Emergency Declaration

Im Sooyeon (CINE21 reporter): Emergency Declaration is a movie that seeks to follow in the footsteps of Bong Joon Ho’s The Host rather than a Hollywood hijacking film. The plot immediately reveals the terrorist Jin-seok (Yim Siwan) looking for the flights with the most passengers at the airport check-in, twisting the general format of disaster movies that the audience expects. It also focuses on exploring human nature and Korean society through observing the behaviors of people triggered by an uncontrollable disaster. In particular, the idea of dramatically drawing out the political priorities of individuals vs. the group with the premise of the communication between the air and ground using the internet stands out. The undoubted strength of Emergency Declaration is the technical completion of production. The hand-held shooting that vividly captured the 360-degree rotatable airplane set and scenes of pandemonium provides the spectacle that the audience would expect from a large-scale commercial movie. However, the direction that this film chose from its third act may arouse very different responses. It is not just because of the external factors that we cannot separate disaster films from our real life since the September 11 attacks and the Sewol Ferry sinking. Having a tear-jerking element for a commercial movie aiming at 10 million viewers cannot be called a weakness. However, I must note what a shame it was that questions over the survival of the community that could have been developed more interestingly are blurred by the structure of connecting individual sacrifice with an overflood of emotion and repetitive and flat descriptions of crises. But still, this movie is worth the ticket price because of the strengths explained above and superb performances from  Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung Hun, and in particular, Yim Siwan.

His Man (wavve)

Choi Jieun (writer): To find true love, you first need to join a camp. Without knowing each other’s age and job, you choose your date based on your first impression and a short conversation. The rule that you can express how you feel through a 30-second phone call to one person at a set time only subtly raises the tension and excitement among the cast members. The mood turns awkward when a phone call to the roommate sharing a bed and those who do not get a call start getting nervous about whether they are attractive enough. The differentiation point of His Man, which loyally follows the conventional structure of a dating program that includes making crafts together and heart-racing paragliding, is that all of the cast members are male. The fresh take on observing men who get to know each other, jump to conclusions, have misunderstandings, and flutter truly immerses the audience as expected. In other words, as the audience analyzes who likes whom and who is a good match, they become more and more curious about who the final couple will be.

“Today Is Joke” – Kim Jae Hyung

Kim Doheon (music critic): This is the fourth installment of the bimonthly single project “Ttuium” by Kim Jae Hyung. The throwback style fonts and beach scene in bright sunlight reminiscent of the vinyl covers of ‘90s stars, such as Shim Shin and Hwang Gyu Young, reveal the retro inclination that follows the previous single “Flavono.” From the start, the song features a chorus based on a cheerful brass section and guitar rhythm, which shows confidence in the melody line. Listening to this upbeat groove reminding us of Kim Hyun Chul, Yoon Sang, Yang Soo Kyung, Yoon Jong Shin, and Lee Han-chul, you can easily imagine a man walking along a midsummer seashore as waves roll in. 

There are many lyric lines ending in “ji” in his songs as well as the song titles “More Doubt (Ui-sim-i manh-a-jin sa-lam-ui ma-eum-i iss-eoss-ji)” and “Your Truth (Neon jin-sil-in geos-cheo-leom gul-eoss-ji).” When asked why, he explained “I wanted to expand the tenses so that the song is not confined to my present.” But “Today Is Joke“ is different. The man in the song smiles thinking of today, not yesterday or tomorrow, even in the face of a good-bye without an end in sight. “Although there is no promise and no future left, as real feelings are here,” the present is precious. Even if it means a long time apart or a final farewell, let’s try to smile with “Today Is Joke.”