21. Film Review: Her Hobby (2023) by Ha Myung-mi
Ha Myumg-mi directs a movie that is essentially split into two parts, with the appearance of Kwang-jae providing the dichotomy. Up to that point, the film moves in family/social drama path, focusing on the way the prejudice, exploitation and in general despicable behavior of the locals, also including a proper stalker in the face of the delivery man, bring Jeong-in and Hye-jung together. Reluctantly at first, particularly from the latter's viewpoint, but eventually in the most open fashion, as the two open up essentially for everything issue they had in their lives, which are what led them to Pak-ha. One could say that the way Ha presents their relationship she is building it up to be a Sapphic one, but that does never actually materialize, in an approach that, in the end, benefits the story.
22. Film Review: Life of Mariko in Kabukicho (2022) by Eiji Uchida and Shinzo Katayama
Allow me to begin the review with the most obvious issue: there are too many characters in the story and there are too many things happening, to the point that the labyrinth that is Kabukicho seems to be also mirrored in the narrative. It looks like that the producers of the movie were willing to let the imagination of the two directors run wild, but in the end, that did not work that well, since the story is convoluted and fails on creating empathy for the majority of the protagonists. Mariko is definitely an exception, but that is more due to the acting and overall charisma of Sairi Ito than the characterization itself. The combination and reference of ninjas, aliens, bitcoins, the FBI, erotic triangles, action, romance, and drama may look appealing, but in the end, the whole does not work particularly well as a compact narrative, since the film appears more like a collage of ideas than something more coherent. Perhaps the story would be better suited for a multi-episode series, but for a single movie, it is just too much.
