poikkeus
Director Sang Sun-Woo has been the guiding force behind a series of often visionary films notable for their willingness to take chances. A PASSAGE TO BUDDHA was the stroking updating of a Buddhist scripture; LIES, conversely, was his unrated tale of sexual perversion; A PETAL is one of the more shocking stories of childhood lost; A ROAD TO THE RACETRACK is a penetrating battle of the sexes. With MATCH GIRL, Jang updates the legend to modern Korea - of course, with a differences. A clumsy, dull man in his early 20s is a social failure and probably doomed to poverty and loneliness, but in a Seoul rippling with video game parlors, he finds a game that operates on a different level. Giving away more would take away from the surprise to be enjoyed here.Jang keeps his allegory cooking with a striking set of characters (all of them after the Match Girl), and a playful humor that works even on multiple viewings. Each of Jang's film's has a sense of visual freshness. but this one is a complete surprise.
Kosinus
... the makers watched Matrix? perhaps Avalon? thinking: we can do that, too? well... cut out all those oh so funny scenes, focus on the story-line and you get a nice and interesting movie. Still fun to watch, just don't expect too much and try not to compare this one to any other movie...
yojimbo999
the film purports to "parody" THE MATRIX, but instead how can you "parody" a movie if you spend just as much on the exact same special effects and pretty much re-did whole scenes and scenarios from the movie you're supposedly "making fun off?" if only the filmmakers/producers had taken the time to write a decent, original script and then shoot the movie as a straight drama instead of trying to "wink" at us, MATCH GIRL would have had the makings of a terrific sci-fi actioner. instead, it's just lame, not terribly bright (even though it tries very hard to be so), and its attempts at cleverness and breaking the 4th wall is rather understated and weak.
so, to all of you "hip" filmmakers out there, the lesson is this: if you got the budget for it, don't waste your money copying other movies and calling it a "parody". just make your own movie.
Killer-40
This is not a follow-up of Kaurismäki's MATCH GIRL - although director Jang Sun-woo is an ironic and sometimes cynical artist. His unpredictability led to the documentary-styled LIES in 1999, a sadomasochistic story that is unconventionally introduced by one actor's explanation about why he chose to participate in the movie. THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL took almost four years to be completed and has those moments, too, where we are reminded that we are 'only' watching a movie. Fantasy film fans usually don't like this breaking-up of the narrative. That might be the reason for a box-office failure of the film in Korea so far. It's budget is one of the highest in the history of Korean film (10 m USD) and justified by all the spectacular stunts and shoot-outs and digital references that seem to say laconically: What's all that fuzz about MATRIX? As we know from former movies of Jang Sun-woo (like A PETAL) he never forgets to comment on social topics. The story is about a guy who needs to log into a virtual game to get rich through fighting other players and saving the poor and starving MATCH GIRL (a figure known from Andersen's tales). Whether you feel computer games are ridiculous after the movie or you reflect about unjustified possession ratios in your society, the movie with its choice of different though on first sight unhappy endings might leave you puzzled - exactly the way it is done. "Techno-Taoist" was this approach to the SF-genre called, and surely those who expect martial arts and BULLETS IN THE HEAD-action will be as pleased as those who look for another playful and wise Jang Sun-woo flick. Be advised not to leave the movie during the end credits. It should be 124 minutes long ...
AD
