Is there necessarily a trade off between artistic value and understand-ability in a film? i wish i was enough of a film critic to appreciate "artistic films". Right now I'm just trying to make sense of films that seem to have alot more going beneath the surface.
The first time i got an intriguing feeling that a film is deeper than it seems is when i watched Big Fish by Tim Burton a couple of years ago. Instinctively i felt there was deep symbolism behind the vivid colours, breathtaking cinematography, vibrant characters, touching father-son thread and tall tales. yet as the few of us sat in Cine BK post-movie a few hours, talking about it, i just couldn't put a finger to my thoughts.
I just didn't have the mental capability to read into films. uber frustrating then. but till now it remains one of my favourite movies. it's "un-readability" just adds on to the fascination somehow. To me, that's the mark of a good movie. one that invites and entices, yet retaining a little of that elusiveness that keeps you wanting to revisit it time and time again. i still mull over the movie once in a while when we talk about good movies. (but no, i still haven't figured out the mystery of it yet.)
The first time i got an intriguing feeling that a film is deeper than it seems is when i watched Big Fish by Tim Burton a couple of years ago. Instinctively i felt there was deep symbolism behind the vivid colours, breathtaking cinematography, vibrant characters, touching father-son thread and tall tales. yet as the few of us sat in Cine BK post-movie a few hours, talking about it, i just couldn't put a finger to my thoughts.
I just didn't have the mental capability to read into films. uber frustrating then. but till now it remains one of my favourite movies. it's "un-readability" just adds on to the fascination somehow. To me, that's the mark of a good movie. one that invites and entices, yet retaining a little of that elusiveness that keeps you wanting to revisit it time and time again. i still mull over the movie once in a while when we talk about good movies. (but no, i still haven't figured out the mystery of it yet.)
I'm a Cyborg but That's Ok is a different kind altogether. I'm one of those who watched it on a Sunday Night cooped up at home because it's Rain movie debut. bah. sue me. But it is a good watch. Although mildly disturbing for one (me) so unaccustomed to watching artistic films, especially when i didn't expect more than light fluffy cotton candy. i got a modified candy-eclair instead. (i never developed a liking for those modern candy-chocolate things anyhow. they're just plain weird to my taste buds.) I think one main reason why you can find so many bad reviews both online and by word of mouth is because the movie was marketed as a light-hearted romantic comedy and people who watch it will get the feeling they've been cheated by the time the credits roll. [hey Rain+mental asylum+girl who thinks she's a cyborg just doesn't instinctively equate to ARTISTIC film.]
You've been warned.
It just isn't light-hearted romantic fluff. although there are some parts that delivers that warm fluffy love-conquers-all theme, those scenes are promptly succeeded by emotionally driven scenes, flashbacks or discussions with the psychiatrist that shed a little more light into the darkness of the inner worlds of the characters. just when you thought you had the movie figured out, it leads you unsuspectingly down a winding path somewhere else. and then it oscillates back. yet it wasn't that confusing; not after you get used to suspending your logic and rationality for a while, to find that the logic and rationality behind the film is of a different kind.
One that doesn't communicate with you well, because it's said in a foreign language. you can instinctively figure out that its deeper than you can understand, but you're handicapped by that language barrier. so you remain an arm's length away from understanding it completely. some throw their hands up in the air and dismisses the conversation, some pretend to understand while they smile and nod, some others pick up a dictionary (ie. search for interpretations, reviews, dialogue with others)
That's my take on "artistic" films.
I choose the third category for this film.
This movie has to be deeper than what an average viewer can gather, i thought. So i was pretty glad to have my hopes confirmed in the "guide" posted at veoh.com. i appreciate the movie much more, now that i can at least join the dots. the digestion and reflection will have to come later. Nevertheless, without this contribution, i think i'll still be HUH?! hours after watching it:
You've been warned.
It just isn't light-hearted romantic fluff. although there are some parts that delivers that warm fluffy love-conquers-all theme, those scenes are promptly succeeded by emotionally driven scenes, flashbacks or discussions with the psychiatrist that shed a little more light into the darkness of the inner worlds of the characters. just when you thought you had the movie figured out, it leads you unsuspectingly down a winding path somewhere else. and then it oscillates back. yet it wasn't that confusing; not after you get used to suspending your logic and rationality for a while, to find that the logic and rationality behind the film is of a different kind.
One that doesn't communicate with you well, because it's said in a foreign language. you can instinctively figure out that its deeper than you can understand, but you're handicapped by that language barrier. so you remain an arm's length away from understanding it completely. some throw their hands up in the air and dismisses the conversation, some pretend to understand while they smile and nod, some others pick up a dictionary (ie. search for interpretations, reviews, dialogue with others)
That's my take on "artistic" films.
I choose the third category for this film.
This movie has to be deeper than what an average viewer can gather, i thought. So i was pretty glad to have my hopes confirmed in the "guide" posted at veoh.com. i appreciate the movie much more, now that i can at least join the dots. the digestion and reflection will have to come later. Nevertheless, without this contribution, i think i'll still be HUH?! hours after watching it:
Cyborg Girl is harder to understand for three reasons: it's setting, it's depth, and a poorly executed ending. The setting in a mental hospital will automatically make it harder to understand, since the pattern of thought from the people we get to know is different from ours. That is why the writer/director left us clear paths to follow so we can watch the pattern that they were creating. Understanding the patterns they show us is difficult, because they are more advanced. This movie is attempting to go where artistic works have gone before, such as, "The Truman Show" or "Sense and Sensibility". Like those movies, what lies beneath the surface is what really counts.
Movie Genre: Some people think that this movie is hard to categorize. I disagree. At its heart, the story is a romance. Along the way, however, the movie does explore several themes.
Movie Themes: Each character we encounter in the movie is developing a theme necessary to understand the messages that the director and writer are trying to show (tell) you. They are not there just to be "random". There is a purpose for each one of them. There are so many of them, but here are some of the more important ones ... 1. Cyborg Girl --- She sees her condition in life, being a cyborg girl, not as a choice, but something she cannot change. It is through her eyes that we see the director and writer wanting us to look at the working world as "robotlike". There is no personal identity. There is no personal expression. Instead, in this movie we find more of those in the mental hospital, than we do in the real (working) world. Instead of working to get money so she can eat so she can work, she desperately wants purpose in her machine-like life.
2. Bi (Rain) Character --- He knows that he has a problem. When he believes that it is for the best, he checks himself into the mental hospital for help. He knows that some things can change, but has only a little hope that it really will. His character is focused on something close to Cyborg Girl's. She wants purpose. He doesn't want to be forgotten. He wants to be noticed and valued. The rejection, as he sees it, by his father and especially his mother proves to him that he is insignificant, or as he puts it, "invisible". The judge at his trial simply reinforces this idea when he says that he will vanish away into a dot. To be a speck, is to be invisible, unnoticed, and unvalued. We know that he is able to overcome this to some degree, because he later buries the item he carries around that holds himself under his mother.
3. Elastic Pants Man --- He appears here and there throughout the movie. He always emphasizes that life endings are really just beginnings. Life goes into full circle. The Elastic Band stretches to its fullest length = end of life. The Elastic Band snapping back to its beginning point = beginning of life. We are supposed to recognize this theme in the lives of Cyborg Girl and Bi (Rain) character at the end of the movie.
4. The Wacko Policeman --- He is another example of the writer and director pointing a critical finger at the working world. In the movie, the policeman has changed because his job took over his life.
5. The Bandaid of Strength --- Throughout the movie, several characters give each other a bandaid that they claim gives strength and protection. Where they put the bandaid on themselves doesn't seem to be really important, except for at the end of the movie.
6. Love, Romantic --- The writer and director made a bold leap by exploring the idea of romance in an unusual place: the mental hospital. Where nothing can seem to break through the real world, or the girl's private cyborg world, or Bi's (Rain's) world of insignificance, love does. If you understand this, then the ending is quite powerful.
7. Love, Family --- This theme is explored in almost every Korean Movie. Guaranteed. Love and loyalty for one's family is important, but it must be doubly important to Koreans since it is emphasized so much. Here, we see the love and loyalty that Cyborg Girl has for her grandmother. We also see the lack of love and loyalty from her own mother. Bi (Rain) does not have love or loyalty from his parents either, especially, from his mother.
8. The Overpolite Man --- I'm not 100% sure, but the writer and director seem be using this character to point a finger at "politeness" in Korean society. While manners are good, excessive rules combined with the improper "humble" attitude obviously can lead to ... useless insignificance. To blame yourself for everyone's troubles does not solve problems. In this sense, "manners" are paying lipservice to what is really needed.
9. The Fat, Pretty Lady --- She seems to be used as a character to point at some of today's over-emphasis on being beautiful on the outside. But meanwhile she cannot discipline her own desires. They control her. She does not control them. (Food and flying)
10. Buried Items -- Both the Cyborg Girl and Bi (Rain) character bury an object in the ground that symbolizes the problem that is holding their life. But the act of burying that object shows us that a change has begun in both their lives. And so on. There are more themes, like with the doctors, the mice, lack of communication, etc.
The Ending: The end of the movie was not well done, because the viewers (you and I) are expecting something to be said directly about the bomb, lightning, and the end of the world. It's not your fault. The writer and director built up your expectations for that. They didn't deliver. Bad job on their part. Instead, they expect you to put your thinking cap on and tie all the themes together to understand the ending.
The ending is supposed to show us in a very quiet way the incredible power of love. Bi's (Rain's) character says that the pair of socks are not the only things that is wet. The long significant look between the two and the removal of the Bandaid of Strength/Protection from her mouth shows us that it's the kiss that he's referring to. In Cyborg Girl's world, the rules didn't allow her to love. In Bi (Rain's) character's world, he believed that he couldn't be loved. But to both of them, this love has now been allowed to enter their own worlds as something true. If we remember what the Elastic Pants man was always emphasizing, we can understand that the ending is not pointless, but full of hope. By burying their past (literally), and finding a trusting love from each other, they have a new beginning. Far from a nuclear bomb ending everything, love is really the power that signals the end of their old self and brings hope for a new beginning. Anyway, I hope this helps.