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The London Korean Film Festival 2011: Right now it seems as if there’s a film festival for every genre and every country. But I can honestly say that the recent 2011 Korean Film Festival – which lasted a fortnight in London before moving out to a few other cities – is probably the most enjoyable in terms of quality, variety, and delighted full-houses that I’ve been lucky enough to witness. Though this was the sixth London Korean Film Festival, it was the first for me, but definitely won’t be the last.
The greatly-anticipated opening movie, Kim Han-min’s WAR OF THE ARROWS (right), could probably have filled the seats in the Odeon West End twice over, and the packed crowd of over-excited fans certainly got good value. Not only was the director there, and a ‘virtual’ Jonathan Ross, but the K-Pop sensation, boy band SHINee, came to watch the entertainment and set everyone’s camera phones going crazy.
Once the hullabaloo had died down, the film certainly came up with the goods. Telling the tale of an ancient, epic blood feud with lashings of chivalry and wonderfully bizarre hairstyles, this knocks the bow action of Kevin Costner and Russell Crowe into a cocked hat. In fact, it’s much closer to House of Flying Daggers, and some of the chase and fight sequences are spectacular. The pace never slackens, and the heroism of the three central characters is constantly challenged by those who are pursuing them – not to mention vicious tigers, inhospitable forests and ravines.
The key venue for the festival proved to be the ICA, which focused first on Korea ‘North & South’, starting with the European premiere of THE FRONT LINE (right). This no-holds-barred Korean War movie could be subtitled ‘War: what is it good for?’ and is set towards the end of the bleak conflict in a no-man’s-land that keeps changing sides. Combining the grisly hyper-realism of Saving Private Ryan with the black comedy of Catch 22, it has a couple of sequences which are so graphic that one audience member actually lost their lunch. Treachery and bravery abound, but the camaraderie and gallows humour is what keeps the soldiers going – and makes it bearable for the viewer – as director Jang Hoon shows us how war dehumanises.
Probably my favourite film of the entire festival was POONGSAN, from Juhn Jai-hong. Ostensibly about a trafficker, Poongsan, who brings tangible memories and even people over the border, this turns into a hybrid of obsessive love story and trust-no-one thriller. At its heart is the mute, Milk Tray-type hero who lets his actions speak for him. If Poongsan is bringing you into South Korea then you’ll have to strip naked and put your possessions on your back as you swim across the river, then smear mud all over your body so you don’t show up on the CCTV monitors, then hold onto him as you pole-vault over the high fence, before re-assembling a motorbike on the other side and driving away. Simple.
All goes, er, swimmingly until one woman, In-oak, proves a bit difficult, a bit noisy and a bit too heavy for the pole-vaulting bit. But has their mutual peril brought In-oak closer to Poongsan than to the rich defector who paid for her passage? And will love stop Poongsan escaping when he has the opportunity and instead make him seek out In-oak? The plot thickens as everyone appears to be a double agent working for the other side. Classy, slick, funny, exciting, yet moving – and worth looking out for.
By far the most brutal, bloody, but brilliant movie of the festival was YELLOW SEA (right), directed by Na Hongjin of The Chaser fame. It follows a taxi driver, Gu-nam, who has lost his wife and is rapidly gambling the rest of his life away playing and losing at mah-jong. He is offered the chance to wipe out all his debts and maybe even track down his wife… but in return he has to travel from China, across the Yellow Sea to Seoul, where he must assassinate a specified businessman. And as if that wasn’t enough, Gu-nam must also remove the businessman’s thumb to prove the kill. The crossing is terrifying, he finds and monitors his prey meticulously, and just as time is running out – someone else kills the businessman before Gu-nam can get there. But all evidence points to him as the murderer, and everything goes completely pear-shaped.
Two rival gangs face off, and the hapless police also get involved, with Gu-nam trapped between them. Cue: amazing city car chases, violent punch-ups, murderous knife and axe fights, and one memorable scene where the most brutal character, Myun-ga, picks up the half-eaten bone he’s been feasting on and uses that to batter his enemies and cause crunching carnage. Be warned though – you may have to defocus your eyes or you’ll end up wincing like I did.
Cho Jin-min’s comedy, SUICIDE FORECAST starts with a bang – or at least a car crash, as multiple, unconnected individuals are affected by one small action. Then we meet the main man, played by Ryoo Seung-beom, playing a life insurance salesman who sees himself as a winner, complete with trophy girlfriend, bags of ambition and the desire to move up the ladder swiftly.
To say he’s unlikeable is an understatement. But when he has to go back to every single one of his clients to try to get them to change their insurance policies – and make sure they don’t cash in by committing suicide – he starts to realise that there’s more to life than his superficial existence. There’s great warmth even as he’s frequently humiliated, outwitted and defeated by clients including a taxi driver, refuse collector and musician. And by the end, there’s even a glimmer of redemption for him…
The sign of an enduring love story is when it’s remade, so when there’s a third version, as with LATE AUTUMN (right), it’s got to be worth checking out. Kim Tae-yong is the latest director to tackle this classic, and he’s moved the story to Seattle, with the central mismatched couple played by Chinese actress Tang Wei as a prisoner on short release for her mother’s funeral, and Korean heartthrob Hyun Bin as a preening gigolo.
In fact, such is Hyun Bin’s pin-up status that every time the audience glimpsed his torso, there was a collective sharp intake of breath and general swoon – quickly followed by a collective embarrassed giggle. The plot isn’t much – part Brief Encounter, part Affair to Remember – but the performances and the evolving chemistry between the leads make this worth sticking with.
Finally, the Apollo Piccadilly was the venue to celebrate the director Ryoo Seung-wan with a complete retrospective of his past movies – climaxing with his very latest smash hit and an in-depth Q&A session. Quickly gaining the nickname of the ‘Action Kid’, Ryoo Seung-wan has gained fans and accolades over the past decade, and his 2006 film, CITY OF VIOLENCE, portrays an utterly ruthless world, where organised crime is endemic, life is dominated by vicious and uncompromising gangs, and gloriously over-the-top, kung-fu fight scenes are choreographed to the soundtrack’s beats.
Old feuds resurface, fresh wounds are opened, and corruption washes across the city. What makes this more intriguing is its echoes of Infernal Affairs, where you see what happens to childhood friends whose lives later take different paths, with brother pitted against brother, friend against friend, and deadly vengeance seemingly inevitable.
So it was apt that Ryoo Seung-wan’s THE UNJUST (right) closed the entire festival, with the director forewarning us that we would need to keep our wits about us and that it would be deliberately confusing. And it certainly is, with loads of characters who are interlinked, led by the director’s brother, Ryoo Seung-beom (also in Suicide Forecast), who is terrific as a corrupt prosecutor.
New construction is springing up across Seoul, with bribery and brutal acts smoothing the way, as more and more land is needed. Meanwhile a series of schoolgirl murders needs to be seen to be solved by the police – even though they’ve already inconveniently murdered the perpetrator. An actor is hired and coached by the police to play the prime suspect, and he is framed to tidy up the case – with promises to look after his wife and child in return. But as the twisty, turny ending fast approaches, and no-one can trust anyone else, you begin to wonder whether justice really will be done.
As Ryoo Seung-wan revealed in his Q&A, even his crew were confused when they were making the movie, and coincidentally there was a very similar case of a corrupt prosecutor in the headlines while they were shooting. But he was also proud that The Unjust is his first film focusing on character.
After two weeks of movie treats I’m already looking forward to seeing the further evolution of Ryoo Seung-wan – and his fellow Korean film-makers’ – at next year’s festival. Make sure you’re there too…
© Helen M Jerome 2011