Joo Jup

Fame

2009-09-26T06:11:00.000-07:00

If it were the usually critical me, I would have given Fame a pretty violent review. I obviously am a big fan of films in general, but I’ve been always been a bit selective with what I enjoyed. I value depth a lot in the films I watch. Films like the Hours and City of God have really moved me at a deep emotional level, and I’ve really liked that. Fame is very very far from the thought provoking catharsis that I value so much. It reminded me a lot of Love Actually, a film that I am extremely critical of. Love Acually’s an extremely superficial with really cute stories. And particularly in regards to the scenes at the airport, where ordinary people show mere pleasantry, I thought, ‘it’s rather pathetic that the director had to rely on non-fiction, or “real emotions,” to bring out the sentimentality of the audience.’ And in many ways, Fame is just like that. To be critical, and tear apart it like I usually do, Fame has an identity crisis. The story has so much to offer, but I cannot properly deliver them within 2 hours. The abundance of the character and the potential richness of the story deserve more time, and thus, it perhaps is better suited as a television series. I felt like I was watching 2 hours of trailer, or a long montage of all the sentimental climaxes of its possible television version. In addition, the Fame tries to be a musical, with popish music and their corresponding dances. Yet, I don’t feel as if I watched a musical. A musical would have had a lot more music and dances, thus Fame isn’t quite there yet. For these reasons, Fame is indeed one of a kind (in a bad way). I’ve never seen anything film like this, but I say that not necessarily in a commending manner.

Yet, I am deeply humbled by what Fame has offered me. For long I had an arrogant attitude towards film. I’ve definitely watched a lot more than my peers, and thought that I perhaps have a more refined taste of film than them. But I admit that I have been quite judgmental over the years, and I’ve been thinking about the value of a superficial, yet enjoyable, film. I feel that going to Macalester and feeling pseudo-Aristotelian has made me lose my touch on simple pleasantry and joy in films, no matter how superficial.

So after watching Fame, I’m humbled, because I simply enjoyed the story and all the sentimental parts to it. It definitely lacks development and concreteness, but today I’m going to say it’s okay. Although overly exaggerated, Fame does touch on a lot of dilemmas young people have, even those who are in tweens. And perhaps more importantly, it not only rekindled a romantic in me, who not only had a deep appreciation of arts and was heavily involved in it, but also made me contemplate whether I could and would have gone further in the arts field. I know that this difficult question is not exclusive to me, and that several romantics and former artists, musicians, dancers, etc. all ask that.

Top 10 IR Movies

2009-09-11T20:59:00.000-07:00

As many of you may know, I studied a fair share of International Relations in College. So I did a bit of brainstorming, and chose what I consider to be my top 10 IR movies. By an IR movie, I refer to a film that discusses central themes of IR directly, including war, identity, state, democracy, etc. Therefore, the Lord of the Rings may have certain elements that many IR students can relate to, but would not be considered an IR movie by my definition. Of course, every movie's classification as an IR movie would be up for debate, so feel free to discuss your thoughts. War movies are not IR movies because although the two are related, the scope of intersection is not large enough.

10. Children of Men (2006)

Children of Men is A fantastic film that depicts the chaos in a society where people are no longer fertile. In an era where circumstances are grim and nasty (perhaps quite similar to many parts of the world today), every actor has an interest of its own, and utilizes deception and violence to meet its ends. This runs parallel to societies without a legitimate state dominating the rule of law, showing a dog-eat-dog view of the world. The movie shows a modern, or even a futuristic Hobbesian world, but this should not be confused with the Hobbesian solution to such society.

9. Jarhead (2005)

How has war changed in the post Cold War setting? Well, this is indeed a difficult question, and the case of the Gulf War is by no means a prime example. Yet, I was struck by the agony of the soldiers not facing the warfare they were trained for. Instead of a head to head battle with the Iraqis, they were a secondary unit behind the air force, which did most of the bombings. I was constantly reminded of Jarhead when I was in the Korea Army Training Center. What's the use of all this training and physical exercise when thousands of bullets would only slightly wound one soldier while a F-16 jet would do most the work? Or to put it more bluntly, am I just a human shield with a purpose of receiving a flying bomb so that the same bomb would not cause civilian casualties? Jarhead poses questions that few IR scholars touch, the individual psychology in times of war.

8. Traffic (2000)

Traffic is a relevant film today even 9 years after its making. In fact, it would have been a relevant film 10 years ago, and would be 10 years later if status quo is maintained. The North American drug problem is a international issue that is much wider in scope that it seems to be, and Traffic shows this. The many facets of the drug problem show how a web of actors are stretched throughout the society, and are in fact more linked than they seem on surface. Traffic shows that the drug problem exists not only because of supply, but demand as well, and the demand side is not doing its share of the work. Much like the Jarhead, the investigation of individuals involved in this IR mess adds a bit of urgency and weight to the North American drug problem.

7. Charlie Wilson's War (2007)

As one IR scholar wrote on his blog (sorry but I forgot who it was), Charlie Wilson's War shows how things get done, and how they don't get done in Washington. Of the various subfields of IR, this film most closely resonates to the field of Foreign Policy. As a main foreign policy actor, the Charlie Wilson shows how he works with his domestic constituents (interest groups, millionaire, the Congress), as well as his foriegn constituents (foreign heads of states, militia leaders). Charlie Wilson's War also shows the irony of the War on Terror. The same weapons the US government provided, coupled with its lack of attention in the region, eventually became a significant support of Taliban.

6. Star Wars (various years)

Although the first set of Star Wars is far superior to the second set, the latter definately has a stronger IR taste. Star Wars shows a possible scenario of today's IR, except stars take place of states. I was particularly struck by the subplots on regime types: the rise of an Empire in a democratic setting, the evil nature of the Empire contrasted with a slow and inefficient democracy. Episode III, in particular, has several political overtones, as George Lucas is a well-known Democrat, and mocks the Bush administration by adopting its rhetoric to Anakin Skywalker ("if you're not with me, then you're my enemy").

5. JSA (2000)

JSA is a Korean film about four soldiers, two South Korean and two North Korean, who work as border patrol. Though law severely prohibits the interaction between the two sides, the four eventually becomes friends, crossing the "bridge of no return" to share snacks and jokes with each other deep in the night. Although the image of the four is indeed rosy, showing how people from two very different states can enjoy harmony, what is good does not last long. The fatal truth of the state's identity vis-a-vis the other not only separates them, but pushes them to the edge of their lives. Much like other select films in this list, humanity is the victim of state interests.

4. Battle in Seattle (2007)

A real minor film with a surprisingly well known cast, Battle in Seattle details of the 1997 protest against the WTO convention, and stretches it to the extremes. Battle in Seattle is an impressive IR film for two reasons. First, it shows a real possibility of Hardt and Negri's Multitude. Is this a truly democratic movement that counters what they call the Empire (state-corporate partnership dominated by the West)? At the same time, it poses several questions back to Hardt and Negri. The Multitude does not seem to be perfect, as they lack coherence and an organized set of rules on governance. The second reason is that it questions the validity of the End of History argument. If liberal democracy is the desired end state, then what explains the wide gap between the public and the government? This distance is a giant hurdle that all liberal democracies must be prepared to manage.

3. Lives of Others (2006)

One of the highlights of Lives of Others is the social decay that follows political decay. In the film, the audience sees a political system about to collapse. And in the midst of the collapse, we see a variety of human reactions. Some try to withhold it to the last minute, while some try to take full advantage of it. Some only care about love and wish to remain mostly outside of the political mess. Whatever his or her decision may be, the reality is that politics influences individual lives, and bigger the political mess, the people suffer.

2. Watchmen (2009)

My personal credits on Watchmen is more directed to the orginial writers of the graphic novel than the film itself, as the film is merely a parsimonious representation of the original work. I cannot say why Watchmen is #2 without giving away the ending so here it goes. In Watchmen, Veidt devises the perfect solution to the Cold War: the creation of the other. Although the Cold War is over, the question of overcoming differences between any two actirs in world politics is still an extremely relevant and significant issue. In IR, do actors intentionally otherize each other to gather support for certain ideals? Would actors create an imaginary other, just like Veidt did in Watchmen, to create harmony? Or, would the existence of aliens support the case of a world state?

1. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worry and Love the Bomb (1964)

To put it simply, Dr. Strangelove mocks the notion of mutually assured destruction (MAD), which was not only dominant throughout the Cold War, but was treated as a norm and mechanism of peace. Theorists and politicians both have claimed that the increated tension and the posibility of retaliation caused by nuclear weapons have prevented both the US and the Soviet Union from an all out war against each other. People's basic instinct toward such idea maybe one of confusement and disbelief, but after hearing a couple of these arguments, they may be persuaded. Dr. Strangelove, however, takes us back to this basic instinct, and questions the reliability, and even the sanity of the Cold War military doctrine.

Movie Poster Mash-ups

2009-07-29T22:25:00.000-07:00

Recently, I came across a number of movie poster mash-ups, and picked a couple of my favorites from the pile to share.

Orientalism, not Lost in Translation

2009-07-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

One of the most thought provoking books I have read in college is Orientalism, by Edward Said. I must admit that while I did understand the general arguments of Said, I had difficulty following some parts, and am unable to explain many of them. Yet, the book did teach me an important lesson: the West has historically imagined and constructed an image of the Orient (or the Middle East) and continually does so today. In an interview, Said mentions the reaction to the Oklahoma City bombing in the mid 90s as a prime example of this. Although the terrorist attacks were conducted by two Americans, the media and the government at first speculated that the terrorists must have been of Arab origin.

Today afternoon, I was flipping channels on the tv and found a case of Orientalism, Korean style. OCN, a popular cable movie channel was showing Spielberg's "War of the Worlds," and a short scence in that terrible movie caught my attention. In the scence, Tom Cruise's character just found about the aliens, and was fleeing the city with his family.

Tom Cruise: we have to get out of here
Son: what's going on? who's doing all this? the terrorists?

And at that moment when the son said "the terrorists," the Korean subtitle showed "the Arab people." I had a sudden wtf moment, and was shocked by the Orientalism moment. I have no doubt that translating the terrorists literally would have been just fine for the Korean audience. While I do not know whether this translation was the same one in the theaters, this translation is disgusting.

The improper association of the Arab people and terrorists are rife in the entertainment industry (think 24), yet by no means does this justify it. I am sure there are other cases of Orientalism, perhaps even more flagrant than this, but they have got to stop.

Pan's Labyrinth: Rediscovering the Inner Child

2009-07-10T01:35:00.000-07:00

This entry has a spoiler

Whenever someone asks me what my favorite movie is, I first have a short moment of hesitation. "The Hours, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the Lives of Others..." My mind begins an inner journey of deciding the one favorite movie. As I realize that answering this question would take forever, I wake myself up from this daydreaming, and notice that I have to answer the question. Nine out of ten I say Pan's Labyrinth, and I say this out of convenience, for the sake of the conversation. But at the same time, it's indeed not too far from being my favorite. And to answer the obvious follow up question "why?" I say that it made me rediscover my inner child. Although it sounds cliched, I did say this out of sincerety, and spontaneously as well.

In Pan's Labyrinth, there is a distinct clash between the child and the adults. The two, although living in the same world, see it very differently. The first includes a faun, a labyrinth, a toad that lives under a tree, and countless other mystic creatures. This world, of course, has the usual elements of the adult world, including family, war, and male chauvanism.

The audience's adult initial inclination (the movie, afterall, is rated R), is to reject Ofelia's world as pure fantasy. The child is reading too many books. She's imagining too much. She is doing all the adventures by herself, and no one can stand witness to her endeavors. Yet, this dies down, because it is the same attitude of the adults in the movie. It is the same frame of mind that is portrayed as insensitive, ignorant, and even sinister. And with the death of the general, the audience sees the demise of the adult arrogance. Instead, the inner child awakens inside the audience, or at least it happened to me. I began to remember how it felt to be a child, what it meant to believe in, or at least imagine, a fantasy. And although this spark of emotion did not last very long, it was a truly an amazing feeling.

So to the main question: is Ofelia's fantasy a reality or an imagination? Some clues definately show that it definately is an imagination. Towards the end, we see that only Ofelia can see the faun, and no one else. Also, in the final scene where Ofelia meets the queen and the king, we see that the queen is in fact Ofelia's dead mother. Only in Ofelia's mind could the queen in her novel turn into her own mother.

Yet, I am inclined to say that it is reality. Although rational thinking or an attempt of objective thinking says otherwise, the inner child inside me keeps saying that it is. Perhaps it's my somewhat desperate and unreasonable attempt to keep my child-like characters, but I'm going to let my inner child speak on this matter. Every adult was once a child, and that child believed in fantasies. The fantasies may have been a companion to a lonely child who did not fit in with his peers. They may have been a source of comfort to a child suffering from her violent family members. Or, they may have just been exciting daydreams that are just so natural for and so common to any child. In the moment of intense fantasizing, it is difficult to separate reality and fantasy, and the fantasy is in many ways a continuation of life. Although it has fictional elements, the its role in the child's life is indeed non-fictional.

There are indeed other notable themes of the film, but I find this to be the most noticeable and worthy of discussion.

Without a doubt, 4 out of 4.

Top Ten of 2008

2009-01-29T18:52:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, my job is not a film critic, and I was unable to see all the movies that I wanted to in 2008. Nevertheless, here is my top 10 movies of 2008. This isn't what I consider to be the ten "best" movies are. The critics do that plenty. This is the list of my favorite movies of 2008, based on my memory of how much I enjoyed the movie. Please feel to comment on the list, and I will read it a couple of times and mostly disagree with you.

1. The Class (Entre les Murs)
2. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
3. Be Kind Rewind
4. Dark Knight
5. Slumdog Millionaire
6. In Bruges
7. JCVD
8. Iron Man
9. Milk
10. Gran Torino

Here are some of the movies that did not make the cut:

We own the night
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
The Reader
The Wrestler
Wall E
Penelope
Frost/Nixon
Tropic Thunder
Smart People
Get Smart
vicky christina barcelona
Ghost Town
Quantun of Solace
Wanted
Australia
Pineapple Express
Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull
Hancock
Cronicles of Narnia
Vantage Point
Burn after Reading
The Other Boleyn Girl
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
revolutionary road
man on wire
Che

I wish I had seen the following movies:

let the right one in
synedoche, new york
Waltz with Bashir
4months, 3 weeks, 2 days
Changeling
W.

And lastly, the worst movie of the year:

Vantage Point, by far.

An absolute trash. Perhaps garbage has more use in the world than this film. I feel guilty of even feeling curious about the movie before I watched it.

Lust, Caution: an interpretation

2008-07-21T19:26:00.001-07:00

Spoiler level: High. If you haven't seen the movie, don't read this piece.

Why did she do it?

This is perhaps the biggest question that people asked after watching the film. Why did she do it? There are indeed several interpretations, all possibly true. A romantist would say it was love. Love is blind! Love is crazy! A biologist would say it was the hormones. Once she saw that big bling, her glands produced chemicals that disturbed her rational thinking. Whatever dude, there's a reason why I dropped my bio major.

A couple of days after watching the film, I came across the original short story in a bookstore. At the end of the story, there was an essay written by the scriptwriter answering this question. The details of his essay are quite blur, so I'm going to paraphraze like crazy. I might be misinterpreting him, but I don't give a damn. According to the scriptwriter, her act poses many questions to the audience. The audience is left puzzled, and does not clearly know her intentions. This was the precise effect the writer wanted. By depicting an unexplicable act, the author wanted to show that some things in life are just unexplicable.

Some things in life are just unexplicable. I like that.

Wanted: Completely Mindless

2008-07-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

Spoiler level: Medium. A lot of the cool stuff were given away by the trailer anyway.

Back in 2007, I went to Universal Studies theme park with two friends, Matt and Hiro. While waiting in line for the ride "the Hulk," we realized that the roller coaster had a story. The roller coaster was created by Bruce Banner in order to control his inner anger and some other dumb shits. We joked around that the ride had a thesis, and it conveyed deep messages, such as "don't fool around with chemicals," and "science can fix all you problems." What an excellent theme park.

When I watched Wanted (wow, an alliteration!), I was reminded of this roller coaster. They were quite similar. Fun, thrilling, exciting, fast-paced, and a lot of whoa! Except, the roller coaster had a thesis, but the film didn't. While some may point to the film's tagline "choose you destiny," I don't consider it to have any particular meaning, other than another cool line for marketing purposes.

Wanted has stunning visuals. It stretches the limits of film creativity. Who in the world ever thought of curving the bullet? Okay, given that the film is based on a comic, curving the bullet may not be a new concept, but putting it on screen is definitely remarkable. The visual of two bullets colliding each other, and the acrobatics on top of the train are also stunning.

Wanted achieves a key purpose of the modern film: entertainment. It was simply, fun stuff. But it was also completely mindless. Why did he curve the bullet when he had a straight shot? What's with the torture? What he said after 5 scenes of beating wasn't particularly meaningful. In fact, the movie made such a big deal out of that quote with the close up shots and the dramatic music, but who still remembers it? In fact, what exactly does the audience remember? Couple of cool fighting scenes, the curving bullet, a glimpse of Angelina Jolie's ass (this part of the film was excellent), and that really dumb quote that ends the film. Amid all the valueless killing, even the most casual film goer would agree that Wanted is really superficial.

Wanted is the latest must-see summer movie. Not because it's a great achievement by the film industry, but because it's marketed well. It also highlights the latest innovations in visual effects, and shows Angelina Jolie's butt crack. Given that I've seen worse movies on screen, Wanted is not a waste of money. It's just a waste of your brain's intellectual side.

★★☆☆

Review: Curse of the Golden Flower

2008-07-16T02:08:00.000-07:00

Spoiler level: medium

Curse of the Golden Flower (2006) is another one of the series of big budget films that are becoming common in the Chinese film industry. Much like Hero (2005) and the House of Flying Dagger (200?), the Curse of the Golden Flower revisits ancient Chinese history, using a lot of money. But perhaps, a lot of money, poorly spent.

The complex web of interpersonal relationships is the foundation of the film. Characters are weirdly linked. There's the Emperor, the Queen, her three son princes (two are stepsons), the medicine maker, his wife, and their daughter. All these characters are either biologically, or sexually linked. Some of them are even linked in both ways! "Wait, but you're my mother. I cannot sleep with you." "It's okay, I'm your STEPmother." FUCK MAN THAT'S GROSS. Okay, maybe I'm being a bit insensitive to the great story, but I found the web of relations foul and redundant. The audience have already been exposed to similar storylines in the soap operas of their respective cultures. Indeed, the film thinks that it is CSI, and treats each exposure of a family secret as another sample of DNA. I do not necessarily hate these sexual twists in the plot. They're entertaining. I think they could be good additions to Gossip Girl. Nonetheless, I expected better from such a well known director.

Another problem with the Cruse of the Golden Flower is its reliance on scale. Whoa whoa whoa! The people! The palace! The boobs! So many! So big! The film is proud of the money spent in itself. There are a lot of flowers, a lot of people, and a lot of junk. The palace is also a showy piece, making the audience believe that the set is the same Forbidden Palace. But what is the point of this emphasis in quantity? We have already been awed with what we saw in Hero. We already know what the scale of Chinese film can be, and it's not that big of a deal anymore.

The salvageable aspect of the film is the acting. Chow Yunfat is a beast. In the screen, he becomes the Emperor who is so evil, so disgusting, so abominable. Gong Li deserves praise for her work as well. While she is always so beautiful, she does so well portraying the lunatic queen. Her depiction of the queen's craziness is indeed persuasive. The queen definately has issues, and even though they are so subtle, they are well delivered by the actress.

The money invested on the movie should have been better spent. I could not help thinking that all those people, costumes, flowers, and even the boobs were unnecessary. But the bigger problem, as I mentioned, is the heavy reliance on the lackluster twists. This is the third Zhang Yimou movie I have watched (after To Live and Hero), but also the worst.

I also think that those flower leaves in the poster look like french fries.

★★☆☆

Genesis

2008-07-07T21:48:00.000-07:00

Hello folks!

I began this blog to express my personal political commentary and other fascinating stuff that happens around me.

I realized that talking about politics on a blog attracts dumb comments, which are also often racist, sexist, and idiotic. So this blog from now on (I know, so early on in its life) a movie blog. I'll write about movies, the industry, the market, and other related topics.
Why? Because I really like movies!

I should've done this earlier, but oh well. Here it goes.

Mad Cow or Mad People

2008-06-12T02:10:00.000-07:00

Hello folks!

I've decided to start a blog after being inspired by the works of two of my admirable colleagues, Seidshow and Kabs, who were studying abroad last semester. Thanks guys!

It's been about 3 weeks since I began working at the glorious HQ of ICG Seoul. Located right across the street from Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, it benefits from the heavily secured surroundings. Yet, the glorious HQ has been affected by the recent beef protests. Some of the workers decided to go home early to dodge the deteriorated traffic condition.

Thosands of people have turned out to the streets to proclaim their passionate opinion against ...... beef. Since when did the Koreans, famous for Korean bbq, didn't like meat! Well it turns out, these angry people don't want to see any American beef from 30+ month old cattles, as they can cause mad cow disease.

Here are some of thoughts from the protestors:

1. I am afraid of American beef. I could study hard in school. I could get a good job and then I could eat beef and just die.
- Young girl, 13.

2. I've only lived for 16 years, I don't want to die like this.
-a post on www.nousbeef.org

3. I don't want to live in Korea becuase of Myungbak Lee (the current president). I want to immigrate abroad but I can't because I don't have money.
- a post on www.gobada.co.kr

4. For dozens of times a day I think "what point is it to study if I'm going to get the mad cow disease."
- a student