Korean Film 101: Bodily Divisions

I have covered the idea of the division culture in Korean film in this very column (and probably will cover again given the prevalence of it in the culture) before focusing on the economic, technological, and social divide in both Shiri and Repatriation. I’ve also explored it within the family. However, these definitions of historical and cultural division do not singularly define the idea of Korean national division. In this article I will explore the division of mind and body in Choi In-hoon’s The Square and Kim Ki-duk’s Bad Guy (Nappeun Namja, 2002) and how they relate to the historical division and economic division respectively. Choi In-hoon’s protagonist, Lee Myong-jun, is the intellect divided from the body. He attempts to fix this trauma, and cure his loneliness through doomed relationships with two women and two nations. Kim Ki-duk’s protagonist, Han-gi (Cho Jae-hyeon), is the physical divided from the intellect. He attempts to overcome this trauma through the misogynistic male fantasy of turning a woman into a prostitute. I will attempt to illuminate these sexual divisions, and how they illustrate the re-imagining of division in Korea as an exclusively masculine enterprise. I will also show how the protagonists of both The Square and Bad Guy are drawn inevitably towards death because their lack (be it corporeal or psychic) does not allow them to function in a divided society. … Continue Reading

Korean Film 101: Repatriation

North/South division deeply affects families as well.

If Shiri is the ultimate example of right-thinking propaganda cinema (as blockbusters are usually conservative to allow them to gain the maximum audience), Kim Dong-won’s documentary Repatriation is on the opposite end of the political spectrum. Kim is essentially the father of modern Korean documentary film having been a part of the democratization movements of the 70s and 80s his humanistic style of documentary is an extension of the political beliefs and activism he practices in daily life. I plan on writing more about him and his work in this column so keep tuned. He is one of my film heroes and a genuinely pleasant man as well. This week was the 30th anniversary of the Kwangju Massacre and I felt I needed to write about something that was political and in the spirit of the Minjung movement that worked so hard for democracy in Korea. Kim Dong-won is both of those things and his Repatriation in which he spent 12 years chronicling his relationship with North Koreans trying to get back home after being released from jail is just that. … Continue Reading

Truth and Deception: The Games of Joint Security Area

A tale of separation and friendship on the DMZ.

Park Chan-Wook’s 2000 film Joint Security Area begins with a murder mystery in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas. Two North Korean soldiers are dead and one soldier from both sides is injured as a result of a shooting on the North Korean side of the demarcation line. Both countries stand by their soldier’s depositions despite the conflicting truths of the reports. The North Korean soldier Sgt. Oh Kyeong-pil (Song Kang-ho) claims that Sergeant Lee Soo-Hyuk (the injured South Korean soldier played by Lee Byung-hun) attacked them, while the South claims that the North Korean guards kidnapped Sergeant Lee. In the end it is up to a Swiss military officer from the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, Major Sophie E. Jean (Lee Young-ae), to find out what really happened. She is pressured from both nations to declare both depositions true to diffuse a politically volatile situation. Slowly she discovers the truth that the North Korean guards and South Korean guards were friends who were caught in this treasonous act by an inspecting North Korean lieutenant.

She is removed from the case after inciting tensions between the two sides with her adamant quest for the truth. She confronts Sergeant Lee in the end of the film with a choice. He can tell her the truth (about who shot first in the North Korean guardhouse) and she will not leave the incriminating evidence of the friendship for her replacement, or he can refuse and she’ll leave the evidence. By telling the truth he will also protect his friend and fellow South Korean soldier. This is where game theory can be used to show the rational progression of the choices in the film. What follows is heavily dependent on spoilers so do not continue if you want to see this film untainted. … Continue Reading

Korean Film 101: Shiri

There are a lot of guns in this film.

Shiri (Kang Je-gyu, 1999) was the first modern Korean blockbuster, drawing about 6.2 million admissions nationwide and surpassing Im Kwon-taek’s 1993 film Sopyonje by becoming the first film to draw over 2 million viewers in Seoul alone. It even beat the international juggernaut Titanic in box office draw. It literally paved the way for Korean film to retake the domestic box office from foreign product. Starring Han Suk-gyu (Green Fish, No. 3, The President’s Last Bang), Choi Min-shik (The Quiet Family, Oldboy, Himalaya: Where the Wind Dwells), and Kim Yun-jin (Ardor, Yesterday, TV’s Lost) this film was released just as Korea was attempting to recover from the IMF crisis and was an early example of the chaebol (Korea’s big business) investing heavily in a film. The film is filled with reminders of consumer goods, deliberately portraying Korea as recovering and post-scarcity. The plot is a combination of Hollywood action and Korean melodrama. North Korean agents inflitrate South Korea and attempt to use the CTX bomb at a friendly soccer match between North and South Korea in an attempt to force reunification by violence. It is up to the South Korean intelligence agents to catch and stop them.

… Continue Reading

Mothers, Whores and Filial Daughters: Redefining the Female and the Family in Korean Melodrama

A Good Lawyer's Wife, Im Sang-soo 2003

I’m nerdy about a lot of things. One of the biggest things is Korean Cinema, which I studied while going to NYU. Every once in a while I will write a paper (or long article) eventually figuring that I will write a book. Today’s post is an experiment. Can I post a long article, and how to format it. This paper examines how the role of women in Korean family melodramas has changed over the years, and how it helps to define the Korean family (and through that a sense of what it means to be Korean). Enjoy, I’m fairly proud of this one. … Continue Reading