Reviews

A Raw, Heartfelt Film That Hits Deep

Drawing Closer (2024) is an absolutely spectacular, beautifully crafted film. Japanese filmmakers really excel at delivering powerful, emotional stories—just look at A Silent Voice, Your Name, and I Want to Eat Your Pancreas. This film brings a heartfelt narrative that, while maybe not the most original, shines with a mix of happiness, sadness, and beauty. The cast's performances are phenomenal; they brought such raw emotion to their roles that everything felt almost too real.

Throughout the movie, there were four moments when I was on the verge of tears—rare for me! I kept holding back, reminding myself, 'I'm a tough guy, I won’t cry.' Still, this movie’s blend of joy, sorrow, and melancholy lingers, leaving you smiling through the tears. It’s available on Netflix and well worth a watch.

I recently saw another film by the same director, Your Eyes Tell. While not as intense, it was equally impressive. This director is definitely creating 5-star films—I can’t wait to explore more of his work.

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Jeju is beautiful

A few weeks have passed since I last watched a Korean movie, and this movie served as a great motivator for me to continue following Korean cinema. While this film isn’t a masterpiece, and I assume I’ll forget the plot within a year, it was still a great way to spend a relaxing evening. The film is short and straightforward, categorized as action, though it’s much more comedy-oriented. I gave it a 9 out of 10, specifically for the humor that really resonated with me. Normally, I’m not a big fan of gag jokes, but it seems I was just in the mood for something like that, and this movie delivered. I found myself laughing at some silly mishap in almost every scene.

The actors have charisma, though it seems they could have expressed the eccentric qualities of their characters even more. At the beginning, each character is introduced with distinctive traits, but these quirks don’t play a significant role later on. In fact, their personalities change into a cliché roles.

Also, since I have such beautiful memories of Jeju, this film was a lovely reminder of my visit to the island. I appreciate that the cinematographers gave us viewers a little glimpse of Jeju’s landscape through this film.

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Sweet n slightly emotional

This drama has a bunch of things I have seen before, maybe not this exact combination, and maybe not the usual clicehs of rich spoiled brat meets poor hotel receptionist in a foreign country. However I would be lying if I said I was surprised by any of the twist the lied a head.

That said the chemistry was good, the acting fine the side character few but lovely and the scenery was pretty all in all giving me give or take 110 minutes of entertainment and emotions.

Defiantly time well spent, in my case int the passenger seat of a car, but I am sure it would be just as well spent time on the couch or in bed.

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Ballerina

Revenge drama. A lot of action, fast storyline, and really brutal. And unpopular I did not like it, in my opinion it get stupidly overhyped. Yes, acting was not bad, in my opinion Kim Ji Hoon was the one who stole the show.
It was supposed to be brutal - so it is not a problem. A lot of action also make sense. Maybe fast storyline was just too fast? Cause we could not really get to know characters. And as far as people love Jeon Jong Seo's acting it did not click for me - and maybe that is why I did not like it as much as other, her character felt actually soulless - and it makes sense for revenge but it did not work for me.

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Double Patty

I have watched this because of Irene - as many people actually. Well it was kind of cute and easy watch. I expected some romance so in this case I am a little disapointed - I do not know if it is a spoiler. Promo pictures are better than this movie to be honest. Do not get me wrong it was not the worst movie and I liked it at the time.
If I remember correctly it was Irene's debut - it for sure was not challenging, so it is hard to say if she would be good actress after this.
If you do not have anything to watch, want to see Irene then you can give it a short, although I will not promise that it will be worth it.

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Trap by Seo In Guk

It is short movie, I believe that you can find it on youtube but I can be wrong.
It is specific project, this movie has three (or more) parts - if I remember correctly mixed together. It is very artistic. Not the easiest to watch or maybe understand but acting was perfect.
Seo In Guk - amazing as always and he is even a director!!
So why only 6/10? Especially when it was good. Probably just fell into category I just rate this way (documentaries, special or reality shows) and to be honest it is something hard to rate, cause you can treat it as a short movie or teaser or more story to the future music releases, I do not know, you just need to check it out.

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Metallic Mayhem

Metallic mayhem and graphic depravity fly thick and fast in Tetsuo: The Iron Man, it draws on the marriage of flesh and technology that inspires so much of David Cronenberg's work and twists it into a manga-influenced cyberpunk vision. This 67-minute lunacy is probably the closest approximation to capturing a sustained migraine in pure celluloid form, what's on screen borders on the extreme and experimental, all matched by a hysterical and unnerving score. Chu Ishikawa's clattering metal percussion and unrelenting terror synths sometimes border on unlistenable but add to the film's uniqueness and disgusting style. Less a coherent plot than a series of disturbing images loosely struck together, confrontation and violence erupt at breakneck speed in this nearly dialogue-free odyssey, assaulting every sense it can with the tenacity and ingenuity of DIY filmmaking. The stop-motion effects give the fusion of bared wires and exposed ganglia an unnervingly vivid physicality. A hysterical, histrionic ode to cyberpunk fetishism, Tetsuo: The Iron Man was one of my early ventures into the realm of Japanese cinema, one that really isn't my thing but is unquestionably a feat of imagination and technique yet an hour of it is more than enough.

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may not have been perfect, but did a great job

there are MANY triggers in this film so be mindful!!!

while there is no storyline to guide the film, it is a heart wrenching portrayal of what children who end up in streets as a result of failed/lack of parental figures turn to. it portrays the uncertainty of being homeless child not knowing what is going to happen next. as much as I wasn’t a bit fan of it, I do recognize that it was likely an artistic decision to have a not-so-cohesive story line.

this film has incredible acting which carry the rather lackluster scenes (which I would also recognize may be a creative element to the film, still wasn’t the biggest fan of it). the middle definitely tore me up. it pains me to think that we have deprived children the right to be just that. it certainly raises awareness of a greater issue that we are often to overlook through our judgement and harshness about the subject.

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