Bleak Night

2011
7.2| 1h57m| en
Details

The suicide of a former high-school bully puts the boy's father on a quest for answers.

Director

Producted By

Korean Academy of Film Arts

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Reviews

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable
Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews
Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.
Michael Floro I once read a stretch of Tarkovsky's book, "Sculpting in Time", in which he says that one of the main functions of cinema is to address the issues that were targets of various arts over the centuries - the literature, more than anything else, showed us how could inspire many movies. I think that this film somehow fits in one of these points. Although completely different from the films made by the most famous Russian filmmaker, that I quoted, this film has - and shows - its value. Pasookkoon is a beautiful cinematographic work, which depicts perfectly the possible peculiarities of relations between people. A penetrating look. Congratulations to Sung-hyun Yoon director for the excellent direction and screenplay. The cast was also excellent.
MtnShelby This is a gem of a film. Bleak Night is well worth watching for a wide range of reasons, from the reflective cinematography to the solid acting efforts. Bleak Night is not about a father's quest to uncover the truth about his son . . . it's a fuller exploration of the circumstances that led to the event and the young men involved. There's a unique flavor to the trio in this situation, one that is not usually explored. I won't say more than that--the discovery is part of the reason this film rises above other, more usual treatments of the subject.I especially enjoyed the central metaphor of the train and the railroad tracks, which I did not find clichéd, but rather core to the film and the relationship between the three young men. Bleak Night has stayed with me days beyond its viewing. If you're even the slightest bit interested in the film, give it a chance. I am certainly glad I did.
skulzsneez ...Friends, ones we can depend on...I would have given this film an eight, however, I was able to empathize with the main character in this masterpiece of a film and the persona characterized by Lee Je-Hoon was truly exceptional.Foremost, there were no vibrant colors as a theme throughout the film. The colors were mostly melancholy, which rightly so sets the tone for this movie; as gothic_a666 previously reviewed, "the tone remains one of sadness and regret through and through." This film is neither about suicide nor about homosexuality, despite some red herrings. Yes, suicide does play a significant role but to a lesser extent in contrast to friendship. The way I see it is that Gi-Tae values friendship more so than does his best "friends". We see it when he goes to great lengths to preserve his relationships with his best "friends", such as rejecting a girl who Hee-Joon crushes on but only to be misunderstood by said "friend".The way Gi-Tae expresses his love might be confused as homoerotic but the way I see it is as platonic. His platonic relationship with Hee-Joon and Dong-Yoon fills the void left by the absence of love he receives from his family. But, his platonic love for his best "friends" is unrequited and therein lies the problem. Gi-Tae acts up because he feels as if he is losing them. His temperamental behavior are attempts at salvaging what he has left. He has no mother, his father is not there when needed and, yet, he has his best "friends". His behavior and how things are being misunderstood start to unravel the tight bond (if it was in the first place) they had created with each other. Ultimately, this leads to a betrayal of friendships. People who you thought were your best friends suddenly become strangers to you. Sadly, this betrayal led to Gi-Tae's depression and his unfortunate demise.All in all, I truly enjoyed this film. From the beginning we know how the story ends, but what we don't know is how we will get there. On that ride towards the climax, we can feel the anxiety building and see what a tragedy it is. It may not have exciting scenes, but it does have reality.
Yuna_Fantasy Yes, this movie is shot well, yes the subject matter is a little taboo and no, not everyone will like this movie. Movies like this, to me personally, are watchable but very, very dull. Some may love the realistic gritty style, the feel of almost actually getting to watch what is nearly a day by day account of someone's life... I do not, I find this, as I said, dull. I like my movies to have entertainment, plot, motive, movement and reason. For me this movie had none of the above. I think movies like this like to call themselves art, and I suppose on some level they are, which is why so many people seem to flock to them and want to 'understand' and praise them. Anyway, back to the movie. It's a drag, slow going to the point of being a bit boring. I wanted to get into it, but found it hard to even figure why one of the character's motives that fuelled the whole plot. Although I don't want everything handed to me on a plate, I would like to find some answers as to why the characters and plot are even in front of me, you gain little in that respect. Nothing is explained and it ends rather abruptly. If you like movies like 'Meek's Cut off' you will most likely love this movie, I however would much rather have watched paint dry. On the upside, the actors were decent and it was shot nicely but other than that, big old' blah.