Graceland [Blu-ray] (+ Digital Copy)

Good Filipino Movie
Not your typical Filipino Movie. Not Corny, and there was actually a plot that you needed to pay attention to. There are some disturbing truths in the movie.

Surprise of the year!
Graceland is the best film I've seen this year. Completely unexpected - it's a brutally honest look at the realities of life in today's Philippines. Not to mention a testament to what truly talented, resourceful filmmakers can do with a limited budget and a great script. Don't miss this great thriller!

Another entertaining independent film
Although there were some holes in the plot, this film was entertaining and kept my attention. The acting was top notch and the characters believable, not over-the-top with melodrama like so many mainstream Filipino films. If you like Filipino films are are just curious, then this would be a good start. Others that I'd recommend are Cavite, Batad, Antonio's Secret, and The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros, all of which were really good and very different from one another.

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Pieta (+ Digital Copy)

Money Makes One Reap What They Had Sown
I have seen the majority of Kim Ki-Duk's films. He was one of the South Korean directors that first got me into the "Korean New Wave" some years ago. There is something to be said for his works, and no one could argue that his stories are creative, if not original. His films such as "Bad Guy", "3-Iron", "The Isle", "Spring, Summer, Fall, Spring", "Samaritan Girl" and "The Bow" had characters that barely talked, immersed in symbolism and the emotions were expressed through action that spoke a lot for its intended narrative. Kim's films are different and he proved me it once more with "Dream" and "Time", albeit I was a little disappointed with "Breathless" and his experimental film "Real Fiction".

Winner of the top prize of several film festivals such as the "Golden Lion" award in Venice, as well as being the first Korean movie to win top honors in Vienna, Cannes and Berlin. "Pieta" is Kim's 18th feature that he directed as well as written. Once again proving that he has the...

Morally depraved and existentially passionate.
Pieta, at first watch, is both malicious and discomforting both in plot and in aesthetics. The mood is a constant state of depravity and joylessness, encompassed in a dark and impoverished setting. However, immediately upon completion, you can feel the dark humanistic reality of the film begin to settle within you.

As the final scene fades, the screen remains black for quite a while as the music escalates, and an uneasiness crawls over you as you come to realize that this film is much more than a one-dimensional dark and twisted film. It has existential meaning and passion that resonates with the things we define our lives by: "Love, honor, violence, fury, hatred, jealousy, revenge, death." Labeling the film as either morally depraved or morally passionate is a matter one's experience of the film, which is astounding despite its resonating misery. This is one film in which you won't smile a single time, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

What A Mother's Love Can Do
Kim Ki-duk's latest movie "Pieta" - the title evoking the image of a grieving mother and her dead son - is nothing conventional. You may call it a psychological thriller, a character study, or the director's candid outlook on capitalism. You may like it or hate it for the film's honest brutality and violence. Whatever your reaction may be, "Pieta" is a compelling drama with lots of tense moments.

"Pieta" is about Gang-Do, (Jeong-jin Lee) a cold-hearted debt collector for a loan shark in the city of Seoul. If his clients don't pay up (and most of them just cannot), Gang-do cripples them on the spot, taking the insurance money later. He shows no mercy because he has none to give.

One day, Gang-Do meets a mysterious woman Mi-Son (Jeong-jin Lee). The sad-looking woman claims that she is his mother who abandoned him about 30 years ago. Gang-Do spurns her, but she keeps coming back to him. Strong performances from the two leads make this unique story even more...

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