NAMELESS GANGSTER

Nameless Gangster (Bumchoiwaui Junjaeng) (2012) directed by Yun Jong-Bin 

I am looking forward to the forthcoming release of this film. Set in the 1990s, the movie chronicles the war that ensues following the move by the South Korean government against crime in Busan, the country’s second largest city after Seoul.

It stars one of my favourite and most versatile actors, Choi Min-shik, famed for eating octopus in Oldboy and more recently for his turn as a demonic killer in I Saw The Devil.

I can’t wait to see what he brings to this. 
 

HUNGRY EYE MAGAZINE

The first print issue of Hungry Eye Magazine will be on sale on October 1st. Click the logo to find out where you can buy a copy in the UK. Or follow the instructions on the site to buy direct.

TAKE ACTION

The Cincinnatti Kid (1965) directed by Norman Jewison

To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.

And actions have consequences, as every great script writer knows. 

This Steve McQueen classic is a great example of how to use these consequences to create the drama and tension that move the story forward. 

Sometimes all it takes to make a great movie is to remember what your characters did last and what effects these actions will have on the others in your story. 
 

UTAH, GET ME TWO

Reports are out that there is to be a reboot of Point Break (1991) directed by Kathryn Bigelow. I don’t know what to say apart from “That would be a waste of time.”

A 1000 CUTS

I have just spoken with a Hollywood film director. He likened the process of filmmaking to the Imperial Chinese torture and execution known as the Death by a Thousand Cuts. 

He feels that with every move forward on the creative road, there is always a problem or opinion that will slash away at the original idea. He added that it can be hard, but you must learn when to stick to your guns and when to tow the line or else the process will
consume you.

The Death by a Thousand Cuts - there’s a film right there.

A FEAR AND LOATHING

Given the imminent release of The Rum Diary (2011) directed by Bruce Robinson, I recently reread Hunter S Thompson’s highly enjoyable story.

In the book, the protagonist Paul Kemp travels to Puerto Rico to take up a writing post on a newspaper. He is searching for an easy paradise but finds something altogether different among the westerners that dominate the island of their creation.

Finishing the novel I was surprised to feel the same cold and very real awakening I experienced the first time around.

The characters appear to be valiant tough survivors. Some are young, some are old. All are aged in alcohol and heat struggling to keep a hold of the masks they live by. 

Some appear sure of what they want in life, sure they are on the right path while others sit back happy to allow life to provide the ride. Both parties seem doomed.

Seemingly disparate characters are bound by a common fear however - growing useless out beyond the point of no return, and somewhere in between these two extremes is the sense of the author. 

For a book written at the start of a career, The Rum Diary is a wonderful piece of work that is wise and insightful, but also irreverent and cavalier. In it is the blueprint for the fear and loathing that would mark the life and death of Hunter S Thompson and I am reminded of a quote from another of his incredible works.

“There he goes, one of God’s own prototypes, a high powered mutant of some kind, not even considered for mass production. Too weird to live and too rare to die.”