Sunday, December 19, 2010
MYSTERY STORY
Today's film was Bong Joon-ho's
At its heart is the bravura performance of Kim Hye-ja as Mother. Primal. The mom who would do anything to protect her son.
Who in this case is a mentally challenged young man who finds himself accused of murder and signs a confession in his grilling with the local, more or less, friendly but inept cops.
The film is about her finding the real murderer and working with other likely and unlikely allies to do so.
This film is rendered in wonderful cinematography. The music is superb. The production values are very high.
It is like the difference between a pulp novel and a literary novel. The same story could be told in simpler brush strokes but in the lit novel as well as this film, the life is in the many little side paths and the depth of the characters and events.
We are with Mother throughout. We see what she sees. Nothing else. And she doesn't miss a thing.
There are twists and turns. There are red herrings. It feels at times, with Hye-ja's furious performance that we are in a greek drama. But is is very contemporary. She is quite beautiful in a wild way. Striking. Handsome. Surely intense.
Why am I shocked when "foreign" films look as familiar to me as the village downtown right here.
This is a dead serious movie with a lot of funny stuff in it too. Again. The many layers. Novelistic.
Very good.
I will want to see this again and, if I can get some more Bong Joon-ho's films I will have a small fest.
Labels: films
