Snowpiercer by Bong Joon-ho, 2014 (R)

The Earth's remaining inhabitants are confined to a single train circling the globe as revolution brews among the class-divided cars. Based on a French graphic novel and set in a new ice age, this futuristic thriller stars a top-notch ensemble cast.

This is one of the strangest film I have seen in a while, and not only because Tilda Swinton looks like a freak. This was the first time I was thinking to myself I would rather die than be in that train, even if this means the end of human race, I am not that attached... So you follow these guys, some born on the train, some born before the ice age, and the longer it lasts, the more painful it gets, it an absurd and gore style. This movie made me so uncomfortable I would say it has a point. But don't look for the light or the happy ending, it will only make you feel miserable.

with Chris Evans (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: First Avenger, Avengers, Puncture), Tilda Swinton (We Need To Talk About Kevin, Michael Clayton, I am Love, Constantine), Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, Man on a Ledge), Octavia Spencer (The Help), John Hurt (Melancholia, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Alison Pill (Milk, To Rome With Love, Dan in Real Life), Ed Harris (Gravity, Man on a Ledge, Game Change), Kang-ho Song, Ewen Bremner (Perfect Sense - The Last Word), Ah-sung Ko

watch trailer:

The Man From NoWhere (Ajeossi) by Jeong-beom Lee, 2010

with Bin Won, Sae-Ron Kim, Hyo-seo Kim

This hard-hitting tale of revenge stars Bin Won as Tae-Sik, a former special agent living a bitter and lonely life following his wife's tragic death. When a young girl (Sae-Ron Kim) he befriends is kidnapped by a vicious drug gang, Tae-Sik rushes to her aid. Bloodthirsty and hell-bent on justice -- particularly after being framed by the gang -- he takes the law into his own hands, infiltrating the ring and systematically wiping out its members.

I would never have watched it, ever. A Korean film, what looks like a violent action movie, over stylized matrix type... Well, I actually like Korean culture, but I don't know how I came across it, except that it was in the recommendations of Netflix. So thank you Netflix. Beautiful, unusual editing, very rhythmic, and the cinematography has something very stylized, but in the good sense of it, the choreography is perfect, from close ups to wide shots, and the emotion is there. The main actor is really good, and quite fascinating. It is strikingly realistic, even after having watched several movies on the theme, from Dirty Pretty Things about London's trafficking, Tell Tale in the US and Inhale in Mexico. And terribly depressing.