Also reminiscent of everything from James Cameron’s The Abyss to Stephen Sommers’ Deep Rising, but with multiple mentions of feng shui, the Korean sci-fi film takes place on a real-life ocean drilling rig, where work is on hold due to a stuck drill bit. Nevertheless, tough girl Ha Ji-won (Tidal Wave) is determined to find […]
Korea
Posted inArts & Culture
Let the Bullets Fly
Unfortunately, it’s all downhill from there, as Bullets reveals itself not so much an action epic as it is a slapstick comedy in a story of political poseurs, full of elements that encounter difficulty in translation. I do, however, appreciate its odd sense of humor, which could be classified as gallows at times. Example: When […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Poetry
It’s ironic that “Poetry” would open with the image of a dead body floating near the film’s superimposed title, but the best of world cinema subverts viewers’ expectations. Director Lee Chang-dong (“Secret Sunshine”) does that through the entirety of this Cannes-blessed work from South Korea, even before it begins: Doesn’t a drama about a woman […]