Harmony (2010, South Korea):



Another blind rental off the shelf at Blockbuster. I literally could have closed my eyes and chosen this for all I knew about it. It turns out it's a straight-out tear-jerking, emotionally manipulative South Korean melodrama. BUT! It's set in a women's prison. AND! It's about a choir in said prison.

Who thinks of these things and how can I get a hold of the drugs they're on?

Having no idea this film was set in a women's prison, it was a bit of surprise at the first frame the film thanks the Korean department of corrections. I don't know if they were thanking them for providing technical assistance or whether it was because they didn't sue the filmmakers for completely misrepresenting what prison life is like in South Korea.

Seriously, if I'm reincarnated in South Korea as a woman, I sure hope I get to kill my spouse and go to prison. Oh, that's one of the ingredients in making up this melodrama casserole: key characters are there because of acts done in self-defense or out of passion. They're not degenerates or sociopaths.

Other ingredients in the recipe include baby born in prison, baby can only stay with mother in prison for 18 months, death penalty . . . and of course the choir.

I think easily the biggest failing in the film for me is how unrealistic prison life is portrayed. I've never been in prison, but I would gather that even in the most lowestest security prison, prisoners aren't allowed to wander around or gather freely and unattended. These women are in the big house for serious felonies. And the film is otherwise littered with things that defy logic or credibility.

Where the film works is that it has good development. There's a definite progression in the plot, and the filmmaker takes care to address how any given character gets from point A to point B. The specific holes in the internal plotline are pretty well plugged. In that way, it was intelligently put together and definitely watchable.

Curiously, as a melodrama, the film doesn't directly address social issues it could have, such as the death penalty, domestic violence against women, incest, stigmas against criminals regardless of the facts, but they are there and a lot of the melodrama is set against that background.

For me, that's what makes this melodrama not only bearable, but effective. It's not a melodrama about love and broken hearts and people doing stupid shit because of it. It's about mother-child relationships, bad decisions, heat of the moment actions, forgiveness, etc.

I was inclined to give this a low fresh rating because it's tear-jerking and emotionally manipulative, but there is actually a little more in this film that makes it worthwhile. I give it a fresh 7 tomatoes.

Penguins in the Sky: The Asahiyama Zoo Story (2009, Japan)

First a movie about a choir in a South Korean women's prison, now a movie about a Japanese ZOO. Oy vey, I need a better way of choosing DVDs. Well, no. It's true that there wasn't much compelling about this one, sitting by its lonesome on the display shelf, but I was hoping for a serendipity. And this story actual had potential if it had been done right.

The story could've been a good one about the state of decline into which the Asahiyama Zoo fell, and how through ingenuity, forward-thinking and innovation, they were able to revive the zoo to become one of the most popular zoos in Japan – way off the beaten path, too, on the northernmost island of Hokkaido.

The film should have been an uplifting one about transformation and determination and thinking out of the box, but instead it gets convoluted in the little scenes of the zookeepers amongst themselves and with the animals, and totally forgets that larger story arc. More than an hour into the movie and I was waiting for them to get to what is special about the zoo. Why should I care? It looks like no one else does.

And the little scenes of the zookeepers are not particularly compelling. I'd say they're downright boring. The dialogue is incredibly mundane and the characters aren't compelling, nor is the chemistry between them. The scene where they come up with the ideas for which the zoo is now famous is brushed over and not particularly inspiring or clever. I'm no screenwriter, but that scene begs to be a turning point, they even gave it a God's eye view, but then it fizzles.

From both storytelling and filmmaking perspectives, I think this film just lost its way. The portrayal of the relationship between the zoo and the public is extremely myopic and makes no sense. The filmmaker panders to the insular scenes within the zoo to bad effect. The seasons are messily handled and jump back and forth until you have no idea how much time is being spanned.

And it seems to be suggested that all it took was money to turn the zoo into a world-class attraction. They secure the money from the mayor against all odds and suddenly we're getting scenes of the exhibits being built, the actual zoo and huge crowds and lines.

And the most interesting part of the film for me was the shots of the successful zoo today. Even the real footage run during the credits was more interesting. They probably should've made a documentary. I hate to do this to the animals, who are excellent in the film, but I give this a rotten 4 tomato rating. It's not completely beyond redemption, but I'm not even sure to whom I would recommend it.