flixtime

I’d planned on doing this list at the beginning of the month but I still had to catch up on some of the more notable films released in Korean theaters in 2004. I’ve still got a dozen or so that I need to check out but I’ve seen enough that I’ll take a stab at a “Favorite Korean Films of 2004” list.

First, following is a list (not sure how complete it is) of Korean films released in theaters for 2004:

100 Days with Mr. Arrogant
3-Iron
A Family
A Moment to Remember (aka The Eraser in My Head)
A Smile
A Wacky Switch
Arahan
Au Revoir! U.F.O. (aka Hello! U.F.O.)
Bunshinsaba
Clementine
Dance With the Wind
Dead Friend (aka Ryeong, aka The Ghost)
Desire
DMZ: Demilitarized Zone
Don't Tell Papa
Everybody Has Secrets
Face
Father and Son: The Story of Mencius
Fighter in the Wind
Flying Boys
Foolish Game
Ghost House (aka Ghost Lives)
He Was Cool (aka The Guy Was Cool)
Hi Dharma 2: Showdown in Seoul
How To Keep My Love (aka My Boyfriend’s Romance)
Hypnotized (aka A Faceless Beauty)
Ice Rain
Liar
Love So Divine
Lovely Rivals
Marrying School Girl
Mokpo, Gangster's Paradise
Mr. Gam's Victory (Superstar Mr. Gam)
Mr. Handy
My Brother
My Generation
My Little Bride
My Mother, the Mermaid
None of Your Cheek (aka Shut Up!)
Once Upon a Time in High School – Spirit of Jeet Kune Do
Raging Years (aka Low Life)
Rikidozan
Romance of Their Own (aka Temptation of Wolves, aka True Romance)
R-Point
S Diary
Samaria (aka Samaritan Girl)
Shinsukki Blues
Sisily 2KM (aka To Catch a Virgin Ghost)
So Cute
Some
Someone Special
Spider Forest
Spin Kick
Springtime
Spy Girl
Sweet Sixties
Taegukgi (aka Tae Guk Gi)
The Big Swindle
The Doll Master
The President's Barber
The Scarlet Letter
The Wolf Returns (aka The Last Wolf)
Thomas Ahn Jung-geun
Three, Extremes (aka Three, Monster) - anthology
Too Beautiful to Lie
Two Guys
When I Turned Nine
Who's Got the Tape?
Windstruck
Woman is the Future of Man

And now - the moment you've all been waiting for....or maybe not - my list of "Favorite Korean Films of 2004" (so far I’ve watched 29 of the 70 listed above):

Favorites:
Once Upon a Time in High School – Spirit of Jeet Kune Do
Windstruck
Taegukgi
3-Iron

Followed closely by:
Rikidozan
When I Turned Nine
A Family
Someone Special

And down the list a bit, but still recommended:
Dance With the Wind
The Scarlet Letter
Arahan

Other films I’ve seen:
The Big Swindle
The President’s Barber
Love So Divine
Mr. Handy
Father and Son: The Story of Mencius
My Mother, the Mermaid
R-Point
Fighter in the Wind
Springtime
He Was Cool
Samaria
The Wolf Returns
Raging Years
Ice Rain
Romance of Their Own
Some
Sisily 2KM
Mr. Gam's Victory

Still need to see: Spin Kick, Spider Forest, My Brother, Three Extremes

Others I’m interested in but haven’t decided on: Hypnotized, Bunshinsaba, My Little Bride, Thomas Ahn Jung-geun (no English subs on DVD), DMZ (no English subs on DVD), Flying Boys, A Moment to Remember, and Woman is the Future of Man

NOTE: I decided to use the the “in Korean theaters” as the release date for my list, otherwise going by “DVD released in 2004” I would naturally have included “Oldboy”, “Silmido”, etc., in the “Favorites” list.

Trigger

How I score - I score on a scale of 1 to 10 and sometimes go to one tenth of a point. 10 = excellent and 1 = horrible... 5 = average meaning it's not a good movie and it's not a bad movie. 5 is certainly watchable IMO and 6 - 10 are all various levels of good while 1 - 4 are all levels of suck. A 4 might have some value to it, but is otherwise below average or kinda crappy. A 6 is above average and something I would consider to be a fairly good movie.

Last year (2004) there were alot of good movies coming out of Korea, but not alot of great ones.

100 Days with Mr. Arrogant - I saw this a long time ago and can't remember it now... I think it was pretty similar to He Was Cool, but I remember liking it better. I don't feel like it would be fair to score it.
3-Iron - Duk is a brilliant filmmaker and it's nice to see him once in awhile not rely on showcasing misery and suffering. While this film wasn't totally upbeat, it was still uplifting. 8/10
A Wacky Switch - kinda funny... 6.5/10
Arahan - liked it alot... 8/10
Bunshinsaba - pretty good little horror flick. Alot like Ring in theme, but not really a ripoff or a copy. It had some good genuine scares and creeps. 7.5/10
Dead Friend (aka Ryeong, aka The Ghost) - Another in the sea of long-haired girl ghost films... this one is also well done in terms of acting, but the ending was a bit of a let down as they tried a little too hard to give it a twist. 7/10
Desire - have yet to watch
Don't Tell Papa - horrible... fucking awful... no words to describe how bad... 2/10
Everybody Has Secrets - in some ways it's good and in others it's bad. It's about some guy who bones 3 sisters without each of them finding out about it. The film fails to resolve itself with any sort of message or anything, but there's some funny bits along the way. 4.5/10
Face - there were alot of horror movies this year and they all blended together. This one was pretty good as well, but seemed the most like an episode of x-files or something compared to the others. It was also the most forgettable. That said though, it was pretty decent. 6.5/10
Fighter in the Wind - not yet watched
Ghost House (aka Ghost Lives) - from the makers of Kick the Moon and Attack the Gas Station... it was pretty good.. quite funny. 7.5/10
He Was Cool (aka The Guy Was Cool) - teenage comedy for pre-teens... not very funny. 3.5/10
How To Keep My Love (aka My Boyfriend’s Romance)
Hypnotized (aka A Faceless Beauty) - slow and dull and bizarre... the payoff at the end wasn't enough to warrant having to sit through the rest of it (even though it was pretty cool). 5/10
Ice Rain - dull... couldn't get past the first 15-20 minutes.
Love So Divine - piece of shit. 2/10
Lovely Rivals - can't recall if I've seen this or not.
Mokpo, Gangster's Paradise - I saw it awhile ago, but don't remember it.
Mr. Handy - Cute romantic comedy worth a watch. 6.5/10
My Little Bride - pretty cute actually. 7/10
My Mother, the Mermaid - haven't watched yet.
Once Upon a Time in High School – Spirit of Jeet Kune Do - good fighting in school film. If you're into that... 7/10
R-Point - Felt pretty unique as a vietnam horror film. It didn't really seal the deal so to speak, but worth a watch. 6/10
S Diary - girl has to trace her relationships to find out why they always fail... it's pretty funny. 6.5/10
Samaria (aka Samaritan Girl) - I thought it was good, but not the director's best. 7/10
Sisily 2KM (aka To Catch a Virgin Ghost) - quite funny and well done. 7.5/10
Someone Special - kinda stupid... the characters were unlikeable and the scenarios were unbelievable. The male lead wasn't charming enough to pull off being a dick while keeping his audience on his side. The main premise was a bit cliche as well. While some may have found the camerawork to be more intimate, I found it to be distracting. It wasn't terrible though and I didn't hate it. 5/10
Spider Forest - kinda strange, but pretty well crafted thriller. 6/10
Spin Kick - Karate Kid meets The Mighty Ducks... it's pretty good for the genre. Worth a watch. 6.5/10
Spy Girl - Cute girl and a pretty good film. Nothing really remarkable about it - it was just cute. 7/10
Taegukgi (aka Tae Guk Gi) - great film. I really enjoyed it. It was perhaps a bit long and a bit too hollywood, but quality filmmaking nonetheless. 8.5/10
The Big Swindle - decent... it's alot like a typical hollywood heist film that would star Gene Hackman or something. 6.5/10
The Doll Master - If dolls creep you out, it's worth watching. A few moments were laughably bad, but it's otherwise a solid thriller. 6/10
Three, Extremes (aka Three, Monster) - anthology - Cut was well acted and directed and the effects were pretty cool, but the premise was lacking a few things... like... reality. I mean, he's tied up with a big rubber band. Uhh... just untie yourself, idiot. Otherwise, it was pretty cool. 6/10. As for Dumplings and Box - I give Miike's Box a 5/10 and Fruit Chan's Dumplings gets a 5.5/10. Overall, this collection was only barely better than the previous Three collection. I think there's just not enough time given to let these directors spread their wings. One thing that could salvage such a project would be if you had a common thread between the films (more of a thread than a long tongue) like we've seen in many American films of this sort.
Too Beautiful to Lie - Kinda cute... simple little romantic comedy. 6.5/10
Two Guys - don't remember it well enough to rate.
Windstruck - it lacked the magic of Sassy Girl or The Classic, but it was decent. 6.5/10
Woman is the Future of Man don't remember it well enough to rate.

Yakuza Bengoshi

I've only seen a few of these, but here's my ratings (out of ****):

Favorite:
Samaria (aka Samaritan Girl) ***1/2

Definitely worth seeing:
3-Iron **1/2
Three, Extremes (aka Three, Monster) - anthology **1/2

If you have nothing better to do:
Arahan **
R-Point *1/2

The best thing for me this year though was the discovery of Chan-wook Park. Wow! Can't wait to see Sympathy for Lady Vengence.

royalwithcheese

my favorites on that list are My Little Bride, Fighter in the Wind, Taegukgi, and Once Upon a Time In Highschool. in that order.

dvdordie

Spy Girl and R-Point were the only noticeable movies to see here in Korea last year.

Others didn't do much for me. Tae-Guk-Gee was a too hyped up nothing to see blockbuster, which unfortunately, I fell for the marketing gimmick and saw it at the theaters. (To my knowledge, more of the North Korean flag [In-Gong-Gee] was shown in the movie verses the South Korean flag [Tae-Guk-Gee, alas... movie title])

Doll Master was the worst movie I saw in my entire life :P

Buzz Lightyear

From the list above I've seen the next couple of movies:

3-Iron
Nice quiet movie about a guy living at other peoples houses while they are gone. Seems a bit dull in the beginning, but after seeing this movie it gets to you. Great
4.5/5

One upon a Time in Highschool
Movie about highschool back in the days in Korea. Lot's of violence and a little romance. It's an o.k. movie. Nothing special.
3/5

Samaria
From the same director as 3-iron. Leaves you thinking as well, only this time it's all much more serious and heavy. Recommended though.
4/5

Taegukgi
My dissapointment of the year. After all this hype it was just a typical blockbuster war movie. Nice sound and picture four your sound system. But for the rest nothing much new here. For a much better movie about war watch J.S.A. or something.
3/5

Windstruck
Speaking about dissapointments. I loved My Sassy Girl and even The Classic. But Windstruck was a hell of a miss hit. It tried to be a lot of things but in the end was nothing really. Maybe only worth it if you are a huge fan of Ji-hyun Jun. Otherwise skip it.
2/5

When I turned Nine
Wauw, what a great movie. I admit, you have to like kids. This movie is all about kids. But they all act great. This movie is fun and touching. Didn't expect it to be this good. Check it out.
5/5

Someone Special
Another nice surprice. A really enjoyable romantic comedy. At first seems to be a typical Korean melodrama. In the end it's a very original romantic comedy which is much better than I though it would be. Recommended!
4/5

Of course this is just my opnion.

Any of you guys seen one of these:

- Moment to Remember
- Some
- Scarlet Letter
- So Cute
- S Diary
- Mr Gram's Victory

eXcentris

Rating on 5 stars:

3-Iron (haven't watched yet)

Arahan - *** Original and entertaining but forgettable.

Fighter in the Wind - *** Interesting story but the script is lacking. The main actor was pretty good considering. Moderately good fight sequences.

Mr. Gam's Victory (Superstar Mr. Gam) **1/2 Formulaic but watchable "light" entertainment.

Once Upon a Time in High School – Spirit of Jeet Kune Do ** You had a rough time in high school, we get the point.

R-Point **1/2 The wimpiest soldiers ever. Some nice atmosphere but limited scares.

Samaria (aka Samaritan Girl) **** Excellent.

Spider Forest ***1/2 Excellent thriller for the thinking man. Very odd but I like odd.

Taegukgi (aka Tae Guk Gi) *** Good but too ambitious. Stereotypical portrayal of North/South Korean and Chinese army. Very realistic fight scenes but stop with the bloody shaking camera already.

The Big Swindle ***1/2 Intricate, stylish and entertaining but the "big caper" was a letdown. Big Reservoir Dogs and Usual Suspects influence.

The Doll Master ** Laughable dialogue and bad acting but a few good scares.

Three, Extremes (aka Three, Monster) - anthology *** varies in quality. Dumplings is the best.

RyoHazuki

Has anyone seen Demilitarized Zone yet?

dmpre99

I have seen DMZ its not that great... It seemed like a forced movie because of the success of taegukgi and silmido

Grimfarrow

Best Korean films of 2004:

1. This Charming Girl (Lee Yoon-Ki) - by far the best Korean film in years.
2. Shin Sung-Il is Missing (Shin Jane) - utteryl deadpan view of fundamentalist Christianity, told through children's eyes
3. My Generation (forgot) - black & white, grainy, rough, sad, but realistic portrayals of young people on the fringe

Will see: Spider Forest

Terribly unexciting:

Taegugki (another war film....zzzzz)
Three Extremes (the 90-min standalone Dumplings is better) Arahan (one of the most annoying male protagonists....)
3 Iron (except this guy, whose incredibly smug smile just grated on my nerves..and that "shadowing" technique is utterly ludicrous, and not even remotely deep)
R-Point (that's a horror film?)
Woman is the Future of Man (the most disappointing film by Hoo Sang-Soo yet)
Samaritan Girl (gosh, enough of this Buddhist crap as a means for women to demean themselves, please!)

Trigger

Like anyone could actually know that, napoleon.

seriously - could you expand on that? What's it about? What makes it special?

Also, sounds like you haven't seen very many korean films... you just excluding all of them?

don't bother... I don't think you would like it.

Miike-Mouse

Once Upon a Time in High School – Spirit of Jeet Kune Do was the only one I really liked cause it was so EMO heh...

But seriously I think it was a rather poor year and it's no wonder there was a big dip for Korean cinema.

Trigger

I thought it was a good year, just not a great year.

Grimfarrow

This Charming Girl

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?lay...D=VE1117925311

Never judge a book by its cover, and don't judge "This Charming Girl" by its misleading English title. Far from being a fizzy romantic comedy, this impressive first feature by former a.d. Lee Yoon-ki is a slow-burning, almost minimalist portrait of a young woman's emotional emptiness. It sticks to the ribs thanks to a standout perf by lead actress Kim Ji-su and helming by Lee that slowly seduces the viewer without becoming unbearably arty. Jury Prize winner, Pusan Film Festival.

dmpre99

anyone seen "A Moment to Remember"????

flixtime

Caught up on a few more titles from 2004 only one of which made a significant impact - "Rikidozan".

"Rikidozan" was released in Korean theaters late last year and is a solid biopic concerning the Japanese (though Korean-born) wrestler Rikidozan. Although it is a Korean film, since it is set in Japan, Japanese is the primarly language used in the film. The lead is played by actor Sol Kyung-gu who in his slimmed down version (he put on a lot of weight to play a wrestler in this film) should be familiar to most of you from films like "Peppermint Candy", "Oasis", "Silmido", and "Public Enemy". I'm not particulary fond of "professional" wrestling but - to my eyes at least - I thought the wrestling scenes in this film were very well done and the matches themselves pretty thrilling. Even though it's just a movie I really got into the matches. While I have a rather low opinion of "professional" wrestling, this film did open my eyes a bit and I do now carry some more respect for the sport than I previously had. Also, I thought the performances from the various cast members were all commendable. The film also did a nice job in showing you the mindset of great athletes and how they just can't seem to walk away from the sport they love. While there wasn't anything significantly unique or innovative about "Rikidozan" when compared to some of the great films in Korean cinema, as a Hollywood-style biopic it was solid and I'd definitely place it in my top 10 Korean films of 2004. I liked it much more than "Fighter in the Wind".

Some other films I've seen are: "Romance of Their Own", "Some", "Sisily 2KM", and "Mr. Gam's Victory". I didn't think any of them were much better than average. As a baseball fan, I enjoyed "Mr. Gam's Victory" the most of the bunch and thought it ended strongly after an average start. "Some" deserves praise for trying to do something different but I thought it was too severely flawed on many levels. "Sisily 2KM" was okay but forgettable, while "Romance of Their Own" wasn't very good at all.

I've still got some catching up to do on notable 2004 releases such as "Spider Forest", "A Moment to Remember", and others. I am looking forward to the return of the slimmed down version of "Rikidozan" star Sol Kyung-gu in "Another Public Enemy" (coming soon to DVD). Also, can't wait to check out "A Bittersweet Life" and "Crying Fist", but it'll be some months still before they hit DVD.

Note: I'll edit my initial post to reflect the addition of "Rikidozan" to my favorites list.

tali219

Before watching the DVD, I really thought that I would like "A Moment to Remember" since I like sappy movies but it totally bored me. The romance between the 2 leads happened so quickly and was so underdeveloped that I really didn't feel for the married couple's dilemna in the latter part of the movie. Worth a rental if you're into Korean melodrama but definitely not worth buying the DVD.

flixtime

I'm in love..........with Lee So-Yeon.




While I'm still trying to catch up on a handful of 2004 releases, I did find the first gem among 2005's releases - Git: A Feather (aka "Feathers in the Wind). Though Director Song Il-Gon's previous film 2004's "Spider Forest" is still sitting in my to-watch pile (albeit now at the very top based on my viewing of "Git'), I did recently check out his most recent romance film "Git". It comes in with a short - but very satisfying - runtime of 78 minutes (not including closing credits). Though I'd personally recommend "Git" to all, be aware that it is certainly more of a slower-paced, arthouse kind of film. The film takes place primarily on an island off the coast of Korea and captures in charming serenity the feel of being there; the cinematography is simple and grounded in reality, yet still rather stylish and pretty to see. "Git" is a nice "mood" piece that slowly drew me in to the lives of the two main characters (there's only a handful of speaking roles in the films); I found the film quite captivating and got really caught up in the fates of the characters (including the female lead played by the aforementioned Lee So-Yeon). The one minor nitpick I had with the film was a very brief (but not brief enough) bathroom scene in the middle which didn't really fit the feel of things and broke - for a moment - the spell established by the rest of the film. A certain eloquence with words escapes me at the moment; I wish I could do a better job describing the movie but there you have it.

Anyway, for rating purposes, if I were to judge "Git" as a 2004 (instead of 2005) release, it would definitely have ranked in the Top 9 (possibly very high on the list depending on my mood, but the same I suppose could be said of a number of the others on the list too). Also, while I very much enjoyed "Git", I'm not sure yet if it retains the replay value - for me at least - of most of my favorites from 2004.

bobstevens

Hmm. Here is my squashed paragraph of mini-reviews.

3-Iron was my overall favorite film of 2004 from any nation. Arahan was mindless fun and I really enjoyed it. I thought The Big Swindle was decent but forgettable. Taegukgi was a great experience but a throwaway, kind of like Troy. Silmido was about the same as Taegukgi, perhaps a little better. Samaria is great, as I'm a Ki-Duk junkie, but when it's all said and done none of us will think it was his best film. Some was a nice suspense thriller that kept me interested and happy despite some gaping flaws. Woman is the Future of Man has my vote for worst Korean film of the year. Ditto (was that 2004?) was alright, but forgettable and not as good as the American film Frequency that had a similar plot. DMZ didn't have English subs so I fast-forwarded through a lot of it... it looked like it might be crappy but I can't say for sure.

Edit: Didn't realize Foolish Game was a 2004 release. It sucked.

flixtime

Checked out a few more 2005 releases with one winner among the bunch:

Another Public Enemy (aka Public Enemy 2)
Microwave that popcorn, snap open a can of soda, and then kick back and enjoy this one. I've been watching a higher number of slower-paced films lately so I was kind of in the mood for a good popcorn flick and this one really fit the bill. I'm a pretty big fan of the first "Public Enemy" and consider it one of the under-appreciated films in Korean cinema so I was really looking forward to this loose sequel. By "loose" I mean the lead actor from "Public Enemy" is back for this one but playing a different role (a different character altogether); he's now a lawyer not a cop. Also back is the same actor who was the Chief of Detectives from the first film, except this time he is the Chief Prosecutor. I'd say this sequel is more purely commercial than the first film but it was a lot of fun and put a big grin on my face from the get-go. As was the case with the first film, the bad guy is again well-selected. The movie does got a bit overboard with idealistic "white hats" vs. "black hats" approach and lots of speechifying to that effect but that goes with the territory in this sort of mass-market film. The film is long at approx 2:25 but I felt it moved along very well and the film only stumbled slightly with the proceedings of the last 20 minutes or so (otherwise I would have ranked it as high as the first film). All in all though I really enjoyed this one and wouldn't mind a second viewing in the near future (this time as a double feature with the first one since it's been a while since I seen that one).

Running Boy (aka Marathon)
Formula film-making from Korea that like last year's "Springtime" you've seen done many times before by virtually every film-producing nation. You know the story........physically- or mentally-challenged young person struggles through adversity to achieve a goal. Though routine, I did really enjoy the first half but then things started to feel stale and the film just generally felt overlong (needed to trim maybe a dozen minutes or so from the approx. 1:55 runtime). The performance by the lead (and the rest of the cast) was good but that seems to be the case in all these types of movies. I'm not biased against these films but I just feel this was rather ordinary and forgettable (I don't plan on re-visiting it anytime soon). As an example, the French film "Les Choristes" was also a formula film cut from the "new teacher motivates students" cloth such as "Mr. Holland's Opus"/"Dead Poet's Society" but I felt that film was closer to excellence (though adding nothing new really) in that sub-genre than "Running Boy" was to this sub-genre.

This Charming Girl
Hmmm....technically well-done (though I do have a quibble with some of the hand-held camera work where there was a gentle and subtle lack of stillness to shots that I felt would have benefitted from perfect set-in-stone stillness) and all but it never really grabbed me. Whereas with very good/excellent films you sort of lose that sense of self-awareness (you get so entranced by things you forget you are a viewer watching a movie), this film gets the subject criticism from me that I never really came close to being spellbound by the proceedings. While it did hold my interest and never really bogged down or felt too slow (it is a slower-paced film), I'd have to say I had a general apathy more than not towards the proceedings. It's a pretty minimalist and quiet film as you basically observe the lead character through her daily life chiefly at her post office job, after-work drinks with two-friends, walking to work, grocery shopping, and at home. There is limited dialogue with the key point of interest being in discovering (through brief/snapshot flashbacks interspersed throughout the film) how she came to be the person she is in the film. There's nothing particularly deep or unique (or innovative for that matter) to the answer. While I do feel the film is worth a watch (as rental material), it didn't really move me in any way that one might expect from this type of arthouse cinema and I don't give it much replay value at all. As "Running Boy" was forgettable commercial cinema, "This Charming Girl" is equally disposable (albeit more unique) arthouse fare.

Daddy-Long-Legs
Actually watched this one some time back but forgot to mention it because it really wasn't of any significant merit. Don't remember much now but it was rather mediocre at best. Easily the wink link of the four films mentioned in this post. Don't bother.

To summarize the 2005 Korean films I've seen, I'll go with:

Recommended
1) Git (aka Feathers in the Wind)
Despite what is shaping up to be a strong year for Korean cinema, I'd still say this is a sureshot for my year-end Top 10.

2) Another Public Enemy (aka Public Enemy 2):
Would have slipped in to my Top 10 from last year. A possibility for this year's Top 10 though it should be severely challenged (I hope) by films like "President's Last Bang", "A Bittersweet Life", "Crying Fist", "The Bow", "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance", "Antarctic Journal", "Blood Rain", "Long and Winding Road", "Shadowless Sword", "Green Chair", and "Conte de Cinema" among others.

Rental
Running Boy (aka Marathon)
This Charming Girl

Skip it
Daddy-Long-Legs

dmpre99

Not to be picky or anything but another public enemy, running boy, charming girl and git were made in 2005.

but here are my picks for 2004:

mr. handy - funny romantic comedy can miss some of the jokes due to cultural differences 8/10

once upon a time in high school - i just loved this movie 9/10

Arahan - funny light popcorn flick much much better than volcano high 8/10

taegukgi - much better than saving private ryan the ending is profound and people who do not understand the korean war will probably miss the message the writer intended 10/10

3 iron - love kim ki duk but this movie did nothing for me 5/10

a moment to remember - forget watching the dc its a bore but theaterical is pretty good DC - 5/10 theaterical - 8/10

ghost house - funny but not that funny - 6/10

woman is the future of man - a big fat ZERO 0/10

Some - ehhhhh 5/10

My brother - decent film - 7/10

flixtime

Back with some brief thoughts on a handful of recent films:

"The President's Last Bang"
"Crying Fist"
"A Bittersweet Life"
"The Long and Winding Road"

The President's Last Bang
Fairly clear-cut pick as the best of the bunch. It's a political suspenser like something you would have seen out of 1970's Hollywood, plus the whole thing is delivered with sort of a wicked grin about the goings on. The film is relatively short by Korean cinema standards (a little over 1:35 runtime if memory serves me right). It is pretty much broken up into 3 distinct acts with the middle 30 minutes or so being outstanding, highly suspenseful, and on par with anything I've seen delivered in Korean cinema.

Crying Fist
A boxing movie that I saw about a week after watching "Million Dollar Baby" so I can't help but compare the two - fair or not. I enjoyed "Million Dollar Baby" and do recommend it but found it short of the masterwork some have deemed it due to at least a couple of glaring flaws (over-use of narration, badder-than-Clubber Lang opponent, shoehorned-in secondary characters). But it was a moving experience on the whole.

While it went with an approach of slowly building the story, I found at the halfway point that "Crying Fist" was a measurably better film than "Million Dollar Baby". But it just sort of lost any forward momentum at that time and started to feel repetitive. I thought the slow build of the first half would serve as a foundation for the second half but a lot of the second half was more of the same (the snowball just never got rolling). The performances were great and there was a lot of great material in "Crying Fist" but I was sort of let down - despite a reasonably satisfying ending - when all was said and done. Maybe the film need some trimming. There was a lot of effective cutting between the two stories but the film consisted of numerous short scenes which like I said started to get repetitive. The boxing scenes themselves were okay. With all of the time successfully invested in character development I just wish I had felt more - like in "Million Dollar Baby" - when things came to a close.

A Bittersweet Life
A bittersweet disappointment. Like "Crying Fist", I had extremely high expectations for this film but found it rather so-so. I liked "Layer Cake", "36 Quai des Orfevres", "Another Public Enemy", and probably even "Dead Man's Shoes" better.

The performance by the lead actor - when required - was outstanding. The graphic violence in the film is pretty hardcore and well-executed, though I thought the action scenes themselves suffered a bit from too much of that in-close, quick-cutting that seems to be in vogue. The first half-hour of this 2 hour film was kind of a bore. I didn't care the casting of the female lead. On first viewing the film seemed to be an overcomplicated, red-herring presentation of a rather simple storyline. The experience was more frustrating than interesting and I kept feeling that I was missing something with regards to the proceedings.

Maybe I was in the wrong mindset when I watched this but I felt that there was going to be something more to the story based on the actions of the characters. I think I got a little off-track in the beginning when the subs kept referring to two separate characters both as President/Mr. Baek. Also, in the last action scene, I felt the director cheated me as a viewer when a character's fate seemed sealed but it wasn't (I don't mind that in films but it could have been presented more effectively here).

It really took a good 30 minutes plus for something praiseworthy to occur and then the film sagged again for 15 minutes before an extended action scene which was the highpoint of things. Some of the black humor that came after felt overdone and thus out-of-place and seemed closer to silly than effective.

Korean filmmakers are know for incorporating aspects from all other forms of world cinema and still crafting something unique. This film had that same feeling of deja vu like you've seen a lot of it before ("saloon shootouts" in Westerns, etc.) but the whole thing felt more manufactured and cookie-cutter than unique. I don't recall specifically where I saw a lot of the scenes (Westerns, Yakuza films, etc.) but the whole affair felt stale (though visually it was at times quite stylish). Maybe if you're a big fan of classic French gangster films and low-key Japanese yakuza films (which I also enjoy) you might really like this one more than me; if you look at it that way, I suppose it's on par with some of the critically-revered gangster films from those nations but I've found a number of those films while no doubt both commendable and enjoyable to be over-estimated in my opinion. All-in-all a disappointment on first-viewing, and plans for a second viewing feel more like a chore than not.

The Long and Winding Road
Sort of a love letter to Korean mom's everywhere. A professionally delivered family melodrama. While it never neared the heights of the early portions of "Marathon" aka "Running Boy", this film was more consistent and satisfying as it built to its conclusion. Nothing exceptional but worth a rental to devoted fans of Korean cinema.



That's about all for now. I wish I'd made the time to post these thoughts immediately after viewing each of the films so I could have provided a more in-depth and clear look at things but what can you do.

As far as my annual scoreboard, The President's Last Bang will challenge Git aka Feathers in the Wind for number 1. Then comes Another Public Enemy. I had perhaps too high expectations for both Crying Fist and A Bittersweet Life. Depending how things go, Crying Fist could quite well grab a slot on my year-end Top 10 but I don't see the same fate for A Bittersweet Life (unless the year proves lacking (which now isn't as unlikely as I initially believed) and I find myself more charitable on any possible re-assessment or it has to go there by default).

I'm actually finding myself a bit disappointed by Korean cinema right now as it seems to becoming more formulaic (tons of comedies and romantic comedies). Plus the early take on some of the upcoming films I was excited about "The Bow", "Antarctic Journal", "Blood Rain" seems to indicate that they have fallen short of excellence or even very-goodness. Might this year for which I had great expectations turn out to be merely respectable but disappointing. No doubt the talented filmmakers are there but I'd like to seem them progress to the next rung of cutting-edge filmmaking and top some of their earlier entries. I wish Japanese DVDs weren't so darned expensive because my current perception (baseless as it might be) is that Japan and not Korea is the most promising of Asian filmmaking nations.

khristine

to whoever said skip daddy long legs, id say watch it again. the movie is really good! i have to watch it twice to really appreciate it. the first time i watched it, i wasnt really paying much attention thinking its a sit-back-and-relax type of movie so i didnt quite understand the twist..i was kinda challenged so i gave it another try.. then voila... the next thing i knew, the movie has become one of my favorites.

(actually, i hadnt known until my second viewing that there is a BIG twist in the story!)

mapson

From the list, I can find the following I especially liked.

3-Iron
Arahan
Dance With the Wind
Fighter in the Wind
Once Upon a Time in High School – Spirit of Jeet Kune Do
The Big Swindle
Windstruck

flixtime

Here's a very, very pleasant surprise for Korean cinema fans........I see that there has been a Thai DVD release of the 2004? Korean film Road (I am not aware of it being released yet on Korean/HK DVD). The Thai DVD has the Korean language track and English subs and is available from the usual Thai e-tailers for under $10. I referred to it as a 2004(?) film but I don't think "Road" has even received its general release in Korea even now. I know it has been making the rounds of the festival circuit and even won the "Best Feature Film" award at the well-respected 2005 Philadelphia Film Festival.

Anyone seen it?

A little pressed for time but a quick update on a couple of films I've seen:
The Bow - while the last 20 minutes or so almost lost me, it managed to conclude well-enough that it dissipated any strong reservations I might have had. I liked this one. I don't think it was as great as "3-Iron" but is still well-recommended. It will certainly make my year-end Top 10 as right now it probably sits at #3 after "Git" and "The President's Last Bang".

Blood Rain - I'd have to call this a disappointment. A period mystery film that was interesting as would be most detective TV shows, and also interesting in its attempts to comment on religion/superstition/class differences/etc. However it never really came together and grabbed me as a piece of entertainment. It felt more like a glorified TV-movie. It is worth a look as rental material but I don't really have the desire to revisit it.


Maybe it's just a phase, but my interest in Korean cinema is starting to wane to a strong degree. Sure, there is stuff like "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance", "April Snow", "The Duelist" (mediocre reviews I know but I'm a fan of the genre), etc. that I am eager to see but, for the most part, many of the seemingly repetitious & formulaic comedies, romances, horror films, etc. are starting to slip well off my radar. There just seems to be too many midrange titles being released. I know this happens to me in cycles where I grow weary of a particular country's cinema only to have my interest piqued down the road and right now S. Korea is in my downturn (along with HK).