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Sin-gwa ham-kke: Jwi-wa beol (2017)
Sob inducing
This is one of the best films out of Korea.
I originally delayed watching this movie due to the repetitive nature I'd assume it'd have with the 7 trials. I was very wrong. The movie constantly introduced new aspects of Kim Ja-hong's life at an interesting, engaging pace. It creates an interesting side-plot revolving around his brother, Soo-hon. How he processes Kim Ja-hong's actions.
The acting all around is spectacular all around, but Cha Tae-hyun's performance as Kim Ja-hong is incredible. His emotional portrayal hits home at every trial. The feelings portrayed in this movie could make anyone cry. It goes through dark situations that reign realistic for many families.
Oppenheimer (2023)
Well thought out, poor execution
Oppenheimer was an experience.
The film, in many ways, was exceptional and clearly made by Nolan. However, compared to his other films, this one is a mixed bag.
1. For a stacked cast filled with actors such as R. Downey Jr, Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, and Cillian Murphy, you would expect the characters to be connectable. Well, not the case. There is no real emotional depth or storyline in this movie, which in succession caused it to lose intensity the farther you progress. Characters are rapidly introduced, all seeming to process some importance by the end in reference to Oppenheimer's final Security Check. However, during these final testimonies it is extremely difficult to feel any sympathy or connection with these characters. Though dramatized events in Oppenheimer's life are constantly explored, he still remains a distant protagonist. Emily Blunts character is one of the only characters to show emotional expression. I feel the point of historical bio-pictures is to make the characters more connectable, dramatized even.
2. Though I see little to no one pointing this out, I feel like both nudity scenes in the movie were entirely avoidable. Both scenes added little to nothing to the plot, besides the reveal of Oppenheimer's affair, which could've shown without such,.
3. Personally, I feel this movie doesn't quite convey the significance
of the events it follows after the initial bomb test. The non-linear typically Nolan timeline downplays the events. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki we only hear Truman over the radio? The announcement of the bombings almost initially passed over me due to the quiet audio during this scene as well. After watching a 3 hour movie centered around the atomic bomb, selfishly, I would've at least liked to have see at least one of cities get actually bombed. Flashing scenes between alleged communism and choppy dialogue left a quite boring and rather confusing second half. A whirlwind of heavy dialogue and different timelines/perspectives that ultimately conveyed a rather confusing story of Oppenheimer. For a viewer going into this movie with little to no previous knowledge on the psyche that came with the atomic bomb, you will be confused. This movie provides little to no exposition for characters political sides regarding the bomb or general morals. Typically, I understand not having a large amount of exposition for the sake of keeping the plot rolling. However, for a 3 hour movie this courtesy was not granted.
4. Overall, the soundtrack wasn't stellar, though it was extremely loud. The constant intrusion of music and loud noises took away from the film itself. In many cases I found myself reaching to gasp bits of unintelligible dialogue.
5. The cinematography in this movie was amazing, along with the set designs, and hidden details. Granted, there were your traditional terrific Nolan details which made the film gratifying, but overall maybe little to no impact.