Old Boy

[Beefy]

Reason #5372 the Internet is cool:

It used to be that great and interesting films all over the world would be ignored in the states.  It was perceived there was no market for them, and so no one was paying attention.  Even after Miramax and Tarantino exploded the American Indie film scene, all we got was a bunch of lame crime dramas and the like.

The Internet has changed that.

When a cool or interesting flick comes out anywhere, buzz can start to build on the Net.  Word of mouth, fan sites, illegal Bit Torrents popping up... Hollywood is finally realizing there is interest in cool films outside the scope of Hollywood crap.  And interest equals money.

Hollywood has been ridiculously slow to notice that there is a very real pop culture film explosion going on in the Eastern Asian countries.  Japan, Korea, China, and even Russia are seeing exciting filmmakers emerge at alarming rates.  First, to hire the original foreign directors to helm the remakes.  Now, finally, the American Indie film companies are starting to realize that they can make some coin by getting these buzz films into actual U.S. theatres.

And so we get a chance to see Old Boy on the screen where it belongs.

I own the DVD.  I sent Bish a copy of it.  At about the same time, I found out that it was coming to U.S. screens in the near future.

So what is Old Boy?  Old Boy is visceral filmmaking.  Old Boy reminds you what it's like when a film is driven by an auteur.  Compelling, savage, tragic, violent, exciting, human.  Get a glimpse for yourself:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/old_boy.html

Not everyone's cup of tea, admittedly.  Not everyone will dig it.  But just keep half an eye out there - some really cool stuff is hitting U.S. shores on the big screen and on DVD that is well worth the time it takes to search it out.

[Bishamonten]

Reason #5372 the Internet is cool:

It used to be that great and interesting films all over the world would be ignored in the states.  It was perceived there was no market for them, and so no one was paying attention.  Even after Miramax and Tarantino exploded the American Indie film scene, all we got was a bunch of lame crime dramas and the like.

The Internet has changed that.

When a cool or interesting flick comes out anywhere, buzz can start to build on the Net.  Word of mouth, fan sites, illegal Bit Torrents popping up... Hollywood is finally realizing there is interest in cool films outside the scope of Hollywood crap.  And interest equals money.

Hollywood has been ridiculously slow to notice that there is a very real pop culture film explosion going on in the Eastern Asian countries.  Japan, Korea, China, and even Russia are seeing exciting filmmakers emerge at alarming rates.  First, to hire the original foreign directors to helm the remakes.  Now, finally, the American Indie film companies are starting to realize that they can make some coin by getting these buzz films into actual U.S. theatres.

And so we get a chance to see Old Boy on the screen where it belongs.

I own the DVD.  I sent Bish a copy of it.  At about the same time, I found out that it was coming to U.S. screens in the near future.

So what is Old Boy?  Old Boy is visceral filmmaking.  Old Boy reminds you what it's like when a film is driven by an auteur.  Compelling, savage, tragic, violent, exciting, human.  Get a glimpse for yourself:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/old_boy.html

Not everyone's cup of tea, admittedly.  Not everyone will dig it.  But just keep half an eye out there - some really cool stuff is hitting U.S. shores on the big screen and on DVD that is well worth the time it takes to search it out.

It's on the docket.  Hopefully tonight( double up with Onibaba )or tomorrow night as I plan to mostly just Veg and study my Japanese a bit.