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Reviews
Hanyo (2010)
The 2010 remake of the original movie seems bleak and unfulfilling.
The film starts with a montage of a bustling street where we are introduced to the main character Eun-yi and her struggling life. But in the background of the montage there's a large foreshadowing of the end of the movie. A girl jumps from the roof of a restaurant in a bustling street. Eun-yi is momentarily distracted from her work and expresses her desire to see the dead body. But she's scolded by her friend and roommate.
Her life takes a different turn when she's hired by a rich businessman as a housemaid. His wife Hera is pregnant with twins and we can clearly see this as she flaunts her baby bump haughtily. The husband, Hoon, who's pretty obsessed with vintage wine, can't seem to satisfy his sexual desires through his pregnant wife. That's when the most expected turn takes place, he goes up to the maid and the latter complies to have a sexual intercourse.
There's another important character that I forgot to mention. She's Byung-shik, played by Yuh-jung who's been nominated for Oscars recently for her magnificent performance in Minari. Her character in The Housemaid is that of an omniscient maid who's aware of every matter of the rich family. She discovers that the newly appointed maid is having sex with her master. Instead of being loyal to the wife, she's loyal to wife's mother. She's the first one to realise that Eun-yi has gotten pregnant due to repeated intercourse with the patriarch.
This ensues a series of events that to an extent changes the course of the film. Let me warn you here, the film turns pretty bleak from this point onwards. It transforms from a movie to a regular Korean soap opera.
The end, which is as much unfathomable as it's unexpected, leaves you with a sense of dissatisfaction. If there's a moral that you can take away from this movie, then it's the fact that nothing good comes when you sleep with an affluent guy who's already married.
As always, Jeon Do-yeon gives a magnificent performance. Although it's not in the line with her ground-breaking performance in Secret Sunshine, you can assume that's it's the best she could give from the script that she was given. Yuh-jung's character is that of an old lady who's worried about everything that goes around her and she excels at portraying as such.
Le scaphandre et le papillon (2007)
Captivating Film with a Unique Photography
The film depicts the misery of a paralyzed patient. It's based on the memoir of Jean-Dominique Babuy, who suffered a stroke and developed a rare condition known as locked-in syndrome.
Babuy with his only functioning eye learns to communicate and to narrate his experience, which was published as a memoir.
The film was praised critically around the world and garnered 4 Academy Award Nominations. It was featured at Cannes Film Festival where it won the best director for Julian Schnabel.
Mathieu Amalric's performance is wonderful and touches the soul of what's it like to be paralyzed and not be able to express your thoughts in any way.
Janusz Kaminski, the cinematographer of the film, did a perfect job of putting the narrative of the film in the perspective of the central character.