2013.3.22 NOW PLAYING
Your Time is Up (19)
Your Time is Up
Everyone has violent instincts, and most of us are good at hiding them. Once anger takes charge, however, there’s no way to stop.
“Your Time is Up” by director Kim Seung-hyun tells a story of a normal guy bursting out his wrongheaded desire. Seok-ho (Choi Won-young), an employee at a water purifier company, has been bored with daily life lately. One day, he finds out that the money he lent his younger brother was wrongfully given to a seductive bar hostess named Hee-young (Kim E-jung). Before long, the younger brother gets killed after a fight with Hee-young’s lover from an affair.
A shocked Seok-ho revisits the bar to find out about the murder, but he is rather attracted to the hostess. Surrounded by unexplainable madness, he begins a bloody vengeance.
The Korean Academy of Film Arts, the main investor for the movie, has provided only 60 million won ($540,979), but the film still managed to make a strong impact.
The movie was invited to the 2012 Busan International Film Festival in the “New Currents” category.
Eating, Talking, Faucking (19)
Drama / 100 / Korean
A straightforward and shocking story about sexual desire, “Eating, Talking, Faucking” will be remembered as the posthumous piece of director Park Chul-soo, who recently died after being hit by a drunken driver. The movie includes about 20 episodes related to sexuality.
Actress Oh In-hye plays the role of a femme fatale, and several men in thirst for love feed their desire through her. Cho Kyung-joo made her first debut with the film. Cho plays a number of roles, all of which aim to represent young people’s love.
Besides the rookies, veteran actors also appear in the film. Oh Kwang-rok acts as God, who is disgusted by human corruption.
Lee Deok-hwa appears as a professor in immoral intimacy, and Lim Baek-cheon is an artist whose wife in having an affair.
Sex-themed movies are often called decadent or shallow. Park’s piece, however, certainly has a deeper meaning.
He says he intentionally made scenes very detailed in order to overcome Korean society’s stiffness in terms expressing one’s own sexual desires.
Les seigneurs (12)
Les seigneurs
The movie “Les Seignerus” by Olivier Dahan is a typical French comedy centered on funny and unique characters.
In it, a divorced alcoholic named Patrick Orbera (Jose Garcia) becomes the coach of a local soccer team. The town’s factory is about to be shutdown, and one way to save it is to have soccer games.
The director collects a bunch of former soccer stars, but they’re all very out of shape.
Of the midfielders, Rayane Ziani (Gad Elmaleh) has a panic disorder that keeps him from taking the field without his extremely worn underwear and Joey Starr (Shaheef Berda) is a convicted felon. Striker David Leandri (Franck Dubosc) combs his hair even during games, and goalkeeper Marandella (Ramzy Bedia) is not at all interested in his duty.
Famous actor Omar Sy from “Les Intouchables” in 2011 lends a bit of star power to the work. He appears in the movie as the team’s defender.
In the end, the dream team makes miracles as the story progresses and gets some laughs along the way.
Oz: The Great and Powerful (All)
Oz: The Great and Powerful
This prequel to L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and the 1939 film classic “The Wizard of Oz” is Disney’s latest fantasy blockbuster gamble after last year’s “John Carter” was a domestic flop.
In it, small-time huckster Oscar “Oz” Diggs (James Franco) is transported from Kansas to the Land of Oz, where he thinks he’s hit the big league as the residents of this new world think he is their savior.
Three witches, Glinda, Evanora and Theodora, however, doubt his claim to the legend.
He must figure out who is on his side and use his illusions, deception and magic to save the Land from a familiar Wicked Witch.
We all know that the Wizard is a fraud and there’s no surprise to that reveal. What the film attempts to do is explain why he became that man, and ask who among these three witches is the wicked one.
Reception has been somewhat positive but mixed overall. Critics agree that while it might not be the smartest fantasy movie ever produced, it is certainly vibrant and mesmerizing to take in, especially given its 3-D treatment.
Entertainment Weekly’s Chris Nashawady says, “While [Raimi’s] Oz is like retinal crack, he never seduces our hearts and minds.”
The movie will at least provide an entertaining distraction in the lead-up to the first wave of effects-laden summer hits.
Lincoln (12)
Lincoln
Daniel Day Lewis won an Oscar for his performance as President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s portrait of the United States’ 16th president dealing with an unruly House of Representatives and fractured nation during the Civil War.
The plot mainly revolves around Lincoln’s efforts to pass the 13th Amendment, freeing slaves, and the cast of characters he must contend with and rely on in his role as president.
The cast includes Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, David Strathairn as Secretary of State William Seward and a particularly animated Tommy Lee Jones as Rep. Thaddeus Stevens, who burden and challenge the folksy Lincoln in his struggle.
The principal drama lies in how pushing the amendment through the House of Representatives to free the slaves is actually a race against time; the war could end any day, and if southern states return to the union, there will be little chance that they will vote to abolish slavery. The amount of political and personal sacrifice required to do so provides a window, albeit fictional and sentimental, into the political savvy of one of America’s most well-regarded leaders.
But political savvy as propulsion through the plot of a movie means that there are a lot of smoke-filled rooms, speeches and studies. It is a good thing that the movie opens on a battlefield because the next hour takes place inside of rooms, carriage cars, Congress and more rooms. It plods along slowly. But, if you want to see an action-filled movie about the time period, and slavery in particular, it might be best to get thee to “Django Unchained.” Or better yet, see both and ponder the ways in which both remember the past.
The New York Times’ A.O. Scott says, “To say that this is among the finest films ever made about American politics may be to congratulate it for clearing a fairly low bar.”
The films’ detractors mostly gripe about pacing and also the lack of clear revelations.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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