Natural City (2003)

Lack of good storyline.

A Masterpiece!

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

I've just watched this movie.Yes,Blade Runner looms large over it. But it's not a clone. Beyond Hollwood takes the movie to task, because the main character is basically a jerk, and the guy who would normally be the hero plays a secondary role. But that's the beauty of Asian movies, they don't conform to the norm. Anyway if this was a gangster movie, there would be nothing wrong in having a bad guy as the lead character. THe other part the reviewer took the movie to task over was the relation between R and Ria. Ria showed no emotion.Well she was a cyborg R was indifferent to her. Well,yes, I'm prepared to concede that point. Why did R love Ria. Does everything have to be explained? I just accepted that he did. What I didn't like about the movie was the climatic action scene. Sure it was exciting, and well done. But for me, it was too Hollywood. I expect more from Korean movies. I thought the ending was beautiful though.

Several times in my comments i've said how i'm getting more and more interested in korean current cinema (i still don't feel comfortable to investigate its past). In later years, i think some of the best films coming out are korean. Among their vast production, we have two directors with whom i commit seriously. Because i have this interest, because korean films appeal to me, even when they fail, i've been wondering of the reasons for this. So far i think korean cinema reflects their culture. And that culture is a thin balance between west and east values. Korea is, in most aspects, apparently a country ruled by western principles. Yet, at root, it is an eastern country, coming from the same cradle as Japan and China. So these films i enjoy, beyond their own characteristics, reflect this balance, reflects the essence of two opposed visions of society.Sometimes the film presses more on the spiritual construction of koreans, which i think still remains oriental in its core. Other times it marvels at topping western narrative structures. Kim Ki Duk and Wook Park are the best in each case. The reason why i mention all this is because this film is totally inserted in this context. But here the balance falls totally for the western side, and is not at all satisfactory in it. The film tackles Bladerunner in its cosmology, in how the world works, in how people in this world face their reality, and even in the physical shape of that world. But where Blade Runner was a matter of memories, dream-real, parallel versions and constant redefinition of realities, here all this is exchanged for a pure "love" story. None of that Dick ambiguity, instead a plain soap operish story about how a man overcomes rejection and compromises to save his forbidden lover, a 'replicant' who will die soon. There is no trick in how the story unfolds, there is no surprise to amaze us, there is no origami in this one. Anyway we don't have that grand scale eye Ridley Scott placed at the service of Phil Dick's vision. We have a mere celebration of huge sets, strange worlds (which are not that fascinating , by the way), and Matrix based slow motion. We have few things to see here.My opinion: 1/5 http://www.7eyes.wordpress.com

I'm not going to say this movie makes the least sense of every movie I've ever seen, because I've seen an awful lot of movies, but it's got to at least be one of the most senseless.This movie starts quite well with a puzzling but intriguing intro that sets up the film's excellent visual style. In fact, there are a number of really cool moments scattered through the movie.Unfortunately, Natural City turns out to be a remarkable example of what happens with a writer who can't put together a coherent story proves to also be a director who is unable to tell a story clearly.Nothing in this movie makes much sense. I don't just mean the story. Once it's all over I can say I at least understand what happened and for the most part why. But character motivations and reactions are inexplicable, the science is ludicrous and the futuristic vision is muddled. This is a movie where a kidnapping is treated like a case of bad manners and the protagonists outrageous behavior causes barely a ripple.The lead character is unlikeable and outside of Cyon (played very nicely by Jae-un Lee) and some old lady named Bonggong or some such thing, the rest of the cast is underwhelming. The cyborg love interest seems to have the personality of a cocker spaniel, making it difficult to have much feeling for her, and in fact all attempts to wring an emotional reaction from the material fail abysmally.The movie makes more sense in the last third, becoming a relatively straightforward action picture, but by then you're trapped in a movie with characters you don't care about making everything that happens feel trivial.The movie is slick and glossy with some nice special effects, which is what kept me from turning it off (that and the hope that somehow it would all come together eventually), but it's just dreadful film making that gets more and more painful as it goes along.

I don't suggest this film. I wasn't able to watch more than 20' of this film... I wonder how did this movie have above 1 ratting... :( very bad film... There is almost NO connection between the scenes... I'm afraid that this movie has nothing to provide... Only laugh but sometimes even laugh gets boring... The hypothesis is lost... The whole setting is u-n-r-e-a-l-i-s-t-i-c... This is my 1rst comment on a movie here and I'm so sad that it is for a "bad" comment..PS. there are thousand film to watch except the Natural City.. trust me....I 'll vote: 1