FILM REVIEWS:
BOGOTA: CITY OF THE LOST (South Korea 2024) ***
Directed by Kim Seong-je
Premiering at the Busan International Film Festival in October 2024, BOGOTA: CITY OF THE LOST tells the story of Kook-hee (Song Joong Ki), a young South Korean man who finds himself navigating the dangerous criminal underworld of Bogota, Colombia, after his life is turned upside down by the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
The film opens in the wake of the Asian financial collapse, in 1999, which devastates South Korea and forces Kook-hee's family to flee their home country for a better life in Colombia.
BOGOTA: CITY OFTHE LOST is a 2024 South Korean crime film co-written and directed by Kim Seong-je, starring Song Joong-ki, Lee Hee-joon and Kwon Hae-hyo. It tells the story of immigrants who start dangerous deals to survive in Bogotá, the last land for hopeless lives.
Bogotá is Colombia’s sprawling, high-altitude capital. La Candelaria, its cobblestoned center, features colonial-era landmarks like the neoclassical performance hall Teatro Colón and the 17th-century Iglesia de San Francisco. It's also home to popular museums including the Museo Botero, showcasing Fernando Botero's art, and the Museo del Oro, displaying pre-Columbian gold pieces. The film serves a tourist promotion as can be observed in the one scene where Guk-hee is driven by a Colombian into the forests where several waterfalls in all their majesty canoe observed.
The film celebrates both South Korea and Colombia. Though Colombia is known for drugs and dirty dealings, these are kept at a minimum, just enough to get the story going. Those unfamiliar with Colombia should have a field day, as the film, shot in both Korean and Spanish paints a very insightful picture of Colombia.
Unable to escape the aftermath of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, 19-year-old Guk-hee moves to Bogotá with his family, wishing for a better life only to end up living from hand to mouth. To survive in this unfamiliar land, Guk-hee starts working under Sergeant Park, who holds power in the Korean Merchants’ Association. Catching Park's eye with his diligence, Guk-hee is tasked with participating in a smuggling operation for clothing as part of a test. Amid a life-threatening crisis where Colombian customs nearly apprehend them, Guk-hee risks his life to protect Sergeant Park's goods, leaving a lasting impression not only on Park but also on Soo-yeong, a customs broker. Soon, Soo-yeong makes Guk-hee a dangerous proposal. Realizing that his choices can change the landscape of the Korean community in Bogotá, Guk-hee begins to yearn for even greater success.
Told and narrated by the 22-year-old Guk-hee, the film has a personal touch that allows the audience to identify with the protagonist and his family. The film stays away from the easy wrought of being an action film but instead focuses on a story that deals with the resilience of the human spirit - in this case the survival of a man and his family in a strong and foreign new world - the world of Bogota, Colombia. It is also a coming-of-age story of Guk-Kee as he examines the many options available to him, some of questionable ethics but might provide an easier way out. And there is also an action-packed last third to satisfy action fans,
The film premieres in Canada on Netflix this week.
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BRING THEM DOWN (UK/Ireland 2024) ***½
Directed by Christopher Andrews
Shot in rural Ireland, this intense and depressing film displays the hardships of sheep farming with the added stress of feuding neighbours. Michael (Christopher Abbott) tends his family’s sheep business entirely on his own. His father (Colm Meaney) is disabled, and his mother died years ago in a car accident in which Michael was the driver. Michael has lived with guilt ever since — as well as a secret he hopes will never come to light. Michael’s ex, Caroline (Nora-Jane Noone), was also in that car accident and has the scars to prove it. She wound up marrying Gary (Paul Ready), another sheep farmer. Near the start of Bring Them Down, Caroline and Gary’s son, Jack (Barry Keoghan, also at the Festival with Bird), claims that two of Michael’s prize rams were found dead on his family’s property. Michael’s suspicions are aroused, old wounds are opened, and the two families, with neither willing to stand down, find themselves on a perilous collision course. The film repeats a few scenes resulting in a disordered chronological order, but the narrative is still easy to follow, A solid climax brings the riveting film to an unexpected end.
LOVE HURTS (USA 2025) *
Directed by JoJo Eusebio
Ke Huy Quan stars as Marvin Gable, a realtor working the Milwaukee suburbs, where 'For Sale' signs bloom. Gable receives a crimson envelope from Rose (Oscar® winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story, Argylle), a former partner-in-crime that he had left for dead. She’s not happy. Now, Marvin is thrust back into a world of ruthless hitmen, filled with double-crosses and open houses turned into deadly war zones. With his brother Knuckles (Daniel Wu; Tomb Raider, Warcraft), a volatile crime lord, hunting him, Marvin must confront the choices that haunt him and the history he never truly buried.
Universal gives Ke Huy Qian, the recent Academy Award Winner from EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE a leading role in his first movie, Unfortunately, LOVE HURTS ends up a terrible movie, a pauper’s version of KINGSMAN or even JOHN WICK films. Ke looks like a poor man’s Jackie Chan either way his comedic Martial-Arts fights are not funny nor exciting. The interjection of the Valentine’s Day romance is silly and a cheap rip-off of the holiday celebrations. The film is also unnecessarily violent. The story is infantile, the performances infantile and the Chemistry between Ke and DeBose non-existent. The sure worst film of 2025 so far. This film HURTS!
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THE MONKEY (USA 2025) **
Directed by Osgood Perkins
THE MONKEY comes with the accolade that it is based on a Stephen King short story, one that was nominated for a British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story in 1980. It is a 1980 horror short story by Stephen King featuring a cursed cymbal-banging monkey toy. There are two differences between the short story and the film already, One is that the characters in the film refuse to refer to the monkey as a toy, and in the film the monkey plays the drums instead of cymbals, The cymbals are surely scarier but the film’s director begs to differ. The other reason is that the monkey with the symbols is a Disney-patented toy,
After stumbling upon their father's vintage toy monkey in the attic, twin brothers Hal and Bill (both played by Theo James) witness a string of horrifying deaths unfolding around them. In an attempt to leave the haunting behind, the brothers discard the monkey and pursue separate paths over time. However, when the inexplicable deaths resurface, the brothers are compelled to reconcile and embark on a mission to eliminate the cursed toy permanently.
There are also major changes in the film. In the King’s story, the monkey in a flight bag is weighted with rocks and thrown to the deepest part of Crystal Lake. As the bag sinks, the faint sound of the monkey's cymbals clapping can be heard. During the disposal, the boat starts breaking up, but the Hal character manages to swim ashore safely to his son, Petey. The story ends with a newspaper clipping showing that hundreds of fish in the lake have died as a result.
This is a more subtle and scarier ending which the film dismisses.
THE MONKEY is nothing much more than a slew of very, very violent killings similar to the SAW horror franchise with the difference of the monkey doing the killing. The killings are all at random so director Perkins has more liberty for various ways to dispose of the victims. There is no subtlety here.
Perkins’ script has the main character Hal have an evil twin brother. The enmity between the two forms a main part of the story, The evil money in question is assumed by the evil twin to be able to cause damage as well as provide immortality. The immortality is never clearly explained and serves to cloud the situation.
THE MONKEY like the SAW franchise can be praised for the extreme violence and innovation of novel killings. Apart from that, nothing really new or exciting has been brought to the horror genre. Whether the changes from Stephen King’s short story improve the film’s story is questionable at best. The characters in the film are also too wishy-washy to be sympathetic. The MONKEY toy should have never been taken out from Hal's father’s closet and the script for THE MONKEY should be locked in one
THE MONKEY opens in theatres on February 7th. With its modest budget, the horror flick should bring in a tidy profit.
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NO OTHER LAND (Norway/Palestine 2024) ****
Directed by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szor
The film NO OTHER LAND is about Palestinians but focuses on the few living in the West Bank. The Gaza Strip has recently been in the news since the idiotic President Trump created chaos as usual by opening his big mouth wanting to claim the Gaza Strip from the U.S. Can the Americans be more despised by the world? There are similarities and differences between the two lands, and a bit of history is important in order to appreciate this awesome documentary better.
The Gaza Strip and the West Bank are two Palestinian territories that were part of Mandate Palestine and were captured by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967. There are over 5 million Palestinians combined living in the two territories. The West Bank is an area of land located within the country of Israel. The West Bank stretches across the eastern border of Israel along the west banks of the Jordan River and most of the Dead Sea, which is how it received its name. In 1967, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria were involved in a military struggle most commonly known as the Six-Day War. Up until that point, the Gaza Strip had been under Egypt’s control and the West Bank under Jordan’s. However, after the Six-Day War, both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank were seized by Israel. Since the Six-Day War, though, the tension between Israelis and Palestinians living in the territories has been constant, often ending in violence. Because Israel controls all access to the Gaza Strip and West Bank, Palestinians living there are under military occupation and are subject to Israeli restrictions, often depending on aid for food, water, and supplies.
Basel Adra, a young Palestinian activist from Masafer Yatta, has been fighting his community's mass expulsion by the Israeli occupation since childhood. The film begins with his narration at the age of 5 (when he first saw his father arrested) moving on to 7 (his first protest). Basel documents the gradual erasure of the community of Masafer Yatta in the West Bank, as soldiers destroy the homes of families - the largest single act of forced transfer ever carried out in the occupied West Bank. He crosses paths with Yuval, an Israeli journalist who joins his struggle, and for over half a decade they fight against the expulsion while growing closer. The extreme inequality between them haunts their complex bond: Basel, living under a brutal military occupation, and Yuval, unrestricted and free. This film, by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four young activists, was co-created during the darkest, most terrifying times in the region, as an act of creative resistance to Apartheid and a search for a path towards equality and justice.
NO OTHER LAND is a very personal and moving film that effectively gets its message across. Though there is still no peace or resolve in the century-old conflict, the doc allows the audience to appreciate the meaningless human suffering that has resulted. NO OTHER LAND is nominated for the 2025 Academy Award for Best Documentary. It opens at the TIFF Lightsbox on Friday, February 7th.
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