Month: April 2014

MEMORIES OF MURDER ‘Salinui chueok’ (2003)

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Song Kang-ho is definitely my favourite South Korean actor.

If he is in a film I will take a look. His talent is immense and his capacity for comedy and drama is always a joy to behold.

Directed by Bong Joon-ho (The Host, Mother and the highly anticipated Snowpiercer), this cops vs serial killah thriller is a beautifully composed film that highlights the ineptitude of the South Korean police system during the mid 80’s.

Mood and atmosphere are key; the cinematography is both luscious and epic.

The police are frustrated by the lack of facilities available to them but are driven by the need to catch the killer. Kim Sang-kyung plays a detective dispatched from Seoul to this country town who looks on the methodology of the local cops as both ridiculous and as backwoods as it clearly is; here is where the contrast between the differing tactics makes for a lot of the humour in the film, and there is quite a bit.

Loosely based on Kim Gwang-rim’s stage play Come to See Me and starring Ryoo Tae-hoo as the second suspect (interestingly, he originally played all three of the suspects on stage) who is truly excellent as are the other two suspects, Park No-sik as the mentally challenged first and Park Hae-ill as the blank-page third suspect.
Everybody is brilliant, the mood and pace of the film is truly engaging, but it is Sang Kong-ho who anchors this film with the emotional journey that drags you in.

Another one of the South Korean 2003 heavy hitters.

3.9/5

BUY IT ON DVD HERE

COLD EYES ‘Gam-si-ja-deul’ (2013)

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This South Korean remake of the Hong Kong film Eye in the Sky is a well made thriller about surveillance cops and specialist robbers. It’s slick, pacey and well choreographed.

Where it fell short for me was in the fleshing out of the characters. Or lack thereof.
The cops got a little chance to become three dimensional but the robbers are denied any opportunity. I have to be invested to care and that usually happens when the writing is clear and the characters are real. Don’t get me wrong, the acting was fine, believable but I was left as the audience wanting to go deeper, psychologically, into the whys and whos. This aspect was missed, unfortunately. No real stand outs but I enjoyed Lee Jun-Ho as Squirrel.

I just read that there were two directors, Ui-seok Jo (1st film) and Kim Byeung-seo  (3rd film).
For a first film (and third) it’s not bad but what it ultimately lacked in character it made up for in the set pieces. There is a lot of action and it’s a whole lot better than most films of that ilk from the holiest of woods.

I would be interested in watching Eye in the Sky and they do a little nod to it by giving Simon Yam (a big Hong Kong star) a cheeky cameo.

IMDB describes it as ‘A high-tech police surveillance team attempts to take down a gang of ruthless bank robbers.’
Translation hi-tech=Enemy of the State, ruthless bank robbers=Heat, very good films (especially Heat) but they delivered a truer emotional foundation.

So the equation goes:
Enemy of the State + Heat –Taking of Pelham 123 – Dog Day afternoon = Cold Eyes

Well that’s all a bit of nonsense isn’t it? The equation, that is.

A sturdy enough action film that will entertain while not breaking the bank of emotion.

3/5

BUY IT ON DVD HERE