Doomsday Book

I sat down to watch "Doomsday Book" without having a single clue what it was about, and decided to give it a go simply because it was a Korean movie. And now having seen this movie, I will have to say that this was a different experience in many ways.

First of all, this is not a single movie, but a movie comprised of three different short stories, that are independent upon one another, and dealing with very different subjects.

The first segment, titled "A Brave New World" (8 out of 10 rating) was without a doubt the best of the three segments (in my personal opinion). Both story-wise and also entertainment-wise. It is about a man who contracts a strange disease from eating tainted meat, and ends up turning into a zombie. It was a different approach to the zombie genre, but all together a very good one. I thoroughly enjoyed this segment, because it was nicely made, a fresh new take of the zombie genre, and also proved to be the better of the three segments. Great make-up and great effects, a well worthy Korean addition to the zombie vault.

Segment two, titled "The Heavenly Creature" (5 out of 10 rating) is about robots having a major part in the life of humans, to the extend where they are so much integrated part of life and structure that they might start to become a threat to mankind. In a Buddhist monastery, an older robot model have found spiritual and religious enlightenment. Well, I will say that the director here had come up with an interesting concept. However, this particular segment turned out to be a little bit too heavy on the ethics and morals, compared to the other two segments. And as such, it turned out to be somewhat of a hard pill to swallow. Aside from that, then the segment was well constructed and nicely filmed, and the robots were quite amazing.

The third and final segment, titled "Happy Birthday" (4 out of 10 rating) was without a doubt the most odd and bizarre of the three segments. It is about a young girl who orders an 8-ball on the Internet for her father, but as luck would have it a 10 kilometer wide meteor is heading towards Earth, threatening to end life as we know it. It turns out that the meteor is the 8-ball ordered by the girl. Yeah, odd story, isn't it? The segment itself was nicely edited and nicely filmed, but the story was just too strange to fully wrap your head around and embrace it for what it was. It sort of felt a little bit out of place in the segments.

I suppose there is a little bit of something for everybody in these three segments, and we would all individually have our different favorite and least favorite of the segments. However, they all do bring something unique and outstanding to the enjoyment of the movie.

For an Asian movie, then "Doomsday Book" was a bit out of the ordinary. As a collective rating, then I would rate the entire movie a 6 out of 10 stars.

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

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

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.

"In-lyu-myeol-mang-bo-go-seo", a.k.a. "Doomsday Book", is a South Korean science-fiction film divided in three uneven segments:

1) "A Brave New World": the research scientist Yoon Seok-woo stays alone at home while his parents travel for a holiday with his sister. He is in charge of cleaning their apartment and he dumps all the garbage, including a rotten apple, in a disposal recycling system. This apple becomes animal food and soon the cow meet contaminates the population of Seoul that becomes zombies.

This segment is the best one with a funny story and beautiful, but nasty cinematography.

2) "The Heavenly Creature": the technician Park Do-wan is summoned to repair the robot In-Myung in a monastery since the robot claims that he is Buddhist and has reached enlightenment. Park is not capable to fix the robot and the company's president decides to decommission the robot.

This segment is boring and annoying despite the great cinematography and special effects.

3) "Happy Birthday": a girls damages an 8 ball and she buys another one in the computer of her father. Then she throws the ball through the window in order her father does not find it. A couple of years later, an asteroid will collide on Earth and her family seeks protection in an underground shelter.

This segment has also a great cinematography but the story is senseless.

My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): Not available on Blu-Ray or DVD