I heard about this film from a friend of mine Vicci Ho (web editor for the Variety Asia and director of the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, which happens very soon) at this year’s Pusan International Film Festival. Went and saw the film a few days ago. But first, I want to talk briefly about PIFF.
Half of my life - just about - was spent in Australia.
The other half - earlier part - was in Korea.
Half of that was in Seoul.
And the other in Busan.
PIFF (Pusan International Film Festival) is held annualy in Busan.
Pusan = Busan.
Yes, the name change took place a few years ago, and what a pointless move that was.
I finally managed to experience PIFF in real life this year.
Up until then, it had been reports from friends and family working and enjoying the festival, and other gloriously positive press building up my expectations for this supposedly one of the most important film festivals in Asia.
I like film festivals. I like the exhausted ghostly faces walking around but with passion, and I love the diversity of films one can see as compared to the rest of the year when the palette feels rather mono-tone, especiallly so in Korea. PIFF07 was my first film festival where I didn’t see a single film. I did get a memorably good banana on the beach for free (sweet, ripe, and smells fine) and more importantly, I met some great individuals there. But no film.
PIFF is well known for its young enthusiastic fans, who of course came along to the opening despite the horrible weather this year. They sort of ‘hang around’ the festival area/s, making the site look more lively while screaming madly when someone famous drops by. Some of them do watch films of course, and it is indeed quite hard to get tickets unless you’ve booked well in advance. I went to Haeundae, where the festival was held (mainly anyway); it’s an interesting area, yes. It’s got a beach. (<- and yes, that's a full stop)
There are a lot of hotels. It's a holiday destination (but not so much of a glamorous one - people go overseas for a nice beachy holiday). There's nothing much there. I had a hard time trying to figure out where I could take people around that area. I called my friends who live around there, and I did location-based mobile search etc, but there just wasn't much around. Many restaurants were seafood or korean bbq-oriented, so I know for a fact that one guest who happened to be vegetarian opted for staying in their room, hungry, rather than going anywhere - there was no point.
According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, there are 712 annual local festivals around Korea. Including 'not-so-offical ones' the number's somewhere between 900-1200. Korea didn't have such a festive environment - in an officially realised form anyway - until mid 90s when the local self government system was introduced. And let's face it, Korea was having a hard time making a living till then - and it was not until min 90s that media and culture industries were seen as proper 'industries' that could generate serious money.
PIFF's based both in Haeundae and Nampodong. Nampodong used to be the main area, but it seems that the locative shift is happening gradually towards Haeundae.
As the above map shows, Haeundae is a pretty long way out from the centre of Busan. From Seomyeon (another central shopping/business area), for example, it takes about an hour to get to Haeundae. Nampodong, on the other hand, is central itself (it’s a big shopping district with big and small markets/shops inc. fashion, seafood, and more + a lot of restaurants and small hotels/motels. There will also be another Lotte hotel and department store in a few years). It’s always busy with both locals and foreigners, shopping, eating, and walking around.
I understand that Haeundae may have some potential, and perhaps PIFF was seen as a great opportunity to boost the slowing economy of the area. But I wonder, where are the considerations to the visitors of the festival? What are they supposed to do there? What is the festival doing in terms of the city marketing? Wasn’t it one of the main reasons why the festival started in Busan? What are we seeing marketed here? Yes. Busan is a harbour town, and the beach is always a nice feature to show. However, I’m really doubtful that Haeundae has what it takes to host PIFF at this stage. Yes it may have some potential if the infrastructure improves, but why invest more when the same if not better could be done with less? I don’t see the passionate, loud, friendly, and genuine Busan (which is quite similar to Osaka, culturally) in Haeundae - at least I see less of it there than Nampodong. I’m disappointed, and I’m concerned. I love Busan, and I’d love to see it flourish culturally without seeing the demise of its most important festival.
I think I can stop right here re: PIFF.
So, Goong Nyeo.
At the moment it’s on at cinemas across the country in both the digital and analogue format (no difference in price), and it’s also available in the KTX (express train) cinema compartment. With additional 7000 won, you can watch it (high-def) while travelling from Seoul to Busan (which takes a bit less than 3 hours). On your way back, it’s the Resident Evil 3 at the moment, I think.
I watched the analogue version at CGV in Mokdong, Seoul. It’s a debut film by Mi-jung Kim, a female director, and apparently she tried to involve as much input from females rather than males for this film. After all, it is a film about the court ladies in Choseon dynasty - more specifically, it’s about a mystery surrounding the murder of a Goongnyeo. The plot itself - well, obviously it’s the process of solving the mystery - gets a little weak as it progresses, especially with the sudden addition of supernatural powers through Japanese-horror-CG-like effects. However, in general it’s visually impressive - aestethically pleasing and detailed. The portrayal of depressing gender issues under the Confucian philosophy/politics is nicely done, and I found it particularly amusing how all the male characters were portrayed weak and/or ugly in one way or another, including the little baby prince. The audience started laughing out loud when the prince first appeared on the screen. I thought he was cute, but people were laughing at the fact that he was an ugly baby, not a typical pretty little performer like in most films.
I think it’s also very interesting to see the rise of hoonnam (literally warm man - gentle and nice to women, a lot more feminine than the traditional ideal of men) and other dramas such as jogang jicheo club (first wives’ club) in which women take revenge on their weak and selfish cheating husbands, and also wang gwa na (king and me), a story about the King’s eunuchs in Choseon dynasty. Both are currently broadcast on SBS - very popular.
I’ll finish with the trailer for the film:
