shanbhattacharya_

Ghost Walk or "The Door of the Night Opens" is a slow-burning, moody piece of fantasy that's rooted to modern-day issues like urban alienation and unfulfilled personal dreams in a capitalist age. Hae-in Han efficiently plays the apathetic, depressed, loner protagonist who becomes an invisible, wandering ghost after her death. She finds out that although in life she tried to maintain a lonely existence disconnected from others, her death on the other hand is but a piece of a larger social phenomenon. First-time director Yu Eun-jeong did a commendable job building a quiet, contemplative atmosphere. Almost nothing in this film - cinematography, music, pacing - tries to impose itself, but they effectively add substance to the storytelling. The first-person narration sometimes feels patchy - too introspective in some places or too barren, generic in some others. The final act, although predictable, does well enough to establish itself as a piece of serious cinema, and not some emotional tearjerker that films with similar plotlines often turn into.

'Sarajin shigan' (boringly retitled in English as 'Me and Me') has one of the most innovative and original plot threads I have encountered this year. To know anything about the film's plot beforehand, apart from what's written in the logline, will seriously diminish the joy of discovering the story's bold, unpredictable turns. The genre treatment is very refreshing too, since this is one of those movies that do not fall in any particular category. The basic premise is a rather supernatural fantasy, but the course of events tend to run like a satirical social drama, and there's always an air of mystery hanging in the atmosphere. And intriguingly, the film manages to knit all these together into a compelling narrative - a very praiseworthy job. But truth be told, maybe in the hands of a more experienced writer/director these ideas would have flourished to their full potential. There are a few instances where the scope of the narrative and plot threads run beyond the grasp of the director, resulting in some relatively weaker, confusing scenes, especially towards the end. Also, all the actors did great to turn this rather outlandish story extremely convincing.

A current trend among Korean films is to pick up plot elements from established genre structures (like horror, thriller, sci-fi) and remodel them into a completely different genre of filmmaking, thus conveying sociopolitical standpoints by subverting their origins. This film should rightfully be placed along with the best examples of that trend, for its ingenuity, if only its narrative craft were as good.

Famed writer Banana Yoshimoto's original novel 'Goodbye Tsugumi' is a light, fun read. However, in terms of depth and character development, compared to her other, more acclaimed works like 'Kitchen' or 'Asleep', it falls short. Jun Ichikawa's screenplay, though starting off as a line-by-line adaptation, eventually takes some liberties. Some smaller story arcs are dropped and a major character is altered from a schoolboy to a grown man, resulting in subsequent alterations in the storyline. In my opinion, these changes elevated the story, got rid of its excesses and made the titular character more enigmatic but strangely palpable. Riho Makise's portrayal of this complex character is nothing short of amazing. She brilliantly pulls off the polar opposite traits of the character - vulnerable but headstrong, mischievous yet empathic, spoilt yet stoic. Tomoko Nakajima has also delivered a measured, capable performance as the narrator character.

The pacing of the film is somewhat uneven. It spends too little time on building the premise and catching up with the present, resulting in some early confusion. Similarly, the final 20 minutes drawing to the conclusion is inexplicably rushed, completely ruining the slow, charming middle bulk of the film. I suspect this is because of some studio decision to wrap the story under 2 hours. The rest of the film - the beautiful locations, the cinematography, the costumes, the art direction are all superb, as one expects nothing less anyway.