Ashfall: Disaster as Reality

It occurred to me when watching Kim Byung-seo's and Lee Hae-jun's Ashfall that there are only two kinds of movies worth making right now. One concerns exposing the truth on an at-least-somewhat-political scale. The other involves confronting catastrophes on an international level. In the first category, we've got movies like Dark Waters and even First Reformed. In the second group, we've got films like... well, like Ashfall. This action-packed disaster film involves a series of volcanic eruptions — inevitably caused by mankind's ongoing decimation of the planet — that threaten to destroy about fifty percent of the Korean peninsula. That the explosions are all taking place in North Korea, naturally makes any potential intervention that much more complicated.

Who will save the day? Certainly not the arrogant American industrial-military complex! So can anyone? Or, counter to the one hero saves all narrative, are a whole bunch of people going to be called upon to work together in order to pull off one risky solution? If you're hoping for once it's the latter, good news: Ashfall involves a whole crew of people — a reluctant professor (Ma Dong-seok, cast against type), a political prisoner (Lee Byung-hun), and a bomb-defuser (Ha Jung-woo) as well as a number of women in important roles like a high-ranking government official (Jeon Hye-jin) and a particularly effective female soldier who sadly does not currently get a credit on IMDb. Each of these players must dig deep, break some rules, jeopardize their careers, and risk their lives in order to potentially accomplish what's a long shot to begin with. And no, not everyone survives.

Sector 7: The Oiliest Monster in Town

What attributes would you give a scary sea monster? A long, retractable tongue? A pair of backwards elbow-joints? Blood made of oil that can easily catch fire coupled with a gift for scarring instantaneously thereby creating a seal that prevents further blood flow and oil-fueled flames? Yeah, me neither. I'd probably make the beast of Kim Ji-hoon's Sector 7 more agile in the water than on land and maybe give it night vision (and a hypersensitivity to light) since its natural home is many leagues deep in the ocean. That the killer creature is so unoriginal comes as a particular disappointment because its ancestors are so fascinating: aquatic, sharp-toothed fireflies that resemble the offspring of Tinkerbell and a sperm.

The humans aren't more impressive here either. The alpha female crew member nicknamed "bad-ass" (Ha Ji-won) may be tough as nails but she's also inexplicably inept at crawling. Her uncle (Ahn Sung-ki) isn't nearly as cool as you're initially fooled to believe he is and her motorcycle-riding boyfriend (Oh Ji-ho) doesn't even merit a proper kiss. Everyone in this movie falls short of your hopes including the short-lived resident geneticist (Cha Ye-reyeon) and the pointlessly crabby ship captain (Park Jeong-hak).

What works in Sector 7 is its pro-ecological message: We shouldn't look at living things strictly as revenue generators; we would do well not to keep drilling the planet full of holes and consider other less-invasive energy sources such as solar panels and wind turbines. So next time you come across an oil-producing, underwater demon, put it on the endangered species list instead of sticking a fuel hose up its butt.

The Classified File: Will They Find Her in Time?

A kidnapping flick that pairs an intuitive cop with a psychic sidekick? Sign me up! Writer-director Kwak Kyung-taek's The Classified File has just the right mix of supernatural deduction and police procedural to keep fans of either form of storytelling hooked. This thriller also benefits from a pair of consistently reliable stars in its two primary roles. As the beleaguered police detective on the case, Kim Yun-seok is back to doing what he does best: playing an eternally-tired-looking policeman whose world-weary wisdom makes him an existential hero in a not-quite-ethical law enforcement department. As his temporary partner — a hard-luck fortune-teller with useful visions and elemental associations that may help solve the crime — Yoo Hae-jin looks equally overwhelmed by the world ... and the other world as well.

Based on a true story, The Classified File isn't a whodunit so much as it's a "will they rescue that little girl in time" type of tale. Kwak isn't overly preoccupied with throwing red herrings at you so you'll think the victim's father (Song Young-chang) or the criminal investigation chief (Lee Yoon-hee) may be in on the crime so much as he's giving you a sense of urgency based on the idea that as more time passes, the likelihood of the young girl surviving decreases. He's also showing how often political machinations behind the scenes get in the way of catching the criminal. Everyone wants to win a medal! That he keeps the kidnapped child unheard and unseen through much of the movie leaves us wondering if she's long dead and the whole investigation is for naught. After all, that's what the psychic's teacher said!

The Client: Did He Do It?

Watching The Client is like listening to a certain type of well-told short story. The carefully constructed narrative builds, scene by scene, without ever needing you to re-evaluate your interpretations of "the facts" (like a mystery would) but instead judiciously doles out the details so that you're only able to decisively answer its central question at the very end — In this case: Did that cool cucumber Han Cheol-min (Jang Hyuk) murder his wife or not? The accused isn't particularly sympathetic. The dead woman (Yoo Da-in) has barely any screen time. So what we're left with is a battle of wills between the public prosecutor (Park Hee-son) and the defense attorney (Ha Jung-woo). Nothing wrong with that!

Their efforts to outwit each other is what generates most of the tension in Sohn Young-sung's effective courtroom drama. Will the client's team be able to retrieve the videotape shot in the hall and why won't the police turn this evidence over? Will the cranky five-and-dime owner (Yoo Soon-woong) confess what he saw the night of the crime? Does his mute son have anything pertinent to add? To its credit, The Client never feels like its withholding evidence or dragging things out despite running over two hours. Sometimes, it simply takes time to tell a good story. That's something which The Client most assuredly understands.

Side Note: This movie is a huge improvement over Sohn's earlier flick The Pit and The Pendulum. Credit in part must go to Sohn's co-screenwriter Lee Chun-hyeong.

Failan: Long Distance Lovers

As love stories go, writer-director Song Hye-seong's Failan is a strange one. The two characters never truly meet — she's an illegal alien who needs a husband so she can stay in the country; he's a small time hood who signs the necessary documents. They see each other in the flesh a few times in passing: first, at the Hope Employment Agency; next, when he's being taken away by the cops for selling porn to minors; and a third time at the morgue if you can count that. But mainly their relationship is one projection. She's got a framed photo of him propped up in the room where she lives while working as a laundress. He gets a few flattering letters from her that cause him to re-evaluate his own low self-esteem. Would they have been a happy couple if they'd actually paired off? That seems doubtful. But that isn't the point of Failan which seems to be saying something about the impact of the positive things we do in life, even if they're accidental.

To imagine a better life for Kang-jae (Choi Min-sik) is to imagine a completely different person than the pathetic thug we meet, a man who pulls rank on teenagers at a video arcade and ingratiates himself to the belittling mob boss who used to be a close friend. As for his wife-in-name-only Failan (Cecilia Cheung), the moment she coughs up blood (which is pretty early on), we know that she's doomed. That she's able to salvage a few happy years by grape-stomping dirty clothes and cycling around a village to drum up business feels like a small miracle. Hey, the small miracle is the best that most of us get if we're lucky. If you can make one happen for someone else, please don't hesitate. Cast your spell.