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Film: Breath
Release date: 26th July 2010
Certificate: 18
Running time: 84 mins
Director: Kim Ki-duk
Starring: Chen Chang, Gang In-Hyeong, Ha Jung-woo, Kim Ki-duk, Park Ji-a
Genre: Drama/Romance
Studio: Palisades Tartan
Format: DVD
Country: South Korea
This film was nominated for the 2007 Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and is directed by Kim Ki-duk, who was previously lauded for Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...And Spring in 2003. It seems he can do no wrong.
Yeon is a depressed housewife, mechanically going through the motions of her day – entertaining her young daughter, listlessly seeing to the chores and, when her husband gets home, silently provoking him by wearing his lover’s hair clip, which she found in his car.
She becomes obsessed by a news story about convicted killer Jang Jin (Chang Chen), who has attempted suicide as he waits on death row for his sentence to be carried out. Her fixation grows partly out of empathy for his tormented state of mind, but also because she feels that she has experienced death herself during a childhood ‘prank’, and wants to reassure him that it is not actually a terrifying experience.
Yeon presents herself at the prison and manages to talk her way into seeing Jang Jin, and from this first encounter a strange relationship develops. Decorating the interview room with a seasonal theme each time, she sings to him and talks about her experience of death, and, as the meetings continue, a gentle kiss becomes a passionate one, a hug in one meeting becomes an embrace filled with desire, and it becomes clear that a love affair is blossoming – seemingly with the blessing of the prison’s director, who voyeuristically watches all the events unfold via CCTV.
The inevitable happens and Yeon’s husband finds out where she has been going, and in a final attempt to end the liason, he drives her to the prison for one more meeting with Jang Jin. As he and their child play in the snow outside the prison, the relationship that Yeon has nurtured so carefully comes to its dramatic conclusion…
This may not be regarded as Kim Ki-duk’s greatest work, but it certainly holds the viewer’s attention. At first the repetitive nature of events – Yeon goes to the prison, the meeting with Jang Jin takes place, she goes home to an unhappy marriage – threatens to become tedious, but this pattern nicely reflects the monotonous nature of prison life, and variety is, of course, added by the differences in each encounter, and the development of the affair between prisoner and visitor.
Park Ji-ah is compelling as Yeon, her moods directly reflecting the sombre subject matter, and the overall tone of the film, and the deepness of her unhappiness and her silences are amplified by the low key presentation generally – there is no music in the film apart from Yeon’s musical interludes. These interludes provide a moment of complete astonishment when, clad in a spring frock despite the bitter winter weather, she serenades Jang Jin in a tuneless but enthusiastic manner, and dances round the interview room. One is almost tempted to laugh, but because Park Ji-ah plays this scene in such a disingenuous way, the viewer is won over to her plan, however unlikely it may seem.
Chang Chen is equally convincing as Jang Jin, especially as he has no dialogue at all in the film. His performance begins as impassive and never becomes flamboyant; entirely reliant as the actor is on the subtleties of facial and body language to convey his mood. Strong supporting acting by his fellow inmates keeps the reality of his condition alive in the mind.
The film is full of coincidences and small details which add to the roundness and interest of the characters - not only does Yeon have to return to an unhappy home life, trapped in her domesticity as if in a prison, but Jang Jin must return to the reality of his situation after the escapism of those brief liaisons, and that includes the jealousy of his prison admirer, who is eventually instrumental in sealing Jang Jin’s fate.
This is a film which can be watched more than once and new questions will continue to be raised; but one needs to look beyond the surface to see the complexities.
If the mark of a good film is that after watching it one is prompted to seek out other works by the director, or any of the cast for that matter, then this definitely qualifies as such - there is also enough to please any fan of South Korean/East Asian cinema. GR
Film: Time
Release date: 23rd August 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 97 mins
Director: Kim Ki-duk
Starring: Ha Jung-woo, Park Ji-yeon, Jang Jun-yeong, Jung Gyu-woon, Kim Ji-heon
Genre: Drama/Romance
Studio: Palisades Tartan
Format: DVD
Country: South Korea
Award-winning (Berlin and Venice Film Festivals for Samaritan Girl and 3-Iron respectively) Korean director Kim Ki-duk flirts with controversy once more as he invites his audience to examine a world of unhealthy obsession, narcissistic tendencies and the violence of manufactured beauty, in a film only screened in his homeland after 10,000 South Koreans signed up to an online protest, thus forcing a limited art house release.
Sehie (Park Ji-yeon) is a beautiful, yet extremely insecure and jealous woman, who feels that her long term relationship with Jiwoo (Ha Jung-woo) is growing stale. With each passing day she believes that her beauty is fading while the other women Jiwoo comes into contact with during his normal mundane life are more interesting and considerably better looking than her.
Despite her relatively contented boyfriend’s protests, she persists with her paranoid thoughts and accusations, verbally abusing waitresses and cafe customers at the local cafe, the couple’s regular meeting spot. From a mind bordering on the psychotic, an idea is hatched as Sehie realises that something drastic needs be done to stop the situation escalating to such a degree that she will lose the love of her life forever.
After secretively consulting with a plastic surgeon, Sehie books herself into a clinic and begins the painful six month procedure that will completely reshape her face and, hopefully, achieve a higher level of beauty. Jiwoo is distraught at her sudden disappearance, he devotes time and effort searching high and low for his girlfriend, but, eventually, he admits defeat. Gradually, as his pain lessens, he begins to date other women, yet, in the back of his mind, he can never quite let his desire for Sehie go.
Several months later, a mysterious new waitress calling herself Saehie (Seong Hyeon-ah) begins to work at his local cafe. There is an instant attraction, a strange familiarity that Jiwoo cannot explain - he is compelled to be with her, yet Sehie still haunts his thoughts...
Time is an atypical and somewhat curious film from a director known for pushing the envelope with bizarre characters, often on the wrong side of the law, and left of centre situations. In this case, the leads are the epitome of middle class, law-abiding Asia - they hang out in coffee bars, have normal jobs, run of the mill hobbies and, on the surface at least, aspirations for a mediocre life. There are no fantastic monsters or ‘outsiders’ on the edge of society to invoke the audience’s attention, instead Kim Ki-duk utilises the desires and fixations that swim behind the eyes of these seemingly conventional citizens.
Ki-duk briefly begins his story at the halfway point, where we witness gruesome and detailed face surgery, before jumping back in time to the psychological lead up to Sehie’s extreme solution for solving her insecurities. Initially, the director draws us in by skilfully orchestrating his main actors - all well on top of their game - through a maze of raw emotions that he hopes will justify his severe story arc. Unfortunately, it is this intense story arc that is the weak link and, ultimately, the movie’s downfall. We are asked to suspend belief as each new emotional outburst grows in intensity and, like the story’s nervous bystanders, we begin to feel increasingly uncomfortable and somewhat alienated by a plot, now, punctured with too many unacceptable coincidences.
The cinematography is on a par with Kim Ki-duk’s usual work - in fact, it is particularly reminiscent of his earlier films The Coast Guard and The Isle, in style rather than the far removed content. The latter being his most controversial film, in the UK at least, after its release was delayed due to accusations of animal cruelty on set. The director later admitted, and voiced regret for slicing open a live frog and mutilating several fish for particular scenes within that film.
Other positives are that Ki-duk utilises the scenery and vistas to great effect, his use of colour is, at times, exquisite, and even the background music, often a weak point, is fine. The dialogue, for the most part, is believable, if not the motives and reasoning behind the characters’ words. If his idea was to make us question our identity, who we are, and if true beauty is more than skin deep then this movie does just that, albeit going too far in its search for answers to these raised questions. In fact, if we accept the plot’s weak points, as huge as they are, there is still much to be enjoyed by watching these occasionally mesmerising characters attempt to fulfil their passionate and seemingly unattainable desires.
Time is an engaging little film with a plot that is as compelling as it is frustrating, and a ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’ ending, yet easily worth 97 minutes of anyone’s time. MG
