Recently Seen, Part 6 (July 2017)

[ebossert]

Highly Recommended

Beast Stalker (2008) (Chinese Thriller) (repeat viewing) – A cop (Nicholas Tse) attempts to retrieve a kidnapped girl in this action/thriller by director Dante Lam. This film overpowers the formulaic premise with sheer intensity. The highlights are the edgy finale, a very good footchase, and one of the coolest car collisions in recent memory. The mood is decisively gritty; the acting and pacing are both spot on. Nick Cheung also shines as the resolute, elusive antagonist. This is good stuff.

Recommended

Magi (2016) (Turkish Horror) – This film by Hasan Karacadag concerns Olivia, a New York-based journalist who travels to Turkey when she receives news that her sister Marla is pregnant. A vicious cult – with ties to Hitler’s occult practices – targets Marla. As with all of this director’s films, you get tons of nightmarish, demonic imagery as well as some cool locations and architecture. Framing of shots is very nice as well. As an added bonus, there is some really nasty imagery involving dead babies, with one highlight being the lengthy demonic abortion sequence. In terms of possible flaws, there is some fake-looking CGI that is used at times, and the ending feels slightly more conventional than this director’s other films. Stephen Baldwin and Michael Madsen make appearances. (Viewed without subtitles.)

Yami Douga 2 (2012) (Japanese Horror Anthology) – This is an anthology of five short documentary style horror films, with a total runtime of 60 minutes. The runtime for these films vary greatly, from 20 minutes to 3 minutes, but the inconsistent lengths add a bit of unpredictability on the viewer’s end. Overall sound design scared the crap out of me, especially when audio distortions are used. The three best segments are the first, third, and fifth, which are legitimately creepy and also introduce some very interesting and creative concepts.

Blame! (2017) (Japanese Anime Sci Fi Action/Thriller) – An “infection” in the past caused computer systems to spiral out of order, resulting in a multi-leveled city structure that replicates itself infinitely in all directions. Now humanity has lost access to the city's controls, and is hunted down and purged by the defense system known as the Safeguard. A small group of humans attempt to find a solution to this horrific world. This begins with a very good action sequence, and contributes more along the way. Much of this film concerns the protagonists’ exploration of the decrepit city and their confrontations with the robots, so there isn’t much depth to be had here. Animation quality is very nice; the use of the color red is pronounced and serves as eye candy.

Okja (2017) (Korean/American Comedy/Drama/Thriller) – A young girl risks everything to prevent a powerful, multi-national company from kidnapping her best friend – a massive animal named Okja. This is Joon-ho Bong’s weakest film to date, but it’s still moderately entertaining. This director needs to stop beating his viewers over the head with shallow “message films” because his messages are starting to supercede film quality. Also, Jake Gyllenhaal gives an atrocious performance. With that said, I did very much enjoy the lead actress (Seo-hyun Ahn), the 30 minute setup, the few thriller sequences, and the comedy.

Yami Douga 6 (aka Darkness Video 6) (2013) (Japanese Horror Anthology) – This is an anthology of five short horror films, with a total runtime of 65 minutes. Similar to some of the other installments, 3 of the films are longer and 2 are merely a few minutes in length. The 3 longer segments are all good here: In “No One Experienced Death”, a woman is interviewed about a mysterious tree in her hometown. Very creepy segment. One well-executed hanging stunt too. “Ruining the atmosphere” is a documentary video that records a healing seminar for women who are emotionally hurt. This is a slow burn but has an unnerving and gruesome finale. In “Spelled Zone”, four university students visit an abandoned hospital parking garage that is known to be haunted. Another very good segment that is creepy right from the start and never lets up.

Lucid Dream (2017) (Korean Thriller) – An investigative journalist seeks to track down the whereabouts of his son who was abducted three years ago. With the help of a detective and a psychiatrist friend, he will retrace his memory of the incident through the use of lucid dreaming techniques. This is interesting in how most of the big clues come from the protagonist’s memories, as well as those of other characters. It moves at a brisk pace and has some good twists that threw me for a loop.

Yami Douga 3 (2012) (Japanese Horror Anthology) – This is an anthology of five short horror films, with a total runtime of 61 minutes. These are less creative than some of the other installments in this franchise. There seem to be fewer background scares too, but when they arrive they are impactful. The first three stories are merely sufficient, but the final two stories are more impressive, one of which involves two men who explore a cave, and the other involves a woman who plays Kokkuri-san in an abandoned hotel.

Red Sonja (1985) (American Action) (repeat viewing) – A vengeful woman sets out to retrieve a magic orb from an evil queen who is decimating nearby kingdoms. I watched this movie a lot when I was a kid. It’s definitely a flawed picture, with lame dialogue, no character development, and stiff acting from just about everyone. However, there’s a lot of sword fighting and bloody deaths to enjoy, as well as a killing machine. It’s just fun watching Arnold Schwarzenegger and Brigitte Nielsen murder bad guys. Actually, the final girl vs girl sword duel is quite good. This has a short runtime, and the score is awesome too.

 

[Daniel Larusso]

Okja (2017)
Meet Mija, a young girl who risks everything to prevent a powerful, multi-national company from kidnapping her best friend - a massive animal named Okja.Joon-ho Bong's latest film since Snowpiercer. It's produced by Netflix but it doesn't affect its production values in any way. It's a very fun film with strong themes of corporate greed, environmentalism and genetic science, with very emotional moments too. So while this film feels like a children's movie in some moments, it also has a lot of dark material just like in previous movies from this director. The little girl's acting debut is amazing and the rest of the cast also includes famous actors such as Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal and Paul Dano. The CGI pig is one of the main stars of the movie and it feels so real, it has a lot of personality and it's easy to get attached to it.
8/10

 

[clayton-12]

No Day Off (Eric Khoo, 2006) follows Siti, a young provincial Indonesian girl looking for financial security by going to Singapore to work as a domestic help. This short film almost exclusively focuses on Siti’s passively bewildered face, as she navigates her way firstly through maid school and then a series of different employer’s households, while unseen third parties talk at (and down to) her in languages she barely understands. Despite being overtly political (the film was part of a campaign aimed at changing Singaporean labour laws), there isn’t a sense of being beaten over the head with propaganda, and the monologues were at times blackly hilarious.

Miss Zombie (SABU, 2013), in a way, might be a close cousin of No Day Off (I mean that thematically, because they sure don’t look like one another). A black-and-white, arthouse, deeply humanistic meditation on how we treat outsiders and our fear of the other, all wrapped up in a film that’s about zombies and/or indentured labour. The pacing in the beginning was so slow it almost lost me, but after the first half hour, when the moral questions start to bubble to the surface, it hits its stride (or should I say, slow moving gait).

 

[clayton-12]

The Villainess (Yung Byung-gil, 2017) is a pretty awesome updating of Luc Besson’s La Femme Nikita, with a good dose of Park Chan-wook’s vengeance trilogy (particularly Sympathy for Mr Vengeance) thrown in for good measure. Kim Ok-bin is the eponymous heroine of the film’s ironic title, an angry young woman who is taken into police custody after getting mightily pissed-off and laying waste to 30-odd thugs in a drug lab. From there, she is forced into training as a Government assassin, all the while being covertly observed by the moisturised Sung Joon, who has been earmarked as her secret handler on the outside, and will earn a promotion if he manages to form a romantic relationship with her. Hey, just because this is a brutal, ballistic action thriller doesn’t mean it can’t be a rom-com too, right?

Layers of backstory come through like waves – our heroine was a child when unknown assailants killed her father, sold into a brothel, rescued by a gangster who trains her to kill, her husband brutally murdered on their honeymoon, and the past is all connected to the future. I read some criticisms of a convoluted plot, but I actually didn’t find the film at all confusing to follow at the time – it wasn’t until afterwards, when I thought things through, that I realised I didn’t have a frickin’ clue what it was all about. There was a gemstone, there was a hard drive, things got stolen, people wanted things back, everyone’s spying on everyone else - who was what to whom and why made less sense the more I thought about it. But still, I didn’t feel cheated at all (not like I did with, say, the ridiculously plotted The Man From Nowhere) – in a way, that’s almost the point of the film so it made perfect sense that the big picture plot details make little sense.

And at any rate, a film like this stands or falls on the action sequences, and I think this one delivers in spades.

 

[divemaster13]

Re: The Villainess:

Thanks for the review: looks good!

...it wasn’t until afterwards, when I thought things through, that I realised I didn’t have a frickin’ clue what it was all about.

It's been a while since I've seen La Femme Nikita but it seems to me the above description could apply to that as well. A lot of style, with not so much attention paid to making sure it all made logical sense. Same could be said with the 1991 Hong Kong remake effort, Black Cat.

 

[clayton-12]

with not so much attention paid to making sure it all made logical sense.

My afterthought was that this was a bit more the other way around - that attention had been paid to make sure it didn't all make logical sense. Then again, maybe I just had so much fun with it that I wanted it to be existentially deep too.

 

[sitenoise]

@clayton-12 I'm aching to see The Villainess. Haven't seen it in my 'store' yet. Good review.

 

[clayton-12]

Haven't seen it in my 'store' yet.

I'm told there's unsubbed versions available out there in internetland - I was fortunate to have it released theatrically where I am.

 

[plsletitrain]

Rage (Japan, 2016)- One potential A-lister thriller that's not really a thriller--more of a drama. The film's introduction will lead you to believe you're going to solve a grissly murder. But you are actually treated to dramatic and pivotic moments in the lives of 3 persons and the people they'd interact with. While the film was doing this, it felt too slow you think you've had enough. I was actually on the verge of putting it off because it felt too long. However, I'm glad that I was able to hold it off for a couple of reasons. First, it was on my boredom that I realize the essence of the 3 characters--all of whom have facial similarities. Ah, I was supposed to guess which of the 3! Okay then...Second, because we were treated to a window on the lives of these 3 characters, we were able to immerse ourselves more and feel them, you know, kinda get attached to the character. So as the events unfold, you feel the characters more. And you get to appreciate the ending more. I think the plot of the story is very simple that it can be summarized in one sentence. But the execution and the way the film was presented, shifting from in-between the lives of the 3, was beyond simple.

The sequences were a bit dramatic and not violent (except for a graphic rape scene). The ending was grandiose (yes, that includes the acting which was a bit over-the-top for my taste).

Highly highly recommended.

 

[clayton-12]

Highly highly recommended

That's one more highly than ebossert gave it a couple of months ago - this one's been on my short-list for a while.

 

[sitenoise]

RAGE: Highly highly recommended.

Gosh darnit. I have this one here ready to watch, but the damn Volleyball Grand Prix is underway and I'm in deep. I wish there were more hours in the day.

 

[plsletitrain]

Guyz you should watch it already--its overdue. Hehe. Its almost 2 hours and the middle might be "meh" but stick for the ending...like the last 30 minutes... and you'll love it.

 

[divemaster13]

Dodes'ka-den (1970)

One of Kurosawa's later films, and his first filmed in color, I believe. Disjointed intertwining of stories focused on the downtrodden folks living in or near a shanty-town. You've got a bunch of gossiping harpies, drunken louts, henpecked/cuckolded husbands, shrewish wives, a niece-molester, and various beggars, sluts, and thieves. Oh, and the semi-retarded fellow who thinks he's a train or a trolley.

I could like a movie like this if I had any kind of emotional connection to the characters. Or, perhaps if there was something to connect the vignettes. I think I get Kurosawa's point, but unfortunately it just didn't interest me all that much. Even when a certain event happened that should have touched the heart, for me it was just "meh, that happened."

Kurosawa's study of the dregs of society was done better in his The Lower Depths. I give Dodes'ka-den 2.5 stars (out of 5).

 

[JepGambardella]

Gosh darnit. I have this one here ready to watch, but the damn Volleyball Grand Prix is underway and I'm in deep. I wish there were more hours in the day. View attachment 2365

Hi there. We had an exchange about volleyball last year on the IMDb boards, remember? I posted some of my photos from the Rio Olympics. Glad to see you are keeping up with volleyball. Where do you watch the Grand Prix?

Anyway, I've been lurking here off and on for a while but now I finally decided to join, since it is Fantasia Festival time here in Montreal, when I gorge on Japanese and Korean movies. So far I have seen:

- The Villainess, already discussed here. Jaw-dropping action - motorcycle sword fight, need I say more? - which makes up for the confusing and not very well-developed (IMHO) story. The director was present for Q&A afterwards but unfortunately I couldn't stay, since I had another film scheduled.

- Confidential Assignment, another Korean action movie. A North Korean and a South Korean cop team up to locate a defector from the North, each one with their own agenda. Chaos and hilarity ensue. Recommended.

- Teiichi: Battle of the Supreme High (Japan). Live-action adaptation of a manga. In an elite high school, one student does everything in order to become president of the student council, which he figures will be the first step in the political career that will result in him becoming Prime Minister. Wacky and funny in a very Japanese way.

- Museum - Japanese serial killer cop movie from the director of the Rurouni Kenshin trilogy. Pretty decent but not exceptional.

- The Senior Class - Adult Korean animation about an art student who falls for a classmate who has a secret.

There was also Takashi Miike's "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure", of which I only watched about 20 minutes. Adaptation of an anime that lots of people in the audience seemed to know, but to me who didn't know anything about it, it was just too bizarre. Furthermore, the movie started about 45 minutes late and it was going to end almost at 1 AM, so I didn't feel like sticking around. Not to say that it is a bad movie; under other circumstances I would have certainly given it a chance.

 

[ebossert]

Highly Recommended

The Stool Pigeon (2010) (Chinese Thriller/Drama) (repeat viewing) – An inspector (Nick Cheung) coerces an ex-con (Nicholas Tse) to be his informant in order to catch a dangerous gang of jewel robbers who are planning a major heist. This film by Dante Lam has solid dramatic elements, a focus on the morality of placing low level criminals in life threatening situations, and solid suspense/chase sequences. Acting is also excellent, with every cast member nailing their role perfectly. Even the “token” love interest is memorable with Kwai Lunmei playing the spunky girlfriend. The finale is both exciting and violent.

Logan (2017) (American Action/Thriller) – In the near future, a weary Logan cares for an ailing Professor X somewhere on the Mexican border. However, Logan's attempts to hide from the world and his legacy are upended when a young mutant arrives, pursued by dark forces. After a cool opening fight scene, this film falls into a fairly uninteresting slow patch, but then comes alive near the 30 minute mark and maintains interest afterward. The action is violent and impressive in its intensity. There’s also a high bodycount and bloody deaths to enjoy. It’s nice to see that they allowed the little girl to brutally murder dozens of bad guys. This little kid has got attitude too, and I like that; Dafne Keen did a good job in that role. Hugh Jackman was born to play this character. The story is basic and could have used some improvement, and the runtime of 137 minutes is a bit long, but the praise for it is understandable.

Wanee and Junah (2001) (Korean Romance) (repeat viewing) – An increasingly stale romantic relationship begins to drift apart as a possible love interest (in the form of a half brother) is set to return from the past. This is a very intelligent film with a boatload of subtlety that’s infused in a number of different ways. For instance, the transitions between present and past events frequently occur within the same cameraframe without an edit. There are also many point-of-view shots that are not meant to be taken literally, so the viewer had better pay very close attention or else they will miss a lot of content. The acting is worthy, the focus on realism is paramount, the characters are all solid, and the animated ending is something special. High quality filmmaking indeed.

Recommended

Au Revoir Lete (2013) (Japanese Drama) – A young woman (Fumi Nikaido) goes on a trip to a seaside town and meets a young man who is a refugee from the Fukushima disaster. Nikaido is scorching hot in this and she wears some very fashionable clothing. (It’s almost as if this director had an insatiable urge to gawk over some beautiful, scantily clad girls.) This is nicely shot with some beautiful natural environments too. Fortunately, this movie has a bit more to offer. It has some good dialogue and underlying content that touch upon some serious and/or slightly dark tones. A good quality film with solid acting all-around.

Confidential Assignment (2017) (Korean Action) – A specially trained North Korean investigato cooperates with a South Korean detective to hunt down the leader of an illegal North Korean organization who is hiding in the South. Right from the start, the bad guy is set up as a very dislikeable guy. Action is filmed with intensity, focusing on stunts and physical effects – the highlight being a car chase shootout near the end. Some effective humor is mixed in, and the scoring is good too. The investigation loses momentum at times, in favor of filler and bickering between the characters, but this is a good flick.

Fabricated City (2017) (Korean Action/Thriller) – An online gamer is framed for murder, but attempts to find evidence that will clear his name and catch the villain. After a crazy action scene, the opening 30-40 minutes of this movie are pretty dark and take place mostly in prison, which really places the protagonist behind the 8-ball. However, it lightens up after that and becomes a more purely entertaining action/thriller with hacker/technology elements taking the forefront. Tons of action and thrills in this, with car chases, gadgets, and other fun stuff. With that said, the viewer will need a major suspension of disbelief to accept the unrealistic elements in this. For example, the crime scene investigation aspects are outlandish because there are teams of people who fabricate evidence and frame many different people, which would be impossible to do in real life. Also, they have “connections” who can control the police force, which is rather absurd. And by the way, our protagonist is a damn good car driver for no apparent reason. Regardless of its flaws, this movie is still a lot of fun to watch.

Golgo 13 (2008-2009) (Japanese Anime Action Television Series) – An international assassin strikes fear in the heart of his targets. Working for everyone from the CIA and industrial corporations to the mafia, this elite hit man never fails. This anime series (50 episodes, 25 minutes each) is fun to watch, with an episodic structure that helps to keep things moving and ensure that every episode has some action in it. Most of the assassinations require a sniper rifle or similar method of killing, which does get a bit repetitive. Still, the situations and stories surrounding the hits do have a good variety. One ridiculous thing is how everyone knows what he looks like and knows his real name, but he just struts around where everyone can see and find him. Also, nothing is challenging for this guy. Review is based on the first 13 episodes only.

The Jungle Book (2016) (American Drama/Thriller) – After a threat from the tiger Shere Khan forces him to flee the jungle, a man-cub named Mowgli embarks on a journey of self discovery with the help of panther, Bagheera, and free spirited bear, Baloo. Special effects are solid and the animals are engaging characters. Thriller elements represent the most entertaining moments. On the negative side, the little kid is not a good actor, and he gets on my nerves at times.

Sing Street (2016) (Irish/British/American Drama) – A boy growing up in Dublin during the 1980s escapes his strained family life by starting a band to impress the mysterious girl he likes. This starts off rather shaky, but gradually becomes endearing. Well made overall, I liked the discussions involving the older brother the best. The 80s style and music add some cultural value.

Split (2016) (American Thriller) – Though Kevin has revealed 23 personalities to his psychiatrist, there remains one still submerged who is set to materialize and dominate all the others. Compelled to abduct three teenage girls, Kevin reaches a war for survival among all of those contained within him. This is a flawed but entertaining film. The three lead actresses are underwhelming and the script is simplistic given the premise; only a few personalities actually show up in the film, and they are all over-the-top caricatures with little depth. James McAvoy does a good job overall, but he also hams it up a bit too much at times. On the positive side, this does take its time to set things up and there are some truly suspenseful moments during the latter half. I also like the final reveal.

Finding Dory (2016) (American Animated Drama) – The friendly but forgetful blue tang fish, Dory, begins a search for her long-lost parents, and everyone learns a few things about the real meaning of family along the way. This is passable fluff that is devoid of depth or interesting characters. The lead protagonist is rather annoying, actually. But the pacing is brisk and the aquatic environments and animation help to sustain interest.

Not Recommended

The Whispering Star (2015) (Japanese Drama) – A feminine android delivers packages to the scattered humans in the galaxy. With years to spare, the android and us have time to contemplate what it is to be human. This film by Sion Sono was shot in black and white, and most of the runtime restricts itself to the confines of the tiny spaceship. Some very nicely shot moments. An interesting premise, but it doesn’t explore it enough. Too much time spent watching characters doing nothing. (Viewed without subtitles, but there are stretches of minimal dialogue.)

Tik Tok (2016) (Chinese/Korean Thriller) – A Korean police officer and a Chinese psychologist attempt to stop a lunatic from blowing up people. This is cheaply edited and very rushed during the opening 10 minutes, which gives the viewer an idea of how shoddy this production turned out. It’s generic, poorly written, and frustrating to watch. There are a few legitimately impressive sequences though, one of which is the hallway fight during the second half that transitions into a computer room shootout.

Samulife (2015) (Japanese Drama) – This film depicts a former high school teacher who wants to found a non-traditional high school. Not a bad film or anything, but it’s presented in such a bland way. Characters and story have little interest. There’s no nuance or detail to anything. In other words, it’s very stiff and lifeless.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016) (American Action) – The valiant turtles return to action in a new armored battle wagon, determined to protect New York City from a ruthless new menace. This film has terrible pacing in the sense that it feels very rushed and doesn’t even bother to set things up early on. Action is completely weightless and lacking in impactful choreography, with greater emphasis on CGI crap that’s constantly thrown in the viewer’s face. The sky dive scene and the finale are good examples of repetitive, boring action. The Technodrome should have had a bigger role; technically it has no role.

 

[clayton-12]

it is Fantasia Festival time here in Montreal

Thanks for sharing - I'm looking forward to more updates as the festival progresses. Interesting that you (and ebossert below) gave the thumbs up to Confidential Assignment. I think based of the plot description I would have steered well clear of it - having suffered through the limp action/comedy/buddy/North-v-South Korea Secret Reunion, I'm a bit wary.

If I was over there, I'd be most looking forward to:
A Taxi Driver (co-incidentally by the same guy who made me suffer Secret Reunion, but hey, you can't condemn someone for the rest of their life),
Love and Other Cults
Bad Genius
Free and Easy
I'd also be interested in checking out the remake of Goodbye Pork Pie, although I'd be approaching that with one hell of a lot of trepidation.

 

[divemaster13]

Wanee and Junah (2001) (Korean Romance) (repeat viewing) – An increasingly stale romantic relationship begins to drift apart as a possible love interest (in the form of a half brother) is set to return from the past. This is a very intelligent film with a boatload of subtlety that’s infused in a number of different ways. For instance, the transitions between present and past events frequently occur within the same cameraframe without an edit. There are also many point-of-view shots that are not meant to be taken literally, so the viewer had better pay very close attention or else they will miss a lot of content. The acting is worthy, the focus on realism is paramount, the characters are all solid, and the animated ending is something special. High quality filmmaking indeed.

This is one of my "top-tier" Korean films (meaning it reaches at least the 4-star threshold). It's been a while since I've watched it, but I've been thinking about it recently, meaning to give it a re-watch and the full review treatment.

 

[JepGambardella]

Thanks for sharing - I'm looking forward to more updates as the festival progresses. Interesting that you (and ebossert below) gave the thumbs up to Confidential Assignment. I think based of the plot description I would have steered well clear of it - having suffered through the limp action/comedy/buddy/North-v-South Korea Secret Reunion, I'm a bit wary.

If I was over there, I'd be most looking forward to:
A Taxi Driver (co-incidentally by the same guy who made me suffer Secret Reunion, but hey, you can't condemn someone for the rest of their life),
Love and Other Cults
Bad Genius
Free and Easy
I'd also be interested in checking out the remake of Goodbye Pork Pie, although I'd be approaching that with one hell of a lot of trepidation.

A Taxi Driver is in my list. So was Bad Genius, but unfortunately that one was sold out.

Yesterday I saw Shock Wave (Hong Kong) with Andy Lau. Meh. Nothing special. Big action movie with plenty of gun fights and explosions, but just not very engaging.

 

[sitenoise]

Hi there. We had an exchange about volleyball last year on the IMDb boards, remember? I posted some of my photos from the Rio Olympics. Glad to see you are keeping up with volleyball. Where do you watch the Grand Prix?

Hello there! Welcome aboard. Yes, the Japanese women's volleyball teams have eclipsed my movie watching. It's a pain in the arse to view the Grand Prix games because NBC bought the broadcast rights in the US so they can't be streamed live or shown in replay here. The real shitty thing is that NBC is only broadcasting games where the USA team plays, who I don't care about--and not even broadcasting them live. Okay, deep breath. Let it go. Let it go. If some corporation in Canada hasn't made a similar dick move, you can watch the games on FIVB's YouTube channel.

I've settled on a couple of solutions that aren't bad. For live games you need a VPN. I use the Hola extension for Google Chrome, and pretend I'm in Germany. It's a finicky nefarious extension. I don't use Chrome for anything else except this kind of nonsense so I'm not too worried about what it might be leeching. If you have to go that route and have trouble with it, PM me and I'll help you troubleshoot.

For replays, in case you missed a match that played at 3:00AM or while you were at work, or want to watch Japan beat Brazil again, the Hola extension doesn't work, but there is an easy solution to get 720p, not the 1080p that is broadcast: simply go to the Youtube page where you're informed that the video is not available in your country and change the word youtube in the URL to youpak. So change

to https://www.youpak.com/watch?v=BBBFYRk9StA

Best way to get to the FIVB youtube page of a game you're interested in is here (but beware of spoiler alerts if you care, the scores are there): http://worldgrandprix.2017.fivb.com/en/schedule I mention this because sometimes searching youtube for a video that isn't available in your country returns no results.

​

 

[sitenoise]

Re: Wanee and Junah (2001), a film that really rustled my feathers

This is one of my "top-tier" Korean films (meaning it reaches at least the 4-star threshold). It's been a while since I've watched it, but I've been thinking about it recently, meaning to give it a re-watch and the full review treatment.

I'll wait until you post your review and then add my review to your thread. But I'll post the comments from my review here just for kicks because they are beautiful and funny:

1. Anna September 08, 2010 2:53 AM
   The ending seemed rather unhappy to me for it is shadowed by compromise. The love for Junah is deliberately educated, cultivated, awakened, while her first love is instinctive, difficult to tame and therefore a smoldered one. Consequently, this love is destined to incessant resuscitation, fact which saddens any viewer. Anyway, the nature of the ending, whether it is sad or happy, is not so important. The movie is well-done and Wanee's performance is impressive indeed. That cartoon from the ending, conceived as the key for the whole structure of the movie, filled me with compassion to my fingertips, compassion for both Junah and Wanee.
   
   sitenoise September 08, 2010 8:50 AM
   You are absolutely right. And you're right in such a poetic way it's almost better than the movie. You're such a girl. I'm thinking "I'm Junah. I got the girl. I'm happy." And you're thinking "I'm Wanee. I can work with this, I guess." That's sad. Horribly sad. I'm happy now. Afraid of girls and fearful of a life destined to incessant resuscitation, I'll manage. Hopefully. Such is the nature of hope.
   
   November 13, 2010 7:22 AM
   Hi. I liked reading this even though I haven't seen the movie and in all honesty probably won't. Not because of the review, I just don't see movies much. Go Kings.
   
   sitenoise November 13, 2010 7:46 AM
   Haha. Thanks for visiting. Movies are good for you. Glad you didn't say Go Warriors. :)
   
   February 26, 2013 9:08 AM
   wat was d song wen wanee enters youn min room?
   
   September 28, 2013 11:53 PM
   Fantastic movie. Thanks for clarifying a few plot details for which I seeking validation. When toy say 'her mother's husband'do you mean to say he was not her father. Did the father and mother both have kids or of their marriage?
   
   June 19, 2014 6:02 AM
   song is: Johnny has gone for a soldier, you can find it on youtube.
   
   
   July 10, 2014 9:06 PM
   Hey....I m ruhh....I have seen this movie more than hundred times...and wana c more ..I feel so connected whenever I watch dis movie. .so real so romantic. ... ....:After breakup we badly miss each other smell.......so true........love this movie. ...no unnecessary dialogues. .....no twist no emotional drama. ..but still heart touching. .....