Hanji: Paper! Paper! Read All About It!

It's a good thing, I didn't read the synopsis of Hanji in the MoMA Korean Film Festival brochure beforehand. I never would've gone to the theater. A film about the challenges, setbacks and rewards encountered by a local government official helping to revive the traditional method of papermaking hardly promises the stuff of high drama. And funnily enough, within this movie itself, are snippets of what appears to be the dreaded documentary we'd expect from that description: a clunky primer on the fine art of Hanji that pans reverentially over intricate antiques while a droning voice-over puts us summarily to sleep. Crafting a new copy of the Annals of the Chosun Dynasty may be a momentous occasion to scholars but most of us are not going to perch on the edge of our seats, desperately waiting to see if the undertaking succeeds. Will they master the old craft? Who cares! Director Im Kwon-taek does a little, perhaps, but at the same time that's not the story that he's set out to tell with Hanji either. Im's sublimely understated film is based on a real story but doesn't relate history so much as it distills  reality. (That's much more interesting!) His Hanji quietly conveys how the lives of people of no historic note are deeply impacted by something as unexpected as a well-meaning civic restoration project.

The movie's central character is  Pil-yong (Park Joong-hoon), a womanizing bureaucrat incapable of advancement and burdened with a wife (Ye Ji-won), whose severe disability was caused in part by his last extramarital affair. As he works to incite the masters of the local paper-making community to participate in the project, he strikes up a friendship of sorts with a divorced female film director (Kang Soo-yeon) who makes the aforementioned documentary, in part because she can't get funding for a feature film. No major love triangle emerges. Throughout Hanji, conflicts are small; treacheries, minor. What distinguishes Hanji is not its ability to extract tragic consequences from a historic footnote but rather its acknowledgment that a story with little razzle dazzle can nevertheless be the biggest thing to happen in some people's lives. Im's blunt depiction of cubicle culture, stroke rehabilitation, and petty crime as nothing but a part of daily life, any life, every life, underscores that the familiar and the pedestrian can still be quite deep. There's a beautiful passage in Hanji during which one character talks about the moon being a source of light that you can stare at continually without danger. Like the moon, most of us will not be as radiant as the sun but our insignificant lives are no less worthy of uninterrupted, loving attention.

Garden of Heaven: She's Dying to Fall in Love for the First Time

Let someone else with a nobler sense of right and wrong deride Garden of Heaven for its oversimplified protrayal of hospice patients. I, for one, found its shameless depiction of the terminally ill to be jaw-droppingly hilarious. There isn't a cliched representation overlooked or underplayed from the cute kid who crayons self-portraits on the wall so his mom won't forget him to a carefree young woman who insists the doctor himself is her most effective painkiller. That blithe spirit is played by none other than Lee Eun-ju, the incredibly talented actress who went on to give a brilliantly harrowing performance in The Scarlet Letter before committing suicide shortly thereafter. You'd never know Lee was suffering from depression from watching Garden of Heaven because there's nothing self-pitying in the way her character baldly states that she's an orphan who's never been in love and who wants to be held by "someone who cares" in her final moments. That Lee is able to relate such treacly sentiments in a such a matter-of-fact manner turns what might've been soapy stuff — of which there's still quite a bit — into something that's a little less corny. She often disarms you and never depresses you. You may even assume that she's a little more complex than she is when, in one particularly fatuous plot twist, she parlays her cancer into a modeling gig for an unintentionally hysterical television advertisement for life insurance. But she's no scam artist. She really is dying.

Her co-star Ahn Jae-wook isn't quite as nuanced as paramour-savior Dr. Choi but at least he shares Lee's complete lack of concern with tugging heartstrings, despite their being endlessly ready for plucking. Ahn appears to have turned his charisma down for Garden of Heaven. The quartet of nurses who worship the ground he walks on are inexplicably blind to the cruel rebuke he levels at a mother who's just lost her child ("Let's get the death certificate now!") and his complete disregard for professional ethics as he falls for the prettiest patient on the ward. A rather tearless tearjerker, Garden of Heaven pushes the expected buttons in the disease-romance genre without triggering the de facto response. Think of the fundraiser near the end of the movie: A filmmaker who's dying at the hospice makes a short documentary about Dr. Choi that lauds him as an Angel of Death then a lineup of patients play a melancholic tune with handbells that create sounds that don't sync up with the soundtrack. That constant sense of something off make Garden of Heaven something you should turn on.

Girl by Girl (Movie - 2007)

• Movie: Girl by Girl
• A.K.A: Girl x Girl
• Revised romanization: Sonyeo x sonyeo
• Hangul: 소녀X소녀
• Director: Park Dong-Hoon
• Writer: Won Jeon, Park Dong-Hoon, Cheon Won
• Producer:
• Cinematographer:
• Release Date: January 25, 2007
• Runtime: 80 min.
• Language: Korean
• Country: South Korea 

Cast

• Lim Seong-Eon - Eom Yu-Mi
• Kwak Ji-Min - Oh Se-Ri
• Min Se-Yeon - Hee-Jeong
• Kim Kwang-Min

Yun-mi adalah siswa yang sangat pintar. Dia peringkat 2 di sekolah. Sebelumnya dia selalu juara 1. Baginya, menjadi nomor 1 semudah seperti bernafas. Semua siswa dan pengajar mengaguminya. Selain pintar dia juga berkepribadian baik.

Namun semuanya berubah sejak kedatangan Choi Ji-hye. Sebelumnya tidak ada yang mampu mengalahkan Yun-mi. Untuk si emas Yun-mi, perak tidak ada artinya. Logikanya, dia akan melakukan apapun agar bisa kembali ke posisi teratas. Yun-mi mendedikasikan segalanya untuk belajar, dan perlahan mulai kehilangan senyumnya.

Kita cukupkan perkenalan tentang Yun-mi. Waktunya untuk menampilkan seorang gadis lainnya. Dia adalah Oh Se-ri. Dia bertubuh pendek, namun paling disegani di seluruh distrik. Se-ri adalah teror bagi para siswa. Tidak ada seorang laki-lakipun yang berani mendekatinya.

Tapi Se-ri naksir pada salah satu dari mereka. Dia adalah Park Ki-chan. Se-ri, melalui Ki-chan, belajar mengenal cinta. Tiap kali dia bersamanya, Se-ri bersikap manis. Se-ri melakukan pendekatan dengan hati-hati. Dan takdir menjadikan mereka teman sekelas.

Namun Ki-Chan mengatakan pada Se-ri bahwa ia lebih menyukai gadis pintar seperti Yun-mi dibandingkan gadis yang berotak kosong seperti Se-ri.

Ki-chan, sang pria menawan.
Se-ri, sang gadis nakal.
Yun-mi, sang siswa teladan.
Ini adalah cerita tentang ketiga orang ini.
Akan seperti apakah takdir mereka?

Eits, blm selesai, itu baru bagian awal, pekenalan tokoh. Cerita selanjutnya lebih seru.

Karena mendengar Ki chan menyukai Yun Mi, Se ri memutuskan untuk menghabisi Yun Mi, tapi niat itu ia urungkan ketika ia tahu bahwa ternyata Yun Mi juga menyukai Ki Chan. Se Ri pikir, daripada dia membuat babak belur si Yun Mi, lebih baik ia buat agar Ki Chan tidak menyukainya lagi.

Caranya, Se Ri mendekati Yun Mi dan menawarkan diri menjadi temannya. Ia bilang pada Yun Mi bahwa ia adalah mantan pacar Ki Chan. Jadi ia tahu gadis seperti apa yang disukai oleh Ki Chan. Makanya Se Ri ingin "membantu" Yun Mi menjadi gadis yang disukai oleh Ki Chan.

Se Ri bilang ke Yun Mi kalau Ki Chan menyukai gadis pemberani, pemberontak, tidak suka dengan gadis yang terus belajar. Yun Mi pun dengan polosnya mengikuti semua petunjuk dan tips-tips yang diberikan Se ri. Perlahan Se Ri mulai berhasil mengubah Yun Mi menjadi seperti dirinya. Dan tentu saja semakin jauh dari type yang disukai oleh Ki Chan.

Se Ri merasa senang karena ia telah berhasil mengubah Yun Mi. Namun Se Ri tidak sadar bahwa tidak hanya Yun Mi yang berubah tapi juga dirinya. Se Ri perlahan mulai menyukai belajar. Mungkin karena hubungan saling mempengaruhi itulah akhirnya mereka berdua bersahabat. Se Ri mulai lupa dengan tujuan utamanya mendekati Yun Mi. Yun Mi pun senang bisa mempunyai sahabat karena selama ini ia selalu sendiri.

Nah, konflik mulai muncul ketika ia mulai diingatkan kembali oleh temen satu gengnya tentang tujuan ia mengubah Yun Mi. Se ri pun mulai menghindari Yun Mi dan kembali ke teman-teman lamanya. Belum lagi ketika Ki Chan mengatakan bahwa ia tetap menyukai Yun Mi.

Terus gimana hubungan kedua gadis itu selanjutnya? Nonton aja ya sendiri... hehe...

Tema utama film ini adalah persahabatan. Ga bosen deh nonton. Temanya ringan. Lengkap lagi, ada love storynya, friendshipnya, dramanya, comedinya, actionnya. Emang sih pemain film ini kurang terkenal, tapi menurutku ceritanya bagus. Coba deh kamu tonton, pasti kamu setuju sama aku.

A Little Thing Called Love (Movie - 2010)

# Thai: สิ่งเล็กเล็ก ที่เรียกว่า..รัก (Sing Lek Lek Tee Reak Wa Ruk)
# Director: Puttipong Pormsaka Na-Sakonnakorn and Wasin Pokpong
# Writer: Puttipong Pormsaka Na-Sakonnakorn and Wasin Pokpong
# Producer: Somsak Tejcharattanaprasert and Panya Nirankol
# Cinematographer: Reungwit Ramasudh
# Release Date: August 12, 2010 (Thailand)

 Cast:
* Mario Maurer - Shone
* Pimchanok Lerwisetpibol - Nam
* Sudarat Budtporm - Inn (Teacher)
* Peerawat Herapath - Phol (Teacher)
* Pijitra Siriwerapan - Aorn (Teacher)
* Acharanat Ariyaritwikol - Top
* Kachamat Pormsaka Na-Sakonnakorn - Pin 

Setelah kemaren sempet bahas film hollywood dan jepang, sekarang aku mau bahas film thailand. Aku sendiri sebenernya buta banget ma yang namanya film thailand, cuma karena temenku rekomendasiin banget nih film, jd ikutan nonton juga deh. Lumayan bagus lah.

Mungkin kalau diceritain ceritanya simple banget. Tentang seorang cewek bernama Nam yang diam-diam naksir kakak kelasnya yang bernama Shone selama 3 tahun. Nam tadinya cewek yang biasa-biasa aja dan sama sekali tidak mencolok. Ga pinter dan ga cantik. Tapi karena ia ingin Shone yang ditaksirnya itu memperhatikan dia, dia mulai mengubah dirinya menjadi wanita yang cantik yang bahkan banyak disukai sama cowok. Tidak hanya itu, ia juga rajin belajar hingga ia dapat rangking 1.

Namun segala perubahan yang Nam lakukan selama 3 tahun itu sepertinya tidak menampakkan hasil. Karena Shone tetap saja tidak memperhatikannya, justru sahabat Shone lah yang bernama Top yang malah naksir ma Nam n nembak Nam. Karena Nam ingin bisa dekat dengan Shone, akhirnya ia menerima cinta Top. Dan ternyata Nam memang bisa menjadi dekat dengan Shone. Namun sayangnya Nam mendengar Top bercerita bahwa Top dan Shone sudah bersahabat sejak kecil dan mereka pernah berjanji untuk tidak akan menyukai wanita yang sama. Mendengar itu tentu saja Nam kecewa, makanya ia lalu memutuskan hubungannya dengan Top agar ia mempunyai kesempatan untuk dapat berhubungan dengan Shone.

Tapi Nam tidak tahu bahwa setelah ia putus dengan Top, Top mengatakan pada Shone agar jangan pernah berpacaran dengan Nam karena ia tidak ingin melihat gadis yang dicintainya bersama dengan sahabatnya dan Shone pun berjanji akan memenuhi permintaan Top tersebut.

Terus gimana kelanjutannya? Nonton aja sendiri.

Yang menarik dari film ini adalah make up artistnya. Alur film ini cukup lama, dari Nam baru masuk sekolah (entah itu SMP atau SMA) sampai 3 tahun. Bahkan sampai ia dewasa beberapa tahun kemudian. Tapi para pemainnya itu tidak ada yang berubah. Dari kecil hingga dewasa pemainnya itu-itu saja hanya saja lebih mengandalkan make up nya. Yang tadinya terlihat sangat muda perlahan-lahan akan terlihat dewasa dan kita bahkan tidak menyadari perubahan itu, semua berjalan dengan natural.

Selain masalah make up, cerita film ini juga bagus. Katanya sih denger-denger diambil dari kisah nyata. Mungkin kalau diceritain akan terkesan biasa saja, tapi coba deh nonton, seru kok, lucu juga, dan yang paling penting pemeran Shone nya cakep banget....alhamulillah ya... hehe.....

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[West] August Rush

Cast: Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Genre: Drama, Romance, Family
Subtitles: Indo (Softsub)

Year : 2007

 

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[Japan] Confession

Cast: Matsu Takako, Yukito Nishii, Kaoru Fujiwara
Genre: Thriller
Subtitles: Indo / English (Softsub)

Year : 2010

 

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[Japan] Taiyou no Uta Movie

Cast: Yui, Takashi Tsukamoto
Genre: Drama, Romance
Subtitles: Indo / English (Softsub)

Year : 2006

 

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[West] Notting Hill

Cast: Julia Roberts, Hugh Grant
Genre: Drama, Romance, Comedy
Subtitles: Indo (Softsub)

Year : 1999

 

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[Thailand] A Little Thing Called Love

Cast: Mario Maurer, Pimchanok Lerwisetpibol
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Subtitles: Indo / English (Softsub)

Year : 2010

 

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[Thailand] Friendship

Cast: Mario Murarer, Apinya Sakuljaroensuk, Chalermpon Thikumporn-teerawong,
Jetrin Wattanasin
Genre: Drama, Romance
Subtitles: Indo / English (Softsub)

Year : 2008

 

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[West] Mercury Rising

Cast: Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin
Genre: Action | Drama | Thriller
Subtitles:  English (Softsub)

Year : 2008

 

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The Anarchists: The Nicest Terrorists You'll Ever Meet

On the eve of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, it's more than a little weird to watch Yu Yong-sik's The Anarchists (a.k.a. Anakiseuteu Anarchists) because this historical bromance about Korean terrorists who assassinate Japanese oppressors in 1920s Shanghai is so little about politics and violence and so much about brotherhood and youthful aimlessness. With a screenplay by none less than Park Chan-wook, The Anarchists isn't shy about slaughter. Men are stabbed, shot repeatedly, slit in the throat... Even women get tortured. But most of the time, this movie's all about male bonding, how young revolutionary Sang-gul (Kim In-kwon), once rescued from the gallows, comes to love and respect his mentors in the revolution. They're a likable bunch: a nihilistic opium addict named Seregay (Jang Dong-gun), a hotheaded prankster named Dol-suk (Lee Beom-su), a bespectacled didact named Myung-Gon (Kim Sang-jung) and a wannabe radical named Geun (Jeong Jun-ho) who never really seems to have his heart in the cause even as he's willing to sacrifice his life to it. Though the characters never break into a chorus of "Friendship / Friendship / Just a perfect blendship," you do get the feeling that they're humming it when the camera pans away.

Platonic loyalty is hardly unique to Park's canon. Think of the absurdly devoted women in Lady Vengeance or the extreme devotion among the soldiers in J.S.A.: Joint Security Area. But the camaraderie shared by characters written by Park but directed by others always feels more palsy-walsy than sealed in blood. In both Yu's The Anarchists and Lee Mu-yeong's The Humanist, the extremism that defines unconditional love is tempered, leaving something more like chumminess in its place. Admittedly, few directors can match Park's ability to glamorize violence without losing its grotesqueness. De Palma and Scorsese immediately come to mind. And Yu, admittedly has one scene that comes close: A slow-mo bit in which Seregay gets a bullet hole in the head then falls backwards, his descent captured at various camera angles heightening the surreality of the cigarette still smoking between his now-dead lips. But that's an isolated moment. Most bloody encounters in The Anarchists are a little too tamely respectful of the audience to actually achieve something that would earn the audience's wildly undying respect.

White Valentine: When a Love Story Isn't About Love at All

I find Yang Yun-ho's White Valentine incredibly frustrating. And not just because Lee Eun-kyeong's meandering screenplay has its characters needlessly talking in code or telling each other "Don't tell me!" when the hidden truths don't even seem that earth-shattering. I won't even blame the twee hypersensitivity so execrably conveyed by Jun Gianna as a female high school dropout with a passion for drawing and Park Shin-yang as a widowed pet store owner obsessed with damaged pigeons. I've seen poorly written screenplays poorly acted before. They tend to bore more than irritate me as a rule. What truly sucks about White Valentine, however, is the way it keeps pretending to be this sentimental love story about two drifting rejects who can't find a way to set sail together, because they're too timid to reveal their true selves.

They meet in a park. They write each other anonymous notes sent via carrier pigeon. He keeps pining for her even as she stalks him. He can't see the obvious and she won't announce her identity — maybe because she can't comprehend why he can't pull together all the freaking clues she puts in his way. After awhile, you get the feeling in White Valentine, that this morose duo isn't unlucky so much as they're unsure. Sure, they're stunted beings unlikely to take big risks. But maybe, just maybe, they're also circumspect cynics who are looking at each other and thinking, "Hmm, maybe this one isn't what I"m looking for." On that count, they may both be right. She's able to turn her inner frustration into a piece of kiddie lit. He turns his angst into a coffee table book of bird photographs. Can you really fault love lost when it gives you each a book deal? And when, years later, he discovers the children's book that she's illustrated and recognizes the cover artwork (and the truth that comes with it: It was HER after all!), does he race to find his secret sweetheart? No. He moseys over to the store that her just-as-evasive grandfather (Jeon Mu-song) once ran then shuffles outside the train station where she's about to embark to other climes. When suddenly he makes a mad dash for the tracks, I, for one, was left fantasizing that he'd thrown himself on the tracks. I can't imagine eternal bliss for these two. I see a house filled with melancholia. Boo-hoo and then boo.