A sparkling, incisive, progressive-minded comedy-drama that leaves much of this genre looking exactly like the disguised condoning of tradition it really is. One can only begin to imagine how entrenched thinkers in Korean society would react to this honest, observant, level-headed look at four late-twenty-somethings for whom life provides obstacles in both career and love that neither regressive-collective cultural thinking nor parents - who barely figure into the plot - can solve. Nan (Chang Jin-young), is a wide-eyed fashion industry drone busted down to Chilli's manager by her sexist middle manager. The shift stings, but also points out realities she's not entirely uncomfortable with. Into her world comes Seo- hoon (Kim Ju-hyeok) a decent-fella securities trader who clearly wants to pursue a relationship despite her reservations. Meanwhile, her best friend Dong Mi (Uhm Jeong-hwa), a web company employee out of work thanks to her own sexist superior, shares a flat with old pal Joon (Lee Beom-soo, in a 180 degree turn from his creepy role in OH! Brothers), who's as unsuccessful at removing himself from bad relationships as she is successful at bringing home a long string of bad boyfriends. That both of these couples should end up together is a given. That the film provides no easy resolutions yet plenty of optimism for these truly modern Korean women is the year's most pleasant K-cinema surprise: it allows the protagonists an honesty and resolve in deciding their own fates that many recent K- comedies seem hell-bent on denying similar characters. Here, marriage to a handsome man and financial success - long the expectations of many young Korean women - are not depicted as an absolute guarantee of security and/or happiness, and turning 30 without being defined is hardly the end of the world, particularly for Korean women who remain adaptable to the changes happening around them, rather than being pressured to fit a mold as their ancestors were. Fine acting across the board, anchored by Chang's captivating, believable performance, raises this far above the low-brow antics too often seen in these kinds of films (CRAZY FIRST LOVE immediately comes to mind). Almost needless to say, but the production design and cinematography are sterling, with warm and inviting environments (including an absolutely gorgeous Seoul) a veritable extension of the optimism with which these characters ultimately face their uncertain future. Must-see contemporary Korean cinema, and easily one against which all similar Korean romantic films should be measured. 10.
Reviews
45 Reviews
Piano chineun daetongryeong
(2002)
A piano president in a ridiculous candy floss fantasy
13 May 2005
You know those moments in American movies about fictional presidents where the heroine (it's almost always a heroine) realizes just what a normal, decent, lovelorn man-of-the-people the president really is, a moment that usually solidifies her love for him? Well, leave it to the Koreans to construct a movie almost entirely out of scenes like those. In fact, this film's President Han (Ahn Sung-ki) is such a man of the people, he hangs out in subways with bums and drives the occasional cab to find out what his citizens really think! His approach to policy amounts to centrist vagaries like "Our policy shouldn't be superficial or formal, but full of hope for the future is most important." Yes, Ahn Sung-ki makes a very cuddly president, which is probably why a no-nonsense high school teacher named Choi Eun-soo (Cha Ji-woo), who takes no crap from his bratty daughter, eventually falls for him after a series of romantic moments (on a city bus, at a jazz festival, in a tavern closet, on a rainy Seoul sidewalk and via a piano serenade of "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing" - that in any other cinema besides Korea's would be loosely termed as stalking. If one had to pick a Korean actor to play the Korean president, it would be Ahn Sung-ki, and I'm absolutely certain the dignified, popular actor would top many filmmakers' lists as well. Now if only one of them had thought of the idea before writer/director Jeon, who wallows in candy floss sentimentality that doesn't require much conflict and has little payoff, Ahn could have had the role of a lifetime. Of interest in this film is the fact that the characters discuss (and constantly hear the theme song from) the Hollywood soaper LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING, which featured Korean-American actor Phillip Ahn in a sizable role. 3.
Bizarre
(1979–1986)
Long overdue for a DVD release
4 May 2005
Bizarre has aged much more gracefully than one might expect. Sure, it dates from a time when names like Bella Abzug, Henry Kissinger, Tom Snyder were punchlines in and of themselves (though barely, and more often because they simply sounded funny as punchlines), and sure, host/cast leader John Byner was probably given too many opportunities to run through a surprisingly (for his talents) limited range of impersonations that had been serving him well since the Sullivan show in the 60's (Paul Lynde, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Marlon Brando, Ed Sullivan, Johnny Mathis, John Wayne to precise, and usually in the form of "audition reel" sketches for famous movie and TV characters like The Godfather and Fantasy Island's Herve Villechaize), but having just transferred several season's worth of old Betamax tapes to DVD for safe keeping (and with a few more to go), I can safely say I still found myself chuckling at regular interview despite knowing much of this material from heart.
The show's writers, directors and cast had a remarkable collective ability to spin old jokes into seemingly fresh full length sketches that would usually feature heavy padding via Byner's antics and asides. Distill just about any sketch down to it's raw elements - minus sets, cast, and the usual digressions for time - and you've got jokes that had been done on any number of variety shows in the decade before this one - Bizarre reformulated the brew in large part by added healthy doses of cynicism, sexism and slapstick violence - and of course the naked women (an earlier poster was right in noticing a thankfully mute Ziggy Lorenc as a piece of furniture, but failed to point out she was wearing a bikini like four other "pieces" placed in a slum apartment rented out by crotchety landlord Byner).
The cast list here fails to give credit to the contributions of many bit players who went on to greater things, most notably Canada's own Mike Myers (as Byner's nephew in a show closer in which Byner reacts to a review that claims he stuffs the audience with relatives, only to learn that all but one audience member is family!) and future Crow villain Michael Wincott (look closely at the Mexican Nephew seated beside Luba Goy in the legendary Bigot Family sketches). Donnelly Rhodes, another Canadian mainstay who had a memorable run on the U.S. sitcom Soap, plays one of Super Dave Osborne's stunt coordinators in a second-season sketch involving a mechanical bull. There were others...Someone here earlier pointed out the early, popular appearances of a young Howie Mandel, though guest stand-ups were generally more along the lines of Willie Tyler and Lester.
In the first and, to a lesser extent, the second seasons, Bizarre would include sketches filmed outside of Toronto, including an amusing bit filmed in an L.A. cemetery in which "priest" Redd Foxx sends bad TV shows to their rightful resting places surrounded by a platoon of Let's Make A Deal contestants), and a peculiar filmed segment where a gorilla holds up a grocery store and speeds off in a stolen Mercedes.
When something clicked on Bizarre, viewers could rest assured the idea would be tweaked and repeated on a future episode. Witness the ever-increasing insanity of the Super Dave Osborne stunts, or the "Byner Originals," in which the host would claim to be introducing some new comedy creation - Boy John, Johnny Jackson - that were blatant ripoffs of actual personalities of the day which would prompt producer Bob Einstein to interrupt the sketch, calmly berate Byner, and then suffer a litany of insults in return ("it's called the wandering Jew and it'll be here in about 5 seconds", went one memorable line from a similar sketch). The aforementioned Bigot Family proved popular enough to fill several repeat sketches with well-delivered ethnic humor (although 90's syndication episodes oddly removed what few Asian gags there were and cut several watermelon gags). Other popular returning characters included the Reverend T.V. Seewell, who broadcast from the Enzlo Veal Animal Healing Pavilion (the location of which changed from bit to bit), a Yoga For Health instructor with fake stretchy legs who invariably closed his sketch to Devo's Whip It, and a perennially bottom-rated news team featuring a sportscaster who only favored black athletes, a drunken film reviewer (Saul Rubinek in some sketches) kept on a leash, a clueless weatherman (Don Lake) with an atrocious toupee and a lead anchor (Byner) who took exception to his female co-host's bitter digs by punching her out of her chair. Another great repeat gag was often played on regular Tom Harvey, who would be whisked from a sketch to correct a makeup problem, only to return to the re-shoot and discover doors nailed shut, breakaway furniture and real booze in the glasses. Audience members were often used to supplant "under whelming" actors, or to heap further indignity on Tom Harvey. And finally, long before Conan O'Brien thought he came up with the idea, the creators of Bizarre used the process of superimposing real lips over cardboard celebrity cutouts to often delirious effect (politicians of the time singing cheesy love ballads, for example)
Bizarre's peak seasons were probably 1982, 1983, 1984 and even most of 1985-86, after which other comedy shows on then burgeoning cable networks (and regular broadcast TV) started to steal their thunder, signaling and end to the sketch comedy format as many had known it throughout the 60's and 70's. Nonetheless, these shows represent one of the last bastions of political incorrectness in broadcast comedy, particularly for something shown on a major Canadian network during early prime time hours!
The show today, were it to be released on DVD, might not provide the hearty laughs it once did to those of us who were there to witness it during its initial run, but there are still many fondly recalled laughs to be savored.
The show's writers, directors and cast had a remarkable collective ability to spin old jokes into seemingly fresh full length sketches that would usually feature heavy padding via Byner's antics and asides. Distill just about any sketch down to it's raw elements - minus sets, cast, and the usual digressions for time - and you've got jokes that had been done on any number of variety shows in the decade before this one - Bizarre reformulated the brew in large part by added healthy doses of cynicism, sexism and slapstick violence - and of course the naked women (an earlier poster was right in noticing a thankfully mute Ziggy Lorenc as a piece of furniture, but failed to point out she was wearing a bikini like four other "pieces" placed in a slum apartment rented out by crotchety landlord Byner).
The cast list here fails to give credit to the contributions of many bit players who went on to greater things, most notably Canada's own Mike Myers (as Byner's nephew in a show closer in which Byner reacts to a review that claims he stuffs the audience with relatives, only to learn that all but one audience member is family!) and future Crow villain Michael Wincott (look closely at the Mexican Nephew seated beside Luba Goy in the legendary Bigot Family sketches). Donnelly Rhodes, another Canadian mainstay who had a memorable run on the U.S. sitcom Soap, plays one of Super Dave Osborne's stunt coordinators in a second-season sketch involving a mechanical bull. There were others...Someone here earlier pointed out the early, popular appearances of a young Howie Mandel, though guest stand-ups were generally more along the lines of Willie Tyler and Lester.
In the first and, to a lesser extent, the second seasons, Bizarre would include sketches filmed outside of Toronto, including an amusing bit filmed in an L.A. cemetery in which "priest" Redd Foxx sends bad TV shows to their rightful resting places surrounded by a platoon of Let's Make A Deal contestants), and a peculiar filmed segment where a gorilla holds up a grocery store and speeds off in a stolen Mercedes.
When something clicked on Bizarre, viewers could rest assured the idea would be tweaked and repeated on a future episode. Witness the ever-increasing insanity of the Super Dave Osborne stunts, or the "Byner Originals," in which the host would claim to be introducing some new comedy creation - Boy John, Johnny Jackson - that were blatant ripoffs of actual personalities of the day which would prompt producer Bob Einstein to interrupt the sketch, calmly berate Byner, and then suffer a litany of insults in return ("it's called the wandering Jew and it'll be here in about 5 seconds", went one memorable line from a similar sketch). The aforementioned Bigot Family proved popular enough to fill several repeat sketches with well-delivered ethnic humor (although 90's syndication episodes oddly removed what few Asian gags there were and cut several watermelon gags). Other popular returning characters included the Reverend T.V. Seewell, who broadcast from the Enzlo Veal Animal Healing Pavilion (the location of which changed from bit to bit), a Yoga For Health instructor with fake stretchy legs who invariably closed his sketch to Devo's Whip It, and a perennially bottom-rated news team featuring a sportscaster who only favored black athletes, a drunken film reviewer (Saul Rubinek in some sketches) kept on a leash, a clueless weatherman (Don Lake) with an atrocious toupee and a lead anchor (Byner) who took exception to his female co-host's bitter digs by punching her out of her chair. Another great repeat gag was often played on regular Tom Harvey, who would be whisked from a sketch to correct a makeup problem, only to return to the re-shoot and discover doors nailed shut, breakaway furniture and real booze in the glasses. Audience members were often used to supplant "under whelming" actors, or to heap further indignity on Tom Harvey. And finally, long before Conan O'Brien thought he came up with the idea, the creators of Bizarre used the process of superimposing real lips over cardboard celebrity cutouts to often delirious effect (politicians of the time singing cheesy love ballads, for example)
Bizarre's peak seasons were probably 1982, 1983, 1984 and even most of 1985-86, after which other comedy shows on then burgeoning cable networks (and regular broadcast TV) started to steal their thunder, signaling and end to the sketch comedy format as many had known it throughout the 60's and 70's. Nonetheless, these shows represent one of the last bastions of political incorrectness in broadcast comedy, particularly for something shown on a major Canadian network during early prime time hours!
The show today, were it to be released on DVD, might not provide the hearty laughs it once did to those of us who were there to witness it during its initial run, but there are still many fondly recalled laughs to be savored.
Ahobsal insaeng
(2004)
One big ode to Korean strength through suffering
1 September 2004
WHEN I TURNED NINE (2003) Directed by Yoon In-ho. Korean drama films set in public or high-schools often make me uneasy for I know there will be severe Korean Cranial Abuse, played completely straight, as this is one of the many liberties apparently afforded teachers (among other authority figures) in Korean culture. Westerners will no doubt react with horror at the relentless, wordless beating young Baek Yeo-min (Kim Seok) endures from his stone-faced teacher for dunking the shoes of snooty new classmate Woo-rim (Lee Se-young) in retaliation for an earlier slight. Not only do the very real looking blows eventually start knocking him to the floor, he gets back up and faces into yet another one because, well, that's just what you do. Yeo-min is the defacto Big Boss of his public school social order in the early 1970's. He takes his licks, defers without issue to his elders and their rigid disciplines, and is actually quite attracted to the Woo-rim, a Seoul transplant who's prone to inflating the wonderfulness of her possibly broken family, lies like a rug, plays favourites in the playground pecking order and will make you very tempted to call her something that rhymes with 'bitch.' But Yeo-min sees beyond all that, even if he doesn't understand why, and much to the chagrin of his female friend Keum-bok (Jung Sun-kyung). Meanwhile, on the home front, Yeo-min's greatest desire is to buy a pair of sunglasses for his mother, who was blinded in one eye by a factory mishap and now spends her days a recluse at home, and who ultimately teaches him the error of his weak thinking by whipping the back of his calves with a reed in yet another scene of heart wrenching realism that may put off those who don't read up on the culture. He also becomes acquainted with the town philosopher, whose inability to connect with a local music teacher echoes the potential social problems of Yeo-min's attraction to Woo-rim. Ultimately, this plays like one big ode to Korean strength through suffering (an understandable facet of the country's cinema), and though I'm willing to allow for my own ignorance of other cultures when something doesn't quite sit right with me, much of the melodrama in this film seems a tad disingenuous, particularly the dialogue written for these wise-beyond-their-years youngsters. Now I'm aware from the books I've read, that the harsh living conditions for the Korean under classes from the 50's to the 70's were enough to make anyone grow up fast and hard, I'm still somewhat uncomfortable with the sight of an ten-year-old standing before her bawling classmates and owning up to a laundry list of 'issues' as though it were her final day in rehab seems just a little bit phony. Director Yoon In-ho and screenwriter Lee Man-hee, working from a novel by We Kee-cheul, know just what buttons to push to get the tear ducts welling up, but I'm afraid they don't know how to push them lightly.
From a technical perspective, the film looks stunning, with the barren poverty of the small town beautifully captured through several seasons by cinematographer Chun Jo-myoung.
From a technical perspective, the film looks stunning, with the barren poverty of the small town beautifully captured through several seasons by cinematographer Chun Jo-myoung.
Natural City
(2003)
To date, this is probably the most beautiful looking AND most vapid Korean science fiction film to come down the pipe.
1 September 2004
NATURAL CITY (2003) Directed by Min Byong-chan. Arresting productions design and state-of-the-art visual effects can't disguise a dull plot that borrows so liberally from BLADE RUNNER and GHOST IN THE SHELL that the word 'tribute' could warrant legal action. To date, this is probably the most beautiful looking AND most vapid Korean science fiction film to come down the pipeline, and one feels almost guilty in knocking it in spite of the undeniable amount of craftsmanship that went into it. Set in a futuristic megacity in the year 2080, it's about a sullen policeman (Yu Ji-tae) who wants to extend the life of his beautiful android dancer Ria (Seo Rin) by finding a new host for her brain-chip. As she's nearing her sell-by date, which requires her complete destruction, this puts him at odds with fellow cop Noma (Yun Chan) and evil android Roy Batty...err...evil uber-android Jeon Doo-hong, who has plans on accessing android headquarters and programming a massive robot uprising. Flying police cars, slow-floating dirigibles with gigantic projection screens, endlessly vertical skyscrapers forming a mountain of technology in a post-war wasteland.
We've seen all this before. And indeed, it all looks amazing here. But what's missing is any depth of character to make the story more convincing. The leading man is a complete cipher whose motivations for prolonging the life of his robot are never explained or explored, and while his robot clearly has functional difficulties with her impending doom, Seo underplays these scenes to a fault, generating neither tension nor sympathy, only indifference about her fate. To give credit where it's due, Korean is one of the few Asian countries - and one of the few countries outside of America and Japan - even attempting such high-minded science-fiction films as this, WONDERFUL DAYS, 2009 LOST MEMORIES, and YESTERDAY. One hopes that one day, the quality of screen writing will improve to meet the superb level of technical artistry already apparent on screen. The 2-disc Special Edition DVD of this film has tonnes of interesting (unsubtitled) materials for those inspired by its technical merits, including an art gallery, a sketch gallery (tres Syd Mead), a 45 minute TV doc with plenty of behind the scenes and FX footage, a 24 minute DVD doc with more of the same, a 14 minute interview with the lead effects man, an 8.5 minute interview with the animator of the opening credits, 6 minutes of deleted scenes, an English language Cannes trailer that pumps up the action quotient, cast interviews and a 20 minute walking tour of the films locations with the director and lead actor. A cool easter egg can be found on disc 2 by arrowing up on the main menu to highlight '*REC'. This will give you access to what appears to be a 7 minute, effects laden music video about the plight of a country devastated by a nuclear attack, which almost feels like the backstory to the main feature. 5.
We've seen all this before. And indeed, it all looks amazing here. But what's missing is any depth of character to make the story more convincing. The leading man is a complete cipher whose motivations for prolonging the life of his robot are never explained or explored, and while his robot clearly has functional difficulties with her impending doom, Seo underplays these scenes to a fault, generating neither tension nor sympathy, only indifference about her fate. To give credit where it's due, Korean is one of the few Asian countries - and one of the few countries outside of America and Japan - even attempting such high-minded science-fiction films as this, WONDERFUL DAYS, 2009 LOST MEMORIES, and YESTERDAY. One hopes that one day, the quality of screen writing will improve to meet the superb level of technical artistry already apparent on screen. The 2-disc Special Edition DVD of this film has tonnes of interesting (unsubtitled) materials for those inspired by its technical merits, including an art gallery, a sketch gallery (tres Syd Mead), a 45 minute TV doc with plenty of behind the scenes and FX footage, a 24 minute DVD doc with more of the same, a 14 minute interview with the lead effects man, an 8.5 minute interview with the animator of the opening credits, 6 minutes of deleted scenes, an English language Cannes trailer that pumps up the action quotient, cast interviews and a 20 minute walking tour of the films locations with the director and lead actor. A cool easter egg can be found on disc 2 by arrowing up on the main menu to highlight '*REC'. This will give you access to what appears to be a 7 minute, effects laden music video about the plight of a country devastated by a nuclear attack, which almost feels like the backstory to the main feature. 5.
Oh! Brothers
(2003)
Warm cinematography and an inviting production design ultimately servicing a thoroughly constructed central relationship
1 September 2004
OH! BROTHERS (2003) Directed by Kim Yong-hwa. The number 6 box office charter of 2003, this is an odd, needlessly complicated tale of a debt collector/blackmail photographer/missing person finder Sang Woo (Lee Jung-jae) learning upon his father's death that he has a half-brother - mentally deficient man-child Bong-ku (Lee Beom-su) - whose mother, if he can find her, will be legally forced to absolve him of his father's hefty debt. Not surprisingly, Sang-woo discovers Bong-ku's creepy affectations and appearance (at one point he's dressed up like the killer doll Chucky in a dream sequence), make him the ideal 'muscle' to have on the job, particularly when a sleazy cop forces Sang-woo to get staged adultery photos of the police superintendent in order to expand the jurisdiction of his extortion program.
There's also a subplot that sees the pair trying to unite a deaf woman, at the behest of her estranged sister, with their dying father and which mirrors much of the boys situation and allows for plenty of tears. Lee Beom-su's performance as Bong-ku, written as the comedic centerpiece of the film, is largely played as a grown man who ACTS like a precocious ass rather than a grown man with a mental age of 12, thus undermining much of the pathos the filmmakers try to wring from his relationship with Sang-woo.
Technical production is superb, with warm cinematography and an inviting production design ultimately servicing a thoroughly constructed central relationship that seems designed to feature as many piano-backed scenes of teary catharsis between sensitive new age Korean males. Moderate, but occasionally serious head slapping rates this a 4 on the Korean Cranial Abuse Scale. The overall movie rates a 4 as well.
There's also a subplot that sees the pair trying to unite a deaf woman, at the behest of her estranged sister, with their dying father and which mirrors much of the boys situation and allows for plenty of tears. Lee Beom-su's performance as Bong-ku, written as the comedic centerpiece of the film, is largely played as a grown man who ACTS like a precocious ass rather than a grown man with a mental age of 12, thus undermining much of the pathos the filmmakers try to wring from his relationship with Sang-woo.
Technical production is superb, with warm cinematography and an inviting production design ultimately servicing a thoroughly constructed central relationship that seems designed to feature as many piano-backed scenes of teary catharsis between sensitive new age Korean males. Moderate, but occasionally serious head slapping rates this a 4 on the Korean Cranial Abuse Scale. The overall movie rates a 4 as well.
Typically overblown tragicomedy that signifies much of what westerners find inaccessible about Korean cinema.
1 September 2004
CRAZY FIRST LOVE (2003) Directed by Oh Jong-rok. Typically overblown tragicomedy that signifies much of what westerners find inaccessible about Korean cinema and, to some extent, the Korean psyche. Let's call this lecture Misogyny and the Posessive, Overgrown Man-Child. To protect the virtue of his daughter (Son Ye-jin), an authoritarian high-school teacher (Yoo Dong-geun) sets - and keeps changing - unreasonable standards for the young slacker (MY SASSY GIRL's Cha Tae-hyn) who has loved her since childhood, then must work WITH him when she grows tired of their constant meddling and surveillance and becomes involved with another man. Korean men do not come off particularly well in this film (but then,that would depend on who you asked). They're either shallow gadflies or control freaks with maturity issues. How fitting, then, that the only way the male filmmakers could rationalize their crazed behaviour in the greater social theme of things is to slap the progressive-minded female lead with myelodysplastic syndrome, the same terminal disease - read punishment - that killed her mother at 18. Faced with her own immortality, and in a scene far, FAR too reminiscent of MY SASSY GIRL, we FINALLY discover why she couldn't be with the man who has gone to insane lengths to win her affection and why she COULD be with a lothario who will one day find happiness with yet another woman.
While it's tough to deny the calculation behind emotional scenes like those that end this film - and in Korean cinema scenes like these are legion - one can't shake the feeling that for Korean comedic cinema - indeed MUCH of Korean cinema in general - to truly move on and perhaps capture a larger international audience, Korean filmmakers may need to dispense with a great deal of the contrived, subtly misogynistic heart string manipulation that, ultimately, reinforces dated stereotypes about patriarchy, makes childish men look like pariahs and punishes women for thinking outside the box. People crying on mountaintops (and this film is has one!) are starting to wear thin. See also SEX IS ZERO for a similar treatment of these themes. 3
While it's tough to deny the calculation behind emotional scenes like those that end this film - and in Korean cinema scenes like these are legion - one can't shake the feeling that for Korean comedic cinema - indeed MUCH of Korean cinema in general - to truly move on and perhaps capture a larger international audience, Korean filmmakers may need to dispense with a great deal of the contrived, subtly misogynistic heart string manipulation that, ultimately, reinforces dated stereotypes about patriarchy, makes childish men look like pariahs and punishes women for thinking outside the box. People crying on mountaintops (and this film is has one!) are starting to wear thin. See also SEX IS ZERO for a similar treatment of these themes. 3
Oh! Haepi dei
(2003)
Wrongheaded, often irritating 'comedy'
1 September 2004
OH HAPPY DAY! (2003) Directed and written by Yun Hang-ryeol.
Wrongheaded, often irritating 'comedy' purports to send up the the ubiquitous, vertically oriented Korean class structure, then ultimately plays by the rules as yet another 'constructed romance' movie in which the goal for any girl who knows what she wants is to want a rich, educated pretty boy. Except in this case the gal, by all rights and no thanks to smart screen writing, SHOULD be a secondary character who ultimately gets dumped in favour of leading lady Jang Na-ra, who spends nearly the entire movie looking and acting EXACTLY like Rachel Dratch on Saturday Night Live (and I mean that in the meanest possible way) as a voice actress making life miserable for the shallow Club Med executing (Pak Jeong-chol) who denied her homely friend a spot on a singles group holiday. That he actually begins to fall for her, to the point of ultimately dumping his successful girlfriend - who is never once painted as a bad person, just a bit superficial - is either this film's most clever bit of dark satire or the most egregiously stupid moment in an ill-conceived screenplay. I'm leaning toward the latter. Korean cultural and cinematic traditions are sometimes cleverly held up for ridicule - Jang's mother takes physical discipline to room-trashing levels of excess, while Jang's mid-film collapse beside a blood-filled toilet turns out to be a bad case of hemorrhoids - but in the end, the parents know best when it comes to forcing people together based on status, and a staggeringly contrived scheme is hatched to drive home the point, culminating in - of all things - a big musical number featuring the ENTIRE cast! The film is ultimately hobbled early on by relentlessly overblown performances that mistake volume and force for wit - Jang's scrunchy-faced eye popping grows tiresome very very quickly. We do however, get the following standard Korean ingredients: K-pop, tears, snowfall, and head slapping, the latter mild enough to rate this a 2 on the Korean Cranial Abuse Scale.
The picture, however, also rates a 2, largely for the usual glossy tech specs.
Wrongheaded, often irritating 'comedy' purports to send up the the ubiquitous, vertically oriented Korean class structure, then ultimately plays by the rules as yet another 'constructed romance' movie in which the goal for any girl who knows what she wants is to want a rich, educated pretty boy. Except in this case the gal, by all rights and no thanks to smart screen writing, SHOULD be a secondary character who ultimately gets dumped in favour of leading lady Jang Na-ra, who spends nearly the entire movie looking and acting EXACTLY like Rachel Dratch on Saturday Night Live (and I mean that in the meanest possible way) as a voice actress making life miserable for the shallow Club Med executing (Pak Jeong-chol) who denied her homely friend a spot on a singles group holiday. That he actually begins to fall for her, to the point of ultimately dumping his successful girlfriend - who is never once painted as a bad person, just a bit superficial - is either this film's most clever bit of dark satire or the most egregiously stupid moment in an ill-conceived screenplay. I'm leaning toward the latter. Korean cultural and cinematic traditions are sometimes cleverly held up for ridicule - Jang's mother takes physical discipline to room-trashing levels of excess, while Jang's mid-film collapse beside a blood-filled toilet turns out to be a bad case of hemorrhoids - but in the end, the parents know best when it comes to forcing people together based on status, and a staggeringly contrived scheme is hatched to drive home the point, culminating in - of all things - a big musical number featuring the ENTIRE cast! The film is ultimately hobbled early on by relentlessly overblown performances that mistake volume and force for wit - Jang's scrunchy-faced eye popping grows tiresome very very quickly. We do however, get the following standard Korean ingredients: K-pop, tears, snowfall, and head slapping, the latter mild enough to rate this a 2 on the Korean Cranial Abuse Scale.
The picture, however, also rates a 2, largely for the usual glossy tech specs.
Do You Like Spring Bear?
(2003)
Sweet, low-key, histrionics-free romance
30 August 2004
SPRING BEARS LOVE (2003) Directed by Donald Yong I. Written by Haung Jo-yun. Cinematography by Bak Ki-ung. A connected series of love notes scribbled in library art books convinces gawky grocery store clerk Hyun-chae (Bae Doo-na) that a mystery man - known only as 'Vincent' - is pursuing a relationship with her.
Meanwhile, an infatuated pal from her high-school days - shy, quirky subway driver Dong-ha (Kim Nam-jin) - relocated to Seoul to ACTUALLY pursue a relationship with her, which she rejects in favor of the erzatz paper chase provided by her mystery man, going so far as to pawn Dong-ha off on her friend at one point. Sweet, low-key, histrionics-free romance with a clever story concept that allows for a second act twist that's exactly what you'll expect and yet far more clever than it really seems. Not without its sentimental moments, but they're far more restrained than similar scenes in many Korean films of this sort. Not unexpectedly, technical production is sparkling, with gorgeous cinematography by Bak Ki-ung and art direction by Park Hyun-joo. Head slapping is nearly non-existent. I give it a 9.
Meanwhile, an infatuated pal from her high-school days - shy, quirky subway driver Dong-ha (Kim Nam-jin) - relocated to Seoul to ACTUALLY pursue a relationship with her, which she rejects in favor of the erzatz paper chase provided by her mystery man, going so far as to pawn Dong-ha off on her friend at one point. Sweet, low-key, histrionics-free romance with a clever story concept that allows for a second act twist that's exactly what you'll expect and yet far more clever than it really seems. Not without its sentimental moments, but they're far more restrained than similar scenes in many Korean films of this sort. Not unexpectedly, technical production is sparkling, with gorgeous cinematography by Bak Ki-ung and art direction by Park Hyun-joo. Head slapping is nearly non-existent. I give it a 9.
Sex Is Zero
(2002)
Too heavy in places for a comedy that tries so hard to be base
30 August 2004
SEX IS ZERO (2002): Raunchy comedy/drama starring pop idol Lim Chang-jung (see JAKARTA) as a hapless college schlub who falls for Miss Popularity, who conveniently happens to be dating the biggest prick on campus and is therefore blind to Lim's hopeless overtures until she gets knocked up and beaten silly by her embarrassed mother. Often feels like an idealized male-centric filmization of the director's unrequited college romance, except that here the dream girl is made to suffer unspeakable anguish before she wises up to the man who really cares about her (a made-for-the-movies conceit if ever there was one). The dramatic scenes are uncommonly powerful, but they seem almost too heavy in places for a comedy that tries so hard to be base. You may never look at bread or frying pans the same way, though. UNBELIEVABLE FACT: if you watch the making of doc on the Korean DVD, you'll learn that the scene where a secondary female character throws up on her date WAS NOT FAKED. Man, talk about suffering for your craft: the girl downs two full 1.5 Litre bottles of water, mixed with one cup instant noodle soup and voila! Real barf! Which the actor then has to enjoy while he kisser her in the same take. Probably the most f'd-up thing I've ever seen in all my years of movie watching.
Gudseura Geum-suna
(2002)
Winning, high-concept race-the-clock action comedy
30 August 2004
SAVING MY HUBBY(2002) D: Hyun Nab-seob In Korea, a not-uncommon cash-grab scheme for unscrupulous bar owners is to drug already-tipsy patrons, then bill them when they wake up for ridiculous amounts of booze they never drank. On a night out with his new employers, business man Jun-tae (Kim Tae-woo of JOINT SECURITY AREA) is the victim of just such a con, and the only way out is for his wife Geum-soon (Bae Doo-na) - a former volleyball champ sidelined into a domesticity she wasn't prepared for after a shoulder injury - to stalk through a seedy, after-hours entertainment district, evade the minions of a gang boss she inadvertently pelted with a tomato, find the elusive bar, pay the debt with her fists and drag her childish husband back home before his parents arrive for dinner - all with her chubby little year-old baby daughter (who everyone assumes is a boy, much to her dismay) bouncing on her back in a baby-strap! Winning, high-concept race-the-clock action comedy allows for the heroine to cross paths with many of society's less fortunate souls and repeatedly outrun a handful of relentlessly altruistic henchmen, and one tellingly wordless encounter with a humiliated PR girl that speaks volumes about the treatment of immigrant bar hostesses in the country.
Mild social commentary aside though, there's much to enjoy here, and though many of the supporting characters represent the broadest mob comedy stereotypes, the entire secondary cast is memorable, right down to the cute old couple that runs the tent bar where Geum-soon spikes one of her husband's sexist co-workers clear across the room. Bae once again nails another quirky, tough-but-vulnerable role as a woman who battles through hell, often using cinematic ally enhanced techniques, for the sake of an existence she never truly expected, while Kim Tae-woo essays pitch-perfect man-child naivete as here weak-willed but loyal hubby. Only the ending seems somewhat fantastical. 8.
Mild social commentary aside though, there's much to enjoy here, and though many of the supporting characters represent the broadest mob comedy stereotypes, the entire secondary cast is memorable, right down to the cute old couple that runs the tent bar where Geum-soon spikes one of her husband's sexist co-workers clear across the room. Bae once again nails another quirky, tough-but-vulnerable role as a woman who battles through hell, often using cinematic ally enhanced techniques, for the sake of an existence she never truly expected, while Kim Tae-woo essays pitch-perfect man-child naivete as here weak-willed but loyal hubby. Only the ending seems somewhat fantastical. 8.
A tricky blur between real world and game world in this often maddeningly vague film
30 August 2004
RESURRECTION OF THE LITTLE MATCHGIRL (2002), an ambitious cyber-punk actioner from the director of 2000's LIES and 1996's A PETAL. It's one of the few Korean films I've seen that has polarized audiences as much as it has. An expensive failure upon its first release, the film has, with a couple of repeat viewings on DVD, started to grow on me, not that I didn't like it in the first place.
The narrative has a socially disaffected gamer attempting to make the title game character fall in love with him before she dies while fending off an array of well-armed oddballs. Eventually though, she rebels against the system with a Great Big Gun. There's a tricky blur between real world and game world in this often maddeningly vague film, and I'm still not sure I've read all the director's messages correctly, or if he even makes them at all, but the visuals are so enticing, the action so deliberately overblown, and the philosophy so seemingly just out of reach, it's tough to stop watching (and watching again). I suspect that this film will develop a strong cult following in the years to come, with even many of those who absolutely hated it re-approaching it from different angles and perhaps finding new meaning in it. Despite it's Korean setting and cast, it's probably the least Korean-feeling Korean film I've yet seen, generally eschewing themes of identity and patriotism as well as the maudlin melodramatics so often found in Korean cinema. Somehow, I suspect that was all intentional. Unfortunately, the Korean DVD of this title had no English subs, so most people who've seen it subbed have had to spring for the bootleg.
The narrative has a socially disaffected gamer attempting to make the title game character fall in love with him before she dies while fending off an array of well-armed oddballs. Eventually though, she rebels against the system with a Great Big Gun. There's a tricky blur between real world and game world in this often maddeningly vague film, and I'm still not sure I've read all the director's messages correctly, or if he even makes them at all, but the visuals are so enticing, the action so deliberately overblown, and the philosophy so seemingly just out of reach, it's tough to stop watching (and watching again). I suspect that this film will develop a strong cult following in the years to come, with even many of those who absolutely hated it re-approaching it from different angles and perhaps finding new meaning in it. Despite it's Korean setting and cast, it's probably the least Korean-feeling Korean film I've yet seen, generally eschewing themes of identity and patriotism as well as the maudlin melodramatics so often found in Korean cinema. Somehow, I suspect that was all intentional. Unfortunately, the Korean DVD of this title had no English subs, so most people who've seen it subbed have had to spring for the bootleg.
My Beautiful Girl, Mari
(2002)
A cautious, profound tale about letting go and moving on
30 August 2004
Call this the not-so-Wonderful-Days if you will, a sentimental, perceptive tale of a young boy, Nam-woo, coping with the loss of his father (which probably has even greater resonance in a patriarchal society like Korea's), the illness of his grandmother, his mother's new boyfriend and the impending departure to the city of his best friend by retreating into a world of fantasy where he meets the title character, a mute girl who becomes the only character in his life with any sense of permanence: his mother is trying to move on, his grandmother has a very pragmatical sense of her own mortality, his best friend will be continuing at school in another city (something repeated in the present-day opening sequence, in which the friend announces again that he'll be studying abroad, underscoring the sense of separation we all feel from even our closest friends with the passage of time). It's ultimately a cautious, profound tale about letting go and moving on, something the main character deeply wishes he could avoid, and something that can stir-up similar childhood memories in even the most hardened cynic. Director Lee Sung-gang wisely shuns conventional Japanese and western animation styles to create something entirely new and heartbreakingly beautiful in its deceptive simplicity. Computer animated but approximating traditional hand-animation in a wholly original style, the film boasts an absolutely gorgeous muted colour palate that brightens whenever Nam-woo enters the world of his mind. In many ways, I prefer the honesty and simplicity of this film to the high-tech sheen of WONDERFUL DAYS, which suffers from a painfully straightforward story.
Jakarta
(2000)
A twisty comic heist movie
30 August 2004
JAKARTA (2000): This one almost never gets mentioned on the Korean film websites, and yet I believe it cracked the top ten that year). It's a twisty comic heist movie about three "teams" of thieves who independently plan to rob the same bank on the same day, which causes no end of pandemonium and confusion, or does it? Clever mid-film twist paints nearly all the characters in a new light and reveals a much more intriguing plot has been afoot all along.
Excellent ensemble cast, including SEX IS ZERO leading man Lim Chang-jung. Worth hunting down, and still available at some online retailers. Nice K-pop theme ballad, too.
Excellent ensemble cast, including SEX IS ZERO leading man Lim Chang-jung. Worth hunting down, and still available at some online retailers. Nice K-pop theme ballad, too.
Space Travelers
(2000)
A fast-paced, often touching piece of work, with extremely well-drawn characters.
30 August 2004
SPACE TRAVELERS is a comic thriller about three men (Takeshi
Kaneshiro, Masanobu Ando and Hiroyuki Ikeuchi), orphans all,
who decide to rob a bank just before closing time to finance their
escape to a tropical paradise. Plans, as they often do, go south
and the trio ends up trapped in the locked-down bank with an
eclectic and eccentric collection of staff and customers, each of
whom corresponds to characters in an anime show adored by one
of the robbers (Ando, the psycho kid in BATTLE ROYALE). In short
order, the hostages realize their captors are actually misguided
losers and decide to help them out, adopting character names
from the anime and making the growing throngs of cops outside
think the gang is much bigger than it really is and, in the process,
discovering untapped potential and new senses of purpose in
their mundane lives. A fast-paced, often touching piece of work,
with extremely well-drawn characters.
Kaneshiro, Masanobu Ando and Hiroyuki Ikeuchi), orphans all,
who decide to rob a bank just before closing time to finance their
escape to a tropical paradise. Plans, as they often do, go south
and the trio ends up trapped in the locked-down bank with an
eclectic and eccentric collection of staff and customers, each of
whom corresponds to characters in an anime show adored by one
of the robbers (Ando, the psycho kid in BATTLE ROYALE). In short
order, the hostages realize their captors are actually misguided
losers and decide to help them out, adopting character names
from the anime and making the growing throngs of cops outside
think the gang is much bigger than it really is and, in the process,
discovering untapped potential and new senses of purpose in
their mundane lives. A fast-paced, often touching piece of work,
with extremely well-drawn characters.
Battlefield Baseball
(2003)
Arguably a mixed bag, but likely to develop a sizable cult following
25 August 2004
BATTLEFIELD BASEBALL (2004) This low-budget baseball zombie comedy is arguably a mixed bag, but one likely to develop a sizable cult following. While it successfully pokes fun at the cliches inherent in most sports movies, particularly those `moments' where people spontaneously applaud the main characters actions (similarly mocked in NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE), it doesn't deliver on the action and gore quotient promised by the concept. And yet, as a budget-conscious live-action adaptation of a Shonen Jump manga, it plants tongue hard in cheek and certainly feels faithful to the source material, never for a minute taking itself seriously and gleefully indulging in the most eye-rollingly obvious visual gags. Desperate to make it to the big leagues, the Seido High School baseball team must face their much more successful rivals at Gedo High, a team made up entirely of well-armed zombies. Their ace in the hole may well be transfer student `Jubeh The Baseball' (Tak Sakaguchi), who's signature fastball killed his own father, a tragedy which prevents him from helping the team. Directed by the writer of VERSUS (Yudai Yamiguchi), produced by that film's director (Ryuhei Kitamura) and starring that film's lead (Tak Sakaguchi), BATTLEFIELD shares that film's low-budget ingenuity, but wisely knows when to take up stakes and call it a day around the 90 minute mark. The Japanese R2 DVD has English subs and includes a hilariously inventive short film called Ramen Baka Ichidai, about a kid who hunts down the perfect Ramen noodles for his dying grandfather. Primo stuff.
A Tale of Two Sisters
(2003)
So solid in construction, so consistent in tone and so beautifully disorienting
25 August 2004
A TALE OF TWO SISTERS goes the furthest of any Asian horror film in proving that Asian horror films are the only horror films you really need to watch. As someone whose grown to love Asian chillers, and as someone who lives for those precious moments when a film actually surprises with a twist ending that I didn't see coming (or at least suspect), I was totally blindsided by this film's intricate plotting.
The set up is simple. Two girls return from the hospital after an extended illness with their father to an imposing, rural, Korean-Gothic house. Almost immediately, their snarky, vaguely condescending and suspiciously omnipresent stepmother (Yeom Jeong-ah, who played a pivotal character in TELL ME SOMETHING) is on them, welcoming them and criticizing them in equal measure (a not-unfamiliar Korean trait, though it deliberately borders on parody here). The tension between the three women only grows thicker from there, as the stronger sister (Im Su-jeong) protects - and increasingly, harmfully overprotects - the weaker sister (Mun Keun-yeong) from the stepmother, who may be a stronger threat than either of them can handle and who blithley informs them that life's a bitch sometimes and she ain't gonna go away!
Obviously, relationships in the household have deteriorated to the point of open hostility and mindgames to which only the puzzlingly sedate father seems immune. Just when one wonders how much better - or worse - things were before the girls were sent away, the filmmakers drop the first of two twist-bombs that instantly provide clues to the pre-story, hints at a possible murder in the very recent past and makes the viewer replay the preceding hour in their mind from a whole new perspective. Absolutely brilliant, but it doesn't end there.
The feud continues - and the hints at prior foul play multiply - until the father decides enough is enough and finally turns to outside help to smooth things over, at which point the puzzle starts to become diabolically clever.
I can see where just about anyone reviewing this film has to remain frustratingly vague in regards to its psychological underpinnings, so solid is its construction, so consistent is its tone and so beautifully paranoid and disorienting is its atmosphere that upon a second viewing, you'd be hard-pressed not to stare at your companion's face (or the collective faces of an audience, preferably) instead of the screen as the realization sets in.
Structurally, comparisons could be made to similar supernatural American thrillers (one in particular from recent vintage) where the ending forces you to reevaluate all that has gone before - and, of course, to rescreen the film to see if the director was sharp enough to include the visual cues you obviously missed. Only this time out, supernatural explanations are not required to understand the bizarre, seemingly paranormal goings-on inside the house. Quite the opposite, really, as suspension of the audience's belief in the supernatural is the film's ultimate goal (after gleefully, necessarily trading in spook show delights for the better part of two hours, no less), and a more clever mechanism by which to do it I've yet to see, even in the consistently intelligence-rewarding pantheon of Asian horror.
Truly a fantastic, artistic piece of movie-making. Highly recommended. (Incidentally, if you purchase the Korean Special Edition DVD, there's a lengthy series of deleted scenes that, while fascinating and informative in their own right, ably demonstrate how tricky this film must have been for the director to pull off . Though several of the scenes clearly give away just a teensy bit too much information, once you've seen the film, it's nice to see how they actually further support the psychological intentions of the filmmakers yet, at the same time, had to go.)
The set up is simple. Two girls return from the hospital after an extended illness with their father to an imposing, rural, Korean-Gothic house. Almost immediately, their snarky, vaguely condescending and suspiciously omnipresent stepmother (Yeom Jeong-ah, who played a pivotal character in TELL ME SOMETHING) is on them, welcoming them and criticizing them in equal measure (a not-unfamiliar Korean trait, though it deliberately borders on parody here). The tension between the three women only grows thicker from there, as the stronger sister (Im Su-jeong) protects - and increasingly, harmfully overprotects - the weaker sister (Mun Keun-yeong) from the stepmother, who may be a stronger threat than either of them can handle and who blithley informs them that life's a bitch sometimes and she ain't gonna go away!
Obviously, relationships in the household have deteriorated to the point of open hostility and mindgames to which only the puzzlingly sedate father seems immune. Just when one wonders how much better - or worse - things were before the girls were sent away, the filmmakers drop the first of two twist-bombs that instantly provide clues to the pre-story, hints at a possible murder in the very recent past and makes the viewer replay the preceding hour in their mind from a whole new perspective. Absolutely brilliant, but it doesn't end there.
The feud continues - and the hints at prior foul play multiply - until the father decides enough is enough and finally turns to outside help to smooth things over, at which point the puzzle starts to become diabolically clever.
I can see where just about anyone reviewing this film has to remain frustratingly vague in regards to its psychological underpinnings, so solid is its construction, so consistent is its tone and so beautifully paranoid and disorienting is its atmosphere that upon a second viewing, you'd be hard-pressed not to stare at your companion's face (or the collective faces of an audience, preferably) instead of the screen as the realization sets in.
Structurally, comparisons could be made to similar supernatural American thrillers (one in particular from recent vintage) where the ending forces you to reevaluate all that has gone before - and, of course, to rescreen the film to see if the director was sharp enough to include the visual cues you obviously missed. Only this time out, supernatural explanations are not required to understand the bizarre, seemingly paranormal goings-on inside the house. Quite the opposite, really, as suspension of the audience's belief in the supernatural is the film's ultimate goal (after gleefully, necessarily trading in spook show delights for the better part of two hours, no less), and a more clever mechanism by which to do it I've yet to see, even in the consistently intelligence-rewarding pantheon of Asian horror.
Truly a fantastic, artistic piece of movie-making. Highly recommended. (Incidentally, if you purchase the Korean Special Edition DVD, there's a lengthy series of deleted scenes that, while fascinating and informative in their own right, ably demonstrate how tricky this film must have been for the director to pull off . Though several of the scenes clearly give away just a teensy bit too much information, once you've seen the film, it's nice to see how they actually further support the psychological intentions of the filmmakers yet, at the same time, had to go.)
Wonderful Days
(2003)
Stunning eye candy wants only for a better story.
25 August 2004
WONDERFUL DAYS (2003) Directed by Kim Mun-saeng, this is a stunningly designed and rendered flat animation/CG/model hybrid that only wants for a better story. Despite it's box office failure (still the most successful Korean animated film to date I heard), it's bodes well for future endeavours in the genre. At it's core, its about the `haves' in an environmentally-polluted future world plotting to wipe out the `have-nots' so they can replenish the dwindling energy supplies to their self-contained megacity. Fortunately, the have-nots have a brooding outcast on their side who knows how to put things right. The 2-disc Korean DVD is packed with extras, as is an expanded 3-disc Korean DVD. The films does, I might add, improve greatly on repeat viewings. I give it an 8, largely for artistic merit.
Tube
(2003)
Flashy action thriller derailed by logic-challenged screen writing
25 August 2004
TUBE (2003): While I can't highly recommend it, it is kind of fun, provided you don't think too much about the plot, which has a walking stereotype loose-canon cop (Kim Seok-hoon) battling a terrorist (Pak Sang-min) onboard a hijacked subway train. The terrorist is a former government eraser that the government tried, but failed, to erase, and he's taken the train, and Seoul's mayor, hostage to uhh, well, to apparently have the plan be doomed from the start. Equal parts SPEED, TAKING OF PELHAM 123, MONEY TRAIN and DIE HARD, the film has few pretensions, which make it easy on the derriere. Poor Bae Doo-na gets one of the stranger film roles in film history, as a pickpocket who apparently knows she must LOVE the hero even before she KNOWS the hero, and creates all the necessary Korean histrionics along the way (as well as almost bearing more physical brutality than the hero!) while our glowering protagonist poses with a series of unlit cigarettes in his mouth (and which only one person will ever be allowed to light, care to guess who?). The SPEED and TAKING OF PELHAM allusions are apt, as are slight nods to MONEY TRAIN (the hero's boss does his best crazy Robert Blake impersonation) and DIE HARD (or UNDER SIEGE 2 if you'd rather, since it's so blatantly name-checked on the U.S. package), but overall it's a victim of it's own weak (and often downright ridiculous) logic and begs a few too many questions. The lovely Bae Doo-na plays one of the most strangely motivated characters I've ever seen in a motion picture. Production wise, though, it's delivers the goods, with slick production values all the way, with some nicely handled chase and fight scenes. Turns out, if I read the docu-stuff on the Korean 2-disc set correctly, that the Korean subway trains don't even look as hi-tech as they do here, and the ones in the film were almost entirely CG apart from the sets for close-ups! Columbia Tri-Star's sleeve is highly reminiscent of the art for TRANSPORTER and, not entirely unexpectedly, substitutes a generic Asian face for that of star Kim Seok-hoon. I give it a 4.
Gudseura Geum-suna
(2002)
Bae Doo-na shines in winning, high-concept race-the-clock action comedy
25 August 2004
SAVING MY HUBBY(2002) D: Hyun Nab-seob. In Korea, a not-uncommon cash-grab scheme for unscrupulous bar owners is to drug already-tipsy patrons, then bill them when they wake up for ridiculous amounts of booze they never drank. On a night out with his new employers, business man Jun-tae (Kim Tae-woo of JOINT SECURITY AREA) is the victim of just such a con, and the only way out is for his wife Geum-soon (Bae Doo-na) - a former volleyball champ sidelined into a domesticity she wasn't prepared for after a shoulder injury - to stalk through a seedy, after-hours entertainment district, evade the minions of a gang boss she inadvertently pelted with a tomato, find the elusive bar, pay the debt with her fists and drag her childish husband back home before his parents arrive for dinner - all with her chubby little year-old baby daughter (who everyone assumes is a boy, much to her dismay) bouncing on her back in a baby-strap! Winning, high-concept race-the-clock action comedy allows for the heroine to cross paths with many of society's less fortunate souls and repeatedly outrun a handful of relentlessly altruistic henchmen, and one tellingly wordless encounter with a humiliated PR girl that speaks volumes about the treatment of immigrant bar hostesses in the country.
Mild social commentary aside though, there's much to enjoy here, and though many of the supporting characters represent the broadest mob comedy stereotypes, the entire secondary cast is memorable, right down to the cute old couple that runs the tent bar where Geum-soon spikes one of her husband's sexist co-workers clear across the room. Bae once again nails another quirky, tough-but-vulnerable role as a woman who battles through hell, often using cinematic ally enhanced techniques, for the sake of an existence she never truly expected, while Kim Tae-woo essays pitch-perfect man-child naivete as her weak-willed but loyal hubby. Only the ending seems somewhat fantastical. I give it an 8.
Mild social commentary aside though, there's much to enjoy here, and though many of the supporting characters represent the broadest mob comedy stereotypes, the entire secondary cast is memorable, right down to the cute old couple that runs the tent bar where Geum-soon spikes one of her husband's sexist co-workers clear across the room. Bae once again nails another quirky, tough-but-vulnerable role as a woman who battles through hell, often using cinematic ally enhanced techniques, for the sake of an existence she never truly expected, while Kim Tae-woo essays pitch-perfect man-child naivete as her weak-willed but loyal hubby. Only the ending seems somewhat fantastical. I give it an 8.
Marrying the Mafia
(2002)
Interesting take on the common Korean filmic theme of constructed relationships
25 August 2004
MARRYING THE MAFIA (2002) D: Jung hung-sun is a somewhat-above-average romantic mob "Jopok" comedy, made at a time when such films were in vogue (see MY BOSS, MY HERO, MY WIFE IS A GANGSTER, and SAVING MY HUBBY, among others) in which a straight-laced business executive Dae-suh (Jung Jun-ho of MY BOSS, MY HERO) and a somewhat mousy lab tech Jin-kyung (an absolutely charming Kim Jung-eun) wake up in bed together with no recollection of how they got there or what they did. They part company in a rather disgusted huff, but he's soon visited by her three brothers, low class members of a local crime family, who inform him of her family lineage and forcibly encourage him to pursue the relationship with their sister...or else!
Meanwhile, the relationship proceed in fits and starts with neither Dae-suh or Jin-kyung aware of the behind-the-scenes machinations that are drawing them ever closer to true love.
High-concept, if conventional, story is somewhat undermined by an uninvolving side-story detailing older brother Park Sang-wook's attempts to woo a pretty schoolteacher, as well as the increasingly ubiquitous need in Korean gangster comedies to have a nasty rival gang with which the good guys are forced to wage bloody, baseball-bat-swinging war, this time at a dance club and climactic family event. The situational humour shines through, though, particularly in a scene where Dae-suh's parents meet their soon-to-be in-laws, in another where Jin-kyung confronts Dae-suh's sneaky ex-girlfriend and in various vignettes in which the three brothers go to great lengths to create ideal "romantic situations" to help further the relationship. Overall an enjoyably cute comedy with not-unexpected sidesteps into moderate violence and an overly contrived climax, but also an interesting take on the common Korean filmic theme of "constructed relationships," hardly surprising, once supposes, in a country where arranged marriages were for many years the norm:
essentially this film and many like it simply dress up old-school thinking in new clothing, but with a winning wink-wink sensibility. This was the top domestic movie of 2002. Beware the Hong Kong DVD release, which deletes a substantial amount of footage. I give it a 7.
Meanwhile, the relationship proceed in fits and starts with neither Dae-suh or Jin-kyung aware of the behind-the-scenes machinations that are drawing them ever closer to true love.
High-concept, if conventional, story is somewhat undermined by an uninvolving side-story detailing older brother Park Sang-wook's attempts to woo a pretty schoolteacher, as well as the increasingly ubiquitous need in Korean gangster comedies to have a nasty rival gang with which the good guys are forced to wage bloody, baseball-bat-swinging war, this time at a dance club and climactic family event. The situational humour shines through, though, particularly in a scene where Dae-suh's parents meet their soon-to-be in-laws, in another where Jin-kyung confronts Dae-suh's sneaky ex-girlfriend and in various vignettes in which the three brothers go to great lengths to create ideal "romantic situations" to help further the relationship. Overall an enjoyably cute comedy with not-unexpected sidesteps into moderate violence and an overly contrived climax, but also an interesting take on the common Korean filmic theme of "constructed relationships," hardly surprising, once supposes, in a country where arranged marriages were for many years the norm:
essentially this film and many like it simply dress up old-school thinking in new clothing, but with a winning wink-wink sensibility. This was the top domestic movie of 2002. Beware the Hong Kong DVD release, which deletes a substantial amount of footage. I give it a 7.
Sasori in U.S.A.
(1997)
A flip through the back catalogue of women-in-prison movie clichés
25 August 2004
Warning: Spoilers
SCORPION'S REVENGE (1997; AKA Sasori In USA) Japanese interior designer (Yohko Saitoh), wrongly sent to an American cooler for the murder of her husband via exploding car, gets a flip through the back catalogue of women-in-prison movie indignities: delousings, showers, beatings, cafeteria catfighting, yard catfighting, a warden who quotes scripture while he brutalizes and rapes the fishies, raging American bull dykes, and an absolutely inhumane LACK OF PANTS! But Scorpion's revenge ain't against the system, baby, even though she does manage to fuck it up a bit on her way out; it's with the people who killed her man and sent her away, and when she breaks out with another fish in tow, a blind girl looking for her own justice against the sleazeballs who offed her Latino guitar-picker boyfriend, and discovers in a staggering revelation that her husband faked his own death in order to kill a bunch of shyster lawyers who were suing his company (not a spoiler!), she realizes his clock must be punched, permanently. This probably should've been more tongue-in-cheek, but perhaps director Daisuke Gotoh wasn't aware just how big a joke the genre has become to American B-movie filmmakers and fans. As such, however, he does include everything one has come to expect from a babes-behind-bars epic; problem is its all crammed into the first 40 minutes, the remainder being dedicated to a rather laborious trek across the desert and the decidedly predictable and anti-climatic round of score settling with The Man.
Worth it if you can find it cheap, and compared to fellow Asia Extreme labelmate BEAUTIFUL PREY, a fair bit more fun. I give it a 7.
Worth it if you can find it cheap, and compared to fellow Asia Extreme labelmate BEAUTIFUL PREY, a fair bit more fun. I give it a 7.
Visually enticing, maddeningly vague and bound to be a cult classic
25 August 2004
RESURRECTION OF THE LITTLE MATCHGIRL (2002), an ambitious cyber-punk actioner from the director of 2000's LIES and 1996's A PETAL. It's one of the few Korean films I've seen that has polarized audiences as much as it has. An expensive failure upon its first release, the film has, with a couple of repeat viewings on DVD, started to grow on me, not that I didn't like it in the first place.
The narrative has a socially disaffected gamer attempting to make the title game character fall in love with him before she dies while fending off an array of well-armed oddballs. Eventually though, she rebels against the system with a Great Big Gun. There's a tricky blur between real world and game world in this often maddeningly vague film, and I'm still not sure I've read all the director's messages correctly, or if he even makes them at all, but the visuals are so enticing, the action so deliberately overblown, and the philosophy so seemingly just out of reach, it's tough to stop watching (and watching again). I suspect that this film will develop a strong cult following in the years to come, with even many of those who absolutely hated it re-approaching it from different angles and perhaps finding new meaning in it.
Despite it's Korean setting and cast, it's probably the least Korean-feeling Korean film I've yet seen, generally eschewing themes of identity and patriotism as well as the maudlin melodramatics so often found in Korean cinema. Somehow, I suspect that was all intentional. Unfortunately, the Korean DVD of this title had no English subs, so most people who've seen it subbed have had to spring for the bootleg. I give it an 8.
The narrative has a socially disaffected gamer attempting to make the title game character fall in love with him before she dies while fending off an array of well-armed oddballs. Eventually though, she rebels against the system with a Great Big Gun. There's a tricky blur between real world and game world in this often maddeningly vague film, and I'm still not sure I've read all the director's messages correctly, or if he even makes them at all, but the visuals are so enticing, the action so deliberately overblown, and the philosophy so seemingly just out of reach, it's tough to stop watching (and watching again). I suspect that this film will develop a strong cult following in the years to come, with even many of those who absolutely hated it re-approaching it from different angles and perhaps finding new meaning in it.
Despite it's Korean setting and cast, it's probably the least Korean-feeling Korean film I've yet seen, generally eschewing themes of identity and patriotism as well as the maudlin melodramatics so often found in Korean cinema. Somehow, I suspect that was all intentional. Unfortunately, the Korean DVD of this title had no English subs, so most people who've seen it subbed have had to spring for the bootleg. I give it an 8.
A quintessential Godzilla movie; great for kids and kids-at-heart
25 August 2004
GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA (2002) Like others in the Godzilla series, this new entry establishes itself as a direct sequel to the 1954 original, even using digitally altered footage from that film, as well as clips from MOTHRA and WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS to once again illustrate Japan's troubled history with unruly giant creatures. When Godzilla once again threatens her shores, Japan's female prime minister (Kumi Mizuno) calls together her greatest scientific minds, including cyber-biologist Tokimitsu Yuhara (Shin Takuma), whose inclusion in this group gives his precocious daughter Sara (Kana Onodera) a backstage pass to witness the creation of a new bioweapon developed using the recently-uncovered original Godzilla bones.
The elite JSDF team assembled to pilot the machine is augmented by the lone survivor, Akane Yashiro (Yumiko Shaku), of an eight minute opening Maser-gun battle with Godzilla, her presence made all the more uncomfortable by the vindictive suspicions of a teammate whose brother perished in that disaster. Christened Mechagodzilla, this robo-beast amounts to the re-arming of Japan, something the rest of the world finds rather dismaying, and when the unit's memories of its demise in 1954 are stirred by Godzilla's roar, the battle's a draw, the combatants stand down, and the Prime Minister's out of a job. When Godzilla returns, there's no choice but to reprogram MechaGodzilla and send it back into battle, during which, not surprisingly, Akane herself must take the helm to not only save her country and discourage the naysayers, but to prove to herself - and, of course, to young, conveniently motherless Sara - that no life is worthless. Both of the 'final' shots in the movie - take your pick; there's a sequence after the closing credits - are fitting.
GODZILLA VS. MEGAGUIRUS director Nasaki Tezuka returns to the series with a highly worthy effort, finding a pitch-perfect blend of suits and CGI in his impressive battle sequences, while allowing for reflection (as always) on Japan's nuclear-tainted history, nodding to the ever- increasing empowerment of women in Japanese society (though neatly reminding us that they, too can fail on a large scale before earning redemption) and, as in GODZILLA 2000 and many others in the series, cleverly constructing a modern family dynamic between the pilot, the scientist and his daughter.
People groused that Shinsuke Kaneko's GODZILLA, MOTHRA, KING GHIDORA: ALL OUT GIANT MONSTERS ATTACK, while simultaneously jump starting a moribund franchise with still-vastly-improved visual flare, lacked the dynamism and realism of his 90's GAMERA trilogy, but they were missing the point. Save the first film, GODZILLA has always been for kids, maybe not as young as the original GAMERA series of the 60's, but kids nonetheless. And, I suppose, kids-at-heart. The stories can be pure formula, the character dynamics refried from earlier entries (in fact, many of the most subtle FX in this movie, simple dialogue scenes on catwalks around the Mechagodzilla hangar with the behemoth in the background, are simply more convincing updates of scenes we saw in the 70's), but as long as there's enough razzle-dazzle and a vicarious point-of-entry for the kids, the movie's probably a done deal in the eyes of Toho executives. Here, the Sara character is our vicarious tour guide to the inner workings of the JSDF and all its stoic patriotism (even her friends, walking home with her from school, are slack-jawed at her privileged access to headquarters).
Where the GAMERA updates were intended to make full use of the character's added features (mainly flight) and the advances in modern special effects and high-concept screenplay writing to draw in more savvy audiences, the Millennium Godzilla series, like those that came before, have always retained a comparatively simple modus operandi: appeal to the kids, and make the adults wish they were still kids. On this level, GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA probably surpasses the previous three entries and at a lean, nicely paced 96 minutes (88 in its American incarnation I'm told; WHY DO THEY BOTHER!), it's certainly the easiest on the behind and quietly sets up the sequel, GODZILLA, MOTHRA, MECHAGODZILLA: TOKYO S.O.S. (2003). I give it an 8.
The elite JSDF team assembled to pilot the machine is augmented by the lone survivor, Akane Yashiro (Yumiko Shaku), of an eight minute opening Maser-gun battle with Godzilla, her presence made all the more uncomfortable by the vindictive suspicions of a teammate whose brother perished in that disaster. Christened Mechagodzilla, this robo-beast amounts to the re-arming of Japan, something the rest of the world finds rather dismaying, and when the unit's memories of its demise in 1954 are stirred by Godzilla's roar, the battle's a draw, the combatants stand down, and the Prime Minister's out of a job. When Godzilla returns, there's no choice but to reprogram MechaGodzilla and send it back into battle, during which, not surprisingly, Akane herself must take the helm to not only save her country and discourage the naysayers, but to prove to herself - and, of course, to young, conveniently motherless Sara - that no life is worthless. Both of the 'final' shots in the movie - take your pick; there's a sequence after the closing credits - are fitting.
GODZILLA VS. MEGAGUIRUS director Nasaki Tezuka returns to the series with a highly worthy effort, finding a pitch-perfect blend of suits and CGI in his impressive battle sequences, while allowing for reflection (as always) on Japan's nuclear-tainted history, nodding to the ever- increasing empowerment of women in Japanese society (though neatly reminding us that they, too can fail on a large scale before earning redemption) and, as in GODZILLA 2000 and many others in the series, cleverly constructing a modern family dynamic between the pilot, the scientist and his daughter.
People groused that Shinsuke Kaneko's GODZILLA, MOTHRA, KING GHIDORA: ALL OUT GIANT MONSTERS ATTACK, while simultaneously jump starting a moribund franchise with still-vastly-improved visual flare, lacked the dynamism and realism of his 90's GAMERA trilogy, but they were missing the point. Save the first film, GODZILLA has always been for kids, maybe not as young as the original GAMERA series of the 60's, but kids nonetheless. And, I suppose, kids-at-heart. The stories can be pure formula, the character dynamics refried from earlier entries (in fact, many of the most subtle FX in this movie, simple dialogue scenes on catwalks around the Mechagodzilla hangar with the behemoth in the background, are simply more convincing updates of scenes we saw in the 70's), but as long as there's enough razzle-dazzle and a vicarious point-of-entry for the kids, the movie's probably a done deal in the eyes of Toho executives. Here, the Sara character is our vicarious tour guide to the inner workings of the JSDF and all its stoic patriotism (even her friends, walking home with her from school, are slack-jawed at her privileged access to headquarters).
Where the GAMERA updates were intended to make full use of the character's added features (mainly flight) and the advances in modern special effects and high-concept screenplay writing to draw in more savvy audiences, the Millennium Godzilla series, like those that came before, have always retained a comparatively simple modus operandi: appeal to the kids, and make the adults wish they were still kids. On this level, GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA probably surpasses the previous three entries and at a lean, nicely paced 96 minutes (88 in its American incarnation I'm told; WHY DO THEY BOTHER!), it's certainly the easiest on the behind and quietly sets up the sequel, GODZILLA, MOTHRA, MECHAGODZILLA: TOKYO S.O.S. (2003). I give it an 8.
The Way Home
(2002)
No easy answers in bittersweet tale of a boy and his grandma
25 August 2004
Warning: Spoilers
THE WAY HOME (2002). A low budget tale of a terrifying little brat sent to live temporarily with his ancient grandmother in the country while his single mother looks for work in Seoul. Hollywood would turn a movie like this into pure sap, but director Lee Jeong-hyang doesn't offer any easy solutions to the ever growing disconnection of modernized, urban Korean young people from their traditional ancestry. The film often feels like some big catharsis is just around the corner, but wisely never delivers one. The boy changes a bit by the time his mother returns, but he only, suddenly, becomes aware of it when it's too late. And thankfully, NO ONE DIES in this movie, which is usually the case with dramas dealing with the elderly. Definitely leaves you thinking about things, though.
Paramount has released this on DVD in North America.
Paramount has released this on DVD in North America.
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