Alive (2014) User Reviews

Among the best

[michael-hudgens · 9/10 · 7 March 2017]

Westerners in particular, follow this story carefully; and be warned: there is no clear resolution, nor should there be. The protagonist's situation is far too complicated.

If you know anything about film, you will likely love this director's camera. Not many zooms here. His camera tracks, as cameras are supposed to do and have done since the day of silents. For starters, see F. W. Murnau and the recent film about him, Shadow of the Vampire.

A Good Movie In Need of a Good Editor

[KlangSmithToo · 3/10 · 29 September 2016]

The themes of this movie are timeless and poignant but this flick is needlessly long. It's as if the actor/director got so involved in the filming that he forgot it was O.K. to leave some shots on the cutting room floor. And there was no need. This movie would have been more focused and much better with about half an hour or so dropped from it's running time. Now, I'm quite used to Korean cinema which usually has a much longer set-up time than we are used to in the West but that isn't what happens here. The characters and situations are set up rather quickly so that you know exactly who is who and what is going on in their lives and then the story stops developing and sort of just settles down into following these people around as they live their daily lives. It gets a little repetitious. Every once in a while, a new element is introduced but these moments are few and far between. I think of a long Korean film like Gyeongju where almost every shot counts and every little thing means something and watching this movie seemed much more like meandering around for almost three hours. I really liked the bones of this story but felt like it became something of endurance feat to unearth them all.