Tag Archives: Real-life incident

20 Days in Mariupol (2023) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A close look into one Ukrainian city under siege

Posted on December 6, 2023 by kaist455

Ukrainian documentary “20 Days in Mariupol”, which received the Audience Award at the World Cinema Documentary Competition of the Sundance Film Festival early in this year, is a vivid and disturbing presentation of the first 20 days of one Ukrainian … Continue reading →

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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, … Continue reading →

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Captain Volkonogov Escaped (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): Escaping for redemption

Posted on August 29, 2023 by kaist455

“Captain Vokonogov Escaped” sounds like your typical war thriller flick, but it reaches for something else instead, and that is interesting in my humble opinion. Following its plain military officer hero’s desperate attempt toward redemption and some peace, the movie … Continue reading →

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Finding Yingying (2020) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Yingying Zhang is missing

Posted on August 20, 2023 by kaist455

Documentary film “Finding Yingying” focuses on the undeniably heartbreaking human aspects of one real-life missing case. Yingying Zhang, a graduate student at University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois who was only 26 at the time of her missing, is a … Continue reading →

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Oppenheimer (2023) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): American Prometheus

Posted on August 16, 2023 by kaist455

Christopher Nolan’s latest film “Oppenheimer”, which was finally released in South Korean yesterday, is overwhelming to say the least. If you do not have much knowledge about its real-life hero’s life and career, you may get confused more than once … Continue reading →

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206: Unearthed (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): Unearthing the tragedies of the Korean War

Posted on July 1, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean documentary film “206: Unearthed” illuminates one tragic fact of the Korean War, which I and other South Koreans should remember as long as possible. During that dark and dangerous period, millions of innocent civilians were massacred around the … Continue reading →

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Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower (2017) ☆☆☆(3/4): A vivid chronicle of the Umbrella Revolution

Posted on June 5, 2023 by kaist455

I could not help but feel a bit depressed as belatedly checking out Netflix documentary film “Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower”, which closely follows Joshua Wong and what he actively led along with many young people in Hong Kong during 2012-2016, … Continue reading →

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Victim/Suspect (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Victims treated as “suspects”

Posted on May 30, 2023 by kaist455

It is often infuriating to watch Netflix documentary film “Victim/Suspect”, which was released in last week. Closely following one steady and persistent investigative reporting process, the documentary shows us how many of sexual assault survivors in US have been grossly … Continue reading →

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Three (2020) ☆☆1/2 (2.5/4): A dryly chilling serial killing story from Kazakhstan

Posted on May 12, 2023 by kaist455

Not long after “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” (2006) was released, there came “Tulpan” (2008), a little overlooked comic gem from Kazakhstan which shows a lot about that country which was hilariously misrepresented … Continue reading →

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Holy Spider (2022) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Based on one real-life Iranian serial killing case

Posted on February 6, 2023 by kaist455

Ali Abbasi’s third feature film “Holy Spider”, which was selected as the Danish submission to Best International Film Oscar in last year and then included in the finalist in this category, is a calm but angry crime thriller film loosely … Continue reading →

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