Film Review: "Past Lives" (2023).

"Written and directed by Celine Song" comes Past Lives. This romantic drama film written and directed by Song, in her feature directorial debut. Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life, in this heartrending modern romance.

In January 2020, it was announced Choi Woo-shik would star in a romantic drama film with Song as writer and director, and A24 set to produce and distribute alongside Killer Films and CJ ENM. In August 2021, Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro, and Choi Won-young were cast, with Yoo replacing Choi. Principal photography took place in Seoul, South Korea and New York City, New York, USA, and the film was shot on 35 mm film.

The film stars Lee, Yoo, Magaro, and Choi. Both Lee and Yoo gave wonderful and moving performances. Nora and Hae Sung have suppressed most outward signs of emotion. But Lee and Yoo show the emotion roiling beneath the surface.

The film is a finely tuned meditation on the struggle of two young childhood friends trying to reconnect and resume their feelings for each other while trying to search for the places in the modern world. Song has become an important new voice for the Asian-American experience which remains at the forefront of the vivid stories shared onscreen, their impact lingering long after leaving the theater. Subtle and mesmerizing. It's a film that should be absorbed and celebrated, giving many of us a peek into a world of which we might be unfamiliar, but exposing the similarities that bind us together as human beings. This is a film with a committed sense of sadness, although it is never cloying or manipulative. The characters are too proud for that, but they wish they could be stronger. The film gets messy here and there, but the film has ideas on culture, relationships, and the never-ending Double Dutch game of emotion. This poignant story about the love we harbour for the past captures how our cultural specificities truly do reflect universalities. It shows how we are more alike than we are different, and that is a story worthy of our attention. The film offers a meditative, timely, and multilayered exploration of how cultural legacies from the 'motherland' shape the lives of Asian diaspora. Song obviously understands these characters, and the film presents them and their fractured relationships without an ounce of judgment. Each layer is so beautifully, subtly explored, you can get lost in the characters' emotions or just be swept away by Lee and Yoo's performances which graciously soaks in the spirits of both their respective cultures. Raw and rough but also delicately beautiful, Song's directorial feature debut is an eye-opening look into the cultures of East and West and a touching portrayal of unrequited love.

Simon says Past Lives receives:

Film Review: "Sound of Freedom" (2023).

"Based On The Incredible True Story." This is Sound of Freedom. This action film directed by Alejandro Monteverde, and written by Monteverde and Rod Barr. Based on the incredible true story, the film shines a light on even the darkest of places. After rescuing a young boy from ruthless child traffickers, a federal agent learns the boy's sister is still captive and decides to embark on a dangerous mission to save her. With time running out, he quits his job and journeys deep into the Colombian jungle, putting his life on the line to free her from a fate worse than death.

The film was inspired by the work of Tim Ballard, the founder of Operation Underground Railroad, or O.U.R., an anti-trafficking non-profit. In 2015, development on the film began. Against the wishes of the producers, Ballard had personally requested that Jim Caviezel portray him. By the Summer of 2018, Caviezel, Mira Sorvino, Bill Camp, Eduardo Verástegui, Javier Godino, José Zúñiga, Kurt Fuller, Gary Basaraba, Gerardo Taracena, Scott Haze, and Gustavo Sánchez Parra were cast. At the same time, with a budget of $14.5 million, principal photography commenced and took place throughout Colombia and in Calexico, California. Once completed, a distribution deal was made with the Latin American subsidiary of 20th Century Fox. However, when the studio was purchased by the Walt Disney Company, the film was shelved. Subsequently, the filmmakers bought the distribution rights back from the studio. But it would take years to release as the filmmakers were turned down by various distributing companies as they didn't want the film associated with their output. Ultimately, producer Eduardo Verástegui approached Angel Studios with the release rights. Angel presented the film to an online group of one-hundred-thousand investors in its past projects called the Angel Guild, which gave it a "yes" vote within days. In 2023, Angel Studios had acquired the worldwide distribution rights, with a planned release during the second half of 2023. In May of the same year, it received a July 4, 2023 release date. Angel used equity crowdfunding to raise the funds needed to distribute and market the film. Seven thousand people invested, allowing Angel to meet its $5 million goal in two weeks. They also encouraged patrons to "pay it forward" to allow people who might not otherwise see the film to watch it in theaters for free. Mel Gibson, Dana White, Elon Musk, Ben Shapiro, Jewel, the Family Research Council, and Goya Foods all endorsed this film. The film was projected to gross $11–15 million over its first week of release, with some estimates reaching $20 million. However, the film had outgrossed its budget in two days. In late July, Angel Studios confirmed that the film would be released in twenty-three international markets throughout 2023.

Caviezel is a one-man scourge of child predators in this well-meaning thriller that doesn’t entirely deserve to be written off as culture-war propaganda.

Overall this is neither a great, nor terrible, release of a film that has made itself an enormous amount of money and earned its place among our generation's other semi-superheroic thrillers.

Simon says Sound of Freedom receives:

Series Review: "Depp v Heard" (2023).

From the director of The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes comes Depp v Heard. This documentary series directed by Emma Cooper. Depp v Heard examines the infamous defamation case that captured the world’s attention as the first Trial by TikTok, and questions the nature of truth and the role it plays in our modern society.

From April 11 to June 1, 2022, the John C. Depp, II v. Amber Laura Heard trial, held in Fairfax County, Virginia, ruled on allegations of defamation between Depp and Heard. Depp, as plaintiff, filed a complaint of defamation against defendant Heard claiming $50 million in damages; Heard filed counterclaims against Depp claiming $100 million in damages. In May 2016, at an early stage in their divorce proceedings, Heard claimed that Depp had abused her physically, which he denied. In a separate libel trial in England, in which Depp sued News Group Newspapers Ltd over an article published in The Sun, the presiding judge ruled against Depp. Several legal experts suggested that Depp had a smaller chance of winning in the US trial compared to the UK trial. In the Virginia trial, Depp's claims related to a December 2018 op-ed by Heard, published in The Washington Post. Depp claimed Heard caused new damage to his reputation and career. Heard's counterclaims included allegations that Adam Waldman, Depp's former lawyer, had defamed her in statements published in the Daily Mail in 2020. Throughout the trial, Depp's legal team sought to disprove Heard's abuse allegations and to demonstrate that she had been the instigator, rather than the victim, of intimate partner violence. Heard's lawyers defended the op-ed, claiming it to be factual and protected by the First Amendment. The jury ruled that Heard's op-ed references to "sexual violence" and "domestic abuse" were false and defamed Depp with actual malice and awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages from Heard, although the court reduced the punitive damages to $350,000 due to a limit imposed by Virginia state law. They also ruled that Waldman had defamed Heard by falsely alleging that she and her friends "roughed up" Depp's penthouse as part of an "ambush, a hoax". They awarded Heard $2 million in compensatory damages and $0 in punitive damages from Depp. After the trial ended, Heard put forth motions to set aside the verdict, but was unsuccessful. Then, both Depp and Heard appealed against the respective verdicts. In December 2022, both parties reached a settlement and dropped their appeals, with Depp's lawyers stating that Depp would receive $1 million from Heard. The livestreamed trial attracted large numbers of viewers and considerable social media response. The majority of the social media response was sympathetic to Depp and critical of Heard. The trial renewed debates around topics relating to domestic violence, the #MeToo movement, and women's rights, although some commentators were more skeptical of the trial's long term implications.

It makes for a very disjointed viewing experience that draws you in with the trial footage and how it’s edited, then kicks you right back out with the mostly idiotic social media commentary that added nothing but noise to the whole trial.

Simon says Depp v Heard receives:

Also, see my review for The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes.

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup Part 5.

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup Part 4.

See Part 5.