Korean Cinema - Lost In Translation

So how did you spend your Saturday? Go out? Friends? Perhaps you visited an art gallery or a museum?

However you spent the second saturday of 2011, I’m willing to venture a guess that not many of you sat down with a triple bill of Korean films.

Raise your hand if you did? How many? 1? 2? 3?

This unnecessary intro is written for an obvious, of course. I decided today after yesterday’s triple bill to talk about Korean cinema a bit as well as Korean Culture and some of their delicious cuisine.

Let me start with the cuisine bit as it’s the easiest. Korean food will be close to the heart of anyone east of Europe – lots of spices, lots of meats and lots of pickles. Kimchi, their pickled cabbage, is standard in every restaurant and is a garlicky, fiery mess of brilliance. I’m sure the red color is highly indicative of how strong the stuff is and I worry every day that my inside might be burning with that bright a tone of red. Nonetheless I continue to consume the stuff religiously.

Then there’s Soju. Ah, soju – let me count the ways I love thee. Soju is the native alcoholic drink of Korea – and it’s beautiful stuff. Clear like vodka, however sweeter in taste – it’s also the perfect companion to Korean cuisine. The only pairing that comes close for me is raki and meze – the Turkish equivalent. However soju and kimchi have a symbiotic, almost primal relationship – the garlic fire sated by Soju’s deceptively sweet, alcoholic gaze.

Considering North Korea is an enigma to most Westerners including me, you’ll have to excuse the focus of the article being South Korean. So consider this perhaps only half a gaze at the still-divided country.

Heavily reliant on hierarchy and the idea of respect for the elders, Korean culture is quite similar to Japanese in this way. However Koreans also tend to quite emotional people , more open and expressive.

What intrigues me though is the darker side of the coin: domestic violence , for example, which is common in South Korea. Anger often leads to violence and public fights can occur at the drop of a hat. The hierarchy bias encouraging deferring to elders can cause huge rifts as well as the hierarchy caused by social status.

And this contrast comes through their cinematic identity: Korean films have a sense of self-doubt, a naturalistically dark approach to violence and a terrifyingly common approach to brutality.

Of course this does not apply to every film. However there is a large majority of films which deal with past crimes and the abuse of power. The issue of women as objects tends to pop up frequently as well.

Korean films also look v. glossy and polished – whilst Japan seems to be lost in a maelstrom of digital cinema, Korea still pushes high budget productions , some with the most odd subject matters.

Yesterday’s first film was called ‘Enemy At The Dead End’ which was about two men stuck in two hospital beds next to each other; one paralysed, the other unable to move due to a hit and run injury, desperately trying to kill each other.

The second film was Korea’s first attempt at a found footage film and was called ‘Deserted House’ or ‘Haunted House Project. Not much to recommend unless you’re, like me, a found footage film fanatic. (Try saying that fast when you’re drunk)

The final film of the evening (in between I’d like to say we watched ‘Super Spook’ – a super rare 1972 – 1973 or 1975 Blacksploitation film. No one seems to get the date right. and the film makes zero sense. Yet equally it’s brilliant. The longest sign in the world makes an appearance in Harlem. anyway I digress.) was a modern noir called ‘A Good Night’s Sleep For The Bad. And although the film shared some similarities in form with titles such as ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ and ‘Snatch’ , it was better written, better developed and a whole a lot darker.

The film followed three groups of characters who were on an inevitable road to collision. But whilst hurtling towards this collision it explored the idea of modern Korea through very real characters. As an independent production, it certainly was worth a watch.

In the U.K. we only see a limited output from a country which makes a fair few films every year. Your best bet is to either import DVD’s yourself from places like YesAsia OR rely on companies like Tartan, Third Window and Terracotta Films which import if not everything then a fair amount. They also hold festivals during the year which are well-worth attending to catch up said films.

So let me make a recommendation: grab a korean film today. Seriously, you’ve got nothing to lose and you might find yourself captured by the contrasting brilliance of a country at work.