Tag: Corruption

THE VILLAGERS – Review

A scene from THE VILLAGERS. Courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment

I’ve enjoyed a slew of Ma Dong-seok’s contributions to Korean action flicks. The rotund, open-faced actor usually plays sidekicks and minor parties – often adding some comic relief. Most of his 14 awards and nominations, to date, have been for supporting actor gigs. But in THE VILLAGERS, he’s the action star.

His character, Yeok Gi-cheol, is a former MMA champion who had aged into coaching. His integrity gets him banished when he confronts the sport’s honchos about their corruption. Fortunately – or so it first seems – an admirer gets him a job in the village giving rise to the film’s name, teaching phys ed and serving as assistant dean at a high school.

The latter title merely sticks him with the thankless task of collecting overdue tuition from the students and their families. Because he looks like an overweight, middle-aged simpleton, he gets less respect than Rodney Dangerfield. The main drama comes from the ignored efforts of a student, Yoo-jin (Kim Sae-ron) to get the school and cops to investigate the disappearance of her best friend. Despite being only 15, the missing girl had been working at a night club that catered to very adult tastes, raising many possible crime-free explanations about her fate. Yoo-jin insists that her pal was not the sort of unhappy teen who runs away that the authorities want to presume. Deaf ears on lazy cops’ heads abound.

Since all her efforts have been rebuffed by every adult in the picture, Yoo-jin is skeptical about Gi-cheol’s attempts to help her. It becomes apparent to us long before them that there’s something big going on, with cops, politicos and school honchos in on whatever it is. His default setting is that of being baffled by how little anyone in any position of responsibility cares what happened to her – especially the cops’ reluctance to even open a file for investigation.

This sort of little guy(s) vs. systemic corruption is a common theme in films from all around the world. Bollywood cranks out tons of these with high-octane, one-man-army vigor. Usually, the action quotient is higher than in this one, which plays out more like a slowly unfolding procedural. Gi-cheol could and should be delivering more beat-downs than he does, spreading his frustrations to the viewers.

The conspiracy is a spider web that takes a long time to penetrate. But the two stars keep it interesting, even as daylight starts peeking through the fog of criminal enterprise and cover-up later than viewers might prefer. Even so, the climax makes the journey worthwhile.

There’s a sad note in all of this. Kim Sae-ron was a charming, talented actress with a dozen awards and nominations on her resume, including one of my favorite Korean imports, THE MAN FROM NOWHERE. But she committed suicide a few years after this film’s release when she was only 24. A real loss for all.

THE VILLAGERS, in Korean with English subtitles, is available streaming in digital format from WellGo USA starting Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars

LEVIATHAN (2014) – The Review

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Well, sometimes some confusion can be a good thing. When I was first aware of this film’s title, I thought that this may be a remake/reboot of the 1989 Peter Weller starring monster thriller with a massive CGI beastie akin to those from PACIFIC RIM or last Summer’s retooled GODZILLA. Seems I was mistaken. LEVIATHAN doesn’t concern itself with a colossal rampaging demon risen from the depths, but rather it’s a complex drama set in a dreary, Russian fishing village (yes, it has subtitles). The title doesn’t refer to a scaly giant that the film’s heroes must face. They instead must square off against an even more formidable adversary, for this leviathan is comprised not of claws and fangs, but corruption and the cruelties of fate itself.

The story begins as the sun rises over that Russian village, as Nikolay (Aleksey Serebryakov) heads away from his ramshackle beach home to the train station where he picks up his old army pal Dmitriy (Vladimir Vdovichenkov). It’s not until breakfast with Nikolay’s much-younger second wife Lilya (Elena Lyadova) and surly teenage son Romka (Sergey Pokhodaev) that we learn the real reason for this reunion. Dmitriy is now a high-priced Moscow lawyer who’s lending his services to prevent the town’s Mayor from grabbing Nikolay’s bit of land for a paltry sum in order to build a new “communication center” (Nikolay is sure that a palace will be built instead). Dmitriy believes that the Mayor will make a more reasonable offer after he’s aware of the dirt that the lawyer as dug up on him. But the corrupt, bullying Mayor Vadim (Roman Madyanov) will not be so easily intimidated. Over the course of the next few weeks, the court proceedings light the fuse on a powder keg of deception, intimidation, blackmail, adultery, and murder. Oh, and that flame is fueled by lots and lots of vodka.

Primarily this story is the trials and tribulations of the Job-like Nikolay (or, as they call him, ‘Koyla’ for short) compellingly portrayed by the stoic Serebryakov. The weight of the world is etched on his weary face which often resembles a granite-carved bullet, his squinting eyes striking out with tiny probing laser beams. That is, until life, and cases of booze, finally dims his gaze and quelches his hair-trigger temper. Of course his old pal Dmitriy played with intelligence by Vdovichenkov tries to with little success to extinguish the white-hot rage that consumes Koyla. This now erudite man of the law is often ill at ease, far away from Moscow’s hustle and bustle, but he feels indebted to his earthy comrade, although hearing his old barracks name “junior” still rankles him. Lyadova as the quiet beauty Lilya, seems too gentle for the brooding mechanic she’s married. It isn’t until the film’s mid-section that we see the despair in her eyes from the constant drudgery (working at the local fish-cleaning plant) and a hunger to escape. Some of that same hunger exists in her stepson Romka played by Pokhodaev, whose rebellious attitude lashes out at her. Late in the tale, he finally lets down his guard and reveals the heartbroken boy within.

As great as these actors are, the film is often “stolen” by one of the best villains we’ve seen on-screen in a while. The diminutive Madyanov dominates every scene and truly lives up to the nasty descriptions by Koyla in the story’s opening. The Mayor is a squashed-down, compact Jabba the Hut gulping down vodka shots rather than slimy space-frogs, a malignant, middle-aged, male Veruca Salt who will have his way no matter what and who never learns his lesson at the Wonka factory. His few calm moments are in conversation with the Orthodox church’s high priest. Is the holy man trying to redeem the politico, or is this relationship more…convuluted? The volatile, venomous Vadim is a welcome shot of energy into the core of this downbeat drama.

Director Andrey Zvyagintsev directs the somber story, which he wrote with Oleg Negin, in a straight-forward, measured style with no showy or distracting flourishes. He even makes the choice to hold some things back from the audience in a pivotal second act sequence during a birthday picnic. We suspect that the mix of firearms and booze will not end well, but we’re not told of the end results until much later (the scene does produce the biggest laughs from the revelers choices for target practice). The scenery has a desolate, dark beauty thanks to the expert camera work from Mikhail Krichman and enhanced by the haunting score from Phillip Glass, especially in the shots of Romika alone sitting near a washed-up whale skeleton. LEVIATHAN is an unforgettable, very moving story of life and loss, and is very worthy of its Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

4 Out of 5

LEVIATHAN opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Tivoli Theatre

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GRACELAND — The Review

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Drafthouse Films does it again, scouring, quite literally, the entire planet for the very best films otherwise virtually unseen by the majority of film goers. In an ongoing effort to bring powerful, hard-hitting films closer to the forefront, GRACELAND caught the attention of savvy film enthusiasts and now has the opportunity to spread its wings amidst a larger audience. Will you be one amidst those many?

GRACELAND tells the story of a working class father, and honest and good young man named Marlon Villar, played by Arnold Reyes. Set in the Philippines, Marlon finds his world thrown into chaos when a kidnapping goes terribly wrong and he finds himself fighting for his daughter’s life. Torn between his love for his own family and the demand placed upon him by his employer, Marlon must juggle a dangerous balance between doing what’s right and doing what he must.

Written and directed by Ron Morales, a filmmaker of respectable technical talent, GRACELAND marks only his second feature film as a director. Having earned his industry chops working on more mainstream Hollywood fare, from SPIDER-MAN 3 to NICK & NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST, its clear that his wide exposure to various styles and genres has allowed him to find his own much more pure artistic vision.

Marlon encounters elements all too familiar, from corruption to class segregation, all of which play into the overall arc of the film that proves not to be a sum greater than its parts, but an experience of which the parts and the sum are of equally high value. GRACELAND catches us off guard, nudging us off the curb into the filthy gutter, drags us through Marlon’s agonizing ordeal, and then just when we thing Morales is going to lift us up out of our shallow grave, instead he throws a few more shovels of dirt on our heads. Why? Because the truth is, real life is rarely about perfect happy endings. Real life is twisted, bent and jaded.

Forget about the flashy, high-action kidnapping films like TAKEN that are short on plot. GRACELAND never sacrifices its heart for a quick and easy adrenaline fix. On second thought, let me retract that statement. Instead, let me say that GRACELAND relies on masterful storytelling and a potent story with more resonant real-world issues to slowly fill the viewers veins with an adrenalized rush. As a suspenseful tale of a man desperate to save his daughter, GRACELAND matches the bar. As an emotional, intelligent case study of life in a world few of us will ever dream of actually stepping foot into, this film will knock you on your ass.

Morales maintains a close and personal vantage point, often uncomfortably so, never allowing the viewer to pull away and remind themselves “hey, this is only a movie.” Even in the films’ opening moments, Morales already has us hating a key character, while empathizing with Marlon and the nauseatingly disgusting situation he is in and must face on what seems a daily basis just to make ends meet. Its this dichotomy of Marlon’s restrained morals and the requirements of his job that give us hope that he will somehow find a way out of this mess.

GRACELAND co-stars Menggie Cobarrubias as the corrupt Congressman Changho and Dido De La Paz as the corrupt detective Ramos. Both men have their flaws, but at varying degrees and with subtly contradicting lines in the sand. Changho represents the “upper class” of the Philippines, fitting as his role takes something of a backseat to that of the detectives, who serves as a sort of intermediary between the very small upper class and the vast lower class. GRACELAND is a gritty, dirty looking film yet also manages to capture a certain untarnished beauty in the way the world looks around Marlon. Morales portrays things as they are, for better or for worse. At times, it even seems perhaps that shots may not have been authorized, perhaps even captured at great risk to the filmmakers themselves. All of this adds to the tension, builds layers upon layers onto the texture of the film. This allows the viewer to get a little dirty. We need to feel some of that to fully appreciate the cinematic environment in which the story is told.

In the end, no one character is quite what they seemed in the beginning. In the end, GRACELAND has us playing everything back in our minds, looking for explanations and justifications. In the end, the truth is that a father will do whatever he must to protect his family and damn anyone that wants to tell him what’s right and wrong in the eyes of those who haven’t walked in his shoes. However, in the end, all actions also have their consequences. GRACELAND is available on VOD/iTunes now and opens in theaters on Friday, April 26, 2013. Be sure to visit the official GRACELAND website for more information and to find a screening near you.

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

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THE AMBASSADOR – The Blu Review

The Movie –

Watch any number of political thrillers or espionage films and you’ve undoubtedly seen more than a few ambassadors portrayed on screen, but when it comes to real life, how much do we really know about these appointed figures who seem to be untouchable? I can imagine at some point, this very same thought went through the head of Danish journalist Mads Brugger. Whatever his motivation, the journalist turned filmmaker turned his investigative eyes and ears toward the connection between ambassadorship to the Central African Republic (CAR) and the lucrative smuggling of blood diamonds out of the country.

The term “blood diamonds” refers to diamonds that have been illegally exported from war-torn countries without authorization. If you’ve seen Edward Zwick’s 2006 film BLOOD DIAMOND, then you may have a sensationalized idea of what goes on in this region of Africa. What Brugger does is to take the viewer into the heart of the CAR first-hand, to witness for themselves what Hollywood can only dramatize for entertainment. Here’s the catch… Mads Brugger is a tall, lanky, pale-skinned, red-haired, white European voluntarily entering into one of the most dangerous regions of Africa, posing as the Liberian ambassador to CAR and a businessman seeking to open a match factory in the country. This, of course, is all 100% false and by doing so puts his life in great peril… all for the purpose of hopefully constructing a documentary that reveals the darker side of the diamond trade and it’s affiliation to European ambassadors.

The $64,000 question: Does Mads pull it off? Let’s break this down into two categories; the entertainment factor and the informational/educational factor. Imagine, if you will, you look like Conan O’Brien shaved bald and you’re in the heart of “blood diamond” territory pretending to be a wealthy businessman seeking ambassadorship. Where do you start? Mads takes the viewer on the jaw-dropping, often awkwardly humorous five-cent tour of this process of enlisting an “agent” to acquire for you a position as ambassador with the necessary paperwork by way of bribes to government officials. Hilarious, right? In fact, it is, but its also incredibly frustrating. The film is entertaining, yes, but more importantly, the film opens the flood gates of exposure to a world we’ve only been able to speculate on, until now.

THE AMBASSADOR is like watching Sacha Baron Cohen’s BRUNO (minus the sexual references) and THE DICTATOR mashed up into one movie that tells a true story. At times, the film is almost difficult to believe, but the remainder of the film is proof unto its own validity. Apparently, some have questioned whether THE AMBASSADOR is staged, but after seeing the film twice now, I’ve concluded for myself that Brugger’s film is sincere. Each viewer will have to make this call on their own, as I cannot expect you to take my word on the matter. Another element of the film viewers may find oddly alluring is the uncanny similarity Brugger’s narration has to the like of Werner Herzog’s documentaries.

How did he do it? Brugger — the businessman — employs a “press photographer” to follow and record his business dealings for the benefit of his investors. This, of course, is actually Johan Stahl Winthereik, his cinematographer. The third member of Brugger’s tiny entourage is a woman he passes off as his executive assistant. For the more volatile scenes requiring creative recording, Brugger’s team uses pinhole cameras hidden in his clothes or in wall fixtures, whatever it takes to capture the kind of audio/video footage that makes this film so damning for those involved. I know that fear can make a person do things previously unfathomable, but how Brugger is able to keep his cool so convincingly throughout the film is amazing. Even the moments when he seems nervous or uncomfortable, he comes off as just another businessman upset about a deal possibly going south. I would love to have Brugger’s constitution.

THE AMBASSADOR will have viewers wondering many things, but at the top of that list is the question, “How can this happen, and how does it continue to happen?” Hopefully, Brugger’s documentary will be the catalyst for change, the tipping point at which progress in the region is made toward peace and an end to corruption inflicted by African leaders and backed by certain European governments.

The Extras –

THE AMBASSADOR blu-ray includes the theatrical trailer for the film, as well as a 16-page booklet. The cherry on top, however, is the audio commentary by director Mads Brugger. In his own words, this is Brugger’s first audio commentary and this shows. His delivery is dry, but highly informative. Once you’ve seen the film, I adamantly express the necessity to re-watch the film — immediately, if possible — with the audio commentary engaged.

This is essential because Brugger gives so much more information than is available through the film on its own. Even the tiniest of details about his experience and the process of making the film offer a deeper insight into the experiment as a whole. I say experiment, because this gonzo-style of journalistic documentary filmmaking has never really been done on this level. While the audio commentary lacks the usual supply of humorous anecdotes, it offers an impeccable supply of first-hand knowledge that adds priceless value to the viewing experience.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Video Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio: English – Dolby Digital 2.0 (192kbps)
Subtitles: English

  • Single 25GB Blu-ray Disc
  • Digital copy (as download)
  • 16-Page Booklet

Image Entertainment and Drafthouse Films bring THE AMBASSADOR to DVD and Blu-Ray on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012.