MovieChat Forums > Poongsan gae (2011) Discussion > Trash. One of the worst Korean movies I'...

Trash. One of the worst Korean movies I've ever seen.

posted 12 years ago by markrschulz
6 replies | jump to latest

I've watched a fair number of Korean films both from the South and the North. This film has to be one of the worst. In order to keep this short, I've narrowed down the problems to six points why you should not watch this movie.

1. The protagonist is unwilling or unable to speak, he never says a single word. We never get to understand his story, his motives or his true personality.

2. No likable characters. The damsel is a whiny ingrate, her former lover is a chauvinist pig, the agents are all stupid and walking stereotypes. All they want to do is fight for no reason.

3. Shoddy plot, loose ends, terrible editing. There is no flow to the story. It looks as if the director filmed three films, an espionage action film, a family separation film and a kidnap drama, cut the reels into sections, threw them up into the air and had a third party assemble them into an incoherent mash up.

4. Stupid, preposterous and pretentious allegory to the North/South arms race. The scene in the room with more people being drawn into the fight (Russia, China, America, UN etc.) and subsequently being supplied with arms (by the super powers) as a parable for the escalation of violence on the peninsula is tired and hollow. The proposed solution is laughable.

5. No antagonist, well, maybe.. but who the hell? There is a really bad character that is edited in halfway through the movie and he seems to really go after the two leads. However, his appearance is so random and the character development so shallow that all we are left with is the cardboard cutout 'Lead Commie who loves Dear Leader Kim Jong Il so much that he does crazy things to show his devotion to the DPRK and Juche.'

6. Ridiculously poor use of implied horror. In one scene the female lead swallows some valuable jewelry. In the next scene, some characters are shown washing the bloodied jewelry in a nearby stream - implication; she was murdered and disemboweled for the jewels. Next scene, protagonist discovers disemboweled body that seems to have been cut open with surgical precision. He then puts her shoe back on her foot, and the scene has a frantic cut to the next disjointed scene. Fail!

If you want a really well made Korean movie with this kind of action, real gore and better acting, then watch the infinitely superior 'Bedeviled'.
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Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this deadly bore!

[–] Spluffen 12 years ago

If you feel insulted when a film doesn't spoon-feed you then you'd probably better stick with Hollywood action movies.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] markrschulz 12 years ago

Well, I'm glad that the movie meant something to the both of you. I'm not going to try and convince either of you that your opinion is 'wrong', because you clearly related to this material in a way that I did not.

I have watched several North Korean movies including "The Flower Girl" (1972) "Pulgasari" (1985) and "A Schoolgirl's Diary" (2007) I have written reviews on the first two here on IMDB.
___________
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this deadly bore!

[–] sarastro7 12 years ago

You did not pay attention. To help you understand:

1. The protagonist is deliberately made silent because he is a symbolical construct, symbolizing the link between North and South Korea. Spiritual link, human link, cultural link. This is art, you know. It contains non-literal elements.

2. I found both the protagonist and the damsel likable. This movie was a major statement about North and South Korea, and one of the major and controversial political points (that a lot of people will be too conservative to accept or approve of) was that South Korea is not particularly better than North Korea; they use torture, they have deep class divisions, moral corruption, etc. The damsel was unhappy because her lover had changed so much since he left North Korea. Back there, he was not wasteful and materialistic, but found it important to use resources for the maximum good. In South Korea, where luxuries were heaped upon him, he lost these qualities, and therefore he was a different person that she no longer liked. In fact, he was sensitive to this himself, and eventually refused to write that report of his, knowing it would cost many lives.

3. You are crazy or just plain ignorant. This movie was incredibly well put together in every way. If I was a director, this is the kind of directing skill I would wish I had. The brawl scene in the locked room towards the end was intended as an extra layer of explanation (which to my mind was not necessary, but was still an effectively funny sequence, hitting you over the head with the message), to get the theme of the movie (namely the tragedy of irrational enmity between North and South) across to even the most obtuse audience.

4. Oh, so you see *some* symbolism - but you're over-reaching. It was not about the outside world, but only about North and South Korea. Who supplied the weapons was not important; it was about how and if they were used.

5. Whatever.

6. Again, you are utterly crazy. This was an incredibly tasteful and competent way to construct the scene. I was afraid he would show her being forced to swallow the necklace, but thankfully it only took place off-camera. Kim Ki-duk has learned something about mainstream sensibilities since that movie with the fish-hook... and I think it's a great improvement that makes the story all the more powerful because of it.

This is a fantastic movie. 9 stars out of 10 from me.

[–] markrschulz 12 years ago

'You don't agree with my opinion, therefore you are crazy.' That line is going to take you far in winning arguments.

Art is subjective and therefore open to interpretation. I have presented my opinion of the movie and I don't happen to care whether or not you agree with it, but let's at least refrain from insulting each other's intelligence or sanity.

I get what the director was trying to do; I really wish he had succeeded in portraying this as an action packed dramatic slice of this unique character's life in the context of the separation of Korea. The way that people have to adapt after changing from one side of the 38th to the other, if done well, would have proven an interesting character study. However, it is my opinion that what could have been a good movie was held back by the points I made.

Also, the woman could never go back to North Korea, as she would have been shipped of to Yodok or Camp 14 as soon as she returned, lest she 'contaminate' her fellow comrades with capitalist ideas. In fact, if you understood Kim Il Sung's 'eliminate the seed to three generations' principle, it is clear that she (as the defector's lover) would have found herself in a prison camp or in front of a firing squad along with that high profile defector's parents and children, or at least be held at an army installation as a bargaining chip to get him to return lest she be executed. She would not just be lying around in a nice house in Pyongyang. I also found the idea that she wanted to return insulting to the many people who have sacrificed so much of their lives in order to escape.

I am glad that you enjoyed the movie to the degree that you would defend it so fiercely. It is nice to feel a connection to material that speaks to you. As for me, the entire affair left me cold.
___________
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this deadly bore!

[–] sarastro7 12 years ago

OK, I apologize for the "crazy" part. I guess I was just using a default discussion forum rudeness - it's not meant very seriously. You're entitled to your opinion, of course.