Sunday, May 16, 2010

MOTHER (2009)

[Update 03/30/2022: Need rewatch this film and redo this review completely.]

MOTHER is about a poor mother, who has a few screws loose, but nowhere near as many as her son, Yoon Do-joon. This guy would make the guy from THE WEIRDO look smart! Anyway, all Yoon does is wander around all day. One night he's out drinking and wandering home late...yes, a drunk intellectually disabled dude out on the streets alone.  Anything could  happen! Well the next day somebody finds a dead girl. Yoon is immediately arrested and charged with the murder (I won't get into the clues), but his mother believes that he's innocent and nothing is going to stop her from proving his innocence.

I enjoyed the movie, but I would never watch it again. For a one time watch though it was alright. The acting was good, it looked nice and the story rolled along at a good pace.

PUBLIC ENEMY (2002)

"...I can't tell if you're a policeman or a gangster."

Kyung-gu Sol is an out of control homicide detective.  Late one night while casually taking a shit in the middle of a sidewalk (I told you this dude was out of control...I ain't never seen Dirty Harry drop a dirty deuce on a public sidewalk!), Sol bumps into a serial killer and falls back into his own crap.  Nobody makes Sol touch a pile of steamy poo-poo and gets away with it.  Not even a serial killer.  They get into a tussle, but the killer slashes Sol's face and runs away.  Soon some bodies are discovered near the spot of the sidewalk shitting and Sol is on the case!

I liked PUBLIC ENEMY.  The scenes of Sol acting like a maniac are entertaining, but the 138 minute runtime is just too long.  There could have easily been 20 minutes chopped off, especially towards the beginning.  Honestly, the story could have been changed around some and have the movie start with the sidewalk crapping scene.  Instead, it was 50 minutes into the movie!  I'm not going to bore you with a list of changes I would have made to the film, instead, I'll just say: if you like crazy, out of control cop movies, then you should definitely check out PUBLIC ENEMY.

Good acting, adequate violence, entertaining characters, banana versus chainsaw fight, bizarre mood swings in the story (example: horror movie level kill scene then an Ace Ventura-style montage featuring the murder suspect out jogging when suddenly Sol jogs up next to him and the suspect speeds away; the serial killer laughing at Sol getting into a fight with the owner of a convenience store who doesn't appreciate him climbing into a ice cream freezer on a hot afternoon, etc.), Sol's family shown once towards the beginning of the film and then never seen ever again, inconsistent pacing, no substantial females roles, the word "asshole" used at least 50 times, confusing ending, upbeat and out of place music, non-stop horrible police work and abuse of power.

Part 2 - Another Public Enemy (2005)
Part 3 - Public Enemy Returns (2008)

BLACK CAT, WHITE CAT (1998)

"This is chaos!"

I love this movie. I've never had a desire to be an actual filmmaker, but BLACK CAT, WHITE CAT is pretty close to what I envision in my handsome brain.

Matko is a small-time swindler.  He lives in a large shack, with his teenage son, Zare, beside the Danube.  Matko is always coming up with (unsuccessful) ideas to make a quick buck.  His latest idea involves lying to a local mobster, Mr. Grga, to secure a loan to finance a train robbery.  He then involves another gangster, the psychotic Dadan (played by Srdjan Todorovic, in one of the funniest performances in movie history), to split the deal with him.  Unfortunately, Dadan double-crosses Matko and then demands repayment!  Being flat broke, Matko does the only thing he can do: agree to marry off Zare to Dadan's younger sister....but Zare has no plans on marrying Dadan's sister because he's in love with his girlfriend, Ida.

That's enough about the story. The real attraction here is the absolute insanity of this movie! It never lets up for a second. Right from the start, BLACK CAT, WHITE CAT blasts off like a rocket and it only get crazier as it goes! And yet, somehow, through all of the screaming and drug-fueled madness there is a sweet story of true love and family bonds.

I could talk much, much longer about WCBC (especially about Todorovic's absolutely brilliant performance or questioning why so many of the great actors involved with this film never appeared in anything else), but that would be unfair to anybody who hasn't seen the film.  Long story, short: BLACK CAT, WHITE CAT is an absolute masterpiece of storytelling and filmmaking, that deserves to be seen by anybody who loves Cinema.

Highly recommended.