Parasite (2019) - Movie Review

Bong Joon-ho is one of those filmmakers where, while it’s difficult to pin down the exact kind of films he makes in terms of genre, you still know one of his works when you see it. Whether it’s the monster trappings of The Host, the kid and their pet narrative of Okja, or the globalist frenzy of Snowpiercer, his blend of poignant social commentary and modestly batshit specifics make him one of the most interesting international directors I’ve come across. And his latest continues with that trend, marking his first return to all-Korean settings and cast since breaking onto the global stage with Snowpiercer, the result of which is one of his best efforts yet.

Illang: The Wolf Brigade (2018) - Movie Review

 

Transferring media born from one culture to the tastes of another requires more than simple copy-and-pasting. In order to make it convincing that there is a reason why a particular story is being reframed and reshipped to different territories, sometimes changes need to be made. It can involve relatively minor changes, like replacing some of the aspects of Watchmen, or it can be a lot more thorough, like the complete political shifts in V For Vendetta. This film, closing out today’s triumvirate of live-action anime adaptations, is a South Korean take on a piece of Japanese animated cinema. The results are… mixed.

Rampant (2018) - Movie Review

The plot: Prince Lee Chung (Hyun Bin), after hearing that his brother had taken his own life, has to return home but it is certainly not as he left. The region has become infested with Night Demons, causing the dead to rise again and swarm the living. Unless he and a group of resistance fighters can stop them, the entire nation will be theirs.

Okja (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: For the past ten years, South Korean girl Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun) has looked after Okja, a “super-pig” that is one of 26 specimens sent out by the Mirando Corporation to different farmers all over the world. However, when Mirando CEO Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) takes Okja away to take part in a competition in New York, Okja finds herself in the middle of an open battle between Mirando and a group of animal rights activists led by Jay (Paul Dano) as to what Okja, and the other super-pigs like her, will become.