Pasookkoon

I once read a stretch of Tarkovsky's book, "Sculpting in Time", in which he says that one of the main functions of cinema is to address the issues that were targets of various arts over the centuries - the literature, more than anything else, showed us how could inspire many movies. I think that this film somehow fits in one of these points. Although completely different from the films made by the most famous Russian filmmaker, that I quoted, this film has - and shows - its value. Pasookkoon is a beautiful cinematographic work, which depicts perfectly the possible peculiarities of relations between people. A penetrating look. Congratulations to Sung-hyun Yoon director for the excellent direction and screenplay. The cast was also excellent.

Ki-tae's father goes around his son's high school friends trying to find the truth behind what happened to his son and why it happened. Instead of finding a clear answer, he finds excuses, silence and just no clear answer. All the while we see in flashbacks Ki-tae's days in high school and how his relationship with his best two friends develop.

"Bleak Night" is a really good movie, with great direction and really good acting that offers a, cough cough, bleak and realistic look on growing up in those difficult years of adolescence and the difficulty of accepting oneself and other's disagreements with one's views of things. Ki-tae, Dong-yoon and Hee-june are really good friends and are almost always together, going on dates with three girls together, playing baseball together, always a well blended team. However, little cracks start appearing in their relationship and we soon see Ki-tae bullying Hee-june or dumping his best two friends to hung out with the 'bad kids' from class. Interspersed with all this, we have Ki-tae's father quest to get an answer to an impossible question. Sung-hyun Yoon does a great job directing the actors, and the only thing that can be said against the style is that it can be too cold and detached.

A great look on adolescence, male relationships and violence, in this movie we get to see a world crumbling and innocence being lost.

This film is nothing less than a Tour de Force. From the exquisite acting skills, tight editing, melancholic atmosphere, it is the embodiment of what an excellent film is all about. It truly illustrates the expression, "less is more." No, it was not abounding in action, thrills, car races,and the like but requires the viewer to actually engage his intellect as he observes the gradual self-destruction of the so called leader of the pack. The film carries you along effortlessly as it envelopes you with deep resentments,guilt, jealousies,and low self-esteem issues. All this angst is interwoven with a realism rarely experienced in other films. I give it a resounding 10/10!!

Yes, this movie is shot well, yes the subject matter is a little taboo and no, not everyone will like this movie. Movies like this, to me personally, are watchable but very, very dull. Some may love the realistic gritty style, the feel of almost actually getting to watch what is nearly a day by day account of someone's life... I do not, I find this, as I said, dull. I like my movies to have entertainment, plot, motive, movement and reason. For me this movie had none of the above. I think movies like this like to call themselves art, and I suppose on some level they are, which is why so many people seem to flock to them and want to 'understand' and praise them. Anyway, back to the movie. It's a drag, slow going to the point of being a bit boring. I wanted to get into it, but found it hard to even figure why one of the character's motives that fuelled the whole plot. Although I don't want everything handed to me on a plate, I would like to find some answers as to why the characters and plot are even in front of me, you gain little in that respect. Nothing is explained and it ends rather abruptly. If you like movies like 'Meek's Cut off' you will most likely love this movie, I however would much rather have watched paint dry. On the upside, the actors were decent and it was shot nicely but other than that, big old' blah.

This is a gem of a film. Bleak Night is well worth watching for a wide range of reasons, from the reflective cinematography to the solid acting efforts. Bleak Night is not about a father's quest to uncover the truth about his son . . . it's a fuller exploration of the circumstances that led to the event and the young men involved. There's a unique flavor to the trio in this situation, one that is not usually explored. I won't say more than that--the discovery is part of the reason this film rises above other, more usual treatments of the subject.

I especially enjoyed the central metaphor of the train and the railroad tracks, which I did not find clichéd, but rather core to the film and the relationship between the three young men. Bleak Night has stayed with me days beyond its viewing. If you're even the slightest bit interested in the film, give it a chance. I am certainly glad I did.