Movie reviews

THE WARSAW KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL

뷰티 인사이드 (THE BEAUTY INSIDE)

Recommended. Truly beautiful, also on the surface. The story, music, actors are all alluring. But the core is the subtly presented story about our insecurities in love relationships. One is the fear that the other person won't accept us on the days when we look worse. The other is the woman's fear of being left by someone who can easily disappear without a trace. Also, it shows how the person has to get used to us, whatever we are. It just stays with you.


NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE NIGHT OF HORROR

I skipped "Ich seh, ich seh" ("Goodnight Mommy") and "Lights Out" which I had seen and reviewed earlier.

THE WINDMILL MASSACRE

Watchable. The slasher's main murderer looks like Leatherface. A good idea to make all protagonists sinners who have to repent but their individual stories don't get developed. A sequel is very likely.

SUMMER CAMP

Walked out. It's just rubbish. An empty camp before the opening of the season. Four American workers and some Spanish locals. 20-some minutes into the movie one of the guys attacks another one, growling and biting, and it's not even the one who got bitten by a dog earlier. Shortly afterwards another one does the same.


THE WARSAW KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL

지금은맞고그때는틀리다   (RIGHT NOW, WRONG THEN)

Watchable. Two distinct parts. In the first one all protagonists are extremely polite and kind to each other. In the second things go wrong quite a few times but people are more authentic and fair to others. It's funny to hear the "director's" evasively courteous comments in the first part. In the second he's more to the point even if that upsets people. The finale though shows things end better when people are honest. An interesting concept, still the story could be less mundane, especially that you follow it twice.

베테랑 (VETERAN)

Watchable. While it starts with slapstick, the large middle part is dramatic and brutal. The director Ryoo Seung-wan is Park Chan-wook's fan and friend and you can see it in the film. The ending is lighter again. The comedy bits aren't really funny though and the highlight is the psychopath running the corporation.

FIVE FLAVOURS FILM FESTIVAL - ASIAN HORROR NIGHT

곡성 (THE WAILING)

Watchable. Rushing from "Veteran" in a different cinema, I arrived in the middle of this lengthy production. I'm happy I didn't have to watch it all. Beautiful landscape shots, e.g. a scenic serpentine road + exotic local folklore mixed with a shoddy storyline, poor acting and class B horror. Scary it isn't, pathetic rather.

손님 (THE PIPER)

Watchable. Just like the one above so I'm copying and pasting: exotic local folklore mixed with a shoddy storyline, poor acting and class B horror. Scary it isn't, pathetic rather.

貞子 vs. 伽椰子 (SADAKO VS. KAYAKO)

Watchable. A spoof of both "Ring" and "Ju-on" ("Grudge"). Silly but involving when you've seen them all.