#just watched broker (2022) dir. hirokazu kore-eda

[fictionz]

New Fiction 2023 - January

"Psalms" (1-100) ed. Richard Challoner (1752)

Okay so this is where priests pull all the one-liners that they drop during sermons.

"The Husband Stitch" by Carmen Maria Machado (2017)

Can’t let it go despite the peril.

"Inventory" by Carmen Maria Machado (2017)

When in doubt, a list.

"Mothers" by Carmen Maria Machado (2017)

Penitent daughters of singular mothers.

"Especially Heinous" by Carmen Maria Machado (2017)

You learn sooner or later that they were always dead girls.

"Real Women Have Bodies" by Carmen Maria Machado (2017)

They’ll always find you.

"Eight Bites" by Carmen Maria Machado (2017)

When left with little recourse, it’s only natural to sing the song.

"The Resident" by Carmen Maria Machado (2017)

Make things around people? No, thank you.

"Difficult At Parties" by Carmen Maria Machado (2017)

The party parable rings universal.

"The First Peer" by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore (2010)

The things we do when we failed to realize we’re not at fault.

"Reservoir Ferengi" by David McIntee (2010)

Can’t make a song bird do your taxes.

"The Slow Knife" by James Swallow (2010)

The only reasonable conclusion to plotting.

"The Unhappy Ones" by Keith R.A. DeCandido (2010)

Carving out the place you’re due from bone.

"Freedom Angst" by Britta Burdett Dennison (2010)

You can play the part, but when will you live it?

"Revenant" by Marc D. Giller (2010)

Once more: Star Trek is primed for horror.

"Work Is Hard" by Greg Cox (2010)

Achieving a satisfactory life.

"The Briefcase" by Rebecca Makkai, performed by Victor Garber for NPR's Selected Shorts (2009, 2023)

The skin is loose but if it fits...

"Paradise" by Yxta Maya Murray, performed by Tanis Parenteau for NPR's Selected Shorts (2020, 2023)

Limited options means limited solutions.

Honor in the Night by Scott Pearson (2010)

That’s the stuff. A cross-generational Star Trek mystery is just my game.

Trapped in Bat Wing Hall by R.L. Stine (1995)

Goosebumps books are simply a delight.

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, presented by Rice University Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts (1595, 2013)

Hey, this Shakespeare guy was pretty funny.

"Comet as Paperboy" by Samantha Blysse Haviland (2022)

Forever waiting.

"The Art of Negotiation" by Meghan Privitello (2016)

We’re still waiting.

"Forest Spirits" by Secondlina (2022)

Give them space.

"Forest Spirits 2" by Secondlina (2022)

Gotta have a Joe.

"With Sympathy" by Oglaf Comics (2017)

You can have it.

"it went like this" by chaumas-deactivated20230115 (2023)

Power of the belly.

Simpsons Comics Colossal Compendium - Volume One (2013)

Just when I think I’m out, they pull me back in.

"Full Void Demo" dev. OutOfTheBit (2023)

Oh this is great. I've been in the mood to play a game just like this. 2D movement, careful and considered locomotion, single screen puzzles with no frustrating resets to far back in the level when a player dies. It looks and sounds amazing, and I love the environment design.

Thunderbirds dev. Saffire (2004)

I worked on this nearly twenty years ago but somehow wasn’t sure that I’d actually completed the game. Now I know.

"bugs" dir. k. pakiz (2023)

Of course there’s hats.

"enter initials" dir. k. pakiz (2023)

Three letters, no supervision.

Avatar: The Way of Water dir. James Cameron (2022)

Looks pretty, stops short.

Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody dir. Kasi Lemmons (2022)

A respectful consideration.

Thunderbirds dir. Jonathan Frakes (2004)

I wasn’t sure about the game, but I know I hadn’t watched this movie. Something in the wake of the Spy Kids era.

M3GAN dir. Gerard Johnstone (2023)

It builds up but doesn’t quite land. Not sure what I expected, but it seems to have done well so they’ll get another shot.

Corsage dir. Marie Kreutzer (2022)

Just follow a person for a while and listen.

Broker dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda (2022)

There’s no conscious family.

Skinamarink dir. Kyle Edward Ball (2022)

You had me without the jumpscares.

Plane dir. Jean-François Richet (2023)

Plane goes down, plane goes up.

Missing dir. Will Merrick & Nick Johnson (2023)

They ratchet up the melodrama.

That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond dir. Yasuhito Kikuchi (2023)

As lost in the weeds as expected.

A Man Called Otto dir. Marc Forster (2023)

I mean, so would I.

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish dir. Joel Crawford (2022)

This many characters done so well. An impressive story.

Women Talking dir. Sarah Polley (2022)

Stageplay tragedies.

Thunderbirds - "Trapped In The Sky" (1965)

An impressive VFX showcase.

Tales from the Crypt - "The Man Who Was Death" (1989)

This is supposed to be the best the series has to offer? (But I’m here for the cheese anyway.)

The Outer Limits - Seasons 1-3 (1995-1997)

Speaking of cheese, this is perfect 90s sci-fi, and a fine example of Canada’s dominance of 90s TV production.

[oneuldoh]

Film Review: Broker (2022) Dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda

I’ve been wanting to watch this movie because of IU (I’m a big fan— uaena here!).

This film definitely made it to my top-tier list. Everything was beautifully executed— the story line, the visuals (the visuals are so good), the characters’ stories and what makes them who they are and how circumstances drives them to make such decisions, down to the tiny details and conversations. Hirokazu Koreeda’s Broker is a beautiful film.

I wouldn’t say the film was slow or fast paced. It was just the right amount of everything. The detours that the group had while searching for a buyer didn’t made the film boring at all.

The scene that I liked the most was Lee Ji-eun telling them “태어나줘서 고마워” (Thank you for being born). The fact that Dong-Soo (Gang Dong-Won) and Hae-Jin (Lim Seung-Soo) didn’t have a mother to thank them for being born and hearing it from the mother of the baby they were trying to sell was emotional enough. It made me sad. It was an intimate moment and it made me fall in love with the film.

Bae Doona’s character (Soo-Jin) also adds to the film’s goal of selling the baby. I read a review that her character was the most desperate one to sell the baby in order to catch Sang-Hyun (Song Kang-Ho) in the act and put him behind bars. I do empathize on Soo-Jin’s hatred to mothers who abandon their babies and her lack of empathy towards So-Young (Lee Ji-Eun) and the baby are understandable as it’s the reason why she’s tailing the brokers in the first place. But I’d like to know more as to where that hatred is coming from.

I think the character with the least impact on the film was Detective Lee (Lee Joo-Young). I loved her in Itaewon Class, but in this film there was not really much to say about her character except to question Soo-Jin’s way of thinking.

In the end, it made me question why a baby box is legal but abortion is not. I do understand its purpose but if I start to question all the whys, it will be a battle of one’s conscience between what is right and wrong. And Broker raised this question, but not as much as (it had)— at least in my opinion to move people and question their philosophy in life.

This is my first time watching one of Koreeda’s works. I’ll definitely keep tabs of his other films. I heard it was also good. I would say, though Broker doesn’t surpass the best films out there, it is definitely worth watching.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[maybuds]

deeply, deeply love films that somehow continue to unfold, inside you, after you watch them