Ken and Robin Consume Media: Bardo, Gritty Korean Supers, and Twisty Structures from the Classic Mystery Era

February 14th, 2023 | Robin

Recommended

Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths (Film, Mexico, Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2022) Alternately arrogant and self-doubting documentarian (Daniel Giménez Cacho) experiences a surreal, scrambled version of his life as he prepares for a major awards ceremony. Nods to Buñuel and Fellini abound in this introspective spectacle of personal and national identity.—RDL

Haunters (Film, South Korea, Min-suk Kim, 2010) Goodhearted but luckless man (Gang Dong-won) discovers strange abilities of his own when a robber with mind control powers (Go Soo) murders his new boss. Cat and mouse thriller in the uncostumed gritty supers genre built on the reliable chassis of an underdog hero taking on a loathsome, frightening villain.—RDL

Hot Cash, Cold Clews: The Adventures of Lester Leith (Fiction, Erle Stanley Gardner, 2020) Before creating Perry Mason, Gardner wrote 65 stories (between 1929 and 1941) about con artist Lester Leith, who solves thefts before the cops could, then runs parallel cons (on the crooks and the cops) to hijack the loot. The seven tales collected here run this very fun, if intricate, formula in self-consciously brash pulp style. —KH

The Shining Hour (Film, US, Frank Borzage, 1938) Classy nightclub performer (Joan Crawford) marries a besotted sophisticate (Melvyn Douglas) from an old money Wisconsin family, only to discover a mutual attraction for his neurotic brother (Robert Young.) Family melodrama played without ironic excess, and with a sympathy for an antagonist (Fay Bainter, as the bitterly disapproving elder sister) who in a typical treatment of this material would be villainized.—RDL

Trial and Error (Fiction, Anthony Berkeley, 1937) Diagnosed with a terminal heart condition, Mr. Todhunter decides to murder a rotten person – but when Scotland Yard arrests someone else for the crime, he has to prove his guilt. Berkeley at his most arch, once more deconstructing the mystery novel right in the middle of its Golden Age. A trifle long, but it’s a good long. —KH

Good

Lost Bullet 2 (Film, France, Guillaume Pierret, 2022) Lino’s (Alban Lenoir) determination to bring down the drug smugglers who killed his brother threatens his unexpected transition from ex-con to cop. Continuations take more effort to set in motion than originals, so this engaging mix of hand-to-hand and automotive action lacks the precision wristwatch quality of the original.—RDL

Pathaan (Film, India, Siddharth Anand, 2023) Badass Indian secret agent Pathaan (Shah Rukh Khan) hunts terrorist mastermind Jim (John Abraham) with (or and?) Pakistani spy Rubina (Deepika Padukone). Ridiculously over-the-top action thriller hits every emotional beat on the map in between joyous fights and chases; imagine a Mission: Impossible flick that cared even less about grounded realism. Bump it up to Recommended if you’re already an admirer of SRK or Deepika. —KH

Okay

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Film, US, Ryan Coogler, 2022) Princess Shuri’s (Letitia Wright) mourning for her brother is interrupted by an argument by an invasion threat by Prince Namor (Tenoch Huerta) and his undersea kingdom. In addition to the usual MCU shoehorning in of extraneous characters, this struggles for momentum with a protagonist with an unconscious objective she is not pursuing, and an antagonist pursuing a fuzzy, strained objective.—RDL