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michaeljohnharding
Reviews
Sabaha (2019)
Highly recommended, for some.
The bad reviews are because it's complicated. Not a typical film. Unless you're looking for simple escapism, you will enjoy this one. Theological and existential. Loads of great scenes and set pieces.
Side to Korean culture I hadn't seen in movies. Buddhist monk with a Nespresso machine, youth offender prisons, quarries etc.
The plot has a lot of "in scene" detective work and characters working out what's going on, kind of like The Wire, but in this case the detective work involves complex Buddhist iconography and monastic structure. Some who prefer simple guts and kinetic story might struggle. Hence the bad reviews - most films are way more simple, the people who are unhappy are comparing it to those expectations.
For fans of the Wailing, cult obsessives, people with spiritual beliefs. I'm personally atheist but the depth of spiritual enquiry in this film really touched me. "How can there be a God in a world like this?"