Sarajin sigan

Saw this at the Imagine filmfestival 2021, usually in Amsterdam but now 100% online. As one fellow reviewer wrote: watching this is indeed "lost time" (one of the alternative film titles). I cannot explain how everyone can be so positive about this movie, with the exception of two fellow reviewers and me.

It is not a real detective, no whodunit in the traditional sense. Nothing is revealed in the end and we are left as confused as we were before the finale. I sat it out while waiting for a rational explanation, how the former cop maintains his looks and his own memories, though everyone sees the teacher in him, and he is treated accordingly. Intriguing, as it is exactly that same teacher whose death he was investigating. When the credits appeared, I was puzzled, but not in the positive and healthy sense after the usual detective story.

This movie starts out great. It's engrossing, capturing the viewer's attention and it holds that attention all the way through. We tolerate the confusing plot line because we naturally expect everything will be explained and resolved in the end. But then it isn't. It just... stops.

Perhaps some may see in this a complex, hidden-meaning morality story, but no, the Emperor has no clothes. This is just a poorly-written film. Which is a shame because the acting is superb, the directing is excellent, and the story keeps one's attention all the way through.

But then both writer and director betrays the audience by dropping a totally open ending right in our laps, no rhyme or reason for anything that happens. They don't even offer us a "what if?" ending, any conjecture, or any kind of explanation at all. It just thuds like a cow plop, leaving us to wish we hadn't just wasted time on such a senseless film.

Trying to see something in this film that isn't really there doesn't make it a good film. It winning some awards doesn't make it a good film. Anyone can write a nonsensical script and have good actors and a good director hold audience attention. Making that film actually tell a story and have a purpose-- that is what requires writing skill. Sadly, that is what is blatantly missing in this film. There's not even a hint of an ending, which makes this a waste of viewer time.

Me and Me is a Korean rural mystery that changes tone and genre seemingly at the drop of a hat, but there's definitely something special about it. It's an intriguing narrative puzzle that avoids easy explanations in favor of character building and existential themes. The trailers make it seem like another "ordinary" crime-drama but they're ultimately very misleading, although Me and Me does (at times) fit the cop thriller mold. It needs to be mentioned that this unique film is a genre exercise for more adventurous viewers, those of you who don't mind bizarre/strange plotlines and can appreciate good filmmaking when it presents original, challenging ideas. Honestly, I wasn't expecting to be this pleasantly surprised. :)

If only things had come together properly. It didn't and that's what is wrong with this movie. Things aren't explained and it feels incomplete. The first part draws you in with the mystery about the wife dissociating. Bae Soo Bin gets your sympathy from the beginning. Then there is a shift to the other actor. You want to keep watching to see how things are explained but it only partially satisfies.

'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.