Midnight Run (1988) - 9
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) - 8.5
The Adventures of Robinhood (1938) - 8
Sisters (1973) - 6.5
Shin Godzilla (2016) - 7.5
Hedging the rating a bit here, since it's almost certain to go up when I watch the film again on bigger screen next week; even in smaller boutique theater -- that is by no mean inferior -- the imagery is immersive, and the way a single theater-shaking beat thrums out loudly among the sparsely used soundtrack is so thrillingly shiver-inducing. My two main reservations are ones that will probably lessen or disappear next week, now that I know the film's overall shape: the ending, which doesn't feel so much poetically inevitable as borderline standard for arthouse almost-thriller (maybe for this more unconventional film, I'm craving a fitting punctuation more than normal inevitability, like the one in just-watched Western or Bong Joon-Ho's Mother); and I'm not sure if the way we are linked with our lead's frustrated mindset tips over too much into actual audience's unproductive frustration at various moments (also not sure if this is a storytelling problem or a Yoo Ah-In problem).
The latter feels like nitpicking though, in the face of such magnificent filmmaking (FYC scene of the year: "The Great Hunger" with Miles Davis), and of how those frustrations morph seamlessly into arising, barely registered possibilities of answers, before spinning into new, even more fearsome questions again. Hopefully even more raised appreciation to come on second watch, but one greatness is immediate upon impact: MVP Steven Yeun, who has nary a hair out of place or out of his ethereal calmness, but whose smallest normal changes in emotions or gestures can chill you to the bone, with their real-world evocation of casual, outsized privilege. 8.5/10
Midnight Run (1988) - 9
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) - 8.5
The Adventures of Robinhood (1938) - 8
Sisters (1973) - 6.5
Shin Godzilla (2016) - 7.5
Is there an American release date for this yet?
Ratings on a 1-10 scale for your pleasure:
Top Gun: Maverick - 8
Top Gun - 7
McCabe & Mrs. Miller - 8
Crimes of the Future - 8
Videodrome - 9
Valley Girl - 8
Summer of '42 - 7
In the Line of Fire - 8
Passenger 57 - 7
Everything Everywhere All at Once - 6
Yeah, I just checked and it’s October 26. After consistent one-year lags of Koreeda’s films I always check US release date of Asian films that might have a chance to screen there to see where it might go in the forum’s year subgroup. (Shoplifters winning Cannes seem to break the trend though, so I don’t have to wait for next year subgroup when it comes to Thai this weekend).
Midnight Run (1988) - 9
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) - 8.5
The Adventures of Robinhood (1938) - 8
Sisters (1973) - 6.5
Shin Godzilla (2016) - 7.5
75/100
The psychological implications of deep economic and political divisions run deep in Lee Chang-dong's latest. By design, this can obviously be read a number of different ways, but for me, it works best by considering []
Helped by a superb minimalist soundtrack, Lee foregrounds the character interactions and allows the calculated ambiguity (it almost seems too calculated at times, as if Lee is consciously making a choose your own adventure tale for his audience, rather than following a specific train of thought himself) to percolate in the background. Yuen is a little stiff at times, but it works for his character, while Jun knocks her debut out of the park.
(Don't read the spoilers before seeing the film - one of the pleasures is trying to figure out what the film is up to all on your own. And chances are, you will have a different interpretation to me).
Last 10 Movies Seen
(90+ = canonical, 80-89 = brilliant, 70-79 = strongly recommended, 60-69 = good, 50-59 = mixed, 40-49 = below average with some good points, 30-39 = poor, 20-29 = bad, 10-19 = terrible, 0-9 = soul-crushingly inept in every way)
Run (2020) 64
The Whistlers (2019) 55
Pawn (2020) 62
Matilda (1996) 37
The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976) 61
Moby Dick (2011) 50
Soul (2020) 64
Heroic Duo (2003) 55
A Moment of Romance (1990) 61
As Tears Go By (1988) 65
Stuff at Letterboxd
Listening Habits at LastFM
I'm gonna try to see this again when it releases. I saw it at TIFF and it threw me for a loop. Not at all what I was expecting, and quite different from the previous Lee films I've seen. Lee's films usually cut me deep, straight to the bone, but my emotional response to this was a lot more diffuse, perhaps owing to the deliberate ambiguity. And I agree with trans about it feeling too calculated at times; I found the way Lee kept tossing out "clues" in the final stretch to be a little clumsy and even unnecessary.
Overall, though, I really liked it, have thought about it a lot since, and I thought the strength of Lee's directing was pretty much at a career best.
My immediate reaction to the ending was that []
Last edited by Stay Puft; 10-19-2018 at 01:30 AM.
Giving up in 2020. Who cares.
maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore (Sky Hopinka) ***½
Without Remorse (Stefano Sollima) *½
The Marksman (Robert Lorenz) **
Beckett (Ferdinando Cito Filomarino) *½
Night Hunter (David Raymond) *
The more I see the trailer for this, the more excited I get for it. The cinematography is astounding.
Last Five Films I've Seen (Out of 5)
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse (Mackesy, 2022) 4.5
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Crawford, 2022) 4
Confess, Fletch (Mottola, 2022) 3.5
M3GAN (Johnstone, 2023) 3.5
Turning Red (Shi, 2022) 4.5
Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953) 5
615 Film
Letterboxd
I found this to be a complete waste. The ideas regarding class and new Korea replacing tradition are poorly realized, instead overtaken by meandering moments that are as beautifully shot as they are meaningless to the scope of the storytelling. []
Last edited by Mal; 10-24-2018 at 06:30 AM.
Well, [].
Last 10 Movies Seen
(90+ = canonical, 80-89 = brilliant, 70-79 = strongly recommended, 60-69 = good, 50-59 = mixed, 40-49 = below average with some good points, 30-39 = poor, 20-29 = bad, 10-19 = terrible, 0-9 = soul-crushingly inept in every way)
Run (2020) 64
The Whistlers (2019) 55
Pawn (2020) 62
Matilda (1996) 37
The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976) 61
Moby Dick (2011) 50
Soul (2020) 64
Heroic Duo (2003) 55
A Moment of Romance (1990) 61
As Tears Go By (1988) 65
Stuff at Letterboxd
Listening Habits at LastFM
[]Quoting transmogrifier (view post)
Last edited by Mal; 10-24-2018 at 04:29 PM.
I did have a different interpretation than you, but I like yours a lot. It made me appreciate the film all the more.Quoting transmogrifier (view post)
[]
However, I don't think I can discount your take, which makes for an even richer film. Between this and Secret Sunshine, Lee's becoming one of my favorites. I really need to catch up on Oasis asap.
Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***
Having seen all of Lee's films, this feels comparable to Secret Sunshine or Oasis to me (I've grown to see SS as his masterpiece after first thinking it was Oasis, though I greatly respect that and Peppermint Candy); certainly upper echelon in terms of abstraction and ambiguity. For us it played most like Antonioni, offering itself to whatever you want to project onto it, with differing levels of value applied to each reading. Jun in a marvel of desire as she searches for the big hunger, even as she's indifferent to the larger attempts at control from Jong-soo.
Yoo Ah-in has the hardest role in that he has to make []
While the Faulkner nods are a bit obvious in that they influenced Murakami's story of the same name, the legacies of violence, rural resentment towards the upper class, and other aspects actively work to make the pairing more interesting. One of this year's delights for me, all the more that Lee is getting rewarded for almost 20 years of stellar filmmaking.
The Boat People - 9
The Power of the Dog - 7.5
The King of Pigs - 7
Spicy Korean BBQ. Echoes of The Talented Mr. Ripley, Antonioni, Paul Schrader, and even Hitchcock's obsessives (think Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window and Vertigo) + I'm curious how much of the depth here is Murakami (I haven't read the story this was based on)... but Lee Chang-dong puts the burn in slow burn. There's a lot going on here re: class, globalization, North / South Korea (I get the idea that the poorer you are in South Korea, the closer you are to the N. Korea border), obsessive "incel" culture, masculinity, faith, and so forth. Also interesting this showed at Cannes with Under the Silver Lake since they are both playing in the same sandbox of gone girls and the (young, dorky) men who obsess over them. Would make an interesting (if LONG) double feature.
Last edited by Pop Trash; 02-03-2019 at 01:55 PM.
Ratings on a 1-10 scale for your pleasure:
Top Gun: Maverick - 8
Top Gun - 7
McCabe & Mrs. Miller - 8
Crimes of the Future - 8
Videodrome - 9
Valley Girl - 8
Summer of '42 - 7
In the Line of Fire - 8
Passenger 57 - 7
Everything Everywhere All at Once - 6
I haven't either, but I gather from people who have that this is heavily adapted, since the Murakami seems to be a short story comprised entirely of that conversation about barn burning between the two men while sharing the joint. Also, if I remember correctly, both men aren't that much different in class (if at all), so the class commentary is entirely from Lee.Quoting Pop Trash (view post)
Midnight Run (1988) - 9
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) - 8.5
The Adventures of Robinhood (1938) - 8
Sisters (1973) - 6.5
Shin Godzilla (2016) - 7.5
Interesting. This might replace Beale Street for best adapted screenplay of 2018.Quoting Peng (view post)
Ratings on a 1-10 scale for your pleasure:
Top Gun: Maverick - 8
Top Gun - 7
McCabe & Mrs. Miller - 8
Crimes of the Future - 8
Videodrome - 9
Valley Girl - 8
Summer of '42 - 7
In the Line of Fire - 8
Passenger 57 - 7
Everything Everywhere All at Once - 6
Also, this is TOTALLY BOTHERING ME but...
[]
Ratings on a 1-10 scale for your pleasure:
Top Gun: Maverick - 8
Top Gun - 7
McCabe & Mrs. Miller - 8
Crimes of the Future - 8
Videodrome - 9
Valley Girl - 8
Summer of '42 - 7
In the Line of Fire - 8
Passenger 57 - 7
Everything Everywhere All at Once - 6
It's been about half a year, but I think... []Quoting Pop Trash (view post)
Midnight Run (1988) - 9
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) - 8.5
The Adventures of Robinhood (1938) - 8
Sisters (1973) - 6.5
Shin Godzilla (2016) - 7.5
[]Quoting Peng (view post)
Ratings on a 1-10 scale for your pleasure:
Top Gun: Maverick - 8
Top Gun - 7
McCabe & Mrs. Miller - 8
Crimes of the Future - 8
Videodrome - 9
Valley Girl - 8
Summer of '42 - 7
In the Line of Fire - 8
Passenger 57 - 7
Everything Everywhere All at Once - 6
Thought this was excellent. Love a slow burn, but even better, a mystery both on the surface and something more quite beyond it. Def would've hit my top five.
No offense, I think it's that, but it happened to me too.Quoting Pop Trash (view post)
This might be a great film but I didn't connect with it anywhere, with any character or situation. I've read Murakami and I thought Secret Sunshine was a devastating drama but... this just didn't do anything for me. I must have checked the watch 90 times. A theater experience might have been different, but... *shrug*