Library Videos for July 2013--Private Eyes

Private Eye, Starring Jeong-min Hwang, Dal-su Oh, Deok-Hwan

 Ryu and Ji-won Uhm. Directed by Dae-Min Park.

Call Number: PN1995.9.F67P75 2012.

   A Korean import that shows their directors have been paying

attention to American noir.  In the 1900 Korean empire, Hong-Jin

Ho is a private eye barely surviving on money made by spying on

cheating spouses.  Then a rich man’s son is found murdered in

the woods and Hong-Jin is hired to find the culprit.  With the help

of a medical student, he uncovers a far more complex crime than

it seems. Film noir meets an Asian Sherlock Holmes.

 

The Zero Effect, starring Bill Pullman, Ben Stiller, Ryan O’Neal and Kim Dickens.  Directed by Jake Kasdan.  Call Number: PN1995.9.D4Z47 1998.

     Daryl Zero is a brilliant detective who can’t function in the real world.  Steve Arlo is hired to be his leg man and gofer, dealing with people Zero can’t talk to—which is everybody.  When Daryl is hired to find a millionaire’s missing keys, it leads to a lot of unexpected complications for him—like love.

 

 

 

The Big Sleep, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Directed by Howard Hawks.   Call Number: PN1995.9.D4B56 2000.

   A Faulkner screenplay from a Raymond Chandler script revolves around legendary detective Philip Marlowe, trying to save a family’s name from the indiscretions of the youngest sister.  The plot takes a lot of watching, but the characters and atmosphere carry everyone along through the murky world of blackmail, pornography, gamblers and murder.  And of course, whenever Bacall and Bogart are on the screen the dialog and sexual tension sizzle.

 

 

The Girl by the Lake, starring Toni Servillo, Valeria Golino, Fabrizio Gifuni.

Directed by Andrea Molaioli. Call Number: PN1995.9.D4G57 2010.

     Called to a small Northern Italian village, Inspector Giovanni Sanzio investigates the murder of a beautiful young girl, and uncovers many of the secrets of the town in the process of recreating her last day.  It’s a place of great beauty, but beneath the idyllic setting, there are many things people are trying to keep hidden—and the Inspector is one of them.