Skip to main content

Man On High Heels (Korean)

This 2014 film had an interesting premise and an entertaining take on modern masculinity with some world class action. The story of a tough transgender detective whose tangles with the mob jeopardise his plans for a sex change operation seems very good on paper and honestly, it is to. Great extent. But there are so many unanswered things in the film that I felt lost at few places. Also in a lot of places the motives and actions by a few people are quite questionable.

Yoon is a no nonsense cop who is known for ruthlessly taking down criminals with violent methods, famous for his fighting skills and general manliness. However, Yoon hides a secret from his admiring colleagues, struggling with his gender identity and having long nursed a desire to become a woman. He has bene trying to save money to his operation. But things are not same when he launches a crusade against a criminal which lands the mob boss in hospital. His brother decides to take matter in his hand and a cat and mouse game begins. Yoon occasionally uses help of a girl for his police activities and is the only one who he cares about. Turns out she is the sister of the boy whom he dearly loves as a child and before his death, he promised to always take care of the sister. When Yoon is about to leave the country as a final goodbye to get his sex change operation, the mo kidnaps this girl, which forces Yoon to leave everything, come back and take revenge and save the girl. He eventually decides to stay back and live as a man to protect the girl I think they end up getting together in the end.

The film's premise was nice but how I wish there was more to Yoon's personality, more background on how, why and also his childhood love. It just felt convenient to just say that this macho cop has a hidden personality where he wants to get his sex change operation. Which even if we believe for. Amount, why does he kiss the girl at one point? Thankfully, Yoon’s sexuality and transgender yearnings are never played as a cheap gimmick and treated with respect, showing he is struggling with the whole thing. Yet, the whole angle just never lands itself properly. Also, the film does have an odd tone at times, frequently shifting suddenly between delicately emotional moments or farce and extreme violence. The whole angle of the mob boss' brother wanting to make a deal with Yoon felt more comedy to me rather than serious action. It was a decent one time watch for some action and a novel story idea but the overall picture and the whole trans angle just didn't land properly. The film could have made some string commentary on the lives of trans people , their struggles, social standing etc, but I guess the focus was more on Yoon as a cop. Nevertheless, it is still mildly engaging movie with high quality production value and some real good action sequences. And the lead actor did a great job of a man struggling with his social cop image with what he truly feels inside. He is definitely the one thing that you cannot find fault with in this film. (4/10)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin

One Summer Night (Korean)

I really wanted to like this film but for non native speakers, these movie leaves a lot to be understood and the way scenes were unfolding in front of me, I wasn't sure many times what was really going on. The story had potential button getting any back story on any of the characters limited my ability to empathize with any of these actors. Film starts with two North Korea military guys Yong Joon and Jae Sung having sex and they are caught red handed and they run. Three years later we see Yong Joon in Seoul leading a very mundane and poor life. He has a boyfriend Tae-Kyu, who is a weird guy. He is carefree, doesn't do any work and is completely emotional and financially dependent on Young Joon. In fact, even Yong Joon will go to any lengths to protect him , fend for him and taking care of him to the extent of even taking up prostitution. Suddenly one day Jae Sung appears in their life again. His motivation is not clear but it is obvious he wants Yong Joon back in his life, who

Ultimate masturbation: Shigoki no yama (Japanese) [The Ultimate Masturbation]

I would never know what was the point behind making this film. Was it supposed to be a comedy, cos it wasn't. It wasn't even porn. It was just a silly attempt at making something absolutely senseless and ridiculous. The story, as well as direction is equally shoddy. You could laugh for having seen something so bad, but I wouldn't call that comedy. An old man runs a camp about gay masturbation. The explanation given is that gays masturbate for pleasure unlike straight men, for whom the act is seen as shame or because they can't find a woman. One day a straight man shows up and wants to join the camp for his thesis. After discussion, he is allowed in. Rules include that you can masturbate together, you can masturbate one another, but there is no fellatio or anal sex. Some students of course breaks rule. The teacher then talks about 2 forms of masturbation which gives ultimate pleasure. He shows one without touching and then refuses to talk of the other. Somehow suddenly,