Yeon Sang-ho: PSYCHOKINESIS (2018)

연상호: 염력

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Psychokinesis:
A Disjointed Flight from a Master of Genre

It might sound a bit foolish, but I like watching movies "blindly." For me, this means knowing nothing in advance about the film; I have no idea what it is about, its genre, who the director is, etc. In such cases, one's sensors work much better; perception is not dulled by trust or distrust granted in advance based on the previous performances of the filmmakers or actors. This was the case when I randomly clicked on this interestingly titled film on Netflix, and I didn't bother much with scanning the Korean-language credits at the beginning of the movie either.

Previously, I gave my film reviews the name "Brief," and I shall remain entirely faithful to that now. Although I watched an overall watchable and quite entertaining film, featuring the enjoyable acting of the male lead, Ryu Seung-ryong, a question grew steadily within me: why on earth am I watching this? It has a clichéd frame story—the umpteenth version of the clash between local residents and evil, calculating real estate developers—which adds nothing to what has been seen before on the subject. It is an unbalanced mix of tragedy (the mother's death) and comedy (the closing scene, in particular, feels detached from the rest of the film).

The initial interest (a completely average "good man" gaining superhero abilities by chance) is exhausted rather quickly because, in reality, the clash between the two sides—no matter how unequal the power dynamics—does not actually require superhero intervention. The initial learning of possessing superhero powers is a source of pleasant humor; however, their full-force deployment and the resulting damage are jarring—at once disproportionate and quite ridiculous, but rather in the sense of being pathetically funny.

It seems that possessing superhero abilities has only one real benefit: it manages to restore the relationship between father and daughter. Yet, at the same time, this is one of the falsest notes the film strikes; for if the father can achieve nothing with his daughter through his human qualities, then what are we really talking about?

Director Yeon Sang-ho

The real shock came when I realized who the writer-director of the film was. It is none other than Yeon Sang-ho, the director of the hard-hitting animated films dissecting social issues (The King of Pigs, The Fake) and Train to Busan, which stirred the stagnant waters of the zombie genre—all of which I hold in high regard.

Reviews generally attempt to see a genre-renewing experiment in this work as well—in this case, the superhero-action genre. In my opinion, we are very far from that, and though with regret, I see Psychokinesis rather as a forgettable attempt, which could certainly use a small donation from its protagonist’s abilities to be able to fly, rather than just falling to the ground with broken wings.

But let us draw a veil over it; one does not always have to create something perfect. Not even an excellence like Yeon Sang-ho, from whom we can hardly wait to see Peninsula.