1970-1979

  Many people look back on the 1970s as the darkest era of Korean cinema. Under Korea's military regime, harsh censorship combined with constant governmental interference in the industry to essentially destroy the robust film culture that had grown up in the 1960s. Directors were given very little artistic freedom, pressured instead to produce a very limited range of genres and styles for the promotion of government policy. Over the decade, attendance levels plunged as audiences turned to television (MBC-TV first debuted on August 8, 1969) or other forms of entertainment over film.

Looking back now on the films of the 1970s, we see a large number of uninteresting genre and propoganda films that were made just to please the regime. Dig a little deeper, however, and you find that selected directors were able to produce a range of highly original works. Many of them, with their manic inventiveness and logic-defying plot turns, feel more modern and relevant today than they likely did in the era in which they were produced.

     Reviewed below:    March of Fools (1975)  --  A World Without Mom (1977)  --  Iodo (1977)  --  Splendid Outing (1978)  --  The Genealogy (1979).

Short Reviews

These are some reviews of the features released from the 1970s that have generated the most discussion and interest among film critics and/or the general public. They are listed in the order of their release.

    March of Fools (1975)

One of the most talented Korean directors to work in the 1970s was Ha Kil-jong. Orphaned at age 10, Ha moved to Seoul and eventually entered the French Literature department at Seoul National University. He worked for Air France after graduation and then moved to the U.S. in 1964, where he supported himself by working odd jobs as a waitor or at gas stations. After finding his feet financially he entered the UCLA Film School, where he studied together with Francis Ford Coppola. Upon graduating he was one of four film students nationwide to receive the MGM Mayer Grand Prize and was reportedly offered a teaching position at UCLA as well as the opportunity to make films in Hollywood. However he decided to return to Korea with his wife and newborn son in 1970.

Ha took up work in the Korean film industry just as it was entering its most oppressive era. He made seven films from his debut work Pollen in 1972 to his last film Byungtae and Youngja in 1979, all the while struggling with governmental censorship and an industry in commercial decline. Nonetheless through his innovative films and thoughtful essays he earned great respect from many of his peers. Tragically, on February 23, 1979 he suffered a stroke and died. He was 38 years old.

Ha's most famous work March of Fools first premiered in 1975, and it would eventually acquire legendary status among the leading directors of the next decade. The film's plot centers around two wayward university students, Byung-tae (Yoon Mun-seop) and Young-chul (Ha Jae-young), who spend their time drinking beer, going on dates, and running away from the policemen on the "hair squad" (who dragged long-haired college students to the station for an involuntary haircut). One day on a blind date they meet two women named Young-ja (Lee Young-ok) and Young-sook (Kim Young-sook), who end up becoming an important part of their lives.

Much of the film is a lighthearted echo of a typical 1970s university student's experiences, set to memorable songs of that era. Some scenes are hilarious, such as when Byung-tae represents the Philosophy Department in a school drinking contest. Nonetheless, the mood turns subtly darker as the students confront questions about their future and their goals, living amidst a constrictive and sterile society.

Alas, the film itself would not escape unscathed from the oppression of those times. Prior to its release in 1975, close to 30 minutes were cut by government censors, including seemingly innocuous material that contributed to the downbeat mood of the film. Only later during the brief political spring of 1980 was a more complete version put together with excised footage, although there remain segments that were never able to be recovered. (For a heartfelt and illuminating account of March of Fools's struggles with censorship, I strongly recommend the second segment of director Kim Hong-joon's 2003 video essay My Korean Cinema).

Like many of the greatest Korean movies of the 1970s, March of Fools was shot by cinematographer Jung Sung-il, who these days is better known for his collaboration with director Im Kwon-taek. Jung's work in this film is a joy to watch, with its restless movement and unexpected camera angles reflecting the unsettled mood of its protagonists. The songs featured in the film by Song Chang-shik and Kim Sang-bae are also enjoyable and at times quite moving.

No one will ever know what Ha Kil-jong would have accomplished if he had lived a longer life. He would have been in his mid-sixties now, perhaps enjoying the same level of attention and prestige as Im Kwon-taek. Though it is painful to think of what has been lost, we still have March of Fools -- left behind as a singular achievement amidst the very worst circumstances faced by Korean filmmakers since the end of the war.      (Darcy Paquet)

March of Fools ("Babodeul-ui haengjin"). Directed by Ha Kil-jong. Screenplay by Choi In-ho. Starring Yun Mun-seop, Ha Jae-young, Lee Young-ok, Kim Young-sook, Kim Sang-bae, Jeong Se-gun, Park Kyu-hyun. Cinematography by Jung Il-sung. Produced by Hwacheon Corporation. 102 min (based on existing negative), 35mm, color, Cinemascope. Rating given on May 13, 1975. Released in censored version on May 31, 1975. Partially restored version first screened in 1980. Total admissions: 153,780.

    A World Without Mom (1977)

When I was a kid, I was a fan of Gertrude Chandler Warner's books about the Boxcar Children, four orphaned siblings who run away and live in an abandoned boxcar to keep from being separated. It's a popular premise to this day: think of Lemony Snicket, or the two brothers in The Host. Children expect to be taken care of, but dislike being dependent, so fantasies of being on one's own have a perennial appeal. Of course, in Korea as in many other countries, children have sometimes had to be independent. But fantasies, which can be stopped at will, are not reality. Kids can experience the heady, scary rush of being independent for a while, then go back to their ordinary, and hopefully safer, lives. (Note: some spoilers in the plot synopses to follow)

Young-chul (Kim Jae-seong), age 12, and his brother Young-mun (Lee Gyeong-tae), six, live with their father and mother in company housing at a salt farm where Father works. Young-chul's Mother (Jeong Yeong-suk, Maundy Thursday) is pregnant, and earns money by digging for oysters in the low-tide mud. Father (Park Geun-hyeong, Marrying the Mafia) suffered a head injury in an accident a year or so back, and has spells of terror and violence whenever a jet flies overhead. The newly completed Busan airport is nearby, so this happens too often. After Mother gives birth to yet another brother, Cheol-ho (Kim Hyeon-seong), she takes on Father's job at the salt farm so the family can stay in the company housing, but one day she collapses and dies. Honoring her dying command, Young-chul takes charge of the family. Carrying Cheol-ho on his back, he digs for oysters, tries to keep up with school, and works at the salt farm. Father gets progressively worse, and finally is sent to a mental hospital. The neighbors help out at first, but soon convince themselves that the boys would be better off sent away. Determined to stay together, the boys resist successfully. Just as the movie ends, Young-chul tells us that his diary was published; President Park Jeong-hee read it and decreed that the boys should be helped.

What makes A World Without Mom interesting is its generally low-key, almost social-realist tone. It dwells more on the experiences and pastimes of Korean children in the early 1970s and downplays the great melodramatic crises. Young-chul feels the weight of his responsibilities, but Young-mun is a cheerful and aggressive ringleader, playing Doctor with a neighbor girl and leading battles with other boys. Except for Father, who must scream and rave and generally behave like a Korean Renfield, director Lee Won-se (A Small Ball Shot by a Dwarf) got natural, appealing performances from the actors. The only problem is that, as was normal in those days, the characters' voices were dubbed by different actors, and the boys were voiced by adult women, not very convincingly. Young-chul especially sounds like a cartoon character, not a twelve-year-old of either sex.

A World Without Mom was popular enough to spawn two sequels and numerous imitations; the first sequel has been released on DVD along with the original. In A World Without Mom 2 (1978), Young-chul takes care of his brothers while letters pour in from fans of his published diary. Suddenly Father is released from the hospital, and the neighbors find a miraculously suitable woman for him to marry. The new Mother (Yun Mi-ra) is kind, patient, and undemanding, but Young-mun resents her arrival, and runs away from home. In the end everything turns out okay. The most interesting thing here is the handfuls of letters that Young-chul receives from other Korean children, but the filmmakers weren't interested in exploring how this fame affected Young-chul's life. Instead they made a conventional family melodrama, with puppy love, lost children on stormy nights and tearful reconciliations.

The filmmakers wrung out one more sequel, subtitled Festival of Chicks, in 1978. According to a plot summary on IMDB.com, in the third film Young-mun takes up baseball, but loses interest, so Young-chul must use all his big-brother powers to persuade him not to quit. No wonder it was the final film! But the original is well worth watching.      (Duncan Mitchel)

A World Without Mom ("Eomma eomneun haneul arae"). Directed by Lee Won-se. Screenplay by Kim Mun-yeop. Starring Kim Jae-seong, Lee Gyeong-tae, Kim Hyeon-seong, Park Geun-hyeong, Jeong Yeong-suk, Ko Young-gap, Park Ju-hui. Cinematography by Park Seung-bae. Produced by Han Jin Enterprises. 120 min, 35mm, color. Released on June 23, 1977.

    Iodo (1977)

It may be no accident that one of Korean cinema's most compelling, unnerving depictions of the primal forces that motivate humankind was conceived during the industrialized era of the 1970s. As the military government pushed ahead with an all-out campaign for modernization, the warped cinematic genius Kim Ki-young was busy shooting a film that cuts through the many layers of modern society to expose the most primitive elements of human experience.

Iodo is centered on an island off the south coast of Korea populated by women who live off the sea, and who structure their lives "according to the old traditions". Removed from the modern influences of the mainland, the island exists as a detached society where ancient customs prevail and the local shaman wields great power. When one of the island's native sons who had gone to the mainland disappears off the deck of a tourist ship, a businessman suspected of killing him travels to the island in hopes of uncovering the truth behind the man's disappearance. This visitor comes to learn the tangled history behind the man's supposedly cursed lineage, while also getting caught up in the affairs of the island himself.

Not an easy film to absorb in one sitting, Iodo is told through a complex structure of flashbacks (each flashback signalled by the sound of bubbling water) that slowly lead us to an understanding of the film's central narrative. Along the way, we are exposed to both modern and traditional manifestations of society, from aquaculture and environmental activism to superstition and exorcisms. Flowing underneath all this, however, is a recurring theme, namely that of procreation. Whether for pigs, humans, or abalone, the ability or inability to stimulate reproduction is what haunts the fate of nearly everyone in the film.

Kim Ki-young makes no effort to imbue his movie with psychological realism. With its fast tempo, abrupt non-sequitors, over-dramatic dialogue and extreme, unmotivated close-ups, the film appeals for its unpredictability and force rather than any sense of cinematic decorum. This, combined with the zoom shots, dated hairstyles and cheap special effects, makes Iodo seem at times like a parody of itself. Yet the work's genius lies in the cohesiveness and depth of its central themes, together with its ability to surprise us at every turn.

One of the elements that holds this work together so well is the mesmerizing performance of Lee Hwa-shi as a barmaid who comes to work on the island. If Lee Eun-shim's performance as the housemaid ranks as the most inspired casting of Kim Ki-young's earlier career, Lee Hwa-shi seems to have become the director's muse in the late seventies and early eighties. Seven of the ten films of her short career, which lasted from 1976 to 1981, were directed by Kim, and the intensity, sensuality and intelligence which she radiates finds a perfect complement in Kim's madly inspired direction.

Most famous about Iodo, however, is its ending. The penultimate scene culminates with one of the most shocking, brazen sequences ever shot by a Korean filmmaker. Surely it could not have been included on the film's release print back in the 1970s, but the scene remains intact on the surviving negative and so it is available to modern audiences. Suffice it to say, Iodo is not a family film. This surprise-filled work saves its biggest jolt for the end.      (Darcy Paquet)

Iodo ("Ieodo"). Directed by Kim Ki-young. Screenplay by Ha Yu-sang. Starring Lee Hwa-shi, Kim Jeong-cheol, Park Jeong-ja, Park Am, Kwon Hye-mi, Choi Yun-seok, Yeo Pyo, Ko Sang-mi. Cinematography by Jung Il-sung. Produced by Donga Film Export Co. 110 min, 35mm, color. Rating received on October 4, 1977. Presented at the 28th Berlin International Film Festival.

    Splendid Outing (1978)

Gong Hyo-hee is a famously successful businesswoman who heads a major conglomerate and who fills her day with meetings, inspirational speeches, and cocktail pleasantries with envious male colleagues. At night, she returns to her home in the suburbs, takes a cursory glance at her children, and falls exhausted into bed, where she is often haunted by strange dreams of a woman calling out to her. She is told that the woman in the dream represents a lost twin sister who died as an infant.

One day she gets into her car and drives out to a seaside town. As she approaches the shore, suddenly a mob of angry villagers surrounds her car. Frightened, she tries to run away, but is then caught (in a net!) by a group of fisherwomen. She is bound and taken by boat out to a remote island, where an unknown man exchanges cash for her. Then she is dragged back to a small hut on the island, where her captor insists that she is his wife, and that after running away from home she is now here to stay. Thus begins her absurd and harrowing new life as an island woman, 'married' to an abusive man she doesn't know.

This bizarre, modernist feature from Kim Soo-yong was released in 1977 and stars Yoon Jung-hee, a major actress of the 1960s and 1970s. With its blurred, garish colors and disorienting camera angles, the film is an exhilerating aesthetic exercise at the same time as being a thought-provoking and troubling story.

The film's narrative is founded on the juxtaposition between a modern, emancipated woman in a modern city and a wife enslaved among the rocks of a remote island -- emphasized by the momentary glimpses of Seoul inserted between shots of our heroine's struggles on the island. In one sense this serves as a powerful symbol of the extremes of Korean society: urban and rural, wealthy and poor.

Yet the film also highlights the primitive attitudes towards women that seem to lurk just below the surface of everyday life. Although not a feminist film by any means, Splendid Outing raises many questions about gender, power, and society which are ultimately left for us to figure out on our own. Part of the enjoyment of watching the film is that it supports a wide range of interpretations, leading you to ponder over its meaning. At the same time, the film's stark visuals and enigmatic tone seem to hint at a gaping crack down the middle of modern Korean society.     (Darcy Paquet)

Splendid Outing ("Hwaryeohan oechul"). Directed by Kim Soo-yong. Screenplay by Cho Moon-jin. Starring Yoon Jung-hee, Lee Dae-geun, Lee Young-ha, Kim Jeong-ran, Song Mi-nam. Cinematography by Jung Il-sung. Produced by Tae Chang Enterprises. 93 min, 35mm, color. Released on March 10, 1978. Total admissions: 154,668. Presented at 31st Cannes International Film Festival.

    The Genealogy (1979)

The Quality Films Record System of 1973, a revision of the Motion Picture Law during Park Chung-hee's regime, gave film companies that produced "quality films" privileged access to importing and distributing foreign films. Such access was highly sought after since Hollywood films were dominating South Korea's box office at this time. The "quality films" the Park regime desired included those that promoted their ideas about national identity and high artistic merit. Although Im Kwon-taek had made a decision prior to this time to forgo competing against Hollywood fare by producing "serious" films, beginning with The Deserted Widow, interspersing with commercial fare such as The General's Son, around this time, he identified a need to have Korean films travel abroad for non-Koreans to learn about Korea. This need either meshed with the tenets of this revision of the Motion Picture Law, or, as Chungmoo Choi argues in her chapter in Im Kwon-Taek: The Making of a Korean National Cinema, was "motivated" by this revision. Regardless of where Im's full intent lay, this policy makes The Genealogy an important one since The Genealogy was where he began to focus on creating Korean cinema that would interest foreign audiences.

Im has said that he "realized that films I wanted to send abroad required topics from the period in our history that I myself have experienced." For The Genealogy, Im chose to present a topic he experienced while in elementary school, the "Name Change Order." On February 11, 1940, the Japanese colonial administration imposed the Name Change Order on all Koreans, requiring them to change their Korean names to Japanese ones. As Choi notes, 84% of Koreans complied. One person who resisted was Sol Jin-hyeong, whom Choi states is the person upon whom the patriarch in The Genealogy is based. Sol (played by Joo Seon-tae) is portrayed as a wise and reverent man. Rather than depicting his protest as reactionary, it is portrayed as a delicate balancing of the pros and cons of Modernization.

However, Sol is not the main character of this film, which leads to another important aspect of The Genealogy. The film is adapted from a short story by Kajiyama Toshiyuki. The main character is Tani (Ha Myeong-joong), a Japanese man who, in order to avoid conscription, has joined on with the Japanese colonial administration offices. Tani is sent to Sol's house to convince him to abide by the Name Change Order. What makes Tani unique in South Korean cinema and literature, according to Korean Film scholar Kyung Hyun Kim, is that he is portrayed sympathetically. He is not portrayed as a tyrant or fascist, but as a man who respects Korean culture and is deeply troubled by the actions of his own government. Tani is an artist who shows a great appreciation for Korean craftsmanship and artistry. Sol and Tani connect on this level and Sol embraces him as a son, or more like a son-in-law considering how comfortable Sol is in presenting his already engaged daughter, Ok-sun (Han Hye-sook), to Tani. In respect for Sol, Tani attempts to intervene in holding off the pressure on Sol, along w/ successfully impeding Ok-sun's enforcement into sexual slavery. It is this mutual respect conveyed towards a Japanese that is perhaps the most important aspect of including The Genealogy in any survey of the Korean canon.

As Choi has argued, Tani is also based on a real-life person, art critic Yanagi Muneyoshi, known by Koreans as Yanagi Soetsu. Yanagi's art critiques stood against the imperialist intents of the Japanese government at the time. Choi notes that even though some Korean intellectuals would later accuse Yanagi of holding a colonialist mindset himself, in 1984 Yanagi was posthumously awarded the South Korean Jeweled Crown Culture Medal. Im appears to have found a kindred spirit in Yanagi's take on Korean art. Choi summarizes Yanagi's identification of "the most salient element in Korean art as the beauty of the curving line that symbolizes Koreans' sorrow, sadness and hunger for love (from the people of other nations) . . ." Furthermore, Yanagi expressed deep remorse over the loss of Korean traditional aesthetics due to his country's occupation of Korea. As we know from Im's oeuvre, Im shares this view of associating Korea with sorrow, sadness, and loss. Yet, along with his usual focus on the Korean landscape in The Genealogy, Im also focuses on celadon ceramics. Although my first exposure to Korean arts was through the gorgeous resonance of the seafoam-ish, chartreuse-y celadon for which Korea is quite respected, this is the only film I've seen that singles out this aspect of Korean culture, presenting yet another unique aspect to this film. As David James and Choi both note, a passage written by Yanagi is invoked by Sol while looking at his collection of celadon ceramics.

Although not what I would consider one of Im's better films, The Genealogy's origins in the film policies of South Korea, its portrayal of a sympathetic Japanese, and its rare cinematic celebration of Korean celadon ceramics places it as an important one to display on the cinematic shelf and to occasionally bring down from that shelf for further viewing.      (Adam Hartzell)

The Genealogy ("Jokbo"). Directed by Im Kwon-taek. Screenplay by Han Woon-sa. Starring Joo Seon-tae, Ha Myeong-joong, Han Hye-sook, Choi Nam-hyun, Kim Shin-jae, Yun Yang-ha, Ju Sang-ho. Cinematography by Lee Seok-gi. Produced by Hwacheon Corp. 110 min, 35mm, color. Rating received on September 29, 1978. Released on May 1, 1979. Total admissions: 529. Winner of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Ha Myeong-joong) at the 17th Grand Bell Awards. Presented at the 11th Festival des Trois Continents (Nantes).

1970 --    Frozen Spring (Jeong Jin-woo);   Pillyeo (Jung So-young)   -- 1971 --    Bunrae's Story (Yu Hyun-mok)   War and Human Beings (Shin Sang-ok);   Woman of Fire (Kim Ki-young)   -- 1972 --    A Cattle Seller (Kim Hyo-cheon);   Gate of Woman (Byun Jang-ho);   Insect Woman (Kim Ki-young);   Oyster Village (Jeong Jin-woo);   Pollen (Ha Kil-jong);   A Shaman's Story (Choi Ha-won)   -- 1973 --    Fidelity (Ha Kil-jong);   Long Live the Island Frog (Jeong Jin-woo);   The Testimony (Im Kwon-taek)   -- 1974 --    The Cat Woman (Hong Pa);   The Earth (Kim Soo-yong);   Hometown of Stars (Lee Jang-ho)   -- 1975 --    Flame (Yu Hyun-mok);   Promise of the Flesh (Kim Ki-young);   The Road to Sampo (Lee Man-hee);   Youngja's Heydey (Kim Ho-seon).

1976 --    Aescetic (Kim Su-hyeong);   Concentration (Choi In-hyun);   A School Joker (Seok Rae-myeong);   Wangshimni (Im Kwon-taek)   -- 1977 --    The Gate (Yu Hyun-mok);   Night Voyage (Kim Soo-yong);   Toward That High Place (Im Won-shik);   Winter Woman (Kim Ho-seon)   -- 1978 --    Do You Know Kkotsun? (Jung In-yeop);   Miss O's Apartment (Byun Jang-ho);   Rainshower (Ko Young-nam);   A Widow (Cho Moon-jin);   Woman Chasing Killer Butterfly (Kim Ki-young);   The Woman I Ditched (Jung So-young)   -- 1979 --    Byeongtae and Youngja (Ha Kil-jong);   Eul-hwa (Byun Jang-ho);   The Hidden Hero (Im Kwon-taek);   The Last Word Left By My Fellow Soldier (Im Won-se);   The Man I Ditched (Jung So-young);   Rainy Days (Yu Hyun-mok);   Wild Ginseng (Jeong Jin-woo).  

Koreanfilm.org, last updated October 30, 2007.