Korean Week brings films catering for all
WITH most of the diplomatic corps based in the capital city, one of the benefits is the many mini foreign festivals screened locally.
Korean film is a regular on this circuit and this time around, running on September 2 and 3, it’s part of the city’s Korean Week festivities.
It’s a mixed bag for those interested in foreign fare and keeping tabs on what is happening in film on the world stage.
If you want a really feel-good experience, you can’t beat Wonderful Nightmare (directed by Kang Hyo-Jin, 123 minutes long and screened at Brooklyn Cinema Nouveau starting at 7.30pm on September 2).
It reminded me of many different stories because it is about a woman, whom we first witness as an arrogant lawyer. Later she dies in a car crash and is sent back to Earth as the mother of two in a life with a very different financial status than she is used to.
However, to get her old life back, she has to survive a month as a mom of the new one.
The story is a moral lesson, sometimes quite laboured, about the way we abuse what we’ve been given, and yet, with an appealing cast from the lawyer ( pictured) to her newly adopted family, dad and two kids, it’s one of those guilty pleasure movies; a sheer delight to watch.
In these dire times in a world turned upside down, when it comes to moral compass, perhaps it is especially these kinds of stories that we need to watch over and over again to be reminded of the gifts that are showered on us if we are leading relatively good lives.
How can one not cheer when all of life’s lessons are sent her way in this “second” life to show her the horror of her past life?
The next one in the line-up is very specifically for a young audience.
We have become spoilt with Hollywood and Studio Ghibli introducing us to animation that hits all the right spots for both children and adults.
Pororo – The Racing Adventure (director Park Young-gyun, 77 minutes on September 3 at noon at Brooklyn Cinema Nouveau) is about a collection of animals participating in a bobsled race that they have no chance of winning – or do they?
This is one that is absolutely aimed at those young ones, has an old-fashioned style and a story that should intrigue pre-school and preteens.
Papa (director Han Ji-seung, 118 minutes long, on September 3 at 2.30pm at Brooklyn Cinema Nouveau) reminded me of silly movies made a few decades back with someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the unlikely role of a soft-hearted family man.
A young man marries a woman many years his senior to stay in the country, but she dies suddenly and the only way to take care of the mess is to take custody of the six children she has left behind.
Like the chaos he finds himself in, the movie goes through similar negative markers.
Six children should be the indicator – and all from diverse backgrounds to further complicate the story and make the point.
It’s a family film, but I’m not sure, even for free, that this is worth two hours of your time.
Papa is messy and it’s predictable and tries to please too many people.