23 Once Upon A Time In High School

Ahh, the rites of passage movie, another classic genre.  The tale of young people growing up at school.  Fighting the system.  Falling in love.  Finding themselves.

I think you have the idea.

Back to the film.  “Once Upon a Time in High School” or “The Spirit of Jeet Kune Do”, is just a quite brilliant tale of Hyeon-su (played by an impressive Kwone Sang-woo).  He joins a new school, makes new friends, new enemies, meets a girl.  Normal stuff I suppose.

At the core of the film is an indictment of the Korean School system in 1978, which is awfully violent and results driven.  If the film was just about this, then it would probably make the list on that aspect alone.

The genius of this film is that we only every see events through the eyes of Hyeon-su. [Actually I can think of an exception, but it is literally 2 seconds].  We only learn about characters through their interactions with him.  He makes friends, and even meets a wonderful girl.  But they are only shown to us through his eyes, and their reactions with him.

The girl is a case in point.  Eun-ju (played nicely by Han Ga-in in what criminally seems to be her only film role) appears to be a hard working student.  She is obviously finding the pressures of school hard, but she is trying to be a good student.  She appears to embark on a relationship with the “cool” friend, and through Hyeon-su’s eyes this obviously is not working.  Eun-ju and Hyeon-su appear to connect and embark on one of those lovely relationships that the Korean films I have watched do so well.

Except she disappears.  Runs off with the friend.  But we only find out through rumour.  Only later do we find she regrets this and starts again with her life.  But Hyeon-su appears to have no idea.

This is what real life is like.  We meet and interact with people every day – but we only see the sides of themselves that they want to present to us.

I know this is not unique or original in cinema (or any other story telling medium), but I found it to be fascinating.

The film is filled with fascinating and layered characters, and yes, it does have a fair bit of “Kung-fu” fighting in it – but in a natural, non-stylised way.

I’ll certainly be checking the director’s (Yu Ha) somewhat limited back catalogue.

Now this film was recommended to me by someone who said the film felt “real” and “true”.  Now I may have been a tad sceptical.  You see I did not go to an All-boys school in 1978 Korea.  I did not have a particularly violent school life.  I certainly did not train myself in Jeet Kune Do to fight back.

But I did find so many parallels with my own life when I was 17.  I fell into a different group of friends. My grades dropped significantly.  I fell in love with someone who after one moment of intimacy went off with one of my best friends.  And I was able to rise above all this and improve my life.  [There was a longer version of this paragraph, but this is not a confessional blog – but I hope you get the idea].

And for those reasons this film makes the list.  Highly recommended

22 Classic

Sometimes I am wrong about things.  When I first watched this movie, I thought it was nice, but would probably not make the list.  But then it nagged at me for a couple of days, in a very strange way.  Usually a movie either grabs me or it doesn’t.  In fact, it is far more likely that I am going to fall out of love with a film after a period of reflection (sometimes I get seduced by the shiny stuff, and only when I gain some distance am I able make a long-term judgement.  I would make a terrible film critic!).

So I watched it again.  And again.  At which point I realised – I rather loved it.  With some reservations.

“Classic” (or is it “The Classic”?) is yet another film by Kwak Jae- young – he seems to have very quickly become one of my favourite directors.  This film is totally gorgeous – seriously one of the best looking movies I have seen in a long time.

I’ll approach this a little differently than usual.  I’ll start with the bad, as I think this is what made me initially unsure about the film.  And my issues are all with the first 5 or 6 minutes.  The opening sequence, although filled with the director’s usual tricks (some white Doves, classical music), seems awkward and just out of step with the rest of the film.  We are introduced to our main character, and given some seriously bizarre background on her that HAS NO RELEVANCE TO THE FILM WHATSOEVER.  Her Blood Type and her martial arts prowess just seem superfluous.  If someone could let me know if I am missing something, I’ll happily retract this.

But then we get to the guts of the movie.  What we have here is the old Cyrano de Bergerac device, where one individual writes love letter on behalf of a friend, only to fall in love with the target of the love letters.  However, what we have here is that there a parallel stories going on – we have the present day story of Ji-Hae, and the story of her Mother, Joo-Hee, in the late 60’s. Both are played by the beauteous Son Ye-jin – who displays some excellent acting ability – not just an ability to cry (which she does have to do – a lot)

To be brutal, the present day story is far less engaging, frankly I felt no attachment with any of the characters.  But the story set some 40 years ago is utterly charming.  Yes, it is at times overwrought melodrama, but sometimes that is just what I need.  The film manages to evoke a sense of time and place that is special.  It deals with social issues (such as Korean Schools, and social conventions and mores) as well as delivering tales of both love and a friendship between the two male leads.

In fact, I find this friendship to be one of the strongest parts of the film.  It would have been so easy for them to become bitter rivals – but the story goes somewhere else completely.  It helps that both Cho Seung-woo (Joon-Ha) and  Lee Ki-woo (Tae-Su) play the parts of unlikely friends to perfection.

As always with Kwak Jae-young’s films, the Music score is impeccable, and matches the beautiful cinematography.

I did notice that people only seemed to be able to talk about their true feelings whenever it was raining in the film.  Fortunately – it rained a lot!

There was also a fair bit of scatological “humour” going on throughout the film – I am at a loss to work out the metaphor that was being addressed….

Now, I am not going to spoil the film too much when I say not everyone makes it to the end of the film.  But I did find the sheer amount of bad things that happened to one character was maybe just too much.  But the sometimes bad things happen to good people I suppose.

And then there is the end.  In which things get wrapped up.  For me it was too neat, and frankly unnecessary.  I understand about circles being completed, etc.  Just because and ending is happy, does not make it a happy ending.

However, this is a lovely piece of cinema.  Highly recommended.  Bring tissues.

21 A Man Who Was Superman

“The Past cannot be changed.  It haunts me every day.  But the Future…”

I know what you are thinking – a comic book movie.  Well it isn’t.  Yes this film uses the Superman Mythos as a structure for this film, but it really is a movie about humanity, and what it means to be human.

Our old friend Jun Ji-Hyun plays a world weary documentary film maker, making human interest stories.  She literally Channels Margot Kidder in Superman 1 and 2 here – she looks tired, puffy but still amazing.

The star though is Hwang Jeong-min – he plays the “Superman” character, although all is not as it seems.  His “Superman” is all too human, struggling with great loss and mental illness to make the world a better place, in little ways.

A beautiful film, with many wonderful scenes.

This is a film about a man who lost his father, a man who lost his family. 

It is a story about how we can all strive to be better.

It is a story about the big picture of being human.

It is the story about learning to feel again when you have become numb and world weary.

It is a story about not being an observer, about taking action.

This is a film that inspires me to be a better person.  An inspirational tale.

I wish I shared more in common with this Superman than a penchant for Hawaiian shirts.

The Films That Did Not Make It – Waterboys, Daisy and Azumi 2

So as suggested previously, I watched a lot of films whilst away.  These were 3 I was really looking forward to seeing, but for various reasons, they missed the cut, one by the closest of margins, one by a country mile, and one just did not quite do it for me.

“Waterboys” was easily the closest.  You might remember I talked a little about this film when talking about the wonderful “Swing Girls”.  You might even have thought I had watched it.  In short, it is a very similar film – misfits succeeding against the odds in an unusual pursuit.  To be honest, it is quite marvellous, and if I had not already given “Swing Girls” the nod, it would have made the list in its own right.

Shinobu Yaguchi seems to have the knack at making these films.  This one is equally as charming, and the speed at which the film moves is breathtaking.  Japanese films can sometimes take a little while to get going, but this one moves the story forward at a speed I have been unused to.  It slide effortlessly forward from scene to scene, never dwelling on any crisis too long.  The five main characters all seem to get enough screen time, and we even get a bit of that romance which was avoided in “Swing Girls”.  It even deals humorously with the obvious issues about a film which is essentially about young men in swimming trunks.

The criticisms are the same, maybe they boys get a little too skilled at things, but with this movie you just deal with that.

Another highlight is Naoto Takenaka, who plays a rather unconventional coach (just as he did in “Swing Girls”), and here he is even better.

I would recommend this film wholeheartedly – yes it is slight, but wickedly entertaining!

The most disappointing film of the bunch was “Daisy”.  Written by Kwak Jae-Young, starring my favourite actress Jun Ji-Hyun, and directed by Andrew Lau (someone we will get to later) this should have had all the ingredients to be a shoo-in for the list.  

It tells the tale of a love triangle between an Artist, a Policeman and a Hitman.  Oh and although they are all Korean, they all live in Holland (where everyone speaks English).  There are moments of class that shine through, especially in the first half hour, but the film soon descends into a period of maudlin depression.  I am afraid that long moody shots of people being upset don’t always do it for me.

There are just too many plot holes for me to forgive, and making Jun Ji-Hyun wallow in silence for half of the film is just a waste.  That is not to say it is not well acted, just that the underlying material is not good enough.

Avoid.

Finally we come to “Azumi 2 – Death or Love”.  This one is not bad at all.  A direct continuation of the previous film (which I already have admitted my adoration of), it continues in much the same vein, although directed in a less hyper-kinetic fashion.  There is much more story here, and most of it deals with the effects of that scene I mentioned in my comments on the first film.  A much more thoughtful film.

However, it spends a lot of time running around to stay still – characters go on long journeys only to bump into each other again way too easily.

Aya Ueto is still as cute as ever, and the bad guys are a lot more compelling than those in the previous film.  But there is something missing for me, a certain charm is lost.

The highlight is the final shot – the titular heroine leaves the scene of the final conflict, followed by the rivers of blood.

By no means not a bad film at all, in fact it is rather good.  Watch it if you enjoyed the first film, but I don’t think it will be the one to convert you.

More Administration

Well I am back in the Things Fall Apart Offices, maybe not as rested as I would like, but raring to go.

Quite a few films to catch up on, spent a good deal of my time away watching some new and old movies.  So what you should see in the next couple of days is a few posts – One movie that was always going to make the list, 2 that have recently joined, and a little post containing some comments on a couple of movies that I hoped would make the list, but failed.

20 Windstruck

Well here we are at number 20.  This will be the last post for a couple of weeks as I shut down the Things Fall Apart Offices for a couple of weeks while I enjoy my summer holiday.

This is going to be a tough movie to write about.  Firstly because I adore it.  Secondly because it is hard to write about it without mentioning it’s pseudo-sequel “My Sassy Girl” (which will be covered in much detail later as one of the top 3).  And thirdly because it makes me cry.

Now I am not the kind of person that cries at movies.  I mean I am a guy after all.  And as you can tell, most of the movies I have loved in the past are not the kind that would illicit that kind of response from me.  Until recently the only film I could honestly say reduced me to tears was “Life is Beautiful”.  And like that film this one attempts to travel the tightrope between humour, fantasy, and tragedy.

“Windstruck” is like many Korean movies as it tries to encompass a number of genres.  It starts as a romantic comedy, flirts with a little fantasy, tries it’s hand as police movie and then descends into melodrama (and possibly overdoes a revisit into melodrama).  I love this, but I realise it is not to everyone's taste.

You also have to suspend disbelief to enjoy this film.  Now this may seem hypocritical, as there are plenty of movies that I just hate because of their fundamental flaws, but this one is so charming I can forgive it. The main issue is one of timing.  Just over halfway through the film a crisis happens.  And the second part of the film MUST take place over 49 days.  The real world events that take place could not possibly take this amount of time – but you need to roll with it.

Looking online i see three types of reviews.  There are those, like me, who love the movie unconditionally.  There are many more that hate the melodrama but love the first half.  And there a a lot that hate the movie – because it is not “My Sassy Girl”.

So let’s deal with the “My Sassy Girl” stuff.  You could read this movie as a prequel to “My Sassy Girl”.  The character played by the frankly outstanding Jeon Ji-hyun (and this is the 2nd of four films in this list she is in, so I am a fan) could be seen as the titular Sassy Girl from that film.  However, nothing about her back story really links up.  The tragedies that befall her are different, and frankly she must be a fair bit older in this movie.  The director does not help by adding a little coda to the movie which makes you think that it is the same character, but I think this is a little wink to his audience, that maybe is taken sometimes a little too literally.  There are also a couple of other little Easter Eggs which again could  suggest some link, but again, I think this is just a little fun, and just provides some thematic resonance between the two.

So – what about the story?  Well it is a love story between a female Policewoman and a Physics Teacher.  They meet in humorous circumstances, but eventually fall deeply in love.  Jeon Ji-hyun’s character.

This is the story of a fun loving girl, who when tragedy hit her early in life (her twin sister died, in circumstances that meant it should have been her), has resolved to really be the best she can.  She is completely focused, and frankly does seem to be quite hard to live with and work alongside.

Then, and this is spoiler time, the Physics Teacher, Myung-woo, dies.  Actually he dies twice.  The first time Kyung-jin manages to save him.  But literally 15 minutes later he dies again.  And it may be her fault (this is never really explained fully, and does result in a subplot that is never quite fleshed out).

She descends into despair, and eventually attempts suicide. Twice.  The first time she does not go through with it because of her desire to save others.  The second time she does it.  But she is saved.  By a rather bizarre and unrealistic method.  But that is ok, as we now have entered the melodramatic-fantasy section.

We now find out that Myung-woo is protecting her as a ghost (or rather as the wind), and she starts to move on in life.  However, her constant striving and risk taking at her job eventually leads her to be, well, shot.

On her deathbed, she undergoes a dream sequence, that leads her to fight back and live, and I am afraid this is where the tears begin to roll.  I am not going to give it all way, but she eventually has to let go of Myung-woo, and this section is heart-rending.  And maybe a little overdone.

And we finish on that controversial ending.  I have said my piece about that already.

I have said a lot more about the story than I usually do I know, so please forgive me this indulgence patient reader.

This is a beautiful film to look at. Kyung-jin is not just the main focus of the story, she is the main focus of the movie – she appears in pretty much every second of the film, usually front and centre, the camera completely focused upon her. The director, Kwak Jae-young, must have considered her his muse at the time. But more than that, he shows exceptional skill at directing comedy, action and fantasy.  He maybe is not as ‘flashy’ as some of his contemporaries, but my word he knows how to make a film watchable.  Even the soundtrack is adorable.

There are better films on this list.  But few elicit the kind of emotional response in me that this one does.  Accept its faults.  Enjoy the journey.  And I will see you all in a couple of weeks.

19 Tetsuo – The Iron Man

Now this is hardcore.

Thinking back, despite what I may have said in the very first posting of this little odyssey , I think this is the first Japanese film I ever actively hunted down.  I know I had the film on videotape, and can even remember the shop on Tottenham Court Road I bought it from (now gone, and to be honest probably not worth weeping over). 

At the time I was massively into the cult end of horror movies – David Cronenberg was an obsession of mine – and I must have read about “Tetsuo – The Iron Man” in one of those wonderful magazines that have been replaced by the internet, so of course I hunted it down as best I could.

It was a shocking and harsh experience.  Watching the DVD version today only bought back how different it could have looked on a grainy cheap video. 

So what is this film I hear you ask?  Well it is a 65 minute black and white industrial horror movie.  Think “Eraserhead”, think “Pi”, think “Night of the Living Dead”.  I think what happens is a man and his girlfriend accidentally knock over a man who is addicted to replacing his body parts with metal.  They dump his body, have sex in front of the corpse, and then the man ends up turning into a metal creature himself.  Seriously.

The first half of this film is amazing.  Jump cuts, quick editing, amazing soundtrack, flash backs, nightmares, this is super style on a budget.  And obviously directed with a passion.

To be honest, the 2nd half of the film is taken up with and over-long battle between the two antagonists, and it feels a bit of a stretch at 65 minutes in length (and yes I know there is a remake/sequel of sorts).

This is as inventive a movie as you will ever see – and if it did not influence film-makers such as Takashi Miike I would be absolutely shocked.

However, it is not essential viewing.  It really is quite hardcore, not just in subject matter but as a viewing experience.  Do as I do, and revisit it once a decade. 

18 Save The Green Planet

“Now who will save the earth?"

Have you ever had expectations about a film, and not watched it because of these misconceptions?

A few years ago, I saw the poster for “Save the Green Planet” and completely ignored it as I thought it just looked like the kind of wacky Asian comedy that I did not think I would enjoy.

So when a friend told me a couple of weeks ago that I had missed one of the greatest Korean Movies of all time, then I felt obligated to try it out.

WOW.

Don’t I feel like a fool now.

This is one of the most inventive films I have ever seen.  Yes it is part Comedy.  Part Sci-Fi. Part Thriller. Part Horror. Part Heart-breaker.

The movie starts like a Korean David Icke presentation,  with talk about aliens taking down the planet.  The usual conspiracy what-not.  A rather comic kidnapping occurs, and then we slip into the guts of the film.  A disturbed young man, Lee Byeong-gu  (the fabulous Shin Ha-Kyun) has suffered a number of personal catastrophes and has slipped into world of paranoia where he believes aliens are taking over the world.  Assisted by the equally disturbed Su-ni, the film centres around some quite graphic torture of the suspected alien/Businessman.  In the background a police investigation is taking place, with an almost Columbo-esque disgraced detective taking the lead.

Wacky hi-jinks, as they say, ensue.

One of the wonderful parts of this movie is that so many characters are red-herring, they join the movie and leave unexpectedly.  And the fact that only sympathetic character is actually a deranged serial killer is just masterful.

The camera is always on the move (and usually in your face), and the tension NEVER lets up.  It has a really gritty realistic feel, and I am astonished to find that the director Jang Joon-Hwan  has only made this film.  What a waste of talent.  But then how do you top this?  I always feel I only have one story inside of me, so maybe he feels the same.

There is a bit of social commentary going on here also, about South Korea’s industrialisation and the treatment of the little people who support this – but it never ever seems forced, just another layer to enjoy.

You will nee a strong stomach to watch this.  But please try and fortify yourself and enjoy a wonderful piece of cinema.

17 Chocolate

You so did not see this coming.

Actually a confession or three is in order. 

1) I fully intended to post about one, if not two other films first.  I’ll get to them next.  I promise

2) I had a bit of a Girls beat up Guys mini-marathon.  Well more  of a double header.  First up was “Shaolin Girl”, which was a sort of “Shaolin Soccer” meets Japan meets Lacrosse forgetting anything clever or charming or humorous.  Quick review – avoid. Lesson learnt? Apparently cute Japanese college girls cannot save any movie.  Who knew?

3) I know nothing about fighting.  I don’t know my Karate from my Kendo.  I don’t know my Muay Thai from my Wing Chung.  This is why you are not going to see many “fighting movies” in this list.

4) I only got this movie to see what all the fuss was about Blu-Ray.  The majority of Western Releases on Blu-Ray are frankly embarrassing and over-priced.  This was a tidy little bargain, and I admit I was interested.

I’ll go back to the movie now.  So what we have here is a movie from Thailand.  Now I can guarantee that this will be the only one in this list.  Some of that is my ignorance, and maybe I will try harder in the next life.  It is a shame, as it is a country I love, and the people are the friendliest I have ever met in my travels around the world.  But movie-makers?  Not so much.  Of course – you think you can convince me otherwise?  That’s what comments are for!  By the way - “The King and I” does not count!

I suppose you could categorise “Chocolate” as a female Thai “Rain Man” with violence.  That should tell you all you need to know about the plot.

The film does look gorgeous (still not sure about Blu-Ray mind you), but this is an awfully slow movie to get going.  Characters are very thinly drawn, and some of the reviews I have read, especially the synopsis, are really making big assumptions about motivation and characters.

However, about 30 minutes in, things do wake up.  There is a lovely animated piece which serves little purpose than to remind us that our lead character is Autistic (and we are constantly beaten over the head by this fact – subtlety is not this director’s strong suit), but most importantly the film wakes up.

It does pretty much turn into a computer game eventually, with big fight scene followed straight away by big fight scene.  I guess that is the genre for you.  Some of the fighting is quite spectacular.  The lead actress “JeeJa” Yanin Vismitananda is nothing short of outstanding – she is in her early 20’s, playing an autistic girl of somewhat indeterminate age, and her ability and charm flood the screen.  In fact, the autistic angle may well harm her future roles – but the interviews in the extras shows she is a bright and charming girl – good luck to her.

Now, in my notes I wrote a whole lot of things which in my mind are wrong with the film.  And this makes me sad, as I enjoyed it enough to put it up on this list.  So I’ll just ask one question – this is meant to be a comedy-action film yes?  Because if not, why would a gangster have a whole squadron of guys with swords (not much use against guns), a crack team of hit-ladyboys, and a special fighter who seems to be especially good because he has Tourettes?  Let us leave it there.  Move along.

So – is it any good?  Well I rather liked it – it was enjoyably played by the lead, looked really good, and did not annoy me as much as it could have.  You know what, I’ll definitely watch it again.  Unless of course you tell me I was meant to take it seriously.