A film comprised of many good ideas in a story that is frustratingly propelled through its running time with little attention to logic and realism. The comedy was fascinating as a foreground to its darker themes, particularly the scene where Dicky (Wang Baoqiang) momentarily sees everyone upside-down on the upside-down ship, a possible allusion to the monkeys he used to train. I couldn't tell if that was accidental or a piece of cinematic genius. The feudalist/class subtext was both prominent and murky in its meaning making for a fascinating bag of ideas that are difficult to extricate.
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South of the Clouds 2004
The “road movie” is not a literal genre like, say, detective fiction, but more of a metaphysical concept of a journey and its destination. In fact, it almost always begins being defined by its illusory or even mythological destination and ends being defined only by the journey – transcending its physical state into something more emotional and spiritual. This concept has held the fascination of many filmmakers, such as Korean director Song Il-gon with films Flower Island and Git. “South…
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Puzzle 2014
"Puzzle" is a revenge drama that is ostensibly an inverted take on the Korean "Death Bell" films by way of the "Saw" franchise. The story opens in a small Japanese city with four masked school students terrorising a group of teachers after hours in a school. A series of deadly challenges ensue for the various victims over the course of the plot, all involving the finding of jigsaw pieces to solve each puzzle within a certain time. Finding the "puzzle"…
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A Record of Sweet Murder 2014
A journalist and cameraman meet with a serial killer in a story that plays out almost entirely as a single take. The story initially appears to be heading unambitiously into "Man Bites Dog" territory with a predictable premise and setting, but reveals itself slowly as having more to offer. Patience is paid off with a rather clever and unexpected conclusion.
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