old alice and old boy

Alice in Wonderland

I remember Alice in Wonderland as a series of bizarre vignettes, but dammit, Tim Burton wants a plot. And so spacey young lady Alice runs away from her engagement party and falls down the rabbit hole. Again. Or maybe not? Some of the creatures of Wonderland insist she is “not the right Alice”. What is going on? Burton uses the safe and familiar structure of evil monarch + rebellion + prophecy of an outside champion + slaying of a monster + rightful monarch + return. Newcomer Mia Wasikowska as Alice is surprisingly effective, and Helena Bonham-Carter (“Her name is Um! IDIOOOOT!”) and Johnny Depp are just marvelous. Also, Anne Hathaway cracks me up as the White Queen. Love the music, the costume, the colors, the look. It’s quite an enjoyable take on the tale.

Photo from cgnews

Oldboy

We see a drunk man in a police station annoying the hell out of the officers keeping an eye on him. A friend bails him out. The man uses a phone booth to call his daughter and wish her a happy birthday. His friend takes the receiver as the man waits outside in the rain. After the phone call, his friend steps out of the booth, only to find that the man has disappeared from the sidewalk.

The man is named Oh Dae-Su. He finds himself imprisoned in a room. How long, he asks  a stranger who slides his food through a hole in his door. He has been kept there for two months, he says. How many months more?

He is kept inside that room for 15 years.

Why?

So many things happening in a little under two hours. Boy, this is an exhausting watch. I  like the story and the frenetic pace of the film, but I don’t think I can watch this again. You’ll know what I mean, once you see this.