Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted May 29 Moderator Share Posted May 29 I recently got through watching director Park Hyun-yong's 2021 debut 'Don't Go Too Far', a mostly 1-room set thriller involving a family bickering about how their dying father has split up their inheritance, a conflict which is interrupted when a phone call is received revealing the eldest's son has been kidnapped and is being held to ransom. Can they put aside their differences to save him? Check out my review - https://cityonfire.com/dont-go-too-far-2021-review-park-hyun-yong-korean-film-asian/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yihetuan Posted June 3 Member Share Posted June 3 (edited) On 5/29/2024 at 5:04 AM, One Armed Boxer said: I recently got through watching director Park Hyun-yong's 2021 debut 'Don't Go Too Far', a mostly 1-room set thriller involving a family bickering about how their dying father has split up their inheritance, a conflict which is interrupted when a phone call is received revealing the eldest's son has been kidnapped and is being held to ransom. Can they put aside their differences to save him? Check out my review - https://cityonfire.com/dont-go-too-far-2021-review-park-hyun-yong-korean-film-asian/ You are on an absolute roll with this recommendation and Thunderbird. I actually enjoyed this one more. The final scene (brilliantly shot in slo-mo) left me reeling and I had to take a moment to process the implications! This film had me angry, bewildered and rollicking and often right in the same scene! There were a couple of scenes that had me guffawing... Spoiler one when the police after eavesdropping on Son Byung Ho's son making ransom demands using a voice modulator loudly chastises the kidnapper saying that bastard sure knows how to curse & of course he learned it from foul mouth dad & another scene where Son Byung Ho is in desperation mode trying to evade the undercover cops yet still not trying to give away the entire scheme and one of the cops tells the lead detective that they are really dealing with professional kidnappers I really enjoyed the airing of the dirty laundry and family grievances at the inheritance meeting -- when the public veneers of respectability come off and the masks come undone. Especially true in East Asian societies where 'face' is of the utmost importance, filial piety and there is a hierarchy within the family dynamic based on birth order. I knew there was going to be a twist and a feeling it was a set-up from the beginning but I had the wrong suspect pinned as I was sure it was the.. Spoiler notary who set it all up but I did enjoy the notary going off on the greedy family and exposing how the family patriarch made all his 'dirty money' Like @One Armed Boxer mentioned in his review this is a stage play set to film and the aesthetic and transitions work well here. i especially enjoyed when a character goes into a room and expressed what's on his mind which he cannot say to others but you see the 'transparent' wall which shows what's going on the other side of the wall. The transition from Son Byung Ho's fainting at the house once he realizes the cops were called to the scene where he rises in front of the acting class was just superb! Capitalism in society, I want to talk about the individual selfishness and avarice which pull down basis of the dignity of human. - Park Hyun Yong, director Edited June 3 by Yihetuan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted June 3 Author Moderator Share Posted June 3 Glad you enjoyed it @Yihetuan! The only depressing thing about the situation (and I know @laagi agrees with us!) is that most of the best stuff coming out of Korea these days only gets a physical media release on DVD (and often without any English subtitles - including this one, which really stretched my Korean listening skills to their limit!)! Korea was the last country to stop producing VHS, and I have a feeling it's going to be the same for the formats successor! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member laagi Posted June 3 Member Share Posted June 3 10 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said: Glad you enjoyed it @Yihetuan! The only depressing thing about the situation (and I know @laagi agrees with us!) is that most of the best stuff coming out of Korea these days only gets a physical media release on DVD (and often without any English subtitles - including this one, which really stretched my Korean listening skills to their limit!)! Korea was the last country to stop producing VHS, and I have a feeling it's going to be the same for the formats successor! I don't disagree with you! So for me it's basically another title I won't watch since my korean skills don't go beyond cursing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yihetuan Posted June 4 Member Share Posted June 4 15 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said: Glad you enjoyed it @Yihetuan! The only depressing thing about the situation (and I know @laagi agrees with us!) is that most of the best stuff coming out of Korea these days only gets a physical media release on DVD (and often without any English subtitles - including this one, which really stretched my Korean listening skills to their limit!)! Korea was the last country to stop producing VHS, and I have a feeling it's going to be the same for the formats successor! I'm resigned to this fact already. But I can understand the lack of physical media releases with Korea having high speed broadband in the early days when the rest of the world was chugging along with DSL and relatively slow internet and it being so convenient to just download everything. I noticed they really cracked down on 'pop up sites' within the past several years though but yeah, the DVD only release thing is for the birds. 4 hours ago, laagi said: I don't disagree with you! So for me it's basically another title I won't watch since my korean skills don't go beyond cursing. Regarding this title, it's available at the usual place with English subs! The only issue is you have to change the name of the file or else the English subs don't appear at all and only the simplified and traditional Chinese ones show up. That's how I watched it because my Korean skills are nowhere near the level where I would feel comfortable watching it with Korean audio only. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Super Ninja Posted July 15 Member Share Posted July 15 I must say this was surprisingly good and provided the much needed freshness that's been lacking in Korean cinema for so long. Or was I just picking wrong movies to watch? I also liked it more than Thunderbird and I love how the final scene was shot, but if DGTF never left the room where it started, I wouldn't mind at all. It's not so often that a movie (mostly) set in one location can manage to be this interesting. I can't say I'm a fan of such films so I hasitated to watch it sooner, wasn't expecting something this great. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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