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Kim Hye-ja, "Mother"
Reroll is a new category of posts from the past, that I’ve done for a small number of other outlets besides clumproll.com. They are reposted here not because they are exemplary instances of my writing ability, but rather to serve as a simple log or archive of my past efforts, especially with those outlets being difficult to find online any more.
This particular post was originally for The Korea Society Film Blog when it was still around. I had seen the film during the original theatricalrun while in Korea, shortly before the time of writing this in July of 2009.
For those interested, the film Mother recently(July 2010) became available in the U.S. on DVD, Blu-ray and streaming video via Magnolia Pictures.
When Bong Joon-ho announced his fourth film after the record-breaking hit The Host would be a murder mystery about a mother and her wrongly accused son, I was one of many worried about it being a retread of his masterful second film, Memories of Murder. Would Bong be able to replicate the tight pacing and cinematic completeness he had with that film once more?
As it stands, his latest Mother is thankfully not a retread in the slightest. Its lead is obviously a woman – not a young face, but a veteran actress with wrinkles and a compelling presence throughout. In the titular role, Kim Hye-ja is up against circumstantial evidence, impatient police, a self-important lawyer, and unbelieving townsfolk. This mother descends into the dilemma of clearing the murder charge on her only son. I call it a descent because she goes down a long, dark rabbit hole full of questions to face the unfortunate souls that may have answers to the real murderer of the high school girl that her son is alleged to have killed. Each newly uncovered piece of evidence and person of interest needs more than a few rounds of vetting, and the turns made are fast and always unexpected. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: bong joon-ho, korea, mother, reroll, review
Surprised, and not so much, at how much time has passed. And it makes it even clearer to me that I need to make some changes around here for this to be feasible and sustainable.
Also introducing Reroll, a new kind of posting that reprints somethings I’ve written for elsewhere and other outlets. First one is the ‘Mother’ review up above.
Anyway, hope I don’t disappear on myself.
Note to self: write!
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Simpsons get stamped, May 7, 2009
After 20 years on television and still going, Fox’s The Simpsons is now the first and only show to be featured on a stampset while still in primetime production.
On May 7, 2009, the United States Postal Service will release 5 stamps featuring Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson nationwide. Matt Groening created the original artwork for the stamps and will present them at a First-Day-of-Issue ceremony in Los Angeles on that day. Stamp collectors and fans can pre-order the stamps right now from the USPS website for home delivery.
Tags: animation, homer, matt groening, postal service, simpsons, stamp collecting, stamps
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Make it right or the fans will squash you like bug.
April Fools passed by without much incident (or did I just miss the hoopla?) but there’s been news of late that I wish was a joke, and some genuine welcome surprises. Unfortunately, this is is one of the former.
Sony Pictures is working on adapting seminal PS2 game Shadow of the Colossus into a movie, as confirmed by both The Hollywood Reporter’s Risky Biz Blog and Variety’s The Cut Scene blog . There’s no expected release date yet, and the project is in the earliest stages of development.
Here come the bad news: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: ps2
Pics of Gondry, Rogen & Chow looking serious since their Green Hornet movie probably won't be.
If director Michel Gondry isn’t a household name in America already, that just might change with this bit of movie news. Columbia has ok’d the Brooklynite Frenchman to direct The Green Hornet, which has Seth Rogen in the title role and Stephen Chow as sidekick Kato. Gondry previously directed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, wrote/directed Be Kind, Rewind and much heartfelt The Science of Sleep.
Since the script is written by Rogen and laugh buddy Evan Goldberg, Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: green hornet, michel gondry
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