Life is But a Dream (2022)

A light & entertaining short film that is a visual feast

Interspersed with traditional Korean theatrics (Madanggeuk) and a musical narrative (Pansori) this 20 minute vibrant visual buffet is an entertaining short watch. It's also an advertisement for Apple's I-phone 13 Pro.

I remember American director Steven Soderbergh making 'Unsane' using I-phone in 2017 and was applauded for breaking down the perceived costs associated with producing a feature film so I am not really going to cry about Apple's marketing here. I think this is a great initiative which allows for some innovative plots and experimentation that traditional cinema might not provide to individuals just starting out in the entertainment industry due to the costs and other issues that come hand in hand with experimental cinema.

The movie is enjoyable to watch with great visuals, colourful costumes, harmless comedy and some martial arts moves thrown in. The supernatural element was just right and the amazing music took this to a whole another level.

I don't know whether life is but a dream but this short would definitely have us believe that life is one big party.
What's not to like?

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A modern take on traditional Korean storytelling

I hadn’t heard of “ Madanggeuk” - a kind of modern version of political folk theatre in Korea - but I have heard of Pansori folk music before and this film is a charming mix of folk tales, the mandanggeuk with its focus on injustice and righting wrongs as well as a supernatural bent. I love Kim Ok Bin and her martial arts skills were a treat to watch. This isn’t a rip off of wuxia - it’s a full on look at Korean storytelling with modern music. It has nothing to do with Chinese traditions. Quite frankly, that other reviewer is talking nonsense. So cool that the director was able to create this dream world using such easily found technology.

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Cheap copy of Chinese Wuxia dramas

Wuxia (武俠), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. This is just a cheap copy of Chinese Wuxia dramas, specially the clothing. If you look up Wuxia online, you'll notice that the clothing is almost identical. Recently, South Korea has been filming a large number of Wuxia dramas and label them as "Korean", the plot, clothing etc are so similar to Chinese Wuxia dramas. They really need to stop copying and plagiarizing the hard works of other people without giving them any credit. Shame on you!

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