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.

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.

Part of the appeal of movies is the chance to see other cultures. Doomsday Book starts off with a great view of Korea, not so unlike here in Australia, which was refreshing. I hadn't read anything about this movie before I watched it and was disappointed when the first of three stories descended into rather ordinary zombie fare. For me, it was kept afloat by my unfamiliarity with the country and its customs, but that was all. The next story, concerning robotics, is a quantum leap better, well directed, acted and edited, showing some class. The final idea, concerning a meteorite, had some of the sparkle I last enjoyed watching The Host, with a similar family dynamic. It wasn't as well thought through as the former idea however, and was confusing for the first half. When I got it though, it was a good idea, if a tad on the weird side. There was a welcome scattering of sci-fi visuals throughout the three stories. As a trilogy of shorts I feel this endeavour could have been better served with a more original idea for the first part.

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

This Anthology features 3 tales, 2 of which are somewhat religious and another one dabs more on an alien Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy way. All three have to do with the fall of mankind.

Story 1: 9/10 My favorite, A Brave New World, depicts a basic zombie uprising, in the plague form, but what is different is the overall direction the story goes, and the characters development... of zombies. Rarely do zombie films give the zombie POV, but we are able to get that here. A great aspect of this story is the strong acting by the leading actor, a guy who gets bullied by those around him and is very awkward, in a nerdy way. He goes on a date with this girl, and they seem to have a great connection, but then he begins to turn, and she is scared off. What happens at the end throws in a bible element to the story, which I didn't much care for, but I understood the creators message of a new world. Overall, I thought this tale was hilarious and sweet and well acted with enough zombie chaos to intrigue hardcore zombie fans.

Story 2: 6/10 The Heavenly Creature. This story is about a Robot that becomes Buddha, or at least to the monks. When the factory finds out, they seek to destroy the machine for attempting to forget it's duty to serve man and instead attaining man's greatest goal. This is deemed a threat and an insult to mankind. While I like the message of man's jealousy over a near perfect machine, I was turned off by the Robot's final message to man. It seemed idealistic to me, and hard to swallow. Overall, it was slow paced and more of a thought provoking study on people and our desires and fears. Might be a good watch for a philosophy/Buddhist student.

Story 3: 5/10 Happy Birthday, to me this was the cheesiest of all the stories, and cute, but less thought provoking. Like the first story, it had comical moments, and was quite enjoyable at times, it also felt like a family story and not on the same level as the other stories. You could actually watch this one with your 8 year old, and they might really like it. A problem with this story to me is how things aren't really explained, especially a scene in the end. I laughed off my interpretation of it, but am unsure of the message. There is a adorable aspect of it about trusting your child and having faith in them, which was very sweet, but for me, it wasn't enough to give it a very favorable review. I would have definitely liked to have seen a different story here that didn't have such an absurd scenario... I giant 8 ball heading to earth... why would aliens have giant pool tables and websites dedicated to selling individual balls to different planets? Too silly to me.