THE VILLAINESS (Jung Byung-gil, 2017)

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(Directed by Jung Byung-gil from a script by Jung and Jung Byeong-sik; starring Kim Ok-vin, Shin Ha-kyun, Sung Joon, Kim Seo-hyung, Jo Eun-jil, and Kim Yeon-woo. Released 21 May 2017; watched 2023w31 via Prime.)

A treasure unearthed (and consumed with urgency) thanks to the most recent Polygon end-of-the-month, "catch them before they leave streaming" piece and, in the best tradition of South Korean genre cinema, one hell of a revenge story that's so very, very much more: led by brilliant performances from stars Kim Ok-vin, Shin Ha-Kyun, and Sung Joon and by turns exhilarating (those action sequences, JFC), pastoral, horrific, comedic, hopeful, and heart-wrenching (I refuse to apply the overused "heartbreaking," thanks CBR), THE VILLAINESS is truly something special. Blu purchased as soon as credits rolled (with three hours and some change to spare before it exited Prime), Jawan Koo's score the soundtrack to today’s work.

Haven't been this excited / inspired / enthralled by a film in awhile; hopeful it will bring with it an ability to be excited by other films again... I've missed the ability to recharge through cinema for far too long.

THE PERIPHERAL, s1 (2022)

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still from Amazon's THE PERIPHERAL, two robots

Having read Gibson's original novel when it came out almost ten years ago, I can't attest to how faithful this streaming translation was (not that it really matters) but two things did stick out: one, I don't recall Flynn being so irritatingly passive in Gibson's original; and two, Alexandra Billings was phenomenal and needs to be in everything.

Yesbut: too much of THE PERIPHERAL's eight episodes were a slog redeemed only by its last few (probably once Ned Dennehy and Billings showed up): given the source and the WESTWORLDly and SIMPLE PLAN (love that film) talent behind it, I had hoped for more – suppose I was quasi-precient in saying "in Gibson and Nolan and Joy I (mostly) trust," this first season being a case study in that trust being misplaced for 2/3 of the fruits of their collaboration.

Nonetheless, given how this first season ended, I do hope for a season two – but that it took long enough to get rolling that a second season is required at all is problematic, at best.