South Korean Movie Megathread Pt. 3 - Now With Weekly Updates

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > South Korean Movie Megathread Pt. 3 - Now With Weekly Updates

zandert33: Sep 20, 2002

Alhazred posted:

I liked I'm a Cyborg But That's Okay.

I'm sorry, but what does this film have to do with the others listed?

Keanu, have you seen Mr or Lady Vengeance? If not, they are an obvious place to go. Aside from the "The Man from Nowhere" and "Bittersweet Life" should be in the same ballpark.

# ¿ Dec 29, 2012 20:22

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 04:22

zandert33: Sep 20, 2002

Gozinbulx posted:

I watched New World last night. I'm not too familiar with Korean cinema (only seen Oldboy and The Host), but it was pretty drat good.

I found some interesting things in the movie I want to discuss but it seems like no one here, except one guy, has even mentioned it.

Planning to finally watch it this coming weekend, look forward to hearing some discussion.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2013 04:44

zandert33: Sep 20, 2002

New World spoilers below:

I thought it was a pretty good movie, it was at least Choi's best film since his return from retirement, but, and maybe it's just me, I found the story a little too convoluted in certain parts with the interaction between the Chinese and the Koreans. Honestly I think the part that made it so confusing was the fact that every single actor in this movie *looked* Korean, I would have never pegged any of them for being Chinese or part Chinese. So when people would refer to the Chinese guys I didn't always knew who they were talking about.

I thought the end was very good I liked the aspect of the mole actually deciding to become a die hard gangster (and clean house in the process) instead of the typical ending of the cop being completely devoted and unwavering.

I wouldn't put it up there with top tier Korean films, but I thought it was worth viewing.

Then again the last Korean film that I saw and really enjoyed was "The Thieves", so maybe I'm going soft in my old age.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2013 05:58

zandert33: Sep 20, 2002

Gozinbulx posted:

Well, I'm going to put this all in spoilers cause I don't feel like determining what is or isn't a spoiler about New World:

Also the very very end, I didn't quite understand what it meant to illustrate. The part where he and Cheong walk into some random seafood store and apparently murder a whole bunch of dudes. Was it meant to illustrate that he was a pretty bad/tough/violent/sociopathic dude to begin with? Didn't really get it.

This part took me a minute to process as well, I actually had the brief belief that perhaps that scene took place BEFORE he was recruited by the police, and that we were actually seeing that he put himself into the police as a mole in order to get put in as a double agent into the mob so he could take over. Then after I looked it up online I realized the timeline was off so this was completely wrong. Anyways, I think maybe it was to show the bond that the two guys had with each other, which is why, even though the one guy learned that the other was a mole he didn't have him killed right away.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2013 16:52

zandert33: Sep 20, 2002

Looking forward to Snowpiercer? If you live in the US get ready to import it:

http://twitchfilm.com/2013/08/weinstein-thinks-you-are-too-dumb-for-snowpiercer.html

# ¿ Aug 6, 2013 16:01

zandert33: Sep 20, 2002

Wow, Korea makes movies that don't have blood and suspense? Tell me more.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2013 05:33

zandert33: Sep 20, 2002

Tars Tarkas posted:

Also My PS Partner is awesome awesome awesome.

I watched it at this recommendation, and even though there's a lot about it that seems pretty typical for the genre it still was very charming, and one of the better romcoms I've seen lately.

Anybody check out "Men's Manual"/"How to Use Guys with Secret Tips"? That one appears to be getting a fair bit of hype.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2013 15:02

zandert33: Sep 20, 2002

Some Guy TT posted:

Anyway, by request-

The film is way more tasteful than that poster makes it look. How To Use Guys With Secret Tips is about a professionally frustrated woman who ends up using a set of old VHS tapes to make inroads in her career. The art design is gloriously vintage and cheesy. And there's actually no magic- everything is exactly as goofy as it sounds, which is most of the movie's charm. Very interesting use of real-life ideas and reasoning considering this is a romantic comedy, where those rules normally go out the window. It's not quite intelligent enough to make the most of its more ambitious story elements, but it's still very funny, charming, and unique.

I actually caught it this weekend as well. I thought the first half was great, really charming and fun, but the second half after she became famous just did nothing for me. Kinda disappointed overall.

# ¿ Aug 19, 2013 18:59

zandert33: Sep 20, 2002

I somehow completely missed that one, I'll have to track it down, sounds really interesting.

# ¿ Sep 30, 2013 19:19

zandert33: Sep 20, 2002

Gringo Heisenberg posted:

Oh Dae-su saw Woo-jin loving his own sister back when they were in school and told everyone and (I think?) spread the rumour that Woo-jin also got her pregnant. Woo-jin's sister threw herself off a dam because of it and Woo-jin blamed Dae-su.

Note: His sister wasn't actually pregnant, she just thought she was because of the stress from the rumour Dae-su started or something.

As a result, Woo-jin threw Dae-su in that hotel jail years and years later as revenge. Woo-jin also took Dae-su's young daughter, Mi-do, while he was in the jail and sent her to a foster parent of his choosing. While in the hotel jail, Dae-su saw on the news that he iwas being accused of killing his wife and running away, leaving his daughter. While in the hotel jail Woo-jin has Dae-su hypnotized to prime him to do certain things once released. I think he also does this to Mi-do to make her forget what her father looks like?

Dae-su gets lets out by Woo-jin and meets a sushi chef, Mi-do, and doesn't realize it is his daughter. Mi-do starts helping him and they have sex. At the big climax of the movie, Woo-jin reveals that his revenge was setting up Dae-su to gently caress his own daughter so that he feels the same pain Woo-jin does/did or something. Dae-su begs him not to tell Mi-do and cuts off his own tongue because his big mouth is what Woo-jin sees as killing his sister. Woo-jin kills himself in the elevator because the only thing he had left to live for after his sister killed herself was getting revenge on Dae-su.

At the very end, Dae-su goes to see a hypnotist to ask her to erase his knowledge of Mi-do being his daughter. Possibly so he could stay in a relationship with her?

So the whole thing was about Woo-jin's revenge, not Dae-su's.

e: Oh, also there was some stuff about "the monster" that I forget, someone can probably cover it better.

Been a while but I think I got most of it.

To clarify, Dae-su only actually told his one friend the info, the frend is the one that told everybody.

# ¿ Dec 2, 2013 02:24

zandert33: Sep 20, 2002

Flython posted:

I'm trying to track down a film recommended by one of the podcasts I listen to. From what I remember a woman finds the perfect apartment and decides to kill the other prospective buyers.

Glad I found this thread again, guess it's time to finally watch I Saw the Devil.

Sounds like the Hong Kong movie "Dream Home" to me.

# ¿ Jun 23, 2014 02:26

zandert33: Sep 20, 2002

RightClickSaveAs posted:

I watched the original Snowpiercer not long ago and the Weinsteins are idiots. It's like 90% in English and was a great movie just as it is. The tone is weird in a couple places but that added to the overall experience.

A lot of Joon-ho's films have some weird tonal issues, I think that's part of their charm. When I watched Snowpiercer I had in the back of my mind the whole time the idea that the Weinstein's wanted to trim the movie, and I really don't see how they could have cut much without completely butchering it so it didn't make sense anymore.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2014 03:12

zandert33: Sep 20, 2002

I feel like I've been a bit out of the loop with Korean cinema lately, but whenever I look around I don't really see great things released either.

What amazing films have come out the last two years and have their been any fresh new directors I should be keeping an eye on from the same timeframe?

# ¿ Nov 19, 2015 22:23

zandert33: Sep 20, 2002

Oldboy is the worst of Park Chan-Wook's revenge trilogy.

Has anybody see "The Wailing"? I really enjoyed "The Chaser" and "The Yellow Sea", but couldn't get into "The Wailing" at all, and ended up turning it off after like 30 mins.

# ¿ Feb 21, 2017 19:17

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 04:22

zandert33: Sep 20, 2002

I thought Train to Busan was overlong, and didn't do anything different than what's been done in a dozen of other, better, zombie movies before it. Not bad at all, but not really great.

# ¿ Feb 21, 2017 19:39

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