day, we are introduced to a female German novelist named Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller). She has lived with her French husband Samuel (Samuel Maleski) and their visually impaired son Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner) for a while at a remote spot located in some rural mountainous area of France, and the movie subtly suggests some tension between her and her husband when her private interview by a young (and attractive) graduate student in their house is interrupted by his deliberate interference from the attic.

Not long after that young graduate student eventually leaves, Daniel also leaves the house along with his helper dog, so only Sandra and her husband are inside their house, and that is when something quite shocking occurs. Samuel is subsequently found dead on the snowy ground right in front of the house by Daniel shortly after his return to the house, and the local police soon embark on investigating this very unfortunate incident while Sandra looks as devastated as her son.

However, is she really as shocked as she seems on the surface? Yes, she called for the ambulance right after hearing her son’s shout and then finding her husband’s dead body, but the police and the investigative judge begin to suspect her due to understandable causes. For example, it looks like her husband just fell over the windowsill of the attic window while he was working in the attic, but there are a number of glaring discrepancies to notice, and, not so surprisingly, Sandra later finds herself becoming the focus of the investigation. She claims that she did not know anything before her discovery of her husband’s body because she worked for a while and then slept around the time of the incident, but there is no definite proof to support her testimony from the beginning.

Daniel’s lawyer Vincent Renzi (Swann Arlaud) is ready to do his best as an old friend of her, but things get more complicated as more things about the incident as well as Sandra and her husband are revealed via the ongoing investigation. While her son’s testimony on whatever was exchanged between her and her husband right before the incident turns out to be not that reliable, there is also a certain undeniable piece of evidence which clearly shows how much her relationship with Samuel was deteriorated around the time of the incident, and that makes Sandra all the more suspicious than before.

Eventually, Sandra is charged for causing her husband’s death, and the screenplay by director Justin Triet and her co-writer/partner Arthur Harari, who previously worked together in “Sybil” (2019), doles out one intense moment after another as Sandra’s lawyer and his fellow lawyer frequently clash with the prosecutor over a series of evidences and testimonies. Yes, many of them show that the death of Sandra’s husband was probably not accidental at all, but there is also a reasonable doubt on whether Sandra was really responsible for this incident. Is she really a cold, selfish, and manipulative woman who did not love her husband much as suggested by the prosecutor? Or, is she simply a conflicted woman who did try her best for handling her increasingly difficult relationship with her husband?

The movie steadily maintains the accumulating ambiguity surrounding the incident, even when it shows us more of what happened between Sandra and her husband while everyone in the court listens to a certain recording presented as one of the prime evidences presented by the prosecution. Under Triet’s skillful direction, Sandra Hüller and Samuel Theis subtly handle this key scene while also vividly conveying to us the emotional intensity generated between their characters, and Hüller, who has been more prominent thanks to her breakout performance in Maren Ade’s “Toni Erdmann” (2016), is fabulous as deftly illustrating her character without never making us sure about her character’s possible culpability.

Around Hüller, several supporting performers have each moment to shine. Swann Arlaud and Antoine Reinartz, who plays the prosecutor, are superlative as their respective characters frequently argue against each other throughout the trial, and young performer Milo Machado-Graner is exceptional as holding his own place well as Sandra’s gradually conflicted son. Although he was initially sure about his mother’s innocence, Daniel cannot help but have doubts on his mother as getting to know more about the incident at the trial, and his consequent conflict is quite palpable to us even when he later makes a crucial decision which will ultimately affect the outcome of the trial.

On the whole, “Anatomy of a Fall”, whose title is apparently derived from Otto Preminger’s classic courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Murder” (1959), is a superb work which deserves to be praised and admired for its excellent storytelling and top-notch performance. Despite its rather long running time (152 minutes), the movie never feels tedious as firmly holding our attention from the beginning to the end, and it is certainly one of the most impressive films of this year.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Monster (2023) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): “Who is the monster?”

Posted on November 30, 2023 by kaist455

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest film “Monster” seems rather disturbing and frustrating at first and then becomes something much more compelling and powerful than expected. As moving from one viewpoint to another along the plot, the movie gradually and sensitively delves into the aching matters of heart occupying the center of the story, and the result is another stellar work from a master filmmaker who has consistently impressed us during last three decades since “Maboroshi” (1995).

After the opening incident which throws a dark overtone over the story, the first act of the movie focuses on the daily life of a single mother named Saori Mugino (Sakura Andō) and her young son Minato (Sōya Kurokawa). While they initially seem happy and content together on the surface, Minato begins to ask odd and weird questions to his mother for no apparent reason, and Saori begins to suspect that something is quite wrong with her son as he continues to show inexplicable behaviors.

Minato later says that he was verbally and physically abused by his homeroom teacher Michitoshi Hori (Eita Nagayama), and Saori naturally becomes quite enraged about this. She subsequently goes to Minato’s school for telling everything to the principal of the school, but then she only gets frustrated more as the principal and several other teachers do not seem that active about handling this serious problem of her son. They all look like caring more about protecting their school’s reputation, and Mr. Hori is not even willing to apologize for whatever he did to her son. Eventually, Saori gets what she demands to the principal and other teachers including Mr. Hori, but that does not seem to make her son feel better nonetheless.

Around that narrative point, the screenplay by Yuji Sakamoto, which received the Best Screenplay award when the movie was shown at the Cannes Film Festival early in this year, shows more of what really happened as shifting itself to Mr. Hori’s viewpoint. Although he often looks strained and awkward in his attitude, Mr. Hori turns out to be a fairly good teacher on the whole, and we are not so surprised when it turns out that he did not lie to Saori at all when he tried to explain to her about what actually happened between him and her son on that day.

However, Mr. Hori is eventually forced to bend in front of the accusation against him because of the principal and other teachers. He soon finds himself literally on the edge as unfairly stigmatized in public to his frustration and exasperation, and then he comes to notice something important about Minato and Yori Hoshikawa (Hinata Hiiragi), a little boy who has been constantly ostracized by some of Minato’s mean classmates.

When the story enters its final act, we already got some cluse about whatever is going on between Minato and Yori. It seems that those strange questions of Minato are associated with Yori, and we are all the more disturbed by Yori’s supposedly happy-go-lucky attitude, which looks more like hiding something quite dark behind it. As the movie focuses on him more and more along the story, you may come to wonder more about whom its title exactly refers to, and I must confess that I braced myself for a while for the worst possibility about his relationship with Minato during my viewing.

All I can tell you for now is that the revelation during the final act does not turn out to be as dark as I dreaded before that point, though the movie is chilling and disturbing at times for several good reasons I will let you discover. Under Kore-eda’s sensitive and thoughtful direction, the story does not falter at all even when it understandably becomes quite melodramatic with everything eventually revealed to us with considerable dramatic impact, and the restrained score by Ryuichi Sakamoto, who sadly passed away a few months before the movie was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, is steadily calm and somber without overstepping at all.

Again, Kore-eda draws excellent performances from his performers. Sakura Andō, who previously collaborated with Kore-eda in “Shoplifters” (2018), and Eita Nagayama are solid as their characters desperately struggle with their respective complicated situations, and Yūko Tanaka has several wonderful moments of her own as her principal character comes to show more of her hidden inner thoughts and feelings behind her detachedly courteous façade. Although their acting may feel a bit artificial at first, Sōya Kurokawa and Hinata Hiiragi, who are inarguably the heart and soul of the movie, are commendable in their effortless interactions throughout the film, and they and several other young performers in the film remind me again of how Kore-eda has been always good at handling child performers.

In conclusion, “Monster” may initially demand some patience as holding back some secrets and facts behind its back, but the overall result is powerful enough to justify its storytelling approach. As reflected by small and big story elements ranging from watermelon to rainy storm, Kore-eda, who previously tried some artistic experiment outside Japan as shown from “The Truth” (2019) and “Broker” (2022), is back in his usual territory, but he demonstrates here that he is willing to advance more for new and different things, and he surely succeeds in engaging and touching us as before. In short, the movie is one of the best films of this year besides being another terrific work from one of the great filmmakers in our time, and you should certainly check it out especially if you have admired many of Kore-eda’s films as I have for years.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Withstanding and Existing (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): Some musicians at one old movie theater

Posted on November 27, 2023 by kaist455

My hometown Jeonju has a certain area in the middle of its old downtown area, which has been the center of Jeonju International Film Festival for more than 20 years. It surely has several big movie theaters even at present, but many of them were changed into multiplex movie theaters around the beginning of the 21st century, and now the area accordingly looks quite different compared to my personal memories associated with it.

That is why I became a bit nostalgic as watching South Korean independent film “Withstanding and Existing”, which is mainly set in one very old movie theater in Gwangju. Although I have never been there, the interior spaces in this historic theater, which was incidentally built in 1935, evoked my old memories of those old movie theaters of Jeonju in the past, and my mind sometimes got lost in these memories as I enjoyed a series of lovely musical performance scenes in the documentary.

However, the documentary is more about present and future than past. After presenting a very simple historical background of the movie theater in the documentary, the movie has a group of various independent musicians perform their music inside the movie theater one by one, and it also listens to them talking about how they have managed to not only withstand but also exist for years despite their frequent struggles and hardships.

To be frank with you, I do not know anything about these musicians in the documentary, but I can tell you that 1) they are fairly good ones whom you may check out later and 2) they surely know one or two things about how to live while passionately pursuing their artistic passion. In case of one particular band consisting of five dudes, they may look as silly as the Spinal Tap during their little performance in the screening room of the movie theater, but we can sense that they are really bonded together via their common artistic dedication, and you may smile a bit when they frankly reveal how they have managed to endure and prevail together for years despite their considerable personality difference.

In case of one male independent musician, he presents a wonderful opening performance which effectively sets the tone for the other musicians in the documentary. During his musical performance, he simply stands on a corridor inside the movie theater as singing and playing his guitar, but his rather old-fashioned style actually fits well with the shabby ambiance of the movie theater, and he is also engaging as he eagerly talks about his life and career after his musical performance.

I also enjoy the part featuring a female independent musician who presents her modest song about probability. During her interview, she talks mostly about how uncertain life can be for us, and her following musical performance, which is unfolded at the staircase inside the movie theater, somehow made me reflect me on a certain part of my inconsequential private life. So far, I have stumbled again and again as clumsily pursuing any possibility of romance, but I may actually find someone I can really love, right?

To each musician in the documentary, director Gwon Churl throws one interesting question: what is the first movie they saw at movie theater? To my little amusement, their answers are different one by one, while reminding me that most of them belong to the younger generation after mine. Their first movie theater experiences are usually associated with the movies from the 2000s, and this certainly told me that I am really old compared to them. After all, my nostalgic movie theater memories come from many notable movies during the 1990s ranging from “JFK” (1991) to “American Beauty” (1999), and my first active movie theater experience was “Hook” (1991), which is rather flawed but occupies a little special place somewhere in my mind.

Vividly conveying to us the lingering sense of past here and there in the movie theater, the documentary adds some nice visual touches to be appreciated. Besides being shot in the screen ratio of 1.33:1, the deliberately old-fashioned font of its subtitle will definitely delight and amuse anyone who has ever had a movie theater experience during the 1980-90s in South Korea, and the movie theater in the documentary comes to us as a special place where past is casually mingled with present and future.

This interesting aspect is emphasized further by the epilogue part featuring a middle-aged painter who has drawn many promotional stuffs for the movie theater. Although his prime business period is approaching to its closing time, he does not consider quitting at all because he has really been proud of his many different works, and his own commercial art will feel all the more precious to you if you think more about how blandly homogeneous many of movie promotional stuffs have been these days.

On the whole, “Withstanding and Existing” is more about mood and music than information and enlightenment, but it is a delightful experience for anyone who cares a lot about movie theater experience like I and many other moviegoers out there. Although I did not get to know that much about that movie theater, the documentary made me consider going there someday, and that says a lot about how it serves its purpose as much as intended.

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

Birth (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): A hell called pregnancy

Posted on November 26, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean film “Birth” was often difficult to watch for me. Because I saw its trailer a few weeks ago, I braced myself even before the screening was started, and, boy, it turns out to be as grimly intense as I could possibly expect. To be frank with you, I silently winced and cringed a lot during my viewing, but the movie still held my attention to the end thanks to its competent direction and admirable lead performances, so I will tell you in detail on why it is worthwhile to watch, even though I am still trembling inside my mind at present.

The opening part of the film slowly establishes the fairly good relationship between a young woman named Jae-i (Han Hae-in) and her boyfriend Geon-woo (Lee Han-ju). While Geon-woo works at a private English academy, Jae-i is a promising writer who has recently finished her second novel, and, according to her female editor, it looks better than the first one. As a matter of fact, the editor suggests that Jae-i should quickly move onto writing the next one, and Jae-i has no problem with that at all as becoming more confident than before. While she begins to write in a small flat where she and Geon-woo have lived, Geon-woo is willing to support her as before, and it looks like everything will be just fine for them as usual.

However, alas, there comes an unexpected matter for both of them. On one day, Jae-i goes to a women’s clinic for a little medical problem, and, what do you know, she turns out to have been pregnant for at least 3 months. Because she and Geon-woo agreed on not having a baby and have always been cautious about that, they are flabbergasted a lot by this surprising news, and Jae-i quickly becomes quite anxious and confused to say the least. She is currently in the middle of what may be the most important point in her writing career, and having a baby is certainly the last thing she wants right now.

Naturally, Jae-i decides to have an abortion as soon possible, but then she comes to have doubts on her initial decisions. A doctor tells her that abortion can be quite risky for her rather fragile physical condition, and, above all, Geon-woo is not particularly willing to accept her initial decision. He promises to her that he will do everything for not only her pregnancy but also her writing career, and his sincere promise eventually makes Jae-i change her mind.

However, as many of you have already expected, things soon do not go that well for both of them within a few months. Jae-i really tries a lot for balancing herself between her work and her ongoing pregnancy, but she only finds herself quite frustrated with how she often becomes emotionally and physically vulnerable – and how that frequently affects her writing process. She manages to complete her next novel, but then it is not accepted that well by her editor, who kindly recommends Jae-i to take some break for her pregnancy.

However, Jae-i cannot help but become more worried because her pregnancy may terminate her writing career, and, unfortunately, Geon-woo does not provide her enough support and help as becoming busier with several matters at his workplace. The director of his private English academy promises him promotion in exchange of doing some extra works, but he soon comes to realize that he was deceived from the very start, and his resulting anger and frustration exacerbate the accumulating conflict between him and Jae-i.

As we come to brace ourselves more for what may inevitably happen sooner or later, the screenplay by director/writer Yoo Ji-young, who previously made “Duck Town” (2017), slowly builds up tension under the surface. Although its running time (155 minutes) is a bit too long in my trivial opinion, the movie steadily engages us via realistic mood and details, and the gradual implosion of Jae-i and Geon-woo’s relationship is illustrated with considerable emotional intensity. Around the narrative point where they inadvertently come to hurt not only each other but also themselves, we are certainly shocked but not that surprised, because we have closely followed and observed what has been angering and frustrating them along the story.

The movie surely depends a lot on the strong performances of its two lead performers, who do not hesitate to delve into their respective characters’ human flaws. Han Hae-in is constantly compelling as palpably conveying to us her character’s dynamic emotional conflicts, and that is why it is a bit relieving for us to watch when Jae-i happens to have a little unexpected moment of empathy and consolation later in the story. On the opposite, Lee Han-ju is equally convincing as ably complementing his co-star, and I sincerely wish that his increasingly pathetic character will be an effective lesson to anyone with a pregnant girlfriend or spouse.

Overall, “Birth” is a tough stuff to say the least, but I recommend it mainly for being another well-made South Korean film about pregnancy after Namkoong Sun’s “Ten Months” (2020). While I think “Ten Months” is a better one, both of these two movies will definitely show you how things can be grim and difficult for pregnant women in the South Korean society, and you will not be surprised by how the birth rate in the South Korean society has been hitting the new bottom again and again these days. Things must really be changed for women as well as the whole South Korean society right now, but, seriously, will that ever happen, I wonder?

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Big Sleep (2022) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): His curt kindness

Posted on November 25, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean film “Big Sleep”, which is incidentally not associated with American classic noir film “The Big Sleep” (1946) at all, is a moody social drama which somehow fails to engage me. While it surely shows us well the harsh reality surrounding its two main characters on the screen, the movie often feels flat and deficient in terms of storytelling and characterization, and we only come to observe its two main characters from the distance without really getting to know them.

The early part of the film establishes how things have been hard and difficult for Gi-yeong (Kim Young-sung). He lives alone in a small apartment, and he has earned his meager living via working in some small local factory, but his detached face clearly shows how much he has been tired and frustrated with his life for years. At one point, he visits his ailing father’s residence, and it is very evident to us that he has some old issues with his father, but the movie never clarifies these issues except implying that he is still angry and resentful about his father.

When Gi-yeong leaves his apartment for his work on one cold winter morning, he finds an adolescent boy sleeping on a wooden bench in front of the apartment building. This boy, named Gil-ho (Choi Joon-woo), left his home due to his stepfather’s domestic violence, and he has been hanging around with several teenage runaways not so different from him. Although their first encounter is not so gentle to say the least, Gi-yeong subsequently lets Gil-ho into his residence, and Gil-ho is certainly grateful to him for that although he naturally feels awkward about this unexpected kindness of a stranger.

What follows next is how tentatively these two different characters open more of themselves to each other. After trusting Gi-yeong more during next several days, Gil-ho tells a bit about why he left his home, and Gi-yeong does not judge him at all while giving him some brutal advice as a guy who probably had a fair share of domestic problems in the past due to his father. Despite his rather curt and disaffected appearance, he turns out to be much more capable of kindness and compassion, and he is going to let Gi-ho stay longer at his residence as long as Gil-ho does not cause any trouble.

Of course, the situation becomes problematic due to Gil-ho’s fellow teenage runaways. When they come to learn that Gil-ho is staying in Gi-yeong’s house, they naturally want to come there, and Gil-ho cannot possibly say no because of the peer pressure upon him. Although he knows well that he is betraying Gi-yeong, but he only finds himself cornered by the aggressive leader of his group, and his unwise choice consequently leads to a big conflict between him and Gi-yeong.

Meanwhile, the screenplay by director/writer Kim Tae-hoon, who made a feature film debut here after making several short films, also focuses on Gi-yeong’s workplace problem. As the company has some serious business trouble, downsizing seems quite eventual, though the foreman assures to Gi-yeong that he will be all right in the end. When he is later instructed to do something quite illegal along with several other employees, Gi-yeong feels very conflicted, but there is nothing he can do about that.

However, this subplot does not lead to anything while only emphasizing how life remains hard and difficult for Gi-yeong, and the same thing can be said about the subplot involved with a young female employee. She seems to be interested in getting a little closer to Gi-yeong, but romance is the last thing Gi-yeong wants – even when she approaches to him more actively than before.

In the end, the story eventually arrives at the point where Gi-yeong really tries to do more for Gil-ho simply he cares about Gil-ho, but the movie does not build up much emotional ground for that. Not so surprisingly, Gi-yeong comes to clash with Gil-ho’s fellow teenage runaways and their leader later in the stry, but the following outcome is pretty predictable to say the least, and there is not much resolution for Gi-yeong and Gil-ho’s relationship even in the end. We do not get much sense of how their relationship has been changed, and we are only reminded that things remain quite uncertain for both of them because there is still that harsh reality outside.

At least, its two lead actors did a good job of embodying their respective roles without much pretension. While his character sometimes feels a little too obtuse, Kim Young-sung ably suggests the softer sides hidden behind his character’s weary attitude, and his solid performance dutifully carries the film to the end. On the opposite, Choi Joon-woo is stuck with his relatively underdeveloped character, but he holds his own place well besides his co-actor at least, and I think the movie could be more improved if it simply allowed more space and time for their acting talent.

In conclusion, “Big Sleep” is not entirely without engaging elements to notice, but it ultimately left me with dissatisfaction because its sincerity is frequently inhibited by its adamantly gloomy realism. It does care a lot about its story subject, but it is often too curt and restrained to show more of its heart just like its hero, and the result is just another solemn and depressing slice of South Korean life. No, I do not mind watching such a thing like that, but the movie does not distinguish itself enough on the whole, and that is all I can tell you for now.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A Man Who Heals the City (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): One decent old man

Posted on November 25, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean documentary film “A Man Who Heal the City” intrigues us as observing one decent old man from the distance for a good reason. Although he helped and supported many different people for several decades as a respected local patron and philanthropist in his small city, he was so humble and casual about that he was not so willing to say much in front of the camera, and there is some amusing tension between him and a local journalist doing some research on his many good deeds in the past.

At first, a bunch of interviewees in the documentary gladly tell us about what an exceptional human being he is. Thanks to his very successful oriental medicine pharmacy mainly driven by his good will and sheer diligence, Kim Jang-ha earned a considerable amount of money every day during the prime of his life and career in a small local city named Jinju, but, instead of spending on himself or saving for himself, he simply donated his money for many different causes ranging from scholarship to public welfare, and he is still willing to go on as much as possible even though he is about to retire now.

As a journalist who once worked in a local newspaper supported a lot by this admirable old man, Kim Joo-wan has been certainly interested in writing a book about him, but Kim Jang-ha is initially adamant about not telling anything about what he did for many other people out there. In his viewpoint, he simply did what was needed to be done for them, and he certainly did not want to boast about that at all. No matter how much Kim Joo-wan tries, Kim Jang-ha remains calmly unflappable, and the mood becomes a bit humorous as the camera focuses on a series of rather silent moments between them.

After that point, Kim Joo-wan decides to interview instead a number of people who know Kim Jang-ha, and all of them surely have plenty to tell in front of the camera as remembering how much they were respectively helped by him in one way or another. When Kim Joo-wan goes to a little country village where Kim Jang-ha started his pharmacy business, a couple who were his neighbors tell us about how Kim Jan-ha was quite philanthropic even during that time. There also were hundreds of poor students considerably helped by the scholarship funded by him, and one of them is currently working as one of the judges in the Constitutional Court of South Korea. As shown from one archival video clip, this man still remembers how much he was helped by his generous benefactor at that time, and I can only hope that he will continue to remember that to the end as a public servant.

Besides his scholarship, Kim Jang-ha also founded a private high school in the 1980s simply because he had enough money for that, and the former teachers of that school reminisce about how exemplar he was as the founder/board chairman. He never interfered with how they taught those students, and he also willingly protected them from the pressures from the power that be, just because he really trusted and supported them. When many of teachers formed a union several years later, he never objected to that from the beginning, and he did not give a damn at all about how much he was pressured or criticized for that.

In addition, Kim Jang-ha was quite open-minded about public welfare, and we see several examples of that. For instance, he has been the patron of a local theater company, and he supported an organization for illuminating many hidden pasts of his city. He has also been very passionate about several issues of equality, and he actually funded a local shelter for female domestic abuse survivors.

Later in the documentary, Kim Jang-ha becomes a bit more opened to Kim Joo-wan, though he remains as quiet and humble as usual. He still does not talk much about his private life, so Kim Joo-wan and director Kim Hyun-ji interview his wife instead for a while, but she simply implies that it has been not so easy for her and her family to live with him. After all, as the family members of a man who has been regarded like a living saint, they have to be rather cautious about their words and behaviors, don’t they?

In the end, there comes a bittersweet moment as Kim Jang-ha is going through what will be the last day for his pharmacy business, and it is touching to watch how he is appreciated by a bunch of people dropping by his pharmacy for showing genuine gratitude. Understanding how humble he is, they simply give a little flower bouquet, but that is more than enough for him to say the least, and he is already ready to move onto what will be the last chapter of his life.

Overall, “A Man Who Heals the City”, which was initially produced as a TV documentary but then got released in South Korean theaters a few weeks ago, is a modest but moving presentation of one remarkable human being who has spread good will throughout his whole life, and he would be certainly admired by my late mentor/friend Roger Ebert. Ebert once said this: “I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do.” As far as I can see from the documentary, Kim Jang-ha is a prime example of Ebert’s valuable standard of humanity, and I assure you that you will never forget this man after watching this little documentary.

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

12.12: The Day (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): That infamous night in Seoul, 1979

Posted on November 22, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean film “12.12: The Day” is an intense fictionalized version of what happened at one terrible night of December 1979 in Seoul. Although I and many other South Korean audiences are well aware of how the story eventually ends, the movie did a fairly good job of holding our attention for more than 2 hours, and it wisely lets us reflect more on one of the darkest times in the South Korean history during the late 20th century when it finally arrives at its expectedly grim and bitter ending.

At the beginning, the movie quickly shows and tells how things became quite uncertain after the sudden assassination of Park Chung-hee, a military dictator who ruled over the country for 18 years since his coup d’état in 1961 and then got killed by one of his right-hand guys on October 26th, 1979. As everyone at the top of the South Korean government and military tried to handle the aftermath as much as possible, many people in South Korea demanded democracy more than before, and it looked like a spring of democracy would come to the country at last.

However, there was one ambitious military general on the rise, and the early part of the film depicts how insidiously he usurped the South Korean government and military step by step. After being charged with the investigation on Park’s assassination, General Chun Doo-gwang (Hwang Jung-min), who is clearly based on Chun Doo-hwan, promptly embarks on taking control here and there, and many of his inner circle members in the South Korean Army gladly support and assist him without any hesitation.

Of course, this does not look that good to Jeong Sang-ho (Lee Sung-min), who is apparently based on Jeong Seung-hwa, the South Korean Army Chief of Staff at that time. After seeing how Jeon and his people occupy one spot after another at the top of the South Korean Army, the chief naturally becomes warier of Jeon, so he appoints Lee Tae-shin (Jung Woo-sung), who is indubitably based on General Jang Tae-wan, as the new Commander of the Capital Garrison Command in Seoul because Lee is one of the most trustworthy and responsible generals in the South Korean Army.

However, around the time Jeong and General Lee attempt to stand on his way to the absolute power, General Chun has already been planning a coup d’état along with his inner circle members. First, they are going to “arrest” the chief for an utterly false charge, and they will quickly get the official authorization from the current President, who is your average pushover to be bullied or persuaded by General Chun.

Once he belatedly comes to realize what is happening right now, General Lee tries to do what he is supposed to do as a soldier who swore to protect his country and government, but, alas, he soon finds himself quite frustrated and exasperated not only outside but also inside. While General Chun and his accomplices gradually take the control of the ongoing situation outside, General Lee is frequently blocked by the sheer incompetence of top-ranking generals and government officials, and the possibility of defeat become more imminent to him and a few trusted soldiers and officials of his minute by minute.

I do not know how much the movie fictionalizes its real-life story, but director/co-writer King Sung-su and his crew members including cinematographer Lee Mo-gae and editor Kim Sang-beom did a commendable job of engaging us throughout its rather long running time (141 minutes). Although it often busily juggling a number of characters and storylines, the movie never gets us lost or confused, and it thankfully does not try any unnecessary melodrama as efficiently conveying to us a palpably suspenseful sense of urgency and desperation along the story.

In case of the main cast members of the film, they dutifully fill their respective spots with each own presence. Hwang Jung-min surely has the showiest role in the movie as expected, and he accordingly chews every scene of his as the movie coldly presents his character as a vile and domineering bully willing to go all the way for his despicable military gamble. On the opposite, Jung Woo-sung is effective as an unflappable man of integrity and honor, and he is especially good during one dramatic scene where his character valiantly stops alone a bunch of approaching soldiers on a bridge to Seoul. Several main cast members including Lee Sung-min, Park Hae-joon, Kim Sung-kyun, and Kim Eui-sung are also fine in their crucial supporting parts, and Jung Man-sik, who has been one of notable South Korean character actors since I and other South Korean audiences noticed his substantial supporting turn in Yang Ik-june’s powerfully gritty independent film “Breathless” (2008), makes the best of his rather brief appearance as a hardcore general who will not easily step back at all just like General Lee even when he is really against the wall.

In conclusion, despite some glaring weak points including its inherent lack of substantial female characters in the story, “12.12: The Day”, which is released as “Spring in Seoul” in South Korean theaters today, skillfully handles the tragic aspects of its gloomy historical aspects, and it feels rather timely considering how not only South Korean and many other countries in the world are more threatened by the ongoing rise of fascism day by day. Yes, this is surely a “feel-bad” film, but it engaged me enough in addition to inducing some thought and reflection in my mind after the screening, and that is what a good movie can do in my inconsequential opinion.

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