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Reviews
Maseukeugeol (2023)
Very good, but some annoying parts
I loved this show. The characters had interesting things to do, their motivations were mostly clear. The cinematography was great, conveying different perspectives of each character. The humour in the first few episodes was also very subtle and enjoyable.
It was novel to have a mother become an amateur detective to find her son, then eventually become an evil granny. I liked the scene of her trying to use the computer for the first time, then taking computer classes and begin making online friends and using online language.
The last few episodes (set in 2023) were less enjoyable to me. The characters seemed to get crazier over the years and harder to understand I guess. And there was a few important plot points that were surprisingly never addressed...
Mask Girl never calling her daughter for 15 years? The granny never finds out that her son raped mask girl? And that the girl she's ready to kill is actually her grand daughter??? Those would have been interesting scenes and are missed opportunities for character's to deal with... instead we get a cliche violent battle to the death at the end of the last episode that wasn't very interesting...
There's also a strange decision the director made that didn't sit well with me. Mi Mo's friend is shown saying that "Mi Mo's mother is mask girl" to her bully, so the audience sees the betrayal. Then in a later flashback it's shown that she didn't betray her trust, and that it was the granny who spread the rumour. This means the scene we were shown didn't happen and the story effectively lied to the audience... which seemed pointlessly annoying
Anyway, I still loved the show, writing was pretty good, and am always impressed by Korean drama. Definitely recommended for those who like novel psychological movies with interesting plots (think Old Boy, Parasite)
Possessor (2020)
Interesting premise, filmed in a confusing way
I liked the concept of possessing another person to take out an assassination was fascinating. The action scenes were okay, the artistic transitions between people were impressive and interesting.
The motivations... the character's motivations were difficult to understand. The main character was seemingly becoming a psychopath, but it wasn't clear what was driving it? Or why she left her seemingly happy family life?
The writing... I'm fine with magic possession technology, the problem I had was with the basic logic of the mission. Why did they need to possess him 3 days in advance? Why was it "cleaner" to possess someone, than stage a murder? And why was it so easy to break into a mansion owned by the CEO of a surveillance company?... These are just a few of the questions that left me with the feeling of an incoherent script.
The direction... so most of the film is devoted to either main character (Tasya / Colin). The problem was it was extremely ambiguous what we were watching them feel. The director tried to cut between memories to signify recollections and emotions, but I found it very confusing and eventually tiresome and boring. There was also 4 scenes of the main character putting a gun in their mouth and attempting to commit suicide, which felt unearned and ridiculous on the 4th time...
The editing... the film used a lot of quick cutting which to me felt like a lazy way to show the audience memories. I would of rathered clever ways of showing emotion...
The themes... there was tonnes of themes touched on in the story; sense of self, technological detachment from society, drugs, sex, family, relationships... and the list goes on. The problem with such a wide scope of material is that it only touches on each theme in a very shallow way...
Overall there are some great scenes and moments in the movie, I wouldn't recommend it, but if you're really into sci-fi then maybe you'd enjoy it.