Recently Seen, Part 3 (Apr 2017)

divemaster13

Member: Rank 4
Watched Coin Locker Girl (2015) last night. Pretty good movie. Not super-great, but I liked it for sure. The story of Il-young was interesting. Not too many surprises--I could pretty much tell you what the next scene would be (who gets threatened; who gets whacked; who gets away, etc.). But the characters were so interesting it kept me engaged. I was impressed by the way Il-young changed from a hardened, cold, gang assistant to allowing her softer and more feminine side to develop, even if that meant disaster for her personally. This goes into my "re-watch list." 3.5 stars.
 

divemaster13

Member: Rank 4
The ending was the best. This is my type of ending, the one where the leads went
separate ways
.

I'm sure almost all humans will love this movie because all of us had a similar experience. Especially young girls who had their crushes. And then look back into those days with their husband and laugh at how far they went in thinking their crushes like them too. Only to find out he loves another girl. I remember that time, I had a crush I thought he loved me. I was ready to confess my love until his friend told me he likes another girl who was way more beautiful and refined than me. So I gave up and decided to forget him. They broke up and that crush is still single now. His loss for breaking my heart. :emoji_bear: End of story. lol.
Watch the last scene again, as well as the end credits.
 

Daniel Larusso

Member: Rank 3

Sing (2016)
It's like american idol with animals. It was funny at first to see the animals singing pop songs, but there isn't really much more in this film.
5/10

Macabre (2009)
Indonesian Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It's very violent and the atmosphere is very scary but it got a bit boring sometimes.
6/10


Headshot (2016)
Indonesian Jason Bourne. It has the same main star of The Raid movies and very violent action sequences as well, but they aren't as good as those seen in The Raid and the story isn't as good as in The Raid 2.
It's a fun film though.
7/10
 

sitenoise

Member: Rank 5
I was impressed by the way Il-young changed from a hardened, cold, gang assistant to allowing her softer and more feminine side to develop, even if that meant disaster for her personally.
Go-eun Kim for best performance by an actress in a drama! The androgyny! It's fascinating to watch Go-eun Kim's face drift back and forth between boy and girl. She wins just for that. The androgyny is used to good effect. Go-eun is basically a debt collector, killer, and harvester of human organs. In a flight of original storytelling she starts to fall for one of the people she supposed to rough up and collect a debt from. Park Bo-Gum is fabulous as the naive debtor who's oblivious to the mean-spirited world of the movie he's in. And up to this point we can't tell which team Go-eun's playing on, so the slow, very subtle emergence of a possible, and totally cute romance is a wonder to behold.

There is enough good in the film to offset the shortcomings
 

plsletitrain

Member: Rank 5
Watch the last scene again, as well as the end credits.
Uh-oh, clearly it wasn't Lee Byung-hun on that wedding pic, was it? lol. I didn't recognize him on the pic on the picture frame (right before the movie ended) but in the end credits, it kinda looked like him.... was it really him??? Darn, and I thought it would make my favorites now.
 

divemaster13

Member: Rank 4
Uh-oh, clearly it wasn't Lee Byung-hun on that wedding pic, was it? lol. I didn't recognize him on the pic on the picture frame (right before the movie ended) but in the end credits, it kinda looked like him.... was it really him??? Darn, and I thought it would make my favorites now.
Yep! That's him. I liked the way they played that--very understated. They ended up together. But no big production; no wedding scene, etc. Just the seeming inevitability of a small village crush blossoming into romance and a life together. I find that very sweet. To me, that was the cherry on top of a great movie. Perhaps I'm old fashioned, but if I watch a romance movie and the two leads don't wind up together, then I'll feel quite disappointed. Especially a movie like this. But that's just me.
 

sitenoise

Member: Rank 5
Finished watching The Harmonium in my Memory
I went back to my notes re: Harmonium in my Memory. Weird that I wrote up Lee Byung-hun as the good part and Do-yeon as the weak link. I especially took the ending to task. I liked clayton's review of it more than it (as I often do, lol). Oh well.

I'm going to try tonight to take in Yoon-ki Lee's new one: One Day but I'm scared. It stars the actress who played the strange woman in The Wailing. But it also stars one of those guys who looks like he should be in line behind Ryan Gosling. I think it's going to be mainstream pop with a bad soundtrack. Yoon-ki Lee may have crossed over and we won't see any more good movies from him. It happens.
 

plsletitrain

Member: Rank 5
Yep! That's him. I liked the way they played that--very understated. They ended up together. But no big production; no wedding scene, etc. Just the seeming inevitability of a small village crush blossoming into romance and a life together. I find that very sweet. To me, that was the cherry on top of a great movie. Perhaps I'm old fashioned, but if I watch a romance movie and the two leads don't wind up together, then I'll feel quite disappointed. Especially a movie like this. But that's just me.

I stared intently on the picture and its quite Lee Byung-hun and its also not quite him. I wanted to dare everyone and say "Hey guyz you have any proof they ended up together except for a breezy picture of the groom that resembles Lee Byung-hun??!!!" but I just settled for everyone's take on it. Besides, I don't want to get a reply that says "that's what you get for watching movies on youtube" bwahahahaha! Anyway, that's a good ending too. I read clayton's review first and thought about his remark on flashbacks and thought that maybe indeed, they ended up together. But it could also be like reminscing about your one great love. Although if I were the present husband and I'm not Lee Byung-hun and I discovered my wife kept an old record that reminds her of her one great love, that's iffy.
 

plsletitrain

Member: Rank 5
I'm going to try tonight to take in Yoon-ki Lee's new one: One Day but I'm scared. It stars the actress who played the strange woman in The Wailing. But it also stars one of those guys who looks like he should be in line behind Ryan Gosling. I think it's going to be mainstream pop with a bad soundtrack. Yoon-ki Lee may have crossed over and we won't see any more good movies from him. It happens.
The letterboxd synopsis sounds much better than the Wikipedia one. I wonder which one's more accurate. I guess I'll have to wait for your take on it.
 

clayton-12

Member: Rank 4
To me, that was the cherry on top of a great movie. Perhaps I'm old fashioned
But it could also be like reminscing about your one great love
I was completely in the same camp as divemaster when I watched the film ... the final few minutes made a perfect, absolutely charming little coda to an already great movie.
BUT ... if plsletitrain's take on the ending is correct, then that would add a whole new layer to the themes that were already there, and blast it into the stratosphere.
 

plsletitrain

Member: Rank 5
I was completely in the same camp as divemaster when I watched the film ... the final few minutes made a perfect, absolutely charming little coda to an already great movie.
BUT ... if plsletitrain's take on the ending is correct, then that would add a whole new layer to the themes that were already there, and blast it into the stratosphere.
The best way to answer this is to ask Lee Byung-hun to produce sexy pictures of him when he was young. lol. I guess this is where everyone's mindset comes in. You don't have to mind me guys, I always play the devil's advocate in movies.
 

clayton-12

Member: Rank 4
Yoon-ki Lee may have crossed over and we won't see any more good movies from him
May I ask what your thoughts were on Come Rain, Come Shine? I haven't seen it and had the impression it was held in high regard, but now I see a very low rating on (the not always credible or reliable) IMDb.

I watched the first 30 minutes of One Day before I had to put it aside for reasons beyond my control - I'm looking forward to your comments on that one, but I suspect that they may contain the word
punted
.
 

sitenoise

Member: Rank 5
May I ask what your thoughts were on Come Rain, Come Shine? I haven't seen it and had the impression it was held in high regard, but now I see a very low rating on (the not always credible or reliable) IMDb.

I watched the first 30 minutes of One Day before I had to put it aside for reasons beyond my control - I'm looking forward to your comments on that one, but I suspect that they may contain the word
Yes, I punted. I'll get back to it, probably pretty soon. I want to see how it ends up, but the couple didn't do anything to draw me in. The girl's dialog was too dense or something. And there was tinkling piano. I was feeling a little pressured.

I loved Come Rain, Come Shine. The guy is a bit of a haircut, but Su-jeong Lim! There are a few complications, but for the most part it felt like it still had that organic growth I associate with Yoon-ki. It's real life, almost real time. Put on your slow shoes. "I was loving every minute of it until it's ending, an ending that tried to suggest ambiguity and nothing more than a need to stop filming, but it didn't quite work. I didn't mind, though. I had a great time for a couple hours. Yoon-ki Lee gets character study. It's just difficult to bookend a slice of life."
 

sitenoise

Member: Rank 5
I'm troubled by Yoon-ki's demanding Chun Woo-Hee to wear that horribly unflattering burlap sac in One Day.
 

clayton-12

Member: Rank 4
I was feeling a little pressured
On the one hand, everything about One Day was grossly, crassly manipulative. Yet, by the 90 minute mark I was all choked up inside, so at least (for me) it was also successfully manipulative. I guess I'm an easy target, because I thought the beginning, in particular, contained some really really dumb scriptwriting - some of the portrayal of a blind person was either bordering on offensively dumb, or had crossed that line and left it in the dust. Burlap sacs should be the least of one's worries lol.

I really liked A Man and a Woman, and felt your comments about Yoon-ki Lee in relation to Come Rain, Come Shine could easily be applied to that film too. So from my perspective, I'm hoping One Day turns out to be an anomaly, not a portent.
 

sitenoise

Member: Rank 5
Live blogging: I'm about to choke up here at the 87 minute mark. I like Woo-Hee's blind acting. I'll bet that Yoon-ki gave her the part based on auditions for that and regrets that she's pretty bad as a sight capable actress in a film like this. The first half of the film is pretty gross, but the reason I've returned is a premonition that it will tie me up at the end. Yoon-ki can do that.

Gonna take a dinner and basketball break. Will finish it later tonight.

[Edit] ps - did I miss the part where the guy witnesses his wife's suicide, or is that a reveal at the end?

Wait. Don't tell me.
 

sitenoise

Member: Rank 5
One Day [2017] South Korea
Director: Yoon-ki Lee
6/10

Definitely had its moments. The guy didn't kill the film, so that's a plus. I think Chun Woo-Hee was weak, but probably because of the script. Her scene going to the barber shop was my favorite, though. Seemed like the only scene with authentic vulnerability, where you enter the character's otherworld. There are a number of choreographed tearjerker scenes but they didn't seem to belong to the people experiencing them. Acting. Yoon-ki needs really good actors to make his stuff work. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

That letterboxd synopsis is misleading.
 

plsletitrain

Member: Rank 5
Watched Coin Locker Girl (2015) last night. Pretty good movie. Not super-great, but I liked it for sure. The story of Il-young was interesting. Not too many surprises--I could pretty much tell you what the next scene would be (who gets threatened; who gets whacked; who gets away, etc.). But the characters were so interesting it kept me engaged. I was impressed by the way Il-young changed from a hardened, cold, gang assistant to allowing her softer and more feminine side to develop, even if that meant disaster for her personally. This goes into my "re-watch list." 3.5 stars.
Go-eun Kim for best performance by an actress in a drama! The androgyny! It's fascinating to watch Go-eun Kim's face drift back and forth between boy and girl. She wins just for that. The androgyny is used to good effect. Go-eun is basically a debt collector, killer, and harvester of human organs. In a flight of original storytelling she starts to fall for one of the people she supposed to rough up and collect a debt from. Park Bo-Gum is fabulous as the naive debtor who's oblivious to the mean-spirited world of the movie he's in. And up to this point we can't tell which team Go-eun's playing on, so the slow, very subtle emergence of a possible, and totally cute romance is a wonder to behold.

There is enough good in the film to offset the shortcomings
Watched it and liked it. I'm considering if this will make my top whatever list. Maybe not yet. Sucks how a movie has to have brutal scenes for it to make my favorites list. lol.

I'm quite divided regarding lll Young (Kim Go Eun). Well, on the first half that is. During the first half, she looked like a real woman pretending to be all tomboyish and that. Even with the short hair she sports, and the tough attitude she tries to act, she still looks a woman. That's where I wasn't convinced. It felt too acted and contrived. (Or maybe I was looking for MMA fighter body to consider her as boyish??) And then during the second half, when her real self is shown, is the big reveal. She's not a boy after all, but she really is a woman. I mean, hello, who wouldn't turn into a woman at the sight of Park Bo Gum??? lol. No seriously, her dramatic prowess was showcased during the second half. She was amazing as a tough girl with a good heart who was molded by her experiences.

The brutality here is not for children consumption so some scenes were a bit too straightforward for me. Speaking of children, Park Bo-Gum was perfect for his role. Then again, he's perfect at anything. He could sleep there and I'll nominate it for best actor award. lol. He was perfect as that naive innocent son of a debtor who thinks that a tomboy with a frightening look on his doorstep is there to give him flowers.

Kim Hye-su was really scary as the mother (her lion hair adds more to that). Which means, she's effective as a villain (or not). The story is engaging but the brutality is what will engage them more. If there's anything top-notch here (aside from PBG face), it has to be the music they used! All through out the film, I heard the music. I felt them. They're very registrable and pleasing to the ears. Especially on the suspense/thrill scenes.

Overall, this is a strong film. I love it.
 
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