Discovery #19

Julian Lynch - Mare (2010)

This is minimalism. So quiet and assured, the soft essence of Lynch's music cuddling up inside you and making you feel okay. There's a moment in each song when I seem to feel the emotion that is being expressed; a sad love or the dream of a long lost reunion or a seething hate that can find no escape or the lapping wash at the river's edge or the anguish of losing someone so dear your heart can't breathe. Julian Lynch caresses our mind with these tales of whispers. He serenades us with the soft cry of an endangered horn. He shows us a place that we need to touch, something that we can feel within. That's the lesson of music like this, of jazz and folk and the ambient classical disguise. It's the reason we listen to music. It makes us feel close to ourselves, whether that means we want to dance or bang our heads or sing along or simply wallow down in the mad tremor of sound that goes beyond language.


The Good, The Bad & The Weird - Ji-woon Kim (2010)

There's a crazy attitude that is the film world of Korea. They seem to be searching for a form of expression that isn't tied down to any guide or theory. It's just madness but it's fucking great to behold. The past few years I've been loving quite a few Korean movies and this mocking remake of Sergio Leone's classic western by Ji-woo Kim is just as wonderful. Three men in search of their own redemption traverse the landscape of the Manchurian Desert in the 1930's. Following the trail of a map, hoping to discover a wealth of fortune at the end, the three men, along with all of their associated entourages, battle it out in colorful style and all the while the Imperial Japanese Army is on their heels. It's a fun romp with outlandish characters who have a rich background that is creatively dished out during the length of the film. It captures many of the elements of Leone's original but a highly stylized updated version, and with a Korean flair, of course.