korean sampler: IL MARE

[FROM MY OLD MULTIPLY SITE]

NOTE: AN OLD REVIEW, JUST CROSS-POLLINATING HERE FOR NEW GROWTH SPURTS (sept 2006)
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“siworae” (time-transcending love) in korean

i’ve been hearing about this film from my students who really dig korean movies. it was only last tuesday that i got to watch it on the big screen during the opening of upfi’s korean film festival this week. if you want to catch more korean films, the last day of screenings is, well, today (saturday). and it’s for free. so go watch.

i also heard about this film as being the reference of a local film called MOMENTS OF LOVE which was produced by gma films. i never saw that one but my mom did. and you know that when it comes to film reviews, my mom is my original siskel and ebert scale.  she liked that one but didn’t like the legitimate remake which is LAKE HOUSE. some friends also didn’t like that hollywood version so i skipped it. i’m not too keen on seeing keanu act in a drama again (tiniis ko lang ang SWEET NOVEMBER dahil kay charlize theron ha) and see his fantabulous display of his skills he earned from the school of wooden acting. but that’s another review.

so this IL MARE “original” is indeed an original. it was a longish film but i didn’t feel any drag. it was well-acted and nicely shot. more accurately, it was nicely framed. not too postcard-y finished but it looked picture perfect pa rin. the camera movements were cool, probably because the filmmakers were trying to experiment on movement. i especially liked the split-screen dolly arcs of the two main characters (shot individually) with the magical mailbox in the middle. it was creative and i liked it. very simple yet ingenious. kung hollywood yan, dinaan na yan sa chroma at special effects.

the story is well-crafted, too. it’s just simple yet very intricate. walang masyadong loopholes. kung may mapansin ka man, dededmahin mo na lang. it’s that okay it’s forgivable. you tend to buy the suspension of disbelief that the film is selling, which is the connection/communication of two people living in different time frames. and to think that it is a love story to boot and it made me stay on — wow, an achievement. rarely do i see love stories not treated sappily or mushily. eto iyon. kaya okay siya. it’s more of a “what happens next kaya?” type of film rather than a “uuy magiging sila kaya?” film. action driven. good plot point hooking pero character-driven pa rin ito. okay siya kaya nice.

what i don’t like about the film is the korean’s penchant of making a semi-music video cum videoke song scenes. i counted at least two here. yun ang attempts at sappy mushiness. i wish they could have done without that. but i guess this won’t have a korean mark if that was gone. napansin ko lang na korean films tend to have that kind of interlude scenes much like some mainstream filipino films. but the difference is, their interlude scenes look much like music video shoots or videoke shoots whereas for us, hmm… not exactly like theirs. i don’t know how to describe it. ah wait i know — pang-variety show ang sa atin, not mtv. parang ganun. well, ours border on the silly most times anyway so laos tayo in that aspect. but that’s another review.

i’m just wondering what came first, IL MARE or FREQUENCY. looking at the details, the former came out sept 2000 while the latter came out april 2000. hmmm… but i really dig FREQUENCY because it used the aurora borealis as its main reason for messing up the time-space continuum thingie which made the protagonist son-father tandem communicate over time using a cb radio. at least there’s a scientific attempt of explaining weird things!  hmmm… but nonetheless, nagkopyahan man o hindi, i liked both even if they used similar plot patterns because each had different and very uniquely inventive treatments naman e – which both worked for me.

a sci-fi whodunit detective drama (mixed genres!)

nice. two arps up in a circle! go watch.

but wait. i’m just lost as to why the place/house was named in italian. i missed the first few minutes (too busy with the cocktails pa hehe) so i might have missed something. was this explained?

just wondering.