Genre: Animation
Director: Kazuki Imai
Cast: Wasabi Mizuta, Ohara Megum, Kakazu Yumi, Kimura Subaru, Tomokazu Seki
RunTime: 1 hr 49 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 28 June 2018
Synopsis: In the story, Doraemon, Nobita, Shizuka, Gian, and Suneo set out on an adventure in the Caribbean Sea. Nobita is the captain of a ship and fights his enemies on board. Shizuka gets kidnapped, and a storm impedes their journey. Mini-Dora help Nobita and friends on their journey. When the adventurers finally find the mysterious Treasure Island, they discover it is more than just an ordinary island.
Movie Review:
No other animated character can claim to have had one big-screen feature each year for the past 12 years, but that alone is testament to the popularity of the time-travelling blue robot cat (not raccoon dog, mind you, which happens to be one of the running jokes in this movie). This 38th feature instalment in the Doraemon anime franchise sees the titular character and his boy companion Nobita embark on a seafaring journey to explore a mysterious island that has suddenly appeared off the southern coast of Japan, although when they eventually reach the volcanic land mass, they discover that there is more, much more, to the island than meets the eye.
As penned by novelist Genki Kawamura (who produced some of the most successful Japanese feature animations in recent memory, like ‘Your Name’, ‘Fireworks’ and ‘The Boy and the Beast’), the story deliberately draws from some of the more memorable references of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic ‘Treasure Island’ novel, so those who remember the book will certainly recall the pirate named John Silver, his talking parrot and the boy whom Silver is fond of. In any case, the opening minutes of the movie give a quick rundown of these references, just before Nobita wakes up from his daydream and muses how he’d like to go on a real-life modern-day pirate adventure.
Nobita’s wish – and perhaps to an equal extent, his pestering – become Doraemon’s command, who pulls out a magical Treasure Hunter map to look for a yet-unexplored treasure island, as well as a miniature sailboat DIY kit and a magnifying glass to construct the square-rigged ship that they will use to reach the island. Nobita uses the Anywhere Door to ask his best friend and love interest Shizuka along, while the quick-tempered bully Gian and fox-faced rich kid Suneo invite themselves along the way. The quintet are also joined by the Mini-Doras, who prove resourceful as ever when the rest get into tight spots, so if you’re keeping score, only Doraemon’s younger sister Dorami sits out this one.
Without giving too much away, let’s just say that Shizuka is kidnapped during their initial encounter with Silver and his band of pirates, owing to a striking resemblance she has with Silver’s younger daughter Sarah. At the same time, Nobita will pick up Silver’s elder son Flock, who reveals not only that he has run away from his father but also that Flint has some nefarious plan up his sleeve that will threaten the very fate and future of Planet Earth. It’s not a literal adaptation of the book of course, but you’ll appreciate the generous creative liberties that Kawamura and director Kazauki Imai have taken with the source material, even turning Silver’s parrot into a chaperone robot named Quiz who likes to greet anyone and everyone he meets with riddles.
Make no mistake, this isn’t just a feature-length version of the Saturday morning cartoons you’d probably acquaint the Doraemon character with; rather, Imai’s film is really a rollicking adventure fit for the whole family (except of course for the fact that you’ll have to be old enough to be able to read the subtitles to understand the dialogue). There is a genuine childlike sense of wonder and thrill every step of the way, thanks to Kawamura’s inventive plotting as well as Imai’s rich and vivid visual imagination. There are loads of humour and witticisms, courtesy of Doraemon’s boundless gadgets and Quiz’s verbal puzzles. And last but not least, there is even surprising poignance at the end of it, as Silver’s ostensible selfish motivations are revealed to be no more than misguided obsessions about completing his beloved late wife’s legacy.
It is no coincidence that ‘Nobita’s Treasure Island’ has since gone and become the highest grossing instalment in Doraemon history, seeing as how there is plenty here to entertain those among us who are growing up and those among us who had grown up with the lovable robot cat. In particular, the latter will probably find the conclusion unexpectedly moving just as we did, and in fact come to sympathise with how Silver just wanted to do right for the sake of his children and their future. Like we said at the start, no other animated franchise has been as prolific or enduring, and this latest film is itself reason why Doraemon is so beloved and will likely continue to be for generations to come. There is treasure indeed in this fascinating time-travelling tale of discovery, friendship and reconciliation, so embrace your inner child and hop on for the adventure!
Movie Rating:
(An adventure full of childlike wonder and thrill, humour and witticisms, and unexpected poignance, this latest instalment in the Doraemon feature films is treasure indeed!)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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TRAILER WATCH - THE EQUALIZER IIPosted on 26 Jun 2018 |
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TRAILER WATCH - WELCOME TO MARWENPosted on 22 Jun 2018 |
Genre: Drama
Director: Lee Chang-Dong
Cast: Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yuen, Kim Soo-kyung, Jun Jong-seo, Choi Seungho
RunTime: 2 hrs 28 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scene)
Released By: Clover Films and Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 5 July 2018
Synopsis: Deliveryman Jongsu is out on a job when he runs into Haemi, a girl who once lived in his neighborhood. She asks if he'd mind looking after her cat while she's away on a trip to Africa. On her return she introduces to Jongsu an enigmatic young man named Ben, who she met during her trip. And one day Ben tells Jongsu about his most unusual hobby...
Movie Review:
In this world, there is Little Hunger and Great Hunger.
Little Hunger is when someone is physically hungry. And Great Hunger is when a person yearns for the bigger answers, like the meaning of life, shares Haemi (Jun Jong-Seo), the female protagonist of Burning.
Director Lee Chang-dong is renowned for tackling the Great Hunger in his films. His critically successful efforts, such as Oasis, Secret Sunshine and most recent work Poetry, often harbour Love, Purpose, Identity as keystones to his stories, framed around tragedy, and tackled in a familiarly cruel world.
Burning adds itself to that universe. It’s a simmering film loosely inspired by Haruki Murakami’s Barn Burning, but injected with South Korean sensibilities, and most of all, grills the effects of a world gone bleak for the younger generation.
Yoo Ah-in is odds-and-ends worker Jongsu, who bumps into childhood friend Haemi on the streets. The effervescent and candid young girl quickly draws the slack-jawed Jongsu into an easy friendship, and has them bonding over a meal. He reveals his ambition to be a writer. She shares her upcoming dream trip to Africa.
And with that, Haemi asks the simple Jongsu for a favour - to feed her cat while she’s gone. They head up to her apartment to meet the elusive cat, but ends up sharing more than just stories.
The smitten Jongsu dutifully fulfils his promise, and with every visit to the apartment, relives his brief intimate moments the way only a guy knows how.
So imagine his surprise when Haemi returns from her trip with a dapper new friend named Ben (Steven Yuen). Jongsu is immediately wary, but for a person who ambles when he walks, is also slow to react.
The threesome come together for a few meetings, where the dynamics intertwine uncomfortably, and the mysterious Ben raises more than a few flags for Jongsu. But before the jangly youth can figure out Ben’s intentions, Haemi goes missing, and he slowly reasons the cause to be clear.
Burning is definitely a slow (sorry had to do it) burn. Audiences looking for traditional structure and directional plot need to come in prepared. But that’s not to say the film is any less riveting. All three actors manifest their nuances with skill, keeping attention honed onto clues with every look and sentence.
Yuen’s Ben is a distant character from his The Walking Dead character Glenn. While heroic and selfless in the TV series, he is the cold and humble-bragging friend you wouldn’t trust your back with in this film. Which makes his fascination for Haemi, that much more disturbing. While newcomer Jun’s Haemi is obviously attractive, especially when her charm lies in the way she twirls her whimsical intent without censorship, her fluctuating states hint at a bipolar disorder, and has her actions stirring confusion, and at best ambiguity.
Through it all, we watch as Yoo’s weak-willed Jongsu turns from paramour to chaperone, and finally to circumstantial detective, who grasps at the implications of his findings, but frustratingly fails to connect the dots. But Yoo’s performance is stellar in its layers of mundanity and impotence, which no doubt allows for that punch of an ending.
One can derive satire form this film. Ben is the upper-class who starts to dehumanise their fellow comrades, Haemi’s the aspiring but struggling middle-class used by those above them, and Jongsu, the infirmed lower-class who can only stand by with their pent-up frustrations.
Through cold hues, misty landscape and dismal weather, Lee reminds us always that there are embers. Some go out, while others catch aflame gloriously, and also terrifyingly so. His Burning takes on several forms. It is lust in the odd moment of reflected light in Haemi’s room. It is rage in Jongsu’s father. It is release for Ben in his arson. It is compassion in Haemi’s pet stray cat, named Boil after the Boiler room it was found in. So we ask, what makes Jongsu burn?
We can probably find those moments in Mowg’s provocative score. It’s a bassy soundtrack, one referenced to Ben (“We need to find the bass in our lives.”), but disrupted by plucky strings when Jongsu is fueling up in pursuit. It’s an effective and disturbing accompaniment, all the way to the end.
Burning is a poem of a film in essence - and most like a haiku, where a few words are crafted to draw out a scene, and leaves the listener waiting to exhale.
Movie Rating:
(A searing commentary at the dynamics of social strata, and the unfolding presented in a twisted threesome of a relationship, leaves one breathless)
Review by Morgan Awyong
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Awi Suryadi
Cast: Prilly Latuconsina, Sandrinna Michelle,Shawn Adrian Khulafa
RunTime: 1 hr 32 mins
Rating: PG13 (Horror)
Released By: Antenna Entertainments & MOX Digital
Official Website:
Opening Day: 28 June 2018
Synopsis: Risa (Prilly Latuconsina), a teenage girl who has 3 ghost friends named Peter (Gamaharitz), William (Alexander Bain) and Jhansen (Kevin Bzezovski). Risa now lives with her sister Riri (Sandrina Michelle), who is getting embarrassed with Risa's ability to see ghosts. Moreover, they temporarily only stay together because his mother accompanied his father's office abroad. His uncle's family, Om Ahmad (Bucek) recently moved to bandung with his wife, Tente Tina (Sophia Latjuba) and Angki (Shawn Adrian) son. Risa and Riri often visit even stay at home om Ahmad and Tante Tina. Risa initially does not feel any weird with Om Ahmad's house, but one day Risa caught Om Ahmad away with a woman, Risa hardly believe that her Om cheating, Risa dare not say to aunt Tina and choose to investigate themselves. But after that Angki tells some strange things happened and the strangest thing is the attitude of Om Ahmad changed. One night Risa is plagued by the haunting female ghosts in the house. Is it true Om Ahmad cheating? What is his relationship with the terror of the ghost woman in the house that annoys Om Ahmad's family including Risa? Will Peter and his friends come to help Risa despite Peter warning of the previous risks about the dangerous evil spirits in Om Ahmad's house?
Movie Review:
Horror films. We walk in knowing what to expect. Jump scares, horrifying ghouls, the occasional blood or gore, creepy sets, all shrouded in dim lighting and anticipatory soundtrack.
And Danur 2: Maddah checks these boxes, if almost a little too hastily.
Amidst all the frantic action in the film, it seems that Director Awi Suryadi focused too much on recreating successful tropes in other commercial blockbusters (The Conjuring, Insidious), and forgot to give his attention to two major elements - story and lighting.
We pick up from the original Danur and see Risa (Prilly Latuconsina), with 3 befriended spirit friends. Since she couldn’t control her powers to ignore the ghostly realm, she decided to work with them. Those that want to anyway.
She’s told to go visit her relatives who have just moved to Bandung, along with sister Riri (Sandrine Michelle), because her mother has to go abroad with her father. All is well, until her uncle Om Ahmad (Bucek) decides to explore an abandoned pavilion-house next to their new home, and starts acting weird. And by weird, I really mean, walking around like a zombie. Like, all the time. It’s almost funny. Just insert the right soundtrack.
Suryadi’s hold on his story flies away in the face of showcasing his finesse in recreating horror formulas from the popular franchises. It barely follows through on any of the story threads, and feels more like a collection of jump scare opportunities that share a theme.
This is unfortunate because this can be a good (if a little expected) script, playing with a family seer that solves a relative’s home mystery. But instead, we get scenes that don’t complete their run, stacked against each other, making the audience uninvested in increasingly mediocre episodes.
There’s a lot to suggest topics like a possible love affair from uncle Om Ahmad, Risa’s struggle with her own gift, the family’s breakdown, can be compelling to watch and overcome. But the scenes devoted to these are spaced out, thin and often disrupted with unnecessary scares, almost like the director needs us to not forget it’s a horror film we’re watching. It’s the celluloid equivalent of a haunted house ride.
And when the mystery is revealed at the end, you are also left wondering why the ghosts behaved the way they did, because their motivations don’t make an ounce of sense - this realm or theirs.
And then there’s the lighting. Someone really needs a new job.
There’s atmospheric dark, and then, there’s just dark. Photographers will know that when film gets underexposed or overexposed, there’s no saving the picture, because those areas lack information, and no amount of tweaking in post-production will draw out anything.
It’s the same with Danur 2. I’m surprised the film made it to distribution with no one bringing it up. The lighting here is pretty basic. Like, we don’t have enough power points kinda basic. Many a times, it looks like only prop lighting was used to illuminate the scenes, leaving most of the shot in darkness.
Filmmakers should know that even when portraying dark areas, there needs to still be information. A lot of scenes become disembodied, putting us out of context. I frequently have trouble figuring out where the characters are, because the settings are too similar, and there’s no visible identifiers.
This is a pity, because Suryadi’s camera work seems relatively inventive, featuring even a nice long one-shot scene at the start to establish the characters and the house. But no amount of interesting angles and visual storytelling can work, if we can barely see what’s happening.
With enjoyable performances from Latuconsina, as well as cousin Angki (Shawn Adrian) and aunt (Tenta Tina (Sophia Latjuba), Danur 2: Maddah is a prime example of a missed opportunity.
Movie Rating:
(A theme park horror house ride with plenty of formulaic scares (some successful) but mostly too focused on its tropes to actually have a good story. That is when you can see anything at all. )
Review by Morgan Awyong
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Jeffery Chiang
Cast: Carlos Chan, KK Cheung, Mimi Kung, Bryant Mak, Shuan Chen
RunTime: 1 hr 37 mins
Rating: PG13 (Horror & Scene Of Intimacy)
Released By: mm2 Entertainment
Official Website:
Opening Day: 28 June 2018
Synopsis: Charlie, a young ambitious property agent joins a successful agency run by wealthy couple, Gordon and Lucy. He soon learns the secrets behind the agency’s success; they specialise in buying up dirt cheap properties after someone has died or been murdered in them, sells them at a higher price without disclosing to the new owners the horrifying truth. Ethical dilemmas soon subside as Charlie enjoys the windfall he makes from every sale. Charlie shrugs off buyers who complain about supernatural happenings and the nightmare they have to endure and continues to basks in his opulent lifestyle. It was not until one of his clients succumbs to the tragic hauntings that he decides to reveal the horrible secrets of his agency.
Movie Review:
Herman Yau’s ‘Always Be With You’ was one of the rare Hong Kong horror genre offerings in recent years, which has languished following its ‘Troublesome Night’ heydays in the 1990s and early 2000s.
On its surface, there is potential for Malaysian writer-director Jeffrey Chiang’s latest feature to join that club of disposably entertaining B-movies – its premise of a young ambitious real estate agent who realises he’s been selling haunted apartments is ripe for picking; its cast comprises a mix of up-and-coming stars like Carlos Chan and Bryant Mak as well as recognisable stalwarts like KK Cheung and Mimi Kung; and last but not least, its apparitions are decidedly old-school, made up of actresses in heavy make-up (read: not CGI-ed).
And sure enough, this Chiang’s Hong Kong-Malaysian-Singapore co-production often offers similar unfussy chills and scares, comprising of things that jump out at you while accompanied by sudden loud music. Yet as much as we were prepared to embrace this low-budget effort with fond nostalgia, ‘Buyer Beware’ ultimately demands its own warning to viewers because of an unsatisfactory cop-out ending that threatens to deplete every ounce of goodwill we have towards it.
Nothing in the story up until those last five minutes could possibly have suggested that it was but a nightmare, but hey we’re saying it now so that you won’t feel so aggrieved by the time it finally arrives. Beginning with Chan’s property agent Charlie seeing weird things within the live video he is recording inside an empty flat with a suspicious-looking refrigerator, the story rewinds itself to explain how Charlie came to find himself in such ethically questionable circumstances.
Though one of the best-performing agents in his company, Charlie still isn’t earning enough to pay his father’s hefty hospitalisation bills, so he decides to jump ship to the more lucrative Ho Feng Property, led by the disquieting husband-and-wife couple Gordon (Cheung) and Lucy (Kung). In order to prove that he has what it takes for the job, Charlie decides to ignore his own intuition that there may be something amiss about the high-rise condominium unit he is selling to a family of three (the husband of whom is played by our very own Shaun Chen), and even concocts a fictitious counter-offer from another buyer in order to entice them to seal the deal quickly.
This is but one of the four vignettes which make up the business deals which Charlie comes to clinch in bad faith – there is another involving a two-storey villa which he introduces to his ex-girlfriend Shermaine (Carmen Tong), who is now pregnant with the kid of a married businessman Terence; another involving a unit in a dilapidated public housing apartment block which he sells to his buddy Earnest (Mak); and last but not least, another involving a mansion which his bosses apparently gift to him as a reward for his stellar track record.
Each one is but an excuse for Chiang to choreograph a series of unlucky encounters between the living and the dead – among the more effective episodes is one where the aforementioned family’s young daughter is lured to the balcony to pick up her soft toy while her parents are preoccupied, resulting in a tragic death that Charlie himself almost repeats later on; and then another where Shermaine investigates the strange noises she has been hearing from one of the upstairs bedrooms while alone in the villa. To his credit, Chiang demonstrates a good grasp of building up suspense and dread, so you’ll often find yourselves holding your breath during these tense set-pieces.
Unfortunately, it is also true that Chiang’s storytelling instincts need polish, and this being only his sophomore feature after 2011’s ‘Dilarang Masuk’, the scenes sometimes do not flow well into one another. There is a relatively well-thought out narrative to the movie all right, but the uneven pacing makes the chain of events unintentionally confusing. The last act is also guilty of going off the rails, as Chiang eschews the restraint he had largely demonstrated throughout the rest of the film for throwaway shots of black magic, cannibalism and even gratuitous violence. It does feel like Chiang was trying to follow in the footsteps of horror shlock master Yau, but these excesses only make the film feel even more incoherent.
A film like ‘Buyer Beware’ often doesn’t require much of its actors, and this is no different. Chan puts his natural screen charisma to good use, but there isn’t enough character depth to Charlie for him to put in a compelling performance. Mak is largely forgettable in a supporting role, but it is a joy to see veterans Cheung and Kung manipulate the naïve Charlie.
As is typical of the genre, this film grounds its frights in a morality tale, although it won’t be the first to put a horror spin on the Hong Kong property market. There are enough unnerving moments to make your skin crawl, especially as it plays on your fears of empty abandoned houses with brutal or tragic histories, but not quite sufficient for this to be anything more than an adequate Hong Kong horror offering, not least because of its exasperating u-turn right at the end. So you’ve been warned – keep your expectations low and you might enjoy its low-rent thrills; just don’t go in expecting this to be anything more than an above-average ‘Troublesome Night’-type movie.
Movie Rating:
(No more and no less than a low-rent Hong Kong horror offering, but a maddening about-turn ending aside, this rare addition to an almost bygone genre still packs some unfussy chills and scares)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Crime/Drama
Director: Lee Hae-young
Cast: Ryu Jun-yeol, Park Hae-jun, Cho Jin-woong, Kim Joo-hyuck, Cha Seoung-won, Kim Sung-ryoung
RunTime: 2 hrs 3 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Drug use and violence)
Released By: mm2 Entertainment
Official Website:
Opening Day: 5 July 2018
Synopsis: Detective Jo Won-ho (CHO Jin-woong) is determined to catch the mysterious 'Mr Lee', the infamous leader of Asia’s largest drug market. But to track down Mr Lee, Won Ho must work with Rak (RYU Jun-yeol), a drug cartel member who seeks revenge against Mr Lee. An endless dilemma between trust and suspicion begins.
Movie Review:
Though intended and billed as a remake of Johnnie To’s superb 2012 crime thriller ‘Drug War’, Lee Hae-young’s ‘Believer’ is so substantially different that it deserves to be regarded as an original film in its own right. As co-writer, Lee has retained the basic premise of To’s Mainland-set epic in shifting the story to South Korea – simply put, a dogged detective who infiltrates a narcotics syndicate with the help of a potentially untrustworthy informant. That detective in Lee’s film is Jo Won-ho (Cho Jin-wong), who in an early sequence, loses a battered teenage informant whom he sends to take down the organisation’s elusive kingpin “Mr Lee”. Won-ho gets his break when he crosses paths with Rak (Ryu Jun-yeol), a low-level gopher who narrowly survives an explosion that takes out a drug lab as well as most of the bigwigs in Mr Lee’s cartel.
Unlike Louis Koo’s character in To’s film, Rak’s motivation here isn’t selfish; having lost his adopted mother and his beloved Korean Jindo breed of a pet Leica in the blast, Rak wants to get even with Mr Lee. His shaky alliance with Won-ho is set in motion with an elaborate switcheroo that was one of the memorable highlights from its predecessor: with Rak as an intermediary, Won-ho impersonates as Mr Lee’s representative to meet a Chinese-Korean dealer Jin Ha-rim (Kim Joo-hyuk) and his mercurial girlfriend Bo-ryeong (Jin Seo-yeon) in a posh hotel in downtown Seoul, before pretending to be Ha-rim with a female colleague to deal with Mr Lee’s pernicious lieutenant Sun-chang (Park Hae-jun). Those who have seen To’s movie will no doubt know what’s up, but Lee’s version is no less tense and no less exciting, thanks to the manically over-the-top performances from the excellent supporting ensemble.
There is just another obvious nod to ‘Drug War’ – a mute brother-sister pair who run a factory on the outskirts of Seoul which processes the chemicals into high-quality narcotics, and as played by Kim Dong-young and Lee Joo-young, the young cooks with their vulgar banter in sign language is energetic and hilarious. But that is also where the similarities end; whereas To chose to reward his fans with one of his classic bullet ballets, Lee spins a much more elaborate mystery around Mr Lee’s true identity, which packs more than a couple of surprises in its final act. Not only does Won-ho have to overcome his suspicion of Rak in order to mount one last switcheroo in order to penetrate Mr Lee’s lair, he will eventually be confronted with the full extent of Rak’s disingenuity, which ultimately leaves him to decide just how far he is willing to go to ensure that justice is served.
If it isn’t yet apparent, ‘Believer’ is a lot more plot-driven than ’Drug War’, but that focus on narrative unfortunately comes at the expense of character development. Most notably, the central relationship between Won-ho and Rak could have benefited from significantly greater emphasis, especially in reflecting their mutual distrust of each other’s loyalties. That was the very emotional backbone of the earlier film but sorely lost here, which seems content to settle for Rak’s occasional reminders to Won-ho about how he needs him and/or the latter slapping the former around after losing a teammate in an explosion. Without that emotional anchor, it isn’t quite as compelling the toll the mission takes on Won-ho’s team, as well as Won-ho’s eventual persistence at tracking down Mr Lee no matter that the case is closed in the eyes of the public and his own superior.
That said, ‘Believer’ still is a fine piece of genre work. Lee’s craftsmanship for sleek action set-pieces is undoubtable, and even though he lacks To’s signature flair, the combination of anticipation and full-blown violence makes each one of them gripping to watch. With his cinematographer Kim Tae-kyung, Lee frames his scenes in dark shadows and gritty textures, giving the film a strikingly stylish visual palette. There is also a nice counterbalance with breathtaking aerial shots of rural and urban Korea, along with the icy landscape of Norway where the sequences which bookend the film were shot. For a film that runs slightly more than two hours, it is to Lee’s credit that there is never a dull moment, with either the twists in the story and/or the colourful characters keeping you hooked.
Like we said at the start, ‘Believer’ injects more than enough creative license into the basic premise and beats of ‘Drug War’ for it to be treated as an original film in its own right. This isn’t a slavish copy of the original, but one which assuredly retains the core elements of To’s film within its own story of crime, deception and duplicity. In fact, it is as Korean as any other Korean genre film, which probably explains why it has performed so resoundingly well in its own home territory. Even as it lacks some deeper thematic meaning or emotional poignancy, this is still a pacy outing of action and suspense that makes for a solid two hours of adrenaline-pumping entertainment. As doubtful as we may have been about anyone trying to remake To, you can count us a believer at the end of this intense and captivating thrill ride.
Movie Rating:
(It may lack Johnnie To's eccentric flair, but this Korean remake of 'Drug War' is still a twisty crime thriller full of adrenaline-pumping moments that will more than satisfy genre fans)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Drama
Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu
Cast: Lily Franky, Ando Sakura, Matsuoka Mayu, Kiki Kilin, Jyo Kairi, Sasaki Miyu
RunTime: 2 hrs 1 min
Rating: M18 (Some Sexual Scenes)
Released By: Clover Films & Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 12 July 2018
Synopsis: After one of their shoplifting sessions, Osamu and his son come across a little girl in the freezing cold. At first reluctant to shelter the girl, Osamu’s wife agrees to take care of her after learning of the hardships she faces. Although the family is poor, barely making enough money to survive through petty crime, they seem to live happily together until an unforeseen incident reveals hidden secrets, testing the bonds that unite them…
Movie Review:
If ever there was an ensemble movie where everyone pulled their weight, this would be it. Shoplifters is a rare example combining flawless cast chemistry with expert role distribution. And between them, a moving story unfolds.
Director, writer and editor Hirokazu Kore-eda steals the heart of audiences stealthily, with vignettes drifting lazily along offering slice-of-life moments of the Shibatas. We first meet Osamu Shibata (Lily Franky) with his son Shota (Kairi Jyo) at a supermarket, and their shifty eyes signal something’s up.
They split ways and Shota does some finger twirling ritual before he drops something into his bag. Next thing you know, the pair rejoins and exits the store - bags full of shoplifted items. Not the typical family already.
As they make their way home, they see a waif huddling at a balcony. With temperature dropping, they bring her to their ramshackled hut to give her some shelter and are met with amusement from Granny Hatsue (Kirin Kiki), derisiveness from wife Nobuyu (Sakura Ando), and a blase “you forgot the shampoo!” sister Aki (Mayu Matsuoka).
Her name is Yuri (Miyu Sasaki), and it seems that she stays in the same unit she was found at, but spends her time mostly outside as punishment. The Shibatas are shocked, and also discovers scars on her arms. They debate on their options, but afraid of the law, returns Yuri to her home after feeding her.
When Osamu and Nobuyu reach the unit, they hear the lovers quarreling, and the mother even shouts, “do you think I wanted her in the first place?” It’s clear that no love’s lost with Yuri’s disappearance. Nobuyu’s surprising maternal instinct surfaces, and she chooses to bring Yuri back to their own home.
What plays out for the next 90 minutes, is a curious mix of bonds that are endearing and heartbreaking. While the days go by and Yuri’s future in the family becomes lovingly intertwined, we also encounter the complex relationships between the members, and discover all is not what it seems.
In one scene after coaxing a jealous runaway Shota back home, Osamu asked him if he’s ready to call him dad, which he refuses. There’s also plenty of talks about how they are tied together by money, and in one scene, Hatsue even says she happily “chose” Nobuyu as her family. When Aki returns home from her shift doing performance sex work, granny also chides her for using her sister’s name, who is never seen in the house.
The truth is served up quickly in the last half an hour, triggered by a purposeful capture of Shota by the police. And the untangling hurts.
Shoplifters seems to be a family film about poverty, but is really a commentary on middle-class systems left unchecked and gone wrong. Challenging the sacred terms of what a “family” is all about, the moralistic audience would tsk tsk heavily at the mercenary agendas of each character, but then lose sight of the exact point the director is trying to raise. It could be about the money, but it can also be about love and respect at the same time.
Juxtaposing the family’s cheeky warmth and easy ways about life, against a “proper” father and daughter who has the resources but fails to nurture, Shoplifters challenges the importance of blood in a unit’s cohesion. It lays out highly philosophical questions, masked in mundane questions and simple moments, while achingly exploring the theme of loneliness.
Thinking back, a shot of the family watching fireworks was one of the few that moved me close to tears. It was a break from an environment of judgement, and highlighted their astonishing and surprising innocence. An unfettered rooftop shot - a group of individuals who enjoy each other’s presence, shuffled about on their narrow deck, squeezing for a spot, to catch a glimpse of the fireworks they can hear but can never hope to see. One of the purest moments of happiness in the entire film.
Movie Rating:
(A stealthy and heartbreaking look at human relations and their fear of loneliness and acceptance, delivered to perfection by a stellar cast and formidable director)
Review by Morgan Awyong
SYNOPSIS: Us and Them tells the love story of Lin Jianqing (actor Jing Boran) and Fang Xiaoxiao (actress Zhou Dongyu). The pair first meet on a train heading to their hometown for Chinese New Year. Ten years later, they are reunited on a plane flight home.
MOVIE REVIEW:
The directing debut of Taiwanese pop singer Rene Liu, Us and Them is a familiar tragi-romance yet it’s also a superbly well-crafted piece of drama well-worth a stream.
Spanning from 2007 to 2018, Jian Qing (Jing Boran from Monster Hunt) and Xiao Xiao (Zhou Dongyu from Soul Mate) are two strangers who became fast friends on the train that is taking them home in the county for the Lunar New Year from bustling Beijing. Jian Qing is an undergraduate who hoped to make a career out of videogames while Xiao Xiao is just pining for an ideal partner to settle down.
While Jian Qing took a liking to the bubbly Xiao Xiao, they remained in the friend zone until Jian Qing’s brief stint in jail finally brought the two together. As Xiao Xiao says in the movie, “There’s never a story that begins happily and ends happily” and our pair of lovebirds ended up going their separate ways after a clash of dreams and realities.
Us and Them indeed is a slow-boiler and definitely takes some time for the audiences to warm up to the romance of Jian Qing and Xiao Xiao. Beneath the many breaking up and meeting up episodes, the story also delves deeper into social messages such as why there are numerous hopeful young Chinese who came into the big cities to chase their dreams or what we locals termed as the 5Cs and the subsequent loneliness faced by their neglected elderly parents in the villagers.
Does possessing a big house and a dream career determine the happiness in your life? Perhaps not. In the case of Jian Qing and Xiao Xiao, the pain of losing each other in the end is far more significant than the former material achievements even though both of them knew that it’s no longer possible to get back to the past. If the painful outcome of their relationship is not enough to tear you up, Liu and her team of credited writers threw in a very poignant ending that involved a letter written by Jian Qing’s late father (played by director Tian Zhuangzhuang) to Xiao Xiao.
Jing Boran and Zhou Dongyu are amazing in their respective roles simply because the entire movie practically lies on their shoulders. It’s akin to Leon Lai and Maggie Cheung in Comrades: Almost a Love Story. Acclaimed cinematographer Mark Lee shot the drama in both black-and-white and colour though both segments look equally breath-taking and beautiful on the small screen.
Us and Them shines largely on the performances and the underlying messages. In a way, granting the movie necessary gravitas despite a predictable outcome. For such a brilliant debut, Liu is indeed a commendable director well-worth the transition.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Comedy
Director: Oliver Parker
Cast: Charlotte Riley, Rupert Graves, Rob Brydon, Jim Carter, Adeel Akhtar, Thomas Turgoose, Jane Horrocks, Daniel Mays
RunTime: 1 hr 37 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 12 July 2018
Synopsis: Faced with a full-blown mid-life crisis, accountant Eric (Rob Brydon) joins an all-male group of synchronised swimmers, discovering that making patterns in a pool can, for a couple of hours at least, smooth out the bumps in his work and marriage. Initially keeping their personal lives in the locker, the ramshackle squad and coach Susan slowly learn to reveal their inner lives, as well as their paunches. But can they get their lives and routines in sync as they embark on an unlikely journey to Milan to compete in the World Championship?
Movie Review:
Two decades after a couple of middle-aged down-and-out British men found fulfilment by being themselves and baring their skin, along comes another bunch of similarly-disillusioned similarly-aged blokes hoping to do just the same. Though based on a true story of a group of Swedish men who competed in the synchronised swimming world championship, ‘Swimming with Men’ is ultimately reminiscent of ‘The Full Monty’, but that comparison only serves to emphasise the flaws within Oliver Parker’s wannabe feel-good comedy.
As penned by Aschlin Ditta, it lacks the character depth needed for us to empathise with these members of the swimming club. Faring the best among them is Rob Brydon’s central Reggie Perrin-like figure Eric, a tax accountant going through an existential crisis about the monotony of his life, so much so that he’s convinced that his newly elected local councillor wife Heather (Jane Horrocks) is having an affair with her smarmy boss. Eric finds calm in his regular swims at the local pool, and one evening geekily advises the seven chaps of an amateur synchronised swimming team he’s been seeing around of the mathematical imbalance of the geometrical manoeuvre they have been practising. Of course, Eric will eventually join them and find both purpose and meaning in his life, prompting him to try to reconcile with Heather, but his irresponsibility towards his wife and teenage son by having walked out of them in the first place makes it difficult for us to have any sympathy for him.
The rest of Eric’s fellow swimmers get any shorter shrift, including Jim Carter’s lonely widow, Adeel Ahktar’s secretive Kurt, Thomas Turgoose’s young delinquent Tom, Rupert Graves’ divorced silver fox Luke and Daniel Mays’ builder-cum-frustrated-footballer Colin. Each one is almost superficially assigned a certain middle-aged burden, whether divorce or criminality or a difficult partner, for which swimming becomes both a refuge and a source of hope in their lives. But we hardly, if at all, get to see any of them outside of the swim club, which seems artificially kept apart so that one need not complicate the other. That may be conveniently structured to keep the narrative lean, but it also reduces the other seven individuals to largely one-dimensional creations. We should also say the same of Charlotte Riley’s considerably younger swim coach Susan, who again so happens to be in a relationship with a Swedish synchro swimmer and has all the time in a week to train them.
That the finale still proves mildly rousing is credit to the well-chosen cast, who wring as much as possible from the thin material and share some winning chemistry with one another. You’ll recognise their faces if you’re a fan of British fare, and they lend the film some much-needed poignancy exploring the strengths and weaknesses of male friendship. They also deserve credit for mostly performing the moves by themselves, including back flips, frog dives and synchronised dives, which certainly require a considerable amount of training and practice in order to get right for the shots that we do see. Kudos too to the real-life Swedish team who inspired the film, for turning up as themselves when the film goes to the world championships in Milan where the fictional English team win their redemption.
Notwithstanding, ‘Swimming with Men’ comes up lacking in character and thematic resonance vis-à-vis ‘The Full Monty’, and it is for both these reasons that we said is why this film pales in comparison. Despite a strong cast and a promising set-up, Parker fails to make good on either by forgetting how important characterisation is to the comedy and being content with bare-bones plotting. There’s no denying that most of the gentle humour does hit the mark, and if you’re looking for an undemanding watch on a lazy afternoon that you’ll probably find yourself reasonably entertained, but anyone else hoping for more will quite certainly be disappointed that its plunge into middle-aged male neurosis is this shallow.
Movie Rating:
(It is no 'Full Monty', despite its ambition, but this amiable comedy of similarly-disillusioned similarly-aged blokes finding meaning and purpose in synchronised swimming is lifted by strong performances and good chemistry)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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