Samaritan Girl (Samaria)

Director - Ki-duk Kim
Country of Origin - South Korea
Nick's Rating: (2 out of 10)


This film has so much possibility to be amazingly good, and many critics have nothing but praise for this film, but I cannot in my right mind suggest this film to anyone who wants to see a well written, acted and directed Korean film. I really wanted to like this film but I was troubled so much by the plot line that it took away any enjoyment that I might have had. Let me start by explaining the over all plot of this movie. There are these two teenage Korean friends and one is a prostitute and the other is basically her pimp. This is a truly awesome premise, nothing bad can come of this scenario right? Wrong. Dead wrong actually. The friend that acts as a prostitute accidentally dies, or she commits suicide, I still can't tell what happens to her because of the truly unbelievable scene where her character slowly dies from falling, err . . . jumping perhaps? Personally I think it's pretty bad when you witness a character's death and you can't even decipher what actually happened. I honestly think Ki-duk Kim was trying to make her look fragile but ended up making her just look like an idiot who accidentally kills herself. And now we can see the actual plot form to where we see the friend, who is totally against prostitution by-the-way and is only helping her friend because she cares for her or whatever, take on all of her clients. Yes, you read correctly, she becomes a prostitute. This is a storyline that most pornos only dream of pulling off. And it seems that this movie can't pull it off either. The only thing worth any praise is the ending, no not because the film has ended but because the ending is actually pretty good, so just fast-forward to the ending . . . better yet, just don't bother. So please don't waste your time with this movie it will only anger you into doing something stupid like writing about this movie in a blog.

-Nick

Tae Guk Gi (Brotherhood of War)

Director - Je-gyu Kang
Country of Origin - South Korea
Nick's Rating: (8 out of 10)


I guess you could call this the "Saving Private Ryan" of South Korean films. Not as bloody but, in my opinion, just as well written and acted. What I appreciated most about this movie was the South Korean perspective of the Korean War. We here in the U.S. hear so much about the Vietnam War and yet the Korean War gets put to the back burner time and time again in our education, so I took this movie as a personal learning experience. This movie is about two brothers and one's promise to protect the other during the war. They are polar opposites, so when it comes time to fight one is a born leader while the other just tries to survive. The one problem that I had with this film is that they portray the younger brother as considerably weaker and much more of a pacifist than his older brother, so much so that I got angry at his overall demeanor and kinda wanted him to just hurry up and die. Other than that the film is extremely intriguing. The visuals are very stunning and stay true to the grittiness of the battlefield. To observe how the Korean War evolved as different countries got involved (or uninvolved), as well as the evolution of the characters, makes this film well worth your time.

-Nick

Pusher

Directed by - Nicolas Winding Refn
Country of Origin - Denmark
Richard's Rating - (6 out of 10)

Pusher is a week in the life of Frank, a low level heroin dealer in Copenhagen, Denmark. It's the first installment in the excellent Pusher trilogy. The movie is filmed documentary style, so you feel like you are part of the action. Frank starts his week by running up his already substantial tab with his heroin supplier, Milo. After a run of bad luck, Frank is left without his product or cash. The harder he tries to get the money to pay off his debt, the more things go wrong for him. I really liked the way the film builds up the tension as Frank's life and week go further down the shitter. Frank's best friend in the movie is Tonny, played by Mads Mikkelsen, who just played Bond's nemesis in Casino Royale. The story has a good flow and keeps your attention as Frank schemes to get the cash he desperately needs. I enjoyed the authentic feel of the character's personalities. So if you're looking to experience the seedy Copenhagen underworld, check this one out.

-Richard

Suicide Club (Jisatsu Circle)

Directed by - Sion Sono
Country of Origin - Japan
Nick's Rating: (8 out of 10)


Ok I'll admit it, I'm one twisted mofo when it comes to my taste in movies. This is one of my all-time favorite movies, not just from Japan but out of EVERYTHING. "So why did you give it only an 8 and not a 10 if it's your favorite?" Well, because I've started to realize that my f**ked up taste in movies might be be clouding my over-all judgment. So that's why I say I'll give it an 8, because it might be too disturbing and hard to follow to be good to a normal audience.
The title "Suicide Club" is pretty self explanatory. Teens are killing themselves by the boatloads throughout Japan, which is an extreme outlook on what is actually happening in real life Japan today. I really don't want to give away too much of this movie because a lot of the surprises are important to the telling of the story. But I will say this; the movie gives a horrible alternative to laser tattoo removal . . . it hurts to watch, and yes, they most certainly make you watch. There are so many hidden clues in the movie to watch out for, so much so that I immediately replayed the movie to see if I could find them all. I've read a few other reviews of this movie that talk about unnecessary scenes in this movie that make it drag, but I can safely say that everything in this movie is there to give a clue to what is actually going on. Like I said before, this movie may not be for everyone but you will definitely be saying "What? That's pretty f**ked up!" more than once.

-Nick

District B-13 (Banlieue 13)

Directed by: Pierre Morel
Country of Origin: France
Richard's Rating (7 out of 10)

I wasn't expecting much going in to this movie, but I was immediately impressed when the action started. B-13 is written by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, The Professional, La Femme Nikita), so you know the action will probably be better than your average movie. The movie is set in 2010 Paris where the worst neighborhoods are sectioned off from the city to curb crime. One of the heroes, Leito (David Bell), crosses a local crimeboss Ta Ha. So after stealing a nuclear weapon, Ta Ha kidnaps Leito's sister. During a rescue attempt, Leito is arrested by corrupt police. The French government sends an undercover supercop, Damien (Cyril Raffaelli), to break Leito out and enlist him to stop Ta Ha from detonating the bomb. B-13 separates itself from other action movies with it's chase scenes and innovative fights. They use the sport of Parkour, which was invented by the main character David Bell. Parkour is a style of running that allows runners to overcome larger than normal obstacles. Chase scenes involve increasingly larger jumps in an urban environment. The two heroes must fight their way past Ta Ha and his small army to deactivate the bomb and save Leito's sister. The action in this movie is non stop and definitely worth checking out.

-Richard

301/302

Directed by - Park Cheol-Su
Country of Origin - South Korea
Nick's Rating: (5 out of 10)


What? Another South Korean Film? Yes dammit! A bunch of bad-ass movies come out of South Korea and I have yet to even scratch the surface. This is a really good movie. Notice I said, "Good" and not "Great". What stops it from being great is that this movie drags much like Michael Mann's movie "Heat" . . . not that Heat's a bad movie just that it seemed 2 hours too long. And there's a sex scene (Wahoo! Uhh wait, actually it's more like . . . Zzzzz) that seems to go on for about 10 minutes. Really the scene only lasts about 3 minutes but it's so passionless and seems to have no real purpose in the movie that it causes time, as we know it, to slow down and create a vortex of boredom. Other than those problems the movie is very disturbing and has you wondering just exactly what will become of these two female neighbors who are both completely out of their minds due to past abusive relationships. Beware! Food is a big motif in this film, so when you're not about to be sick to your stomach because of something very twisted that you just observed, you're hungry from looking at food being constantly prepared or eaten. All-in-all it's a good film and totally worth seeing. Who knows, you might totally disagree with me and think that every scene has a definite purpose to the over-all telling of the story, but just to be safe keep your finger on the fast-forward button.

-Nick

Sympathy For Lady Vengeance

Directed by - Park Chan-Wook
Country of Origin - South Korea
Nick's Rating: (8 out of 10)


Park Chan-Wook is by far my favorite South Korean director. His films engulf me to the point where it feels like I'm being tortured with the protagonist, and HOLY CRAP are his protagonists tortured. Chan-Wook's movies tend to be very hard to watch and this film is no different. The third part of a trilogy which also includes the movies "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" and "Old Boy", Lady Vengeance is probably the easier to sit through. I can best compare it to Clint Eastwood's movie "Million Dollar Baby" where the viewer has become emotionally drained by the time the ending credits start rolling, but this is a very common trait for Chan-Wook's films. Actress Lee Young Ae does a great job in her role as a woman that has been just released from prison after serving time for being falsely accused of a child's murder. She is, of course, now on a mission to find the real murderer and make him pay in the most painful way possible, thanks to Chan-Wook's twisted imagination. Again, this movie is very graphic but if you like a great story please check it out . . . I have yet found an American revenge movie that even comes close to any of the films in this vengeance trilogy.

-Nick