Time (2006)

Korean filmmaker, Kim Ki-duk, wrote and directed this creepy drama. However, the director may not want us to view it as a drama. Maybe it supposed to be classified as “thriller,” or “romantic comedy” or just “romantic.” But I digress and will address that later.

The premise of Time is actually quite brilliant and genuinely creepy. Ji-Yeon Park plays Seh-hee – an extremely jealous girlfriend. After an outburst in a coffee shop where she accused her boyfriend Ji-woo, played by Jung-woo Ha, of looking at other women, we find that the couple has problems intimately. Seh-hee tries to solve this problem by asking him to think of her as another woman. It works to solve their intimacy issues, but causes a whole slew of other issues, making her more self-conscious to the point where she consistently drones about her “boring face.” She covers it with a blanket to make herself appear anonymous. It frustrates Ji-woo who explains to a pal later that it’s “just time” that makes him look at other women – not a growing disinterest in his current lover.

Soon after, Seh-hee disappears. Her apartment is cleared out, all communications have been cut and nobody has heard from her. We see her in a plastic surgeon’s office asking for a new face. This new face appears at the coffee shop as a cute new waitress similarly named See-hee and “meets” Ji-Yeon. See-hee, now played by Hyeon-a Seong, also runs into Ji-Yeon at a sculpture garden the original couple frequented. Eventually, they become an item, although Ji-Yeon has reservations, worried that his old girlfriend would return and he would have to make a decision.

This sets off See-hee (in the same coffee shop as the original outburst), and persuades her to reveal her old identity to him at the coffee shop later by wearing a cutout of her original face. This was the only part in the movie that writer Ki-duk uses complete strangers in a setting to help tell the story. They ask if it is a theatric – this woman wearing a paper mask greeting her boyfriend. A fight ensues with both See-hee/She-hee and the stranger. Ji-yeon is frustrated, confused and comes up with a solution that is equally as erratic.Do not worry, I won’t spoil it for you.

The movie becomes cyclical. The opening seen shows a woman leaving a plastic surgery clinic with Seh-hee bumping into her, making the woman drop her “before” photo. Seh-hee offers to fix it and says she’ll be right back. The final shows this same image – See-hee leaving the clinic, dropping her “before” photo when bumped into by a girl.

The main problem with this film was that Ki-duk was too ambitious for the film’s good, mostly with the art-direction. Ultimately, I was lost as to what the actual message was – if it is a social commentary on relationships and image or a quirky solution to an age old problem. There is just a point where I asked “What the…”

The cinematography was stunning, but not as a whole. There was little cohesion from scene to scene.

In one particularly art-house styled scene, Ji-Yeon is in a room showing See-hee some photos he had secretly taken of her. They are on opposite sides of the screen. He turns off the lights. Click. It’s dark. Click. We see they have moved closer. Click. It’s dark. Click. They have moved even closer to each other.

While it was a cinematically interesting scene, it fit nowhere in the movie. It ended up looking ridiculous when melded with the surrounding scenes. There were several other experiments similar to this randomly thrown in the movie. In Ki-duk’s defense, most of the last hour of this movie steered itself closer to art-house stylings.

I did love the scene where Ji-woo is drunk and singing karaoke with a prostitute on his arm while mourning the disappearance of Seh-hee. It is one of the more sentimental moments in the movie.
It was an extremely entertaining movie, but at the same time I was completely frustrated with the lack of cohesion. It was a great story in and of itself, however. Because of its ambition, I left the movie pondering for hours about the psychology behind it. I also left it mumbling about crappy cohesion, lousy karaoke singing… but what an interesting film.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly (1966)

Directed by Sergio Leone, TGTB&TU follows the seemingly diverging stories of Sentenza, a.k.a. Angel Eyes (played by Lee Van Cleef), and Blondie (played by Clint Eastwood) and Tuco (played by Eli Wallach), and their story's explosive meeting.

In the beginning, Angel Eyes is following up on the trail of gold hidden by a Lieutenant from the South during the Civil War (which serves as the backdrop for this film). He is almost to the end of the hunt, and is killing anyone in his path.

Meanwhile, we meet Blondie and Tuco. They're two conmen collecting "bounties" on Tuco's head. Blondie will turn Tuco in for the reward, and then save him from the noose by firing a well-aimed shot through the rope. After getting tired of splitting the money, Blondie leaves Tuco in the desert and heads on his merry way; after which, Tuco is mad for revenge. He decides to get a gun and go after him, and after a few botched encounters, Tuco finally gets what he wants and makes Blondie suffer in the desert far worse than he did. While being shamed, in rides a Cavalry wagon, with the dying Lieutenant aboard, who divulges the name of the cemetery the gold's buried in to Tuco, and the tombstone under which it lies to Blondie. Thus forging a partnership of necessity and mistrust.

On the way to the treasure, Blondie and Tuco are captured by Union soldiers and imprisoned under the watchful eye of none other than Angel Eyes. He overhears that the two know where the treasure he's hunting for is buried, and, after trying to beat it out of them, splits them up and takes Blondie with him, while leaving Tuco to be shipped off.

After lodging in a town close to the cemetary, Blondie and Tuco cross paths again, and decide to head for the treasure themselves. So, under the cover of a battle in the town, they kill Blondie's captors, with Angel Eyes being the sole escapee of this fight, and head out.

Upon reaching the cemetary, the two meet up with Angel Eyes again. To finally end this chase, Blondie offers a deal. There will be a gunfight between the three. The winner of which can grab a rock, on which Blondie had written the name of the tombstone the treasure's hidden at. Bang, Angel Eyes dies, and Blondie plays one more over on Tuco; outsmarting him, taking the treasure for himself, and leaving Tuco in a hangman's noose yet again.

Sergio Leone blew my socks off with this one. It's such a full film, and filled with wonderful things from beginning to end. He took his time with this film (the running time is around three hours), and there were no dull moments, or extraneous parts. I can imaging that this could be where P.T. Anderson got inspiration.

There are some stunning images and shots, courtesy of Tonino Delli Colli. Two in particular stand out. One: in the opening, Angel Eyes is meeting with Stevens (played by Antonio Casas) to find out where the treasure is. Stevens is sitting at his kitchen table, and Angel Eyes comes and stands in his doorway. There's this gorgeous long-shot from Stevens' perspective. Two: when Tuco is running around the cemetery trying to find the tombstone, the camera follows his run around the circular pathways of the cemetery. The shot just goes round, and round, and round, and mesmerizes the viewer.

It's interesting to me that Leone drops Angel Eyes to the background at a few points in this film. After we see him watching Blondie's and Tuco's scam, we don't hear from him for a while. Also, after he escapes from the battle between Blondie, Tuco, and his henchman in the war-torn town, we don't see him again until Blondie and Tuco get to the cemetery. He's easily forgotten, as the viewer just gets swept up in the film, but when he comes back, it's like he never left. Impressive how Leone pulled that off.

I think Eli Wallach created a great anit-hero with Tuco. You hate him, you empathize with him, you hate him again, you want to see him get his share of the money, yaddayaddayadda. In the scheme of it, he's the middle between Eastwood's label of 'good,' and Van Cleef's label of 'bad.' Leone got one over on him and his faccia brute. But, your moral code might have an identity crisis after watching this, because those lines of good, bad, and ugly all get blurred in this.

The use of the Civil War as a backdrop for this film brought up some questions for me, personally. Maybe it was just the fact that a foreign eye looked at our history and made its own interpretation, but there was a strong dislike of the Union. The soldiers were primarily presented as brutes, and the Confederate soldiers were sympathetic characters. It makes me want to read some modern books on the subject, because that definitely ain't what I learned in school. Kudos to Leone for challenging views!

My only qualm with this film was the dubbing. Not being a fan of dubbing in the first place, it was even harder to watch, because it was poorly dubbed. I understand that the majority of the actors were Italian, and might not have spoken a word of English, but dubbing is just so visually and audibly unappealing.

But, this is a classic, and I can see why people consider it so. A strong movie all around. Definitely worth a watch, or a rewatch.

Bright Future (2003)

Yuji (played by Jo Odagiri) and Mamoru (played by Tadanobu Asano) are two twentysomethings living in Tokyo and working in a plant that manufactures handtowels for restaurants. When the two are offered a bonus and a full time position at the plant by their boss, Mr. Fujiwara (played by Takashi Sasano), they come to a crossroads that most twentysomethings come to: is this what we want to be doing for the rest of our lives, and if not, what are we doing with our lives?

When Mr. Fujiwara comes to Mamoru's apartment to bond with the two, Mamoru gets fed up and lets his venomous pet jellyfish sting the unwitting Mr. Fujiwara, who fires him the next day. Later, Mamoru kills Fujiwara and his wife (played Marumi Shiraishi). Yuji walks in on the crime scene and calls the police, and Mamoru is arrested. This crime comes as a shock to everyone who knows him, including his estranged father, Shinichiro (played by Tatsuya Fuji). Mamoru entrusts his prized jellyfish to the care of Yuji, and he begins to instruct him on how to help the jellyfish adapt to freshwater. While imprisoned, Mamoru commits suicide, and leaves a signal for Yuji to "go ahead" with the plan, whatever that may be.

In the aftermath, Shinichiro takes Yuji under his wing, and Yuji's anti-social behavior becomes worse. He is offered a job with his sister's boyfriend's company, only to break into it with a gang of kids one night and steal money from the petty cash box, he breaks the antennae off of the roof of Shinichiro's shop, and he tries to steal money from Shinichiro to buy more brine shrimp to feed the jellyfish, which has now escaped into a nearby river after Yuji got angry and kicked over its tank.

It's a learning experience for Shinichiro and Yuji, as they try to figure out who Mamoru really was, why he did what he did, what does he want done in his absence, and what to do with their own lives.

Director and writer Kiyoshi Kurosawa is better known for his J-horror films, such as Pulse and Cure. What he left behind with those films, he continued on in spirit with his characters in this one. There's something dangerous lurking under the surface of Yuji that you get a feel for right off the bat. There were moments, though, where Kurosawa tries to lighten the mood by such devices as using upbeat and optimistic music (like when Yuji first sees the freed jellyfish aglow), and it just seems out of place in the overall scheme of this film. There really seems to be no hope for this kid. You feel for his plight of trying to make his friend's wishes happen, but he just keeps screwing up. Kurosawa does a great job, though, of bringing to life these horribly faulted characters that you feel for throughout the film.

Jo Odagiri does a bang-up job of bringing Yuji to life. He keeps the character honest, and he doesn't play anything to try and pull at your heartstrings. It's refreshing, albeit depressing, to see. If there was one weak link, It's Tadanobu Asano as Mamoru. There's no apparent choice that the actor makes for the reason behind Mamoru's actions at the start of the film. He just goes through the motions.

The cinematography works well for this film. It's digital, gritty and doesn't use a lot of close-ups. The digital quality keeps the colors muted, which adds a whole other level to the film. It also gives it a modern look, and dates the film, but in a good way. It solidifies the time and place of the film.

All in all, this film is a pretty good commentary on modern youth and the confusion, perceived failure, and the feeling of being out of place that they go through. I think it can transcend cultures in that respect. Give it a watch. It's a good ride.

There Will Be Blood (2007)

The title for Paul Thomas Anderson’s newest film also serves as a warning – There will be Blood – a drama inspired by Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil!. In the film Daniel Day Lewis plays “oil man” Daniel Plainview. He gets advice from a mysterious man about a town practically drowning in oil, and proceeds to buy up and rent their property in order to drill. His plans and views on religion vex the local evangelist, Eli Sunday, played by Paul Dano. Their plans disrupt progression of both the drilling and the expansion of Sunday’s church.

It is a difficult movie to sit through (although I do not mean that as a fault to the film). It runs at 2 and a half hours, and Anderson takes great care to pay attention to every detail of a human moment whether the character is digging, conversing, praying… the scene will actually play out instead of jumping ahead. It allows the audience to become engrossed in the scene and squirm in their seats with anticipation.

This movie would have failed without Daniel Day Lewis playing Daniel Plainview. It is a great story, but it needed an actor like Lewis to pull off that character, one who is so absolutely despicable, yet so incredibly complex that you become torn several times during the film. His interpretation of Plainview is what made the movie as powerful as it is. The characters are not just good and evil. Good is insidious and Evil has a soul. Please – just hand Lewis the Oscar right now. Seriously. It is a shame that we already know Dano will be shafted from the Oscars as he was for the Golden Globes (although he is deserving of a nod).

To go on about the symbolism in the movie will take more than a short review. There will be Blood is one of those films where three days later you will be sitting on the train, or talking on the phone in your cubicle when you will feel a slap across your face. It’s another image from the movie, something else that you finally grasped. It is a fantastic movie, extremely complex, beautiful and disgusting at the same time. There is no reason for me to give it anything less than four stars.

Oldboy (2003)

After fifteen years of imprisonment for starting a rumor at his old high school, Oldboy, directed by Chan-wook Park, is an action adventure that follows recently released Dae-su Oh (played by Min-sik Choi) as he hunts down his captor and why. After enduring psychological torture, hypnosis, and fifteen years of being kept in the same room with no human contact, except the guard who slips food through his door and his television, Dae-su trusts no one, and has honed his body and mind into a tool for revenge.

When he is let out, he meets sushi chef Mido (played by Hye-jeong Kang), who he falls in love with, his old friend Joo-hwan No (played by Dae-han Ji), and finally his captor Woo-jin Lee (played by Ji-Tae Yu). As Dae-su hunts his captor, he finds that he is a pawn in a much bigger game, but must play to try and save Mido's life.

The biggest themes I found in this movie are redemption and revenge. How does one gain either of those? How do they intertwine and differ? And what do you do when you get either or both? If these questions interest you, watch this movie. Or if you like some good and gory action, like teeth getting pulled out with a hammer, watch this movie. If neither of these interest you, don't waste your time.

The action scenes are well done, in particular a nice wide shot sequence of Dae-su taking on about a dozen guards in a narrow hallway with a hammer. It gives the viewer a chance to take in all of the action, and there's nothing snazzy, just down and dirty brawling that looks pretty realistic.

The script was adapted by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi from a manga by Minegishi. For further reference, give that a read. This film is also the second part of of the Vengeance Trilogy, the first being Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, and the third being Sympathy For Lady Vengeance.

The story that is set out in this is immediately engaging, because you want to know the who and why to Dae-su's imprisonment. Despite his shortcomings, you genuinely wonder why this guy would have been locked away from his wife and kid and the whole world for fifteen years. You can then follow him on his quest for vengeance. My problem with the story comes in much later, right at the climax.

Oldboy is all about extremes: how far will you go for revenge, how crazy can we make our action scenes, how much can we make the audience squirm? Some of this didn't sit well with me as a viewer. It left me with a bad taste in my mouth when the film had ended. I can totally jive with the question of what do you do after you've gotten your revenge, but this movie could have been grounded a little bit more from its heightened reality as this question got answered. Maybe then I could have empathized with the conclusion a bit more. Woo-jin Lee had no redeeming qualities whatsoever, so I felt nothing for him as his story wound down. Logically, the viewer can follow his story, but you don't care one iota for what happens to him.

Min-sik Choi is great to watch as Dae-su. He grounds him in this animalistic fury that is covered up by this passion that he feels for Mido, despite saying that he trusts no one. On the opposite end, the only genuine moment that I felt from Ji-tae Yu playing Woo-jin Lee was when he was laughing at Dae-su as he completely lost his shit. The film is wholly unbalanced in this respect.

All in all, this movie doesn't really have a lot to offer. The story was unique, the action scenes were pretty good, but overall, I couldn't completely buy into it. It tried to be grounded in reality, but lost a lot of that due to acting.