My Neighbor Totoro (1988) Review

My Neighbour Totoro is only the 3rd Studio Ghibli film that I’ve watched, after Spirited Away and Laputa: Castle In The Sky. The film’s slow pace and almost non existent plot that reflects its simple lifestyle in the rural japan setting makes it feel like an anomaly (or art film) compared to your typical Hollywood animated films. In fact, it’s not as emotionally powerful as Spirited Away and Laputa. Yet, there’s a good reason why this film is one of the most famous among all Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli’s work: It introduced one of the most recognizable and beloved cartoon characters in the world - the titular big fat adorable bear-cat like creature - so iconic that it becomes the logo of Studio Ghibli itself; and it is this Totoro that made the film so magical.

The minimalist plot started with university professor Tatsuo Kusakabe and his two daughters, Satsuki and Mei moving into an old house in a rural Japanese village. As they cleaned and bring the house back to good condition, Satsuki and Mei starts to encounter magical creatures around the house; at first it was magical soots that live inside the house that run away whenever the girls approach them. Then it was rabbit-like creatures called Totoro that live near their house. These creatures are only visible to Satsuko and Mei and they appear randomly into their lives as the girls settle into life in village doing simple things like going to school, walking around farms and visiting their mother in hospital.

It’s not wrong to say that despite featuring a giant adorable creature as its main attraction, almost nothing interesting happens in the film. Life-changing, dramatic plot twists and conflicts are largely absent, instead what we see is how beautifully simple life in rural japan is by observing how the girls rebuild the house, enjoy the summer in the open farm, study in school and wait for their father to arrive on the bus. When the girls told the father about the creature, despite of their invisibility to everyone but the girls, the father just show tacit acceptance of their existence without raising any ruckus or questioning the sanity of the girls. Yes, it’s that kind of film where everybody live a simple, happy life most of the time. It can be shockingly boring to audiences, especially those not familiar with Japanese culture or the works of Miyazaki, if not for two things: the trademark top notch animation quality from Miyazaki and the stellar treatment of the titular character. The Japanese farm environment in particular is lovingly rendered to life with its green rice fields and the rolling water streams. But it is the creature animation that give the film so much life and magic, especially the titular Totoro. Totoro is a huge adorable bear-cat like creature with a huge belly and rabbit ear and a face that can switch from a look of dumb innocence to devilish grin in a beat. Totoro is a mysterious creature does not appear frequently in the film and it doesn’t say a word except for a few big groans but its mystery only serves to enhance the immense specialness and magic on the rare occasions when it appears. Whenever Totoro appears, the film suddenly gains a magical life of its own, adding a sense of wonder, innocence and overload of cuteness to the existing zen-like simplicity of the film without it. There are two standout scenes in particular: one when Totoro appears to accompany the girls waiting for the bus and it received an umbrella from Satsuki and started to slowly enjoy the raindrops on the umbrella; the other is when Totoro and its 2 other smaller sibling creatures did ritual dancing with the girls around the small plot of land where the girls planted some nuts at, after which giant trees started sprouting into the sky (reflecting Miyazaki’s pet environmental themes like in Laputa). It is credit to Miyazaki’s creation and animation of Totoro as well as Joe Hisaishi’s soothing score that brings magic to Totoro’s scenes. It is these scenes that made this otherwise mundane film worth watching and the titular creature so memorable that it will likely outlast the film itself.

My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ Tonari no Totoro)
Written/Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Iron Man 3 Review

Since the first Iron Man in 2008, Marvel Studios has been churning out almost annually interconnected superhero films based on their property that culminated in the groundbreaking success of The Avengers last year. It's no brainer for them to continue this journey with a direct sequel to their most popular superhero. But instead of expanding the universe of past Marvel films further, it's interesting to see Iron Man 3 taking a counterintuitive approach by focusing solely on the character instead. Perhaps it's to address the criticisms of Iron Man 2 or just a shrewd move to bring the character back to basics after all the epic adventures. But while Marvel certainly has the right intent, the film unfortunately suffers from some questionable choices, same script problems that plagued Iron Man 2, and a leading man who look tired of his starring role - all of which is ultimately the result of Marvel's assembly line filmmaking process that with strict deadlines that leaves little room for development and talent retention that better superhero films usually have. As expectations get higher film by film and peaked with The Avengers, Iron Man 3's failings should warn Marvel to have a less rushed development process.

Some time has passed since the events of The Avengers, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) has been suffering from unknown anxiety issues caused by the final battle in New York and he spends most of his time in his private mansion tinkering and upgrading his Iron Man suits, much to the dismay of his girlfriend/CEO Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). While Tony hides from the spotlight, a mysterious terrorist mastermind known as The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) has appeared in public and started a campaign of terror against the United States government by executing mysteriously large and deadly explosions worldwide. When one explosion nearly killed Tony's former bodyguard Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau, returning only in acting capacity), Tony decides to come out and publicly challenge him. He is then visited by a former lover and brilliant scientist Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) who tried to tell him about a powerful serum called Extremis: which can turn its host into nearly invincible superhuman being with the ability of overheating or burning everything they touch; and that her boss Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) has been working with The Mandarin. Unfortunately, before Maya could reveal all these, Tony's mansion are suddenly attacked by The Mandarin's forces which destroyed almost all his Iron Man suits. Left with a barely functioning prototype suit and lost somewhere far from home after barely escaping the attack, Tony has to rebuild himself again in order to investigate the conspiracy behind The Mandarin and Killian and stop them from bringing down the country.

The biggest problem for Iron Man to overcome since day one has been how to get the audience to side with a protagonist who's essentially an unlikeable individual who can solve any problem too easily with unparalleled wealth and genius (but mostly with his metal suit). The past films have dealt with it, with varying success, by a mixture of surrounding Tony with bigger obstacles or equally unlikable rivals (his company boss, government, Justin Hammer) and turn him to rock star who sticks it to the system, or showing that Tony has a good, sensitive soul beneath the showman when disaster strikes, or relying on the charms of Robert Downey Jr when all else fails. This time, the film did a good job of bringing Tony to rock bottom and have him start again from zero, from the silent, somber opening scene of Iron Man suits destruction to his near death escape. Unlike the first film, sadly, Tony doesn't undergo a redeeming character transformation and instead remains his usual obnoxious, narcissistic self as he and the film focus more on solving the plot instead; which is bad news because the script has serious problems that destroy whatever goodwill the downfall of Tony has built. The script is filled with huge plot holes, poorly organized subplots, simply unbelievable, inconsistent things such as villains that appear invincible in many scenes but get destroyed easily in the next and a major character that gets a shocking plot development that gets too easily solved later. Finally, just to show how far the story has strayed from redeeming Tony,  Tony made many Iron Man suits that can operate autonomously and be remote controlled by him, therefore enabling him to do battle out of harm's way and these suits do the final battle for him which ironically doesn't help his character growth at all.

 






These are script problems that can be fixed by having more development time which doesn't exist due to Marvel's strict release schedules that leave little time for development and discouraging talents to stick around - between 3 Iron Man films and The Avengers, there's already 8 different credited writers who have handled the character, compared to all Chris Nolan's Batman films which has always had the same writers. It doesn't matter if they can hire good talents every film if they can't keep it consistent. Speaking of talent, hiring Shane Black as writer/director seems like an inspired choice because he's famous for having written the best action films (Lethal Weapon) and having an irreverent dark sense of humor - something that wouldn't be out of place with Tony; on the other hand, he's also has never shown interest in redeemable characters and oddly more obnoxious Tony is partially his fault and his action directing skill does not live up to his action script reputation and the final battle disappoint - it's a battle scene that has become sadly too standard in blockbusters now where the fighters have a go at each other but nobody knows what's happening or care. The final disappointment is with Robert Downey Jr himself, it seems that these past few years of only portraying Tony Stark and Sherlock Holmes have given him franchise fatigue and he looks to be on autopilot here, giving Tony the requisite obnoxious asshole quality but without the likability.

It's such a shame that the film fail in its focused approach to humanize Tony Stark especially when exploring the bigger universe approach could have made the film more enjoyable. A post-Avengers Marvel cinematic universe offers some intriguing questions and promises such as what does it mean to the world that has gone through an alien attack and defended by superheroes who no longer need to hide now? What does it mean to be normal in a post-Avengers world? When the superhuman Extremis soldiers were revealed without eliciting much surprise by other characters, I am thrilled by the implication that the extraordinary has now become to be expected by the people occupying that universe and perhaps the film will head to this direction. Alas, just like it drops the ball on humanizing Tony, the film doesn't even realize this potential. This is reflected in the treatment of Mandarin - the villain whose significance in comic book is like The  Joker to Iron Man's Batman. He's a difficult villain to portray because of his oriental sterotype look and mystical power and was understandably absent in the last films, but a post-Avengers world offer a possibility of a creative and fulfilling interpretation of The Mandarin but sadly his incarnation here is simply shameful. In fact, further references to The Avengers or its bigger universe are either lamely dismissed or treated by contempt by Tony (and Jim Rhodes in a scene) throughout the movie. Even the now expected post-credits scene is more of a joke than another continuing attempt at a bigger journey. This make the film so disheartening because even when it fails there's nothing else to geek about.

At the end of the day, the Iron Man 3's failure has to serve as a wakeup call to Marvel on how to treat their property. Their past disciplined, factory approach may have paid off with the success of The Avengers, but Iron Man 3 has shown that the rushed approach doesn't always produce good movies. In The Avengers, Steve Rogers asked Tony Stark who he is if he takes away the suit and armor. Marvel's gotta ask the same question to their superhero movies too: are they properties that deserve the best treatment possible or just a moneymaking machine like this film.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5

Iron Man 3

Directed by Shane Black
Written by Drew Pearce & Shane Black

Produced by Kevin Feige

Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley, Rebecca Hall, James Badge Dale, Jon Favreau.

Silver Linings Playbook review

There's some thematic spoilers below. Consider yourself warned.

Who would have known that David O'Russell, better known for making films with dark edges, could make such a great romantic comedy. Granted, calling Silver Linings Playbook a romantic comedy is perhaps a broad misnomer given that the film deals with characters suffering from mental illness and doesn't treat them lightly. But it's rare to see a movie that make you root for the main characters to be together these days, something that many mainstream hollywood romantic comedy just simply doesn't even try to anymore. Perhaps this is due to the flawless chemistry between leads Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence and/or the excellent script that keeps everything mostly grounded in somber reality but the romance and laughter in this film is truly heartfelt and which makes this the best hollywood romantic comedy since, in my opinion, "Definitely, Maybe".

Pat Solitano Jr (Bradley Cooper) just got released early from a mental institution. He was originally committed due to a violent assault on his ex-wife's lover - triggered by bipolar disorder - upon the discovery of their affair. Pat's newfound overly focused, optimistic and no bullshit attitude to combat his bipolar disorder can hardly disguise the fact that he's trying to get his ex-wife back. It was an impossible, thankless task because she has filed a restraining order against him and nearly everyone he knows including his friends, doctor and parents (Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver) don't support him and would prefer him to move on. Undeterred, Pat seeks the help of Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a friend's sister in-law who's still in touch with his ex-wife. Tiffany also happens to have her own mental issues: since her husband's death she's been sleeping with as many people as possible. After a serendipitious first meeting in which both exchanged witty spars over mental drugs and each other's mental problems, they made a deal where Tiffany would deliver Pat's letter to his ex-wife in exchange with Pat becoming her dance partner in an upcoming dance competition. While both are working to keep their end of bargain, they would have to face some unanswered questions: will Tiffany admit that Pat is the first real love she had since her husband's death and the whole dance training is just an excuse to spend more time with him? Will Pat realize that beneath the focused determination to get his ex-wife back, he too has developed  feelings for Tiffany? Will the struggle with their respective mental problems greatly hinder their goals and even prevent them from admitting their feelings to each other? Meanwhile, Pat Sr, who has an unhealthy fan worship of the local Philadelphia Eagles himself, wonders why his son is not spending more time with him to watch the Eagles on TV together.

Silver Linings works so well because David O'Russell script (based on the novel by Matthew Quick) is smart and balanced enough to know when to be funny and romantic while everything else is grounded at dark, hard reality. Because of this, we can both laugh with the protagonists without losing empathy and respect for them. This is particularly shown by how Pat braves his mental disorder with spirited snark and disbelief and the aforementioned first meeting scene where Pat and Tiffany verbally spar over who's crazier. What the script does even better is to elevate the romance by developing their relationship naturally in a gradual, believable manner. While Pat's romantic trajectory is typical of a character who's in denial of his feelings to the match until it's too late; it's Tiffany's romantic trajectory that's interesting and truly brings life the romance because it is strongly tied to her recovery from her problems. After their first meeting, Tiffany casually offered to sleep with Pat as she always did to other people but his unexpected rejection forced her to wake up. Later on, when Pat (who still needs her to pass his letter to his ex-wife) chased away another guy who was trying to sleep with her and said he thinks she's better person than that while being unaware that she was secretly listening, she realized that for the first time since her husband's death, there's someone who, even if done with ulterior motive, sees her as a better person than what her shameful reputation suggest  and this may have triggered a transformation in her to stop running away from her demons by sleeping around and start fighting them. Subtle developments like this that work make you root for them to be together in the end.

At times, Silver Linings Playbook remind me of a classic film set in Philadelphia: Rocky. Both films are set in lower middle class neighborhood (O'Russell has brought with him the similar tough, gritty, handheld filming style that worked so well in his previous film, The Fighter that's set in blue collar Boston). Both films have their main character(s) truly struggling with deep unhappy personal issues set in a tough neighbourhood. While Rocky is a sports drama with some romance thrown in and Silver Lining Playbook is a romantic drama with a little sports thrown in, both are in a way cinderella story where their protagonist(s) overcome their struggles in the end to a rousing climax. The best part about both is of course both have audience rooting for them and cheering for them all the way in the end. In a way, Silver Lining Playbook has become another Philadelphia classic too.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Silver Linings Playbook

Directed by David O'Russell

Written by David O'Russell based on the novel of the same name by Matthew Quick

Produced by Bruce Cohen, Donna Gigliotti, Jonathan Gordon

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker, Anupham Kher, John Ortiz, Julia Stiles

Argo Review

Just like the six diplomats who were miraculously rescued in the film, Ben Affleck may have just rescued his film career that bombed in early/mid 2000s. Not only is Argo the third great film in a row that he directed, it is also his best directorial work yet, proving that the success of Gone Baby Gone and The Town is no fluke. In his third film, not only does Affleck reaffirm his existing directing chops and even show that he has one crucial skill that not many directors possess, he also shows that he'll let nothing get in the way of delivering good story and good characters, including himself.

Argo tells the implausibly true story of how 6 American diplomats were rescued by a ludicrous scheme during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. On November 4, 1979 the US embassy in Tehran was attacked by Iranian revolutionaries and 6 American staffs managed to flee and eventually hide themselves in the Canadian ambassador's house. As months go by, their situation becomes more precarious as the Iranians start to crack down on foreign residences. Meanwhile, the CIA, lead by extraction specialist Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) managed to concoct an unlikely scheme to rescue them: by creating a cover story of a fake Hollywood movie production and the 6 Americans would pose as the Canadian film crews who are in Iran for location scouting. To help with the mission, Tony enlisted the help of the real makeup artist John Chambers (John Goodman), who won Oscars for Planet of the Apes, and fictional producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) to create the necessary publicity in Hollywood to make it look real. Their scheme was so convincing that it fooled the entire Iranian authorities and the 6 Americans escaped easily (read the article that inspired the movie here). Of course, being a suspense thriller, the movie doesn't make the hostages to escape as easily as they did in real life.

The best thing that Ben Affleck has done in Argo is exercising restraint on himself from hogging the spotlight and in return, allows him to focus on what really matters: letting the great characters ensemble and story speaks for themselves and navigating the tricky maze of tonal shifts that this unbelievable story requires. As good as "The Town" was, it sometime felt like it was made to be his star comeback vehicle because he got the lead role with the best ending but his limited acting was bettered by his costars like Jeremy Renner. Here, Affleck portrays Tony Mendez in a mostly subdued and low key manner, giving his most effective performance yet. But Ben Affleck doesn't forget that the real story lies in the real characters of the trapped 6 americans, the CIA and white house staffs, and the movie producers and the Iranian guards and he gives them all (the actors) fair share of screen time to shine. Affleck also chooses to film the story almost in as much as a docu-drama style by employing as much live footage from the period and having the highest quality production values that have both authentic 70s setting and great 70s films look and feel. No doubt this is perhaps helped by producer George Clooney who used similar nostalgic styles for his stellar directing debut, Good Night and Good Luck. But Ben affleck's most amazing skill as a director here is how he manages to juggle the tonal shifts that the story requires: the tension and danger in Iran that pervades the hostages, the ineffectiveness of government bureaucracy in Washington and Virginia and the sardonic cynicism of Hollywood without missing a beat. This is shown in a small scene where producer Lester complains to Tony that he can't communicate with his children about what he really does in Hollywood because it's all bullshit and Tony just silently nods in agreement, implying the work in CIA is similar too.

Eventually, the movie reaches to its suspenseful, highly tense conclusion and no contrived and forced tricks were spared to take the audience for a ride even though they never happened in real life. But then again, you're probably already rooting for the Americans to escape so much that you simply don't care and that's when Ben Affleck has done his job wonderfully.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Argo
Directed by Ben Affleck
Written by Chris Terrio based on the book "The Master of Disguise" by Antonio J. Mendez and "Escape from Tehran" by Joshuah Bearman
Produced by Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, George Clooney
Cast: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan Arkin, Kyle Chandler, Tate Donovan, Clea Duvall, Kerry Bishé, Christopher Denham, Scoot McNairy, Rory Cochrane, Victor Garber, Chris Messina

Quitting Blackberry

So I finally quit using Blackberry last week after planning to do so for some time. The device has outlived its purpose for me and I was hardly using BBM. I was planning to hang on to it until the next iPhone is launched because my mother just joined the BB craze late a few months ago. Unfortunately, recent circumstances have rendered me unable to postpone any longer. However, despite my switch and general dislike of RIM and Blackberry, I feel like the Blackberries I used and my time with them deserve this fond look back.

My earliest recollection of learning about Blackberry was when I was still in college in US a few years back. Back then, Blackberry was THE mobile phone that many Americans use. As someone from Asia who's used to seeing cool, sleek, small mobile phones from Nokia, I just had to laugh at those big, bulky Blackberry with full keyboards. It doesn't help that I used to scoff at many things that only Americans do and the popularity of Blackberry over there is one of those things that symbolized what's wrong with America for me. Of course, back then, I didn't know that Blackberry had robust email service that is popular with professionals and enterprise market which counted for their success. I also didn't foresee that karma will catch up to me when I returned to Indonesia in 2009.

My first Blackberry phone, the bold.

In late 2008s/early 2009s, just as Blackberry was starting to fade in US due to iPhone's rise, it became massively popular in Indonesia against all odds and logic. This sudden success is due to an unexpected cause: Blackberry Messenger (BBM). Before Blackberry took off, Indonesians used their mobile mainly to text/SMS on cheap SMS plan. With BBM that comes with all Blackberry, the chatting is faster and always online and the killer deal is that BBM use does not count against the data plan (compared to using MSN/Yahoo IM Messenger mobile client) - so using BBM to chat is "free", even more "free" than SMS. Pretty soon, everyone starting from the rich and famous started buying and using Blackberry devices (the popular one was BB Bold 9000) and it trickles down to middle class or everyone who can afford it. Then, everyone with Blackberry stops asking for phone number and ask for PIN instead. It was easy to feel left out and people just had to get these costly BB device and the data plan which isn't exactly cheap either. It was not uncommon to see everyone sitting in the same big dinner table having or using a Blackberry. In no time, Blackberry has become Indonesia's national phone. Remember that this is a phone that was designed for its email and security strengths for professionals, but it took off in general market in Indonesia due to its chatting program. It's just one of those things that can only happen in Indonesia.

My second and last BB phone curve 3G, after the first one was stolen.

Amidst the rise of Blackberry culture in Indonesia, this is also the story of me coming back home (I was laid off at the end of 2008 and had to leave US due to visa issues) and starting a long distance relationship with my then-girlfriend. When Blackberry became too popular, I had to swallow my pride and get a Blackberry too. Thankfully, to smooth things over, my then-girlfriend also got one (can't remember who got first). I got myself the ubiquitous Blackberry Bold 9000, which look I like and thought that it showed a stylish maturity for the device makers after years of making ugly devices. But I hated the lag, the shoddy trackball, the frequent Java errors, the battery hog that made me wish to go back to my Nokia instead. But all that are forgotten when I used it to communicate with my girlfriend. While we used all sorts of tools available to maintain our relationship, including IM, phone and skype, BBM were used the most by us. I believe that 70% of our interactions happened in BBM. Chatting session would usually occur around lunch my time and before bed her time. We chatted so much that I remember feeling anxious if I don't receive any BBM message for a long time - I guess that's how it feels to be own a crackberry. The relationship that lasted over 2 years was aided as much as possible by Blackberry and its messenger to its bitter end is a testament on how wonderful technology has become. If we end up getting married, I would personally thank Blackberry in my speech and raise it up to the crowd for making the wedding happen, seriously. Too bad the relationship ended and was never meant to be. All the jokes, gossip and serious conversations over 2 years with her that happen through the window of 2 Blackberry devices I owned may have been forgotten, but I'll never forget the fact that they occurred in my life and for that I'd like to thank Blackberry for having been an important part of my life.

IRIS (2009 K-Drama) Review

Background:

As far as I can remember, from the time when the Korean Wave started in the early 00s, I have never finished watching a Korean TV Drama. I have only watched the following titles: Hotelier, Attic Cat, Love Story in Harvard and What Happened in Bali and only liked the first two but never finish any of them. This is because I tend to find the script and production values to be similar to Hong Kong/Taiwan standard but poor compared to their cinematic counterparts, which is shocking considering how popular they are. It seems that most Korean dramas tend to rely on their stars and overly melodramatic and unrealistic soap opera plotlines to attract their core audience, of which I just simply don’t belong in.

Therefore, it is with great interest and curiosity when I learnt the existence of the drama IRIS, because of Lee Byung-Hyun participation in it. By 2009, Lee Byung-Hyun has become a top film actor internationally, fresh off starring in the Hollywood blockbuster GI Joe. It therefore begs the question why he would choose to return to Korean television after all that success. Is it money? Is the material good? If it happens to be both, could this finally be a Korean drama that’s worth watching for me?

Plot:

Kim Hyun-Jun (played by Lee Byung-Hyun) and Jin Sa-Woo (Jung Joon-Ho) are best friends and two of the finest soldiers serving in the South Korean military. They are then scouted and recruited to join NSS – the South Korean version of CIA – by the beautiful agent Choi Seung-Hee (Kim Tae Hee). At first, everything seems to go smoothly for them as they foil an assassination attempt at the new South Korean president by the North Koreans and Hyun-Jun manages to date Seung-Hee (much to the dismay of Sa-Woo). However, after a botched operation in Hungary, Hyunjun is suddenly betrayed by NSS and wanted by both the South and North Koreans. Forced to go on the run and separated from the woman he loves, Hyun-Jun vows revenge and along the way, he discovers the existence of a secret organization called IRIS.

IRIS has existed since the end of the Korean war and has members deep inside both the North and South Korean government. They have been involved in a vast conspiracy manipulating the current affairs of the 2 countries for decades – one of which involve the mysterious death of Hyunjun’s parents – to ensure that the Koreans will never be reunited and the organization will forever profit from the never-ending conflict. With the new South Korean’s president’s heart set on a serious Korean reunification, IRIS has planned a big terrorist attack to prevent that from happening. Hyunjun has no choice but to form an uneasy alliance with 2 former enemies and North Korean agents (Kim So Yeon and Kim Seung Woo) to stop IRIS once and for all, even if it pits him against the woman he loves and his former best friend.

Review:

IRIS is indeed the most ambitious Korean TV Drama ever made at the time: costing 20 million US Dollar, shot in multiple countries across 2 continents, with a famous lead actor fresh off a Hollywood blockbuster and last but not least, it attempts to do a serious spy action thriller - a genre perhaps never done before on Korean TV. I am happy to report that the end product is a high quality TV drama well worth watching, if you can get past some initial issues related to it being a Korean TV drama.

The biggest problems with IRIS are that it has to follow certain K-Drama conventions and that it sometimes feels like a product that has to show its money’s worth to the investors. This is particularly obvious in the first 5 episodes or so – where the production values, writing quality is as bad as other typical Korean dramas. In the beginning, Hyun-Jun is still a young military kid who goes to college and flirts with pretty girl Seung-Hee who’s secretly evaluating him as a possible agent material. These meet cute early scenes can test your patience and makes you wonder if this is just going to be another cheesy Korean drama. It is also embarassing to see Lee Byung Hyun go from being uber-cool in GI Joe to see him attempt being a college kid in a Korean TV drama.

The series, in the beginning, also tend to switch tone suddenly from serious to cheesy/corny romance in a second. This is particularly true during the scenes where Hyun-Jun and Seung-Hee starts dating and they go to Akita, Japan for vacation while their best buddy Sa-Woo is on a mission in Hungary. A 5 minute action scene in Hungary can be followed by a 15-20 minutes scene where Hyun-Jun and Seung-Hee enjoying themselves with the beautiful snow scenery and both of them romancing and acting cute around each other. Obviously these scenes are obligatory for the good people in Akita, Japan who have generously allowed filming in exchange of heavy promotion as well as the K-Drama fans who expect this kind of romance. But these are also scenes that will make producers of 24 and Alias cringe and faint. Lastly, like another K-drama, it will never let you forget that there’s a love story going on by replaying the same 3-4 love ballads in almost every episode, and oh, when T.O.P makes an appearance, a Big Bang rap song is never far away.

But if you can get past all these problems (which only happen in the beginning anyway), what you’ll find is a compelling, believable and entertaining spy thriller. It may not be comforting to Korean people, but one of the best things that come out of the Korean conflict is a rich source for good drama just like the cold war for the American culture. The writers of IRIS may have liberally borrowed from 24, Bourne films and Tom Clancy and even Korean movies like Shiri, but they have also integrated them with the current Korean conflict well and smartly enough, particularly with the idea of a Korean version of Illuminati-like secret organization, that results in a fascinating spy thriller tale that can stand on its own.

The writers are also smart enough to use the conventions of a spy thriller genre to put a fresh spin on the dead tired star crossed lovers cliché in Korean soap operas. Whereas a typical K-Drama will usually have the two lovers separated due to family issues, mistaken identities and god forbid another fatal disease, IRIS cleverly uses a convention of the spy genre – a failed operation and mistaken deaths – to separate Hyunjun and Seunghee for more than half the episodes. It’s not terribly original, but I though the way it’s handled is quite refreshing and actually manages to make us root for their reunion.

There is also an undercurrent of nihilism and futility beneath the drama as a result of following the spy thriller genre conventions, similar to 24. Characters die left and right and get replaced endlessly as the conflict never ends as both sides refuse to give up no matter what. Characters that start out loyal to their countries end up questioning if their loyalty is worth it and for whom is their loyalty truly for. Even fitting for a Korean drama, lovers get separated and more than one love is unrequited. These dark themes make the drama stand above the rest of the others that are only interested in exploring “true love” again and again.

Cast and Characters:


Lee Byung-Hyun as Kim Hyun-Jun

Despite being the lead actor and the main star attraction, Lee Byung-Hyun only does the minimum to make the audience care about his character. This is not a knock against him, but the character Kim Hyun-Jun is just your standard brooding hero seeking revenge against those who wronged him and Byung-Hyun mostly plays him in a subdued, angsty, sad mode. Fortunately, the character is surrounded by interesting characters that make his character arc interesting. At least his film experience makes him look good in action scenes and whenever the occasion requires him to pander to K-Drama fans, he can also flash a wide charming smile in an instant and cry convincingly on cue. But this is not a role that he will be remembered for in his career.

Kim Young-Chul as NSS Vice-Director Baek San

Not a well known name, but Kim Young-Chul takes the honor of being the best actor in the series with his excellent performance as the villain. Baek San is the leader of NSS who recruited Hyun-Jun into NSS and betrayed him, revealing himself to be a high-ranking member of IRIS. He is cold, manipulative, cunning like a snake around the President and his strong loyalty to IRIS makes him a dangerous and fascinating villain to watch.

Kim So-Yeon as Kim Seon-Hwa

This is perhaps the most interesting, complicated and best realized character in the whole series. Kim Seon-Hwa started as a tough North Korean adversary to Hyun-Jun but circumstances forced her to abandon her country and work together with Hyun-Jun. Along the way, she reveals hidden kindness beneath her tough exterior and develops unrequited feelings for Hyun-Jun. She makes most of the difficult decisions throughout the drama and her complex relationship with Hyun-Jun is perhaps the best thing that drives the series emotionally. Actress Kim So-Yeon, previously famous for being in All About Eve, aces this role both emotionally and physically – unlike the lead actress, she actually looks good with guns and fights. It’s also credits to the writers that the relationship is treated with utmost respect and never goes over the top. If there’s any complain about her is that her role gets unceremoniously reduced to being Hyun-Jun’s driver and action buddy as the series draws to a close.

Kim Seung-Woo as Park Chul-Young

I fondly remember him as “Manager Han Tae-Jun” in Hotelier. However, like Lee Byung-Hyun, his character suffers from being too standard– he’s just another general who is loyal to his country and is willing to do anything for it and there’s not much the actor can do beyond that.

Jung Joon-Ho as Jin Sa-Woo

As a best friend turned rival to Hyunjun, this is the most predictable character in the whole series, despite going through a lot of character development in it. This is because the actor (and perhaps the writer too) play him as too much of a pathetic Mr Nice Guy and if you have watched enough dramas, there is no doubt where he’ll end up. It’s a pity because the character is a little interesting and the actor does work hard portraying him.

Kim Tae-Hee as Choi Seung-Hee

Where to start? Firstly, there’s the fact that from the beginning the audience is supposed to buy her immediately as this beautiful, intelligence and tough female secret agent. Then a few episodes later, she falls totally head over heels for Hyunjun, her subordinate, just because Hyunjun flashes his Lee Byung-Hyun mega smile and forced her to kiss him. Too bad Kim Tae-Hee is only pull off the part of being beautiful. There’s also the added embarrassment that she never looks convincing at all with guns and there are many scenes that require her to do that that just fall apart. Worst part is her acting. I once read a review of a Korean martial arts fantasy starring her called The Restless on lovehkfilm.com. The reviewer has this to say about her acting: “The lovely Kim Tae-Hee … appears to possess only one facial expresion: a deer-in-the-headlights look meant to channel horror, surprise, disgust, fear, wonder, and probably happiness, hunger, and arousal too.” I am sad to report that 5 years on, this still has not changed in the series. At least in the series she is only required to mope after Hyun-Jun mostly which isn’t hard to do.

T.O.P as Vick

And then there’s T.O.P from Big Bang, a stunt casting decision by the producers to court the young K-Pop crowd. To his credit, T.O.P does have that inhuman quality in his look and he is very effective at looking cold, emotionless and sadistic whenever he kills someone. But then again, he is T.O.P from Big Bang and there’s always a Big Bang rap song that follows him around.

Verdict:

IRIS has everything for everyone: there’s an amazing cast lead by a big Korean star for the Korean pop culture fans, there’s a good spy thriller story for people looking for something serious, there’s the usual trappings of K-Drama romance for existing fans, there’s TOP for those younger K-Pop fans and there’s even snowy Akita, Japan for those looking for nice touristy place to gaze at. I guess what I’m trying to say is watching this most ambitious Korean drama ever made is perhaps also the best way to introduce people who has never watched or hates Korean drama to watch them without turning off the existing K-drama fans. Despite some flaws this is a perfectly fine series for everyone, but one wonders there’s a better spy thriller in here had the producers even go more daring than it already is now. – 3.5/5

Pictures credit go to http://www.hancinema.net

The Tourist

The signs that The Tourist wouldn't turn out good is there in the poster. The pairing of 2 of the current hollywood's top actors now are curious at best, mismatched at worst: Johnny Depp who's normally doing wacky roles and Angelina Jolie who's usually into more serious roles. But the pairing is not what causes the film to fail. In fact, Depp does well in a welcome change as an ordinary joe stuck in an extraordinary situation and Jolie does her usual unattainable beauty role, although she does look old here. However, the worst failings of The Tourist is that its script (credited to 2 oscar winners) is simply too by the book and predictable. Even worse is as a travelogue film that shoots in Venice, the scenery aren't good enough to compensate. This seems to be a hollywood reel for director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who previously directed the clinically efficient but cold The Lives of Others (which won best foreign film oscar). But sadly, the monotony of the film doesn't make it a good reel either.If you want to see a better film about an american stuck in Italy, watch The American. - 2.5/5

Get Him To The Greek

A hilarious comedy that succeeds because of how many unexpected pleasant surprises are there in store. Who'd have guessed that Russell Brand is capable of showing some humanity while playing (or just being a variant of himself) an obnoxious rocker? Who'd have guessed that Jonah Hill is capable of doing a straight man considering that many of his roles so far only consist of being borderline annoying friends in Judd Apatow movies? Who'd have guessed Sean "P. Diddy" Combs could be so funny? Even a normally serious actress Rose Byrne gets to go against type to hilarious results.

Writer/director Nicholas Stoller returns in this follow up to his previous Forgetting Sarah Marshall. But the confused emotions that hamper FSM doesn't happen here, which makes this comedy gold another great outing from Judd Apatow factory. - 3.5/5