This contemporary movie is another little imaginative masterpiece coming from South Korea that doesn't stop to bring fresh ideas to the film industry. This particular film is a modern adaption slightly inspired by the world famous German fairytale "Hänsel und Gretel".

The mysterious story kicks off surprisingly quickly. Young salesman Eun-Soo is on the road to visit his sick mother and has an argument with his pregnant girlfriend on his cell phone when he suddenly has an accident and temporarily loses conscience. As he awakens, he meets a young and warm hearted girl that leads him through a deep forest and to an old house where she lives with her dynamic younger sister and a wary young boy. They do live in isolation with two adults and seem to have everything they need to be happy: they have a big selection of toys, a wonderful garden and many candies for breakfast. Eun-Soo soon realizes that the adults are not the kid's parents as they quickly go away and leave him alone with the three kids. Eun-Soo establishes a confident relationship with the three children but he soon realizes that they are not like other kids. They do everything to keep him in the house and there seems to be no way out to civilization through the strange woods. When another strange couple gets lost and comes to the house, the tension slowly rises between all residents. Eun-Soo finds also out that the two adults from the beginning didn't make it through the woods and encountered a series of fateful events. But as Eun-Soo realizes that the three seemingly innocent children have been through unspeakable events in their early childhood, he realizes that he needs to find out their most disturbing secrets and to face his own tragic fate to get out of the forest.

Despite a more or less predictable story line, the film convinces on many other levels. First of all, it features many stunning images, sometimes colourful and enchanting but dark and frightening at other moments. The costumes, decorations and special effects relate this film to the fantasy genre first but the movie also includes some important portions of the drama genre and some minor horror elements. The creative artwork is definitely worthy to borrow the name of a fascinating old fairytale.

Another strong point is without the glimpse of a doubt the solid acting. Especially the three children play their roles close to perfection. They act like real children but at the same time, they have some strangely mature behaviours and one is never all to sure if these three mysterious kids are angels, demons or both of it until the end.

The tension in this atmospheric movie rises more and more and features many diversified cinematic elements such as flashbacks or moments when scenes of past and presence happen on a parallel level until a certain climax. The movie gets more emotional but also tension filled towards the end while the ending is as enchanting and well catalysed as the opening scene.

In the end, any fan of imaginative fantasy movies, fairy tales in general and contemporary South Korean cinema shouldn't miss this movie. It has this certain magic mood, features numerous solid ideas and has no notable lengths. It's clearly not the best movie coming from this fascinating country but still easily in the top ten of the best South Korean movies of the last decade.

 

 

This Chinese movie is a visually stunning drama that convinces with two extremely talented main actors that incarnate two credible and fascinating characters. On one side, you have the charming, naive and shy student Wong Chia Chi who gets coincidentally involved into the resistance movement against Japanese occupation and the Chinese puppet government in Hong Kong back in 1938. She gets introduced to the social circle of Mister Yee's wife in order to approach, then seduce and ultimately trap him. The special agent and recruiter of the puppet government is brutal towards his enemies, emotionally cold and very experienced.

Wong Chia Chi becomes Misses Mai and is able to seduce her target but when the resistance movement is ready to get the enemy killed, he moves to Shanghai with his family. The group's plans get discovered and result in a twisted crime after which the organization falls apart and disappears. Four years later, Wong Chia Chi also moves to Shanghai for studies and lives a solitary live in depression and poverty, abandoned by her father and her friends. She meets one of her old partners again who introduces her to an egoistic, pitiless and vengeful undercover agent of the Kuomintang who wants to finish what had begun four years ago. Wong Chia Chi takes the identity of Misses Mai again and soon meets her target on a regular basis. They start to have a relationship that is quite brutal, cold and physical in the beginning but the two solitary souls soon start to develop true emotions towards each other. As the resistance starts to concretely organize the assassination of the target, the matured young woman has to decide which path to choose.

The story of this movie is intriguing thanks to a very strong acting and a progressive character development. The film features brutal and cold sex scenes close to a rape but these scenes ultimately get more and more aesthetic and passionate. This radical contrast perfectly portrays both characters and the essence of the movie. In many movies, sex scenes are not very well acted and remain superficial but these ones really make sense, incarnate a certain spirit and feel extremely real as if the two actors were truly in a relationship which is though not the case.

The movie is quite slow paced in the beginning and takes some time to kick off which might be difficult for some people but at the same time, this flick gives us a credible portrait of the difficult life during the Second Sino-Japanese War. As it's often the case for contemporary Chinese movies, a lot of budget went into the beautiful costumes, the authentic decorations and the detailed locations. All these elements drown the viewer into a very credible past world and develop a great atmosphere.

In the end, any fan of contemporary Chinese movies should check this solid production out. Be sure to view the almost flawless uncensored version that is much more authentic, complex and dynamic than the shortened one.

 

Genre: Alternative Rock / Party Rock / Punk Label: Eigenproduktion Spielzeit: 33:39 Band homepage: - Tracklist: Personne préférée Les amoureux qui s’aiment J’aime ta grand-mère Bamboula Sur le bord du lac (avec Renée Martel) Exercice Son visage était parfait C’était magique (Nuit de la poésie II) Je me touche dans le parc Retour à l’institut

Auch fünfzehn Jahre nach ihrer Gründung gehören LES TROIS ACCORDS zur Speerspitze der beliebtesten und berühmtesten Rockbands der kanadischen Provinz Québec. Dies liegt vor allem an den humorvoll-absurden Texten, welche die Band angenehm von den zahlreichen pseudoanspruchsvollen und politisch engagierten Gruppierungen ihres Genres abhebt. Bei dieser Band kann man einfach mal vom ganz alltäglichen Wahnsinn abschalten und sich auf etwas Neues einlassen. Auch auf dem aktuellen Album nehmen die vier Herren aus Drummondville kein Blatt vor den Mund und behandeln Themen wie romantische Liebesbeziehungen zwischen Alt und Jung, perverse Ausbrüche in der Gesellschaft oder das Schicksal ernüchterter Sportler, die anfangen übergewichtige Kinder zu beneiden. Allerdings erfindet sich die Band textlich nicht wirklich neu und so wirken viele Texte, als seien sie schon einmal so ähnlich erzählt worden. Dies führt dazu, dass dem Ganzen der letzte Biss fehlt und manche Ideen arg verbraucht wirken. Die einzigen Stücke, die einen auf Anhieb zum Lachen bringen, wenn man denn der französischen Sprache mächtig ist, sind das absurd-verblüffende „Exercice“ und das humorvoll-perverse „Je me touche dans le parc“. Musikalisch gestaltet die Gruppierung das Album da schon interessanter und variiert hier mehr als jemals zuvor. Die Fans der Alternative Rock und Fun-Punk Wurzeln blicken hingegen rasch in die Röhre und werden wohl am ehesten noch an der dynamischen, aber nicht wirklich repräsentativen ersten Single „Bamboula“ ihre Freude finden. Auch die sonst doch stark vorhandenen Country-Einflüsse sind deutlich zurückgegangen und finden sich nur noch selten wieder wie in dem entspannten Duett „Sur le bord du lac“ mit der berühmten einheimischen Country Queen RENÉE MARTEL. Das neue Album des Quartetts aus Drummondville ist eher von der Rockmusik der Sechziger und Siebziger beeinflusst, was man nicht nur dem angenehm atmosphärischen Retroklang des Endproduktes anhört, sondern auch klar beim Songwriting beobachten kann. Jazzige Trompeten, entspannte folkig-poppige Klangteppiche und tanzbare Gitarrenriffs mit ein paar leichten Klavierklängen bilden das Grundgerüst des Albums. Das Endresultat liegt daher irgendwo zwischen JOHNNY CASH, THE BEATLES, LUDWIG VON 88, WEEZER und FRANZ FERDINAND und ist immerhin recht kurzweilig geraten. Auf der anderen Seite sind eine Spielzeit von gerade einmal dreiunddreißig Minuten, die auf lediglich zehn Stücke verteilt werden, ziemlich mager. Da hätte das Quartett in den gut drei Jahren seit dem letzten Album doch etwas mehr kreative Anstrengungen unternehmen können, zumal hier gewiss nicht jedes Lied zündet, was sich auf Grund der Kürze krasser auswirkt als es normalerweise der Fall gewesen wäre. So bleibt unter dem Strich nur ein durchschnittliches bis ganz gutes Album, das ich aber nur den treuen Fans der Band und mutigen Interessenten an der frankokanadischen Kultur ans Herz legen möchte. Für all diejenigen, die diese Band noch nicht kennen, so kann ich wärmstens das vielseitigere Vorgängeralbum „Dans mon corps“ ans Herz legen, das im Vergleich zu dieser Veröffentlichung umso positiver heraussticht. (Online 19. November 2012)

Genre: Alternative Rock / Party Rock / Punk Label: Self-production Playing time: 33:39 Band homepage: - Tracklist: Personne préférée Les amoureux qui s’aiment J’aime ta grand-mère Bamboula Sur le bord du lac (avec Renée Martel) Exercice Son visage était parfait C’était magique (Nuit de la poésie II) Je me touche dans le parc Retour à l’institut

Even fifteen years after their foundation, LES TROIS ACCORDS are still one of the most famous Rock bands in Quebec thanks to their very humorous lyrics. Topics such as madness in society, romantic relationships to old people and suffering hobby athletes that are jealous of weighty young children that don’t do sports can be found on their new disc that is humorously entitled “J’aime ta grand-mère”. The problem is that a couple of jokes get a little bit inoffensive, old and used and don’t work as well as one the last records. The only songs that really made me laugh are the ridiculous and catchy “Exercice” and “Je me touche dans le parc”. As great tracks, I might also cite the few up tempo tracks such as the addicting single “Bamboula” as well as the musically a little bit more courageous “C’était magique (Nuit de la poésie II)” which is a follow-up of a song from the diversified predecessor “Dans mon corps”. On the other side, at least half of the songs on the record vary somewhere in the no man’s land between sad mediocrity and a solid average quality.    Musically, the band adds a strong touch of the sixties and seventies rock music to their sound without ignoring their usual influences. The final result sounds like a mixture of JOHNNY CASH, THE BEATLES, LUDWIG VON 88, WEEZER and FRANZ FERDINAND. From tracks with little danceable brass sections over laid back Folk Pop sounds to energizing Post-Punk moments, the band probably varies more than ever before but clearly gets more and more away from its Alternative Rock and Fun Punk roots. Even the obvious Country influences that have been very present on the first three records have almost completely vanished apart of the duet with the province’s Country Queen RENÉE MARTEL. The only thing that relates this new release to the first steps of the band is the humorous lyrics after all but this should be enough for the fans to appreciate this record.     On the other side, the albums of the band seem to get shorter and shorter. It’s incredible that it took them three years to record and release an album with only ten tracks and a running time of only thirty-three minutes. This here is definitely not value for money and I would therefore only recommend this album to faithful fans that have somewhat grown up with these guys and known them for quite a while as in my case. It’s definitely an entertaining half hour of music and another solid piece of Quebec’s contemporary musical culture but far from being convincing.     (Online November 19, 2012)

 

Le cœur voyageur

 

 

 

Né dans une douce innocence

 

Mis au monde dans un univers menaçant

 

Faisant face aux vices derrière les masques

 

Désintégrant mon âme en fissures qui craquent

 

 

 

Chacun suit son droit chemin sans pitié

 

Sans compromis, sans dialogue, sans intégrité

 

Le monde entier rira avec toi si tu as envie de sourire

 

Mais tu pleuras seul si tu ne fais que souffrir

 

 

 

La tristesse grise noie nos esprits

 

La détresse semble être infinie

 

La justice civique sombre dans l’oubli

 

Au sein d’un monde mourant sacrifié à la folie

 

 

 

J’ai le cœur qui voyage

 

M’étouffant sous un nuage

 

Je suis un nomade cherchant son chemin

 

Un enfant prodige en quête du destin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transposition de l’illusion

 

Sous une lune de mai rouge comme le sang divin

Progressant son cycle fatidique jusqu’à l’aube du matin

La femme fatale tentait de lire le destin dans mes lignes de main

 

Ce n’était qu’une transposition

 

« Oh coutumes, vous la laissez enchainé !»

« Oh cultures, vous la laissez transvidé! »

« Oh valeurs, vous la laissez irrité! »

 

Ce n’était qu’une illusion

 

Cet astre à la face cachée dérapera-t-il de sa lignée?

Son frère ensoleillé annoncera-t-il une nouvelle journée?

Pourrais-je m’attendre à la passion libératrice d’une autre nuitée?