Just a random ramble for a rainy Wednesday. There has been a lot of chatter going around about this new South Korean monster flick “D-War”. Let me jump straight to it (Holy crap I’m going to get a lot of shit for this post)… D-War looks awful. Just terrible. There isn’t a single redeeming thing about anything I’ve seen from this flick so far. Most people who have seen the trailer and variously pieces of footage floating around usually end up saying “WTF was that?!?!?!”
Horrible. Even the visual effects look like something out of a 2nd year film school project. BUT….
The film is getting buzz. Sites continue to carry news about it… and SOME sites even champion it. Why? Well, since I don’t live inside their heads I can’t really say for certain… all film is subjective after all and different things appeal to different people in different ways. That’s the best part about film. But I do have a totally speculative hypothesis (what good is having a blog if you don’t engage in speculation?).
There is a segment of movie fans that (in my personal opinion) just simply over-praise asian film. You know what I’m talking about. If it’s asian, it automatically gets a boost. It must be brilliant! It is after all Asian… and everybody knows asian film is better than North American film right? I mean… some sites would have you believe that unless you’re “down” with the asian films… they you don’t know anything about movies.
Case in point… THE HOST. The Host has received more internet praise and adulation this past year than almost any other film. Tagged as “Brilliant” and other positive euphemisms, when in fact it’s a rather slow, uninteresting mess of a movie (please note, I still enjoyed watching it… it’s a monster movie and I’m always a sucker for those). There is nothing whatsoever remarkable, or even memorable about the film…
But it’s Korean! So it must be great! Right?
I’ve made this argument before, and I still 100% stand by it. If “The Host” was produced by an American company with American actors and directed by Michael Bay…. but EVERYTHING WAS EXACTLY THE SAME… same script, same dialog, same camera shots, same visual effects, same EVERYTHING… then no one would be talking about it. It would have been dismissed as a possibly mildly fun matinee film but never spoken of again.
But it wasn’t made by Americans…. it was Korean, and thus praised out the whazoo by many in the online fan community.
Now, having said that… it should also be mentioned that the opposite thing happens far too often as well. Many people wont even give an Asian film a chance. This is a sad thing. Infernal Affairs is my favorite all time cop movie (asian or otherwise), the original Japanese horror films that have been getting north American remakes like crazy in recent years are ALWAYS better than their newer counter parts. People need to get over their inherent fear of subtitles and treat themselves to some of the truly great foreign films that are out there.
But the answer to one extreme (many average film fans who will never give a sub-titled film a chance) is NOT to go to the other extreme (over-hyping some asian film just because it’s asian).
Some people ask me why I don’t talk more about foreign film here on The Movie Blog. The answer is simple… because this site focuses more on film that most of you have access to seeing. The Movie Blog isn’t about EVERYTHING in film… that would be impossible. I highly recommend that if you are one of those people who are interested in expanding your understanding and appreciation for foreign film, check out Twitchfilm. They do a wonderful job over there covering that market. I think you’ll like it.
