Jo-hannah’s Weekend Movie Picks
Hello fellow MDL readers, I’m Jo-hannah and this is my first article for MyDramaList, I hope you like it, let’s go!
I don’t know about you guys, but I am a die-hard fan of stories that manage to keep me at the edge of my chair guessing, what’s going to happen next. Films that can blow my mind because of their cleverness. I enjoy movies that play with my mind and set moral questions for the audience. Which force us (somehow) to choose between what’s right and what’s wrong, and letting us wonder how far humanity can go in order to achieve what they want.
Ok, enough of that introduction...let’s get to the point! Here are a selection of movies that will definitely play with your mind.
Brain man (No Otoko)
Country: Japan Year: 2013 Genre: Crime, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Action, Detective
In a city in Japan a series of sudden explosions are occurring, in random places, causing chaos among the people. In order to discover who is behind those crimes, Detective Chaya (Eguchi Yosuke) is assigned to lead the case and find the culprit. In his search, he discovers Ichiro Suzuki, (Ikuta Toma) our “Brain man”. Ichiro isn’t a normal guy. He’s like a human machine, extremely smart, observant, inscrutable and apparently a person without any kind of emotions.
On the other side we have our heroine Mariko Washiya (Matsuyuki Yasuko), she is a Neurosurgeon who specializes in understanding a criminal’s mindset. She gets to know Ichiro and she’s the one who leads us in the journey of understanding him. In this way we will also find out what’s the nature, and motivation behind the person who’s causing the explosions in the city.
If you want a psychological thriller, that makes your heart race, and manages to leave you open mouthed every second, then this is the one for you. This film is shocking in every aspect, and in a good way. The story is incredibly smart, the characters are pretty well written and played too. The movie plays with questions like; can people change their nature? Are we naturally evil, or naturally good? What’s the right way to do justice? And so on. You will definitely enjoy it!
Hwayi: A Monster Boy
Country: South Korea Year: 2013 Genre: Action, Thriller
Hwa-i (Yeo Jin-goo) is a nice and shy boy who was raised by five men whom he calls his dads. These men are a dangerous gang of robbers that are being hunted by the police. Hwa-i has learnt his entire life how to be part of his dads’ gang and he’s been trained to become a cold-blooded criminal. But...will Hwa-i take that path? What is Hwa-i's story? And how did he end up living with these men?
This film tells a great story about how much the environment where a person grows up influences that person’s life. The movie deals with one big question: is a monster born or is he made? You have to figure that out for yourself, but the film will give you several reasons that will probably shake your mindset. Something that I loved from this movie was the great acting of Yeo Jin-Goo as Hwa-i. He manages to portray the innocence, struggle and anger of Hwa-i’s character so well that you will actually feel his pain in your bones. This is a great story that you should definitely watch.
Parade
Country: Japan Year: 2010 Genre: Drama, Mystery, Romance
The last one in the list, but still a great movie is the Japanese film Parade. This movie tells the story of a group of friends, that have been living together for a long time, and apparently know each other pretty well, but...do they? You will find out when you watch it! Meanwhile, several women are being murdered near the area where these friends live. The question is how these murders are related with the peaceful life of this group of roommates.
There’s a saying in my country that goes like this “We know the face, but the hearts, we never know” this saying fits this movie so well. We have these characters that apparently are pretty normal people, but then we get to know step by step their individual stories, and we realize that everything is not as it seems. I personally think that this movie is a little bit underrated, because although it doesn't show many visually shocking scenes like the two above, it is still mind-blowing. While watching this movie I learnt that I can’t always trust what my eyes see.
Ok, that’s it...I hope you give these movies a try and enjoy them as much as I did!
