bumfromkorea

Personally, I enjoyed this movie immensely because Kim Sun Ah (main actress) plays a character very similar to the character she recently played in an outstanding TV Drama/Comedy "My Name is Kim Sam Soon". I watched this movie about two weeks after the series MNIKSS had ended, and personally, the movie was very special.

The movie itself, however, is full of clichés from both Korean and American action comedy films. The storyline is too weak, some parts of the movie had definitive plot holes, and... there really wasn't anything impressive about it.

Kim Sun Ah once again manages to portray a very unique and lovable character (though how she pulled that off is still a mystery to me, considering the average~weak script that she was given), and Nam Sang Mi also plays her role very well. Kong Yu I was not convinced, and to put it simply, there were way too many actors/actresses playing comical, cartoon-like characters (the bullies, the gang boss, the gang members, Jae-In's friends, the teacher, the detective (Jae-In's partner) and, at times, even Jae-In (Kim Sun Ah's character) herself) This is a good movie to burn time on, because it is certainly funny. Perhaps I'm being too harsh on a movie that only wants to be a laugh-off action comedy. It achieves what it wants to achieve, and in that respect, She's On Duty is a great film. But using a more generalized criteria...

5/10

Jisatsu Saakuru is my 9th film in my endeavor to experience Japanese film and culture (I'm Korean fyi, so those who know a little bit about how us Koreans feel about the Japanese would know that this is a pretty daunting step), and I feel that I am beginning to develop a general sense of what Japanese movies are and what they can be (but fails to become).

The concept of Jisatsu Saakuru is extremely sophisticated and intriguing. It combines a Foucault/Lyotard sense of 'biopower'/'conformity terror' with its own flavor of philosophy. Throughout the film, we are given everything that is horrifying and terrible about the modern Japanese society, and it is not the string of suicides (which is extremely frequent within Japanese society) that we witness; it is the disconnection, amorality (as opposed to immorality; amorality means complete lack of morals - an amoral being does not have the sense of right and wrong), and bio-standardization propagated by pop/consumerist culture. The first horrific act of suicide we see is accompanied by a cheerful, innocent music - while it serves to criticize the soulless nature of the popular culture, it also leaves a strong marks on the true horror of conformity (understandable after watching the prequel "Noriko's Dinner Table").

Whether the movie is criticizing the lax view of suicides within the Japanese culture, I cannot tell. While it is obvious that the suicides are horrific in its process, I felt that the movie somehow glorified it near the end of the movie. But it is the method of glorification (the 'leaders' and their shocking amorality) that makes me question the true motive of the director/writer.

The concept is extremely well developed and intriguing. It is in the process of delivering this message that the movie, in my opinion, has failed. The central theme of the film, 'connection with oneself', becomes blurred and inaccessible to the audience in the flurry of gore and incomprehensible scenes. It has taken a viewing of its prequel to comprehend the totality of Jisatsu Saakuru, which as a movie should never ever happen. Though it is a compelling method of storytelling, it seems that the director/writer has taken a rather arrogant attitude of 'I really don't care if you don't understand'. And judging from some of the responses on this page, this inaccessibility has influenced the viewer's experience negatively.

Like almost all the Japanese films I have watched (Battle Royale chief amongst them), Jisatsu Saakuru suffers from unnecessary violence. I would like to make it clear that I have no qualm with the violence itself (For example, one of the problems I had with Ichi the Killer was not the extremities of violence, but what the violence was used for). Rather, the director, much like the director of Battle Royale, loses himself and the movie during the portrayal of violence.

For example, the mother in the kitchen doing what she did with the knife while smiling had a purpose. Aside from the surrealism (and scientific error, but that's never important), this scene is the most potent example of how a person can become so disconnected with oneself.

However, the high school kids at the high school was a needless violence. Though one can argue that the purpose was to criticize the 'fad'-ism plaguing the modern society, the central plot could have handled it without this scene.

Another criticism to be made is the actors themselves. I was not convinced by any of the cast of the characters they portrayed. The closest I can give is Kuroda, but even he fails to project his character until the very near end.

Final criticism is a small foible in my opinion but may be important to others; the blood, for the most part, was very unconvincing. They could've used watered down ketchup (time-honored method, in a manner of speaking) and could have been more realistic. Though I'm not the one to be unsettled by it, many people out there are.

At the end of the movie, while the Dessart start singing their final song, the audience gets a very fractured story with inaccessible themes and messages. While the themes and messages themselves are incredibly brilliant and interesting, the rest of the movie failed to achieve what it could have achieved. In short, the film has betrayed its own message. However, this movie is by far superior to most, if not all, movies that Hollywood has churned out in recent years, a growing trend in comparisons to rising cinema powers of both Korea and Japan.

I was actually intrigued by the premise of the movie before watching it because it was an obvious two-tier satire (one on the oppressive and ridiculous government South Koreans had to endure for a while prior to the film coming out, and the other on the censorship controversy with the singers). The movie had potential, and some talented Korean directors in the future should seriously consider making a remake. The film suffers from ridiculous acting, horrible script (never heard the word "Sshibal" so frequently in any movies... while it is understood as a protest to the censorship, it is horribly executed), no plot, and disappointing performance from one of my top 10 actresses, Gong Hyo Jin.

So unless you are extremely familiar with the Korean pop culture and know who the singers are in the movie, you'll be completely lost. And even when you know who they are, the only good part of the movie would be to see them try to act, which is kinda funny to see as a fan.