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Ah-ga-ssi (2016)
Simply genius.
The Handmaiden was born as an adaptation of Sarah Water's 2002 novel Fingersmith, a Victorian crime novel Park Chang-wook took the inspiration from, taking as a reference its investigation in repression and the limits of female empowerment. Despite of this, he was able to convert the story, the characters and the costumes and scenarios into the dynamics of the Japanese occupation of South Korea during the war. Thus, the film tackles themes as love, betrayal, conflicts on personal interests and liberation. With only four characters, the movie offers a magnificent story with several plots and twists, thanks to a successful choice of narrative style and form.
The Handmaiden is an amazing movie that evidences the perfected style of a recognized director who surpasses himself with every movie he releases, that shows majestic combinations of quality cinematography, editing, sound and the perfect use of scenarios, a very well written and complex characters, along with an even more well developed story throughout the plot, thanks to the correct decisions made on form and style of the film. All of this brings together an amazing experience that makes this movie an outstanding work in the 7th art history.
Terry Tate, Office Linebacker (2002)
PAIN IS COMING!
Procrastination is not permitted when its punishment is being knocked down by a very intimidating and big guy who is going to jump on you while shouting "Pain is coming!"
It made me laugh how this guy was screaming and running from one place to another while chasing employees who were breaking the working rules or not being efficient enough. It resulted being as funny as effective, since everyone in the office is going to think about it twice before going against the boss' will.
The attitude of Terry Tate, his aggressiveness and the way he talks made a really funny contrast with what we are used to see in an office and how different is the world of sport and business when it comes to disciplinate, this resulting very comic.
I recommend this film to everyone having a bad day because I am sure it will at least make you smile!
Otousan no tabako (2007)
Awareness rising through a deep and concerning story.
A little Japanese girl is confused about what is wrong and right since her father is asking her to bring tobacco for him at home, while he is lying on the bed in a very critical state of health probably induced by his smoking habits. The girl doesn't know what to do as her mother keeps on scolding her for this and, at the same time, her father begs for her to bring at least a cigarette for him.
I have to say that I didn't like the way the little girl plays the role, but besides this, I find her character very powerful in the story. She is so well written that it is impossible not to emphasize with her and her dilemma. You can feel the concern for her and the situation she is facing and that does not stop when the screen goes black, you can feel the sadness inside your body even after the film ends.
I also would like to comment that I enjoyed the cinematography of the movie, nice shots, nice rhythm, beautiful takes that make it possible to conceive of the film as a united piece of work.
Realistically, it makes you stick to the story even though the sadness and the way the tragedy develops can be predicted from the very beginning. I see this movie as a very nice way to raise awareness against tobacco and its harmful effects on human health.
Lola rennt (1998)
Unable to leave you indifferent.
Lola receives a call from Manni, he is at a payphone, looking really anxious and desperately blaming her for not being on time, as he asks also for her help completely out of nerves. Lola needs to have 100.000 Deutsche marks in 20 minutes if she doesn't want her boyfriend to get killed.
The time plays a very important role on this film, we see the same sequence of 20 minutes repeated three times, in which every time some little details change until the final ending becomes completely different. I loved everything on this movie.
The music is a very important part for me, it really got me into it since the very initial credits, making everything that was going on on screen really appealing, filling every scene with the proper emotions induced by this changing soundtrack. I love how everything we see is meaningful, every scene is necessary, each interaction, each encounter, each second, everything matters.
I found the acting really skillful, and I personally liked the work of camera when it came to film all the scenes of Lola running through the city, they did a really good job with the cinematography.
In conclusion, I completely recommend this movie which is able to keep you on the edge of your seat from the beginning to the exact end.
Embers (2006)
I couldn't be touched.
We see the life of a woman who works at home alone, concerned about something is not revealed until the end of the short film as we also see how there is something that seems to be disturbing her, cued by the visions of a Japanese warrior who appears inside her house and makes her breath go away everytime their eyes meet, thus making vivid her fear of losing her husband in the war.
I found it hard to understand the dialogue even though it was in English, because the accent is really strong and they kind of whisper every time they talk, so it was a little bit complicated to follow what they were saying. Maybe this is one of the reasons why I did not connect at all to the meaning behind the story. The dialogue, the lack of self consciousness with that kind of situation that made it difficult for me to relate and the lack of credibility sometimes due to the acting ended up turning the short film in a too big drama for just 12 minutes of short film.
I can see the intention behind the screenplay, the kind of story they wanted to tell, but maybe it was a too difficult task to reflect all of that in the screen with all this dulling factors.
Born with It (2015)
Realistically touching.
In the countryside of Japan, a black kid raised by a white Japanese mother has to deal with the tough task of attending school, a place where kids are mean and do not hesitate on spreading mean rumours about the unusual (in Japanese countryside) skin color of the new student, which the other children immediately relate to AIDS.
All the dialogue is in Japanese, but there are English subtitles available to follow every conversation they have. The fact that they only use Japanese is well used by the screenwriters to portray how the fact that the black kid even speaks their language is not enough to validate him and integrate him in the group as what he is, a Japanese. Thus, the theme of the movie touched me deeply till the point I ended up in tears, what I see as a sign of a really good job in the task of getting viewers inspired and provoking an emotional response on them. Most of the films which treat this kind of delicate topics (minorities, discrimination, etc) very often disappoint me for the way they are portrayed, making evident the lack of knowledge on the matter they are trying to create a story about. But this was not the case. Born with it shows a real approach to the difficulties minorities have to face in society, not only in Japanese countryside but also over the world, where is so difficult to fit in due to the really hard normalized social standards. The message was clear and the kids did a great job with the acting, something I also liked about the movie. It did not fail to make evident how even the most innocent side of society, children, can be really mean in discrimination matters, and even how teachers most of the time are not helpful and supportive enough to those kids being discriminated against.
To sum up, I really enjoyed watching this movie, the music, the acting, the camera movements and shots, everything worked together to make possible to transmit a deep and emotional message. It touches your heart and makes you empathise with problems which are not shown enough on the screen.
Knick Knack (1989)
Dreadful humor and image about women.
In an alternative universe where toys are alive, a snowman dreams about joining the summer party taking place next to him, while it is trapped inside a snowball.
The main and almost only motivation after this snowman to get out the snowball and approach the other toys partying is the presence of a skin and wavy blonde doll, with a huge and impressive sunglasses and a brilliant smile which helps her to fit in the perfect and standardized canon of a woman nowadays everyone should desire to be or to date. The short film deals with this subject in a humoristic way, showing the snowman going through different situations in order to finally meet this doll and be with her. But for what concerns me, the jokes are far from being funny or original, the story is simple and quite predictable, what in addition to the motivation under the plot made me unable to enjoy the film.
The good part of the short film might be the good animation Pixar Studios never fails to show, the colors and the sound which make the piece audio visually attractive, thus even when there is no dialogue we are able to follow everything that is going on and read the expressions and feelings of the toys on screen when they are not even human nor real.
The Crush (2010)
Scary Entertainment.
We see a little boy sat in class, he stares at the teacher and holds a ring on his hands. His love towards her leads him to fantasize about the idea of being able to marry her one day, but this plan is frustrated when he meets his teacher's fiancee, which makes the boy threaten him and challenge a pistol duel to him in order to win the girl.
I personally liked the way the film develops, the perfect timing the story advances made me felt hooked since the very beginning, which I really appreciated. However, I have to say that I felt disappointed with the ending of the short film. I strongly disagree with the way love is portrayed, how in the end everything is about two man fighting over a woman who has no more importance than the award role in this story. In addition, the boy uses violence and arms as a way to scare the fiancee and this behavior is never remarked or pointed out by the woman as the horrible conduct it is even more coming from a boy at such an early age. On the contrary, the child is even praised by the woman as she tells him how lucky is going to be the woman who ends up with him.
In short, an interesting and well-constructed story with a horrifying and normalized message.
J'attendrai le suivant... (2002)
It stays with you.
At night in France, a man walks in a wagon of the metro, filled with different people. He starts speaking out loud, giving a speech to everyone inside the car. What surprises everyone, including the audience, is the message of his words, which seems to hook completely one of the women inside the metro, who stares at him with sparkling eyes and a big innocent and excited smile on her face.
The short films sets a situation that can seem familiar at the beginning: night in the city, people on the metro, people who laugh or the aggressive reaction of some of the men who are also in the same metro car as they guy who is talking. Moreover, this idea of being witnessing a familiar or common situation is suddenly dropped by the course of the speech and how this affects one of the women standing on the metro,, this ending with an even more surprising plot twist.
We don't know anything else about this characters, we have no background, we are limited to know just what we see on screen and every conclusion we can get from the visual storytelling. Yet, I found myself deeply attached to that hopeful woman. Concerned about what she just experienced, about her life, about what is going to happen with her. We keep that feeling with us after watching a less than 4 minutes film which can makes us think we are just watching a familiar situation we are all used to see on the metro, when the truth is that by the end of the film, we find ourselves surprised by the unexpected turns of events, trapped by a woman, a story, and not only by a simple situation.
Fish Out of Water (2005)
Interesting and funny.
A man escapes the traffic every morning by rowing alone his boat while going to work. The scene is so peaceful and quiet, he enjoys the ride being apart from the annoying rush hour on the streets. One day, a woman threats his calm trip by joining him, without even giving him a choice.
The story has no dialogue, still it is not necessary to understand the emotions of the main character, as the actor plays very well his role by using facial expression that change while the story is developing. The music fits so good this emotions and makes you feel connected to what you are seeing on screen. The sounds are also used in a very effective way, as the one from the nails of the women in the middle of the noisy traffic hitting the wheel, this making you feel stressed and tense. I also enjoyed the shot in the revolving door as it was so dynamic.
The film depicts how important is to find a moment of relax to survive the stressful life most of us go through every day, and it shows in a funny way how far are we decided to go in order to protect that moment of peace.
Whacked (1998)
A successful short film.
Panic and bewilderment take over New York when people start collapsing in the middle of the street with no apparent reason, the stress and distress can be felt as the sound of the ambulances sirens fastly running through the city goes through the screen to put the viewer in tension. I found the ending really comic and quaint, which made me especially enjoy the short film.
The story gives an interesting view about what is happening on the streets, making the audience in the end even find funny or amusing the fact that people are dying in the middle of the crowd, something that is not usually related to the concept of death, surrounded most of the time for a more dramatic thematic. The way the plot is introduced does not make the film original in its form but it does not fail on its main purpose, to intrigue the audience about the reason that is causing all this sudden deaths. The sounds are so important in this film as they make you get into the stress that each situation present on the film brings on.
In conclusion, the film manages to create an interesting and funny story in less than 5 minutes, using sounds in a very suitable way combining them with original scenarios and good takes, all of it topped with a witty ending that leaves no one indifferent.
Three Days in Kamakura (2012)
A big drama with no clear motivations.
At the end of the day, Three Days in Kamakura cannot decide what kind of movie it wants to be. The succession of very dramatic events happening one after another, the questionable interpretation skills of the main female character, and the difficulty to feel hooked up by the plot are remarked by an ending that says little of substance.
The film shows the story of David, who is an English teacher in a school located next to the Morito beach, where he lives with his wife Keiko. After the loss of their child due to a miscarriage, Keiko seems depressed and David dreams about a kid in the family as he works with children day by day, leading him to experience a strong desire to kidnap one of the kids he teaches, after the death of his mother, this causing a conflict between the couple.
The emotionless expression of Keiko makes so hard to relate to the dramatic situation she is supposed to be going through. The way the characters are interrelated is so weak, that makes the film nothing more than a set of tragedies with no real depth.
However, the location is aesthetically pleasing and transmits very good vibes, with a kind of summer feeling that produces a good and satisfying emotional response, as the plot and the story fail to do.
Father and Daughter (2000)
Emotional if it is relatable.
This short film tells the story of a girl that is left on a coast by his father, after a ride on their bikes and an emotive farewell. She comes back to the place they last saw each other by riding her bike. Through this sequences, we can appreciate how life goes by as she grows old and goes through different periods of her life, always riding her bike (that seems to become older with her too), and never stopping coming to the place she was left by her father.
The film has no dialogue but the music and the sounds are enough to take you into the story and make you able to understand what is going on on screen. Also, every element of the movie has a metaphoric meaning: the trees, the bikes, the water, etc, that gives the film a deeper and poetic view that I enjoyed.
Nevertheless, I could not feel really touched by its story because I cannot empathise with the strong bond or relationship between a father and a daughter; this making the film to me nothing more than a simple story beautifully told.