Reviews

some kind of regret

this movie reminds me one thing that became a lesson for a lot of people...the things that we did NOT do.

after high school I took a 3 years foreign language course.
at the second year there were a classmate who asked me for tutoring since she was working and taking the course at the same period, she was somehow eccentric; attractive, cheerful, above average kirei but none had the gut to approach her personally for 恋愛, she was somehow out of our league.

2 years after our graduation I was already an employee in a local company and had a girlfriend.
one day she called me through my home number.
at that time I didn't aware that none of my friends/classmates ever contacted me via home line.
we talked quite long and she gave me birthday wishes I didn't even get from my own girlfriend.

10 years later, we have classmates meet/party.
after that I once phone her and tell her 会いたい

a few months after the meet she got hospitalized after a trip to middle east, me and my classmates visited her at the hospital.
I had the chance to visit her alone afterwork at non visitors hour (the hospital's security personels seems to see me as a patient family member, they didn't even stop or questioned me as they did to other visitors entering the hospital's inpatient pavilion/I had konbini bag on my hand)

she recovered and got home, but in a few months she was rehospitalized and I was only able to convey condolences to her family at her funeral.

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This was extremely hard to watch for me, and also to write a review, because my mother heard exactly the same diagnosis - and there was one scene in the film that came very close to how my mother died.
Mother-daughter-relationships are also at the centre of this film, not all of them are good or even resolved at all.
So, if you're also sensitive to the topics in this film -- late-stage cancer, death of a parent, mother-daughter-relationships - then you might want to avoid it.

That being said, the actors are excellent! This is one of the reasons I couldn't not finish the film, because the actors, child actress included, portrayed their characters so well that I was already invested in their story and needed to know how it all ends.

Regarding the story, apart from my personal hang-ups: The three main characters, are all female -- and they are who are shown as the ones who shape the family, who take on the challenges life throws at them -- while the men are more passive, even weak.
The thing is, the mother is shown too much as the "self-sacrificing prototype", which really got on my nerves after a while. I wish the mother had been given a bit more time for her own struggles, her own pain, her own grief for having to leave her family. There was only one scene, right after she heard her diagnosis, when she broke down, alone in the hot bath (excellently filmed, btw), and then, once, near the end. All of the rest showed her being dedicated to her growing family -- but a mother is also a person with her own life, and I really wish the writer had given her that. It wouldn't even have taken a lot, maybe just her wiping away a stray tear, looking at an old photo, hugging herself in the kitchen ... just show us that there's more to her than just "devoted mother".

Overall, I can see how many people would love this film, even maybe find solace in it -- and most of the aspects I did not like are more related to myself than to the film -- so if you think you can watch something with the above-mentioned topics, then you should definitely try this one.

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Nauseating

I didn't realise I was watching a movie I tried watching 3-4 years ago ..well I dropped it then and I dropped it now again .. first of all the plot itself is weird and nonsensical like I grew up watching anime and reading manga and trust me there is no way anyone would be made fun of, for having firm and voluptuous bosoms ..entire shonen industry is running on the appreciation of women assets but they showed a girl is bullied in school for that ..gimme a break ... Second the stretch mark issue .. dude 99 percent women (even men) in this world develop stretch mark during various stages of life. Why are you treating this like an epidemic ...

This movie made me conscious about the things I never even cared for ..like stretch marks ..who the hell cares about something even Kardashians and jenners are experiencing???

The story itself is so boring and bogus that other things like cast acting music XYZ didn't even grab my attention.

Strongly not recommended

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You won't want to do anything else until you finish watching it.

• CINEMATOGRAPHY
This is one of the main points here, The cinematography was so beautiful and fabulous. I liked all the scenes and point of views, and everything.

• MUSIC
The music was on point for eveything, from the drumming for the exorcism to every intense moment, and then scary horrifying sound effects from time to time, it was perfect.

• STORY
The story was so good too. Showing about the history etc. And the movie's about Exorcism, Shamanism, Feng Shui, Buddhism and Christian too if you look at it. I didn't even know it before that a job of Geomancer exists. He tastes the soil and identify about the land. I got so immersed in it. The four characters work together their roles are different but they make a team and work together.
At first there was a family case, in which their grandfather's coffin ⚰️ was opened and he went on to a bloody killing streak of his descendants.
Then another a more bloodthirsty monster case came to light, but this is just my opinion that, in the end that (lord) died too easily, like it didn't fight back (well he was shown undefeatable). The ending was good, but just a doubt he died too easily.

• CASTING
The casting was perfect each actor was perfect. Kim Go Eun's performance was fabulous, her acting was so good and all other actors. I totally loved them.

I recommend this movie, 10/10.
Just that nothing else, Have a great day ahead.

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A fable of human love caught in the current of nature's wrath

An adaptation of the 1913 play of the same name, Demon Pond blends theatrical artifice with cinematic surrealism offering a compelling lesson in the power of superstition and mythology; defined by a pervasive tension between the ancient and the modern, superstition versus scientific reason, an aquatic tale of life and death. We live as long as we have it, but if we lose it, we die, except the film's true subject is love. We can live without it, but is that really living? In Masahiro Shinoda's lush, romantic, bigger-than-life take on Izumi Kyōka's text, the answer is a resounding no. What starts as a folk horror fantasy with a psychological thriller vibe gradually shifts into full-on action-adventure-meets-disaster film mode once all watery hell breaks loose. Shinoda's is extraordinary in its dreamlike decadence, it's the kind of film that could get by strictly on aesthetic terms, such a feast for the eyes and ears, that it almost wouldn't matter if the story didn't make much sense or even had one to begin with. Set to the swirling strains of Isao Tomita's utterly hypnotic synth score and bolstered by some great acting from its cast, Demon Pond is a fascinating experience; one that arguably runs a little long at two hours, but which remains endlessly captivating thanks to its beauty, elegance, and portrayal of a fable of human love caught in the current of nature's wrath.

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Worth it watching!

Have to say that a while ago I I started the movie but never finished watching it.
But the last I dared to watch it "again" and it was awesome!
~Story~
I've never watched a movie with a marriage like that but it was soo interesting!
~Acting~
I liked the actors too!
Especially the main actors.
They seemed to have experience and I'm glad that these actors got the roles.
The music was also fitting depending on the scene.
~Rewatch Value~
It wasn't really a bl like I'm used to,but it was a funny,
action packed movie,which I would definetely watch again!
I don't really know if I'm happy with the ending,but it's OK:)
And you can see from the quality and some scenes that this movie is very qualitative.
It was worth watching,even tho I sometimes cried lol They touched my heart with this story and these roles.
It was really good.:)

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Nothing goes to waist in this short film!

I started this short film trepidatiously due to the title---My Wife Got Fat. Too often fat shaming is condoned and can be cruel and demoralizing. Thankfully, there was no judging or taunting here.

When a wife wakes up to find she’s gained 2.2 kg/ 5 lbs she becomes frustrated that she’s gotten “fat.” Her husband doesn’t say much but begins to observe her. What he discovers touches him and he makes a plan.

Jang Young Nam played the anxious and loving wife and mother. It was hard for me to think of this slender woman as “fat.” I kept hoping her husband and sons would tell her how beautiful she was and to not be discouraged. Kim Tae Hoon brought a tenderness and understanding to the husband. Kim Joon as the youngest son is one of the most adorable child actors around. Fortunately, Ahn Ji Ho’s teenager wasn’t awful like so many teens are shown as being and was also enlisted to help the mom out. Throw in a cute dog and this family was about as perfect as they get. The resolution made the husband even more endearing.

With all of the dysfunctional families in Kdramas it was a joy to see a loving, supportive family. Though not even in my dreams could I aspire to be as “fat” as this thin mother. The mom was beautiful, active, and cared for her family and never should have felt less than. Apparently, not only beauty, but fat is in the eyes of the beholder. Thankfully, the beholder in this film saw his wife through the eyes of love.

21 November 2024

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Standalone from Its Prequel, "Veteran"

Upon hearing about the rave reviews of this movie, I waited patiently until I could finally watch it. While waiting, I found it was connected to the movie, "Veteran" with majority of the same cast, so I watched Veteran first. I really enjoyed watching Veteran as it had both funny and serious tones throughout the whole movie.

Now back to "I, The Executioner" (ITE), I enjoyed it also but for those who haven't watched "Veteran" yet, you do not need to watch it first before watching ITE. This movie can standalone by itself.

While ITE is good, there is one vast difference between this one and its counterpart. Veteran had more funny and crazy moments sprinkled throughout the entire movie while still keeping to its serious undertones. Even in Veteran, the main lead's wife had a shining moment when they tried to bribe her. Whereas in ITE, the only funny scenes are in the first few minutes of this movie. After that, it's basically a :cops vs vigilante" serious movie but they did ramp up on the action scenes.

There is one great fighting part with Anh Bo Hyun on the rooftop and in the rain. Those fight scenes were really good in terms of camera angles, cinematography and fight sequences.

The only drawback I think that it had was that earlier when they showed drug addicts upon drug addicts, their make-up looked realistic. But then when they finally came to Bo Hyun's character, his make-up looked too "clean" compared to the other drug addicts' make-up. He just looked pale and not like the other drug addicts they previously showed. You could obviously that the make-up artistry were completely different. But what can you say? Bo Hyun is just too handsome. Lol! Also, in one scene at the police station, his make-up looked more "drug addict-like" but then in another scene his make-up just made him look pale. I did like the way he acted when he looked at Jung Hae In and he just knew that Hae In was psycho.

Speaking of Jung Hae In, I'm still on the fence about him as the villain here. He was good but I wasn't entirely convinced by his psychotic side. There was that extra something that I felt was missing but please don't come at me Hae In fans! This is just my opinion. I think it had to do with the way he was normally around everyone. His character seemed off in normal settings anyways. I think it would've been more convincing if he acted more like a really nice and normal guy in front of everyone so that they would've had a hard time believing he could be the villain. But instead, his character was always that "awkward-dude-that's-kind-of-weird-but-you-can't-put-finger-on-what-it-is-that-makes-him-creepy" vibe.

While I thoroughly liked this movie, I do think that it was missing some of the funny and crazy moments that made Veteran more "charming". In Veteran, the team has some pretty funny moments where they "lose" it and go crazy but not so much in ITE. But both movies are good in its own right. Like I said before, you don't need to watch Veteran first before watching this. Make sure to watch the post credit scene. It's at the end of the credits.

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