Hey folks, Harry here... Unfortunately I didn't get to see TEENAGE HOOKER (though the festival is going to set me up with a screening they say) due to my having to watch BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE (yeah Cry me a river Harry) so instead I'll have to let my doppelganger explain the genius...
Hey Harry,
Tried calling you last night at the hotel around 9, (Halifax time, of course) but you weren't in yet. But I had read on the website that you might be checking out "Teenage Hooker..." So I decided if I was going to meet you, it would be there. Anyway...you weren't...no problem, cause I got to see two pretty unexpectedly cool movies!
First off, we arrive at the theater and are fore-warned by a festival organizer that we will be seeing some graphic nudity/violence..."BONUS!!" I thought. He explained about the movie a bit and also mentioned that, before the feature, we would be seeing an 8 minute short film by fledgling director Will Canon called "Roslyn" shot entirely on DV. Now I was pretty surprised and somewhat excited after seeing "Roslyn". As an aspiring filmmaker myself looking to work entirely in digital video, this little movie about frat-boy initiation gone awry got me all jazzed up about the fact that it can be done, and done well!! I only wished it was longer and more fleshed out, but given the time allotted, Will Canon did an over the top job. The story revolves around a group of fraternity brothers in the midst of initiating new pledges, their task, to stick a gun in the face of a clerk at different convenience stores around the city...now, I can't tell you too much more cause it IS only eight minutes long and to write anymore would give the whole thing away, but I gotta say, the endings pretty cool...Now I'm not saying this is the best thing since Citizen Kane, of course not, but for what it is, it's pretty fucking good. What really gets me excited is that, this is the first DV movie I'VE seen, personally, that proves that movies shot on digital video can look fantastic. Now I know, there has been a few out recently like Figgis' "Timecode" and others I just can't remember, but I haven't seen those so...I'm pretty sheltered, movie wise which might explain my vigor in promoting this film, but I digress...
On to "Teenage Hooker Became Killing Machine in DaeHakRoh" Now, I'm not too familiar with foreign non-english speaking movies outside Crouching Tiger (I really should broaden my horizons). But I'm glad I saw this one, cause this is a rampant cheese fest that gets all it's best laughs unintentionally. Not to say it was horrible, it wasn't, on the contrary, it was the most entertaining movie I've seen in awhile.With it's fucked up, washed-out filters which cause the colors to bleed profusely into each other (done purposefully I assume) and it's dialogue and story ripped-off from every Anime film out there. I know it doesn't sound like I'm selling it, but I am urging everyone of you who has the chance to go see this movie.
Aside from all the hokey, schlokey stuff in it, it was very artfully done, but maybe a little too artfully done taking into account it's about a teenaged hooker brought back to life as a vengeful robot. But I say, if you can fit it in, go for it. It's also got a kick-ass soundtrack with a song I believe was done by Tricky, but I could be wrong. There's also a sequence in it where the "teacher"(imagine a cross between Jackie Chan and Satan), one of the teenaged hooker's (So-yun Lee) clients, asks for a 50,000 in exchange for her life. A 50,000 (50,000 bucks) consists of dancing in an alley, riding a bicycle while laughing insanely, and then sitting on a swing, before having bizarre sex. It's this sequence which sold the movie for me. It's all played out to this amazing Korean rock song and is so surreal, I find it hard to describe. I think that if this sequence was taken out by itself, and then played on any music channel, you'd have a bonafide hit. Hell, if I saw it here on Muchmusic on a program called "The Wedge" at like midnight, it would definitely hook me, the song itself is a gem...
Anyway, the girl becomes pregnant and falls in love with the satanic Jackie Chan (Dae-tong Kim) and wishes to stay with him and raise their daughter to be an Opera singer. Fat chance says Devil Chan, I'm gonna get my guys to chop you up into many many pieces. Done! Then some mysterious guy pops up and collects the pieces in a bag and brings it to an old lady who sews her back up with an antiquated sewing machine. They hook her up to a mechanical crucifix reminiscent of "Ghost in the Shell" and program her to become a killing machine.
That in a nutshell, is the premise...again I don't want to give too much away cause I want people to go see this. For once in my life I want to get away from American artsy independents and cheesy western commercial movies, and check out more cheesy independent movies from the far east...far more entertaining than any Corman movie I've ever seen....thank you.
PS - Harry, you can call me "Your Doppelganger"
