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narim-kim
Reviews
Ladybugs (1992)
So bad that is so good!
It is so refreshing to see a movie with such vulgar jokes considering it is a kid's movie or at least movie where the adolescent is one of the main characters. The timing of the jokes is stellar and they are so politically incorrect and I never realized that I missed this type of humor. This would push so many buttons on any average PC folks.
In 2021 where someone can self-determine one's gender and a biologically-male athlete compete with biologically-female athletes based on their science-defying self-identity, the joke is now on our generation. This movie unintentionally became a prophetic little comedy
Yes I know I did not give perfect score, because honestly it is a sloppy movie, in terms of the craft of filmmaking.
The Kindness of Strangers (2019)
great cast, yet lacking of back stories
I overall enjoyed the film!
Being an actual NYC resident, I thought this Danish director (I loved her ITALIAN FOR BEGINNERS film when I was a budding film buff early 2000s) maybe romanticized NYC a bit too much, but I do understand she wanted to focus on the "KINDNESS" of the city towards these protagonists..
The main plot, which is a mother with two sons fleeing from their abusive husband/father, was quite convincing and engaging but the characters around these three protagonists have no enough back story to make the audience convince those characters' worth..
Bill Nighy and Andrea Riseborough were quite good supporting actors, though.
Especially, Ms. Riseborough's performance was very distinct from her other films and made me see her in a wider spectrum (always had preconception of her playing solely characters that are mentally depressed ..)
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2020)
Politics aside, very weak successor to the first Borat movie
Saw the original Borat when I was a student in Canada.
(by the way, I am a "legal alien" visa holder in the US, so have no voting rights and no party affiliation)
Absolutely loved the original Borat in 2006 and it remained as one of the best mockumentary/ comedy film upto this point (will be so forever more)
So now I am married, and my wife never saw the original Borat,
And we saw that AMAZON PRIME VIDEO has both the original and the new sequel available for free, so we decided to make it a movie night and see both chronologically.
My wife was absolutely amused with the original Borat and it was the 3rd/4th time viewing it for me and I still loved it.
Then we saw this Borat sequel (Subsequent Moviefilm) the very next day,
and I can directly say this sequel is a total trash from beginning to end. It felt they had to rush through the production..it was not as meticulously crafted like the first Borat film, and political argument made in this film is also not as convincing as it could have been. I am giving only two stars for the actress who plays the daughter.
Maybe the worst movie that I saw in 2020 (and believe me, I saw a lot of movies because of the lockdown)
Lion (2016)
Powerful first half, the second half not as much
Minor spoilers included in this review
First of all, it is indeed a powerful real-life event and I was very touched after learning the stories behind the real-life protagonist of this film.
The first half of movie is the life of young-adolescent Saroo (played by Sunny Pawar)
and second half is the life of Young-adult Saroo (played by Dev Patel)
both actors brings a powerful performance and the latter half even features power-house performances from Rooney Mara and Nicole Kidman.
But the first half which is played by then-unknown actors was somehow more convincing and easier to get absorbed to the story. I am not trying to say that well-known actors are getting in the way of the story (or maybe I am saying that, but I am too nice to say it blatantly), but the film only shows young Saroo's life when he was 5-6 years old, and then when it skips to young-adult Saroo all of sudden being in his mid-20s, haunted by the his life events at his adolescent life, becuase of that 15-18 years gap between two stories, it is really hard to delve into the psyche of the young-adult characters.
I understand this is a feature-length movie and you cannot pull your inner Scorsese/Tarantino out by going over 3 hours of running time but be rather economical with it. But because of the sudden time skip between two eras in the story, and because the first half takes place in India and second half in Australia all of sudden, it seems like watching two separate films - almost like a double-bill.
I wish there was a better transition between two parts.
But the story itself is very powerful and has a provocative message on Adoption issues and mental health. The second half is a definite tear-jerker, it is quite impossible fight back the tears even when you know how the movie was better in the first half.
I hope they make a short TV series with the same story, so the story delves into Saroo's life between 5yr old- 20yr old.
This movie also made me realize how the story is greater than its performer. Despite the excellent acting from all the actors in the second half, it just could not exceed the more powerful first half played by Sunny Pawar and Abhishek Bharate
Incendies (2010)
First review after seeing this film 7 years ago
It definitely has aged well
After the first screening several years ago I thought that Canada have give the world another master director and that impression has not changed at all ever since he became one of the highest paid directors in Hollywood.
This movie immediately made it to my personal top 10 list right after I saw it, and what is remarkable is that my ever-changing top ten list still has this movie in it, which, although I am merely a nobody, the movie is passing the test of time. Despite all the movies that Denis have made recently with big budget Hollywood studios, I still rank this film as his best.
I guess this was not a review at all, just a testament to my sentiment toward this movie