Turandot: Popera From the East

The Korean movie Turandot has infinitely more to do with Broadway musicals than Puccini operas but it does call to mind those PBS specials (of both realms) in which live productions are recorded then televised for not-quite-mass consumption. As such, choruses stand around idly when the principals sing; lead vocalists hold poses in anticipation of their first lyric when a song begins. As someone who's spent a good amount of time in the theater, I don't mind these static moments but someone expecting a cinematic experience akin to Chicago or Cabaret might easily feel otherwise. But for those game for a Live From Lincoln Center-style experience...

Turandot (Bae Daehee) is a princess who heartlessly reigns in a kingdom of darkness; Prince Calaf (Min Woo-hyuk) is the heir of a neighboring realm brought to this doomed land by the search for his missing father. How Ping (Lim Choon-gil), Pang (Kim Dae-han), and Pong (Park Jung-pyo) came to be there, I've no idea. There are riddles to solve; marriages to propose; and ballads to croon or belt as the situation requires. The singing is universally strong. A little research suggests that South Korea has a deep interest in musical theater and with former K-pop stars Bae (Vanilla Lucy) and Yang Seo-yoon (The Pink Lady) among the cast, writer-director Kim See-woo's production has no shortage of vocal talent. I enjoyed some of the sparkly crowns as well.

Gang: Gong

Someone please explain to me why I'm supposed to rally behind Ji-hoon (Cha Ji-hyuk) when he joins the fight club at the prison-like high school to which he's been transferred after breaking the ribs of another student at his former school. Is it because he's the outsider? Because he's thinner than everyone else? Because his competitors are either too chubby (Kim Dae-han), too crazy (Lee Jung-hyun), or have a creepy, cloudy eye? Am I supposed to intuit a homoerotic relationship between him and his not-quite-loyal new best friend? Because by the end of Gang, I didn't care much as to whether he or that rich student with the earbuds was about to get his ass whooped? Not that I wish anyone a crack to the jaw.

That's what one of the problems with Jo Bareun's hyper-violent, light-hearted Gang. The film presents a world in which bloodshed is the single option to decide who gets to be king of the hill. Despite being set in a high school, you never meet the smart student or the teacher's pet. Every young man attending this institute of lower education has one goal in mind: survive. For the toughest, that means going to the basement and flailing about while a DJ scores the bout with a hip soundtrack. For the less physically inclined, that means aligning with a contender, maybe being his friend, his coach, his promoter, his bitch. Why more kids don't skip class entirely, even if it means running away from home is a question that's never addressed. Are they all secretly pining for the jaded school nurse (Bae Hyo-won) who wears a silver leather jacket? Seems possible. She's doing something right as no one ever seems to lose a tooth or retain a bruise.