Miss Granny (2014)

Directed by: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Country: South Korea

Movie Review: After “Silenced” released three years ago, Korean filmmaker Hwang Dong-hyuk directs “Miss Granny”, a pop comedy-drama that turned into another local box-office hit. The film starts by establishing an imaginative parallel between women and different types of balls used in sports. Right after that our attention falls in Oh Mal-soon, a 74-year-old widow who runs her own restaurant and reveals an overbearing side, sharp tongue, and strong character. She can be as much protective regarding her musician grandson, as a teaser to her daughter-in-law who ended up in a hospital with more complications in her debilitated heart. Realizing she was being a nuisance in the family, she decides to leave for a while, entering by chance in a photo studio called ‘Forever Young’. Surprisingly, she comes out from there with 20 years old, joining his grandson’s heavy metal band, falling in love with a young music producer, and finding the long lasting love of her restaurant employee, Mr. Park. She decides to adopt the name Oh Doo-ri (Au-d-rey) in homage to her favorite actress, Audrey Hepburn. Despite technically competent, the first hour was interminable and boring, and I was convinced that no more interesting twists in the plot would happen. The truth is that “Miss Granny” gets slightly better in the final part, showing a feel-good attitude and a more efficient humor. Regardless the aspects referred before, they came too late and were never enough to pull the film out of the banal zones composed by clichés and sentimentality.

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The Attorney (2013)

Directed by: Yang Woo-seok
Country: South Korea

Movie Review: Newcomer film director Yang Woo-seok brings us a courtroom drama inspired on the early life of Roh Moo-Hyun, the ninth president of South Korea, then turned into an activist, and his ‘Burim case’ dated of 1981. Guided by the motto ‘never give up’, Song Woo-seok, even without a college degree becomes a voracious attorney, getting the life he always wanted. Professional success, lots of money and a beautiful family, makes him boasting around and expose himself as a wealthy man. But Woo-seok shows to have a good heart too, when he returns to a restaurant he used to go as a student in order to pay an old debt to the owner, a lady whose teenager son will be illegally arrested, tortured and forced to confess he is a leftist. The man who carries out these unacceptable operations is the highly patriotic police officer, Cha Dong-yeong. Disturbed by this injustice Woo-seok will radically change his life to free an innocent from the corruption of the Korean system and improper use of public power. Even if a bit melodramatic in the final moments and stepping familiar territories, “The Attorney” combined humor, drama, and a raging courtroom battle, in an appealing way. I would say that the aggressive performance by Song Kang-ho, along with the cynical one by Kwak Do-won, were able to maintain the film well alive, regardless of the director’s gullible attempts to draw some tears, especially in the end. Fortunately, this wasn’t enough to turn down the magnificent work from these two respectable actors.

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Han Gong-ju (2013)

Directed by: Lee Su-jin
Country: South Korea

Movie Review: Lee Su-jin's fantastic directorial debut, “Han Gong-ju”, is a poignant drama whose title was taken from the name of its main character, a teenager girl who is transferred to a new school, trying to adapt to a new life. Isolated and quiet, Gong-ju is visibly tormented with something that we aren’t able to perceive at first. Little by little, and in an intelligent way, the story is unfolded and shocking revelations finally makes us understand the reasons behind the young girl’s detachment. Completely abandoned by a drunken father and a freshly married mother, Gong-ju was raped by a gang of kids whose parents have social influence, only trusting in a former teacher who tried to help her the best way he could. Her talent for music was noticed by some new colleagues who gave her a boost, trying to get closer, but will Gong-ju be capable to forget her past and freely accept her gift? A demanding narrative structure didn’t frighten the newcomer director whose work was noteworthy, collecting prizes in festivals such as Pusan, Rotterdam, Deauville, Marrakech and Fribourg. Chun Woo-hee’s second performance in a feature film, after her appearance in Bong Joon-ho’s “Mother”, was also accurate and convincing. This is a sad, unsettling film that requires a deep reflection after observing its atrocious scenes. It might not be an easy watching story but a hint of hope allows us to breathe at the end, in a drama where a new writer/director emerged to be considered a valid one in the modern Korean cinema.

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Snowpiercer (2013)

Directed by: Joon-ho Bong
Country: South Korea / others

Movie Review: Korean helmer Joon-ho Bong’s English-language futuristic action thriller, “Snowpiercer”, lacks the humor of “Memories of Murder” and the psychological quietness of “Mother”, but find other arguments to stand as a dazzling adventure occurred inside a super-tech train that carries the last human survivors, after the outside world has become frozen due to a failed experiment against global warming. Inhabiting the poor tail section of the train, popular leader Curtis (Chris Evans) moves forward with his longtime uprising plan against the violent regime headed by the unapproachable Wilford (Ed Harris), the eternal engine mentor and ruler who unexplainably ordered the kidnapping of two little kids from tail section. Curtis will team with some mates, including Namgoong (Kang-ho Song), a drug addict who was behind the implementation of the doors security system in each of the cars. Surprises and twists will come up as the men advance towards the front. The plot, based on the French graphic novel “La Transperceneige”, was superbly executed in all its technical aspects and precise action moves, which became a delight for the eyes. Assertive, fantastic, and impossible, “Snowpiercer” reveals a deep dark side but doesn’t forget hope, taking the excitement of this trip to its maximum strength. Tilda Swinton’s performance as Wilford’s train-cult devoted, Mason (a somewhat feminine version of Austin Powers), was simply memorable in the most recent action gem of the year.

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Our Sunhi (2013)

Directed by: Hong Sang-soo
Country: South Korea

Movie Review: “Our Sunhi” is probably the weakest film directed by prolific Korean director Hong Sang-soo in the last few years. The film is almost an extension of his previous studies “The Day He Arrives” and particularly “Nobody’s Daughter Haewon”, where people related to cinema roam through the city having several encounters with acquaintances, fortuitous or not, and exposing their state of mind. Film student Sunhi, always running to go somewhere or hiding from something, shows to be confused about what she really wants in life, including her affective relationships. She asks her former teacher for a reference letter in order to study abroad, but wasn’t so pleased with the truthful statements in it. Nevertheless, a kind of flirtation arises between them and a more 'suitable' letter will come up later. Meantime, she accidentally meets with her ex-boyfriend Munsu who is still in love with her, and gives hope to Jae-hak, a married friend who always had a crush on her. All three men happen to know each other and the story, as you can imagine, won’t end in the way she probably wanted to. The approach relies on the usual simplistic style adopted by Sang-soo: natural and long dialogues, while drinking in pubs or restaurants, and repeated situations in different circumstances or presences. Only this time, the story was not so catchy and drags itself slowly towards a totally predictable ending, failing to surprise. Furthermore, I must confess I’m not a fan of some unexpected and nonsensical camera zooms, so evident in "Our Sunhi", a minor work from a respectable director.

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Moebius (2013)

Directed by: Kim Ki-Duk
Country: South Korea

Movie Review: After “Pietà”, winner of last year’s Venice Film Fest, South Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-Duk portraits once again a dysfunctional family, using his habitual style in order to provoke with violent, shocking, and disturbing images. From the start, we can guess the heaviness that the film will carry out, addressing topics such as adultery, sexual perversion, bullying, and incest. The insanity presented in this picture is based on the sickness of the mind, which is posteriorly extended to the body in multiple forms. We can ask what kind of woman cuts the penis of her own son as a way to get revenge on her husband? Well, you have to see the film to get the answers, but I can affirm it’s almost impossible to feel any kind of sympathy for such obnoxious characters. Other curious aspect is that the film is speechless, just relying on the power of the images to tell the story, but also making the protagonists even more inhuman. Every frame created from the poor script, including rape and castration, was meant to make you uncomfortable, without trying to say anything valuable. That’s why this film was a complete failure to me; you are provoked in a disgusting way and then there is no lesson to be learned from the ridiculous occurrences. Far from a pleasant watching, the almost unbearable “Moebius” is just another big setback in Kim Ki-Duk’s intermittent career. Tiresome and unnecessary…you may skip it, for your mental sanity!!

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Nobody's Daughter Haewon (2013)

Directed by: Hong Sang-soo
Country: South Korea

Review: Since 2008 that Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo faithfully makes at least one film per year. “Nobody’s Daughter Hae-Won” complies with the simplistic approach that characterizes its director, but the result, despite effective in many ways, didn’t show the spell of “The Day He Arrives”, or the charm of “In The Country”. Haewon (Jeong Eun-Chae) is a film student who feels lonely due to the following reasons: her distant mother is heading to Canada and came to say goodbye; she was having a case with a married professor who moved away due to his child born; almost all her colleagues from school think that she’s rich and arrogant. Even with her life upside down, Haewon shows to be a very strong person without being afraid of taking risks and make her own decisions. Once more, she starts to meet up with the professor whose jealousy, immaturity, and undecided personality, caused their relationship to be broken again. But Haewon’s adventure doesn’t stop here and a marriage proposal arrives from another much older professor who was teaching in US, becoming a possibility of escape and affirmation. Like in Sang-soon’s previous works, this is a film about encounters, which along its way constantly switches between intense and lenient. The performances are one of its strong features, and counted with the guest appearance of Jane Birkin.

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National Security (2012)

Directed by: Jeong Ji-yeong
Country: South Korea

Review: “National Security” uncovers a very dark side in South Korea’s history, addressing the tortures that were inflicted to innocent people when they became suspects of conspiring against their country in favor of North Korea’s communism. The film was based on the memoir by Kim Geun-tae, a democratic activist who was kidnapped and tortured for 23 days under the orders of the gruesome police inspector Lee Geun-an. The film basically consists in showing meticulously the techniques of torture and the sufferings and traumas caused on a human being. This is extremely uncomfortable; so if you don’t have stomach for strong content, don’t watch it because it may disturb you. The tortures involve beatings, sleep/food deprivation, water torture, and electric shocks. I believe that the film would have benefited if the interviews with the real victims of torture presented in the end, were intercalated along the story. Increasing Kim’s life scenes from the past, and dreams involving his family, were other possibilities to make “National Security” a somewhat lighter experience. In one side, we have to praise the courage to denounce these harrowing practices, but on the other side, we have a film that, in 90% of its content, only shows us pain, agony, and fear, in a repetitive way. I wonder if all these explicit images were truly necessary. Lying or not lying, the result was always cruelty, and in the end, even I felt ready to confess anything in order to stop witnessing those distressing and fatiguing atrocities.

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New World (2013)

Directed by: Park Hoon-jung
Country: South Korea

Review: Park Hoon-jung’s directorial sophomore causes mild entertainment throughout its occasional violent scenes, snitches, betrayals, bribes, and obscure collaborations between police and members of the most fearful organized crime organization in Korea called Goldmoon. Taking advantage of Goldmoon's big boss's death, police chief Kang (Choi Min-sik) looks forward to dismantle this syndicate from inside and launches a strategic operation named ‘New World’. For that task, he will count with Ja-sung (Lee Jeong-jae), an undercover police who has been infiltrated in Goldmoon eight years ago. The problem that arises, beyond two dangerous candidates who are fighting to occupy the position of chairman in the company, is that Ja-sung seems to wobble after so many years living like an influential gangster. The story, compellingly constructed and shot with rigor by Hoon-jung (screenwriter of “I Saw The Devil”), wasn’t so fresh as required for this genre. He adopted a more conservative attitude rather than innovative, and the energy that was canalized for several scenes was not always successful. The physical fighting scenes are a good example, seeming more unnatural dances of stretched arms and legs, than real fights. Despite these setbacks, “New World” was able to keep me aware of its games and twists. With solid performances and an appealing cinematography, it is a perfectly watchable crime thriller that still presents a few valuable ingredients.

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