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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>For those on the list, like me 5 minutes ago,
who haven't heard anything of a new Sai Yoichi film, here some
information. I was a little</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>surprised that he is now back in Korea making
movies. His new one is called "Soo" (Su, <FONT color=#333366><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">수) and Sai, or better Choi Han-il
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#333366 size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">(also credited as Choi Yang-il),
</SPAN></FONT><FONT color=#333366><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT size=2>did the screenplay as
well.</FONT> <FONT size=2>It will be interesting to see how Sai's career
will develope in the upcoming</FONT></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#333366 size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">years - in case he stays in Korea.
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#333366 size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#333366><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>Synopsis:<BR>Soo is in the business of solving problems. When his brother
Tae-jin is killed by a gang, he takes his brother’s identity to seek
revenge.<BR>Source </FONT><A class=liennormal
href="http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr" target=_blank><FONT face=Arial
size=2>http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr</FONT></A></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">More
information:</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><A
href="http://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Soo.php">http://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Soo.php</A></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT face=Arial size=2>It’s bloody
and brutal, and harrowingly so. Japanese-born Korean director Choi Yang-il
(Yoichi Sai) brings the Korean audience </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT face=Arial size=2>a
hardboiled vengeance film with a slightly different flavor. When you think of
blood-splattered retaliation, Park Chan-wook’s vengeance
</FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT face=Arial size=2>trilogy or
Quentin Tarantino’s ``Kill Bill’’ series may come to mind. But imagine such a
film stripped of fancy cinematographic techniques </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT face=Arial size=2>and devoid
of stylishly choreographed action sequences. Every gesture and grimace is
meticulously planned, according to the director.<BR>But Choi keeps the camera at
a certain distance to portray the no-cut skirmishes. The product is heightened
realism, and you believe in the </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT face=Arial size=2>brutal
violence and the raw human instinct for survival. Tae-su (Ji Jin-hee) is a
notorious hit man called Soo, who waits 19 years to finally
</FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT face=Arial size=2>reunite
with his long-lost twin brother Tae-jin _ only to watch him get shot in front of
his very eyes. Revenge becomes Soo’s sole reason for </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT face=Arial size=2>breathing,
as he single-handedly sets out to hunt down his brother’s murderer. Here, the
movie slips into major traps of common plot </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT face=Arial size=2>elements:
identical twins the striking opposite of each other _ one good, the other bad _
and the woman that falls in love with both of them. <BR>If you’re craving
something purely ``hardboiled,’’ think again. There is a unique combination of
raw and primitive crudeness and </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT face=Arial size=2>unexpected
tenderness to the movie, however. Knives take the place of guns, the usual
choice of weapon in contemporary action films, </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT face=Arial size=2>and Soo
embodies all the animalistic human instinct for survival and safety. In a
desperate struggle to stay alive, Soo unhesitatingly </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT face=Arial size=2>scoops out
an enemy’s eyeballs with his bare hands. But Soo degenerates from a
cool-headed and merciless professional killer into </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT face=Arial size=2>a helpless,
guilt-ridden brother. Tae-su sports a sharp dagger to slash dozens of lives, but
it ceases to be a weapon when he falls </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT face=Arial size=2>asleep with
it in his dead brother’s bed. It is a material extension of a vengeful yet
shattered and lonely soul <BR>There are in fact moments when you forget the
protagonist is a callous and an unfeeling killer. Soo is quiet and reserved when
not on </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT face=Arial size=2>duty, and
is obedient in front of his boss, a fatherly figure. Soo draws sympathy from
viewers as he embraces his dead brother’s body _ </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT face=Arial size=2>it’s
chilling as you see two identical faces, one lifeless and the other helpless.
Monologues addressed to Tae-jin throughout the movie </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT face=Arial size=2>mark
Tae-su’s tragic humaneness. There is also a comically surreal dimension to his
undying persistence. Attacked by bullets, clubs, </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2>swords and hatchets, he manages to keep surviving. You stop grimacing at
the insensitive brutality past a certain point. <BR>Source:<FONT color=#0000ff>
</FONT><A
href="http://www.dvdasian.com">www.</FONT></FONT></SPAN></FONT><FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2>dvdasian.com</A></FONT></FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT> </DIV></FONT></SPAN></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#333366 size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>best,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Stefan <BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.pageofmadness.com"><FONT face=Arial
size=2>www.pageofmadness.com</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>