I was planning to see a film yesterday - and Lady Vengeance was the most interesting thing topping my list: a Korean film about a young woman, unjustly imprisoned, who on release, well, seeks vengeance. I didn't have time in the end, but hoped to get to it at some point today. Amazon Prime again.
Meantime, back to Meetup today - London Social Detours had Part Six of her reading of The Little Book of the Tudors. My first Meetup in over two weeks.. and the first of this series I've been able to attend, midweek as they are. Well, I might not enjoy her reading style - but I am interested in the Tudors! Free, for once - probably because most attendees were also logging into her second event, later in the evening, and paying for that. Donations were suggested though - I passed.
It had to happen - as I logged on (admittedly without trouble), it was to a small panic that she couldn't get her slideshow to display. There's always something. But she got it working in the end, and despite her internet freezing a couple of times, and kicking her out of screen sharing the second time, we got it done. This was quite a short chapter she was reading - which turned out to be a good thing, as about half the group wanted to drop out early to see what was going to be said in the UK government's press conference. They needn't have bothered, of course - it was as vague and wishy-washy as ever.
Can't say it was a terribly interesting chapter - this one was about buildings of the era, and she had some illustrations to show us, and some words about how the new style of building had larger windows, with more glass, what with there being less warfare. In fact, it seems that Henry VII - ever paranoid about threats to his authority - banned the building of fortifications, and granted very few licences for renovations of old ones. He'd grown up in an era of private armies, so you could hardly blame him! Seemed to work, at any rate - there was to be little internal warfare from then on.
The chat afterwards was, necessarily, brief - even those of us who had no interest in the press conference were cut off, as she said she had to consult with her pal, who was giving this evening's talk. But it was, as ever, good to talk to people from Meetup - they have very few meetings that I can make, now.
And so to tonight, when - with a gap in decent tv programming - I finally caught up with Lady Vengeance. You know, I'll never forget my first foray into Korean cinema, which was with the horror film, Two Sisters. It was - to me - completely original, and despite the subject matter, quite delightful. And you'll never guess - I certainly couldn't have anticipated it - but Lady Vengeance struck me in much the same way.
It looks absolutely beautiful - in the midst of some very bleak storytelling, you'll suddenly be presented with a quietly beautiful image. The soundtrack, predominantly classical but with exquisite original compositions, is divine. (As someone muses in the comments, why is Vivaldi so perfect for a revenge theme..?) It's speckled with some very black humour, particularly in the prison sequences - don't miss it. And overall, it's gorgeously surreal - think Fargo in tone, but with more style. I'm not going to go into it in much detail - but dump all your standard ideas of revenge. This particular formula for revenge is just so perfect. And once it's revealed - actually, it seems to occur to her halfway through - I was just riveted.. Seriously, I can't remember when I last saw a film this good.. quite stunning.
Well, let's hope my run of luck with film continues! Back to film tomorrow - and I think I'll try La Chienne. This time, it's on the Sands Films playlist.
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