Shitty.
You liked this, Arnab? The camera did so many 360 turns I thought they had it rigged to a toilet. Okay, it wasn’t awful. But it wasn’t good, either. I don’t like it when there’s so much crying in an action movie. Suck it up, you fuckers. Sublimate your sadness in a good old-fashioned ass-whupping, like the rest of us.
I far prefer the action of “Nowhere to Hide” and the thriller politics of “J.S.A.” (and Park’s later films–“Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” and “OldBoy”–are even better).
Anyone else seen this? Or heard of it? Low-budget anthology, all circling around “robots” introduced into an archetypal human experience (birth, love, and two about death). It’s a fine small film; smart, funny, compassionate. My favorite segment is called “The Robot Fixer,” and a distant mother grapples with her son’s comatose state by fixing up his collection of cheap quasi-Transformer toys.
And, okay, I admit: the film caught my eye first for its geeky premise, then for its almost entirely non-white cast. This cast is quite good, but it is striking–a sad commentary either on my own habits as a viewer or on the state of American film, or both–that I was/am surprised that a film so careful to cast predominantly Asian-American leads never mentions race, doesn’t bother to define race as central to the stories, doesn’t even hint at the ‘difference’ from mainstream cinema.
So my question out to all: is it racist to read the “robot” focus as in some way allegorical, or at least analogical, to the representation and experience of non-white racial identity in America?
Or–how about this: is this an “Asian-American” film? Debate.
Or don’t. Regardless, it’s a good flick.
Recommended (pretty highly):
An anthology of … well, more “Disturbing” than Horror films: “3 Extremes,” by Chan-wook Park, Takashi Miike, and Fruit Chan. None will completely astound you–the plots are a little thin in each case, suffering from an anthology-movie mundaneness–but they each are quite impressive in catching a tone (or, in Chan & Park, a variety of shifting tones) with gorgeous compositions. They also all have lots of cool crackling squishy overly-loud sound effects, to highlight things being eaten, ghosts moving broken necks, etc. I wish I had a foley artist following me around all day. A foley artist following me around would make me appreciate the little things in life.
Beats me where you’ll find this. But if/when it ever pops up, check it out. It made me want to find some stuff by Chan (whom I don’t know), and it will hopefully encourage you to check out some stuff by Miike and Park, both of whom deserve your attention.