Doomsday Book (2012)

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This film is in Korean with English subtitles. It defaults to no subtitles. The DVD lacks any commentary, which I would have watched on this particular film.This production consists of three sharp stories, the first being my favorite.The first feature smartly utilizes the story of the apple in the garden of Eden as a metaphor for Pandora's box. A rotten apple finds its way into the food chain as cow meal. Humans consume meat from the cow and get a "mad cow's disease" which causes them to act like zombies. The film claims it is a virus, but clearly it is prions. Oprah was right! I loved this zombie explanation.The second feature is about a robot who develops his own conscientiousness and is proclaimed to be Buddha due to his enlightenment. This segment contains heavy speeches concerning how man has become slaves to his inventions to the point that they impact on his evolution.The third segment concerns a young girl who orders an eight ball on line only to find out it is being delivered from outer space in the form of a huge meteor that will destroy the planet.

"In-lyu-myeol-mang-bo-go-seo", a.k.a. "Doomsday Book", is a South Korean science-fiction film divided in three uneven segments:1) "A Brave New World": the research scientist Yoon Seok-woo stays alone at home while his parents travel for a holiday with his sister. He is in charge of cleaning their apartment and he dumps all the garbage, including a rotten apple, in a disposal recycling system. This apple becomes animal food and soon the cow meet contaminates the population of Seoul that becomes zombies. This segment is the best one with a funny story and beautiful, but nasty cinematography.2) "The Heavenly Creature": the technician Park Do-wan is summoned to repair the robot In-Myung in a monastery since the robot claims that he is Buddhist and has reached enlightenment. Park is not capable to fix the robot and the company's president decides to decommission the robot. This segment is boring and annoying despite the great cinematography and special effects.3) "Happy Birthday": a girls damages an 8 ball and she buys another one in the computer of her father. Then she throws the ball through the window in order her father does not find it. A couple of years later, an asteroid will collide on Earth and her family seeks protection in an underground shelter.This segment has also a great cinematography but the story is senseless.My vote is four.Title (Brazil): Not available on Blu-Ray or DVD

Doomsday Book is a collection of three 30-40 minute films which all have the theme of the end of the world through self destruction (though that can only really be said about the 1st film and the 3rd). It's a good concept and has a lot of potential but it doesn't live up to it due to the drawbacks of the first two films. The first film is a truly unremarkable run-of-the-mill zombie-esque feature which is lackluster and while it does get amusing with some humor at the end, it's not a great start. The second film, at first, is the most intriguing and sparks interest to see where it goes but it soon becomes packed with sleep-inducing philosophical monologues that will make you wonder what relevance it had of being in this collection. However, despite the first two let-downs, the third and final film is where Doomsday book really delivers. The third film has a bizarre premise and is funny too but for me it was truly the only good film in the set and there there was no better place to have it as it felt like a reward for sitting through the first two.

SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS.Doomsday Book is a 3 part Korean anthology film about the future of mankind. Its 3 separate story lines are basically broken down as follows: 1. Zombie Apocalypse, 2. Robot Enlightenment, and 3. Alien/Asteroid destruction. Each of the stories is independent from one another and all are acted, written, and directed by various teams.While not terrible, this movie does have some problems, and, it seems strangely out dated (despite its futuristic themes). This film debuted earlier this year (2012), and therein lies the bulk of its problems…you see, this production originally began back in 2006, but funding problems and other delays hampered its release until it was shelved for quite a while; as a result, some stories were wrapped up years ago, one never got made, another was added on post haste to finally get the film out the door, etc...The end result is an uneven amalgam of flavors and styles and eras that doesn't quite come together as a whole as was hoped for.Story 1. "Brave New World" (i.e. "the Zombie" story). Easily my least favorite of the 3 works, and the one that suffers the most from the production delays. This story has 2006 written all over it… it revolves around the world's population de-evolving into zombie like creatures as a result of a virus born of tainted meat processing procedures. This would have been right proper back in '06, but, how many stories about contaminated mass food production, end of world viruses, etc…have been made since then?...And, we've got zombies!; Sorry, but it's almost 2013 now, so, enough with the freakin zombies already!...that ship sailed years ago. This story is ultimately not worth investing in (primarily because it was so overdone by the time it was released). There's also no zombie "love story" angle as suggested that I can recall, unless there is some extended version I haven't seen…basically, guy goes on a date, guy runs into date later on during the wash, and, everybody is now a zombie or will soon become one! Summary: Somewhat OK (I guess)!Story 2. "Creation of Heaven" (i.e. the "Robot with a soul" story). Probably the best of the 3 stories, and easily the most philosophical & cerebral. Fairly interesting and well done story overall…It's basically your human created machine gains intelligence, sentience, thought, free will, etc…Then, various humans with differing opinions and motives on the subject must decide what to do with it. This story would perhaps have been better suited to be a full feature movie on its own. It does work pretty well as a short, but I could easily see it being successfully expanded into a longer production (similar to what was done with the "Dumplings" portion of the "3 Extremes" anthology). Summary: Not bad at all!Story 3. "Happy Birthday" (i.e. the "We need to tack on another 30-40 minute tale 6 years later to finally release this film" story). I like the somewhat odd premise of this segment, but unfortunately, it just doesn't work that well overall. This is the story that has the young girl trying to replace her dad's missing 8 –ball via the internet. The internet is a magical place indeed, but I think we're still a long way away from alien races fulfilling Amazon.com orders through space and time via giant asteroids. This episode felt a bit rushed, and, I think would have been far better served if it played up the comedic/surreal aspect of the plot (which it reluctantly seemed to want to fully embrace). Summary: Ultimately disappointing!Bottom Line: Overall, I was not impressed!…A bit of a missed opportunity that's "OK" to watch, but, I recommend you don't set your hopes too high going in if you're going to check it out. I'm not going to destroy it, because it ain't terrible. Occasionally though, delays/timing/funding get in the way of the best laid plans…here's Exhibit A in regards!…That's just the way it goes sometimes!6 out of 10 stars overall!