Reviews

Despite often returning poor to mediocre box office results, actor Myeong-Min Kim has always been quite a charismatic presence in Korean films. In this crime comedy thriller "Proof of Innocence", he plays Pil-Jae who was once a cop and is now acting as a broker between criminals and police. It is a rather familiar role for Kim: always smartly dressed, speaks bluntly without hesitation and cynical in his worldview. This character is your classic noir detective and Kim knows it. He plays the role with finesse and charisma that you do root for him even when he's hurting the feelings of the victim's daughter. Sadly the main character's likability cannot carry the weight of the entire film which embraces mediocrity.

The plot: A random letter by convict on death row lands Pil-Jae's attention. Initially Pil-Jae investigates to take revenge against his former colleague (who framed him as a dirty cop) but soon he realizes that he's kicked a hornet's nest. The queen of the nest is the Madam, who is the head of Dahai corporation (probably based on Hyundai), and she's a nasty business as women usually are in films like this.

There are nods to genre classics such as "Chinatown" and the audience of Korean cinema will recognize the current trend of "Rich villains vs Rough heroes" also seen in (and done much better) "Veteran" and "Inside Men". And it is with these comparisons, the film's problems become visible. This film does not offer anything other than simple plot progression. There's setup to intrigue, there's problem solving in the middle and then comes the solution. While "Veteran" had some memorable action sequences and "Inside Men" offered gritty and dirty look at high class society in Korea, this film offers neither and wastes its characters in obligatory clichés.

Cliché #1: Dong-Il Sung's character. The usual comedic relief sidekick (whose position would actually make him Kim's boss) who occasionally tags along and requires some rescuing later.

Cliché #2: The victims. Of course they are completely innocent. Of course they make all the wrong choices that make problem solving more complicated than it already was.

Cliché #3: The climax. After all that running around and getting beaten up, the solution to the crisis at hand relies on the old "Aha! I was recording this conversation all along!"

All this would be forgivable had "Proof Of Innocence" been at least entertaining. Sprinkling some stunt sequences here and there, giving it more shock value would have helped out a lot. Alas, director Kwon cannot escape his own below average directing skills. At the end of the day, not taking any risks in trying something fresh has created another generic product in already rotting pit of Korean cinema.

Following "Shisha no Teikoku (The Empire of Corpses)", this is the second feature length anime adaptation of Itoh Keikaku's three novels. Similar to that film, "Harmony" tackles an alternate universe (this time set in future), where the world has achieved a whole new different level of human life-style. And also similar to "Shisha no Teikoku", its ideas have been over-cooked by pretentiousness.

It was always going to be a tall order to adapt a novel by Itoh Keikaku (SF writer who met premature death in 2009). The danger is that it is very easy to over-indulge and lose its audience. Or you could turn it into an action flick and fail to capture the novel's message. With "Harmony", it is the former case.

The film opens with an action sequence (something that might whet some viewers' appetite but it's the only action scene in the film on this scale) which triggers the main character's return to her home country, Japan. There she meets with her childhood friend who proceeds on to stabbing herself in the neck in front of our protagonist during their lunch together. Here's where the problems arise. The scene where it is supposed to be of a great shock to the viewers only achieves a "meh" response due to the fact that the film taking everything slow and calm. There's no sense of urgency to this scene but just plain repugnance to the visual display of blood fountain.

Every location, every dialogue and every character interaction in this film feel like the viewers are meant to meditate upon them. Characters appear and look important to the plot but then he or she disappears and we never see them again (the smuggler, the step-mother of another major character, the doctor, the comrades, the other doctor etc). The enigmatic dialogue seems to never get to the point which leaves the audience wishing for subtitles and pause button to decipher what conversation took place.

Another problem is the visuals. Normally I'd be praising a Japanese animation's visuals saying how my eyes grow watery just by looking at the screen. But not here. That is not to say the film looks horrible, but it actually does in comparison to other animated films made in Japan. "Shisha no Teikoku" had lots of problems as well but that film at least had top notch visuals. Here, everything lacks texture. Characters' faces look very strange in some scenes, architecture look absurdly inconvenient, the future environment shown in the film is very unremarkable and nothing leaves much of an impression. It doesn't help that the damn camera is constantly swaying around instead of focusing on something. It's always either moving around its characters or showing something else (like scenery for example).

Now, the film does have its charm. Our main protagonist, Tuan Kirie, is a strong female (and lesbian at that) character with consciousness and does not have big breasts. Mystery element that fuels the film is Miach Mihie, who has eerie vibe radiating from her just by her standing around in the scene. Her charm is seductive and it's no wonder Tuan is dominated by her in childhood. The plot does make logical steps up to some point and is very interesting. Anime fans will enjoy the "End of Eva"-vibe as the film progresses. The world-building also works greatly in the film's favor which amplifies the tragedy once it gets violent. Some segments of the film which relies on dialogue in tell-not-show style is done nicely too.

Although I kind of liked the film for above reasons, there's constant sense that it should have been better. That it could have been better by giving it more urgency, making it more shocking and critical in social commentary (Japan does have high teen suicide rate). It's another disappointment for "Project Itoh". Here's hoping "Genocidal Organ" is better. Much better.

I wasn't big fan of some of Ghibli's latest pictures, notably The Wind Rises and From Up On Poppy Hill which felt like a chore for me watching them. Hooray the Miyazakis are making films they want to make! But yawn it's not something I want to see. But boy this was a treat to my eyes, ears and, yeah yeah, heart.

With a plot that might sound like a psycho-sexual horror thriller if told by wrong voices (In evil Cumberbatch voice: A sick girl is lured into an abandoned mansion by a mysterious blond woman who has some dark secrets and her own motives), this film has classic Ghibli elements: A young girl with problems. Well-meaning adults. (Beautiful) Country side. Supernatural (?) friend. You spend the first half hour just enjoying the beautiful pictures and ticking off your To-See List for a Ghibli film.

Very very slight spoilers ahead.

Then Marnie appears. I realized what the film was doing but was still mystified by it. Got to admit the change of scenes didn't really feel connected. I guess it was hard for the makers too since they resorted to "stuff disappeared while the heroine dosed off" cliché. However this is not faulting the contents but the glue.

There was a moment where I smiled and whispered "Aha!" 15 minutes before the final revelation and ended up proved wrong with a clever twist on the twist. Wow. What a pay-off it had. The obligatory explanation sequence was turned into something powerful and resonant and it's thanks to the build-up that may have baffled you earlier.

It's a shame that this film lost out to the annual regurgitation of tired old Pokemon: The Movie series. The director Yonebayashi made Arrietty for Ghibli which easily trumps Goro Miyazaki's attempts at direction. Hope the next film he makes doesn't take the same step of his two previous works and go for a whole world of fantasy.

In a year filled with lame dumb unoriginal flicks dominating the box office in Korea, this was a fresh and really solid effort of new direction.

The topic isn't for everyone's taste as this is cruel, violent and very disturbing. However, the characters are very unique with some excellent performances. Rising star Lee Jae-Hoon plays a police officer by day and screwed-up wiretapper by night. This is a character unseen in any other Korean films of the same year. He has the most screen appearance, but isn't the hero. In fact, there is no hero in this. There's only bad and the dead.

With each classic musical number another character linked to the whole incident is introduced. I felt like the characters revealed got more and more *beep* up, but that is up for debate. There is a whiny professor who has committed adultery, A philosophical gangster boss with a knack for foot fetish, The stalker who actually killed the dead girl, and an angry woman who wants to cover it all up. They are all linked to a woman who is dead during the film.

The direction was innovative and it was unlike any other money-making idiocies. At points, it's very (blackly) funny especially with the gangster who is played by Cho Jin-Woong. The story is a bit far-fetched but the dialogue funny and perfectly delivered ("Hey miss, call an ambulance..." "I'll hit everywhere except your hands" "You know I exercise a lot... Especially my lower body.").

Unfortunately, the marketing was poorly done (mostly because the distributors didn't spend enough money for it) and the trailers made it look like a thriller with R18 sex scenes. It's a shame.

In the end no-one gets away clean and that's something not many Korean films dare to end themselves with.

The Grandmasters has too many soft spoken words, too many slow camera movements, too many close-ups, too many backsides of actors, too many shadows, too many blurred vision and most horrifyingly, too little action. I didn't get the full grasp of the story as it leaps through time and characters and was bewildered by its lack of coherence. The precious few action scenes are good, but oh boy oh boy, what are they fighting about?? For me, Wong Kar Wai's direction for the story of Yip Man, is all wrong. Yes, it can be artistic, yes it can have visuals so gloomy and shadowy its hard to make out what we are seeing. But wouldn't it helped if all these were, you know, engaging and entertaining?

To be sure, Tony Leung makes a fantastic Yip Man. Better than Donnie Yen's version, Leung has a charisma and laconic charm with the character. One glance at his eyes, I'm drawn into this man. So imagine my pity as the film never gives chance for him to really act nor really fight until he runs out of breath. It's all so suave, all so elegant and all knowing. The dramatic high point for the acting is during the hard times, but it passes on quite quickly because the film has more uninteresting things to throw at us. It certainly takes a different direction to Donnie Yen's Yip Man series, and its for the worse. Instead of making sensible situations for the hand-to-hand combat, Yip Man here searches for the mysterious legendary martial arts moves only Ziyi Zhang knows. And the two characters have love affair of sorts despite Yip Man already having a wife. All this heavy focus on martial arts gets me to wonder, are there still modern day audiences for this film who knows all the ancient/traditional martial arts moves and feel compassionate towards them to actually care for it?

One merciful element was its choice not to concentrate on Yip Man beating up Japanese soldiers in an overly dramatic fights. Although this saps the film of its possible actions, compared with the government propaganda scene in recent Chinese action films, in which the baddies are almost always Japanese soldiers and/or Whites, the film doesn't put much focus on Japanese invasion. Just the period itself. But I guess with a film this dull and light on action scenes, a few clobbering of Japanese soldiers could have been fine.

Wong's direction has no sense of fun, and its all gloom. The actors do what they can, but the script they are given didn't tick my interest. I really looked forward to this film, interested to see Wong's take on the legendary Kung Fu master, but I guess his interest in him differed with mine.