Reviews

The love of two young people and the homophobic South Korean society

'Brake' (native title 브레이크), the LGBT+-themed romantic and psychological drama directed by South Korean filmmaker Yoo Yong-hwan, tells the story of self-discovery, love and obsession of Byun Shi Woo, a shy and fragile teenager whose only hobby filming his daily life with a camcorder, and he will live a heartbreaking love story with Ha Joon, his classmate and motorcycle racer, who has earned the respect of others by imposing himself through fear.
Shi Woo's life is sad and monotonous. Abandoned by his parents in an orphanage, he spent his childhood in foster homes. Without a circle of friends or relatives, the decontextualization of his environment and where he comes from adds an aura of sadness to his person. It is therefore the viewer's task to build the puzzle that is our protagonist, using what he tells us through the way he manages his time and, above all, through his interactions with himself through the videos recorded with his camcorder.
The film is fully part of the aspect of cinema that documents the intensity of youth and young love, but against the backdrop of a heteronormative and patriarchal society in which homophobia and discrimination against those who are different persist, which, as it clearly states, Its title will mean a brake on the development of the love relationship between the two characters.
Yoo Yong-hwan and his technical team are on a mission to talk about something very complex in a sensory way, while the film tells the story of people in need of affection and love through teenage stories that seem somewhat rough and crude.
Thanks to a video filmed by Shi Woo, Ha Joon (role played by Lee Ki Hyuk – 'Little Bird', 2021), and his friends manage to evade what would be a police accusation for damage to third parties in a road accident, so that the young man until then ignored by the other classmates will become part of Ha Joon's gang. From this moment on, the attraction materializes into a tortuous and absolutely living relationship that will not escape harassment and discrimination.
Based on the script by the same director, the film captures on the screen the fierce and veiled feelings of the two young people, their discoveries and their problems, through the most frontal silences and the most violent beauty. In this story the two will choose paths that will determine their lives forever.
Love arises at the first opportunity between these two young people, who launch themselves into a relationship without materializing, because while Shi Woo secretly loves, Ha Joon does not easily assume the homosexual dimension of his growing friendship with Shi Woo. And this circumstance is subject to harassment from the protagonists' other classmates when they discover the growing love attraction between the two boys.
The dedication to deciphering a little of the psyche of the young Shi Woo is understandable, because it is clear that what matters most to Yoo Yong-hwan is the process of emotional transformation of his fascinating protagonist – played with courage by Jang Yoo Sang, an actor who We had already seen him in other LGBT+ themed films before this one, since in 2014 he starred in the drama 'One Night Only', by directors Kim Jo Kwang-soo and Kim Tae-yong, and two years before in the short film 'Night Bugs', by the latter director.
However, the process of a teenager who has never been loved in his life falling in love with someone for the first time will not be as beautiful as expected.
The story is simple, dark and normal: a person falls in love with another person, and with whom a beautiful friendship begins. However, the much more complex story of Shi Woo and Ha Joon begins to fight against the "normal", moving away from the social canons of duty, relationships, and, above all, romance. Between the simplicity of a romance and the battle against convention, 'Brake' submerges, an uninhibited, emotional, astonishing and sad portrait of two people (and everything else) who meet in the midst of adolescence, rebellious and nonconformist, and in the cracks in the establishment of South Korean society.
After crossing their destinies and fooling around with ambiguity, Shi Woo and Ha Joon will not be able to start a love relationship, as their destinies will be irremediably separated when they are ridiculed and harassed by others, so they will have to distance themselves and break up with their friendship.
The relationship between the two characters is, like many of those that happen at that age, unhealthy, absorbing and exciting. The already concise surroundings of the protagonist end up completely disappearing and what we are left with is his silent way of feeling that love and, above all, attraction. 'Brake' speaks, without making things simple for the viewer, about chemical connection and desire.
That chemical connection and that desire that leads to heartbreak because one party is far above the other in terms of having things clear. Or that's the impression it gives. The other big question that the film touches on, and it does so in an always suggestive way, is that of identity. Although Shi Woo is the main character, both he and Ha Joon will see their relationship as the definitive moment to make an irrevocable decision and define themselves as people.
Regarding this last character, the film is astutely vague when it comes to delineating the nature of their conflict. We don't know if he is struggling with repressed homosexuality or poorly digested bisexuality. Yes, we will know, by the time the adventure is over, that our main protagonist is aware of the impossibility of a romance, so it is time to move forward and not look back, to free himself from a relationship that could hardly come to fruition. If feeling that love has done anything for Shi Woo, if his erratic behavior has gotten him anywhere, it is embracing the truth about his self-discovery and sexual identity. And so, putting an end to a love relationship that never took place, in order to move on with his battered life.
Then, the film, premiered at the Seoul Pride International Film Festival, becomes a denunciation against the homophobia present in South Korean society and against its sister, internalized homophobia, as well as the lack of institutional support for helpless children.
The courage to step outside the box, therefore, must be highlighted. The creators' choices try to do so but with humility, without pontificating at any time.
Produced by Use Film, a film production project team established in 2016, the director aims to broaden the perspective of the world through stories of people who do not receive adequate care and are excluded by society.
'Brake' is an exciting example of a young cinema that is even reflected in contemporary creations – from the sentimental and social nudity of the portraits of Leesong Hee Il or In-shik Kim, to the aesthetic and ethical productions of Kim Jho Kwang Soo, Lee Joon-ik, Yoo Ha and Bang Eun-jin, among many other South Korean filmmakers, where he moves like a fish in water thanks also to the most successful and dynamic decisions, such as a musical selection where the lyrics of the songs dialogue great with the action.
The best thing is that the heart of 'Brake' is able to go beyond its stylistic resources to offer itself to the viewer as a mature, moving, intelligent, authentic and honest story, which transcends all possible borders.
The film, a true raw gem, beautiful and murky, delicate and wild, fragile and implacable, is permeated by that vehement breath of commitment to the cause told, of the almost suicidal impulse to follow the characters' choices and not distance oneself from what what happens to them, and in which the color "winter green" appears as a tone and drawing of their general image.
If you are not tired of teenage stories, the discovery of sexuality, love and heartbreak, and amorous obsessions, you will be able to fully enjoy 'Brake', another notch in the LGTB+ cinema imagination that demonstrates the good form of the theme.

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"It will be a tasty fight!"

This is the third film I’ve watched by screenwriter Migita Masakazu and as the old saying goes, “The third time is the charm!” I wasn’t overly impressed with Monster Seafood Wars or Death Kappa. The Calamari Wrestler, however, was a strange and joyful movie about a professional wrestler who had suffered from a terminal illness and miraculously transformed into a giant squid. Could Kanichi regain his title and get his girl back? Let’s get kraken on this review!

Professional wrestler, Taguchi, had always been in Iwata Kanichi's shadow until the day Iwata disappeared after being diagnosed with a terminal illness. Three years later Taguchi is the top wrestler and has Iwata’s girl. After winning the championship, a man-sized squid climbs in the ring and snatches the championship belt. It was on like Donkey Kong and the Calamari Wrestler quickly defeated his two-legged foe. Embarrassed at being beaten by a seafood wrestler, Taguchi wanted a re-match and the Calamari wrestler was all for it. The promoters weren’t as thrilled when Calamari refused to throw the next fight.

The first thing that became apparent was that in the land of Gojira and other assorted kaiju, everyone was unperturbed by a dude who had turned into a cephalopod and who didn’t have to stay in water. I squid you not. Calamari shopped at the markets with no one running for their lives. In fact, when the fight was called off, the people rallied around him and pressured the promoters to schedule him a fight with Taguchi. Kanichi’s old girlfriend, Miyako, decided she was still in love with him regardless of his tentacles or maybe because of them. A whole sub-genre of manga came to life (without any gratuitous scenes).

There was an effort at social commentary in this squidiculous film. The promoter believed Calamari represented the chaos of the world and when Taguchi defeated him, it would alleviate public anxiety. Gradually, the public convinced him that by letting Calamari into the ring it showed that a world without prejudice could exist. The people just wanted to see exciting fights regardless of how many legs the opponents had. And soon there were other seafood wrestlers joining Kanichi in the ring.

This felt like a Rocky movie if Rocky was a squid and instead of boxing it was pro-wrestling. Coinsquidentally, Calamari had a Rocky moment right after his fight. There was even a training montage! All of the characters showed their devotion and love for pro wrestling. The film also highlighted the less savory side of the sport, I mean show, with the promoters working every which way to make a buck off the wrestlers and the fan’s desire to see blood in the ring. The special effects were almost nil. You could sea the human legs below the tentacles and squid costume which was actually part of the film’s charm.

Calamari Wrestler wasn’t inkredible but it was entertaining with gentle humor, as gentle as a reverse suplex or powerbomb. The wrestling scenes were hilarious and the final fight had a reveal I didn’t see coming. Normal issues such as love, greed, and national pride played out behind the tentacles and ink. If you enjoy absurd movies and don’t need a pesky thing like logic, this might be one to try.

1 October 2024

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Good always triumphs!!

Two yin-yang masters need to deal with a dark conspiracy in the royal court after a serpent awakens.The solid plot combined with beautiful special effects, the acting of the two protagonists and intertwined mysteries make it a must watch production.
Qing Ming,played by Mark Chao,is thoughtful,,calculative, attentive,stands for justice,and goes to any lengths to protect the world.
Together with Bo Ya, played by Deng Lun,they form and invincible team and bring peace to the world .
The step by step unfolding of the dark conspiracy,the special effects towards the end,the friendship between Qing Ming and Bo Ya make it a must watch Chinese movie.
All the actors gave their best and Mark Chao and Deng Lun really stole the show.
At the end,good always wins over evil.
I am really surprised and also impressed with this movie.Definitely it's a good and must watch.

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Well…

While i recommend watching this over reading the manga any day im still not sure if even recommend watching lol. The manga is very repetitive and annoying and the ending pays off a lot less than the movie— but it is still much more entertaining than this, the characters are much better and there is more consequences to actions id say! but ill cut the comparing now and just say it is very typical and simple, there are a handful of cute moments too! but it is boring and falls flat on itself, really only worth watching if you have nothing else lol. Also i still think after reading and watching she should’ve ended up with…well youll see if u watch!

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WTF was that?

I have a new synonym for "Complete Waste of Time" ==> Funouhan aka Impossibility Defense or as I'd rather call it "Impossible Crime" which is the literal translation of the title and makes much more sense. It's been years I haven't watched something so terrible or random or... I don't even know what to say... Just that I'm flabbergasted that I've sat through this whole ordeal with the hope that this would lead somewhere...

Anywhere.

I'm PISSED because I usually only manage to have a bit less than 2 hours to watch anything per day (basically when I'm eating) and today's treat has been wasted on this dumpster fire.

Watched it on Viki where the Ratings is incredibly low for the platform (8.4) but I naively thought that since most viewers on Viki are women... they tend to lean more towards romance and crime/thrillers usually have less audience which might explain the ratings.

Haha. My Bad. I should have checked the comment section.

I think the best comment I read for this movie is from:

@KuroSteve "I guess most of the actors were young and needed the money ... –_–"

Will I ever bother to watch the prequel ( not available on Viki for now): NO
Will I ever bother to read the manga: NOPE

Terrible as a stand-alone and even worse as something supposed to make you interested in the original manga.

To you, poor naive soul who has gotten lost on MDL and want to find a good Japanese thriller... This is NOT the one. Do yourself a service and find something else.

If you're still curious, well, at least I've done my duty. You've been warned.

If I could rate this show below 0, that would be a minus 10.

PS: Yeah I know the suggested rating is higher... but no way in hell am I giving this more than 1.

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Meaningful.

This movie seems to have a lot of depth and meaning behind it; I don't think I'm intelligent enough to get into that, so this will be a simple review.
I liked this movie overall; the story leads you to root for the main character. I'll always like an emotional movie, and this is just that. A few messages seem to be displayed throughout the movie, each meaningful. I can see why this is a critically acclaimed movie. My favorite thing about this movie was Eunhee's relationship with Miss Youngji. It was so heartwarming; I loved their scenes together.
No, I didn't love it, and it wasn't anything crazy, in my opinion, but I can see why this movie means so much to people and the effect that it has with its meaning. I did learn from this movie, and I will cherish that.

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Hopping Vampires!

I thought that I’d been led astray in my research of hopping vampire movies when I began Era of Vampires aka Vampire Hunters. The first creature of the night was a super powered blood sucking vampire that did not so much as hop, jump, or skip. Later on, my patience was rewarded when a whole herd of hoppers appeared. This was a low budget Hark Tsui produced film of which I expected more yet still found enough to keep my attention.

Be very, very quiet for Wind, Rain, Lightning, Thunder and their sifu Mao Shan are hunting a vampire. This mostly dead ex-general was juiced up and took exception to the vampire hunters. Many of the red shirt hunters were killed and Mao Shan was feared dead as well. Three months later the weather crew followed their vampire compass to the Jiang residence on the day of a wedding. The Jiangs were experts in making and using wax which led to some uber creepy goings on in a house where things didn’t just go bump in the night but also hopped and slithered. A secret stache of gold, a greedy brother-in-law, the Vampire King, the hunters, and the macabre household would all eventually collide in one gory mess.

This film had a very low budget look to it. The sets were simple but made to appear frightening with blue lighting and copious amounts of smoke masquerading as fog. The Vampire King was gruesome and buggy, no sexy fang banger here. Two of the humans did have time for some romance while running away from and fighting vampires. Even though there was some gore, the special effects were extremely low tech which took away much of the fear factor.

I didn’t recognize the Phoenix from Eternal Love TMOP at first. A young Ken Chang played Thunder and had the most screen time. Old martial arts movie star Chen Kuan Tai showed up as a Taoist corpse wrangler and set the hoppers loose at one point to distract the hunters while thieves sought out the golden treasure. He was even able to show his kung fu stuff in a short fight with one of the baddies. There were several wire-fu fights in dim lighting that weren’t as creative as I would have liked but were okay for this film.

Era of Vampires was more reminiscent of early kung fu films than films from the same timeframe. It had some intriguing moments and for this bargain basement niche mixed genre of martial arts and vampires it held its own.

30 September 2024

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One of the best watch of the year: dark, gripping in the best way

I love a lot this truly thrilling dark movie. It was torturous and violent, gripping and fascinating in the best way. The pyschological aspects coupled with impressive action scenes really got to me. I was on my toes during the full duration of the movie. It does not feel outdated at all (minus maybe the special effect and again it was still quite good to express what needed to be expressed).

The cast is amazing. I love Yeo Jin Goo (since he was acting as a kid in Iljimae) and I have seen quite a bit of his work. He was probably about 15 years old maximum when he filmed this movie and his performance was astounishing. There are many very well-known faces in this movie, actors that I really enjoy and who also delivers strong performances. It felt like a real feast to see actors that I knew from other works: Yeo Jin Goo but also amazing Jo Jin Woong, incredible Kim Sung Kyun, great Yoo Yeon Seok, as well as to discover very talented (and new to me) people: Kim Yoon Seok, Park Hae Joon,...and more.

I truly recommend this to people that are looking for a dark action movie that will take you on a thrilling journey with its main character. The psychological elements behind the characters actions and bonds between them are disturbingly captivating and pretty memorable. It is very violent and dark, so if you have any triggers, of course proceed with caution.

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