A World of Kino 34 | Squid Game, Casino Royale, The Card Counter & more

Yet another AWOK episode and still no sign of me turning them into videos :'(. Sorry about that, but while having them all stockpile like this is certainly daunting, I do hope I’ll be able to dish them all out as soon as I get a break. Still, for you avid readers of mine, here’s some more kino for you to dig into.

The first film of the episode is the dissapointing new film by Paul Schrader – famed for directing First Reformed as well as writing many of Scorsese’s films such as Taxi Driver. The film in question is The Card Counter.

William Tell just wants to play cards, but his spartan existence on the casino trail is shattered when he is approached by Cirk, a vulnerable and angry young man seeking help to execute his plan for revenge on a military colonel. Tell sees a chance at redemption through his relationship with Cirk, but keeping Cirk on the straight-and-narrow proves impossible, dragging Tell back into the darkness of his past.

Yeah… this was just really boring. Don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly competently made – after all, Paul Schrader always writes great screenplays – but I simply felt no attachment to the main character, as good as Oscar Isaac might be. Some of the poker scenes are semi-engaging, especially when he’s reading the room and narrating his thought process; it’s just that the narrative itself is so dreary, because it takes a turn into territory that just – for the sake of not giving spoilers – is wholly unjustified.

With Dune right around the corner, I figured I should probably finish off Villeneuve’s filmography. Which is why I was so surprised to discover that one of Villeneuve’s most obscure films is also his highest rated! I give you Incendies:

A mother’s last wishes send twins Jeanne and Simon on a journey to Middle East in search of their tangled roots.

Unfortunately, I don’t get the admiration with this film in the slightest. Now, I always have a hard time enjoying films that crawl at a dreadfully slow pace, but Incendies really does take that to the extreme. The plot reminds me somewhat of Ida – as both are about embarking on a journey to discover one’s familial routes – which while being another film I was dissapointed by, at least I found the inner turmoil with Trzebuchowska’s main character somewhat interesting. With Incendies, neither Azabal nor Desormeaux-Poulin could give a striking enough performance to capture my intrigue. There are times when a slow build up can work for me, but only if the characters are gripping enough or the atmosphere is so damn mesmerising. Incendies achieves neither, which paired with a frankly boring narrative, watching this just left me so disinterested that I simply felt utterly nothing by the end, even as (what I imagine was supposed to be) the poignant final letter is read out.

The patreon film of this month is actually a continuation of the very first patreon film I reviewed way back in episode 19. That’s right, I’m talking about Kung Fu Panda 3.

Po is reunited with his birth father and discovers the existence of a secret Panda Village, but must soon learn to master chi and prepare the pandas to fight against Kai, a spirit warrior intent on destroying Oogway’s legacy.

While this certainly continues Kung Fu Panda as a suprisingly great franchise for kids, it sadly doubles down on the cringe. The villain is much more forgettable, dialogue is noticeably more painful to listen to, and Po just seems to be learning lessons that I swear he’d already learned in the previous film. Even so, the animation is utterly sublime. It seems that for each fault in the screenplay, the visual style more than makes up for it, as there are so many sequences that are absolutely mesmerising to watch. So while I think this is the weakest of the trilogy, it is still a worthy watch. 

This next one isn’t a film I was dying to watch, but surprised by the high score I figured I might as well give it a try. I give you The Farewell.

A headstrong Chinese-American woman returns to China when her beloved grandmother is given a terminal diagnosis. Billi struggles with her family’s decision to keep her grandmother in the dark about her own illness as they all stage an impromptu wedding to see her one last time.

Yes, this is most certainly a well made film, with strong performances from the entire cast delivering fine-tuned dialogue. I did find it a bit too simplistic though, since it takes too much time to not say much at all, and the ending was fairly underwhelming. The emotional beats also didn’t exactly ring at the same wave length as me, which is probably why I’m not as enamoured with the film as everyone else. But this is worth watching regardless, as it definitely spurred my desire to visit my own nai nai. 

Ah, at last, it’s time for some long reviews. First up is The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (jeez, what a mouthful).

Outlaw Jesse James is rumored to be the ‘fastest gun in the West’. An eager recruit into James’ notorious gang, Robert Ford eventually grows jealous of the famed outlaw and, when Robert and his brother sense an opportunity to kill James, their murderous action elevates their target to near mythical status.

The first time I tried watching this I was far too young and ended up half sleeping through it. Even so, on this rewatch, I also kept nodding off. It’s just so needlessly slow, because while I think the beginning and end are the strongest points, vast swathes of the narrative are rife with meandering and ellipses that – like I said – are extremely sleep-inducing. 

With that said, I can now – at the very least – appreciate the film for its superb craftmanship. Obviously, Roger Deakins manages to infuse his usual mastery of cinematography into every single scene, and Andrew Dominik also directs very solidly – though the train robbery near the beginning does still stand apart as markedly more masterful in its visual presentation than the rest of the film. I also have to add that the performances are insanely good: with Brad Pitt as the infamous Jesse James in all his abundant charisma, betrayed only by those beautiful eyes of his that convey so much subtle emotion; to Cassey Affleck portraying all the insecurities and repressions of Robert Ford, creating many engrossing moments as the camera becomes transfixed to his face; and even to Sam Rockwell, who I think just gave me my favourite performance of his in his incredible ability to be both the most hilarious actor in the room as well as the most touching and vulnerable. With the performances and directing acting in tandem, The Assassination of Jesse James is a gorgeous film to behold.

Nevertheless, for all my love of Deakins and of this cast, it just doesn’t come together as cohesively as I would have liked. The most interesting stuff is crammed into the end, making the long winded build up rather pointless and in dire need of refinement. Objectively, I do think this is a phenomenal film; but that atrocious pacing is sadly preventing me from truly loving it.

Now to continue what I started in the last episode with No Time To Die, here’s the very first Daniel Craig Bond film: Casino Royale.

Le Chiffre, a banker to the world’s terrorists, is scheduled to participate in a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro, where he intends to use his winnings to establish his financial grip on the terrorist market. M sends Bond—on his maiden mission as a 00 Agent—to attend this game and prevent Le Chiffre from winning. With the help of Vesper Lynd and Felix Leiter, Bond enters the most important poker game in his already dangerous career.

For the first hour or so this is predominantely an action movie, and the action set pieces are great: from the famous parkour chase that I’ve seen people gushing over for years, to the Die-Hard-2-esque action on the runway that peaks and troughs in tension like a rollercoaster. Not to mention all the suave dialogue that laces the script with an irresistible aura, making all the rest periods between fighting just as entertaining. So this Bond film certainly delivers as an action movie, but if that was all there was then this would be a most mediocre affair. 

Which is why I became truly transfixed with the complete tonal shift into a Poker game. I definitely wasn’t expecting almost an entire hour to be dedicated to a game of Poker, but I loved every second Bond was sitting at that table. It’s incredible just how thrilling grown men playing cards and flicking chips while eyeing each other and smirking about their victories can be, but then after watching Paul Schrader’s attempt at this with The Card Counter, I realise that this genuinely isn’t an easy feat to pull off. Casino Royale makes the Poker game immensely enjoyable to watch in such an effortless manner, with all it so subtly reveals about the characters elevating the screenplay to places I never thought it could go. At the centre of which is, of course, Daniel Craig as James Bond, who – as I said in my No Time To Die review – is magnificent, because the amount of depth he brings to the role is simply unprecedented. 

Sadly the final 30 minutes just ruined its perfect structure. It’s a final act that could have worked great as the prologue to the next film, with the revelation giving an emotional kick to whatever would proceed. Instead, all it managed to do was drag down the experience completely by making Bond’s decision to commit to Vesper – a scene which I thought would have worked wonders if it had cut to black immediately – utterly pointless. I’ll give the film the benefit of the doubt and lessen the awfully sour taste that’s still left in my mouth, but unfortunately I can’t ignore it entirely.

I’m not somebody who has ever managed to vibe with the French New Wave, since I find the style so damn boring. But I actually really liked this one, so here’s a special review for Cleo From 5 to 7.

A real-time portrait of a singer set adrift in Paris as she awaits test results of a biopsy.

Like I said, I’m not a fan of the French New Wave since I don’t particularly like the neorealist style. But Agnes Varda induces the slow slice-of-life plot with brilliant editing, many incredible shots, and Corinne Marchand’s magnetic performance of the girl this film barely ever stops having centre screen. With close focus on Cleo’s journey through Paris – meeting with friends and strangers while anxiously waiting for her medical test results – a whole range of finely crafted scenes are given the opportunity to flourish. Among these naturalistic scenes, two stand above the rest for me: the first is the scene where Cleo sings, as I found it insanely powerful; and the other is where Antoine endears himself to her while they take a walk through the park, as he is incredibly fun to watch. There’s even a scene with a myriad of cute kittens, so of course I could never hate this film. 

Unfortunately, while I was fully gripped by Cleo’s existential dread of death, I wish the concept was taken much further a la Kaufman. It’s a thematic device that is almost always a surefire way to make me think a film is a masterpiece, yet I can’t help but feel that the French New Wave style of narrative constricts this film far too much (ironic, seeing how this movement was supposed to dispose of filmmaking rules, when all it managed to do was create its own new standard). But anyway, that doesn’t take away from the quality of this film, as it is definitely really good. 

And with the final entry I give you what has miraculously taken the world by storm: Squid Game.

Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children’s games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits — with deadly high stakes.

I’m a little late to the party, but I got through Squid Game at last and loved almost every moment. I do have some gripes however: the VIPs are pretty terrible, I wish more time was focused on the games, and I wasn’t exactly satisfied by the final episode. But as a whole, this was so much fun and instantly gripping. I always welcome a blood bath with arms wide open, and Squid Game delivers time and time again with perfect tension, thrill and tragedy. Plus episode 6 is so damn heartbreaking!

I think one of the greatest strengths of Korean cinema is in their superb ability to imbue each and every character with distinct, deep and highly memorable personalities. Because the entire cast – aside from the VIPs – are so well defined, which makes all the deaths that much more poignant. If I had to pick out favourites, I would have to say Ali (199) and the old man (001) are the ones I found to be most endearing; but the main character (456) is also fantastic, as is the infamous 067 – though only after some extremely emotional scenes in the final few episodes. But like I said, it’s the fact that they’re all so great for their own unique reasons that this show works as well as it does, because the sense of investment Squid Game managed to elicit from me is incredible. Oh, and just as a side note (with a minor spoiler by the way), a detail that I found really amusing is how a character references the actor Lee Byung-hun – known for I Saw The Devil, A Bittersweet Life, JSA, and many other famous roles – before then revealing how Lee Byung-hun is in fact the actor playing the Front Man (the guy in charge of the games). It’s a little wink that I greatly appreciated.

Anyway, I know this plot isn’t exactly an original idea – Japan is fairly oversaturated with this genre of pitting innocent people against each other – but I still think Squid Game spins the concept in a brilliant new direction. Because every time a story is told with contestants fighting to be the last one standing, they’re there against their will and thus a clear understanding is forged from the beginning that they’re simply victims forced to kill each other. But with Squid Game, every single contestant is there voluntarily, so they no longer have any morality to hide behind when they sacrifice their principles. Through it, one could read an abundance of allegories on society, though I won’t bother opening that can of worms because fundamentally this simple change simply makes the story that much more fascinating to watch unfold. 

Squid Game isn’t a perfect show by any means, but I can’t downplay just how excited I am that Korean cinema is contuing to become super popular in the West after it got kickstarted with Parasite‘s monumental achievement of winning Best Picture. God bless Netflix, because if the chess boom that happened after The Queens Gambit is anything to go by, I do believe Squid Game will lead to an even more pronounced surge of interest in all the treasures hiding inside that tiny peninsula.