0817 – Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

timespace coordinates: 2010’s South Korea

Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds (Hangul: 신과함께-죄와 벌; RR: Sin gwa Hamkke – Joe wa Beol; lit. “Together with God – Sin and Punishment”) is a 2017 South Korean action fantasy drama film directed by Kim Yong-hwa and based on a webtoon by Joo Ho-min, Along With the Gods. It stars Ha Jung-woo, Cha Tae-hyun, Ju Ji-hoon and Kim Hyang-gi.

The film was shot as one but presented in two parts. The first part, Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds (imdb) , was released on 20 December 2017.  The sequel, titled Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days (imdb), was released on August 1, 2018. 

In June 2018, it was announced that another two sequels are scheduled to be filmed in 2019. As of February 2018, Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds is the second most viewed film in South Korean film history.

0795 – Cure (1997)

timespace coordinates: 1990’s Tokyo

Cure (キュア Kyua) is a 1997 Japanese psychological horror-thriller film written and directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, starring Kōji Yakusho, Masato Hagiwara, Tsuyoshi Ujiki and Anna Nakagawa. The film was released to strong critical acclaim in both the East and the West, with critics praising Kurosawa’s direction as well as the visuals and atmosphere. In 2012, South Korean film director Bong Joon-ho listed the film as one of the greatest films of all time. (wiki)

imdb   rottentomatoes

mesmerism   hypnosis

788 – Bleach (2018)

 timespace coordinates: 2010’s Japan

Bleach (Japanese: ブリーチ Hepburn: Burīchi) (also known as Bleach: The Soul Reaper Agent Arc) is a Japanese film produced by Warner Bros., based on the manga series of the same name by Tite Kubo, and directed by Shinsuke Sato.  The film stars Sota Fukushi as the main protagonist, Ichigo Kurosaki. The film was released on Netflix on September 14, 2018. (wiki)

imdb

756 – David Attenborough’s Light on Earth / Life That Glows (2016 documentary)

Life That Glows is a 2016 British nature documentary programme made for BBC Television, first shown in the UK on BBC Two on 9 May 2016. The programme is presented and narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

Life That Glows films the biology and ecology of bioluminescent organisms, that is, capable of creating light. The programme features fireflies, who use light as a means of sexual attraction, luminous fungi, luminous marine bacteria responsible for the Milky seas effect, the flashlight fish, the aposematism of the Sierra luminous millipede, earthworms, the bioluminescent tides created by blooms of dinoflagellates in Tasmania, as well as dolphins swimming in the bloom in the Sea of Cortez, the defensive flashes of brittle stars and ostracods, sexual attraction in ostracods, prey attraction by luminous click beetles in Cerrado,Brazil and the Arachnocampa gnats in New Zealand.

The programme then introduces many luminous deep sea animals, including the vampire squid, the polychaete worm Tomopteris that generates yellow light, the jellyfish Atolla, the comb jelly Beroe, the viper fish, pyrosomes, a dragonfish, and the polychaete worm Flota. Then, the programme discusses specialised adaptations in the eyes of particular animals to see bioluminescence, such as the barreleye fish and the cock-eyed squid. Lastly, they feature the mass spawning event of the firefly squid in Japan. (wiki)

imdb   /   on YouTube

749 – Lucy (2014)

timespace coordinates: 2014 Taipei, Taiwan / Paris

Lucy is a 2014 English-language French Science-fantasy / Biopunk / Postcyberpunk action-thriller film written and directed by Luc Besson and produced by his wife Virginie Besson-Silla for his company EuropaCorp. The film was shot in Taipei, Paris, and New York City. It stars Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik, and Amr Waked. Johansson portrays the title character, a woman who gains psychokinetic abilities when a nootropic drug is absorbed into her bloodstream.Luc Besson once called this film as “one part Léon (1994), one part Inception (2010) and one part 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)”. Many shots in the film were mirrored after these three films.

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The 10 percent of the brain myth is a widely perpetuated urban legend that most or all humans only use 10 percent (or some other small percentage) of their brains. It has been misattributed to many people, including Albert Einstein. By extrapolation, it is suggested that a person may harness this unused potential and increase intelligence. (read more)

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imdb   Lucy    mental time travel

0742 – LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE / Ruang rak noi nid mahasan (2003)

timespace coordinates: 2000’s Thailand

Thai filmmaker Pen-ek Ratanaruang directs the character-driven drama Last Life in the Universe, co-written by first-time screenwriter Prabda Yoon. Kenji (Tadanobu Asano) is a Japanese man living in Bangkok. He lives a tidy, silent lifestyle fueled by the detached desire to kill himself. Meanwhile, Noi (Sinitta Boonyasak) is a pot-smoking call girl who lives in a  shabby beachside home outside the city. She tries to teach herself to speak Japanese with hopes of moving to Osaka. One day, Kenji walks into his apartment as his brother Yukio (Yutaka Matsushige) is involved in a gun fight with gangster (yakuza) Takashi (Riki Takeuchi). Then Kenji accidentally witnesses the death of Noi’s lovely sister, Nid (Laila Boonyasak), with whom he first became smitten at the library. Having nowhere to go, Kenji goes to live with Noi for a few days, leading to the development of a strange and sensitive relationship. With cinematography by Hong Kong-based photographer Christopher Doyle. Last Life in the Universe won an Upstream Prize at the 2003 Venice Film Festival. (rottentomatoes)

Last Life in the Universe OST – Untitled [Are you alone? Are you lonely?]

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0737 – Psychokinesis / Yeom-lyeok (2018)

timespace coordinates: 2010’s Seoul

Psychokinesis (Hangul: 염력; Hanja: 念力; RR: Yeom-lyeok) is a 2018 South Korean superhero film written and directed by Yeon Sang-ho. The film stars Ryu Seung-ryong, Shim Eun-kyung, Park Jung-min, Kim Min-jae and Jung Yu-mi in the lead roles. This is director Yeon Sang-ho’s second live action film after Train to Busan in 2016. It is the first South Korean superhero film, and revolves around a bank security guard who gains telekinetic superpowers after drinking water from a mountain spring affected by a meteor, and decides to use them for saving his estranged daughter and her neighbourhood from an evil construction company.

imdb