dragonpenchant Reviews

Dig! (2004)

i'm diggin' too

[7/10 · 17 October 2004]

Rock n' roll is a messy business and DiG! demonstrates this masterfully. A project of serious ambition, and perhaps foolhardiness, the filmmaker is able to mend together seven tumultuous years of following around two unwieldy rock groups. With that said, the abundance of quality material ensures the film's ability to captivate the audience. If you've ever been interested in any realm of the music industry, this movie will undoubtedly be an arresting viewing. the music in the film, although it suffers minimally from requisite cutting and pasting, is worth the price of admission alone. the morning after i saw DiG! i went straight to the record store to pick up a Brian Jonestown Massacre album (i was already initiated to the Dandy Warhols' sounds). Primarily defined by its exploration of rock music, the film succeeds at other profound levels. DiG! is a sincere, and sufficiently objective, glance into the destructive and volatile nature of the creative process and the people that try to wrangle those forces.

Throw Down (2004)

I wish the red balloon had popped...

[5/10 · 25 September 2004]

After hearing a lot of praise for To's movies and being really excited to finally see one (on the big screen no less), this film ended up being a grand disappointment. I can appreciate hokey melodrama as much as the next guy, but this shite was unbearably trite. My foremost criticism is of the over the top and out of place musical sequences and i don't quite care if To's satirizing other HK movies because it just wasn't funny enough. The movie wasn't totally w waste of time considering a few memorable moments and some brief humorous moments. Maybe if he had just finished the movie after the balloon scene i would respect his audacity but instead he drags this trifling, self indulgent piece on another 20 minutes. Kurosawa you're not, Johnny.

Haryu insaeng (2004)

Ambition Falls Flat

[5/10 · 21 September 2004]

I recently saw this film at the Toronto International Film Festival and was considerably disappointed with the undeniably poor execution of Lowlife. At first I was charmed by the studio lot setting and the curiously out of place fight sequences, but eventually the poor editing and confused narrative line left me impatiently waiting for the credits to roll. The director attempts to tell a sprawling story of one man's tumultuous maturation within the context of South Korean political situation during the second half of the 20th century. And although I'm not acquainted with that history, it seems the film takes a very simplistic approach to the period's temperaments. The filmmakers simply try to do too much, eventually diminishing the potency latent in the socio-political situation as well as the engaging performance of the lead actor. The film definitely has more of a movie of the week feel to it with all its heavy-handedness and slap-dash film-making. The fact that the film was rushed (ironically, much like the films being satirized within the film) is most evident in a sequence where the lead and another actor sit in front of a store in the 1960s with modern NFL gear inside. Now i'm not a stickler for continuity but c'mon.

Los Muertos (2004)

don't leave before the credits roll

[7/10 · 19 September 2004]

This is an unapologetic slow burner of a movie. Its mysterious opening, sumptuous cinematography and wonderfully natural performances take on some of the burden left by the almost complete absence of dialogue or traditional narrative. Although, I admittedly felt antsy and uneasy at some points and you'll no doubt be asking yourself somewhere along the journey: "where's this going" or more impatiently perhaps "what's the point". I'm still not sure i have those answers, but this film definitely gets under your skin after you've left your seat. Speaking of which, I implore you to not leave that seat before all the credits have rolled. The accompanying music is simply amazing.