EPTFor those of you who don’t know or have never heard of it, Montreal (it’s a pretty big city in Canada
) is hosting it’s 14th annual Fantasia film festival throughout July. It’s North America’s largest genre film festival (thanks wikipedia), and plays host to mostly Non-English films from all over the Far-East and Europe that would never find screens in Canada otherwise. This year the theme is Korean cinema! 14 films from the good ol’ R of K have been selected for limited screenings right here in Montreal! So, since I’m desperately in love with movies, Korea, and Teamliquid, I’m proud to present to you the first entry in Lexpar’s “A Korean in Montreal”! I’ll be attending as many of the screenings as I can, and bringing you fine folks a synopsis and review of each film hosted at the festival this year. Most of them are available online if one sounds interesting to you, google is your friend! Film List
+ Show Spoiler +
A Frozen Flower
A Little Pond
Blades of Blood
Castaway on the Moon
Le Grand Chef 2: Kimchi Battle
Possessed
Scandal Makers
Secret Reunion
The Executioner
The Housemaid
The Naked Kitchen
The Neighbor Zombie
What Is Not Romance?
Woochi
First up, one I saw in theatres a couple weeks ago: Le Grand Chef 2: Kimchi Battle
![[image loading]](http://aezone.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/aezone.net-aez-lgc2.jpg)
Don’t ask me why there’s French in your Korean.
Synopsis
Le Grand Chef 2 begins and ends with tables full of food. After an opening credit sequence you might expect from any number of American cooking shows, we find half a dozen well dressed men and women sitting around a table, the Korean and Japanese flags hanging lazily in the background. Translators scribble furiously into palmed notebooks as two diplomats exchange small talk. The nonversation moves along at a steady clip until, dramatically, the Korean diplomat takes his first bite of Kimchi. He pauses, chews slowly, a look of subtle surprise and bewilderment graces his features and before he can even swallow the Japanese man asks him how it tastes. It’s absolutely delicious. Hard to find it this good even back home. The man laughs openly, and with a gloating, cocky smile informs him that the Kimchi is actually a Japanese recipe. Validated, he takes a small sip of his wine and assures the now even more bewildered Korean man that he’s “glad he likes it”. Remember guys, this is how World War 1 started. Thankfully nothing so dramatic happens. Instead, this conversation lays the foundation for a national Kimchi making tournament in Korea to celebrate and accentuate their culture.
Sung-Chan (played by Jin Goo) owns and operates a small fruit and vegetable stand in his Korean hometown when he hears about the Kimchi contest. He’s renowned amongst the town people for his charm, generosity, and good looks, but decides to lay his business on the line in order to compete. We quickly learn that his half-sister Jang-Eun (played by Kim Jeong-eun), an internationally successful chef who made the kimchi that-done spurred the entire competition back in scene one, will also be competing. The two have a bitter relationship: sharing a father but different mothers, they were both in constant competition as children for the attention of their parents and as cooks. Jang-Eun hates Korea and it’s antiquated traditions, preferring to live in Japan, while Sung-Chan celebrates his culture, opting never to move out of his home town. Meanwhile, their parents are fighting off buyers for their now-defunct restaurant, Chunyang gak. It’s no surprise that Sung-Chan wants to help them re-open and preserve it’s tradition, while Jang-Eun would prefer to tear it down and start a new fusion-cuisine based restaurant in it’s place. Without delving into spoilers, the two compete up to the finals of the tournament (Sung-Chan aided by his cuter-than-words-can-describe girlfriend/reporter, played by Wang Ji-Hye), and it all culminates in a fittingly bitter-sweet ending.
Review
If I had to sum it up in one sentence, Le Grand Chef 2 is a relatively light and cute dramedy that’s only real fault is indulging in melodrama a few times to many. If I didn't have to...
The main cast are all believable and entertaining to watch, yet some of the supporting actors feel like odd choices. The two that stand out particularly in my mind are the man trying to buy Chunyang gak and one of the kimchi judges: I guess they’re meant to be comic relief. The judge sports an absurd haircut, offensive tie, and loudly eats any food he comes across with his bare fingers, while the enthusiastic buyer shouts out english phrases (“Brother, don’t be angry!”), is followed around by two younger men that repeat the second half of his sentences and enthusiastically agree with him at every opportunity, and he smiles directly into the camera at points. Odd. Otherwise, it’s easy to get sucked in by Sung-Chan’s charm, and as much of a cold hearted bitch as she can be, you’ll feel remorse for Jang-Eun and her situation. Wan Ji-Hye is a total babe, and manages to look and sound very cute in all her scenes. The Mother figure is well played, but Dad it more than a little odd.
Again, the main problem with the movie is how melodramatic it can get. There’s a good half hour chunk where Sung-Chan and Wang Ji-Hye pick up a hitchhiker/murderer who's on the run from the cops and wants nothing more than to taste his mum’s cooking one more time. This little detour packs in a good three shots that will have you rolling your eyes (“He used to be such a good runner: always winning trophies and making me proud. Now... He’s on the run.”). The worst offender by far is a flashback involving Sung-Chan’s original mother. I won’t spoil it. The entire film is packed with one liners about the importance of food, particularly kimchi. Thankfully, the movie has enough sympathy for it’s viewers to end on an upbeat happy note, while a long, sad, possibly black and white scene could have easily done the job.
If you like food, you’ll enjoy at least an hour of this one. There’s loads of Matrix-Style panning shots and close-ups of cutting, frying, and mixing. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t getting hungry by the half way mark. I appreciated how the scenes of the kimchi competition where presented much like it would have been had I been watching the competition on TV, with shots of each contestant and smoothly animated frames of their creations zooming past them. In it’s entirety, the film looks great. The few outdoor shots look gorgeous, and there’s a distinct clash between Sung-Chan’s homey and rustic kitchen set up and Jang-Eun’s industrial stainless steel.
In the end, I have no trouble recommending Le Grand Chef 2 to any and all of you. Unlike some of the other films on the list *cough*bladesofblood*cough*, you don’t need to be a fan of Korean culture or have a bias to appreciate it. It stands up on it’s on merits and would fare respectively in an English market were it dubbed. You should all check it out!
You can catch the aforementioned food critic at the very end of this trailer.
Thanks for reading guys! Enjoy!
Coming up next...
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![[image loading]](http://filmifriik.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/castawayonthemoonposter.jpg)
