Doomsday Book (In-lyu-myeol-mang-bo-go-seo) (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Eastern Eye Trailers x 4
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	108:43 (Case: 115)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Pil-Sung Yim Kim Jee-Woon
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Kim Jee-Woon Pil-Sung Yim Yoon Se Ah Doona Bae Joon-ho Bong Ji-hee Jin Yun-hie Jo Gyu-ri Kim John D. Kim
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Mowg

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Korean Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Korean Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Doomsday Book (Korean title In-lyu-myeol-mang-bo-go-seo) is an anthology of three unrelated short films set in the not too distant future. Two of the films are written and directed by Yim Pil-sung while the third is written and directed by Kim Jee-woon who made the wacky eastern/western The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008) and who recently directed Arnold Schwarzenegger in his return film The Last Stand.

     In the first story, A Brave New World written / directed by Yim Pil-sung, military scientist Seok-woo (Ryu Seung-beom) is left to flat sit his parent’s very messy apartment when they go on a holiday. He recycles rubbish and throws out a lot of mould and fungal infected food, including a tainted apple, which we see progress through a rubbish plant into recycled food for animals, and the animals are killed for human consumption. Seok-woo on a date with co-worker Yoo-min (Ko Jun-hee) consumes some of the meat, which contains a virus that turns Seok-woo, and anyone else who eats it, into a zombie. As the infection spreads, it seems there is no cure.

     In the middle story, The Heavenly Creature written / directed by Kim Jee-woon , robot technician Park Do-won (Kim Kang-woo) is called to a Buddhist temple by the monks to check a RU-4 model robot (voiced by Park Hae-il) that has started to act and think like a monk, and which may well have attained enlightenment as a Buddha. Park can find nothing technically wrong with the robot but the manufacturers determine that it is a threat to humankind and send a team to terminate the robot, much to the distress of the monks and Park.

     In the final story, Happy Birthday, again written / directed by Yim Pil-sung, young girl Min-seo (Jin Ji-hee) accidentally damages her father’s black-8 billiard ball and goes on-line to order him another. Two years later, a massive meteor is discovered headed for collision with the earth, due to impact in 12 hours. Min-seo, her mother (Ah Yoon-se), father (Lee Seung-joon) and her uncle Hwan (Song Sae-byeok) have the money to outfit and stock and underground bomb shelter. When the meteor is close enough to Earth to be photographed, it turns out that it is a massive black-8 billiard ball, with Min-seo’s reference number on it! Min-seo tries to tell her parents, but only Uncle Hwan takes any notice of her and they try to rescind her billiard ball order on-line, but it is too late. Ten years later they emerge from their shelter to receive a strange visitor.

     Doomsday Book is an interesting experiment. As noted the three stories are unrelated, but if they have a common theme it is to do with questions of progress and technology. However the tones of the films vary, with the two directed by Yim Pil-sung looking at two different apocalyptic scenarios and having a strand of black humour that is on occasion very funny. Pil-sung seems to have a thing about TV talking heads and both his films feature sequences where TV presenters, a discussion panel in the first, a news anchor in the other, bring up past slights and resentments on camera with very funny consequences. Happy Birthday also contains a send-up on TV advertising as a life pod being demonstrated for sale malfunctions. On a deeper note, A Brave New World references Genesis 2.16-17, bringing the tainted apple in paradise into the modern world, the resultant zombie holocaust being an alternate to the explosion from paradise. And I would suggest that you do not watch A Brave New World while having dinner as some of the images of animals are quite gruesome.

     On the other hand, The Heavenly Creature by Kim Jee-woon is a much more philosophical treatment of the relationship between humans and technology. “All I see is a defective robot” a member of the RU company says, when it is clear that the implications of RU-4 are much greater than that. The Heavenly Creature is also the only film of the three that is self-contained, and it has a twist at the end, whereas the other two films, especially A Brave New World, feel more like unfinished work in progress.

     Korean cinema at the moment is probably the most interesting and diverse in Asia, producing strong and inventive films in a wide range of genres. Koreans can accomplish gritty crime drama, historical epics, Buddhist meditations, monster films, revenge drama, war martial arts, eastern / westerns or comedy, so why not a meditation about the future of technology and the end of the world? While not totally successful, Doomsday Book is thoughtful, interesting and entertaining.

Video

     Doomsday Book is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the original theatrical ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     The print has fine detail in both close-ups and wider shots, while colours throughout are absolutely vibrant with some spectacular reds. Blacks are exceptional, shadow detail good and, except for the digital yellowish tinge in some dark scenes, skin tones natural. All the films have been manipulated to some extent, although the most noticeable is The Heavenly Creature which uses a lot of filtered light, often producing a glary white light behind the actor which is deliberate, when detail was of course lost. Likewise in Happy Birthday a white glare is used deliberately as part of a reveal of the aliens.

     The print did show some slight ghosting, aliasing, moiré effects and some noise reduction, but none was distracting. There was quite a lot of shimmering in the closing titles.

     The layer change was not noticeable.

    English subtitles are in an easy to read yellow font and seemed to be timely and error free.

     The print was fine and sometimes spectacular.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio choices is either a Korean Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps or Korean Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 Kbps. I listened to the 5.1 audio track.

     Dialogue was clear and centred. The surrounds and rears were not overused but did come to life during the disco scene with music and crowd noises and the arrival of the meteor and the alien ship. Otherwise there was music and some ambient sounds. The subwoofer was not overused but added bass to the disco scene and the meteor and alien craft.

    Lip synchronisation seemed fine.

     The original score by Mowg varied from jaunty in the Yim Pil-sung pieces to more thoughtful in the Kim Jee-woon film, where it was quite effective.

     The audio track is good.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Theatrical Trailer (0:56)

Eastern Eye Trailers

     Trailers for Ace Attorney (1:36), The Silent War (2:09), Rurouni Kenshin (2:10) and Motorway (1:33).

     The Region 3 Korean release of Doomsday Book includes as extras a director’s commentary, a press screening event (11:05) and VIP premier footage (7:04) but while the feature has English subtitles I don’t think the extras do. The Region 1 US version does not have extras and of the two listings I have seen, one gives the aspect ratio as 1.78:1, the other as 1.33:1. Region 4 is the choice for English speakers.

     The three unrelated stories of Doomsday Book are three visions of society which raise questions about progress and technology. Although not totally successful as a whole they are interesting, thoughtful and humorous. I have now read a number of reviews of the films and I find it intriguing that there is no consensus as to which is the favourite film. Something for everyone it seems, and certainly worth a look.

     The video and audio are fine, trailers are the only extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall