Reviews
Chansilineun bokdomanji (2019)
Another Hong Sangsoo imitator
This movie has been overrated. There have been hundreds of Hong Sangsoo imitators in South Korea's indie movie scene and this movie just grabbed the spotlight because the director was a woman who had been Hong's longtime producer. I know, that's what she had learned. However, we don't expect to watch some artist's opposite-sex double when we see a new director's debut film. Actually, South Korea's independent filmmaking industry is driving itself into a pipeline system that limits itself as a pool to supply personpower, ideas, and trends, lacking experimental and challenging spirit it used to have. This movie shows just another example of a so-so low-budget self-claimed indie film that just reproduces old conventions of already successful arthouse directors.
Kingdom: Ashin-jeon (2021)
A sad story of a diaspora
Ashin's clan does not belong to Joseon nor Jurchen. They have settled in Joseon's territory and been loyal to this new homeland; however, both Joseon and Jurchen abandoned them and used them for the sake of peace between the two. Ashin's anger and revenge show the sadness of those diasporic minorities.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: It's the Sixties, Man! (2019)
It's the 60s, guys!
I can agree if you say this episode is too explanatory. But I can never agree with the point that the show is going downhill from this episode on. This episode successfully loads up the show onto the historical context of the 1960s. It was the era of revolutionary thoughts, women's independence, and the demand for diversity. This episode somehow awakens the Weissman (one Marxist, the other feminist), and involves the estranged Maisel in businesses in exclusively non-white settings (one Black music, the other Chinatown). This change makes me anticipate more dynamics in the future episodes.
We Fight to Be Free (2006)
Origin of the Racist State
This film, which was sponsored by one of the representative motor companies in US, shows a terrible picture depicting satanization of colored people in America. I was shocked how staffs in Mount Vernon could so confidently recommend such a racist movie. The first moment, when Washington meets his future wife and a boy asks him "Have you ever killed Indians?", was not so repulsive because Washington hesitated to answer to that question so that I understood it was just a detailed description of those days. Yet I still can never understand why the producers chose that battle scene among lots of historical resources. Yes, there were Orcs and Urk-hais fighting barbarously against Washington's army. As far as I know, Washington's military achievement was at the American Revolution which was a war against colonial army. But why did they choose the battle against aboriginal Americans, not against English troops? I guess they preferred to describe beating Urk-hais to death, rather than making whites bleeding.