Dream (2008)

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

disgusting, overrated, pointless

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

The Chinese philosopher Chuang-Tzu dreamed he was a butterfly and when he woke up he thought maybe he now was a man in a butterfly's dream. I think you can see the whole film as a dream and as such it is just perfect. In the real world it's of course impossible for a Japanese to be understood in Corea, speaking his own tongue -it's not like e.g. a Swedish actor in a Norwegian or Danish film- but in a dream it's even natural. Also, the "comical", bloody stay-awake-scenes should be seen as dream-scenes; I guess in real life you would drink a lot of coffee instead of stabbing yourself! So, my recommendation is: give the film a second chance and look upon it as a dream.

Someone mentioned to me once that the films by Kim Ki-duk is like an acquired taste. Personally I had not taken that advice and dove into the deep end, only to find myself stuck in a confluence of mixed feelings, where some of the films had excited, others had disappointed going nowhere, though you must admit that there are always plenty of imagery in his films to admire, and a premise like none other.Within the first 20 minutes, we get introduced to the main characters, and the interesting, though weird premise that they find themselves in. Jo Odagiri stars as Jin, a man who often finds himself dreaming about some very vivid events, then out of curiosity one day, he visits an accident site that he dreamt about, and lo and behold, the exact same situation that he had seen subconsciously.His curiosity led him to dig further, and here he comes across Ren (Lee Na-yeong), a woman who sleepwalks. In more bizarre terms, Jin soon realizes that whatever he dreams of, Ren somehow will sleepwalk and execute it on his behalf, in real time. Hence the stage is set for this fantastical movie, where a couple find themselves having power over each other, and made more acute when they discover that perhaps their respective ex-lovers have got a part to play in their predicament as well.You'd come to expect that perhaps Jin and Ren would fall for each other, and this was even suggested at, but of course Kim Ki-duk would never go for the plain and ordinary. Instead he skews this potential love story into something more intense, and comical even especially when the couple try their very best not to fall asleep, one to prevent executing things against her wishes, while the other not wanting to impose his will onto another.Alas the ingredients that went into the film turned out to be not my taste. Everything went really weird especially when Kim settled for some gory moments of imagery to continue his story, some of which are squirmish enough to want to make you shut your eye from the nightmare. Also, having Jo Odagiri speak in Japanese throughout, and the only character to do so, seemed too strange as well, where everyone else was speaking in Korean. I suppose like Kim's earlier film in casting Chang Chen resulted in his character being mute, was nothing more than overcoming a technical challenge in making the actors speak the Korean language. Straddling the thin line between reality and fantasy would have afforded a tale told in this manner, but certainly this wasn't my cup of tea.The Closing Film of this year's Korean Film Festival, those in attendance will attest to bewildered voices whispering sighs of disapproval and sniggering at how ridiculous the film had unravelled itself into. I suppose if not for Jo Odagiri's role, many would have not batted an eyelid at yet another Kim Ki-duk offering for the masses. Was I disappointed? Yes, as the film could have been much more rather than a self-indulgent movie.

I eagerly bought Dream on DVD and could not wait to watch it based on my previous experience with Kim-duk Kim's work. One of my all time favorite is Seom (The Isle) and the other Hwal (The Bow) not to mention Address Unknown and Spring, Summer,.... wow all great movies. However, after watching Dream and throughout the film I tried to see what the point of this film is. Maybe it is because I am not fully aware of cultural things in Korea or because I am a type of person who doesn't sleep a lot and cannot relate to the characters but I couldn't get the point of the film specially when a lot of things Jin (Jô Odagiri) and Ran (Na-yeong Lee) could do to solve their problem. One being falling in love with each other as mentioned by the doctor (which apparently they did towards the end of the movie) amongst other things. I was disappointed with Mr. Kim's new work as he is very talented and should know that all his movies are important and he should choose projects more carefully not to taint his reputation.

In this unusual and slightly ominous romantic fantasy from Korea, Joe Odagiri stars as Jin, a young man who experiences a foreboding nightmare about a traffic accident and feels compelled, upon waking, to travel to the same spot he visited in the dream. As it turns out, a hit-and-run accident indeed occurred there; curious, Jin tails the police to the home of the suspect - a beautiful young woman named Ran (Lee Na-Young) who vehemently denies involvement and cites, as an alibi, the fact that she slept the entire night. Jin relays the specifics of his dream to the cops and insists that they arrest him; they dismiss him as a crank and arrest Ran instead, but in time the young man and woman discover a bizarre pattern: when he dreams of specific events, she acts out those events in real life.