andjel

Flowers blooming in the night

Another day, another Hong Sang-soo film. This time, the story revolves around a young man meeting his girlfriend's parents, along with many of the familiar themes that naturally come with such an occasion. The style remains true to the director's signature approach: minimalist scenes without cuts, relying on a static or gently panning camera that quietly follows the characters through their conversations and everyday activities. Those activities mostly consist of eating, drinking, smoking, and occasionally spending time in nature.

That is also where the title, What Does That Nature Say to You, comes from. The main protagonist is deeply moved by two trees that catch his attention, as well as by a flower that continues to bloom even at night (look at the poster for the film). These moments involving nature give the film a sense of spirituality, philosophy, and poetry.

Otherwise, there is nothing particularly new comparing this to other films of the same director. The performances are very good, although there are moments when the actors seem slightly detached from the scene, despite the conversations and encounters feeling spontaneous and natural. Anyone who has introduced a partner to their parents will find plenty to relate to. At the same time, the film encourages all viewers to pay closer attention to nature and to appreciate how it can enrich and beautify our lives, while also inviting us to reflect on what we truly need in life.

Read More

Fairytale for grownups

I must admit, the director was smart to compare erotic stories with fairytales. However, in my opinion, the way they mixed the two felt completely wrong — especially the use of cartoon characters. Maybe the film even agrees with me, but I think the two should remain separate, and one person cannot (or should not) write both. I consider fairytales pure and inspiring, while erotic writing — though also fantasy — feels dirty and corrupting. Because of this, I felt quite conflicted while watching this movie. I also found it somewhat hypocritical that the movie tries to impose rules on writing, since the nature of adult stories is precisely to break the boundaries of acceptable behavior.

The actors and their characters felt mismatched. At least the main actors’ roles didn’t seem to suit them — they looked too innocent for the parts they were playing. As a comedy or romance, this movie is also weak. Its real strength lies in breaking moral taboos and making it in a slightly arousing way. Personally, I didn’t like the theme or the message, but I can see that many people enjoy it.

Read More

Running Away

A movie for mature audiences. From the very beginning it’s clear that something is wrong, and as the story develops things become more and more complicated. A married couple finds themselves stuck on a vacation that simply won’t end, and there will be everything — including +18 scenes. In fact, the film follows the classic formula of American horror movies and successfully builds tension and suspense right up to the very end. I think the ending itself could have been a bit more complete, but overall I’m satisfied with the way everything was concluded.

The lead role is played by the well-known Ma Dong-seok, and although he is known as a good-natured strongman, here he takes on a rare villain role. His acting isn’t perfect, but I can say the villain part suits him extremely well and he was quite convincing as the enigmatic, violent host.

Read More

Consequences of a Photo

Hm, a high school girl falls in love with another girl, but did she really fall in love or did she just find a new best friend? Is it real or just a phase of growing up? This film tackles the sensitive and provocative topic of same-sex love in a careful but still quite stereotypical way.

Careful because it tries to create space for different interpretations and gives hints of many challenges that come with such feelings. It also uses the camera as a prop to represent the voice of the heart. The stereotypes, however, are visible in the plot development — I could spontaneously predict what would happen next. Also, the role of the older person as support, and the other side characters who only appear when it serves the protagonist, make the film feel less convincing and more like a collection of tropes typical of this kind of coming-of-age indie film.

I can understand that the film will find its fans, and I do believe these topics should be discussed, but it lacks a bit of critical commentary. The film isn’t explicit in anything and doesn’t dare to clearly promote it, even though the intention is obvious. The allegorical use of the camera is actually the best part of the film. To photograph something or someone means to answer an inner voice — that’s why we take photos when the heart speaks. This is especially touching in the relationship between the main protagonist and her father.

Read More

Universe of Love

A very well-made animated film that beautifully combines a romantic story with a sci-fi journey to Mars. In fact, it seems to me that love itself belongs to the category of science fiction, because it’s impossible to fully explain or understand it. The best part of this film are the characters who, although animated, look very realistic and are easy to relate to. The original animation helps make the scenes rich and beautiful, and in some moments truly breathtakingly magical. As far as the animation goes, I have no complaints whatsoever — only praise.

An important theme of the film is also the music, but I would have preferred the songs to be in Korean instead of English. That might give the film more universality, but in a Korean film I prefer to hear the Korean language. As for the story itself, it is well-developed and well-paced, but the finale didn’t give me any strong emotional satisfaction — the main emotional moments were somewhere in the middle. In any case, it’s a very beautiful film that inspires us equally toward love and toward exploring the vastness of space.

Read More

Love for One Day

Watching a movie wasn't on my To-do list for today but seeing that this was only 30 minutes long, i saw it during my morning coffee. I like having a note with stuff i am planning to do during the day, and that is precisely the topic of this movie: a list of things one girl set on to do. It was very interesting seeing how her plan is developing together with a stranger she meet awkwardly on a beach.

Since this is a short film it is more dynamic than usual full feature Hong Sang-soo movies. It still has the same ingredients: people sitting and talking developing human connection, but here, the scenes are shorter, the dialogue is more concise, and there is also some action like playing badminton and some bonus short shoots, like for an example a dog eating ice-cream. I had a nice time watching this, but now, I should continue with things on my personal List in real life.

Read More

Power of Faith

The movie looks good. The production is quite good, and the actors are believable in their nonsensical roles as students playing hide-and-seek with the ghost. The first few appearances of the ghost made me shiver, but later they just made me laugh. I’m not sure what the real intention was, but the movie definitely leans more toward comedy, with the horror elements subordinate to the humor.

The characters behave “stupidly,” as is typical in other horror movies. If you were really playing hide-and-seek, you would look for a good hiding spot and stay quiet, but the characters here do exactly the opposite. Maybe that’s the charm of the movie — it inverts expectations and offers random (or better yet, original) solutions to the presented danger.

The plot also revolves around studying and exams, which can be interpreted as a symbolic representation of the horror and stress of preparing for important tests. The second subtheme is faith, and I liked how they incorporated religion. In Korean cinema, we often have good examples of interreligious dialogue and cooperation whenever religion is mentioned. Here, it was done somewhat as a parody but still with respect for what we believe. In the end, I really enjoyed this movie.

Read More

Beware your Messiah

A decent fantasy horror with strong religious and occult themes. Actually, it leans more toward occult horror than traditional religious storytelling, which reminded me of the acclaimed films like The Wailing and Exhuma. This movie doesn’t have as much charisma as those two as it mixes a lot of elements and feels a bit all over the place at times. Still, it manages to direct everything together toward its main purpose, and fans of this genre won’t be disappointed.

As the movie progressed, I became more and more engaged. I’d say the finale was the best part, even though I would have preferred a different ending. The acting is also better than in most horror films, and even the supporting characters effectively carried the creepy atmosphere throughout.

There’s a lot to discuss about the themes and story, but to avoid spoilers, I’ll just say that the film draws from various religious traditions, including Shamanism, Shintoism, and Christianity. It explores the extremes of blind belief and how entire communities can descend into superstitious and dangerous cults. This can be read as a critique of religion, but it also echoes Jesus’ warning that many false messiahs will appear — so beware if you seek a messiah/savior somewhere else.

Read More

Your Name

In my country, there is a custom of giving a baby one of their grandparents’ names as a second name. I think the purpose of this movie is to show how we carry the names and legacies of our ancestors. The film tells a story spanning three different time periods that are connected together. At first, it was confusing and unclear how they were linked, but by the end, everything comes together with a powerful impact — especially in the end credits, which list thousands of names that shouldn't be forgotten.

The main character is an elderly woman named Jeong-sun. At the beginning, the movie focuses more on her son, and I think that was a mistake. The film struggles to find its balance in the first half. It felt like the movie tricks us into investing our emotions in the young students, only to then shift the focus to the mother, who is the true heart of the story. However, the second half is almost perfect, with outstanding acting performances, beautiful cinematography, and strong dramatic moments.

The conflict connecting the two time periods serves as a tragic reminder of how easily friends and neighbors can turn against each other. This movie is a mix of historical, family, and school drama, and I am sure it will be remembered for a long time. It points to the collective memory of many people whose names have been forgotten. By carrying someone’s name, we also carry their story and, hopefully, learn from it. This movie delivers an important message and deserves to be seen by everyone. Perhaps it will even help us rediscover the dignity of our own names.

Read More

Past Sins

First of all, I don't like the English title "My Friend Is a Murderer" because the movie is shown from the murderer’s perspective, with all the other characters in the background. The Korean title is much better as it uses clever wordplay, mixing 꽝 (slang for "failure") with 공소시효 (statute of limitations).

The main character, Seong-cheol, hides in a remote village for 30 days until his statute of limitations expires. However, instead of lying low, every encounter with the villagers turns into loud yelling and arguing. There were some genuinely funny moments, but mostly it was just noisy chaos that wasn’t very enjoyable for me to watch. I felt that all the characters exaggerated their performances too much in an attempt to be funny.

That said, the story was still interesting, and the movie kept my attention from start to finish. The filmmakers added many layers to the story and made the village feel believable with its ensemble of characters. I must admit, this movie actually has solid production — not on the level of big blockbusters or theatrical releases, but very well done for a streaming film.

Read More

Doesn't Make Sense

From the start, this movie seemed strange. The first scene felt like it had been filmed in front of a green screen, with the characters having a distinct outline around their silhouettes. As the story progressed, it made less and less sense until the weird finale, which somehow perfectly fits the overall style. For me, the movie started slow but became more and more interesting. So when I say that things don’t make sense, I mean it as a compliment — the absurdity was used to strengthen the comedy while still delivering an inspirational story about the different roles we play in our relationships. Could i play a role of father to my wife, haha?

Mismatch is a 2026 South Korean comedy-drama that really made me laugh when I least expected it, and it was thoroughly entertaining overall. Some movies have jokes that are so stupid or silly they become funny. In this film, the jokes are so unbelievable that they end up being hilarious.

Read More

Let's Be Friends

Who would have thought that a movie called "People and Meat" would be this good? This is indeed a gem of a movie about the unlikely friendship between three elderly people with good balance between drama, humor and social commentary. Try avoiding the synopsis if possible, as it reveals too much of the story. While the plot revolves around eating meat, the main focus is on portraying the issues elderly people often face in Korean society.

The movie makes you instantly like the characters, largely thanks to the veteran actors who all delivered perfect performances. It feels like watching your own grandparents. In fact, after watching this movie, you should go and treat your older family members to a dish they like. This film gives us a lesson on how to live an authentic life. We might not always agree with the characters or fully understand them, but we have to respect them.

There were a few special moments during the movie when my heart just opened wide. Since I am already over 40, maybe this movie touched me more than it would younger viewers, but still, I would sincerely recommend it to everyone.

Read More

Dance Psychotherapy

Office work is very stressful, and employees need some form of refreshment so they don’t carry their work issues back home. The main character in this movie is the office leader, Guk-hee. I heard her name as “Cookie” :) She seems very strong and confident, but she is bursting at the seams, both personally and professionally. Eventually, she discovers flamenco dance and things start to change.

The movie tries to portray a social drama, but it felt overly complicated. It was hard to keep up with all the office issues. Since I’m not an office worker, I had a hard time relating to the characters. On top of the drama, the movie also tries to be a comedy, mostly through weird and childish bodily humor. The main actress often stretches her face in exaggerated ways, probably to make us laugh, but for me it was sometimes uncomfortable to watch rather than being funny. I don’t think the actors did anything wrong — it just didn’t suit my personal taste. Hopefully the movie will be more successful with other viewers.

What I appreciated is that the movie presents dance as a remedy to help people find balance and emotional relief from the stress of daily life. We all need a way to break free from our problems — not to run away from them, but to face them in a healthier way.

Read More

Busan Dream

Jung Woo is Jjang-gu. He is not merely acting the character — the character actually represents him and his real-life story. I didn’t know that before watching the movie.

Audition 109 starts like a classic Korean action comedy, so I was expecting action scenes to begin at any moment, but they never came. Instead, the movie turned out to be a slice-of-life drama with a good amount of comedy. It was enjoyable to watch, but it felt like the film didn’t have a clear direction. However, knowing that it is largely a biographical movie, made the story development feel much more understandable.

Jjang-gu continues attending auditions and failing every single one of them, while also trying to build a healthy social life with roughly the same level of success. Yet he stubbornly keeps pursuing his dream, showing truly commendable and inspiring resilience. The production quality is very good. There’s also a surprising number of guest actors I hadn’t seen in a long time. The movie features plenty of footage of Busan — its clubs, restaurants, and especially the delicious-looking plates of meals.

If you know who Jung Woo is, you should definitely watch this. After checking his filmography, it appears I’ve seen all of his movies, and it was really nice to get to know him better through this feature.

Read More

Emotions are okay

Emotions at 18 are the strongest, and sometimes they can lead young people into bad decisions. Therefore, it is important to find a way to express them and put them in the right place. This movie centers on a class of female students and their new teacher, who tries to approach them with friendship. We see how negative emotions influence the students, and we are reminded that it is hard for teenagers to understand life from an objective perspective. At the same time, it is also difficult for adults to understand the youth. In this movie, the teacher is the one who manages to break down the walls of emotions and truly understand her students’ hearts. In my opinion, she stole the spotlight and became the real main character of the film.

The acting was good, but I wouldn’t say it was excellent. The male characters weren’t very good, and I think the movie would have been even better without them. I didn’t see any real need to add the foreign boy into the story because he just vanished as if he had never been there. As far as I know, he wasn’t either in the original novel on which this movie is based.

Since I am in a Korean book club, I will suggest reading this book there. I’m interested in connecting with the characters on a deeper level because I really liked the topic and the movie simplified it. The church setting served the story well, as did the beach. All in all, it was a nice movie about being honest with your emotions and finding someone to share them with.

Read More