Natural City

Although the plot and storyline were a little predictable, I was really impressed by some of the acting, camera-work and better than Hollywood graphics and visuals. The CGI was nicely done and contributed seamlessly to the movie. The acting wasn't bad either. This movie was clearly a labor of love considering the attention to details and overall look. Ignore the obvious plot and story development, just sit back and enjoy this one as a pretty picture, knowing that all good things don't always have to come out of Hollywood.

NATURAL CITY (2003) Directed by Min Byong-chan. Arresting productions design and state-of-the-art visual effects can't disguise a dull plot that borrows so liberally from BLADE RUNNER and GHOST IN THE SHELL that the word 'tribute' could warrant legal action. To date, this is probably the most beautiful looking AND most vapid Korean science fiction film to come down the pipeline, and one feels almost guilty in knocking it in spite of the undeniable amount of craftsmanship that went into it. Set in a futuristic megacity in the year 2080, it's about a sullen policeman (Yu Ji-tae) who wants to extend the life of his beautiful android dancer Ria (Seo Rin) by finding a new host for her brain-chip. As she's nearing her sell-by date, which requires her complete destruction, this puts him at odds with fellow cop Noma (Yun Chan) and evil android Roy Batty...err...evil uber-android Jeon Doo-hong, who has plans on accessing android headquarters and programming a massive robot uprising. Flying police cars, slow-floating dirigibles with gigantic projection screens, endlessly vertical skyscrapers forming a mountain of technology in a post-war wasteland.

We've seen all this before. And indeed, it all looks amazing here. But what's missing is any depth of character to make the story more convincing. The leading man is a complete cipher whose motivations for prolonging the life of his robot are never explained or explored, and while his robot clearly has functional difficulties with her impending doom, Seo underplays these scenes to a fault, generating neither tension nor sympathy, only indifference about her fate. To give credit where it's due, Korean is one of the few Asian countries - and one of the few countries outside of America and Japan - even attempting such high-minded science-fiction films as this, WONDERFUL DAYS, 2009 LOST MEMORIES, and YESTERDAY. One hopes that one day, the quality of screen writing will improve to meet the superb level of technical artistry already apparent on screen. The 2-disc Special Edition DVD of this film has tonnes of interesting (unsubtitled) materials for those inspired by its technical merits, including an art gallery, a sketch gallery (tres Syd Mead), a 45 minute TV doc with plenty of behind the scenes and FX footage, a 24 minute DVD doc with more of the same, a 14 minute interview with the lead effects man, an 8.5 minute interview with the animator of the opening credits, 6 minutes of deleted scenes, an English language Cannes trailer that pumps up the action quotient, cast interviews and a 20 minute walking tour of the films locations with the director and lead actor. A cool easter egg can be found on disc 2 by arrowing up on the main menu to highlight '*REC'. This will give you access to what appears to be a 7 minute, effects laden music video about the plight of a country devastated by a nuclear attack, which almost feels like the backstory to the main feature. 5.

..... in fact, a lot better than expected. I watched both trailers before the movie to see if it looked any good, and it did. It looked stunning, just a bit empty. On watching it, i found it to be very accomplished, it put most Hollywood films to shame. In saying that, though, there really aren't any US equivalents to this. Yeah, it borrows from plenty of other movies, but none of them would be so daring or have such a sombre tone. This is quite bleak and nasty stuff. Highly recommended, just don't expect a happy ending or any humour. If great, Blade Runner-style visuals are your thing, you'll find plenty to enjoy. Four out of five.

I read through the reviews here before I watched it and didn't know what to expect: a classic or a bummer? In my view, the truth is in the middle and the average vote of currently 5.8 seems justified. "Natural City" is by no means a movie on the "Blade Runner" level. Take away the futuristic eye-candy, and what is left? A man is in love with a cyborg lady without really telling us why, how or what for. Real character development is not happening! He gets in a conflict with his friend over the cyborgs which leads to gratuitous violence with faces covered in blood like in a million action flicks before. Meanwhile, a girl plants flowers in a roof garden to provide a contrast to the post-war destruction scenery around. "Natural City" doesn't really have any new ideas, it simply spices up the collection of familiar trade marks with "Matrix/Equilibrium Next Generation" visuals which is fine for web 2.0 designers but not for the art of film making. Everybody who truly believes this is going to be a classic should go watch "Soylent Green" where it was the actors and the story that mattered.

Still, "Natural City" is a movie that has its touching or stunning moments. Actually, I liked that explanations were not provided in many cases. One might argue whether it is a deliberate attempt to open it for interpretation or simply plot holes. But I think, if we once really caught a glimpse of the year 2080, there would be much that we won't comprehend, either. You know how silly SF movies of the 1950s seem today because they applied manners, moral standards and ways of conversation that are outdated. In this respect, I'm curious what people will think of "Natural City" in the future. Keep it in the archive.

I saw a screening of this film recently at the Milan Fair and I'm inclined to say that, while it was rather interesting, I would not suggest it to anyone but hardcore fans of SF. In a way the concept is reminiscent of Bladerunner: The (male) officer of law falling for the (female) cyborg/clone/android that has an 'expiration date', while on the other hand, he is fighting the rebellious cyborgs/clones/androids. There are a number of twists in the plot that add interest, the photography is very good, the acting is fine and the action scenes are typical Asian. All in all, quite interesting but not fulfilling...