My Wife Is A Gangster

Title: My Wife Is A Gangster

Director: Jo Jin-Kyu

Released: 2001

Starring: Eun-Kyung Shin, Ahn Jae-mo, Park Sang-myn, Kim In-kwon, Jang Se-jin, Yeon Jung-hoon, Lee Eung-kyung, Kim In-mun, Gye-nam Myseong, Shin Shin-Ae

Plot: Eun-jin is a high ranking gangster in the Korean Mafia who suddenly finds herself being forced to find a husband to forfill the wishes of her dying sister who much like Eun-jin’s new husband has no idea of her ties to the criminal underworld.

Review: The first film in a trilogy, this action comedy is something of a double edged sword as here we get solid action sequences alongside the comedic attempts of Eun-jin to play both a wife and continue her role as a crime boss. Now this is not exactly the most original of plots especially as there have been a slew of comedies based around one party trying to hide their actions from their significant other, much less ones based around a character having to act against their general personality.

Opening to a rain drenched fight between two rival gangster clans we are introduced to Eun-jin or more her legend as Mantis who easily dispatches her gangster foes using her preferred weapon of choice can be best described as a pair of scissor blades.  Of course even without her unleashing bladed death Eun-Kyung Shin has just as much of an intimidating presence when she’s just drinking tea and reading the newspaper with Director Jo Jin-kyu thankfully playing things largely subtle as he prefers instead to play up her tough and largely cold persona which needless to say makes her attempts at finding her softer side only the more amusing.

Predictably a lot of the humor is derived from Eun-jinn attempting to play the dating game and find her softer side, initially though some interesting advice from the make up artist that her henchmen find to help her find a more feminine side to her look.  It’s a chance encounter though that she meets future Kang Soo-il (Park Sang-myn) who is astonishingly clueless about his wife’s criminal activities not to mention extremely accepting of her cold demeanor as any attempts her make to romance her usually end with him being kicked comedically across the room.

Adding to the comedic element are her loyal henchmen who are drawn into the attempts to find her a husband while at the same time mainly relying on the resources open to them as seen by them filling up the church with hostesses from their karaoke bars and fellow mobsters. Thrown into the mix is the cousin of her henchman, who fresh from the country has big ideas about being a mobster but zero clue of how he’s supposed to conduct himself let alone the fact that his preferred weapon of choice is a the shin bone from a horse really speaks volumes about him while at the same time largely being played for laughs.

Were the comedy tends to fail or perhaps just gets lost in translation are usually with the scenes between Eun-jin and Kang Soo-il with him trying to undress her while she is asleep or her suddenly being tasked with having a baby taking to essentially raping him as she forces him to continually have sex with her in her attempts to get pregnant. Thankfully the comedy and action of other scenes make up for these awkward moments which make it easier to stomach.

In a Jackie Chan vein the action sequences blend perfectly alongside the comedic moments with Eun-Kyung Shin showcasing some incredible fighting ability, while the variety of these set pieces choreographed by Kim Won-jin  which include a knife fight in a field being shot almost like a showdown between two samurai and a warehouse gang fight really giving the kind of action I wasn’t expecting from such a largely comedic film.

An entertaining watch if for a few tricky comedic moments, the blending of styles works perfectly here while ending on a sequence which had me eager to check out the sequel.

An Introduction to Korean Cinema

In recent years Korea has become a cinema powerhouse, churning out a huge selection of quality films which has been something of a bonus for the established fans of Asian cinema, but can prove slightly bewildering to newcomers as to where to start.

So with today being the last day of “The Korean Cinema Blogathon”, a week long celebration of "Korean Cinema" currently being hosted by both “New Korean Cinema” and “cineAWSOME”, so here is my own introduction to Korean cinema aswell as possibly some of the most exciting cinema currently being produced today.

Brotherhood

Set in 1950 on the eve of the Korean war were two brothers are drafted to the frontlines, leading Jin-tae (Dong-gun Jang) on a desperate bid to win a medal of honor so that his younger brother Jin-seok (Bin Won) can be released from service, as the two brothers learn the true horrors of the war which has enveloped their country.

Frequently referred to as the Korean “Saving Private Ryan”, I actually preferred this over Spielberg’s war epic, especially as this tale of two brothers in the Korean war is none the less powerful, especially with it’s blood and snot finale which truly captures just how bloody a war it really was, while certainly not being afraid to run the audience through an emotional wringer. Needless to say director Je-kyu Kang is certainly one of the key directors of New Korean cinema, especially when he continue to craft Hollywood standard blockbusters like this and this film proves just why he is a director to watch.

I'm A Cyborg, But I'm Okay

Young-Goon (Su-Jeong Lim) believes she is cyborg, but after plugging herself into the mains, in a failed attempt to recharge her batteries, she finds herself committed to an Asylum, were she soon attracts the attentions of her fellow inmate Il-Sun (Rain) who believes that he can steal other people’s souls / attributes and with whom she soon forms an unusual bond.

Director Park Chan-wook supposedly made this for his eleven year old daughter and marked for the director a radical change in direction for this is the same director who brought us his dark and gripping “Vengeance Trilogy”, while proving here that he was capable of working in more than one genre as he would also prove with his follow up “Thirst” which also brought an interesting take to the overworked vampire genre. Still the idea of a watching a romantic and frequently surreal film set in a mental institution, let alone one without the prospect of anyone being beaten with a hammer, or eating live squid might prove to some not the most appealing of prospects, especially to the established fans and true while this offering from no doubt one of the most exciting and interesting directors currently working in modern Korean cinema, might not contain any of the shocking imagery of his earlier films which made them so memorable, there is still a lot to enjoy here even if this film is lighter in tone, he still allows for his darker side to seep into this film, I mean after all what other romantic comedy can you think of, which opens with the leading lady, wiring herself up to the mains?

Save the Green Planet!

Lee Byeong-gu (Shin Ha-Kyun), a man who believes that aliens are about to attack Earth and that more importantly that he is the only one who can prevent them, teams up with his childlike circus-performer girlfriend (Jeong-min Hwang) to kidnaps a powerful executive (Yun-shik Baek) whom he believes to be a top ranking extraterrestrial who can contact the prince of these aliens during the upcoming eclipse.

A masterpiece of genre bending antics from director Jang Jun-hwan as Comedy, Sci-fi, Thriller and Horror meet in a head on collision of styles, to create a truly unique viewing experience which constantly keeps the viewer guessing as to what is going to happen next, as the frequent switches between the genres makes it anything but predictable, while also featuring a punk rock version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” on the soundtrack, which is never a bad thing.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird

Set in the desert wilderness of 1930s Manchuria were The Bad (Lee Byung-hun) - a bandit and hitman - is hired to acquire a treasure map from a Japanese official traveling by train. Before he can get it however, The Weird (Song Kang-ho) - a thief - steals the map while invertibly being caught up in The Bad's derailment of the train. Meanwhile the Good (Jung Woo-sung) an eagle-eyed bounty hunter appears to claim the bounty on The Bad, while The Weird escapes hoping to uncover the map's secrets and recover what he believes is gold and riches buried by the Qing Dynasty.

Personally I’ve never been a fan of Westerns, but for some strange reason I can’t get enough of Asian Westerns and having adored Takashi Miike’s “Sukiyaki Western Django” this film captures the same fun energy, as it takes traditional western themes and ideas and gives them an Eastern twist, with thrilling shoot out’s and several spectacular set pieces including the finale which see’s the Japanese army, Manchurian bandits, The Good, The Bad and his gang all chasing The Weird while heavily artillery shells decimate the surrounding area. This is one western which constantly seems to be playing a game of one-upmanship with itself, creating one hell of a fun ride in the process, which is anything but boring.

Park Chan-Wook's Vengeance Trilogy

Park Chan-wook’s highly memorable trilogy of films comprised of “Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance”, the insanely popular “Oldboy” and the severely underrated “Lady Vengeance”. Three films linked by shared themes and ideas, rather than characters and plots, much like Miike Takashi’s “Triad Society Trilogy” whose trilogy also followed these same rules. As a result all three films can be watched on their own and in any order, but together form a devastating and beautifully shocking trilogy of movies, which not only helped mark out Chan-wook as a director to watch, but with "Oldboy" also helped launched the Korean movie invasion into the public conscious, while showing to established fans of Asian cinema that Korea was producing films just as exciting as those being produced by Japan and China who had dominated the Asian market at that point.

While all containing moments of shocking violence, it’s also safe to say that vengeance has never looked as good as Chan-Wook how chooses to portray it with surprising moments of tenderness scattered throughout the three films, to balance out the more shocking ones.

Death Bell

A group of top students are chosen to study over their vacation in order to take a test and impress a sister school. With the best students in the school chosen, it is soon to be an unfortunate fate, as a sadistic killer traps them in the school and starts kidnapping them one by one. Each kidnapped student is then threatened with a torturous death unless the rest of the students can solve the questions being given to them by the killer.

A recent discovery for myself this simple horror plays out in a similar style to “Saw”, a concept now firmly run into the ground, but with the refreshing lack of extreme gore and more of a focus on the mystery, makes it still a fun watch while also containing more than a few surreal shocks along the way to help it stand out from the numerous “Saw” clones which have flooded the market recently, especially as it has enough originality on show here to help it stand on it’s own.

H

Shin Hyun (Jo Seung-woo) a serial killer who preyed on pregnant women has been behind bars for 10 months when a copycat killer becomes active. Detectives Kim (Yeom Jeong-ah) and Kang (Ji Jin-hee) meet with the imprisoned killer and search for clues in an effort to head off the copy cat killer before he finishes.

Largely over looked since it’s release due to mixed opinion, it is still dark “Se7en” esq style thriller, which is still a good mystery with plenty of style while perhaps making several large leaps in plausibility, but certainly none as preposterous as M. Night Shyamalan has made with any of his recent films, though best not watched expecting high art to avoid any disappointment.

Pulgasari

An evil king (Yong-Hok Pak) aware of the peasant rebellion being planned, steals all the iron in the country, to make weapons for his own personal army. After discovering bandits in the local village he imprisons them along with their leaders grandfather (Gwon Ri), who staves himself to death, while creating a tiny figurine of the mythical creature Pulgasari, which comes to life when combined with the blood of his daughter. Growing bigger with the more Iron it consumes the creature helps the peasants to fight back against their corrupt king.

Pulgasari is a film most commonly known for the tales behind it’s making, rather than the film itself, seeing how its creation was the result of the former North Korean dictator and film fanatic Kim Jong-il Kim, who being a fan of South Korean director Sang-ok Shin and apparently not being content with perhaps an autograph, instead had Shin kidnapped, forcing him to direct seven films for him, which Kim Jong-il also acted as executive producer for. Shin eventually managed to escape back to the South, but out of those film, this is one is the most well known, no doubt a result of its ties to the Kaiju genre, which is no doubt the reason it hasn't been forgotten entirely.

While these films might just be scratching the surface, they will hopefully provide some of you with a starting fan, while maybe helping the more established fans amongst you find something new to watch and why not post your own recommendations in the comments section below.