Mission Sex Control

First, before you misunderstand, this comedy-movie is on sex control, and not sex. Produced in 2006, this movie has recently been screened in Singapore.

This movie is based in 1971 when the Korean government launched a nationwide birth control policy with the aim to achieve higher income per capita status. To achieve this, the government sent their agents to the villages to teach & educate families on family planning.

Hyun-joo was sent to a small remote village - Yongdu Village with that mission, only to receive much resistance to contraception & the whole idea on family planning.

However, she didn't give up and eventually had Suk-gu & his friends to listen to her. To further get his & the residents support, she applied for him to be the new chief in the village. His promise in return is a '0 birth rate' in the bottom ranked village for 1 full year - a very hard & difficult task indeed for the ignorant folks.

It was this position that got him lots of trouble and losing friends & even nearly lost his family members.

This Korean movie has its typical Korean movie style - great photography, settings, beautiful actress... and also the constant non-predictable ending with twists - which actually is the spoiler here. The at times funny and at times emotional plot simply confuse the emotions - comedy or romance or ...?

Maybe this movie doesn't stand out because I've got a dose of too much similar style Korean movies... and maybe that is one of the reasons why Korean silver screens are not doing as well with their soap opera counterparts too.

Across The Universe

This Beatles themed musical film is set in the 1960s with Jude (Jim Sturgess) who leaves UK to the United States in search of his American G.I. father. While searching for his father at Princeton, he befriends Max (Joe Anderson), a rebellious young man from a privileged background, who then introduces his sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood).

Along the way, they become roommates and encounters a string of interesting housemates - Sadie, their easy going landlady who is an aspiring singer; Jojo, a guitarist; and Prudence. These characters add on as backgrounds to the 3 main characters and the developing romance of Jude & Lucy.

The movies builds up the characters friendships to only see it falter later with Jude returning to England. Movie - like, he then returns to the US to a waiting Lucy and the friendships of the group rebounds once more.

In a way this movie seems to highlight the Brit culture - especially on Brit pop. And it does pretty alright with the Beatles' hits... they are previous hits afterall.

However a rather uneventful and lame storyline don't gives much further than that... thought I'm sure any loyal British citizen would love the movie as it shows how influential Brit pop is (or was).