3 out of 5

Directors: Pil-sung Yim, Ji-Woon Kim

Three end of-the-world tales that are intended to show us hopeful spins on somewhat familiar scenarios, ‘Doomsday Book,’ as with a lot of anthology style films, hinges a lot on its sequencing, though this time in a good way.  Our first tale is a zombie apocalypse, the second one is a robot apocalypse, and the third one is a meteor-strikes-the-earth story.  Initially this was planned for three directors, but machinations made it such that Pil-sung Yim took two parts – opening and closing – and Ji-Woon Kim took our middle portion.  So.  Our opener is the most plodding, a lightly comical take on zombieism-as-virus.  We’ve seen these stories before and this one offers nothing new, plus it hinges on a connection to some characters which just doesn’t have time to form.  When it gets around to its hopeful take on matters, any kind of subtlety (which already isn’t there) is wiped away by a helpful Bible passage afterward.  Same goes for the last portion (same director), which is a good wind down to the film as it’s pretty whole-hearted (the family element is done well and we do bond with it this time) and very funny, but ends up being weird just for weird’s sake, again using a “let me explain the point” line right at the end.  Amusing but hollow.  The middle portion really brings this all up a notch, mixing Buddhism with questions about what man is capable of… it seems to be preachy with its philosophy, but as the tale wears on, it becomes richer and richer.  All three parts are shot well, but Pil-sung’s feel more impersonal, versus Ji-Woon’s gorgeous and paced entry.  Boring at start, thoughtful in the middle, funny at the end.  It works.