Baseball Girl: Not a Hit

The trope is probably as old as sports movies themselves. An underdog overcomes insurmountable odds with a combination of talent and grit. The problem with Choi Yun-tae's Baseball Girl is it doesn't really highlight the talent of its star athlete -- pitcher Joo Soo-in (Lee Joo-young) -- or reveal a perseverance that's especially impressive: She snubs a teacher (Lee Chae-eun) in an amateur league, leaves the gym when a reporter approaches, and keeps trying to perfect a fast ball that's admittedly sub-par.

Once her new coach Choi Jin-tae (Lee Joon-hyuk), a former baseball player who failed to make it in the majors, takes an interest in her, the story gets marginally better. But Baseball Girl oddly never takes off in part because it lacks any love for the actually sport. We rarely see Soo-in in action during a game. Her training sequences are far from impressive. I, for one, kept thinking she needs to get a haircut to get her bangs out of her eyes as much as she needs to perfect her knuckleball. Teammate Lee Jeung-ho (Kwak Dong-yeon) may see potential. I saw someone who was delusional, selfish, petulant, and mean as well as insecure and undermined by sexism and an unhappy family. Of course, I want to see a woman win in a man's world. I'm just not that excited by this one signing a semi-pro contract.

Big Deal: Corporate Cruelty

Choi Yun-Jin's Big Deal is a pretty scary movie. Not because there are vampires or werewolves or a mad slasher on the loose. What's wreaking havoc and causing chills are corporate overlords who have only one thing on their mind: Money. Seok Jin-woo (Son Hyeon-ju) is the nepo baby who's inherited a thriving soju empire that he jeopardizes by making foolish wagers on the golf course among other places. Choi In-beom (Lee Je-hoon) is a business strategist who recognizes the faltering company as his chance to orchestrate a merciless takeover followed by downsizing and a profitable resale. Neither character can imagine a motive outside their bank accounts.

The only one in this cutthroat world who seems to give a damn is divorced, alcholic, all-too-trusting Pyo Jong Rok (Yoo Hae-jin), a high-ranking exec who is about to learn that CEOs, lawyers, judges, journalists, account managers, and so on do not share his code of ethics. Or any code of ethics. The only rule for sleazy powerbrokers like Gordon (Byron Kim), nasty double-crossers like Koo (Choi Young-joon) or backstabbing dealmakers like Mark (Daniel C Kennedy) is win at all costs. The ends justify the meanies! To its credit, Big Deal shows that sometimes a price is paid... but its not by the monsters at the top.

Road to Boston: A Run for Independence

For those who mistakenly believe that once Japan was pushed out of Korea, then South Korea immediately became an internationally recognized sovereign nation, writer-director Kang Je-kyu's Road to Boston may serve as a rousing corrective. The time is the late 1940s. Gold medal marathoner Son Kee-jeong (Ha Jung-woo) is an alcoholic nursing the pain caused by his crowning achievement being credited to the nation that once occupied his homeland. His buddy, bronze medalist Nam Seung-Ryong (Bae Sung-woo), is a running coach hoping to reassert Korea's place on the global stage. The two decide to team up to gain promising athlete Seo Yoon-bok (Yim Si-wan) a spot in the upcoming Olympics, only to find out that first their country must qualify via a sanctioned meet.

The good news is that the Boston Marathon is right around the corner. The bad news is that the American military, South Korea's latest occupier, is largely standing in the way. While the U.S. may not be as overtly oppressive as Japan was, Road to Boston does remind you that imperalism and colonialism come in many insidious forms. So does the underdog story. And this beauteous biopic recounting Seo's unlikely rise as a competitor of global ranking may have you shedding tears of appreciation by the final race. There's something truly heartwarming too in the mutual support club that can exist among "rival" runners, a bond that extends across oceans and languages. Shout out to American silver medalist John Kelly (Jesse Marshall).

The Girl on a Bulldozer: Inherited Mystery

Hye-yeong (Kim Hye-yoon) doesn't take the time to grieve when her unlucky dad (Park Hyuk-kwon) ends up "brain dead" at the hospital. Maybe her life has been sad so long that she's lost the propensity to do so. Understandable. Plus, her refusal to mourn ensures she's got plenty of time and energy to devote to solving the surrounding case -- investigated by cops and insurance company alike, and involving a wide array of people. Surely, her father can't be blamed for every crime: reckless driving, broken arm, construction site accident, striking a former employer, totalling someone else's car... His daughter knows her dad better than that.

Auntie (Yang So-min) knows some things, too. The voicemail on dad's phone details even more. But will this troubled eldest child ever be able to achieve justice, given her own public record of reactive violence. Park Ri-Woong's The Girl on a Bulldozer kicks off with a girl fight involving hair-pulling, punching, kicking, and a pair of scissors. Our anti-heroine's choice to slap the slimy politician who may be responsible for her dad's undoing is certainly an act with viral online potential but does she really think such an impulsive smack is going to work in her favor? In truth, Hye-yeong makes a number of choices that strain the viewer's credulity. And plot points like a lighter that malfunctions right when she's about to torch someone's apartment say much the same about this movie's screenplay.

K-Pops!: American-Made Korean Music Sensation

I have a few friends who work in academia and my lover just graduated from an MFA program so talk of syllabi is always in the air lately. Which got me to thinking: What films would I include if I were teaching an Intro to Korean Film class myself? Obvious choices such as Parasite (2019), Oldboy (2003), Bad Guy (2001), Stray Bullet (1961), and A Flower in Hell (1958) all come to mind. So do lesser-known works like Save the Green Planet! (2003) and Enter the Invincible Hero (1977). But I might include a movie like K-Pops! (2024), too. For this American film by multi-Grammy winner Anderson .Paak speaks to Korean-American identity, crossover Korean culture, and has plenty of dialogue in Korean too.

Set mostly in South Korea, this feel-good story concerns a Korean-American drummer-singer-songwriter (.Paak) who undergoes a maturation process after he lands a gig in the houseband of a televised competition show for pop vocalists -- only to meet the son he never knew he had in the process. Throughout, K-Pops! has a light touch even as it addresses matters of cultural heritage/exchange/cross-polination on both sides of the Pacific. The performances are universally enchanting, from .Paak's turn as the lead to Jee Young Han as his ex to Soul Rasheed as his talented son to Yvette Nicole Brown as his upbeat mom to Jon Park as his mom's potential love interest. The music likewise is irresistible. How this movie slid under the radar in 2024 is a mystery to me. So I'm hereby writing K-Pops! in large letters on the virtual chalkboard to ensure this fun flick gets your attention.

Husbands in Action: Bubbly, Bumbling-Buddy Comedy

Husbands in Action is straight up goofy. I say that appreciatively. For Park Gyu-tae's kooky bromantic comedy gradually ingratiates itself to the viewer by never letting its silliness falter. Ex-husband Hwang Choong-sik (Jin Seon-kyu) is the kind of supercop who uses his handcuffs like numchucks and will frame his frenemy for his farts; new husband Lee Min-seok (Gong Myoung) is a veterinarian who drives a van decked out with ears and a tail and can crack walnuts with his barehands; drug-dealing husband Ma Do-joon (Kim Ji Suk) is a dimwit with a strong inner dog and courts his brilliant scientist-wife (Lee Da-hee) by pummeling others. All three men must unite in order to save their loved ones from Kim Yong-gang (Yoon Kyung-ho), a behind-the-times ex-con who wants to get his turf back now that he's been released from jail.

The film abounds with silly details: a reporter (Jeon So Min) whose motives are more romantic than investigative; a police chief (Lee Soon-won) whose got a crush on his star detective. Well-executed character parts like one criminal second banana (Lee Hyun Kul) and Yong-gang's flashy wife (Lee Yoon-a) keep the laughs coming as does a delightfully absurd sequence in which the three main women defend themselves from a gang of attackers by using frozen fish as hammer-like weapons. A true knockout. Just the latest winner from Park who also wrote the touching A Great Chinese Restaurant.

Kingmaker: Whose Life Is It Anyway?

I've been trying to figure out why Byun Sung-hyun historical drama Kingmaker decided against being a biopic about the early political days of eventual Korean president Kim Dae-jung and his unorthodox strategist Uhm Chang-rok. Why are we instead watching a film about a fictional Kim Woon-beom (Sul Kyung-gu) and his sidekick Seo Chang-dae (Lee Sun-kyun)? Why indeed are so many of the main characters based on real-life figures but renamed as if they were someone else? Was there a fear of lawsuits related to defamation of character? Was there too much conjecture and not enough fact?

Whatever the reasons, don't them distract you. In truth, the less you know about South Korean politics from the 1970s, the more Kingmaker may captivate your attention. For the story this movie tells is a fascinating one: an election campaign in which idealism is catapulted by clever trickery despite unfavorable odds. Theft, misdirection, and betrayal all come into play as Kim struggles to put forth his populist, socialist agenda and loosen the dictatorial grip the current regime held on the country. Kingmaker has you rooting for the underdog and searching the American political landscape for a national figure akin to NYC's recently elected Zohran Mamdani. But given the backroom scheming that's able to manipulate a republic the sie of New Jersey, you know it's a big dream for the USA.

Project Y: How Much Does She Love Her

When is lesbian noir not lesbian noir? At first, Lee Hwan's Project Y registers as a sapphic thriller. Aren't femme escort Mi-seon (Han So-lee) and butch driver Do-gyeong (Jeon Jong-seo) pooling their resources so one can open a flower shop and the other can make goo-goo eyes at the owner? Yet before I could settle into the pleasures of their complicated criminal romance, these two end up in a room with maternal figure Ga-yeong (Kim Shin-rock), a manipulative, drug-using elder who both refer to as "mom." Eventually, it comes out that one is the birth child; the other, adopted... so perhaps their connection is more than familial; perhaps the relationship retains the erotic. But if so, this sisterhood has definitely upped the kink factor.

Now throw in hyperviolent henchwoman Bull (a bald-headed Jung Young-joo) and you'll find it impossible to let go of the queer framework. Even the presence of the gigolo bar, frequented as it may be by rich ladies dissatisfied with their husbands, connotes a gay millieu. I've been to those bars and the women are in the minority as clientelle. As for the male leads, neither comes close to creating a strong fascination: Club impressario To Sa-jang (Kim Sung-cheol) is a pretty boy who gets hard by cheating people of money. He's a nepo villain. He feels as though he's inherited his dastardliness and learned his viciousness as part of a bloody bloodline. Like many in real life.

The Old Woman With the Knife: Stainless Steel Is Gray

One of the surprises of getting old is that you get hit with ailments for which you hadn't planned. For me, it's been creaky knee joints, acidic reflux, and high cholesterol. For Hornclaw (Lee Hye-yeong), the aging assassin in The Old Woman with the Knife, it's waning endurance, a shaky hand, and slower reflexes. I can do stretches, eat dinner earlier, and take a nightly dose of Atorvastatin. She's going to have to perservere with her grueling physical regimen and find a kind, widowed veterinarian (Nam Myung-ryul) to stitch her up should "accidents" occur. Gone are those days in which her younger self (Shin Si-ah) could singlehandedly take out 28 men with a knife. Now she's having to resort to guns and a Spiderman-style rope to eliminate a gang of enemies who lack her timetested expertise.

And so, the illusion continues. We can do anything we used to be able to do, if we try a little harder. In fact, we can even adopt a stray dog named Braveheart and forge new allegiances with the "pest control" agency's office manager Cho-yeop (Ok Ja-yeon) who's modeled her look after Bettie Page, if we're inclined as well. But we'll also have to confront our messy past. (Career choices do make a difference!) In Hornclaw's case, that means facing off with Bullfight (Kim Sung-cheol), a bloodthirsty sadist who wants to unseat their shared agency's current queen. You see, many years ago, he had a nanny who... Oh, check out Min Kyu-dong's fun action pic and find out.

Unforgivable: Understandable, Less So

Directed by Lim Kyoung-ho and So Jun-beum, Unforgivable is undeniably a message movie about homophobia but what exactly is it trying to say? The film seems to be taking a stance against LGBTQ-focused prejudice yet it also recoils from labeling anyone as gay with even the likeliest queer man (Yoon Dong-won) being defended by his mother (Gil Hae-yeon) as likely to grow up and get married with kids if given the chance. Delusional? Unquestionably. Does it make for a stronger message if we confront the label of gay without any acknowledged gay characters on screen? Unlikely. Furthermore, were there misssed opportunities to confront internalized self-hate in the LGBTQ+ community? Undeniably.

The lead detective (Kim Jung-hyun) might be gay. His statistician sidekick (Choi Chan-ho) might be gay. An old friend who's a bartender might be gay. Et cetera. And while you're trying to figure out if anyone actually is a friend of Dorothy's, who isn't gets unncecessarily complicated as the actors playing younger, flashback versions of the characters unnervingly bear no resemblance to the men they'll become. And while I'm unreservedly thankful that the film producers did not resort to bad gray wigs and/or digital toolboxes for youthenizing, I unreservedly wish the casting agency had spent more time and shown more care in pairing up performers who play the same role at different ages. I would, however, like to commend all involved here for detailing how teasing quickly turns to tormenting, and how a culture revolted by male intimacy negates the love of bromance as well as M4M romance in board rooms and prisons and boot camps and junior highs. For that alone, Unforgivable is unforgettable.

Hidden Face: Caged Heat

What up-and-coming conductor (Song Seung-heon) is going to hire a replacement cellist (Park Ji-hyun) based solely on the USB drive that she's brought with her to the audition? And who wants to see a pseudo-non-consensual sex scene between this now-drunk woman and her new boss with the surfer hair, regardless of how pretty they both are? Well, whoever falls into that latter demographic is definitely going to get a little bit of what they desire in Kim Dae-woo's teetering-on-softcore, pulpy suspense pic Hidden Face> Because the two beautiful actors get naked and fornicate a few times.

Does the movie improve or deteriorate when the conductor's nepo ex-girlfriend (Cho Yeo-jeong) resurfaces then turns out to be the sapphic lover of his now new girlfriend-cellist? And when the two women are revealed to have a long history of bondage and dominance that took place in a hidden, soundproof room with two-way mirrors are we mortified or amused? Sadly, the only person truly concerned about the first girlfriend's disappearance is her ultra-rich momma (Cha Mi-kyung) who, naturally enough, funds the orchestra. That's okay. Because you should never underestimate the resourcefulness of a mother. Or the healing powers of kimchi soup.

Harbin: Revolutionary Movies

As the U.S. government slides towards white-supremacist, patriarchal fascism, Hollywood is not exactly taking up the call to arms with escapist fare like The Devil Wears Prada 2 and the new Michael Jackson biopic. Which is why we'd do well to turn towards Korea for movies like Woo Min-ho's Harbin, a 2024 release that glorifies the resistance movement that followed Japanese occupation in the early part of the 20th century. This is no hagiography, however. The rebel leader (Hyun Bin) disastrously lets the enemy free without weapons so children won't die fatherless when his Japanese counterpart (Park Hoon) would have gladly killed himself to save face. Poor decisions lead to mass collateral damage and a basement of peers are eager to take on the parts of judge and jury.

How do you defend stupid actions in a war? You often can't. What can you do to make things right? Revenge, assassinate, self-sacrifice, the usual. Although Harbin is very much a movie about leaders pitted against each other within and without the resistance movement, this movie equally belongs to its supporting characters: Gong Boo-in (Jeon Yeo-been), Russian translator and dynamite resource; Kim Sang Hyun (Jo Woo-jin), bespectacled, former POW with PTSD issues; Woo Deok-soon (Park Jeong-min), the pragmatic soldier who just wants a drink; and Park Jeom-cheol (Jung Woo-sung), the one-eyed, furcoat model and munitions dealer. Perhaps the underlying message here is that sometimes a group has to pitch in to remedy a mess made by higher-ups; and that being a traitor never works in your favor. As one character puts it, "If Japan writes history, no one will remember us." Then another rejoins, "When you're dead, you're dead." You might as well be true to yourself while you can. Because "we live in place of our dead comrades." Always true. "Korea! Ura!"

Boss: Meth Acting

Being head honcho of a mob isn't the respectable job it used to be in Ra Hee-chan's jopok comedy Boss. High ranking gangster Soon-tae (Jo Woo-jin) would rather pursue his dream of being a chef with a restaurant franchise; recently released convict Kang-pyo (Jung Kyung-ho) fantasizes about going back to school to study tango. The only person who wants to be the new don is Pan-ho (Park Ji-hwan), the son of the old don (Lee Sung-min) but nobody wants to elect that clown. He's stupid and has anger management issues. Family lineage no longer holds the clout it once did.

Four senior hoods with an unofficial leader (Oh Dal-su) work to ensure a smooth succession for this crime organization. So does Kang-pyo's over-the-top mother Lady Hong (Gil Hae-yon). But apparently it's not as simple as letting the next-in-line step up since two out of the three nominees want nothing to do with the recently opened position. Throw in a bumbling undercover cop (Lee Kyu-hyung) with endless spyware, a disatisfied wife (Hwang Woo-seul-hye), a grifting daughter (Cho Si-yeon), and another underworld organization called The Triad, and this screenplay gets overly complicated. Would it have been such a crime to keep the story less layered? When this movie shifts from "stabbing to a catchy soundtrack" to "backstabbing to facilitate dealing meth," the "say no to drugs" message is about as ineffective as when Nancy Reagan first uttered the phrase. Except this time, we've got incredibly effective comic bits in the finale.

Project Silence: Dogs of the Future

Anyone who thinks the massive car pileup on the airport bridge is the worst thing that's happening to them in Kim Tae-gon's Project Silence has some bad news coming their way. And it's coming on four furry legs. Because the military has been breeding CGI attack dogs who, through a series of unfortunate events, are now on the loose with a single objective: Kill! Who's in danger of getting chomped? A slimy political operative (Lee Sun-kyun) and his much more caring daughter (Kim Su-an), a professional golfer and her possibly lesbian assistant/lover (Park Hee-von), the long-haired, fire-breathing tow truck driver (Ju Ji-hoon) and his cute little pooch Jodie... Who's going to save them? Not one soldier with an armpad and a taser. And probably not the crazy scientist / mad doctor (Kim Hee-won). That seems clear.

Throw in a rescue chopper that crashes into the bridge's suspension cables, a fire that breaks out on the escape route, and a tanker full of toxic gas, and you've got all the makings of a classic disaster movie. Except the hero is a total asshole. Even when the worst happens, he's still needlessly endangering people, still thinking about how to spin a catastrophe, still pretending he's got the matter under control, even if that means lying, lying, lying. Well, he's made a career out of lying. Why would he stop now? It takes alot of horrible things to get him to reconsider the choices he's made in this life. Does that make the movie more misanthropic or more realistic? Your final assessment may rest on the choices made by one presidential candidate (Kim Tae-woo). Or not.

The Neighbors: A Real Nail-Biter

Everyone knows that taste is subjective and personal yet how do we classify those movies that we really like that we know aren't "good" by the criteria that we'd normally apply? Especially when we can't deny how much these films are entirely to our liking? I'm not outlining a "so bad it's good" scenario. This is more like "flawed but still in favor." Personally, I was enraptured with Kim Hwi's serial killer thriller The Neighbors even as I knew I'd have a hard time defending it if another viewer started citing all the things that this movie does wrong. Does the little girl (Kim Sae-ron) who gets murdered have a terrible wig? Oh my god, yes. Does her prolonged psychological torture make us feel icky as moviegoers? I'm afraid that's true too. Does the actress (Kim Yunjin) who plays her grieving stepmother overact? Repeatedly so. Is the running bit in which a magpie keeps meddling in human affairs come across as a bit far-fetched? For many, I'm sure it will. And yet...

Sometimes, it's fun to have a bad guy (Kim Sung Kyun) who projects hair-raising creepiness with constantly dead eyes; and a cheery delivery boy (Do Ji-han) who can solve a violent crime based on the timing of when the pizza pies are ordered; and a suitcase salesman (Lim Ha-ryong) who can lick a combination lock code into place with his nimble tongue; and multiple instances of people pretending to be on the phone and then having those same phones ring! Plus ghosts seeking posthumous justice! And for those who won't watch the nailbiting Neighbors for all these reasons, there's at least the presence of a less bulky Ma Dong-seok, in an earlier phase of his career, stealing every scene in which he appears. So you can pretend that's the one reason you really like it.

The Girl Raised as a Future Daughter-in-Law: Ye Olde Bride

Who's the meanest woman in town? The mother-in-law (Han Eun-jin) in Choi Eun-hie's The Girl Raised as a Future Daughter-in-Law is surely a frontrunner. Category: Shrew. She's what an overly generous contemporary might categorize as a Conservative, an overbearing woman who's constantly complaining, arguing, demanding, and, insisting that her son's bride-to-be (Choi Eun-hie) submit to their future household per tradition. And just how mean is this nasty woman? Well, when the fiancee-in-waiting gets sick, new mom banishes her from home and hearth. Marriage prospects, be damned.

Lucky for our rejected woman, all the townsmen are relatively kind. Did I mention this film is a fantasy? Her working class ex (Park Nou-sik) seeks to buy her out of servitude. The clownish servant (Seo Young-choon) will meow like a cat to give her a helpful distraction. Her goofy father-in-law (Kim Hee-kap) hires a blind fortuneteller to speak on her behalf. And her betrothed (Jang Won-bae), a boy young enough to be her child, eventually defies the mean mother. Will these collective efforts shift dynamics quickly enough? After all, the prospective groom has yet to hit puberty so this arranged marriage may leave him with a new wife (nee former babysitter) about to enter menopause.

As far as age appropriate casting, Choi may have miscast herself in the female lead in her directorial debut. Yet such a decision probably ensured her the necessary financial backing. To her credit, The Girl Raised as a Future Daughter-in-Law abounds with lovely touches. Some are amusing: The young boy can't untie his sash so he pee along the road. Others are sweet: This same kid offers his ailing love a piece of taffy after she's drank some bitter medicine. Delicious!

A Woman Judge: What's the Story Here?

Someone recently asked me what distinguishes Korean film. What makes it unique or special? To this, I replied: "It's penchant for turning on a dime." Hong Eun-won's wild A Woman Judge is a prime example. Initially, this 1962 movie seems to be a formulaic flick about a bright young woman (Moon Jeong-suk) fighting against societal -- and family -- expectations as she pursues her passion to be an adjudicator with an eye on the sisterhood in society. Then the movie shifts out of social justice mode and becomes about a sister-in-law (Bang Seong-ja) obsessed with getting a piano and undermining the female judge, even going so far as to set up her brother, the judge's husband (Kim Seok-hun) with a desperate, unmarried secretary (Eom Aeng-ran) who works for her feminist father (Kim Seung-ho) at the construction company. When batty, banana-crazed grandma (Bok Hye Suk) dies, however, the whole feel and focus of the movie changes once again as we're propelled into the courtroom for an old-fashion murder mystery, with the former judge as lead lawyer.

To be sure, your enjoyment of A Woman Judge demands your openness to dropping one genre (melodrama) for another (thriller) then another (courtroom drama) without judgment. Nothing is wasted as you go from one to the next: The sexist doctor-boyfriend (Park Am) will return as a helpful old friend; the disowned, addict child (Chu Seok-yang) of the mother-in-law (Yu Gye-seon) will resurface to disastrous results. Luckily, our now retired lady judge will put all that hard-earned legal training to good use when the situation demands it. Footage may be missing yet A Woman Judge is still three films in one.

Humint: Human Intelligence Vs. Meth and Sex-Trafficking

"If you open fire, there's no turning back."

That's the kind of statement that would immediately be followed by gunshots in an American movie but in the Korean pic Humint, Manager Zo (Zo In-sung) opts to follow orders by turning his pistol into a bludgeon so he can singlehandedly take out a gang of thugs while also rescuing drug-addicted sex slave Soo-rin (Joo Bo-bi). But has he actually saved her from the jaws of death? Hint: Pretty early on, Ryoo Seung-wan's crime flick refuses to adhere to the standard formula. Even the setting for this human-trafficking and meth-dealing thriller is out there: Russia's Vladivostok.

It's also got two dueling heroes instead of one: The other is North Korean operative Park Geon (Park Jeong-min) who's getting into all kind of trouble for his double agent girl Seon-hwa (Shin Sae-kyeong). Their most visible enemy is franky iconic: a bleached blond Russian pimp (Robert Maaser) who wears a fabulous striped fur coat and keeps his captured women in bulletproof glass cases on wheels. This movie excels whenever it kicks into action mode, whether its martial arts or gunfire. But initially there are too many long stretches without punches, bullets or car chases. That one fight involving Agent Im (Jeong Eu-gene) and Park slamming into the railings of a multi-level staircase is worth the price of admission alone...or in this case, Netflix streaming. The prolonged final shootout is killer, too!

No Other Choice: The Cruelty of Capitalism

The Americans make a brief appearance at the start of auteur Park Chan-wook's No Other Choice. They're a group of cold-hearted businessmen who have come to South Korea to dramatically downsize the devoted staff of a paper company, loyalty be damned. It's clear that Park finds the heartless "money first, people second" ethos as reprehensible. His anti-hero Man-su (Lee Byung-hun), however, doesn't necessarily agree. Or if he does, he certainly gets over it quick enough as he strategizes how he might get back into a high-paying job in his industry, in light of such ruthlessness. His plan: Kill, kill, kill.

Since this is a Park film, Man-su's deadly serious determination becomes horrifically literal as he systematically identifies who the competition before murdering them one by one. Changing professions is not an option. Selling the family home is not an option either. Competing as an equal has not worked in his favor so far. For him, offing his rivals is the best bet. As the title states, he has "no other choice." [His loyal wife Miri (an excellent Son Ye-jin) is more flexible as well as more adaptable but she's not driving the plot.] Once Man-su's masterplan kicks into action, the killings are quirky more than grisly: a shoe salesman gets twisted into a ball as if he were a bonsai tree; another rival (Park Hee-soon) is buried up to his neck after a night of excessive drinking; a third (Lee Sung-min) is fatally shot by his own wife (Yeom Hye-ran), a histrionic actress who's in the midst of a shallow love affair. Park's film may not have the constant cliffhangers of his earlier works like Oldboy and Lady Vengeance, but No Other Choice is nevertheless a powerful indictment of unchecked capitalism gone mad, both here and abroad.

Salsali, You Didn't Know: 007 for Laughs

Salsali, You Didn't Know is one of those comedies in which life would be so much easier if the on-screen characters simply said what they meant. Instead, when the title character (Seo Young-choon) goes to a duped acupuncturist (Kim Hee-kap) looking for payment re: just-delivered jewelry absconded by a scheming woman (Do Kum-bong), his lack of specifics lands him in a James Bond plot perfectly in line with the 007 paperbacks he's taken to reading avariciously. Suddenly, crime pops up everywhere he turns. The jewel thief is tied to a gang that also runs a disreputable dancehall; the cellar of the hotel is the site of a counterfeit money-laundering scheme; a stolen meal at a Chinese restaurant must be paid for by entering a boxing match.

Our hero may be thin as a rail but he happens to have a mean punch. He also has a thing for the mincing sister of the movie's femme fatale. He also has a thing for crossdressing... although his reasons for doing so stretch the limits of plausability. Well, at least he has a good wardrobe. Most wild of all, he has a strange gift for using mannequins to save the day, whether it's a nude plastic woman in a shower or a conveniently placed artificial arm under a bedsheet. I would never call novelist Ian Fleming a writer of realism but after watching Kim Hwa-rang's crime-caper-comedy, the derring-do of Fleming's British superspy feels nothing short of reasonable.