Reviews

Wang YiBo's 1st Big Screen Movie In The USA, All Over The World! What More Could I Ask For?

1st If You Love, And Adore Wang YiBo As Much As I Do, This Movie Is Not For The Faint Of Heart... I Was Chingy, Screaming, And Almost Brought To Tears Crying Watching This Movie. Knowing The Age In Which YiBo Filmed This Movie, And All The Stunts, And Hard Work Made Me So Sad For Him That I Wanted To Cry For Him. The Hard Work, And Dedication He Put Into This Movie. It Is So Real, And So Life Like, I Couldn't Even Begin To Tell You. This Young Man At The Age Of 24-25, Whatever It Might Have Been, When No Name/Hidden Blade Came Out YiBo Had Just Turned 25, He Did All His Stunts, He Did All The Fighting, And Punch Scenes Himself... In An Interview, It Was Said There Was Not Enough Time To Teach YiBo How To Punch, And Hit Correctly, So YiBo Said He Felt Bad, And Sorry For All The Actors That He Punching, Because He Was Really Punching Them, And Hurting Them.
I Honestly Was So Excited That This Movie Was Coming Out To The USA, I Even The Tickets To The Showing The Night Before The 1st Opening... YiBo's 1st Big Screen Movie In The USA, What More Could A Huge Wang YiBo Fan Ask For Like Me?

As For The Story Line Some Parts I Didn't Like Especially When It Came To The Prisoners, And Animals, But That Is What War Is So What Can You Do? A Feed Part Left Me A Little Tramtized.

The Stunts That Were Done By YiBo, And All The Actors Were Amazing... I Can't Imagine How Hard It Was To Get It So Real, And So Life Like Like They Did. The Visual Affects Are Insane Too. It Was Jam Packed With A Lot Of Exciment.
YES, THERE IS LOTS OF GORE!!!
Lots Of Twists, And Turns.
What Seems To Be What It Seems Is Not What It Seems!

Even Though There Was Certain Things I Didn't Like, I Ended Up Watching No Name/Hidden Blade The Day Before Is Was Released, And The Last Day It Was Released In The USA. That How Much I Really Liked It, Or Maybe It Was More To Support Wang YiBo With His 1st Big Screen Movie, 2nd Time Around I Brought My Mom Too... NO IT'S BECAUSE THAT IS HOW MUCH I LOVE AND ADORE YIBO, AND WANTED TO SUPPORT HIM.

My Mom Was Even On The Edge Of Her Seat, And I Remember She Comented At One Scene Oui Yo Lay, In Taiwanness It Like Oh My Goodness, Like Basically Her Heart Is Hurting For Him. She Even Asked Me How Old He Was, And I Had Told Her, I Know She Was Feeling The Same Way I Felt With Him Being So Young, And Having To Go Though All That.

All I Gotta Say Is Yes There Are A Few Scenes That I Don't Like, I Wanted To Jump Out Of My Skin, Because Of All The Stunts YiBo Did, But It Is A Really Great Movie, Because There Is A Lot Of Action, And Excitement. Plot Twist And Turns. What You Expect Is Not What You Think. What You Think Is Not What You Expect. Pay Close Attention To Everything, And Every Detail, Because You Might Miss Something That Is Very Important.
My Husband, And I Noticed Diffrent Things The 2nd Time We Watched It, When We Didn't Notice It The 1st Time We Watched It.

P.S. YES, AT THE VERY END YIBO IS REALLY EATTING THE DRUNKEN SHRMP ALIVE, RAW AND MOVING!!! If That Isn't Being Brave Or Up For A Challenge, And Being A Professional In His Profession I Don't Know What Is!

September 4th, 2024 @ 9:?? A.M.-10:47 A.M.

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Soapy Middle-school Story Based on a Song

Three years into a very successful career as singer-songwriter in 2008, Angela Aki released her 8th single "Tegami (Haikei Jūgo no Kimi e)" or "Letter: Dear 15-yearold Me". The song was then used in the following year as competition song in a national competition for middle-school choirs and NHK produced four documentaries following Aki to various middle-schools as the children rehearsed the song for the competition. One of those documentaries served as inspiration for a 2011 novel by Nakata Eiichi, a pen-name of the extremely prolific writer Otsuichi, and that novel is the basis for this 2015 film. The song itself has since become the standard graduation song for middle-school graduation ceremonies in Japan.

The story is set in a small island town near Nagasaki, and centers around three characters: third-year student Nazuna who is the captain of the choir club, Kashiwagi-sensei who was a well lauded classical pianist and who has returned to the island to serve as a substitute teacher for a year and first-year student Satoru. The film slowly reveals the backstories of these three characters as Kashiwagi disrupts the old way the choir was run by allowing boys with all their cooties to join the group. All three of the characters have very soapy pasts and the plot is overly reliant on convenient plot timings for events that otherwise would have little chance of being conincident. But the film does build to a lovely climax at the provincial choir competition in Nagasaki City with a truly moving performance of Aki's song by the choir.

If you love the song, then this film is probably a must-watch. For the more general viewer, the film is still quite good with some excellent performances by the three main actors as their characters go through a year of growth which does reflect well the dialogue within the lyrics of the original song.

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an absolutely devastating must-watch

I remember when spaceless came out a few months ago and I didn't watch it, but now that 4 minutes is almost over, I figured I would. And holy shit.
I am so glad that I skipped it when it came out during pride month cause it is an absolute masterpiece of an emotional hate crime ?
Anyone who thinks Jes and Bible don't have chemistry is a fucking idiot, they are perfect! The scene by the water is literally devastating and they both played it so well. It's so sad, but so beautiful.
Bible was the standout for me, just the utter devastation on his face in most scenes, and then the end, the soft smile after Tul tells Garn that he named his daughter after him.
The story itself is just so devastating (I know I keep using that word, but it's the most fitting) because Garn was willing to suffer just so that he could still have Tul in his life. And I don't blame Tul entirely for the way he treated Garn, but I do hate him just a little bit for knowing how Garn felt and lowkey leading him on. But props for being honest and telling him that it was never gonna happen. It's still sad tho because it almost feels like Garn died of a broken heart ?

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Unrealistic but interesting

I couldn't fully enjoy the movie. It has a lot of great elements, but also a lot of stupid, illogical and unrealistic details. I won't reveal spoilers but I will at least mention the first scene where we see the main character Im Gyu-nam mapping the way through the DMZ. The scene is full of tension and looks attractive, but it is completely unrealistic. The whole movie is like that. They don't represent the realistic view on North Korean regime but an anecdotal exaggeration of it. The events in the plot are so "extra" that until halfway through the film I kept asking myself: "Is this really happening?", and later I came to terms with the fact that the film is based on impossible plots and even more impossible instant resolutions. Maybe modern audience likes that, but to me it was a bit off putting from what is generally very engaging and interesting story.

Life in North Korea must be very difficult, and the film develops the theme of free will and choice well. Is it better to live in obedience-slavery but in security or to live in freedom but in uncertainty? The two main protagonists each answer this question in their own way.

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Lot Of Gore... Lots Of French... A Learning Experience...

I Love And Adore Wang YiBo, That Is Why I Wanted To Watch This... I Was Happy To See Jason Gu From Oh My Emperor, And X-Nine. I Have To Say The Movie Was Quit Grusome. Lot's Of... Let Just Say Don't Have Dinner Or Lunch While Watching This Movie. The Stunts, And Diffrent Affects Were Amazing. I Was So Afraid Something Bad Was Going To Happen To YiBo, His Stunts Were So Crazy. This Young Man Is Such A Brave, And HARD WORKING Young Man. The Story Line Wasn't That Great, It Was More Of The Fact That Wang YiBo Was In It, And It Being Action Packed. There's A Lot Of French In It, So Be Prepared To Read Alot. The Acting By YiBo, And The Main Actors, And Actress Did Amazing Jobs. Everything Was Really Good Except The Gore, And The Story Line. And Don't Get Me Wrong, It Was A Good Movie For Educational Perposes, Never Knew Anything About This About China, Niether Did My Husband... So I Am Quit Happy I Ended Up Watching This Movie, And I Want To Thank YiBo For Being Apart Of It, Because If It Wasn't For Him, I Probably Would Have Never Watched This Movie. I Am So Proud Of Him For Being In This Movie, And Showing How It Is For The UN In China.

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Half History channel -half comdey/action

Where to begin? Watching this movie feels like watching two one-hour movies smushed together to create this two and half hours “movie.”

In the first half, it feels like Jack’s modern group is just wandering around, lecturing the viewer about Chinese history, while the scenes set in ancient times are just reenactments you’d see in a history documentary. Then, in the second half of the movie, it shifts into a comedic action film with a hint of nationalism.

Sometimes, it feels like a vanity project for Jackie Chan, yet at the same time, he’s hardly in the movie and often feels like a background character in his own story. It was supposed to be a great love story between Jackie’s Zhao Zhan and Meng Yun, but they don’t share enough screen time to make their relationship engaging. It ends up feeling more like a one-sided love story between Meng Yun and Hua Jun. I suspect the limited screen time is partly because they spent a lot of money de-aging Jackie, which adds to the “vanity project” vibe. Meng Yun’s love for Zhao doesn’t feel essential to the plot but seems forced because it’s a Jackie Chan movie. The ancient storyline could easily be about war and revenge, and it wouldn’t change much of the overall plot.

The one bright spot is Peng Xiao Ran’s Xin Ran and her romantic pursuit of Lay Zhang’s Wang Jung. This subplot kept me entertained throughout. Her character is genuinely funny and engaging. Honestly, they should have made her the reincarnated horse, Lei Zhen, instead of giving that role to the gamer, since the horse Lei Zhen has a more substantial character arc than Zhao Zhan. “It sacrificed its life in the past for its master and returned in modern times as a woman to pursue its man again.”

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Crazy Delight

Rewatching this gem after so many years, I am quite surprised how little recogniton this film has even among Korean film enthusiasts. There are fans who know all the main directors and love to watch arthouse directors, such as Hong Sang Soo, but whenever I ask them have you seen "Save the Green Planet?" I'm often met with a perplexed look: "What's that?"

Save the Green Planet!, Jang Joon Hwan's feature-length debut film, is a sci-fi, comedy, psychological thriller. Yes, somehow Jang Joon Hwan also manages to masterfully weave the disparate genres all on his debut! The film is told from the perspective of Byeong Gu, a secluded beekeeper living in an isolated house on top of a mountain. This house, however, is no ordinary house; it was rebuilt over an abandoned mannequin factory allowing for a labyrinthian underground palace with various elaborate makeshift devices and traps. Byeong Gu is also no ordinary man. He is a delusional conspiracy theorist who is convinced that the CEO of a pharmaceuticals company is in fact an alien overlord. Sheer madness and hilarity ensues when Byeong Gu kidnaps and traps the CEO under his house. Byeong Gu attempts to torture the truth out of the CEO, while he goes on with his ordinary day-to-day activities, while avoiding the attention of authorities, and all while treading the thin line of sanity and insanity, if he hasn't already fallen over that is.

What I most appreciated about the film is how Jang Joon Hwan subverts the traditional hero's journey and what we have instead is a very confused and pitiful villain against an asshole victim. Our morals are constantly tested, the legal procedure is flipped, and just as we are complicit in Byeong Gu's devious acts, we also end up a little bit insane with him. The film ossicilates between the different genres quite naturally. It has moments of absurdity with surrealistic elements, but Jang Joon Hwan doesn't use the surreal as a cheap tool to lose the logical coherence of the film as most surrealist comedies do. Rather, it is a tool used to create or alleviate tension and self doubt. For maximal enjoyment of the film, I recommend not to view the film as morally prescriptive, but rather examine how Jang Joon Hwan plays around with various tropes and conventions.

Unfortunately, after Save the Green Planet's box-office flop, Jang Joon Hwan must await nearly a decade for another attempt at feature-length film. But by then, the damage is done; the creativity and ambitions of Save the Green Planet! is long gone and what's left is caged bird: the conventions that Jang Joon Hwan attempted to overcome becomes his shackles.

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steaming in heat

This movie had everything I wanted it to have. From the storyline, to the characters, to the intense scenes of seduction, this movie made me steam in more ways than you’d think. I have never felt more engaged with a film than while watching this. At one point, it did throw a curve ball when the male lead said he didn’t want to date, which honestly made me think I would have a lower rating, but by the ending it made everything perfectly resolved. I love the female lead; everything from her personality, to her lustful desires to give into the DS relationship, I envied the male lead for being the one who did all those thirsty things to her, because it should’ve been me! From licking her feet, to being tied down and humiliated, to being her dog and sex slave; everything made me envy him! I think what makes this film so unique is the fact that there wasn’t any actual sexual scenes but you could just feel the tension between the characters and it was overall erotic and stimulating, to say the least. Definitely rewatching this movie and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the BDSM community.

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Touching story or just morally wrong?

This was recommended to me as a touching story, even compared to "Miracle in Cell No. 7" but it was far from it. I do understand from what angle they wanted to portray the plot as a 'heartwarming/touching' story when an old, always drunk man, found an abandoned baby, and then the baby became his direction in life so he started working hard to raise the kid.

Then we downgraded to a grandfather who's now using the kid to con people? From street vendor to con artist real quick. Another problematic thing is how they are trying to earn money using other people's desperation like couples who for some reason cannot have kids of their own so the thought of adopting is like a beacon of light only for it to turn out to be a scam and instead of a child, they welcome a thief instead. It becomes more problematic when the grandfather says, "There are 2 types of people, those who fool others and those who get fooled."

I understand that some people can be really beyond poor and can be considered as a victim of poverty -- it may explain why they commit crimes but it is never an excuse. After few con gigs, the grandpa eventually put the kid's future above himself and left him with a couple who's willing to adopt the kid but there were no resolutions to everything that he taught the kid wrong. There were no explanations about how stealing and fooling people is never okay for whatever reason. Don't get me started on how they spend the money they get from stealing. I just can't imagine why he downgraded from someone earning small decent money from working/selling to someone who opted to fool people even calling it 'donations'. They also had a lot of chances where someone really wanted to help them with genuine care. Not just adopt the kid but to help them both. To give Kid an education and him -- a shelter but he still chooses for them to chase the one-day fun together, with no direction at all.

It was a whole disappointing plot and I kinda hope there is some redemption towards the end but nothing. It was swept under the rug of time just because he eventually gave up the kid (finally considering Kid's future) and went on his own -- God knows how he lived whether he continued stealing or worked for himself, it's still up in the air. Then we just fast forward to a grown-up Kid who's finally reunited with the grandfather before he passes. (Which also makes me wonder, how did Kid grew up like it's an interesting scene to see him in therapy. How he interacted with other kids after attending school, were there missing items at school because of him. The kind of childhood he had would definitely affect him as a grown-up so it's unrealistic that he's just a normal adult.)

I definitely would not recommend it. Everything that I said above sums up everything that happened hopefully, saving you some time.

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APENAS AGRADÁVEL

É uma história um tanto clichê, mas bem conduzida e dinâmica. As atuações foram muito boas, e gostei da sublimidade e sutileza ao abordar a provável homossexualidade de Ri Hyeong Sang. A forma como ele se sentia sufocado ao seguir o rígido padrão do regime norte-coreano foi bem transmitida, especialmente ao mostrar sua disposição em carregar esse fardo a qualquer custo. Na visão dele, Gyu Nam também deveria suportar esse peso.

Outro destaque foi a atuação de Hong Xa Bin, que interpretou o imaturo e inconsequente soldado Dong Hyeok. Para mim, o drama transmitiu claramente a mensagem de que a Coreia do Sul está aberta aos desertores do norte, com um viés político e humanitário intrínseco.

Já notei que em dramas sul-coreanos há uma tendência a estereotipar outras etnias e culturas, exagerando em alguns aspectos e, por vezes, cometendo equívocos. No filme, todos os norte-coreanos são retratados como extremamente pardos, com suor exagerado nos rostos.

No geral, é um bom filme, porém, não memorável.

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