5. The Prayer (Min Kyu-dong)
In addition to the class dynamism on display, “The Prayer” also comes into its own with the implications of the technological advancements. Given that the particular robots are designed with the capacity to care for the elderly member of the family as well as the rest of the family going through a turbulent time, the advanced technology implicated in their creation is already quite high. Realizing that all of this is also dependent on the model and the specific enhancements chosen, the idea of the robot getting overwhelmed by the situation is just like their human facilitators. We get that here in how the lower-class family sees their model operating ineffectively and unable to prevent her patient from injuring himself while Gan Ho-joong is caught in a position between helping Jung-in or her mother. Aware that helping her falls outside her core operating values in a strict sense but also falling within the guidelines of her programming, there's a lot to like here about the overhaul of technology in society. (Don Anelli)
4. Escape from Mogadishu (Ryoo Seung-wan)
If there is one thing that Ryoo Seung-wan never fails to do, it is to entertain his audience and “Escape from Mogadishu” does just that in a number of effective ways. Firstly, the emphasis here is not on world politics. The situation in Mogadishu at the time, of course, was shocking enough and the feature's depiction of it is realistic enough to be both horrifying and impressive in its realisation. But most of the narrative's efforts are focused on painting the ghastly situation that the characters find themselves in and on their subsequent efforts to find a way out of it. (Rhythm Zaveri)
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3. In Front of Your Face (Hong Sang-soo)
By the time the feature reaches its final scene where Sang-ok receives a voicemail, which ends up being one of the most memorable ones in Hong Sang-soo's entire filmography, there will be little doubt in the viewer's mind that you have, in front of your face, a similar yet subtly different Hong Sang-soo, a man that, as he ages, is thinking thoughts he hasn't really explored before, and in the process making this one of his more memorable productions of the last few years. (Rhythm Zaveri)
2. The Apartment with Two Women (Kim Se-in)
The antagonism between mothers and daughters has always been a point of interest for cinema, particularly because it highlights two of the most significant aspects of women's nature. Kim Se-in explores this theme in her feature debut by presenting it at its most extreme, in a movie that was made through a feature film production program at the Korean Academy of Arts. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
1. The Book of Fish (Lee Joon-ik)
But “The Book of Fish” will most likely be long remembered for its stunning visuals. Entirely in black-and-white like Lee's previous work “Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet”, it opens with a scene of a boat afloat in the sun-drenched sea and Lee Eui-tae's cinematography rarely lets up in visual beauty. Monochrome scenes of fog-covered mountains, waves crashing on shores, fishing in the water all look almost straight out of a Chinese watercolour painting, much like Zhang Yimou's “Shadow”. While this production is not as elaborate with its set designing and costumes to compliment the cinematography like Zhang's film was, it is nevertheless impressive in those departments too. The written poetry that comes up on the screen when either Yaj-jeon or Yak-yong recite some of their famous works further enhances the painting-like effect of the imagery, the words sounding almost hypnotic in the voice of Sol Kyung-gu and the star that plays Yak-yong. (Rhythm Zaveri)
