First up is The King which I watched on Monday night, a revenge thriller it is set at an unspecified location in Texas. A young man (called Elvis) is seen leaving the navy and then goes in search for the father he has never met. This turns out be a pastor in some kind of evangelical church in the town.
A reformed man from the wild days of his youth he has a wife and two teenage kids and wants nothing to do with Elvis and instructs his family to follow his line. Elvis gets a job delivering pizzas and ends up secretly dating the 16 year old daughter.
Events spiral dangerously out of control from this point, everything happens at walking pace, the dialogue is sparse but there are some fine acting performances in here and the soundtrack is kicking. Beautifully shot this movie is more art house than mainstream, but I really enjoyed it.
Next up is Oldboy another revenge thriller this time from Korea - what is up with Channel 4 scheduling revenge thrillers as late night festive viewing - giving people ideas for handling festive family breakdowns?
Now this is a very different kettle of fish, a drunken businessman is abducted from the street and is imprisoned for 15 years in a bland looking hotel room. He has access to a TV and is fed on dumplings every day, he spends 11 years practicing martial arts so that when he escapes he can seek vengeance on his captors.
One morning he awakes on a grass covered roof in new clothes and sets off on his quest, a live octopus is eaten on screen and violence and mayhem ensue. This is a much darker work and the ending was left deliberately ambiguous to allow viewers to choose their own interpretation.
Another good sound track, quite different in style from the previous film but works well with the images, catch this film if you get the chance and can "stomach" the octopus.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
The King: Sounds interesting. Strangely, you know this stuff happens in real life, too.
Oldboy: Ummm...nice Christmas theme, indeed. HA! I could eat dumplings everyday, but that is not the point of the film. ;P'''
Sounds like a cool movie. Every now and then I watch movies from other countries. While I know they are pushing that Postmodern edge--the movies make feel like I should have done something mind-altering, first. There is a whole "mental" (not crazy--well,) thing that goes into some Asian films...the internal fortitude thing.
I think my brain is slightly fried, today. Did that make any sense?
One of these days I'm going to get caught up on my indie/foreign film viewing. I just checked a few out tonight.
I hope your holidays are going well.
rt, Think I know what you are on about. Never underestimate the power of manga and anime when viewing any movie coming out of Asia.
Dumplings are how he manages to find his "prison" by tracking down the restaurant that supplied it.
Phlegmmy, Holidays are going just grand, things will ramp up from Saturday when the clan gathers in the hills.
Post a Comment