`Memories' Director Takes Cold Look at Violence
Published on | Source
By Joon Soh
Staff Reporter
Chonju, North Cholla Province _ From the ceiling of a near empty underground parking lot, a security camera slowly moves back and forth while keeping watch over the rows of cars. As the camera swivels from side to side, we catch a glimpse of a man casually getting out of his car with his belongings. Suddenly, the man is attacked from behind by a couple, who strike him with an iron pipe, rob him and make off with his car. The whole horrific moment is captured by the camera, which doesn't break at all from its cold mechanical rhythm.
The scene is one that everyone is all too familiar with, having witnessed similar incidents on the evening news many times over. This one, however, is not fact but fiction, part of a new short digital film by "Salin-ui Chuok (Memories of Murder)" director Bong Jun-ho that gives an original and chilling account of society's relationship to violence.
The 28-minute film, titled "Influenza", was made for a short film project organized by Jeonju International Film Festival, running through this week at Chonju. Three directors _ Bong of South Korea, Sogo Ishii of Japan and Yu Lik Wai of China _ were asked to make works using the digital medium.
For his contribution, Bong selected various locations where security systems are usually found, such as subways, bathrooms, banks and ATM machines, and installed digital cameras as he would surveillance equipment. With no lighting or other film equipment, and with random passerbys becoming part of the film, Bong plays out a story about Cho Hyok-rae, an ordinary man who looks towards crime and violence to escape from poverty. And as the title suggests, it's a violence that's not limited to one or two persons but rather influences everyone.
"The film begins with an ordinary man who gradually becomes more and more violent as the film progresses", Bong said while talking to The Korea Times earlier this week. "And at the same time, the scenes in which violence spreads to those around him also increases.
"As the violence continues to spread, people get more and more familiar with it, like a contagious disease".
Crime in its different variations has been a part of Bong's films since the beginning. His first film "Flanders-ui Kae (A Higher Animal)", a low-budget comedy about the kidnapping of pet dogs at a Seoul apartment complex, was a lighter look at suburban crime. Last year's box-office hit "Memories of Murder", which propelled the director to celebrity status, recreated a shocking serial-murder case that took place in a small town in the 1980s.
"I don't limit myself to a certain type of film genre but I must admit to feeling attracted to crime stories", Bong, 34, said, "because if you place an individual in a situation of crime, the truth of the person naturally comes to light".
For "Influenza", Bong said he wished to see what happens when you take the human element out of witnessing a crime. "Watching CCTV (closed-circuit television) is to put a cool distance between oneself and what one is watching, to hide and watch", he said. "No matter how violent or dangerous a situation, there's no direct involvement except through a monitor, we're watching from a distance and we have a somewhat cowardly feeling of being safe".
Especially with the robbery that takes place in the parking lot, "if the same scene was taken with a handheld camera or something else, It would be a completely different situation and existence".
Bong says he is happy with the results of "Influenza" as well as "Sink & Rise", a seven-minute short about generation gaps and the buoyancy of boiled eggs that's also playing at the festival. He hopes to keep making short films in between his feature projects. "Besides, I've already invested in a lot of digital cameras for this project", Bong said smiling.
Bong is currently working on the script for his next film, "a story about a catastrophe/ adventure that takes place near Seoul's Han River", and expects to begin filming at the end of this year or early next year.
For more information about the festival, go to www.jiff.or.kr.
Staff Reporter
Chonju, North Cholla Province _ From the ceiling of a near empty underground parking lot, a security camera slowly moves back and forth while keeping watch over the rows of cars. As the camera swivels from side to side, we catch a glimpse of a man casually getting out of his car with his belongings. Suddenly, the man is attacked from behind by a couple, who strike him with an iron pipe, rob him and make off with his car. The whole horrific moment is captured by the camera, which doesn't break at all from its cold mechanical rhythm.
The scene is one that everyone is all too familiar with, having witnessed similar incidents on the evening news many times over. This one, however, is not fact but fiction, part of a new short digital film by "Salin-ui Chuok (Memories of Murder)" director Bong Jun-ho that gives an original and chilling account of society's relationship to violence.
The 28-minute film, titled "Influenza", was made for a short film project organized by Jeonju International Film Festival, running through this week at Chonju. Three directors _ Bong of South Korea, Sogo Ishii of Japan and Yu Lik Wai of China _ were asked to make works using the digital medium.
For his contribution, Bong selected various locations where security systems are usually found, such as subways, bathrooms, banks and ATM machines, and installed digital cameras as he would surveillance equipment. With no lighting or other film equipment, and with random passerbys becoming part of the film, Bong plays out a story about Cho Hyok-rae, an ordinary man who looks towards crime and violence to escape from poverty. And as the title suggests, it's a violence that's not limited to one or two persons but rather influences everyone.
"The film begins with an ordinary man who gradually becomes more and more violent as the film progresses", Bong said while talking to The Korea Times earlier this week. "And at the same time, the scenes in which violence spreads to those around him also increases.
"As the violence continues to spread, people get more and more familiar with it, like a contagious disease".
Crime in its different variations has been a part of Bong's films since the beginning. His first film "Flanders-ui Kae (A Higher Animal)", a low-budget comedy about the kidnapping of pet dogs at a Seoul apartment complex, was a lighter look at suburban crime. Last year's box-office hit "Memories of Murder", which propelled the director to celebrity status, recreated a shocking serial-murder case that took place in a small town in the 1980s.
"I don't limit myself to a certain type of film genre but I must admit to feeling attracted to crime stories", Bong, 34, said, "because if you place an individual in a situation of crime, the truth of the person naturally comes to light".
For "Influenza", Bong said he wished to see what happens when you take the human element out of witnessing a crime. "Watching CCTV (closed-circuit television) is to put a cool distance between oneself and what one is watching, to hide and watch", he said. "No matter how violent or dangerous a situation, there's no direct involvement except through a monitor, we're watching from a distance and we have a somewhat cowardly feeling of being safe".
Especially with the robbery that takes place in the parking lot, "if the same scene was taken with a handheld camera or something else, It would be a completely different situation and existence".
Bong says he is happy with the results of "Influenza" as well as "Sink & Rise", a seven-minute short about generation gaps and the buoyancy of boiled eggs that's also playing at the festival. He hopes to keep making short films in between his feature projects. "Besides, I've already invested in a lot of digital cameras for this project", Bong said smiling.
Bong is currently working on the script for his next film, "a story about a catastrophe/ adventure that takes place near Seoul's Han River", and expects to begin filming at the end of this year or early next year.
For more information about the festival, go to www.jiff.or.kr.
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