OKI’S MOVIE by Hong San Soo

Synopsis
OKI’S MOVIE is comprised of 4 short films: A DAY FOR INCANTATION, KING OF KISSES, AFTER THE SNOWSTORM and OKI’S MOVIE. Three main characters appear in all of the four shorts, having different but overlapping roles in each of them. The last one, OKI’S MOVIE is a story of a film student Oki who made a film about two men she has dated; one young and the other much older. In her film, she makes a cinematographic construction of her experiences of coming to Acha Mountain with each man with a year apart. She juxtaposes her experiences with each man by paring them according to places on the mountain: the parking lot, the entrance, a small pavilion, the public toilet, the wooden bridge, and halfway up the mountain. We see the differences and similarities of the two experiences in details. And by this composition, we may feel that we are seeing an overall picture of Oki’s relationships with the two men.


sunairi: it was great.  The way how people couldn't smoothly live their life but they had to raise hell within.  The Hong San Soo's style of Rashomon type of telling three different stories (not exactly) is really working well nowadays. It really smoothly come together and without feeling like it is avant garde.......like "Oh! Soo-jung." It feels light and comical and wise at the same time and it is very Hong San Soo's style and kind of film.

Hahaha by Sang-soo Hong

▼カナダへの移民を決心したムンギョンは，先輩のチュンシクに会ってチョンゲ（清渓）山の裾でマッコリを飲む。二人とも，少し前にトンヨン（統営）にそれぞれ旅行してきたのがわかって，マッコリ一杯にそこであったいい話を一つずつすることにする。

▼ムンギョンの話。トンヨンの観光解説者ソンオク。トンヨンにいる母の家に泊まることになったムンギョンは，トンヨンをうろついて，観光解説者のソンオクに会って，彼女を追いかけ始める。

▼ソンオクの愛人で，海兵隊出身のチョンホとぶつかることがあるが，ついにソンオクの心をつかむことに成功して，一緒に移民に行こうと説得まですることになる。

▼チュンシクの話。トンヨンに一緒に来た女性ヨンジュ。チュンシクは結婚しているが，愛人ヨンジュがいて，一緒にトンヨンに旅行に来た。愛人は，チュンシクに離婚して自分と結婚することを要求し，チュンシクは苦しむ。

▼トンヨンにきている詩人チョンホとは親しい間柄で，ほとんど毎日のように一緒に酒を飲んで，チョンホの愛人でアマチュア詩人のソンオクも知ることになる。

▼酒の肴に夏の縁について話していた二人の男。しかし，彼らは，同じ人々に会っていた。ただ，良かったことだけ話すという二人の男の漫談のようなコメントが，清涼なトンヨンで起きた二つのカップルと憂鬱な詩人の出会いを微妙な五つの絵で完成していく。

sunairi:あまり好きではなかったが、最近のホンサンスーの映画は、キャラクターが映画作りに関してディープなことをポロッとこぼす。これはホンサンスーの言葉だろう。なぜか今回は少し下品さを感じた。中には変態的な習性をキャラクターが見せるがこれは好きだった。チェンシクとその恋人のキャラはとても見苦しい物があった。ムンソリがとてもブスに見えたし、凄く普通の人にも見えた。多分この映画が好きではなかったのは、ムンソリと、ムギョンとチェンシクのお酒を飲み話をするシーンから映画が構成されていることからかも。

Hello, Stranger (Movie - 2007) 처음 만난 사람들 (Cheo-eum Man-nan Sa-lam-deul)

Synopsis

Jin-wook is a North Korean defector who has just completed education at the center for North Korean adjustment to South Korean life. After moving into his first Seoul apartment, Jin-wook goes out to a wholesale market to buy blankets and his shocked at the excessives of South Korean capitalism. Getting lost on the way home, he asks for help from Hye-jeong, who doesn’t know where Jin-wook’s apartment is either. The two end up wandering all night long. On another day, Jin-wook meets Ting-woon, an illegal immigrant from Vietnam on his way to Pusan to see his ex-girlfriend, a meeting that turns out to be an ill-fated reunion. That night Jin-wook and Ting-woon had a heart-to-heart talk in a motel even though Ting-woon is not capable of speaking Korean...

International Film Festivals
2008 Film Independent's Los Angeles Film Festival, International Showcase
2008 Focus on Asia Fukuoka International Film Festival , New and Topical Films
2008 Lyon Asian Film Festival, Feature Film
2008 International Film Festival Rotterdam , Sturm und Drang
2008 Mill Valley Film Festival, 

Sunairi: It was after all not a bad movie with kind heart.  However, the movie-making is very simple and Proxy-Connection: keep-alive
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y.  The ending and narrative could be kind of guessed while watching.....you know what's gonna happen-like.

Secret Reunion / Sworn Brothers (Jang Hun / 2010)

Ji-won is a North Korean resident spy, is contacted by an agent "Shadow" and begins a mission to assassinate a traitor. Hot-tempered South Korean intelligence agent Han-gyu gets to know such plot from a liaison and attempts to prosecute "Shadow" without permission but fails. As a result Han-gyu resigns from the agency. 6 years later, Han-gyu operates an investigation agency and come across Ji-won once again. Wanting the bounty for bringing in a Ji-won, Han-gyu offers him a partnership to keep him close. Ji-won assumes that Han-gyu is still the agent and agrees to get rid of his false accusation of a traitor. As they work and live under one roof, they maintain a tight-rope tension but an unusual friendship.

Sunairi: A great Song Gang Ho film that I haven't been able to see his recent films lately.  What a character he can play.  What a emotion and compassion.  This is how good Korean films can get.

"Poetry" by Lee Chang-Dong

Poetry (Korean: 시; translit. Shi) is a 2010 South Korean drama film written and directed by Lee Chang-dong. It tells the story of a suburban woman in her 60s who begins to grow an interest for poetry while struggling with Alzheimer's disease and her irresponsible grandson. Yoon Jeong-hee stars in the leading role, which was her first role in a film since 1994. The film was selected for the main competition at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Best Screenplay Award. Other accolades include the Grand Bell Awards for Best Picture and Best Actress.

Sunairi: As I saw the railer, I felt the power a while ago. It looked quietly contemplative and profound just from a bunch of men talking with the lady.  Usually Lee Chang Dong has been kind of sensational in subject matters, "Green Fish" with Gangstar, "Oasis" with handicapped girl who falls in love and "Secret Sunshine" with emotionally draining narrative and sensationalism.  But this one profundity lies upon the protagonist's will for truth, even it can harm grandson's life.  It will do him good, or he cared for the girl who died.  As I try to imagine why.....maybe she had a bad husband or she just didn't see her grandson's reverence......she writes poetry of justice.  Really quietly profound.

Norwegian Wood

Norwegian Wood (ノルウェイの森 Noruwei no mori^?) is a Japanese drama film directed by Tran Anh Hung, based on Haruki Murakami's novel of the same name. The film was released in Japan on 11 December 2010.

Plot

Set in the 1960s, high school student Toru Watanabe loses his only friend Kizuki after he commits suicide. Toru, now looking for a new life, enters a university in Tokyo. By chance, Toru meets Kizuki's ex-girlfriend Naoko in the university. They grow close because they both share the same loss.

As Toru and Naoko grow even closer, Naoko's sense of loss also grows. After Naoko's 20th birthday, she leaves for a sanitarium in Kyoto. Watanabe, devastated by the situation, meets pure-hearted Midori during the spring semester. Midori looks like a small animal that just came into the world.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sunairi: It was so beautiful. Very fast in terms of story telling and slow with impressionable scenes.  Well balanced, rich music, beautiful visual and quiet and profound narrative.  Excellent!

Vegetarian 채식주의자 (Chae-sik-joo-eui-ja)

The movie, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim, revolves around Yeong-hye (Chae Min-seo), a woman who decides to become a vegetarian. Her new lifestyle ignites the fury of her father. Meanwhile, her brother-in-law, a painter going through a slump, finds inspiration in a surprising 


Sunairi: Not good.  The actress was so skinny but it looked like she had breast implants which kind of goes against her role of becoming totally vegetarian.....