Archive for the '2000s' Category

Boys of Tomorrow is the second film by director Noh Dong-seok who had debuted with My Generation in 2004.  Like his first film, Boys of Tomorrow looks at the struggles of youth living in poor environs, trying to find their place in the world. In My Generation, Noh examined a couple battling futilely to stay afloat financially while holding onto their dreams. In Boys of Tomorrow, he looks at a family of brothers just trying to survive.  The dreams of the brothers..or more accurately half brothers…are simple.  The youngest, Yo-han, only wants his mother to come home.  She had left just a little while ago and Yo-han’s severely depressed father has been looking for her. He even manages to locate her, but had not yet summoned the courage to ask her to come back saying that it is his life that is the problem. The father is rarely present in the film, and when he is there he is just one more person for the oldest boy, Ki-soo, to take care of. 

Ki-soo has several dreams of his own. First and foremost he wants to take care of and protect his family–not necessarily in a physical, think-with-his-fists kind of way, though he is able to fight if necessary– it is his very presence that offers protection and stability to the family. Frequently throughout the film his brothers will sob on his shoulders and turn to him for protection. There is a memorable shot (later repeated in the film with different characters) where vigilant Ki-soo has this youngest brother asleep on his lap while his other brother, also asleep, is leaning on him.  Ki-soo also has dreams outside the family..he wants to be a drummer and he even gives drum lessons. But that becomes less important to him as his family takes priority. He even tells his brother Jong-dae that ‘you are my dream. You are more important than I’

Jong-dae is the black sheep of the family. Deeply troubled, slightly wild and scarred with a humiliating childhood injury caused by Ki-soo, Jong-dae yearns for one thing. Power. He wants to be someone that he sees as important. And the most important person in the town is a relatively small time gang boss who had an affair with Jong-dae’s mother in the past. Jong-dae tells the gangster that he wants to be like him and among the reasons that he cites is ‘because you are kind.’  This is clearly not true though Jong-dae is blind to that at first as he looks for a father-figure beyond his brother. It is true that Ki-soo, mostly motivated by guilt, would do anything for Jong-dae and their neighbors often ask him if he is tired of cleaning up after the messes his brother causes. But Ki-soo never thinks about giving up on his brother and would deny him nothing. The proof in that is when Jong-dae asks him for a gun which he saw for sale in a back alley. Jong-dae decides that this gun is his dream–and he cannot live without it. This gun, he feels, is what will make him a man.

I have to say that I liked this movie quite a bit especially because of the charater of Ki-soo played by Kim Byeong-seok.  Kim is the same actor who played the leading man in Noh’s My Generation.  Looking at the cast list, I saw that his co-stars have been in or are making many other films. Even young Lee Dong-ho who played Yo-han has had other parts including as the little boy in The Host. But Kim has only been in Noh’s work so far. I was mystified as I consider his acting to be the best parts of both films. He brings a believabilty to the roles and a strength that comes quietly from the inside rather than from loud posturing. In short, I think he is an excellent actor. So I was a little surprised to find an news blurb from 2004 that stated Kim has not yet decided whether he wants to be an actor.  I, for one, hope that he does come to a decision soon and starts taking more parts. He has the potential to be one of the greats.

Originally posted March 4, 2008 –Before I begin a review, I have to say that I love how they weathered the posters above to make them appear older and worn. Why would they do that? Well, the film is set in 1969 and I think they wanted the images to reflect a little bit of age. As to why the film is set in ‘69, I am not sure.  In fact, it could have been set in any time period of the last century and the story would not have been changed at all.  It is possible that the producers were going for capturing a feeling of nostalgia that older viewers may find appealing.  I read a comment by a viewer that stated he would love to watch this movie with his kids–I don’t really agree. I think his kids would be bored as the movie does not have a lot of action. The film is intended more for over-40 adults –though others with patience can enjoy it for the performances of the actors.

The story is about a young boy, Yeong-rae,  living in Yeosu (the southernmost city on the west coast of Korea) who has been told all his life that his father is dead. However, he learns from a neighbor that his father is actually alive and living in Seoul. He is determined to go to Seoul to meet him and so to that goal, he takes a job selling ice cream bars on the streets of the city during summer vacation.  Yeong-rae is very clever and manages to overcome adversity through his wits and with swift actions. However, even he is not prepared for all the problems he must face to achieve his goal.

This simple story is, for the most part, enjoyable but suffers from a couple of problems. the first is that the various adventures Yeong-rae overcomes do not feel connected. The root of this problem can be traced to the history of the director, Yeo In-kwang.  This is Yeo’s first full-length movie. His other films (Peers, Driving Mrs. Park, Last Magic…) have all been short films and the different episodes of Ice Bar feel like short movies in and of themselves and any one of them could be removed without affecting the main storyline.

The other problem with this movie is the contrived tragedy.  Other, similar films such as The Way Home (which Ice Bar often feels like), have their share of tragic events. However, the events added to Ice Bar aimed at tugging on your heartstrings seem awkward and unnatural–like they were crammed into the plot with a crowbar at last minute. Completely unneeded and unwelcome.

The good parts of Ice Bar include the aforementioned acting–especially of Shin Ae-ra who plays Yeong-rae’s mother.  Ms. Shin has previously only appeared in tv dramas since her acting debut in 1987 and sporadically at best. However, she gives an excellent performance as the young single mother with a protective chip on her shoulder. The only person who really sees her sensetive side is Yeong-rae and even those occassions are very rare.

Probably the most recognizable face in the film in Jin Gu who plays In-baek, a young man who makes the ice cream bars for the owner of the small company–but also does odd jobs on the side for the owner that makes him wary in the presence of police.  You may recognize Jin Gu as the actor who played the quiet med student who encounters strange happenings in the morgue in the film Epitaph.

The other thing I enjoyed about the film is the set.  Although I saw no reason for the film to take place in 1969 except for older audience members to recall their past–’Remember how a train ticket to Seoul cost only 800 Won and we still couldn’t afford it? Those were the days.’–it was interesting to see how the recreated the past.  Most interesting are the frequent downtown scenes where people are selling their wares from carts on the street. In all of those scenes is a man in a cowboy suit advertising films. In some, he is wearing a large, cube-shaped sandwich board with different movies painted on the sides. In most, he is pushing an enormous cart with a large A-shaped billboard on top that shows the films being screened.  I resisted the temptation to pause the movie to identify the ads but recognized I Hate You But Once Again and Yu Hyeon-mok’s Descendents of Cain, both from 1968.  This movie takes place in the summer of 1969, so that would be about right–films used to open in Seoul first and then move out to other parts of the nation.

Ice Bar may not be everyone’s cup of tea for the reasons already mentioned but it is an interesting look back at childhood through the eyes of a child.  I do not mean to damn it with faint praise, but I would describe it as ‘nice.’   Nice does not mean special though and some viewers may feel they have seen this story before.

“Please! Someone take that slow motion camera away from the director!”  That is what I wrote at the top of my notepad right after watching Kim Yong-gyun’s (director of Red Shoes and Wanee and Junha) latest movie.  I was extremely disappointed with this film. I had gone in on opening day with moderate expectations determined by a combination of  flashy television ads and lackluster reviews. I was not expecting anything great.  However, what I got was worse than I imagined.  The story could have been interesting–it was the tale of the last queen of Chosun who was murdered by Japanese assassins on the palace grounds for her progressive stance on politics and her work towards opening up Korea to the West.  But as interestng as that could have been, the movie focuses on a fictional romance between the Queen and her bodyguard.

I have nothing against ‘enhancing’ history to make a movie more interesting even though I think the life of the Queen was interesting enough with giving her adulterous aspirations.  That point is not the major complaint I have with the film.  I did, however, take offence with how her important work in negotiating with foreign ambassadors was reduced to a montage of such activities as tasting chocolate, trying cigarettes and wearing the latest styles. The next thing we know, she is being praised for a stellar job at negotiating with the Russians and securing peace in the region.

But butchering history is the least of this movie’s problems.  The main fault in the film lies with the pacing. It is rare to watch a movie where the action sequences  slow down the story so much that scenes like ‘dining with the king’ were more exciting. Every action piece is done nearly entirely in slow motion with a hefty dose of CGI.  Two of the more poorly done graphics involved a butterflies and leaping carp which may or (more likely) may not have had any meaning attached to them. However, the worst was a fight scene taking place in the palace hall that inexplicably changes into an arctic ice field and looks all the world lie a video game. The whole scene serves absolutely no purpose in the story and is rivalved in its uselessness only by the ‘dream fight’ sequence with the aforementioned flying carp.

The sole bright in this movie was the acting of lead actress Su Ae. She manages to make her character regal in the face of opposition, assassins and bad scripting. I also appreciated the time and effort that  went into creating the costumes and sets. I cannot say much that is favorable about the other actors in the film. Cho Seung-woo’s character was much too modern in his mannerisms to have lived in Chosun while Kim Yeong-min as the King was given surprising little to do considering how important the Queen’s husband should have been to the story.  The script seemed to ignore all of the supporting cast and did nothing to flesh out any of the extra characters. Even the lead characters could have been developed more–instead of slo-mo action, the writers could have spent more time on their backstories.

To make this film better, I believe all of the action scenes should have been cut or severely reduced with the exceptions of the initial assassination attempt at the beginning of the film and the final scene.  As it is though, I have very little positive to say about this film, except it probably will be nomitated for a ‘Best Costumes’ Award at the Blue Dragon Movie Awards and actress Su Ae was a pleasure to watch. For those two reasons alone, I would give The Sword With No Name 2 stars out of 5.