Reviews

First half Great, Second Half was Layers of Dumb Decisions

The story was really good around the first 30 minutes of the film. It hits you with a dark and sad reality of the lower class, to make you feel for the characters. When you think our main leads can't go any lower, surprise2 they just keep digging themselves deeper due to their dumb decisions, and i guess i should've realized then that it's just downhill from there, story-wise.

In the real world, when you win the lotto, what is the smart thing to do? Obviously, you tell no one, but here our characters just kept involving other people, leading to more casualties after stealing someone's money. The revenge was already done after the heist. They should've run far away, but they turned it into Robin Hood-type shit, which can look cool, but if you ask me, it's pretty dumb when the movie is set to be grounded in reality. Well, i guess there are a lot of ways to take that route and make it good, but really, even since the heist, it's just layers of dumb and pointless decisions leading to unnecessary outcomes.

The pacing is pretty fast, which i didn't really mind since they did a good job of telling the main points so that you can atleast follow, but i still have a lot of questions character-wise, because there wasn't really much to fully flesh them out, so it was hard to get invested in them.

The acting is the only saving grace of this movie, as always with Korean actors. Don't need to say much about that. The only thing that was surprising to me in this regard was YooA from Oh My Girl. I didn't know she had entered the acting industry. The moment she was shown on screen, she exuded such strong stage presence. Her acting was really good.

Overall, I've been eager to watch this ever since it was announced, as I'm a fan of both actresses, but i just kinda forgot about it since it took so long. Nonetheless, I stumbled upon it randomly, so I went in without any prior knowledge, but left disappointed.

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It's Not As Boring As It Sounds, But ....

Faking Beethoven is a rather straight-forward biopic of Anton Schindler who served as Ludwig Van Beethoven's secretary for a few years towards the end of Beethoven's career and life. Schindler was one of the earliest biographers of Beethoven and was competing with a few other of Beethoven's associates to leverage the composer's name, frame his legacy and make some money via publication. Schindler had been suspected of strongly controlling the narrative of Beethoven's life (or at least his later years) from the first edition of his biography in 1840, but it was not until 1977 that it was proven the lengths to which he had done so. After Beethoven died he acquired the conversation books that people had used to speak to Beethoven after he had gone fully deaf and then severely edited them and added new lines and content. He then tossed away most of them, and sold the remainder to a major Prussian university. It was a only mild scandal in the academic world (since there are many other sources for documenting Beethoven's life), and I will note that the whole thing was not even considered worth bringing up when I took a course on Beethoven's symphonies as a student at UC Berkeley in the mid 80s for which a later biography was required reading. People at the time were much more interested in whether an unsent love letter by Beethoven to his "Immortal Beloved" was, in fact, meant for a guy (which it might have been but no one knows for sure).

And so this film details the history of Schindler's time with Beethoven, and the subsequent publication history of the various editions of Schindler's biography of the man. The film is written by Bakarhythm, and so it leans comedic but less so than many of his works. However, the script is entirely too reliant on voice-over throughout the film. Yamada Yuki manages a journeyman's effort conveying a weirdly obsessed fan of the composer who got to be part of his daily life for a few years and wanted to shape the world's understanding of the man to conform to his vision of his erstwhile employer. Furuta Arata has fun as "the great man" who is well documented by many other sources as being volatile, gruff, complex and interesting.

The film is not Amadeus nor does it aspire to be. But one has to wonder if there are not many more interesting stories about Beethoven's life that would serve to make a better film. Heck, we get tangentially get a bunch of Beethoven's relationship to his nephew Karl in this film which is a far more dramatic story than what this film centers. This film is probably a must watch if you are a fan of Yamada. For everyone else, the film is a bit more vibrant than you might expect given that it's really about one guy's efforts to assert his narrative about a famous public figure over a handful of rival narratives in ways that are of little consequence even for the academics who do care about accurately documenting Beethoven's life and legacy. And so I'd say if you're interested in the period in general or the later life of Beethoven, then you likely would enjoy the film.

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"I call this reality"

Next Sohee was based on a real-life incident from 2016. Director July Jung was dismayed that even after the incident, high school externs were being exploited by corporations and schools leading some students to injury, death, and abuse.

Kim So Hee goes to a vocational high school and is offered a job at a “prestigious” call center. Older employees were let go, with the company changing over to high school externs. Her job is to dissuade customers from canceling their service and getting them to sign up for other services. Customers’ wishes are ignored, delayed, and deferred as much as possible which leads to very angry customers who can become verbally abusive to the teenagers. The operators are listed on the board in order of productivity. Paychecks are regularly short changed and incentives delayed. Different contracts are signed. Quitting or getting fired means punishment at the school and reflects in a student’s permanent record. Many of the operators come from poor families who need the money they bring home which adds extra pressure. When vibrant So Hee loses hope, and the unimaginable happens, Detective Oh Ji Won is brought in to investigate. What she finds is not one perpetrator, but an entire system designed to exploit teenagers in a revolving door of abuse.

The film is divided into two parts---before the “incident” and afterwards. While the pre-story helps to develop sympathy for So Hee, it dragged on too long for me given that the second half of the film focused on retracing those same steps. Kim Si Eun and Bae Doo Na both gave complex performances which certainly helped cover some of the weaker elements of the film.

Watching the corporations, schools, and inspectors make excuses for the poor treatment and financial exploitation of the students was sickening. Everyone closed ranks and per usual blamed the victim. The corporations hired students because they were inexperienced and easy to intimidate, underpay and overwork, abuse, and replace when burned out. The schools only wished to fill their quotas to keep their doors open, threatening students who couldn’t handle the abuse. Instead of training students they were de facto employment agencies. Some students quit school after they quit their jobs to avoid the repercussions. Failure at any level made finding work more difficult.

Next SoHee was a difficult film to watch because as is often true in real life there was no satisfactory resolution. Poor, imperfect kids were unimportant, largely expendable and only valuable as a commodity as long as they continued to perform. With no oversight or labor protections they were and are completely vulnerable to danger, abuse, and exploitation. In 2026 there were supposedly new labor laws implemented, we’ll see if they have any teeth to back them up and if the society is serious about protecting their children and preventing the corporations from feeding on them. Greed is a deadly master.

8/30/26

Trigger warnings: Suicides

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The poster promises more than the script delivers.

I'm not the biggest fan of mixing horror with war. The war is scary enough. People kill other people skillfully enough, we don't need monster added to that mix. It only works when it's strictly soldiers focused - so then it becomes more of an action horror. If civilians are added in the mix, it ain't it. Especially when the the war set up is too grand for the weak script.

They tried to make it a cohesive story for the Japanese being the invaders on Thai territory like the main characters were invading the monsters lair, but that created a contradiction that was not explored at all in the script - how the monster that represented the attacked Thai people was the bad guy in that specific situation, and how war and attacks are often more complex if we talk about specific people on the group compared to few people who make the decisions.

So yes, the set up was solid, the plot overall was weak. The moment they end up in the cave, there is no story at all. Which overall is not a bard thing in horror movies - some we just watch to witness fun monster fighting people. But if you give me an emotional war set up, you gotta follow with something stronger.

Initially I was not crazy about the monster's design, but later they presented some fun ideas like it animating dead body by eating through them. Gross, but effective. Especially since the deformations in the bodies were different.

The acting was fine. No really outstanding performances. I liked the special effects - I feel like often in these movies they struggles to match the lighting of the CGI monster with the light in the background so it stands out too much, looking fake. They did a good job with it here.

Overall, decent watch, but not one I would be recommending to people.

I'm curious how the Japanese and Thai people feel about this movie :)

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OH! L.O.R.D.

Many years ago, I stumbled upon LORD2 without any prior knowledge of its characters or lore. I was instantly mystified and awed—drawn into its mysterious world, its stories, and the aura surrounding its characters. Only after finishing it did I realize that what I had just watched was nearly the ending of the series.

Curious, I looked up LORD1 and was surprised to see many familiar faces. I saved it to watch later, but the right time or mood never came—until today, almost three or four years later. In the meantime, I had seen the drama adaptation of LORD, which offered a more drawn‑out view of the story. Yet my fascination with its universe never faded—the seven dukes, the silver priests, the four kingdoms. These elements strike a chord with me in ways I can’t quite explain.

Watching LORD1 now, I came across reviews calling the story messy. Personally, I didn’t feel that at all. Some say it’s meant for those who already know the tale, and I agree to an extent. But even setting aside my prior knowledge, LORD1 felt well‑paced, well‑written, and well‑executed. In just two hours, it managed to cover a compelling arc with the right balance of mystery and the freshness of a beginning legend.

No complaints. Next weekend I might revisit LORD2 to quench my thirst for mystery—hopefully it won’t take me another couple of years to return to it.

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Good movie with correct subs

I just recently watched this on gagaoolala and luckily never experienced the bad subs everyone is talking about. The subs must make a huge difference because my mind is blown by the people saying the actors didn’t do a good job. They were great. The chemistry was great and intense and they acted their roles so well. The change in both of them after the switch up was so well done. That being said the story had so much potential and they just didn’t follow through. This could have been a great mystery thriller but they dropped the ball and even with good subs the ending was confusing. I would rewatch again only because the sex was hot. They did a great job with that and the plot is interesting enough but it could have been great if they had developed it more. The actors were definitely up to the ease.

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Superficial and tonally inconsistent

"Washed-up detective becomes less washed-up by being put on an emotionally complex case" => if that's your thing, go watch any of the hundreds of other movies that have this theme.

The comedic beats try to make the movie not as heavy but just end up sounding tonally inconsistent.

The central plot is around the murder of an autistic child. It turns out both his parents think his life is not worth living and he'd be better off dead. He is murdered by his mother, who worries about what will happen to him after her death. Parallels are drawn with the elderly father of one of the detectives, who has severe dementia and who is also considered better off dead.

In an interview the director says he didn't want to make it about who did it but about why the child ended up murdered. But in the end the movie remains about finding who the killer was. And the why appears to be "because he was autistic and from a poor family". Autism is introduced as a theme but is not actually engaged meaningfully.

Also the whole scene with the landlord guy is homophobic as hell for no reason.

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And once more with feeling...

I rarely give ratings 10/10 - but this movie deserves it.

Please don't be surprised by my 1/10 for "rewatch value" - this only shows that this movie goes so deep that you'll have to think twice about re-watching it. You should only watch this movie, if you are emotionally stable and don't let it hit you too hard. However, I don't want to discourage you to watch watch this movie, because it is truly brilliant and the actors give an amazing performance that pulls you deep into their story.

Sunshine Women’s Choir is a heartfelt and powerful movie that tells a story of friendship, hardship, and love inside the walls of a women’s prison. What begins as a simple tale of inmates forming a choir becomes something much deeper — a reminder of how connection can grow even in the most difficult places.

The emotional weight builds slowly, but once it hits, it hits hard. Beware: halfway through, you will not stop crying. The movie's tenderness sneaks up on you, and the second half is so touching that it’s impossible not to feel it. The women’s bond, their shared struggles and the love they share for each other is truly heartwarming.

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The Height of Japanese Spirit

I’ve seen this movie at least 3-4 times in the past 3 days. I adore this movie. What is it.. it has that Je Ne Sais Quoi that is the essence of everything I love about Japan and the spirit it embodies. It has all the beautiful aspects of spirit embodied in Japanese culture and aesthetic, that has its foundation in reverance for nature, all packaged in a heartwarming tale with comedy and heart all throughout. I don’t know any movie that ends with a long rendition of “You are my Sunshine but I realized it was the happiness of Spirit singing throughout the movie. Everything about it has so much soul. The picturesque sceneries are like paintings, and the music is otherworldly. I discovered this famous song “Ue o muite” from this movie as Chris Hart’s character sings in the bathhouse with his mother after being released from prison. Ahh I was a puddle of tears. I can feel so much heart and soul and the Spirit just speaking to my heart in every moment and I had so many moments of tears, and gratitude behind it all. This isn’t just a kiddie pool. Yudo, the way of the bath is as deep as it gets. And it touched the very bottom of my soul. Happiness is not pursued, it is realized!

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Island of Men

The woman comes to an island as a tourist, and all the men follow her in a creepy way. That is how the movie starts. The beginning and the finale are quite good, but most of the runtime has no clear direction. Okay, the movie has some kind of mystery, and a certain tension is there, but the story still feels flat most of the time despite some brutal scenes which felt unnecessary. What gives the movie a bit of extra meaning is that it is based on a true event, which is scary if those events really happened. If I were a woman, I would certainly be afraid to visit Korea in the future.

The movie lacks better production values. It has some potential, but it never reaches it. All in all, this is a B-movie with thriller elements that can be recommended only if you have free time to kill.

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Different take on "S" (エス)

I was so excited after recently finishing "S", the fifth novel of the Ringu series, that there is a film adaptation of the story, and while it was an entertaining watch, I definitely prefer the novel plot over this film. The effects were good, music was absolutely beautiful, and I liked the cast for especially Akane. So for anyone casually watching this for Sadako, I'd say it's a good film. My mid rating is mostly because I prefer the novel storyline.

Spoilers from here on out:
It was a little weird to see which plotpoints they focused on changing (e.g. Takanori's character and job, Akane's trauma, Kashiwada as a whole), but it was an okay alternative plotline. Sadako turning into a cursed spider squad was not something I expected, but I guess they love turning her into a more cursed-looking being over everything else. It was sad to see that they didn't include the connection to the overall ringu series (i.e. why Sadako is supposedly dead and what Kashiwada's got to do with it etc.) so the ending was a little meh. Overall I give it a pass but I recommend anyone interested to read the novel "S", it was a fun read and I loved the storyline.

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"Those who seek the truth, hit a wall at least once"

The Defensive Power of Aikido aka The Power of Aikido starred Sonny Chiba’s younger brother, Jiro, as the creator of Aikido-Morihei Ueshiba. A by the numbers fictionalized martial arts biopic, it was easy to watch, but not memorable.

Morihei Ueshiba has moved to a farm in a village in Hokkaido. He practices jujutsu with his workers easily defeating them. When he helps a young boy running from the work camp he meets his match in Natori Shinbei and his karate. Morihei becomes determined to improve his martial arts skills and seeks out new teachers to guide him. After he defeats a karate sensei, the school seeks vengeance and he has to defend himself from vengeful students while learning new skills.

Chiba Jiro was not nearly as charismatic as Sonny, nor was his fighting style. He gave a satisfactory performance as a farmer who worked his way up, learning new martial arts skills, eventually developing his own style. The movie wasn’t very clear on what those specific moves were that defined his aikido. Sonny’s Natori broke the mold of brainless, revenge-fueled fighter which was a relief given all the other tunnel-visioned students looking for blood. Shihomie Etsuko from Sonny’s Street Fighter franchise made an appearance as a student well able to take on a gang of men.

The fight choreography was adequate with some fights better than others. As with many old martial arts films, the kicks often missed by a mile, thankfully the actors and stuntmen were able to sell the action. And there were a few super human throws. The fights improved as Morihei went from being owned by his opponents to being able to use their power against them.

The Power of Aikido had the requisite training sequences as Morihei sought to improve his fighting skills and reach enlightenment. There were those who lent a hand to and those who betrayed the determined fighter. Very little was shown of Morihei’s personal life and family. Entertaining, but not enthralling. Rated on a pre-1990s kung fu curve or in this case generous karate kurve.

27 August 2026

Trigger warnings: A rather large snake carried about in one scene. An arm lopped off in another.

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