Latest news with #Happyend
Straits Times
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
At The Movies: K-occult thriller Holy Night: Demon Hunters packs a punch, a bittersweet Happyend
Holy Night: Demon Hunters (NC16) 92 minutes, opens on May 8 ★★★☆☆ The story: Holy Night is an elite team of exorcists in Seoul and the South Korean capital's only defence against the rise of a devil-worshipping criminal network. A psychiatrist (Kyung Soo-jin) calls on Holy Night when her sister (Jung Ji-so) begins exhibiting disturbing symptoms no medical diagnosis can explain. The K-occult thriller Holy Night: Demon Hunters, which began as a 2024 webtoon, introduces Don Lee as the star detective and agency boss Ba-woo: His physical strength is his superpower. Sharon (Girls' Generation pop idol Seohyun) is the psychic shaman aswirl in boho-chic gowns, while young sidekick Kim Gun (David Lee) provides technical support plus comic relief. They operate, charmingly, out of a shabby antique mall, and theirs is a recognisable world of downbeat realism however fantastical the exploits as they investigate and then battle to save the possessed girl contorting and levitating in billows of smoke. The action is intense and atmospheric, until it becomes a repetitive cycle of Ba-woo punching the invading demon and Sharon bellowing 'return to hell'. They should know, after an hour in, that this approach is not working. Sharon goes all in nevertheless with her incantations and exorcism kit of knives, mirrors, copper bells and bronze rattles. Writer-director Lim Dae-hee marries Eastern mysticism with Western tropes for the detailed rituals. The first-time film-maker has also scripted an intimate backstory for Ba-woo, whose tragic boyhood is connected to the cult spreading the dark forces. The three heroes are each a captivating personality, dynamic in their synergy. The sequel hinted at in the end credits is certainly not unwelcome because they are capable of much more than just this one job. Hot take: Don Lee of The Roundup film series (2017 to present) may have found himself another hit franchise. Happyend (PG13) 113 minutes, opens exclusively at The Projector on May 8 ★★★☆☆ Hayato Kurihara (left) and Yukito Hidaka in Happyend. PHOTO: THE PROJECTOR The story: In near-future Japan, two students at a Tokyo high school prank their humourless principal (Shiro Sano), who installs an invasive surveillance system to identify the culprits. The boys' contrasting responses fissure their lifelong bond. 'Something big is about to change,' warns the prologue. It will not be due to a devastating earthquake, which is a constant threat seized on by the government to expand its emergency powers. The changes in the J-teen drama Happyend are Kou's (Yukito Hidaka) and Yuta's (Hayato Kurihara) central dynamics, with city-wide civil protests against authoritarianism the backdrop. Kou is a working-class Zainichi Korean. His people were massacred by the thousands in the wake of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, and the darkening national mood is rekindling the xenophobia: 'hikokumin' (traitor) is graffitied outside his family restaurant one night, rousing him into political activism. He becomes serious and distant. Seems like only yesterday he and Yuta were horsing around, and Yuta still is, this coddled aspiring deejay without a care. The tensions expose the fundamental differences between the boyhood best friends. Their rift is perhaps inevitable. Also in their tight circle of half-dozen sharing a love of underground music are a half-black American (Arazi) and a Chinese girl (Shina Peng), all of them destined to go their separate ways: Japanese writer-director Neo Sora limns the shifts during their final graduation weeks, at that wistful transitional moment between adolescence and adulthood. Kurihara is the winner of Best Newcomer at the 2025 Asian Film Awards, and Sora's subtle, observational debut feature is deceptively simple in story. It is titled after a composition by his father Ryuichi Sakamoto, and the score, too, honours the late musical mage in synching with the youthful vitality of the cast. Hot take: Here is a bittersweet coming-of-age experience, unassuming but emotionally textured. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Asian Film Awards Rising Star Winner Koki Talks Global Film Career Path, International Co-Productions
Japanese actor Koki is swiftly building an international profile that spans continents and genres, from dual roles in a Japanese horror film to sword fighting in 18th-century Britain. The model-turned-musician-turned-actor recently added the Asian Film Awards Rising Star Award to her growing resume, marking her first recognition outside her home country as she prepares to announce a new project based in Hong Kong. More from Variety Lee Kang-sheng Sets Two More Installments of Tsai Ming-liang's 'Walker' Series (EXCLUSIVE) Neo Sora Talks Political Divide in 'Happyend': 'Japan Hasn't Really Reflected on its Colonial Past' 'Perfect Days' Star Yakusho Koji to Receive Asian Film Awards Lifetime Achievement Honor - Global Bulletin 'It means so much to be able to receive an award outside Japan,' Koki tells Variety. 'The Rising Star Award gives me so much courage and recognition. I feel like I want to do my all my best to be able to go up to the award.' The daughter of Japanese entertainment royalty — her father is megastar Takuya Kimura ('Grand Maison Paris') and her mother is singer Kudo Shizuka — Koki has been carving her own path since showing musical talent at age seven, composing hit songs for her mother and singer Miura Daichi, before making her model debut at 15 on the cover of Elle Jappan. While successful in both music and fashion, Koki expresses her deep commitment to acting. 'I feel really privileged and lucky to be able to do something that I'm truly passionate about, and acting is one of them. It's something I'm truly in love with.' Koki made her acting debut in 2022 with Shimizu Takashi's horror film 'Ox Head Village,' where she played dual roles, earning Japan's Blue Ribbon Award for best newcomer. 'It was my first movie, and I learned everything from scratch. I felt really lucky that I got to experience two characters at one time because I felt like I was able to learn twice as much.' She has since starred in Baltasar Kormakur's 'Touch,' an international co-production between Iceland and the U.K. where a Reykjavik restaurateur closes shop just as his memory begins to falter. But when a message from a long-lost love from his student days in 1960s London, lands out of nowhere, he is thrust into a past that never let go. As COVID-19 lockdowns loom, he embarks on a journey spanning London and Japan, chasing the truth behind her abrupt disappearance decades earlier, even as time – and the virus – conspire against him. The film is based on Olaf Olafsson's novel. 'I loved how the two different cultures and even three, like English and Japanese and Icelandic, really blended into each other,' Koki says. 'I really loved how pure and strong the story was, and I feel like nowadays it's hard, in a way, to find a very powerful love story. And I loved how Miko, the main character, she has a very complex personality, but I love how she's really strong and really delicate in the same time. So that really drew me into the story.' Koki more recently took on her first action role in John Maclean's British film 'Tornado,' set in 18th-century Britain. 'It was physically really difficult,' says Koki of her sword-fighting scenes, 'but I learned that sword fighting is not only physical, but also mental. It really helped me become a strong person.' The film, which follows a young Japanese woman who finds herself in peril when her father's traveling puppet show crosses paths with a criminal gang, premiered as the opening gala at the Glasgow Film Festival in February. Koki is also starring in the upcoming Japanese film 'True Beauty,' an adaptation of the popular South Korean webtoon. In this role, she portrays a high school student who transforms from an insecure 'ugly duckling' into a confident young woman after being bullied for her appearance. The actor acknowledges the fan pressure of adapting such beloved material. 'There is a really big pressure. I mean, in high school, I was one of them, and I loved the manga, and I was reading the webtoon,' she says. 'There is a huge pressure to be able to go up to the standards of the fans. But I really personally loved the story, and I loved the characters inside. So I felt like I really wanted to challenge myself, and it was my first time doing comedy as well, like comedy, love, romance.' When asked about her next project, Koki says: 'There will be an announcement in a few days, but I'll be working on a very special project in Hong Kong.' The 18th Asian Film Awards ceremony takes place March 16, at the Grand Theatre, Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Oscars 2026: First Blind Predictions Including Timothée Chalamet, Emma Stone, 'Wicked: For Good' and More What's Coming to Disney+ in March 2025
