Seongnyangpari sonyeoui jaerim

This is not a follow-up of Kaurismäki's MATCH GIRL - although director Jang Sun-woo is an ironic and sometimes cynical artist. His unpredictability led to the documentary-styled LIES in 1999, a sadomasochistic story that is unconventionally introduced by one actor's explanation about why he chose to participate in the movie. THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL took almost four years to be completed and has those moments, too, where we are reminded that we are 'only' watching a movie. Fantasy film fans usually don't like this breaking-up of the narrative. That might be the reason for a box-office failure of the film in Korea so far. It's budget is one of the highest in the history of Korean film (10 m USD) and justified by all the spectacular stunts and shoot-outs and digital references that seem to say laconically: What's all that fuzz about MATRIX? As we know from former movies of Jang Sun-woo (like A PETAL) he never forgets to comment on social topics. The story is about a guy who needs to log into a virtual game to get rich through fighting other players and saving the poor and starving MATCH GIRL (a figure known from Andersen's tales). Whether you feel computer games are ridiculous after the movie or you reflect about unjustified possession ratios in your society, the movie with its choice of different though on first sight unhappy endings might leave you puzzled - exactly the way it is done. "Techno-Taoist" was this approach to the SF-genre called, and surely those who expect martial arts and BULLETS IN THE HEAD-action will be as pleased as those who look for another playful and wise Jang Sun-woo flick. Be advised not to leave the movie during the end credits. It should be 124 minutes long ...

RESURRECTION OF THE LITTLE MATCHGIRL (2002), an ambitious cyber-punk actioner from the director of 2000's LIES and 1996's A PETAL. It's one of the few Korean films I've seen that has polarized audiences as much as it has. An expensive failure upon its first release, the film has, with a couple of repeat viewings on DVD, started to grow on me, not that I didn't like it in the first place.

The narrative has a socially disaffected gamer attempting to make the title game character fall in love with him before she dies while fending off an array of well-armed oddballs. Eventually though, she rebels against the system with a Great Big Gun. There's a tricky blur between real world and game world in this often maddeningly vague film, and I'm still not sure I've read all the director's messages correctly, or if he even makes them at all, but the visuals are so enticing, the action so deliberately overblown, and the philosophy so seemingly just out of reach, it's tough to stop watching (and watching again). I suspect that this film will develop a strong cult following in the years to come, with even many of those who absolutely hated it re-approaching it from different angles and perhaps finding new meaning in it. Despite it's Korean setting and cast, it's probably the least Korean-feeling Korean film I've yet seen, generally eschewing themes of identity and patriotism as well as the maudlin melodramatics so often found in Korean cinema. Somehow, I suspect that was all intentional. Unfortunately, the Korean DVD of this title had no English subs, so most people who've seen it subbed have had to spring for the bootleg.

Just like Tampopo made fun of so many genres the Resurrection of The Little Match Girl is the modern incarnation. Video games, Matrix themes, wacky characters abound in a dimension hopping adventure that comes from everywhere. HK action and Wire Fu with Matrix graphics and Music Video FX make for a very busy film that goes all over the place and doesn't let up. I can see why it might have tanked in Korea because the story is really over the top and the characters aren't developed as much as the FX and Gun fighting craziness.

I didn't know what to expect so I couldn't stop watching because it was unpredictable and all over the place. Being a fan of over the top violence and unusual narratives I came away thinking this was ambitious and gets and A+ for effort. Forgot the story but did get swept away by the goofy fun and visuals.

In my experiences Korean films tend to be just as strange and baffling as their pop music is. And this film is certainly the crowning achievement of that. Loosely adapting the Hans Christian Andersen children's tale The Little Match Girl, it tells about Ju (Hyun-sung Kim), a Chinese restaurant delivery guy, who dreams about becoming a pro-gamer like his friend Lee (Jin-pyo Kim). But, we often dreams about things we really shouldn't, as Ju finds out when he shows kindness to a lonely beggar girl selling lighters and gets pulled into a strange video game where the goal is to act out the events of the original tale… while also dodging other players who all want to kill you.

It's weird, it's nonsensical, it's utterly bizarre. And like it almost always is with these types of films, either you love or you hate it. Personally I love it, to an extent. I still require a semblance of order when it comes to storytelling and the flow of the plot, and this particular movie is barely acceptable in that regard. Especially the start of the second act is very hard to follow, style over substance more than anything else, and it takes you a while to get back on track.

The characters are also not very captivating. They're mostly in the story to pull off stunts and highly choreographed fight scenes, and while all of them are gimmicky, that is to say you can easily tell them apart from one another, they're not people in the real sense of the word. They're cardboard characters. Ju has probably the most character out of all of them, but even he doesn't really evolve all that much throughout the film. Mostly he's there to act as the audience surrogate.

But, if you're going to watch this film, you're going to watch it for the visuals, the craziness. And for that it's a very good film. It's always moving, always doing something. Sure, the special effects are not as great as they could have been, had they had an A-list budget, but they're good enough to support the story and only really start to show their cheapness during the final climax when the crazy visuals ramp up.

And that's the movie in a nutshell. It's more style than anything, but the style itself is very pleasing, and you certainly won't be bored. Is it for anyone? Absolutely not. But if I have aroused your curiosity, then I definitely recommend giving it a chance.

RESURRECTION OF THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL is an oddball of a movie. It's half satire, half parody, and sometimes plain silliness. The director is an Indie favorite, but for some reason he was given a lot of money and told to make a movie out of it. Well he did, utilizing every single cent, but the problem is that he didn't have his heart in it. As a result, MATCH GIRL is visually competent and even terrific, but narratively speaking, it's a total mess.

There are some good ideas here, such as the mocking of Hollywood films driven by special effects. And yet the movie never really makes you laugh. There are no chuckles to be had, and if anything the film just feels incredibly half-hearted on just about everything it attempts. Again, there just doesn't seem to have any focus to the picture, or any actual WILLINGNESS to make a good movie.

For what it is, MATCH GIRL certainly looks nice. It's just not worth talking about that's all.

4 out of 10

(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of this movie or reviews of other foreign films)