MOVIE REVIEW: Park Chan-wook’s OLDBOY (2003)

It’s summer for me now, and it’s time for Netflixing! Or well, a little bit of it anyway, since I’m still going to summer school.

Oldboy title screen

Synopsis and spoiler-free analysis:

Oldboy (2003) is a South Korean movie directed by Park Chan-wook. A very highly acclaimed movie, Oldboy is a thriller-mystery about a man named Oh Dae-su (played by Choi Min-suk), who had been imprisoned by an unknown enemy, and was framed for a crime that he did not commit. After fifteen years, Dae-su is released, but is still continually plagued by his captor.  He spends his freedom trying to figure out who captured him and why. The film Oldboy is based on the manga of the same name by Marley Carib and Nobuaki Minegushi, and has also been remade by Spike Lee in 2013.

Intriguing and unpredictable:

The first word I would use to describe Oldboy is intriguing. It’s a crazy thriller-mystery, and it is rightfully labelled as that. There is not a dull moment in Oldboy, and if there is, the purpose of it is to let the audience catch up with what they just witnessed. Oldboy keeps you fixated on figuring out the mystery along with our protagonist – but even so, the plot is not the only thing that keeps you captivated. The visuals used in this film are very attractive – but we’ll talk about that some more later. The second word I would use to describe this unpredictable. This film is provocative both in terms of the plot, and in terms of events used to build the general mood of the film. There are quite a few moments where your eyes will go wide with horror or disbelief. But to maintain the unpredictable-ness of this film, the less I say the better it is. So I’ll just leave it at that for now.

“Uh, what did I just see..?”

Visually attractive (but not “pretty”):

Like I said before, the film is very attractive – but not necessarily “pretty”. I love the style of Oldboy. I would say the overall mood that the world of Oldboy takes on would be described as “gritty”, which was pretty necessary and expected from a plot like that. It wasn’t “gritty” the way American films are gritty though – there were actually a lot of bright colours and fun effects and camera tricks used. It looked cool and current despite coming out over ten years ago, and despite the graphics not being super great thirteen years ago. As mentioned, the film uses provocative imagery that is visually appealing in terms of “art” and whatnot, but maybe not so psychologically attractive. They’re beautiful, inventive shots – but the subject matter is quite taboo. It seems as if the beautiful images (and beautiful women) are used to juxtapose the events of the story which aren’t so pretty. But hey, that’s just my opinion.

One very pretty and moody shot from Oldoy

“The Last Waltz” (and the soundtrack in general):

I just have to mention “The Last Waltz” in particular, at least for a little section. “The Last Waltz” (composed by Jo Yeong-wook) is a song on the soundtrack for Oldboy that was played throughout the film, particularly in scenes with both the main female character, Mi-do (played by Kang Hye-jung), and the protagonist. The song, while romantic sounding, also somewhat unnerving and incredibly heart-wrenching. You can tell that there was emphasis placed on the soundtrack – it’s quite excellent throughout the whole thing. “The Last Waltz”, with its haunting beauty, is definitely my favourite from the movie. I’ve been listening to it almost everyday since my first viewing of the movie last week.

The lovely female lead, Mi-do, played by Kang Hye-jung

Recommended for:

Okay. Let me just say that this movie is not for everyone. I think I say that a lot (maybe that’s just a common theme with the movies that I watch), but I mean it this time. It’s very graphic – both in terms of sexual content and violence. Some might even call it excessive. It’s definitely not a family film – and I mean this both in terms of the writing and the visuals. If you’re squeamish, stay away (I also feel like I have said this in at least five reviews). And while this is an action film, I don’t think the action is where you’ll be getting your thrills from. This film is not a conventional action film at all.

So who is this for? Well, while this film is not the most conventional action film, it’s a damn good thriller. Oldboy keeps you interested and guessing about the big reveal right until it happens – and it’s an unexpected one. Aside from that, this film is must-watch for people who love artistic films.

Yeah I don’t know.

Spoilers section:

Scroll down to the TLDR and ratings section if you haven’t watched the movie yet.

Could you live with it? Would you?:

I guess this is the most interesting thing that I want to know after watching this movie. It’s not exactly “fun” to think about, though. Knowing what you know about the situation that our main characters are in, would you choose to live with the truth? Or would you choose to alter your memory, as Dae-su chose? I think when I first thought about that question, right after watching the movie, I was like, “Hell yeah, I’d alter my memory. Screw living with the truth.” But when I really thought about it, I realized that Dae-su would have had to come to this decision in the “real” world before altering his memory. So knowing that, do you think you would still make the decision to alter your memory? I mean, you’d be committing the taboo for the rest of your life as a result of your memory alteration – is it truly better that you don’t know that you are committing a taboo, but nonetheless committing one?

Side note: this was not a good movie to watch with your sibling. Which I did.

I mean, they were kinda cute.

TLDR; and ratings section:

Recommended for: People who love visually attractive films, people who like a good thriller, people looking for something truly unique
Not recommended for: People who are squeamish, people who do not like films with excessive mature (sexual and violent) subject matter

Visuals: 9/10 – Oldboy looks great – many of the scenes were artfully and skillfully shot, and I love the overall tone of the movie that was greatly enhanced by the visuals. The only thing was that not all the special effects were great – but hey, we’re talking about a movie that was made over 10 years ago.
Sound: 8.5-9/10 – Oldboy not only looks great, but sounds great. I will forever be haunted by the song “The Last Waltz”; you are sure to notice the care that was put into the score of this movie.
Overall enjoyment: 7.5-8/10 – Oldboy was a really, really interesting watch. Albeit strange and grotesque at times, it is guaranteed to keep you intrigued until the very end – if you can stomach it, that is. It might not be a movie you’ll wanna watch over and over again (because it can be a little mentally straining), but you may not have to right away – I haven’t stopped thinking about it since watching it.

MOVIE REVIEW: Quentin Tarantino’s RESERVOIR DOGS (1992)

After watching this movie, I feel like I understand so many more pop culture and Reddit references. Here’s my review:

The entire main cast of Reservoir Dogs

Synopsis and spoiler-free section:

Quentin Tarantino directed, wrote, and starred in his 1992 film, Reservoir Dogs – a movie about a group of six thieves (all of whom are under the aliases “Mr. (Colour)”), who are in partnership to rob a diamond store. The story follows a somewhat non-linear format, where we flash between the present time and the past, used to illustrate the characters’ backgrounds. The present story line follows the events after their failed diamond robbery, inside a warehouse; a member of the group has been shot and is on the verge of death, some members are no where to be found, and some suspect that there is a rat among their group.

Digression, Part I:

Digression, if you need to be reminded of the definition, is “a temporary departure from the main subject in speech or writing” (thanks, Google). And this is what I consider to be the best part of any Quentin Tarantino movie, and thus why it has to be the first thing I talk about. In Reservoir Dogs, like in his other movies, you will find some random conversion that doesn’t seem to progress the plot of the movie at all, and doesn’t have to do anything with the movie in general (besides maybe for some character building). It’s what separates storytelling through written forms from storytelling through visual forms – you can spend as much time as you want on something that doesn’t progress a story in a book, but generally not so much in a movie. That being said, the digression done in Tarantino movies are excellent and pretty much necessary – they give his movies the quality and character that everyone who watches his movies know and love. More about the digressions can be found below for those who have watched the movie.

Pretty much my favourite scene in the movie.

Visuals and sound:

So starting off with the visuals, I wouldn’t say there was anything awfully adventurous done with the camera itself, but the way they edited the film to incorporate their back stories is interesting. It seems to be a reoccurring theme that Tarantino would use for some of his movies following Reservoir Dogs. There are a few scenes here and there that looked visually cool, but there really isn’t anything interesting about the visuals aside from the flashback editing, in my opinion.

The sound is more interesting. Reservoir Dogs has as reoccurring theme throughout the movie that involves a not so enthusiastic radio DJ. And with this, that allows the movie to display music that was popular at the time, and thus, allows for some further insight into what the characters are like. It illuminates the fact that they are humans “just like us” and the fact that they are dangerous criminals.

Just dancin’ ~

Recommended for:

I think this movie is really funny, and it is just an enjoyable film for anyone who wants to watch something humourous that doesn’t rely on succumbing to toilet humour. It’s a thoughtful kind of funny – the kind of funny that hits you when you don’t really expect it to, or the kind of funny that lies with subtlty. The flow of the movie is very natural like that, and it keeps the characters interesting. I only wish that there was more of that.

So as a theme of Tarantino’s movies, this movie is more than a “little” bloody. Squeamish? Yeah, I don’t recommend it. I’m not terribly squeamish with blood and gore, but a couple of scenes had me fidgeting in my seat.

I will also say that this movie absolutely does not pass the Bechdel Test (if you don’t know what that is, check out this handy new page that I made), considering that there is not a single significant female character in the entire movie. In fact, I can only recall one significant character who is not a Caucasian male. Reservoir Dogs has a lot going for it – diversity is not one of them. I won’t open a Pandora’s Box on this discussion right now (because there is a lot to discuss on this subject – they are whole university courses); Tarantino probably wasn’t trying to promote the understanding of social issues with this film, but the lack of diversity is worth noting and worth thinking about while watching this movie (or any movie, for that matter).

Now go watch it if you haven’t, okay? OKAY??

Specific analyses (spoilers ahead):

Scroll down to the TLDR/ratings section to see the final verdict if you don’t want to see any spoilers (or if you simply do not care).

Digression, Part II:

The best digression in the movie is (and I’ll be surprised if you don’t agree with me) is the one they open the movie with – where Mr. Pink talks about his philosophy with tipping. Right off the bat, Mr. Pink is set up to be the “funny guy” of the movie. His name being “Mr. Pink”, in itself, is a set up for a joke (and which they do use for a comedic scene later on in the movie). But the tipping thing – when Mr. Pink lays out his arguments on why he doesn’t tip, you have to admit he makes some pretty good and even valid points, even if you disagree with him. And Steve Buscemi delivers and embodies Mr. Pink so, so naturally; his perfect delivery turned something that could have possibly been offensive into something that was funny and relatable for everyone watching. I guarantee everyone agreed with his a little, even if they thought he was being ridiculous.

Steve Buscemi as Mr. Pink

Who did it?:

Was it obvious for you who did it? I was interested in the beginning, and I kept tabs throughout to see if my predictions were right. Did it matter? No, not really – or at least the mystery portion wasn’t what kept me interested in the movie. At first I wanted to know who it was that did it (and it became more and more obvious as the movie went on), but soon, I just found myself being more interested in the characters themselves. I really wanted to get to know them; in the end, we never got to see the backstories of some characters – but that’s okay too, because that wasn’t what they were there for. Reservoir Dogs is a movie that you can watch solely because of interesting characters – no one had to be dying for it to be interesting.

Stare down between Mr. White and Mr. Pink

TLDR; and ratings section:

Recommended for: People looking for thoughtful humour, people looking for a movie with interesting characters and funny conversations
Not recommended for: People who can’t handle any gore or violence, people wanting a movie with more diversity

Visuals: 7/10 – Although this movie doesn’t do much that is interesting in terms of camera work, the way the movie is edited and cut to go from flash back to the present time, etc, keeps the visuals of the movie interesting.
Sound: 7.5-8/10 – I like the way music was used in this movie to give more character to both the people who inhabit this movie and to the setting. It really paints a picture of what these criminals may have been listening to at a time like this, and it makes these characters almost approachable – which is an odd thing to think to about.
Overall enjoyment: 7.5/10 – Reservoir Dogs may not be the most exciting movie with the camera or with effects, but that doesn’t keep it from being intriguing. You’re guaranteed to find characters and lines in the movie that will really stick with you. If you’re a fan of Tarantino movies, you’ll really notice how the styles of his later movies reflect the style of this movie.

TERMS

This is a (growing) list, where I will put some terms and vocab native to movies, television, literature, anime/manga, or general uncommon terms which I will be using. This helps me to simplify my writing, and keeps me from being too repetitive (trust me, I don’t like it either). Hopefully, you can also learn some new terms too if you find yourself on this page!

Terms in English:

Bechdel Test – A test featured in Alison Bechdel’s 1985 comic Dykes to Watch Out for. The test is usually used for movies, and it measures three things: 1) The film has two women in it who 2) talk to each other about 3) something besides a man.

Terms in other languages:

ANIMATED MOVIE REVIEW: Pixar’s ZOOTOPIA (2016)

YES I FINALLY GOT TO SEE ZOOTOPIA!!!! Yeah I’m a little late, but I had finals, you know? Anyway, here’s the review:

Same, Judy. Same.

Synopsis and spoiler-free section:

Zootopia is a movie by the studio Pixar (heard of it?), released in March of 2016. It is an animated movie about a society of anthropomorphic animals who have evolved to live in harmony with each other – predators and prey alike. Our main character, Judy Hops, is a young bunny born in a small town named Bunnyburrow, and is an aspiring to police officer. After achieving her childhood dream, Judy moves to the capital city “Zootopia” to be part of the police force. However, being the first “bunny police officer” lands her in a tough position with all the other officers, and she soon finds that Zootopia is not the paradise she thought it would be. All alone in the city, she soon makes an unlikely alliance with a disillusioned fox, named Nick Wilde.

A lively film:

I cannot think of a better work to describe this film other than “alive”. It is populated with so many animals, and so many different settings – I dare even say that this is Pixar’s biggest film in terms of the work for designing and animating everything (from what we can see on screen anyway). Compared to other Pixar films, which usually stay roughly in one area, there was a lot of jumping from location to location – all of them very interesting and beautiful in their own ways. In addition, this film featured a variety of animals and played with their “personalities” (imagined personalities) perfectly. This film is super vibrant and organic and BIG.

City of Zootopia

Charming characters:

Of course, I am talking about the main leads, Judy and Nick. The dynamics between these two characters, and as characters alone, are really charming and fun to watch. Right from their first interaction to their last, their personalities seemed to be matched up perfectly. And this is due to their personalities being opposite of each other – where Judy comes off as extremely studious and Nick comes off as a little sleazy. Classic comedic dynamics for making jokes off of each other. Aside from the two mains, there are plenty of other characters who are very funny and lovable, and a lot of the really funny jokes come from the side characters.

You may remember this guy from the trailers…

Unique themes:

One thing that makes Zootopia really interesting is its exploration of its movie genre. It is considered to be a “buddy-cop” film (which, for those of you who don’t know, is basically what it sounds like – a movie about cops who are friends, or cops who become friends; it’s a comedy genre). They play with “buddy-cop” movie tropes and pairings like the classic “studious cop” and “sleazy partner” pairing, dealing with bureaucracy bullshit, etc. It’s a very refreshing take on the genre, and something I haven’t seen in animated films before.

Another thing that makes Zootopia so worthy of your two hours of time are the social issues addressed in Zootopia. I don’t want to give too much away, but Zootopia addresses social concerns in a very interesting and thought provoking way that is palpable for children, and not overly cheesy for kids – again, not something I am too used to seeing  in animated films targeted to children. I find that Zootopia is very different from other Pixar movies – and while I love Pixar movies, I mean this in a good way.

When you try to make new friends but you’re 1/20th their size : (

Recommended for:

I honestly loved Zootopia, and I would recommend it to… pretty much anybody. While it is a family film, and it looks like it is probably intended to target “younger” audiences, I doubt any adult walking out of the theatre would write Zootopia off as “childish”. It IS adorable – don’t get me wrong – but it also deals with important issues that I did not expect to appear in Zootopia. It sends such a positive message for any younger viewers who are in the audience to receive, and it has enough substance that any adult could take it seriously. And in addition to this, this movie is legitimately funny – I can guarantee some real laughs when watching this.

I don’t really know who I wouldn’t recommend it to. I guess if you don’t like animated films, this isn’t for you… (but then why are you reading this review?) My friend did say that he was expecting for more heart-string tugging moments because Pixar is always so good at those (and to be honest, I wanted a little more too), so he was a little let down by the lack of that (but it isn’t completely absent).

Bring your friends! Bring your little brothers and sisters! Bring your folks! Bring your kids! (But not if they’re under three and can’t sit still for the entire movie or are susceptible to crying during movies. Don’t bring your kids.)

Detailed-analysis and spoilers section:

SO, if you haven’t watched the movie, here’s where you should stop (and scroll down the the bottom for the ratings). Or go watch the movie and come back.

THE SLOTH!

Let’s talk about the sloth real quick: Flash. Oh my – all the scenes with this sloth is super funny. The whole DMV scene was HILARIOUS! I lost my shit completely after Nick told his joke, and Flash tried to relay it back his friend, Priscilla. And man, the end – they pull him back up again when you forgot he even existed – what a nice way to tie everything up in a neat little bow.

Love yooooou

So uh, what do you think is up with them?

Nick and Judy, that is. Every fiber of my inner teenage girl that still remains was screaming for them to kiss or SOMETHING to confirm my feelings – but in the end, they didn’t. Nick did, however, teasingly say, “You know you love me,” to which Judy replied, “Do I know that? Yeah, I do.” That’s something, right? But my friend said they were “just friends”?! I call bullshit. CAN SOMEONE CONFIRM THIS FOR ME?? I’m dying. Though I don’t know how breeding would work with the two of them.

So cute ^_^

TLDR; and ratings section:

Recommended for: People looking for a movie that you won’t be bored by to watch with your kids, people looking for a genuinely funny animated movie, people looking for a unique twist on the “buddy-cop” comedy genre. And basically anybody.
Not recommended for: People looking for something that tugs on your heartstrings, people expecting the classic Pixar “formula”.

Visuals: 9/10 – Look, you already know that Pixar is going to bring it – they have all the resources to so they have pretty much no excuse not to. Even so, Zootopia looks great – it’s vibrant looking, modern, and populated with life.
Audio: 7/10 – I think where Pixar didn’t “bring it” for me this time was the music – it was very average, and I didn’t really come out of the movie having a song I would try to look up later. I did love the voices they cast for the main characters though.
Overall enjoyment: 9/10 – Like I mentioned before, Zootopia is extremely funny, and unexpectedly thought provoking. It is a refreshing movie to come out of Pixar, that plays on movie tropes not commonly used in animated movies. I am really hoping for a sequel for Zootopia, because I have fallen so completely in love with the characters.