Celeb Five: Behind the Curtain: Four Women Making a Mockery

Korean culture has had international reach in so many areas: K-pop, K-drama, K-horror, and Korean food. But is there K-comedy? The women of Celeb Five definitely think so. So who will make the most convincing argument on K-comedy's behalf? Will it be Shin-young who tickles her castmates with stories of her 110-year-old grandmother? Or how about Bong-sun and her bleaker riffs on her suicidal father? Will Young-mi spice it up by initiating a new fetish around K-breasts? Their leader Eun-i is hoping to pool these collective sensibilities, concepts, jokes, and talents for a new Netflix special but will there be enough material to justify a making-of video too?

Or is the 55-minute-long Behind the Curtain, in fact, the special itself? Will the various shenanigans we witness this foursome perform over meals and drinks, inside cafes and cars, wearing sweatsuits and bridal gowns build to the breakthrough they crave? One restaurant owner peaking from the kitchen is convinced. You get the feeling that the faith of these improvisational performers in each other and themselves is deep. Me? I need to wait until the actual special. Unless... this mockumentary is it? In which case, I'm still willing to wait for what they do next.

The 12th Suspect: This Pen Writes in Red Ink

The 12th Suspect starts off as an old-fashioned Agatha Christie mystery. The fatal gunshot is announced early on by a nattily attired detective (Kim Sang-kyung) after he crashes a sad, literary coffeehouse, leaving us — and him — the rest of the movie to discover which of these eight or so customers is the guilty one. Unless, of course, the husband-and-wife owners (Heo Sung-tae and Park Seon-yeong) are responsible for offing that loner poet.

Unlike Christie, however, writer-director Ko Myoung-sung's takes a moment for poetry, too. Not the cinematic variation. The literary kind. You can do that when so many of your primary suspects are poets! As for a motive, can you think of a better one than good ol' literary rivalry? Yes, yes, love-gone-wrong is presented as a potential reason but whoever thinks Choi Yoo-jeong (Han Ji-ahn) is the femme fatale has shifted from Christie country to the realm of Raymond Chandler. In actuality, The 12th Suspect shifts to John Le Carre territory as it mines the drama of anti-commie militarism played out in front of a post-Korean-War backdrop. So what's the true cause of the eventual bloodbath? Does the why even matter? Whodunit's really are a guessing game!

Arahan: Ahn Is on Deck Again

Either Ahn Sung-ki is the hardest working actor in South Korean cinema or my subconscious is seeking him out. A third of the movies I've watched this year feature this actor who started appearing in films when he was five: Mandala, Village in the Mist (1983), Festival (1996), A Young Zelkova (1969), and now Arahan (2004). This latest one is the pulpiest of the bunch, a silly action flick in which a group of Tai Chi masters — with extraordinary talents — must defend the planet from a former colleague (Jung Doo-hong) who wants that magic back tattoo for himself. (Such body enhancements let you rule the world.) Ahn plays the "good" team's leader and radiates a benign energy that makes you wish you were his mentee too.

He's got those apprentice slots filled, however, as joining him in the fight are two young trainees/lovers whose educational montage includes swordplay, hand-to-hand combat, and balacing on a big bowl of water. No one is ever shown teaching the coveted Palm Thrust which allows you to shove someone into a wall without touching them but that's the move they're most eager to learn. Like many a movie before it, Ryu Seung-wan's YA fantasy falters when it stops giving the ingenue (Yoon So-hi) a respectable heroine-in-the-making storyline. Considering her counterpart, a bumbling traffic cop, is played by Ryu's brother Seung-beom, you can forgive the mishandling. Nepotism always shortchanges someone, although in this case it's women everywhere.