A Better Tomorrow (무적자, Mujeogja) 2010

Great production values

Song Hae-sung’s A Better Tomorrow is a flashy remake of John Woo’s seminal 1986 classic which tries hard to refigure the tale of brotherly love in a gangster-riddled modern Busan. John Woo served as an executive producer for this film, which is a co-production between South Korea, China, and Japan, something that would not have happened 15 years ago. Budgeted at $8.7 million, this is a pricy affair with excellent production values and some stunning set pieces, the problem is that the plot is so familiar and drawn out that it is difficult to care.

Ju Jin-mo, last seen in Ha Yu’s gay period epic A Frozen Flower (2008), plays the role of a gangster who tries to go straight and win the affection of his cop brother. Like the original the plot is thin and the outcome can be spotted a mile away. However Woo’s version was a seismic blockbuster that revolutionized the Asian film industry by creating a new type of stylized action film that would be emulated for years to come. This Korean update does feature some great gunfight sequences, but they are short and infrequent throughout the 124 minute running time.

The plot is a major problem in this new version as it cuts out some significant elements, such as the younger brother’s love interest, yet is still half an hour longer than the original. The characters do not have much depth and are often lacking in charisma, especially Song Seung-heun who cannot possibly match Chow Yun-Fat’s iconic cool from the original. It is a difficult task to recreate a beloved character and it is often wise to change the protagonist so as not to invite comparison, but Song's incarnation lacks three-dimensional characteristics.

The divide between the brothers

There are a few minor changes from the original: the gangsters deal in arms as opposed to counterfeit money; and the overseas set piece is set in Thailand instead of Taiwan. The most promising change is that the brothers are North Korean defectors, this also sets up the seeds of the younger brother’s resentment as the elder brother abandoned him when he initially defected to the south. While this could be an interesting premise, appropriate attention is not given to North-South tensions and this becomes little more than an afterthought.

One of my favorite things about Korean cinema is its propensity to hop across genres. This style of filmmaking can irk a lot of viewers but is also the reason many western audiences are so transfixed by these films. The Host (2006), Save the Green Planet (2003), My Sassy Girl (2001), and many others exhibit a deft handling of generic conventions as their narratives fly across horror, comedy, sci-fi, melodrama, action, and social commentary. This is also true of films that have not crossed over to western audiences, in fact it is pretty much the style of filmmaking that many have come to associate with South Korea. A Better Tomorrow does not cross genres and the reason I mention this is because it’s a damn shame that it doesn’t. It severely limits itself by working within the confines of an already limited original. It takes away without adding, it tones down instead of taking it to the next level. This wouldn’t bother me so much but there is so much skill and potential from a technical standpoint that I wish they had given themselves more leeway to experiment and add a real Korean touch.

The film looks great and has a couple of great, albeit brief, action sequences but is let down by an obvious and simplified plot, two-dimensional characters, and a horribly misjudged finale. Although the film was a hit in its domestic market (with over 1.5 million admissions), I think that director Song Hae-seong is capable of a lot better. Having previously helmed Calla (1999), Failan (2001), Rikidozan (2004), and Maundy Thursday (2006), by comparison his latest effort seems decidedly by-the-numbers.

★★★☆☆

Solid set pieces

Reviews and features on Korean film appear regularly on Modern Korean Cinema.  For film news, external reviews, and box office analysis, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update, Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up, which appear weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (GMT+1).

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Memories of Murder: Part V - Female Representations

"Yet this absence of the mother had hardly nullified her fascinating and spectral presence, which is structured around the male subject’s unconscious desire to return safely to his place of origin. Even though the mothers are not ubiquitously present they are central to the narratives”

Park's Lover...

The position of female characters within these narratives that centralize around the recuperation of male subjectivity is problematic at best. Volume wise, as characters they are few and far between but what they represent is what is more complicated to ascertain. Some essays attack the fact that all the females in these narratives are seemingly just mothers and whores, sometimes both rolled into the same character. Since these films are dealing predominantly with masculine trauma it is not surprising that women in them are depicted as one or the other of these central male-female relationships. In Memories there are extremely few female characters and they add very little to the plot, which is not to say they are not "ubiquitously present". We learn about Det. Park’s family and up until the very end, where he has built his own family away from his past, the only woman we see that he has something beyond a work-based relationship with is the women he is sleeping with. She embodies both "the mother and the whore", a condensed narrative of sorts. We first see her naked having sexual intercourse with Park and immediately following this they engage in a casual post-coital conversation while she administers him with a vaccine. She sates his sexual appetites as well as giving him medical care and thus embodies characteristics of both a mother and a lover. It is true that the women are present throughout in so much that they effect the psyches of the males and are important to their historical, social, and personal developments, but they hardly appear in physical form and are never fully distinguishable characters as they only serves as emblems of their relationships to the male protagonists "the images of women remain prefixed on the rigid bifurcated conventions of whores and mothers". Since the film is all about character types which symbolize a generation and its subjugation, and problematic relationships with itself it is not altogether surprising that this approach is used. However, it is true that women could play a greater role in a number of these narratives. lt could be that the filmmakers in questions are too concerned with there own personal relationships with the characters they depict on screen to be altogether fully aware of the feminine aspect of the societies they embody. Therefore there is "a misogynistic tendency against women“ that “constitutes perhaps the most visible and disturbing symptom of a cinema that has earned its reputation abroad as consisting primarily of "violent introspective melodramas".

...becomes his mother

The other women in the film have similar traits. Gui-ok, the woman at the station only serves to add a feminine touch to the investigation, she listens to a sappy radio show and notices a song that comes up (however this scene does serve to emasculate the stumped male detectives and superintendent) and also interviews the rape victim who isn’t comfortable around men. This rape victim is an interesting characterization as she has suffered from a very real form of trauma and is so scarred that she can no longer live in society or relate to it in any way. As she explains her experience to Gui-ok, the scene is intercut with flashbacks of her experience, which are terrifying and humiliating. Therefore she cannot be said to be a fleshed-out character in her own right, as she is merely a device from which to extract evidence. It seems that all the females in Bong’s narrative are little more than symbols but a look at his next two films (The Host and Mother) makes it clear that he has the ability to do justice to female representations.

Previous: Part IV - Subversion of Genre

Next:  Part VI - Psychoanalysis and Scarred National Identity

Korean Cinema News (04/04-04/10, 2011)

I am starting a brief industry news section which will run weekly and feature posts on Korean films from a global perspective.  As I dabble with it over the coming weeks, the format and content may well change. Please contact me with thoughts or any suggestions to improve it.

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

Arnold Schwarzenneger to Star in Kim Ji-woon's The Last Stand?

After two stints as Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenneger's return to the silver screen may come as the star of Kim Ji-woon's US debut The Last Stand, which will come from a blacklisted Hollywood screenplay.  (Ain't It Cool. April 6, 2011)

Poetry's Yoon Jung-hee Honored with French Cultural Order

Yoon Jung-hee, star of the Lee Chang Dong's much-lauded film Poetry (2010), has been honoured with a top French cultural award.  French culture minister Frederic Mitterrand named Yoon an "Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters."  (YonHap News Agency, April 6, 2011)

Korean Cinema to Be Focus of Jeonju Film Festival

Independent Korean cinema will be featured prominently at this year's Jeonju film festival.  Short films from Yang Ik-jun, hot off the heels of Breathless (2009), and internationally-renowned woman's director Boo Ji-young will be featured alongside efforts from Im Kwon-taek and others in Korean Cinema Showcase section.  (JoonAng Daily, April 8, 2011)

Bong to Preside over Cannes' Camera d'Or Prize
Bong Joon-ho has been selected to head the jury for the Camera d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival, which is given to the best effort from a debut filmmaker.  He has previously attended the festival in competition as part of the omnibus Tokyo! in 2008 and his most recent feature effort Mother in 2009.  (Deadline New York, April 7, 2011)

Lee to Judge Critics' Week at Cannes
Master filmmaker Lee Chang-dong whose last two films, Poetry (2010) and Secret Sunshine (2007), both won awards at Cannes, will return to the festival this year as the head judge for the Grand Jury prize during the Critics’ Week Festival de Cannes.  (The Hollywood Reporter, April 7, 2011)

My Way to Be Focus of Press Junket at Cannes

Upcoming Korean blockbuster My Way will be the focus of a promotional event hosted by this year's Cannes film festival. Kang Je-gyu's My Way, a World War II set film with a record setting 30 billion won budget, is set to be released simultaneously in Korea and Japan in December.  (The Korea Times, April 7, 2011)

BOX OFFICE

Clash of the Families Dominates Korean Box Office for Second Week

Clash of the Families has now spent two weekends atop the Korean box office with a haul of just over 450,000 admissions.  That's a 6% decline from last weekend and its total now stands at 1,375,000.  Late Blossom continues to play well, having just crossed 1.5 million admissions in its 8th week.  This week Clash of the Families will vie with Suicide Forecast for the box office crown.  (Hancinema, April 10, 2011)


Korean Cinema News is a weekly feature which provides wide-ranging news coverage on Korean cinema, including but not limited to: features; festival news; interviews; industry news; trailers; posters; and box office. It appears every Wednesday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

A Brand New Life (여행자, Yeo-haeng-ja) 2009

Oomie Lecomte’s film A Brand New Life fills an interesting position in the pantheon of Korean cinema. It is a woman’s film made by a foreigner, and by that token alone it is somewhat of an anomaly. While decidedly European in many aspects, it still succeeds in engaging with many thematic elements commonly associated with Korean cinema. In addition, the film is set in 1975 and features a storyline where characters with unfortunate pasts come and go as circumstances beyond their control dictate.

The film begins with Jin-hee, who is having a great day with her father: he buys her new clothes; they go out to eat; and she rides with him on his bicycle. Then they take a bus, buy a cake, and he drops her off at an orphanage. She catches a glimpse of him as he leaves, and that is the last she will ever see of him. Now she must adapt to her new surroundings and come to terms with the fact that her father has abandoned her.

In watching this film I was reminded of Take Care of my Cat (2001), which also features strong elements of female bonding. Nine-year old Jin-hee has trouble fitting in at first, mainly through her own resistance, it is only when she befriends a slightly older girl that she calms down. Later, when her friend is adopted by Americans, she will begin to act up again. Camaraderie strikes me as an important element of the narrative, and by extension the need for acceptance. All the other girls seem to get along very well, and none are mean to Jin-hee when she first arrives, which we would normally expect. They are polite, well-behaved, and seem relatively happy.

Certainly they are well-treated by the nuns of the orphanage, who genuinely seem to care for them and help them to find homes, but they also seem completely cut off from the realities of Korean society circa 1975. Men are also missing from their lives, and yet the only negative effects felt within the walls of the orphanage are due to men: Jin-hee acts out because her father has abandoned her, and the older girl with the bad leg (whose name escapes me) attempts to take her own life because she is rejected by a young man.

The film is quite short by Korean standards, only 92 minutes, but packs quite an emotional punch during its fleeting running time. Less accusatory than reflective, A Brand New Life evokes nostalgia and asks questions without pointing too many fingers. It is a debut effort from Lecomte and is loosely based on her early years in Korea and I wonder if she will make another film in her birthplace. The young actress who plays Jin-hee, Kim Sae-ron, who was also in last year’s The Man From Nowhere (2010), is a revelation. Sol Kyung-go is also featured briefly in the beginning of the film, although his face is deliberately hidden save for one shot. Since his appearance could not be considered much more than a cameo I wonder if he was included to represent some of the characters he played in his career, Peppermint Candy (1999) comes to mind, where he played traumatized middle-aged men that have most often failed to keep a family together. All in all, a very strong and atmospheric effort that is worth a look.

★★★★☆

Reviews and features on Korean film appear regularly on Modern Korean Cinema.  For film news, external reviews, and box office analysis, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update, Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up, which appear weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (GMT+1).

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Decline in Domestic Interest for Korean Cinema?

As a follow-on from my previous article about a possible Decline in Western Interest for Korean Cinema, where I posited a notion that far be it that Korean cinema has dropped in quality, it is more likely that viewership has withered as the Korean cinema phenomenon has become a mainstay. I also argued for a different role to be played by foreign cinema distributors (such as Tartan). Today my focus is on the domestic market for Korean films. Since roughly 2007, many commentators have speculated on the decline in market share for homegrown films in Korea. Having reached it's zenith in 2006 at 63.8%, the domestic stronghold over the Korean box office has since fallen below 50%. Certainly, attendance is not what it was in the middle of the last decade, but I think the numbers are slightly misleading. The main figure bandied about when referencing the state of the Korean film market is the percentage of admissions which are for Korean films. Understandable as it is quite symbolic to crack 50% and thus claim that Korean cinema is the ruler of the roost in its own country. I sought ought a few statistics (courtesy of Koreanfilm.org) and decided to measure attendance a different way. The figures available to me were the aforementioned market place percentage and the total number of admissions. By simply multiplying the full admissions by the market percentage, I was able to ascertain a new set of figures which, in my years of reading about the Korean film industry, in books, trades, academic papers and otherwise, I have never seen before. In the simple list below, I have put in bold the total number of movie tickets sold for a Korean film in Korea for the year 1996-2010, along with the previous two statistics mentioned.

2010: 68.4 of 146.8 = 46.6%

2009: 76.6 of 157.0 = 48.8%

2008: 63.5 of 150.8 = 42.1%

2007: 80.7 of 158.8 = 50.8%

2006: 97.9 of 153.4 = 63.8%

2005: 85.4 of 145.5 = 58.7%

2004: 80.2 of 135.2 = 59.3%

2003: 64.0 of 119.5 = 53.5%

2002: 50.8 of 105.1 = 48.3%

2001: 44.6 of 89.0 = 50.1%

2000: 22.7 of 64.6 = 35.1%

1999: 21.8 of 54.7 = 39.7%

1998: 12.6 of 50.2 = 25.1%

1997: 12.1 of 47.5 - 25.5%

1996: 9.7 of 42.2 = 23.1%

Going back as far as 1996, the first thing you see is how far Korean cinema has come in capturing a significant chunk of the market place. What makes the rise even more impressive is to compare it to the total admissions, which have more than trebled in a very short time period. I have collated the first two rows of data into a rudimentary graph (figure 1) below:

Figure 1:

This show us that as well as increasing its percentage in the marketplace, Korean cinema basically mirrored the rise in ticket sales. What this proves is that nearly all of the additional tickets being sold up until 2006, were going directly to the Korean film industry. Let's put this in perspective, foreign ticket sale increased from 32.5 million in 1996, to 55.5 million in 2006, that's an impressive increase of just over 70%. Domestic ticket sales increased from 9.7 million in 1996, to 97.9 million in 2006, that is a staggering rise of nearly 1000%.

What about after 2006? Total ticket sales rose for one more year, while Korean sales saw a sharp decline for the next two. 2006 was probably the ceiling for Korean cinema, with The Host breaking records, a slew of other strong films hitting theaters, and the feverish good will towards homegrown products, 2006 hit a peak. 2007 did not have the same marquee offerings for Korean audiences and was greatly affected by the screen quota system, whereby Korean exhibitors must show Korean films for a certain amount of days per year, being slashed in half (from 146 to 73).

After this 'bad year' however, Korean ticket sales went up again and for the last few years have fluctuated along with total ticket sales. The low of 2008 was the same amount of tickets sold to domestic films in 2003, which itself was nearly 600% higher than 1996. Let's look at the graph for the market share for domestic films in Korea (figure 2):

Here we can clearly see the tandem rise and fall of Korean films and foreign imports, respectively, in the Korean film marketplace. The drop and subsequent reversal of market power in 2007-08 is much more alarming in this graph. The fact that admissions are not reflected here does two things: it does not do justice to the immensity of the rise of Korean cinema through to the new millenium and; it does not account for the continuing rise in admissions beyond 2006, thereby presenting a more dire picture of domestic film consumption than is really the case.

I believe that Korean cinema is in great shape and has settled into its groove. As long as Koreans go to the theater they will most likely watch a Korean film roughly ever two visits, and for a globalized market place that revels in the modern, high-tech, savvy, and star-driven films that Hollywood has to offer, this is definitely among the most powerful domestic film markets in the world.

Mr. Gam's Victory (Superstar Gam Sa-Yong) 2004

Korean cinema is very much an industry of genre films: gangster, high school, melodrama, horror and revenge dramas are the most recognizable but recently, sport movies have also had a significant impact in the Korean film marketplace. I came across Mr. Gam’s Victory as I trawled the internet to find a recommended Korean film that I had never heard of before. I understand that Lee Beom-su has appeared as the star of a few films but I was not very familiar with him, having only seen him as a co-star in My Wife Is a Gangster 3, and in minor roles in 200 Pound Beauty and City of Violence. Similarly I knew nothing about writer/director Kim Jong-hyun.

Mr. Gam is Gam Sa-yong, a factory worker who moonlights at a market stall run by his mother and dreams of playing professional baseball. He lives with his mother, his brother and his sister. He is a good worker and is well liked by his colleagues, one of whom is an aspiring actress who is ridiculed by their cohorts. He plays for the company team and learns of tryouts for a professional team, the Sammi Superstars. His co-workers tell him he doesn’t have what it takes to play professionally; he is meek and seems inclined to agree. His mother does not encourage him either. His brother does support him, but seen as he is prone to drinking and gambling, his encouragement isn’t worth much. While on duty in the factory he decides to sneak off and tryout, the wannabe actress sneaks off for an audition at the same time.

Sneaking out for tryout/audition

After a few decent pitches he makes the team. It becomes apparent that the Superstars are far from it and most of the film follows their extended losing streaks. He is not the first choice at base, nor the second, so it takes a while for him to get the chance to play. When this happens it is only to close out losing games, and he does not have the opportunity to make his mark. His chance to start comes during their most important game of the season when they face the OB Bears, who are on a 19-game winning streak, thanks to their pitcher Park Chul-soo, and are looking for another win to break the world record. In typical underdog fashion, only the Sammi Superstars and Sa-yong stand between them and that goal.

The film starts off well, the structure is sound, the plot is clear, the characters and their predicaments are all well presented. However, Sa-yong gets to realize his ambition of playing professional baseball very quickly and subsequently the narrative begins to lag. He does not move up the ranks, does not get any chances to prove himself, and the dynamic in his family does not change very much. The climax, which is the extended game against the OB Bears, is much more entertaining, it is also his ‘0ne opportunity’, just like his brother keeps referring to.

There are a lot of mirrored character trajectories in the film, namely the fledgling baseball and acting careers of Sa-yong and his co-worker, and the two brothers hopes to stirke it big and support their family. Sa-yong and his co-worker skive off for tryouts and auditions at the same time and both make it, although she finds success much quicker. His brother lacks ambition and does not give himself a chance to get his ‘one opportunity’ due to his drinking and gambling. During the final game, which is Sa-yong’s ‘one opportunity’ he gets into a crash at the same time that Sa-yong collides with a player on the field. These three narratives, where each wants to succeed, demonstrate different paths and opportunities. The brother has no specific dream, beyond being rich, and therefore cannot attain it. Throughout the narrative he can only live vicariously through the false image he portrays of his brother, this leads him to storm the field and make a fool of himself when this image doesn’t not match the reality. The actress has a very specific dream and works hard to achieve it, although it is hinted that she may have received help due to her ample cleavage. Sa-yong similarly works hard to reach his goals but is thwarted by his slow pitch and a system that won’t give him his ‘opportunity’. Ambition, talent, chance, and physical characteristics all play important parts in determining the ultimate trajectories of these characters.

A new color TV set

The film begins in black and white and only switches to color when we are introduced to Sa-yong’s siblings, the reason for this being that his brother has purchased a new television and he points out that they no longer have to watch anything in black and white. The previous scenes all feature Sa-yong, in a way it is as if his family is watching him, or at least following his narrative, which will see him end on television. His mother, who disapproves of baseball, also disapproves of the TV. She is older and more traditional; the color set could represent progress and the impending sociological change of the future. In the next scene Sa-yong is on his bed, tossing a baseball up at the ceiling, which is adorned with a poster of an American baseball star. He dreams of playing in America, as it is a symbol of hope and opportunity, a recurring theme in the film.

Mr. Gam's Victory also fits nicely into my discourse on 'Manly Tears'. After losing the big game (the English title of the film is misleading) all the Sammi Superstars exit the dugout, leaving Sa-yong by himself. The OB bears make their exit off the field as well, huddled around and congratulating record-breaking pitcher Park Chul-soo. Sa-yong tries to keep his head down and avoid eye contact with Chul-soo. He raises his head apprehensively and Chul-soo notices him, the rival pitcher nods his head in respect and Sa-yong reciprocates, although awkwardly. When the OB Bears have left the diamond and Sa-yong is by himself, he cries.

So what is the significance of his tears? He mutters to himself that he really wanted to win, that he could have won, but I believe other factors are at work in this emotional display. He has worked very hard to reach this point and is no doubt disappointed that he was not able to notch up his first win but it seems like his tears are a result of the wordless interaction he has just had with Park Chul-soo. Despite losing, he has gained his respect. He has overcome the circumstances of his life, which are dictated by the makeup of society, the recognition he has just received proves this. Thus, the tears are a manifestation of the relief he feels having succeeded in tearing himself from the shackles of oppression.

Sa-yong jogs past a riot squad

The film is set in the 1980s and while it does not go to great lengths to examine the past, it does allude to the political unrest and social dissatisfaction of the time. In one scene Sa-yong goes jogging past a line of riot police right into a group of rioters which forces him into the middle of the altercation. As is the case for many characters in films of the Korean New Wave of the 80s, the working class protagonists frequently have no control over their own destiny and forced to walk a certain path or risk being cast off from society. Mr. Gam’s Victory is more optimistic however, as after the riot Sa-yong does become a professional baseball player and begins to have a say (albeit a small one) in his own future.

The film is based on a true story, and is quite modest in its ambitions. This works both for and against it, as the midsection lacks narrative thrust. It is an enjoyable and fresh take on the baseball film that embraces certain clichés but wisely sidesteps many others. Most significant perhaps is that Sa-yong is not a great pitcher, he is merely decent, but nonetheless his love of the game carries him through to the big game of the final act.

Exploring K-Drama

Despite watching hundreds of Korean films, I have never watched any K-Drama, until now that is! Last night I watched the first episode of Iris, the popular thriller from 2009 starring Lee Byung-hun. I'm not sure why it's taken me so long. Perhaps I didn't want to be disappointed, I hold Korean cinema up to such a high standard! So what did I think? Well, I enjoyed myself watching it, and I will watch more, but I definitely will not recommend this to people if I'm trying to get them into K-Movies. I kind of enjoyed myself despite myself. It was cheesy, flashy without being as sleek as its feature length counterparts. It was also very fetishistic, I know Lee Byung-hun is a good looking guy but it was like his skin was incompatible with clothing, it seemed to expel it constantly.

The first episode provides necessary exposition, military school, college, cute romances etc. Knowing that the age of the stars is around 40, this was a stretch and a little grating but I imagine that as the series progresses, this will become less of a problem. The show exhibits a somewhat different aesthetic than I am used to, it's very crisp but it does look like TV. It's long too, are all K-Drama episode 65 minutes long? I think it's interesting that shows only go on for one season, I like that format, the stakes are just gonna be higher, I hope.

I want to see some other K-Dramas too before I make up my mind about them, I know there are some that are meant to be very good. Iris just seemed like an easy introduction, it features a few stars I know (Lee Byung-hun, Jeong Joon-ho) and it's full of action/spy/thriller elements.

I'm curious to see where this goes.