Kay Dee

I have started and then stopped watching this twice this summer alone because it is *extremely* not my thing. In fact, this is probably one of very few movies I approached like a chore. I don’t really like many sight gags or physical humor, especially when it is more realistic and not super exaggerated, and that is the entire movie. I did not find this bumbling man interesting. I respect it, but I do not like it. But I finished it for David Byrne, for the Criterion Challenge, and for being a huge film nerd. I am bored, but undefeated. Criterion Challenge 2026 - 48. David Byrne’s Closet Picks

I think I would have liked it more if it didn’t lean into the sentimentality bits and teetered on the edge of madcap and disturbing the entire time. The earnest parts felt off to me, even though this movie switches between like seven different tones.  I’ve read a few reviews that say this is a very mid-2000 South Korean film; I’ve only seen 16 South Korean films total but that does seem true! The ending is bleak in a way that feels weird in the current US sociopolitical climate, especially if I’m not meant to think of it as darkly funny. The wildest part of this movie is positing that the black obelisk from 2001 a Space Odyssey caused the Holocaust.

While watching this, I ran the gamut of human emotions in the first hour. So bloody and Shakespearean and/or Greek in tragedy! I think a common critique when it came out was that it felt markedly cruel, but twenty-five years after its release, that intense cruelty feels accurate to the way the world works. Even so . . . man. So heavy and more emotional than you would think, given it’s reputation for violence. What a taut and fucked up movie from my personal friend, Park Chan-wook. He feels like a mastermind. Apparently this has the first ever sex scene featuring sign language! That’s a fun fact!

I watched this on Evasive’s livestream with her and Sharia Mattis and we were chatting and hee hee-ing so I don’t feel like I should give this a rating, BUT I would watch Josephine Baker do anything honestly. She served so many looks. Being into her adopted brother was weird tho. This is the 69th French film I’ve ever seen. Nice (but pronounced like the city in France).