International/Classic Review: A Bittersweet Life - 2005

Every now and then a film I watch a film that leaves me completely astounded, and occasionally even restores my faith in Cinema. A Bittersweet Life is one of these films, it isn't particularly original as it is made up of elements that will be familiar to most film buffs, it has no monumental performances from it's cast, and makes no major technical breakthroughs. And yet it has something that is not often seen in recent films, it has a deliberate sense of self, an identity that I find lacking in many similar films these days, and more importantly, it has a soul.

This may sound silly, but that is what makes all the difference between this film and the many other vapid and dull "gangster" films released each year.
Perhaps this is because it is a Korean film (original title: Dalkomhan insaeng), and the Korean film industry is a relatively new one that seems to be at the height of it's powers at the moment, producing one great film after another and completely outdoing Hollywood in one of their own staple genres, the Thriller, in particularly the investigative thriller (police vs psychos).

A Bittersweet life isn't really a detective thriller, I'd say if it had to be put into a genre, it would be a gangster film.

Top 50: Directors Whose Work I Need To Explore

After a couple of years of film watching with purpose, I've seen quite a few films and have become familiar with many directors works. But as always (and as is evident by this previous post) there are some directors whose work I have yet to experience. Some are internationally famous directors, other more obscure, but I have been recommended their work many times and feel that the time has come for me to watch at least one of their films.

Blockbuster Review: Limitless - 2010

After giving very negative reviews to the last two blockbusters I reviewed, I decided to write about a blockbuster that I had actually enjoyed this time; for after all I’m not a snob and can enjoy anything as long as it’s good and/or entertaining whether it be an old Kung Fu, a B movie or an enormous blockbuster.

Limitless may not be a blockbuster on par with the sheer enormity of the likes of the Harry Potter films, Avatar or the recently released Green Lantern, but it certainly was designed to be a crowd pleaser and to generate money. 
There is nothing remotely deep or intelligent about it; it is just an above average Hollywood film. However it did have some interesting ideas behind it, but as with many such films they were poorly developed and put aside for more thrilling and attention grabbing elements.

Of course the fact that De Niro had a supporting role was enough to get me interested in this film, but that interest was diminished by the fact that he hasn’t been in a good film for quite some time, that I had never seen Bradley Cooper in a film before and that on the whole the film didn’t appeal to me at all. 

End of the Week Post

Films seen this week:

The Usual Suspects - 1995 directed by Bryan Singer

10/10

This is a brilliant film, I had forgotten just how great it was, or maybe I had failed to perceive it at first. What makes it so great is the fact that no matter how many problems you may have with the film, say you think one scene is overly dramatic, or that you think you've found a plot hole or that you think the motivations of one character were unclear, all perfectly sensible criticisms that actually are useless when brought against The usual Suspects, because all that transpires is essentially a completely made up and warped version of events, told by one of the characters, so to criticise the film's story is to criticise his story which is all untrue anyway. Brilliantly done and a very original and enjoyable piece of cinema that is a perfect blend of the more artistic types of American films and the blockbusters.