Film reviews of the good, the great, and the ones you absolutely can’t miss
“Daytime Drinking,” South Korea
Reviewed by James Tabafunda
Making bad decisions after drinking too much alcohol is certainly at the core of this drama. After ending his relationship with his girlfriend, Hyuk-jin (Sam-dong Song) and his friends go to a bar in Seoul to drink and ease the pain of his failedrelationship.
They then decide to attend a festival, hoping the lively environment will start healing Hyuk-jin’s heart. While intoxicated, they leave for the festival in the Korean countryside early next day. Hyuk-jin says he’ll meet his friends there in the afternoon.
He arrives just as planned, but his friends stay at home to nurse their hangovers. Hyuk-jin learns the festival ended weeks ago. There are no other tourists, and the small beach town and most of its businesses have closed for the cold winter season. Ki-Sang (Sang-yeup Yuk) tells him to find and what at the hostel run by his college friend. Hyuk-jin finds what he thinks is the hostel. Because he is wrong, one humorous situation follows another. Each one involves his respect for the etiquette of drinking in the Korean culture.
Working with a low budget of $20,000, director and writer Young-seok Noh takes advantage of a hilarious script to point out the misfortunes and misunderstandings that can occur while one is under the influence of alcohol. His group of wacky characters provide big laughs.
“Daytime Drinking” showtimes:
Tuesday, May 26 at 4 p.m., Egyptian Theatre
Monday, June 1 at 9:45 p.m., SIFF Cinema
“Still Walking,” Japan
Reviewed by Andrew Hamlin
Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda staked his claim with 2004’s “Nobody Knows,” a study of a parentless band of young children forced to fend for themselves. In his 2008 film “Still Walking,” parents and adults are present, but they do not always get along with the children. Over the course of this film, we see three generations of one family looking warily at each other. They try to avoid direct confrontation, and, as a result, pent up anger turns into more.
“Still Walking” mainly takes place over a 24-hour period at the home of a retired doctor (Yoshio Harada) and his wife (Kirin Kiki). Their nervous son (Hiroshi Abe) arrives, bringing with him his new wife (Yui Natsukawa) and her young son (Shoehi Tanaka) from a previous marriage. Their fast-talking, frequently indignant daughter (played by an actress/singer billed as “You”) also shows up with a husband (Kazuya Takahashi) and two children of her own. One child, the oldest boy, is missing. We eventually learn what happened to him. His absence leaves an enormous hole in the lives of those who remain.
Every exchange carries meaning in “Still Walking.” The doctor tries hiding in his old examination office, imprisoned by his pain. However, the rest of the family seeks him out and pulls him back in. We learn painful truths. We learn shocking details about cold-hearted and devious characters. And Kore-eda, having moved through this long day, dares to experiment with the film’s ending. Lives, he implies, unlike days, do not end or begin orderly. The human spirit resolutely floats free of any timetable.
“Still Walking” showtimes:
Saturday, May 23 at 7 p.m., the Harvard Exit Theatre
Friday, May 29 at 11 a.m., Pacific Place Cinema.
“Hansel and Gretel,” South Korea
Reviewed by Vivian Nguyen
Based loosely on concepts from the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel,” director Phil-sung Yim’s dark fantasy of the same title revisits the story through an alternative “what if?” angle. What if children lured lost adults to their house and punished them for disobedience?
When Eun-soo Lee (Jeong-myoung Chun) wakes up in a dark forest after crashing his car, a young girl named Young-hee (Eun-kyoung Shim) finds him and leads him to her seemingly idyllic home and family. But after her parents’ mysterious disappearance and Eun-soo’s vain attempts to leave the forest, he realizes that he’s trapped in a children’s bizarre tale without hope of escaping.
Although the film feels a tad long, I’d give “Hansel and Gretel” credit for its ability to give a creative horror story a heart. Yim explores universal themes, such as fear of abandonment, acceptance, and love.
But what stands out the most are the strong performances of the three devilish but well-intentioned children of the house: the compassionate, older sister, played by Shim, Ji-hee Jin as the doe-eyed, younger sister, and Won-jae Eun as the fiercely protective brother. While many Asian horror films and their American remakes often use children as backdrop characters or props for cheap, cinematic thrills, “Hansel and Gretel” lets the children drive the story’s focus, allowing for a more vulnerable and emotional type of storytelling that is rarely seen in the Asian horror genre.
From the surreal Tim Burton-esqe art direction to its powerful acting, “Hansel and Gretel” will have dark fantasy fans lining outside of theaters like bread crumbs in a forest.
“Hansel and Gretel” showtimes:
Wednesday, May 27 at 9:15 p.m., Neptune Theatre
Friday, May 29 at 3:30 p.m., Egyptian Theatre
Sunday, June 7 at 9:30 p.m., Admiral
“The Beast Stalker,” Hong Kong
Reviewed by James Tabafunda
Sgt. Tong Fei (Nicholas Tse) gets into a car crash and gunfight while chasing a wanted criminal. In his attempt to make an arrest, he accidentally kills the oldest daughter of prosecutor Ann Ko (Zhang Jingchu) and cripples his partner, Master Sun (Liu Kai-chi). Despite her grief, Ko manages to raise her only remaining daughter, Ling (Miao Pu). She puts together a strong case against the criminal, who has hired professional killer Hong Jing (Nick Cheung) to kidnap Ling. Overcome with guilt and the motivation to continue as a police officer, Fei finds redemption by being the one to find and rescue Ling from her kidnapper.
Writer Jack Ng creates a good, complex story about how one car crash can ruin the lives of those involved and connect all of them in an imaginative way. Nick Cheung’s performance is very good as he shifts back and forth between a heartless kidnapper on the run and a sensitive caretaker for his wife. Director Dante Lam and editor Chan Ki-hop team up to create a thoroughly entertaining mix of fast-action and special effects.
“The Beast Stalker” showtimes:
Friday, May 22 at 4 p.m., Neptune Theatre
Wednesday, May 27 at 7 p.m., Harvard Exit Theatre
Saturday, May 30 at 11 a.m., Uptown Cinema
“Departures,” Japan
Reviewed by James Tabafunda
The peaceful countryside of Japan is the backdrop for this film, which looks into a sacred part of Japan’s cultural heritage. Classical musician Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) suddenly joins the ranks of the unemployed as his symphony orchestra disbands. He and his wife, Mika (Ryoko Hirosue), decide to move to his deceased mother’s house in Yamagata. He finds a newspaper ad with the word “Departures” and assumes the job is with a travel agency.
At his job interview, company owner Sasaki (Tsutomu Yamazaki) puts his résumé on the table after quickly glancing at it and urges him to take the job by giving him a large amount of cash. Kobayashi agrees to take the job and quickly learns his new boss intended the ad to read “Departed.” Sasaki explains his job is to assist in a ritual of preparing deceased bodies for cremation. Kobayashi travels with Sasaki to learn about his new profession and its profound effect on grieving families in his area.
This film won the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. Director Yojiro Takita’s 33 years as a movie professional benefits this story about Kobayashi’s journey of discovery. Masahiro Motoki’s expressions and strong overall acting ability add to the film’s most interesting character.
“Departures” showtimes:
Friday, May 22 at 9:30 p.m., SIFF Cinema
Sunday, May 24 at 2 p.m., SIFF Cinema
“Treeless Mountain,” USA
Reviewed by Andrew Hamlin
This second dramatic feature by So-Yong Kim (born in Korea, raised in Los Angeles) takes place in South Korea and focuses on two young sisters. Jin (Hee-yeon Kim), the older one, attends kindergarten. Bin (Song-hee Kim), the younger one, isn’t in school yet. Jin wears sensible children’s clothing. Bin spends most of the movie in a bright, shiny blue dress. She looks like a tiny princess from some unnamed Artic kingdom.
Early on in the film, Jin and Bin’s mother takes off to allegedly find the girls’ father. The sisters spend the middle part of the film in custody of an older “Auntie.” Auntie (Mi-hyang Kim) drinks too much, incessantly grumbles, and constantly yells at the kids. Sadly, when the kids move onto another living situation toward the end, it isn’t clear whether they’ve moved up in the world.
The plot of “Treeless Mountain” is quite simple. However, the plot isn’t the primary focus of the film, but rather it’s the interaction between the sisters. We watch the two girls pull, push, jostle, fight, support, and sustain each other throughout the film. The director shows an uncanny knack in dropping the camera into real life. That naturalism becomes all the more astonishing when you consider the enormous amount of moviemaking equipment and artifice going on behind Kim’s camera. She effortlessly makes these difficult aspects look easy. She’s a director to watch out for.
“Treeless Mountain” showtimes:
Saturday, May 23 at 6:30 p.m., Pacific Place Cinema
Sunday, May 24 at 1:15 p.m., Pacific Place Cinema
“My Dear Enemy,” South Korea
Reviewed by James Tabafunda
Unemployed and broke, Hee-soo (Jeon Do-Youn) is a woman in her 30s. “I hate this world,” she says about her current predicament and her recent split with her unemployed fiancé. Hee-soo remembers giving a $3,500 loan to her ex-boyfriend Byoung-woon (Ha Jung-Woo) a year ago and decides to find him to get her money back. To her shock, she learns Byoung-woon is also broke, and the only way for her to get her money back is to accompany him as he asks his friends and relatives for money. The two spend the entire day together, each one learning more about the other.
Jeon Do-Youn deserves special praise for her portrayal of Hee-soo. Her range of emotions fits the character created by writer/director Lee Youn-Ki and writer Park Eun-Young. Lee Youn-Ki includes imaginative camera angles to support his interesting story.
“My Dear Enemy” showtimes:
Sunday, May 24, 6:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Theatre
Monday, May 25, 1:30 p.m., Harvard Exit Theatre
“This Charming Girl,” South Korea
Reviewed by James Tabafunda
This 2004 film features Jeong-Hye (Kim Ji-Soo), a lonely 20-something postal worker with a secret pain. She has become an introvert who prefers solving all of her psychological traumas on her own. An eccentric character, she insists on sharing meals with her friends only at a particular eatery, and she finds comfort in caring for a stray kitten. An unidentified aspiring writer (Hwang Jeong-Min) shows an interest in her at the post office, and her mundane world suddenly changes. The story then tries to examine whether she can change her boring life, one consisting of a daily commute to and from work.
Writer Lee Yoon-Ki presents a delicate and slow-paced film in his directorial debut. He presents the complexity of human beings in the form of one young woman who is so charming, it is almost impossible not to care for her. We begin to wonder what could possibly be troubling her and hope she finds true love. He includes flashbacks throughout the film to provide important details, tragic ones involving her absent father and her artist mother. Kim Ji-Soo’s strong talent as an actress is displayed by her ability to convey meaning with her facial gestures alone — a true skill.
“This Charming Girl” showtimes:
Monday, May 25 at 11 a.m., Harvard Exit Theatre
“Dancing Across Borders,” USA
Reviewed by James Tabafunda
This documentary tells the story about a charismatic, young Asian trailblazer named Sokvannara “Sy” Sar. As a youth performing traditional folk dances in Cambodia in 2000, he gains the attention of filmmaker Anne Bass, who sees his tremendous talent and decides to bring him to New York City so he can study ballet.
Highly skeptical at first, his passion for ballet grows as does his natural ability to pick things up quickly — in only three years. His first ballet teacher from Russia beams with pride when she talks about the experience of training the young man from Angkor Wat. She said, “It happens once in a lifetime.”
Bass’ debut film is filled with Sar’s amazing performances throughout his dance career, including photographs and video of him as an apprentice for the Pacific Northwest Ballet in 2006.
Interviews with Sar as well as his instructors clearly present the message that this is no ordinary ballet dancer. Forget that he’s usually the only Asian onstage. While Sar briefly discusses many of the hardships he’s faced in order to study ballet, the documentary does not look into these hardships with the drama that is inherently involved in each of them. But for fans of dance and ballet, Bass’ film succeeds in presenting a good story about one of its brightest stars. ♦
“Dancing Across Borders” showtimes:
Monday, May 25, 7 p.m., SIFF Cinema
Tuesday, May 26, 4:15 p.m., SIFF Cinema
For more information or to buy tickets, visit www.siff.net.
Andrew Hamlin, Vivian Nguyen, and James Tabafunda can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.
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