Movie Round-Up: Give Up Tomorrow, Madeo, I Saw the Devil, and much more

(Movie Round-up summarizes the indie/foreign movies I have seen over the past days.)

I saw Give Up Tomorrow (Michael Collins, 2011) on October 9 at its last full showing in SM Megamall, and there were more than 20 people  in the theater. That's a good thing, because the Filipino public should see this film about a young boy who was unjustly jailed for a crime he didn't commit, due to the public's lynch mob mentality and a corrupt justice system. The film is solid, except that I wish it could be braver. Why did the producers downplay the big fish allegedly behind Paco's arrest and incarceration? [4.5/5]

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Madeo (Bong Joon-Ho, 2009) is beautiful and heartbreaking. It started as an inspiring movie about a mother and her love for her son, but then it developed into the horrors any parent could do to save their offspring. I liked how it started and ended with parallel scenes: the mother dances to forget what she had done. [5/5]

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I Saw The Devil  (Kim Jee-woon, 2010) is an interesting take on the revenge drama, but the cat-and-mouse theme gets repetitive fast. Story is a bit hard to believe, too. [3.5/5]

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OTHER FILMS

Yokai Daisenso (Takashi Miike, 2005) is fun but a little predictable. [4/5]

Cars (John Lasseter and Joe Ranft, 2006) is fun, relatable, and exciting. [4/5]

Jisatsu Sakuru (Shion Sono, 2001) doesn't make a lot of sense, but it gets you thinking. [4/5]