Movie reviews

Past year's: 

WARSAW KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL

거미집 (COBWEB) AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR

Walked out. A movie about shooting one, with an added narrative of the protagonist's obsessive thoughts - neither works in film as a rule. In addition, this supposed comedy just isn't funny, gags are pathetically corny and characters often plain stupid. No fun. 

The director presented his own dilemmas in the film. Making movies you feel heaven and hell in turns. He doesn't watch his earlier movies fearing he'd like to improve them. He makes each new movie the other way round than the previous. Because creating is hard, he wants something different next. He thinks director Paul Thomas Anderson is like that too. Each genre has its won fears: melodramas - losing one, SF - future, horror - invisible things. Until his western "좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈" ("The Good, the Bad, the Weird") he focused on genre, since then on what needs to be shown. He doesn't have a favourite movie of his own. He keeps thinking about new ones. He likes many of others' movies, e.g. "Zimna wojna" ("Cold War"), "Kobieta publiczna" ("The Public Woman"), "Nóź w wodzie" ("Knife in the Water"), "Moje noce są piękniejsze niż wasze dni" ("My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days").

탑 (WALK UP)

Watchable. It could be called "Conversations over wine" just as well. This sparse black and white drama written, directed, shot and edited by 홍상수 (Hong Sang-soo), takes place in and around one building. You follow a man and his relationships with three women, as if taking  place one after another over years, but the finale points to another explanation: he's analysing what these three potential relationships with women could look like. And it appears to conclude he'd be best on his own. It's slow but steady. Nether shallow nor profound. Calmly shot. 

달콤한 인생 (A BITTERSWEET LIFE) (2005)

Watchable. 吳宇森 (John Woo)-style gangster flick with handsome 이병헌 (Lee Byung-hun) as the lead. The protagonist is relatively decent, taken he's a mafia hitman, so you root for him. At times comedy, at times melodrama, but mostly a mafia operative tale, it's engaging from the opening till the very end even if he-was-killed-and-ran-away situations are the standard fare of the genre. Bottom-look shots put you in the car or in the shoes of the protagonist. The finale uses slow-mo once and a camera hovers over some of the dead bodies, pulling away. But other than that, the cinematography has little style. It's a gangsta actioner rather. It ends with a bang. Literally - it's heard after the final credits. 

범죄도시3 (THE ROUNDUP: NO WAY OUT)

Watchable. This crime comedy is based on situational humour, e.g. when the fat policeman uses violence for the greater good. It's his character that drives the story but also a crime caper where you first see a crime, then realise who the perpetrators are and then follow this amiable fatso solving it. It features lots of mindless fights, only the ones with the heavyweight inspector are fun, though make no sense when the final one sees his strength wane for purely dramatic purposes, out of line with his usual punching ability. Truly funny at times, e.g. "And that's all? Let's clean up some more" (the police jargon for beating the interrogated scoundrels), it's fun on the whole. There's a mid-credit.

밀수 (SMUGGLERS)

Recommended. Women power, twists and turns in a story spanning a few years, character development, adventure: with sharks on land and in the sea, lots of style in vibrantly recreated 1970s, with music in the 1970s and in heroic western style. Riveting. There's a mid-credit.

다음 소희 (NEXT SOHEE)

Recommended. A heavy drama which, step by step, makes you realise stronger and stronger how systemic psychological violence is at play: with the call centre jobs and with externships and how the whole system of rewards drives mass abuse of young people who had dreams but then went to their first work. The victim-blaming is harrowing. But you realise there's no way out. Heavy, leaves you despondent.

콘크리트 유토피아 (CONCRETE UTOPIA)

Recommended. An engaging disaster flick and an interesting actioner, with wonderful visual effects of the ruined city. An unusual set-up, social injustice at the bottom of subsequent life or death struggle, complex yet fully comprehensible - skillfully directed and cut. Gripping. It's a great disaster movie but for an Oscar candidate it lacks depth.  

물안에서 (IN WATER)

Watchable. Seaside views, 3 extremely polite and nice people, an uncanny tale within the story kept me watching this sparse, unhurried 61-minute film where a young director seeking recognition is collating a short to shoot. Blurred pictures are a smart way to circumvent copyright requirements in a budget production. The story, though mundane, shows how picking out various elements of life results in a film plot. Sweet.

장화, 홍련 (A TALE OF TWO SISTERS) (2003) AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR

Watchable. It drags, is filled with typical horror gimmicks like: killed birds, apparitions, a squeaky wardrobe, a surrounding sound of somebody running, a mental illness, seeing dead people - the viewer has a constant deja vu, protracted in that, but nothing is scary, it's never graphic, instead it's  accompanied by slow, nostalgic music so it doesn't frighten. It's more like a drama about inability to overcome grief after somebody's demise. May have been innovative 20 years ago. Only the final 40 minutes provide any twists, ambiguity and potential explanations. 

The director kept droning on and on also in answering questions. He wanted it to be beautiful, scary and sad. Lots of floral patterns appear in the film to express beauty and sorrow because beauty doesn't last so it's his way to emphasise sorrow. They added colours to lighting, even pastels to black to create eeriness and softness. He sees 'feminism' in Asian horror, by which he means focus on female characters. He tackles the question whether a mentally ill monster is still family. His own memories appear like ghosts. He wanted to reflect remorses. Also feminism: women scare men now like ghosts. More and more women work in the film industry in Korea.

HER DOCS FORUM

THREE WINDOWS ON SOUTH WEST

Watchable. This short is barely a film and is totally predictable. It consists of memoirs of a building in Kyiv which was destroyed in the current war. The memory of sex on the roof which turned out painful rather than romantic stands out. But you just see one picture and hear a conversation on its background, no moving pictures.

Reviewed from the organizers' screener, cinematic reception might differ.

INSPECTOR SUN Y LA MALDICION DE LA VIUDA NEGRA (INSPECTOR SUN AND THE CURSE OF THE BLACK WIDOW)

Watchable. This Spanish animation offers a full world of insects where they fly with Small World Airlines, have all 8 legs dressed in trousers and a VIP fly dines on 'merde a la francais'. The crime plot though is over the top. Plenty of insects, machines occasionally, intrigues, adventures - at some point I couldn't get the plot any longer but, with the adventure overload, I didn't care any more. Quality animation, with e.g. translucent sea water, surrounding sound of the VIP dining room. In Poland it's dubbed in Polish, newspaper headlines are kept in English. Insect dialogues are great fun.