Last year, I began my festival with Chang-dong Lee's Secret Sunshine, a terrific drama/whodunnit that still hasn't seen U.S. release. Make sure to keep watching for it. This year, I decided to start my festival with another Korean film called The Chaser, directed by first-timer Hong-jin Na. I didn't expect much walking into the theatre because I hadn't heard anything about the movie, but I was soon taken by complete surprise when I learned in the programmer's introduction that it competed for this year's Palme d'Or at Cannes. When the movie came up on the screen, I was blind-sided once again. From the first ten minutes, I could tell that it would be one of the most stylistically-enriching exercises in pulp since the one Quentin Tarantino provided us with fourteen years ago.
The Chaser tells the story of a psychotic killer not unlike those in the Saw and Hostel series, who takes prostitutes back to his home only to mame and kill them. The movie isn't your standard torture-porn flick, though; in fact, folks like Eli Roth really should watch it to learn a thing or two from Na's refreshing debut. The story-web cast is complex.
Young-min Jee (Jung-woo Ha) is a regular client of Joong-ho Eom (Yun-seok Kim), an ex-cop-turned-pimp whose call-girls seem to be disappearing on him by the second. Young-min has been killing them, but Joong-ho doesn't realize that the two who have gone missing were both with Young-min until after he dispatches Mi-jin Kim (Yeong-hi Seo) to Young-min's home. Joong-ho thinks Young-min is selling the girls into sex-slavery, which, as he pieces together as the movie goes on, would be a far better fate than the torturous one they're actually suffering. Joong-ho chases Young-min throughout the movie, even catching him very early on only to see a beaureocratic police-force release him because they have no evidence to hold him on. Complicated situations ensue with Mi-jin's single-digit-aged daughter and Joong-ho's assistant (who he calls "Meathead") along for the ride.
The Chaser revels in socio-political commentary on the state of the South Korean police, stomach-churning violence that serves a far greater purpose than it does in the Saw series, well-paced chase scenes with stunning cinematography, a Shakesperean tone of unescapable dread, and the feeling that it is the work of the next great Asian action director. It has its problems, yes, running for about a half-hour too long at 125 minutes, but theyare negligible when one considers what a find it is. I can't think of a better movie I could've seen this Halloween. 3-1/2 Buckets out of 4; screens again Thursday, Nov. 6 at 12:30 p.m.
Also on my list of films to cover today is Margarita Jimeno's Gogol Bordello Nonstop, a documentary delving into the history of the titular gypsy-punk band that has its premiere at the festival tonight. I'm not familiar with the band's music beyond the songs used for film-soundtracks (Everything is Illuminated) or its members beyond the fact that they all appear in Madonna's new bomb of a directing-debut Filth and Wisdom, which explains why I found the doc pretty uninteresting. Beyond familiarizing the viewer with the paradox that is gypsy-punk, Jimeno doesn't delve into anything profound about the band's origins or its purpose, nor does she allow time for any long-passages of concert-footage (I'll admit the music is catchy--"Start wearin' purple / wearin' purple..."). The result is a film that will only appeal to hardcore Gogol Bordello fans. I assume that AFI only programmed it because of the success of a similar niche-music film that sold out three shows at last year's fest, Heima featuring the compositions of Icelandic band Sigur Ros. 2 Buckets out of 4; screens tonight at 7:10 p.m. and Weds., Nov. 5 at 12:30 p.m.
That's all I have for now; I will return tonight or tomorrow morning with three more reviews. Until next time, may the film-going forces of the world force be with you.
Posts
