Weekend Withnail 5

Withnail: We've gone on holiday by mistake.

Weekend Withnail 5

Withnail: We've gone on holiday by mistake.

301/302 (1995)****

Reviewed by Shu Zin

301/302 is a Korean thriller directed by Cheol-su Park, who here tells a story about a writer from apartment 302 (Syn-Hai Hwang) who goes missing. She has some serious issues with eating and food; her neighbor in 301 (Eun-jin Bang), coincidentally, has become obsessive about cooking. 302 addresses women’s issues in her articles, and sometimes she gets quite racy. “Terms for an Ideal Sex Life” is what she calls one of them, as the camera observes her, wittily, at her desktop. We get to know first her neighbor, and then, in bits, the writer herself, as a detective tries to figure out what has become of her.

The story is told from various points of view, and there are some understated funny bits that surprise, and an especially good solitary eating and drinking scene that delivers just a little ecstasy. Soon after, two storylines take off at a gallop into unexpected territory, and disturbing sets in. This makes the overall pacing of the film’s storytelling somewhat awkward. The timeline sashays about some, but if you go with the flow, you’ll know enough by the end, and it is so much fun getting there. The cinematography is consistently exciting, with bright contrasts, big color, and nothing blurry or shadowy. The design of the production is marvelous to look at; there are some excellent, loving close-ups of food sizzling or bubbling, or being chewed, gleaming wine glasses on a shelf, a timer on the counter of a high tech kitchen - you get the picture: a love of visual detail. Recommended.

Reviewed by Shu Zin

301/302 (1995)****

Reviewed by Shu Zin

301/302 is a Korean thriller directed by Cheol-su Park, who here tells a story about a writer from apartment 302 (Syn-Hai Hwang) who goes missing. She has some serious issues with eating and food; her neighbor in 301 (Eun-jin Bang), coincidentally, has become obsessive about cooking. 302 addresses women’s issues in her articles, and sometimes she gets quite racy. “Terms for an Ideal Sex Life” is what she calls one of them, as the camera observes her, wittily, at her desktop. We get to know first her neighbor, and then, in bits, the writer herself, as a detective tries to figure out what has become of her.

The story is told from various points of view, and there are some understated funny bits that surprise, and an especially good solitary eating and drinking scene that delivers just a little ecstasy. Soon after, two storylines take off at a gallop into unexpected territory, and disturbing sets in. This makes the overall pacing of the film’s storytelling somewhat awkward. The timeline sashays about some, but if you go with the flow, you’ll know enough by the end, and it is so much fun getting there. The cinematography is consistently exciting, with bright contrasts, big color, and nothing blurry or shadowy. The design of the production is marvelous to look at; there are some excellent, loving close-ups of food sizzling or bubbling, or being chewed, gleaming wine glasses on a shelf, a timer on the counter of a high tech kitchen - you get the picture: a love of visual detail. Recommended.

Reviewed by Shu Zin

Kes (1969)****1/2

Billy Casper’s attempt to train a wild bird is not so much an effort to master nature, but to unify with it, as nature offers his only visible means of escape from the unfair and peculiar strictures of the British social order. Though steeped in the distinct traditions and impenetrable accents of Yorkshire, Kes is a film that achieves a universal resonance through settings and performances that astonish with their unshakable, rough-hewn conviction.

Full Review at IONCINEMA.com

Click Here

Kes (1969)****1/2

Billy Casper’s attempt to train a wild bird is not so much an effort to master nature, but to unify with it, as nature offers his only visible means of escape from the unfair and peculiar strictures of the British social order. Though steeped in the distinct traditions and impenetrable accents of Yorkshire, Kes is a film that achieves a universal resonance through settings and performances that astonish with their unshakable, rough-hewn conviction.

Full Review at IONCINEMA.com

Click Here

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Erreur de la banque en votre faveur (2009)***1/2

Bank Error in Your Favor is a fast paced feel good comedy – as feel good as the French get anyway – that combines elements of caper films with economic populism. Gerard Lanvin stars as a personal assistant, actually a glorified waiter, to a group of bankers who gather everyday in a private conference room to plot imaginative ways of manipulating the CAC-40. When Lanvin is pink-slipped for a cheaper replacement, he decides to use some accidently heard insider information to help himself and his struggling middle-class drinking buddies. The film then becomes a swirling maze of crosses and double crosses as the bankers, angry that ordinary people are actually making money, attempt to hoist Lanvin on his own petard. You’ll be giggling as these blue collar workers forsake their usual sports conversations for heated debates on the merits of various financial instruments. It’s all good, escapist fun, with a bit of romantic steam along the way.

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Buddy Rich: Jazz Legend 1917-1987 (1996)****

This lengthy disc will give you a thorough education into the life and times of this extraordinary talent who, by virtue of a demon fast left hand, accomplished things with drum kits that have not been equaled, before or since, by any human. We learn all about Buddy’s childhood as a vaudevillian tap dancer, to his big band days with Harry James to his frequent appearances on the Tonight Show, where America got an entertaining dose of his biting, caustic wit. Through rare archival footage we see Buddy’s aborted attempts to find his own musical identity, including a bluesy bebop quartet that mixed with his hard-charging style about as well as oil and water. There are the classic drum battles, where Buddy would trade paradiddles with any percussionist foolish enough to share the stage with him. Here, his blazing wrists make the great Gene Krupa look like a rather intimidated marching band reject.



Buddy didn’t really hit his musical stride until well into his 50s, with the forming of a big band consisting mainly of Eastman School graduates, but this talented incarnation produced some absolutely stunning music. In all, the disc, like Buddy’s drum solos, drags on a bit too long. But we are left with an awestruck appreciation of this man and his lightening hands.

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Clara et Moi (2004)****

Arnaud Viard's quiet romance, set in Paris, is as simple and straightforward as its title implies. Here we meet a young actor named Antoine (Julien Boisselier) who happens to meet the shy, lovely Clara (Julie Gayet) on the Metro one afternoon and, somewhere between Concorde and Montparnasse, finds himself hopelessly smitten. But the couple’s bliss is threatened when some new information about Clara surfaces, forcing Antoine to make a difficult and painful decision. Clear, concise and engaging, Clara et Moi is one of the more affecting contemporary romances made in recent years, and viewers' hearts will be touched by this story of lovers placed in an impossible position by the vagaries of fate.