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Always wanted to see this one since a former co-worker here in Korea expressed that he’d fallen in love with the lead actress Jun Ji-hyun when he saw the movie. It’s understandable, she has a presence here that’s not so much sexy, but very understanded and classy in a Breakfast at Tiffany’s kind of way. That is to say, she’s absolutely captivating.

Funny enough this is being remade in Hollywood. I’m sure the plot–a girl who, due to some painful memories, comically abuses a boy/boyfriend she meets on a subway–could catch on in the U.S., but there’s no way any actress (in this case someone named Elisha Cuthbert) will manage what Jun did in this movie.
Jun herself is now in “Hollywood” having changed her name to Gianna Jun, staring in something called “Blood: The Last Vampire.” Frankly, it sounds tragic. I saw a couple stills from the film and she’s wearing this school uniform, all dolled up to look pure and innocent.
I have a new expression I penned. You can only fuck like a virgin once. I think that applies here to Gianna and My Sassy Girl.

Even though The Puzzle apes a lot of classic American gangster flicks like Resevior Dogs and The Usual Suspects I got a kick out of thriller that came out last year.
I think it goes a bit to far out of its way to come up with a surprise ending…coming off rather far fetched, or perhaps, impossible. But it’s fun. You’ve got the quiet guy, the crazy guy who dresses funny, the sensitive guy with a bad past and the wild young punky guy, all trying to pull off a heist.

Another cool one from Andrew Bujalski. This time he heads straight into a “musician moves to Brooklyn” trap, but totally pulls it off. I think these films will someday stand as interesting period pieces into how twentysomethings lived at the turn of the century. Again, nothing earthshaking here, mostly people talking, living trivial lives, worried more about things like bands and kissing than anything too heavy. But we all go through this to some degree and the fact that Bujalski can replicate it so perfectly in a fictional setting is a testimony to him as a filmmaker.

The lead character is in a band called Bishop Allen, which I downloaded at one point. That’s all I’ll say about it.

Boy this was something I was ready to hate. And I did initially. Through 20 minutes of Funny Ha Ha, the second, I believe, film by Bujalski I was ready to turn it off. But then I started to be warmed by the babbling, silly, neurotic and alienated people in the film. Then, I realized I was watching me when I was 25, and suddenly it all began to matter. What can I say?
The lead in Funny Ha Ha is Kate Dollenmayer, who despite her apparent lack of acting experience is a real charm by the end. Part of the film reminded me of Eric Rhomer; one of my favorites. There’s also a little Woody Allen here, and probably more Hal Hartley than I would be aware of.

Not a lot happening here, but some genuinely funny moments. I especially liked the guy (Dave) who had a girlfriend who walks the Dollenmayer character to her car (after a party hosted by he and his partner), in order to attempt one of the most awkward and hilarious passes I’ve ever seen in a film.
Here’s a photo of Dave in action shortly before the pass.

This is something of a find. Not a great film, but definately better than the tepid response it got here.
This is a revenge film; one might go so far as to say it’s a Park Chan-wook rip off. But not worthless and often quite good.
A barber is blackmailed by an old man. The guy also sleeps with his wife. Turns out he’s trying to be killed in order to collect on a life insurance policy because his daughter needs an operation.
Much like Park’s movies, the film is highly-stylized, usually to a positive effect. The biggest problem for me, and this is almost an epidemic in Korean film right now, is the violence, which was out of control and gratuitous. Koreans really get off on this stuff. Or at least the men do.
One funny sidelight are the press photos and movie posters for the film. Take a look at this one:

Not once in the film does this woman (played by Seong Hyeon Ah) appear with her hair like this. In fact her character, although kind of a slut, is quite prim and sleek. I suppose this is supposed to add some wild image to the film.

Is the title of Kim Gi-duk’s latest. I used to name Kim as my favorite filmmaker in Korea, until I started watching Hong Sang-soo’s films, which suit my tastes much more.
Breath is typical Kim; taking a few intriguing characters and bringing them together in an unconventional way. Breath isn’t his best by any stretch, but it’s still provocative, and with Kim’s propensity to shock always waiting in the background, it makes for good viewing.
Curiously Kim has cast a Chinese person (Chen Chang) as a main character in this film. It’s curious because Korean filmmakers don’t do it. He plays a prisoner on death row that starts getting odd visits from a woman seeking revenge on her cheating husband. But Chang doesn’t speak in the film, so his casting is evidentially an aesthetic one.

Didn’t know souffle means breath in French. As you can see the poster is from this year’s Cannes Film Festival. This speaks less to the quality of the film and more to the fact that Kim evidentally has a free pass into Cannes competition. Surely there are better Korean films than this to choose from.
There are some genuinely hilarious moments in the film, involving some musical numbers by the visiting woman, but overall there’s not much to the film. As usual Kim wants the viewer to draw their own conclusions…the difference being, these questions aren’t so interesting once you start thinking about them.

I’d heard about this documentary last summer when I was in the states and had wanted to see it for some time. I finally had the chance last night.
But I can’t recommend watching The Bridge. It’s unforgettable, yes. It’s interesting, yes. Do people need to see others committing suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge? I don’t think so.
But the film ignites a great discussion related to YouTube and others of its kind. Personally, I’m not one of those who watched the video of Nick Berg being beheaded, just as I didn’t like to see the Faces of Death movies when I was sleeping over at friend’s houses. I avoid this stuff as a rule because it contributes nothing to me.
The Bridge is not a comment on suicide. It simply watches and interviews those touched by incidents related to the film. It is interesting and moving. The fact that so many people have committed suicide in such a beautiful location is fascinating.
It raises a lot of interesting questions. How does suicide is fit into a society? Do you have the right to end your own life? 30,000 people have committed suicide in Japan every year for the past decade. How is their view of suicide come to be so different to that of Westerners?
But The Bridge doesn’t address any of this. It titillates by showing tourists walking on the bridge, and juxtaposing that with people who almost jump, and those who finally do jump. To no surprise the final jumper is an eye-catching tall, rocker guy with hair down to his butt, shown anguishing throughout the entire film. In the end he stands on the railing and impressively falls end over end toward his watery grave.
I was left, first and foremost, missing my birth city of San Francisco, but also feeling unsettled about the film in general. I realize this was not because of suicide itself, which I believe is often times a very Nobel and brave choice to make, but because I felt a little manipulated. The director has no visible opinion here, so what are we left with? A Golden Gate Bridge enthusiast? A meditation on suicide in contemporary society? Or is it a voyeuristic reel of people plummeting to their deaths? I have to say it’s the latter. Is there anything wrong with that? Maybe not. Did the director take the easy way out? Absolutely.

Since I mentioned Von Trier it reminded me of his latest film The Boss of it All, which I saw last year at PIFF. If you click on the title there you can see a clip or two on the (very fun) official site.
It’s a wonderful comedy. Laugh out loud hilarious, a spoof on office and corporate culture a la The Office (UK).
I took a quick peek and low and behold it came out in the states last week.

Aleksandr Sokurov is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors. I’d heard of Russian Ark some time ago, but had never seen it, which is fortunate because I didn’t know anything about Russian History until fairly recently.

The big thing here is that it was all filmled in one single shot. That’s right, one 100 minute shot. I read a couple articles that questioned if people would care about this film if it wasn’t a single shot. But that misses the point entirely. This film is about, in no small part, the pride of the Russian people. Pulling off a stunt like this is certainly part of that pride (or nationalism depending on how you look at it).
No matter. Incredible movie.