Lunapark6

After China laid its unofficial official ban on Wei Tang, the talented young actresses has packed up her belonging and moved to Hong Kong. She has also just received denizenship in Hong Kong, allowing her to work legally in Hong Kong.

Wei Tang opened up a lot of eyes with her debut performance in Ang Lee’s “Lust, Caution.” Even though Ang Lee edited the film for the Chinese market, government officials have come down particularly hard on Wei Tang since then. Earlier this year Beijing and Shanghai television stations were given orders to stop reporting on the actress entirely, while all of her commercial promotions have completely vanished as well. What’s even more baffling is that her co-star Tony Leung has had no problems working in China since that time.

Late last week actor & model Eon Lee died in a motorcycle accident. Around 1:30 AM on August 21st, after attending a wrap-up party for the television drama “Chilwu, the Mighty,” Eon Lee was crossing an elevated highway in Seoul on his motorbike. His motorbike then somehow hit the guardrail, causing Eon Lee to crash onto the road. He died instantly at that moment.

Eon Lee got his first break in film & television with his impressive role in the 2006 film “Like A Virgin.” Prior to his debut in that model, Eon Lee worked as one of the top models in Korea. For his role in “Like A Virgin,” Eon Lee gained 15 kgs to portray a Ssireum wrestler (Korean traditional wrestler). Eon Lee actually was a Ssireum wrestler in his college days as well.

Eon Lee quickly gained more attention with his performance in the 2007 MBC drama “Coffee Prince.” Subsequently, his roles in “Who Are You?” and “Chilwu, the Mighty” hinted at even greater things to come.

Movie: Hansel & Gretel | 헨젤과 그레텔
Release Date: December 27, 2007
Country: South Korea
Director: Pil-Sung Yim
Starring: Jeong-myeong Cheon, Won-jae Eun, Eun-Kyeong Shim
Runtime: 116 Min
Editor Rating: 5.5
Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.


Off the beaten and found somewhere deep within a forest lies Pil-Sung Yim’s (Antartic Journal) latest film “Hansel & Gretel.” The movie is presented as a “horror” film and has a few scenes identified with that genre, but overall seems more suited for the thriller genre. The strongest aspects about the film are the visuals, which are incredibly vivid & bright, and contrasted even more by the film’s dark story..

In Pil-Sung Yim’s “Hansel & Gretel,” Eun-soo Lee (Jeong-myeong Cheon) argues with his girlfriend on his cellphone, while driving his car through a wooded highway. He suddenly looses control and flips his car over a guardrail. When Eun-soo regains consciousness he finds himself in the forest, with a 12 year old girl named Yeong-hee (Eun-Kyeong Shim) standing over him. It’s nighttime now and Yeong-hee guides Eun-soo back to her home.

Yeong-hee’s house is situated deep in the forest, built in a lavish children’s book manner. She has a younger sister named Jeong-sun and an older brother named Man-bok. Her parents greet Eun-soo and invite him to stay the night.

The next day Eun-soo tries to find his way back. Because of the maze-like forest surrounding Yeong-hee’s home, he always ends up back where he started.
Making things more difficult for Eun-soo is that there isn’t a working phone line in the house nor can Eun-soo pick up reception on his cellphone.

On the second day, Eun-soo wakes up to find the children crying. There’s a note left by their parents, explaining they have to leave on urgent matters and asks if Eun-soo could watch over the kids temporarily. Meanwhile, Eun-soo discovers that the children are not your normal set of kids and there may have been other visitors at their home who never made it out of the forest.

And thus one of the more uniquely premised horror/thriller “Hansel & Gretel” unfolds right in front of your eyes. Production value is particularly strong. “Hansel & Gretel” is one of the first films produced by Barunson Film Division, the company responsible for “The Good, the Bad, and the Weird” and Joon-ho Bong’s upcoming pic “Mother“. You can tell a lot of attention has been placed upon the set design. Inspired by the Technicolor feel of children’s storybooks, “Hansel & Gretel” offers a surreal look that’s as appealing as it can be disturbing.

Unlike those visuals, the storyline isn’t nearly as inventive. There’s been a lot of Korean films that have covered similar ground involving orphans and child abuse. Pil-Sung Yim tries to differentiates “Hansel & Gretel” by wrapping the colorful children’s storybook like visuals around the story’s dark subject matter. This is only partially successful. More substance within its story, perhaps workable allegories between the house, forest, and the outside world, would have given the audience more credence to accept the-dark-story-wrapped-around-the-bright-backdrop as something other than a gimmick. When the disturbing history of the children’s early lives are revealed in the second half, the movie fails to convince you that this is something more than a cheap device to give substance to the movie.

The cast itself was largely uneven. The three kids shined brightest by all giving strong performances. Won-jae Eun, who played older brother Man-bok, looked mean and scary at just the right times. Eun-kyeong Shim, who played Young-hee Kim & looked like a 12 year old version of Yo-won Lee, played the most intricate character in the film with natural grace. Ji-hui Jin, who played the youngest sibling, was able to convey the perfect mixture of cuteness and spookiness required for her part. Meanwhile, Jeong-myeong Cheon looked completely lost and out of place as the movie’s main character Eun-soo Lee. It seemed Jeong-myeong Cheon could evoke only one type of emotion, which was this perpetual “Hunh? How did I get here?” look stamped on his face. Supporting performance by Hie-sun Park as Deacon Byeon was the only adult performance worthy of praise.

Pil-Sung Yim’s second film “Hansel & Gretel” has some good things going for it: very strong production values, child actors performing wonderfully, and that unique angle of wrapping a children’s storybook like setting around a dark story centered abuse. Unfortunately, the dark subject matter wasn’t shown in a convincing manner and felt more like a cheap trick to disturb the audience. The movie was also burdened by Jeong-myeong Cheon’s starring performance, which was a complete turd of a performance. Initially, “Hansel & Gretel” had a chance to become one of those unique horror / thriller films, on the level of the brilliant “Epitaph,” but by the time end credits roll around the film turns out to be a decent film saddled with a seen-it-before dark story that underwhelms and even feels exploitive at times.

Cast:
Jeong-myeong Cheon - Eun-Soo
Won-jae Eun - Man-bok Kim (13)
Eun-Kyeong Shim - Young-hee Kim (12)
Ji-hui Jin - Jeong-sun Kim (7)
Hie-sun Park - Deacon Byeon
Lydia Park - Kyeong-suk
Kyeong-ik Kim - Yeong-sik (father)
Yeong-nam Jang - Su-jeong (mother)
Eun-ju Kim

If you like this film you may enjoy: A Tale of Two Sisters, Epitaph

The much hyped big-budget disaster pic “Haeundae” has started filming since August 18th. “Haeundae” is a $15 million picture, directed by Je-gyun Yun (Miracle on 1st Street / Sex is Zero) and stars a slew of popular Korean actors like Kyung-gu Sol, Ji-won Ha, Joong-Hoon Park, Jeong-hwa Eom, and Min-gi Lee.

The movie itself is a fictional account of a deadly tsunami crashing onto the shores of “Haeundae” beach. For those that have never been to South Korea, Haeundae is a popular beach area in Busan, South Korea. The city of Busan is the second largest city in Korea and during the summer days overflows with visitors in the Haeundae area. Furthermore, the film’s director, Je-gyun Yun, is a native of the Busan area and is likely to place his own stamp on the well known tourist attraction area.

In the movie Kyung-gu Sol plays Man-sik Choi, a shop owner along the Haeeundae beach area and president of the Haeundae Shop Owners Association. Man-sik Choi enjoys a peaceful afternoon in a Haeundae sushi restaurant owned by Yeon Hee (Ji-won Ha). Unfortunately they are not aware of the huge tsunami coming its way.

Other stars appearring in the film are: Jung-hun Park (plays Kim Hee a geologist), Jeong-hwa Eom (plays Yu-jin Lee, the ex wife of Kim Hee and herself an international event co-ordinator) and Min-gi Lee (plays Hyeong-sik Choi a lifeguard on the Haeundae beach).

“Haeundae” started filming August 18th and continues through December. Special effects for the film will be done in America sometime in November. The movie will then be released in the summer of 2009.

Ki-duk Kim’s “Dream” (Korean title “Bi-Mong”) is moving closer to its release date in South Korea. While an exact release date has not been given, the movie has been slotted for its release sometime in October. Furthermore, on August 19th, the movie received its rating from the Korean movie board. The movie received a rating allowing only those 18 and over to view the film. This might raise an eyebrow or two, or perhaps wet the lips a bit with visions of steamy bed scenes between Joe Odagiri and Na-yeong Lee. But unfortunately, the movie didn’t receive that rating because of any sexual content or violence or foul language. Rather, the movie was deemed vieweable for 18 and older because of its difficult to understand story line. Ki-duk Kim Film along with distributor Spong Ent. has stated that they won’t resubmit the movie. And with that, in October “Dream” will see its release in South Korea. Young kids will just have to wait a wee bit longer.

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Movie: Sad Vacation
Release Date: September 8, 2007
Country: Japan
Director: Shinji Aoyama
Starring: Tadanobu Asano, Eri Ishida, Aoi Miyazaki, Joe Odagiri
Runtime: 136 min
Editor Rating: 7.0
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The title for Shinji Aoyoma’s “Sad Vacation” is taken from the title of a Johhny Thunder’s song written in tribute of Sid Vicious. The song “Sad Vacation” then blares out suddenly some 5 minutes into the film. There’s something about this moment that projects all the pain, joy, pessism and optimism engraved into the characters themselves. Visually the film has a distinct hipster look, with the film proudly shot in Shinji Aoyoma’s format of choice Super-8.

Story wise “Sad Vacation” centers around Kenji Shiraishi (Tadanobu Asano), an aloof loner that carries emotional scars from the time his mother left him as a child. His mother’s abandonment also led to Kenji’s alcoholic father committing suicide. These moments have left a permanent mark upon Kenji’s existence.

As an adult, Kenji works various jobs. He worked as a truck driver, shuttling illegal Chinese immigrants around Japan. On one of those trips, a Chinese man died in transit and leaves behind a young boy. Kenji, knowing a thing or two about abandonment, takes the Chinese boy as his own. Then, Kenji takes a job as a personal driver for bar hostesses and their patrons, shuttling them from bar to home. One evening, Kenji drives home a patron and then discovers his very own mother waiting for the patron at their home.

Over the next few weeks Kenji then concocts an intricate to plan to exact revenge upon the mother who abandoned him as a child.

“Sad Vacation” packs a lot emotion under its simplistic story. Shinji Aoyama fans will likely enjoy the movie’s distinctive narrative style (frequent slow shots, interspersed with fast edits, and a large cast of Aoyoma regulars), while other folks may fine the movie much ado about nothing.

The movie’s theme constantly brings up the idea of idea of “escapism” or simply “running away.” Just about every character in the movie has been on the run or is on the run. The movie bookends two female characters (Yuri and Chiyoko) expressing their desire to “just fly away like birds.” Following this theme, you’ll often find Aoyama’s camera focusing on a distant bridge looming somewhere in the background of the city.

The question then shifts to what all these characters are looking for. Kenji looks to place misery upon his mother, in the same manner that she has done to him years ago. Meanwhile he questions his current girlfriend “will you wait for me?” something that his mother did not. Kenji’s mother Chiyoko (played effortlessly by Eri Ishida) epitomizes a motherly figure (even after her abandonment of her family) and by the end of the film comes across as something akin to Mother Nature itself.

The cast of characters in the film is expansive and if you are familiar with Aoyama films will recognize a lot of the ancillary characters. This is with good reason as “Sad Vacation” is the final chapter in the trilogy started by Aoyoma’s “Helpless” and then “Eureka.” Tadanobu Asano plays the same Kenji from “Helpless,” as does Kaori Tsuji plays Yuri from “Helpless.” There’s also Aoi Miyazaki continuing her role as Kozue, the girl traumatized by the bus jacking in “Eureka.” Fear not if you haven’t seen these films, “Sad Vacation” can easily be followed as a single entity in and of itself.

While Shinji Aoyama’s “Sad Vacation” feels long at times and projects a message that gets diluted by its surprise ending, there’s still something remarkable about the film. Like “Sukida” this is one of those films that will either click with you or won’t click with you on a personal level. For me, the film packed a bittersweet punch akin to sipping a glass of whiskey during the early hours of the following morning. “Sad Vacation” isn’t for the faint of heart or less adventurous, but if you crave a tale of longing told from a different point of view then check out “Sad Vacation.”

Cast:
Tadanobu Asano - Kenji Shiraishi
Eri Ishida - Chiyoko Mamiya
Yuka Itaya - Saeko Shiina
Yusuke Kawazu - Kijima
Kengo Kora - Yusuke Mamiya
Ken Mitsuishi - Shigeo Mamiya
Aoi Miyazaki - Kozue Tamura
Katsuo Nakamura - Shigeki
Joe Odagiri - Goto
Kyusaku Shimada - Sone
Kosuke Toyohara - Kawashima
Maho Toyota - Makimura
Kaori Tsuji - Yuri Matsumura

If you like this movie you may enjoy: Sukida

Readers of Lunapark6 should be familiar with “The Chaser,” a serial killer based film that topped the box office charts in Korea for the first half of 2008. And with the success of that film it seemed likely that we would see a batch of new films coming out having similar subject matter. A new film with the Korean movie title “Sil Jong” (literal translation “Disappeared”) does seem to be such a film.

Like “The Chaser,” “Sil Jong” is based on a true story. This time around the shocking story is based on the serial killings by a 70 year old man in Boseong, South Korea back in 2007. The elderly man was a fisherman and killed four young people on his boat on two seperate occasions. In the movie version of this story, Se-hong Jeon plays Hyeon-a. Hyeon-a is an aspiring actress that visits the South Korean countryside. When she stops to eat at a restaurant there in the countryside, she captivates a 60 year old man who is the owner of the restaurant. The man, played by acting vet Seong-kun Mun, then imprisons the young lady and causing extreme terror upon her. Meanwhile, Hyeon-a’s older sister, Hyeong Jeong (Ja-Hyeon Chu), ventures out to the country, looking for her sister before it is to late.

The film is directed by Sung-Hong Kim, director of past thrillers like 1997’s “The Hole” (Olgami) and 1994’s “Deep Scratch” (Sontob). “Sil Jong” is filming now and is expected to be released later this year.

A movie to watch out for at this year’s Venice Film Festival is the new Yu Lik-wai film titled “Plastic City” (Dangkou). The film features two stars from the Asia region, Joe Odagiri from Japan and Anthony Wong from Hong Kong, appearing together for the first time.

What’s known about the film so far is that Joe Odagiri traveled to Brazil in March, 2008. He stayed there for two weeks to film his parts in the movie. In “Plastic City” Joe Odagiri plays Kirin, a Japanese-Brazilian orphan that becomes adopted by Yuda (Anthony Wong), a leader of an Asian mob. Kirin then becomes involved in the mob run Brazilian black market as an adult. One day his adopted father is arrested and Kirin is left to hold the empire together.

Co-star Anthony Wong is a mainstay of Hong Kong cinema and has branched out onto the international stage of late. Wong gave a fun performance in the otherwise dreadful film “The Mummy 3″ and “Plastic City” will mark his next international film.

Yu Lik-wa (sometimes referred to as Nelson Yu) is an accomplished director and cinematographer as well. Two of his earlier films, Love Will Tear Us Apart and All Tomorrow’s Parties, were screened at the Cannes Film Festival. Furthermore, Yu Lik-wa has worked as the cinematographer for numerous Jia Zhangke films and as well as other well reguarded films like Yang Zhang films “Getting Home.”

Plastic City premiers at the 65th annual Venice Film Festival (August 27th - September 6th, 2008) and is slated to open in Brazil during the spring of 2009. No word yet on the movie’s release dates in other regions.

One of the best young Korean actresses working today not named Du-na Bae or Na-yeong Lee is Hyo-jin Kong. She’s already set to appear in the upcoming summer blockbuster “Dachiwama Lee” and will have one more film coming out this autumn titled “Crush & Blush” (Korean title “Misseu Hongdangmoo”).

The principle cast for “Crush & Blush” includes Hyo-jin Kong, Jong-hyeok Lee, Seo Yu, newcomer Seul-hye Hwangwoo, and Eun-jin Bang. The film is directed by first time feature-length film director Kyoung-mi Lee. There’s also a strong Chan-wook Park connection with “Crush & Blush” as well. Chan-wook Park worked as the film’s producer and the film was produced by Moho Films (company that also produced Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance).

In “Crush & Blush” Hyo-jin Kong will play Me-sook Yang a former high school Russian language teacher, but now middle school English teacher (a language she doesn’t even understand). Furthermore Me-sook has a a blushing problem that turns her face crimson red. Me-sook is also in love with Mr. Seo, another teacher at her school. She is crushed when she discovers that Mr. Seo is having an affair with the Russian women who took her original high school job. Even with her disappointed feelings she still doesn’t give up hope on Mr. Seo. In fact she enlists the aid of his teenage daughter Jong-hee, a student at their middle school, to help break up their affair. More problems then occur for the ladies.

There’s a new South Korean film coming down the pike titled “Marine Boy” and the film’s producers REALies Pictures wants you to know their movie has nothing to do with Olympic swimmer Tae-han Park aka Marine Boy. The movie’s title is actually derived from a slang word for underwater drug runners. So that’s ample reason to make sure folks don’t associate this film with Korean Olympic swimmer Marine Boy.

The movie “Marine Boy” stars Kang-woo Kim (Le Grand Chef/Rainbow Eyes), Si-yeon Park (Love/The Fox Family) and Jae-hyeon Jo (Beyong The Years/Hanbando). Kang-woo Kim plays a former national swimmer turned underwater drug runner. Preliminary shots for the film were done in May and actual filming starts in September. “Marine Boy” is expected to be released sometime first half of 2009 via film distributor CJ Entertainment.

Gianna Jun (better known as Ji-hyun Jun in Asia) has been filming her first U.S. film titled “Blood: The Last Vampire.” The movie is now in the post-production stage and Universal Studios, the film’s distributor, has announced the film will be released in the U.S. and Canada in March, 2009. The company plans to open the film in over 2,000 screens (more screens than the Korean-American pic D-War). The film’s release date for Korea is still up in the air.

In “Blood:The Last Vampire” Gianna Jun plays Saya, a katana wielding human-vampire hybrid, that hunts vampires for food. Saya then befriends a young girl in preparation for her biggest challenge yet, to hunt Onigen (Japanese actress Koyuki) the highest ranking vampire.

Blood: The Last Vampire is filmed in English, with filming done in China and Argentina. Gianna Jun is currently on vacation in America and taking lessons to improve her English. She will then take part in promotions for the film upon its March 2009 release.

Making its way to Korean theatres on September 25th, 2008 will be “My Dear Enemy” (Meotjin Haru), a film that starrs Do-yeon Jeon and Jung-woo Ha. This marks the first film Do-yeon Jeon has appeared in since “Secret Sunshine” - her performance in that movie garnered high praise and a best actress award for her at Cannes. This time around she is paired up with white hot actor Jung-woo Ha (The Chaser). “My Dear Enemy” is directed by Yoon-ki Lee, known for his impressive indie films “Ad Lib Night” and “This Charming Girl.”

Do-yeon Jeon plays unhappy Hee-su, a women over 30 years old, still single, jobless and broke. One day Hee-su sets out to collect the money she loaned to her ex-boyfriend a year ago. Her ex-boyfriend is Byeong-woon a guy that’s also jobless & penniless, but still able to enjoy life by leeching off of other women. The couple then spends an entire day together while Byeong-woon borrows money from other girls. They enjoy themselves more than they expected.

“My Dear Enemy” is a joint production between Bom Productions and Sponge Entertainment.

Movie: Red Cliff / Chi bi / 赤壁
Release Date: July 12, 2008
Country: China
Director: John Woo
Starring: Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Chen Chang
Runtime: 146 min
Editor Rating: 6.0
Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.


There’s big epics and there’s biiigggg epics. “Red Cliff” would certainly fall in the latter. For those unfamiliar with the movie’s background, “Red Cliff” marks the return of John Woo to Asian Cinema after spending nearly 10 years in Hollywood. Distinguishing “Red Cliff” even further is its collection of A-list actors; Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Chen Chang, Vicky Zhao, Jun Hu, & Shido Nakamura. Making things even more newsworthy is the fact the movie carries the tag of “most expensive Asian movie ever made.” “Red Cliff” sports an estimated budget of $80 million dollars.

The film also has had its shares of memorable pre-production moments. First, Tony Leung backs out of the movie, then Yun-Fat Chow backs out, then Tony Leung comes back on board. During the actual filming stage of “Red Cliff” tragedy struck the set when a stunt men died and 6 others were seriously injured after two ships collided.

By now you can tell “Red Cliff” is adverse to traveling the normal route and this even includes the film’s distribution. In most parts of Asia, “Red Cliff” saw its release on July 10th, 2008, with a runtime of 146 minutes - South Korea being the exception as it showed a shortened 132 minute version. Then sometime in January, 2009 “Red Cliff 2″ is expected to be released. Meanwhile the folks outside of Asia gets a single 150 minute version of “Red Cliff.” The reasoning? Westerners are not as familiar with the story of “the Battle of Red Cliff,” so an abridged version should fare better, while Asians are thought to know this story intimately and a more detailed version should fare better. In theory anyway.

And after all of this, there’s also the actual movie itself.

In John Woo’s “Red Cliff” the setting is China circa 208 AD, near the end of the Han Dynasty. General Cao Cao and his 800,000 strong army in northern China look to expand their power. The smaller states of Shu and Wu in southern China find themselves in a precarious state. Strategist & scholar Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) from the Shu state reaches out to Wu leader Sun Quan (Chen Chang). Zhuge Liang proposes that the Shu and Wu form an alliance against the much larger General Cao Cao’s army. Sun Quan realizing that this is his best option agrees to Liang’s proposal. The alliance, under the military leadership of Gen. Zhou Yu (Tony Leung), then prepares to make its stand on the strategically important Yangtze River at Red Cliff

At least in the Asian version of John Woo’s “Red Cliff,” there’s a mixture of the good and the bad. With expectation so high and the need to satisfy so many different constituencies it’s not surprising that the movie underwhelms. Visuals look impressive but doesn’t have the wow factor like Yimou Zhang’s “Curse of the Gold Dragon.” Story wise, maybe it’s from a bad habit picked up from John Woo’s Hollywood days or maybe its just from the film’s desire to appeal to a broad audience range, but the story carries a noticeable dumbed down tone. There’s plenty of awkward feel good moments placed into the movie making you wonder if the film is indeed based on “the Battle of Red Cliff” or just another family fantasy pic like “The Lord of the Rings” or “Harry Potter.”

The battle scenes shown in “Red Cliff,” like the rest of the film, are a mixed bag of good and bad. The scenes look good in general (and it should with that kind of budget), but stopped well short of memorable. Also, it doesn’t help that the film resorts to elements of fantasy in its battle scenes. Often, one man would fight hand-to-hand combats against dozens of other men and come out as the victor (one time even fighting one handed while cradling a baby in his other hand).

What “Red Cliff” did well was to build anticipation for its upcoming second half part. Once that clunky background is finally laid out and the film actually focuses on “the Battle of Red Cliff,” well things get more interesting. The initial skirmish at Red Cliff wets your appetite, while the decisive battle is like the movie itself … “To Be Continued.”

Cast:
Tony Leung Chiu Wai - Zhou Yu
Takeshi Kaneshiro - Zhuge Liang
Chen Chang - Sun Quan
Wei Zhao - Sun Shangxiang
Shido Nakamura - Gan Ning
Fengyi Zhang - Cao Cao
Jun Hu - Zhao Yun
Chiling Lin - Xiao Qiao
Yong You - Liu Bei
Dawei Tong - Sun Shucai
Jia Song - Li Ji
Yong Hou - Lu Su
Qingxiang Wang - Kong Rong
Jiang Tong - Li Tong
Jingchu Zhang
Koyuki
Chun Sun

If you like this movie you may enjoy: Curse of the Golden Dragon, The Warlords, Mongol

Movie: Fine, Totally Fine
Release Date: January 26, 2008
Country: Japan
Director: Yosuke Fujita
Starring: YosiYosi Arakawa, Yoshino Kimura, Yoshinori Okada
Runtime: 110 min
Editor Rating: 8.0
Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.


Back in the days when music actually mattered there were specific indie labels that would get my hard earned money irrespective of which band was actually releasing the album. Some of these labels were Cherry Red Records, Sarah Records and Labrador Records. Basically the label’s name guaranteed that the album would be quality, fall within a defineable style, and have a certain cool factor unique to them. You’re probably thinking by “This all fine and dandy but exactly what does this have to with the Japanese film ‘Fine Totally Fine’ ?” Well there’s a three year old Japanese film production & distribution company named Stylejam that seems to be making a name for itself like those fabled indie record labels did back in the 80’s-90’s. The list of films produced and distributed by Stylejam includes such titles as “The Pavillion Salamandre,” “Dog in a Sidecar,” “Sad Vacation,” “Adrift in Tokyo,” and now their latest picture “Fine, Totally Fine” (Zenzen daijobu).

Out of all the Stylejam releases, “Fine, Totally Fine” has the most in common with last year’s “Adrift in Tokyo.” Both films share a laconical style unique to themselves, quirky comedic moments that sometimes rises to the level of genius, and just radiates a warm fuzzy feeling that slackers would find to be Shangri-la.

The story found in “Fine, Totally Fine” is simple enough. Teuro (YosiYosi Arakawa) is a 30 year old kid, still living at home and workng in his dad’s used bookstore, while also part timing as a maintainence worker in a city park. His goal in life is to build the ultimate haunted house. His best friend since childhood is Hisanobu Komori. Hisanobu works in the administration division at a hospital. For better or worse, Hisanobu is always thought of as the “nice guy.” One day he’s asked to interview a women applying to be a nursing helper. The lady, named Akari Kinoshita , comes in for the interview all muddy with a bloody nose. Komori being the “nice guy” hires her anyway. A short while later, after Akari is involved in a series of accidents at the hospital she quits her job. Hisanobu Komori then arranges for Akari to work at the used bookshop beloning to Teuro’s father. Shortly afterwards, both guys find themselves falling head over heals for the quirky Akari.

What really elavates “Fine, Totally Fine” to a higher level isn’t so much the story per se, but rather the collection of smaller moments that just oozes with humor. There’s Akari receiving instructions on what she should and shouldn’t do when a customer buys a porno mag, the film within the film moment when Teuro plays a jealous friend, Akari’s unusual habit of spying on a homeless lady, and the awkward manner in which a co-worker hits on the oblivious Hisanobu Kimori. Like a well stocked thrift store, there’s also isles and isles of vintage moments for you to reflect on and appreciate. The quirky idiosyncracies found working within a used book shop. One person’s love for fish sausage (count me in as another person addicted to fish sausage). A person’s love for the sound of rain, even to the point of playing it on her boombox all day long. A young girl’s expression in seeing a strange looking man and then handing him a potato chip.

Stylistically speaking, “Fine, Totally Fine” could be the hypothetical not-a-sequel, but a spin-off of Katsuhito Ishii’s “The Taste of Tea”. Set some 4 years later in a mid-sized Japanese town and centered around a 2nd cousin of the Haruno family named Teuro Tohyama. It’s that kind of movie which is fine, totally fine with me.

Cast:
YosiYosi Arakawa - Teuro Tohyama
Yoshino Kimura - Akari Kinoshita
Yoshinori Okada - Hisanobu Komori
Noriko Eguchi - Umezawa
Shima Ise - Tomoko
Keizo Kanie - Eitaro
Kitaro - Kurita
Seminosuke Murasugi
Toshie Negishi - Toyohara
Ichiro Ogura - Kotaro
Taka Okubo
Kayoko Shiraishi
Naoki Tanaka - Yuhara

If you like this movie you may enjoy: Adrift in Tokyo, The Taste of Tea

Count me in as a fan of Ji-won Ye. She ruled in the far too under appreciated black-comedy “Old Miss Diary” and didn’t do so shabby in last years “Happy Killing.” Now she’s ready to unleash her latest film, “What Happened Last Night?,” and she brings along Jae-hun Tak (The Worst Guy Ever/The Little Prince) for the ride.

In the comedy “What Happaned Last Night?” Ji-won Ye plays 32 year old Eugene. She’s a bright gal, but does have one big problem. She has a drinking habit. Compounding matters is that whenever she gets she also looses her memory. Because of her drinking habit, she’s already been fired from work.

Eugene then decides to attend her college reunion. She drinks lots Pok-tang-ju (what Westerners sometime call the “Bomb”) and gets absolutely trashed. The next morning she wakes up naked in a penthouse suite of the hotel where she had her college reunion. She also finds a paid receipt for her hotel room (which cost $2,500). Shortly afterwards she overhears gossip about herself and a man she spent the night with! Unfortunately, she can’t remember who the guy is, but she starts to investigate …

If you like thrillers with a splash of horror in it, you may be interested in the new Korean film “Orphaned” (Korean title “Uidoli”). The film stars Yu-seok Jeong (made a nice impression in another thriller named “Return“), Min-seo Chae (last seen in the 2005 horror flick “The Wig“) and Eun-ah Ko (the daughter in “The Houseguest of My Mother“).

Eun-ah Ko plays 17 year old Su-na. She’s a bright young girl, but after her best friend commits suicide she becomes a loner. So much so that she becomes a social recluse. This places her family in misery and eventually ruins her family.

We mentioned a few months back that Hye-jeong Kang was in the intial planning stages to make her debut in a U.S. film. Well the contracts have been signed and things are ready to roll. The film in question will be titled “Wedding Palace”. Her co-star is an Asian-American actor named Brian Tee. He’s appeared in the “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” and a variety of television shows.

In “Wedding Palace” Hye-jeong Kang plays a lady who has just married an American man (Brian Tee). The lady is Korean and speaks rudimentary English. She’s also not yet accustomed to American culture, while her husband isn’t yet accustomed to her Korean culture.

The role does seem ideally suited for Hye-jeong Kang. In real life, Kang can speak English (reference Thai pic “Invisible Waves”), but she does so with a noticeable accent. “Wedding Palace” starts filming this September in LA.

Guess which movie finally upstaged the pop cultural behemoth known as “Boys Over Flowers: Final“? Indiana Jones 4? Nope. The new Gegege no Kitaro film, Kitaro and the Millennium Curse ? Nope. Speed Racer? Not even close. The answer is “Ponyo on Cliff by the Sea” the latest film from acclaimed animator/director/writer Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke etc).

Since taking over the #1 spot from Boys Over Flowers, “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea” has firmly entrenched itself as the top of the box office. The movie has already made an insane amount ($50mill) and has movie insiders predicting it could surpass Miyazaki’s own “Spirited Away” in terms of profit. Making things even more interesting, Miyazaki’s latest move completely eschews computer graphics (not one digital effect found in the film) and instead uses good ole fashion hand-drawings. A lot of hand-drawings. The film was reported to have used 170,000 hand-drawn pictures and employed 70 staff members to draw. The total time required? One and a half years.

The story itself is inspired by “The Little Mermaid” and tells the story of a a fish girl that becomes a human being with the help of a 5 year old boy.

After four very long years “Sa-kwa,” also known as “Sorry Apple” will finally get its theatrical release in South Korea on October 16th, 2008. The film initially had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2005, walking away with the FIPRESCI award. In 2006, the movie screened in Korea at the Busan International Film Festival. After the screening in Busan, main actress So-ri Moon walked on stage and spoke with the audience. She expressed excitement her excitement that the movie finally screened in Korea. Her excitement was then put on ice for another 2 years, but she should be smiling again very soon.

So-ri Moon stars in “Sa-kwa” as Hyun-jung. She’s somewhat your typical office worker that finds herself suddenly single again. Her boyfriend of seven years, Min-suk (Seon-gyun Lee), left her abruptly. She then receives flowers and attention from Sang-hoon (Tae-woo Kim) in attempt to get Hyun-jung to marry him. His plan works and they do get married. But everything isn’t bliss in their marriage and ironically, Min-suk reappears and confesses his love for her.