Full Film Descriptions available HERE.

These three filmmakers were featured at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in conjunction with The Korean Cultural Service of New York. This program was curated by Larry Kardish and Staff Passes were provided by Graham Leggat from MoMA's Film and Video Press. The program began November 21st and culminated December 6th, 1995. The three filmmakers were present for the opening programs. All screenings were at the Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 1 (located on the ground floor) and were subtitled in English.

Although I was not present on the opening day, I was able to watch most of the films presented, with the exception of Yu Hyun-Mok's Daughters of the Pharmacist Kim and Shin Sang-Ok's My Mother's Tenant.

At the time of writing, I was most impressed by the work of Im Kwon-Taek. In particular, Gilsodom (1985) and Sopyonje (1993). Also of note were Im Kwon-Taek's Daughter of the Flame (1983) and Yu Hyun-Mok's Obaltan. I had trouble with the work of Shin San-Ok, mostly in terms of performance and costuming. Both his Dream (1964) and Eunuch (1968) seemed heavily influenced by theatrical conventions with non-realistic acting styles and theatrical sets. Of the two, the earlier piece seemed more self-contained and successful in making use of these conventions.

General impressions, before going on to detailed journal entries:

The camera rarely makes use of depth of field. The foreground is usually in focus, but it is rare that anything in the background is held in attentive focus. Camera work is generally fluid and there were several effective uses of pans to cover several functions at once: i.e. establish location, position character(s), and follow character(s) into scene(s), etc.

Plot is heavily driven either by a voice-over narrator who begins the tale (and then may provide the film's closure) or by a character who tells his tale which we witness as flashbacks or someone who is searching for a "definitive" story and goes on to encounter people who narrate pieces of the tale(s).

The effect of this particular technique is that on one hand there is a linearity to the story (and it is a narrative-driven convention). On the other, the logic of linearity is often dispensed with: i.e. completely unrelated characters in space and/or time will continue a story's thread even if this is logically impossible. Both Sopyonje and Daughter of the Flame have gaps like this.

In terms of motifs: main characters often are orphans in search of a connection with their past (family member, old friend, old village, etc). It is often impossible and/or undesirable to re-establish a connection. Instead, what remains is a reinforcement of the pain (or the memory of the pain) of the initial separation - longing for reunion and a full acknowledgement/denial of its possibility. Gilsodom in particular, thematizes this relationship of han, Korean cultural pain and suffering.

As main characters or supporting roles, often the characters are physically disfigured or mentally unbalanced. With the exception of madness, physical deformities are not mentioned as handicaps, unusual or abnormal traits. Nevertheless, with many "healthy" bodies present, it is consistently the deformed or disfigured who take on the major roles. Ultimately, there is much suffering incorporated into these films. There is also a great deal of cruelty and abuse between characters, of parents to children, and adults to themselves.

Admittedly, my interest in Korean film had its own agenda, thus my particular focus and POV for the films I watched. Generally speaking, I can say two things about these Korean films as they relate to Korean films and filmmaking overall. First, there are definitely auteurs who prefer or excel in a particular mode. Shin San-Ok works closely with the theatricality of court dramas. Yu Hyun-Mok is the most overtly social realist who tends to be heavily didactic in his political, historical or religious themes. Finally, Im Kwon-Taek shows a mastery of melodrama in which he can subtly submerge complex issues. The second observation is that the filmic techniques employed by these auteurs is highly eclectic. Watching them in succession, it becomes apparent that techniques are borrowed and refined, unrelated to the overall style of the work. Social realist techniques of newsreel footage may be appropriate to service melodrama (Gilsodom), didactic, philosophical soliloquies may be incorporated into detective drama (Son of Man) or religion may be used to address politics and history (Rainy Days).

Personal highpoints for me come at the intersection of such diverse points. Sopyonje for its search for past origins through the experience of a vanishing performative art. Sam-Ryong the Mute for its blend of humor and intense cruelty, Rainy Days for its blend of mysticism and politics as well as Daughter of the Flames and Son of Man for "daring to speak about god without embarrassment" - not for the sake of religion but for the expression of a cultural/personal impulse that also has been almost wiped out.

This page hosted by Free Home Page