Inbox: 엄마는 창녀다

New for me

---

It's pretty obvious from the title, Mother Is a Whore, that this film would turn out to be pretty bleak. I picked it up on a whim, considering its positive reception by film festivals around the world and while the film surprised me by not starting out in a pit of despair as I'd feared, the film does lumber towards that inevitable end. But the contrasting portrayals of family life and subverting of audience expectations results in a rather interesting view, although the film seems to be unable to come up with a strong resolution in the film act and comes off the rails just a little, undermining its potential a little.

In the film, Sangwoo (writer-director-star Lee Sangwoo, not the same as the director of A Little Pond) is first spotted taking a young man with cerebral palsy to have sex with his mother (Lee Yongnyeo) for a little money as the "cheapest whore in town". And we find that his profession is a pimp, his one girl happens to be his mother, whom he lives with in a tiny shack outside the town and clearly business isn't great. Hanging around Sangwoo is a young male admirer as well as his similarly admiring stepsister, Heesoo (Yoo Aekyung). Heesoo is his stepsister via his father (Kwon Bumtaek), who recently married Heesoo's mother, a devout church-going lady. Heesoo clearly dislikes her new stepfather and has largely taken sole role of taking care of her extremely reclusive younger brother, who never leaves his room. And while Sangwoo plays the part of the pimp as best he can, as the movie goes on, it's clear that his relationship with his mother isn't an entirely exploitative one and while their situation is desperate, their relationship isn't sour. And we also discover the depths of depravity that exist within Heesoo's household. And, as expected, all this takes a turn for the worse.

What works very well with this piece is that the film manages to make its protagonist sympathetic and furthermore upend expectations as to what happens in both of the major households in the film. This complexity and limited warmth in the relationship between Sangwoo and his mother is the kind of portrayal, combined with some black humor early on, gives Mother Is a Whore a strong place from which to also draw the contrasting narrative, which predictably spirals worse and worse. Unfortunately, that same spiral causes the film to wander a little in the final act and the film settles on a rather grim finale, which seems like Lee Sangwoo ran out of ideas on how to close out his film as the film's tone shifts to a rather predictable end, which in some ways undoes the initial, and interesting, complexity of the film. Not to mention that the ending of the film simply doesn't make a whole lot of sense given the preceding events.

One thing that's instantly impressive is the production values of this Korean indie film, looking fairly professional in presentation, even featuring rather well done soundtrack. Lee doesn't play too much outside the normal presentation of narrative, sticking closely to his characters, with the exception of the final scene, which skews a bit from the reality that he presents. Carrying the film on his back, Lee also does a fine job as an actor and the overall turn reminds me of a similar actor driven project, Breathless, but even as this film spirals bleak like the other, Lee doesn't seem to keep the tonal reality consistent leading to dissonance at the end. Fortunately, the other performers were pretty solid too, but I don't know if it's enough to make up for the disappointing ending.

Mother Is a Whore is still pretty interesting and will likely meaningfully find support from supporters of indie cinema, who will likely appreciate the subversion of expectations that the film presents, from the contrasting familial setups to the complex character relationships and the film's ability to start in a place that there is a place downward to go. Unfortunately, as the film finally reaches its climax, it becomes somewhat clear that Lee didn't quite have a grasp on the finale of the film in a way that incorporates some kind of resolution to his story, the current result seeming like the story wasn't really heading towards a known conclusion. Still, for its play with convention and expectation as well as its interesting character portraits, I would still think that more indie/art cinema inclined viewers will find something to appreciate here. 7/10.

Links:

• Additional Reviews: Hangul Celluloid
• Available at YesAsia

Replay: 돼지가 우물에 빠진 날

Revisiting movies

---

Director Hong Sangsoo's debut film, The Day a Pig Fell into a Well, might be the most unique film in his filmography, for, while he still does pursue some of the same character archetypes and themes that mark his long list of features he's made since, Pig displays a degree of rawness in his characters as well as having more interwoven stories and female perspectives than he'd attempt in the future. Pig does move slowly at times and the production values are pretty rough. And yet, because of the rawness of the film and not the detached irony of his later work, Pig also remains one of his most potent works, crushing in its portrayal of pathetic men and women.

The first of the four stories features Hong's favored protagonist type, in this case, the novelist Hyosub (Kim Uisung), who is broke and of mediocre success, but still manages to keep two women around. First is Minjae (Jo Eunsook), a former student of his and a deep admirer who he uses to proof his manuscripts and borrow money from, and Bokyung (Lee Eungkyung), a married woman who he claims to love. Yet, as much as he tries to cling onto the woman he says he loves, his lack of success and resulting anger leads to explosive results when he gets together with some of his colleagues at a get together. Then we meet Dongwoo (Park Jinsung), Bokyung's husband. He's an office worker who takes a trip to Jeonju for work, but is stuck due to his business contact being unable to meet him. Furthermore, stuck in Jeonju and further frustrated because his wife is not having sex with him, but desiring her greatly, he calls on prostitute. Then we move onto Minjae, a young twenty-something who holds a variety of part-time jobs to pay for her life and pathetically pursues Hyosub, while avoiding the affections of an admirer of her own who works at the same movie theater. And finally, we spend time with Bokyung, who is in a loveless marriage and seems to have decided to leave her husband for Hyosub one day, but is unable to reach him, resulting in her wandering around his neighborhood and then spots her husband not at work like he claimed.

As with most of Hong's protagonists, the protagonists here are all pretty pathetic too, but Hong's direct approach to their weaknesses is startlingly bold. The characters all have a breaking point in the film and result in some rather brutal scenes, the like we don't see in Hong's films following, but these are also rather memorable scenes, capturing the trap that the characters have spun themselves into. Also, Hong's capacity to weave details together in these stories so that they actually build upon each other, despite each acting individually is quite impressive. The only really incongruous part of the film is a dream sequence that's a bit disruptive, considering the reality that Hong otherwise presents.

One of the few complaints I have about the storytelling in Pig is that the film is a touch on the long side and it can be felt as we reach each successive story and while I do see the value of the many mood-and-character building scenes that Hong injects into his film, a feel that a little judicious trimming would help limit the sometimes overly empathetic meandering feeling the film imparts. Another thing that doesn't really diminish the film's accomplishments but is quite noticeable is that the film features some rough production values, with poor film stock and limited lighting control. But even more than this is that Hong's own visual directorial style really had yet to develop and so the way that the film is shot feels a bit like watching a film student's work. On the other hand, Hong works with his actors well and they each deliver some rather impressive performances, from Park Jinsung's Dongwoo, shuddering perhaps in grief or self-disgust to Lee Eungkyung's controlled face that hides layers of desire to escape her listless life. The score of the film is also unlike later Hong films in that it's quite moody and brooding, almost akin to a horror movie, imparting the film with a dramatic and dark quality, which I actually think works well with Hong's more unrestrained approach here.

Even if Pig feels long at times, I still find it to be a potent work of cinema and shows the younger director Hong at his most raw and expressive while still perfectly displaying the themes and directorial authorship that he would develop in future films. Pig is rough and casual moviegoers might be put off by that as well as the seemingly wandering storytelling. However, packed with such interestingly well connected stories that actually manage to build towards a climax, despite being separate stories, and presented with such strong performances, that will likely still win over many other viewers. Pig largely lacks the detached comedic irony that Hong is now well known for, but it is still very clearly his work and one that holds a unique place among his films. I would not recommend that viewers watch Pig in order to sample Hong's work for the first time, but for art cinema lovers and Hong fans, The Day a Pig Fell into a Well is well worth checking out. 8/10.

Links:

• Watch for free at YouTube on Korean Film Archive's channel
• Additional Reviews: Koreanfilm.org
• Available at YesAsia

Inbox: 불꽃처럼 나비처럼

New for me

---

I wasn't entirely certain what to expect with The Sword with No Name because of director Kim Yonggyoon's rather short, but diverse filmography, having made a drama and then a horror film and with this title, a historical action film. However, after watching it, I feel like this film falls into a bit of the melodrama trap that many Korean historical action films fall into, like the intolerable Bichunmoo and the bloated Musa, failing to capitalize on its most interesting character, Empress Myungsung (Soo Ae), and concocting a rather limp love story with the much less interesting warrior protagonist. And the action is hit and miss in a very obvious way.

But first, the story revolves around Moomyung (Jo Seungwoo), an orphan-now-assassin who masquerades as a ferryman, who ends up offering a ride to a woman, Min Jayoung, and developing a fondness for her (and she for him), but who would shortly be destined to become Korea's queen. After saving her from some assassins and tussling with the new head of palace security, Nojeon (Choi Jaewoong), unable to forget her, he makes his way to the palace to become a guard. Meanwhile, court politics and foreign meddling, combined with Myungsung's openness to outsiders results in her life being both valued by the romantically neglectful king, but also threatened by political forces within the court as well as the Japanese, drawing in Moomyung into the politics and combat as he strives to protect his beloved and his queen.

There is a palpable problem with the script if the protagonist who we spend most of our time with is easily outshined by his love interest, to the point where we want to know much more about her and much less about him. While Moomyung is given a little backstory, his character is otherwise very simple and rather static, the only real tension he has to deal with is loving a woman that he could never have because of her position as the country's queen. But because the initial love story wasn't particularly well earned, it's quite difficult to believe any of the anguish he feels nor his desire for Jayoung. Furthermore, the court politics are rather muddy and while I appreciate that there are multiple forces at work, the film really doesn't do a good job of laying out these conflicts and drawing out the necessary doubt, tension and suspicion in such a way that it's exciting. In the end, this keeps the story from being particularly convincing, especially with the poorly motivated plot-driven character turns on the political side that really come across as forced.

What does work well is the general look of the film, with high quality production values, lovely costumes and art design, and mostly good handling of visual direction. With one glaring exception--during the fight scenes between Moomyung and Nojeon, the movie goes heavy on the CGI and becomes extremely exaggerated, which contrasts heavily with the more practical fight scenes in the rest of the film and results in a lot of incongruity with the overall look of the film. Furthermore, like in the second one of these fights, the setting even changes to some glacial palace and ends up looking about as convincing as if you took a videogame cutscene and inserted it into the movie. Fortunately, the rest of the action direction is pretty good. As for the acting, it's fair, but limited by rather shallow writing resulting in the actors needing to amp up their onscreen emotions to try to make up for the lack of believable drama and this ultimately just seems a bit hollow. The more casual moments at the beginning of the film aren't bad, but as the film reaches its climax, it all just becomes harder to believe. Even the more subtle music gets a little silly when the movie actively tries to turn on the drama and tension.

But that's not to say that The Sword with No Name is unbearable. In fact, it's definitely a bearable experience, but one that simply doesn't have enough of a story behind it to make it much more than that. With the exception of the out-of-place video game fight sequences, the action and aesthetics are actually quite good and with a leaner or better orchestrated story, it would all be an excellent support, but in this case, the action and aesthetics are the main attraction. I don't know if that's enough for someone that really values a story in their movies, but even with the thin story, it still does manage to string together the events without glaring plot holes, so maybe those that like pretty films with lots of fighting will still find something to enjoy in The Sword with No Name. Others won't miss much by not seeing it. 6/10.

Links:

• Feature blog
• Additional Reviews: eastern Kicks, Seen in Jeonju
• Available at Amazon (Blu Ray) / (DVD)

Seen: LA Views V: April 29, 1992, May 12, 2012 at Company of Angels, Los Angeles

Reporting on the shows I watch

---

I distinctly remember when the news broke about the Rodney King verdict as it had managed to engross the discussion of our whole school and even gotten us young elementary school children far away from the events talking about matters of justice. And then the news of the riots horrified us, as massive devastation happened to all those who lived in central Los Angeles, including a great amount of Koreatown. I still remember seeing the news reports of Korean business owners manning the rooftops of their buildings, armed with rifles, because suddenly people who held some kind of tenuous connection to me by their status as immigrants of my same ethnicity had made national news. And when the black community's rage at the injustice perpetuated upon them by the system of oppression of the rich and powerful exploded, it engulfed a large chunk of Los Angeles and captured international attention.

Twenty years since those explosive weeks in spring, a number of events commemorating that moment in history appeared all over Los Angeles. One of these events was a play in a continuing series by Company of Angels, a theatrical group that focuses on Los Angeles history and culture. I was drawn in by a friend who was in the cast, but after watching the show, I found it to be a strong and interesting work of dramatic fiction, inspired by those harrowing nights so long ago. Running about two hours with a brief intermission in between, LA Views V is a collection of eight one act plays of varying length and size, including the stories of a variety of communities that experienced the Los Angeles riots following the verdict of the police officers accused and clearly shown on tape beating motorist Rodney King. While the different plays were of varying quality and even tone, the overall experience was quite enlightening and handled by talented actors.

The play opens up with "Rise Up" by Nic Cha Kim, taking a news reporter view of the riots while exploring the position of the news in the coverage of the riots. "Rodney & Ricky" by Malik Burroughs follows, examining trio of black siblings and their different reactions to the Rodney King verdict, an associate in a predominantly white law firm being torn between trying to be level headed and dutiful to his job as the pressures from his fellow minorities and family mount on him. This piece has an excellent mix of comedy and dramatic tension, which is a feature of many of the plays in this particular show, especially in the first half. The next play, "Burning Plains" by Jonathan Ceniceroz examines some direct tension as a gay couple (white and Latino) struggle with friction from the situation, meanwhile the neighboring comedian argues with his mother about getting to an audition during the riots and roughly transitions to an interesting moment as the two neighbors encounter each other. Finally closing up the first half is "Switzerland" by Mayank Keshaviah, which explores inter-black community tensions set in the Switzerland of a Mexican restaurant.

The second half of the show is a bit more serious in tone and features some more abstract theatrical elements, like the background dialogue that filled "Kicks" by Gabriel Rivas Gomez as a mother discovers that her son participated in the looting of the riots. Then the show takes another interesting turn with "Rooftops" by the same playwright as it takes the view of those Koreans defending their businesses as they come into conflict with the National Guard. This marks a moment in the play where the Korean characters' dialogue was performed completely in Korean, probably leaving most of the audience unable to understand precisely what the characters are saying. This writing decision I wasn't fully sold on as it creates a barrier between the audience and the characters and could come across as no different than the alienating news reports about the Korean business owners. Being able to understand the Korean dialogue, I found that it was a bit wooden and unnaturally written at times, although it did give me particular access to what was going on with the characters.

This is followed by "Rioters or Cannibals" by Julie Taiwo Oni, a play that takes the white perspective and goes a bit into a moment of surreal as one character tries to do research about cannibals for his screenplay while his girlfriend struggles with the repercussions of the injustice of the Rodney King verdict. While I respect the attempt to frame a white perspective of the events, I felt this particular piece, perhaps an examination of white guilt struggling with the ability to ignore the events or make outside commentary on them, doesn't contribute as much to the picture being woven by the other plays. The show takes a turn for the fantastic with "Clean" by Michael Patrick Spillers, as a pair of gangsters evade armed Koreans whose store they burnt down and hide in an old Hollywood graveyard, where the ghosts of the dead performers find themselves unable to rest.

Company of Angels is a small black box theater, but the tech of the show was pretty well done and the direction of the show cleverly has the transitions including rioting by the cast, infusing the transitions with a sense of the moments in which the plays were set. I do feel like the show played it a touch safe with a rather sympathetic light being cast over most of the show, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't interesting, especially in the first half with a strong balance of comedy and drama. The second half is still interesting, particularly from a directorial and artistic standpoint, but wobbles a little because of inaccessibility or a weak tie to the rest of the plays, but fortunately closes fairly strong.

When the show was over, I came out of the theater quite pleased with the overall experience and I would definitely recommend it for those living in Los Angeles as a way of digging deeper into the city's scars and coming to see how the city views the events from twenty years ago as well as how it reverberates in the dialogue between the communities involved in the riots then. Even with the quality of the work being a little uneven, it was a strong experience that will be enjoyable to even casual theater-goers. 8/10.

Links:

• Show website

Inbox: 작은 연못

New for me

---

Back in 1999, the AP broke a Pulitzer Prize winning story about a massacre of Korean refugees by the US military operating in Korea, during the onset of the Korean War, which was allegedly ordered due to suspicions of North Korean infiltrators marching in the refugee columns. This has long been an issue in Korea, where the survivors have been calling for apology and reparations and, ten years after the AP news story, nearly 60 years after the massacre, a film covering this event, A Little Pond, was released. The film itself is a rather brutal depiction of the massacre and features a large cast of Korean stars, who apparently donated their time and image for the film. Unfortunately, the film is a bit hobbled by an underdeveloped story, as well as some overly sensational moments and particularly weak performances by the actors handling the American roles.

The film is a dramatization of the events described in the AP report and the consequent book, with additional research done by interviewing survivors of the massacre. In a prologue, we briefly see Korean police investigating a potential communist sympathizer, but quickly move to spend a little idle time with the members of the farming village, who largely focus on day-to-day affairs, although the shadow of war looms on their minds as well as their conversations. And then members of the US military from Japan, young and inexperienced, run through the village and alert them that the conflict will reach their village shortly and for the villagers to evacuate south. So they head south, but, because of this suspicion of North Koreans amidst the refugees, the refugees are treated with suspicion and then the refugees are attacked via air strike and gunfire from the US forces stationed in the area, causing the survivors to flee under the bridge at Nogunri, where most of the rest of them are cut down by machine gun fire.

There really isn't much more to the story than that. The film does spend a bit of time with a number of the villagers, but because there are so many that the film spends only a little bit of time with, they end up being rather shallow characterizations, and without any particular protagonist, it doesn't really feel like there's any real drama in the film, but merely a lot of focus on the senseless killing, which is important for the purpose of the film, but if the film had better built up some kind of character struggle or story, then it might have made for more than just what seems like sensationalism in celluloid guise.

The way that the film's story is presented might have worked if the film took a more documentary-flavored approach, but writer-director Lee Sangwoo does really step down to the character level and so I wanted to see more character work, but, despite the large cast of high profile stars, there really wasn't much to most of the characters and so most of the performances amount to cameos since they only have a short piece of screen time to develop their characters before getting shot or blown up. What's more, the actors performing the roles of the American forces were woefully hard to believe, which is not surprising, given that non-Korean actors in Korean film tend to be rather unpolished, but it further takes away from the reality of the situation. And then there's the moment of artistic fancy that is thrown in via some CGI whales, which completely disrupts the attempt at realism that the film otherwise takes, although it's not completely without basis as the film's Korean title is a reference to a classic Korean anti-war folk song about fish in a pond. Still, add that to some moments of manipulation in the direction, including several cringe-worthy moments around children and babies, and it all acts to detract from the horror that the film intends to present.

That's not to say that I think A Little Pond is a complete failure. After all, it does still manage to effectively shine a light on a moment in Korean and American history that might simply otherwise go publicly forgotten and does so in a rather harrowing and brutal manner. But the film stumbles in terms of being inconsistent in the kind of reality it wants to paint for the viewer with its sometimes exaggerated, manipulative direction and fanciful CGI whales contrasted with its low-character involvement approach, yet still wanting to establish the characters. These end up being compromises that accomplish neither task that the film is trying to take and that results in a film that doesn't entirely convince as well as it otherwise could. And let's hope that in the future Chungmuro makes a more concerted effort to find better English-speaking actors or even import those actors from the appropriate country when necessary. 6/10.

DVD Note: The Panorama release from Hong Kong suffers from a poor transfer with lots of visible flaws from the compression including aliasing as well as having absolutely abysmal English language subtitles, which manage to make the film more difficult to understand. I imagine that the Korean edition would have better picture and subtitles.

Links:

• Available at YesAsia

Inbox:Replay: Lost in Translation

Revisiting movies I've recently acquired

---

Sophia Coppola has the unique distinction of both bringing down the Godfather franchise by being a lodestone of an actress in The Godfather: Part III and yet managing to become, like her father, Francis Ford Coppola, a distinguished auteur director. Lost in Translation is the film that helped bring to her this distinction and for pretty good reason as it throws standard storytelling convention out the window in favor of empathy and perception and, at its best, an almost documentary-like degree of observation. The film does suffer a little in its jokier moments (which are neither funny nor ironic), which largely results is a loss of the story's credibility for some time and also has an Orientalist perspective, which is ambiguous whether it's the perspective of the storyteller, Coppola, or the characters, due to the character-level perspective of the film, but it left a rather ugly taste in my mouth and soured what is otherwise a entrancing portrait of two lonely people finding a connection.

In the film there are two people who are in Japan temporarily, but not really wanting to be there. Charlotte (Scarlet Johansson), a post-collegiate suffering a lack of direction in life follows her photographer husband of two years to Japan as she had nothing else to do, plagued by uncertainty and loneliness. Bob (Bill Murray) was a successful actor in the waning years of his career, in town because a Japanese whiskey company paid him two million dollars to endorse them and is in process of shooting the commercials and advertisements, but is in the middle of a mid-life crisis as well. The two eventually encounter each other in the hotel they are both staying at and drawn to each other by their mutual melancholy and end up running around Tokyo together, nourished by their connection.

Once Lost in Translation gets its characters together with each other and following those moments, the film really gathers a lot of power as we can clearly see that the two find a connection with each other when otherwise alienated from those around them due to lingual and cultural differences, including other Americans in Charlotte's case. And even though not much appears to be happening, it's very clear that the two lonely characters are forming a bond, the kind of bond that comes with expectations and desires. And the film draws that slow connection and contrast to a head effectively at the film's end. So that's well done. But Coppola's choice to set the film in Japan is a bit disappointing, because it uses a rather too simple alienation, looking at Japan through an Orientalist lens, perhaps one shared by the characters as well as the writer-director, where the Japanese characters, especially when acting as "comic relief", are made to act particularly unusual as to be the butt of the jokes. This is made worse by Bob and Charlotte's respective level of mocking disdain they have for the unfamiliar (or, in some cases, manufactured bizarre). And while Charlotte's friend, Charlie (Hayashi Fumihiro) and his company aren't painted in such a negative light, even that's compromised a little by their last scene.

And Coppola's direction can be quite potent, exceptional so while quietly observing Charlotte and Bob in their respective lonely moments. On the other hand, that detached documentary-style approach, when applied to the Japanese is done so with a heavily Orientalist perspective, as is saying "look how odd Japanese people are", as eye changes from caring about the respective character's truths to only seeing the external differences. What's worse is that makes those comedic beats in the film tremendously unfunny, because the behavior of the Japanese characters ends up seeming like obvious clowning, rather than building the comedy upon some foundation of irony and/or criticism. I want to say that this is because we are seeing the Japanese through the perspectives of Charlotte and Bob, but the observational style of the film prohibits that reading of the film and so the Japan element of the film is actually its greatest weakness. On the plus side, both Johansson and Murray turn in excellent performances, which is necessary for this subjective kind of film to work. And all this is aided by an interesting score and soundtrack, including the way that some conversations are barely audible or inaudible, including the final conversation between Bob and Charlotte. So that's another plus.

In the end, I found Lost in Translation a flawed masterpiece. It's potent in its observation of two lonely souls finding refuge from alienation in each other, helped by genuine performances the writer-director's close observational style. On the other hand, in Coppola using Japan as a backdrop for this alienation, she takes a rather disingenuous route of elevating the unfamiliarity of the people that Bob and Charlotte encounter to rather unbelievable levels, breaking the reality of Bob and Charlotte's individual plights for cheap laughs that are written for and by an Orientalist eye. What's more, Coppola isn't even with her direction, giving Bob and Charlotte a deep level of subjectivity, but keeping the Japanese characters at an arms length to magnify their differences while seeming observational as a cheap way to reinforce her protagonists' alienation. I still think that there's a lot interesting going on in Lost in Translation, especially in terms of Coppola, Murray and Johansson's ability to tell the compelling story of Bob and Charlotte, but the trappings are cheap and suffer from colonialist blindness. Granted, I think the non-traditional take on narrative itself will cause casual moviegoers to be lost, so I'd say that the audience for this film is the art-house friendly set, but I think academics and Asian diaspora in particular might be turned off by its Orientalism. 7/10.

Links:

• Feature website
• Available at Amazon (Blu Ray) / (DVD) / (Instant) and iTunes

Inbox:Replay: The Fifth Element

Revisiting movies I've recently acquired

---

The Fifth Element is a rather colorful and comic book-like science fiction film, a little chaotic, with some rather flat, but still enjoyably large archetypal characters, and a rather thin conflict and character development and yet with plenty of interesting multi-faction plotting. While the story isn't especially memorable in that it seems like a mash-up of many stories that came before, the visual style of the film is, resulting in a rather unique piece of science fiction for its time that is certainly entertaining, but limited.

Basically, the titular Fifth Element is the universe's ultimate weapon and every five thousand years, some kind of ultimate evil will appear to destroy every living thing in the universe. The element and the four activating stones are taken off of Earth for safekeeping and a line of priests left to await their return. And then, a deadly living planet appears at the edge of the solar of system. Meanwhile, the alien race that is on route to Earth with the Fifth Element and the stones is destroyed by some other aliens by order of Zorg (Gary Oldman), a maniacal tycoon. Meanwhile, Earth resurrects the Fifth Element, who turns out to be Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) who, during an escape from the military, crashes into ex-military guy, now taxi driver Korben Dallas' (Bruce Willis) cab. And there begins a race to procure the missing stones between Zorg, the vengeful aliens that Zorg betrays, Father Vito Cornelius (Ian Holm) and Leeloo, and Korben as demanded by the government, all to save or destroy the universe.

And from that description, there's obviously a lot going on in the plot with lots of factions creating some interesting, if somewhat busy, amounts of conflict and intrigue. This does a whole lot to help the otherwise rather simple good versus evil story that doesn't really have any real depth or complexity at its core and is basically an "assemble the superweapon to defeat the bad guy" story, made complex by all the factions as well as the superweapon being a living human being. But spending any real time looking at what happens in the story results in plot holes and logic failures becoming apparent, which aren't that problematic in the middle of the frantic action, but make apparent just how thin the story actually is. The most obvious point of this is the rather unbelievable "love" that Korben has for Leeloo and its role in the story.

Fortunately, director Luc Besson manages to make the most of his handwaving and together with a visually striking, even if a little dizzying, production and design team, puts together a still memorable movie, with bright, memorable costumes, sets, all with a distinctly European flair, and predictably engaging action scenes from Besson. The cast is also quite good, making the most of their basic archetypes, with Oldman yet again creating a rather memorable villain in a Besson film. Sometimes the stylistic choices, much like the plotting and pacing can be dizzying to the point of incoherence, like around Ruby Rhod's (Chris Tucker) scenes, but the film still manages a degree of agreeableness all the same.

And I think that agreeableness is what keeps The Fifth Element interesting despite its chaos and thin story. In some ways it's an affectionate take on the simpler science fiction space operas of yesteryear and that tone is almost enough to wave aside any concerns with the story and the presentation. Almost. While the film is visually engaging thanks to its unique look, which is aided by Besson's direction and performances from the actors, the story is simply not particularly compelling, even if helped a bit by added complexities to the plot and that takes a lot of the wind out of The Fifth Element's sails. Even so, it's still fun enough to act as entertainment for those looking for it in a science fiction form. And for a genre rife with weak entries, especially during the time that The Fifth Element debuted, that's still a welcome presence. 7/10.

Links:

• Available at Amazon (Blu Ray) / (DVD) / (Instant) and iTunes

Inbox:Replay: Goldfinger

Revisiting movies I've recently acquired

---

Goldfinger, along with From Russia with Love did a lot to codify what would define the James Bond film series as well as have a tremendous impact on what would be perceived as spy films for the great future. And with good cause as together they represent some of the best films that the series had to offer. That's not to say that Goldfinger is a perfect film in the genre it helped to define as it suffers from having a rather ineffectual protagonist and still has some rather pointless moments, but the film manages to raise the stakes especially in terms of the villain and plot and provide a number of memorable characters and moments, even if some of the elements are on the silly side.

In this case, after a mission, super MI6 spy 007, James Bond (Sean Connery), is enjoying some R&R when he is asked to look into a wealthy businessman and gold trader Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe). This doesn't go well and as Bond continues to investigate Goldfinger, he slowly uncovers a terribly ingenious plot involving Communist China and the gold supply of the United States.

It's interesting that Bond is the most inconsequential element of the story, mostly acting as a captive observer to Goldfinger's plans for much of the film. If it weren't for the audacity of Goldfinger's planning the largeness of the characters in the film as well as Bond's repeated, but failed attempts to escape or foil Goldfinger's plans, the film might have been dull. Fortunately, the film is filled with larger than life characters, a surprisingly interesting villainous plot and some rather radical events and set pieces that keep it interesting, despite Bond's general ineffectiveness--there are probably only two things Bond does during the film that have any impact and one of those two things, involving Goldfinger's pilot, Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman), is a bit unbelievable and villainous.

So with so much of the entertainment value coming from seeing the over-the-top action and set pieces, it's a good thing that the film delivers, especially with some iconic moments, including a car chase with a gadget loaded Aston Martin, a high powered laser death trap (which is a bit silly considering that Goldfinger could have just shot Bond), a fight with the intimidating henchman of Goldfinger, Oddjob (Harold Sakata), a death by gold paint and more, all delivered with the kind of slightly silly slickness that defines the 007 series. New director Guy Hamilton handles the action effectively and the actors are fairly decent, with Frobe having a dubbing performance to effectively match his physical one.

When a film effectively gets you to accept its over-the-top sillier moments, you know you're watching an entertaining one. That doesn't really excuse a couple pointless moments or that the hero of the story really doesn't accomplish much, but it makes it much more easier to ignore as we watch the crazy number of stimulating set pieces fly by during the film's run, which is admittedly a little on the long side. While Goldfinger doesn't prove the film series to be the pinnacle of art or entertainment, it remains important for having a heavy influence on a whole sub-genre of film and managing to still be one of the best films in the long-running series. Goldfinger is as silly as its gold-obsessed villain and his theme song, but it manages to be surprisingly fun despite that and shows the iconic series hitting a good stride. 7/10.

Links:

• Available at Amazon (Blu Ray) / (DVD) / (Instant) and iTunes

Inbox: From Russia with Love

New for me

---

From Russia with Love, the second 007 film, shows a marked improvement for the series and while the film isn't necessarily proving itself the pinnacle of tight action-spy-thriller filmmaking, much of the roughness of Dr. No has melted away and the story actually holds together much better this time around. Sure there are still some pacing issues, the film is a little predictable, and some of the characterizations are a bit weak, but it is a league more interesting than its predecessor with clearer stakes and conflicts as well as simply higher profile production.

This time around, SPECTRE, the global conspiracy, is trying to get a Russian decoding machine called the Lektor, and, with the help of the recently defected Soviet Corporal Klebb (Rosa Lenya), trick the pretty Russian consular decoder Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) to act as a fake defector in order to incite tensions between the British and the Russians as well as draw in James Bond (Sean Connery) and avenge the deceased Dr. No. The British desire for the Lektor as well results in James Bond being sent to Istanbul in order to investigate and, eventually escort Romanova back to the UK. Meanwhile, SPECTRE has their agent Grant (Robert Shaw) dispatched to make sure that everything goes as planned.

So, what works is that there's a MacGuffin that everyone wants and while the stakes for capturing this MacGuffin aren't very clear, the Cold War environment of the movie probably made the stakes pretty notable, even if ambiguous for the audience at the time and the film actually manages to invoke a good amount of suspense thanks to keeping us aware that Bond (and Romanova) are continuing to fall into SPECTRE's grasp. Furthermore, there are much fewer moments of plot-essential stupidity by any of the characters and few seemingly pointless moments in the film, although there are a couple which seem only to act as fan service eye candy for the male audience. However, Romanova's character, who might be the most interesting in terms of her position, doesn't really get enough attention to really convince that a woman so fond of Mother Russia is suffering some internal conflict once making sweet sweet love to James Bond--more really could have been made of that personal drama for her and that would have fueled some more interesting conflict in the film. The final matter is that the film follows the pattern of Dr. No a little too closely early on and feels a bit rote until the intrigue in Istanbul elevates.

Director Terence Young returns for the second film and manages to inject a bit more excitement into this film, doing well to (mostly) avoid scenes that don't really add much to the film and handle the action elements in a more exciting way. Also, the bump in the film's budget helps its look considerably as well. The performances are decent overall, although Bianchi is a bit weaker than her peers, and definitely capture that feel that you'd expect from a 007 movie of this era. And the opening credits are creatively rendered yet again. Great play with light, even if a bit gratuitous as per 007 standard.

All in all, I actually managed to enjoy From Russia with Love. I don't find it to be especially exciting since the film misses plenty of opportunities to ratchet up the suspense as well as inter and intra-personal conflict, especially with the character of Romanova, but it's certainly much more enjoyable than its predecessor thanks to a much leaner and better rendered plot and story. This is also further helped by higher profile set pieces and production, even if some of it borders on silly. And so, From Russia with Love does manage to showcase most of the elements that make this long running series work, even if it lacks a couple of the most obviously cited elements (there is no mention of martinis here) and proves to be a modestly enjoyable time at the movies. 7/10.

Links:

• Available at Amazon (Blu Ray) / (DVD) / (Instant) and iTunes

Inbox: Dr. No

New for me

---

Dr. No, would herald the start of a bombastic film series, but in a surprisingly quiet way, due to the lower budget. While some of what makes the series financially successful is quite present in this earliest film, the film is still obviously finding its own identity here. Even this 007 film does provide a few elements that weren't especially common in films of this nature of the time, but the actual storytelling is a bit wobbly with several weak plot elements and far too many slow filler moments that occurred as a result of adaptation, as well as tempo and pacing, troubles. Still, for everything that doesn't work in the film, there is still plenty that does, else James Bond would not have become as iconic as it has, but Dr. No is still an unsurprisingly rough start to a series that would wax and wane in quality.

Based on the Ian Fleming novel, Dr. No chronicles the MI6 super spy, James Bond's (Sean Connery) trip to Jamaica to figure out what happened to one of their agents who had gone missing. Along the way, Bond encounters some intrigue, women, some allies and colleagues, and eventually discovers that it all has to do something with the mysterious Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman), who purportedly runs a bauxite mine in enforced isolation on his person island, Crab Key.

And that's all fine and good as far as a plot goes, but one major failing of the story is stakes. It's not at all clear what's at stake except the American launch and the lack of defined stakes makes much of the investigation and trouble that these characters go to seem rather leisurely and, thus, boring. On top of this, the adaptation suffers from some decay, resulting in some rather pointless elements, like the photographer (Margueritte LeWars) who has no impact on the story, or simply ridiculous plot contrivances, like the vent through which Bond is easily capable of escaping his prison, as well as several points where Dr. No could have easily defeated Bond and killed off his late-film love interest, Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress), but doesn't for reasons that aren't quite believable, as well as several points where Bond makes some unusually stupid decisions for plot purposes. The result is that for not a single moment does the film exude any real suspense.

So, if the story doesn't really hold up well, what does work about the film? Well, a lot of the elements that remain Bond staples, including a character defining performance by Sean Connery, who, with the help of director Terence Young, manages to bring the debonair character from the pages to life. The film's opening credits, while still a bit rough, still oozes a unique animated style and stylish opening credits have remained a significant part of the series since. And then there's the iconic score. And several attractive women for Bond to bed. The film also managed to look pretty good, especially for the low budget production this was. The performances from secondary and tertiary characters, however, are a little uneven and Young's direction is a little on the plain side, which doesn't help the lack of suspense in the story.

I won't even start with the issues around race, the Cold War, and Jamaican culture that the film stumbles and fumbles on.

But the eye candy is definitely present in the film and while the film does lack much the action that would come to further define the film in the series, as well as the gadgets and over-the-top characters, the film still manages to put together several of the elements that have defined the series for decades. I don't think that's enough to really take this film into the realm of being exciting, since the story simply doesn't muster any excitement or suspense and suffers from too many forced character stupidity moments. But for its style and brazen sexuality (for its time), it's still notable. Fortunately, the template set by this film would result in better films in the future (even if it also would result in worse ones). 6/10.

Links:

• Available at Amazon (Blu Ray) / (DVD) / (Instant) and iTunes

Inbox:Replay: All About Eve

Revisiting movies I've recently acquired

---

It seems that every time I revisit All About Eve, I'm always surprised by just how well the whole film is constructed as well as still taking in by the turns of the film, even with full knowledge of what will happen. It's a quintessential classic Hollywood drama, taking a sharply written script about ambition and desire and its effect on relationships, adding some savvy classic Hollywood style performances by its actors, and resulting in a dramatic and captivating film.

We first meet the titular Eve (Anne Baxter) as she is accepting a prestigious theatrical award for acting and then the players at the ceremony that know her begin telling the tale of Eve and how she found her way into their lives, starting with aging, but popular and acclaimed actress Margo Channing (Bette Davis), seemingly a young admirer of Channing, but we discover that Eve isn't exactly the modest young woman she appears to be and has desires and ambitions of her own.

One cause of concern for me in this film was the protagonist handoff that happens over the course of the film as we see the focus of the film shift in the final act from Margo to Karen, her friend (Celeste Holm) and finally to Eve in quick succession, possibly losing the film, however the ending of the film is in keeping with the parallels drawn between Margo and Eve as well as a young woman we meet at the very end of the film and touches like that thematic glue really make the film work out well, watching Margo, the primary protagonist, deal with her own personal conflict and the destruction her own ambition, insecurity and ego wreaks on her life. There's also a really interesting balance of cynicism and idealism in the film and a few subversions of each over the course of the film, striking an interesting balance. But watching the plot unfold, especially with the manipulation and perhaps loss of control of the central female characters is quite gripping.

Of course, this all needs capable actresses to handle the demanding parts and Davis and Baxter are both up to their parts, with Davis believably handling the breakdown and rebuilt of Margo Channing and Baxter turning in a perfectly convincing performance as a naive Eve, but managing to hint, even early on with the gleam in her eye, at Eve's true intentions. Add in a solid ensemble by the rest of the cast and attentive direction by the consistent Joseph Mankiewicz, who also wrote the screenplay, including some interesting visual motifs around mirrors to coincide with the parallelisms drawn by the story and other interesting visual echoes, leads to some subtle, but interesting reinforcing work by the whole production, which also boasts some appropriately fantastic costumes, sets, and generally provides a quality presentation for a movie of this era.

And that collision of a well told and constructed story, ageless in its approach on ambition, but also so well attuned to its context of the world of entertainment, with excellent performances by the actresses and thoughtful direction is why All About Eve is probably held in such high regard. Even what I thought might have been my complaints about the film were resolved thanks to well thought out directorial and storytelling choices. I don't know if All About Eve is the perfect American film, but sixty years since it's release, it's still very obvious why it remains a tried classic of American cinema. 9/10.

Links:

• Available at Amazon (Blu Ray) / (DVD) / (Instant) and iTunes

Inbox: 써니

Reporting on movies I've recently acquired

---

Even thought I felt that Sunny relied too heavily on its nostalgia factor, both of a particular epoch in Korea, but also of adults reminiscing about their childhood friendships, instead of really giving the film some good weight in story around the interesting characters, it was all done so well that I still enjoyed it in the end.

In fact, I enjoyed it enough to grab a copy of the film on Blu Ray when it finally made an appearance on the format as I feel like the film will make for popular watching among a segment of my friends and family and will likely prove a good entry point into the diversity of Korean cinema.

Links:

• Feature review
• Feature website
• Additional Reviews: eastern Kicks, Hanguk Yeonghwa, Hangul Celluloid, Korean Class Massive, Modern Korean Cinema, Rainy Day
• Available at YesAsia (Blu Ray) / (DVD)