This felt like the first draft of a bad anthology series episode. A bloated hour of television stretched out into an utterly inconsequential “film”.
Yeon Sang-ho is a madly prolific producer of pulp and I love him for it. The economy and forward momentum of his plots is part of what made things like TRAIN TO BUSAN and HELLBOUND (yes, I know you all don’t love this one) such a blast. Hell I even have a soft spot for PSYCHOKINESIS.…
A rather frustrating watch.
There’s a lot of purpose behind THE SCARY OF SIXTY-FIRST, both stylistically and thematically, but that purpose becomes muddled thanks to an overeagerness to be unique and edgy.
The grungy 70s NY aesthetic is pretty well realised but generally speaking I don’t warm to films that ape a bygone aesthetic, whether it’s THE ARTIST or THE LOVE WITCH.
Here the style is incongruously saddled with contemporary issues surrounding conspiracy theories (namely regarding Jeffrey Epstein) and whatever…
Director Kim Jong-kwan's long-awaited commercial debut doesn't disappoint. JOSEE, with Nam Joo-hyuk and Han Ji-min, is a rich and rewarding romantic drama, sumptuously textured to a degree seldom seen in Korean cinema before.
Nam Joo-hyuk, in particular, shines in this achingly rendered remake of Isshin Inudo's JOSEE, THE TIGER AND THE FISH. Director Kim's deft touch for lyrical and layered dialogue is another highlight, which I expect will yield future rewards on repeat viewings.
I was transfixed by most of…
