MOVIE REVIEW: Lee Chan-dong’s BURNING (2018)

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted a review, but I’ve been watching a lot of movies lately and need somewhere to digest it. I wonder if I can one day be consistent with putting out reviews. But probably not.

First encounter in a long time between Jong-su (left) and Hae-mi (right)

Synopsis and spoiler-free section:

Burning (Korean: 버닝 Beoning), directed by Lee Chan-dong, begins with a chance encounter between the protagonist of the story, Lee Jong-su (played by Yoo Ah-in) and his childhood friend, Shin Hae-mi (played by Jeon Jong-seo). Although it had been years since Jong-su has seen Hae-mi, and Jong-su initially does not even recognize her, they quickly re-form bonds before Hae-mi leaves for her trip to Nairobi. When Hae-mi returns, Jong-su waits for her at the airport, only to be introduced to Ben (played by Steven Yuen), an enigmatic, wealthy, charismatic man, who Jong-su later learns has a dark hobby. A thriller full of mystery and jealousy ensues for our protagonist and his relationship between his childhood friend and her new lover. This story is based on Haruki Murakami’s short story “Barn Burning” from The Elephant Vanishes.

Beautiful shot of Jong-su running through a farm field

Slow, but gratifying build:

Look, this movie is a long one, sitting at 148 minutes, just shy of 2.5 hours. However, I would argue that this movie is excellent at executing the slow build of tension and anxiety that shrouds the entire film, and absolutely necessary in hindsight. What you get as a result of this is a realistic look at what one can actually do when they witness something unknown unfolding in front of them. That being said, there were some parts where I felt myself feeling that the movie was progressing a little slow, but the movie sparked enough intrigue to keep me interested throughout. In the end, I felt that the overall effect was worth the wait.

Jong-su being introduced to Ben when he picks up Hae-mi

Keep in mind the point-of-view:

For this movie, it is very important to keep in mind the point of view from which we are seeing the other characters. We are only shown scenes which Jong-su can see himself, and as a result, only know what Jong-su knows, so we unravel the mystery as he does in the film. In addition, we see the daily struggles he faces, internally with his interactions with other characters in the movie, and externally with his physical labour jobs. Through his POV, we explore his working-class struggles (discussed further in the next section) and his struggle with what this does to his masculinity.

Hm, do you think rich people are happier people? *thinking emoji*

Social-class struggles – what it means for men, and what it means for women:

Throughout the entire film, we watch our protagonist, Jong-su, struggle with problem after problem to do with his predicament of being an impoverished wannabe-novelist, and his inability to escape it. Ben is his exact character-shadow, in looks, in personality, in cultural knowledge, and more importantly highlighted in this movie, in social class. This movie uses these two social opposites to explore the power dynamics between the rich and poor — about what they are allowed to do, what they can get away with, and the effect on the male psyche.

A secondary discussion about class struggles is through the female lead, Hae-mi. Through her, we see social pressures of being a lower-class woman in this society, having to do with vanity, sexuality, and agency (or the lack of) in her own life. Again, keep in mind that this is seen in Jong-su’s point of view, so this commentary is filtered through the lens of someone who romanticizes Hae-mi. Still, we can empathize with the character objectively through what she says and how she acts.

Recommended for:

So, as I mentioned, this movie is pretty long – and not like a traditional (Hollywood) thriller where clue after clue is dropped one after another, nor is it one where you are certain of what the end goal is. The extra-diegetic music is not used as a device to necessarily excite, but more as a way to help build tension and a mild anxiety. It is a quiet film filled with lonely characters. Because of that, I can’t recommend it to people who are looking for the traditional thriller because this film isn’t that – it offers more of a study on the characters, their surroundings, and their social predicaments by cutting down on some qualities of the traditional thriller.

Specific scene analysis (spoilers section!):

If you haven’t seen my other reviews, this section below is reserved for talking about scenes and themes which I personally found interesting, with specific references to things that happened and plot points. Skip to the TLDR; section.

Can you taste the nectarine?

Hae-mi:

There aren’t many characters to choose from in this movie, but Hae-mi is my favourite. Although she is heavily romanticized as this film is shown from the point of view of Jong-su, and some expressed that she felt like a character built from the “male-fantasy”, I thought the problems she brought up in the film were very worthy of discussion, and I thought Jeon Jong-seo’s performance as Hae-mi was spectacular. She was very believable as this debt-riddled girl, struggling with tough questions like finding meaning in life, and superficial yet very relevant questions like balancing the double standards of society in terms of her looks. When she was younger, she was called “ugly” by Jong-su, a boy she admired — so she got plastic surgery. The result of that is she becomes in debt, and despite now being conventionally prettier, she gets shamed for taking advantage of it. I really sympathized with her situation,2 and wanted the best for her. Of course, this isn’t that kind of movie. It shows how society traps women in this endless cycle of the hunt to meet societal standards of beauty, and then paying for it when it is reached. We further see this cycle instilled in other women of this movie, namely Hae-mi’s coworkers, who one of them remark that there are many of them (the girls) who are in the same situation.

The ending:

There really could have only been two endings: either Jong-su kills Ben, or Ben kills Jong-su. The former happened. It was a very powerful scene, a boiling over of Jong-su’s suppressed emotions of anger, sadness, and jealousy. He is angry at Ben’s lack of consequences, sad about the loss of Hae-mi, and jealous of Ben’s ability to have it all. In a movie that portrays such unfairness in life, Ben was going to get away with it all without legal repercussions, leaving Jong-su to be the one to serve what he would deem as “justice”. We are shocked, but probably not disgusted by this act, and maybe even agreed with Jong-su’s action, wishing such justices could occur in real life. But alas, Burning is a movie and this is a movie review; I don’t wish to engage in an argument about morality and punishment right now.

Hope you’re not tired of reading yet!

TLDR;

Recommended for: People who are looking for a thoughtful thriller with subtle storytelling, a “slow burn” (hehe) if you will…

Not recommended for: People who are looking for a traditional thriller, people who aren’t willing to be patient for action

Ratings:

Visuals: 8/10 – I thought the visuals in this movie were great. They were good at creating a very lonely, “cold” mood that helped shroud the movie in mystery. Most notably, I felt like I could “feel” the weather — the cold, dry air that made Jong-su’s breath visible, the gross-ness of the rainy, crowded city, the lonely sunsets. I think these were the most beautiful visual features of the film, even though the locations are not the most conventionally “pretty”.

Sound: 7/10 (?) – To be honest, I don’t remember much of the soundtrack, other than a few notable parts (won’t get into it here) near the heights of tension. So, I can’t really give it an accurate score. That being said, I think that the lack of music added to the tension, making this movie feel all the more authentic and adding to the loneliness of the characters.

Overall enjoyment: 8/10 – Burning has been on my mind ever since I watched it a month ago – and I’ve watched quite a few movies since. Like I mentioned, the slowness of the movie did get to me at some points, but when I chose this movie to watch, I really was looking for a traditional thriller with a little more action. That was what I expected, and I think that may have affected my judgement a little. However, I still enjoyed the film immensely, and the fact that I still think about it speaks to its quality.

 

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.

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.

 

MOVIE REVIEW: Wong Kar-wai’s FALLEN ANGELS (1998)

After reviewing a few animes, I thought I’d go back to reviewing a movie or two. You know, for variety.

Michelle Reis as the Wong Chi-ming’s (Leon Lai’s character) partner/agent.

Synopsis and spoiler-free section:

Here I am with another film from Wong Kar-wai. Fallen Angels (Chinese: 墮落天使), released in 1995, is a “loose sequel” if you will, to Chungking Express. Although it does not link to the stories of Chunking Express, it started out as the “third story” to Chungking Express – but as you can tell, it ultimately became it’s own story instead of being attached to Chungking Express. It still however follows a similar style (of camera work, editing, and overall cinematography) and themes.

Anyway, enough about that – Fallen Angels follows two main stories; the first story is about Leon Lai’s character, Wong Chi-ming, a disillusioned and tired killer-for-hire, who is contemplating leaving the business, and therefore leaving his partner. His partner/agent (who remains unnamed for the entirety of the movie), played by Michelle Reis, wrestles with her feelings about his wants, and her own feelings about him. They had been partners in crime (literally) for a long time now, and possibility of change creates instability in both of their mental states. Meanwhile, in the second story, Takeshi Kaneshiro plays He Zhiwu, a mute, who has a very busy-body, to say the least. From falling in love, to making new friends, to opening up several businesses on his own at night, Zhiwu is a sight to behold.

Interesting, but alienating characters:

As with all of my favourite Wong Kar-wai films, this one has really interesting characters which really hold the story together, and is the main reason why I like this story. Needless to say, Reis’ character and Lai’s character, Wong Chi-ming, are bad-asses. They’re both emotionally-detached, cool-headed, and usually logical thinkers. They’re the definition of “cool”, clad in their nonchalantly fashionable outfits and smoking their cigarettes. Kaneshiro’s character, Zhiwu, is not as “cool”, but he is so dynamic and fun, and honestly makes for the most amusing scenes in the movie. His parts are definitely the funniest parts of the movie.

But the things that make them so intriguing as characters also make the characters very unrelatable. Chi-ming, is struggling with issues that we (hopefully) have never experienced. We can sympathize with him, but we don’t feel the weight of his decisions and his thoughts. Reis’ character is just ineffably cool and sexy. Her edginess, her ability to create such an impenetrable front for her feelings, her beauty – it’s a great look and a great personification of a fantasy female character, but really not relatable for most people (if she is relatable to you then you have to teach me your skills). This really leaves Zhiwu to be the most relatable, which is ridiculous, because he is ridiculous. But Zhiwu, like a lot of us, just wants to be socially accepted. I’m sure we’ve all felt that we were once a little overbearing, a little socially awkward, and that we were unable to take social cues. Zhiwu just… takes it more over the top than most people.

“Am I too close?”

Mood and style of the film:

I don’t want to talk about Chungking Express too much because I already have a review for that (here, by the way), but I don’t think you can get away from it when talking about the style of Fallen Angels.  Right off the bat, if you’ve seen Chungking Express, I think it’s pretty obvious that the style of this film is very similar. The way they filtered and colour matched this film is very similar, and creates a similar mood as Chungking Express because of it. For those of you who haven’t watch Chungking Express, I’m talking about the greenish-blue tone of this movie, that gives the film an overall look of “coolness” (in respect to colour). Mood wise, it gives the film this kind of grungy vibe without seeming dated.

However, I think Fallen Angels experimented with these elements more than Chungking Express. In Fallen Angels, you will notice a lot playing with the angle of the shots, and also a lot of playing with the fish-eye effect, probably to illustrate the confusion and mood of the characters. There was also some playing with flashbacks, which provided an interesting look into the pasts of our mysterious characters. I think they were also a lot more adventurous with the locations in this movie, and even had some scenic shots here and there. I would describe the overall mood of this film to be the feeling of yearning for romance. This feeling of yearning and loneliness is helped by the main song of the soundtrack,

Playing with the angle and the colours of the room. (I didn’t catch it initially but slightly NSFW pillow there…)

Music and sound:

(I’m only going to talk about this a bit because the review is already running a little long.) Fallen Angels makes good use of the everyday background noises (ie: the sound of the TV on in the background) and movement noises (ie: heels clicking on the ground), and it gives the world in the movie a very organic feeling to it. There are some very awesome songs they used in this movie that was great for creating the mood and for engagement – but for brevity’s sake, the most notable song used was “Forget Him” by Shirley Kwan. This illustrates the heart-wrenching aftermath of a broken relationship, and is used again and again in this movie. It goes amazingly well with the theme.

There are two kinds of people after a breakup.

Recommended for:

Obviously, this is recommended for people who really liked Chungking Express. They’re by no means the same movie, but they have similar elements that are very complementary to each other. What you SHOULDN’T do is compare this movie to Chungking Express, because I struggled with formulating a real opinion on this movie for a long time due to that. That being said, even if you haven’t watched Chungking Express, you should definitely check this movie out. I don’t know which one I could recommend to watch first (I watched Chungking Express first) but it ultimately doesn’t matter since they’re not linked. Fallen Angels has very intriguing characters and interesting premises, and is very good at evoking mood. It is an unconventional love story, that focuses more on the character in love than progressing the romance.

I wouldn’t recommend this for people who want something that is very plot driven. There is some advancement in plot in this story – but that’s not the main goal of this movie. I feel like the main goal is more to create mood and to tell interesting anecdotes about the character’s life. There’s a lot of attention focused on camera work and the little movements of out characters that ultimately don’t add to the progression of the story, and is only to develop the theme or the characters.

Happiest criminal ever.

In-depth analysis (spoilers ahead):

Scroll down to TLDR section for the ratings and summary!

Favourite story line:

As with my Chungking Express review (I know, I know, I keep referencing that movie… It’s hard not to!) I will discuss which of the two story lines is my favourite. It’s a little bit harder, because Fallen Angels connects the two stories a lot more than Chungking Express, which is a quality of Fallen Angels that I really like. Both of these stories are so unique, in different ways. Although it isn’t uncommon to have a story like the first story, the story of the two criminals who struggle with their relationship, I think Fallen Angels does a really good job with it. I liked how this movie focused on the individual character’s struggles with their feelings instead of trying to work towards progressing them as a couple – because that just isn’t a smart move, especially for people in their profession. The plot isn’t special, but the way they go about it is. This could have been another super cheesy movie where the characters just go like “But I need you…” and such, until they make love and ride off into the sunset together. Despite me saying that their characters aren’t relatable, they’re oddly realistic and true to their personalities.

The second story, as I stated above, is just a lot more funny. Zhiwu is the quirkiest of the quirky. I didn’t care much for his romance parts, but I loved watching his attempts to “bump shoulders” with the people that he met. He was so lovable to watch – but maybe not so lovable to meet (I sure wouldn’t want to be force-fed soft serve ice cream… or… huh.) He went through so many phases in the amount of screen time he had. My favourite phase of his, and the phase that resulted in my favourite scene of the movie, is his video taping scene. My favourite scene of the movie was when Zhiwu sits alone in his apartment, watching a taped video of his dad cooking. Damn near broke my heart :'(.

So, if I had to choose between the two story lines, I liked the second story line more. In a movie chiefly about creating good characters, I liked Zhiwu as the character the most.

Zhiwu watching some old recorded tapes…

 

TLDR; and ratings:

Recommended for: People who liked Chungking Express, people who pay attention to cinematography in a movie, people who like good character building
Not recommended for: People who like plot driven story lines, people who don’t care for A LOT of attention to detail in films

Visuals: 8/10 – Love the style of this film, obviously. The visuals add a lot to the entire mood of the film. This film does a lot of interesting things with the camera to compliment and convey the feelings of the characters.
Sound: 8/10 – Great, great soundtrack and great usage of everyday noises to great an organic vibe from this not so entirely “true to life” movie. The music really helped to tie this movie together.
Overall enjoyment: 8/10 – This movie is filled with intriguing and odd characters. While the premise seems entirely fictional, Fallen Angels still somehow feels realistic. It’s a lovely film to watch stylistically, and it has a very good soundtrack that helps breath realism into this movie. And although the characters aren’t very relatable, that doesn’t stop them from being very amusing to watch.

MOVIE REVIEW: Giddens Ko’s YOU ARE THE APPLE OF MY EYE (2011)

I’ll admit: sometimes I write these reviews just to spread some movies that I like around… HAHA. No, I just need to digest my thoughts somewhere about things. I already talk way too much about crap that people don’t care about in real life. Anyway, here’s a movie review:

Michelle Chen as Shen Chia-yi and Ko Chen-tung as Ko Chin-teng.

Synopsis and spoiler free section:

You are the Apple of My Eye (2011) (Chinese: 那些年，我們一起追的女孩 Na xie nian, wo men yi qi zhui de nu hai) is a Taiwanese movie directed by Giddens Ko, which is based on a semi-autobiographical novel that he also wrote. The movie stars Ko Chen-ting as Ko Chin-teng (nicknamed as Ko-teng), a mischievous high school senior. The bulk of the movie is set in the past, and starts out with Chin-teng recollecting his high school (and later college) days, of his group of friends, and a girl, Shen Chia-yi (played by Michelle Chen), an honour student who he and his friends eventually form an unlikely friendship with.

A feel good movie:

Right from the beginning, the movie feels very relaxed. It does a really good job reeling the audience in, as Ko-teng brings you in by narrating his thoughts about the past. He comes off as carefree, charismatic, and funny as he tells you about the events that occurred in his graduating year of 1994, about his friends and their nicknames, etc. And although it is a romance movie, the other characters are not neglected in the shadows of the main characters -they all seem very real and believable, and they are all funny in their own ways. Not only is it a movie about love, it is a movie about the character’s friends, how he developed into an adult – all of which happened in those few years. There are so many clever things about this movie (which I will talk about in the next paragraph) without being pretentious or serious about it. While it’s lighthearted, it is by no means a disposable watch.

Hey, no sword fighting on school property.

The little things:

Man, there are so many little details in this movie that made it come alive for me. Let’s take the title for example (because there aren’t really any spoilers I can give from that). The English title is… a little cheesy sounding. Although apples are a bit of a reoccurring theme, the Chinese title is A LOT more meaningful in my opinion. “那些年，我們一起追的女孩” translated means, “Those years, the girl that we went after together”; I think this title sets a really good mood for a coming-of-age story – and I would describe it as that genre of movie as much as I would describe it as a romance movie. Another detail adding onto this is Ko-teng’s reminiscing about the year this movie started out in; he mentions the best selling cassette in 1994, Jacky Cheung’s album, “Kiss Goodbye”. I imagine that if I was a teenager or a young adult in 1994 and I were to watch this movie, I would just melt into a puddle of nostalgia just from that line.

Ko-teng on his way to school, listening to Jacky Cheung’s album

Recommended for:

It just feels so good watching this movie. Watching him hang with his buddies and watching them all fawn over the same girl… it really reminds me of high school too (except their high school days seem way cuter than mine somehow). But a lot of this movie is also about growth; If you’re looking for a good and funny coming-of-age romance story, this is such a good pick.

For this movie, I feel like I don’t have anything really bad to say about it without giving anything away. However, I think when people think of teenage romances, they think of a movie that’s really hormones-driven and drama-filled. If you’re looking for that… well… it’s set in Taiwan in 1994, so you can imagine that there isn’t a lot of making out in this movie. It’s not a typical teen drama that’s for sure. I don’t know *shrug*.

The guys – wait hold up. Is he holding a smart phone or are cassettes thinner than I thought they were?

In-depth scene analysis (spoilers section):

Jump to the bottom if you want to avoid the spoilers!!

Maybe I should consider writing this above next time so people would actually consider going through the whole thing…

The ending: where the opinion of this film is finalized:

Okay, so, the ending. I have been dying to talk about the ending.

For me, there was no better way to end a film like this. For some people, they hated the ending so much that the whole movie was ruined for them (source: one of my friends). Although it was kind of a bittersweet ending, it was really, really funny, and you actually realize that Ko-teng has learned something and has grown up from this experience. He has a life separate from this now, and is no longer hung up on a girl that got away. Of course, there are still lingering feelings (hence the kiss at the end WHICH WAS THE BEST) but Ko-teng is definitely not what you would call “bitter”. He acknowledges that his chance is gone, and he wishes his past could-have-been girlfriend to have happiness in her marriage. It’s nice. Ko-teng is an adult now. What a perfect way to end a coming of age movie. Although the last little bit with the balloon killed me a little. AHHHHH. ;-;

From my second favourite scene of this movie.

TLDR; and ratings section:

Recommended for: Anyone who is looking for an out of the ordinary romance, a coming of age story, or anyone who likes watching movies about Asian school life.
Not recommended for: People who are into steamy romances, people who like their movies to be a little bit more melodramatic

Ratings:
Music: 7/10 – If you haven’t heard the official theme song, it’s really good (Here it is. SPOILER ALERT THOUGH. But I watched it before I saw the movie and nothing was really “spoiled” for me…). The lyrics in it are really wonderful if you understand them (or if you care enough to look it up) and they describe this movie really well. The rest of the music played throughout the film was alright. Nothing really jumped out at me though.
Visuals: 7.5-8/10 – This movie looks really good, and it really fits the tone of the story very well. It looks very fresh and youthful, just like the days that the main character is reminiscing. They do some fun things with the editing at the beginning that I really liked, and there are some interesting shots throughout the movie.
Overall enjoyment: 8-8.5/10 – I seriously love this movie. I have watched it a few times now, and it never gets old to me. The characters and their world is just so alive, and you can really feel a sense of nostalgia just by watching this film, even if you didn’t go to school in the 90s and even if you’re not from Taiwan.

And that’s all, folks!

MOVIE REVIEW: Christopher Nolan’s MEMENTO (2000)

YES,  I finally got around to watching Memento. This one has been on my “to-watch” list for waaaay too long. Here’s my review (oh and hey, it’s the first Western movie that I’m reviewing!):

From the movie cover of Memento.

Synopsis and spoiler-free section:

Memento (2000), directed by Christopher Nolan, is a highly critically acclaimed movie about memories and the losing of memories. Leonard Shelby, played by Guy Pearce, has anterograde amnesia, a condition which causes him to be unable to store short term memory, but his long term memory still remains. Because of his condition, and his ability to remember things only prior to developing this condition, he takes pictures and writes down notes relevant to completing his goal (formed from the events before developing his condition). Like memories and many other movies about memory, the bulk of this story is told in a non-linear timeline, where we start at the end of what Leonard is able to remember and work our way backwards.

A true story for the screen:

What do I mean by that? Although it was originally based on a pitch by Jonathan Nolan (Christopher Nolan’s younger brother) who later finished it as a short story, I think Memento fits the film format very perfectly. There are a lot of little details in Memento that is shown but not explicitly mentioned – you (and I) probably won’t be able to pick it up through the first watch. I’m not saying prose can’t have this effect, but so much of our memories are visual and not concrete. Words are concrete. The fact that we can’t pick up on certain “clues” from the film makes it more like our memory – we just don’t have the luxury of rewinding, rewatching, and reanalyzing everything in HD. We rely almost entirely on visuals for our memory. Also, because we are mostly seeing these memories through Leonard’s eyes, we are seeing it with some kind of intended subjectivity, which again, is different from creating intended subjectivity in prose.

Not to mention, this film has phenomenal editing. The quick cuts from a chunk of memory to another chunk of memory allows for an interesting mimic of memory. Again, it isn’t impossible in prose, but the way they chose to show and to limit certain scenes allows for such a unique and trippy watching experience.

One feature of their awesome editing and visual storytelling skills.

Recommended for:

Gee, who wouldn’t I recommend this for? I feel like if you’re a person who even watches movies, you’d be able to enjoy this. It’s a really good psychological thriller that has very good layered storytelling. Not only is the main character playing detective in this, but you will find yourself trying to solve the mysteries along with him (even though the ending is at the beginning).

But really, I get that some people don’t like psychological thrillers, and there are some “triggers” in here (ie: blood, sexual violence). If you have any problems with either of those things, then of course, don’t watch it. Other than that, I don’t see why you shouldn’t give this movie a shot.

Does this look enticing enough?

In-depth scene analysis (spoilers section):

Scroll dooown to the bottom to get my ratings for this movie, and to skip possible spoilers.

And… go!

Things that didn’t work for me about this movie:

ALTHOUGH I think this was an amazingly entertaining movie, there are some things about it that I didn’t really like. Well, there was like one thing I didn’t like about it – Leonard’s sudden change of attitude at the “end” (or the beginning?) of the movie. I loved the twist that they put at the end – where it was revealed that Teddy wasn’t actually the one Leonard was looking for (or who knows – Leonard definitely doesn’t. I believe that Teddy was telling the truth at that point). What I didn’t like was Leonard’s cold twist in personality. Up until then, Leonard seemed like a cool, RATIONAL person, despite his condition. But all of a sudden, after hearing those things from Teddy, he gets really angry and decides that Teddy is going to be his “John G.” It’s understandable that he is angry; Teddy is relaying”world-shattering” things to Leonard. But that change was extremely, extremely sudden – I felt distance from any humanity that Leonard had. It changed him so quickly from a vengeful, grieving widow to a psychopathic killer. I guess if they wanted to show how deteriorated Leonard’s mind is, they did a good job. It was an awesome twist though nonetheless.

My only question now is, what will become of Leonard? I mean, he “got” him. What will be his reason to live now?

In who do we trust?

TLDR; and ratings:

Recommended for: People looking for a really good psychological-thriller, people looking for a stylistically pleasing film, people looking for a good, layered storyline

Not recommended for: People looking for something “easy” to watch, people who may be triggered by scenes of blood and sexual violence

Ratings:
Music: 7.5/10 – It was good, nothing that was too out of the ordinary from what you expect from a psychological-thriller or similar genres (at least from what I’ve observed through one watch). It was good at setting the eerie and semi-uncomfortable mood that resonated throughout the film.
Visuals: 9/10 – Although this isn’t a movie with super beautiful shots or artsy frames, this movie has amazing editing. The way information was presented in the film was very satisfying in terms of visual storytelling.
Overall enjoyment: 8.5/10 – I always love a good psychological thriller, and as mentioned before, the story is told in a very engaging way – both for your mind and for your eyes. I think this film is very, very rewatchable as well, and I will definitely be revisiting it.

MOVIE REVIEW: Kwak Jae-yong’s THE CLASSIC (2003)

I think this is actually the first Korean movie I’ve ever watched. I’ve watched a few dramas, but I’ve never watched a movie. Here’s the review:

Joon-ha (left, played by Jo Seung-woo) carrying Joo-hee (left, played by Son Ye-jin) in the rain.

Synopsis and spoiler-free section:

The Classic (2003) (Hangul: 클래식 Keulraesik), directed by Kwak Jae-yong, is a romance movie involving two love triangles between two different time periods. In the present, Ji-hye (played by Son Ye-jin), stumbles upon her mother’s old love letters as she is cleaning the house. The love letters reveal a love triangle involving her mother, Joo-hee (also played by Son Ye-jin), her father, and her father’s best friend. Similarly, in the present, Ji-hye is also involved in a love triangle herself, involving her love interest Sang-min (played by Joo In-sung) and Ji-hye’s friend, Soo-kyeong (played by Lee Sang-in). As she is reading the letters, she finds some striking similarities between some of the events in the letters and her own life. 

The past story vs. the present story:

This movie spends the bulk of the time in the past, telling the story from Ji-hye’s mother’s love letters. It is honestly the better story of the two, as the story is more believable, albeit very dramatic. A big thing that the present story was lacking was details – details about why the characters like each other, details about the character as a person in general, and details about the setting. In the story about the past, they spent time to actually develop the characters, and create a real setting that aligned with the time period that it was set in. I liked that they put so much detail into creating the setting for the past, but it felt really off that they didn’t do this for the present. I felt that the movie spent so much more time on the story from the past, and I couldn’t really feel anything for the present story at all. I am aware that the point of this movie isn’t to focus on the present (it’s named The Classic for a reason), but I don’t think you should leave your audience feeling so unemotionally attached to the main character and her surroundings. Maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t really care for any of the characters in the “present” timeline. Their love in general wasn’t very believable to me.

Inside an art gallery. Ji-hye is walking a little distance away from her friend Soo-kyeong and the male protagonist, Sang-min.

Recommended for:

You know what this movie reminds me EXACTLY of? Nicholas Sparks movies (and the books they’re based off of I presume; I haven’t read any of them). I’m not a huge fan of them; I don’t dislike romance movies, but for some kind of reason, I can’t sit through one of those. Actually I’ve only completed one (I usually just lose interest if I have to watch them with my friends, to be honest), which was The Notebook; it wasn’t bad, and I don’t regret watching it – I guess I have similar feelings about this movie. I THINK it was a good “romance movie”. If you like romance movies in general, I think you would definitely enjoy this. They have some good romance scenes in this that are quite sweet and “aww-inducing” if you know what I mean. But these movies are kind of boring for me.

I don’t recommend it for anyone who doesn’t like romance movies that are purely romance. Granted, there are moments in this movie that talk a little about social conflicts (which I commend this movie for doing; I probably just haven’t watched enough Korean movies though), it’s almost completely straight up romance. Like, dramatic romance. It can wear you out a little watching something like that.

*blur the background for dramatic effect*

In-depth analysis (with spoilers):

Go down to the TLDR; section for the final verdict.

The ending:

I liked how they set up the movie to guide the audience to think that Ji-hye’s father was Joon-ha. Although I wasn’t very invested in the movie a little over the halfway point, I liked the twist ending where Joon-ha’s friend, Tae-soo, is actually Ji-hye’s father, and Sang-min is actually Joon-ha’s son. By the last 15-20 minutes, it becomes pretty obvious, but I still liked that they had that as the outcome. Not only does it explain why the present story line and the past story line have those similarities, but also why Ji-hye is SO IN LOVE with Sang-min despite not really knowing him (this bugged me a lot).

I’ll admit this scene was kind of sad. Not enough to make me cry, but sad nonetheless.

TLDR; and ratings:

Recommended for: People who are looking for a good romance, people who enjoy Nicholas Sparks type films.
Not recommended for: People who don’t want to watch a straight up romance, people who are probably overly critical of how believable a romance is.

Music: 6/10 – It was okay..? Honestly, I barely remember it. There were some parts where the audio was good for creating mood (which is what it should do…) but I mean, it’s pretty standard. Nothing was particularly interesting to me about it.
Visuals: 6.5-7/10 – Again, nothing particularly interesting stood out to me about the camera work for this film. As for the other visuals, some scenes looked quite nice, and I liked the mood of the story line of the past created by the visuals. I also kind of liked that they used the same actor to play the mom and the daughter. But again, there were no completely dazzling shots that stood out in my head.
Overall enjoyment: 6.5/10 – I think the movie started off strong, but it got boring for me in the middle since I didn’t believe in the romance between Ji-hye and Sang-min, but the end redeemed the movie for me a little.  It’s not bad, but I don’t think I’d ever watch it again.

MOVIE REVIEW: Peter Chan’s COMRADES: ALMOST A LOVE STORY (1996)

I’ve been watching movies to avoid my other responsibilities lately. It’s great : )

Maggie Cheung as Li Qiao and Leon Lai as Li Xiao-jun.

Synopsis and spoiler free section:

Comrades: Almost a Love Story (1996) (Chinese: 甜蜜蜜 tián mì mì), directed by Peter Chan, is a movie about a man from Wusih (located in Northern China), named Li Xiao-jun (played by Leon Lai) who movies to Hong Kong in hopes of raising enough money to start a life there, and to bring his lover there from his hometown. Not knowing any Cantonese in a city that primarily speaks Cantonese, the happy-go-lucky Xiao-jun struggles to get a hang of the ropes there – that is, until he meets the scheming and ambitious Li Qiao (played by Maggie Cheung), who is from Guongzhou, a Cantonese speaking city in mainland China. Although their personalities and goals are completely different, they eventually form a friendship in this harsh city, by bonding through their similar circumstances, their love for the Taiwanese pop singer Teresa Teng, and their loneliness.

More than just a love story:

As the title suggests, this movie has a fair bit of romance – which was very enjoyable in this movie, don’t get me wrong – but it is about so much more than just that. Li Qiao and Xiao-jun had such great chemistry in romance, in friendship, and in their partnership. Throughout the movie, Li Qiao teaches Xiao-jun how to fit into Hong Kong; Xiao-jun shows kindness and nurturing to the often confused and frustrated Li Qiao. Throughout the movie, we see them change due to each other, and due to their environment. We see both of them switch from being strong to vulnerable, balancing each other out. The character development in this movie is so realistic, and changes so subtly that you don’t realize just how different things are from the beginning. To me, this movie is so great because of its authenticity to the complications that people at that time period in Hong Kong were facing, whether it had to do with love, friendship, trying to earn money, or just acceptance.

Li Qiao showing her vulnerable side (though this scene isn’t really related to what I was talking about above. It was just good for mood matching).

Teresa Teng!!!:

Teresa Teng (Chinese: 鄧麗君 Dèng Lìjūn) was a huge theme in this movie. The title in Chinese is named after one of Teresa Teng’s songs of the same name, and is used as a reoccurring song throughout the movie. For those of you who don’t know, Teresa Teng was a really popular pop star, coming into fame in the 1970s, up until her death due to asthma in 1995. She was popular throughout East Asia – spanning from China, to Japan, and to Thailand. She remains one of the most influential, remembered, and loved singers in China, known for her beautiful and sweet voice. In this movie, Li Qiao and Xiao-jun bond over Teresa Teng’s lovely melodies throughout the film.

Xiao-jun and Li Qiao singing “Tián Mì Mì” by Teresa Teng as they ride on Xiao-Jun’s bike together.

Recommended for:

This movie is a great film for illustrating what life was like for people in China at the time who wanted to get away from China. It was just how things happened back then – there were more opportunities elsewhere. And as I am writing this, I remember to think about my parents, who are similar in to them in this respect. Not only is it a romance movie, it is a commentary about the life and struggles of people who were in similar situations to the characters in this film, and I think it is a very realistic one at that.

The only thing is, the movie isn’t the most exciting movie. A lot happens in the movie – it spans years of their lives – but whether or not it is “exciting” or “interesting” depends on what you like. It is really a movie about life over anything else. If you don’t want to watch two hours of some people living, then this might not be for you. Also, because most people (me included) have not been through this kind of struggle, it might not really resonate with you if you aren’t interesting in these kinds of movies at all. Finally, if you don’t speak either of the languages (like you don’t know how to say anything in Cantonese or Mandarin), you will miss some subtle details about what the characters are like and how their speech changes. Oh, there are also some unbelievable coincidences in this movie that make it not so realistic – however, if you don’t suspend your disbelief at least a little while watching movies… I don’t see how you can get through most films.

This photo is kind of random; just Maggie Cheung in the movie as Li Qiao, looking beautiful as always : )

In-depth scene analysis and spoilers section:

Blah blah blah spoilers ahead. I’m going to keep this section short anyway.

Pao! (and other side characters):

I really liked the side characters added into this movie. They really made the whole movie come to life – as moving to a new place usually involves interaction with more than just one person. Pao (played by Eric Tsang) was probably the character with the third most lines. I grew to really like his character, although he came off as kind of sleazy at the beginning. He became really sweet eventually, and you could see that he really cared for Li Qiao. I was pretty sad when he died at the end, because he was someone Li Qiao really cared for too, and now she was alone again. I have to admit though, whenever I see Eric Tsang in a serious movie, it always throws me off, because I grew up watching him in Chinese variety shows. But that quickly subsided as their relationship grew.

Aside from Pao, I really enjoyed watching Xiao-jun’s interactions with the other people he met, and with the character that we met. His aunt Rosie (played by Irene Tsu) was particularly interesting, with her obsession with William Holden. The story was really sweet, and it almost brought me to happy tears as she was recalling the story in her letter/will to Xiao-jun. Rosie’s story perhaps showed kind of a romantic view of America/Americans as Hong Kong and people living in Hong Kong were getting more westernized. Aside from Aunt Rosie, I was happy to see that Xiao-jun had made some true friends throughout the movie.

Man, I cracked up when I saw this. What a cute thing to do to get a girl to smile.

TLDR; and ratings:

Recommended for: People who are interested in seeing what life was like for someone from Mainland China to go to Hong Kong to make a living in the late 80s to early 90s, someone looking for a movie about relationships with people in general
Not recommended for: People who don’t like lots of coincidences, people who are not interested in the synopsis at all (it will literally be that and not much else)

Visuals: 6.5-7/10 – Didn’t talk about this much. The movie is quite dated, so I don’t know if this rating is that accurate or if I am just focusing too much on that… But they do do some interesting shots in the film, and we do get to see some nice shots of Hong Kong (and other places). Overall though, the camera wasn’t trying to do anything too adventurous or super noteworthy.
Music: 7.5/10 – Okay I’m a bit biased about this one because I like Teresa Teng. BUT, she is kind of central to their story, and the other music used was pretty good at creating the right mood for certain scenes.
Overall: 8/10 – I really liked this movie for its realism to the subject, and it is a synopsis that interests me because I know that it is something that people in my family have faced. I loved the characters in the movie, and I thought they developed really well throughout the film. It is a must watch if you are interested in this subject at all.

MOVIE REVIEW: Jay Chou’s SECRET (2007)

Haven’t posted anything in awhile..! Though I guess that doesn’t matter to anyone but me :p. But it’s nice for me to get to share my thoughts about something, as trivial as this may seem. I’ve missed it.

The protagonists: Xianglun (left) played by Jay Chou, and Xiaoyu (right) played by Gwei Lun-mei

Synopsis and spoiler-free section:

Secret (2007) (Chinese: 不能說的秘密 Bùnéng shuō de mìmì) is a Taiwanese movie directed by the musician Jay Chou. The movie is his directorial debut, in which he also co-wrote for, scored for, and starred in as the male protagonist, Ye Xianglun, a promising piano student who had just transferred to Tamkang (Danjiang) Secondary School, a school known for having musically talented students. The female protagonist, Lu Xiaoyu is played by Gwei Lun-mei. Xiaoyu is another talented pianist who goes to Tamkang. They two main characters meet through their love of piano music, and soon start a bittersweet romance surrounding Xiaoyu’s mysterious secret.

The music:

As is expected from a movie directed by a musician who writes most of his own music, and that is about a student who goes to a musically inclined school, this movie has a great score. It consists of mostly piano music, ranging from pieces by Chopin to pieces that Chou composed himself. Not only is there music played just as a part of the soundtrack, the characters themselves (side characters included) also display their musical talents in the movie.

Xiaoyu and Xianglun playing a piece together.

Exceeded my expectations

What led me to this movie was a fan made music video for Jay Chou’s song, “Dandelion’s Promise”, which is also part of the movie’s OST. From the music video, I didn’t expect much – I just expected a cute, kinda cheesy and over-dramatic teenage love story (which was what the MV lead me to think it was). I wasn’t that interested in it – I saw it months before I watched it last night. I kind of felt like crying for something cheesy yesterday, so I thought this movie would be a good choice to get the job done (without having my heart obliterated completely).

But actually, this movie was quite good. I really liked the mood of the film – the whole film is filtered in a bluish tone, which I think worked really well for a melancholy, mysterious love story. There were some nice shots of the town in Taiwan where they lived, shown usually when Xianglun was biking around the area. It was hard to tell when the film was supposed to have taken place, which created a really nice “timeless” quality of the film.

The film itself actually wasn’t overly cheesy (though some of the side characters seemed more than just a little stereotypical). The chemistry between the two main characters were quite good. Their flirting scenes seemed natural and sweet. I didn’t expect too much out of Chou’s acting since he’s not an actor. While his acting wasn’t bad (though his character didn’t seem like it was that difficult of a character to play), he’s just not the most expressive actor. But the good thing is, I didn’t feel that he was awkward for his part. I felt Lun-mei played the adorably mysterious Xiaoyu pretty well. You could always feel that air of “there is something not quite right” around her, which is really important to the story here (obviously, because it is called Secret).

Xiaoyu and Xianglun on a rooftop as the sun sets before them.

Recommended for:

If you’re looking for a movie that has some good romance, this is a pretty decent one. The mood in this film feels really right, and the flirting between the characters is actually very cute. On top of that, it has a great soundtrack if you’re looking for some more piano pieces to listen to. As expected from a movie named Secret, it is a little sad. Don’t watch it if you’re a crier and you’re planning to see people later on in the day (unless of course, you don’t care. In that case, good on you :)).

I really don’t know who I wouldn’t recommend it for – I suppose I wouldn’t bring it up in a conversation with someone who wouldn’t watch a film like this anyway. The film mostly focuses on the two of them, and very few other characters, so if something about the two characters isn’t working for you, then this film probably isn’t for you. Romance is also the main focus here, and the story will revolve heavily around their love.

Xianglun and Xiaoyu flirting in the halls.

In-depth scene analysis section (spoilers ahead):

spoilerspoilerspoilers

The ending, predictions, and character developments:

I have to confess. At first, I didn’t really like Xiaoyu that much, because she got mad/upset with Xianglun so frequently and easily, to the point that it became a little repetitive. But still, she was what was keeping the movie moving forward in an interesting direction (with her secret), so I tried to be patient with her. I thought her secret was going to be that she was dying (I predicted this before I watched the movie since everyone was saying how sad it was in the comments and in reviews), or that she was actually a figment of his imagination (because of the events which proceeded after the scene picture above). However, the actual ending explained her behaviour a lot better than my predictions, and made her behaviour seem completely reasonable. It took me by surprise – the reason why she was so mysterious, yet also clingy to him, was all because of her secret, and how people treated her after her secret was revealed. I didn’t expect this movie to have any supernatural elements to it at all, so it really was a big plot twist for me. I really liked how the movie tied everything together full circle (like the selective, coded words she used when she was explaining the song she was playing for Xianglun) after the big reveal of the secret, and it was interesting up until the end.

This isn’t a scene from the end, but I didn’t really want to give any photo spoilers.

TLDR; and ratings:

Recommended for: People looking for a good romance movie that will hit you in the feels, people looking for a movie with good music
Not recommended for: People who don’t like movies that revolve only around two characters

Visuals: 7.5/10 – It’s a nicely shot movie, that’s for sure. The visuals, especially the tone of pictures, the scenic shots, and the scenes in the interior of the school with all the beautiful pianos provide a great mood for the entire film. It’s not the most adventurous when it comes to camera work, but it does what’s needed for the film.
Music: 8.5/10 – I really don’t know enough about piano music to assess the songs that they chose for this, but I liked it overall. I took off some points because I never felt like the music helped take me over the edge with emotions at any point, which I have definitely observed from other films. Still a really good score though.
Overall: 7.5/10 – It’s a good movie! A lot better than I had expected, that’s for sure. The chemistry between the two characters are believable, and the reveal of “secret” is a lot better than what I had thought up with in my head. It wasn’t predictable or cheesy for the most part. A solid movie for sure.