Running from 16-April until 26-April is Copenhagen's Film Festival http://www.cphpix.dk/n/a1.lasso?e=1 which present Copenhagen's cinemagoers with unique films from all over the world focusing on new talent. It's a huge event that covers more than just film. Check out the website to know more.
When I was in Malaysia, typically 8-20 foreign films are shown during our 'film festival' but in Copenhagen, the versatility is magnified at least a hundred times, covering from far east to Europe, comedy to avant-garde. I'm surprise to see quite a number of Singapore Films are featured as well (not that I'm from S'pore but it's the closest to home, so...)
Even though I'm overwhelmed with the selection, my choice of films are restricted to language limitation for if I choose an European film, most probably it'll be shown with Danish subtitle and I'm not exactly up to speed to catch the essence yet. So I put my scope on Asian movie, narrowed down to a Korean (My Dear Enemy) & a Kazakhstan movie (the Native Dancer).
From its opening shot -- a long take that follows tightly wound thirtysomething Hee-su from her car to a racetrack, where she surprises her ex-b.f., Byeong-woon and demands the 3.5 million won ($2,600) he still owes her. The ex-bf is laid back & broke but he suggests her to drive him around town to meet some friends who can help (borrowing money, of course).
A middle-aged business woman loaned him a sizable amount, but Hee-su wanted the full amount and refuse to settle on 1/3 of the money. So they continue & as the journey goes on, they meet a wealthy bargirl who insulted Hee-su; Byeong-woo's former girlfriend and her weird rich husband; single mom who owes Byeong-woo favour; police woman who used to be Byeong-woo's skiing student; his cousin & some biker friends.
Initially I thought the focus is on Byeong-woo since he's the one linking one scene to another with mostly all the dialogues, but as the story developes, it becomes clear that Hee-su is the sewing thread. Following Hee-su's emotional as she discovers more of Byeong-woo's life, when she gradually change from sternly demanding her money, to understanding the other good qualities of Byeong-woo, to growing sympathetic for him, I have to admit I felt like being in her shoes for certain duration.
This film is far from a laugh-out-loud comedy (in fact, I think it's rather 'grey'), but the snappy dialogue between the characters and the fluidity of the script manage to make audience burst out in laughters from time to time. I don't know about others but I kind of like this film. I'm not too keen about the pace (it gets boring at certain interval) though. If it can pick up a faster pace or shorten by 20 minutes, it could be better. Anyway, that's just me.
No comments:
Post a Comment