Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Naesarang Ssagaji (My Love Ssagajy: 100 Days with Mr. Arrogant)

She ain't heavy, she's a minor.

Naesarang Ssagaji (My Love Ssagajy: 100 Days with Mr. Arrogant)

Starring: Kim Jae-won (Romance), Ha Ji-won (Memories of Bali/Love, So Divine)
Director: Shin Don-yup


This should have been a bad movie. The booger flinging, the masturbation jokes, the spit soup, ranges from whathafuck to blech! But I enjoyed. I enjoyed it a lot. Originally an internet novel, the storyline is see-through flimsy right from the outset. A high school knucklehead accidentally causes a car accident and the dickhead owner demands that she become his slave for 100 days to pay off the damage. Pacing is quirky quick, and the jokes, ah, the jokes. Sublimely irreverent. Haven't cried this much since Old Yeller. Of course, love ruins everything and humor takes a backseat in the last half hour. The leap to innocence is uncovincing and trite it almost feels like an apology for the brutal naughtiness of its early parts when, really, none is needed. ***

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Gabal (The Wig)

Getting Wiggy With It






Gabal (The Wig)

Starring Min-seo Chae (Champion), Hyon-Jin Sa (Tube, Kilimajnaro)

Director: Shin Yeon-Won

The ending wracks, right. But trangression's still a priority also-ran , so - - - uh oh. The sustain it achieves, though, you have to at least admire that. The way it stretches cuckoo premise over pokerfaced tableau with a straight face. Some parts draw you in. Others make you flinch. Most make trips to the refrigerator without bothering with the pause button guilt-free. Rarely does it hit ballistic on the sublime freakout you secretly hoped for. Nor the arcane kitsch that would've done as consolation prize. But then, rarely does it collapse and twitch into the involuntary giggly fits you save for those Ed Wood marathons. Things stay prim , proper, blah - - - like a string quartet. It gives its game away only after when it sinks in that what you've just plowed through was a horror movie about a haunted wig. And what an inexplicably dull missed opportunity that was. How Miike would have skullfucked this baby. Bit of a shame, then. * *