Lots of personal events so the movies had to wait. With Eiga Sai around the corner, these posts should appear earlier. Probably.
North-South narratives are a dime a dozen in South Korean cinema, running the gamut from action flicks to comedies, to more serious fare like JSA. With Confidential Assignment, this narrative is applied to, of all things, a buddy cop movie.
Interestingly, the movie subverts what I expected from these films; the North Korean detective Lim Chul-ryeong is played by handsome Kim Bum, while South Korean detective Kang is played by veteran character actor Yoo Hae-jin, who takes on a more comedic role here. Then again, the handsome/dashing North Korean outsider has existed as a trope as long as North-South movies have existed.
Buddy cop movies take a lot from the relationship of the two buddies with each other, and Confidential Assignment takes this up a notch by having the two protagonists from two countries that are still technically at war with each other. The film doesn't take the easy step of having culture shock jokes at one country's expense, though there's the occasional starving North Korean/capitalist pig South Korean joke in dialogue. Kang and Lim's relationship becomes a reflection of the two Koreas, as both are instructed by higher ups and their ingrained prejudices to spy and mistrust each other. The film resolves itself when both parties begin to work not for their own country's self interest, but for each other. The film's not so subtle message is that once united, both Koreas can do anything.
That said, the cop elements of the movie are okay, but mostly forgettable. The whole idea of both parties mistrusting the other leaves little room for comedic moments, which leads to a pretty unremarkable (though occasionally fun) third act. Confidential Assignment may not be the best, but it's an interesting take on the North-South Korea narrative, and a positive one at that; something that we need considering the current political milieu.
Reset, a science fiction thriller film produced by Jackie Chan and directed by Korean director Chang, is built on a pretty outrageous premise. Basically, the multiverse exists and scientists have figured out a way to use that to travel through time. It operates similarly to multiverse theory in Dragonball Z, where people technically don't go back in time in their universe, but they go to the past of an almost identical parallel universe. (This resolves any paradoxes that might happen.)
This premise is compounded with a corporate espionage plot and a melodramatic thriller where a mom races against time to save the life of her child.
Reset's premise is fascinating, but the resulting fiction betrays the possibilities of the science. Much of the plot can be resolved had protagonist Xia Tian (Yang Mi) just stopped and explained everything to her colleagues. It's not as if her colleagues would not understand; they are working on the same project anyway, and if she either runs out of time or she learns there's a traitor in the midst... who cares? She has a literal TIME MACHINE.
The movie is marred by villains that are uninteresting (including a surprise villain that feels like an ass-pull) and weird lapses in storytelling, like how Xia Tian (3) has easy access to so many guns. The final act is rushed (and predictable, given the situation) and we don't really see what the shadowy organization behind the villain will do next. With such an interesting premise, the movie doesn't really do much with it, as it only eases into the whole time travel thing almost halfway into the film.
That said, the movie has some really suspenseful moments. It's the kind of movie you can enjoy as long as you don't think about it that much. So while it has its merits, Reset is ambitious, but ultimately disappointing.
Ang Pagsanib Kay Leah Dela Cruz is a movie of whispers, whether it be gossip, hearsay, a product of mental illness, or the demonic whispers of a malevolent entity. Its titular character is involved with a bizarre incident which may or may not involve supernatural elements.
But the movie is more than just that. It skillfully creates an atmosphere of dread and uncertainty within the confines of the small town it is set in. As much as it is about titular character and the dark secrets she holds, it is also about the darkness in all of us, in how we all have the potential to become monsters. None of the characters in Ang Pagsanib Kay Leah Dela Cruz are clearly good; all of them struggle with their own darkness, all succumbing to it eventually in the end.
The storytelling has a couple of lapses, especially in the final act. Its revelations come too fast to process, a consequence of the movie trying to hold out on its revelations for as long as possible. And it begs to be said, and it has been mentioned before, but since it is part and parcel of my profession I have to say it: intubated patients connected to a mechanical ventilator cannot speak. (That is, of course, unless said character developed supernatural, evil vocal cords for some reason.)
Technically, the film is visually superb. Prior to directing this film, Katski Flores was involved in directing for TV. Her only other directing credit for movies was the 2007 Cinemalaya film Still Life, a film that I absolutely loved at the time. Shy Carlos' role as Leah Dela Cruz is quite appropriate, while Sarah Lahbati plays policewoman Ruth Liwanag as tough and stoic, yet troubled by events from her past.
Ang Pagsanib Kay Leah Dela Cruz is a flawed, yet effective exercise in genre filmmaking, creating choking tension and delivering a narrative that operates on themes that feel ever more relevant today.
And finally, the best movie out in cinemas for the past week is Sunao Katabuchi's In This Corner of the World. I've already talked about this film during its commercial run in Hong Kong, so I'll just add some additional thoughts on the film here.
My favorite scene in the movie is during the time of the first major air attack in Kure. US airplanes and flak fills the sky; our main character, Suzu, sees the flak as rainbow-colored clouds; her reaction ranges from fear to awe, wishing that she had something to draw this scene.
That scene encapsulates the movie's viewpoint of ordinary men and women engulfed by the horrors of war, specs of dust dwarfed by war's monstrous scale. It shows us how in war, everyone is made a victim, whether they are on the losing side or not.
While war is a tangible reality to Suzu and her family, it exists more as an abstract idea rather than a range of political beliefs. That's reflective of a good number of Japanese works on the civilian experience of World War II: most are just normal people with hopes and dreams trapped in a situation they didn't exactly want. Even the soldier characters are driven to the military by dwindling economic prospects at home, one character's brother having joined a naval academy because he didn't have money for tuition.
It's a fine, tricky line talking about war in movies, especially in movies portrayed by opposing sides of a particular conflict. I find it has always been most effective, like in this case, when a movie eschews glorification and tells us the human cost of a war and how futile it ultimately is.
Next week is the local Japanese film festival, Eiga Sai, so watch out for a comprehensive take on that. Till then, see you guys at the movies.
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