Aachi & Ssipak

Aachi and Ssipak is one film I've been wanting to see for a while now, and lemme just say "Wahoo!" for it satisfied my expectations. But not for the poopiness, but for the insane amount of violence and nods to famous film. Well, the poopiness is also a plus.

Story revolves around poop being the only(?) resource for energy, addictive Popsicles called Juicy-bars which you're rewarded with if you make a poop, and lots of little mutants who use Juicy-Bars as their means of provision. Oh, you can throw in Aachi and Ssipak if you want, but the real enjoyment comes from the violence you watch whenever the Diaper Gang is on screen. There is also a main villain who leads the Diaper Gang, but at times you seem to root for him, which was a nice touch. And then there is Geko, one of the best fighting machines you'll ever see. He's only killing little blue freaks, but hell, those lil blue freaks carry uzi's and machine guns, and Geko takes care of them without a stutter.

Aachi and Ssipak was 2/3rds awesome violence, and the other third is slightly tedious story-filler. And weirdly, that's when A and S are on screen. Sure they're in some of the fights, but mainly, they're second fiddles to the Villain and Geko, and all the little blue freaks known as the Diaper Gang.

Overall though, this is a welcome addition to any fan of animation who likes the weird and violent as well. I dug the heck outta this film for it's unique animation style, which seemed to combine the show DUCKMAN and the film AKIRA. And with a unique story, good characters and great violence, this is one flick I'm sure I'll be adding to my collection very soon.

In the shadow of the South Korean movie hype that brought masters like Bong Joon Ho into the international limelight there was also a small but unique movement to emancipate the country as a quality provider of animated features in its own right, and not just a cheap location for Japan and the US to outsource their inbetweening to. Echoing the same development rival Japan went through when it emerged in the eighties as an animation powerhouse. Unfortunately, close to 15 years later now, 2D animation hasn't taken off to the same degree in South Korea despite the undeniable qualities of movies like Yobi the five tailed fox, wonderful days or this vulgar gem whose title I literally can't translate into English because it would violate imdb language standards.

Aachi & Ssipak is a satirical view of modern mass media with a few subtle stabs at North Korea and many not so subtle references to classic movies, spiced up with a very dark and crass sense of humour.

In the future the only remaining energy source is fecal matter, hence feces become quasi-religious symbols. Citizens get rewarded for their business with lollipop-like drugs that eventually turn them into tiny smurf-esque creatures called the diaper gang that can only live on these drugs and thus roam the cities and desolate wastelands as marauding scavengers.

...It all makes a little more sense in the context of the movie...

Despite the cartoonish look this isn't a movie for children (unless you're a really cool parent). It's filled with sexuality, graphic violence and vulgar slang (especially in the original Korean dub). Yet it never feels like it's trying to be edgy, it just has this natural offbeat punkrock FU attitude that you will either love or hate. I find it intensely likeable myself.

Give it a chance and you'll be rewarded with something very unique and unironically some of the best animated action scenes in recent memory.

Warning: this film is vulgar and violent. If you can't get beyond the fact that there is much too much discussion of defecation and killing in this film then don't watch it. But for those who can overlook the aggressively adolescent fascination with feces and fighting will find beyond it a rather diverting discussion of political instability. Much like the Cambodia government of 1975 or any number of contemporary African government, the political authorities of the world envisioned by this film are facing an insurgency of fanatical children soldier led by a cult-like totalitarian leader. And much like the same governments, the authorities respond with equally ruthless violence and complete indifference to the well-being of their citizens or even allies. Trapped between these two equally vicious groups are our anti-heroes, interested only in making easy money. Their anti-heroic struggle against overwhelming odds to control the unlikely source of energy in their bizarre world should be an inspiration to entrepreneurs everywhere.

This is the best cartoon movie I saw in the last few years. Surely a movie for adults, you'll find it out in the first 2 minutes where the body count starts raising, and rockets to the sky.

Hope this wont take away anyones appetite watching it, because this is a movie with lots of black humor, beautifully graphics, lots of action.

Why not to watch it? Disgusting, sick story, 3-4 deaths for each minute.

Why to watch it? Disgusting, sick, and 3-4 deaths for each minute.

You either like it, either hate it.

The good guys are violent hoodlums who want to get rich by selling drugs on the black market, the bad guys are the diaper gang, the police is the tyrannic force in the city. The power source of the future is human feces. And the state collects it and rewards the people with addictive juicy bars.

The funniest characters are the ant like diaper gang members. They are the addicts of the drug that can be received after defecation. These poor guys/girls (they have no longer any sex) need the juicy bars, but because they cannot defecate they have to find other ways to get the desired food. In their efforts they loose their live by the dozens. Mostly because of the cyborg police officer Geco. He is like Robocop, defying the laws of physics, mainly with unlimited ammo usage. The diaper gang calls themselves orphans of the city. Their small size, and as they act I think they are like kids turned into addicts. (Despite the original story that they were normal citizens.) The rest of the characters are bad guys too: Aachi and Ssipak are always arguing on something. They are marauders attacking people on the toilet. Beautiful the woman is a porn star, or prostitute. The leader of the police is much like an angry chiwawa: a little blonde girl, shouting with her inferior officers.

Overall: lots of action, lots of location, good storyline, weird ideas.

4 stars for guts and the direction it takes in the first 30 minutes. Snore-fest thereafter (seriously, I fell asleep). The rest of it is nothing special and the movie progresses as just another lame commercial movie. Once you get over the surprise factor, there is nothing much to talk about.

The animation quality is pretty good. However it isn't enough to cover-up the faults. I believe the producers could have made a better film if they spent a little longer in contemplation and creativity.

There was no place for this to be played in the Auckland film festival. I believe the authorities should be more careful in selecting movies in the future. I am certain that the Korean dialogues must have been funnier than the subtitles as I could figure out by the loud laughs generated by the Korean audience members. To a non-Korean speaker, it wasn't too funny.

Watch it only if you must.