Sai Yoichi back in Korea

[Don Brown]

Twitch weren't so complimentary about it:

http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/010242.html

Don Brown
www.ryuganji.net

2007/6/6, Stefan Nutz <nuzumaki at gmx.net>:
>
>  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
> surprised that he is now back in Korea making movies. His new one is
> called "Soo" (Su, 수) and Sai, or better Choi Han-il
> (also credited as Choi Yang-il), did the screenplay as well. It will be
> interesting to see how Sai's career will develope in the upcoming
> years - in case he stays in Korea.
>
> Synopsis:
> 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.
> Source http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr
>
> More information:
> http://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Soo.php
>
>
> It's bloody and brutal, and harrowingly so. Japanese-born Korean director
> Choi Yang-il (Yoichi Sai) brings the Korean audience
> a hardboiled vengeance film with a slightly different flavor. When you
> think of blood-splattered retaliation, Park Chan-wook's vengeance
> trilogy or Quentin Tarantino's ``Kill Bill'' series may come to mind. But
> imagine such a film stripped of fancy cinematographic techniques
> and devoid of stylishly choreographed action sequences. Every gesture and
> grimace is meticulously planned, according to the director.
> 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
> 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
> 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
> breathing, as he single-handedly sets out to hunt down his brother's
> murderer. Here, the movie slips into major traps of common plot
> 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.
> If you're craving something purely ``hardboiled,'' think again. There is a
> unique combination of raw and primitive crudeness and
> unexpected tenderness to the movie, however. Knives take the place of
> guns, the usual choice of weapon in contemporary action films,
> and Soo embodies all the animalistic human instinct for survival and
> safety. In a desperate struggle to stay alive, Soo unhesitatingly
> scoops out an enemy's eyeballs with his bare hands.  But Soo degenerates
> from a cool-headed and merciless professional killer into
> 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
> asleep with it in his dead brother's bed. It is a material extension of a
> vengeful yet shattered and lonely soul
> 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
> 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 _
> it's chilling as you see two identical faces, one lifeless and the other
> helpless. Monologues addressed to Tae-jin throughout the movie
> mark Tae-su's tragic humaneness. There is also a comically surreal
> dimension to his undying persistence. Attacked by bullets, clubs,
> swords and hatchets, he manages to keep surviving. You stop grimacing at
> the insensitive brutality past a certain point.
> Source: www. <http://www.dvdasian.com>dvdasian.com
>
>
> best,
>
> Stefan
> www.pageofmadness.com
>



-- 
Don Brown
www.ryuganji.net
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/kinejapan/attachments/20070607/7648df27/attachment.html