AACHI & SSIPAK: a last review from IFFR 2007

This is my last review from the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Honest! The last day was more than two weeks ago and I needed my time to write reviews for the more “high-brow” movies I saw. When I finally had time to write about “AAchi & SSipak” I nearly thought too much time had passed. Months ago Logboy had already written a review which did a great job in summing this movie up so I decided to let this one slide.
But then I got the Korean DVD and after rewatching it I decided to give my two cents after all.

“AAchi & SSipak” is a very weird animated movie from Korea. In fact, it is SO weird you'll be wondering what drugs the creators were using during this production.

The look of the characters is very abstract and basic, reminiscent of figures like Beavis & Butthead or Samurai Jack, while the backgrounds are meticulously detailed paintings and 3D-renders. That schizophrenic duality doesn't stop with the animation: this movie just oozes with gloss and polish but tells a story with the sense and sensibility of a fart joke. I would be criticizing it for that but for the fact that it's actually meant to be a fart joke! A very violent one I might add.

Logboy's review telling it as it is:
IFFR's correct description:
Flashy Korean website with the trailer:
The DVD:

The story (apply deep voice here): in a world…

…where human shit is the last usable resource for creating energy, the government has institutionalized shitting. Every human is outfitted with a special ring-shaped chip in the anus, and whenever you take a dump you get a blue popsicle for a reward. These popsicles are addictive so there is a thriving black market, especially since there is a large community of constipated mutants who can never get any the legal way. Enter AAchi & SSipak, two lowlifes who by chance stumble onto a plot by the mutants to acquire a shitload (haha) of popsicles with the use of porn actress Beautiful. When the mutants prove a bit too successful the government starts to wage a full-out war against them with our anti-heroes stuck in the middle. Will AAchi & SSipak survive long enough to be able to rescue Beautiful and will she appreciate it?

If you want to know more details, read Logboy's review and watch the trailer. Seriously, that's all the preparation you need to tell you if you're going to enjoy yourself or not. For me this movie delivered based on those two sources of information. Delivered in spades.

The reason for me putting up a review at all is that I've seen this one in a cinema and want to comment on watching this with a large appreciative audience. The IFFR advertised this film as being of the “big & dumb” variety and this meant everyone knew what they were getting into. To our surprise director Joe Bum-Jin introduced “AAchi & SSipak” himself, saying that we shouldn't believe the rumors that this was a hardcore movie. In fact, he said, this was all very softcore and he hoped we wouldn't fall asleep during the boring parts. All of this drew appropriate laughter, as falling asleep during this film is NOT an option, although being battered numb and senseless is. I saw it on the same evening as “Paprika”, one of those double-bills you can only have on a festival like this. After having seen Satoshi Kon's intelligent and spectacular film it was refreshing to lay my brain to rest for a while and watch “AAchi & SSipak”. I might be easily pleased though: any movie which contains a parody of the mine-cart race from “Indiana Jones a/t Temple of Doom” lasting longer than the original scores major points with me.
Seeing this with a huge group of people looking for a good time was certainly a bonus, and I miss them when I put on the DVD. There were lots of roaring laughs throughout this particular showing. Maybe everyone needed something loud and dumb so late in the festival , that's always possible, but the fact remains me and my friends enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Unsurprisingly the audience rated this very highly. The first showing scored so good it even threatened to make it into the Top-10 of the festival! It finally ended up in place 20 though (out of 190), and I don't know what you'll think about us Dutch but it got a higher rating than “Paprika” (place 31) and “The Host” (place 50). Not my order of choice but what can you do.
All in all a very nice way for me to end my coverage of this years' festival.

The Korean DVD-release serves its purpose with a very good transfer and sound. Unfortunately the extras do not have English subtitles, but that doesn't mean they can't be enjoyed: the trailers are hilarious (with an abundance of things “bleeped” out) and the deleted scenes are very interesting because they contain a number of spoofs of famous movies, with some original choices. A fight between a supercop and a supermutant also looks like it should have been left in the finished film.

Finishing up: this has guilty pleasure written all over it, “AAchi & SSipak” is a high-tech low-brow comedy which has a distinctive style of its own. The only thing that would come close to resembling this is the 45 minute "Dead Leaves" movie from Production-IG which is -if possible- even more frantic.
I had a lot of fun with “AAchi & SSipak” and highly recommend it (shallow guy that I am!) but can understand that this is not to everyone's taste.