Detective K: Secret of the Lost Island

Detective K: Secret of the Lost Island

Released: February 11, 2015

“All lives are equally precious”

     Detective K: Secret ofthe Lost Island is directed by Kim Sok-yun and is the sequel to Detective K: Secret of the Virtuous Widow. The film is set in the Joseon year 1795, with King Jeongjo ruling. Joseon is importing silver from Japan, however Kim Min, an inventor and his sidekick, Seo-pil begin to investigate counterfeit silver. Kim-Min and Seo-pil begin to reveal hidden secrets about the counterfeit silver industry, as a young girl approached them asking for help to look for her sister. Kim-Min keeps turning down the girl, and eventually Kim-Min hears about children washing up on a shore. Scared from these rumors, he visits the shore, and eventually finds the girl that had kept asking for help. Realizing the counterfeit for silver is deadlier than he thought, he investigates more, almost to the point he could die.

     The “Indian Jones” style of some clips, leaves the viewer on edge. With a quite sense of humor, wit, and thrilling action, the viewer will be on the edge of the seat. Similar to The Admiral: Roaring Currents, the music has the “Pirates of Caribbean” feel too. Adding this westernization to international films definitely draws viewers to watch more international films.

The Admiral: Roaring Currents

The Admiral: Roaring Currents

Released: July 30, 2014

“Fear into Courage”

     The film, The Admiral: RoaringCurrents, captured the battle between Japan and Korea. It is directed by Kim Han-min, who is a South Korean naval war film director. The film is based on the historical battle that took place in 1597, Battle of Myeongnyang. Admiral Yi Sun-sin of the Joseon era, led 12 ships into against the Japanese, who led over 300 ships. The film portrays events leading up to this battle – we see both Japan and Korea prepare for this battle. On the Japan side of things, it looks like Japan could capture King Seonjo since they seem to have over 300 ships. On the Korea side, the General Bae Seol burns down a turtle ship and gets killed for it, this seems to entice the Japan side that they have a better chance at winning. When Japanese ships and Korean ships begin their clash, Japanese ships fall into a whirlpool, while the Korean ships begin to have the upper hand. To make the battle even more intense, a turtle ship appears on the Korean side, which only strengthens Korean’s win.

      The music of this film had a very westernization Pirates of the Caribbean feel. During the film, I would hear a similar up beat drumming that is in Pirates of the Caribbean.

     The Admiral: Roaring Currents, captured by attention because the music was very powerful. I think because it also had a similar feel to Pirates of the Caribbean, I could feel more passion toward the film, then Masquerade. Similarities in other films can sometimes bore the viewer, but because this film was in another language I seemed to very much enjoy it. Since, The Admiral: Roaring Currents is based on real events, and Pirates of the Caribbean is more fictional, the film definitely felt more alive. I would recommend viewers to watch this film to see and learn about a battle that took place in history.

Masquerade

Masquerade

Released: September 13, 2012

"One does not record what one wishes to hide"

Masquerade, directed by Choo Chang-min, tells the story of a king, King Gwanghee who falls ill, and a Jester, Ha Sun, who is asked to pose by the King's Chief Secretary, Heo Gyun, until the King recovers. Taking the role as King, Ha Sun begins to learn the responsibility King Gwanghee has and through training to become a King he creates his own voice. Ha Sun, at first was hesitate and did not think it would be possible, but with the support of Chief Secretary, he decided to help out the King. Ha Sun realizes that to be King, is harder than one expects. In time and through trial and error, Ha Sun seems to be doing fine.

As time passes however, people on the King’s council begin to notice things differently. As things become more apparent, the King council notices that Ha Sun is not the real King.

As the music picks up, and you feel your heart begin to race, the intensity of keeping the secret keeps you off your feet. You hope that Ha Sun escapes and does not get caught.

After viewing the film, compared to the other films that I have watched in this class it was not one of my favorites. I think since this film was the foundation for the future films we began viewing, watching the other films after, I began to understand more about the Joseon Era through film and the readings. The readings we read, did not really prepare us for the films, but they do shed light of what went on during the time period or suggests what people were influenced to write about. 

Chasing Ice - A Beautiful Must See Film

Chasing Ice, directed by Jeff Orlowski, premiered at Sundance in 2012. It is a documentary that features James Balog’s photographs about the ice caps melting. Up until 2012, there seemed to be a denial for the cause of climate change. People did not want to accept that they were the reason for all these effects and changes in weather patterns that were causing the planet to react. However, all this talk on climate change took a turn when James Balog showed the world his photographs and time-lapse videos of ice melting over time.

The film uses the photographs and time-lapse videos taken by James Balog. The created film is not only beautiful, but also shocking. It achieves its goal by showing the public what is happening to the oceans and how warming up the planet is bad for the oceans. To take the breathtaking photographs, James Balog has to work in severe, risky environments. He has had several knee surgeries, but the fact that he keeps going and taking these breathtaking shots, goes to show that no matter what, we should never give up on something we believe is the right thing to do.

I would definitely recommend viewers watch this movie. Chasing Ice beautifully intertwines photographs and science to capture the attention of viewers. The film does not over exaggerate the science aspect of climate change, but using the photographs and time-lapse videos, it presents the viewers with a better way to think and talk about climate change. The phrase, “Seeing is believing,” applies here perfectly and in a way this is what James Balog does. He, himself was skeptic about climate change, but instead of forgetting about it, he decided to learn about what was happening and once he got convinced, his work changed the perspective of others. The movie Chasing Ice, shows us, that if you have a passion, there is nothing stopping you from finding arguments to convince others.

Movie Review: Safe; 1995

            The movie Safe is not only dramatic but also an exquisite film. The main character, Carol White, played by Julianne Moore, has come down with allergic reactions to her environment. Carol meets with her doctor regularly who states she is perfectly healthy, but still Carol seems to find ways to cause herself to become sick. Her husband, Greg White, played by Xander Berkeley, does his best to take care of Carol. The movie takes a turn when she ends up at a community center where people have similar conditions to hers.  Here, Carol takes baby steps on how to cope with her illness. 

            Safe, makes people think about their own health and how being too concerned, can cause problems. When you find something that sets you off, it seems as though the whole world is ending and your immune system cannot be stopped from attacking you. In this case, Carol White finds herself allergic to her environment and it seems as if no one can help her. The only place she feels safe is at the community center where Carol moves to a more confined place, and learns how to adjust her problems and how to love herself better.

            The music in this film creates a sense of tension, intensifying what has happened to Carol. As the music becomes more riveting, Carol’s reactions appear to get more intense. The music makes this film more heart pounding to watch as we wait for something breathtaking to occur. Overall, this film keeps you on edge and makes you wonder why people want to make themselves sick. The music is a key part to this film and I think it helps the viewer to better understand Carol. 

The movie concludes on a cliffhanger where we see Carol talking into a mirror. In a sense, this scene relates to today’s lifestyle, in that we see how people are consumed with self-hatred, which causes them to be sick. The world today, is filled with self-hatred and the only way to solve this problem is to exchange self-hatred for self-loving.