Tag: movie

Fighting Demons and Overcoming Generational Trauma – K-Pop Demon Hunters Review

She can sing and dance; she has all the fans; she has two best buddies, a caring manager, and all the popularity one can desire. Still, behind her seemingly joyous disposition lies a subtle sadness that offers a window into her personal turmoil. This is Rumi from K-Pop Demon Hunters.

I know I’m a little late to the K-pop bandwagon, but I really didn’t expect this movie to hit me as deep as it did. Back in 2013, when Frozen was released, I remember the hysteria that followed suit. The songs from that movie were just about everywhere, and it got tiring pretty fast. BUT, after becoming a father and watching Frozen with my daughter, I could understand the hype. Still, I didn’t rate it very high on my list of animated movies. K-Pop Demon Hunters, though, is a whole different story.

I had the movie on my watchlist for quite some time. After my daughter kept mentioning Rumi frequently from her dayhome visits, I realized we might as well sit and watch the movie together. There I was on a Friday night, with a bowl of popcorn in my lap, getting ready to enjoy the movie with my family. An hour and a half later, my daughter gets ready for bed, and I’m sitting with a lump in my throat. The songs were great, and the animation was absolutely terrific. The comedy and gags (especially those hinting at a comical self-awareness of K-dramas) also landed really well. Most of all, the incorporation of cultural elements and a story that, while being simple and sweet, carried deeply profound messaging, hit hard.

Rumi, our protagonist, is part-demon and part-hunter. Rumi’s mentor, Celine, counsels Rumi on her mixed identity and maintains that it is a truth that must remain hidden until it can be “fixed.” Rumi keeps that secret, one which evolves into a generational trauma where one “must keep our fears and faults hidden”, and struggles with her fragmented identity while hiding it from her closest friends and Huntrix teammates, Mira and Zoey.

But, as we all know, the longer you keep such a secret, the heavier the burden. Rumi feels the weight of her identity come crashing down upon her once she meets her counterpart in Jinu, lead singer of the demon boy band (yeah, you heard that right), and a foil to Rumi. Jinu’s own regrets and guilt mirror Rumi’s struggles. The story revolves around how these two characters connect, reconcile their feelings, move forward, and a whole lot more.

I’m currently undergoing therapy to deal with some stuff in my personal life. Part of that involves third-culture kid syndrome, some generational trauma, and a dollop of internalized emotions and experiences. Put it all together, and you get me, the grown-ass adult sitting with a lump in his throat after watching K-Pop Demon Hunters.

This movie works really well on so many levels, especially with its messaging towards accepting differences and oneself, even with all our faults. Sometimes even the most well-intentioned wishes can cause hurt and pain, and sometimes this can come from those closest to us. In these moments, I’ve learned that you can find strength by trusting yourself and letting your emotions flow rather than repressing them. Being vulnerable about your emotions and misgivings don’t make you weak. It takes great strength to speak what is in your heart, and it is the best way forward to accepting oneself.

As Rumi and Jinu sing it, “We can’t fix it if we never face it.”

K-Pop Demon Hunters is a perfectly well-balanced movie for a diverse audience, and all the more reason that it has found great success. The ending certainly leaves you wanting more, and I’m glad to know that a sequel is in development. Rumi goes from hunting literal demons to battling the one within herself. The mystical barrier of the “honmoon” she has vowed to protect is a beautiful metaphor for her inner struggle and the repressed undercurrent of her emotions. Finally, her willingness to find strength by accepting herself and sharing that truth with her friends, who, in turn, embrace her, brings it all full circle with Rumi no longer hiding but shining, as she was born to be. In a way, I think that’s something we can all do for ourselves.

Movie Review: Joker

First of all, I would like to state that this will be a SPOILER-FREE review. With audiences still pouring in, and only a week since its initial release on October 4, 2019, I felt it best to be tight-lipped about the details and instead provide a general outlook on how my movie experience turned out to be.

Image result for joker

As you all know by now, I’m a huge comic-book fan. My loyalties lean toward DC though I also enjoy several titles from Marvel and the MCU. Among the pantheon of DC and Marvel superheroes and villains, Batman and Joker rank as my favorites.

The Joker has been brought to life on the big-screen via the acting chops of several actors including Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamill (voice-acting), Heath Ledger, Jared Leto, and now in Joker, Joaquin Phoenix. Being a huge fan of Ledger’s work in The Dark Knight and after the promising trailer for Todd Phillip’s Joker, I had some pretty high expectations walking into the theater.

Joker met my expectations and even more. In short, Joaquin Phoenix hit it out of the park. Two hours later, as the credits swung over the screen, I couldn’t help but feel elated about revisiting some of the best titles in the Joker compendium, many of which served as subtle inspirations for various elements in the movie.

Joker does not match the present stereotype of popular action-oriented comic book movies and is vastly different in the portrayal of its pivotal character compared to The Dark Knight. Phoenix’s performance serves more as a character study of a super-villain, whose psyche has thus far been explored at least in the context of movie adaptations, from the perspective of his rival, the Batman. This trope is overturned in the Joker where we get a tour-de-force of his psyche in what can only be described, as Batman himself put it in The World’s Finest, “With the Joker, expect the unexpected.”

Joker presents a world in limbo largely framed within the closets of Arthur Fleck’s unhinged mind. It is a world where truth and falsity, reality and illusion all coexist making the audience’s perception of the character vary wildly from pity, remorse, fear, and a certain sense of justice. These emotions are further amplified by Phoenix’s portrayal of the Joker as a reflection of the society in what serves to be a glorious “killing joke” of Arthur Fleck’s descent into insanity.

Image result for joker and batman the killing joke

While it still remains up in the air if this particular rendition of the Joker will carry over into the DCEU, its a promising run of the major titles that DC have released with Wonder Woman, and Aquaman. Joker is a must-watch for all comic book and neutral fans alike. In my humble opinion, Joker ranks on par with Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (though in very different ways) and is an enthralling, curious, transcending, and riveting journey and study of one of the most iconic super-villains ever created in popular culture.

My Rating: 4.5/5