Reviews

Action, comedy, mystery, romance rolled in one

Watched this back in 2020 lock down. Exit is the kind of movie that can be enjoyed by the masses as it has a bit of everything. It also has the thrills without getting too dark despite being a disaster survival movie.

The story builds up slowly by introducing the male lead and his family being frustrated and disappointed with him. Story moves to a site of a family function where the disaster happens and a mysterious gas leak occurs. The female lead and ML's love interest happens to be a staff working there. The situation shows the ways in which people react and try to survive in order to escape the deadly situation. Mostly panic as one can expect. And then there are some that go to extrordinary lengths to survive using knowledge and skill. This is what builds excitement.

Since the leads are rock climbers and are trying to escape, a lot of the action involves climbing, running, and jumping. This might be different from what people who enjoy action movies usually love (eg. Fight scenes, car chases, etc). There are some funny dialogues, happy moments as well as plenty of nail-biting scenes. If you prefer proper romance plots then you might be disappointed but you will get to see the chemistry between the leads given the situation.

I would definitely recommend people give it a watch!

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A wlw Chinese short film that will make you want more.

When will we finally get longer wlw historical Chinese fiction? I love those short films, but I dream of more. But we have to do with what we have and what we have right here is a very short, 4 min, short film with some known faces like Shengwei who you must have seen if you've ever fallen into the rabbit hole of wlw historical Chinese short films.

I am weak for good red and white colour coordinated outfits and this short film gives us that along with a taste of a larger story and a developing relationship between a stern general who wants to appear unaffected by this amnesiac young woman who stirs feelings inside of her and said amnesiac young woman (we do love a good trope in this house). There is so much potential, so much story that could be developed if only we had more than 4 minutes. There is even a cliffhanger at the end (which I hope will get resolved in a later short film or even better a longer show so we can get some backstory).

The costumes, as per usual in those short films, are visually appealing. The contrast in colours between the different characters works well and does a lot of the heavy lifting to help deepen the undeveloped story. I also wish they did not have to resort to contrived plot points to show some intimacy between the women, but such is the lot of queer mainland Chinese productions.

A solid watch if you're looking for your next historical Chinese short film of the wlw variety, it will make you yearn for more.

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A solid and cute short film about two best friends and a first kiss

I have been making my way through wlw short films for the past few evenings because I need more wlw content in my life and we still have to make do with very little. Often the quality is not there and the writing especially is lacking. Luckily for me, Korea and in this case 234 deliver.
The story is very simple, two teenagers, two best friends, two girls are chatting one afternoon and they are both stressed about their first kiss and one decides to take matter into her own hand to have some practice before her first kiss with none other than her best friend. And then, you know, feelings. The story is simple, but the film is short. A short film, especially one that short never works better than when it has a simple idea and doesn't try to do more than exploring that idea.

This film succeeds at that. It manages to be realistic about two teenage girls' experiences, about a baby gay panicking, and also to be very funny at times (one decides to play "the guy" who hits on the other girl and wants to kiss her). The actresses manage to do a good job (especially the scene mentioned in the previous bracket, I was smiling very hard).

The location is simple, a bedroom, but the production, as is expected of Korean productions, even the smallest ones, is pretty good. All in all, a solid short film if you're looking for your next wlw watch.

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After watching this movie I was left with one thought and that was "What the f*ck have I just watched?". I started this because Viki put this in the GL genre but let me tell you that there is NO girls' love in there.

But first things first – this is a five stories omnibus series about a woman who runs a motel and has a podcast where she shares some of the guests' stories there. But she shared just one of the stories there, I think? And the others she was just telling her coworker or a friend? It was messy. The only connection to all the stories was that all of them were sex related.

The first one was about a young couple that went to the motel to have sex for the first time together. It had some comedic moments and was cute and funny overall.

The second featured a man, who was on a business trip there and stayed in the motel overnight and he decided to get an erotic massage for himself but his girlfriend suddenly arrived there as well. That was weird but not that bad.

The third was the first, the "GL" one about two friends who both had troubles with their ex-boyfriends so they just went to the motel and brought the cheapest-looking sex toys with them and then kissed each other. Time skip to week later and one of them told the other that she is now in a happy relationship because her boyfriend has a big d*ck. Like what the actual f*ck! ?

I can't remember much about the fourth one, it was a bunch of friends getting drunk and a guy having a crush on a girl. They ended together at the end I think but it was nothing memorable as you can see. ?

The fifth one was about two people in their thirties, who both never had sex before and met on a blind date and then went to the motel to experience it for the first time. But the motel owner and her male coworker got trapped there and accidentally watched them. Then they went to have sex together too I think after the previous couple left.

Now that I write about it, it seems like such a dirty movie lmao although I think that the rating was 15+. But the story (or a lack of an actual story) was crap. So boring and just weird overall. I don't think that all movies must have some deep message but this didn't have ANY message at all. Seriously I don't understand what was the point of the movie.

My final rating is 5/10, just because some of the stories weren't as bad as other ones.

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Too short but sweet

This short film is such a sweet dose of cotton candy fluff...

As we see Mr introverted reporter learn how to dance from mr extrovert and bubbly dancer... And oh how much fun they have in less than 20 minutes we get to see this beautiful connection, gorgeous moments and a whole lot of awkwardness without secondhand embarrassment as these two leads interact in the sweetest possible way...

The leads are just the sweetest ever, but Mr Introverted reporter has 1 questionable friend and one friend who is as sweet as Mr. Dancer lead so most of the characters are lovable and mr annoying has like 30 seconds of screen time and is probably just there to show prejudice against male dancers... These 19 minutes offer more drama than one would think would fit in a short period of time considering most of the time is taken by sweetness but it is most definitely present making this both interesting and sweet...

I would defiantly recommend this to all who are in need of pic me up dose of sugar and fluff. And would love to see more of these two...

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Weak story plot and plenty of anachronisms

This is the case of an obviously expensive production with great cinematography, that fails due to its weak and inconsistent and not particularly original and engaging story plot and the inability of the director to recreate the era that this story is supposed to take place.
The casting was good but the scenes look like they were patched randomly together making the film look like it is made by two different story lines that come together out of the blue. The film also suffers from uncountable anachronisms that make the movie look like Mission Impossible going into Dr. Who!

Spoilers below:

The ML goes as an agent in Shanghai to support the local resistance movement against Japanese occupation .
The FL though is just a student who ends up cooperating with the ML agent out of the blue. How these two ended up together to play the married couple is not explained. It just happens in the middle of the film. And then the film turns into something else.

Now as I said previously the film suffers from uncountable anachronisms. Early on in the film we see the ML character changing his appearance with the use of latex make up prosthetics that didn't exist not even as an idea back in the late 30s in Chinese Shanghai. They appeared first as experimental and very expensive make up options in Hollywood in 1939 because Hollywood productions had the means, the people and the budget to have such kind of prosthetics. Where the heck did the ML character find liquid latex in Shanghai? And who applied this thing in his face by the time that this thing needs to be custom made??

Another anachronism is the selfi photo that one of the agents takes at some point in the film with a manual 35mm film camera. This is impossible simply because the camera lenses of that era didn't have auto focus options. You couldn't photograph yourself by simply turning the camera towards your face! And the 35mm films were not rolled into plastic cases fgs!

The karateka pro Japanese lady is like she escaped from an 1980's James Bond film. Her appearance, her hair, her behaviour all about everything on her are out of the concept of that era. Same applies to the agents/spies guys that follow her who wore black coats that closed with zippers in the front. These kind of minimal coats first appeared in fashion in TV shows like the 1960s Avengers, Barbarella and such things. These are very 1960's fashion elements unheard back in the 1930s.

The huge aquarium with the large glass panels, the white super modern Yamaha grant piano, ( Yamaha didn't produce white pianos back then and it didn't use the logo that is using now ) generally whatever is shown in the ball room scene is product of the imagination of the director but didn't exist back then. Either because they didn't have the technology to have it or because it wasn't in fashion.

Generally speaking anachronisms might work and enhance the visuals of fantasy films, but they can destroy historical fiction films. If the director wanted so desperately to include them, ( I want to believe that it was intentional and it wasn't a product of his ignorance) he should't have had specify in the first place, the era that this story is taking place.

Anyway...

5 out of 10 from me. MDL suggested an overall rating of 4 but I 'm giving to this film another point just for the sake of the cinematography and the expensive production.

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When women come to fight for women

Women are clumsy, bad drivers, physically weak, and many other things the world says. But it isn’t correct because NOT ALL WOMEN are these because there are women who had proven it wrong.

STORY -
This movie is led by a married and unmarried cop summing up as MISS & MRS COP. The scripting is done really well and fast-paced with a pinch of light humor. It is based on one case where women are drugged and filmed during rape. When a victim comes for a complaint and commits suicide, The two cops take it upon themselves to find out what happened. As the chase for baddies begins it gets beyond my expectations. The patriarchal society where male cops are celebrating their success doesn’t give any support to the female cops, forget the support they are fired. But as they are running out of time they still go after baddies without caring for themselves and fight them eventually catching them after a rigorous chase and fight.

the movie focuses on women but didn't put them like a MEN FIGHTING 5O which is so unrealistic. it is kept simple with a few shitty young men. And an innocent husband who tries to help despite being weak. it has a contrast of strong men who can't fight and physically weak women who can.

ACTING -
Ra Mi Ran (Park Mi Yeong) and Lee Sung Kyung (Jo Ji Hye) chasing and fighting the gang are WOW. Though they get exhausted and hurt they continue to take down the leader. LSK has a lean body and she really really suits the character who seems weak but has a lot of passion towards justice. RMR playing a middle-aged who has put on some weight after marriage suits well. Hawaiian shirts looked sassy on both.
Wi Ha Joon has wicked charm as the villain perfect fit with that blazing eyes and curvy smile.

APPRECIATION -
The action sequence is shot exceptionally well. I just loved them. The ladies are not the strongest but have a warmth of women who feel the pain emotionally and fight for justice. All the women, the hacker, the head Officer were just awesome.

My favorite scene from the is the LSK walking in the club and having eye contact with WHJ. I couldn’t get enough of this scene. The silent, slow and upbeat music, that club lighting was awesome. That setting, LSK walking, and guys watching are the appreciation of aesthetics.

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Typical High School Rom-Com

LIKES: The FXs (especially the one where FL head pops open and confetti sprays out) were really well done and funny. [I wish it was kept up the whole movie]. Kento did well in this role and the FL was okay too. She was a bit crazy, but not annoyingly so. I enjoyed the music too. The story is cliche if not typical, but it's a formula that works for an easy watch. Beautiful sky shots and scenery too, as well as locations picked.

DISLIKES: Production issues: Zooming in they didn't use a film stabilizer, so it was unnecessarily shaky. No real character growth in any of them, including supporting cast, except maybe the 2ML. I wish his story had been better developed. This movie would've been better as a short drama or series. They tried to tackle deep issues like depression, but it fell flat.

Overall an easy watch, best not to have any expectations for a real engaging drama. Solid 5/10.

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A masterful pairing of writing and directing

Layers.

"Drive My Car" is a long movie. A really long movie and there's some sections where it seems like there's not a lot going on. But Ryusuke Hamaguchi is very deliberately and delicately creating one subtle layer of meaning and complexity and understanding and connection on top of another.

Yusuke and Oto are married and happily so. Or so it seems. And then Oto is gone. Yusuke, an actor with a peculiar method and a specialty in Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" presses on with his professional life as if all is well. On the surface, so it seems.

And then, Hamaguchi pulls back a bit of the veneer and reveals a bit more. Very slowly, Yusuke and Misaki, his assigned driver, in their own stilted ways, reveal who they really are to each other. Their past relationships align as opposites, one mostly light but with a darkness hidden away, the other abusive but with moments of compassion.

And as Yusuke and Misaki become something other than driver and passenger, Yusuke's work assembling the production of "Uncle Vanya" at a festival in Hiroshima is assembled, slowly, piece-by-piece. There's a marvelous interplay between the play production as it slowly goes from audition to table reading to rehearsal to live performance and the primary movie narrative. And the final scene of the play with Park Yoo Rim brings the two stories together and it is incredibly powerful.

If there's a weakness, it's a sudden transformation of a supporting character from a shallow and impulsive charmer to an introspective and insightful thinker. The scene is necessary for the narrative, but it's jarring.

Long movie but absolutely worth it. Highly recommend.

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Friendship & Regrets

LIKES: The main message of living without regrets and taking action even if the outcome of others doesn't change. ML Yamazaki Kento did a great job acting for his character Naruse Kakeru. The supporting cast also did a great job acting. Production was smooth, with no camera shakes and good scene transitions. Directing was okay too. Music I liked and for the most part didn't overpower the dialog of the characters. No FX that I noticed, unless that's the fireworks, lol. LOVED all the scenery shots, especially the cherry blossoms! The focus on how friendship is important and can help someone who is depressed, feeling isolated and suicidal. I also liked how they showed that sometimes what we think is going on, isn't the truth and running away from it, solves nothing. They showed us how important communication is in all relationships; friends, family, loved ones, etc.

DISLIKES: FL (Tsuchiya Tao) as Takamiya Naho, her voice was annoying in that it was very whispery or breathy (as if she was always running a marathon and then tried to talk).. The director failed when it came to this character too, as her reactions to situations were WAY TOO SLOW. So instead of making her seem shy and indecisive, they made her seem mentally handicapped. It became very frustrating to watch her scenes when alone with the ML. There still didn't seem like FL had any character growth, where as the ML did have moments of growth. The way ML depression was handled towards the end, seemed a little too quick or rushed.

Overall it was okay to watch, even though pacing was sometimes too slow and other parts too fast. I did tear up in the end, so you might want a box of tissues handy. I wont rewatch it, but others may want to. A solid 6/10

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Frustration at its finaet

Frustrated, more frustrated, most frustrated...

This short film does a great job portraying two men who are really, really frustrated... A feeling that grows as the film progresses.

This film also manages to insert a whole lot of twits and made me change my mind more than once about the characters again all in less than 30 minutes and without actually leaving their seats... So I am pretty impressed by the pacing, dialog and way it is written. This film does a great job showing the frustration one can feel while having a long time crush on your friend without actually getting anywhere as well as getting mixed signals or just not being seen... or whatever other reasons there may be this film is just so relatable . I could truly feel the frustration grow... Bringing back memories and reminding me of just how frustrating some people can be... Did I mention it is frustrating?

So in short if you are in need of a dose of frustration, a short but interesting story with twists this is definitely a good choice, just make sure it is frustration you are looking for...

Now count the amount of times I mentioned frustration to see if you are up for the frustration in this film, All the best and good luck to you!

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I was born to be cruel you fool!

Carter Wong gives mama’s boys a good name when he takes on Chen Sing’s flying guillotine wielding baddie. Decapitations and amputations come steadily at the hands of kung fu’s most bizarre weapon.

The plot is thin and has numerous confusing plot developments, many never explained. The basic structure of the story is that Carter must go to the Shaolin monks to borrow a mystical healing handbook to save his ill mother's life. In order to gain access to it he has to fight his way through three levels of shaolin fighters. When he ultimately succeeds, he and the monks are betrayed. In order to retrieve their special book stolen by the 4th Prince who has grand ambitions they are set on a collision course with the master of the guillotines.

The guillotines and other secret weapons as well as hand to hand combat are employed to deadly ends. Some fight scenes are better than others, many including a healthy dose of wire-fu. Carter Wong wasn’t as stiff in this movie as he has been in some. Chen Sing always makes for a compelling bad guy, even in a bedraggled gray wig and beard.

The Fatal Flying Guillotines looked like it had been mostly remastered. Even at that there were scenes which went from clear and wide screen to grainy full screen images. The cinematography was pretty decent for the budget and era. Much of the fighting took place outside in some very nice scenery.

Guillotines kept the action going almost non-stop with double and triple crosses all in the name of gaining the knowledge of the spinning weapons. Many kung fu films suffer from an abrupt ending, and The Fatal Flying Guillotines was no exception, but not as bad as some. Overall, it was an entertaining 1970’s kung fu film, though maybe not the strongest of the guillotine movies.

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Since I cannot marry someone I love, anyone will do

A Woman’s Sorrows sounds like a tragic film but instead it’s a movie about one woman’s self-discovery. Set in 1937 before WW II, some nascent progressive ideals about women’s place in the world and marriage were explored.

Hiroko was a shop girl who came from a poor family. Described repeatedly as “conservative and indecisive” she found herself unable to marry the cousin she loved and decided any man her mother chose would be acceptable to marry. She ended up married to a man from a wealthy family but soon discovered she was little more than an unpaid servant and one who worked longer hours than the employed maid. When any task needed to be done “Hiroko” was the first word on the family’s lips. Her husband viewed her as a pretty doll to take out and look at occasionally when he wasn’t partying with his friends after work.

Her sister-in-law, Yoko, married for love, but her husband could not provide for her in the way she was accustomed, and she came home to her family. He refused to give up on Yoko creating conflict by using Hiroko as a messenger.

Both Hiroko and Yoko had to come to terms with what they wanted out of their lives and marriage. Both were bound by the patriarchal system and well-defined roles they were expected to follow even if some of the rules appeared to be bending. For instance, Hiroko’s conservatism was viewed as a mark against her when looking for a match. Her new family loved her submissiveness but did not respect her for it. Yoko, though refusing to become submissive like Hiroko, could not free herself from her perception of what marriage should be and was also trapped.

Hiroko slowly began to understand she was more independent than even she knew herself to be. I have never wanted to stand up and cheer for a Japanese film as I did for this one when Hiroko stood up for herself and her beliefs rejecting the emotionally unfulfilling life she had entered into. I found A Woman’s Sorrows to be surprisingly progressive for a 1937’s film on marriage bolstered by a satisfying ending. For anyone not put off by such an old film I could easily recommend it.

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