Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Im Sooyeon (CINE21 reporter): The sequel to the 2019 mystery movie Knives Out is now out as a Netflix original movie. Daniel Craig reprises his role as master detective Benoit Blanc, taking on another mystery murder case. Miles Bron (Edward Norton), who makes his billions through a tech company called Alpha, hosts annual gatherings with a group calling themselves the Disruptors. They represent the high-ranking members of society—including the governor of Connecticut, fashion designers and influencers—and have close ties to Bron’s wealth, all while concealing the hostility they feel toward each other. The movie follows the expected beats of your typical mystery flick, beginning with the setting of a luxurious mansion on a remote Greek island, the unraveling of a murder mystery, the detective solving it and a whole story that makes good on foreshadowing and narrative tricks that are carefully laid out as each scene goes along. In addition, the post-Trump era social satire ties up nicely with the movie’s sense of humor and the final reveal, and the details surrounding Bron’s character are only a small number of shades away from a certain entrepreneur who recently acquired Twitter. The first movie has been successfully extended into a series designed to stay on the lighter side of things and the numerous cameos will keep audiences enjoying themselves, including the voice of Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Fearless Kkura (YouTube)

Kim Jieun: In Fearless Kkura, LE SSERAFIM member SAKURA’s first solo variety show, she tackles every challenge without fear, as the title suggests. After making 100 kg of kimchi, selling bungeo-ppang in the middle of Gangnam and learning how to do stunts from the Squid Game stunt team, now she’s going head-to-head with Joo Woo-jae to determine who among them is the more logical and persuasive person. The debate opens with Joo saying, “If SAKURA ends up crying … I hope you don’t ask me to take responsibility.” SAKURA counters with, “I’ll try to win.” As the discussion progresses, it veers more toward how similar their personalities are rather than seeking a winner and a loser. Other than a disagreement over their first topic of conversation, their arguments overlap so much that they end up describing each other as “Male Kkura” and “Female Woo-jae.” They first try to force themselves into disagreement just so the debate can proceed as planned, but after discovering they hold compatible viewpoints that “MBTI is scientific,” on the “YOLO” principle and that “ghosts do not exist,” they finally change the rules to, “Whoever is more convincing, wins.” The two then are tasked with persuading the referee, Shin Ayoung, that there’s no such thing as ghosts, appearing to fight for the same team. The game ends with a topic that divides the two at last and brings the debate back to its intended structure, but the most memorable part of the episode is nonetheless the way SAKURA and Joo nod along intensely to their opponent’s arguments.

“Sag” (youra and Mandong)

Kang Ilkwon (RHYTHMER music critic): The music singer-songwriter youra and band Mandong made together wears the skin of crossover jazz but it is actually alternative music at its core. That’s at least two genres with an experimental sound that pops out at you. It’s more of a trend than an experiment these days to aim to be genre-free, and the idea works its way all throughout their EP The Vibe is a Chance. “Sag,” the most lyrical of the six tracks, encapsulates this idea in full. It starts out as an acoustic pop song set to a minor key, dances across the boundary where jazz, pop and soul meet under the direction of youra’s vocals and finally takes a turn into experimental jazz as the instruments kick in after the first verse. The song has elements of neofolk, too, and the vocals and instruments are all filled with ambivalence. The guitar is peaceful yet mournful as it rises, while the simultaneously chilly and inviting vocals weigh on your chest while touching your heart inside. youra’s unhesitatingly strange lyrics put the final touches on this wholly original song. Not many artists can sing about “wreckage all around” and “carrying my pit” while “facing amplified questions” and still stay in context to convey an impressive message. “Sag” is a perfect summary of the most refreshingly experimental album of the year.

Death of a Kid I Barely Knew (Eunyu)

Kim Gyeol (writer): This time of year, as we say farewell to the old and greet the new, I muster up my resolve for the sake of my well-being and my success, like a kind of ritual. It’s a time when many people are determined to tie up loose ends for the year and start head first toward new goals, but it’s also a good time to look toward our neighbors with warmth and compassion. Let’s take the time to listen to the people who will be feeling the cold both physically and emotionally these days. It’s the perfect time to read something from Eunyu, a writer armed with an earnest eye on the socially disadvantaged. The author, who refers to herself a “humble witness,” documents the experiences of vocational high school students who were put into industrial fields not as students nor as workers but as trainees, only to become victims to tragic accidents. Students have been killed at labor sites essential to our lives, including food companies, automobile assembly lines, call centers and bottled water factories. Hearing the deaths of these unknown children, we realize that they could easily have been children in the sites of labor we see in our everyday lives. I hope everyone will spend this time of the year ready to listen to stories about each other’s lives.