A WOMAN'S ANGLE ON VENGENCE : "LADY VENGENCE"

Ok, I’m sorry, but I really, really cannot have a week of “original” Asian films without touching on that all-time great among those directors that are slightly more “original” than others (otherwise known as mad), Park Chan-Wook. And by the way I do realize that the title of the post is slightly misleading in that Park Chan-Wook is not a woman, but the perspective presented in the film is a woman's, so... Mmm, I think we it counts =) The film I have in mind is the last film of his “vengeance trilogy” that started off with Oldboy and continued with Sympathy for Mister Vengence. Lady Vengece, if a little lighter on the twisted side of things (and don’t get me wrong, I mean that as a compliment!) definitely doesn’t let up on the adrenaline and emotion. And don’t forget, I said it just went lighter on the twisted… So do handle with care…
13 years ago, Geum-Ja caused absolute scandal in Korea when, at the age of 20, she admitted to kidnapping and brutally killing a small boy. She is sent to prison, as you can imagine. But in prison her legend only continues to grow, not as a notorious killer but as an “angel”, one of the most good-hearted people ever to have existed. Her sentence over, she is out of prison, and as anyone can imagine, more than ready to start her life over. The thing is, before she actually can start her life over, she has things to do with her past that she must deal with. This is, notably, the man whose fault it is she ended up in prison in the first place. Having had 13 years to plan this vengeance, and since this man is a person of particular evilness, Geum-Ja has an extra-special kind of vengeance planned out for him…
I have been thinking on what makes Asian films so darned successful. I mean, not everyone likes them but why are they so popular with the people who do (I’m talking about the fans who are originally from the “Western World” you understand). I think with films like Lady Vengece, like in Audition (see above) actually, it is the element of suspense. In Asian films the suspense is usually two-fold. Firstly, there is the information, leaked little by little. Watching Lady Vengence takes a serious amount of background effort; we slowly piece together the puzzle of Geum-Ja’s story, starting from the press reports about her at the time of her incarceration and moving slowly on to a more personalized account as the film carries on. Then there is the fact that we are thus led to constantly guess what will happen next. Only the thing is, because the directors of these films have such personal styles and since the conventions they use originate in a culture so different from our own, we rarely succeed in figuring out what will happen next. When the adrenaline rush resulting from this mixes with the adrenaline rush from the film itself, the story, the action and the “reveal” at the end, well… It makes Park Chan-Wook’s films among the most exciting these days one can watch. Even if the themes undertaken and the way they are undertaken are a tad hard to stomach sometimes, in this time of the “uniformity” of the mainstream, I find something original that surprises me very, very refreshing. Plus, Lady Vengence reads very much like a sort of “vigilante” style crime story, there is a crime that has been committed and all Geum-Ja really wants is to bring the real perpetrator to justice. If you’re into the crime-drama scene and if you’re on the hunt for something original, look no further than this one I say. You will not regret it.

FRANCE MEETS SOUTH KOREA : "THIRST"

The more observant among you, my readers (we precious few – we band of brothers!) may have noticed I am rather fond of Park Chan Wook. I seem to have pretty much eulogized about him in my previous article about him – see “I’m a Cyborg But It’s Ok”. I am about to do it again. Behold Thirst. A film by Park Chan Wook. And in fact, a rather intelligent adaption of the classic Emile Zola novel Therese Raquin. Confused ? I certainly was. But absolutely titillated by the idea of the combo of one of my favorite classical authors(YES I know, I’m square. Live with it.)and one of my favourite directors? You betcha. I finally got to watch this film the other day. And boy did I get everything I expected and more…
Now, to fully appreciate the film – and the intelligence of the adaptation by Park Chan Wook himself and Seo Gyeong Jong – I should give a brief summary of Therese Raquin. So I shall. Basically, this is the story of Therese, who through circumstances, is forcibly married to Camille, the spoiled and effeminate son of a patron and neighbor. She then falls in love with Laurent, a vagabond who stays with her more because he can no longer afford prostitutes than anything else. They proceed to murder Camille to be together; however, murder is not as “easy to forget” as the couple first imagine… It is basically a naturalist novel which seeks to prove Zola’s ideas on the human condition and this is a very short summary of it indeed – I strongly recommend you read the book as well!
Now, onto the film. As you can imagine, it is set in South Korea and all the characters are Korean. Now, the Therese in this story is Tae Ju who is an orphan who was brought up by Mrs. Ra and forced to marry her spoiled son Kang Woo. Tae Ju is very unhappy in her marriage indeed. Laurent however, is Sang-hyeon and he is a childhood friend of the family and – wait for it – a catholic priest working in a hospital. Not a very appropriate euphemism for a playboy? No wait, there is more. He is a priest, who through a blood transfusion that has seemingly gone rather wrong has become a vampire. The only way he can survive is through consuming human blood, which makes life complicated if you believe in “Thou shalt not kill.” The couple will proceed to “inter-infect” each other with their own personal brands of good and evil. Through Tae Ju, Sang-hyeon discovers lust and love for the first time in his life. Tae Ju who is left unsatisfied by her husband clings to him. She is entranced by the idea of leaving Kang Woo and being with him. Especially if this means living (and being young) forever – thus Kang Woo’s days become numbered. All that being said, Sang-hyeon is still very much a priest in his own soul and even though love and lust may lead him to do unexpected things, well, let us say he will stay true to himself in the end…
Honestly, you don’t need to read Zola to enjoy this film – but those of you who have will do so more, I enjoyed the many parallelisms. And please don’t think “blasphemy” right away – this is a very tasteful and respectful, all be it modern and slightly well, different adaption. But that is not to say Park Chan Wook has not added something “personal” to the mix. The film is touching, observant, intelligent and sometimes quite hysterically funny in the way only Asian cinema can be. And Park Chan Wook’s great success is that he can give this whole range of emotions without disrupting the general feeling of the film, a film that becomes rather somber and at one point slightly surreal towards the end of its 2 full hours. It is one of those films that will most probably give you a migraine if you are prone to them or just make you grumpy for the rest of the day. But you will not regret watching it. That, I promise you.

I’M A CYBORG BUT THAT’S OK

Circumstances have led me to a slightly “themed” week. Well, partially themed anyway. And the theme of the week is South Korea! I have chosen for your delight and delectation two South Korean classics. And one of them is “I’m a Cyborg But That’s OK” by Park Chan Wook. Park Chan Wook is possibly the most famous modern Korean director, known for such classic films as Oldboy, Mr Vengeance and more recently Thirst.
Now, if you watched any of his movies before, you might be struck by the general darkness of the themes and of the movie itself. Not so in this case. I’m a cyborg but that’s ok is quite serious in its own way, but it’s basically a rather fantastic love story. The whole story takes place in a psychiatric hospital in Korea. The newest addition to the “family” is Su jeong-lim who thinks she is a cyborg. She is also on a mission however. She must make contact with her grandmother (who is really a mouse and was taken away by the same white-coats who didn’t believe her either) to find out her own reason of existence. Oh, and she must kill all the white-coats to avenge her grandmother. In hospital, she meets Rain. He is a thief. Not a kleptomaniac though, he can steal anything. From your pity to your talent for ping-pong. Su jeong-lim is struck by Rain but nothing will deter her from her mission. However, the other rather eccentric inmates are not going to make things easy for her either…
Now, even though there is no animation per-se, fans of anime will find something bizarrely familiar in this film. I can’t begin to describe what, but I definitely know it’s there. It’s something in the larger-than-life characters. The cheerful décor, the crazy adventures, the surreal atmosphere… Within a matter of minutes, Park Chan Wook has taken us on a crazy journey in a magical land- despite the presence of doctors and nurses- and even group therapy constantly reminds us where the “magic” is coming from… Still, we never think about that for long… The typically Asian attention to detail, the tasteful and subtle comedy, the pure art… A lot of Asian films may be considered difficult to watch, especially if you are not used to the genre. They can be considered dark, or too deep with too many subtle messages for the “Hollywood-numbed” brain. But this film is just so purely esthetic and joyful, I can’t think of a better introduction to Asian cinema. One last foot-note I will be adding is that if you like this film, you should really try watching some “anime” too, I’m ready to bet you’d like it. And vice – versa of course.