Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Inbox:Replay: 괴물 (2006)

Revisiting movies I've recently acquired

The Host holds the distinction of being the first Korean film that I'd seen distributed in mainstream theaters as well as the first film that I'd seen in Los Angeles' ArcLight deluxe theater chain. Having seen director Bong Junho's previous films, I was ready for a treat, expecting, from the many reviews, to encounter a thriller more akin to Jaws than a comedy like Bong's Barking Dogs Never Bite, but it turns out that, while the film does have some thrills in it, like his first film, The Host blends in a strong comedic streak as well as his continuing commentary on social and governmental institutions, resulting in a film that more than just a sharp, but pulpy, monster movie, but a film that's a little bit more interesting, while still being just as fun, in Bong's off-kilter kind of way.

At the top of the film, an American scientist orders his Korean subordinate to dump a whole lot of formaldehyde down the drain and into the Han River. Then, one day, local layabout shopkeeper Gangdu (Song Gangho) and some other onlookers notice a creature in the water and proceed to provoke it by throwing food at it. It then proceeds to go on a rampage along the banks of the Han River, gobbling up or taking captive a number of people, including Gangdu's daughter, Hyeonseo (Go Aseong). The military steps in and as Gangdu, his father Huibong (Byeon Huibong), his unemployed college graduate brother Namil (Bak Haeil), and his professional archer sister Namju (Bae Duna) grieve, the government detains all those who have had contact with the creature in fear that the creature is host to a deadly virus. But when Gangdu gets a call from Hyeonseo one night and the authorities won't believe the family, they decide to take the matter into their own hands.

What makes The Host work so well, despite having elements of horror, thriller, drama and comedy all together is how tightly woven all these elements are together. Even more notable is how sharp each of those elements are. The comedy in the The Host is easily the strongest of Bong's films: even while retaining a dark edge, the absurdity is quite laughable, especially early on as the family loudly laments the loss of Hyeonseo and buffoonery runs amok, with both our protagonists and everyone else participating. What's even more impressive is how well crafted some of the entwining moments are, somehow managing to balance comedy, thrills and drama on a point, like a critical moment Huibong has with a rifle in a moment that's funny, tense and shocking all at the same time.

Furthermore, The Host does manage to take some time and build both the characters and their relationships as well, managing to comment on that micro level while also making larger statements about governmental incompetency on a local and international level. Some of these moments of criticism of institutions do tend to be a little too obvious to the point where they feel forced and are probably the weakest parts of the film. Also, the cost of working to develop all the characters in the family is that the film has a bit of a slow pre-finale as we pause the greater action to deal with what each family member is going through, which causes the urgency of the moment to get lost while the film makes some statements--and for all the time given, Namju's story still ends up being a little weak. However, the film manages to redeem itself with a strong finish.

This is all tied together with a strong directorial hand from Bong, which grants several scenes a lot of memorable stylistic flourish without being extremely overt, although Bong does betray a weakness, losing some credibility in his strongest statement scenes, especially with the presence of the Americans, who are pushed into caricatures. However, his capacity for thrills, honed on his previous two films translates well into the monster movie genre, especially in how well Bong manages to keep things funny while retaining urgency. Of course, a large part of why this film works so well too is the largely excellent performances by the entire talented cast, including the young Go Aseong, only a few weaknesses again with a tonal clash when the Americans show up. And this is all given a slick visual presentation with high production values and a non-laughable digital creature courtesy of WETA, which is something of a cross between an overgrown tadpole and a lungfish. It does occasionally betray some animation weaknesses, but is overall a credible work of animated threat, the design (called "Buscemi") managing to lend the creature some comedy while not losing its capacity to threaten the characters.

I still wouldn't say that The Host is flawless, as there is some storytelling inefficiency that happens due to the abundance of characters and some of Bong's commentary isn't quite as successfully integrated. However, the film is one of the best examples of an otherwise near-perfect balance of comedy, horror, thriller and drama, often all at the same time and twisted together congruently so that the film never feels like a chimera, but a whole experience that encapsulates these elements. As such, I think The Host is reasonably well regarded by critics and yet has plenty of comedy and thrills for the mainstream filmgoer to enjoy, earning well its box-office success as well. Yet another strong entry from this filmmaker, cast and crew. 9/10.

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Saturday, July 28, 2012

Replay: 플란다스의 개 (2000)

Revisiting movies

While Memories of Murder might be director Bong Junho's film that truly grabbed my attention, before it was even released, I had purchased and watched Barking Dogs Never Bite (also known as A Higher Animal) based on the positive buzz it was getting on the then-vibrant Koreanfilm.org forums and, I have to admit, I was pretty perplexed on what to think after the credits rolled. It was funny, but not in a laugh out loud way, stuffed to be brim with social commentary, immensely critical of professional academia and, at times, fantastically directed, driven by some strong performances. Yet the film also wanders around its characters a lot forgetting its story and taking a while to center itself. But, even as my attention would wander now and then, I still found the film rather memorable in the end with its curiously straight-faced sense of humor, pierced with moments of fleeting fantasy and cynical observation. It was immediately apparent that Bong was a man to watch out for in the future.

As the title literally suggests, the film has a little to do with dogs. In particular, humanities scholar Yunju (I Seongjae), who is frustrated by the lack of opportunities to get an appointment as a professor, is constantly bothered by the barking of a dog somewhere in his large apartment complex. Eventually, he snaps and kidnaps one of the apartment dogs, leading to a series of surprises involving some mistaken dog identities, the dog-eating Janitor Byeon (Byeon Huibong) and Yunju's increasingly straining relationship with his pregnant wife and household breadwinner Eunsil (Gim Hojeong). The case of the missing dog draws in the apartment's administrative assistant, Hyeonnam (Bae Duna), who, inspired by the sudden fame of a bank clerk who fought off a would be bank robber, catches Yunju in the act and decides to catch him for the glory.

This all sounds like a great setup for a quirky comedy and while the film is rather comical, it approaches its comedy in a rather dark way with some implied murder (of dogs), making sure to state at the top of the film that no animals were harmed in the making of the film. Combined with the social satire, the film manages to resist laugh out loud moments, although Janitor Byeon's recounting of the story of "Boiler Gim" in the dark basement to his boss while Yunju is trapped hiding in the closet is pretty hilarious. And yet, that episode itself highlights the almost episodic nature of the film, which frequently takes time to just observe its characters and often loses urgency as a result, especially with the narrative split between its two protagonists. And while the lack of narrative drive doesn't cripple the film, it does slow it down a bit, giving the drama and social commentary a little strength at the expense of the more entertaining comedic and thriller elements. But even with those elements a bit subdued, the film does have a complexity to its characters (like Yunju, who takes turns being villainous and sympathetic) and truly poignant moments in its narrative, particularly around Yunju and Eunsil, that one cannot dismiss the film for its sometimes loose storytelling.

Being early in Korea's cinematic renaissance, Barking Dogs Never Bite doesn't quite have the production values that Korean film would later be known for, with softer film stock and the presentation hampered by limited funds, but Bong makes the best of it, frequently making excellent visual direction choices, most immediately noticeable with the careful camera placement and movement during Janitor Byeon's tale, but also filling the film with interesting moments, like Hyeonnam's flights of fancy, the use of solid colors--red and yellow--to designate agents, and the exciting photographed chase scenes, which manage to inject a level of humor in the thrills. Add an interesting jazz soundtrack and a Cherry Filter theme song and the film ends up with a memorable degree of quirk with a tone that's comparable to a more cynical Wes Anderson.

And while the attention to thriller elements would resurface with Bong's sensational Memories of Murder, you might say that Barking Dogs Never Bite could be seen as a precursor to The Host, both of which feature poignant stories about people, dark comedy and no small amount of criticism of institutions. And even though the film's slower pacing and rhythms might not be quite as accessible or engaging as those later films, there's a lot to appreciate about Barking Dogs Never Bite, from the multi-faceted script that weaves comedy, drama and commentary together to Bong's colorful direction and strong performances by both the leads and the secondary actors. As such, Barking Dogs Never Bite is easily a film that those with any considerable investment in Korean/Asian cinema should definitely see and others with adventurous taste in cinema might strongly consider checking out. 8/10.

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Friday, July 27, 2012

Inbox: 평양성 (2011)

New for me

Eight years after director I Junik made his first big splash with Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield, he was struggling with a critical and commercial downturn, not managing to meet the success of his biggest hit, The King and the Clown, despite, after a couple smaller character pieces, returning to more serious epic works with Sunny and Blades of Blood. And so I Junik returns to the film that gave him his first notable success with a sequel, bringing back most of his cast, but adding in the many filmmaking tricks he's learned since then, resulting in a film that's more consistent than the original, although it admittedly loses some of the goofiness and comedy as a result. After Battlefield Heroes was released to modest fanfare and failed to live up to its predecessor's performance, I Junik announced that he would retire from directing via his Twitter account, which is a bit of an overreaction in my opinion, because, even if Battlefield Heroes doesn't reach the heights of his better work, it's still a notable improvement from the two films that he made before it.

Set eight years after the events of Once Upon a Time in the Battlefield, the Tang had taken away the recently conquered Baekje and, at the Tang Dynasty's urging and promises to return it, make plans to conquer the remaining kingdom on the peninsula, the northern Goguryeo. To ensure the successful sacking of the Goguryeo stronghold, the Tang bolster the Silla forces with 300000 troops of their own, but the wily Grand General Yusin (Jeong Jinyeong) makes the alliance difficult. Inside the walls of Goguryeo, the king passes away, leading to a power struggle between the diplomatic older son, Namsaeng (Yun Jemun) and the warlike Namgeon (Ryu Seungryong). Meanwhile, the sole Baekje survivor of Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield, Thingy (I Munsik), is conscripted by the Silla forces and makes a desperate attempt to survive another war, sharing his knowledge with his fellow conscripts, clashing with the volunteer glory-hound, Mundi (I Gwangsu).

One of the most notable improvements for the sequel is that the film actually includes a few genuine character stories, involving the Goguryeo brothers, Thingy and Mundi and Thingy and the Goguryeo warrior woman, Gapsun (Seon Useon), while also adding some levels to the plot that allow for some twists as turns, although I have to admit that the film does foil its own potential for twists and turns frequently, making some of the tactical planning feel a bit inert, although the plot movement is more mobile than the film's predecessor. Another notable improvement is that the film actually possesses a measured transition from silly to serious, never fully losing the silly, but also embedding the earlier part of the film with a little gravity as well, through the Goguryeo brothers and so the film never recreates the mood whiplash of Once. Unfortunately, Battlefield Heroes isn't quite as funny as Once, much of the humor being subdued in comparison and featuring only one zany moment featuring an oversized rice pot and a faux-music video montage. While this does help keep the film from feeling like a bunch of sketches cobbled together, it does highlight that the comedy is simply not that strong. Similarly, the dramatic elements of the film are a bit muted, even though much better motivated and driven than Once, and never really manage to form a really moving moment, although Thingy does come close.

What is quite obvious is that Battlefield Heroes' production values are much greater than Once's, the costumes looking richer, the sets sturdier and even the technical aspects of cinematography and special effects are all improved. Likewise, I Junik has clearly become a better storyteller since his debut, managing to carry long the many characters and plotlines and given appropriate focus to most (although Yusin's part is clearly neglected). However, the film is paced a little slowly and since not every story element pays off, some trimming could have been done to strengthen both the comedy and drama elements. But Battlefield Heroes overall does boast an improvement.

Still, for all the improvement in story and production value, I still ended up feeling pretty flat at the end of Battlefield Heroes. Part of it is that, while adequate in terms of story, it really was nothing special. Furthermore, the comedic elements are toned down and while Once Upon a Time was messy, it had some funny antics to buoy the film. In this case, the mess is cleaned up, but it's simply not as funny. Finally, the actors themselves turn in decent performances, but there's no standout performance, like Bak Junghun's straight-faced turn as the stoic Gyebaek. Battlefield Heroes is more fun than a history textbook (for non-historians) and certainly a better put together film than its predecessor, it doesn't feel quite as inspired, even though it doesn't suffer from the usual pitfalls of a sequel and is better in many ways. I'll still say that it can be a modestly entertaining time and those who appreciated Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield might certainly find a thing or two to enjoy here, but also like its predecessor, Battlefield Heroes is merely adequate entertainment. 6/10.

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Monday, July 23, 2012

Seen: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Reporting on the movies that I see

The Dark Knight Rises is the final film in the current generation of Batman films directed by Christopher Nolan and like many sequels, it raises the scale of the action and the story to greater degrees and making enough connections to the greater Batman franchise across mediums to make fanboys erupt into glee. Yet, the film also suffers from being a bit plodding in terms of pacing, with a middle section that merely passes time and from being overambitious resulting in a few undeveloped characters and themes. What's more, the film actually feels like an upscaled retread of Batman Begins in terms of story, stunting the overall impact of the film while also feeling a little like it ignores the Joker (Heath Ledger) from The Dark Knight altogether. And, yet, perhaps because of all its reaching, it still is able to grandly cap off the film series in an entertaining way.

While only four years have passed since the release of The Dark Knight in 2008, in the world of The Dark Knight Rises, eight years have passed since the Batman became the foil to preserve the legacy of Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). Batman has retired and Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) lives as a recluse in his manner, long continuing to mourn the death of Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Meanwhile, Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) and the Gotham PD have largely cleaned up the streets and city celebrates a safer Gotham. But the mysterious Bane (Tom Hardy) shows up in Gotham and begins some plot in the sewers, drawing the Batman out of retirement, whereas Bruce's closest confidants would prefer that he move on and perhaps start seeing the millionaire philanthropist, Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard), who had partnered with Wayne on a cold fusion energy project and seems to be interested in more than his philanthropy. Throw in another wrinkle in the plot with the supreme cat burgler, Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), and you have a film full of twists, turns, and a definitive close to the series.

Although The Dark Knight Rises does follow the lead of The Dark Knight in determining the status of Gotham, its people, and its protector at the beginning of the film, Rises largely ignores the questions posed by the Joker and instead connects more to Batman Begins, especially in terms of echoing the plot of a city under siege by outside forces, in this case, Bane and while the film does still manage to play up the thriller elements having Batman and his adversaries engage in trying to outmaneuver each other, the plot feels rather stale due to its overall similarity to Begins. What's more, the story drags, both at the top of the film, like Begins, taking probably too much time to get into the driving plot of the film and creating a rather dull penultimate act, which has the main function of simply passing time and is lacking any strong dramatic impact, before finally getting things moving again for the final act.

Part of this slowness comes from trying to cover a lot of plot ground, because there are a lot of characters and as much plot going on. Unfortunately, due to the breadth of activity in the film, much of the film's subtext is merely brushed upon. For example, Selina Kyle, despite being able to throw in some statements about the class struggles in Gotham, never really fills out as much as a character as Anne Hathaway fills out her catsuit, with such a simple backstory, becoming merely a convenient plot driver with color and the film mostly drops the ball of the themes of class in favor of the "big plot". Likewise, despite Bane's strong ties to Begins, as a character, he never really develops much of an interaction with Batman or a character on the screen for the audience, unlike Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) from Begins or The Joker, resulting in him feeling like a caricature and plot device. This happens to many of the characters in the film--fortunately, Bruce Wayne, the protagonist of the film, gets a good amount of attention and it wraps up well into his personal experiences through the stories of both films, making him feel a little more human and interesting, although this is mostly highlighted at the start of the film and not at the end.

What does work well here is the same as what works well in the previous two Batman films and that is the strong plotting, with plenty of twists and turns that keep the events of the story regularly surprising (at least in theory). The scale of the trouble that impacts Gotham in Rises did feel almost comically large to me, echoing some of its comic book inspirations and was really a hard sell to me, but it seemed like most of the audience was well captivated with the films goings on, so I trust that most audiences will be able to suspend disbelief.

While Nolan certainly doesn't show much restraint when it comes to running time, Rises demonstrates his overall developed capacity as a filmmaker and visual storyteller over the past decade, with strong action sequences, still good choices in photography and handling of actors to form an overall coherent picture. In fact, even with some more shallow new characters, most of the performers are quite convincing in their roles, with Gordon-Levitt's Blake adding a real youth and idealism to the otherwise dark tale and Cotillard's Tate being quite enchanting and interesting. Only Hathaway seems to really be playing herself in the film, while the veterans to the series are all understandably well rendered now.

Now, even with all of my quibbles, I have to say that I still had a pretty good time with The Dark Knight Rises and I especially loved all of the many subtle shout-outs to other incarnations of the Caped Crusader and while I might not be a fanboy, the meta-text lover in me was quite pleased. And as much as the story suffered from some slow points (and some illusion shattering implausibilities), the twists and the turns, as well as the intensity once the screws in the plot were tightened, was quite captivating, especially with Nolan's now assured directorial touch. And I simply don't know if there was a better conclusion that could have been made, given what was left of the rogues gallery and the two films that had already come before. So, even if Rises, for all of its sequel escalation, doesn't stand as the best of Nolan's Batman films (that goes to The Dark Knight), it still stands as a very strong Batman film and still a fine example of solid filmmaking from a comic book franchise. Certainly entertaining and still worth a watch to those who have loyally followed this incarnation of Batman. 8/10.

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Friday, July 20, 2012

Replay: The Dark Knight (2008)

Revisiting movies

After seeing Batman Begins, I was pretty certain that the inevitable sequel would be pretty good, but I was genuinely surprised by how much more enthralling and captivating The Dark Knight turned out to be than I expected. Part of this is from a much more interesting and thrilling story featuring some strong twists and turns, strengthened direction from Christopher Nolan and a bravura performance from the late Heath Ledger as the iconic Batman nemesis, The Joker.

Continuing from the events of Begins, Gotham City is on an upswing, with the exploits of the Batman (Christian Bale) tearing down organized crime and inspiring the government and citizenry to act more boldly against the city's once dominant and nefarious elements. This includes the passionate new district attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), whom is now dating Bruce Wayne's longtime friend and love interest, Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal). However, a mysterious criminal called The Joker shows up and offers to remove the Batman to the local crime lords, but obviously has his own agenda.

There are a lot of thematic and story element propelling the film and despite its length, it remains compelling throughout because of them. Part of this is the excellent twists and turns provided throughout the film; from its first moments to its end, the film regularly surprises the viewer with twists and turns, and not only from the perspective of the protagonist, resulting in a consistently engaging film, although the film does get a little slow in the execution at times. However, the thematic elements in the film are vastly superior here to Begins, introducing questions surrounding the need for the Batman as well as introducing Batman's counterpoint in the Joker, who himself makes some interesting philosophical statements that can't easily be dismissed and highlights the complication of Batman's mission. Furthermore, Bruce Wayne actually ends up having some interesting choices to make in this film, whereas in the last film, he felt like he was gliding on autopilot.

And just as the story itself became dramatically more interesting, the film overall became more interesting with watch, with Nolan's direction of action showing some definitely improvement, although the action is still occasionally hard to follow due to the fragmented editing. As expected, this film looks like the money spent on it went onto the screen in the production elements and is visually everything you might expect from a Hollywood blockbuster. It also cannot be understated just how potent Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker was in telling this story--despite not being the protagonist, the Joker ends up being the character upon which the whole of the story turns and Ledger manages to create a character that isn't just mad, but a character of a certain principal, taking some elements from Jack Nicholson's Joker, but making his Joker much more real and menacing. The rest of the cast also bring themselves to match the scale of this production, with the character of Rachel Dawes being handed over from Katie Holmes to a better matched (but still scant) Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Add in some dramatic sound and score and you have yourself one of the biggest superhero films of all time and one that actually matches its scale with solid content. That said, I don't think we can really mistake The Dark Knight for an art film, despite its thematic and philosophical clashes. But The Dark Knight does represent perhaps the highest class of entertainment-oriented thrillers, a Nolan forte, with dizzying twists and turns and even a good deal of thematic clash and philosophical musings built in, guided under the hand of a director who was approaching his first creative peak and brought to life by a talented crew of artists and technicians, as well as the good to remarkable performers. Delving deep into some of the more serious themes of the books, The Dark Knight finds an original creation that is perfectly inspired by the long history of The Batman and one that represents a pinnacle of films that are derived from comic book sources. Yes, The Dark Knight was pretty good indeed. 9/10.

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Thursday, July 19, 2012

Replay: Batman Begins (2005)

Revisiting movies

In my lifetime, I've been witness to three different theatrical incarnations of the Caped Crusader, but in my youth, the only Batman I knew was the camp factory of the classic '60's "Batman" series. Batman was fun, but was never cool until Tim Burton unleashed his darker incarnation onto theater screens in 1989 and it was only then that I took a greater interest in Batman, but for all the interesting layers that the Burton/Shumacher era Batman brought to the Dark Knight, it was all still pretty wildly campy, becoming increasingly so as the film series went on, essentially killing the series with the mess that is Batman & Robin in 1997. And that was the last I thought I'd see of Batman on the big screen, which was fine with me because the DC Animated Universe's Batman was largely keeping me happy on the small screen, for the most part being far more interesting than its big screen counterpart.

And then, many years later, I heard that Darren Aronofsky had been hired to reboot Batman and that piqued my interest, especially considering that story would be based on the darker and grittier Batman: Year One "new" origin story, I was interested, although a little worried that Aronofsky's directorial sensibilities might render the story inert and then Aronofsky dropped out and Christopher Nolan, who I only knew from Memento ended up the with project. Now Nolan's thriller background did give me a bit of hope and while the adaptation of the Batman: Year One story took the resulting film, Batman Begins, into a different direction, I found the new direction towards gritty and less fantastic rather refreshing. And while the film does suffer a little from trying to pack too much into it, Begins ends up being perhaps the strongest incarnation of Batman on the big screen to the date it was released.

In this adaptation, we spend a nice chunk of the film watching the young Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) become the Batman, from the loss of his parents to his secret ninja training from Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) with the League of Shadows, before returning to Gotham to bring justice to the city. But as he targets the most powerful criminal organization of Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson), bringing to his aid his childhood friend-now-assistant district attorney Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) and Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), a rare good cop, we discover that a more sinister plot is afoot.

While the story isn't exceptionally thrilling, it is executed pretty well, with a lot of connections made between Bruce Wayne's becoming of Batman and how that shapes how the young Batman deals with his first big crisis. At the same time, there's simply just too much in a story and not all the conflicts brought up are well attended by the script, such as the barely addressed matter of Bruce Wayne's secret identity, making me wonder if just leaving those elements out altogether would have been better. Also, the transformation of Bruce Wayne to Batman sequence is quite long and the film doesn't really find any solid plot until deep in the film and adding some stakes at the top of the film or tightening it up would have helped the momentum of the story and made the opening of the film feel a little less laborious and over-trodden.

In terms of direction, Christopher Nolan's first real action work does show some weaknesses, with some of the action sequences being a bit dizzyingly composed and unclear, and consequently unexciting, with the exception of the more thriller like takedowns, which are better wrought. But Nolan also manages to really bring a consistency of vision to his Batman universe and while he makes liberal use of graphical effects to simulate the effects of psychotropic substances, his usage of mostly practical special effects further helps ground his Batman in a more "real" world and also helps avoid the camp parade that Batman is capable of drawing.

The performances are largely pretty good, with Christian Bale establishing himself as a bona fide star in this role and most of the supporting actors, from Oldman's Gordon to Neeson's dignified Ducat really giving their characters considerable substance. The one obvious exception would be Holmes' Rachel Dawes, who comes across a bit too soft for a zealous prosecutor. But combined overall strong performances with the kind of top-notch production values that you can expect from a triple-A Hollywood production means that Batman Begins looks and sounds fantastic.

And all that's enough to sell the movie to me. I do think that Begins was the strongest Batman film as of its release and Nolan's grittier and more realistic take on the character and universe, combined with a strong overall vision for the film really helps make it a compelling watch. But the film is probably too long and, especially in the top of the movie, not quite tight enough of a story. Furthermore, it's a bit evident that Nolan is still learning a thing or two about helming such a feature as not all of his directorial choices (as well as the editor's work, as much as can be attributed to each) during the more action oriented sequences are as tight and clear as they could be. Finally, there is an element of detachment that I find with the overall approach, like the flashbacks were trying too hard to drive sympathy and ended up leaving me cold to Bruce Wayne's internal struggle. Still, even with these weaknesses, I was largely drawn into this incarnation of Batman and still find it a good watch after all these years. 8/10.

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Monday, July 16, 2012

Replay: 라디오 스타 (2006)

Revisiting movies

After the unexpected and enormous success of I Junik's The King and the Clown, which followed the success of the historical comedy Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield, the anticipation for I's next film must have been high. And with Radio Star, I Junik takes a step away from much of what made his previous films such successes, but, thanks to some decent performances, still manages to find a decent, even if much quieter, film in Radio Star, although its low drama character study could hardly be described as engrossing.

The setup follows the lives of a once nationally popular musician, Choe Gon (Bak Junghun) and his manager, Bak Minsu (An Seonggi), long after Choe's glory days have passed. After Choe gets fired from his most recent gig, as a featured singer in a remote hotel club, his temper and ego lands him in jail. Bak manages to get some strings pulled if Choe agrees to deejay at a little radio station in a country town called Yeongwol. While Choe is somewhat uncooperative, together with a producer who was relocated to the long-ignored station after she was caught bring critical on air, Choe starts to find a rhythm in his show as he begrudgingly starts to relate to the community of Yeongwol.

If the story seems a bit sleepy, that's because it is. While there is a kind of conflict that arises in the final act of the movie, it kind of comes too late to really help drive the movie, which is largely content to work off the micro-conflicts of the spoiled Choe as Bak struggles to wrangle Choe's ego enough to help them both make a living. But most of the film is dedicated to the character and relationship study between Choe and Bak as well as a little bit on their developing relationship with the community of Yeongwol. And the level of detail is a good touch, although we don't really see anything that actually humbles Choe enough to become the warmer, friendlier man that makes him a popular deejay. And without any really evident struggles, the story feels a little directionless. It doesn't help that what conflicts are both small and seem to be resolved as a matter of course, but I still couldn't help but to be drawn into the story of two co-dependent friends and colleagues as their relationship is still interesting and manages to mostly overcome the film's otherwise somewhat boring story.

So it's a good thing that I Junik really put the focus on those two characters, because it was really all that the film had to stand on. And veteran thesps Bak Junghun and An Seonggi, who have been often paired since their success with Chilsu and Mansu, really manage to give their otherwise limited characters and, more importantly, their relationship a lot of life and consequently do the most work on keeping the film afloat. The other character actors that play parts in the film mostly do well, including the boys of indie punk band No Brain who portray the overenthusiastic small town band, East River. The one exception is the overacting from Gim Tanhyeon's President Choe.

Special mention must also be made of music director Bang Junseok's excellent song "The Rain and You", which is simply a gorgeously written ballad, crafted perfectly in the style of an old Korean rock ballad and performed impressively by Bak Junghun. And perhaps the combination of such a winning song and performances by the leads, as well as a well drawn relationship between the two protagonists is all that's really needed to make the film work. Which is surprising given the rather simple and undramatic story (and characters) at its core. And while Radio Star is far from the kind of film that wins awards, with the right expectations, it will still likely manage to win over audiences looking for a more relaxed movie going experience, just as it somehow still managed to win me over. 7/10.

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Sunday, July 1, 2012

Seen: Brave (2012)

Reporting on the movies that I see

Pixar has had my respect since I first laid eyes on Toy Story over fifteen years ago and the animation house has largely raised my expectations for animation overall, with many of their films providing both layered and complex storytelling, without losing the fun, as well as eye-dazzlingly gorgeous animation. When Pixar is at its best, it is easily one of the top animation houses in the world and make films that adults and children can both enjoy. However, this doesn't mean that Pixar always makes moving and potent films, exemplified by their lesser tier of films, including A Bug's Life and Cars (and we'll try to brush the cash-grab that is Cars 2 under the rug).

The element that makes these two films in particular less interesting from a storytelling perspective is that the films have very simple stories and, perhaps, in that sense, they are the most readily directed at children. Pixar's latest, Brave, although boasting a much more original story (the aforementioned films being related to ¡Three Amigos! and Doc Hollywood respectively), at its heart contains a rather simple story of conflict between parent and child, in this case, mother and daughter and feels, like the other Pixar films of this tier, quite small, therefore less impressive, being a modern echo of Disney's The Little Mermaid. On the other hand, Brave also puts at center an oft neglected relationship in the animation world, which is that of mother and daughter and puts a lot of power and freedom in the hands of its female characters and that certainly helps redeem some of what the film loses in the simplicity of its story. And, as expected, Pixar does this with some gorgeous animation.

Merida (Kelly Macdonald), is an adventurous Scottish princess who is coming upon her day of betrothal, an age old tradition of the royalty, but Merida, having long resented the princess training she has received from her mother, Elinor (Emma Thompson), wants none of it, preferring instead to shoot her bow and climb cliffs. But with the betrothal at hand, and desperate to retain her freedom, she makes some daring decisions, but without considering the effects of those choices before taking action, she endangers her own family as well as the peace of the nation.

The film's story mostly works well from start to finish, although a lack of a strong and distinct antagonist does pull back some of the film's urgency, especially when combined with the somewhat reactionary position of our protagonist, Merida. Still, the film manages to fill itself with a lot of fun elements including a strong comedic streak befitting Pixar that keeps the film quite lively. But, overall, the lack of urgency and resistance do end up dampening the potential excitement. Still, I like the complexity of the mother-daughter relationship too and the resolution to their internal conflict is nice. But the pacing is a bit off, resulting in what seems like a long coda after the main conflict of the film is resolved, leaving the technical conflict to drag to the finale.

But Brave also shows Pixar's continued develop in terms of the art of computer generated 3D animation, especially when it comes to the level of detail in the scenery, which is absolutely lush and gorgeous, as captivating an image of the Highlands as ever rendered in animation, but the level of detail extends to the character models, with Merida's hair curling and reacting wonderfully to the elements. From the careful lighting compositions to the rendering of water, the movie is a feast for the eyes, further enhanced by solid performances from the cast and solid scoring. Even if the story doesn't quite reach any of Pixar's previous highs, the direction is good, presenting a genuine relationship undertone to all the comic gags going on, even if it's not quite stunning.

I don't think Brave is really a disappointment, even if it doesn't stack up to Pixar's best films, as the film has a solid story with a real conflict and even as much as it doesn't give the story enough urgency and external conflict to make the film as exciting or moving as it could be, the story of mother and daughter still works pretty well. Even if the story's pacing could be better. And all this is tied together with beautiful art and animation that we've come to expect from renowned animation house. A good film. 7/10.

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Inbox: 구르믈 버서난 달처럼 (2010)

Reporting on movies I've recently acquired

I'll admit that I wasn't impressed with Blades of Blood when I saw it last year. Like Sunny before it, Blades of Blood displays a weakness in story, especially in the writing, but a bit in the storytelling too, in director I Junik's filmography, with poorly motivated and drawn characters.

However, in one area that both these films did well was the visual and aural direction, and, even more than I Junik's superior small personal tales, these epics are the films that would gain the most from the jump to the Blu Ray format. And for that reason, I picked up a copy of Blades of Blood on the high definition format.

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