Untold Scandal, Thumbsucker, Immortel (Ad Vitam) & 3-Iron
As I promised, here are my thoughts on yesterday's (and also today's) films. I'm using a 1-10 scale in my grading, but I'm usually quite easy with it and rarely give a film less than 5 points, and if I do it's *really* bad (example: Highlander II: The Quickening got 2/10 from me...)
Untold Scandal (Joseon Namnyeo Sangyeol Ji Sa)
As I've mentioned before, this is a South-Korean adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos's Dangerous Liaisons. It's yet another competent adaptation of the basic story. Before this, I'd read the book and seen Dangerous Liaisons, Valmont and Cruel Intentions, which are all different adaptations of the basic story. When I saw that there is also this particular version, of course I had to see it.
The basic story has been kept mostly the same, with minor changes to fit it into the Korean court setting. It's a lavish historical costume drama, with some good performances and beautiful settings. The star of the show is, of course, the seducer, Jo-Weon (Bae Young-jun) who does a very good job in his role. Lee Mi-suk as his cousin, Lady Jo, with whom he conspires, is another good performance.
All in all, I liked this film very much, and even shed a couple of tears at the inevitable tragic ending. To all other Finns, the film should be also be coming to Engel's regular schedule later this year. 8/10
Thumbsucker
This is 17-year old Justin Cobb's (excellent Lou Taylor Pucci) growth story. He has normal teenage proglems with crushes and insecurities, but he also has one unusual problem: he tends to suck his thumb when feeling extra stressed. He has problems connecting with his parents (Tilda Swinton & Vince Vaughn) and generally feels like an outsider.
His new-agey orthodontist (Keanu Reaves) offers to cure him of his thumbsucking through hypnosis and succeeds in it. But that just generates more problems, because now Justin has to find another outlet for his stress. He goes from Ritalin to pot to sex, and other problems in his family aren't helping either. Still, the movie shows all this with low-key humour and tenderness, and ends in a very uplifting note, and I at least left the theatre with big smile on my face. 8/10
Immortel (Ad Vitam)
Based on Enki Bilal's Nikopol comics, this movie was very stylish, and gets points for the effort, but didn't quite succeed. It shows a dystopic future with modified humans and noirish cityscapes like The Fifth Element, but in washed out blues & greens.
The main character Jill can't remember anything, and isn't probably quite human. She and Nikopol, who is accidentally released from a cold sleep prison connect, Jill and Nikopol are brought together, and a weird and painful love story follows, but their lives are complicated and meddled with by ancient Egyptian god, Horus, especially.
This was an interesting film, but I have to say using some computer animated characters alongside live actors performing in front of a blue screen wasn't that successful. Computer generation just isn't yet good enough to create figures that can look real enough, especially when contrasted with real humans. Still, the visuals were good, but I think I'd rather read the graphic novels themselves. 6/10
Today I saw 3-Iron (Bin-jip). I got a good feeling right from the start, when I recognized Chalak Chalak as the background music in the movie theatre and it just continued after the film.
This was a very slow-moving (IMO, on occasion even too slow) film with almost no dialogue, but it stays in your mind after seeing it. The main character (Jae Hee) is a young man who distributes commercials to people's doors. When he returns later and discovers the leaflet still at the door, he breaks in and stays in other people's homes. He fixes things that are broken, does the laundry, and generally does no harm.
His life changes when he breaks into a wealthy businessman's house without realising that his battered wife is still there. At first, the woman (Lee Seung-yeon) observes the strange young woman without making her presence known, but later they develop a voiceless connection and she leaves with him and abandons her husband.
Together they break into homes, fix things, etc. until the moment they break into a house and find an old man who has had an accidental death. Things start to go wrong, police are brought in, etc. but I guess you could that love triumphs in the end.
As I said, this was a very slow moving and contemplative film which leaves a lot of things open in the end, so that every viewer can have his/her own interpretation of it. I think it was too slow at times, but the fate of the main characters kept me interested. The young man doesn't say a word during the entire film, and the young woman only starts to speak near the very end. Everything is conveyed through looks and expressions and touches. 7/10
I was in a comtemplative mood when leaving the theatre, and outside there was one of these beautiful crisp Autumn evenings, with the warm-coloured sunlight. A funk band (Eternal Erection) was playing nice music on an outdoor platform right next to Lasipalatsi (where the movie theatre is), and I stayed a while to listen to them and just thought to myself that these are the kind of perfect moments that you should be able to bottle up and enjoy every time you feel down.
Ei tuota pysty kunnolla kuvailemaan vieraalla kielellä: pohdiskelevan elokuvan jälkeen ulostulo lämpimänväriseen syysaurinkoon, josta jo tuli itsessään hyvä olo. Kävin viereisessä Alkossa hakemassa pullon hyvää punaviiniä ja päätin ostaa kunnon pihvin ja vain rentoutua tänä iltana. Jalkakäytävällä, matkalla Sokoksen edustaa tunnelin metroasemalle päin, kuulin jostain lähistöltä kivan tuntuista svengaavaa musiikkia ja vähän lähemmäs päästyäni huomasin Lasipalatsin kulmalla lavan, jossa Eternal Erection soitti jostain kivan kuuloista kappaletta (live-musiikki-systeemi ilmeisesti ennakoi Suomen Music Televisionin aloitusta huomenna). Jäin siihen hetkeksi kuuntelemaan ja se kokonaisuus (syksyinen valo, fiilis, musiikki, ihmiset kaupunkimiljöössä, jne) tuntui vain jotenkin täydelliseltä hetkeltä. Voi kun tuollaisen hetken voisi pullottaa ja säilöä synkeitä ja masentavia syys- ja talvipäiviä varten!
My next movie update won't probably be before Tuesday, because tomorrow I'm seeing Veer-Zaara, which I've already seen twice on dvd, but the temptation to see SRK on the big screen is just too much. Still, I probably won't have that much more to say about the film itself. On Monday, I have no films, and will be visiting my sister (her husband is going to be out of town for a few days, so she invited me to spend the night.
Untold Scandal (Joseon Namnyeo Sangyeol Ji Sa)
As I've mentioned before, this is a South-Korean adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos's Dangerous Liaisons. It's yet another competent adaptation of the basic story. Before this, I'd read the book and seen Dangerous Liaisons, Valmont and Cruel Intentions, which are all different adaptations of the basic story. When I saw that there is also this particular version, of course I had to see it.
The basic story has been kept mostly the same, with minor changes to fit it into the Korean court setting. It's a lavish historical costume drama, with some good performances and beautiful settings. The star of the show is, of course, the seducer, Jo-Weon (Bae Young-jun) who does a very good job in his role. Lee Mi-suk as his cousin, Lady Jo, with whom he conspires, is another good performance.
All in all, I liked this film very much, and even shed a couple of tears at the inevitable tragic ending. To all other Finns, the film should be also be coming to Engel's regular schedule later this year. 8/10
Thumbsucker
This is 17-year old Justin Cobb's (excellent Lou Taylor Pucci) growth story. He has normal teenage proglems with crushes and insecurities, but he also has one unusual problem: he tends to suck his thumb when feeling extra stressed. He has problems connecting with his parents (Tilda Swinton & Vince Vaughn) and generally feels like an outsider.
His new-agey orthodontist (Keanu Reaves) offers to cure him of his thumbsucking through hypnosis and succeeds in it. But that just generates more problems, because now Justin has to find another outlet for his stress. He goes from Ritalin to pot to sex, and other problems in his family aren't helping either. Still, the movie shows all this with low-key humour and tenderness, and ends in a very uplifting note, and I at least left the theatre with big smile on my face. 8/10
Immortel (Ad Vitam)
Based on Enki Bilal's Nikopol comics, this movie was very stylish, and gets points for the effort, but didn't quite succeed. It shows a dystopic future with modified humans and noirish cityscapes like The Fifth Element, but in washed out blues & greens.
The main character Jill can't remember anything, and isn't probably quite human. She and Nikopol, who is accidentally released from a cold sleep prison connect, Jill and Nikopol are brought together, and a weird and painful love story follows, but their lives are complicated and meddled with by ancient Egyptian god, Horus, especially.
This was an interesting film, but I have to say using some computer animated characters alongside live actors performing in front of a blue screen wasn't that successful. Computer generation just isn't yet good enough to create figures that can look real enough, especially when contrasted with real humans. Still, the visuals were good, but I think I'd rather read the graphic novels themselves. 6/10
Today I saw 3-Iron (Bin-jip). I got a good feeling right from the start, when I recognized Chalak Chalak as the background music in the movie theatre and it just continued after the film.
This was a very slow-moving (IMO, on occasion even too slow) film with almost no dialogue, but it stays in your mind after seeing it. The main character (Jae Hee) is a young man who distributes commercials to people's doors. When he returns later and discovers the leaflet still at the door, he breaks in and stays in other people's homes. He fixes things that are broken, does the laundry, and generally does no harm.
His life changes when he breaks into a wealthy businessman's house without realising that his battered wife is still there. At first, the woman (Lee Seung-yeon) observes the strange young woman without making her presence known, but later they develop a voiceless connection and she leaves with him and abandons her husband.
Together they break into homes, fix things, etc. until the moment they break into a house and find an old man who has had an accidental death. Things start to go wrong, police are brought in, etc. but I guess you could that love triumphs in the end.
As I said, this was a very slow moving and contemplative film which leaves a lot of things open in the end, so that every viewer can have his/her own interpretation of it. I think it was too slow at times, but the fate of the main characters kept me interested. The young man doesn't say a word during the entire film, and the young woman only starts to speak near the very end. Everything is conveyed through looks and expressions and touches. 7/10
I was in a comtemplative mood when leaving the theatre, and outside there was one of these beautiful crisp Autumn evenings, with the warm-coloured sunlight. A funk band (Eternal Erection) was playing nice music on an outdoor platform right next to Lasipalatsi (where the movie theatre is), and I stayed a while to listen to them and just thought to myself that these are the kind of perfect moments that you should be able to bottle up and enjoy every time you feel down.
Ei tuota pysty kunnolla kuvailemaan vieraalla kielellä: pohdiskelevan elokuvan jälkeen ulostulo lämpimänväriseen syysaurinkoon, josta jo tuli itsessään hyvä olo. Kävin viereisessä Alkossa hakemassa pullon hyvää punaviiniä ja päätin ostaa kunnon pihvin ja vain rentoutua tänä iltana. Jalkakäytävällä, matkalla Sokoksen edustaa tunnelin metroasemalle päin, kuulin jostain lähistöltä kivan tuntuista svengaavaa musiikkia ja vähän lähemmäs päästyäni huomasin Lasipalatsin kulmalla lavan, jossa Eternal Erection soitti jostain kivan kuuloista kappaletta (live-musiikki-systeemi ilmeisesti ennakoi Suomen Music Televisionin aloitusta huomenna). Jäin siihen hetkeksi kuuntelemaan ja se kokonaisuus (syksyinen valo, fiilis, musiikki, ihmiset kaupunkimiljöössä, jne) tuntui vain jotenkin täydelliseltä hetkeltä. Voi kun tuollaisen hetken voisi pullottaa ja säilöä synkeitä ja masentavia syys- ja talvipäiviä varten!
My next movie update won't probably be before Tuesday, because tomorrow I'm seeing Veer-Zaara, which I've already seen twice on dvd, but the temptation to see SRK on the big screen is just too much. Still, I probably won't have that much more to say about the film itself. On Monday, I have no films, and will be visiting my sister (her husband is going to be out of town for a few days, so she invited me to spend the night.