Illyumyeolmangbogoseo

After Asian-wide "Three (2002)" where Jee-woon Kim contributed to the "Memories" segment and "Three... Extremes (2004)" where other Korean master, Chan-wook Park, messed with our minds with "Cut", Jee-woon Kim works here with Pil-sung Yim to give us an all-Korean short film anthology classic.

Pil-sung Yim, who was in attendance at the FantAsia Film Festival screening, writes and directs the first and last segments, while Jee- woon Kim who was in post-production for his first Hollywood project "The Last stand (2013)" sent us a video detailing the hardships he is facing in the big Hollywood machine and light-heartedly prefacing his short film "The Heavenly Creature" which he classifies in the genre of philosophical science-fiction.

7/10 "A Brave New World"

Pil-sung Yim starts it off with a meticulously constructed take on the zombie/vampire apocalyptic movie. It is endearing, funny and poetic. It tries not to take itself too seriously, but nether does it tries to take the audience for a fool. It actually develops charming characters and then delves into a deluge of disconcerting destruction, before leaving with an open-ended finale. Note that the alternate ending was an American nuclear bomb, but the actual ending fits much before with the rest of the film.

9/10 "The Heavenly Creature"

This far from formulaic robot story is in fact the crux of this trilogy and drips with deep dialogue and introspection while being sparkled with humour, sweetness, sexiness and tension. A full on societal and moral commentary here from the writer/director of the high calibre, haunting "A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)" with an enlightened robot who perhaps surpassed his creators in wisdom and the battle of sorts between capitalism and Buddhism. It explores finality, fear, faith, fate and the future in a thoughtful tapestry of tasteful interactions.

8/10 "Happy Birthday"

The last segment is a preposterous post-apocalyptic scenario that pacts loads of laughs, especially with the dramatization of a newscast presenting the unfolding doom of the world. It flows well and follows to an adequate conclusion of this science-fiction segment and film.

All in all, Doomsday Book breaks boundaries in the quality of the stories and in the directorial distinction in dealing with death and end of the world scenarios with humour, pose and serenity.

May this futuristic film live long and prosper.

You get three directors (on one theme) and of course three different ways they handle that. Completely different ways that is. The first short (still about 40 mins long each of them) is more on the funny side of the spectrum, the second one is more philosophical and the last one tries to combine those two "worlds" (no pun intended). Each does so with a great finesse.

It's hard for me to decide which one I liked best, but if I had to say one, I'd say it's the middle piece. The framing especially is more than gorgeous. But they all have their charming qualities and the third one is just so out there you will either love it or dismiss it, for its craziness. Hopefully the former, but whatever the case, if you like Korean cinema you'll enjoy it no matter what. If not you might want to change the order of the shorts and watch them backwards (3, 2, 1)! I have a feeling that might work better for some

An anthology of apocalyptic sci-fi. Kind of. The film as a whole is infuriatingly confusing in its conception and execution. The first segment, directed by Pil-Sung Yim (of the Korean Hansel & Gretel movie), is the part that can be definitively labeled horror. Tainted beef turns people into zombies. The film has some decent comic moments, but it never really goes anywhere. Plus, I'm absolutely sick of zombies. The third segment, also directed by Yim, concerns a gigantic pool ball from space on a collision course with Earth. Turns out a young girl accidentally ordered an alien attack on the planet. This segment is so absolutely bizarre, I have no idea what they were going for. It is, at least, a bit amusing even if baffling. Bae Doon-Na appears at the very end of this segment, in the last ten minutes of the movie, and director Bong Joon-Ho also appears. The middle segment, directed by Kim Jee-Woon, cannot be considered horror at all. It concerns a robot which has achieved enlightenment and is considered by his fellow monks to be the reincarnation of Buddha. His makers are incensed at the idea, though, and wish to destroy him. This starts off as the most interesting segment, but as it goes on it gets lost in endless dialogue. Kim is a great action filmmaker and has no ability to make abstract concepts interesting. It's the most boring segment of the film, unfortunately. The one thing I can say for the film as a whole is that it always looks fantastic. Even when it's dull, which is often, it's always pretty.

If you can live with the Korean style of human expression: abrasive, aggressive, cruel, and loud, you will find this film wonderfully imaginative. I admit I have some prejudices against a culture of violence and domination, but the Koreans can't pretend to be otherwise. The Japanese seem to disguise their violence and cruelty quite well, for instance. So it takes me a few dozens films of Korea to get me to overcome the bias. Having said that, the central episode / story of this 3-part anthology is most breathtaking. Beautifully shot. Clear and clean script. Thought-provoking underlined message. I am a Buddhist. I experience first-hand the great contrast of scientific go-getting and religious cry for us to accept whatever the present. The Buddha robot represents us very well, and quite understandable to the ones who are not Buddhists. This episode does not set to convert anybody religiously, but it successfully conveys the anguishes and self-conflicts reasonably well. I am not very much into the first and the final episodes. They are too abrasive and too loud to think anything deep. Even a death, or freaking zombies, can be nice and serene. The eighth ball that destroyed the world? Entertaining and imaginative in young adults' way. It leaves nothing. Cinematically, there are some scenes or shots which I think memorable and telling. A dirty trash can with strayed cats around is one. Creepy and indicative. Buddha robot's movement in general is another. Serene and internalizing. Korean filmmakers are now on top of their game, production-wise. But for culture and internal feelings, that's another story.

If there's a common point that links all 3 of these short movies, it's how they show human stupidity and the realistic statement that that's the reason why we are coming to our own end.

The first movie present us with a zombie scenario, more credible than those created by other movies. It's a superb critic of a society drowned in consumerism, the abuse of other life forms and the worshipping of the shallow. It also presents us with the hypocrisy people live by, with somehow subtle imagery of religion and the disregard for those same values when it comes to feeling pleasure through the material and sex. The point of view is original, for which we see the event unfold mostly from the perspective of a zombie, rather than a hero trying to save him/herself. The film is filled with humour, although an underlying seriousness is palpable.

The second movie is a completely different story. It's comparable to Ghost in the Shell for its cyberpunk elements as well as deep philosophy. There's no comedy here. It's the only film with no direct doomsday scenario, although the human folly is obviously present. The future presented here is most plausible and, indeed, this is likely to happen sooner or later. This film is worth watching on its own, if you want to skip the other 2.

The last film is pure absurd comedy. I personally didn't find it amusing, particularly after watching the previous one. The nonsensical idea of this movie is not helped by the fact that the plot wasn't really thought throughly, and not much effort was put into giving any sense to anything, even to the parts that supposedly help the movie unfolds (i.e.: they randomly find silly solutions out of nowhere, comparable to the "deus ex machina" a child playing with toys would create).

Alas, I'd give individual scores as follows: First movie 5/10 Second one 7/10 Final movie 2/10