Summerland

No, not that British film that came out a few months ago, this is SUMMERLAND! The road trip film that was shot on an RV that was both set and the cast & crew's accommodation. A crazy ride on and off screen.

 

Best friends Bray and Oliver are planning on going to music festival Summerland to celebrate graduation. Oliver’s girlfriend Stacy also comes along, providing a much-needed RV for the trip. Unknown to his travel buddies, Bray has been using Stacy’s photos pretending to be a girl talking to a guy online who he hopes to meet at the festival. Along the way to the festival, the three companions visit different places and cities, determined to have a good time. 

 

There are several ethical things that come up in the story that should be addressed that aren’t really solved, some with little consequence. Ultimately, the story isn’t about such issues, merely points that dress up the main story and theme. Luckily it isn’t cliché as it may seem. Both Bray and Oliver have to accept realities, Bray that he can’t hide behind a lie, Oliver that he has to leave the US. Stacy is the unlucky female character caught in between them, serving the purpose of being the catalyst and victim of their selfishness. She provides the transport for the journey, she practically bank rolls the trip, she is being lied to by Oliver and being used (to an extent) by Bray, for which she never really finds out how or why, at least we assume she doesn’t. Her only reward is that she gets to experience some of the music festival free from the burdens she had at the start. Although one of the fallouts from the trip we don’t see is how her parents react to her taking the precious RV. Oliver and Bray’s journey is both physical, on the road to the McGuffin of a festival and personally. But that fact that Bray was pretending to be a girl in order to meet a guy online is never really addressed properly, which doesn’t quite sit well. Oliver using Stacy’s credit card in Vegas after disappearing on them is also never really addressed properly either. We don’t find out what he was actually doing, again, this doesn’t sit well. It’s difficult to feel for the characters because of these issues but if we think about the fact it’s not about who’s on the journey, it’s the journey itself, it’s easier to just go with the flow of the story. 

 

 

 

The film should be commended on how it was actually shot, with the entire cast and crew travelling from location to location on the RV and shooting on it too. They got away with shooting in certain places without permission and permits, which is no easy task. Its impressive with what they all accomplished and I would be keen to see what the Lankyboy team create next. 

Any road or journey film goes through its similar stages and beats, with the characters growing or coming to an understanding and conclusion. But this story ends in a much more satisfactory way, picking up as it started but with the characters in a much better place, where they are meant to be. The places and cities the three companions stop off at on the way to the festival are the real moments of clarity, especially early on when the three of them jump off a waterfall. Illustrating the giant leap the journey really is and not just a road trip to a festival.

 

Summerland is available now on VOD.

Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 - London Korean Film Festival

How does a story about a house wife and stay at home mum who suffers from depression become one of the most talked about books in its home country? It was just because it was gifted and discussed between politicians. It was through word of mouth, reviews and social media the book was shared but the story is far more than its one liner synopsis. Hailed as being an important feminist book in Korean and equally despised by anti-feminists when the book was first released, the argument has been renewed with the release of the film adaptation, finding a new audience to experience this familiar yet phenomenal story.

 

Kim Ji-young, wife and mother, gradually falls into a routine of keeping house and caring for her daughter but underneath something changes. Her husband, worried that she is suffering from postpartum depression encourages her to rest and even seeks out advice from a psychiatrist when Kim Ji-young begins to act as if possessed by other people. Meanwhile Kim Ji-young yearns to return to work, seeking out possible ways for her to be able to. Interweaved into the narrative are flashbacks to when Kim Ji-young was younger, at her old job and when she was first married, painting a picture of all the everyday sexism she experienced. 

 

There are so many moments in the film that any woman, even if they hadn’t personally experienced it, would instantly understand. There is a universal feeling of fear and dread as well as light hearted scenes between the female characters, carefully balances what it is like to be a girl or woman without bombarding the core narrative with an agenda. The story lays bare truths that are usually left unspoken in other films, that are desperate and powerful at the same time. Sometime hysterical crying is needed, especially when Kim Ji-young’s mother, Mi-sook, breaks down and yell at her husband in disgust about how he treated his son better than his daughters. It’s not a turning point but no means but it shows the frustrations of the women in the film and society.

 

Another aspect of the film to be admired is how Jung Dae-hyun, Kim Ji-young’s husband reacts to her behaviour and how he tries his best to support his wife. His struggle with how to tell his wife how she has been behaving doesn’t overshadow her own challenges but his part in the story is important. Even though he makes mistakes and doesn’t quite understand certain things, he doesn’t stop trying to be better and understand what she also needs. There is a particular moment where Jung Dae-hyun cries in front of his wife, which is as powerful a moment as Mi-sook’s breakdown. This is rarely seen in films, it’s refreshing to see this included in the character and story.

 

Kim Do-young’s adaption of Cho Nam-joo’s novel feels as if it will continue the important conversations that started with the book’s release. Hopefully making sure issues explored will not be absent from the media. The story and characters linger in the mind long after the credits have rolled which gives hope that this story will remain timeless and change the way we think.

As this was just a teaser screening from the London Korean Film Festival, we can look forward to a full programme and further screenings in October from the festival.

Beanpole

 

I remember there was comic called Beanpole I came across years ago about a very tall girl at school, this film is nothing like that random comic. 

 Russia's entry to the Oscars and screened at Cannes, this was one of the films I missed at LFF but wasn't sure about. As the film was about life after war, I thought it was going to be quite depressing and thankfully I was wrong, this was delightful, despite not being entirely cheerful. The beautful colour palette lets you into the world of Iya and Masha and their close unlabeled bond and just a glimpse into the loses of war. 

My full review is available to read at FilmHounds HERE.

Undergods - Fantasia Festival 2020

Like the love child of dystopian science fiction and a Kafkaesque landscape, Chino Moya’s intertwining stories about mistrusting strangers and mysteries beyond explanation really does make the mind explode. It’s not a simple world, where the good are rewarded and bad are punished, there more going on behind the 70s/80s infused décor by way of Ikea and the characters that inhabit it. Even more confusing is the parallel world that seems to ravaged by plague and despair and populace is enslaved to manual labour until their ‘anniversary’. The stories are bleak and nightmare inducing but you can’t help but stare on in horror as a character falls and the next and the next. 

 

Set in our world or one that resembles one we can recognise, stories about scavengers collecting dead bodies in a desolate city, unhappily married couple letting in a stranger, a business man searches for his daughter and a family thrown off kilter when some unexpected appears back in their lives are either told like a bedtime story or someone’s dream. It’s never quite clear what is a dream, a story or reality. 

 

The style and design of the film is to be admired and marvelled at. With Moya’s past work including photography, it’s easy to see he knows exactly how to create an atmosphere that feels familiar and science fiction influenced. The film is reminiscent of ‘The Double’ and ‘High-Rise’ in their design and story. But with intertwining stories and various characters and being an original piece rather than an adaption, ‘Undergods’ offers the harsher, darker side of this particular dystopian genre and there is certainly very little if any moments of comedy and can feel overwhelming at times. At its core, the film is far more at home in the horror sci-fi genre and managers to escape any cliches giving it a fresh edge, even if that edge is razor sharp. As well as the design and look, the characters that inhabit this world have been carefully crafted, featuring a vast excellent European cast list with familiar and rising talent faces.

 

For all its bizarre and dark shades, it’s been a while since something of this calibre was made but there is a chance the film could be seen as too down trodden and miserable. For the horror/science fiction fans out there, they would be missing out and for anyone looking for a film that is this bold would be need to take another look at what ‘Undergods’ has to offer them.

 

 

To take a look for yourselves, take a look at the trailer HERE.

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