Reviews written by Kevin Kennedy
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Winterplay - Happy Snow Bubble
Winterplay - Happy Snow Bubble
(1)Our Price: US$14.99List: US$19.99Save: US$5.00 (25%)Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:December 13, 2009 A classy jazz collectionWinterplay's "Happy Snow Bubble" features sparkling playing and soulful vocals on a memorable collection of jazz numbers. Singer Haewon is a real revelation, consistently delivering the goods in a wide variety of moods and rhythms. Also particularly good is producer/songwriter Lee Juhan, whose trumpet-playing is spot on. Lee, however, must take the blame for why I haven't given this album full marks. Most of the songs in this set are sung in English and Mr. Lee's English lyrics suffer from banality. Don't miss this album; jazz fans will love it. Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This)
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Heaven Can Help (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Heaven Can Help (DVD) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region All
(1)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:December 9, 2009 Fully deserving of its obscurity"Heaven Can Help" is all a bit overcooked. Through most of the first hour, we follow Don Mak (Eric Tsang) frantically running about, seeking to save his own life by saving the lives of others. Don Mak, after getting fired from his job and dumped by his girlfriend, went on a drinking binge that ends with his wrecked car careening down a hill. Unconscious after the accident, his spirit journeys to the gates of hell, where two guardians turn him back. Don Mak learns that he is fated to die after three other people have died. Consequently, he dedicates himself to trying to keep those people alive. The comic returns on this set-up are rather meager.
In the film's last half-hour, attention shifts to Cherie Chung's character (who had played only a very minor part in the film's first hour). Poor Cherie is being chased by the killer who had bumped off her brother. While there certainly are pleasures to be found in watching Cherie run around in short shorts, it all adds up to pretty thin gruel.
Heaven apparently didn't provide much help to "Heaven Can Help". The movie serves up lots of sound and fury signifying a few modest laughs, a little Cherie Chung cheesecake, and not much else.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
The Trail (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
The Trail (DVD) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region 6, All
(1)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:December 6, 2009 Watch it for RickyI remember seeing this film over a decade ago on the TV in my Hong Kong hotel room and thinking, "What the heck is this?!?" Seeing it again on this murky DVD, my reaction is much the same. A gang of drug smugglers posing as monks end up battling a 'creature from the sulfurous lagoon'. This terrible creature used to be the erhu-playing husband of a pretty singer; a local warlord killed the husband when he wanted to have his way with the singer. The husband's body inadvertently is dumped in a sulfurous spring by the drug smugglers only to reemerge as a gruesome, nearly indestructible zombie bent on destroying the warlord and anyone and everything that gets in its way. Why the drug smugglers choose to battle this creature are unclear to me, but they get picked off one by one until only Captain (Kent Cheng) and Ying (Ricky Hui) remain.
Cheng's attempts to play a plus-sized ladies' man produce lots of laughs and Ricky Hui, as the Captain's right hand man and constant fall guy, is a walking, talking sight gag. His Buster Keaton-ish hangdog expression is priceless. The film's attempts at horror are undercut by the cheesy, low-budget special effects, so the funny works better than the scary. And the story still doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Nonetheless, I can recommend "The Trail" for Ricky Hui's hilarious performance.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Zatoichi's Vengeance (US Version)
December 5, 2009 Among the best in the series"Zatoichi's Vengeance" adds a thematic depth not typical of its sword-slashing genre. The blind masseur Ichi (Katsu Shintaro) happens upon a man dying from wounds inflicted by a ronin hit-man (Amachi Shigeru). With his last breath, the man asks Ichi to deliver a bag of cash to "Taichi". The man dies before he can explain who Taichi is or where he can be found. Ichi shrugs and decides that he can help himself to the money. However, in the next village, Ichi encounters a boy named Taichi and learns that the boy is the son of the dead man. Ichi hands the money over to the boy's grandmother and works to pay back the funds he had spent out of the bag. To earn the money, Ichi gives a massage to a lovely prostitute (Ogawa Mayumi, who won awards for her riveting performance in "Vengeance is Mine"); the two, trapped in the seamy underside of Japanese society, form an immediate bond.
Through these slender connections, Ichi becomes enmeshed in the struggles of the village against its cruel criminal overlord (Sato Kei). The crime boss hires the ronin assassin to eliminate the pesky masseur, leading to our usual big showdown. All these story elements are consistent with the typical framework of a Zatoichi film. What is atypical is the depth with which "Zatoichi's Vengeance" explores the moral conundrums into which its characters are plunged. Ichi, the prostitute, and the ronin assassin all feel confined within their tawdry lives by the bad decisions that landed them there. Rather than striving to extricate themselves from those circumstances, all three feel compelled to play out the bad hands they've been dealt with as much integrity as they can summon. Ichi also is forced by a blind monk to ponder what is the best course to take when all available choices are bad.
"Zatoichi's Vengeance" is no navel-gazing exercise in existential philosophy; it is an exciting actioner through and through. But the care that was taken to add a moral dimension to the screenplay pays real dividends. As if that weren't enough, the cinematography by frequent Kurosawa collaborator Miyagawa Kazuo often is spectacular. A duel on a bridge shot in silhouette is a classic! I can recommend this film to all Zatoichi fans with wholehearted enthusiasm.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Ibadi Vol. 1 - Story Of Us
Ibadi Vol. 1 - Story Of Us
(1)Our Price: US$13.99List: US$18.99Save: US$5.00 (26%)Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:December 5, 2009 Celebrate Ibadi's debut!Ibadi's debut project is the best thing I've heard in a very long while! Comprised primarily of acoustic jazz-pop, the album allows us to hear Clazziquai singer Horan in an entirely new setting. And she is revealed as a surprisingly mature, fully-formed artist, possessing a compellingly warm, velvety voice with impressive range and a particular sensitivity to dynamics and phrasing. Horan is ably supported by bandmates Gur Jeong and Justin Kim, whose acoustic guitar, double bass, and muted drum arrangements seamlessly serve these deceptively simple, mellow pop songs. The well-crafted compositions on "Story of Us" will sound just as good twenty years from now as they do today. Ibadi deserves a very wide audience. Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Si Feng Qiu Huang
Si Feng Qiu Huang DVD Region All
(1)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:December 5, 2009 A curious film from HK's swinging '60s"Si Feng Qiu Huang" stars Leung Sing Bo (who was so good in "The Greatest Civil War on Earth") as the father of four daughters and the owner of a store that sells musical instruments. One of the daughters, played by a young, lovely (and leggy) Josephine Siao, has a boyfriend who needs a job. Josephine would like her father to employ him, but, because she is her father's least favorite daughter, she fears that dad won't hire him. The daughters then cook up a scheme by which they will fool dad into thinking that Josephine's boyfriend actually is the boyfriend of dad's favorite daughter. The plan works, the boyfriend is hired, then confusion reigns as dad pushes for Josephine's boyfriend and the favored daughter to marry.
This premise offers the promise of big laughs, but most of the jokes aren't particularly funny (at least as they are translated in the spotty English subtitles) and the timing of the delivery of the comic lines usually is much ... too ... sloowww. The print of the film used for this DVD is quite washed out; the colors are very muted. A peculiarity of the film is that the characters sometimes unexpectedly break into song, bizarrely in one instance borrowing the melody of an old Hank Williams song and in another using the melody of Stephen Foster's "Oh! Susanna". Perhaps even more bizarrely, 82 minutes into this 91 minute film, the story takes a weirdly melodramatic turn by, out of the blue, dropping a huge surprise and lots of emotional baggage into a story that simply is not strong enough to carry the load.
Perhaps it is best to view "Si Feng Qiu Huang" as an occasionally amusing, quite musty museum piece. The main treat for me was having the opportunity to see Josephine Siao during her ingenue years. (And Fung Bo Bo is darn cute, too!) So little of Josephine's work from this era is available with English subtitles that I was happy to have seen this wildly uneven film.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Autumn Interlude (Hong Kong Version)
Autumn Interlude (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region All
(1)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:December 3, 2009 Nicely executed romantic tearjerker"Autumn Interlude" may be a formulaic tale of doomed romance, but the formula is executed so well that you will get no complaints from me. Willful Setsuko (Yamaguchi Momoe) is the daughter of a respected teacher; her aunt seeks to arrange her marriage to a wealthy businessman, but Setsuko has eyes only for Tatsuro (Miura Tomokazu), one of her father's students. Unfortunately, the year is 1942 and Tatsuro knows that he will be called upon to serve Japan in the war, service which likely will cost him his life. His family pressures him not to become engaged to Setsuko; she should not feel bound to someone headed to war. Setsuko, however, persists and the two young lovers refuse to be separated. But then Setsuko receives some fateful news about her health...
Yamaguchi and Miura share terrific on-screen chemistry in this film; Miura looks particularly dashing. The film's story is tightly written and holds the viewer's interest throughout. One knows how this movie will end, but "Autumn Interlude" manages to push all the right emotional buttons along the way. Don't forget your handkerchief to mop up all the tears when you watch this one!Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Hot Wave
December 1, 2009 Taming of the collegiate shrewsHsiao Yu (Brigitte Lin) and Ta Fung (Chin Han) should be the perfect pair; they are the best looking and smartest students at their college. Unfortunately, they are so obstinate and self-involved that they detest each other. When their forestry professor takes his students on a long hike up a mountain, Brigitte hurts her leg and Chin Han must carry her to their destination. His chivalrous act causes the ice to melt between the couple. Can their budding romance survive when they leave the mountain to return to business as usual at school?
This premise could have provided lots of opportunities for comedy and romance, but everything about "Hot Wave" is run-of-the-mill, including the performances of its famous leads. It plays like a bad Frankie-and-Annette movie. Things aren't helped by the fact that this DVD uses a murky, scarred print of the film. Moreover, the English subtitles become unreadable when set against light backgrounds and often get chopped off on either end. I was happy to have this chance to see Brigitte Lin in the bloom of her youth, but I can recommend this film only to her diehard fans.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
The Shonen Merikensack (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Taiwan Version)
The Shonen Merikensack (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Taiwan Version) DVD Region All
(1)Our Price: US$18.99Usually ships within 1 to 2 daysRelated promotions:December 1, 2009 Don't miss it!"The Shonen Merikensack" belongs on the short shelf of hilarious rock-themed comedies with the classic "This is Spinal Tap" and Hong Kong's "The Heavenly Kings". Unsuccessful A&R rep Kanna (Aoi Miyazaki) has one last chance to find a successful act for her record company employer, when she stumbles upon a punk rock video on the internet that is creating a lot of buzz. Her boss, a closet punk rocker himself, leaps at the chance to sign this new act. However, when Kanna seeks to contact the band, she is mortified to learn that they are not a hot young act -- the video playing on the internet is 25 years old and the band now is a bunch of middle-aged losers. Desperate to avoid having to return to working in her father's sushi bar, Kanna tries to whip the four former punks into some semblance of their former selves and take them in the road for a series of heavily-promoted club performances. At the same time, she's trying to hold together her relationship with her wet-noodle aspiring folk singer boyfriend. Can the tireless Kanna pull it off?
Amid the side-splitting comedic carnage wreaked by these endlessly quarreling codgers, the film adds a human dimension of hopes squelched, lives squandered, and loves misplaced. Through it all Miyazaki Aoi is a frenzied, frantic delight. She delivers one of the great comic performances of the year. "The Shonen Merikensack" often is crude, but it is one of the funniest movies I've seen in quite a while.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Jaurim vol. 4 -04
Jaurim vol. 4 -04
(8)Our Price: US$13.99List: US$18.99Save: US$5.00 (26%)Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:December 1, 2009 Jaurim is the real dealThis album served as my introduction to the music of Jaurim and I didn't quite know what to make of it during my first couple listens. The band's sound seemed to be all over the map. Now after hearing this album many times, I can't say that I've found a musical theme that ties it all together, but I've come to appreciate the band's tremendous versatility and its dedication to their craft. The group's playing is tight throughout, generating hard-rocking songs that range from old-school bluesy rock to grunge. And the swaggering, brassy vocals of singer Kim Yoon Ah are remarkable; she definitely is a legit rock star. By the way, don't miss the bonus track buried at the end of this disk. Jaurim has won me over. I'm eager to sample some of their other work. Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
It's A Wonderful Life
It's A Wonderful Life DVD Region All
(7)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:November 30, 2009 Cavalcade of stars in holiday filmFirst things first -- this version of "It's A Wonderful Life" has nothing whatsoever to do with the Frank Capra classic of the same name, except that they both are set around the winter holidays. In this film, the controlling parents of three adult children have managed to mess up their children's lives through their heavy-handed parenting. The eldest daughter (Teresa Mo) fled to France simply to get away from her parents; she returns home for the holidays with a hippie-ish friend Ronaldo (Leslie Cheung) who crushes the hopes of her long-suffering suitor (Lau Ching Wan). The eldest son (Raymond Wong) is drowning his sorrows in drink after messing up his marriage to a lovely restaurant owner (Petrina Fung). The second son, a stuttering, hermit-like comic book artist (Tony Leung Ka Fai), finds difficulty overcoming his shyness to pursue the girl of his dreams (Anita Yuen).
Things take a turn for the wacky when Ronaldo starts dispensing off-beat advice to the various family members and their friends, advice which turns lives upside down when they put Ronaldo's ideas into action. It all adds up to a feel-good romantic comedy, with nice performances from Fung Bo Bo, Lau Ching Wan, and Leung Ka Fai. This "It's A Wonderful Life" won't make you forget the Frank Capra classic and its production values are straight out of the bargain basement, but it delivers a strong pro-family message and provides an amusing diversion. (Note: This DVD hasn't been remastered and its image quality is sub-par.)Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Turning Point (DVD) (US Version)
Turning Point (DVD) (US Version) DVD Region All
(1)Our Price: US$14.99List: US$15.99Save: US$1.00 (6%)Usually ships within 7 - 14 daysRelated promotions:November 30, 2009 Structural problems beset actioner"Turning Point" is a film with exciting scenes, solid performers, gunplay galore, and lots of crashing cars. Yet the whole turns out to be less than the sum of its parts. The film tells the story of Laughing Gor (Michael Tse), a convenience store cashier turned gangster, who is sent by his gang boss (Anthony Wong) to go undercover as a cop (echoing Andy Lau's role in "Infernal Affairs"), only then to be sent by the police to go undercover as a gangster. Back in the underworld, Gor falls in love with the sister of his bitter gangland rival (Francis Ng). All the elements are in place for a gripping tale of Gor's conflicting loyalties. Unfortunately, the film's structure, endlessly shifting back and forth between past and present, undermines the ability of the story to generate any forward momentum and sabotages the story's inherent tensions.
"Turning Point" sets a star-making stage for Michael Tse and he delivers. Anthony Wong is effectively creepy as Gor's gangster boss. The film has many terrific scenes. If the filmmakers simply had set the scenes in chronological order -- insteading of doing all that back and forth in time -- I believe that this could have been a superb, action-packed drama.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Electric Shadows (Hong Kong Version)
Electric Shadows (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region 3
(1)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:November 25, 2009 A must-see movie!As "Electric Shadows", a bottled-water delivery boy is knocked off his bike by bricks strewn in his path. He inadvertently knocks over a pile of bricks, then is assaulted by a young woman he does not know. The film then unfolds the connections between the delivery boy and the young woman and her reasons for assaulting him. In that mystery lies a wonderful, warm, heartbreaking human drama about families torn asunder ... and about how movies can motivate us and enrich our lives. The story reaches from China's Cultural Revolution to the present and from a dusty Ningxia village to the streets of Beijing.
One can quibble about improbable coincidences in the storyline, but the emotional power of this lovingly crafted film sweep all such concerns away. Don't miss this one!Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Shit Up! (Hong Kong Version)
Shit Up! (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region All
(1)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:November 25, 2009 Amusing, lightweight action-comedy"S**t Up!" begins with an aging crime boss retiring from his position as honcho of Korea's criminal world. He appoints as his successors Byuk Dol (Choi Bul Am) and Gae Dduk (Noh Joo Hyun). Of course, there is no way that these two rivals can cooperate, so they soon schedule a fight to determine who will run the show. A third gangster, however, clears his own path to power by setting the two rivals up to be arrested and sent to prison for fifteen years. When Byuk Dol and Gae Dduk finally are released from prison, they are determined to gain revenge against Dong Pal, the gangster who sent them away. However, before they have the opportunity, Dong Pal is himself imprisoned. A remorseful Dong Pal promises take care of Byuk Dol and Gae Dduk for the rest of their lives by providing them a fortune and allowing them to live in his mansion. But that fortune comes with a price -- Byuk Dol and Gae Dduk soon spend their time as bodyguards to Dong Pal's pop star daughter Eun Ji (Im Yoo Jin). And yet another bad guy has plans to kidnap Eun Ji and make her his own.
Choi Bul Am and Noh Joo Hyun provide plenty of laughs as the aging gangsters who haven't lost their punch. Seeing them (or rather their stunt doubles) in action beating up hoards of villains is a hoot. And the image of Gae Dduk with his 'Ronaldo' haircut can't help but bring giggles. The story, however, is very slight and awfully improbable; it also is littered with concepts and characters that are introduced, but then never fully developed. Consequently, "S**t Up!" provides a nice evening's diversion, but I can't imagine ever wanting to watch it again.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Spring Subway
Spring Subway DVD Region All
(1)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 1 to 2 daysRelated promotions:November 24, 2009 Stylish arthouse film"Spring Subway" is a stylishly lensed, unconventionally told study of the illusory quality of intimacy and commitments among men and women in contemporary China. Husband Jianbin (Geng Le) lost his job, but hasn't yet told his wife. He pretends to go to work, then spends each day riding the subway. Wife Xiaohui (Xu Jinglei) becomes immersed in a friendship with a coffee shop owner (Zhang Yang) who seeks a deeper relationship with her.
Jianbin chats with a chubby chef (played by the actor who seeks kudos in the film "Gimme Kudos"); the chef is about to meet a potential wife, but arrives to find his prospective mate being taken to the hospital after a gas explosion. Jianbin visits the hospital to which the woman was taken. Pretending to be the chef, he returns each day to spend time with the woman. He finds an emotional bond with her that is missing from his marriage. Meanwhile, the chef befriends a promo girl who passes out free samples of a breakfast bar on the subway. We also meet a young man who yearns for a pretty young photo shop worker, yet flees when she agrees to meet him.
Will Jianbin and Xiaohui allow their marriage to dissolve through neglect? Will the chef find his soulmate? Will the young man conquer his fears? All of these stories are addressed in a cryptic style, creating a kind of visual mosaic that draws the viewer into the film. Arthouse film buffs should embrace this fascinating glimpse into relationships in urban China.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Getting Home (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Getting Home (DVD) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region 3
(1)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:November 21, 2009 A journey to the heart of nobility"Getting Home" is a classic road movie, a tale of the extraordinary adventures encountered by one ordinary man as he travels across China. But this is a road movie with a difference. This ordinary man, migrant worker Lao Zhao (Zhao Ben Shan), is traveling across the country carrying on his back the decaying (and pungent) body of his deceased co-worker Lao Liu. Zhao feels honor-bound to return Liu's remains to his family in his hometown near Chongqing, and he will let nothing deter him from reaching his destination. Along the way, Zhao encounters the best and the worst of human nature, as people seek to help him or to prey upon him.
It's a simple story, a story that is both universal and profoundly Chinese, and it is told with exceptional warmth and great humor. Zhao Ben Shan gives the performance of a lifetime, infusing his earthy, dogged character with true nobility. And the film looks great, providing spectacular sweeping panoramas of the gorgeous Chinese countryside. You won't soon forget this terrific film. I like it so much that I'm eager to share it with friends.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
The Marriage Certificate
The Marriage Certificate DVD Region 3
(2)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:November 21, 2009 Can this marriage be saved?In "The Marriage Certificate", a naughty teen daughter stirs up trouble between her parents with consequences the girl never anticipated. Through the manipulative machinations of Xiaowen (Li Xiao Meng), her mother Yuting (Lu Li Ping) becomes obsessed with finding her marriage certificate. Yuting tears up the house looking for the document, driving her husband, psychiatrist Gu Ming (Feng Kung), to his wits' end. The daughter then plants the seed with her mother that Gu Ming just might be having an affair with his pretty young intern. Through these suspicions and obsessions, the parents' once-complacent marriage is brought to the brink of divorce ... a divorce that they can't obtain until they find that marriage certificate!
Director Huang Jianxin is a master at illustrating the joys and stresses of family life, at merging whimsical humor with serious human issues, and at limning the comical excesses of China's bureaucratic government. He also has a knack for drawing delightful performances from child actors, as with Li Xiao Meng in this film and with the little boy in the equally excellent film "Something About Secret". "The Marriage Certificate" is very highly recommended.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Something About Secret
Something About Secret DVD Region All
(1)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:November 19, 2009 Beautifully executed tale of guiltIn "Something About Secret", He Liying (Jiang Shan), driving a company car, returns home late on a rainy night after spending the evening drinking with her work colleagues. As she arrives near her home, her car strikes a woman riding a bicycle. Liying's first impulse is to check on the prone body of the victim, but instead she drives on to her home, leaving the body on the wet street. Liying's husband, Li Guoqiang (Wang Zhi Wen), witnessed the accident from a distance, but is unsure of the driver's identity. When she arrives home, Liying says nothing about the incident to Guoqiang and remains mum as events surrounding the victim unfold.
The victim is hospitalized in a coma. She turns out to be the mother of one of the schoolmates of Liying's and Guoqiang's son. Newspapers are filled with reports of the hit-and-run accident. The victim's daughter perches on the street corner at which the accident took place, bearing a sign that asks eyewitnesses to step forward. Liying and Guoqiang go about their daily lives, but everything has changed, as Liying becomes consumed with guilt and responds by lashing out at those around her and as Guoqiang's suspicions about his wife grow. Will Liying admit her guilt? Will Guoqiang's suspicions tear the marriage apart?
"Something About Secret" proves to be a skillfully written and directed and an exceptionally well-acted exploration of the effects of unconfessed guilt. The filmmakers keep things from getting too gloomy by leavening events with some surprising touches of humor, mostly provided by the delightful little boy who plays Liying's and Guoqiang's son. I recommend "Something About Secret" very highly for a general audience. It tells an important moral tale without ever becoming preachy.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Go-Con Japanese Love Culture
Go-Con Japanese Love Culture DVD Region All
(1)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:November 18, 2009 The story doesn't add up"Go-Con: Japanese Love Culture" tells of three friends who devote themselves to endless efforts to hook up with women. Each night they engage in a "game" called Go-Con, in which they invite four women to join them (and a hopeless loser that they add to the group to increase their odds of success) for a night of drinking, trivial talk, and 'truth or dare'-style games, leading (they hope) to a one-nighter. The first half of the movie plays these silly (and repetitive) antics as smutty slapstick and depicts the three friends as shallow jerks who care little for each other and even less for the endless parade of women they meet.
In its second half, the movie shifts gears and seeks to portray the guys as actually sensitive souls who have trapped themselves in their own empty routine and who actually hope to find the women of their dreams for committed relationships. The transition is rough and the movie then takes itself much too seriously; it seeks a significance that it has not earned. There is no chemistry between the three friends and the woman each of them desires and little reason to believe that these women would have any interest in the guys.
Due to its subject matter, "Go-Con" is suitable only for mature audiences, but it is hard to imagine mature audiences having much interest in a movie that is as trivial as the "love culture" it depicts.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Love In Magic (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Love In Magic (DVD) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region All
(1)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:November 17, 2009 Good performances in inconsistent film"Love in Magic" is an oddly conceived movie; the parts of the film just don't add up. The story opens as a smutty, low-brow sex comedy, as we are introduced to the dashing professional magician Ji Hoon (Yeon Jung Hoon). Ji Hoon has bedded so many women that he can't keep them all straight. One of his old conquests, the pretty high school art teacher Hee Won (Park Jin Hee), has moved on with her life and become engaged (seemingly without enthusiasm) to a plastic surgeon. However, the lives of Ji Hoon and Hee Won are turned upside down when a video of them in flagrante is found on the internet by Ji Hoon's voyeuristic assistant.
The movie then shifts gears, as Ji Hoon and Hee Won undertake a long search to determine at which hotel their love-making was surreptitiously filmed; since they apparently had 17 such sessions, there is a lot of (repetitive) ground to cover. Belatedly (long after the thought occurs to the viewer), Ji Hoon and Hee Won realize that their search is meaningless. The damage was done when the video was posted on the 'net; finding the hotel will solve nothing. Indeed, it is obvious that the scriptwriters cooked up this entire sequence to provide an excuse for comedic squabbling between the two lead characters.
After a series of heartbreaking events befalls Hee Won, the scriptwriters bring their tale to funny and heartwarming ending -- a scene that yields a comic twist on the classic ending of "The Graduate". Indeed, the ending is the best part of the movie. Yeon Jung Hoon and Park Jin Hee are attractive and talented actors and it is a pleasure watching their work. (I highly recommend that everyone check out Park Jin Hee in a dramatic role in "Shadows on the Palace" and in a side-splittingly hilarious role in the excellent "Lost and Found").Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This)
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