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.

Indian Pink: Bloodstains on Your Collar

It's not hard to tell something's up with unscrupulous businessman Dong Seok (Kim Hyun-joong) early on in Indian Pink. He's irritable on the phone with his best friend; he squeezes a glass shard until his hand draws blood. Then in case we haven't figured it out, he unsuccessfully drowns his sorrows in drink. What follows, for the first third at least, is really a one-man show, a monologue (with phone calls) masquerading as a movie, a nightmarish mishmash of regret — nay, remorse — for a tragic action that only the slowest of filmgoers won't figure out fairly quickly. Even the false, fantasized memories that constitute the flashback in the second act are easy to dispel, in part because the ex-girlfriend is not particularly believable. Perhaps that's intentional?

Once all the cards are laid on the table, writer-director Kim Seewoo doesn't have that much more to explore. Nefarious business deals still get made; a friend/associate becomes complicit in the crime; suicides are attempted and aborted; bodies must be disposed of; and our villainous protagonist is already on the hunt for a new girlfriend. So why does Kim Seewoo's psychodrama feel more lukewarm than chilling? Despite all the bloodstains on white linen in Indian Pink, this flick doesn't leave much of a mark.