Kim Hye-ja, "Mother"

Reroll is a new category of posts from the past, that I’ve done for a small number of other outlets besides clumproll.com. They are reposted here not because they are exemplary instances of my writing ability, but rather to serve as a simple log or archive of my past efforts, especially with those outlets being difficult to find online any more.

This particular post was originally for The Korea Society Film Blog when it was still around. I had seen the film during the original theatricalrun while in Korea, shortly before the time of writing this in July of 2009.

For those interested, the film Mother recently(July 2010) became available in the U.S. on DVD, Blu-ray and streaming video via Magnolia Pictures.

When Bong Joon-ho announced his fourth film after the record-breaking hit The Host would be a murder mystery about a mother and her wrongly accused son, I was one of many worried about it being a retread of his masterful second film, Memories of Murder. Would Bong be able to replicate the tight pacing and cinematic completeness he had with that film once more?

As it stands, his latest Mother is thankfully not a retread in the slightest. Its lead is obviously a woman – not a young face, but a veteran actress with wrinkles and a compelling presence throughout. In the titular role, Kim Hye-ja is up against circumstantial evidence, impatient police, a self-important lawyer, and unbelieving townsfolk. This mother descends into the dilemma of clearing the murder charge on her only son. I call it a descent because she goes down a long, dark rabbit hole full of questions to face the unfortunate souls that may have answers to the real murderer of the high school girl that her son is alleged to have killed. Each newly uncovered piece of evidence and person of interest needs more than a few rounds of vetting, and the turns made are fast and always unexpected.

Kim Hye-ja is, as Bong once said, and rightly so, the “mother” of a certain generation of South Koreans that watched years and years worth of her on television dramas. I’d take a rough guess they are the generations born somewhere between the 1950′s and 80′s that fit the category more than any other – the folks that narrowly missed the war, saw a Republic of Korea rise from the ashes, stumble through the labor demonstrations and extended presidencies, that felt the pride of hosting the Olympics and the throes of a massive financial bubble burst. All along, there was a mother on TV and she was Kim Hye-ja.

It is a welcome but sobering surprise that in all these years, Bong Joon-ho is only the third director to capture this very talented actress for the big screen. Bong has crafted a murder story set in a poorer countryside town that some have disagreeably called cliché. But many will agree that he was able to capture this character’s every essence with Kim Hye-ja’s nuanced portrayal – and that it is truly one of the strongest, most hard-hitting performances from any actress in Korean cinema.

The full-body title shot of Hye-ja in the country field, as the word “Mother” scrawls into place is at once powerful yet wanting, because we instantly recognize that certain look on her face – not what it means exactly, but what it feels. Kim’s superb performance that follows is similarly riddled with the grace, nerve, love, hysteria, and honesty that we have come to expect from our mothers.

Won Bin surprises as country bumpkin Do-joon

Do-joon is her 27-year-old son, unemployed and mentally challenged. He needs his mother, it is as simple and as complicated as that. When he is arrested and separated from her, both find themselves at odds with the idea of each other. Although I never really paid attention to Won Bin’s previous drama and film work mostly as a “pretty-boy,” Do-joon’s revelations and moments of “clarity” is where he shines, with an uncanny knack for gripping urgency that shakes up our expectations of this helpless character.

The blue inflections of Latin music on the score somehow fit very naturally for a small Korean countryside. There is one particular, if wholly forgivable, visual gimmick Bong has used before in The Host. At times unnervingly close and at others expansive, his camera is determined, stylized, tense, full of bleaker tones than his previous films – is there a light at the end? Like Memories, and all good murder mysteries, Mother‘s sleuthing for the truth is what compels the story forward. Somewhere between the high emotions and the low depths, however, it becomes quite clear that what Bong really wants is to unsettle us with the question, “How far does the rabbit hole go?” When the credits roll, I couldn’t help but feel a familiar sense of spent frustration and sorrow – in fact, whether the mystery is solved is unimportant because by then, we have witnessed a force of nature. There is an answer, one that will haunt me for some time to come. Things happen, too specific to repeat here. Though I will say that by the end of the film, you understand everything that was shuffling through mother’s head on that expansive field.

The other possible question that remains is whether Mother bests Memories of Murder. For an unabashed Bong Joon-ho fan like myself, I would say it’s pretty darn close.

Director Bong Joon-ho

Toys at The Korea Society, CG test footage of 'Robot Taekwon V'

Just as The Korea Society opens a new exhibit on 70′s and 80′s toys from Korea with the Taekwondo-style butt-kicking giant robot Taekwon V as its centerpiece today, there’s news that the animated feature film will be made into a live-action/CG film to be released in August, 2009 (Test CG footage looks awesome! read on).

First, straight from The Korea Society’s website:

“Toys – always more meaningful than the simple playthings they appear to be – can embody the fantasies, values, obsessions and anxieties of a generation. Toy Stories: Souvenirs from Korean Childhood includes a veritable toy box of over 90 flamboyantly colored action figures, robots, miniature tanks and paper dolls from 1970′s and 1980′s Korea.”

So the exhibit will have more than just action figures and robots for boys, but also girls’ toys and dolls too. Being that Korea’s growing industrialization made new things possible in the country for the first time during that period, it would be interesting to see just what got kids excited back when there was no Guitar Hero or PlayStation. Here’s some key proceedings tied to the show:

• The opening reception for the exhibit is today at 5:30 PM
• Exhibit runs through April 18
• “Gallery Talk” (lecture): “Our Toys Our Selves: Robot Taekwon V and South Korean Identity” on February 7
• Film screening of animated feature Robot Taekwon V (2007, Digitally restored from original 1976 prints) on March 18

The film was the first Korean animated feature – ever. While original prints were long thought to have been destroyed by fire, a print was later found in one of KOFIC’s (Korean Film Council) off-site storage warehouses, was digitally restored in a 3-year-long process and re-released in 2007 to theaters across the nation in a very successful run.

Second, the live-action/CG adaptation. With Shin Cine(씬씨네) pouring 20 billion Korean Won (more than $20 million US) into the production, and CG/visuals done by (count ‘em!) 5 Korean VFX companies they’re going all-out on this one. Twitch does remind us that releasing in 2009 means it will “go head-to-head with The Transformers 2 in the Korean market.” YTN (Korea’s CNN) cites the movie will be based on the webcomic series “V” but will be a completely separate(different) work, and that the screenplay is in its final drafts. Won Shin-yeon of A Bloody Aria and Seven Days will direct, and in the YTN newscast, Won says

“Though it’s hard to be moved to awe or tears with technology, robots, I want to try doing that with Taekwon V, and I’m confident it will be possible with this.”

V webcomic. The top text reads, "I haven't lost yet."

In the webcomic, Hoon, who at the time of the original animation in 1976 was a young man, is now a 50-something years-old powerless paper-pusher that joins forces with Robot Taekwon V when it (he?) resurrects to fight off an impending evil. The series was produced by comic artist Jaepigaru and Robot Taekwon V, Inc. (yes, amazingly there’s a whole company just for one animated character).

You can watch test CG-render footage in the video below (or click here if it doesn’t work). Let’s hope its historical significance and national-fanbase backing culminates in something much less cringe-inducing than the cg-craptastic flop that was D-War.

• Toy Stories Exhibit, Korea Society
• YTN news video
• Joynews24 article with test footage
• webcomic series “V”
• Twitch

Family Ties, one of the films from the fest, starring Moon So-ri

The 7th New York Korean Film Festival 2007 starts this Tuesday and it’s turning out to be their biggest yet. Everything from romantic comedy to historical drama, the gangster flick and even documentary are represented. That includes 16 of the latest Korean movies from 2006 and 2007, a 4-film retrospective of renowned Mr. “101-films” director Im Kwon-Taek, 8 horror films (or rather 7 horror + 1 moody drama) and an expanded full day of short films for free(!). There will be a number of parties, and 2 special guest directors from Korea this year. Being pretty much the only chance for us to see these films in a theater-setting outside of Korea, I’m definitely looking forward to the fest.

• www.koreanfilmfestival.org
• podcast introducing this year’s festival

'Mad Monkey' from Studio Flying

Studio Flying, makers of the love-it-or-hate-it potty humor feature animation AAchi & SSipak, have put up still images from their latest project, Mad Monkey.

Twitch surmises it’s a direct-to-DVD and according to the company website’s news section, it is indeed listed as an “HD project for DVD.” The images seem to keep the raw, un-clean outline look of A&S, which would probably fit the context well of what will likely be lots of action and fighting. The stills also seem to suggest a more serious tone, plotwise. Here’s to hoping it’s anywhere between the swift stylization of Samurai Jack and the recently-reimagined Samurai 7 in tone.

Here’s their short synopsis from their website, translated by yours truly.

The Six Warriors’ Saga

X-Men, Batman, Hell Boy.. What if the likes of these superheroes existed in ancient Eastern history?
In a time that we never learned about nor have any record of, in a strange, unknown past…

Rather than be taken as history, an age that feels more like
a legend or fairy tale. Six warriors ventured to the end of the world
and knocked on the “Gate of Hell.” Because of their fearless daring,
people call them ____ [translator's note: the original Korean text leaves out words, what I assume should be "Mad Monkey"].

A tale about a band of six men, Six Warriors, that lived on while posessing both the anguish of humans and the power of supernaturals.

X맨, 배트맨, 헬보이… 동양고대사에 이런 슈퍼히어로가 존재했다면 어떨까?!  우리가 배운 적 없고 어디에도 기록되어 있지 않은 미지의 과거 어느때…
역사로서 인식되기보다 전설이나 설화로 느껴지는 고대 대륙의 시대. 세상의 끝까지 나아가 ‘지옥의 문’을 두드린 여섯명의 무사.  그들의 흉폭함으로 인해 사람들을 그들을라 부른다.
인간의 고뇌와 초인의 파워를 동시에 지닌채 살아갔던 여섯명의 무사, 육부대, 의 이야기.

• Studio Flying website
• Catsuka, via Twitch

Korea's TVN channel debuts drama based on lauded webcomic "The Great Catsby" - starring MC Mong, Park Ye-Jin, Kang Kyung-Joon.

An internet comic sensation that vaulted the career of manhwa-ka (that’s “comic writer/artist” in Korean) Kang Doha in the mainstream pop-culture of Korea a couple of years ago, The Great Catsby (위대한 캣츠비, weedayhan Catsby) is finally coming to TV as a drama. The first episode will be broadcast July 4th on the Korean cable
channel TVN.

The comic that touched upon the coming-of-age trials and tribulations of twenty-somethings in a rundown part of Seoul was unique for a few reasons:

1. all the main characters are drawn as anthropomorphic animals, usually cats or dogs
2. their stories were brutally honest and real, able to reach out to and transcend an age-gap of readers who ranged from teens in high-school to even 30-40 year olds.
3. the drawing style is simple yet realistic, with many of the comic panels taking on the visual qualities of cinema and at times paying attention to fine details. (as the first in a trilogy of titles by Kang, that visual language gets perfected as he moves onto his next projects, read on.)

In any case, it’s been a favorite read of mine. Then again I don’t read too many comics, but trust me, this one’s a keeper.
If you don’t believe me, its popularity is vetted by the 5 million views it got when it was serialized on Korean portal sites, over 200,000 books sold, and winning the 2005 Grand Comic Award in Korea. The title was turned into a musical last March, and after the drama’s run will be made into a movie as well. For now, it is available free to view and translated to English at NetComics.com, who also publishes the manhwa – in full color, natch – and many other titles in book-form as well.

Any way, after all this success, the comic is now a drama. The cast was only announced in May and includes singer(DJ)-turned-actor MC Mong as Catsby, Park Ye-Jin as Persu, and Kang Kyung-Joon as Houndu (left-to-right in the above ‘human’ picture).

Characters of "The Great Catsby" from Manhwa-ka Kang Doha's original drawings

Manhwa-ka Kang Doha said of the drama,

“Although there isn’t a chance for the writer to squeeze in the drama-making system, I’m happy just to be able to see the process of restructuring and making it anew with on-screen magic while retaining the framework of the source material.”

read on for more info on the plot, drama director and comic creator’s reaction to the first episode.

The original comic story is centered around the title character Catsby, an unemployed guy in his late-twenties, as he reels out of a six-year relationship he’s had with another feline, Persu. Persu is just getting married to a much older man and something about that doesn’t sit well with Catsby. Houndu, Catsby’s roommate and friend from college that’s a
bit older, is in-between tutoring gigs and is about to open a whole new can of worms in the form of another married woman. Catsby also starts to get involved with Sun, an enigma of a girl whom he met through a matchmaking service. That’s a summary/set-up as written by me from reading the comic.

Of course, the drama is taking liberties with the story line and developing it into something more geared toward raising viewer numbers, so from the sneak-preview it seems to start with a love triangle that in the book does not reveal itself until later. Catsby starts at age 28, which seems much older (by life experience) than the 26 from the comic. What other inevitable differences there are are in story, we’ll have to wait and see.

Now that the drama is in full production mode, The Hankyoreh quotes Producing Director Lee Kang Hoon of the drama:

“Filling in the white space of the original [comic] material with realistic elements is the extent of what has changed.  [We] really worked hard to bring to life the honest and not-so-pedantic youthful characters , and when the dialog of the drama and the original differed we went for the original, even if it was more literary.”

By ‘literary,’ I’m sure he meant prose-like, as in the difference between spoken language and written language.

And after seeing the first episode, Kang commented,

“It seems like [they were] able to set a distance from the source material and develop their own language [fitting of a drama's vocabulary].”

If anything I really hope this does well. Even though Korea has made successful dramas out of other manhwa material, usually they were the safe choices of the traditional romance types, like Full House (starring Rain and Song Hye Gyo) or Goong (궁). The Great Catsby is a internet comic that didn’t use traditional comic visual languages and its wide popularity means that it surpassed the limits of the internet to reach a large fanbase. If that means a better chance for other internet comic titles to get a crossover effect, both fields will benefit with wider audiences.

Since the end of The Great Catsby, Kang has gone on to write/draw two more titles, in what he calls the “Youth Trilogy” (청춘 삼부작, chung-choon sambujak) with the completed “Romance Killer” and the still on-going “Kubrick” (read as q-brick, not like the film director’s name).

Though I haven’t watched Korean dramas in years, this is definitely one I’ll keep my eyes on.

• original news article on The Hankyoreh (in Korean)
• TVN The Great Catsby drama website (seemingly needs Internet Explorer)
• youtube music video of the drama
• Netcomics.com (English translation publisher of comic The Great Catsby, free to view online)
• DramaWiki k-drama entry
• Amazon.com (Buy the Netcomics books at discount, almost $4-$5 off)