Reviews

shot on video, it was impossible to sit through this film comprised of dialogue scenes. the sections do not cohere, the camera hardly moves. some dialogues are interesting but it would be better to read the script, than to sit through this grainy, still film. a true test of perseverance.

This South Korean film dealing with the traumas of a fading marriage is deftly written, acted and shot. It deals with universal issues related to certain life stages with courage and sincerity, the characters are superbly drawn, the plot subtly moves and leaves the viewer with deep feelings and thoughts only such well-crafted and memorable films can.

I saw this film at the screening in Berlin Film Festival. It could be described as quite a long commercial of it's director/leading actor. 70 % of the film was the almost naked body, fake blonde hair and shiny lips of the actor/director blown up to full screen. It's story lacked the depth of even the cheesiest Brasilian TV series. What astonished me most is how such a bad film could be screened in one of the most prestigious festivals of the world.

Why would anyone make a sub-standard version of a story that

was done at least a hundred times before? Hollywood people are

obviously getting lazier and lazier thinking the most common is the

safest bet. This film has the most predictable storyline "frosted"

with some sitcom jokes. That's all. The screenwriters were so lazy

that they didn't even provide us with any information on how in the

world these people fell in love. If the unbelievably superficial and

unconvincing story doesn't irritate you, Kate Hudson's humidified

fake blonde hair sure will. I felt like asking my ticket money back.

This insightful, beautifully written and directed film contemplates on many things concerning the modern individual. The focus is a family in Taipei, the feelings, struggles, conflicts of family members at different life stages. The architecture is used as a part of the story, the surroundings the characters are in, always seem to tell us something about that particular situation. The effects of modernity and capitalism on the individual and traditional values are aptly analyzed and basic human emotions like love, loneliness, commitment and frustration are contemplated with a hard to match observation and tenderness. The little boy seems to verbalize the director's approach to film making: "We only understand half of everything because we can only see what's in front of us." and Yang's camera aptly shows us "the other side" of every situation. As a character says "with films, we experience many more lives than we actually can in one lifetime" and this film is a whole life experience in 3 hours.

The director was present at the screening of this film in Istanbul Film Festival and said that this was a quite radical and intense film and encouraged us to bear with the "hard to bear" scenes because it would all be tied up in the end, which didn't. the audience didn't find it strong at all, and the question "why was it found so radical in Germany?" kept coming in the Q&A session.

Wwhat I have to say is that the acting is superb but the film is only "trying too hard" to be radical. It has no resemblance to "Irreversible" nor can it match the artistic depth of it. the director says you either love the film or hate it but just the opposite I left the film with almost no emotional residue. in short, bold scenes and good acting is not enough to make a strong film and the director seems to lack the real intensity which makes an auteur.

I was almost not seeing this film, taking into account the negative comments of another user and the average of 6 it received from IMDB users. I went to the screening at Istanbul Film Festival because we had nothing better to do and left with great contentment that only a sincere, non-pretentious and lean film as this could provide. it reminded me of jarmusch's "stranger than paradise" with it's close to life approach. characters are real, acting is very good. it introduced me a fresh, new director from Argentina.