Movie No. 42 (2015): MIRACLE IN CELL NO. 7
Miracle in Cell No. 7 (2013)
Director: Seung-Ryong Ryu, So Won Kal
In Korean, with English subtitles
While the focus of the story is the amazing relationship between a mentally-handicapped father (named Yong-Goo) and his adorable daughter (named Ye-Seung), it can't be helped but view the film a a prison film, too, because practically all the scenes take place in the prison. But as a prison film, the movie looks too "clean." I tend to interpret it as the child's (Ye-Seung's) innocent point of view (reminiscent of Benigni's Life is Beautiful). I'm also critical about the images we see of the criminals who share Cell No. 7 with Yong-Goo. I don't know if it's intentional to make them look like they had no criminal past. They're all too good to be true. Maybe this is the so-called "miracle," i.e., everything seems to fall into the right place. Meaning, a lot of instances of contrivance have almost ruined the emotional effect of the movie. Some melodramatic moments are misplaced and need some editing or rewriting, in my opinion. To top it all, the circumstance that sent Yong-Goo to prison needs to be rewritten. It's a mess. But there are flash of geniuses (some cinematic moments) that, unfortunately, can't save the movie from a near mess.
Director: Seung-Ryong Ryu, So Won Kal
In Korean, with English subtitles
While the focus of the story is the amazing relationship between a mentally-handicapped father (named Yong-Goo) and his adorable daughter (named Ye-Seung), it can't be helped but view the film a a prison film, too, because practically all the scenes take place in the prison. But as a prison film, the movie looks too "clean." I tend to interpret it as the child's (Ye-Seung's) innocent point of view (reminiscent of Benigni's Life is Beautiful). I'm also critical about the images we see of the criminals who share Cell No. 7 with Yong-Goo. I don't know if it's intentional to make them look like they had no criminal past. They're all too good to be true. Maybe this is the so-called "miracle," i.e., everything seems to fall into the right place. Meaning, a lot of instances of contrivance have almost ruined the emotional effect of the movie. Some melodramatic moments are misplaced and need some editing or rewriting, in my opinion. To top it all, the circumstance that sent Yong-Goo to prison needs to be rewritten. It's a mess. But there are flash of geniuses (some cinematic moments) that, unfortunately, can't save the movie from a near mess.
This is my opinion.
Rating: 2.5/4.0
Date seen: August 21, 2015
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