Recently Seen, Part 12 (January 2018)

sitenoise

Member: Rank 5
I don't think any of you guys could find a copy or stream of A Blind River. I can only hope the director makes something "popular" and her back catalog gets re-issued. A Blind River needs an HD/Bluray release. It's a weird thing that I grabbed an English subbed version of the flick the year it came out. How weird is that? And like I said, it's been four years since her follow up. Still no subs. I don't think it even ever came out on Disc. It got good reception on the festival circuit, but, alas. She made another film in 2016 that I never heard about. So I'm just going to take this one to my grave, grateful to have seen it.
 

clayton-12

Member: Rank 4
But I did watch the trailer and it sounds goofy cute.
My initial thought was that words could not possibly do A Quiet Dream justice, so instead of writing a review I would just post a link to the trailer and let some of the scenes speak for themselves. Then I watched the trailer. It's an exercise in taking the heart and soul and everything that's good about a film, and crapping all over it. To say that the trailer misrepresents the film is an understatement. It's an abomination.

I don't think any of you guys could find a copy or stream of A Blind River ... I don't think it even ever came out on Disc.
There must have been an English subtitled Korean release on DVD, because I picked up a grey-market copy from a grocery store back then. I don't recall much about it, but here's what I posted on the Recently Seen thread back on 3 October 2010:

A Blind River (Ahn Sun-kyoung, 2009) presents the pain associated with the aftermath of adoption as some kind of personal horror movie. Explicitly referencing social policies implemented by governments to deal with abandoned children, the films interconnecting storylines involve a young man returning to Korea, having been adopted and raised in Australia, and a woman imprisoned by her grief over the loss of her child many years ago. The first few minutes provided the most startling and unsettling opening to a movie that I’ve seen in a long time. Quite highly recommended.

I suspect @sitenoise responded by telling me to watch M. I never did.
 

sitenoise

Member: Rank 5
I meant I don't think her follow up, Pascha, ever came out on disc.

I respond to everything telling people to watch M.

Yeah, movie trailers. They should be outlawed. And I didn't help things, as far as @plsletitrain is concerned, by using words. giggle.gif
 

plsletitrain

Member: Rank 5
I've been looking for M since @sitenoise told me that that's the most beautiful Korean (or worldwide??) film ever made but I couldn't find a copy of it.

Hey it was the trailer that made me add A Quiet Dream to my watchlist! It should never be banned. Scenes of questionable plots uploaded on their youtube accounts on the other hand.......kidding! Okay I'll stop here.
 

divemaster13

Member: Rank 4
A Blind River (DVD) (Korea Version) DVD Region All

I just ordered this from eBay. Seller is "zzdvd" $15 plus $3 shipping. I believe it's coming from overseas, so might be a couple of weeks. Might be a bootleg (although stated "Brand New: An item that has never been opened or removed from the manufacturer’s sealing"), but as long as it plays and has English subs, then I'll be fine with it.
 

sitenoise

Member: Rank 5
I just watched another flick by Director: Lu Zhang of A Quiet Dream fame. I'll wait to start a February thread and post it there tomorrow.
 

divemaster13

Member: Rank 4
@divemaster13 that's above and beyond the call of duty. I wish you didn't spend money to watch a "sitenoise" flick. I'm nervous now View attachment 5936
Don't be nervous. :) I've ordered literally hundreds of Asian DVDs on blind buys, from various importers. It's second nature to me by now. True, I try to hedge my bets by reading reviews on Darcy's site and from recommendations here and elsewhere, so my track record is pretty good. I can usually tell if I will like or at least appreciate a film based on how the movie is reviewed. Of course I do end up with some stinkers. As you probably know by now, my tastes don't always match up with the prevailing consensus. But A Blind River seems worth a chance. And, hell, it's less than $20. I'll spend that on lunch today.

My initial thought was that words could not possibly do A Quiet Dream justice,...
YesAsia has A Quiet Dream in stock. I'll order that one as well, as soon as I figure out two more Korean DVDs to purchase. They have a promotion when you order 3 Korean DVDs you get one free (usually a Hong Kong cheapie DVD release of a Korean movie). I've scored pretty well with these. The last free cheapie I got was Sunny, which I absolutely adored.
 
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