Microhabitat

My Rating : 8/10

'Microhabitat' is a Korean-drama. It is full of the kind of good depression energy that the viewer can engage with. There is a lot of humour and one can glean into the culture of the place.

I love a movie that can bring such cozy vibes, it makes you feel lazy, triumphant and rooting for the underdog which is what most viewers enjoy. If someone is bored with watching mainstream Western or Hollywood dramas and wants something different then 'Microhabitat' maybe just the right thing. Simple, full of charisma of the main actor (she has done a stellar job!) - this is a feast for the lazy, drunken eyes. Transcendental, meditative and extremely healing...go watch it already.

... even though it's not my house.

The more I watch productions from regions whose culture hasn't been deeply influenced - until recently - by western culture, the more I'm undecided on my capacity to judge them. Had this movie been produced in Germany or the Uk I would have given it a 4-5 for its restrained gaze, farcical tone and not particularly original themes. But I'll give it a cosmopolitan benefit of the doubt.

The film shows how willing people are to settle for less than ideal socio-economic bargains, just for inexperience or social pressures, actually ruining their lifes. And how outsiders are dissed, blamed and ultimately discriminated (though the movie doesn't show that much) for their choices.

Unfortunately the film feels a little too surreal to my eyes: things seem forcibly represented as cute and fine and often even comical where I'd expect struggling, drama and wounds. And while I guess that may well be my bias towards realism, the result is that overall the production fell a little flat.

The conclusion too left me cold: a more direct collision against hypocrisy and conformism would have made everything more meaningful. Instead we are left believing that outsiders aren't going to get crushed by the rest of society and will do just fine.

A cute little fell-good movie whose social critique doesn't really hit... unless OFC the purpose wasn't hitting in the first place but a more gentle reproach.

Wonderful film. Deep and strong in it's delicacy. I empathize a lot with it. Beautiful photography and story. Deep sadness and introspection. Slow flow and strong emotions at the same time.

I don't know what to say with other words so I paste the same thought there for the required characters

Wonderful film. Deep and strong in it's delicacy. I empathize a lot with it. Beautiful photography and story. Deep sadness and introspection. Slow flow and strong emotions at the same time.

Wonderful film. Deep and strong in it's delicacy. I empathize a lot with it. Beautiful photography and story. Deep sadness and introspection. Slow flow and strong emotions at the same time.

Clean, simple but obsessive.

That's all I would say about the gem that somehow I missed for 4 years. The film started with a soft, simple story about the girl who decided to stay at her friends' house to save up for other's important things: whiskey and cigarettes. But from that seem-to-be simple and somehow stupid idea, the film touched the deepest meaning of life, the consequences of every decisions we made in life, about the true difference that distinguish one from the others. You will find your eyes locked in the screen from the beginning to the very end.

The acting is extremely elegant, the dialogues are touching and funny, but the best things I can say about this movie is its cinematography. No crazy 90-minute one-take, no dolly zoom or breath-taking over view from some imaginary helicopter, the cinematography of the film is perfect that I won't even look for it. A well deserved praise for the director who I believe master the art of film.

I won't hesitate to recommend this film to anyone who truly want to understand the Eastern cultures, understand the people working under the pressure of society, and the life we really want to live, that somehow we have to find and fight for every single days of our life.

This movie really make me thinking about life. The plot is simple but for some reason it can touch my heart. I also like the acting a lot. The meaning behind the story is subtle enough and I like it a lot.