In the past week, I caught up with two Korean films from the opposite end of the prestige spectrum: North American art cinema favorite Kim Ki-Duk’s 3 IRON (2004) and the mystery-thriller THE CASE OF ITAEWON HOMICIDE (aka WHERE THE TRUTH LIES) (Hong Ki-seon, 2009). Oddly enough, both have certain similarities in terms of their themes as well as what I ultimately think is their weakness. Both deal with the elusiveness of truth and reality, but unfortunately both neglect the social dimension of their tales and thus miss the opportunity to make their themes deeper and more evocative. I was not a fan of either of the two Kim Ki-Duk films I had previously watched: SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER … AND SPRING (2003) and ADDRESS UNKNOWN (2001). However, I did mostly enjoy 3 IRON, which makes better use of Kim’s gifts as a director. My problems with Kim center around what I consider an immature primitivism (usually including a strong streak of misogyny) combined with a film style that comes off as very pretentious and superficial if “beautiful”. These problems are not absent in 3 IRON, but the film is more effective because of the contemporary urban setting and the element of fantasy involved. The film begins by following Tae-suk as he breaks into people’s homes while they are away. He does not rob the people, but rather simply occupies these places, doing routine things like washing clothes, eating, and sleeping. He eventually meets an abused woman named Sun-hwa, who leaves with him after he attacks her husband by hitting golf balls at him (yes, that is correct). They continue the practice of breaking into houses together, all the while never speaking to each other. They are caught by the police, with Tae-suk sent to jail and Sun-hwa returned to her husband. For the final act, the admittedly bizarre story becomes even more dream-like, as Tae-suk works at making himself imperceptible to others, captured by Kim in a hand-held point of view style.

He eventually reunites with Sun-hwa, living with her while remaining unseen by her husband. The film concludes with the following shot which basically states the movie’s theme:

There is a certain poetry and even beauty to Kim’s vision here, even if the device of the silent lovers is rather gimmicky. However, it remains disappointing that Kim never really explores the contemporary setting as much as he could. The primitive nature of the main character provides an interesting contrast with the modern Seoul in which he lives, but Kim is not really interested in exploring these tensions. Rather, Tae-suk is seen as a “pure” spirit and taken as simply heroic, even when he inadvertently causes a death. And although the misogyny of Kim is toned down here, there is still something off-putting about using the real social ill of spousal abuse in this manner. Ultimately, despite his reputation as a provocative uncoverer of Korean society’s underbelly, Kim is not interested in politics or ideology; rather, he is striving for a certain purity of art. For those interested, 3 IRON is, to be sure, an aesthetic experience, and may be enjoyed even more by those without my bias.

On the popular front, the 2009 genre exercise THE CASE OF ITAEWON HOMICIDE is based on a true crime case from 1997, in which a 23 year-old Korean man was stabbed to death in the bathroom of a burger shop in Itaewon. Two Korean-Americans were suspects, with each claiming the other was guilty of the killing. The movie provides a reconstruction of the investigation and eventual trial of one of the men. Upon release last year, many were worried about potential anti-American backlash by bringing this case back into the public consciousness. Unfortunately, the film is not really interesting enough to really warrant any kind of worry. The filmmaking and acting are very pedestrian, and the genre formula is by now very hackneyed. There is very little interest or even suspense involved, and compared to Bong Joon-ho’s police drama MEMORIES OF MURDER (2003), this is a very sub-par effort.

This is unfortunate because there is a great deal of potential in this material. The major flaw is the lack of authenticity. This feels very much like a studio picture, with no real sense of lived reality. I was reminded of a short article written almost 80 years ago by French filmmaker Marcel Carne: “When Will the Cinema Go Down into the Streets?” Carne was calling for French directors to film the reality of the streets they lived in, and this is what was needed here, an exploration of the whole Itaewon scene circa 1997 and a realistic depiction of this multi-cultural and very tense arena. From very early on in the film, it becomes clear the filmmakers are not interested in this kind of approach. There is a telling anachronism that is pretty glaring in an early shot:

The shirt in the background clearly reads “Affliction: Kelly Pavlik”; Pavlik is a boxer who emerged as a star well after 1997, the time this sequence is supposed to be taking place. Now, I normally do not pay much attention to something like this. In my opinion, errors in continuity are not very important. But this is symptomatic of a larger laziness and lack of imagination and curiosity in the director’s approach to the project. There is a lot of wasted opportunity here to make a socially relevant film about this incident, which is proven by the fact that despite the very clumsy execution, the story is still interesting enough to hold one’s attention. And the few times we are shown glimpses of Seoul and the Itaewon area are momentarily compelling, until we are quickly forced back into the dull interiors of the courtroom or another bland studio recreation. Because of this lack of inquisitiveness, the political impact is equally blunted, a tired cliche about the difficulty of discovering truth. If only we had something as controversial as the newspaper accounts originally feared.

By the way, for those interested in something film related beyond Korean cinema, I have posted a review of a recent screening of THE HUSTLER at the Seoul Cinematheque and a quick review of the films I watched in 2009. The link is here.

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