DETAILS:
Title: City of Fathers
Other Names: 부산 (Busan) aka City of Fathers, 父山
Genre: Action, Drama
Director: Park Ji-won-I
Cast: Kim Yeong-ho, Ko Chang-seok, Yoo Seung-ho, Jeon-kyeong, Kim Jeong-hak, Jo Jin-woong
Year: 2009
Country: South Korea
Language: Korean
Running Time: 1hr 41mins

Rating: 5.5/10

INTRODUCTION:
So…just watched City of Fathers…not too sure what make of the movie. I don’t know about you guys but the plot sounds familiar. Actually one of the earlier movies I posted a review on His Last Gift had a similar plot. This is why I decided to watch this movie. I could only remember a bit of the plot from Last Present, so instead of watching it again I thought I’d watch Busan (or City of Fathers – I don’t know what to call it…the beginning of the movie shows 부산 (Busan) and at the end of the movie it shows 父.山, and the English name, apparently is City of Fathers, so its anyone’s guess) and try to compare what I could remember. What is notably different is that this movie is rated 18 (due to language and violence) thus giving the potential of possibly surpassing His Last Gift.

TRAILER:

SYNOPSIS:
Kang, a single father addicted to gambling and drinking, is constantly trying to dodge loan sharks. All the associated stress, he takes it out on his son, Jong-chul, through verbal and physical abuse. But after he learns of his young son diagnosis of kidney cancer, he tries to change his ways and be more of a father to him. However there is only so much that Kang is able to do, and saving Jong-chul is not going as well as would like. This leaves him no choice but to seek the help of the real father, Tae-suk; a gangster who views the concept of a family as a burden. What does this mean for Jong-chul?

REVIEW:

The movie starts of with a look at the three main characters: Kang, Jong-chul and Tae-seok. Tae-seok is portrayed to be a ruthless short-tempered gangster, Jong-chul seems to be an unappreciated kid, and Kang, who I think is the main character (or should be if he isn’t), a drinker and gambler in trouble with the loan sharks. One day the son is diagnosed with kidney cancer, yet Kang’s behavior and attitude towards him is no different; verbal and physical abuse continues.

Comedic scenes appear here and there throughout the first half of the movie with the loan sharks and they character of Kang. The first half is relatively light in comparison with the second half, which grows to be filled with violence and language and such. I don’t have a lot of issues with this, except that the second half in comparison with the first seems a bit over the top.

It is only until the second half where Kang begins to have a change of heart with regards to the relationship with his son, and it is at this point where he really wants to do all he can to save his son. He ends up running out of ideas and is left with no choice but to seek the help of the kid’s biological father; the ganster named Tae-seok. We quickly learn about Tae-seok’s views on the subject of family, so is this really the right person to call in times of family matters?

THOUGHTS:
As I was doing a bit of research after the movie, from what I found it seems that this may be the directorial debut of Park Ji-won-I. Im not too familiar with how movies with new directors typically turnout or feel, but to me, I would not be able to tell that this was a debut film, though in hind sight, there were a few things that may in some way have reflected this. There are some characters that are introduced yet their story is not completed (for example, Soon Ae, the immigrant worker who Kang tricks into working for his friend’s bar (funny story of how he achieves this, I don’t want to spoil it for you.)), and also I did not particularly like the way this movie was concluded as I found it incomplete (whether others will agree with me on this or not…?).

I’m not sure exactly how to rate this movie. The acting was really good, especially Ko Chang-seok who plays the character Kang. Though I did not find the relationship between the three title characters as believable as His Last Gift (which the movie was slowly coming back to me), there were many memorable scenes and characters in Busan that made it enjoyable.

As this is rated 18, the level of violence and language is, obviously, more prominent through out the movie. There were some good fighting scenes, but then again some of the later scenes where becoming a bit too much. You’d think after being smacked like a dozen times in the ribs with a steel bat would break a few and probably hinder one from being able to perform certain tasks, let alone take down 4 or 5 of the bad guys.

City of Fathers is not perfect, though there are a number of things that made the movie enjoyable, especially the quality of the acting, I found the movie to have a quite a few holes and loose ends which were unaddressed. Maybe its one of those movies that you have to watch again in order to understand everything…though itdoesn’t seem like that to me. Though this may be a directorial debut, I don’t think that should have an effect on the rating that I give it. I found this to be possibly one of the more difficult movies to rate so far, particularly as it is becoming more apparent to me that the way I have been rating some of the movies I have watched is too generous and possible based solely on entertainment value and not looking into other aspects involved (i.e. plot, characters, acting, directing, etc)…maybe I should change my rating system to try to reflect the other scores at some point. So with that in mind, though I found the acting to be the highlight of the movie (though there was some overacting, as expected, I can’t stress how good the acting was, especially of the two fathers), there were too many small things I found annoying which accumulated (especially the loose ends) and I didn’t really find it as emotionally engaging as His Last Gift. I’d like to hear (read about) your thoughts, especially if you have seen both movies. By the way if any of you have seen this movie, can you tell me the song that Tae-seok sings at the karaoke on his birthday (the scene is the first picture in the pictures section)?

I give this a 5.5/10 … though it is a movie I would probably watch again.

PICTURES:

OTHER SITES:
HanCinema

A simple, moving film about the effect a young man, with the mind of a six year old, has on a number of people around him.  Based on the web-comic of the same name by Kang Pool (Kang Do-Young) and Directed by Kim Jeong-Kwon, this heart-warming, 2008 South Korean comedy-drama is sure to bring some tears to your eyes as well as a smile to your face. Seung-Ryong is a very simple man who focuses on the two most important things in his life: his little sister and his first love. However when those close to him begin to face hardships, it seems that Seung-Ryong may be the only one to set things right.

DETAILS

Title:   Miracle of a Giving Fool
Other Names:   Ba:Bo (바보)
Genre:   Drama
Director:   Kim Jeong-Kwon
Cast:   Cha Tae-Hyun, Ha Ji-Won, Park Ha-Seon, Park Hee-Soon, Park Grina, Lee Ki-Young, Song Jae-Ho, Jeong Kyeong-Soon, Jeong Jae-Jin, Jo Deok-Hyeon, Im Hyeong-Gook, Lee Sang-Hoon-I, Seo Dae-Han, Choi Seol-Ri, Jo Ah-Ra-I, Jeon Mi-Seon
Year:   2008
Country:   South Korea
Language:   Korean
Running Time:   98 minutes

Rating:   8/10

INTRODUCTION

It’s been a while since I have reviewed a Korean movie, even though I’ve seen quite a few recently.  Ba:Bo, which can be loosely translated as Stupid/Fool, is about a young man who due to an incident is left with the mind of a six year old.  I have seen a few movies with a similar premise (for example  the Korean movie “Marathon” and its Japanese drama retelling by the same name, as well as the Japanese movie “Laundry” – all of which I hope to review at some point), though the only reason I can think of that initially led me to this title is Cha Tae-Hyun.  I remember enjoying his acting in “My Sassy Girl” and “Two Guys”, and after reading a bit about Ba:Bo, I thought I’d give it a go.  In my opinion, it is a better movie than it sounds.

TRAILER

SYNOPSIS

As in any other town there exists a village fool.  The resident fool in this case is the Hero of the movie Seung-Ryong (Cha Tae-Hyun).  Seung-Ryong is a very peculiar looking character with scruffy, dirty attire and there are those that poke fun at him because of the way his weird ways. Apart from making egg sandwiches, there isn’t much Seung-Ryong is capable of, for due to an incident when he was young, he is left with the mind of a six year old.  To make matters harder for Seung-Ryong not only did his parents died when he was at a young age, he has a younger sister, Ji-In, to look out for. Though no matter how bad his situation ends up, he is always smiling.

Seung-Ryong is a very simple man who focuses on the two most important things in his life: his little sister and his first love.  However when those close to him begin to face hardships, it seems that Seung-Ryong may be the only one to set things right.

REVIEW

There are a few important characters to take note of aside from Seung-Ryong, who, we find out very early in the movie, is somewhat mentally challenged.

Ji-Ho is struggling to perform as a pianist and returns to her hometown for a break.  She is Seung-Ryong’s love interest, yet upon meeting him she is unable to remember anything about him.

Ji-In is Seung-Ryong’s younger sister, who is currently studying in high school.  Despite the her brother’s efforts in looking after her, she is embarrassed to be associated with him, due to the way he acts, and shows no respect towards him or the things he does.

Sang-Soo considers Seung-Ryong his best friend.  Being associated with the wrong kind of people, Sang-Soo has to be careful not to let harm come his way.

The movie starts of with one-day Seung-Ryong’s first love Ji-Ho returning, but not recalling our weird protagonist, who has been waiting for years for this very moment to come.  Ji-Ho is a promising pianist, yet one day she is unable to perform due to stage fright.  This has had a big impact on her life, and her response is to return home from London with the hopes of recovering.

From there the story develops, building on the characters as well as plot, and is quite light-heated and laid-back (though never tedious at any point).  What I found refreshing was that there are a lot of moments where the film leads you into expecting a particular thing to happen, but either it doesn’t happen or something completely different happens.  It may sound like a let down, but in my opinion it is one of the reasons I found this movie so enjoyable as it has an element of realism to it (the idea being that things don’t always turn out as expected/anticipated).

We are shown how others treat Seung-Ryong, ranging from fun poking, as normal as everybody else, to showing disrespect.  Yet despite this he is always smiling and doing his very best to take care of Ji-In. By putting his sandwich making skills to use, Seung-Ryong is able to earn money by selling them outside his younger sister Ji-In’s school, making him very independent.

While his is more or less self reliant, he is still at a disadvantage because of his disability,  However it seems that because of this he is more capable of doing certain things than others, something that will change the lives of those close to him.

THOUGHTS

Ba:Bo, although it doesn’t heavily rely on the comedic aspect, is a feel-good/heart-warming comedy with a twist of what I can only describe as intense drama.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie as the main character performed his role almost flawlessly, and would recommend it to anyone. From the way he speaks to others as well as his through actions, it is clear that he is independent and capable of looking after himself and his younger sister.  Also even though there may be elements of romance (sometimes this is classified as a romance movie), there is little to do with a romantic relationship, however there is a stress on family relations.

What I enjoyed about this movie is that I didn’t find it very predictable.  Though there were times where you could figure out where the movie was headed, there were equally a number of instances in Ba:Bo where I thought I knew what was going to happen but ended up being wrong.  This, for me, made the movie seem less mechanical/pre-coordinated and more realistic.

The actors that were cast for the characters were well chosen in my opinion.  Cha Tae-Hyun (who plays Seung-Ryong) and Park Ha-Seon (who plays Seung-Ryong’s younger sister) played their roles very well, though it is obvious Cha Tae-Hyun made the movie as successful as it is. Park Ha Seon’s character is one I found that could be understood in more than one way, in terms of her relationship with her brother. I don’t want to talk about it too much as I feel it is a topic that needs to be analyzed in-depth. Basically I noticed a few possibilities regarding her attitude towards Seung-Ryong in light of the situation that they are in: either she is embarrassed too be associated with him because of his mental state, or that she tries to distance herself from him in order to make him take more care of himself (the latter of which I think is more interesting and also more likely as it is difficult to be so shallow as to not care for your sibling).   I wasn’t too fond of Ha Ji-Won’s acting in this particular movie, which for a lead character didn’t perform very well.  (By the way I noticed that she looked familiar, turns out she had a cameo in His Last Gift as the mother of the girl, and I also saw her in Miracle on First Street).   The same goes for Park He-Soon who played Sang-So.  His acting wasn’t too great either, though I did watch him in My Friend and His Wife, which his acting was much better (probably because he was a lead character).

Cha Tae-Hyun did great in portraying his character, which is very different from any of the roles that he previously did (such as My Sassy Girl, Highway Star, Happy Ero Christmas, etc).  He seems to have put on quite a bit of weight for this role, and apparently has played very close to his character as was depicted in the web-comic by Kang Pool (Kang Do-Young). His is a very lovable character (one would call him “too nice of a person”), who does not lie, is very diligent, and no matter how bad of a position he is in he will do everything he can to fulfill his promises.  He really looks after his sister, and as a whole, he is very good-natured with hardly any bad habits projected (aside from being lazy in some aspects and a habitually loosing his shoes).

I thought Jo Deok-Hyeon’s role (the guy who goes to buy some toast at about 35 seconds into the trailer), though it was very short, was pretty funny.  He played this weird funny guy who, whenever he tried to get a sandwich from Seung-Ryong, would always end up having to make it himself due to one circumstance or another.

Like any other movie, there is room for improvement.  There were a few problems I had with Ba:Bo, namely the lack of character development with some of the characters, and the lack of quality endings with regards to a couple of characters especially when taking the quality of the movie as a whole.  Although this is some what understandable once having watched the movie and realizing whom the important characters are, it would have been nice to have a bit more focus on other characters as the current ending is somewhat unsatisfying.

There is a reoccurring motif involving shoes that I am not completely sure about.  I would like to hear you opinions about this if you have already watched the movie.  My understanding of the concept of the shoes is almost like a personification of (personification is not the right word, maybe  closer to the nuance of “akin to”) Seung-Ryong.  No matter what state he ends up in, no matter how many hard times he goes through, he is always there the next day just so that he can fulfill his purpose, just like a pair of shoes.  That doesn’t sound quite right, and I’m pretty sure I’m wrong, but it seems that way to me.  Not so sure if there is anyone who has mentioned the significance of old shoes (hmm, unless the director is fascinated with them).

I wonder how this compares to the original web-comic?  If anyone has read it and/or watched the movie, please share your views as it would be interesting to know about similarities and differences.

I give this movie an 8/10

PICTURES

OTHER SITES

Official Site
Wikipedia
IMDB
Han Cinema
Koreanmovie
Official Site

Love HK Film

PURCHASE

You can buy BaBo – Miracle of a Giving Fool from YesAsia.

EXCERPT:

Simply put, the job of a host is to sell dreams.The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief is a 2006 documentary directed and produced by Jake Clennell, depicting the lives of individuals associated with, what is known in Japan as, host clubs.  What exactly is a host club?  This documentary will provide understanding through first hand encounters with the clubs as well as the people who frequent there. A tag line for the documentary: a cold-eyed study of love for sale.

DETAILS:

Title: The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief

Genre: Documentary

Director: Jake Clennell

Cast: Comprised of a number of staff and customers

Year: 2006

Country: Japan

Language: Japanese

Running Time: 1hrs 15mins

Rating: 9/10

INTRODUCTION:

First off this won a number of best documentary awards namely Edinburgh international film festival and Raindance film festival (…well those are only some of which I can remember).   I’ve heard of Hostess Clubs, but what actually attracted me to this was the fact that it was a Host Club.  I wasn’t aware that host clubs were just as plentiful as their counterpart.  To me, just knowing that such a thing exists seems weird, not the actual physical existence, but the realization that women in general go for this, because frankly speaking, guys are notorious for “hunting women” so to speak.  I’m sure if you watch this you will have mixed feelings on the subject (of course after taking into account many factors which will be presented in the documentary).  As a note, there is no indecency/nudity/language in this documentary (unless downing bottles of champagne is considered obscene), though I think it should be for a mature enough audience to understand such relationships (i.e. ages 15ish upwards).

TRAILER:

(At the moment I can’t find the trailer (possibly a copyright issue), it seems the trailer at the official website is also down.  I will post/link the trailer as soon as I find one.)

SYNOPSIS:

I think the best way to sum up The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief is through an excerpt from the documentary’s website:

“The lives of the hosts and their customers at first seemed to be extreme and unfathomably foreign from a western perspective. Although many people in Japan see hosts as despicable I see hosts involved in something that is close to all of our hearts, which is the struggle between making a buck and doing the right thing. There is real fascination in looking at this strange form of emotional pseudo prostitution that caters to some women’s desires so successfully that they will got to almost any lengths, and pay thousands of dollars to consume it.”

REVIEW:

The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief shows us a glimpse of the nightlife, how partying is done.  You get to see how challenging it is for a host to do their job; from the way they try and get customers, to the way they interact with them, to how their money (and it is a significant amount) is spent.  It is quite a sight to see people with relatively small bodies hold an incredible amount of alcohol; they are like fish in water, seriously, its surprising that they can actually get up in the morning.

Taking the documentary by face value, at first I thought that it would be monotonous (guys chasing girls for money), or a knockoff of the more popular hostess clubs albeit less successful, because, compared to men, it is not expected of women to be pursuing such “pastimes”.  Though it seems that host clubs are as abundant as hostess clubs.  However, in my opinion, regardless of whether it was a host club or hostess club, the point of the documentary was to give an insight into the lives of those that frequent such establishments.

The documentary’s main focus is the male host club based in Osaka called Rakkyo Café with the staff of twenty-something selectively picked guys.  Host and hostess clubs are part of Japan’s nighttime entertainment business known as Mizu Shobai (水商売 – or water trade), which is a traditional euphemism in Japan.

The movie opens up with an early morning shot of Osaka, Japan, as we watch hosts get up early and prepare themselves, as they do every day, for the day ahead. It is quite unexpected to see the amount of effort they put into their appearance (from the clothes, to hair, to accessories, etc), but as things unfold you realize that their line of business demands this from; one must know how to talk, act, and dress correctly in order to be successful.

Following this you find out that it is also essential for the hosts to lie to their customers in order to be successful as a business. But what I found even more shocking was not about the hosts themselves (or the tricks they used to squeeze money out of their customers, or how quick they can change their personalities like at the touch of a button, etc) but about the customers.  At the end of it all, the only question to be asked by both parties is “was it really worth it?”

All I can say is that if you do watch this, be prepared.  Not only will you feel confused on a number of levels, you will witness the people in the documentary go through the same thing.

 THOUGHTS:

I’m sure that I am not alone on this way of thinking, nothing against the individuals that partake in it, but more against the concept of a host club (not just a host club, but the whole idea of prostitution) with regards to morals and such.  I’m sure Mr. Jake Clennell (the director) must have also acknowledged it on some level, though he also said on the documentary website that though most of Japan may despise them “I see hosts involved in something that is close to all of our hearts”, a concept that the viewer will witness. He also mentioned (though not in so many words) that it is not in one’s place to be judgmental of others, which is also generally echoed throughout many different sources of teachings (i.e. from society in general, parents, schools, religion, philosophy, etc).  Though it is fair to say that this documentary doesn’t pass any kind of judgment whatsoever on any of the people involved, by the end of it, it is up to the viewer to form their own conclusion. After watching this you may (or may not) agree with me to some extent that this is an act that is morally incorrect/unaccepted (as everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion…and who is to say there is a wrong or right view…as long as there is justification in some form or another). 

In a way The Great Happiness Space is quite disturbing as you are given insight into the lives of people whose professions aren’t widely publicized or known much about due to it’s nature.  More specific about the people involved, you learn that it is very hard for them to trust each other with regards to customer-host, host-customer relations. You learn about their relationships (or lack there of), as well as, to some extent, their outlook on life.

I understood what a host club was, but when watching The Great Happiness Space, I guess the realization hits quite hard.  It is a business at the end of the day; their goal is to get as much money as they can from their customers with the techniques and skills that they have flawlessly learnt.  There is also a lot of competition, not only between other clubs, but also between the staff, to ensure that they keep their customer (usually when a customer picks a host it is as if they are forming a relationship and will the staff’s regular client).   While watching it, I was surprised with what the hosts would and would not do in order to achieve this, as well as the lengths the customers would go to in order to get what they want.

I suppose you may have some sympathy for the people you learn about, whether it is because they seem to express themselves freely, or because the situation that they are/were in left them with little choice, or any of the other reasons that you will learn of through out the documentary.  However, logically speaking one’s view on an act is independent of the individuals involved in the act, does learning about those involved make the act less wrong (if it really is wrong, or a taboo, or disliked by society/religion, etc)? Does it mean that it is ok for the person to be involved just because of the situation they are/were/will be in? …Who knows, no views whatsoever are imposed on the viewers.

Personally, I disagree with such acts of selling one’s body for money, no matter how you try to cover/hide it, at the end of the day many people will see through it for what it really is (which is a shame because people should not be driven to such a level in order to support themselves and/or their family.)  But in the context of this documentary, a little bit of grey has been introduced into the black and white picture, in the case of this particular host club (or at least what we have been exposed to by the director) you come to find out that its not as much about selling sex as it is about entertaining others and giving them company. Issei, the owner of club Rakkyo describes his job as selling dreams, akin to the dream world that Peter Pan took people to.  I guess this is where his personality, appearance, etc, is structured based on his customers, which you learn are diverse.  I cannot judge the people involved because it is not in my place to do so, also because I have not met them, nor do I know them, and what has been portrayed in the documentary may not have even been the whole truth to the matter.  Whether I sympathize with them or not is beside the point, however I feel that the insight into such practices can be taken as food for thought, an exposure to an existing reality that many may try to ignore/deny/overlook, however being portrayed from a neutral position is something that can enrich one’s knowledge and perspective.

Although the whole Host club concept is in Japan, I’m sure there are similar concepts throughout the world, it may not be the same, or as explicitly and/or abruptly done (prostitution, brothels, “massage parlors”, etc), but the physical act is performed almost everywhere.  There is a lot more to this, putting the idea of selling one’s self aside, Tale of an Osaka Love Thief, through a series of interviews with both the customers and staff, gives us some understanding of the complex choices and emotions that are presented to them as well as their thoughts, feelings, and reasoning.  There are a number of unexpected twists and turns that you have to give Jake Clennell props for his directing skills, of course I don’t want to spoil all the fun for you so I haven’t revealed everything. 

As you can see from all that I have written, this is quite a thought provoking documentary and I do highly recommend this to any one with an open mind.  It may not change your world perspective, but it will open your eyes to how people think as well as to the situation that many are faced with regardless of where they are from, their background, culture, etc.  In the end it’s not really about the sex, but more about the search for a relationship that individuals seek and yearn for, a concept that we are all, not only familiar with, but also striving for.

I give this a 9/10.

PICTURES:

OTHER SITES:

IMdB
Wikipedia
Jake Clennell – The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief
Eye For Film
Anime Blogger
Dvd Talk
Sneer Snipe))
IO Film
Beyond Hollywood
Twenty3
Futuregringo
JFilmPowWow

PURCHASE:

You can buy The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief
from Amazon.