The L.A. Korean Film Festival has come and gone, but don't worry: we were there to witness it. A whirlwind tour through the festival's highs and more highs.
Although the Los Angeles International Korean Film Festival is only two years old, the festival already has the ability to pull in big names in Korean cinema to complement their program. This year the highlight was the appearance of Park Chul-soo along with his most recent work, Green Chair (Noksek Uija) as the opening film. Long regarded as one of the most unusual directors working in Korea, Park began by making commercially oriented works but took a left turn to explore more unusual subjects. Green Chair tells the story of a romance between Mun-hee, a divorced woman in her early 30s and Hyeon, a high school-aged boy. The graphic and explicit first reel is the part of the film that at first blush seems most controversial, but the film is just as challenging in the second half, when the two lovers have to deal with the fallout of enjoying each other's company so well. Mun-hee is arrested for having sex with a minor -- since at 19 Hyeon was one year below the age of legal consent -- and sentenced to 100 hours of community service. Dealing with issues of guilt could have consumed the movie at this point, but Park uses it as a jumpoff point for a much more nuanced examination of the relationship, eschewing easy and conventional answers. The almost surreal cocktail party that ends the film may be a little too strange for some viewers, but for others, it will be a satisfying and honest examination of the heart of the matter.
Park Chul-soo is no stranger to controversy or to making films that upset viewers. The work he considers his big break from commercial filmmaking -- and the first Korean film to receive international release -- was the grisly 301/302. While working as a commercial filmmaker he began to question whether the stories he was portraying in film and TV were straying too far from the truth of real lives and began meditating on experiences everyone could relate to: birth, death, food, drink, sleep, love, sex. Looking to make movies about everyday life that “cannot be elaborated or lied about,” his work has by his own account declined in Korea, where he was typed as a maker of art films. But the same reputation helped his films be embraced by foreign audiences just as they were being rejected by mainstream viewers at home. As he sees it, artists always want to present new information, but sometimes there is a gap between the vision and the understanding of the artist, which ideally would be bridged by critics and the press.
Gap or not, and despite his formidable international reputation, Park was unreserved and amiable during questioning before the film with press and afterward with the film festival audience. When asked about the title of the film, Park admitted: “Nothing in the film is related to green or chairs.” His producer had called, wondering when the movie was going to have a title. His flippant answer of green chair because he was sitting in a chair, looking at greenery outside the window lead into a detailed discussion of childhood and fantasy. Perhaps more relevant to his fans, when asked about the preponderance of strong and realistic women in his films, he replied that it wasn't intentional, and that he's simply curious about women. The women of Green Chair came out of his curiosity and the film is an attempt to explore his own fascinations, complexes, loves, and wants about sex. Finally, Park discussed potential upcoming projects, including one focusing on Korean-Americans and the impact of Korean culture on America.
While Park Chul-soo and the screening of Green Chair was undoubtedly the highlight of the festival, it was hardly the only cinematic treat in store. While the number of films was decidedly scaled down from last year, and Green Chair represented the only feature to take place wholly in Korea, the other works represented a diverse range of subjects and styles. The Grace Lee Project made another appearance, and Mora Stephen's Conventioneers had its Los Angeles premiere. As an exploration of the politics of modern America, it shows great intelligence and sympathy for both sides of the red/blue divide while looking at the cracks and problems in how political views are formed, reinforced, and broken. There was also an extensive showing of short films, ranging from the animated Hotlead to Bonnie and Clydo, a twist on the story of -- what else -- Bonnie and Clyde. LAKIFF adhered to a liberal idea of what constitutes “Korean” in film, giving the selections a richness and range in subjects, styles, and interests that would have been lacking if all the films had come exclusively from the peninsula. The “International” part of the festival, with the inclusion of Korean filmmakers working in the U.S. and by Korean-American filmmakers, brought a range of unique works to the Egyptian Theater. Founded by USC professor Kim Jinhee, LAKIFF is poised to be one of the most interesting film festivals focusing on Asian Cinema on the West Coast.
Los Angeles Korean International Film Festival website
Park Chul-soo Filmography
The Rain that Falls at Night . . . 1997
Coming Home . . . 1980
A Bell for Nirvana . . . 1981
Mother . . . 1985
Pillar of Clouds . . . 1986
My Hollyhock Flower . . . 1988
Oseam Hermitage . . . 1989
The Woman Who Walks on Water . . . 1990
Our Generation's War . . . 1994
301/302 . . . 1995
Farewell My Darling . . . 1996
Push! Push! . . . 1997
Rub Love . . . 1997
Fukuoka Image . . . 1998