Apur Sansar

4th Class is a 2009 Korean film. It is sometimes credited as 4th Period Mystery or as Detectives in 40 Minutes. It is a slick thriller that I managed to watch that is neat as long as it runs. I had always wanted to make a thriller of this sort. Something that wasn't bloody serious. Something that had school going children doing all the investigative stuff. Something that was slick, smart and terrifically shot. 4th Class is just that. The film does not run more than an hour and a half but has some splendid moments all over it. Watch this small film that is directed by Lee Sang-youg and written by Sin Dong-yepp for the excitement, fun and mystery that would be unsolved by people in school uniforms! This might not be half as good as the best murder mystery I have read or seen. But the entertainment and excitement that it gave me as I watch the stylish thriller unfold was something totally worth it.

A cop. A criminal. A flower. The tagline of Daisy does say a lot of things. It is the story about a cop and a criminal which gets connected over the life of a colour through a flower. Daisy however does not have much of a charm besides the beautifully shot visuals and the charming leading lady. Andrew Lau who had co-directed the Infernal affairs is the director here. However Daisy is no interesting film with its slow tempo and poor narration.

Finally, I watched My Sassy Girl. A romantic comedy that has some brilliantly written moments. It is the character of the girl and the performance given to the character that works beyond the screenplay here. The ending did not come by surprise but the simple yet interesting moments through the film with interesting narrations by the male protagonist makes this film worth watching.

Kim Ki-Duk's Dream is yet again a strange film. I'm not much impressed with the film though there are a few interesting aspects in the film. The story of a guys dream turning real is not new. But due to the fact that it is connected to a girl who happens to be sleep walking at the time of the dream is quite an interesting idea. However this interest cannot last for 95 minutes and that is the place where the film fails.  The film is quite violent in nature as the end nears and there are a few highly imaginative scenes in the film. But in the end, Kim Ki-Duk's Dream is not a must watch.

I thought I would see another Korean movie today. This time around I chose director Kim Kid-duk's Bad Guy. But the film was not such a great experience. The impact I have after watching bad guy does have traces of the reaction I had after watching Address Unknown.  The initial part of the film progresses interestingly. But the narrative struggles as the plot development seems to be too little. The character never really interested me. The film does have a few good symbolism and some interesting images despite the very sad events happening inside the film. 

Kim Ki-duk is one director whom I have suddenly become a huge fan of. The reason is simple, his characters don't talk too much. I have only seen four of his films however. The last two of them happened to have made me admire the craft and art of the filmmaker in Kim Ki-duk while the first two where not quite the sort I enjoyed. The first film that I saw from the maker was called Address Unknown and I remember very little of it now except for some brutally bloody scenes which are more or less nightmares for me now. Then I happened to have seen a brilliantly set film that happens just around a single location. It was The Isle. The female character of the film was a mute girl and so was the film mute for more than three fourth of the time. What I disliked about Isle was also certain scenes of extreme violence which was very hard for me to watch on screen. It was 3-Iron that surprised me completely of how beautifully characters could be handled in the film with very little talking. 3-I...

I had seen a film by the director Joon-ho Bong almost three years back (That would be 2007). The film was called The Host. It was a dubbed version of the Korean original. I usually don't like dubbed movies, but the experience of watching Host could be called a slightly different one. It is because, the film worked for me. The film was a comedy set on a disaster day. The disaster of a monster attacking a city. The film was brilliantly made, though I'm not sure if everybody would enjoy the kind of humour that was present in the film. Now after three years I was able to visit yet another film by Joon. It was a film made in 2003. The film had faces familiar to me via The Host! The film was called Memories of Murder. Memories of Murder is a brilliantly made film which grows into being a excellent thriller. The film is smartly written, well executed and splendidly visualized.

Kim Ji-Woon is a Korean filmmaker. I happened to have seen two of his films recently. A bittersweet life and A Tale of Two Sisters. These two movies happened to have had a terrific impact deep inside me. If you ask me if these are my favourite films. The answer would be a definite no. But they seem to have inspired me to be a filmmaker real soon. The kind of treatment and the beauty in executing scenes is evident through out these two films. A bittersweet life is a story that is a bit over board as the film progresses. But what makes the film work is the sensibility with which the filmmaker has treated his film. The beautiful thought provoking story in the beginning and the brilliantly crafted scenes that follow of the lead protagonist are a pure treat to watch. A Tale of Two Sisters is a horror flick. Even when it has a lot of cliches the treatment of Kim makes you want to sit through the whole film.

Kim Ki-duk's The Isle is a film that is meant for very few. It is said to be the movie that gave Ki-duk his international acclaim. The movie centers around a mute girl who rents small cottages on a lake for fishermen. The movie is one top class work on visuals. But the problem why Isle is not meant for everyone is the hidden violence, sex and brutality. A painful atmosphere is very well built by Kim in this picture that runs around 90 minutes. The Isle is a movie that works on a territory of violence that was far unknown to me with a subject, a purpose and a painful emotion of jealous, all to be conveyed to it's desired audience.

The Host , co-written and directed by Joon-ho Bong, is a noteworthy monster movie from Korea. The Host is a satirical comedy with a very different monster. It does have family drama, sentiments, action, horror and more, all followed by some weird act which without doubt is to make you laugh(atleast once). It is this weird kind of comedy that works best in this monster movie. The visual effects of the monster is definitely worth mentioning due to its mix of unfamiliar nature, (familiar nature) and complexity. The only major trouble with this flick is in classifying it. It is not complete in any genre. Yet, it has a bit of all the genres. Like every other monster movie made by man, this one too has its own plot holes every now and then. Also, this flick looks way too silly at points and mostly when you least expect it to be. Despite every fact mentioned above (and considering the facts I have forgotten to write), this Host throughly entertained me. It was not the silliness of the movie...