027 & 028.- THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD (2008, INTERNATIONAL AND KOREAN VERSIONS, ARROW 4K UHD). Streaming on ROKU CHANNEL, AMC+.
Kim Jee-woon's epic 'kimchi' western set during the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in 1939 is a love letter to Sergio Leone with a capital 'L' that doesn't let its homage intentions interfere with carving its own identity. A ruthless train robber (Lee Byung-hun's Park Chang-yi, aka 'The Bad'), a bounty hunter with principles (Jung Woo-sung's Park Do-won, aka 'The Good') and a goofy-exterior-hides-a-dark-past thief (Song Kang-ho's Yoon Tae-goo, aka 'The Weird'), all badass South Korean gunslingers with vehicle/weapon preferences, either stumble upon or are made aware of a map leading to a treasure buried deep in the desert. If you've seen "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" you already know where this is all leading up to... except the actors and filmmakers aren't merely copying Leone's playbook. They're using this particular western as a springboard to tell their version of Eastern history in as exciting a cinematic spectacle as possible. By virtue of who these storytellers are (contemporary South Korean filmmakers) and their resources (not quite Hollywood, but the most expensive cinematic production the country could afford at the time), the result is one of the best action westerns made in the 2000's.
I liked the International version (129 min.) so much that I immediately rewatched the Korean version (136 min.), which supposedly expands the role of the Korean rebellious mindset that is mostly background in the worldwide release. There are extra scenes at the start (Do-won at home) and end (Tae-goo dynamites his way through the remaining Japanese army), but overall there aren't enough story/pace differences for me to rank either version differently. I'll give the nod to the International one just for being 7 min. shorter. Either way, get ready for an impressive opening train assault, exciting semi-comedic shootouts and one hell of an extended chase through the desert (involving horses, motorcycles, dynamite sticks and long-distance cannons) that puts most U.S. action films from this era (ERA!) to shame. And despite speaking Korean, the archetype-looking leads (particularly Park Do-won riding a horse while reloading his shotgun as his coat flaps in the wind) are as universal to cinema as John Wayne or Roy Rogers. Did I also mention the Arrow 4K transfer looks stunning? 😁 4.5 BULLET-RIDDEN DIVING HELMETS (out of five).
029.- THE HUNT (2016, AMAZON PRIME). Also streaming on TUBI, PLEX.
A 'gold fever' Korean survival tale, one I can imagine Jalmari Helander watching in Finland and planting the seeds for his eventual "Sisu" movie. An old woman finds gold at the root of a tree not too far from the entrance to an abandoned mine where a tragedy took the lives of several miners many years prior. The crooked cops who come to investigate the woman's claim lie, then bring in armed reinforcements so they can keep the gold to themselves. Unfortunately for these blinded-by-bling inexperienced mountain men, an old hunter and a mentally slow teenage girl witness their attempt to kill the old woman. As the tables constantly turn (they capture the girl, the hunter frees her but is captured, he escapes but the girl gets lost in the woods, etc.), "Lost-type flashbacks to these characters' past paint a morally complex story about strained family relationships, guilt-ridden survival complex and the urge/need to reconnect with your loved ones. If "Sisu" is the fantasy old man who can still kick ass and defy death, "The Hunt" is the semi-realistic last hurrah of an emotionally wounded warrior punctuated by shootouts, knife fights and bad timing all around. Come for the mountain action, stay for the story revealing a heart-wrenching throughline between the fallen and those left behind. 3.35 SLIPPERY ROCKS COVERED IN BRAIN MATTER (out of five).
030.- DERAILED (2016, TUBI). Also streaming on PLEX. ROKU CHANNEL, FAWESOME.
I had to sneak a movie starring my favorite South Korean actor of all time, Ma Dong-seok aka Don Lee ("Train To Busan," "The Roundup" series, "Marvel's The Eternals," etc.). Four teenage runaways survive day to day on the outskirts of Seoul, doing petty crimes (stealing cellphones, hotwiring cars, etc.) for quick cash to pay for food, saunas, hotels, etc. The leader of the group, Jeon Jin-il (Choi Min-ho), refuses to let his girlfriend Choi Ga-yeong (Jung Da-Eun) pretend to do prost!tution to make some quick pick-pocket hotel money. But Ga-yeong does it anyway, running into Hyung-Suk (Ma Dong-seok) who doesn't like it when his BMW and credit cards are stolen. A karaoke bar owner forced into running a small prost!tution ring due to bad investments (which he keeps a secret from his wife and teenage daughter), Hyung-Suk convinces Ga-yeong to work for him as repayment for the stolen car. Guilt-ridden by his girlfriend's turn to prost!tution, Jin-il and his runaway friends steal more than usual so they can help Ga-yeong repay her debt faster.
Through all that a just-released-from-prison psycho gangster, Kang Seong-hoon (Kim Jae-young), is gunning for Jeon Jin-il for ratting him out and stealing his girl (Ga-yeong). All these characters' fortunes (plus well-meaning but incompetent cops waiting in the wings to flip Jil-il) eventually intertwine, resulting in a mean little thriller where Hyung-Suk always seems to be one step ahead by being smarter and meaner ("Roundup"-style punches, slaps and body blows) than everyone else... until it comes back to bite him in the rear end. It's basically a Korean take on a French New Wave outlaw/youth rebellion tale, one where the grey of the grimy moral ambiguity shines brighter than the black and white extremes surrounding it. A diamond in the rough. 3.65 STOLEN AUDIS (out of five).
BONUS: 30 DAYS OF PINK PANTHER & FRIENDS, DAY 6! 031.- THE INSPECTOR: CIRRHOSIS OF THE LOUVRE (3/9/1966, KINO LORBER BLU-RAY). Streaming on YouTube.
I wasn't planning to do three "Inspector" cartoons in a row the same day, but these turned out to be so good! 🤩🥰 An art thief known as 'The Blotch' (red and passthrough, like Casper full of jalapeno sauce) threatens to steal all the paintings from The Louvre Museum. It's up to The Inspector and Deux-Deux to stop him. From the use of actual photorealistic paintings in the background to Deux-Deux's constant use of Spanish ('Si.'), this one's a laugh-riot ('PARIS U'HAUL') that ends on a gag so lame and stupid it's actually hilarious. 4.5 WHISTLER'S MOTHER MOP WIGS (out of five).
032.- THE INSPECTOR: COCK-A-DOODLE DEUX DEUX (6/15/1966, KINO LORBER BLU-RAY). Streaming on YouTube.
The chicken-related surrealism is off the charts on this one, courtesy of new-to-DePatie-Freleng Enterprises director Robert McKimson (creator of Foghorn Leghorn for Warner Bros.) and a plot similar to the OG "Pink Panther" movie. A big diamond is stolen from a wealthy aristocrat who only has chickens as workers at her chateau. Disguised as a chicken himself, Inspector narrows down the suspects and almost nails the case... until the children's equivalent of p@rn distracts him. Exquisite, sublime ridiculousness. 4.5 'CHICKEN LANGUAGE MADE EASY by DR. CLUCK' BOOK HARDCOVERS (out of five).
033.- THE INSPECTOR: SICQUE! SICQUE! SICQUE! (9/23/1966, KINO LORBER BLU-RAY). Streaming on YouTube.
The "Pink Panther/Inspector" cartoon I remember most as a child of 10, watching at 12:55PM/6:55PM on Channel 2 in El Salvador 7 days a week. While inspecting the empty laboratory of a just-carted-to-jail mad scientist alongside Inspector, Deux-Deux ingests what appears to be Seltzer water. It's actually serum that turns Deux-Deux into a grotesque, monster-like version of his Mr. Hyde... with the transformations happening at random times to keep Inspector from realizing what's happening. A sequence featuring a dark basement lit by an on/off light is comedic timing gold. Even with the out-of-nowhere midget Frankenstein monster at the end, this cartoon slaps from beginning to end. 5 SURREALIST RUE MORGUE PAINTED BACKGROUNDS (out of five).
Massive disappointment! First of the month (hopefully last), and it happens to be the only contemporary movie, ha. I'm not a fan of Train to Busan or Peninsula, but I was fairly optimistic after seeing some favorable reviews for Colony. More than anything, I thought the script was very, very weak and doesn't justify the runtime. There's some ideas here and there, but the film misses many opportunities to further exploit its concept, which I won't reveal in case people want to go in blind (as I did). Too long, too little to tell, and too few interesting/innovative things to show. Bummer!
Well made version of the trope: group of reality show influencers visit a haunted asylum. As such you pretty much know what you're gonna get: darkness, POV gopro shots of super close up terrified people, jump scares, etc. Also at least 3x recreating the final shot from Blair Witch. Fine found footage fear film.
A sweet friendship (possibly more) between two young girls at a ballet school quickly turns toxic, and then lethal, when a high-stakes competition comes around. Things are made extra complicated and weird because of magical stairs which can grant wishes to tortured souls, with unforeseen side effects. A nice teen supernatural horror which relies more on creepy atmosphere than special effects and gore, although it still delivers a few disturbing images here and there. I think we've got enough cinematic evidence by now to ban young women from ballet altogether - this shit never ends well.
THE GANGSTER THE COP THE DEVIL (2019) After surviving an attack by a serial killer, a mob boss teams with a police detective to track down the psycho. The movie’s playing with all the familiar mafia movie tropes, but it mixes them up just enough to keep things interesting. It’s stylish but slow going at first, only to explode into more and more brutal violence as it goes on. A lot of online reviews describe this as “pulpy,” and I’d say that’s about right.
30 days of fan films, day 6: FANORAMA (2016) The world of Futurama doesn’t quite translate to live action, but writer-director Dan Lanigan certainly gave it a go. You could argue that it looks wonky, but I say it’s impressive in the attention to detail, from the costumes and makeup to the homemade CGI. The writing isn’t nearly as sharp as the show, however. (Since when is Fry such a drunk?) So, it’s not the best, but the online commenters are especially cruel to this movie, which it does not deserve. Besides, Lanigan went on to work on the Netflix MST3K and then he hosted Prop Culture on Disney Plus, so who’s laughing now?
I saw "Gangster ... Cop... Devil" when it first came out, and it blew me away. Such moral ambiguity and complexity for such a crowd-pleasing narrative. Kim Sung-kyu plays such a creepy killer, quiet and introspective rather than the usual Hollywood mannered type. My man Ma Dong-seok playing the gangster automatically puts me on his side, and when he eventually teams-up with the cop (Kim Mu-yeol) to track down and eliminate 'the devil' you're on their side all the way to its (CG-fied) explosive finale. Poster child of why South Korean cinema exploded in popularity for the past 25+ years. ✊️😃
An adaptation of Donald E. Westlake’s darkly comic The Ax, filtered through the even darker (but still comic) sensibility of Oldboy’s Park Chan-Wook sounds like a hell of a proposition. Turns out they are in fact two great tastes that taste great together, this is some good stuff.
Man-su (Squid Games’ Lee Byung-hun, still unable to catch a financial break, it seems) is laid off after 25 years manufacturing paper, a skill he has honed his entire adult life. In danger of losing his home, his marriage, his dogs, his kids, and (gulp!) his Netflix account, he realizes that the only way to get hired by another paper company as positions keep getting lost to automation is to trim the competition in his field, i.e. his former coworkers who were laid off as well. What follows is funny, tense, heartbreaking, and consistently involving. It’s a very solid movie and well worth checking out before you lose your job and can no longer afford to access it.
SUDDENLY AT MIDNIGHT aka Suddenly in the Dark (1981) dir. Ko Young-Nam streaming on Prime
A horny as hell, gaslight-the-wife, psycho drama riff on the classic The Housemaid series. It features an evil doll, kaleidoscope-vision, an husband who literally chases butterflies, and a detective who says “One more thing…” before leaving. It rips!
My original plan for today was to watch Three... Extremes, which I somehow had in my head as a fully South Korean anthology. A few minutes in, after seeing Takashi Miike's name in the credits and the characters referencing a Hong Kong setting for the opening segment, I realized I'd goofed up.
For a pivot, I went straight to the FtM comments for the day and didn't browse very far. I've had The Good, the Bad, the Weird on my watchlist for a long time, and JM's opening comment was inspiration enough to finally go for it. I was not disappointed!
Weird openly embraces The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as its primary influence, and while the similarities are clear and numerous, Weird is in no way a carbon copy, doing plenty to distinguish both its story and characters from Ugly. Do-won is a little less steely and has more interiority than Blondie. Chang-yee is more explicitly "bad" than Angel Eyes. Tae-goo is more sympathatic and less "Ugly" than Tuco (Song Kang-ho and Eli Wallach give my favorite performances in these movies, which are both stuffed full of fun performances). The regional conflict between the Japanese Empire and Korean independence movement is more integrated into the plot than the American Civil War stuff in Ugly. Weird also mixes in some hat tips to the earlier Man With No Name movies in fun ways (the steel plate armor from Fistful; the hat shooting bit from For a Few Dollars More.
Although it's primarily a Western, Weird effectively sprinkles in flavors of other genres in a way that feels fun and additive rather than confusing or overstuffed. There's a healthy helping of Eastern styling, a bit of Indiana Jones, some gangster stuff, plenty of Max Max vibes, and even a bit of Conan going on with the giant mallet-wielding henchman. Between the nearly nonstop action sequences and the subgenre buffet, the movie struck me as a bit of a precursor to the John Wick sequels.
For nitpicks, there's a bad CGI hawk/train bit at the very beginning, and I thought the chase sequence toward the end was a little repetitive and overlong (not bad, just not as strong as the movie's other action set pieces). To be fair, though, the Civil War sequence in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly can drag a bit for me from viewing to viewing (mood dependent), so maybe that's just part of the Weird/Ugly connection.
I had a great time with this one overall--probably my favorite of the month so far!
Been on my to-watch list for a few years. Did not disappoint. Wonderfully creative take on a vampire film. Great score. A few visuals took my breath away. Pretty sure I would have some alternative thoughts if I had a Korean mother-in-law. Final shot got me.
Theatrical or the longer unrated cut? I've only seen "Thirst" in its rated cut, and I'm told the unrated version is superior... but I can't find a cheap way to watch the latter. 😕
Interesting. I did a rental on Prime which I assume is the theatrical cut. I know not everyone loves it, but I was quite taken by it. If there is a "superior" cut, I need to check it out.
A teenage girl returns home from being treated at a psychiatric institution and is greeted by a devoted younger sister, a concerned but clueless father, and a hostile stepmother. Led by vivid dreams and increasingly strange occurrences, she begins to uncover hidden family secrets and suspect their home is haunted. I think.
A slow burn mystery with tinges of horror that takes some wildly unexpected turns, though they're unexpected partly because of their tenuous logic. But who cares about logic when the vibes are this good? The actors are excellent, the camerawork and soundtrack build tension well, and the scares are sparse but effective. I really dug this!
This one’s been on my watchlist since seeing BUGONIA, which I have screened twice. STGP!, while comprised of many of the same plot points and conspiracy-theory based themes, has very different supporting characters, and lead Shin Ha-kyun’s backstory is more fully fleshed out. This led to me feeling more emotionally connected to the main character and gave the film a much deeper impact, especially in its conclusion. Plus, the middle act, in which a nosy (literally!) detective visits Shin’s home and suspected scene of the crime, built a lot more suspense than the remake. Plus, STGP! didn’t hit me over the head with its message. Ultimately, I appreciated and enjoyed STGP! more than Yorgis Lanthimos’s film-- which is saying something. Best watch of Junesploitation! thus far. I encourage you to check it out regardless of your opinion of BUGONIA, as it stands firmly on its own. I’ll definitely watch it again.
I saw Bugonia and liked it largely just for the performances of the two leads (the ending neither soured me nor blew me away), but I didn't realize that it was an adaptation or "reimagining" of an earlier movie. I'll definitely check out Save the Green Planet. Thanks for the rec!
I expected more out of this when I watched it last June. Watchable but missing something. It is interesting how critiques of South Korean society turn up in its genre cinema.
A rather bumbling village police officer is caught up in a series of grisly murders. But is there an evil lurking causing all this to happen?
Incredible performances. Great to look at (including the rather gnarly crime scenes). And so well performed. Its a long one, so while I do recommend watching, I would do what I call movie theater at home. Lights off. Volume way up. Phone down. Worth it.
Escape (2024) Hulu A North Korean soldier decides to escape to the South. Go! While this is not a great Escape, it is a lean 90 minute chase film with plenty of tension and thrills. I think that Escape is a fine example of South Korean genre filmmaking with a good score.
Was going to save this to show my daughter on zombie day, but don't think we'll be able to squeeze in a movie on Monday, so moved it up to today. I was pretty zombied-out when this came out, but was surprised at the time how much I liked it. It still works and my daughter really dug it. A gut punch of an ending that still gets me.
OK that was pretty gnarly. I'm not squeamish but I did yell out NO! at some point. (Hard to watch scenes involved fish hooks, assault, and some animal cruelty.)
But later in contrast, fish hooks were made into another symbol, a there was a sequence where paintbrushes played "footsie". So this movie was something all right. Confusing, shocking... and I don't know, even touching?
Trying not to say too much, but if you're the type to try this kind of film, then I've probably said enough.
KUNDO: AGE OF THE RAMPANT (2014, dir. Yoon Jong-bin)
I have barely scratched the surface of South Korean cinema. So many films to choose from.
There are several Korean films in my collection that I have not watched, which had me vacillating for a while about what to pick. I went with this one because I have probably had it longer than the others.
I definitely had fun with KUNDO while sometimes being startled by the stylistic choices made in it. Part Joseon historical drama, revenge film, wuxia, spaghetti western, and Tarantino homage, KUNDO tells a sprawling story of corrupt government leaders and nobles fighting a band of rebels trying to get justice for oppressed peasants. Like many spaghetti westerns, though, the "heroes" have some gray areas when it comes to motives. The main character is a man (Dochi) who crosses a ruthless nobleman and has his family killed as a result. Joining the rebels, Dochi is increasingly involved in the bloody fight that commences between both sides. The cast is large, the location shooting is mixed with CGI, and the fights and battle scenes are choreographed well despite some messy editing at certain moments.
Lady Vengeance (aka Sympathy For Lady Vengeance) (2005) dir. Park Chan-wool
Probably the least celebrated of the Vengeance trilogy and definitely didn’t get its plaudits coming after Old Boy but for me 20 years on this one probably holds up more than Old Boy.
Wol-ha: The Ghost of the Moon is part of the gwi-sin (ghost) subgenre. The story hits all the classic beats of Joseon-era gothic melodrama: we’ve got Wol-ha, a kisaeng (that’s a Korean geisha) who thinks she’s found a way out of the grind. She didn’t intend to go into this life anyway; she just wanted to get her student activist brother out of jail.
Wol-ha does escape by marrying a wealthy businessman, also caught up in the political upheavals, Han-sul, but here’s the problem: her mother-in-law is a total piece of work. Through a web of lies and orchestrated scandal, along with the machinations of servant Nan-ju — who wants to get into the pants of Han-sul as well as his bank account, Wol-ha and her child are discarded, destroyed and left dead in the dirt. But she isn’t staying there.
What really sets this apart from your standard ghost story, though, is the visual flair. You’re going to notice the Bava vibe almost immediately. The lighting in this thing is gorgeous. We’re talking deep shadows, high-contrast blues and purples and a psychedelic feel. It’s got that lush, saturated Technicolor-style look that makes every frame feel like a painting hanging in a haunted house.
Is the pacing a little sluggish? Sure. If you’re looking for a non-stop slasher, this isn’t it. It takes its time to let the misery soak in, allowing the weight of the betrayal to settle into your bones before the inevitable, satisfying pay-off. But when the haunting finally kicks into high gear, the film leans into its low-budget aesthetic with absolute abandon. It’s graphic, it’s theatrical and it’s got a mean streak a mile wide. We’re talking eye-gouging, acid-throwing, and a scene where the tombstone literally splits open.
There’s a reason this film became a monster hit back in the day and maintains a fervent cult following now. It’s a gut-wrenching look at the horrors inflicted upon women in a rigid society, told through the medium of a vengeful spirit who refuses to play by the rules. It’s sleazy, yet it’s high art. It’s an exercise in 1960s Asian Gothic cinema. It’s rough around the edges, occasionally melodramatic to a fault, but it’s got a heart—well, a spectral, beating heart—full of genuine malice. Sure, it takes time to get there, but when it does…
Cheol-hwi Kwon is one of those directors who built the foundation for the kind of dark, stylish, and deeply atmospheric horror that I love. He also directed the comedy musical Obuja and the historical movie Nam.
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002, dir. Park Chan-wook)
What a chain reaction and escalation of bad bad circumstances... There was kind of a Tarantino whiff about some of the proceedings, but the whole thing came with a heavier garnishing of bleakness. I got more absorbed as it went along.
A biggie to get this great day started. 😎
ReplyDelete027 & 028.- THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD (2008, INTERNATIONAL AND KOREAN VERSIONS, ARROW 4K UHD). Streaming on ROKU CHANNEL, AMC+.
Kim Jee-woon's epic 'kimchi' western set during the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in 1939 is a love letter to Sergio Leone with a capital 'L' that doesn't let its homage intentions interfere with carving its own identity. A ruthless train robber (Lee Byung-hun's Park Chang-yi, aka 'The Bad'), a bounty hunter with principles (Jung Woo-sung's Park Do-won, aka 'The Good') and a goofy-exterior-hides-a-dark-past thief (Song Kang-ho's Yoon Tae-goo, aka 'The Weird'), all badass South Korean gunslingers with vehicle/weapon preferences, either stumble upon or are made aware of a map leading to a treasure buried deep in the desert. If you've seen "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" you already know where this is all leading up to... except the actors and filmmakers aren't merely copying Leone's playbook. They're using this particular western as a springboard to tell their version of Eastern history in as exciting a cinematic spectacle as possible. By virtue of who these storytellers are (contemporary South Korean filmmakers) and their resources (not quite Hollywood, but the most expensive cinematic production the country could afford at the time), the result is one of the best action westerns made in the 2000's.
I liked the International version (129 min.) so much that I immediately rewatched the Korean version (136 min.), which supposedly expands the role of the Korean rebellious mindset that is mostly background in the worldwide release. There are extra scenes at the start (Do-won at home) and end (Tae-goo dynamites his way through the remaining Japanese army), but overall there aren't enough story/pace differences for me to rank either version differently. I'll give the nod to the International one just for being 7 min. shorter. Either way, get ready for an impressive opening train assault, exciting semi-comedic shootouts and one hell of an extended chase through the desert (involving horses, motorcycles, dynamite sticks and long-distance cannons) that puts most U.S. action films from this era (ERA!) to shame. And despite speaking Korean, the archetype-looking leads (particularly Park Do-won riding a horse while reloading his shotgun as his coat flaps in the wind) are as universal to cinema as John Wayne or Roy Rogers. Did I also mention the Arrow 4K transfer looks stunning? 😁 4.5 BULLET-RIDDEN DIVING HELMETS (out of five).
Great, now you're reminding me that i 'need' to get the 4k.
DeleteThis came out months ago. I was sure you, of all people, would already have it in your Arrow 4K collection. 😲👻
DeleteThere's so many, some of them slip through the cracks
DeleteGiven my love of Spaghetti westerns and of I SAW THE DEVIL, this sounds like a must-see! Adding to watchlist, thanks for the review!
DeleteYou're welcome. ✌️🤤
Delete029.- THE HUNT (2016, AMAZON PRIME). Also streaming on TUBI, PLEX.
ReplyDeleteA 'gold fever' Korean survival tale, one I can imagine Jalmari Helander watching in Finland and planting the seeds for his eventual "Sisu" movie. An old woman finds gold at the root of a tree not too far from the entrance to an abandoned mine where a tragedy took the lives of several miners many years prior. The crooked cops who come to investigate the woman's claim lie, then bring in armed reinforcements so they can keep the gold to themselves. Unfortunately for these blinded-by-bling inexperienced mountain men, an old hunter and a mentally slow teenage girl witness their attempt to kill the old woman. As the tables constantly turn (they capture the girl, the hunter frees her but is captured, he escapes but the girl gets lost in the woods, etc.), "Lost-type flashbacks to these characters' past paint a morally complex story about strained family relationships, guilt-ridden survival complex and the urge/need to reconnect with your loved ones. If "Sisu" is the fantasy old man who can still kick ass and defy death, "The Hunt" is the semi-realistic last hurrah of an emotionally wounded warrior punctuated by shootouts, knife fights and bad timing all around. Come for the mountain action, stay for the story revealing a heart-wrenching throughline between the fallen and those left behind. 3.35 SLIPPERY ROCKS COVERED IN BRAIN MATTER (out of five).
030.- DERAILED (2016, TUBI). Also streaming on PLEX. ROKU CHANNEL, FAWESOME.
ReplyDeleteI had to sneak a movie starring my favorite South Korean actor of all time, Ma Dong-seok aka Don Lee ("Train To Busan," "The Roundup" series, "Marvel's The Eternals," etc.). Four teenage runaways survive day to day on the outskirts of Seoul, doing petty crimes (stealing cellphones, hotwiring cars, etc.) for quick cash to pay for food, saunas, hotels, etc. The leader of the group, Jeon Jin-il (Choi Min-ho), refuses to let his girlfriend Choi Ga-yeong (Jung Da-Eun) pretend to do prost!tution to make some quick pick-pocket hotel money. But Ga-yeong does it anyway, running into Hyung-Suk (Ma Dong-seok) who doesn't like it when his BMW and credit cards are stolen. A karaoke bar owner forced into running a small prost!tution ring due to bad investments (which he keeps a secret from his wife and teenage daughter), Hyung-Suk convinces Ga-yeong to work for him as repayment for the stolen car. Guilt-ridden by his girlfriend's turn to prost!tution, Jin-il and his runaway friends steal more than usual so they can help Ga-yeong repay her debt faster.
Through all that a just-released-from-prison psycho gangster, Kang Seong-hoon (Kim Jae-young), is gunning for Jeon Jin-il for ratting him out and stealing his girl (Ga-yeong). All these characters' fortunes (plus well-meaning but incompetent cops waiting in the wings to flip Jil-il) eventually intertwine, resulting in a mean little thriller where Hyung-Suk always seems to be one step ahead by being smarter and meaner ("Roundup"-style punches, slaps and body blows) than everyone else... until it comes back to bite him in the rear end. It's basically a Korean take on a French New Wave outlaw/youth rebellion tale, one where the grey of the grimy moral ambiguity shines brighter than the black and white extremes surrounding it. A diamond in the rough. 3.65 STOLEN AUDIS (out of five).
BONUS: 30 DAYS OF PINK PANTHER & FRIENDS, DAY 6!
ReplyDelete031.- THE INSPECTOR: CIRRHOSIS OF THE LOUVRE (3/9/1966, KINO LORBER BLU-RAY). Streaming on YouTube.
I wasn't planning to do three "Inspector" cartoons in a row the same day, but these turned out to be so good! 🤩🥰 An art thief known as 'The Blotch' (red and passthrough, like Casper full of jalapeno sauce) threatens to steal all the paintings from The Louvre Museum. It's up to The Inspector and Deux-Deux to stop him. From the use of actual photorealistic paintings in the background to Deux-Deux's constant use of Spanish ('Si.'), this one's a laugh-riot ('PARIS U'HAUL') that ends on a gag so lame and stupid it's actually hilarious. 4.5 WHISTLER'S MOTHER MOP WIGS (out of five).
032.- THE INSPECTOR: COCK-A-DOODLE DEUX DEUX (6/15/1966, KINO LORBER BLU-RAY). Streaming on YouTube.
DeleteThe chicken-related surrealism is off the charts on this one, courtesy of new-to-DePatie-Freleng Enterprises director Robert McKimson (creator of Foghorn Leghorn for Warner Bros.) and a plot similar to the OG "Pink Panther" movie. A big diamond is stolen from a wealthy aristocrat who only has chickens as workers at her chateau. Disguised as a chicken himself, Inspector narrows down the suspects and almost nails the case... until the children's equivalent of p@rn distracts him. Exquisite, sublime ridiculousness. 4.5 'CHICKEN LANGUAGE MADE EASY by DR. CLUCK' BOOK HARDCOVERS (out of five).
033.- THE INSPECTOR: SICQUE! SICQUE! SICQUE! (9/23/1966, KINO LORBER BLU-RAY). Streaming on YouTube.
DeleteThe "Pink Panther/Inspector" cartoon I remember most as a child of 10, watching at 12:55PM/6:55PM on Channel 2 in El Salvador 7 days a week. While inspecting the empty laboratory of a just-carted-to-jail mad scientist alongside Inspector, Deux-Deux ingests what appears to be Seltzer water. It's actually serum that turns Deux-Deux into a grotesque, monster-like version of his Mr. Hyde... with the transformations happening at random times to keep Inspector from realizing what's happening. A sequence featuring a dark basement lit by an on/off light is comedic timing gold. Even with the out-of-nowhere midget Frankenstein monster at the end, this cartoon slaps from beginning to end. 5 SURREALIST RUE MORGUE PAINTED BACKGROUNDS (out of five).
Colony (Sang-ho Yeon, 2026)
ReplyDeleteMassive disappointment! First of the month (hopefully last), and it happens to be the only contemporary movie, ha. I'm not a fan of Train to Busan or Peninsula, but I was fairly optimistic after seeing some favorable reviews for Colony. More than anything, I thought the script was very, very weak and doesn't justify the runtime. There's some ideas here and there, but the film misses many opportunities to further exploit its concept, which I won't reveal in case people want to go in blind (as I did). Too long, too little to tell, and too few interesting/innovative things to show. Bummer!
Gonjiam Haunted Asylum (2018)
ReplyDeleteWell made version of the trope: group of reality show influencers visit a haunted asylum. As such you pretty much know what you're gonna get: darkness, POV gopro shots of super close up terrified people, jump scares, etc. Also at least 3x recreating the final shot from Blair Witch. Fine found footage fear film.
Wishing Stairs (2003)
ReplyDeleteA sweet friendship (possibly more) between two young girls at a ballet school quickly turns toxic, and then lethal, when a high-stakes competition comes around. Things are made extra complicated and weird because of magical stairs which can grant wishes to tortured souls, with unforeseen side effects. A nice teen supernatural horror which relies more on creepy atmosphere than special effects and gore, although it still delivers a few disturbing images here and there. I think we've got enough cinematic evidence by now to ban young women from ballet altogether - this shit never ends well.
THE GANGSTER THE COP THE DEVIL (2019)
ReplyDeleteAfter surviving an attack by a serial killer, a mob boss teams with a police detective to track down the psycho. The movie’s playing with all the familiar mafia movie tropes, but it mixes them up just enough to keep things interesting. It’s stylish but slow going at first, only to explode into more and more brutal violence as it goes on. A lot of online reviews describe this as “pulpy,” and I’d say that’s about right.
30 days of fan films, day 6: FANORAMA (2016)
The world of Futurama doesn’t quite translate to live action, but writer-director Dan Lanigan certainly gave it a go. You could argue that it looks wonky, but I say it’s impressive in the attention to detail, from the costumes and makeup to the homemade CGI. The writing isn’t nearly as sharp as the show, however. (Since when is Fry such a drunk?) So, it’s not the best, but the online commenters are especially cruel to this movie, which it does not deserve. Besides, Lanigan went on to work on the Netflix MST3K and then he hosted Prop Culture on Disney Plus, so who’s laughing now?
I saw "Gangster ... Cop... Devil" when it first came out, and it blew me away. Such moral ambiguity and complexity for such a crowd-pleasing narrative. Kim Sung-kyu plays such a creepy killer, quiet and introspective rather than the usual Hollywood mannered type. My man Ma Dong-seok playing the gangster automatically puts me on his side, and when he eventually teams-up with the cop (Kim Mu-yeol) to track down and eliminate 'the devil' you're on their side all the way to its (CG-fied) explosive finale. Poster child of why South Korean cinema exploded in popularity for the past 25+ years. ✊️😃
DeleteNo Other Choice
ReplyDeleteAn adaptation of Donald E. Westlake’s darkly comic The Ax, filtered through the even darker (but still comic) sensibility of Oldboy’s Park Chan-Wook sounds like a hell of a proposition. Turns out they are in fact two great tastes that taste great together, this is some good stuff.
Man-su (Squid Games’ Lee Byung-hun, still unable to catch a financial break, it seems) is laid off after 25 years manufacturing paper, a skill he has honed his entire adult life. In danger of losing his home, his marriage, his dogs, his kids, and (gulp!) his Netflix account, he realizes that the only way to get hired by another paper company as positions keep getting lost to automation is to trim the competition in his field, i.e. his former coworkers who were laid off as well. What follows is funny, tense, heartbreaking, and consistently involving. It’s a very solid movie and well worth checking out before you lose your job and can no longer afford to access it.
Saw this in theaters late last year, when it ran theatrically for U.S. awards consideration. 'It's fine. 😐
DeleteOne of my favorites from last year. May we all stay employed enough not to have to cancel our streaming subscriptions!
DeleteFrom your lips (er, keys) to god’s ears (or eyes), Reed!
DeleteSUDDENLY AT MIDNIGHT
ReplyDeleteaka Suddenly in the Dark (1981)
dir. Ko Young-Nam
streaming on Prime
A horny as hell, gaslight-the-wife, psycho drama riff on the classic The Housemaid series. It features an evil doll, kaleidoscope-vision, an husband who literally chases butterflies, and a detective who says “One more thing…” before leaving. It rips!
The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008)
ReplyDeleteMy original plan for today was to watch Three... Extremes, which I somehow had in my head as a fully South Korean anthology. A few minutes in, after seeing Takashi Miike's name in the credits and the characters referencing a Hong Kong setting for the opening segment, I realized I'd goofed up.
For a pivot, I went straight to the FtM comments for the day and didn't browse very far. I've had The Good, the Bad, the Weird on my watchlist for a long time, and JM's opening comment was inspiration enough to finally go for it. I was not disappointed!
Weird openly embraces The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as its primary influence, and while the similarities are clear and numerous, Weird is in no way a carbon copy, doing plenty to distinguish both its story and characters from Ugly. Do-won is a little less steely and has more interiority than Blondie. Chang-yee is more explicitly "bad" than Angel Eyes. Tae-goo is more sympathatic and less "Ugly" than Tuco (Song Kang-ho and Eli Wallach give my favorite performances in these movies, which are both stuffed full of fun performances). The regional conflict between the Japanese Empire and Korean independence movement is more integrated into the plot than the American Civil War stuff in Ugly. Weird also mixes in some hat tips to the earlier Man With No Name movies in fun ways (the steel plate armor from Fistful; the hat shooting bit from For a Few Dollars More.
Although it's primarily a Western, Weird effectively sprinkles in flavors of other genres in a way that feels fun and additive rather than confusing or overstuffed. There's a healthy helping of Eastern styling, a bit of Indiana Jones, some gangster stuff, plenty of Max Max vibes, and even a bit of Conan going on with the giant mallet-wielding henchman. Between the nearly nonstop action sequences and the subgenre buffet, the movie struck me as a bit of a precursor to the John Wick sequels.
For nitpicks, there's a bad CGI hawk/train bit at the very beginning, and I thought the chase sequence toward the end was a little repetitive and overlong (not bad, just not as strong as the movie's other action set pieces). To be fair, though, the Civil War sequence in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly can drag a bit for me from viewing to viewing (mood dependent), so maybe that's just part of the Weird/Ugly connection.
I had a great time with this one overall--probably my favorite of the month so far!
Happy to have steered you toward a worthy back-up choice. 😎👍
DeleteThirst (2009)
ReplyDeleteBeen on my to-watch list for a few years. Did not disappoint. Wonderfully creative take on a vampire film. Great score. A few visuals took my breath away. Pretty sure I would have some alternative thoughts if I had a Korean mother-in-law. Final shot got me.
Theatrical or the longer unrated cut? I've only seen "Thirst" in its rated cut, and I'm told the unrated version is superior... but I can't find a cheap way to watch the latter. 😕
DeleteInteresting. I did a rental on Prime which I assume is the theatrical cut. I know not everyone loves it, but I was quite taken by it. If there is a "superior" cut, I need to check it out.
DeleteA Tale of Two Sisters (2003, dir. Kim Jee-woon)
ReplyDeleteA teenage girl returns home from being treated at a psychiatric institution and is greeted by a devoted younger sister, a concerned but clueless father, and a hostile stepmother. Led by vivid dreams and increasingly strange occurrences, she begins to uncover hidden family secrets and suspect their home is haunted. I think.
A slow burn mystery with tinges of horror that takes some wildly unexpected turns, though they're unexpected partly because of their tenuous logic. But who cares about logic when the vibes are this good? The actors are excellent, the camerawork and soundtrack build tension well, and the scares are sparse but effective. I really dug this!
SAVE THE GREEN PLANET! (2003, Jang Joon-hwan)
ReplyDeleteThis one’s been on my watchlist since seeing BUGONIA, which I have screened twice. STGP!, while comprised of many of the same plot points and conspiracy-theory based themes, has very different supporting characters, and lead Shin Ha-kyun’s backstory is more fully fleshed out. This led to me feeling more emotionally connected to the main character and gave the film a much deeper impact, especially in its conclusion. Plus, the middle act, in which a nosy (literally!) detective visits Shin’s home and suspected scene of the crime, built a lot more suspense than the remake. Plus, STGP! didn’t hit me over the head with its message. Ultimately, I appreciated and enjoyed STGP! more than Yorgis Lanthimos’s film-- which is saying something. Best watch of Junesploitation! thus far. I encourage you to check it out regardless of your opinion of BUGONIA, as it stands firmly on its own. I’ll definitely watch it again.
I saw Bugonia and liked it largely just for the performances of the two leads (the ending neither soured me nor blew me away), but I didn't realize that it was an adaptation or "reimagining" of an earlier movie. I'll definitely check out Save the Green Planet. Thanks for the rec!
DeleteSeconded. 🤠
DeleteSeoul Station (2016)
ReplyDeleteCertainly no Train to Busan, but that's an unreasonably high bar. Spoilers, but strangely similar ending vibes to my watch from yesterday - Eden Lake.
I expected more out of this when I watched it last June. Watchable but missing something. It is interesting how critiques of South Korean society turn up in its genre cinema.
DeleteThe Wailing (2016)
ReplyDeleteA rather bumbling village police officer is caught up in a series of grisly murders. But is there an evil lurking causing all this to happen?
Incredible performances. Great to look at (including the rather gnarly crime scenes). And so well performed. Its a long one, so while I do recommend watching, I would do what I call movie theater at home. Lights off. Volume way up. Phone down. Worth it.
Escape (2024) Hulu
ReplyDeleteA North Korean soldier decides to escape to the South. Go! While this is not a great Escape, it is a lean 90 minute chase film with plenty of tension and thrills. I think that Escape is a fine example of South Korean genre filmmaking with a good score.
Train to Busan (2016, dir. Yeon Sang-ho)
ReplyDeleteWas going to save this to show my daughter on zombie day, but don't think we'll be able to squeeze in a movie on Monday, so moved it up to today. I was pretty zombied-out when this came out, but was surprised at the time how much I liked it. It still works and my daughter really dug it. A gut punch of an ending that still gets me.
No Other Choice(2025 Dir Park Chan-wook)
ReplyDeleteYeah, spending over a year on the job market can make anyone crazy. Go in as blind as possible. "One of the years best" - Munkee
yeah. that'll sell the flick to the masses.
"One of the years best, that actually came out last year" - Munkee
DeleteThe Isle (2000, dir. Kim Ki-duk)
ReplyDeleteOK that was pretty gnarly. I'm not squeamish but I did yell out NO! at some point. (Hard to watch scenes involved fish hooks, assault, and some animal cruelty.)
But later in contrast, fish hooks were made into another symbol, a there was a sequence where paintbrushes played "footsie". So this movie was something all right. Confusing, shocking... and I don't know, even touching?
Trying not to say too much, but if you're the type to try this kind of film, then I've probably said enough.
KUNDO: AGE OF THE RAMPANT (2014, dir. Yoon Jong-bin)
ReplyDeleteI have barely scratched the surface of South Korean cinema. So many films to choose from.
There are several Korean films in my collection that I have not watched, which had me vacillating for a while about what to pick. I went with this one because I have probably had it longer than the others.
I definitely had fun with KUNDO while sometimes being startled by the stylistic choices made in it. Part Joseon historical drama, revenge film, wuxia, spaghetti western, and Tarantino homage, KUNDO tells a sprawling story of corrupt government leaders and nobles fighting a band of rebels trying to get justice for oppressed peasants. Like many spaghetti westerns, though, the "heroes" have some gray areas when it comes to motives. The main character is a man (Dochi) who crosses a ruthless nobleman and has his family killed as a result. Joining the rebels, Dochi is increasingly involved in the bloody fight that commences between both sides. The cast is large, the location shooting is mixed with CGI, and the fights and battle scenes are choreographed well despite some messy editing at certain moments.
Lady Vengeance (aka Sympathy For Lady Vengeance) (2005) dir. Park Chan-wool
ReplyDeleteProbably the least celebrated of the Vengeance trilogy and definitely didn’t get its plaudits coming after Old Boy but for me 20 years on this one probably holds up more than Old Boy.
Now this is the last one of the trilogy for me to see. Not sure if I should space it out, having just watched Mr. Vengeance...
DeleteA Public Cemetery Under the Moon (1967)
ReplyDeleteWol-ha: The Ghost of the Moon is part of the gwi-sin (ghost) subgenre. The story hits all the classic beats of Joseon-era gothic melodrama: we’ve got Wol-ha, a kisaeng (that’s a Korean geisha) who thinks she’s found a way out of the grind. She didn’t intend to go into this life anyway; she just wanted to get her student activist brother out of jail.
Wol-ha does escape by marrying a wealthy businessman, also caught up in the political upheavals, Han-sul, but here’s the problem: her mother-in-law is a total piece of work. Through a web of lies and orchestrated scandal, along with the machinations of servant Nan-ju — who wants to get into the pants of Han-sul as well as his bank account, Wol-ha and her child are discarded, destroyed and left dead in the dirt. But she isn’t staying there.
What really sets this apart from your standard ghost story, though, is the visual flair. You’re going to notice the Bava vibe almost immediately. The lighting in this thing is gorgeous. We’re talking deep shadows, high-contrast blues and purples and a psychedelic feel. It’s got that lush, saturated Technicolor-style look that makes every frame feel like a painting hanging in a haunted house.
Is the pacing a little sluggish? Sure. If you’re looking for a non-stop slasher, this isn’t it. It takes its time to let the misery soak in, allowing the weight of the betrayal to settle into your bones before the inevitable, satisfying pay-off. But when the haunting finally kicks into high gear, the film leans into its low-budget aesthetic with absolute abandon. It’s graphic, it’s theatrical and it’s got a mean streak a mile wide. We’re talking eye-gouging, acid-throwing, and a scene where the tombstone literally splits open.
There’s a reason this film became a monster hit back in the day and maintains a fervent cult following now. It’s a gut-wrenching look at the horrors inflicted upon women in a rigid society, told through the medium of a vengeful spirit who refuses to play by the rules. It’s sleazy, yet it’s high art. It’s an exercise in 1960s Asian Gothic cinema. It’s rough around the edges, occasionally melodramatic to a fault, but it’s got a heart—well, a spectral, beating heart—full of genuine malice. Sure, it takes time to get there, but when it does…
Cheol-hwi Kwon is one of those directors who built the foundation for the kind of dark, stylish, and deeply atmospheric horror that I love. He also directed the comedy musical Obuja and the historical movie Nam.
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002, dir. Park Chan-wook)
ReplyDeleteWhat a chain reaction and escalation of bad bad circumstances... There was kind of a Tarantino whiff about some of the proceedings, but the whole thing came with a heavier garnishing of bleakness. I got more absorbed as it went along.
Exhuma (2024). Maybe the best South Korean horror/thriller I've seen in recent years. Scandalously overlooked; I highly recommend.
ReplyDelete