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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |
(aka "Searching for the Elephant" or "Pen-teu-ha-woo-seu ko-kki-ri")
directed by S.K. Jhung
South Korea 2009
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Freelance photographer Hyun-woo, plastic surgeon Min-suk and financial specialist Jin-hyuk seem to have it all, living as affluent thirty-something young urban professionals in Seoul, but in reality the three childhood friends each struggles schizophrenia, sex addiction and infidelity. As the amount of secrets they keep from each other pile up, the tension in their friendship and questions of loyalty push their sanities to the brink, leading to a shocking finale when they learn that growing pains are not just distant memories of their youth. *** Freelance photographer Hyun-woo has a successful career and seems to be living an enviable life. But he's been suffering from depression since his ex-girlfriend Ma-ri left him, and begins to have trouble distinguishing between reality and delusion. One of Hyun-woo's friends, Min-seok, is an in-demand plastic surgeon who is also married to Hyun-woo's sister Soo-yeon. But Min-seok is constantly having affairs with various women and suspects that he may have sex addiction. Another longtime friend, Jin-hyuk, is a finance specialist. Jin-hyuk is secretly having an affair with Soo-yeon, Min-seok's wife, and is willing to give up everything for their love. Excerpt from Wikipedia located HERE |
Theatrical Premiere: October 9th, 2009 (Warsaw Film Festival)
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DVD Review: Asian Crush - Region 0 - NTSC
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| Distribution |
Asian Crush Region 0 - NTSC |
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| Runtime | 2:26:05 | |
| Video |
2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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| Audio | Dolby Digital 5.1 (Korean) | |
| Subtitles | English (burned-in) | |
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Release Information: Studio: Asian Crush Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 12 |
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| Comments |
Much of Searching For the Elephant is a chronicle of madness and includes some cool visual style sequences. At times gruesome, violent, erotic, romantic, perverted - crossing over against each other - erratically unsettled - which was probably deliberate replicating the protagonists descent into insanity. It's another MOD (made on demand) although I really implies that it is transferred to a DVD-R - it's single-layered and progressive in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio and looks impressive for SD despite a puny bitrate. There aren't as many compression artefacts as I would have expected from such a modest transfer and the film's abundant style and visuals eye-candy effects shine through quite pleasingly - even in the lesser format. This would probably look great in 1080P - more kudos to the film's art direction. Lossy Dolby surround track in original Korean. I noted a few adroit separations - and effects have some support although never with the depth we are spoiled with via lossless. There is music in the film but I didn't not a credited score. There are burned-in English subtitles (see sample below) on the, region FREE, NTSC DVD. No extras at all. I won't suggest that this is some masterpiece that fell through the cracks - but someone knew what they were doing making Searching For the Elephant. Perhaps delving into such a divergence from sexy to violence can reject viewer's embracing it - I can see that as a possibility. I think there is still some merit here and I suspect some will like it. Being MOD though, don't pay more than $10. |
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| DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from:
North American customers:
Global customers:
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| Distribution |
Asian Crush Region 0 - NTSC |
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Gary Tooze
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