Review: COLLECTIVE INVENTION Asks the Right Questions, But Has None of the Answers

By Pierce Conran

Wrapping a raft of social issues plaguing modern Korean society into a simple allegory, Collective Invention, a quirky comedy-drama with dashes of the same humor found in Bong Joon-ho's work, is a succinct but relatively straightforward affair. The setting is ripe for social commentary, but none of the observations rise above the superficial and ultimately the film is let down by a storyline that feels underdeveloped and ends on a wishy-washy note of false hope.

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Coming Attractions: THE SILENCED Is Not Keeping Quiet Anymore

By Rex Baylon

What the hell is it about boarding schools that make it such prime real estate for horror films? I doubt Lee Hae-young is keen on trying to answer that question, but his new picture The Silence, reaching theaters this June, seems to be in no short supply of the requisite scares that this unique sub-genre is well-known for. Starring Park Bo-young, of A Werewolf Boy (2012) fame, as a young girl named Joo-ran who is transferred to an all girls boarding school that is suffering an epidemic of vanishing students. Why are they vanishing? Are they being kidnapped by some demonic force? Or just the typical human villains? I guess you'll have to wait a few more weeks to find out.

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Review: Delightful Retro Comedy HOT YOUNG BLOODS Runs Out of Steam

By Pierce Conran

Just as the taste of a madeleine triggers a rush of childhood memories for the protagonist in Marcel Proust’s magnum opus In Search of Lost Time, smells, sounds and images can transport all of us to different times in our lives. This is a trick that can be especially effective in cinema, as it can turn a film into a communal experience for theatergoers. With Lunar New Year just around the corner, the 80s rural-set high school film Hot Young Bloods, the return of Running Turtle (2009) director Lee Yeon-woo, is hoping to do just that.

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