Darcy Paquet @
Koreanfilm.org
Although 2016 featured a gold mine of masterful big-budget releases (
The Wailing, The Handmaiden, Train to Busan, The Age of Shadows), in 2017 we were back to a familiar pattern: independent directors, struggling to shoot their films on tiny budgets, completely outclassing the lineups of the major studios. There were a few exceptions to this rule, to be sure -- Jang Jun-hwan's
1987 was a truly inspiring look at a critical turning point in contemporary Korean history. That it came at a time when Korea is reckoning with the damage wrought by a decade of corrupt leadership made it even more poignant.
The Fortress, like
1987 another CJ production, was surprisingly introspective and dark for such a big-budget film. The box office success of
A Taxi Driver was encouraging (and a testament to the acting skills of Song Kang-ho), while I was also both impressed and entertained by Yang Woo-suk's political thriller
Steel Rain. But it won't be hard to tell from looking at my list that these days at least, my heart is in the independent sector. These low-budget films are much more likely to surprise, inspire and challenge their audience, and most of them don't get nearly the exposure they deserve.
1.
On the Beach At Night Alone and
The Day After, dir. Hong Sangsoo
2.
Jane, dir. Cho Hyun-hoon
3.
1987, dir. Jang Jun-hwan
4.
Romans 8:37, dir. Shin Yeon-shick
5.
The First Lap, dir. Kim Dae-hwan
6.
Still and All, dir. Kim Young-jo
7.
Ash Flower, dir. Park Suk-young
8.
Merry Christmas Mr. Mo, dir. Lim Dae-hyung
9.
The Fortress, dir. Hwang Dong-hyuk
10.
The Table, dir. Kim Jong-kwan
I'm cheating a bit by putting both of Hong's 2017 releases at the top of the list. If I had to choose between the two I'd take
On the Beach At Night Alone, because it really knocked me flat, but both deserve a place on the top ten and I want to save room for other films. (I was slightly less keen on
Claire's Camera, which screened at Cannes but was not released in Korea. But there's a lot to like in that film as well.) I really do think Hong Sangsoo is at the peak of his career right now. It's so exciting to be following his work, particularly with him being so prolific right now.
There are a couple very impressive debut films on the list: Cho Hyun-hoon's freewheeling
Jane, which I put at #2, and Lim Dae-hyung's
Merry Christmas Mr. Mo, which manages to be both dry and heartwarming at the same time. The one documentary on my list (despite many worthy contenders) is also a feature debut:
Still and All is a couple years old, but finally received its theatrical release in August. It's a creatively conceived, thought-provoking portrait of a community in Busan near Youngdo Bridge.
Given its timeliness, I'm disappointed that
Romans 8:37 hasn't received more international exposure to date (though perhaps more festival announcements will come in 2018). Director Shin Yeon-shick shot this film well before the wave of allegations that brought down Harvey Weinstein and so many other abusive men in 2017, but
Romans 8:37 speaks to this issue with tremendous nuance and insight. It's slow-paced and very talky, and he avoids boosting the drama in any artificial ways, but the end result is a work quite different from what you'd expect.
As time goes on it's harder and harder for me to make up these lists, since I've gotten to know many of these directors personally, and it's not easy to omit good films which I like. Perhaps I should also acknowledge that I did the English subtitles for several of these works: the Hong Sangsoo films,
Romans 8:37,
Ash Flower, and
The Table (and numerous others which aren't on this list). I think it's inevitable that when you spend so much time working on the dialogue translation, your relationship to the film changes. There's a kind of intimacy that develops, even when you don't like the film! But I tried hard to stay impartial when drawing up this list.
Finally, I haven't mentioned Bong Joon-ho's
Okja, which the Korean Film Council classifies as an American film because it was fully financed by Netflix. While it's probably more accurate to call it a US-South Korea co-production (KOFIC's designation is purely for the purpose of determining its eligibility for government support funds), I admit that
Okja still has my head spinning. Despite being a diehard Bong Joon-ho fan, I had a hard time connecting with this particular movie. This may have as much to do with my own complicated feelings about agriculture, capitalism and all the other issues it raises, but the satire sort of left me behind. I've been meaning to rewatch it, but haven't yet had the chance. In the meantime I'm going to cheat again by keeping it separate from this list.
(Cut to 2019 and I'll be saying the same resolution and I'll still be reviewing generic Star Cinema films this year. Sigh.)
