Hansel & Gretel (Korea 2007)

One of the best examples of wasted opportunity, Hansel & Gretel is by and large one of the biggest cinematic disappointments for me in recent memory. What could have been, never was and the end result is a flat-out boring film. Shame really.

Eun-soo (Cheon Jeong-myeong) is on his way to visit his mother when he takes his eyes off the road and ends up wrecking his car into a ditch. When he awakes, he finds himself wandering lost into a forest where no one is around and the sun is starting to go down. Out of nowhere a young girl, Yeong-hee (Sim Eun-keyong), comes out of the darkness and greets him warmly, inviting the injured Eun-soo to her home. Once at the home, Eun-soo meets the Yeong-hee's parents and two siblings, Man-bok (Eun Won-jae) and Jeong-soon (Jin Ji-hee). The family lives in an incredibly charming home that appears to be straight out of a fairy tale. However, Eun-soo starts to become skeptical about his new hosts after the parents nervously comment about how they have no phone service for him a call. Eun-soo stays the night and takes notice of other strange things around the house, such as the fact that they only eat sweets and that the television seems to be working without even being plugged in. He tries to leave the home but the family keeps making excuses as to why he shouldn't, all the while the parents act as if they're afraid of their children and what they may do. The children begin to take a liking to Eun-soo after their parents go missing and ask for him to stay and take care of them. Eun-soo resists and continues his snoop around the premises and struggles to escape. He eventually discovers that every adult that has ever come into this home has met a terrible fate and he's afraid that he'll be next. These innocent-looking children aren't what they appear to be and Eun-soo fights to keep them happy while working to discover the secret to this home and these children.

So what you can gather from my quick synopsis is that the house and the children are big red flags in Eun-soo's life, however, unlike every other site, I refuse to tell you exactly what is going on with these kids in this house. That's the big secret of the movie and I refuse to ruin that for you. Suffice to say, it's a pretty cool premise once you find out what it is. Let me get this out of the way, Hansel & Gretel is one of the most visually-stunning Korean movies I've seen in a long time. Director/actor Park Hee-soon (who also plays the horrible Deacon in the film) does a great job in creating this fantastical looking environment within the home, it's grounds and the style of the children. It truly does look like something out of a children's book. I do enjoy the fact that they take a bright and colorful world and spin it in a very dark direction as it makes for an engaging contrast. However, the problem is with the pacing of the story. This is a big problem because the movie is around the 2 hour mark and to be honest, not a lot happens and when it does it's too few and far between. The film follow Eun-soo on a daily basis, keeping the viewer informed with on-screen text (day 1, day 2, etc.), and at times it feels like you've been watching the movie for days. I guess the biggest problem for me was that I was under the impression this was an actual horror/dark remake of the traditional Hansel & Gretel story, so if you thought that, get the idea out of your head because it simply borrows ideas here and there. The story they come up with is alright and the villains (Park Lydia and Park Hee-soon) are truly evil and are also the most engaging characters in the movie. On another note, I typically hate child actors in television, movies, etc., but the three siblings in this film are actually quite good and were very convincing in their roles. However, Eun-soo's character annoyed the crap out of me. There was nothing remotely endearing about his character and I didn't find myself rooting for him to get out of that house. Not a good thing if you're the protagonist of the film. I know a lot of people enjoyed this movie, got high marks and was generally highly-regarded in Korea, but my God I simply don't see it.

Maybe my expectations were shot because of unrealistic expectations that I may have had, but expectations aside, Hansel & Gretel was still a bore. Two thumbs up for the look of the film, which I guess is only worth something if you watch it on mute. (Lee)

Check out the trailer and you'll see exactly why the editor deserves an award for making this snooze-fest look incredibly entertaining.

Ip Man (Hong Kong 2008)

In an almost admirable attempt at being a bio-pic, Ip Man fails at giving us a thorough understanding of the man behind Wing Chun, but excels at showing us Donnie Yen beating serious ass. Sometimes the latter is more than enough, but I can't help but feel a bit cheated on the former.

Ip Man (Donnie Yen) and his family are on top of the world and live a quiet life in the town of Fuoshan. Everyone respects Ip Man for the amazing martial-artist that he is and though his skills surpass those of everyone else on dojo street, he has no desire to start his own school. However, Ip Man is the only one that can take on Master Jin, who comes to Foushan from the north to challenge all of the martial-arts masters on dojo street in order to prove that he should and could run his own school. After Master Jin (Louis Fan) beats everyone senseless, Ip Man steps in and serves him properly, sending him and his goons back with their tales between their legs. This victory wins the town their respect back, and the love and adoration for Ip Man by the townspeople grows even more. However, the good times apparently weren't meant to last as the Japanese attacked China in 1937 leaving thousands dead and displaced, and towns destroyed. Ip Man's way of life was forever changed as he and his family now lived a life of poverty. General Miura (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi), a martial-arts advocate, recruits fighters from around Foushan to challenge his troops, and many are willing to participate in order to earn rice to feed their families. However, Ip Man is reluctant to participate until he realizes that the Japanese aren't playing "fair" and are killing people that he knows and cares for. Meanwhile, one of the few working factories is town is bein harassed by Master Jin and his goons and are defenseless against their skills. They employ Ip Man to help them learn how to defend themselves, and in a sense, empowers them as a people. The Japanese General is so impressed with Ip Man's fighting ability that he offers him a position teaching the Japanese troops his style of martial-arts. Ip Man's refusal to help the Japanese in any way makes life for him and his family all the more dangerous and he's left with no other option but to leave the country he loves...but not before he faces the General one-on-one.

I know that Ip Man is a bio-pic of sorts and I've heard and read that it isn't historically accurate, and knowing that the film is a joint venture between China and Hong Kong, I can imagine as much. However, it's not really my job to verify the authenticity of the events taking place, so think of that as a disclaimer to anything I might say about the film. For what it is, Ip Man is an engaging tale of the man who struggled through harrowing times and established Wing Chun as a dominant fighting style. The problem however is that I was left wanting more, and to be specific, more about his personal life. The film is mostly focused on the Japanese attack on China and how terrible the Japanese appear to be (at that time in history of course). The atrocities of war are never fun and they really drive that point home here. Donnie Yen puts in an excellent performance and really tones down his presence in this role which absolutely works. However, his character is really presented in a way that makes you believe he can do no wrong. Clearly Ip Man has no flaws right? At least that's what you're left believing, and we can assume that isn't accurate. The fighting, as with any Donnie Yen film, is pretty much second-to-none, and with Sammo Hung as the action director, I need not elaborate further on this point.

If you want to learn a bit about Ip Man, and I do mean a bit, then by all means see this film, but you more than likely want to see Donnie Yen go to work, and boy does he! I've read that a second film is in the works, which is great because I'm hoping for further elaboration on the life and times of the man that went on to train Bruce Lee. (Lee)

Rough Cut (Korea 2008)

The line between reality and fantasy are crossed in Rough Cut, a film that really asks it's audience to suspend disbelief in order to be entertained. That being said, if you can keep that in mind, this film can be quite entertaining indeed.

Gang-pae (So Ji-sub) is a rough-around-the-edges gang boss who's real dream in life has always been to be an actor. He admires the work of one of the biggest leading men in the industry, Soo-ta (Kang Ji-hwan), who fills every stereotype you can imagine pertaining to a stuck-up, entitled celebrity. Soo-ta is having a difficult time as of late because of his short-temper which resulted in him actually hitting one of his fellow co-stars. Now he has the paparazzi all over him and he's even beginning to lose some of his sponsorships. A chance encounter, where Gang-pae requests Soo-ta's autograph results in Gang-pae getting an idea of the type of person Soo-ta really is: a jerk. However disrespected, Gang-pae remains professional (whatever that means in the world of gangs) and shrugs off the encounter with Soo-ta. However, as things get worse for Soo-ta on the set of his movie, he realizes that the film isn't going to come out nearly as realistic as he'd like it to be, so he remembers Gang-pae's desire to become an actor. Gang-pae agrees to help out Soo-ta in his desperate time of need, but as his new official rival in the film he requests that all of the action must be real, including the fights. Soo-ta reluctantly agrees, much to the dismay of director Bong (Ko Chang-seok), because he realizes how much he needs this movie to succeed in order to become favorable with the studio and his audience again. As filming progresses however, the line between reality and film making begin to cross as Gang-pae's dangerous world refuses to take a back seat for his new hobby. Is it too late for Soo-ta to rebuild his image? And can Gang-pae really leave his life as a gangster behind him?

First things first, the premise of this film is quite absurd, because in what reality would a movie studio be willing to employ a "real" gangster in their film for the sake of realism? I'm sure it would not happen here in Hollywood, but I'm accepting the fact that it's a movie, or maybe I don't understand the behind-the-scenes aspect of Korean film making that well. Regardless, it just seems silly in a movie where everything is taken quite seriously to having such an odd element for the story. Premise aside, the acting in Rough Cut is actually quite excellent. Set aside the fact that Soo-ta is the biggest shit head you'll ever see, because that is the nature of his character, but Kang Ji-hwan plays it excellently. I particularly enjoyed So Ji-sub's performance as a man caught between the world he lives and the world he dreams of. His desire is a great underlying piece in the film that brings out the most emotion in Rough Cut, because you really get a sense of how much he wants to act, but his circumstances don't seem to allow it. There are also some genuinely tense moments when you know that all of the action is "real" and you wonder how far the parties involved are willing to go.

There is a lot of good things going on in Rough Cut, and the performances are what help put it above the "average" label. Again, the story is a little bit out there but manages to be intriguing at times, and the general seriousness of the character's surroundings make it all worth watching. Well worth your time. (Lee)