About Chocolate Parfaits

Paranoid Park

Mostly I think this is because we basically don’t have a skater culture in Europe. Sure there were a few kids who dressed up like that, but unlike the Paranoid Park kids in the film our “skaters” were just pretending (it’s a little bit like Glen in Mad Men who dresses up a little counterculture but is actually just a normal prep school kid). In that respect all I know about the skater culture is from television and popular music, and that is indeed a conflicted one. I feel conflicted to almost anything related to music. I’m thinking Blink 182 and Sum 41 here (what’s up with these Word + Number band names?) and even though I did not particularly like them that much, they are close enough to what I did like – a glimpse of American culture I have only learned about from afar and clearly have a distorted view of.

But skater culture aside, “Paranoid Park” is an almost Crime-and-Punishment-like depiction of a boy’s inner feelings after he killed somebody. He has a tough time dealing with it, and the film is basically just that. Like almost every other artsy Gus van Sant film, virtually nothing happens and it focuses very much on a specific feeling which is supposed to be transmitted to the audience. In my case, it totally worked. Maybe I am just irrationally attracted to the boy who strangely reminds me of Sally Draper, maybe I just have a weak spot for teenagers with nowhere to go in life. I have never been a teenager without purpose but aforementioned conflicted pop culture certainly made me sympathetic towards this type of people. I recently met a kid who was basically just like that – longish hair, extremely weak handshake and disinterest in his eyes. That particular example probably has some deeper disciplinary issues (any tigered Chinese kid would certainly look you in the eye when greeting you), but his general disinterest in things struck me. Maybe he was feeling your usual teenage detachment from the world, but if that is the case, I wonder if there is something one can actually do about it.

In a very strange way, despite the stylized camera shots and slow-paced story advancement, I though that “Paranoid Park” was very realistic. It seems that I liked it more than most people and that is probably because I see another whole level underneath it, a rather personal one. Nevertheless, it really is a beautifully shot movie!

Ze hail of bullets:

• I love Taylor Momsen’s (Jenny in Gossip Girl!) role in the film. She is absolutely perfect as the cheerleading bitch girlfriend who, by the way, acts exactly the same way as almost all the girls did at the time. Me included.

• This article describes the protagonist as a heartthrob. I am not crazy, he actually is kind of cute! But really, I am glad to see that he’s the real deal – a kid from the streets.

• I’m telling you, the slightly longish emo hair is either fabulous or absolutely atrocious – depending on who wears it and how it falls. We all noticed that, for some reason, the protagonist looks better towards the end of the film.

• A propos the end – I think the film only makes sense if the boy ends up never getting caught, and will live with this combination of guilt and detachment for the rest of his life. What do you think?

The Devil Wears Prada

I think I need to write about films that I actually want to say something about to get over it. After brooding over a review of “Barbarella” for several days, I came to the conclusion that I approached the problem from the wrong position. I thought I should start with a review of a bad film to get back into the groove, a film for which I am not worried about whether I do it justice or not. The result was that I had absolutely no idea where to start, and I was staring at the posting (which essentially only comprised some whining about my writer’s block).
What I actually needed was some content, something I actually wanted to say. Perhaps I should stop blogging about all films I see but only the ones I want to write about, but to some degree I am already doing that; I say less about films which either are so bad there is nothing to say, or they are the type that are very enjoyable but I cannot put the enjoyment into words.

“The Devil Wears Prada” is the exact opposite. I am not sure it is really a film you must see (unless you are a fashion victim in which case you will invariably love the film), but it is certainly a film I love to write about. I am not really a fashion victim but as all human beings who are attracted to men I take an interest in fashion. Of course the delicious outfits are one reason to see the film, and it makes me ask myself to which degree we can achieve that stylishness without losing 20 pounds and without breaking out wallets and ankles at the same time.

Unlike most reviews I am seeing, I believe that the film surprisingly is more than its surface. It’s not just there to show off beautiful clothing designs, and thankfully it’s not just dishing out nastinesses and gossip on the fashion world like the book does (from what I heard). I saw in the Wikipedia article how the film was sexist, but the truth is that this is the kind of world women live in. Almost every woman in a working environment with a bunch of other women will probably experience similar cattiness, and no matter in what kind of environment you live in, you are likely to have to make a choice between your job and your relationship. I live in a world where almost everybody would choose the job over the relationship, and more than anything, I see “The Devil Wears Prada” as a film which depicts that same kind of world. I’m not saying that the film is particularly realistic, most of its storyline is a fairytale in which she gets the Harry Potter book beforehand and basically has two guys vying for her attention despite being a pretty boring person. But the fairytale style of the plot details hide that we are dealing with fairly complex characters. Emily is able to change her mind about Andrea, Miranda is a woman who unsuccessfully tries to juggle her private life and her job and Andy is slowly turning into the exact opposite of who she really is (hence the outfit changes). The nicest deviation from the book in this film is how Miranda and Andrea finally come to an understanding with each other, an unspoken friendship almost. They are and always have been the same woman, except one of them still has a long road ahead of her. I felt a vibe of “All about Eve” here, which is about the greatest film ever about job-crazed women.

Of course I realize that this human connection between Miranda and Andrea is part of the recipe of turning horrible chick books into nice chick flicks. Take a good premise (i.e. a popular book), hire Meryl Streep, shave away all the unsympathetic gossiping, solve a relationship crisis and add some fundamental soul-searching into the story – and there you are, “Julie and Julia the Prequel”.

At the end of the day I admit that I have a weakness for stories about career women (even if the career is something as silly as working for a fashion magazine), and “The Devil Wears Prada” delivers all of it – realistic conflicts, brilliant visuals and a satisfying ending.

For the hail of bullets:

• Meryl Streep is perhaps deservedly one of the most beloved actresses out there, but in this film, I thought Emily Blunt was the best. Her neurotic, arrogant sigh is just the best.

• Speaking of Emily Blunt, somehow I think that her outfits do not look good on her. Don’t get me wrong, the outfits themselves are gorgeous but somehow I am just able to see Emily Blunt in leather jackets ever since I saw her as Queen Victoria. Nevertheless, I love her.

• “You don’t deserve them. You eat carbs, for Christ’s sake!” is my favorite line of the film (Emily Blunt, so lucky!) Maybe I need to stop eating carbs too, but you know, a single bite from a piece of bread fills my stomach as much as a full salad. I am not joking. Even more seriously though, the film has quite a few humorous lines, which makes it fulfill its job at a good comedy.

• There is this guy at Spiegel Online who loves Anne Hathaway. She is oh so cute and pretty, but mostly she was just lucky to have gotten roles in good films like Brokeback Mountain. I dislike her in a similar way as Amy Adams – ugh.

Elysium

Having read this article I felt a tingle in my hands pushing me to write a posting about “Elysium”. Honestly, I don’t get it. After watching “Source Code”, I thought it was amazingly stupid yet the whole world seemed to love it. “Elysium”, however, garnered rather bad reviews and some guy I kind of slept with many years ago vented on Facebook about how stupid he thought the film was. Considering that he loves the Austin Powers movies, this may not mean a lot, but normally he had reasonable tastes.

The consensus seems to be that the film makes no sense. Perhaps I am not good enough at analyzing these things, but I don’t quite see why. Sure, it is never really explained why the Elysium people have to keep their beautiful med-pods away from the poor population when they can just share with everybody for free. I agree with that, but this logical fallacy does not really make the film any worse. If anything, it probably show that people don’t really want to share, even when they can basically give it out for free. Instead of eating out tonight, you could just as well give that money to the Red Cross. But you wouldn’t, right? Instead, we are treated to a rather nice depiction of, embodied by Jodie Foster’s character who seriously believes that her families and friends are endangered if she lets ‘the others’ get what they have too. It’s a lovely premise and works perfectly for the character she is. Delacourt is not an emotionless corporate minion like Carlyle, she fights for something she believes in, with methods which honestly I would have employed myself if I had the power. I thought she was a great antagonist.

One thing I did not particularly like about the film was the pointlessness of that Kruger character. He is so wonderfully gritty and interesting, yet at the end he basically has nothing to say and gets to do nothing in the end. Unlike Delacourt, he antagonizes everybody just for the sake of it, and all he seems to be good for is a final fighting scene. Maybe a little background to the character would have been nice?

Most importantly though, I loved the style of the film, I love that Wagner Moura was in it (haha he gained so much weight?) and I was deeply touched by the admittedly predictable scene in which the little girl finally got cured. Saving your little baby’s life is actually worth fighting for!

Perhaps my love for Elysium comes from the fact that we were finally able to enjoy an action film in theaters, and that everybody else in the party liked it. But then again, we all liked it independently from each other, so there is probably something to it. I definitely recommend the film, especially if you are into dystopian sci-fi. And now for the hail of bullets.

• I recently read that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are never successful at the same time. It’s probably true but “The Departed” is probably Matt Damon’s only other good film, and I will never get over how “Argo” is so popular. Eww.

• You all must watch Jodie Foster singing in French.

• I am actually uncomfortable with the fact that the ghetto is all hispanic people (with some blacks thrown in) whereas the Elysium crowd is white (and I think partially Asian) and they all speak French. Well at least they are not speaking German – that probably wouldn’t fit into the clichéd world of “Elysium” because German is somewhat white-trashy.

• I was not actually a fan of the goriness nor the shaky cameras in the film, but overall I like the dirty District 9 style. Whenever Blomkamp’s Chappie comes out, I will probably see it. Which reminds me that I need to watch Le Transperceneige.

Funny Face

I am resuming my plan to watch all Audrey Hepburn films of note. I just mentioned how much “Rosemary’s Baby” was a style inspiration because the stuff Mia Farrow wears is so lovely, but “Funny Face” is probably the epitome of 60s style inspiration. Unfortunately the stuff Audrey Hepburn wears is a little bit too otherwordly, except for that wedding dress which is a lot fun and very simple.

Besides looking stylish, however, the film doesn’t provide much more. La Hepburn at least has some acting skills to show (which she does not quite put to use except in “Wait until dark”) and Fred Astaire is the greatest dancer in the world, but apart from that the film is terribly vapid. Fun, but its hatred for anything smart and/or female (especially when both come together) is almost offensive. It certainly does not help that Fred Astaire is a whopping 30 years older than Audrey Hepburn – and that the chemistry between them is odd at best. At least William Holden was “only” 11 years older, 12 years for Mel Ferrer, 13 years for Gregory Peck, and good old Cary Grant at least had reservations about his age difference with her of 25 years. Somehow Audrey Hepburn is the old man’s dream, she looks youthful but not overly sexualized so since she is so innocent it is somehow okay to pair her up with old men? That is quite some screwed up logic.

Nevertheless, the film has a few wonderful musical numbers and – much more importantly – a few great dance scenes. Audrey Hepburn’s little dance in the philosophical café makes her look even more boyish, but boy that was a lot of fun! For these lovely scenes, the film is actually worth watching – despite the cheesiness, the sexism and the dripping clichés of all things Parisian.

I fear that the hail of bullets is as long as the post today:

• Taking a closer look, I think the famous wedding dress has a slightly awkward waist (the way it poufs up with a little “break” just under the waist is so strange) and I am not a fan of the copious amounts of tulle underneath and over the skirt. The dress would definitely work better without the tulle or organza on top – and without that horrible veil.

• Audrey Hepburn wore a horrible (short) dress when she married Mel Ferrer in 1954, and an absolutely lovely dress when she married Andrea Dotti in 1969. Okay maybe I just think that it’s pleasantly unusual, and it made me want a hat instead of a veil for my own wedding.

• Pink by itself is terrible, but if there is a color combination I would like to see, it’s pink and teal. That combination is never going to be popular though, I fear.

Rosemary’s Baby

Many years ago, I saw the film among Shii’s DVDs and was intrigued, but he quickly told me that he disliked the film. Ever since, it has never even occurred to me to see the film until Mad Men’s recent episode explicitly mentioned it. The episode reminded me that “Rosemary’s Baby” was a huge hit in the US (see Design*Sponge’s Living In article and Pinterest inspiration boards around the film), and that I am a Polanski fan ever since “Knife in the Water”.

My first encounters with Polanski were mostly one of hearsay. It took me forever to see “The Fearless Vampire Killers” (I was recommended the film in 2005 and finally saw it in 2011), and while I have known his name since “The Pianist”, none of his 2000s films were interesting enough for me to take a more serious look at them. Later on, we saw “Repulsion” at a PIFF and I began to understand why he was such a famed director. While “Chinatown” was a letdown for me (maybe my expectations were too high), “Rosemary’s Baby” was a pleasant surprise. I never expect horror films to please me, and even though I know that some of the psychohorror classics out there are awesome (e.g. “The Shining”), I went into “Rosemary’s Baby” with relatively low expectations. Mia Farrow’s amazingly annoying voice certainly did not help with that.

But how could I have known that this would be a well-written, wonderfully acted piece of thrill? The premise was simple enough, but its execution was splendid. There is no gore whatsoever – you don’t see a single drop of blood in the entire film, and the rape scene looks tame and like a “normal” dream sequence. It may look a little psychedelic and the imagery of the pope almost made me laugh a little there. No, the true horror lies with the unknown, the feeling of tenseness and the main character’s incapability to escape her own life. She is imprisoned in her beautiful apartment, by her creepy lovely friends and subtly mentally abusive husband.

If I think about it, I can’t even pinpoint why I liked the film so much. I think it’s totally worthy of its reputation.

The hail of bullets:

• This is mean, but I laughed a little bit every time she said “Andy or Jenny”. This is probably because I find both names horrendous. No name should ever end in y, ugh. If he ever reads it, perhaps I should preemptively apologize to this friend of mine whose name is Andy… As for me, if we ever have another baby again, I will not likely think of him/her as “Thomas or Teresa”.

• The aforementioned Design*Sponge posting comments on how the film features one of the most lovely house make-overs. It is true, the new version of the house is drastically different from the old one – but the dark old style had its own charms, I think. With that said, it has always been my dream to live in the house in “Life as a House”.

• Mia Farrow looks surprisingly cute with the Jean Seberg haircut. In 2013 eyes, that hair was more stylish than the old hair for sure.

• The style in the film is notable in general. It’s the real stuff, where “Mad Men” is an admittedly very good imitation. Every style Mia Farrow wears looks like out of a magazine (some dresses are nicer, some less nice in today’s fashion mindset), but especially her maternity clothes are an inspiration.

• Obviously the true reason to see this film is Ruth Gordon. Oh she is so wonderful, and it’s great to see her again.

• Speaking of humorous scenes, I really loved the “Oh you look like Victoria Vetri” inside joke. Of course I didn’t know who she was and only realized its meaning later on, but it still made me smile.

• I had so much fun seeing Ralph Bellamy again. He is one of my secret favorite actors, and so awfully underused in practically all of his films.

Marriage is a crazy thing

Can somebody translate the original title for me? Is it actually the English title? It’s just ironic because the film is so laden with clichés that it barely fits its title. Truth to be told, it’s the exact opposite of “crazy”.

For about 30-40 minutes into the film, I was so bored that I almost dropped the film. But the film was recommended to me and Pixelmatsch went out of his way to procure it, so I felt a certain responsibility for finishing it. Well, that was rather lucky because I did gain a certain enjoyment from the second part of the film. Just like with “My Sassy Girl” (worst movie ever), the film becomes much more bearable when the characters grow up a little and move towards each other instead of apart.

At the beginning the film was pretty much the epitome of ugliness. The characters had ugly hearts and were spouting ugly nonsense dripping with cliché (“I need to marry a rich man”, “There are three successful men courting me but I have no idea who to choose”, “I don’t believe in marriage, I’m tired of going through the trouble” etc. etc.). I don’t care why these characters are attracted to each other but the beginning of their relationship is certainly an ugly one. It was only at the end that I realized this ugliness was done on purpose. The first few sex scenes are graphic and downright pornographic with bad lighting and terrible angles. There even was one of those trademark female eccentricities where the woman tells the man not to undress because she finds naked bodies to be a turn-off. (Are you 16 or what?) This is in direct contrast to their good-bye sex scene, where they both completely undress and dim lights show their silhouettes to be beautiful rather than pornographic. It was to show how they finally accepted each other and became, well, married people.
Nevertheless, no matter how meaningful it is, I really don’t want to see a guy awkwardly rubbing a girl between her legs, thank you very much.

Similarly, I am not sure what to make of the last scene of the film, especially since the last segment was titled “Closure”. The segment title suggests that they actually break up for good, but the last few scenes would make no sense if they didn’t mean that they finally reconcile and come to an understanding. The film only makes sense if it is optimistic. If you free yourself from all that societal crap, marital bliss can be attained by enjoying the small details in life. Over the course of their rocky relationship, these two grew together and the photographs prove it. This is marriage, and if that were how you should interpret those last few scenes, then I readily agree with the film.

Time for the hail of bullets:

• Despite a lack of chemistry at the beginning of the film (they really were just bitching at each other, seriously), they are ultimately a match made in heaven. They are both young and attractive in their own strange way – she has those beautiful doe eyes but strange facial expressions, he has a hot body and nice smile but very squinty eyes.

• Say about Asian marriage system what you want – it does facilitate suitable matches. I can think of tons of marriageable friends from both genders and it’s a shame that pointless romantic ideals could keep them up from having a perfectly lovely relationship. From my own track record, I think I would be in the same boat if I didn’t have an obnoxious, reckless personality.

• I think what bothered me the most about the woman was her hairstyle. The extreme straightness looks more Chinese than Korean, where curvy hair is definitely more popular. Most of the times she also has terrible style, even that expensive apartments looks tasteless.

• Matching slippers! <3 I thoroughly enjoyed their little shopping trip, especially now that we are looking out for as well. I am in love with decorating a simple, little home, just like in the film. This display of marital bliss is when the film becomes romantic and cute. I noticed that the film carefully shows how her cooking skills improve – from completely clueless to doing whatever her husband likes, and then finally to what she likes herself.

• “I will never get caught” – hahaha that is the best line of the film. It is notable that the husband doesn’t get to say a single line in the film. In retrospect, one could say that it simply means that even if she got caught she wouldn’t mind.

Trainspotting

If you think about it in Venn diagrams, then “cult drug movie” and “good drug movie” is the same set, and it’s the intersection between “cult movies” and “drug movies”. If a drug movie is any worth at all, it becomes cult. Just like for “Requiem for a Dream”, “Naked Lunch”, “Drugstore Cowboy” or “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”, people take these movies showing how much drugs can mess up and end up glorifying it. Maybe this works for “Naked Lunch” and its fascinating imagery, but in the case of the other films, I am surprised anyone in their right mind could possibly feel inspired to take drugs upon seeing that.

“Trainspotting” is the most extreme example of such a film. It shows how these people’s lives are ruined, yet radiates the coolness that easily turns it into “cult”. However, even more so than “Drugstore Cowboy”, it features more devastation than I have ever seen in any drug film – it shows a dead baby. Is it just me, or is the death of a most innocent person about the most horrible thing that can happen with drug abuse? While it is suggested that the baby may have died from “simple” SIDS, in the story itself it only makes sense that it was utter negligence. No matter how predictable it was, the sight of the dead child was so terrible that I didn’t even cry.
Let me tell you something about pain thresholds. When I went into labor, I quickly reached the point where the pain was stronger than anything that preceded it (and I was in pain for quite awhile). I lied around, complaining about my fate and hoping for it to be over. Then the pain was so strong that I had to use all my concentration to take the next breath. By the end, the pain eradicated all reason in mind and the only thought I had was “I am going to die” repeated over and over. Only then my true pain threshold was reached, and the epidural helped me getting back into the “damn this hurts like hell but I am not crazy anymore” region. Even after delivery, all kinds of pains are still awaiting you but you think “hey that’s tolerable pain”.
Similarly, there are a few things in life that would hit you emotionally that go beyond the threshold of pain endurance, and no tears in this world could make you feel better. In “A Quiet Life”, a book I read recently, the main character suddenly turns quiet and stiff when she is faced with a big problem, in her words she roboticizes. “Damn this hurts like hell” equates crying, “I am going to die” equates robotization. When something is so big that I couldn’t stand seeing it, I roboticize. The sight of a little thing like that dying is about the most devastating thing I have seen on screen, it’s worse than the atrocities in “Nordwand” or “Come and see”.

I have read a few articles on “Trainspotting” after seeing the film, all of which mention the death of the baby due to negligence with a mere subsentence. To these reviewers, it’s part of the druggie life and just one of many screw-ups in the film. To me, it is not and will probably always remain the most relevant aspect in the film. It made “Trainspotting” more intense than any of those other drug films, and perhaps in some way also more interesting. But I won’t be able to see this film with any other eyes than the ones of a mother.

Since I completely failed to write about anything else than the shocker scene of the film, here’s a hail of bullets for it:

• Spud is the best character in the film, of course. He’s perhaps one of the reasons why the film turned into cult, the concept of the naive, lovable screw-up who couldn’t hurt a fly. I was especially touched by the end of the film where he cries upon seeing Renton leaving.

• I am shocked to see Ewan McGregor so skinny, and so daring too. Somehow I always associate him with lame Hollywood romances or blockbusters – what a sell-out.

• It’s certainly hard to turn a short story collection into a film, but I was a little sad that the character of Diane was so inconsequential. She seemed so promising but ended up doing nothing after all.

• If “Trainspotting” is perceived as one of the best films from the British island… then the film industry is doing pretty bad indeed. But from what I can see, the UK has a rather good track record of good TV shows.

• The most amusing scene in the film is probably Tommy dying from toxoplasmosis. The film is actually best at its black-comedy-like scenes.

Super

By now, you can tell whether I liked a film by whether there are bullets at the end. In fact, this is not strictly true. Sometimes I have this urge to write about a film that I did not like; for instance when I want to rant or vent on it. Or when it’s just a film with a lot of content or things to think about, but ultimately I didn’t think the story was particularly well-written. “Super” is the kind of film that just wasn’t so well-written, and now I am not even sure whether I want to vent.

Overall, it was a decent film. Pixelmatsch mentioned the film when we discussed “God Bless America”, and boy are they similar. In both cases, we are dealing with a black comedy about this old outsider man and this crazy outsider girl who set out to do crazy, murderous things. Most importantly, in both times it’s the young girl who wants to engage in some sort of sexual encounter with the man, who is just like “Eww, gross, I’m not a pedophile!” while having to admit that he developed feelings for the girl after all. However, despite these similarities the premise is still rather different. One man wants to change the world, the other just wants to save his damsel in distress. With “God Bless America” my beef was that I don’t really get behind that incredible hatred against low-class television; with “Super” my beef is mostly with that damsel in distress. Sure, this setting is preordinained due to the Superman references, but maybe that is precisely the problem. A superhero world where great men save weak women – I just can’t get behind it anymore. That superhero movies are so popular these days is pure nostalgia, and the moviemakers are trying to save it by forcefully inserting somewhat strong female characters. “Super” is not ashamed of its weak female character, but unfortunately that just makes her so incredibly annoying. How can anyone just let themselves get drugged like this all day? My goodness.

To add to the anti-feminist insult, I don’t know why every single film (except “Harold and Maude”) including a couple with an age difference has to involve an old man and a young girl. “God Bless America” and “Super” are even worse, because you have this obviously attractive girl with a strange personality who wants to sleep with some lame old guy and it’s the lame old guy who gets to say “Eww, gross! I’m no pedophile!” Ellen Page’s tried-too-hard-seductive dance just takes the cake.

Unsurprisingly, what saves the film is the character of Libby. The chemistry between the main characters is even greater than it was in “God Bless America”, and Libby is positively crazy, certainly much more crazy than Frank. While I was disturbed at her dangerous, murderous personality at times, every single scene with her promised a lot of fun. Ellen Page was perfect for that role, it’s like her character from Hard Candy suddenly grew up (just a little). After painstakingly going through Frank and Sarah’s backstory, the film became much better and funnier as soon as Libby came into play.

In essence, the film is somewhere between facepalm-enducing and Ellen-page-awesome. I want to see more Rainn Wilson too.

13 Assassins

There we are, a film I don’t really have much to say about. “13 Assassins” is largely a visual feast, in case you are the kind of person who enjoys looking at blood and dead bodies. Admittedly the film is nicely shot; the storyline progresses steadfastly (unlike “Seven Samurai” which, honestly, feels a little slow at times) and action follows action promptly. The film is best when showing off their guerilla war methods when encircling and fighting those 200 men. However, where “Seven Samurai” also had a few of those scenes, it was most memorable for its character study and social commentary. (Chiyo-chaaaaan!!) “13 Assassins” tells us almost nothing besides that the shogun system is uncivilized and outdated. The characters have basically no characters; they are cardboard figures at best. And finally, the violence is just a little bit too much at times.

I have never seen a feature film by Takashi Miike before, despite having heard about him many, many years ago. It’s just the kind of director I normally would not seek out. I am not even into the Tarantino films because of the violence, but because his films are just so damn entertaining. In the case of Takashi Miike, the violence is just as present but everything else is missing. In this case I kept thinking “Oh yeah, it’s just like in Seven Samurai” or “Oh Seven Samurai did better here”. Ever since watching Game of Thrones, I have developed a certain sensitivity for what I consider unnecessary. Where Game of Thrones is sometimes unnecessarily sexual, I find this film unnecessarily cruel at times.

Sometimes it’s worth seeing a film because it looks good. In this case, it was not really a film for me, but with a few times averting my eyes, I was sufficiently entertained for an evening. I just wished a film that brings Koji Yakusho and Goro Inagaki together had been able to bring out their acting skills as much as “University of Laughs” did.

Actresses

I have a confession to make: I watched “Actresses” only one day after I saw “Untold Scandal” and have been procrastinating to write about it. Maybe I am too harsh on myself, because it was pretty much a full-blown writer’s block. Sometimes I feel like my review cannot do justice to the film, but the longer I wait to write about it, the worse the problem gets. Now I have to rely upon my terrible memory when writing about the movie. But hey, there is a silver lining to everything bad in the world. In the case of my procrastination, I now know what it is that truly made “Actresses” memorable.

Actually the whole mockumentary style confused me here. With “District 9” and “My Winnipeg” I learned that I really like films where fiction and documentary intermingle, and “Actresses” is no exception. I loved the film, it’s so wonderfully real and frank at times. Sure, there were moments where it was obvious that this was all staged (the music playing dude, their rather sudden reconciliation, those awfully Korean looking fake tears and especially the moment where Choi Ji-woo catches Kim Ok-bin in the restroom – she’s not good at doing a shocked face), but most of it seemed so awfully real. They were actually talking about what they wanted to say, and there is a certain honesty towards themselves. After all, none of these women come off as particularly wonderful or likable, except for Kim Min-hee maybe, who appears somewhat boring behind a rebellious-looking facade.

If you have seen “The Women”, you probably know why I am comparing this to it. “Actresses” is less adamant about only having women on stage, but it pretty much looks like everybody in the film is either a woman or gay. This is a purely female film. However, “The Women” probably fails to pass the Bechdel test because the women in the film have nothing on their minds besides men. “Actresses” is the exact opposite; these women are mostly concerned about themselves, their beauty, their career and men are only one of many troubles in the equation. I’d say, for these women relationships are third in the priority list, after career and beauty.
It is rare that a film ever concerns itself with women who are not mostly preoccupied with men, and while I don’t have nearly as much concern for my own appearance, or maybe even my career, it is beautiful to see that it is for others. I was deeply touched when one of them talked about how their work is an obsession, and the last scene of female solidarity really got to me despite all those fake tears. Coming back to the last paragraph – this mishmash of reality and fiction hits some sort of this uncanny valley for me, and that’s what I find so confusing; my head says one thing, but my heart wants to cry with them.

I have to admit that I only knew Yoon Yeo-jeong (from “The Housemaid”) and Kim Ok-bin (from “Thirst” and now also from “Dasepo Naughty Girls”). Overall, I never got the impression that any of them was a very good actress; I feel like even Kim Ok-bin is basically just playing herself in all her films. But playing themselves is something they do really well, and I applaud them for showing the ugly side of themselves.

Just like Pixelmatsch has said before, this is a film you would enjoy best if you are knowledgeable about the culture there. It is very crucial that these women are of very different ages, and the hierarchy of age is very strong. However, the film also says a few almost universal things about being a woman and I think that makes it worthwhile to see for everyone.

Now, time for the hail of bullets:

• I am very amused that I knew almost every actress they mention in the film – Lee Young-ae, Jeon Do-yeon etc. These are all actresses who are more famous than those you see in the film, and it’s just so much fun to hear them talk about their more successful peers. I guess when you are an A-celebrity you just deserve all that gossip.

• I am also amused by how male actors are almost never mentioned, except this one time Kim Ok-bin uses Song Kang-ho to brag.

• Even though I was touched by their dedication to their careers, they never mention acting skills in their conversation; they are like management students – it’s all about success, never about mastering their job.

• Is it just me or are the dresses they are wearing in the film actually awful?

• I said that Kim Min-hee is kind of boring (mostly due to her lack of anything to say throughout the film), but boy she drives the motorbike like a boss. I wish I was the kind of person who drives a motorbike to work.

• After having enjoyed both “Dasepo Naughty Girls” and “Actresses” so thoroughly, I added E J-yong to my directors list. I think I haven’t added a new director in years.