Films That I Have Seen in 2017...

Here be some of the moving images that I saw in 2017 that were newly made and released. It's fair to say 2017 was no vintage wine. Largely because a year is a metaphysical concept that cannot be a wine...or even a decent Cheddar. 

But these are the ones that I thought best of these there twelve months...or so...

Always remember: Opinions can vary.

In some sort of order, starting with...

Bamseom Pirates Seoul Inferno

Director: Yoon-suk Jung
South Korea 

Documentary look at punk duo Bamseom Pirates and their album "Seoul Inferno" - as the title suggests. Music, larking about, "political" lyrics, court cases, questioning of their motivations musically...An at times comedic, at times serious political look at South Korean youth and their "relationship" with their neighbours in the North.

The Death of Stalin

Director: Armando Iannucci 
UK/France 

Iannucci-san and friends take their political comedy away from modern-day UK/US politics to Twentieth Century Russian naughtiness following the demise of some famous figure. Joshing and bants galore alongside the dark side of politics to make one laugh and consider. 

Vegalta: Soccer, Tsunami and the Hope of a Nation

Director: Douglas Hurcombe and Geoff Trodd 
UK 

Combining two of my great passions: Japanese culture and Gary Lineker; alongside one of my loathes: mass death caused by a natural disaster, "Vegalta" takes its name from the Sendai football team who rose up the J-League standings in the wake of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. Fans and local residents affected take a look at how the team's success gave them some brief hope after such a huge loss.   

Noise

Director: Yusaku Matsumoto
Japan 

First time director takes a look at youth and motivation in the backdrop of the Akihabara Massacre of 2008. Generational differences create pressures on the youth of the day, creating the potential for a snap-point. Noisy and bleak, "Noise" offers a voice to the little man.  

Junk Head

Director: Takahide Hori
Japan 

Stop-go. Stop-go. That old animation technique is making a comeback. Don't take the plot too seriously with this one; more enjoy the ride around as a human's mind is transplanted into a mishmash robot hopelessly wandering the strange underworld of botched clones. Inventive, if a little mad, this one feels straight out of the Nineties. 

Love and Other Cults

Director: Eiji Uchida
Japan 

Uchida-san's second collaboration with the good folk at Third Window Films. Ai is well mental a one and gets herself caught up in all kinds of wacky cults, gangs, sex scams, nuclear families in an attempt to find herself. The message is: slowing down a bit is a good way to help you find a bit of peace of mind...and then you get off the bus. 


...and those from 2016 with delayed release in the UK that I pretended to first view in 2017...

After the Storm

Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu
Japan

Kore-eda-san's annual festival tourist delivers a nice enough journey about a private detective unable to leave his ex-wife behind. Perhaps a little too comfortable, but with enough realism to keep you interested, this maintains Kore-eda's position as the better Japan person director still churning 'em out with regularity.

Kills on Wheels

Director: Atilla Till
Hungary

Three disabled killers fool Budapest's drug dealers with their unassuming status, though the English title gives little away as to the additional depth offered below the surface. A coming-of-age piece more than a violent action thriller. 

Harmonium

Director: Koji Fukada
Japan

Tadanobu Asano playing some sort of strange person moving into a family home and invading every aspect of their lives with some sort of sinister motive? Can you come round next Tuesday, Asano-san? You can't escape it, can you?! Nice film...but not nice in that way.

The Long Excuse

Director: Miwa Nishikawa
Japan

Sachio's wife's death in a car crash unveils the car crash that is his life in Miwa Nishikawa's well-paced and developed film. It gets inside its characters' heads, as one would hope a film would do. As your life gets worse, so will your hair. 

Destruction Babies

Director: Tetsuya Mariko
Japan

Remember little Akira from "Nobody Knows"? Well, he's grown-up now and likes hitting people in the face. A film that will perhaps annoy many, the realism in the fighting and harsh comment on the surrounding violence of society leaves its mark at least. That Yuya character deserves a slap, hey?!


That makes a nice round total of 11...A football team of films...in the way that Luton Town are scoring lots of goals in the fourth tier of English football...

BFI 61st London Film Festival: Bamseom Pirates Seoul Inferno

We start with two Korean youths walking around the leftover detritus of an abandoned building; to be demolished tomorrow. They search through the debris not looking for things to salvage, but things to destroy...on stage. The two men in question are Jang and Kwon, a two-piece Korean punk band of pseudo-political lyrics, self-depreciative humour and a penchant for smashing old junk on stage - not having the means to smash their own instruments.

Jung Yoon-suk's documentary is a portrait of a band as a reflection of the state of South Korean youth ideologically: confused, perhaps a little naive, but fearful of what potentially can come from the relationship with their neighbours in the North. As ever, documentaries about individuals are always stronger when the subjects are lesser-known: the audience having few preconceptions; the band able to serve as an example for wider society.

With this the case, the documentary is a progression not so much of the band themselves, but the challenges of the political ideology presented by them. The opening is very much about the band, however: Two young, perennial students have a live stage show of drum and bass, grindcore (is that a thing?!) in a punk-stylee (I don't take the NME). With Jang on bass and vocals and Kwon on drums and sometimes vocals, the pair create short songs based on interesting ideas from the minds of students looking at some of the contradictions of the polemic politics of the two Koreas. They do this with a humorous stage-show or self-depreciative banter with the audiences, full-blooded performances of their short pieces, followed by the smashing of inanimate objects. They are more than a band; more a work of performance art.

Shunning the spotlight, they are simply two kids who state they make "shitty" music. Randomly coming up with an idea; constructing a twelve seconds ditty, recorded on their phone; and agreed that "that'll do" - their album "Seoul Inferno" consists of forty-two (count them) short tracks. One thing that is ironically clear, however, is that despite the political rhetoric of their lyrics, their own political stance is left firmly ambiguous.

Beyond humour and clever wordplay (which is highly reliant on the translation of - I hope - of a diligent and earnest translator), what are the Bamseom Pirates getting at? The film moves into a phase of interviews where the pair are pressed on their political standpoints. This provokes thoughtful expressions, but perhaps shows that the duo are not fully sure what their lyrics mean beyond some clever jokes and wry smiles. Though neither ever dispute their position: they are young men from middle class backgrounds, graduating from decent universities, but are at a loss as to what is happening in the country politically: drummer Kwon even stating early in the film that he knows little about North Korea.

  

And this is the truth: a generation that no longer has any ties to the North other than the constant fear that they will attack. Both have served their military service, as is standard for young South Koreans that aren't Tottenham Hotspur midfielders, so are aware of the sense of conflict, though are ignorant as to why it exists. This lack of knowledge results in humorous responses: part politically engaged, part apathetic, though at odds with each other as to which is the stronger standpoint. Both academic and musical commentators are brought in to critique both their music, but also Kwon's poetry. While acknowledging there is definite energy and interesting ideas, there is always a questioning of what they are truly trying to say.

But seriousness soon prevails: their producer and photographer, Park, is arrested and tried for ("ironically") retweeting pro-North Korean tweets. His original standpoint is that of the band's: of mocking the whole rhetoric of the politics, but in doing so is considered a threat to South Korean National Security Law; an unfortunate example.  

Asked to give a testimony in defence of Park, Kwon is put in a position where he has to justify the band's lyrics beyond simple journalism; even threatened that this could lead to him too being tried for crimes against National Security Law himself. Something which he is able to do eloquently when pressed. But Park's closing defence, however, is in vain, resulting in a short prison sentence.

But while the pair are confused about what their lyrics may really mean, they are borne out in reality. Lines state how "Grandma, the roof is leaking; Don't worry, Twitter will save us" and "The Bible is truth because it is in the Bible. The Democratic Republic of Korea is democratic because it is in the title," (I really hope that translator is good!) highlight the inconsistencies in South Korean politics themselves. Both Kwon and Park believe they live in a democracy, yet are tried for making simple jokes: supposedly what is feared in the regime in the North. As a result, they are between a rock and a hard place.

But does that stop them?! The situation simply fuels more politically-focused banter with audiences on street corner performances as to how there are "Communists at this protest in front of parked police cars." (Along those lines at least.)

Eventually, the band do break, but the reasons are not explained. Ambiguity is the theme running throughout the film, but not without reason. The tongue-in-cheek introduction states how the band's performances are miss-timed and off-kilter (giving delicious doubt as to whether this is intentionally artistic or due to lack of talent). But this is the ultimate statement in itself: in a world where politics is increasingly encouraged to be "yes" or "no" with black and white polarity, two young men angrily expressing themselves, but not fully sure as to why, speak more volumes than any politician...and not just because their amps are up to eleven...it is one louder...