FadedBlue_net

Title: Thirst
Director: Park Chan-wook
Year: 2009
Genre: Drama
Format Reviewed: Film

Some Park Chan-wook films, specifically the Vengeance Trilogy films and Cut, are known for their realistic, brutal violence.  Adding J.S.A. and I’m A Cyborg… But That’s OK, the comparisons by plot are less, but the trademark features of a Park film are still present: silly humor and well-defined characters.  On all three of these levels, Thirst delivers.

Like Let The Right One In, Thirst is definitely a different take on the vampire genre.  The main character is a priest who donates his body to scientific research in order to find a cure for a disease and become a vampire by accident.  His motives are clearly good, and even as a vampire he refrains from killing any humans. The girl, on the other hand, becomes a vampire by choice.  As soon as she transforms, she kills at will and for pleasure.  Her whimsical nature about killing will likely bring joy to fans of the violence in the Vengeance movies.

Thirst never becomes a horror movie, nor does it really commit to a drama.  It’s pacing reflects the slow, method of Lady Vengeance, and is more of a study of the imagination surrounding vampires than the resolution of the plot itself.

Title: Let The Right One In
Director: Tomas Alfredson
Year: 2008
Genre: Drama
Format Reviewed: Bluray (US)

Let The Right One In is a much more serious take on a vampire story.  In fact, unlike Thirst, the ‘vampire parts’ of the movie are not the main focus.  At it’s core, Right One is a coming-of-age love story.  Vampire movies often include seduction or love, but this one has a classic “it’s not going to work out” love story that you would find in any other romance.  But this is definitely not the feel of the film.

The visuals of Let The Right One In are just as gory, and actually even more visceral than Thirst.  The kills in Let The Right One In, which are a combination of necessity and passion crime, are realistic and disturbing in a Fargo way, not to mention all the snow.  The imagery and slow pacing helps to make the small town and it’s citizens feel like an otherwise stable, quiet community.

In the end, Let The Right One In is a better film in almost every way.  The characters are developed better, the violence is stronger, the pacing is more deliberate (a plus to the drama), and ending much more powerful.  This isn’t to say Thirst is a bad film.  If it weren’t for Let The Right One In, I might declare it the best modern day vampire movie.  But Let The Right One In transcends the genre to deliver both a gruesome killer and a dramatic romance that delivers on both ends, perfectly.

While I would recommend Thirst to any Park Chan-wook or violence fan, Let The Right One In is a must see for anyone serious about film that can put up with a rated-R film.  The last 20 minutes are truly epic.

Ratings:
Thirst: 4 /5
Let The Right One In: 5 /5

I’ve been pretty busy studying for exams, so sorry for the absence.  I will be watching a lot more DVDs and blurays in the next two months.  Border’s had a 50% off sale on their DVD’s so I picked up a lot!  Right now, I’ve been going through the Ghost in the Shell: SAC 1st season box.  I hope to finish my Ozu box set as early as today.

Here are a bunch of mini reviews of things I watched from the festival and since then:

All Around Us (Gururi no Koto) -4/5 (CIFF09)
Great, though quite slow.  A family-drama that leaves many messages about living life and the connections between loved ones, especially a spouse.  Some characters were a bit annoying, though it can’t be helped if art imitates reality.

Surveillance -3/5 (CIFF09)
Not horrible, but could have been much better, in my opinion.  Some twists in the plot, some of which are predictable.  But this is no action movie.  It’s almost all dialogue, and awkward dialogue at that, for the first three-quarters of the film.  Probably would have been better as a short.

Chaser (Chugyeoja) – 5/5 (CIFF09)
Excellent thriller.  Korean movies contain some of the best psycho-killer/ detective movies and this is one of them for sure.  Though not as epic as a Park Chan-wook film, it has great pacting, characters, tone, and is interesting to watch.  Some gory parts.  Worth tracking down.

Sparrow (Man Jeuk) – 2/5 (CIFF09)
Too slow, and too long.  The plot is not interesting enough to make a whole movie out of, though it did hold my attention.  What was there was executed well and had some nice imagery.

White on Rice – 4/5 (CIFF09)
Good feel-good comedy.  You kind of root for the main character, and definitely grow to like his quirks.  You can see a lot of miscommunications that a Japanese-American may come across, and this really hits home if you have some familiarity with a non-native English speaker.  Plot is a bit uninspired, but serviceable for fun.

Meatball Machine – 1/5
After seeing the excellent Machine Girl, and iffy Tokyo Gore Police… I knew that Meatball Machine could go either way.  And it was bad.  Bad in a bad way.  Even for a B-movie, there is nothing really interesting that goes on.  The characters are beyond boring… enough to make a user manual seem a worthwhile use of time.  Gross out moments are not realistic or that gross if you’ve seen either of the mentioned ultra-gore movies.  Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this movie to even gore fans.

Tale of Two Sisters (Korean) – My 2nd viewing – 4/5
Although it’s probably one of the best Korean horror films I’ve seen, the rewatch isn’t that great.  The characters are a little boring and the pacing slow, but the ending and mystery is pretty good.  Although it’s a must see for asian horror fans, you really probably only need to see it once.  Compare with Ju-On, which I can watch many times and still enjoy.

Title: Late Autumn
Director: Ozu Yasujiro
Year: 1960
Genre: Drama
Format Reviewed: Criterion Eclipse DVD

Remember the last time you just walked through the park without anything on your mind?  That’s about what I felt while watching Late Autumn.  There is a tenderness and light-heartedness to the plot and pacing.  Late Autumn doesn’t try to hit you with a huge build-up of anticipation and huge disappointment.  Following Equinox Flower’s ending of acceptance, Late Autumn continues Ozu’s tone of forgiveness in family conflicts.  This leads to a not-very-dramatic drama.  In fact, I enjoyed the comedy more than the actual drama of Late Autumn.

The characters are once again what makes this Ozu film so enjoyable.  Like Ozu’s other family dramas, Late Autumn has his usual cast of characters: middle-aged and youthful salarymen (and salarywomen), widowed wives, and the rest.  The salarymen are chummy and have their usual set of silly sayings, mocking their hostess at one point, and laughing at their own antics when their plots fail.  The men act like boys in many ways, and they especially remind me of the boys from I Was Born, But….

The main cause of their plot is Ayako, who refuses to marry until her widowed mother re-marries.  Not standing the thought of her lonely mother after marrying away, she continues to deny the thought of marriage even after finding her mate.  Ayako is a dynamic character.  She starts out very traditional and pleasing to all, but when she suspects her mother of hiding secrets of remarrying, she quickly becomes the spoiled brat that youth is portrayed as in Tokyo Twilight.  One can’t help but change your opinion of her as her emotions sway her to extremes.

Late Autumn combines several elements of Ozu’s other films together, and doesn’t try to really hit any emotion too hard.  One is free to enjoy the comedy, drama, or just simple daily-life of old Tokyo which Ozu does the best.  Because of this mish-mash of elements, I felt that the movie played quite smoothly from start to finish, and is an easy watch.  There are a few insights into life and deep thoughts, but nothing that will bog you down or really appreciate more than a subtle reference.  Until the last scene, there isn’t all that much reflection.  And it’s fine that way.

Rating: 4 /5

 In the interest of getting out my opinions on some great 2008 movies that are up for Oscars out before the actual awards are given, this post will be a small reflection on each of three movies: Slumdog Millionaire, Frost/Nixon, and The Wrestler.  The reviewed format for each is film.

The Wrestler

Mickey Rourke is up for best actor in this very realistic story about the downfall and clinging-on of past fame of an old wrestler.  The movie itself is kind of a downer, though more reflective than sad.  Some parts are extremely graphic, which really help the story seem realistic.  If the camera work weren’t so good, I would think this was a documentary.  I suppose this is a testament to Rourke’s acting.  Though, I’m not sure if he deserves the praise because of acting as much as him fitting the role both on and off the camera.  I can’t say either way.  To me, this is a great accomplishment.  The movie is meaningful, but doesn’t go the extra mile to really move the audience, in my opinion.

Rating – 4 /5

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Frost/Nixon

Another contender for Best Actor, in addition to Best Picture.  Frost/Nixon is a very interesting based-on-real-life story about an interview between an Australian TV figure with the recently outed Nixon.  Especially great if you like a politically charged film.  I don’t mean this like a nation-wide politics, but on a personal level: similar to The War Room, which focused mostly on the internal politics of the campaign managers.  Nixon is played very well.  It’s a tough call of whether or not Rourke in The Wrestler is better than Nixon’s portrayal in Frost/Nixon.  The main character of Frost isn’t anything great… he is more of a silent protagonist if anything.  He doesn’t really show you his feelings as much as Nixon does.  And Nixon does get very emotional.  His confession confrontation in the last interview is amazing.

Rating – 4 /5

—————-

Slumdog Millionaire

Danny Boyle delivers again.  Aside from Millions, he’s put out some of my favorite genre movies.  And now…. a Bollywood genre?   Slumdog is unlike any other movie this year.  Aside from it’s emotionally-charged “love destiny” story, it shows some of the beauty and dirt of India.  It opens up some cultural barriers between India and the West, as well as shows us how to make a feel-good ending.  You couldn’t root for the main character enough, and one can feel each tough decision that he makes throughout his tough life.  Monetarily, it is a “rags to riches” story, but emotionally, he has one dream.  It is epic and Slumdog is easily the best film up for nomination at the Oscars.

Rating – 5 /5

Title: The Machine Girl
Director: Noboru Iguchi
Year: 2008
Genre: Action
Format Reviewed: DVD

I don’t know how much you can really say about The Machine Girl to convince whether the movie is good or not.  It is a total exploitation movie.  Blood, guts, more guts, insane Japanese things, etc., etc.  There are many lists out there to tell you all the crazy stuff they threw into Machine Girl.  I think this is really the first exploitation movie outside of Grindhouse that I’ve seen where I knew going in that it was going to be bad.  And I mean bad in the good sense, like how sick is awesome.  The Machine Girl is hella sick.

First off, some of the actresses are apparently porn stars.  So if you want to watch for the looks, you’re set.  There is as much blood and guts as a Miike film, though much less realistic.  If you want an “asia extreme” flick, you’re set (just don’t expect anything near as powerful as say, Oldboy).  There are some very funny things that you can only do in a Japanese move, like have an arm tempura-fried.  So if you want some laughs and an inside joke, you’re set.  Lastly, if you like revenge and strong women characters… that’s the main plot element.  Check.  Everything is 120% superficial, on purpose.

So pretty much everything you could ask for in a moving picture, right?  Well.. if you’re into it.  I think for an “average” person, Machine Girl is going to be love it or hate it.  If you’re like me, and Yakuza, chainsaws, and skirts are your bag, then all you have to do is get past the “B-movie” aspect of Machine Girl.  Yes, the plot can be a little illogical at times, but honestly it’s not that bad, and nowhere near the level of stupidity in Hollywood horror movies.  The actions scenes are not too unrealistic, though it seems to be a bit under-budget for some special effects.

I wouldn’t say Machine Girl is better than the sum of its part, because I think that’s exactly what the movie is.  A bunched up package of awesome scenes meant for those who already like it.  If you are in that crowd, Machine Girl is a must-see.  There are a lot of things here that I’ve never seen before in a movie, including one of the grossest scenes ever (the mom getting stabbed).  Usually gross-out scenes stop at the first or second level.  This one goes one more (or 11 in Spinal Tap terms).

Note: The DVD extras are short, but fun to watch.

Rating – 4 /5

Title: Chungking Express
Director: Wong Kar-Wai
Year: 1994
Genre: Romance
Format Reviewed: Bluray (Criterion release)

I suppose that when I decided that Wong Kar-Wai (WKW) was one of the best Chinese directors, it was a little naive since I’ve only seen 2046, and I’ve not seen a ton of Chinese movies released before the 90s.  But 2046 was deep enough and had such a good ending, that I saw something great in the director.  Chunking Express just confirms my view of WKW as not only a great director, but a great person.  Chunking Express is a very human story, though admittedly somewhat romanticized, and has all the subtlety and quirkiness of an asian romantic movie without forcing superficiality common to the genre.

The first part of the movie can be a kind of ‘anti-romance’.   There is an honest male protagonist trying to get over his ex, getting no luck or really any satisfaction.  Or is he?  His character is a bit delusional, but if we didn’t know about his past, one might have thought he is doing just fine.  At the end of his story, we have felt most of the emotions in a romantic movie, except the most important, and most superficial one: the ending.  Indeed, WKW gives us a story of what happens if it doesn’t go either way: no one dies, and no one finds their true love.  Although this is an interesting point, it isn’t exactly moving.  Though it does give a good feeling of emptiness left for the second half to fill.

The second part of Chungking Express is where the real meat is.  Faye Wong plays an amazing character (though I have to say I fall for girls with short hair easily!).  She plays the role of a girl who plays a very elaborate game of hard-to-get with a local police officer.  In reality, they both want to be together.  Or do they?  The officer is definitely interested, and probably the movie is over if Faye was up front with him.  But she resorts to almost everything besides direct confrontation.  It is sort of a romance where two people don’t even meet for the majority of the time.  Again WKW gives us the emotions of love without really showing it between the characters.

Chungking Express is the perfect romance for those who don’t actually want romance.  It sounds a bit strange, but actually it’s a very refreshing type of movie that really plays with the genre on a meta- level.  The film itself gives you a need for more, then delivers it with a much more satisfying ending.  The characters are relateable and likeable, Faye is easy to fall in love with, and the city in which they live is perfectly sized.  The action sequences were a bit jarring in the time effects, but this actually keeps the tone of the film from turning too dark or action-oriented.  In the end I was left wanting more (in a good way), and I can’t wait to see my next WKW film.

Bluray notes: the video and audio transfer are superb.  Film grain is left in many scenes, as well as noticeable green lines in the film in a couple shots.  Maybe this was in the original print?

Rating – 5 /5

Title: Equinox Flower
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Year: 1958
Genre: Drama
Format Reviewed: Criterion Eclipse DVD

Equinox Flower doesn’t seem like an Ozu film in plot.  Although the first half of the film sets up the family drama like the two previously reviewed movies (Early Spring and Tokyo Twilight), the tone of Equinox Flower is a large shift from those.  Ozu is showing a similar world to the ones he’s shown before, but with different actions by the protagonists and a very different result.

The father figure is once again the most important character, but this one is more mean than many others by Ozu.  He is more strict and stubborn.  The mother is a very forgiving and diplomatic figure between him and the daughters.  But rather than the daughters making the wrong moves, the father is the one who causes most of the household trouble.

The big tone shift is near the end of the film, where the father gives in to those around him and accept the decisions of his daughter.  Rather than ending in a sad result and having to accept the tragedies of life, Equinox Flower does the opposite.  The unfortunate result, which you may expect from an Ozu film, never happens.  It ends with kind of a “everything will work out” ending.  That isn’t to say Ozu isn’t giving a message to his audience.  Equinox Flower gives its message by telling the viewer how their decisions could work out for the better, rather than how they could turn out for the worst.

Overall, it was a little strange for a drama to be dramatic without a major death or abandonment.  Almost a polar opposite of Tokyo Twilight in this point (though there are several references to the events of Tokyo Twilight in Equinox Flower).  But the “good result” is not always a very cheerful one.  There still seems to linger a kind of stubborn reluctance to appreciate the fortunate turn of events.  The father does not really gain any happiness in life.  He just doesn’t lose it.  Similarly, the film doesn’t move one in a way to act differently, but allows one to more passively see the other side of the balance.  Because of this, one’s appreciation of life are more a result of one’s inner feelings than the events themselves.

Rating: 5 /5

Title: I’m A Cyborg, But That’s OK
Director: Park Chan-Wook
Year: 2006
Genre: Comedy
Format Reviewed: Blu-ray

Ahh, Park Chan-wook.  One of my three favorite directors from Korea.  The other two being Kim Ki-duk and the upcoming Joon-ho Bong.  You probably already know the stuff he’s done, so I’ll skip over his history.  He’s never let me down; every film has been superb, as far back as J.S.A.  But how does he hold up in comedy, a very different direction from his past?  Very well.

Actually the comedy in his other “violent” movies is a little more clever than I’m A Cyborg.  Maybe their punchlines are just more unexpected, but Cyborg is different in that is has a sense of humor more akin to other Korean comedies.  I would classify I’m A Cyborg’s humor as intelligent silliness.  It’s not quite slap-stick, though a lot of it is very oddball in a childish way.  This fits the setting, as the entire movie takes place in (or very nearby) an insane asylum.  Rolling around on the floor and hiding in a clock mantle provide up-front gags, but the real laughs are in word puns (at least in the English subs) and in small comments and imitations of the characters.

The cast mostly consists of your destined-to-be-paired two inmates.  One of which has come to the conclusion that she must be a cyborg.  The guy, who is acted by the apparently famous singer Rain, has a special power that he can transfer other inmates quirks and abilities to himself, in effect stealing their problems.  So, in order to relieve the cyborg of her human elements (like sympathy) which is holding her back from her goals, the thief will steal them away.  The supporting actors probably come out with the best gags, while the main characters move ahead the story, which is probably a good way to divide these elements up in a comedy.

Along the way, there are many silly or childish plot turns; ideas that you kind of just have to go along with.  This is no problem, though.  I mean, going into a Korean comedy you generally have to just forget about your age and laugh at everything shoved in your face.  There are several visual sequences which really elaborate on the inner thoughts or ambitions of our femme cyborg.  They keep the same tone of the rest of the film, though I felt that they bring you out of the movie a little too much.  Still… finger cannons are pretty sweet. The last scene where the thief has to teach the cyborg how to eat rice is absolutely hillarious.  The entire movie is worth watching for this one scene.

While I wouldn’t beg Park Chan-wook to make another comedy (more so because his serious stuff is so good), the movie is good and definitely worth watching.   Fans of his won’t necessarily like the movie just for good directing. Although it is done well, you should decide to watch this based on whether you like Korean humor in general.  If you don’t know, here’s a great place to start.

Rating – 4 /5

Title: Early Spring (aka Soshun)
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Year: 1956
Genre: Drama
Format Reviewed: Criterion Eclipse DVD

Title: Tokyo Twilight (aka Tokyo Boshoku)
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Year: 1957
Genre: Drama
Format Reviewed: Criterion Eclipse DVD

I recently bought the Eclipse Series 3 box set, and have gotten through the first two movies.  Early Spring and Tokyo Twilight are the two B&W films of the set and are quite a bit different in plot.  Early Spring follows a salaryman who becomes involved with a co-worker, while his marriage is on the rocks for reasons related and unrelated.  It is a study of interaction between people who have known each other for a long time.  Tokyo Twilight’s main plot revolves around a much younger protagonist, who unknowingly meets her mother, who ran away with another man after giving birth, leaving the girl to be raised by a single father.  Tokyo Twilight actually feels much slower paced and has a good amount of angst.  I suppose some things in youth are universal.

Early Spring is the better feeling film, though enjoyment from an Ozu film has more to do with whether you can grow into the characters.  There is a bittersweet ending and it can be touching, as the characters are quite likable.  In contrast, Tokyo Twilight seems more distant and unrelatable, although purposefully.  It’s an interesting comparison to look into.  For Early Spring, one can understand that the love between a couple can go through hard times and yet still feel close.  As for the relation between the daughter in Tokyo Twilight and her mother, they have never met before, and although they share a mother-daughter bond, it seems that fate will always keep them separated because their love was never given time to mature.  Though there is also a meditation on the limits to what the bond the single father can have with his daughter.
Of course, if you’ve seen an Ozu film before, you know the style of film and deliberately paced family drama that you are getting into.  There are few times where you laugh, cry, get depressed, etc.  It’s the test given to a good drama.   Ozu is obviously a master of this genre, and neither of these two film disappoint fans of his.  Early Spring is interesting enough to be accessible to a newcomer to older Japanese cinema, and I would chose it over Tokyo Twilight.  It may even be a better choice to start here with Ozu rather than Tokyo Story, because it is a little less depressing and more relatable, though certainly not as moving.

The Eclipse transfer is pretty good, though I can’t compare to a film copy.  I didn’t notice any significant lack of details in dark spots.  Running through the mono-theater simulation on my receiver, they both sounded very good.

Ratings:
Early Spring – 5 /5
Tokyo Twilight – 4 /5

Title: The Mist
Director: Frank Darabont
Year: 2007
Genre: Horror
Format Reviewed: Bluray

Since I’ve seen my last Stephen King-based movie (parts of Stephen King’s Nightmares series), I’ve actually read a Stephen King book: Cell.  It was pretty good once I got used to his writing style, but the biggest thing that I noticed was his use of stereotypical, annoying characters (not including the protagonist, thankfully).  The Mist suffers the same fate.  Though there is definitely a deeper message in the movie’s story, the ‘pure enjoyment’ portion of this movie, especially the horror aspect, suffers from predictability and a lack of power.

The Mist is in a few ways similar to M. Night Shyamalan’s recent work (The Happening and Lady in the Water).  The characters contrast each other so much that it’s hard to believe any of them are real.  At least in Shyamalan’s movies, this doesn’t become a distraction.  And similar to The Happening,  the characters are often overacted or overly pronounced within the story.  Perhaps, this is due to using Stephen King’s literature as source material.  Stephen King also seems to use a lot of product placement to make his alternate reality relative to his audience, but it just comes off as cheap in the movie.

Unlike Shyamalan, who has become very good in building tension, The Mist isn’t able to build tension at all.  The horror aspect of The Mist is a failure before anything really interesting happens.  The plot element of the mist is a good idea and I feel like it could have made for a great movie, but something was either lost in translation or poorly executed.  Without giving away spoilers, the real force behind the mist is revealed at a good pace, but it just doesn’t grab you as terrifying the way it could have.  A whole movie based on the mystery of the mist may have made a great film, but the audience isn’t really given a time to reflect on the mystery or really feel the fear felt by the characters.  The special effects are actually quite good and help the movie believably unfold, but the characters’ reactions ruin the encounters with the mist.  There are too many times to get frustrated and think, “OMG get moving!!” or “why don’t they just…??”

In the end, the only good scenes are ones where people bite it and when no one is talking, which takes up less than 10% of the film time.  So in my view, this movie could cut an hour, turned into a short, and be worth watching.  As it stands, The Mist is a below average, popcorn movie for the masses.  It definitely tries to lay on deeper messages of how people deal with fear and the obvious relation to recent American politics.  In fact, this part is not done poorly, but for a horror movie, there are more enjoyable movies than The Mist.

Rating: 2 /5