Out to own today:
Burning
 | “To me, the world is a mystery,” Jong-su (Ah-In Yoo) Six for six from director Lee Chang-dong. 148 minutes of gripping, creeping emotional devastation. Class and gender discourse are mixed into a story concerning crushing loneliness. BURNING’s skill is being both despondently contemporary as well as perennial. It was a long wait since the filmmaker’s previous, POETRY (2010), and it was worth it, delivering perhaps his best so far, rivalling PEPPERMINT CANDY (1999). If you haven’t already, do yourself a favour and treat yo self to his back catalogue. [To read more, click here.] |
Destroyer
 | “You chose to play cops and robbers, and you lost,” DiFranco (Bradley Whitford) With this and WIDOWS (2018), cinema is reclaiming the crime thriller from television in spectacular fashion. From THE WIRE and BREAKING BAD to FARGO and TRUE DETECTIVE, it looked like movies were out for the count. A Rocky-style resurgence is under way this year in Hollywood. (The genre is alive and well on the international stage, e.g. THE YELLOW SEA (2010) from South Korea, GANGS OF WASSEPUR (2012) from India, and THE WORLD OF KANAKO (2014) from Japan.) What the excellent lawbreaking flicks have in common is laser focus. DESTROYER is lean and ambitious, with a sense of gut-tightening dread. [To read more, click here.] |
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