The Lusty Review Thread

I feel a big-time movie binge coming on so I decided to scrape together a thread in an attempt to keep my thoughts together. Most of the films I do my write-up's on are either gonna be of the "independent" or "foreign" variety but I've been watching a disgusting amount of movies in theaters... so yeah. Little bit of everything.

Discussions leading to lengthy side treks are more than welcome.

Koreans… I swear these people must have unusual levels of “intensity” written into their DNA because the movies coming out of that country give me the sweats regardless of their overall quality. Does it have something to do with the culture? The North-South tension? Maybe it’s the really hot food? I don’t know the actual cause. What I do know is the effect makes for good movie watching.

Shiri, if memory serves me correctly and the subtitles weren’t totally shot, are a species fish in Korea that are separated by the gap between the North and South. A character in the movie, a dangerous revolutionary, speaks of a day in which the two groups of fish may once again be one. The yearning for a unified Korea, would’ve made for a great central theme for the film, but it’s sidelined to make room for so-so action and dopey plot developments. The movie starts off in a very dreary place, North Korea, at some kind of military camp to weed out the best from the rest and when the dust has settled only one woman is left standing. The story jumps forward years from there, lots of stuff has happened, and this female uber assassin has been the driving force in a series of political killings. South Korean “secret agents”, Ryu and Lee, have the theory that she and her killings are tied into something much more sinister. OooOOooohh.

This movie has its definite ups and downs. A lot of screen time is dedicated to technical espionage jargon that makes next to no sense and weird plot turns that are difficult to get a handle on even after the credits have rolled. Also the film's closet of supporting characters are greatly mishandled. Most of them are virtually unidentifiable from other characters in the film. Ever been watching a thriller and think to yourself "Who's that guy? Is he the one from earlier? Oh, he's that guy. I still don't get it." There's a lot of that in Shiri. So that would be a bit of the film’s “downs”. There is a silver lining though.

The two secret agents are actually pretty good characters, making for some decent buddy cop type scenes that are pretty effective in terms of involving the audience. Also worth mentioning is the fact that the actor playing Lee is one of the finest actors in all of modern-day cinema. His name’s Kang-ho Song and he’s delivered great performances in numerous Korean gems including The Host, Memories of Murder, and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. He has a genuine aura to him that gives life to every character he touches.

This single above-average element of the film isn’t enough to raise the entire thing above mediocrity though. The action alternates between being “yawn inducing” and “nail biting” but you can bet your lunch money it spends a lot more time being the former. Maybe if the story had been a bit more coherent and a little less ridonkulous then the lacking production value could have been overlooked, but alas neither are up to snuff.

I wish Shiri had been better but other than the North/South part of the movie, I’m not sure if the ingredients for major success are even there. That being said, there are worse ways to pass an afternoon.

I'd probably give it , but even I admit that I don't recall too many details.

__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

I watched it a long time ago and seem to remember liking it quite a bit. It's one of the first Korean films I've seen. I've been meaning to revisit it... :\

Anyway, another Asian film fan!

__________________
http://www.last.fm/user/diezelpower/

Good start Lusty

__________________
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha

Excellent review, Lusty. I haven't seen that film myself but i'm certainly intrigued after reading your review.

Great review Lusty! and like Adi says. it's lovely to have another Asian film buff


I lurve Kang-ho Song. One of my favourite films is Memories of Murder, I just saw him a few days ago in The Good The Bad and The Weird.

I came into this thread thinking that someone was finally reviewing late night Cinemax movies.

Thanks for the love, people. Good to see some Asian film fanatics. To be honest though, I'm really just a fan of Korean film at the moment because I haven't cared much for what I've seen of the rest of the continent's cinematic offerings. I'll probably be raiding the "Oriental" selection at my local rental store and giving China and Japan another shot. We'll see...

Oh, and christine, my aunt (who is Korean) just gave me a copy of The Good, the Bad and the Weird. It's straight off the boat though so I'm gonna need to find some sub's before I watch.

Akira Kurosawa,the best director from Asia, maybe the world.

__________________
"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

I'll agree with that, lime. Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu are the bee's knees but aside from Miyazaki flicks I haven't found many recent Japanese offerings that appetizing. I probably should've clarified that. I'll be checking out some movies from the other Kurosawa, but overall I'm pretty clueless as to what movies to see from there. Most of the Japanese movies on my "to-watch" list seem like teenage pop drivel.

Juzo Itami, Shohei Imamura, Kon Ichikawa, Seijun Suzuki, Yimou Zhang, Chen Kaige, and Edward Yang should all be a good entryway to Japanese and Chinese cinema.

Shohei Imamura (The Eel), Shohei Imamura (Vengeance is Mine), Shohei Imamura (Black Rain) and Nagisa Oshima (The Sun's Burial). Hiroshi Teshigahara (Woman in the Dunes, Rikyu) and Seijun Suzuki (Branded to Kill). More Imamura (The Ballad of Narayama, Profound Desire of the Gods, Eijanaika?!) and even more Oshima if you can find/stomach it (Three Resurrected Drunkards, Kyoto, My Mother's Place, Realm of Senses/Passion, Max mon amour, Death by Hanging, Taboo).

Oh yeah, and Juzo Itami too (Tampopo, Minbo, then everything else you can find).

These dudes are all older though. I don't know if any good Directors have come of age in the current generation of Japanese. Those dudes in the 60s rocked (even if they were jerks).

Actually, if you can find it, Nagisa Oshima did a tv documentary which walks you through the history of Japanese cinema from the beginning through the mid 90s. It is full of excellent/obscure/canonical recommendations. And it's pretty awesome (Oh how I wish I'd brought a notebook with me when I saw it at a festival last fall). It is called 100 Years of Japanese Cinema. It may be an ironic title given some of the stuff Oshima himself wrote/said about nations and cinema but it's a list far more serious and eclectic than I can offer.

There are some good old independent Japanese movies playing in NY in the next few weeks if you happen to be in the area. I plan to see at least 3 of them.

http://www.japansociety.org/shinjuku_ecstasy

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm considering going back on Netflix just so I get my grubby hands on some of those.

Oh, and I actually intend to watch some movies this afternoon so there should be more write-up's either later today or mañana.

Heh, I'm in a reverse of that situation. I've liked plenty of movies from Japan, Mainland China, even quickly warming over to genre crud from HK but I'm indifferent to Korean films (all 4 that I've seen!).

That said, given that you have an interest in Korea (?) as well as in expanding your exposure to Japanese films, I reiterate my suggestion of these two Oshima films in particular: Three Resurrected Drunkards and Death by Hanging. Both deal with (among other things) Japanese and Korean national and ethnic identity, self-referentially the power of cinema in ex ploring/ploding those identities, sex, institutional violence and racism. Of the two Death by Hanging is the more serious and has more "message" and for my money is a bit dry (but still good!) while 'Drunkards is an anarchistic masterpiece. It follows three knuckle-head students (a tall one, a short one, and a middle one) whose clothing gets stolen by Korean refugees (fleeing their war-time duties in Vietnam) during a drunk-naked swim at the shore. The rest of the movie is a shell-game of ethnic, patriotic and gender identities, narrative dead ends and rebirths, a touch of sex, deformed sixties pop-music, children at war, etc. Some reprobates would probably dismiss both of these movies as "wacko" but the only other thing you really need to know is that 'Three Resurrected Drunkards' is the fifth-best movie ever made, so there you go.

This movie was released on the tail end of that ridiculous penguin fad but you’d be a goofball to count Encounters amongst those fluff pieces. Sure, there are plenty of pretty pictures of the Antarctic landscape and the admittedly adorable wildlife, but Herzog has never been known for making high concept popcorn flicks and this film is no exception. Within the opening minutes his narration reveals him as the modern-day “eccentric” that he is, questioning why we humans ride horses while our hairier primate relatives choose not to. It’s an interesting introductory monologue that sets the scene for the rest of the surprisingly poignant picture.

The movie begins with an underwater scuba diver examining the bottom of a sheet of ice. It’s a neat picture and Herzog explains as we’re watching that it was this image that drove him to visit Antarctica in the first place. I don’t know if it was the beauty of the ice that moved him or something else he saw, but what Herzog captures at the bottom of the world isn’t just your everyday National Geographic fare.

There are a fair amount of picturesque shots of icebergs, ice fields, ice mountains, and other ice things, but the visuals of the film are also focused elsewhere; the muddy main camp, the faces of the Antarctic workers, humble living spaces, and other things that wouldn’t be immediately plopped into the “beautiful” category. This is not to say that the film is at all lacking in amazing visuals. On the contrary, I was constantly having to pick my jaw up off the ground. Look at that jellyfish up there. I was tripping out when I saw that and other things when Herzog showed us what it was like under the ice.

Part of what make Herzog movies such a treat is the audacity of his character. He’s not one to beat around the bush and his willingness to cut straight to the point is loads of fun to see in action, especially in face-to-face interviews. There’s a scene in the film where he is trying to get an introverted penguin specialist out of his shell by asking him questions about the penguins’ sexuality and their state of mind, whether they ever go insane. It was a pretty funny bit, considering the scientist had literally made penguins his life. Usually though the people he’s interviewing are “characters” themselves and don’t need much probing to get on a roll. It's these interviews that actually make up the heart of the film, in my opinion.

Encounters at the End of the World is almost exactly that. A series of chance encounters with various people at the bottom, the end, of the world. It’s a fun ride, if you can call it that. Most of the movie feels like the result of aimless wandering. Herzog does purposely take the film into “darker” territory in the closing segment though; reflecting on our temporary stay on this Earth as he cites the scientists’ belief that the story of humanity may very well be near its conclusion. It casts the entire picture in a totally different light, but it doesn’t sully the experience at all. If anything it makes you want to cherish everything you just saw even more.

Excellent, poetic review. Of course, Herzog showing how mankind has turned an allegedly-pristine, all-white ("clean") zone into something resembling a junkyard is right there early on in the film, so the scientists saying that "the end is nigh" sorta seems to make them, or at least the U.S. Government AND them, complicit in the speedy downfall of "the end of the world". I'll admit that there are an incredible amount of characters who all seem to be renegades (at least as much as Herzog is) somehow accumulating down at the bottom of the world. Some are undoubtedly visionairies, but I think that a few of them are probably just crazy, but that's what makes the world go 'round, at least as long as we still have it.

Ahh, I agree with you about Herzog putting man's dirty habits on display right from the start. I think he skims over how much of a negative reflection it is on industrial expansion though, leaving that as an observation for us to make for ourselves. He really seemed to pull the punches when it came to criticizing the people who worked there. That whole ecosystem would be better off without them there. The eye-sore of a camp was one thing but when they showed people stuffing bags over the heads of mother seals I really found myself wondering what they were really accomplishing down there. Then we find out they're examing the mother's milk to see if they can turn it into some sort of diet drug. Hmm.

And linespalsy, I'll be sure to try and track down those Oshima movies. If they don't have 'em on Netflix I'll just check out some local Japanese video stores.

Being a teenager can be a cruel, confusing, awkward, and all-around terrible experience. A fact of life many of us are only too aware of. In her directing debut, Celine Sciamma, makes it her personal goal here to capture the suckiness of those transition years that lie between being a girl and being a woman. The result of her effort is a mixed bag, but she ultimately accomplishes what she set out to do. Which unfortunately isn't much.

The mild-mannered fifteen year old, Marie, finds herself at the local public pool during a synchronized swimming competition. At first it's just a trio of second grade girls that can barely float on there backs but immediately following them a truly impressive troupe, as disciplined as they are majestic, worked their magic, showing off a sizable arsenal of maneuvers. Scissor kicks, underwater corkscrews, choreographed hand motions, all that jazz. I really don't know that much about synchronized swimming but I do know a commendable display of physical prowess when I see it and that's exactly what's put on display. Marie seems far more interested in the team captain, Floriane, than the actual performance though...

After the swim meet, Marie's awkward attempts at "befriending" Floriane eventually succeed and their relationship serves as the focal point of the film. It's an interesting relationship to be sure, as you may or may not be able to tell from the above picture. Now, my knowledge of fifteen year old girls is slimmer than the width of standard issue paper but the relationship depicted here is your classic "user" scenario where someone's getting something while the other gets shafted *cough*. As this poor excuse for a friendship is going on, Marie's actual friend, Anne, falls on hard times while chasing after some boy meat. This is drama at its most adolescent.

The film establishes early on which teenage stereotype the three main girls fall into. Marie is your regular soft spoken girl. Floriane is the slut-bag hottie that all the girls at school loved to hate. And Marie's homely friend, Anne, is the physical opposite of Floriane. That is, of course, the nice way of putting it. The three have little in common when it comes down to it, aside from the "insecurity issues" that seem to unite virtually every girl. It's this unfortunate and universal character trait that becomes a central theme of the film, as each of the girls fall prey to it, committing almost unwatchable acts that register as an "11" on the embarassing scale.

So does the movie work? Kind of. I found the main characters to be realistic enough to serve their purposes and the actresses all did their parts in playing angst ridden teenagers. I'm sure that was a stretch. The director, Celine Sciamma, does a decent job her first time out. The visual scheme of the picture was notably pleasant with some good use of colors and consistently competent shot compositions. The final product though, is actually very bland considering the subject matter. Everything about it is pretty middle of the road and its entertainment value certainly isn't enough to make up for that. You can safely pass on this one and know that you aren't missing out on much.

Excellent! You won't need much subtitling