Ri-eol

I just watched the movie Real and I can only give it 4 stars.. For me the movie was confusing. I understand that they want to bring complexity and create space for people having their own interpretation. But for that to happen there need to be enough elements to form a decent plotline. For me the narrative was so little and it focused too much on the aesthetics. Although it was pleasant to watch and I liked the color schemes, It simply is not enough if the story is lacking.

Besides all the negative aspects Kim Soohyun's acting was really refreshing. It was nice to see him take on two roles for this movie. Both were very distinctive and it was a pleasure to see him in different roles than I've seen him before. I always appreciate actors/actresses who show how versatile they can be.

Despite the positive points like acting, visuals and music these will not save the movie if the story is lacking.

The plot is confusing and a mess however, every single action sequence in this movie is fast-paced, fluid, intense, and beautifully shot. It kind of has a John Wick-esque to it. It is visually stunning. But the one who carries the film is definitely the main character, actor Kim Soo Hyun. His performance is nuanced enough to elevate the film, and he is able to eliminate the image of an innocent good guy from his previous works such as My Love from Another Star. Kim Soo Hyun does not deserve the critique he gets, he should instead be applauded for his performance.

Despite the cinematography is quite amazing, aesthetically-pleasing, catchy, kinda full of fun service, while it winks to Matrix's Neo, clothes and environments, to Polar and to John Wick or to the Pulp-genre, the movie doesn't deliver.

What's the first purpose of a film?

Telling a story, IMHO.

This movie failed completely as i still don't get a heck of the full plot an narrative. Literally, i didn't understand what's happened in the film.

So, if u wanna impress the audience, just by doing splendid frames and images, maybe a videoclip is more suitable.

To me, this film resulted only as a demonstration of technical ability, without a solid story, a smart editing, a clear core. Screenplay and storyboard are definitely too lacking to the point of no return, till the viewer is lost cos he doesn't get the story and the characters, not even in the end obviously. Narratively speaking it is a total mess, confused and bad developed. Also some non-sense planted randomly.

And it almost feels like this confusion and lacking in the storytelling are wanted: wanted to create sophistications, some sort of elegance and unpredictability.

Well, sorry, but no, it doesn't work this way. Trying to be vague, misterious, skipping to different times, with flashbacks, dreams and oneiric moments is not enough to deliver style and refinement.

U gotta have soul in what you are telling, you gotta win the heart of the audience and in order to do so, u gotta let them to identify, to be moved, to empathize with what you are presenting to them.

There can't be empathy, where comprehension can't lean and root.

Not even when your goal is to create something intimate, private or totally open to free interpretations. When u wish that, u still need to give a "key" of understanding for audience to interpret your creation by its own way.

Otherwise, it is just a showoff of cameras, shots and CG.

Not impressed by the acting also: it is okay, not great. Mainly cos the roles lack in deep characterization and motives and... again... it is a failure in the script.

Good soundtrack and sound editing, very bad volume mixing though.

A great pity, it could have been a big deal... it is not.

So, why two out of ten stars for this movie? Because the performances were really good so I had to give them that.

However, the story was ... hmm ... complicated. It didn't make sense most of the time and when it finally did, it just wasn't worth the two hours plus that were wasted watching it. Some of the mature scenes were, I guess, there to make it more edgy, but, for real, there were just unnecessary. The action scenes were okay and the visuals really nice, but they seemed to focus more on them than the story, which was just thinly spread through this lengthy film.

So, overall, two out of ten.

As I've watched this movie, I've got to realize that it's not that bad as it was publicized (like the worst Korean movie-no,it's definitely not that!). Yeah- many indecipherable scenes -even with much nudity are placed here and there and therefore the plot was also felt hella confusing at times! It would be much better if all those scenes were syncronized well & reasons behind every single motion got revealed like a full moon in the sky at last- then it might touch hearts of general audience and might be recognized as an epic movie too! Rather- it focused on good CGI effects,also some erotica- besides- action scenes were well-choreographed and at some point were artistic too. And acting was also good - specially from all-in-all leading hero- "Jang Tae-young" I mean,actor Kim Soo Hyun.Actually I watched this movie as a former fan of his alien character "Do Min Joon" from "My Love from the Star" drama. And like other fans and well-wishers, I was kinda so disappointed reading all those news- he starred in an erotic movie, even invested in it- and ultimately this movie was criticized badly & doomed in the box office, so didn't he leave so bad impression before enlisting to army? (hiatus of 2 years!) But at last -when I got to watch this full-length movie, I can't be neither disappointed nor angry- because it was too obvious that Kim Soo Hyun put extreme effort to portray his duel role- overall his acting was just praise-worthy! His acting wasn't so praised in media-just because general audience didn't get the plot at all and so it was super-flop! Yeah-it's seemed incomprehensible- but if you pay some attention, you can connect duel personality of his character and feel the effect of 'Siesta' on him (that may cause temporary memory-loss and hallucination!) Yet, many relationships & events evolved around him remained unclear till the end- it seemed that-director &writer weren't interested to disclose these things clearly or failed to figure out how to do that! So Kim Soo-Hyun-if not egoistic - must have realized by now that although he put so good acting show & broke his good-boy image- people wouldn't watch it twice or thrice just to get the plot (as he expected and mentioned in an interview!) Also people wouldn't fall for all those 'sex-doll'-like pathetic female bodies merely- even the heroine didn't seem to have any life or self-esteem at all! Whatever-beside all these things- as an experimental noir plus for its artistic value, I think- it deserves a 6/10 rating- and cheers for actor Kim Soo-hyun!