Recently Seen, Part 26 (March 2019)

ebossert

Member: Rank 3
Highly Recommended

The Spy Gone North (2018) (Korean Drama/Thriller) – In 1993, a former military officer is sent to infiltrate a group of high-ranking North Korean officials based in Beijing, with the ultimate goal of acquiring information on the North's nuclear program. Seems a bit generic in terms of premise, but it definitely grabbed my interest because much of the focus is on international business instead of nuclear threats. This movie does a good job of showing that our protagonist had to be smart in terms of how he goes about his mission. It creates a nicely complex and interesting situation. The acting, direction, and music are all top notch. Very solid cast of big time talent. Most of the characters, including the North Korean ones, are multi-layered. No action scenes or chases; it’s a slow-burn dramatic tension.

The Limit of Sleeping Beauty (2017) (Japanese Drama/Romance) (repeat viewing) – Aki came to Tokyo ten years ago to become an actress. She is now 29-years-old and works as a magician’s assistant, but her partying lifestyle propels her on a hallucinogenic trip that blends her past, present and unreality. This is nicely shot and incorporates much music and dance. This is an energetic and briskly paced film because of how it is presented. Editing and sound design are very good too. This is a psychological art film that is interesting to watch because it is sufficiently disorienting yet still has an overall point to make regarding the protagonist. The ending is emotionally resonant too.

Ip Man Legacy: Master Z (2018) (Chinese Action) – While keeping a low profile after his defeat from Ip Man, Cheung Tin Chi gets into trouble after getting in a fight with a powerful foreigner. Jin Zhang is awesome, and this movie is another feather in his cap. This does not waste time. We get a good fight within the opening 10 minutes and the pacing is brisk. The action choreography is top notch and executed at a high level. Tony Jaa has a cameo fight, and the finale between Jin Zhang and Dave Batista is solid. This will satisfy action junkies.

In a Better World (2010) (Danish Drama/Thriller) – After their sons are bullied at school, the lives of two Danish families cross each other. There’s a smoldering intensity beneath the surface, since one of the themes is violence and retaliation. One of the fathers is very passive, while one of the sons is more aggressive, but you can understand both of their perspectives. Some very good dialogue here. Very nicely shot. This is dramatically powerful stuff that could be considered a coming-of-age film since it focuses so much on the kids.

Recommended

Parks (2017) (Japanese Drama/Comedy) – Three students meet and bond as they attempt to finish writing an old romance song that was written and exchanged between their ancestors. This is a pleasant film that has characters who feel innocent. There’s some emphasis on the love of music, as well as the potential misinterpretation of music. I like Ai Hashimoto, and she seems to give her best performances in the most laid-back kinds of films. In this film, she’s more humorous and klutzy than usual, but in a realistic, charming way. There are a lot of funny little moments in this. The acting is expressionistic, but the girls (including Mei Nagano) do a great job. Shota Sometani does overdo it in spots with his cutesy voice, however. But as a package these three are a nice little trio to follow. There are a few things that surprised me, but there are also some things that I’m confused about and may need multiple viewings to understand.

The Wandering Earth (2019) (Chinese Sci Fi Action/Drama) – The sun was dying out, people all around the world built giant planet thrusters to move Earth out of its orbit and to sail Earth to a new star system, but something goes wrong and Earth is caught in Jupiter’s gravitational pull. Wu Jing in space? I’m there. The environments are done very well, and this includes the set designs, practical effects, and CGI. This is constantly interesting on a visual level. There are a few parts during the middle section that feel like a typical disaster movie, but the final 40 or so minutes are solid and quite entertaining. This film breaks the laws of physics almost immediately, so do not go in expecting scientific accuracy.

Sleepless (2001) (Italian Giallo Thriller) – An elderly and retired police detective (Max von Sydow) and a young amateur sleuth team up to find a serial killer whom has resumed a killing spree after a 17-year hiatus, but perhaps it is a copycat. This film by Dario Argento begins with a surprisingly long and effective murder sequence that lasts a whopping 20+ minutes! The acting/dubbing is pretty terrible at times (especially near the beginning), but there are some very entertaining death scenes to enjoy as well as an engaging mystery. There’s some fun interaction between Max and his pet bird as well. This is perhaps a bit slow at times and a bit too long at almost two full hours, but it’s good.

Miss Baek (2018) (Korean Drama) – A woman's past as a convict follows her everywhere until she strikes up a friendship with a broken child who has suffered from domestic violence. The physical and emotional abuse of the child is brutal to sit thru, and the parents are cartoonish psychopaths. Both the cops and child services are completely useless, of course. Obviously, the conflicts are very blunt and one-dimensional, but the adult lead actress is very good and helps to keep things together. She has a gritty, hard-nosed edge to her character that is compelling to watch.

Again (2013) (Japanese Drama) – In this coming-of-age drama, a teenage girl’s life is changed when she moves to a new town and meets a troubled young man. After a disturbing event, she is forced to come to terms with it. This is a very serious drama that has an edge to it. It feels raw and realistic, establishing an underlying intensity. The resolution of the pivotal event is different from most films that focus on such things, which could be offensive to some people. Sound design is really good. Very slow-paced though.

The Flowers of War (2011) (Chinese War Drama/Action) – An American finds refuge during the 1937 Japanese invasion of Nanking in a church with a group of women in this film by Zhang Yimou. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety. The acting is very hit-or-miss, which gives a soap opera-ish vibe at times. Dialogue and character interaction are basic, even boring at times. The runtime of 146 minutes feels too long. However, there are some good moments here and there. The battle scenes are all very good, and likely represent the best aspect of the film. This is a decent flick with great production values, but “City of Life and Death” is way better.

Not Recommended

The Drug King (2018) (Korean Crime Drama) – Set in Busan during the 1970s, a man (Kang-ho Song) builds an empire as a drug smuggler in the Busan underworld while a public prosecutor attempts to take him down. The acting and production values are good, but the scriptwriting is extremely bland. There are many scenes in this movie that feel too short, almost abridged. Nothing lasts long enough to make much of an impression. Du-na Bae shows up about an hour into the film, and only has 10+ minutes of screentime in a thankless role. A very forgettable flick.

Amour (2012) (Austrian/French Drama) – Georges and Anne are an elderly couple. One day, Anne has a stroke, and the couple's bond of love is severely tested. This is “Old Person 101” in its most boring form. Think about the plot synopsis for 30 seconds and that’s all the content you get in this entire film. There’s nothing interesting about this movie at all. Tedious endurance tests like this are what give “art-house” films a bad name. Wake me when it’s over.
 

plsletitrain

Member: Rank 5
6ixtynin9 (Thailand, 1999)--wow that's a lot of 9's there.

How do you call this brand of filmmaking whereby serious scenes such as a murder scene will be turned into comedy--slapstick is that what it’s called?

The title came to be because of the number on her apartment room which is supposed to be room #6 but because of defect in installation of the door label—so when you slam it, it turns down to become a 9.

This is a really funny mix of comedy and thrill with almost everyone Tum (the lead girl) encounters to ending up in misfortune. She was just laid off from work and what she thought was a blessing from the heavens was really a curse from hell. It was money from the black market and now she has to rid herself of the people who are after this money.

Recommended.
 

clayton-12

Member: Rank 4
6ixtynin9
It's been a while, but this was one of those rare comedies that I found truly laugh-out-loud, tears-streaming-down-the-face, almost-pissing-myself funny. The scene with the deaf/mute thug, his partner and the ringing phone was one of the funniest things I've ever seen in a film.

I can imagine other people might watch it and be mildly amused.
 

clayton-12

Member: Rank 4
Re: The Vanished
I checked this out last night - yeah, it's a cracker. A weak start, with a mismatch of soap-opera melodrama and bumbling cop comedy, had me wondering how @sitenoise hadn't punted on it, but once it got going, it really got going. One key twist was obvious long before it happened (the old story of "if they put a gun on the coffee table in the first act ..."), but the twist on that twist completely blindsided me. I've got a minor gripe with the hindsight logic of one scene, but that can't be explained without the cover of a major spoilers tag.

they do everything that's been done before and just do it really well
I think @JepGambardella reported back from Fantasia that it was a pretty faithful remake of a Spanish film, I saw in the credits that they were acknowledging the source material.
 

plsletitrain

Member: Rank 5
The Vanished

Okay so I think I’ll rain on the parade (Maybe @divemaster13 will too—I get the feeling) and say that this ONE of the weakest thrillers South Korea has ever produced. Of course, as a stand-alone film, it is good. But we’re talking of South Korea here, where good isn’t enough. It’s the land of GREAT thrillers. And this one was a lazy attempt.

Let’s start with husband and his @sitenoise -punting-worthy facial expressions that make constipation like a theme of the movie. Really…the acting man, wow. I could’ve done better. He was so much….acting. Not Jun Ji-Hyun levels, but more of, lacking the skills to portray the role.

Now to the twist. You guyz know I’m the biggest fan of films with twists but this one was meh. I’ll use the gun on the table example. The gun was belatedly, like a last-ditch effort to create a twist, placed in the table. There was no gun on the first act, rather it was pulled from the pocket—out of nowhere. That’s why the revelation of the twist didn’t come as big of a surprise to me. I looked at it more as a story told forward-not a story backwards. The supposed “backward” story was really an afterthought to convince us that this is a smart thriller.
 

clayton-12

Member: Rank 4
Okay so I think I’ll rain on the parade (Maybe @divemaster13 will too—I get the feeling) and say that this ONE of the weakest thrillers South Korea has ever produced.
...
Really…the acting man, wow. I could’ve done better. He was so much….acting. Not Jun Ji-Hyun levels, but more of, lacking the skills to portray the role.
Lol. I'll agree with your comment about the acting, but I'm not expecting @divemaster13 to join your get-the-boots-into-Jun-Ji-hyun party! I'll save any more comments I might have until after the last reports come in.
 

divemaster13

Member: Rank 4
The Vanished (2018)

Ok, I just got through watching it. I had no problem with the acting. And I thought it was a pretty good mystery. Kept me guessing, that's for sure. Each "reveal" scene managed to catch me by surprise. Since everyone participating here has seen it, I'm not going to bother spoilering anything. So, for any lurkers out there who have not seen it, please be aware that much of the below is SPOILERS!!!

Did the movie play fair? I think for the most part--yes. I haven't gone back to inspect every scene, but the recap scenes at the end seemed plausible. I even buy the "you saw what you wanted to see" explanation from the cop, regarding the fellow insisting that his wife was indeed, alive. However, there's no way for the movie to explain how the security guard at the beginning would have seen some of the things the camera showed us. That was a bit of a cheat. I know why it was done, but a smarter, more tightly woven thriller would not have to resort to that.

I didn't care enough about the characters to really feel the emotions the film was showing us. I was watching (and enjoying) the story, but wasn't feeling it very much. Perhaps a better set-up at the beginning to explain what drove the young professor to want to kill his wife. As the movie progressed, we got some of that doled out in small doses, but too little, too late for me.

Ok, so my main issue with the plot was the cop's scheme. First off, the wife was dead all along. All that "she's really alive and out to revenge me!" was just part of the misdirection. OK. But she's dead. The cop has the evidence (b/c he helped arrange it), so they can pretty easily put the guy in jail for murder-1 right off the bat. I'm still not sure if setting him up with the "college student" was all geared toward instigating a murder plot, or if that was just a fortuitous circumstance. But either way, they got him! Dead wife, and he with a vial of poison on him. Plus all the circumstantial evidence relating to the affair.

So why on earth all the rigamarole with the cat-and-mouse, spooky morgue, missing body mind games? Guy done you wrong; he murdered his wife; and you can put him in jail for life. Sounds like good revenge to me.

But I'm supposed to believe that ALL THAT was just to get him to show them where he buried the fiancee's body? ALL THAT? Just for that? I've got a better idea, Mr. Clever Cop...how about as you're tossing him in the clink, tell him you know about the hit-and-run, and you'll recommend that the prosecutor shave 10 years off his sentence if he shows them where the body is.

My other quibble is with the "college girl." If she was really all in to "get" this guy--they guy who killed her sister--how could she stomach playing the sexy coed snuggle-bunny with him? How could she fake that sort of affection? Maybe there are people who can do that, but it seems like a stretch of human character to me.

But all in all, I liked the movie well enough. I'm a fan of the genre. Murder mystery; detectives; "did he or didn't he?" and "is she really dead?" type stuff.

I'll give it 3.5. And I'll be glad to watch it again at some point. Might pick up on a few more things.
 

clayton-12

Member: Rank 4
Okay, here's my more expanded, full of spoilers, thoughts on The Vanished.

The opening 15 minutes lowered my expectations quite significantly, which may have been a good thing. The faux-supernatural prologue with the security guard was a bit hackneyed, though that's okay, you get that. But then the professor rushing from the funeral to be in the arms of his mistress, and his poisoning of his uber-rich, uber-bitchy domineering wife? FFS, am I watching a variation on The Bold and Beautiful? And then the hungover, once was a legend, bumbling cop shows up to take over the investigation ... pure caricature. So by this stage, I'm watching to find out what the hell was supposed to be good about it.

But the film did kick into gear, at the same time our cop dropped his buffoon act and kicked into gear, rattling off all the observations he had made while pretending to be disinterested. Once the story got going, I got hooked. I was enjoying it so much that I didn't really mind when I saw an obvious twist coming a mile off - the professor has to go to the place where some terrible secret happened years before ... let me guess, that terrible secret is that the professor and his dead wife (or is she dead duh-duh-duh) killed the cop's finance? Contrived? Yes. Corny? Sure. But am I going to have fun watching the professor, his wife, and the cop meet up for one final showdown? You bet!

Of course things didn't pan out the way I was expecting, which made the film even more wildly entertaining for me. Primarily it's a cracking yarn, nothing more, nothing less. The characters themselves aren't of interest here, and maybe if they were, it would have been a better movie. But as far as entertainment goes, this hit the right buttons for me.

I even buy the "you saw what you wanted to see" explanation from the cop, regarding the fellow insisting that his wife was indeed, alive. However, there's no way for the movie to explain how the security guard at the beginning would have seen some of the things the camera showed us. That was a bit of a cheat. I know why it was done, but a smarter, more tightly woven thriller would not have to resort to that.
I took the "you saw what you wanted to see" explanation equally applicable to the security guard - they both thought the wife might have got up and started walking around, they both thought they saw her, the camera showed what they thought they saw. My gripe was when professor rings his girlfriend to warn her that she's being watched, and we see her getting spooked out, then panicking when she sees the open window. That didn't quite fit.


The cop has the evidence (b/c he helped arrange it), so they can pretty easily put the guy in jail for murder-1 right off the bat. I'm still not sure if setting him up with the "college student" was all geared toward instigating a murder plot, or if that was just a fortuitous circumstance. But either way, they got him! Dead wife, and he with a vial of poison on him. Plus all the circumstantial evidence relating to the affair.

So why on earth all the rigamarole with the cat-and-mouse, spooky morgue, missing body mind games? Guy done you wrong; he murdered his wife; and you can put him in jail for life. Sounds like good revenge to me.
At the risk of taking too seriously something that's meant to be dumb fun, I think stitching the professor up on murder would be a bit harder than just producing a vial of anaesthetic and evidence of the affair. Of course he had the vial - he's a biomedics professor who manufactures the stuff. Sure his wife is dead with no evidence of her having been poisoned, but just because he was having an affair and had the ability to poison his wife without leaving a trace of the poison isn't going to guarantee a conviction.

But a more pressing reason why the cop didn't try that route, but rather embarked on his elaborate, devious plan, was because there wouldn't be a movie in it otherwise! Call me easy, but I'm okay with that.
 

plsletitrain

Member: Rank 5
Now that I think of it, the movie actually offered another insight of how Thrillers are done.

The main spotlight of the film was whether the husband killed the wife--the cop's fiance was just an afterthought. lol. This is what @divemaster13 refers to as the "misleading" strategy. In here, the viewer suspects that either:
1) The wife was really a psycho who staged her "death"
2) The husband is best actor awardee-he really is the killer
(No. 3 is found below)

If either of the two was revealed to be the truth in the end, yes there would be a gun on the table.

With this one, the cop's fiance story was only revealed in the end. And who knew the fiance had a sister? We were never apprised of that in the beginning so naturally we would've never guessed that the mistress is the sister. This is why I'm not convinced.

What the movie did was to:
3) Neither of those mattered because an entirely different sub plotline will be introduced.
 

divemaster13

Member: Rank 4
I didn't really mind when I saw an obvious twist coming a mile off - the professor has to go to the place where some terrible secret happened years before ... let me guess, that terrible secret is that the professor and his dead wife (or is she dead duh-duh-duh) killed the cop's finance? Contrived? Yes. Corny? Sure. But am I going to have fun watching the professor, his wife, and the cop meet up for one final showdown? You bet!
I absolutely did not see it coming. I assumed the dead fiance was just part of the cop's past that formed his character. Like Riggs in Lethal Weapon. Drinking. Overwhelmed with guilt. Until the reveal that the cop was working with his fiance's sister, who was "college girl." That caught me completely off guard.

My gripe was when professor rings his girlfriend to warn her that she's being watched, and we see her getting spooked out, then panicking when she sees the open window. That didn't quite fit.
I almost commented the same in my original post, but decided I was already coming off too negative for a movie I really did enjoy. There was no reason for her to act that way, except as misdirection for the viewer. But, it kept me misdirected! So I understand the why. But I repeat myself in saying that a more tightly-woven movie would have figured out a way to play totally fair.

But a more pressing reason why the cop didn't try that route, but rather embarked on his elaborate, devious plan, was because there wouldn't be a movie in it otherwise!
LOL. I almost ended my criticism on this point with "but then there would be no movie." So, yeah, I totally get that. I don't have a lot of patience with people critiquing a film saying "why didn't they do this?" or "why didn't the cops do that," for major things. "Uh, because that would be a totally different movie!" But in a intricately plotted whodunnit, I think such questions are fair game.

We were never apprised of that in the beginning so naturally we would've never guessed that the mistress is the sister.
Not at the beginning, no. But we do find out they are sisters at the scene at the cemetery where the two girls are waiting for cop-guy, who is too busy to remember to show up. It never occurred to me to make anything of that fact (sisters) until much later.

2) The husband is best actor awardee-he really is the killer
.

Well, he really did kill his wife. And since he became convinced she was actually up and about and out to get revenge on him via spooky shenanigans and incriminating hints, he didn't have to do much acting--he was so convinced, he ended up trying to get the cops to believe him--even of that meant confessing to his poisoning scheme.

But a question I have--it seems like for cop and college girl to get their revenge, the young professor had to kill his wife. Was their scheme designed for that result? What if he never did? I mean, it's a long stretch from "my wife is a controlling bitch" to really going through with murder. Would college girl be his snuggle-bunny for years if it took him that long to get up the gumption? At the beginning of their plan, neither the cop nor college girl would have any reason to believe the professor was unhappy in his marriage. Should we just assume that if this particular route was not their "in" to trapping him, they would have just come up with another trap of some sort?
 

sitenoise

Member: Rank 5
I agree with everything, especially the part about punting the beginning, the acting, the questionable snuggle bunny plan, and the overall don't-care-about-the-characters/watch-the-plot sleight of hand. But this is the state of Korean cinema. It's become almost a parody of itself. We have to grade on a curve now.

@plsletitrain name one good thriller these kings of thrillers have made this decade besides The Wailing.
 

BuX

Member: Rank 1
I've recently seen,

Call Me By Your Name (2017, Italy/US)
'In 1980s Italy, a romance blossoms between a seventeen year-old student and the older man hired as his father's research assistant.'

By far this is one of the best films ive seen for years. Everything from the setting in Italy, to the colours and styles of the film. Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer do such a great job at bringing the characters personalitys out, of course with help from the director, it feels so natural and real. The film's music was another highlight, and it worked so well with the scenes, the last scene in particlar was just amazing, it lingers with you. I watched the film at my local film society of which i'm a member, and another member commented at the end, "its put me off from peaches for life." I replied, "it didnt bother me, i dont like peaches." The film wont be everybodies taste, and the peach scene is abit weird for many. But it didnt bother me, the film just won me over, and Timothee Chalamet has another fan, although one that doesnt scream, and take lots of photos.

Moebius (2013, S Korea)
'A housewife (Lee Eun-Woo) becomes enraged with jealousy over her husband's (Cho Jae-Hyun) affair. Meanwhile, their son (Seo Young-Joo) sits in the periphery, observing their violent confrontations. One evening, the housewife takes a kitchen knife into their bedroom to exact revenge on the father. The father though is able to repel her attack and throws her out of the bedroom. The mother then goes into the son's room.'

A silent film, which isn't. The film speaks without anywords spoken. Its a very strange film, abit shocking, actually very shocking, it got banned in South Korea. If the idea of having your sausage chopped off and then driven over by a truck sounds painful and distasteful, dont' watch it. But anyway moving on, the film is basically about having your sausage chopped off and having to deal with it. I quite liked the film, as for a film with no words spoken, it actually worked very well. Not the directors best film, that falls to his 2003 film, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter......and Spring.

I Am Not Madame Bovary (2016, China)
'After being swindled by her ex-husband, a woman takes on the Chinese legal system.'

The Chinese Government have recently clamped down on corruption with officials in rural provinces. This film reflects this change in a interesting different way. A normal film with its rectangle shape on your TV sets, is replaced with a circle. This although strange, frames the scenes very well, with everything perfectly fitting into the space. A change in film scenes switches to a square, which oddly
at some points I didnt even notice. Its not the directors best film but its a great try at something different.

Walkabout (1971, Britain/Australia)
'Two city-bred siblings are stranded in the Australian Outback, where they learn to survive with the aid of an Aboriginal boy on his "walkabout": a ritual separation from his tribe.'

This really was a great film. It felt so natural, with wide shots of the Australian outback, with empty scenes of desert, with close ups of the animals that inhabit the land. With great peformaces by the 2 'Brits' it was the Aboriginal boy who was the star with his hunting skills and interest in the 'foreigners.' The hunting scenes are quite brutal but adds to the reality of traditional hunting. The film past UK censors which forbid the killing of animals if it involves inflicting pain or terror. I really liked this film, a film that is about life and death, and it does it very well.

Primer (2004, US)
'Four friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.'

All I can say is its a really confusing film. Made on a budget of $7000 it is cheaply made, but they made a great film. Its not the best, but was never meant to be. I found it quite surreal, asking myself what the hell is going on. But this is the idea, the film was never meant to make sense, but to be complex, just as the experiments in the film.

H (2002, S Korea)
'A serial killer who preyed on pregnant women has been behind bars for 10 months, when a copycat killer becomes active. Detectives meet with the imprisoned killer and search for clues in an effort to head off the copy cat killer before he kills more.'

A fantastic film which kept me interested throughout. Plenty of twists and turns, and plenty of questions, which are brilliantly answered at the end. The film concludes with what 'H' stands for. Giving it away before the end, gives away the plot. Highly recommend.

Phone (2002, S Korea)
'Soon after Ji-won gets a new cell phone, her friend's young daughter, Yeong-ju, puts it to her ear and immediately begins screaming in terror. When other strange things start happening in connection with the phone, Ji-Won does some investigating and discovers that of the people before her who had the same number, almost all of them died suddenly under unusual circumstances. As Yeong-ju's behavior becomes increasingly alarming, Ji-won digs deeper into the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the number's first owner, a high school girl named Jin-hie.'

I'm not really a horror fan, but this fell just under the genre. A fan of Korean films, I quite liked this. With the twist and turns, the great story and the scary bits it kept me watching and interested. Although a good film its not up there with the best but back in 2002 the Korean film industry wasn't as big as it is now. I do recommend.

Brother (2000, Japan)
'A Japanese gangster is exiled to Los Angeles where his brother lives with a small but respectable multi-racial gang, who he inspires to expand their influence.'

I've never been a fan of Takeshi Kitano, apart from Takeshi's Castle, and this film still wasnt of interest for me. Kitano even himself wasnt happy with the final film. I can see why, it was bad.
 

clayton-12

Member: Rank 4
name one good thriller these kings of thrillers have made this decade besides The Wailing.
I'm probably watching less in the thriller mould than most people, but here's half a dozen from the past decade I would rate these higher than, or on a par with, The Wailing:

The Handmaiden
The Housemaid
I Saw the Devil
The Villainess
No Mercy
The Thieves
 

sitenoise

Member: Rank 5
The Handmaiden
The Housemaid
I Saw the Devil
The Villainess
No Mercy
The Thieves
I happily embrace your last two. I missed The Thieves because of subjective genre keywords. No Mercy is great, from 2010, as are two others on the list, I think -- getting pretty far away lol

And props to The Villainess for uniqueness and off the charts crazy at the end.

The other three are part of what I see as the problem (like 2015's Assassination) but understand they are BIG movies by well-established directors. I should re-post the picture of Ryan Gosling showing off his abs from The Housemaid because I know @plsletitrain digs it.

I suppose one could call The Burning, a thriller.

Another one that went by fairly unnoticed but kicked my butt: An Ethics Lesson

Not that they have to be on par with The Wailing, that was just the one that came to mind at the time. And but because the director of that film also did The Chaser and The Yellow Sea. Hey! The Yellow Sea is 2010. Count it!
 

plsletitrain

Member: Rank 5
Memoir of a Murderer (2017) comes to mind easily.

Of course, we shouldn't look far enough. I Saw the Devil should be up there (how dare someone say it's a stinker!!!!!!--I will NEVER forget that @sitenoise !!!!!! )

Can we cheat and add a 2009 film, Thirst. lol

I think I watched An Ethics Lesson from your recommendation but I quite can't remember it now.

I'm sure I've never seen The Housemaid so I guess you're referring to The Handmaiden? Yes who could ever forget that legendary scissoring man!!!! That memory is forever etched in my mind--along with that clit drawing from----what's that movie again, the one ebossert recommended which we also watched together? The one that triggered my art vs. porn material thread on IMDb. The one where a good-for-nothing king was choosing a woman from his kingdom to be his wife.
 

plsletitrain

Member: Rank 5
^So I just wrote about scissoring and clit drawing then I read Bux's post and I get to read sausage being chopped off. A racy morning, isn't it?!
 

sitenoise

Member: Rank 5
I've recently seen,
Wow, you're all over the map. Phone had one of the best demon little girls I've ever seen. I'm also a big fan of Kim-Ki-duk's silent movies.

A racy morning, isn't it?!
Nah, just Korean lol

The Treacherous is the film with clit drawings and gold medal scissoring.

We can't cheat because that's my point. And I'm sure you meant Memories of Murder (2003) and not the Alzheimers gives us freedom flick?

I think my initial quick search excluded 2010 films. Another quite good one from 2010 is Midnight FM. But we're reaching. 2010 was a long time ago.
 
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