It’s hard to deny that the survival drama show Squid Game took the world by storm not long after it came to Netflix in September of last year. Not only was the show critically praised, but it became Netflix’s most-watched series ever in nearly 100 countries with 1.65 billion viewing hours.
If you liked Squid Game, would you be interested in watching a movie from its creator? In my humble opinion, the South Korean writer-director Hwang Dong-hyuk made a great crime drama in 2011 that you should check out if you’re at all a fan of his approach to storytelling. The film in question? Silenced. Why is this movie worth your time? Keep reading to find out. 😊 What’s It About [NOTE: This section contains minor spoilers for “Silenced.” If you’d rather see the film for yourself, skip to the next section.] Based on real events that occurred in Gwangju, South Korea, Silenced tells the story of Kang In-ho (Gong Yoo) who is the newly-hired art teacher at a school for deaf children. Upon starting work at the school, In-ho notices that many of the children avoid him as much as possible despite his best efforts to connect with them. In his personal life, he is dealing with the wake of his wife’s suicide and checking in on his daughter who is ill. Upon learning that the children are being sexually abused by many of the staff and teachers at the school, In-ho decides to make the kids’ story public and hold the abusive adults accountable. With the help of human rights activist Seo Yoo-jin (Jung Yu-mi), In-ho advocate on behalf of the deaf children but quickly realize just how much the town’s institutions (namely those in charge of them) are working to cover up the truth about the abuse. On top of the pressures of the trial, In-ho and Yoo-jin try to protect the child victims—such as Kim Yeon-doo (Kim Hyun-soo) and Jeon Min-su (Baek Seung-hwan)—from the media, the public outcry, and most importantly their abusers like the headmaster twin brothers Lee Kang-suk and Lee Kang-bok (Jang Gwang). However, as bribery and corruption make the process of bringing their abusers to justice difficult, In-ho, Yoo-jin, and the children develop their own ways of coping with the experience of doing what they can to be heard. Why It’s Worth Watching To be clear, I really liked Netflix’s Squid Game. Its exploration of classism, poverty, and human nature through the framework of a lethal and sadistic game show makes for some damn fine entertainment that has both style and substance. That being said, I think I’m most grateful that I watched Squid Game because it introduced me to Hwang Dong-hyuk. And it introduced me to Silenced. Fair warning: Silenced is not an easy movie to watch. It is a difficult film to get through for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the subject matter of its story emotionally rips your guts out before taking your heart and stomping on it. Is it cathartic? Sometimes, but mostly it’s just downright depressing. So, full transparency, I appreciate those kinds of movies but I know that not everyone does. That being said, Silenced is a film that (if you’re up for it) you should absolutely watch. As a modern-day tragedy, it excels in almost every measurable way. Hwang fictionalizes a real string of sexual abuse of deaf children by corrupt teachers and staff, and thus tells an important story without ever coming off as exploitative or taking advantage of the situation. Like the best “call-to-action” flicks, it does just that: Silenced lights a fire under your ass to get out there and change the world for the better (I’ll get to that later). But what about just as a movie? Does it sensitively handle its themes and characters in a way that is artistically meritorious? Absolutely it does. Silenced never forgets its primary creative goal of humanizing the struggles of these children and the adults who are there for them while also celebrating them overcoming those struggles in pursuit of personal healing and justice for themselves and the others who were molested and abused. Of course, Hwang is only one piece of this incredibly powerful cinematic puzzle that is Silenced. Without a doubt, the weight of these characters’ journeys is on these amazing actors. I particularly appreciated the understated heaviness of Gong Yoo’s performance (the dad from Train to Busan and the Recruit from Squid Game, if you’re familiar). But all of the main cast excel in their roles, from Jung Yu-mi (the pregnant woman from Train to Busan) as the human rights activist to each of the kids. It always amazes me how children that age can play such intense roles in some incredibly emotional films, but these young actors make it look easy from start to finish. I don’t want to leave out the “villains” of the film as they do an equally fine job at the opposite of the aforementioned performers. I found myself loving hating Jang Gwang in the dual role of the deaf school’s abusive headmaster, while Kim Min-sang plays against Baek Seung-hawn very well in what is undeniably one of the standout scenes of the movie. Simply put, there is no weak link in the cast of Silenced. They all bring 110% for the entire runtime which makes the film hard to look away from. If that wasn’t enough to convince you to check this movie out, Silenced is also (in my humble opinion) a fantastic spotlight for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community which has only recently been getting positive mainstream attention in cinema with movies like A Quiet Place and CODA (full transparency, I am not deaf or hard-of-hearing so please take my opinion on this with a grain of salt). Thus, the movie feels all the more important to me because it tells a story that—while tragic and emotionally taxing—never comes off as belittling its deaf characters. Nor does it glorify their trauma or patronize them as people. Instead, Silenced gives agency to its disabled characters to tell their own story (despite their age) in their own way both to process their abuse and seek justice for the crimes committed against them. In other words, these kids aren’t victims because of who they are but because of what happened to them which is a refreshingly modernized portrayal of disabled characters. Has ALL THAT still not convinced you? Well, how about this? Upon the release of Silenced in South Korea, the film sparked so much outrage amongst the general public that the deaf school on which the film was based was shut down, the head administrator was sentenced to twelve years in prison for sexually assaulting a student, and the Korean National Assembly passed a law (named after the film) which removed the statute of limitations for sexual assault against disabled people and children under the age of thirteen. Silenced is a movie that actually changed shit for the better. Doesn’t THAT make it worth watching? 😊 Have I convinced you to check out Hwang Dong-hyuk’s Silenced? What’s a movie that you feel is underappreciated? What opinions of mine do you find absolutely ridiculous? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, this has been… Yours Truly, Amateur Analyst
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Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay Of the seemingly endless list of the films in Steven Jay Schneider’s book “1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die,” there are many that come to mind that stunned me in how much I enjoyed them. Whether it be due to how old they are, the style of filmmaking, or the genre, there are just some movies that completely subverted my expectations in the best way possible.
One of the subgenres that I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed are low-budget, science-fiction B-movies from the 1950s that are now considered genre classics. From Invasion of the Body Snatchers to The Blob, I’ve consistently found myself thoroughly entertained by these old-school sci-fi flicks. So, today’s blog is about another 1950s sci-fi movie that I assumed would be boring and outdated but instead impressed me by how much I enjoyed. The film in question? Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still from 1951. [NOTE: This blog will contain spoilers for “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” You have been warned.] The History Wanting to develop a film that captured the fears and suspicions of the early Cold War era, film producer Julian Blaustein (Broken Arrow, Khartoum) read through hundreds of science-fiction short stories and novels due to the genre being well suited for a metaphorical exploration of that topic. After the project was approved by studio executive and co-founder of formerly-named 20th Century Fox Darryl F. Zanuck (The Grapes of Wrath, Gentleman’s Agreement, The Longest Day), Blaustein hired screenwriter Edmund H. North (Patton) to adapt elements of Harry Bates’s short story “Farewell to the Master,” written in 1940. In writing the screenplay, North admitted that he intended the metaphor comparing the extraterrestrial Klaatu to Jesus Christ to be subliminal; he considered it his “private little joke.” However, Blaustein was confronted by censors from the Motion Picture Associated of America (MPAA) about Klaatu’s seeming immortality and resurrection. As a result, a line was written to explain that Klaatu’s revival was only temporary. Following some uncredited input from science-fiction author Raymond F. Jones, the screenplay was completed in February of 1951. In preparation to shoot the movie, architect Frank Lloyd Wright was consulted on the design of Klaatu’s spacecraft with the vehicle’s interior being possibly inspired by Wright’s Johnson Wax Headquarters building in Racine, Wisconsin. According to architect Paul Laffoley, Wright described his consultation as attempting “to imitate an experimental substance” that “acts like living tissue” and “If cut, the rift would appear to heal like a wound.” Principal photography lasted from April 9 to May 23, 1951, occurring on the studio sound stages and back lot in California (a second unit shot background scenes in Washington D.C. and Maryland). After making two dramas in 1950, Robert Wise (West Side Story, The Sound of Music) was hired to direct the film. Despite the U.S. Department of Defense refusing to participate in production after reading the script, the military vehicles and soldiers shown in the film were provided by the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment stationed at Ford Meade. However, the principal actors never actually traveled to Washington, D.C. for filming. Lock Martin, a seven-and-a-half-foot-tall usher at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, was hired to play the robot Gort. However, due to the incredibly uncomfortable nature of the suit he wore on set, Wise minimized his on-set shooting to thirty minutes at a time to make the experience as tolerable as possible. In post-production, Wise’s team were charged with editing Martin’s shots together into a cohesive whole. Made with just under one million dollars, The Day the Earth Stood Still grossed approximately 1.85 million dollars in domestic theater rentals. Contemporary reviews were largely positive, with much of the praise going towards the story, direction, tone, and special effects. Retrospectively, critics and cinephiles have deemed it one of the best movies of the 1950s and one of the best science-fiction films of all time. More modern praise has highlighted the film’s social conscience, themes, and entertainment value. In 1995, the film was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress for its cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance. The Pros While The Day the Earth Stood Still may not have the most memorable characters, it doesn’t need that to be memorable in general. As a fan of history, I particularly enjoy when films manage to date themselves within a specific historical context without that detracting from its overall quality and potential for timelessness. And, in my humble opinion, this movie pulls that off surprisingly well. Due to the nature of its story, the film is an overt allegory for the fear and paranoia of the early Cold War. The way in which the American people respond to the arrival of an extraterrestrial traveler is highly reminiscent of the nature of our society during the Red Scare of the late 1940s and 1950s. That being said, the film’s depiction of human nature as being inherently suspicious of what we do not understand (which, in turn, transforms into fear of the unknown) is an idea that movies continue to explore to this day. Furthermore, its call for peace and understanding as a way of fighting said fear and paranoia can be applied to any time in human history as well as artistically explored within many kinds of stories. As a result, The Day the Earth Stood Still pulls off the rather difficult feat of being both an old-school hit and a timeless classic by balancing the qualities that makes it both without hindering itself in either direction. Beyond that, the movie surprisingly holds up well in terms of its production values. Specifically, the creative team working with Robert Wise seemed to recognize the limitations of their time when it came to crafting visual and special effects that keep the audience’s disbelief suspended enough to prevent them from losing interest in what they’re seeing. I particularly enjoyed the portrayal of Klaatu as humanoid, which works both to enhance the metaphorical aspects of the film’s message and avoid the movie becoming overly silly or a parody of itself. Instead, its small-scale storytelling forces the relatively small special-effects budget to work for Wise’s creative goals rather than against them. Something else that makes The Day the Earth Stood Still work in spite of its obvious age is the brevity of the runtime. Like I said about Don Siegel’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers from 1956, directors working within the black-and-white, sci-fi genre at this time apparently understood that the primary goal of any filmmaker should be to not waste the audience’s time. Thus, they stuck more to the universally true mantra of storytelling: “less is more.” This movie is no different, as Wise and his editing team keep the film to a brisk 92 minutes that is paced well to prevent you feeling rushed or bored while watching it. Every minute of screentime is used to tell the story, enhance the themes, and satisfy the viewer by making them feel that all has been resolved by the final shot. What more can you really ask for? 😊 The Cons The only major criticism I have of The Day the Earth Stood Still has to do with screenwriter Edmund H. North’s “private little joke” wherein he made subtle allusions to the alien Klaatu (Michael Rennie) being a Jesus Christ-like figure. To be honest, I did not pick up on this subtext while watching the movie; I only discovered this interpretation afterwards when I read online about it. That being said, I can see how other viewers could be easily distracted from what is (in my humble opinion) the filmmakers’ primary social commentary by focusing too much on this. Honestly, it’s a matter North’s inside humor that he may not have wanted audiences to focus on so intently this many years later. Nevertheless, it remains a valid interpretation of the film despite this understanding not coming out very strongly in the writing aside from a few subliminal hints to the prophet figure of Christianity. In the end, I wish most of these were edited out in favor of the film investing its 92 minutes on what it ultimately was trying to say. So, what are my final impressions of The Day the Earth Stood Still? Simply put, any criticisms I have of the movie are not enough to undo my generally favorable impressions of it. If you’re a fan of old-school sci-fi flicks or movies with timely and timeless sociopolitical allegories, then I definitely think you’ll enjoy it. But if you just want a watch a short and entertaining alien story that doesn’t rely on action, I assure that you’ll appreciate it on that level, too. What are your thoughts on Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still? What other old-school sci-fi movies do you recommend? What opinions of mine do you find absolutely ridiculous? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, this has been… Yours Truly, Amateur Analyst Image by DONT SELL MY ARTWORK AS IS from Pixabay With a film career spanning eight decades, acclaimed actor and director Clint Eastwood has been a part of several iconic films adored by many (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Million Dollar Baby, just to name a few). But with a tenure in movies as long as that, Eastwood has also made several underrated flicks that don’t get the appreciation they deserve today (Bronco Billy being one of them). Today, I want to shine a spotlight on another one of his directed features that, in my humble opinion, should be seen and talked about by more people: the 1993 crime drama A Perfect World, starring Kevin Costner.
Why is this movie worth your time? Keep reading to find out. 😊 What’s It About [NOTE: This section contains minor spoilers for “A Perfect World.” If you’d rather see the film for yourself, skip to the next section.] A Perfect World, set in the early 1960s, tells the story of escaped convict Robert “Butch” Haynes (Kevin Costner) who’s on the run for the law after escaping the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. While on the run, Butch kidnaps eight-year-old boy Phillip Perry (T.J. Lowther) as a hostage to aid the escape of himself and his co-conspirator Terry Pugh (Keith Szarabajka). As they flee on the highway, Butch becomes increasingly protective of Phillip (especially against Terry’s aggressive behavior). Chasing Butch and Terry are Texas Ranger Red Garrett (Clint Eastwood), criminologist Sally Gerber (Laura Dern), and FBI sniper Bobby Lee (Bradley Whitford), with the goal of capturing Butch and rescuing Phillip before they cross the Texas border. Unbeknownst to Butch, however, he shares a past with Red which is motivating Red to capture Butch alive. Meanwhile, Phillip experiences a previously unfamiliar sense of freedom on the road with Butch. Coming from a household of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the boy indulges in experiences with Butch that he never had at home (i.e. wearing a Halloween costume). As time passes on the road, Butch warms up to the idea of guiding Phillip through deciding what’s right and wrong in order to be a fatherly presence (something that, as a child, Butch lacked). But encounters with strangers and the law strain the blossoming father-son dynamic between Butch and Phillip. As Red’s team closes in on them both, Butch must reconcile between his inescapable criminal past and his desire to do what’s best for Phillip’s future. Why It’s Worth Watching In my humble opinion, A Perfect World is one of those films that may not have won any awards upon release but more than deserved some. Furthermore, it’s a movie that is well-made from start to finish but, for whatever reason, isn’t really talked about in the same way that Eastwood’s classics are. Without question, the best part of A Perfect World is Kevin Costner’s central performance. His turn as the charming fugitive “Butch” is one of his great performances that is, unfortunately, overshadowed by movies like Field of Dreams and Dances with Wolves. From his interactions with young T.J. Lowther to the mostly understated tension between his and Eastwood’s character, Costner makes the movie worth watching simply for his performance. Luckily, there is even more that makes A Perfect World worth your time. As I hinted at before, I simply don’t understand why the movie is not put up there with Eastwood’s other great directed feature films despite deserving such praise. For one thing, Eastwood demonstrates a confidence behind the camera only evident in the best of his films. Which is particularly impressive considering this movie’s complex themes that require a delicate approach to pull off well. To elaborate, the emotional core of A Perfect World is its exploration of unlikely father-son relationships. The one that’s front-and-center—that between Costner and Lowther’s characters—could have easily felt contrived and disingenuous. But Eastwood’s way of telling their story, combined with both actors’ solid performances, avoids such trappings by striking the right tonal balance so as to earn the audience’s empathy for Butch and Phillip needing each other in different ways. But the subtler, and (in my humble opinion) more impressive, relationship that Eastwood dissects is the (mostly) off-screen dynamic between his own character and Costner’s. Despite rarely seeing the two actors interact, A Perfect World offers up a solid parallel to Butch and Phillip’s father-son dynamic by making Red Garrett into the father figure that Butch never had. Again, this should have so easily felt forced and clichéd but Eastwood never really lets that happen. If all of that hasn’t yet convinced you to check out this movie, I think that fans of gritty crime dramas set in specific historical periods (in this case, rural Texas in the 1960s) will enjoy the film in that respect. Why? Well, Jack N. Green’s cinematography excels at capturing a realistic portrayal of the backroads and fields of the Southwest in order to enhance the film’s themes and character dynamics. I don’t know what else to say but to watch A Perfect World. If you’re a fan of Eastwood, you’ll like it. If you’re a fan of Costner, you’ll like it. Or, if you just like great crime dramas, then you’ll really enjoy it. Have I convinced you to check out Clint Eastwood’s A Perfect World? What’s a movie that you feel is underappreciated? What opinions of mine do you find absolutely ridiculous? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, this has been… Yours Truly, Amateur Analyst |
Austin McManusI have no academic or professional background in film production or criticism; I simply love watching and talking about movies. Archives
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