Review: Wonderful Days (2003)
Harvey S. Karten
Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Maxmedia/Endgame
Grade: C-
Directed by: Moon-saeng Kim, Park Summin
Written by: Moon-saeng Kim, Jun-Young Park
Cast: Voices of Joon-ho Chung, others
Screened at: Review 1, NYC, 12/9/04
"Sky Blue," which is being billed as the first anime of its kind to
be produced entirely in Korea, is a combination of computer
generated graphics, miniatures, and 2-D animation. Korea
appears to be setting itself up as a rival to Japan in that
department, though the combination in Moon-saeng Kim and
Park Summin's film is unique. Fans of Japanese anime could
be disappointed, however, since the typical way that human
beings are put across look not dissimilar to the style of the
Saturday morning cartoons many years back, which had the
people moving their mouths but otherwise taking little real
action.
Once we get past the alleged uniqueness of this Korean film,
we're left with a discussion of a plot. Sad to say, it would take
multiple viewing to get much of an idea of a story, since "Sky
Blue" is denser even than the year 2004's most
incomprehensible movie, "Primer."
To get some idea of the plot, we could imagine that civilization
all over the world has been virtually destroyed by warfare and
pollution while New York City alone survives. New York would
be run by a tight military organization such as the Delta forces
that guarded my town whenever a red alert was signalled and,
ironically, the pollution is the very thing that generates energy as
though the filth in the air were like coal dust. As a result,
however, nobody had seen a blue sky for years–just as we in
New York can almost never see a constellation of stars in the
heavens.
In place of New York, the city that survives in "Sky Blue" is
called Ecoban, guarded over by a woman named Jay. Jay's
childhood sweetheart, Shua, swore to her that one day he and
she would have blue skies and, to set the stage for this miracle,
he joins an insurgent organization known as the Hot Dogs. The
romantic triangle among Shua, Jay, and a security official
named Simon is part of the story, at least I think.
Though one critic upon leaving the film, called the visuals "far-
out, really nice," I see nothing astonishing despite the fact that
the film took seven years to make and involved well over a
hundred Korean technicians to put the project together. The
American release is dubbed in English: the language is clear
and commanding. Someone else, perhaps a guy with a better
appreciation of the technology, might well give the movie a
thumbs-up though it's doubtful that he or she could honestly say
that this virtually plotless picture projects any characters to care
about.
Not Rated. 90 minutes. © 2004 by Harvey Karten
harvey...@cs.com
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X-RT-RatingText: C-