Kimbap, Murder and Women

Jay Chung (smilejay@hotmail.com)

Title: Bong-Ja
Original title: Bong-Ja

There are three genders in Korea society. Men, women and ¡°Ajumma.¡± What¡¯s Ajumma? The women who are over 30s, look like married, extremely aggressive, brazenface, shameless, cheeky, subject of negative stereotypes, cruel jokes and suspicion.

Imagine a woman. At age 30 something, she rolls kimbap for a living, lives in a dreary basement apartment, can¡¯t imagine taking a break without taking a swig of a certain brand of chongjong(rice wine) straight from the bottle, willing to scout neighborhood stores for it, revolves around her faithful participation in UFO 21, which is a club led by a grisly men who makes a living off convincing vulnerable working class, sitting in the front row, answering of the question such as ¡®aliens will come and take them away to a better life, so, do you believe, can you wait?¡¯ louder than anyone else, ¡®Oh! yes!¡¯

Given director Park, Chul-Soo¡¯s reputation for exaggeration, humorous fantasy, and focus on women and family, such a middle aged single women¡¯s drab story is not simple at all. After all, his past films have included tow peculiar female neighbors in 301,302, and spirited and unconventional heroines at obstetrics and gynecology in Push! Push!, twisted and strange party between the live and the dead in a family¡¯s funeral in ¡°A funeral story¡¯ and the dysfunctional family of the decade in Kazoku Cinema.

This movie, too, is a story about two women. The twisted in it comes when Bong-Ja(Suh, Kap-Sook) takes in a mysterious homeless girl, Ja-Du (Kim, Jin-Ah). The two hit it off immediately. Soon, they¡¯re having fun cuddling together naked, rolling rice in dried seaweed, kidnapping and torturing sleazy Bong-Ja¡¯s suitor. Then things get really twisted. Bong-Ja¡¯s UFO 21 religious founder, seems like a quasi-leader of a sect, is brutally murdered, and then an old man dies of a heart attack while having sex with Ja-Du. All of a sudden, Bong-Ja¡¯s life becomes deeply involved with Ja-Du.

This movie was shot using 6mm digital camcorder. With the raw, unpolished look of digital images, the director seems to be suggesting that society that takes advantage of innocent turns those victims into monsters. It¡¯s almost like Hollywood movie, ¡°Thelma and Louise¡± in its elevation of female bonding. But monsters are monsters only on the eyes of those who have been holding all the cards. To the powerless, the beasts are catalysts, who help them become stronger and face the cruel society. However, this movie raises questions about sexual identity that it refuses to answer. As Bong-Ja and Ja-Du¡¯s mysterious friendly sleep arm-in-arm naked, one wonders if the two have a sexual or spiritual bond. Here, the hand-held digital camera works with is particularly useful in the way it gets such up-close shorts of their physical intimacy.

Suh, Kap-Sook, actress and author of the highly controversial memoir, ¡®I sometimes wish to be a star in pornography,¡¯ appears to have been born to play a pitiful old maid. Kim, Jin-Ah is also cheerfully creepy and her comic timing is natural.

Despite good acting and sensitive pokes at Korean society, the film fails to suggest new characteristics it so obviously aspires to be. Two flaws stay in my mind: why do all female crimes begin with sexual abuses? And why must all feminist films end so tragically like ¡®Thelma and Louise¡¯?

Actually, another main actress plays her fruitful role exist behind the movie. It is ¡®Lee, Tzsche(known as Lee, Snag-Eun)¡¯, who made the soundtrack of the movie. Her music, which is full of self-conscious, using drums, colorful imaginary lyrics, when two women care their wounds of their heats, plays a invisible role to cure their wounds.