Snowpiercer (2013)

4/5

Joon-ho Bong's first English-language film Snowpiercer takes place in a fascinating, utterly absorbing dystopian world where all the survivors of an apocalyptic winter live in a constantly-moving train. Curtis (Evans), a member of the lowest class tail car, plans a rebellion with Edgar (Bell), Gilliam (Hurt), and Tanya (Spencer) to take over the upper class cars. They enlist the help of the train's security expert (Song), who is now confined to the prison car, to advance past each locked door.

The journey from tail car to head car serves as an obvious allegory for class systems, climbing the social ladder, and the inherent injustices within. It provides a canvas for characters to illustrate the searing traumas they must endure when pushed to extremes. But it also outlines the entire film, providing a structure that helps situate the audience within each scene and helps mentally prepare for the film's plot progression. Also, seeing what's in the next train--whether an underwater aquarium/sushi restaurant or a nightclub/opium den--is one of the most enjoyable parts of the movie.

Bong has always been able to turn the most bizarre premises into gripping, provocative stories (The Host, Mother). His movies turn horrifying and unpredictable because we've never seen anything like them before and we lack the context with which to appropriately process them. Snowpiercer continues that tradition, and Bong makes it work.

He makes it work most of the time, that is. The movie has some pretty basic CGI. And a lot of weird scenes, including one that involves gutting a fish with an axe followed by Chris Evans slipping on said fish. And a lot of lingering on strange images, including a smiling soldier or a slow-motion shot of the aforementioned fish. It's all very uncomfortable without any clear benefit. But taken as a whole, Snowpiercer is entertaining and strangely compelling; I highly recommend it!

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1706620/

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)

1/5

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is a traumatic, searing film. It is brutal and unsparing. It delivers hit after unfortunate hit, for our story's protagonists and for our own sense of hope and joy. The movie is bleak and dreary, violent and sadistic. It manages to be viscerally intense without being visually graphic. It hits you with ideas and horrors that you wish you will never imagine again. It reminded me of I Stand Alone, but without much to say, kind of like Audition. It is haunting, to be sure, but not in a meaningful way. I abhor violence in movies for violence's sake. It is an assault on my eyes and my mind, so it should serve some function or be overcome by an equal and opposite force. That is not the case with this movie, and so I am left a victim of the film.

I was not particularly impressed with the cinematography. The director is trying too hard to be artistic and has forgotten that movies are supposed to flow. The acting, which for all I know might be categorically stellar in a vacuum, is absolutely ridiculous in the context of the events that take place in this film. I have no real-world comparison by which I can judge their performances. Also, not that I really cared, but there are some pretty gigantic plot holes that are simply not addressed (ones that are crucial to the progression of the story). All in all, I have no idea to whom I might recommend this film. I feel like doing so would make me a masochist.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310775/

Memories of Murder (2003)

4/5

Memories of Murder is a South Korean film based on the true story of the country's first serial killer. Detective Park (Song) is called onto the case of a local girl who was raped and murdered. He and his partner, Detective Cho (R. Kim), use simplistic reasoning and torture techniques to get confessions out of innocent suspects. But they get nowhere. It isn't until Detective Seo (S. Kim) arrives from Seoul with his more sophisticated thought process that they start making progress in the investigation.

This movie, like director Bong's later film Mother, is one that sits with you and unsettles you. It's a movie that doesn't hit you until after you've soaked it all in, but it will leave you stunned before you can even piece together everything you've seen on an emotional and thematic level. Much like the Coen brothers' work, the compositions and camera movements feel utterly precise and necessary, as if there was no other possible way to shoot this than the way Bong did. The cinematography itself is stunningly beautiful, which you can easily tell as soon as the first shot shows up on the screen. The acting is, for the most part, also very good. However, due to poor acting near the end of the film, Detective Seo's transformation from good cop to bad cop felt written instead of natural. This is almost entirely due to Kim's over-acting, which only made his character's behaviors less believable instead of more. It's a real shame, because that kind of character evolution, if it had been done properly, could have easily propelled this film into the 4.9 arena. Instead, it becomes an excellent but very flawed film that I have no trouble recommending for any fan of the mystery crime thriller.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0353969/