Man of Steel -- CGI Overkill

                                 Director Zack Snyder gave us "300" and "Watchmen." Both movies could be called as excitable indulgence of special effects and also had a good narrative structure. His last movie, "Sucker Punch" was a catastrophe. Now his "Man of Steel" (written by David S. Goyer from a story by Chris Nolan) travels in different directions, delivering gratifications without managing to be completely satisfying. As an origin story, the movie takes itself very seriously, but the mind numbing action in last 40 minutes is a huge disappointment and shatters the promising build up. 

                                 Like the 1978 Superman movie, the story starts from the planet Krypton, just before it is due to self-destruct. The 1978 movie didn't have Marlon Brando flying around Krypton, but, once again thanks to special effects, we get to zoom about Krypton as Jor-El (Russell Crowe) pilots a giant dragon or insect. There's also an environmental angle to the self-destruction. Jor-El sends his naturally born son to earth in a small space ship, knowing that the boy will have superpowers in this planet. Meanwhile, the villain, General Zod attempts a coup and fails. He and his gang of baddies are temporarily subdued (after few large scale explosions).

                                   Thirty Three years years later we meet Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) -- a fisherman, saving some men on a doomed oil rig. He floats around in the water experiencing flashbacks to his childhood living in Kansas with adoptive parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane). Clark encounters Lois Lane (Amy Adams) while she is in the Arctic investigating a mysterious space ship under the ice. Unlike, previous Superman movies, Lois Lane know Superman’s secret from the get-go. Soon, Zod parks a space ship in Earth's orbit and demands surrender or to face total annihilation. He is also after a "codex", which is sent with Clark. It contains the key to rebuilding the Krypton species.  

                                   The movie's plus are Nolan/Goyer's story. It has broad sci-fi outlines rather than the regular superhero histrionics. The script repeatedly hints at the similarity between Jesus and Superman, except, of course, the unbelievably long and violent battle. Director Snyder always have a fondness for explosive action set pieces. Unfortunately, in "Man of Steel", the battles are so numerous and too long that the effect is numbing, leaving us bored rather than exhilarated. 

                                   The casting is perfect. Henry Cavill, the British actor, uses this movie as an opportunity to lay the foundation for what could be a long and memorable run. One of the main requirement for actors playing superheroes is to look the part. Cavill succeeds there by subtly playing emotional moments and conveying sharp feelings of self-doubt. Costner and Diane Lane gives a stupefying performance as Clark's adoptive parents. The talented Michael Shannon rants and snarls throughout the film as super-villain Zod. Lois Lane's character is a improvement over the usual naive, starry-eyed versions. Russell Crowe keeps on materializing as holographic Jor-El and repeatedly reminds Clark to save mankind. 

                                  When Superman finally saves Manhattan from Zod and his merciless Kryptonian renegades, he has ruined huge swaths of the city and laid waste to scores of humans. He contradicts from his ideals and rather than being a legendary hero of his own story he comes across as a pawn of special effects. 

                                  Superman has always been a figure of truth -- unlike other superheroes -- which makes up for a difficult movie subject because there's no ambiguity about who he is and what he represents. The reboot, retold in digital-age justifies its existence, but the climatic excesses pose a question that whether this "Man of Steel" can spearhead a franchise that aims for greatness or for simulated spectacles of mass urban disasters. 

Trailer

Man of Steel -- IMDb 

Explosion of Korean Genre Cinema

                                 Korean cinema faced a turning point in the late 90's. In fact, there were already signals of change. Kim Ki-duk signaled this change in Korean cinema with his debut feature "Crocodile" in 1996. But, not until 2000's had these new kinds of Korean cinema been fully recognized. The new directors were more interested in a variety of genre films and became successful in domestic market. Ryoo Seung-wan (in action genre, films: "City of Violence", "The Berlin File"), Bong Joon-ho (thriller & comedy, films: "Memories of Murder", "The Host") and Kim Jee-woon (horror, noir and thriller, films: "I Saw the Devil", "A Bittersweet Life", "A Tale of  Two Sisters") proved their abilities to play with styles from various genre and made up the core of the industry. But it was none other than Park Chan-wook ("Oldboy") who led them to the front-line.

                                  Before Park became known internationally, he was also a film critic who showed his passion with written words. When he embraced styles of Hollywood B movies, he received attentions from the world with his films. Fueled by cinephile experiences on films, the film-makers could form a new cinematic discourse and become industry leaders with their active devotion to film genres. Although they were not after genre films directly, genres obviously offered a lot of form to these trends. Throughout the history of films, we can easily notice film genres have been closely connected with the ups and downs of a country's film culture.

                                 Film genres offered the biggest opportunities to ambitious young talents of Korean cinema who could not avoid balancing auteurist achievement with commercial capability. Newcomers to the industry have actively used genre structures, but in twisted, creative way of their own to bring familiar yet unexpected, transgressive pleasures to audience. At first, Bong Joon-ho surprised people by bringing styles of thriller or sci-fi that had barely been attempted in Korean cinema, in the past decades.

                                  With its tagline "rural thriller", "Memories of Murder", Bong's second film based on true events of serial killings in Hwaseong (a twon on the outskirt of Seoul), traces reminiscent of 80's Korea and wrapped around its thriller structure. With "The Host", he also proved that he can achieve the feel of sci-fi genre without expensive visual effects. What matters is the director's true appreciation of the genre, not resources available to him. He showed it is important to infuse genre techniques into local stories, not a mere copy of Hollywood structure. In other words, it is genre merely served as groundwork that allowed him to realize his own artistic vision.   

                                 Bong says, "Genre is, simply, one of the codes for attracting audience. It is not satisfying to ride in the bus running strictly on a designated route. Instead, deviating from the path often gives new spectacles and surprising moments of pleasure." Attention to genre films in Korean movie culture was also prompted by various subcultures. New generation of films opened different discussions of Korean films and offered self reflexive perspective on Korean cinema as a whole. "Memories of Murder", "Mother" and "Oldboy" don't rely on concrete recreation of genre conventions. With energy released from tension between them and cultural landscapes, these films deconstruct and reconstruct themselves. 

                                 There was also an effort to open a possibility of genre rarely tied in Korean cinema such as Hong-jin's "The Chaser" (2008) and Kim's "I Saw The Devil" (2010), serial killer thrillers that molds unique genre structure with the director's flair for portraying violence. Fueled by the film's success, more thrillers like "Marine Boy", "The Scam" and "Handphone" were released in 2009 and 2010. These thrillers attempt to bring forth the issues of drug or stock market not frequently seen in Korean films and succeeded in getting attention. However, these titles leave a lot to be desired since they count on peculiarity of subject matters too much so that they failed to bring the gist of pleasure from the genre itself.

                                   After more than a decade, Korean genre films still deconstruct themselves to find more breakthroughs. Helmers like Bong or Kim Jee-Woon or Park are still working hard on their projects (Hollywood debuts with "Snowpiercer", "The Last Stand", "Stoker") and feverishly welcomed in international markets. From both artistic and industrial imperatives, Korean cinema says this: there is always a desire for change and for brand new experiences.

Bong Joon--ho Interview

South Korean Cinema : New Wave

The Place Beyond The Pines -- A Tale of Redemption Among Fathers and Sons

                                   Derek Cianfrance -- director of critically acclaimed "Blue Valentine" (2010) -- wields a multi-generational morality tale with the film "The Place Beyond the Pines" (2012). He offers a microscopic look at the dangerous, dysfunctional fathers and sons. The narrative unfolds in three separate but interrelated stories. Each story is told in a straightforward manner, not demanding the viewer to piece together a cinematic jigsaw puzzle, like in the films of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. There is something honest in each chronicle, even though the acts are substantially weaker than the one it precedes. 

                                  Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling) is covered in tattoos, including his cheek that shows a dagger dripping blood. He is a reticent motorcycle stunt rider (called as 'Handsome Luke') in a traveling carnival. His shows stops in Schenectady, N.Y., after meeting a woman named Romina (Eva Mendes), a waitress. She had known him previous summer and shows up mysteriously, looking for something she isn’t sure is there. Soon, Luke learns that he had fathered a child last time he was there with Romina. She lives with a boyfriend, but still has feelings for Luke, and so Luke quits the carnival, deciding to get to know his child, Jason better.

                                   Luke fetches a job at a roadside mechanic shop run by a motorcycle partisan, Robin (Ben Mendelsohn). Robin teaches Luke that there are more lucrative and easier ways to rob a bank. Luke's bank robbing techniques leads the film to the second part, involving a hero cop named Avery (Bradley Cooper). Avery is a strait-laced, ambitious cop, who is led by a cynical and corrupt veteran (Ray Liotta). He has a boy, AJ, the same age as Luke’s, who is threatened by his own righteous arrogance, which also undermines the relationship with his wife (Rose Byrne). 

 

                                  Avery eventually exposes the police corruption and demands a position of Assistant Attorney for all his troubles. Fifteen years later, Avery is running for state attorney general. The sins of the father's -- Luke and Avery -- are visited on their sons, AJ (Emory Cohen) and Jason (Dane DeHaan), in the third-act. They from an unlikely friendship based on the spoiled-rich AJ's ability to get cash and Jason's drug-dealer contacts. 

 

 

                                   The first segment involving Ryan Gosling is dramatically compelling and unpredictable. The first shot is one long take following Luke from his trailer to his motorcycle. That opening shot intrigues us to know more about this guy who has a job riding motorcycle inside a giant metal ball. Gosling, with the blond-hair and tattoos commands attention with every flick of his eyelashes, even though the character is similar to the one he played in "Drive." We can feel the emotions of Luke, whose desperation drives him to take risks to provide the child with a better upbringing than he had -- "My father was never around and look how I turned out." The second part though not very compelling (as the first), has a well-drawn character, Avery. Bradley Cooper once again proves that he is a resourceful talent. Bradley's Characters' reactions are believable and emerge as a charming winner who is nonetheless very difficult to like. 

 

                                 The Director makes us love the bank robber so much that it is hard to judge him harshly. And when our hero is cornered by police, we are suddenly asked to switch allegiance to the “hero cop.” The shift at that point, is a whiplash for a viewer. The shift also copes with issues rarely addressed in movies -- moral uncertainty. The third act is a bit sluggish and the characters of DeHaan and Cohen are flat and predictable (even though the young actors display a bravura skill of acting). 

 

 

                                Cianfrance is not a hastening storyteller. He prefers to hang out with his characters and turns the mundane conversations giving up nuggets of the past. Only when the character is good and ready, he pushes a bit of momentum. The basic theme of this film is masculinity’s cost and toll and Cianfrance tries hard to narrate it in a poetical way (as the title suggests). He also has an eye for an attention to human detail -- Luke vomiting after his first bank robbery and the family photograph which travels through all the three acts. 

 

                              Cianfrance's and cinematographer Sean Bobbitt's blue-collar landscapes of the United States feels like a place that time forgot, far away from the ruckus of politics or commercial popular culture. He prefers handheld shots but they are less distracting than in some other productions. The car chase scene and the opening motorcycle gigs are filmed in an effective manner. The disappointments attained from this film are only the product of its aspirations, which is easy to forgive. 

 

                              With "The Place Beyond the Pines", Cianfrance once again proves to be exceptionally skillful at wheedling electric performances from his actors and creating an hermetically self-contained world. If the film had carried on at the level of first 40 minutes, it might have been one of the best crime/dramas. Nevertheless, this is beautiful and bold filmmaking. 

 

Trailer

 

 

The Place Beyond the Pines -- IMDb                          

Stoker -- Metaphysical Horror with Lingering Imagery

                                  Psycho-sexual imagery is always spread through every inch of esteemed South-Korean film-maker Park Chan-wook ("Thirst", "Oldboy"). His movies inhabits within the themes of psycho-sexuality, psychological suspense, and hair-raising horror. His vision has a rarefied chill that somehow submits them fit for the art house cinema. The stylistic film-maker has now entered Hollywood with an twisted coming-of-age tale, "Stoker" (2013). The title of the movie is not an reference to Bram or his Dracula. Instead, Park has said that he has taken inspiration from one of his most favorite works: "Shadow of a Doubt" (1946) -- another bored girl on the cusp of womanhood. 

                                   "Stoker" tells the story of 18 year old girl, India Stoker (Mia Wasikwoska), who is at the funeral of her beloved father (Dermot Mulroney) - a traumatic event for the high school senior due to her closeness. India's mother, Evelyn (Nicole Kidman) is a grieving alcoholic, whose parental capabilities are limited to remaindering her daughter to say "no thank you." Uncle Charles (Matthew Goode) -- her father's younger brother -- attends the funeral and decides to stay in the old mansion with India and her mother on the edge of a fairy-tale forest. 

                                    Charles is a charming man, whom the family never knew existed. He says that he has spent most of his life traveling through Europe. But there is something wrong with Charles: his unblinking eyes suggest at an underlying craziness. People come across him has an habit of disappearing under suspicious circumstances. Evelyn flirts shamelessly over her husband's brother and he tells Evelyn "I want to know my brother's wife." He also encircles India with a patience of a predator. Soon, the revelations about Charlie's past inevitably follow and he seems like a vehicle for India to mutate into something more terrifying. 

                                    A slow-burning psychological thriller that may also be taking place inside India's head, is also a visual artistry with an immaculately framed tableaux. Miller's screenplay takes some leaps in plausibility, which is sometimes saved by the director's fanciful style. Park has created an neo-gothic thriller which never deigns into parody. Park immerses himself in the material in a borderline-hallucinatory atmosphere by making no gestures toward reality. At times, Park's direction seems too cool to ignite the lust and envy. Comparing with his Korean flicks, he has kept on-screen violence to a relative minimum. The subplot involving school bullies and Charlie's aunt have weak payoffs. 

                                     Chung Chung-hoon, Park's usual cinematographer, displays an eye for haunting detail: an eggshell cracks as heavily as if it were the Earth's crust, dingy freezer in the basement and a pendulum that predicts an unfavorable omen. In the dinner scene, the camera swings about the trio's heads to contemplate their shifting emotional dynamics. The direction and cinematography at that scene is slick and assured but also distracting, reminding us of the drama's overarching artificiality.

                                      All the performances are excellent, with Goode providing an right touch of ambiguity and minatory as the mysterious Uncle Charlie and Mia Wasikwoska bestows the movie with  peculiar vitality as she dangerously devolves into darker hungers. Nicole Kidman is perfect as the brittle mom, who radiates burning resentment and frustration toward India. Other characters like Jacki Weaver (worried aunt), Phyllis Somerville (aged housekeeper) digresses through the drama but the film is mostly transfixed with the central three. 

                                       Coming-of-age stories always serves as a perfect medium for horror/thrillers (Stephen King's "Carrie" springs immediately to mind), because that is an age of great emotional intensity, which can also manifest itself as unpredictability and fear. "Stoker" is a compromise between Park's idiosyncratic wildness and Hollywood's distaste to risk, but still remains as an intriguing exercise in transgression. 

 Trailer

Stoker -- IMDb