Orson Wells is pretty good at magic. This is probably the first thing that came to mind and the only thing that truly stuck in my head while watching this movie. It was the only thing I could really follow as this movie comes close to Schizopolis levels of confusing. It’s like a mix of a documentary while being a regular movie at the same time. Personally, I did think that this concept was interesting but not interesting enough to stay awake.

The movie opens with a magic trick which kicked my interest as magic is a small hobby of mine. It then proceeds to explain how everything we are going to see on screen is non-fictitious; explaining to the audience how everything is based on a true story but is done in a different way. We are then presented a series of interviews, clips, and explanations, all narrated by Orson Wells himself. The movie follows and explores the concept of “fakeness” through duplication paintings in the art world. We get many interviews of and about the great Elmyr; a painter famous for replicating the works of other famous artists. The audience is shown different interviews about replication in the art world, asking us the question “is fake art still art?” All this is told through clever editing of real-life clips and interviews to give the audience a feeling like they’re watching a regular movie as opposed to an elaborate documentary. It was very unique and interesting however I couldn’t help but be bored out of my mind.

Perhaps it was a mix of the confusing editing and Orson Wells’ voice that made this happen but I found the movie incredibly difficult to watch. I believe it was because it was edited to look and feel like a fictitious film but it had the content and details of a documentary. It was probably my own personal short attention span that made following what little of a plot I could perceive very hard to follow. I prefer watching stories that make me want to know what’s going to happen next, in this movie I was presented a lot of opinions and anecdotes about stuff I don’t really know or care about. While I do find the concept of a documentary story being told as a work of fiction, it was the subject matter that I really found boring. I am not the biggest fan of paintings, while I do appreciate their beauty and meaning, I’m not exactly the biggest fan of canvas art. Watching an almost two hour movie about fake paintings was nearly the death of me. This on top of Orson Wells’ incredibly soothing and deep voice made me miss a big part of the movie’s story. The tangent of Picasso’s life on the island is a really big blur in my memory and I can barely remember any of it aside from the way Well’s pronounced Oja’s name.

While I do enjoy the concept of the film Orson Wells’ lovingly put together, I can’t say it’s exactly something I would watch or recommend. I do acknowledge that this is largely a personal issues as a lot of what the film’s story was based around is of little interest to me. At the end of the movie, the only thing I was really thinking about was how Wells managed to pull of that coin trick wearing thick gloves; there’s no dexterity available while wearing those things.

For years I had heard about this movie. I had heard all about how everyone ends up crying at the end of the film. I had seen all those pictures of couples in that one staircase in Japan. I had heard all about how it was one of the most unique and interesting love stories ever told. After hearing about all this praise I finally gave in and tried to watch it on my own; I thought it was just okay. It wasn’t until a week before we watched this film in class that I realized I had seen a different movie entirely. My idiot brain was so proud that it was the one different thinker among all the sheep. Little did I know that upon actually watching the actual film, I would be crying just like the rest of the flock.

I had, and even until now still have a bit, apprehensions about romantic stories in anime. Romantic stories have never been my kind of thing in general. The anime I do watch are usually Shonen anime; popular action series like Dragonball and Naruto. Even though this film still follows many of the stereotypes that befall other romantic anime stories, its unique plot and premise are enough to keep even the most cynical of fans interested.

Kimi no Na wa is indeed a very unique love story. I had expected a stereotypical romance anime movie like I had seen before (including the one I had thought was Kimi no Na wa). Instead this movie breaks all expectations about typical romance anime and explores a very unique form of time travel. Taki and Mitsuha suddenly begin swapping bodies randomly while they sleep. While this initially freaks the both of them out, they finally begin to talk to one another through leaving messages on each other’s phones. They agree to acting like each other while their bodies are swapped to maintain the ruse that nothing is wrong with them. Through acting as each other, they begin to see the sides of life they have always dreamed about; Mitsuha finally begins to escape her small village and experience through Taki’s body. It is later revealed that their connection spans time as well; Mitsuha lives 3 years in the past. Mitsuha’s village and home were destroyed in a meteor crash. Taki spends the rest of the story trying to prevent Mitsuha from being killed in the past.

What I enjoyed the most was certainly the plot. I expected a very stereotypical anime romance anime with a boy and girl meeting and eventually falling in love. This is probably the first anime movie I’ve seen where the girl and boy only truly meet towards the ending. The way the plot strings together multiple seemingly convoluted ideas but still tells them in a comprehensive manner. Perhaps it was my expectations that really made it incredibly enjoyable for me. I truly enjoyed watching the way the two characters met one another. The way the characters got to know one another was enjoyable and a first for me as well. It was the first time in a romance movie I’ve seen characters get to know each other through journal entries on their phones.

The animation is beautiful as well. It blended together classic hand-drawn animation and 3D animation to make every frame of the film look like a painting. Overall the movie was extremely enjoyable for me; probably because I had so many expectations broken. By the end of the film I was left crying over the same staircase I made fun of for so many years.  

One of my favourite horror authors, Junji Ito, has a very popular series called Tomie. The manga features an anthology of stories all centered around a girl named Tomie. The girl haunts many different men, capturing them in a madness that drives them to kill all those who come between them and their love, Tomie. Eventually all those suffering from her madness are driven to kill Tomie, beginning a never-ending cycle of haunting. The Lost Highway’s plot and atmosphere really reminded me of Junji Ito’s series. It’s probably why I enjoyed watching this movie so much.   

The Lost Highway is a story about murder and insanity. The plot focuses on two main characters who struggle with desire and a beautiful girl. The story sounds simple but in truth it is told in a very convoluted way. The story begins by following Fred, a jazz club saxophonist who has a very weird tension problem with his wife. As the story progresses weird things begin to happen to the couple’s house as video tapes of them sleeping begin showing up on their doorstep. The matter of Fred’s sanity begins to come into question as the video tapes begin to become more and more surreal. Eventually one of the tapes shows Fred standing over his wife’s corpse and we find him in jail, like us, trying to differentiate hallucinations from reality. Just as I was beginning to rationalize the strangeness of the events as hallucinations, Fred is replaced in his cell with another man. This second man is Pete, a young auto mechanic. We then follow his story as he gets released from Fred’s jail cell. We see his relationship with a local mob boss, Mr. Eddy. Here we learn that Pete works special jobs for Mr. Eddy; fixing his prized Benz for him when it begins to wear out. The problems begin to arise when Pete begins an affair with Mr. Eddy’s girlfriend, who looks identical to Pete’s wife. When the two plan an escape from the city together, both Fred and Pete’s lives slowly begin to merge together, leaving the audience to question whose story it is we are actually watching. The story ends with the audience questioning who the girl really knew and whether it was Fred’s hallucinations or a supernatural series of events.

I would say my favorite part of this film was the first third of the movie; the scenes involving Fred and his wife. For whatever reason, every interaction they have has a high amount of tension between the two characters. I always felt the need to either look away or cover my eyes whenever the two would talk. Even if it was over what their plans for the night were, the way they paused between replies or the way the sounds created eeriness just made my skin crawl. The way they moved around the house and the way they just looked at each other was highly unsettling. Every single thing from their scenes together helped create this feeling of tension reminiscent of a Hitchcock film. Every scene with them feels like a time bomb is about to go off but we never know much time is left on the clock. I was a little disappointed by the time their act wrapped up, however. I felt the payoff of Fred watching a clip of his dead wife didn’t satisfy all the build up the film had been working towards. Nonetheless, I still very much enjoyed that part of the movie.

I also enjoyed in particular speculating about how the two main characters were connected through their mutual girlfriend. As I mentioned previously, her and the story greatly reminded me of Junji Ito’s manga work. I first thought the story was about parallel universes slowly blending together with the common link between both worlds being the girl. All the supernatural events helped create a very out-of-world atmosphere that made me enjoy the film very much. Even though the film was based on very down-to-earth themes and topics, the creepy supernatural side still made it feel out of this world.

Overall, I really enjoyed this film. The only problems I had while watching this movie was a disappointing payoff in the first act and its extremely long run time. Other than these nitpicks, the film is a tense viewing experience always leaving the audience wanting more.  

H.P. Lovecraft has made some of my favourite stories of all time. He also pioneered the genre of horror stories that I find to be one of the scariest; Cosmic Horror. He scared the world with the idea that we are insignificant nothings in a much world ruled by much much more powerful beings that don’t even know we exist. The idea of an incomprehensible being with power we can’t comprehend is something I find genuinely terrifying. The Endless is a film that uses this idea to create the uneasiness and tension that plagues the characters. This is why I enjoyed the movie so much. I like being scared.

The Endless is a movie that focuses around a camp of people subject to the power of an unseen force and the two brothers that decide to return to it. The story focuses on the bond the two brothers have and how this monstrous force tests their relationship. The two brothers, Aaron and Justin, come back to a camp they escaped years ago to find out what life there was truly like. There, they discover a hidden horror that asserts its will over the camp by the lake. The story is well told and there are a lot of moments that really freaked me out. The scares (if you can call them that) were probably what I enjoyed most about the plot. I really love stuff that creeps me out and this film succeeded multiple times on making me feel uneasy. Everything from the way the characters speak about the camp, to the lighting, and even the music all served their purpose in making me feel like something was terribly wrong about the happy campers. The many forced smiles and weird “rituals” definitely helped in this area. The entire time I felt like I was watching a broken jack-in-the-box, waiting for something to pop out only for it to never come.  The story and setting truly made me feel uneasy which is something that has become harder to do recently, but I appreciate this movie in actually succeeding.

 I liked the characters in the movie, particularly the racist man Shitty Carl, but I think it was the malevolent force that kept me watching the most. If it can be considered a character, then it definitely had my favourite scenes. All the freaky monster things that happened were all genuinely scary or creepy to me. My favourites were probably the tug of war with the moon and the 3 second loop in the tent. These were moments that really made me feel like there was something very powerful was hiding itself in the camp. When the rope became taught in darkness, I actually got goose bumps. The film lowers the audience’s guard by making an off-handed comment that someone is actually holding the rope at the other end and then stuns them by showing that supposed character standing off in the back. The 3 second tent is probably what I consider to be the most horrifying. While I didn’t get as creeped out as some of the other scenes, thinking about it later was what scared me a lot. I can’t imagine being stuck in a cycle of death that only lasts 3 seconds; the pure terror and torture of it all. These were the moments that truly made me feel scared of the camp and its people.

Overall, this movie probably scared me the most of out all the films we’ve seen. It was a nice departure from the regular movies that turn into weird stuff and I really appreciated watching it. It made the idea of being stuck in a cycle actually scary and it was fun getting scared of the different things in the camp. Now I have to be afraid of circles too.

Sorry to Bother You was the only film I wasn’t able to watch in class due to me getting the measles; so, I had to watch this movie by myself. I chose a Starbucks near my church as the place to enjoy my viewing experience while waiting for my friends. This was a very big mistake on my part. There were multiple times I had to shut my laptop screen because of a little child behind me when the crazy stuff started happening on screen. Even when my friends got there, they started filming my very animated reactions in the public setting. However, I wouldn’t say this hampered my experience at all; in fact, it probably made watching the movie even more fun and enjoyable than I had expected. It also helps that this was probably one of the best films I’ve seen in a long time. Again, this movie has also served to fuel my theory about what Sir Ty intends to teach us with his freaky film endings.

This movie was, to me, one of the best we’ve seen all semester. I think I enjoyed the plot and storytelling the most. Cash’s rise from a nobody to a wealthy power caller at the cost of all his loved ones was something that personally made for a compelling story. I found Cash to be a very relatable character for a lot of the movie, especially when he was presented with his choice of bettering his own life at the cost of losing the people he cares for. I personally feel like I’ve had to make this decision many times in my life, and like Cash, I feel like I’ve made wrong choices a lot too. This was probably why I found it so compelling.

I also feel compelled to mention the subtle ways the film handled race and inequality. The “white voices” of the black characters, I felt, was an excellent way of subtly (or not so subtly I thought it was cool) implying and showing the inequality present in our world today. The way how Cash and Mr. *beep* had to only use their white voices at the power caller centre or how Detroit had to use her own white voice at her art exhibit were moments that really stood out to me. Perhaps the biggest reference to inequality was actually found in the literal work horses of the film; the “Equisapiens.” They were treated as literal slaves by Steve Lift and they even had their own mini revolution towards the end. There were many moments that stood out to me as commentary on race, but these were probably my favourite.

The freaky twist towards the end of the film was again, probably my favourite part of the story. I have begun to notice a pattern in the films Sir Ty shows us. They started fairly simple and then ramp up into some crazy shit nobody really expected. I don’t mind however, in fact I really enjoy movies like this. The twist at this movie where it sort of turned into a body horror experience was something I found to be very enjoyable. Needless to say, I was very freaked out by this part but it made it so that I couldn’t stop watching until the end. Even the twist ending with Cash actually turning into a horse man was something that really stuck in my mind long after the film ended.  It was genuinely disturbing to me and I really loved it. I’m a big fan of horror stories and the way this story kind of evolved into one was genuinely scary and amazing for me.

This was one of the films I enjoyed the most throughout the semester. Its use of compelling storytelling and freaky horror elements at the end made it so that I couldn’t stop watching. This was a movie I felt is the perfect thing to freak my friends out with, and that’s all I really need in a movie.

Repo Man felt like watching an adaptation of No Country for Old Men from the past. I’m a very big fan of the latter movie and so watching this movie and how it was different was very enjoyable for me. The concept of the MacGuffin is something that many people do not enjoy but I really enjoy watching stories based around them a lot. Things like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction, the infinity stones in the Marvel Universe, the One Ring in Lord of the Rings, etc. With the MacGuffin in this movie being a different object than what I’m used to was probably the part that intrigued me the most. This movie is also the one that helped me confirm Sir Ty’s obvious fetish for movies that start normal but eventually turn into crazy things.

My favourite thing in the movie is what most of the characters over for the film’s runtime. The radioactive car was the most interesting thing in the entire movie. Whenever it came on screen, I was always tense as to what new trick or danger it would pull out. I began to think of the car as its own character; it actually became my favourite character. Among all the tricks the car pulled off, the radiation was probably the one that shocked me the most. Watching the car was the thing that kept me glued to the screen. I always love watching movies like this because finding out what happens to the MacGuffin is always the best part for me. Watching the car fly into the night sky ala Neverending Story could probably be my ultimate pay off.

The story itself was also very compelling for me. As I mentioned previously, MacGuffin stories are something I actually genuinely enjoy. I really did enjoy watching the car exchange drivers and exchange owners were something I couldn’t take my eyes off of. The mystery surrounding the car as well was something I enjoyed as well. Build up is something that is very important to me in storytelling and the way it was done in this film was very compelling to me. The way they built up the mystery around the car with all the Men in Black-esque suits and all the different parties searching for it was probably my favourite part of the movie from a narrative perspective. The finale with all parties coming together was the payoff I felt I really needed at the end of the film. Overall, I felt that the build up that the filmmakers did based around a radioactive car was excellent and probably the part I enjoyed the most (aside from the car itself).

The ending of the film itself has personally confirmed a theory I’ve had since the beginning of the semester; Sir Ty very much enjoys freaking out his students. The ending with the car flying off into space like a superhero was probably the last thing I was expecting and that’s exactly why I enjoyed it so much. I wouldn’t say it’s a twist ending in particular, but it was definitely something I was not expecting. From all the set up previously in the film, I had already placed together that it was an alien thing, but flying into space was a treat that I think everyone got to enjoy (I did at least).

Overall, I would say the movie was something I really want to show to my friends (because I also have Sir Ty’s fetish for weirdness). The way they managed to build a whole movie around a radioactive flying car was something I think I can use to freak my friends out any day.

I’m a very big fan of David Bowie; a very big fan. A lot of his music was a big part of my upbringing as a child. My dad loved playing his music over that of my mom’s and his music was a lot of different kinds of rock; glam rock also being a part of that. Needless to say, Bowie’s music ingrained itself in my head from a young age; Starman being my absolute favourite. This film made me feel like I was peering into the behind the scenes life of Ziggy Stardust himself.

The movie more or less follows the story of one Brian Slade, also known by his stage moniker “Maxwell Demon,” throughout his glam rock career. It follows what I imagined to be the dark side of the rock-star life; all of the drugs, sex, alcohol, and scandals that follow a performer. It’s apparent from the start that much of the movie is based around what I imagine to be the real life story of David Bowie himself. From the bisexuality to the alternate stage persona from space even down to the flamboyant makeup and outfits, it all seems to be linked to Bowie in some way or form. While Bowie himself has directly disapproved of the film, it’s hard not to see all the similarities between him and the character that we follow in the story. This is why the movie felt quite personal to me. David Bowie was always someone I’d admired as a performer but never actually knew much about backstage. Watching this movie felt like I was finally allowed to glimpse into what his life might have been like (even though the movie was probably wildly over exaggerated).

It shows off many of the stereotypes that we have become familiar with about the glam rock life today; the vibrant sexuality and the open use of strong narcotics. A lot of the film deals with what I personally imagined the glam rock to be life. The filmmakers truly play up the stereotype of the wild crazy rock-star life. Perhaps the biggest part of it was the sexuality. Again playing off of David Bowie, a lot of story beats were based around expressing Brian’s and the other character’s sexuality. Many characters often express having very open sexual lives which is something I really admired about the film. I personally think sexuality is something that needs to be expressed more, especially in the Philippines. Seeing the way it was portrayed here, not necessarily as a bad thing and more of as an aspect as of being a rock-star, was something I desperately needed to see in film.

The music was probably my favourite aspect of the film in general. As I said previously, my dad forced a lot of his music onto me and I eventually found my own way. The music in this film is where I felt around 2 years ago. I felt like I was going on a nostalgia trip through memories that the film created for me. From what I know, most of the music on the film was originally produced which I find incredible. The music genuinely made me feel like it was all made by a 70’s or 80’s glam rock group or idol. I really felt like I was listening to a hidden Bowie album that I was meant to hear in this exact moment in time.

The movie genuinely made me feel like I was experiencing listening to my dad’s music again, but this time at least, I was listening to it by myself. It was like watching a movie about everything I imagined about the rock-star life.  

Growing up, Japanese monster movies were always a secret passion of mine. Many people would consider me weird or strange whenever I would try to bring up the topic. Things like Ultraman and Spectreman were always things I would watch in private and never tell anyone about. The Godzilla series, however, was always one of my favourites. He was a mascot of my childhood; I can still clearly remember watching him fight monsters like Ghidora and Rodan on my father’s laptop as a kid. I watched every movie in secret while I was growing up; desperate to tell someone how I felt about them but not finding anyone. It wasn’t until 2014 when Pacific Rim and the new Godzilla movie came out that giant monster movies finally entered the mainstream. I finally could force people to listen to my opinions about the films I had loved so much growing up. When I found out we were watching Godzilla’s newest movie for class, I was ecstatic; I could post what I thought. I could finally talk about the King of the Monsters.

When I think of disaster movies, I think about movies where the weather kills people or a meteor from spaces kills people. I usually consider movies that feature a living creature that kills people as monster movies, but Godzilla at his debut was a not a monster movie but a very different kind of disaster movie. Only a few years fresh after the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the Japanese were quick to encapsulate the fear and paranoia they experienced during the war. They created Godzilla (in Japanese Gojira) as an icon of the disaster and danger brought about by nuclear radiation. He spent his first few movies as a force of nature; a destructive force that had to be endured, not stopped. He would wreak destruction upon Japan but this would change only a few films later. He would later become a children’s hero; defeating other monsters and defending Earth and Japan. He would befriend children, have kids, and even dance. He became a pop culture icon. Shin Godzilla is an attempt to return to that classic style of Godzilla; the force of nature. Shin Godzilla is a classic take on the character and icon that is the King of the Monsters.  

Shin Godzilla is very true to the old Godzilla formula of movies: monster breaking stuff and people talking. What this movie does differently however, is it showcases the bureaucratic chaos that is trying to make a proper decision in Japanese Government. I felt a pang of nostalgia watching people in offices talk about how to deal with the monster that would be cut to in the next scene. I found it interesting to see how the suits in the office would deal with a literal monster outside their windows. My favourite part of the film was, as usual, the monster itself. Godzilla, this movie, features a completely new style and transformation. His usual gray scales and skin have been replaced by orange rocky scales. It adds a new menacing look to the atomic lizard, which I found very refreshing. His new “evolution” that he experiences as the film progresses was probably my favourite part. He starts off as a worm like creature, walking on fat stubby legs and eventually graduating to the classic T-Rex style that he is known for today. His new “self-defensive adaptation” abilities also added some tension that lacks in Big Daddy G’s solo movies. The directors compensated for his lack of an opponent with many new and different abilities, making his conflicts with the military actually interesting; watching what new weapon he would pull out each fight is new and refreshing. The evolution of the new Godzilla seems to hint at a new form at the end of the movie with his tail seeming to branch off to create new human-like offspring. I was left excited and ready to see what Toho Studios would do with my favourite Japanese character of all time.

I am a sucker for Kaiju movies. There’s something about a huge monster stepping on paper buildings that always piques my interest. Even though Godzilla lacked a true opponent in this movie (Monster fights are always great), the sheer amount of new abilities and forms he had in this new take kept me watching. I enjoyed watching Godzilla and I probably always will.

My mom is the first Filipina actress to graduate from Julliard. She was the first Filipino woman to graduate with a degree in drama from the prestigious performance arts school. Her specialty was acting and directing in Shakespearian plays. Until now, Shakespeare is a strange part of my life and this movie felt like it was my mother testing to see if her knowledge rubbed off on me.

My Own Private Idaho kind of reminded me of Schizopolis in a way. The main character’s problem with narcolepsy allowed for the storytelling to be somewhat disjointed throughout the film. The film jumped around quite a bit and I was very confused; the beginning of the film is what I felt was the weakest part. I found it quite difficult to keep track of what was happening and I was getting quite confused. Later on, when the film began to pick up pace, I began to enjoy the movie more. The characters were probably my favourite part, mostly because they were characters that I had already been familiar with.

But even then, I had trouble enjoying movie. It wasn’t that I think the movie was bad, it was more of that I was too familiar with the story already. It wasn’t until the introduction of the character Bob that I began to finally make sense of the movie. It was also at this point where I could hear my mom quietly whispering things into my ear.

I realized that the movie is a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV. All of the pieces started to form together like my mom was pushing them into place for me. Much of the movie started to feel very familiar; like I was watching one of my mom’s plays. This is probably what made the film feel very tiring for me. While I personally thought the movie was well made, I had a very hard time sitting through all of it. This is probably the only movie I felt this way with, simply just due to old familiarity. The characters, particularly Scott and Bob, were what really reminded me of Shakespeare’s play. It was through these two characters that I really felt the play speaking to me through the screen.  

It was quite hard for me to enjoy the movie after I started to make the connections about it being an adaptation. From a very young age, I’ve been watching these plays and stories. This made it very difficult for me to appreciate the story I was watching. Even now, I find it very difficult to remember which things in the movie were and which things in different adaptations I’ve seen were. It was my own personal bias that really affected the movie for me. The only thing I could really think of while watching the movie was all the different adaptations I’ve already seen.  While I do remember enjoying viewing the film, it did feel like I was watching something I had already seen many times beforehand.   

I usually pride myself on being able to predict where a story is going. My mother is a drama teacher and a veteran play director and she taught me a lot about a story’s flow. My mother and I even have a game wherein the two of, while watching a TV show or movie, try to predict where each character will end up and how their stories will be resolved. This is the first story I’ve watched in a long time where I could not predict a single thing.

The story follows a structure that makes the widely different stories easier to follow; every hour is a different worker with a different story. Some of the stories are connected (some are connected in truly strange ways) while others are little independent episodes that can still be understood without watching any of the other hours. The ones in particular that stood out to me were the evil alien lady with the magic box, the worker trying to learn English during his work hours, and the lazy worker whose numerous mistakes come to fruition when his boss arrives as a surprise.

The alien lady stood out to me perhaps because this is the point in the class when I began to question Sir Ty’s intentions for showing us this movie. A lady is seen in at least 3 separate hours hugging the refrigerators and rubbing cold drinks in her armpits. I can understand her situation to some degree; I too despise the heat of the summer. At one point she asks the current clerk to hold a box for her with some specific instructions that the clerk is obviously not intelligent enough to follow. I too can relate with the clerk for I am also quite stupid and bad at following instructions. I thought this was going to be a simple silly story about a guy failing to follow instructions but I was truly blown away when the box began speaking to him about his failures. The box then proceeded to vaporize the poor soul and this was the first twist I experienced and was truly shocked by.

The next hour I was stuck by was the one with the man trying to learn English. He clearly struggles with pronunciation and grammar but this makes him quite endearing. It becomes all the more endearing when several English speaking customers enter the store and he tries in vain to communicate with them. It’s one of those incredibly cringe-worthy but also endearing movie scenes that are difficult to nail down. I personally hate those kinds of scenes; I cringe very easily and it tortures me to watch (or experience) moments such as those. These kinds of stories/experiences are far too real for me to handle. The hour was quite heart-felt as he you can really see the character struggle to improve and work hard. What surprised me (and turned my cringe up to the max) was when the Arab Women entered the store. His English speaking practice involved him repeating a phrase about the dangers of being a woman in Afghanistan. You can imagine how much I physically cringed when the women turned out to be from Syria and not Afghanistan. It was probably the most uncomfortable I’ve ever been in this class and I hope I do not go beyond that level of anxiety.   

The final scene that struck me the most (probably because I could relate to it the most) was the lazy worker who would mess up a discount given by the store. His story was relatively self-contained; only linking to one other worker throughout the entire film. He’s portrayed as a lazy man who sleeps off most of his shift while he waits for the few customers to walk through his doors. He reminds customers about a special deal regarding a specific energy drink where they can do a buy 2 get 1 free promo. Up until this point, he appears to actually be quite competent; like a veteran who knows how to properly budget his time at the store. His implied intelligence is apparent until the moment when his boss shows up. It turns out that the promo he has been giving to customers actually ended a few months ago and he has been accidentally giving away free drinks; much to the ire of his superior. Here he begins to spiral into what seems to be an episode of frustration and self-hate. This character is probably the one I can relate to the most out of all of the others. I have an intense fear of something similar to his story happening to me; I’m very afraid of one day realizing a big part of my life has actually been very wrong. To see it play out, albeit in a smaller way, such as this one actually affected me on a much deeper level than I had initially anticipated. This affected the way I experienced most of the movie.

I began to see the people working in the stores not as characters in a movie, but as actual people who might exist after the credits stopped rolling. That one scene managed to make me forget I was watching a movie and sucked me into its immersive story. I can only imagine what normal convenience store worker experiences daily in South Korea. From crazy bosses to aliens and even to ghosts, the store featured in this story seems to be in the middle of the Korean equivalent of Area 51; yet it still felt more real watching this set of characters than perhaps any of the other films I’ve watched in this class. The film took me on a ride and every hour seemed to present me with something unexpected each time, which is something that is not easy to do.