MOVIE REVIEWS : OPEN FESTIVAL : Stark Beauty in ‘Rikyu,’ ‘Adada’
More than 100 films and video programs representing 25 cultures of the Pacific continue as part of Los Angeles Festival, through Sept. 16. Today’s highlights:
Adada
S. Korea
Today at 2 p.m., Warner Grand Theatre; Sept. 12 at 6 p.m., Melnitz Theater, UCLA
Like Mizoguchi’s “Oharu” or “Chikamtasu,” this beautifully mounted period melodrama, portrays, excruciatingly, both the horrifying abuse of women trapped in a patriarchal culture and the premise that money is evil’s root. Here, a mute young girl (Shin Hye-Soo), married by her family to a handsome, opportunistic wretch--who squanders her dowry, takes a mistress and subjects her to terrible cruelty--receives no better from her parents, who believe, fatuously, that wealth and honor demand they refuse her refuge. Im Kwon-Taek, one of two excellent Korean directors almost unknown in the United States (the other is the prolific Lee Do Yong), tells this appalling story with cool grace, lucidity and compassion.
Only good movies
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