854 Contributions by: Isabella Endrinal (Page 15)

When your dad is single, and he isn’t in a relationship with someone else, naturally, a kid would wonder about their real biological mother. Hi Nanna is a take on this familiar tale, though Shouryuv’s directorial debut makes it feel brand new by telling the love story in a way a father would tell his daughter– mindful of the audience, so slightly embellished, but no less sweet. By doing so, it makes the viewers yearn for the lost love before raising our hopes and revealing the possibility of getting it back, especially with the natural chemistry of Nani and the striking Mrunal Thakur.

Genre: Drama, Family, Romance

Actor: Angad Bedi, Baby Kiara Khanna, Jayaram, Mrunal Thakur, Nani, Nassar, Neha Sharma, Priyadarshi Pullikonda, Ritika Nayak, Shilpa Tulaskar, Shruti Haasan

Director: Shouryuv

For the longest time, land was where people formed strength in community, where people were born, lived, died, and was buried in, but it was also how empires grew in power, often at the expense of the people that came before. Exhuma is centered in a haunted burial site of a Korean family that migrated due to the war, but as the shamans try to unearth the casket, they also uncover the psychospiritual ways in which Japan colonized Korea– haunting the land with their own ghosts, dividing its people through belief, and leaving deep scars that hasn’t yet been fully recovered from. While the double exorcism situation can be a tad confusing, Exhuma nonetheless elevates this folk horror drama with their respect and attention to detail for Korean shamanism.

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Actor: Baek Seung-chul, Choi Min-sik, Choi Moon-kyoung, Hong Seo-jun, Jang Ui-don, Jeon Jin-gi, Jung Yun-ha, Kim Go-eun, Kim Jae-chul, Kim Ji-an, Kim Min-jun, Kim Sun-young, Kim Tae-jun, Lee Da-wit, Lee Do-hyun, Lee Eun-joo, Lee Jong-goo, Lee Young-lan, Park Jae-wan, Park Jeong-ja, Park Ji-il, Rikiya Koyama, Yoo Hai-jin

Director: Jang Jae-hyun

Rating: NR

At first glance, Dogfight seems to be just a standard love story: a Marine falling in love with a woman just before he’s sent overseas. But underneath, there’s a rebuke at American masculinity that needs to be acknowledged. As Eddie and his friends make bets at the expense of their dates, Dogfight rightfully portrays this treatment as casual, unthinking cruelty, and it’s the exact cruelty that they inflict on themselves, the same obedient mindset that continues to push them to various wars around the world at that time. River Phoenix evokes that startling realization with the gentle way Eddie starts to treat Rose, and as the night alternates between his date and the shenanigans his buddies go through without him, Dogfight questions the way boys come of age, this mindset, and what it means to grow up.

Genre: Drama, Romance

Actor: Anthony Clark, Brendan Fraser, Burke Pearson, Christopher Shaw, Elizabeth Daily, Holly Near, Jillian Armenante, John Lacy, Kenneth Utt, Krisha Fairchild, Lili Taylor, Mitchell Whitfield, Peg Phillips, Richard Panebianco, River Phoenix, Robert Munns, Ron Lynch, Sandra Ellis Lafferty, Sue Morales

Director: Nancy Savoca

Rating: R

Due to the possibility of death, Buoyancy cannot be made as a documentary. This film, after all, sheds light on today's real life slavery. But that doesn't mean it's no less true. The script was written based on interviews with real life survivors, who, of course, would rather not be filmed due to their safety. The characters were written to closely reflect them, which was why, even though the studio is Australian, they casted Thai and Cambodian actors, and wrote the dialogue in their respective languages. And the story that writer-director Rodd Rathjen created, gradually escalates the terror Chakra faces on the whims of a cruel captain, with each new experience slowly scrapping off the innocence that was supposed to be protected. Buoyancy is not a documentary, but it works as a necessary exposé of slavery in Southeast Asian seas because of Rathjen sticking true to the sadly real life atrocity.

Genre: Crime, Drama

Actor: Rous Mony, Saichia Wongwirot, Sarm Heng, Thanawut Ketsaro, Yothin Udomsanti

Director: Rodd Rathjen

Despite how the title sounds like, the horror of Bedevilled isn’t a devil, a demon, or a spirit. It isn’t even the way childhood friend Bok-nam snaps, taking up a scythe and going on a murderous rampage to kill all the people that wronged her. No, the actual horror of Bedevilled is that everyday people like bank employee Hae-won would hesitate to do what’s right. Reading that sentence can sound cheesy, but writer-director Jang Cheol-soo structures the film, and her visit to Modo, in a gradually escalating manner. When Hae-won first lands, the mean gossip seems ordinary, but the film takes these ordinary, if overcritical, words, and delves into the subtext, especially the darker implications that makes the film difficult to watch. The film does understand Hae-won’s hesitancy– the scenes do acknowledge that reporting could mean retaliation, and the score consistently meets that very fear. But Bedevilled also understands that, if hesitancy allows abuse to be left unchecked, the very same violence that Hae-won was (and many people are) avoiding will inevitably escalate.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller

Actor: Bae Sung-woo, Baek Su-ryeon, Chun Young-min, Hwang Geum-hee, Jo Deok-jae, Oh Yong, Park Jeong-hak, Seo Young-hee, Son Young-soon, Yoo Soon-chul

Director: Jang Cheol-soo

Rating: NR

As the face of kung fu, a sports documentary on Bruce Lee is practically expected for ESPN’s 30 for 30 series. So many of them have been produced since the actor’s death in 1973. However, in Be Water, director Bao Nguyen captures the icon not through his works, but through his philosophy. Starting with his first screen test, the camera rarely strays from him, keeping us hooked on his magnetic presence even during voice-overs of interviews from his friends and family. This, mixed with readings of letters he’s written, reveals a man whose self-discipline and attitude power through obstacles against him. The film only diverts its attention to identifying those obstacles, but it only better proves the actor’s strength. In martial arts and in film, Be Water respects Lee as a force of nature– the rare force that broke barriers and bridged the gap between East and West.

Genre: Documentary, Drama

Actor: Angela Mao Ying, Brandon Lee, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Dan Inosanto, David Carradine, Diana Lee Inosanto, Fred Weintraub, Jay Sebring, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Linda Lee Cadwell, Muhammad Ali, Nancy Kwan, Paul M. Heller, Raymond Chow, Raymond Chow Man-Wai, Rudolf Nureyev, Shannon Lee, Tony Liu, William Dozier

Director: Bao Nguyen