Reviews

"You're surrounded by bums." "But they are relatives"

Lightning is the slice of life of a dysfunctional family dealing with death, infidelity, and becoming independent. Director Naruse weaves together the lives of four grown children, the mother, and various in-laws and a pesky suitor with these troubling topics knowing exactly when to bring a bit of levity to their dilemmas.

The quarreling family's mother had the four children by four different fathers and each child has a very different personality. Kiyoko is a 23-year-old bus tour guide still living at home and her family wants to marry her off to a seemingly wealthy by comparison 35-year-old baker. Her brother is a ne're do well who can't hold down a job and is usually out playing pachinko. Observing her older sisters' unhappy marriages Kiyoko is uninterested in their matchmaking efforts. Her sister Nui is tired of her unsuccessful husband and hooking up with the baker financially and personally. A death in the family causes problems when life insurance is involved and everyone wants a piece of it including a mistress! Everyone that is, except Kiyoko. As the situation escalates, the only child with a steady income and good head on her shoulders, moves out.

I really liked Kiyoko as she quietly watched the comings and goings of the rest of the family, privy to their secrets and foibles. Occasionally serious, but often with a knowing smile on her face as she stayed out of the fray as much as possible. When the time came, she didn't make a grand scene, she simply found another place to live and put into plan her goals. Eventually, Kiyoko and her mom had it out, and Kiyoko confronted her mother about her pain and having never felt happiness as they talked during a lightning storm.

Takamine Hideko was ethereal as Kiyoko. She moved seamlessly from problem to problem, completely believable as the youngest daughter who was unwilling to give up her dream of further schooling or settling for a boorish husband. Though beautiful and soft spoken she showed Kiyoko's backbone made of steel.

At one point Kiyoko tried to open her mom's eyes at the predicament the family had put her in. "You're surrounded by bums." To which her mom responded, "But they are relatives." Many a person knows this particular refrain when dealing with family. Most of us have had people in our families who are their own worst enemies and then can't figure out why bad things keep happening to them and think it's someone else's fault. Kiyoko's struggles mirror the struggles of many young people dealing with the push and pull of family as they discover who they are and where they want to be in the world. In these ideas, Naruse's work is timeless.

I loved the settings, the lively world of the suburbs of Tokyo came to life. Every scene was beautifully shot. The emotional piano music at the beginning and also played by one of the characters revealed the undercurrent of thunderous emotions. The film was exquisitely put together.

The film can be a challenge as Naruse drops us right into the middle of the story. The character introductions weren't always clear and it took me a while to sort everyone out. It is a true slice of life film as it begins and ends where the characters are and leaves resolutions up to the viewer. Many questions are left unresolved. We're not sure where Kiyoko's story goes though there are hints. Despite not tying things up with a pretty bow, I found this film charming and thoroughly enjoyed watching Kiyoko's journey to independence. Lightning was shockingly good, grounded in realism, and a bolt of pleasure. Sorry, I couldn't resist a few meteorological puns.

9/2/22

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had high expectations!!

the idea was great. the concept was new. like futuristic alien sci fi fight with magic in a period drama hell yeah when i saw the trailer i was on cloud seven THIS IS IT this is what the world needed right now but the movie was good not per of my expectations but was good.

:: what i disliked ::
i strongly believe the writer could have done so much better with the plot, especially in the first half. the movie should have start from kim woobin's character death while yian getting thrown off of the clif. his character should have been a cameo in the show. giving his character half of the movie plot that adds nothing (not even emotional depth) to the plot. and it also tells me that either the writer was a huge kim woobin fan or he/she didn't have much trust in her/his story. I'm sorry that first really just took me out of the "hypezone" i was in for this movie. plus the entire alien vs guard montage and red fogs spreading would implying that earth is done for would have been done better but it's still good so I've no problem with it. BUT villains were underwhelming. like how they introduced was so casually. they showed train to busan bad guy here and i already knew he's playing a major character that's how predictable the story is.

:: what i liked ::
yian, mureok and the two mages characters. they did a tremendous good job at portraying their roles. the comic timing was done well. and the fighting scenes in the climax oh IT WAS HYPEE. mureok should have been handled much better like i wish i could see more of his side story too but i guess we'll have to wait for part 2 for that. and of course KIM TAERI!!! she was just AMAZING! should have had more scenes (just like mureok) but part 2, part 2, i get it.

:: overall ::
this story should have been kim taeri centric. it's her journey! her story! she is the main hero! (well she still is the hero of the movie, atleast she'll be in part 2) this was still a enjoyable ride. 7/10.

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I liked the movie a lot and now I will explain why.

I see many people frustrated because people around didn't help the girl. Well there are several points to be clarified: First of all, in South-Korea most people don't help those in trouble on the street, because they often get blamed. There have been many cases of people who stopped to help those in distress and found themselves being charged because they were believed to be the culprits. And yes, people definitely saw the scared girl or the man covered in blood, however I repeat that so many people try to mind their own business so they don't get into trouble. It's frustrating I know and that's exactly why I think this film was a complaint to how people behave in these cases.
Second of all, it exists the bystander effect, also referred to as bystander apathy or the witness effect: this is a phenomenon in social psychology that refers to cases where individuals offer no help to a person in distress, in an emergency situation, when other people are also present. The probability of intervention is inversely related to the number of onlookers. In other words, the greater the number of bystanders, the lower the probability that any of them will render help. Several variables are involved in determining the bystander effect. They include ambiguity, social cohesion and diffusion of responsibility. This does not make us bad people; simply when certain incidents occur, we are inclined to see what others do before we intervene.
Then the fact that she couldn't speak is actually a point against her. Try to think about who the killers are: they are deeply disturbed, narcissistic and manipulative people. The fact that she was deaf and unable to speak properly made it all the more amusing for him: She was trying to communicate, but no one understood her; he was elated, especially because then he could be an actor like he has never been before. That's why I find the film very realistic and especially provocative. I still break a lance in favor of those who criticize the film, because indeed the policemen were not that smart.
As for "the cat-to-mouse chase", I didn't find it wrong. The girl several times was caught by the killer, however, one thing that stood out from the beginning was that she was smart. Plus unlike the victims, she knew about him and in fact he never managed to sneak up on her except once. I don't know what to add except that probably in her situation I would not have known what to do and would have been killed instantly. Plus many choices she made were to try to protect her mother.
As for the character who was the brother of one of the victims, I basically understand and forgive him... Would you sacrifice your sister to protect a stranger or would you sacrifice a stranger to save your sister? It ain't so easy for anyone. Clearly the killer was lying, but when you are desperate and you love someone so much, what chance do you actually have? And even if he caught him, he already knew that he would never reveal to him where his sister was.
The music was undoubtedly flawless. I madly loved the "silent moments" and when suddenly something would pop out, because for a few seconds it was like I was living in the girl's shoes.
In conclusion, i must have a sort of trauma, 'cause pussy was clenching through out the whole movie, no lie.
They should stop casting hot actors as psychopaths. I can't handle it, but at the same time i don't mind *COUGH*

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movie night gone wrong

I decided to watch this movie thinking it was comedy and action because of the title and the cover of the movie , so I didn't pay attention to the genre nor the description . I didn't think this was gonna be absolutely heart wrenching and that it was gonna make me shead a liter of tears . The story being real and based on the Korean uprising that resulted in a massacre only broke my heart even more because it reminded me of the two Palestinian uprisings and our daily lives as Palestinians .
If you're considering watching this movie prepare yourself to feel heart wrenched and absolutely horrified of what horrible things happened and still happens in this miserable world .
If you suffer from mental health problems and or deal with depression and disappointment of the world's injustice I don't recommend this movie .
The acting , was very genuine and raw . The Cinematography too was very realistic .
All in all this movie was an absolute masterpiece .

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Honestly, i started watching this because of the musical. some of my favorite people were casted as some of the main characters in the musical. and though i could only see a few numbers that's available on the internet, I really like those that I've seen, but that wasn't really enough for me to be okay with it and move on, cause I'm curious about the storyline, so I watched this. Idk what i expected, but it exceeded it. Not gonna lie, I expected there to be more wholesome interactions between the three main characters, but that's because of one specific number that I watched. And honestly, it surprised me because the numbers I saw were scattered and didn't know which one happens before or after another.

[SPOILERS PLEASE LOOK AWAY IM LITERALLY NOT MOVING ON FROM THIS PART]

The one number that I first watched and really loved because it's beautiful and sad is titled "Ordinary Country" where the three main characters talked about what they would do if they were reborn. And as I said, I don't know the exact order of the numbers, though I expected it to be in the middle. And that was what I expected from the movie. I thought maybe they're having the talk when they were picking out the fish and all. But it didn't happen. But I wasn't wrong either, it is from that part. But they really cut off that part and put it in the end..... Like..... the audacity to make me cry.... I REALLY tried to hold back my tears when Haerang sacrificed himself, and even when Ryuhwan was hugging Haejin as they both get shot I still tried to hold back my tears.... BUT WHEN HAEJIN STARTED TO ASK WHAT RYUHWAN WANTED TO BE IF HE WAS REBORN.... I LITERALLY JUST BURST OUT CRYING... And now that I know the full storyline, the number hits SO MUCH harder than before......

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Don't hasten your death!

The Great Buddha Arrival is an homage/reboot of the 1934 Edamasa Yoshiro film by the same name. Part mockumentary, part documentary, part Tokusatsu, and a whole lot of strange fantasy---The Great Buddha Arrival is hard to define.

In 1934 Edamasa Yoshiro created a film about the 18 meter/60 feet tall Shurakuen Buddha statue coming to life and walking to Tokyo. Destroyed during WWII, all that remains of the film are a few photos from a magazine. One of the first Tokusatsus and creative inspiration for those who would follow, fans and filmmakers decided to honor it by giving it a reboot. The movie is less than an hour long and largely crowd sourced. Blasts from the past showed up to be "interviewed" for the TV show being developed on the statue's past. Godzilla and Gamera stars of old made appearances and also Edamasa's grandson.

In the 2018 film the three photos are thought to be from a real event and a young writer is tasked with creating a tv show around them. Later he finds that they are from Edamasa's film but it was based on a real experience the director had with the walking statue. Very meta. It was thought the Buddha appeared because of the serial suicides of the 1930's, whether as a warning or a sign of hope was unknown. In a twist of fate, the statue comes to life life once again in the present and begins its walk to Tokyo. This time people aren't running and screaming and Tokyo Tower seems safe. The ghost of Edamasa appears to the writer as he follows the statue, "Don't hasten your death!" When a dead director and a walking 60 foot statue appear, I'd play heads up.

Recreated scenes imagined from the 1934 movie were done using the old school techniques from the 1930's showing the statue walking through town to match up with the photos. Some of the interviews for the tv show were fun for Kaiju geeks. The little boy from the original Gamera tells of how the walking Buddha saved him, repeating the scene from Gamera only without the giant tusked turtle, although a turtle is shown in his living room. 1954 Godzilla's Takarada Akira warns that science comes with both positive and negative consequences and the Kaiju movies of yore were cautionary tales. The one big oops was an "American" religious expert who mentioned other statues with supernatural events such as Mary Magdalene, I'm not Catholic, but I think she meant the Virgin Mary, Jesus' mother. Mary Magdalene's statues aren't usually as famous and FYI, she wasn't a prostitute. But she did bring up what would be important later in the movie-that not all statues were harbingers of doom, but could also be seen as messengers of hope.

The movie bounces back and forth with grainy black and white scenes from the 1934 film (ones recreated for this film), old (created) news reels, shots of people committing suicide in 1934, news stories that were not translated, and the current time with various people and "witnesses" being interviewed. News anchors and talking heads tried to understand what was causing the statue to walk, up to and including "dark energy" supplied by aliens. The acting throughout the scenes sufficed but not much more.

The cinematography wasn't very good and the lighting was downright bad in some scenes. The sets were about as rudimentary as you can get. Most of the money must have been saved up for the last quarter of the movie and the walking statue. I tried to cut this film some slack as it was an indie film and a fan service to honor Edamasa's lost influential work. It was very strange but also interesting.

The film's ending was stark yet offered a glimmer of hope. It took a long, pinball bouncing way to get there and I often didn't know what was real and what wasn't, but in it's own weird little way this bizarrely patched together movie had heart. The Great Buddha Arrival is probably only for hardcore Takusatsu/Kaiju fans as it does commemorate the origins of the film genre and has cameos by several actors from Tokusatsu films going back to Gojira's 1954 debut. The casual viewer will wonder why a turtle in a tank is featured during one interview, some of us will go, "that's the annoying kid from Gamera!" Never thought I'd be happy to see him again. The walking Buddha even healed those wounds.


9/1/22

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Start of a new era

First of all Imma be incredibly biased and say kim taeri deserved more screentime, she was amazing ❣ everyone was but I'm biased~

I think just rating "plot" isn't enough so I'll break it down
*Fantasy elements: 8/10. Alien stories have been done to death. But it is new in kmovies and better yet it was mixed into historical elements
*Cgi: 8.5/10 it was pretty cool, tho the cats were the least believe 🤣
*Storyline: 7/10. It was predictable, from the villains to "who" might be the new controller (?)..
*Background and built up: 7/10. Adding kids feels like a safe choice to make it more sympathetic, and easier to not build too much world setting before the movie starts
Like gaurd/thunder started the movie by just continuing their work from before the movie starts, so there's less emotional attachment. But with a kid, who becomes the adult we're rooting for, it's a safe way to act like a build-up and growth
*Childhood connection: 7.5/10. If we were forced to have a cliche fine, it was cute cuz mureok was a cutie xD tho I was redisappointed by their obvious attempt at big twist
*Action scenes: 9/10. It's been a while since Action lost it's thrill, car chasing, fist fighting are just a mashed up scene of boom boo pow pows. But this was fun

I was a bit lost on the mages, I mean if aliens exist why not magic? But also one fantasy is enough, tho again their magic vs aliens fight scene was fun

Space sweepers had more flashy cgi and world building. Tho main plot was a cheap safe choice of "kid sympathy". So here there was more story content but less world build up

Even when we realized yian is gaurd/thunders kid, we don't know how she lived 10 years alone in a historical world after being a modern world kid. She was alone, no family, no money. More depth would've been nice. Especially since they showed her going there as a 10 year old. Since the kid looks like taeri I assumed she lived in modern world then in 2032 she went back to the past

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It's Entertaining at Best.

I remember hearing about this movie a couple months ago but didn't really know much about it, other than it takes place in 1988 and there was some robbery or heist involved.

For a 2+ hour long movie, it's surprising lacking in the character development area. There are far too many unknowns that we are left to guess or make assumptions about. For example, why was Park Dong Wook (main lead) so invested in getting to the USA - we're not really given an answer and it might having something to do with racing but we have to guess. There's a lot missing from this movie about his family that is left to us to try and piece together or just blatantly ignore.

For the main character to be quite obsessed with the USA and the USA rap scene (given his 'shrine' to it), I was surprised by the lack of actual late 80's American rap music. We get a couple of songs - I think only two - not sure if budget wasn't allowing for more, he has an album in his shrine but no music from that artist is used during the movie.

The car chase scenes were okay, let's be honest, there are a lot better car chase scenes out there in movie land and with having to age Seoul backwards, a lot of scenes felt either completely CGI and/or a lot of green/blue screen (not necessarily a bad thing but noticeable).

This probably would have been better as a limited 8 or 10 part series where they could have fleshed out the characters and have a better script, because yes - the script was definitely lacking.

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THIS WILL MAKE YOU WORK YOUR BRAIN

From the very first scene, the cinematography is very beautiful. It's one of those movies where you'll be wondering "what did I just watch?". With top-notch acting, the cast is just perfect. Kim Nam Gil and Sol Kyung Gu as usual delivered a spectacular performance. I am a big fan of Kim Nam Gil and it's my first time seeing him as a villain and I have to say it he pulled it perfectly. In spite of your best efforts, you will never be able to predict the twist the director created. There's nothing better than watching a good thriller movie, and this just hits the spot.
Watch it, it's worth it.

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What a difference a day makes...

This movie starts off a bit meeh, with some questionable slightly low humour, meeh quality, meeh characters... yep meeh indeed.

But then comes the male lead, who is charming, fun, oddly relatable and that actually takes medicine for his illness and has bruises, symptoms, and though he does have some mood swings his decisions, worries, and reactions make a lot of sense. He also has a lovely sense of humour which is obviously his way of dealing with his illness.

The female lead was annoying at first but she grew on me, she is a bit impulsive, but also fun and her chemistry with the male lead is pretty decent.

There are perts that seem can seem to glorify suicide and death by renaming it being taken by aliens, and though I do think they take the subject a bit to lightly, they do shed light on som pretty big problems in society, and deal with loss, pain, loneliness, guilt of being a burden on your family and even squeeze in a crappy biological father.

Though the filming and well everything in the begging was bit meeh, the scenery and situations towards the end were really pretty, and though I did have to turn off my brain at times I did end up actually wanted to see more of these two.

P.s. I even shed a tear or two in this, so they managed to get to me though the meeh

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Won Bin is Fantastic - Excellent Fight Scenes

OMG this was so good. The best Korean action flick I've watched this year. Excellent story and phenomenal cast. This is the first thing I watched with Won Bin and I am super impressed now I have to watch everthing else.

I was surprised to see Kim Sung Oh as that nasty, label loving, hot head. I have never seen him as the villain and he was really good. Kradum Thanayong Wongtrakul was excellent as the enforcer for the bad guys. He has an intensity in his face that was menacing yet somehow kind. He was a presence on screen. Kim Sae Ron was great as the young lead.

I give this a 10 overall and you can rewatch multiple times. My only gripe is that I wished the main villian's last scene had been more brutal.

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Hauntingly Beautiful Portrayal

As someone with several friends who are parents with Autistic kids, this short film was an absolutely hauntingly beautiful portrayal of what goes on in the mind of such a child. Their inner world is chaotic and seldom quiet unless they find some sort of calmness. Xiao Yu Liang, absolutely nailed An Ning; from the tremors, to hitting his head against the mirror in a bid of self harm and running into the water to escape both his inner and outer torment. The dance in the water and seeing the bubbles and whale in the clouds of his imagination and ultimately finding peace with someone just like him, honestly brought tears to my eyes. In just under 11 minutes, this short film managed to convey what many 3 plus hour ones couldn't. The poetry was recited solemnly and on pace with everything else that was going on at the time it was. I would recommend this to anyone whether or not they have any form of mental illness.

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It's thrilling enough

I'm just an average moviegoer and I saw this with English subtitles. I can't understand Korean, and English subtitles always take away something from the movie. The experience is not as organic and it's hard to concentrate when your attention is divided between reading text and watching the scenes. With that said, let me share what I thought of the movie after watching it for the first time. The movie made me uncomfortable as it should be. The amount of tension and suspense on the screen until the midpoint is just sublime. As a disaster flick, it didn't really immerse me in the sense of danger and fear. I'm not fond of the route that the movie took to reach its ending. It didn't leave an impression. What I do love about this movie is the main cast. I admired their works for years. I wish the role of Im Si-wan was extended because I can't get enough of him.

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Zero to Hero to Zero to Hero and so on...

This movie is based on a true story, and though we can not know how true every element is, the story does come off as believable, at times a bit sad other times uplifting and so on, focusing more on the process than the actual Zero and Hero part

What I like about this story is that it is not afraid to confront the use of people with disabilities to inspire able bodied people... with a whole lot of if he can so should you and so on as there is quite a bit of criticism towards the add industry and how Paralympic athletes are treated. Along side the day to day life and importance becoming a hero has for the athlete with a disability for as as long as they can classify as heroes they will not be treated as badly as other people with disabilities. Do not get them wrong they still get treated as stereotypes, get controlled and risk being used by others to add on the stereotyping of people with disabilities. But at least they have a chance at making a living.

I also like how they show the people in this movie as humans, both the able bodied and disabled people portrayed here are not made to look neither overly pathetic or too heroic. The brother who was brought to the world just to take care of his brother does not just accept his destiny and shows that having a brother with a disability is not always fun and games either.

However there is something about the way it was edited that seemed at times to speak agains itself, on the one hand saying do not use people with disabilities as inspirational crap, but also please look at this montage with violins and mix in the real guy this is based on to try to get the viewers to feel a bunch of emotions which kind of put me off.

To sum it up a pretty good movie, not without its problems but defiantly a movie worth watching.

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