Chris Knipp Writing: Movies, Politics, Art


Forum locked This topic is locked, you cannot edit posts or make further replies.  [ 1 post ] 
Author Message
PostPosted: Sat Oct 03, 2009 11:30 am 
Offline
Site Admin

Joined: Sat Mar 08, 2003 1:50 pm
Posts: 4859
Location: California/NYC
AN JONG-HWA: CROSSROADS OF YOUTH (1934)

Image

Elaborate presentation of oldest known Korean film

Crossroads Of Youth (Cheongchun's Sipjaro), a melodrama about a brother and sister from the country who go to the city and must deal with its dangerous and corrupting influences, was discovered last year in its original nitrate negative by the son of a former theater owner, and is the earliest extant Korean film and the only existing film from the Korean silent era (late in the era, obviously). The Korean Film Archive, which now owns the Crossroads negative, has a Korean talkie called Sweet Dream from 1936. An Jong-hwa, according to an article about this find in Variety, shot 12 films between 1930 and 1960. According to the Variety article, "The film stars Shin Il-seon, who was the female lead in Na Un-gyu's legendary lost classic Arirang (1926)."

In honor of this discovery, with assistance from the Korean government, an elaborate presentation of the film has been worked up with a classical combo and three costumed performers to liven things up. A young man and young woman sing songs, representing the hero and his sister. The other performer is the pyosa or live off-screen narrator, dressed in striped suit, old-fashioned spectacles, and red bow tie, and he dominates the show with his extremely dramatic narration and impersonation of the characters.

This is how the film was screened at the renovated Alice Tully Hall for the New York Film Festival, and explains, I guess, why Crossroads of Youth wasn't shown at the festival's press and industry screenings. The production was too elaborate to present more than once. In fact, it was so elaborate, it detracted somewhat from one's perception of the film itself.

At times the pyosa's narration deliberately made fun of the process. For example when he did the voices of three young women on screen, he added the line, "Why do our voices all sound so alike?" Another time he has one character say to the hero, "Did you do your eyebrows yourself?" at a moment when they particularly look painted on. This was incorporated into the modern subtitles, which may represent a combination of original titles and additions for the new performance package. Such ironies had to be applied sparingly, since much of the film concerned serious matters like saving one's sister's virginity.

What's clear is that there was a film industry in Korea in the early Thirties. The emphasis is on a series of rapid scenes involving a young man, his sister, a young women from a poor family who works in a gas station and becomes interested in the hero, and a lecherous money-lender who has one or two sidekicks. The money-lender preys upon both the youth and his sister, who have both come to the city but haven't found each other. The two young women both are seduced by the lecher, and the young hero turns to drink. All ends happily when he beats up the lecher and finds his sister.

If only they'd had cell phones none of this would have happened.

The empahsis is on poverty, sexual predators, and the corruptions of city life.

The images seemed to be out of focus a lot, perhaps due to the lenses used. Nonetheless the casting worked, and so did the use of locales and costumes.

Ultimately the presentation was more interesting than the film, and the amount that it added to the entertainment made up for the way it detracted and in part mocked the origan film.

Now, at least, we know that Park Chan-wook, Hang Song-soo, Bong Joon-ho, Kim Ki-duk, and the many other great Korean directors who have emerged to international prominence over the past decade or so, did not spring from the void.

Shown in this special production, as noted, as part of the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center, October 3, 2009.

_________________
©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Forum locked This topic is locked, you cannot edit posts or make further replies.  [ 1 post ] 

All times are UTC - 8 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 148 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group