rantrant on review + truth beneath

ok complaining time cos i was thinking abt the truth beneath…

one of my good art friends is a nonbinary korean writer (and artist) and they recommended this to me. we talk about the revolution and womanhood and yada yada. they told me i would love this and BOY DID I. it was one of the stylistic and acting-wise inspirations for my short film (which is completely diff but trust….it was one that rly stuck with me) and it still inspires me to this day. when i think and when i write or draw whatever. there’s these ideas of angry women that linger. which is partly because as a black woman my natural state, to the world, is anger. so it is always interesting to see the way critics, particularly male ones, respond to this output (i am talking outside of white womanhood in which i have no interest in positioning or exploring on its own.)

unfortunately saw this  i went to go look up an interview that i remember reading. 

Jarring mixmatch of arthouse and thriller http://kpopherald.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=201606151720246003897_2

 (which first of all suck my dick but)

i am pretty sure this is written by a man / male presenting and he wants you to know that  kyung mi wouldn’t exist without a man who put her out there

kyung mi is seen as park chan wook’s  handmaiden, oldboy, stoker) protege basically bc she was asst director and continuity on lady vengeance. that lead to a broader relationship. he speaks fondly of her. he co-wrote and produced crush and blush, and they work together. handmaiden is one of my favorite movies and stoker is one of those movies i do not enjoy but think about. i like him as a director and like BJH he has called himself a so-so-list. (his practices are by and large ethical IMO and the sex in handmaiden though excessive, ott, not really sexy and i like women, exploitative he made all the men leave the room during the scenes except for the boom mic-er who was a dude. i mean in the director’s cut it is LONG like too fucking long oh my god and too much but at first ur like wow it’s hot.)

anyway you can tell why they like each other bc their shit is morbid and weird and hilarious. both have a tendency that i love in films: life is hard, impossible, but our protagonists somehow end up enduring. or the people we want there. i am with them and i love it.

!!! disclaimer: i am not korean, never will be, and have no desire to be but there's a plight in womanhood i think we all share globally outside of white womenhood and i felt that. this review pisses me off not only bc i think it's not true but positions her under chan wook as if she would receive half the opportunities he would get (and we can talk about that on its own) but also her merit as herself. artists who are similar or like the same type of things flock together but also we thrive in difference. she doesn't succeed because the critic said so (in HIS purview of what she should be which is a mirror to PCW but not completely bc that would make her a female hack and failure.) bias aside THAT is fine bc we need critique and i’m glad it makes me think and feel. but here is where the trouble comes in…. 

but the chaos of the film IS the film. kyung mi's talked about the toughness of womanhood and being a director before—she didn’t know it would be so hard, almost as if she doesn’t recommend it (frankly, i don’t) so it’s no wonder you can never stand alone. 

“The Park Chan-wook influences are indeed marked in this ambitious but ultimately flailing film, which attempts to mix thriller, arthouse and indie and deal with motherhood, teenage dejection, political ambition and even lesbianism.”

PCW isn't really a blip on the radar for this film. i didn't know about him in conjunction to her until after i saw this film as i had forgotten he produced crush and blush. there isn't an attempt bc the film exists. its faults weren’t the ones he posits (in my opinion) but there is a vagueness and confusion which is to its own detriment at times. HOWEVER that also makes it work and puts us in a confused position. Not only is it ok to have this jumbled mess come together it DOES work bc it's unpredictable, unreliable, and fucking disgusting. the lesbianism is literally tied into the teenagedom and it's like..........wow hm men it isnt particularly tackling gayness as it is in the story because that’s life…

“But “The Truth” remains much too self-conscious in its artsy-ness, appearing to explore extremes for the sake of indulgence and not as a study of the human condition. The two skilled leading actors deliver laborious performances, but their characters are ultimately void of real emotional resonance, as is the film. and “Each scene is so forcedly set up it is distracting and tiresome, with an excessive amount of symmetrical frames and front shots featuring characters’ faces in the center.”

the writer then goes on to mention na hong jin’s the wailing which is also another one of my fav movies but it’s 3 hours of fucking NONSENSE violence and bullshit (and it’ s funny.) that pushing one’s limit has become kind of characteristic in korean films. i dont care to explore that or comment on it bc art is culturally influenced but it’s like….i love art for a reason. i do not think it is a characteristic of korean film bc the extreme has always been on the artistic radar because it has to be. just not for women done by women. 

the reason why ‘the truth beneath’ resonated with me is because there was this mother full of honor and duty and supposed-to-be’s. who had one of the hardest things happen to her but was still expected to let things slide by, be present and supportive, assert her sexuality in her rship in a way that was acceptable, get over tragedy and fuck. she had it all but she had fucking nothing. 

and mostly no goddamn support. and what she shows, in the end, is anger, fury, and mercy. she has a reason why she goes LITERALLY CRAZY but in the world of ‘the wailing’ the explanation is a lot more supernatural (a symbol for xenophobia and nationalism) and the handmaiden, though it achieves everything i love, is about this specific time and with imperialism.

this film written and directed by a woman, and this wasn’t her debut, wasn’t a good enough “attempt” but the writer doesn’t give me much at all. it just supposes her against two men who have the luxury of spreading their characters wide, round, thin and without sense. they avoid the typical but she can’t? but she made the film as a thriller and used more romantic actors and it wasn’t so much arthouse (which is WHY i’m surprised i like it so much bc i prefer less mainstream films) as true to her vision. i say this in relation to my work that [non white] women (particularly bw) aren’t given the space to explore why their surroundings would suppress them. down girl down nice girl

then there is the uLTIMATE betrayal. the ULTIMATE ultimate ultimate betrayal in this film. and it flips everything we saw on its head. not only do we feel guilty for questioning her sanity, going forward it made me think………….why did i do that? why did i need a justification for this woman’s insanity within a box? who wouldnt’ go crazy anyway?