babuska111 Reviews

Pursuit of Death (1980)

Quite Spectacular

[9/10 · 6 December 2013]

I'm glad to be the first to write a review for this far overlooked film. Im Kwon-taek is perhaps my favorite director out of South Korea and this is one his best film. Although far out-shined by more well-known and greater films, Sopyonje and Mandala, Jagko (Pursuit of Death) holds it's on. It has characters that initially are somewhat repulsive but as we look further into their past, they become illuminated and the question remains at what point did these two men, both so bold and courageous in fighting for their respective sides of a divided Korea, fall to become babbling old men living for past conflicts and failed resolutions?

Im Kwon-taek does it all with incredible flashbacks and incredible music. Outside of Sopyonje, this film has the best music I've seen in an Im Kwon-taek film. It's elusive in how it summons up the past as a maelstrom of mystery and unresolved wars, the current state of the two Koreas.

Jagko is great and I highly recommend you search for it. Currently is in a 4-disc Im Kwon- taek collection released by The Korean Film Archive, along with Wangsimni Station (A Bygone Romance), Genealogy, and Mandala. All these contain the elusive English subtitles that are often so hard to obtain for early Korean films released prior to the year 2000. All four films are not only a great introduction to the huge body of work by this director, but a spectacular way to understand a country so divided in the past 50 years, the romance, the love, the politics, the family, and the spirituality.

Satantango (1994)

I would just like to say...

[10/10 · 4 November 2006]

wow. really, really, very, good. I felt like celebrating by the end of it. Why? Because it was perfect. Any negative criticism of this movie comes from the audience's lack of knowledge. Lack of knowledge as to what a true film going experience should be. Not about entertainment, but about showing you a whole new way of looking at the world. For 7 1/2 hours, you see the world through the eyes of Bela Tarr. And it's a fantastic, deeply meaningful world with so many layers of meaning built within a single image. This is why the shots go on for so long. Because Bela Tarr wants you to see all those layers, not just the ones on the surface. If you see one more movie in your life, see Satantango. Don't watch it in multiple sittings; watch it all at once, in a dark room, on a big screen, Without any interruptions except for the bare essentials. For a rating It deserves an 11 but I could only give it a 10. An 11 because it goes further than any movie has ever gone with the exception of a few, To show you something truly incredible, something you've never seen before. Breathtaking Devine Surreal Utterly beautiful. I can't recommend this enough. wow.

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

For all those who think this is crap

[10/10 · 21 January 2005]

I've recently been reading some of your comments and posts saying this movie is overrated and a piece of "crap". I even just read Roger Ebert's own review of it and even he seems to not understand it. Maybe I'm wrong in this, but it seems to me that all you people just seem to not get the movie. Maybe I can explain it to you. The movie is about the ability to control society. The movie asks the question of whether or not society can be controlled without sacrificing art and creativity. Many of people might be asking how I came to conclusion. All I simply did was think about it. Rogert Ebert, in his review, said that the fact that Alex listens to Beethoven was completely pointless and served no point to the meaning and only helped to stylize the film more. He was wrong. The music Alex is so passionate about is supposed to represent art in our society. It is very important to the film. Alex himself represents all the violence in the world. In the film, a hospital attempts to "cure" Alex of his need to commit acts of violence but in the process of doing this, they also make him "allergic" to Beethoven. What the film is asking is "can we cure society of violence without sacrificing art?" This is the meaning to the film. It is not just some film glorifying violence, and it definitely not the definition of the word "crap". Please people, think about a film more before you start hating it.