FISH STORY

 Fisshu Sutori | Yoshihiro Nakamura | 2009

PLOT:
2012, group of men having chit-chat in a record store, discussing an LP of a visionary punk band that was released before the Sex Pistol’s made “punk boom”. A giant comet was seen in broad daylight heading towards earth for apocalypse.

2009, a sleepyhead high school girl was left out in a ship by her schoolmates and experienced terrorist attack, until a brave man arrived and posed the hero.

1982, a cowardly college student trapped in a car with a song that carries mystical rumors in pitch-black midnight, on the road, alone. A scream of a woman was heard.

1975, a loud ruckus of a band is recording their final song because the record label decided to take the lead singer as a solo artist. A novel held responsible for the lyrics it contained.

1950, after the war, a Japanese publishing company is in dire need of translators to keep business afloat. A man came to provide service; he translated an English language novel into wretched nonsense.

NOTES:

Yes, this is one of those movies with different timezones but somehow interconnected to one another. But don't give up all hope; this isn’t Crash or Love Actually. This one’s decent.

Adapted from KotaraIsaka’s novel with the same title, the film asked, “Can music save the world?”.
In this movie, it can. It did.

Instead of focusing on the apocalypse, this movie took a luminous perspective in looking at the whole ‘end of days’ fuss. It’s a brilliant comedy-drama that took 38 years of consequence bearing. I supposed the plot description is clear enough to give you the gist (if not a spoiler), but the main thing in this movie is the character development. There are plenty of rooms for the character to emphasize their personalities, and the cast (also the writers) embraced it splendidly.

Dialogs are sharp, sentences are efficient.

I have no data about the production budget, but the time difference were portrayed appropriately without having any fancy preps and props. It was all done in the delivery; how each story linked to one another by popping up accordingly in different state of time, and how each character complimented its current zone.  I put my applause and highlights to the casts.

Apart from the popular “random fucking” and “pray for all your sins” end-of-the-world choices, are you brave enough to dedicate your remaining time with music, for music’s sake?

Movie Trailer

Gekirin Music Video

MOTHER

마더 (Ma-deo) | Bong Joon Ho | 2009

PLOT:

An anonymous lady lives in a small southern side town of South Korea. She lives off selling herbal medicinal ingredients and practicing illegal acupuncture works for her secret regular customer to feed herself and her son Do-Joon.

As an intellectually challenged man, Do Joon didn't have many friends, apart from Jin Tae; the town’s good-for-nothing unemployed slacker. Problems arose when a high school girl found dead on the roof of the junkyard, and the evidence leads the local police to believe that Do Joon was the murderer. This is the story about a mother’s fight to defend her son’s innocence, as she unraveled the other side of the story from the people she met along the way.

NOTES:

This movie is quite unsettling. 

It felt so close;not too close to triggers memories, but close enough to smack your head and get your attention. This is proper storytelling. 

Kim HyeJa delivered an intense performance; a close up of her face will give you goosebumps in this particular movie. That look, her close ups, will keep you on your seats. Her performance is filled with heartwarming (and wrenching) details of motherly actions, which makes it highly relatable to the audience. 

This movie blends heavyweight content with comical execution skillfully, without turning it into a comedy or a tearjerker drama. It is the in-betweens. Main story aside, there are issues on teenager’s life, social pressures, normative interaction and the stress of being outcasted from the society. Not as an accent or fillers, the issues are wisely dropped to shape relevance to the settings. It serves you layers after layers of uncertainty like a street magician, until the complexity of the story conveyed beautifully; it is blossoming towards the end. 

In the beginning, it’s like the ending. But in the end, it questions everything and answers nothing.

And this is one of the prettiest dramas I’ve ever seen.

 

 

LINDA LINDA LINDA

LINDA LINDA LINDA - リンダリンダリンダ - 2005 - Nobuhiro Yamashita

PLOT:

This is a story about 4 girls’ effort to perform their rendition of The Blue Hearts’ songs at their school festival. The end.

Oh wait, their lead singer is anervous exchange student from South Korea that doesn't speak Japanese well.

The end.

NOTES:

The scene I remember the most about this film is the part when Kei pointed to the stairway and said something like, “the next person coming out is our lead singer,” and outcome BaeDoona looking ill and pale. That, and an almost 20 seconds of cut-to-cut camera switch of close ups with no dialog. 

ShioriSekine (bass player of the Base Ball Bear) act as the ParanMaum’s bass player and her band provided two songs on the soundtrack album, along with James Iha for the instrumental score and ParanMaum with their Blue Hearts cover. YuuKashii and Aki Maeda provided the visual goodie-goodie of the movie, and of course BaeDoonashowed us all how to look adorably pale and ill.

With no means to stereotype, but almost every Japanese movie that became my favorites have one similarity; they picture awkwardness well. Not one of those Hollywood “oh shit” moments, but the crickety, dot dotdot, big water animation behind the head kind of awkward. I love that.

To sum it up, LINDA LINDA LINDA delivers a light story about friendship and high school romance that will leave you with cuddly heartwarming feelings. Cute Japanese schoolgirls playing punk songs; there will be no other feelgood movie that’ll beat this one in a long time.

 

 

 Movie trailer

Them song music video

Owaranai Uta

Doomsday Book

Doomsday Book

(Yim Pil Sung, Kim Ji Woon – 2012)

3 segments from 2 South Korean directors

PLOT:

1.      A couple sat around in a park bench after dinner. During the kissy woosy session, a group of schoolboys harass them. The man stood up and beat the living hell out of them, only to amaze himself with the super power he unexpectedly had. Little did he know, that the power came as the first symptoms of the transformation. Like everyone in the city, he’s turning into a flesh-eating zombie.(Brave New World)

2.      A technician called out to a test out a domestic help robot in a Buddhist monastery. He is required to verify a claim, that the robot have received enlightenment, therefore now a Buddhist robot. As the robot have become an important member and consultant of the monastery, the technician faced his biggest mechanical hiccup issue.(Heavenly Creature)

3.      A daughter of a billiard enthusiast dented her father’s 8 ball. To prevent him from noticing, she threw the dented ball out the window and go online and went to a shady website to order a new one. After two years, the 8 ball she ordered finally arrived; as a giant asteroid that threatened the country.(Happy Birthday)

NOTES:

Ilove this one.

These three stories here are a part of those chains of stories that need no explanations at the end. So many things left buoyant because they just are.  Some philosophical values are weakly presented, but it’s a great compilation of possible absurdity nonetheless.

I can provide you more spoilers but still you need to watch this one yourself. Proper entertainment. You get to see Bong Joon Ho’s cameo appearance here and, of course, nothing can go wrong if Bae Doona is in it <3 p="">

Get the blu-ray copy of Doomsday Book at 1o8o.

Tokyo!

TOKYO!

(Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, Bong Joon Ho – 2008)

This isn't actually a Japanese film. This is a 3 segments film directed by 3 directors from French and South Korea. Shot in, and about Tokyo.

PLOT:

1.      Young couple from the countryside arrived in the capitol with big dreams. Bumped with what seemed to be short-term issues, the couple struggles with all they can to survive. Warm beddings, communication in their relationship and the support they give and take to/from each other are at stake when one of them starting to doubt the characterthey should be in.(Interior Design)

2.      A grotesque creature suddenly appeared from the gutter in a human-like shape. He disturbed the peace and order with his malicious acts while roaming the city. The media came and televised it as the creature made a reenactment of the Godzilla vibe, creating a mass disruption. (Merde)

3.      As his only link to the outside world, one “hikikomori” used his telephone to order daily necessities, which will be delivered by random people he need not to interact with. Until a lovely pizza delivery woman came along with an earthquake, the city shut-in decided to make a dramatic change.(Shaking Tokyo)

NOTES:

Tokyo (or Japan in general) successfully captivates many eyes with its charm; the bright lights, the technology, the blend of modern and traditional, and the absurd fantasies.

Me included, mostly for the last part.

This movie shows an old and relatively well-known part of the nation, but with bent standpoint and symbolism from the “outsider”. How a fast-paced society tend to give more pressure and questions to people’s role in their lives, how the media be liable for messy headlines and acting as the superior feeder of the social order, and “how just-add-water” becoming a generation’s life motto; are the messages I get from the three directors.

Those messages are statements, of modernism, of progress and its regressive effects, and of the poetic reality. Some heavy shit, huh.

I’m not familiar with Leos Carax’s works, but Gondry’s and Bong’s signature are splattered all over their titles. Simple dialogs with maximum set details, superb acting and great themes. Yes, that includes Yu Aoi.

You know that draggy storytelling Japanese movie had? It’s there. It’s great. 

The Man from Nowhere / 아저씨(Ahjussi)

The Man from Nowhere / 아저씨(Ahjussi)

(Lee Jeong-beom - 2010)

This is the second Won Bin movie I’ve watched. The first one is MOTHER, a splendid movie.

PLOT:

The movie revolves around a loner man. Self employed himself in a pawnshop he built in his apartment; he lived a motionless life and ignores his surroundings. His only interaction wasmostly with So Mi, a thieving little girl, daughter of his neighboring junkie woman. Got So Mi out of trouble several times made him developed a nurturing nature towards her.

Trouble begins when So Mi found her mom tied up and battered by a group of guys from a big chain of criminal organization. The guys kidnap So Mi and they hunt the loner man for something So Mi’s mother pawned in his shop. Defending his life and provoked, the man carry out a survival skill that is only possessed by selected and highly trained man. 

As the fight to seek the answer proceeds, bits by bits of the loner man’s past life flashes and opened; on why he leads a static life and what triggered him to risk his life to save So Mi.

NOTES:

Reading the reviews, it thought this movie was a restoration of Leon: The Professional, and it proves me wrong. 

Apart from the nasty wig I have to deal with for more than half the duration, Ahjussi delivered my expectation from a South Korean movie well. Tactical storytelling, fast paced sequence, and of course, proper tearjerker scene.

I really enjoyed the fast, graphic and tight close combats (Won Bin was fighting with a watchamacalit short and stout knife) AND the scene where he jumped out of the window and the camera followed. I repeat that scene for about four times before finally moving on.

Another goodie from this movie, check the official soundtrack “Dear” by Mad Soul Child. 

You can get this movie at 1o8o.

 The Man From Nowhere trailer.