Author: Harrison Chute

I've been mistaken for a man

K-Drama Report: Twenty-Five Twenty-One, Part II

March 13, 2022

I have to stress that Twenty-Five Twenty-One is beautiful. Of course, there’s the delicate soundtrack, and the story itself is people rebuilding themselves in the wake of economic recession, but I honestly, chiefly, mean the visuals. Where I’d expect any ‘90s-set period piece made 30 years later to desaturate, the colors of Twenty-Five Twenty-One are boosted. Grass is green, the gym is orange and red, the night sky is blue, and Na Hee-do actually gets orange and pink with emotions. I’ve already covered the camerawork, but there’s also the editing, like that small moment in episode nine where Coach Yang beckons Hee-do with a quick gesture and we punch in on it for just a second. It’s a super-confident production, and while that helps the big moments land, it’s also just a very pleasant watch. … More K-Drama Report: Twenty-Five Twenty-One, Part II

I Need a Herb

March 11, 2022

Tomorrow I’ll be booting up an old favorite, Resident Evil 5, to play with a friend over online co-op. This game has remained significant to me for two reasons: one, it was probably the last title from my golden age of video games, back when it was couch co-op. My buddy and I had done … More I Need a Herb

Turning a Corner?

February 26, 2022

To my mind, Li Bingbing’s appearance in the good old-fashioned, all-American movie The Meg was conspicuous, only another in a line of conspicuous Chinese faces in Hollywood films. This week, it was reported that she won’t be returning for the sequel. Good. We talked briefly about Li Bingbing for our look at the historic and folkloric warrior women of China, as she played a staple character originating in literature, the White-Haired Witch. Of course, she played that character in The Forbidden Kingdom, and she was a bad guy witch. That’s the rare case where you have to cast Chinese actors in Chinese roles, and they did, for the most part, going so genuine-article that they overlooked Chinese-American talent. Bingbing was already an established star, racking up industry awards since the late ‘90s, but it wasn’t until 2011 that she began her Hollywood career proper, with Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, costarring with Jun Ji-hyun of all people. From there it was Resident Evil: Retribution as Ada Wong, Transformers: Age of Extinction, and The Meg in 2018. … More Turning a Corner?

K-Drama Report: Twenty-Five Twenty-One

February 21, 2022

By traditional logic, Twenty-Five Twenty-One has a lot to live up to. Its writer/director team is Kwon Do-eun and Jung Ji-hyun, whose previous collaboration was 2019’s Search: WWW, which blew me away. This, of course, is K-drama, where I’ve had to rethink all the rules of everything. In this case, what drew me to Search: WWW was the actress Lee Da-hee and the promise – fulfilled – of her badass character. I came for Scarlett and stayed for the simmering romance and the slowly-unfolding tragedy. This is like the difference between being a fan of a movie franchise and being a fan of a director. If Production IG were to announce a new Ghost in the Shell the same day that Mamoru Oshii announced a new movie, I know which one I’d watch first. Sure, the Oshii movie might be better (guy’s so experimental it’s kind of a toss-up), but Ghost in the Shell has Scarlett, so to speak. So to speak. So when the makers of Search: WWW roll out a new K-drama, I can reasonably predict the same level of simmering romance and slowly-unfolding tragedy. Being that it’s about a high school girl who wants to be a real good fencer, it doesn’t speak to me the same way as the imagery of Lee Da-hee stomping on people or sliding over a car hood. … More K-Drama Report: Twenty-Five Twenty-One

South Korea Takes a Big Step [Podcast]

February 15, 2022

This month, I’m joined by regular QNA cohost Donovan Morgan Grant for a spoiler-filled and plot-summary-free discussion about recent Netflix release Love and Leashes, our own private movie event of the year. Which of us blinks first and discloses their sexual proclivities? Given that the shock of this movie is its novelty as K-drama, is it actually a major step forward for fictional women in the workplace/bedroom? And if so, can we say that it’s then a step forward for even non-fictional women? … More South Korea Takes a Big Step [Podcast]

Don’t Say No | Love and Leashes (2022) Review

February 12, 2022

Two office workers in South Korea enter a secret sadomasochistic relationship with the woman as the dominant and the man as the submissive. There’s a lot of intriguing words in this or any given logline for Love and Leashes, an ostensible romantic comedy clocking in at an epic two hours of whipping and bondage and the occasional hijink. What do you want from a movie like this? If you want a big, mainstream Korean movie about BDSM – in essence, The Korean BDSM Movie – it’s a no-brainer and you’ll likely be as satisfied as I was by the accordant trappings. If you want a solid rom-com with all those respective trappings, my recommendation will be longer and more convoluted. With the visual affect of a typical sun-drenched K-drama, shot with concern for beautiful faces and spurred by an eagerly open heart, Love and Leashes presents a strange case where everything absolutely works, except for the script – the bedrock. It’s beautiful and ambitious and something of a mess. Never frustrating, but imperfect nonetheless. … More Don’t Say No | Love and Leashes (2022) Review

Love and Leashes Preview

January 30, 2022

So there’s two thoughts running concurrently when it comes to the upcoming Love and Leashes, that A) it’s probably not gonna check all the right boxes and B) but just enjoy it, please? No matter what happens, it doesn’t really matter, but it’s kind of like when whenever a new movie has a [minority identity] lead for the first time. I guess like Love, Simon, the all-too recent first Hollywood movie to be about a gay romance. Critics were bracing themselves, to the point where a common sentiment online was “let gay people have a crappy Hollywood romcom, too.” … More Love and Leashes Preview

Is It Disrespect?

January 20, 2022

I admit I felt a pang of embarrassment after having singled out Rekha Sharma when discussing Yellowjackets on the QNA Year End Review. After being the first actress you see on the show, she’s soon sidelined for a majority of the season and killed off in the finale. So, actually, it was a series of pangs. The funny thing is, in a post-show interview with the creators [which, naturally, I can’t find again], these two emphasized the ambiguity of plot events, that what you saw is not necessarily what it seemed, and the only thing they did confirm is that Sharma’s character is dead. What the hell? … More Is It Disrespect?