DOOMSDAY BOOK
Directed by: Kim Jee-Woon and Yim Pil-Sung.
Written by: Kim Jee-Woon and Yim Pil-Sun
Starring: Kim Kang-Woo, Kim Gyu-ri, Park Hae-il, Ryoo Seung-bum, Koh Joon-hee, Song Sae-byeok, Jin Ji-hee, and Bae Doon-Da
Synopsis: Three looks at the way that the world will end.
DOOMSDAY BOOK was one of my most anticipated movies of the
festival. I saw it as another effort from the director of one of my favorites
movies of the past couple of years. I ended up skipping FRANKENWEENIE to go see
this movie during Fantastic Fest. Now I'm sure that I made the right decision.
The premise is very simple. There are three story or scenarios that depict how the Earth will end.
The movie as a
whole is very strange in its tone. The segments have no recurring theme apart
from the "end of the world" aspect, and tonally, they are very
different. The first segment, A Brave New World, deals with a very typical doomsday plot as a way of commenting on the fallacies of modern society. The
second segment, The Heavenly Creature, is a very beautiful look at man's relationship with technology
and spirituality in an increasingly technological world. The third segment, Happy Birthday, takes a look at the unlikely end of the world thanks to a giant 8-ball, and the need to start over.
The first segment
is a very funny look at how the zombie apocalypse will unravel thanks to a
contaminated apple. This segment is very familiar since we see a lot of the
usual "zombie" plot tropes such as people believing that the zombie
infection is just a disease. There's an endearing love story in the middle of
all of this, and it doesn't quite end like I thought it would. There's a lot of
great humor related to the main character, and his family's (mis)treatment of
him that gave me chuckles. I think this particular segment would be stronger if
the plot hadn't been just like every other zombie outbreak story. There is a lot of political and sociological commentary that deals with the endless bickering and instant gratification that plagues us today. I did enjoy
the fact that this movie had a pro-vegetarian message in that the reason the
virus happens is because of contaminated meat from a nasty butchering plant.
You can't get zombie viruses from plants is all I'm saying.
The second segment
deals with a robot who while under the employ of Buddhist monks transcends his programming
and becomes more aware to the point that the monks regard him as Buddha. When a
technician is sent to take a look at the robot, we are treated to a very
thoughtful and moving conversation about spirituality, the ever-increasing pace
of technology, and the struggles of man as we try to make sense of it all. I
teared up by the end of this segment if we're going to be perfectly honest. I
don't want to spoil much of it, but needless to say that this was the strongest
of the three. The writing had Quentin Tarantino levels of cleverness, and there some
very beautiful shots in what is a short that takes place in two locations. This
segment is worth the price of admission alone.
The third segment
is the strangest one and even as I write this, I'm not sure if I liked it. The
set up is that a little girl places an online order for a replacement 8-ball
for her dad's pool table. She accidentally orders it from an intergalactic
store that sends an 8-ball the size of a small country that is on a collision
course with earth and will exterminate life. I did like the very positive
themes of family and looking at the positivity of the end of the world, but the
tonal shift from the second segment to this one made it very difficult to get
into it.
DOOMSDAY BOOK is a
movie that is many things. It is well written and beautifully shot. I'm glad that this was my first Fantastic Fest movie of
the festival as it set up the tone for the rest of the weird movies I would get
to experience. The biggest detractor of this movie is the sequence of the segments.
It reminds me of a very strangely put-together mix tapes (yes, I did use to
make those back in the day), so if it could be rearranged, I think that it would
benefit.
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