Cookie and Cockroach
At the time when Korea was struck with financial crisis some Koreans went to search for a better life opportunity in Colombia only to realize that Colombia has not only financial issues but also violence and corruption. So in this movie the capital of Colombia, Bogotá, is a background for the story about the difficult life of Korean immigrants and especially their relationship between themselves. The plot is centered about one young Korean immigrant Kuk-hee (Cookie) who is quickly adapting to the new reality and building a path of his own. His personality is what made this movie above average. Yes, the scenery is beautiful, the production is on a high level, and the story is interesting, but it would be a forgetful movie without the main protagonist. The camera often focuses on his face, and it makes us relate with his emotions through all the trials until the satisfying conclusion.One other Korean is called a Cockroach, representing the animal that has a high level of survivability. He and all the other people in the movie develop some sort of tension toward Cooke. It goes to show the ancient truth: homo homini lupus - man is a wolf to man. This is categorized as action crime thriller, but most of all, this is a human drama about the challenges of immigrant life.
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A realistic and engaging film.
A "down-to-earth" story that anyone can relate to: two childhood friends who reconnect years later.As a fan of romantic comedies and Korean dramas, of course I rooted for them to end up together. But, being a reflection of real life, things are not that simple.
Time passes, feelings change, as do our goals. As the protagonist says: the girl he knew existed, but was left behind, back in Korea.
The whole plot raises that uncomfortable question: what if...?
It's a great movie, but with a melancholic tone, precisely because it reflects reality.
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Selfish love, addiction, destruction, and literary revolution.
"I want to die. I must die. Living itself is the source of sin. As long as I can make them laugh, it doesn't matter how, I'll be alright."~No longer Human, Osamu Dazai
I started this film without reading the synopsis but with a wholehearted trust in Oguri Shun, and I was not disappointed.
It's one of those films that doesn't want you to question your moral values, because this simply was a biopic of a blood and flesh human who made life choices that might not be the best, but you have no choice but to accept, "It is real; that's what happened, whether I like it or not." I personally found him exploring self-sabotage and how Japanese society progressed in a very dreamy, unique way. I see some people don't like him, though and I was fascinated to see why.
The storyline revolves around Osamu Dazai, a wife, his two lovers, and the questionable lifestyle choices he made in his 38 years of life. The whole film gives you an eyegasm with its beautiful cinematography of Mount Fuji, cherry blossoms, pretty traditional costumes, and brilliant camera angles.
I don't have anything to say to anyone but the wife, Michiko: "Michiko, I loved you more than anyone" I don't know how much he meant by saying that, but she's the one who sticked to him in thick and thin and showed massive strength to hold this falling "family" together. She's the one whom he needed and she's the one got most neglected. That smile at the end was a sign of relief.
Overall, it's a film about a not-so-great human being trying to create great literature and balance life in the world that he complicated himself. Don't expect it to be a great story that will open your third eye and let you see the world differently, the point is not to glorify but feel this is reality, and that is shitty as hell.
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Terrified!
I liked a lot of things in this movie, but in the end it just looks like an attempt to bring us some life changing message that isn’t there. I wouldn’t say it’s a good watch because it feels like my time was wasted expecting an amazing story or some plot changes that could make it enjoyable, however the choices the characters made, their actions towards people they love are simply unpredictable- and not in a good way - which left the viewer only great filmography of the greatest sights of New York most of the time. On the other hand, with a great cast, Past Lives shows in an interesting way a premise that a lot of other Korean productions talk about fate and connections between lives by dealing with regret, which is the main idea of this film. Therefore, although it is a great attempt, it fails in summarizing it’s message with a bad ending while leaving the viewer with an incomplete answer of how we can live despite the wrong or bad decisions we make. Do we have the power to follow our fate? How many chances we have to meet our 인연? Finally, the final scene had me wondering about it, and got me frustrated because of the wasted potential.Was this review helpful to you?
An intriguing film that tackles an important issue.
The story is told from three perspectives on events in a young boy's life. It is a "simple" film, but precisely because of this raw approach, it creates several moments of tension and suspense. I believe that knowing the film's central theme in advance took away much of the element of surprise for me, which slightly affected my experience. Despite this, it was precisely the theme that made me interested in watching the film.I would like to highlight the children's performances, which are outstanding. Overall, it is a great film with multiple messages about different aspects of life, a good pace, and intriguing moments.
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A film that may be a masterpiece for some and boring for others.
It is a film with a very distinct aesthetic and identity, meaning it strongly bears the director's signature. Because of that, I understand those who say it is a great film. However, for me, it didn’t work so well. I found it confusing. I was interested in the first story and wanted to see more of it, but it felt like it was cut off halfway through. Then, a new story begins, which I found quite strange and couldn’t connect with.In short, it’s a film about love with a very unique identity. However, precisely for that reason, it may not appeal to everyone.
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Terrible!!!!!!!!
I was so excited to watch this movie, mainly because of NCT127 Jaehyun. This movie was executed terribly, and I felt nothing for the characters in this movie. It was moving so slow, as if the actors lost interest. The FL, she was decent in Mouse, and she was in another movie I watched last week, about her being a Influencer, forgot the name of the movie, and that one sucked as well. I don't know. I do think they need to give Jaehyun another chance in a different type of movie, because I couldn't tell if he could act or not. He hardly had any lines, no emotions, just nothing. Overall, the potential was there, but as I stated, the execution of the story was nil.Was this review helpful to you?
Grief, hope and sacrifice - human drama with mediocre scares.
I will forever fail to understand why movie-makers are so obsessed over filling their horror stories with mediocre scares and overused special effects, especially when the plot could be actually turned into a solid horror drama that focuses more on the human emotions, rather than supernatural aspects.The good parts of the scripts were: the desperation and grief that Seung Do felt after his daughter's death. The regret about his choices. The sacrifices he made. Ban Hae Sin's past trauma surrounding Father Michael, and how it affected him currently. These were the gripping parts. The possession and supernatural elements should have been there to add the flavor. And yet... they went full cliche with black eyes, cults, over the top performances and epilepsy attack like possession scenes.
Performance wise, it was just flat.
Overall, nothing new, nothing fresh. Decent to pass time, but there are better movies even as mild entertainment.
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This review may contain spoilers
The chemistry just isn't there
FYI, I’ve never watched the original film, so I’m judging this purely based on this version.For me, the biggest plus point in this movie is all the piano scenes. Seriously, they were so good—the cinematography, the actors playing the piano, and the emotions? Chef’s kiss. The comedy was also pretty decent.
But…
I’ve watched all of D.O’s works (except Hello, Monster), and honestly, this movie is the most disappointing one for me.
For the first time, I didn’t feel any chemistry between D.O and his co-star. Like, in Bad Prosecutor, even though there was no love line, the chemistry was still there. The weird thing is, this movie’s main conflict revolves around romance, yet the chemistry between D.O and Won Jin A just wasn’t there at all.
Even though, technically, this movie has a happy ending romance-wise, it felt more like a sad ending to me.
Why? Because Kim Yu Jun’s bond with his dad felt way stronger than his bond with Yoo Jeong A. And that’s disappointing because it made me feel like there was no real reason for Yu Jun to leave his dad for a girl he’s only met a few times.
Another reason why I didn’t feel like the leads had to end up together was that I just didn’t see any real bonding moments between them. Their scenes jumped around too much—one moment they’re here, then suddenly they’re there, and then boom, they’re a couple.
Yeah, I get that Yoo Jeong A wasn’t always present in the story, but maybe her scenes could’ve been written more smoothly and naturally.
Even the plot twist wasn’t surprising. From the start, I already had a feeling that Yoo Jeong A wasn’t a ghost. The whole concept kinda reminded me of Your Name (Kimi no Nawa). I guessed she was a time traveler and that she could only appear in the piano room. The only new information I got during the big reveal was that “the first person she sees will be the only one who can see her.”
So yeah, the twist wasn’t shocking, and there were some unnecessary repetitive scenes.
Usually, when I watch movies like this, I don’t care about anything else as long as the male lead and female lead end up together. But this time, I didn’t feel that urgency at all. Especially with Yu Jun’s hand injury—it wasn’t explored deeply enough and healed way too fast.
Honestly, if it weren’t for D.O, I probably wouldn’t have finished this movie. It’s not the worst movie I’ve ever seen, but it’s definitely one of those films that wouldn’t make a difference if I never watched it.
Maybe I’ll check out the original and other adaptations for comparison. The story concept itself is interesting, but something about this version just feels… off.
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It’s not that bad
I see a lot of people slamming it in the comments so that’s the only reason I’m leaving a review.The saving grace of this movie is FreenBecky. their connection is unmatched in my opinion. All of the actors/actresses did well EXCEPT the astronauts. All of those scenes are painful to watch, but if you get through that it’ll be a solid/decent movie. Not the best but certainly not the worst.
one important note: if you are someone who likes movies or series with a very clear cut resolution, you may be disappointed. The ending was fuzzy to say the least.
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Its a survival story
Damn, nothing crazy about it but it was well done. You could say the story was ok and it definitely felt like one of those stories where the theme is the survival of someone stranded on somewhere. You get my point. A miraculous survival story. The MC is extremely lucky to have met the people he became friends with. Because at every point of the story it could've been up for him. Still, I don't mind it cause how else is the story going to progress. Just like I said it's a survival story. Nothing else really, it's ok and well done, it's not bad or boring, well depending on the watcher. It's ok for a one time watch if you have nothing to watch.Was this review helpful to you?
This film reminded me of Neil Gaiman.
This film reminded me of Neil Gaiman. Yeah, I know. I have impeccable timing...Well, this was stupid. I kept waiting for the second shoe to drop but this was merely a crass and unsubtle criticism of the rich class of South Korea. Many have done it with better quality and more finesse so it doesn't even impress as much when you have already watched, like, Parasite! There is an attempt to make this appear as an erotic thriller and I guess it is but it wasn't nearly thrilling enough to say the job was done well. There was also no complexity in the characters' true motives. They were exactly what you see in frame one and remain unchanged all throughout; kind of like two-dimensional sketches. Motivations of certain characters made no sense, like the majordomo whom I would have liked to slap a few times. I don't know, it just felt like no point was made throughout the whole runtime. To me, that's a waste of time and energy. The ending sort of jumps into absurdist surrealism and I hate that even more. Stick a style, please!
As for the acting...I don't know if it was intentionally ridiculous or not but no one behaved like normal humans. Also, I'm wondering, has Park Ji Young ever played a positive role?! She's always bad news! Every time she shows up on screen, I know she's either gonna try to poison someone or cut someone's junk off! She's like a narrative bad omen, I swear!
So, I was so intrigued by what this film could be like and I was excited to watch it. Now that I have, I am underwhelmed. It was nothing to write home about.
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I literally grew up watching Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou!!
This story and the characters had a huge impact on me ever since first watching it as a kid. I am surprised no one has written a review for this sequel movie yet, so i am gonna put it here first since i LOVE this story and the characters to bits. The leader of Bakada Tatsuya, his right wing Tetsuya, the Cattleya leader Fumie and her right wing Saya and the rest of the Bakada gang. All of them stole pieces of my heart. Their pride and honor, the way they were willing to die to protect it. Its that oldschool fierce spirit that doesn`t really exists in our modern society anymore.I miss these type of boys, boys who were fearless and had the courage to fight for the people they love and their honor. They are my childhood heroes. The Bakada boys and the Cattleya girls fighting as allies shoulders to shoulders and fighting any injustice coming their way to hurt their school. Despite their differences they learned a lot from each other and i love re-watching the drama series and movie sequel every damn year because Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou is a classic to me and dear to my heart!Was this review helpful to you?
